Across the Sky

Guess who, folks? I felt there hasn't been nearly enough of this girl since the KC ended, so have a present (I know a fair few of my watchers got a bit attached to her ^^).

And just because I'm hopeless - does this look like sunrise or sunset, to you?

I was feeling a little nostalgic, I think, being that it was a little over a year ago that I first got Kiwi and Alec. I've been busy lately, but I felt like something for their 'anniversary'. And I can hear you all now - "But that's not Alec!" - yes, I know, but he took the 'photo' so that sort of qualifies, right?

In actual fact, this is a bit of a trip back in time to a missing day in the Kiwi Stories. I know a number of you may have missed them, though, so just for the latecomers: The Kiwi Stories are a series of 16 images, all but one or two accompanied with a short story which follows one of my HARPG characters, Alec through his introduction to Lakewood as he takes on a wild Kaimanawa mare, Kiwi, to gentle and back. I undertook the series as an entrant in *LeavingNeverland's #Kaimanawa-Challenge and it grew bigger than I ever imagined it would.

You can see and read the first part of the Kiwi Stories Here if you're interested. You can read them all at once if you have the time, or one whenever you have the time - just read them in order .

So for everyone: This takes place in Autumn time of last year (yes, real time) and within the Kiwi Stories I imagine it takes place somewhere between #6 and #7 of the Polaroid time-lapse in Over Time. This is one of the last autumn evenings before the first ice starts sweeping in.

Why choose now to draw this particular missing piece?

In my latest poll of character 'did you knows' I mentioned a photo that Alec sends his friends when they bug him with texts. Well, this is it

---

Twitch unlocked the front door of the farmhouse with the key she had owned for over a year and slipped into the hall. Autumn was on the way back in, though there were still warm days with bright sun interspersed with the colder ones. The hallway was cool, but there was warmth filtering through from the kitchen beyond.

"Hello?"

"Rye?"

Alec, then.

Twitch ducked into the kitchen, casting off her jacket and scarf as she went. The huge fireplace was black as ever, the scrubbed table cleared of the usual assortment of junk - spare halters, old tack catologues and enough paperclips to strangle an ostrich could almost always be found on the table. Instead there were plates set out, waiting for food. Alec was sitting at the far end bent over a huge book, his phone resting beside him. A massive pot was simmering on the aga cooker.

"What's for dinner?" Twitch asked, walking down the table to sit next to him on one of the mismatched chairs. Becca had called her earlier, saying that if she was through with classes for the day, she could stop by for dinner, movies and the usual madness. "And where is everyone?"

Alec had turned his attention from the book, which she now realised was a cookery book. "Austin and Becca are both in Creaky Tree. Becca dropped by the Vet practice to have a word with Daryl and Austin went to get a jar of pesto because we're out. Chess went down to do late nights and took the dogs. We're all having pasta for dinner - providing we get the sauce."

Twitch smiled, "And you're cooking?"

"No. I've been tasked with finding an alternative, should Austin fail in his mission, whilst keeping an eye on the pot to make sure nothing catastrophic befalls the precious aga. Becca's words, not mine."

Twitch laughed. "Good to know. Need any help?"

"Yes. Company. And someone who knows what a baster is. This book is in another language."

It looked like laughing was on the cards for the whole night, but after a day in her last year of college, Twitch couldn't think of anything better. "You don't need a baster for pasta."

Alec opened his mouth, but before he could respond, his phone lit up, beeping insolently on the table. He groaned.

Twitch frowned. "Not to be rude, but you should probably have a better reaction than that if someone wants to get a hold of you."

Alec's head hit the table and when he spoke, his resigned voice was muffled by the cookery book. "I usually do, but tonight a lot of my old school friends crashed a college party and they keep texting me about stuff that I'm sure will have them arrested by midnight."

"At least they aren't allowed to text from a jail cell," Twitch ruminated. "One phonecall each, isn't it?"

Alec laughed.

"You could turn off your phone," Twitch said, standing up and moving over to the pot to check the water. Alec was now giving his phone a hard look, and an insane part of Twitch wanted to hug him. Walking away was safer. "Or send them a text back."

"Nah," Alec said, sighing as he scooped up the offending item. "I'll do the same thing I do every other time."

"What's that?" Twitch asked, curious in spite of herself. She turned to look at him again. There was a strange hesitancy about him as he looked back at her with an unfathomable expression. Finally, he seemed to reach a decision.

"Send them a photo. Always the same one."

"What is it?"

Alec held out his phone without comment. Twitch realised as she stepped forward to take it, he'd already known she was going to ask. Her eyes slid down to the screen and she stopped breathing.

A sky full of pinks and purples, shot through with dying gold was suspended above the sharp green of Lakewood fields. There, in the forefront, was Kiwi, as she looked up from grazing; and in her shadow Twitch easily recognised herself and her own clothes as she leant against the fence, reading her way through a book. She remembered the day clearly enough; they'd been interacting with Kiwi more and more so that she didn't lean on Alec for assurance as she grew. Twitch had sat with her early one morning before yards and she remembered Alec calling to them both from the gate when he came down to fetch them.

