Her countdown of doom was approaching too quickly for her liking. One hand went numb, the other was ready to fall off. Two minutes of writing nonstop yet it felt like an eternity. Her brain rattled with thoughts but none of them were useful.
If anyone asked, Zenobia long lost the momentum after the first twenty seconds of this hellish challenge. For a brief moment she spared a glance at her companion, amazed that he was still writing at such a brisk pace. Also incredibly annoyed since she blamed him for this torment; he came up with the idea and enforced it.
Zenobia understood what the point of this task was, but there was no denying she struggled with things like this. It felt like such a waste of time. It was the dream journal all over again except it wasn't a passing grade she risked losing. The image of her sister flashed in her mind, revitalizing her.
With gritted teeth she wrote and wrote. The ache in her hand from gripping the pencil too hard throbbed insufferably. How the hell was Elias able to stay so consistent with a time limit like this?! Just from the moment she peeked, she saw a list.
"Forty-three seconds left." A list far longer than hers. Frustration aside, she persevered. Zenobia felt Rosette partially in her lap, enjoying the finer things in life. It sounded strange being envious of a dog, but it's been several days of little sleep on top of this.
"Done. You can stop." Sighing, she fell back onto the bed. Her gaze met startled black as Rosette popped her head up over her.
Elias laughed at her reaction. He always seemed to laugh, especially when she was around, but she figured it was just in his nature. There didn't seem to be much that left him down in the dumps. His cheery personality was needed since her house was insufferable right now.
Between her sister's tears, her mother's shouts and her own stress, the house resembled more of a cage than a loving home. A prison. It made her grateful that Jennifer stepped in and gave the old hag the excuse of tutoring sessions just so she could come over more often. It especially was helpful considering the personal mission at hand.
It made her wonder just how much the old doctor knew. Sighing Elias smiled, stretching his arms above his head. Glad to see someone looked content with their work. Zenobia cringed at her answers. Compared to his, hers seemed terribly short. She could only hope this could get them one step closer to actually making the mask.
"Let me see what you got, Z."
"Z?"
"Yeah, Z. Zenobia, Zeno, Z. Sounds simple enough."
"Just Zeno is fine."
"No way. We're partners in crime. We need special codenames now. So to you, I'm Eli. Now show me your list of animals." She wasn't going to bother trying to understand him at this point. Instead she braced herself for ridicule. From the moment she presented her list to him, she could tell he was trying his best not to snicker.
Dove
Rabbit
Butterfly
Koi
Unicorn
Golden Retriever
Sparrow
Horse
Arctic fox
Tiger
Dragonfly
"This seriously all you have? We wrote for like three minutes."
"I'm not good under time limits. I tried, okay!?" These were the first creatures that came to her mind. None of them felt right, sadly as she looked over her answers.
From the moment she texted Elias, she knew this would arguably take the longest amount of time. Out of the entire process of making a mask, most would assume that picking the animal to base the mask was the least challenging part. But Zenobia disagreed completely if ask. If anything she was at the point was losing her mind over it.
On her own with just her experiments, it took days, if not weeks to have a conceptual image to tinker with. Hell, the sketches she took pride in, were simple acts of inspiration that had undergone several changes. Of course, Zenobia took pride in her art designs, but those weren't made from specifications for someone to actually wear. They were trials, designs she herself thought up of without any intention of it coming to life, let alone being worn to represent a person.
That couldn't happen in this situation. With this one project in particular, there was added pressure. She couldn't take her time, but she also couldn't rush just trying to find something inspiring and hope it was good enough. This mask had to be perfect.
This was exactly why she wanted to work with Elias instead of acting like a typical client who kept their nose out of the process. What Zora deserved, what best represented her, and the desires she held for the future, it was too important to dive in recklessly. The teen's personal clock ticked painfully in her mind, fleeting by the second.
After messaging Elias to schedule a meet up outside Zenobia's check-ups, she sat on her bed alone since her mother took Zora to sleep in her own bed. It left her thoughts to swirl anxiously. Even long before Zenobia met Elias, she expected Zora's mask to be easy. She spent two years planning.
She thought she would search up some animals that symbolized her sister, play around with some patterns that she thought looked good and then chisel it away on as many wood pieces as she could before the deadline. And when the time came, Zora would have ample choices to find the mask she desired most. It sounded simple—doable. But Zenobia overestimated herself.
That was a task her father was capable of doing. It was a professional's line of thinking. She spent years watching her father and assumed that just because she watched him, that she had his passion, it would be an easy task. What a joke she made herself out to be.
Stupid, because years have gone by since trying to draft a design for Zora on and off and nothing good. Researching for weeks only to hit wall after wall. Zenobia should've known better. There was a reason that mask-making was a very serious, government funded career that required a lot of demands from a carver.
