Litvir wasn’t very good with maps, at least not for streets. While Litvir could navigate through space fine, roads confused Litvir. They would have to check every street name to make sure they picked the right one, and would overthink every direction. But thankfully, they had made it to their destination, a little shop on a back road with lots of paintings displayed in the window. Being a Monday morning and a national holiday though, the shop had only just opened and there didn’t seem to be anyone around. Litvir was admittedly surprised it was open. They had checked beforehand, and didn’t want a repeat of earlier, where they had walked to a supermarket that was closed.
With a sigh, Litvir knocked on the door, but realised it was open. So they awkwardly stepped inside, triggering a bell as they did so.
“Hello? Oh! Litvir!”
Litvir smiled as a familiar face approached. Captain Tekni was a teacher. Almost all teachers were captains, that was just somewhat how the Legions of Education worked, so that all young Rethans would automatically respect them and were more likely to listen to their superiors. But Tekni was an art teacher, and they were the one teacher that Litvir had liked the most during their brief school days.
Standing behind Tekni was clearly Tekni’s partner. They were a stocky red-plated standard-caste Rethan wearing very casual armour and an apron that was covered in paint. There were also specks of paint all up their arms and had a large grin on their face.
“Ah! You must be little Litvir! It is a pleasure and an honour to meet you! My darling Tekni has told me that you are a little artist!” the Rethan smiled as they stepped forward, holding out their hand. Litvir hesitated slightly, then shook it.
“Thank you. It is good to meet you too, kyr…”
The Rethan smiled some more. “My name is Vikel.”
“It is nice to meet you, Kyr Vikel!” Litvir perked up. “I came here because I would like to do some art. And buy some paper and some of the sticky gum stuff you use to stick things to walls. I have run out of both.”
“That is not a problem!” Vikel continued to smile. “Do you want nice paper to draw on, or are you looking for paper in bulk? What do you need? I have sticky-tack already, I assume you want that to stick your art to walls?”
“Yes but also I like to keep some in a pocket in my armour so I can play with it when I am stressed…” Litvir frowned. “I like the clay stuff but that goes hard and flaky after not very long, and it is also messy. I also tried… plastic-seen? I do not know what it is called properly, the coloured stuff, but that also goes hard, especially when I am in space.”
“Plasticine?” Tekni suggested.
“That, yes. I came here because you know art and also I thought it would be nice to see you, and so I could tell you that I am doing better now.”
Tekni patted Litvir on the shoulder. “You definitely are! You seem more confident now. And taller. And very muscular.”
“Yes, I think I have grown a little. Some vok think I will be as big and tall as mama Gath, but I do not think so…” Litvir trailed off. “Also, do you have colouring pens? I would like some pens, they are brighter than pencils. I was also thinking about paints but paints are messy, I do not like making a lot of mess because it needs a long time to clean up. But also sometimes I suddenly need to leave and I do not have time to clean up.”
“My dear, we have a lot of different materials, including some fast-drying paints, if that is what you want.”
“Hm…” Litvir thought for a moment. “No… I think I want pens. But maybe more pencils too. Are there bright pencils?”
“There are, yes! We also have pencils that you can use with water, almost like paint.”
“Huh…”
Vikel and Tekni glanced at each other.
“Litvir, dear?” Tekni asked.
“Yes?”
“Do you have any art to show us? Maybe we can help you find what you want.”
“I do, yes!” Litvir exclaimed. They reached into a pocket in their loin cloth and pulled out their communicator. After some fiddling around, they found their art folder, then showed their communicator to the two older Rethans. “I take pictures so I can show them to Akusasiiri! And sometimes I send them to mama, dada and old mama Elkay too.”
“Wow, your art is really good! You have a well-defined cartoony art style! How old are you?” Vikel queried.
“One year three months! Wait… no… I am supposed to say I am seventeen…”
Tekni tutted. “I do not know why they tell you to say that lie. You are allowed to be a baby. We all know you are young and still learning things.”
“It is silly, yes, but I do not look like I am one year three months. So I say the lie so people get less confused and think I am more… real, I guess…” Litvir sighed briefly. “But the pencils that work like paint sound interesting… I just do not really know what I want, apart from lots of paper.”
“What do you normally draw on?”
“The stuff that I put in the printer. General Tessar gave me a lot of it as scrap paper so I use that, but I am running out.”
“Well, we have some of that paper if you want, but…” Vikel glanced around the shop, then at a circle of tables and several stacks of chairs in the corner. “We are having a little event in two hours, for families to do some drawing together. Do you want to join us for the event, and you can try out some different pens and pencils?”
Litvir’s eyes widened with joy. “I would LOVE that! I love drawing! But it is in two hours…”
“That is alright!” Tekni smiled. “You can help us set things up, if you want.”
“You will let me do that?” Litvir gasped.
“Yes, of course.”
Litvir couldn’t help but bounce excitedly. “Thank you! What can I do to help?”
Tekni and Vikel both patted Litvir on the shoulder to calm them down. “Well, first off, we need to set up the tables, but after that, we can go through the equipment and test things out.”
“That sounds fun. Thank you!”
“No worries, kid.”