"But...this is me," she said, numbly, sinking back into her seat.

"Excellent deductive powers you have there," Alec said. When Twitch looked up, she could see that though there was mirth in his expression, there was a slight hesitance still there.

"You send your friends this picture when they bug you?"

Her confusion must have been apparent. Alec gently tapped the screen, and as it scrolled, she could see a caption on the photo come into view.

I'm not missing out on anything

"They usually text me for stuff like this party, saying I'm missing out," Alec explained, his voice suddenly quiet. The bubbling of the pot seemed very loud in comparison.

"And you send this back," Twitch got it. Mostly. "Because you have Kiwi."

Alec was quiet for a moment. "I send them that one because you're in it."

Twitch stopped breathing again. That couldn't be healthy. She didn't want to ask why, but the word slipped out anyway.

"I've never known anyone like you, and they haven't either. That's what they're missing." Twitch felt a warm flush spread over her cheeks. "Its been a while since I got you to blush."

She hurriedly set down his phone, averting her gaze as she willed her skin to cool down again. Alec smiled as he took the phone and sent the text.

"Did you have classes all day, today?"

Twitch reeled over the changed topic for a moment, before realising with a rush of affection that it was Alec's way of backing off so he didn't pressure her. "No, just the morning," she said. "But I had to run Isla in to the vets after lunch."

"How is she?" Alec asked, apparently happy to let their earlier conversation rest.

Twitch shrugged. "Fine." The cocker spaniel puppy was settling in well and learning fast at home. "She just needed her next set of jabs and soon she'll be able to come up here again."

With that, Alec's phone beeped again.

He shot it a slightly withering look. Twitch was sure her expression was more one of trepidation.

"What do they say?" she asked, eyes on the lit up phone.

Alec didn't need her to clarify. "Not much they can say," he said. "They don't know who you are." He opened the response and showed her what someone called Matt had said.

1 day u'll at least tell me her name, Mate. Fine. I gotta get Joel out of the wheelie bin. L8r.

Tempted to ask why someone called Joel had ended up in the garbage, Twitch bit her lip.

"At this point I usually text back and say 'her name's Kiwi'," Alec supplied. A strange look that was half amusement, half something else crossed his face. "And I'd probably ask how Joel got in a bin."

Twitch cracked a smile. "You haven't told them who I am," she said.

Alec shook his head. "No; its more entertaining getting them to guess."

Twitch didn't speak for a long moment.

"Rye? I can stop," Alec said. "If it bothers you."

She looked up at him, startled to realise they were both huddled close in their chairs in an otherwise empty kitchen.

"It doesn't," Twitch said, truthfully. "But thanks for telling me."

"Sure," Alec murmured.

The front door banged open. Twitch and Alec both shot up in their chairs, swivelling to stare at the doorway as Becca barrelled through it, holding a tiny jar of pesto aloft.

"We're saved!"

Austin followed her, wielding a box of digestive biscuits as though he intended to score a cricket run with it.

"Put it DOWN!"

A Dalmatian hared into the room and through to the living room, her tongue lolling and a tricolour spaniel raced after her, barking loud enough to drown out Becca's song about impending apocalypses.

Laughing at the chaos that had broken in, Twitch stood up. She shot Alec a faintly apologetic look. She wasn't sure why, but their conversation felt unfinished. He smiled easily, ducking as a digestive sailed over his head.

"I'll fetch Chess," Twitch said, slipping around the fighting and out the door.

...

Alec watched her go, closing the cookery book and pocketing his phone. Austin had started pouring pasta into the pot and Becca was unloading their temperamental dishwasher. His mind was on the conversation that had been thoroughly broken up, and the silver-grey of Twitch's eyes as she gave him permission to keep sending that picture. It was true that Matt and Joel's attempts to guess who the girl was were funny at times (wishful at others) but a part of why he resolutely refused to tell them, was because he was waiting. Waiting until he could give a different answer than the one he'd have to give now.

---

Terrible stuff. A sketchy speedpaint turned into this and a quick drabble to go with it turned into a whole chapter. Too many thoughts and ideas tonight.

Anyway...

I think skies may be my new favourite thing, guys. I never would have thought I'd have so much fun painting them, but I do. Even my awful clouds are a lot of fun to try getting right (if mostly failing).

There was some quite specific lighting in the reference photo I used, so I had a go at it, because it was lovely, but I'm not sure it totally worked. I'm aware my lighting needs workd, though Other than that, this was just a bit of fun that took far longer than planned. I'm now going to bed

Time - a few hours
Refs: This for the characters - fav.me/dlcmno and this for the sky - best-wallpaper.net/wallpaper/1…
Characters, story and art copyright to *Tattered-Dreams
Do not take, copy, edit, redistribute or manipulate.