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Description
Next Chapter: www.deviantart.com/waapfu/art/…
Introduction: www.deviantart.com/waapfu/art/…

Nicolai had seen objects like this before, back at the university. It was a vessel used to carry fresh drinking water so that the humans could remain in spaces without water sources for longer periods of time. They were often kept on-hand during study and travel.

The bottle had weathered the ocean well. This perplexed Nicolai as a mere touch deformed the surface of it. They upturned it, tipping out the build-up of sand. The decrease in weight did not make the size and shape of the thing any less difficult to handle, and so they turned to telekinesis to carry it.

As they began their departure from the rocky ecosystem, a worrying thought crossed Nicolai's mind: if this was an item of human origin, would it then lead them back to their realm of influence? Would the water suffice in staving off the effects of their curse?
Their antennae, which had been flowing freely in the current, wound themselves into tight spirals.

The journey had them travel through various areas along their path: that field of sea grass once more, a forest of taller oceanic plants that Nicolai had to push their way through, the path of a group of vicious, sharp-toothed fish that chased down their prey as a pack, circling target schools and using confusion tactics to catch them more easily, and now up ahead they could see the sea floor rising once more. They turned sharply upwards to clear a steep cliff face, and found themself back in shallow water.

In the distance was an odd structure, like some kind of brown or orange frame sticking out of the sand. Around it were a lot of boulders, and from every crevace sprung an abundance of green and brown and yellow foliage. The place was populated by a wide variety of different-sized fishes, including one great big one that patrolled the perimeter of the place, hunting for an unwitting meal.

Nicolai made their way closer. The big fish had bold, sharp features, and an absence of spines or translucency. It had great sharp teeth, which it displayed as it swooped in and caught a smaller fish that had emerged from behind a plant. Most of the fishes that dipped in and out from within the boulders were tiny things, but a notable figure amongst them was a big, long, snake-like thing that slid into the crevaces and snapped up whatever moved past it.

The frame was now at a recognisable distance, and recognise it Nicolai did. This was the mangled, diseased skeleton of a transportation vessel very common at the university. It was clearly far removed from where it was meant to reside, and to Nicolai's relief they found that it held no sway over the nature of this space—their back remained thankfully barren.

The bottle had found its home. The vehicle itself had certainly once been lost, but over time had found a new place of its own in the ocean, now acting as a home for others. Nicolai fancied that perhaps at some time this thing could have become an esk itself. They wiggled their way past a huge, plate-like stone outcrop and wedged the bottle snugly into a joint beneath what remained of the vessel's left foreseat.

Upon disembarking, they noticed that the "stone" was no longer there. They looked around in confusion before eventually spotting its dull face camouflaged in front of some rocks. It hung idly in the water, looking lost.

------

The water bottle in this piece was inspired by a water bottle painting I had to do in year 11 art class, based on a painting of something that was not a water bottle by an artist I wish I remembered the name of. I've been very pressed for time and trying to get pictures out as quickly as possible, so it's a bit ironic (I'm not double-checking what the word means so hope my gut's got my back here) that in going for something familiar to expedite the process I picked the style of painting that took me an obscene amount of time both in and out of class to do, that I only eventually completed by (accidentally) overdosing on caffeine so badly that I stopped drinking it altogether and working on it for an entire night. This picture was a lot faster.

Also, I'm really stoked with the pose and composition here. It's very simple but Nicolai looks adorable. Using weird colours without being limited by a palette (I gave up on doing the palette challenges from the previous image onwards because they require adopting totally different approaches to art that slow down my already super inefficient workflow) was really refreshing, kinda felt like venting my frustrations in a way. I intended to keep doing funky colours from here on out but none of them looked like this specifically and I don't know if any of them were even all that funky coloured. I painted like two and a half pictures including this one in one day so my memory of the past like week or so of art is really fuzzy, haha.

My favourite passage in the writing is the part where Nicolai reminisces about a really rough rainy season. I have no idea where that came from and it doesn't really tie to any of the character development I'm trying to do or building the actual scene they're in but it's super evocative to me, idk. Maybe I was thinking about the Manawatū floods from like 2004 that day, or maybe that was close to when I went to check the mailbox and the grass was super wet and spongy (not muddy? it was weird) and I could hear the water shifting and settling in the grass and it sounded like full-on running water like there was a stream hidden under the lawn.

I've run out of stuff that was written ahead of time now so all the like prose or w/e you call it after this submission is gonna be me turning bullet point lists into quick summaries of the story I'm trying to tell because I am. So Tired. Has it been worth it for learning about random fish and also going on about some of the local marine life? Probably. Is it worth it to get Nicolai to where I want them to be for the next chapter of their personal narrative? Only if I finish the bloody abnormal design at some point.

------

Nicolai Gets:
Image: 4 (shaded) 2 (full body) 10 (scenic bg) 10 (event) || TOTAL GP: 26
Writing: 5.5 (writing, wc: 580) 2 (event) || TOTAL GP: 7.5

I Get:

Image: 10 (shaded) 5 (full body) 30 (scenic bg) 5 (personal) 20 (event) || TOTAL AP: 70

Writing: 11 (writing, wc: 580) 5 (personal) 5 (event) || TOTAL AP: 21

Description
Next Chapter: www.deviantart.com/waapfu/art/…
Introduction: www.deviantart.com/waapfu/art/…

Nicolai had seen objects like this before, back at the university. It was a vessel used to carry fresh drinking water so that the humans could remain in spaces without water sources for longer periods of time. They were often kept on-hand during study and travel.