That didn't stop her from trying, the problem was the longer she searched for potential design options, the less confident she felt. The more she created patterns, the more stress that upset her to no end. The weight of her sister's disappointment was ready to sink her into the abyss. Zenobia's inspiration, her determination, it was slowly but surely shriveling up.
Drier than a desert. Fissures in the earth. The pressure was only growing with the hands of time moving forward. A second opinion was definitely required. Inevitably, she saw Elias's aid was essential. Obviously, she relied on his carving skills, but she really didn't want to trouble him with brainstorming. Not that he showed any impatience or annoyance helping her.
If anything he was an asset. Since she arrived at his home, his gaze had been nothing but thoughtful. Small jokes aside here and there, he was taking this seriously. Her colorblind friend threw as much consideration into this as possible while talking about Zora. No different from now when he offered a small sympathetic smile alongside his list.
Colors
white-purity
Red-passion
Green-vibrant/alive
Purple-exotic/unique
Blue-calm/composed
Black-protection
Pink-sweet/kindness
Yellow-energetic
Animals
Lion
Tiger
Lynx
Red fox
Horse
Dove
Snow Owl
Frog
Dalmatian
Golden retriever
Calico
Starfish
Dolphin
Panda
Arctic fox
Mexican wolf
Penguin
Ocelot
Kangaroo
Swan
Duck
Goose
Crane
Pig
Eagle
Sea horse
Well, it was definitely longer than hers. Not really surprising in the least there. She DID find it interesting to see that he listed colors before any animals. Usually people didn't do that, let alone those that were colorblind.
It was odd, but it was nice to see he was also trying to figure out color combinations despite not even being close to the designing phase. As if he had absolute faith they'd be able to handle Zenobia's struggle quickly. She scanned his animal choices with furrowed brows. There were several questionable ones.
Some of these animals she never heard of. Others didn't really make sense since they didn't represent what Zenobia thought best matched Zora. She prevented herself from shooting him a look at the several bird options.
Again, she detested the birds. Pigs and starfish sounded weird. And a lot more predators than expected were found in his handwriting. Despite the...odd decisions from both of their lists, some ideas formulated in her mind.
First things first was figuring out what the hell some of these animals were. Zenobia placed his list down in front of them. With swift fingers, she grabbed her pen, circling the ones that confused her. Elias tilted his head as he watched, waiting for her to finish.
"What's an ocelot? Or a lynx for that matter?"
"Both are wild cats." Grabbing his laptop, he opened it up, flashing lights across the walls of his room. She leaned over, watching as his fingers flew across the keys. He had two tabs popped up in seconds, each of them with the specified wild cats revealing themselves to her. They were smaller than she thought. Adorable looking too.
Not wanting to be overtly relying on straining her neck, Zenobia brought out her phone. Her own fingers bringing up the web search. She typed in the search bar for the ocelot, specifically.
Just an instant glimpse at the creature struck a chord with her. There were no words to describe what she suddenly felt when she took in its picture. Spotted like a jaguar but the size of a house cat. Tiny and cute while also being dangerous and powerful.
She compared it to the other cat on her friend's computer. The lynx looked nice as well, but it had a more majestic feel to it. She also noticed it was bigger. Her instincts were screaming to try something with the ocelot.
Her hands twitched, desperate for her sketchbook, but she held herself back. She had to be sure. Craning her neck, she caught Elias's white gaze. A smirk was on his lips as if he read her mind. He beat her to the punch, grabbing his notebook that had been tossed to the side earlier.
"You look up some stuff on the ocelot, I got the lynx." They were unified in their mission. With a nod, they shimmied a bit away from each other for some space. His notepad and pen snug in the dip of his knee right by his side.
Rosette, ignored by her two favorite people, huffed while Zenobia and Elias went web searching. Their favorite poochie poo (Elias's words, not Zenobia's) got comfortable again, this time stealing her owner's pillows. She was snoring away in minutes.
If Zenobia wasn't too preoccupied in her ocelot hunt, she would've laughed at the sight. All Rosette needed to do was grab the blankets that the boy was sitting on and it'd be her owner sleeping on the floor. Rosette seemed comfy as could be. Again, envy over a dog should not be a thing, yet there she was.
Shaking her head, the red-eyed girl returned to the task at hand. There were many things that popped up about the ocelot, such as how big they were, how long they lived for, all matter of facts that though were interesting, were not needed. At least not right now. That changed when a particular link caught her eye.
"The Tale of the Ocelynx?"
Curious, Zenobia clicked on the link, the screen suddenly went black, then it showed an old painting. Swirls of a ferocious beast in black and faded color ink with several paragraphs typed underneath. It was written by someone from Tortorang Territory. Without even realizing it, she started reading.