"Not much longer." Aeris ducked back behind the canvas as she continued to paint. Her subject said nothing and maintained the same posture as he had the entire time. So many interesting little details; blond spiky hair. Those blue eyes. And the scars covering near his entire body. A different subject to the norm. The variation was good - as was something more conventional from some of her work. Her hand threatened to stray, to extend a line out to here and-

No. Patience. Later. For now, this mundane subject. She scrubbed the starts of her interpolation, the exploration of a private theme before Tifa arrived. By now the painting was almost three-quarters complete. She leant on Aeris's shoulder and studied the canvas. "Nice. Very nice." Aeris smiled, Tifa watching from behind. She wandered away at some point, Aeris hardly noticing - lost in the work.

At last she completed the painting and she sat back. "Thank you for your time."

Cloud let out a sigh of relief and stood. Far too late now to let his nudity faze her; she was too well acquainted with her subject to find him the least bit interesting like this. "Can I see?"

"Oh. Sure." Aeris gestured to the canvas; Cloud studied the painting.

"I look good," he said eventually.

Aeris shrugged. "I just paint what I see."

That got her a quizzical look. "Not always. The J Series-"

"Oh well, yes," Aeris said. "I meant when I do things like this. And landscapes."

Cloud's gaze flicked to the walls where a few other recent works were leaning. "I like those ones."

Aeris grinned. "I can give you a discount. If you like? You've done me a good service here."

"Doubt I could afford your stuff." Cloud shook his head as he chuckled.

"You're welcome to stay for dinner. A bonus?" Hopefully not. The less time he was here translated to more for later.

"I'm good thanks. I should get home."

Aeris nodded and Cloud wandered away. A quick re-appraise of the canvas and her latest work. Still satisfied. She left it to dry and wandered out of her main studio to sort out the evening meal. So much time she had to give over to these tasks, to not draw attention to the secret other paintings. The paintings Tifa had never seen her work on, only ever witnessed once complete. Aeris would insist it was all a matter of timing; she painted those dark and twisted shapes when the mood took her, often at the cost of some other work she post-poned.

Helpfully, Tifa turned in for an early start. More time to work within - and less need to sneak. Aeris gave Tifa a whole hour to doze off before venturing down into the basement. The place was mostly used as a storeroom for junk; old easels, ruined canvases, bikes, unimportant boxes from the move into the place. And easily missed against one wall was another door. As far as everyone else knew, the key to this lock long lost and the passage beyond long since sealed.

Aeris knew otherwise. Down here, well beneath the house was a secret sub-basement. A cramped, circular room, the floor a two meter rim around a pit of uncertain depth. Blank canvases occupied most of the floor space. Aeris bolted the door behind her and prepared the paint. Not long now. She sketched the aperture. That alone barred this painting from contemplation by anyone else. Too many clues, too many indications of the rest. She broke off the sketch when flecks of darkness drifted up from the edges of the pit both here and in her art. The painting reflected reality.

There was always something odd about painting like this. How she would lose track of time so easily, losing hours to the painting, how she would never feel tired or slow. How she barely seemed able to paint fast enough. It was not as if her subject changed much, but there was some odd sense she might not be able to capture it all in time.

The J subject would alter on her words, shifting and reforming as she spoke. No direct correlation between her words and its shapes. Some times it seemed more like a landscape than a creature; the form resembling a vista on some alien world. Other times the subject seemed too close to humanoid for comfort. In a few unguarded occasions - the point before she fell asleep on the nights she did sleep - Aeris wondered where it had come from. It resembled no creature she was aware of. Were what she took as vistas truly fantastical? Or was this a creature from another world? One trying to show her its past?

No way to tell. The J subject was hers alone and the paintings based on it popular beyond expectation. Worth the cost when she put her arm to the reforming mass. Worth the blood she paid to it each night.