The bottle had weathered the ocean well. This perplexed Nicolai as a mere touch deformed the surface of it. They upturned it, tipping out the build-up of sand. The decrease in weight did not make the size and shape of the thing any less difficult to handle, and so they turned to telekinesis to carry it.

As they began their departure from the rocky ecosystem, a worrying thought crossed Nicolai's mind: if this was an item of human origin, would it then lead them back to their realm of influence? Would the water suffice in staving off the effects of their curse?
Their antennae, which had been flowing freely in the current, wound themselves into tight spirals.

The journey had them travel through various areas along their path: that field of sea grass once more, a forest of taller oceanic plants that Nicolai had to push their way through, the path of a group of vicious, sharp-toothed fish that chased down their prey as a pack, circling target schools and using confusion tactics to catch them more easily, and now up ahead they could see the sea floor rising once more. They turned sharply upwards to clear a steep cliff face, and found themself back in shallow water.

In the distance was an odd structure, like some kind of brown or orange frame sticking out of the sand. Around it were a lot of boulders, and from every crevace sprung an abundance of green and brown and yellow foliage. The place was populated by a wide variety of different-sized fishes, including one great big one that patrolled the perimeter of the place, hunting for an unwitting meal.

Nicolai made their way closer. The big fish had bold, sharp features, and an absence of spines or translucency. It had great sharp teeth, which it displayed as it swooped in and caught a smaller fish that had emerged from behind a plant. Most of the fishes that dipped in and out from within the boulders were tiny things, but a notable figure amongst them was a big, long, snake-like thing that slid into the crevaces and snapped up whatever moved past it.

The frame was now at a recognisable distance, and recognise it Nicolai did. This was the mangled, diseased skeleton of a transportation vessel very common at the university. It was clearly far removed from where it was meant to reside, and to Nicolai's relief they found that it held no sway over the nature of this space—their back remained thankfully barren.

The bottle had found its home. The vehicle itself had certainly once been lost, but over time had found a new place of its own in the ocean, now acting as a home for others. Nicolai fancied that perhaps at some time this thing could have become an esk itself. They wiggled their way past a huge, plate-like stone outcrop and wedged the bottle snugly into a joint beneath what remained of the vessel's left foreseat.

Upon disembarking, they noticed that the "stone" was no longer there. They looked around in confusion before eventually spotting its dull face camouflaged in front of some rocks. It hung idly in the water, looking lost.

------

The water bottle in this piece was inspired by a water bottle painting I had to do in year 11 art class, based on a painting of something that was not a water bottle by an artist I wish I remembered the name of. I've been very pressed for time and trying to get pictures out as quickly as possible, so it's a bit ironic (I'm not double-checking what the word means so hope my gut's got my back here) that in going for something familiar to expedite the process I picked the style of painting that took me an obscene amount of time both in and out of class to do, that I only eventually completed by (accidentally) overdosing on caffeine so badly that I stopped drinking it altogether and working on it for an entire night. This picture was a lot faster.

Also, I'm really stoked with the pose and composition here. It's very simple but Nicolai looks adorable. Using weird colours without being limited by a palette (I gave up on doing the palette challenges from the previous image onwards because they require adopting totally different approaches to art that slow down my already super inefficient workflow) was really refreshing, kinda felt like venting my frustrations in a way. I intended to keep doing funky colours from here on out but none of them looked like this specifically and I don't know if any of them were even all that funky coloured. I painted like two and a half pictures including this one in one day so my memory of the past like week or so of art is really fuzzy, haha.

My favourite passage in the writing is the part where Nicolai reminisces about a really rough rainy season. I have no idea where that came from and it doesn't really tie to any of the character development I'm trying to do or building the actual scene they're in but it's super evocative to me, idk. Maybe I was thinking about the Manawatū floods from like 2004 that day, or maybe that was close to when I went to check the mailbox and the grass was super wet and spongy (not muddy? it was weird) and I could hear the water shifting and settling in the grass and it sounded like full-on running water like there was a stream hidden under the lawn.

I've run out of stuff that was written ahead of time now so all the like prose or w/e you call it after this submission is gonna be me turning bullet point lists into quick summaries of the story I'm trying to tell because I am. So Tired. Has it been worth it for learning about random fish and also going on about some of the local marine life? Probably. Is it worth it to get Nicolai to where I want them to be for the next chapter of their personal narrative? Only if I finish the bloody abnormal design at some point.

------

Nicolai Gets:
Image: 4 (shaded) 2 (full body) 10 (scenic bg) 10 (event) || TOTAL GP: 26
Writing: 5.5 (writing, wc: 580) 2 (event) || TOTAL GP: 7.5

I Get:

Image: 10 (shaded) 5 (full body) 30 (scenic bg) 5 (personal) 20 (event) || TOTAL AP: 70

Writing: 11 (writing, wc: 580) 5 (personal) 5 (event) || TOTAL AP: 21