Mel took the book, tucking some of her brightly colored hair behind her ear. She opened it up and leafed through. Immediately, both eyebrows went up. This was impressive. He was good.
He was, like, the kind of good that would make him remembered. Artists always had bad ruttin' luck with that. They weren't famous until hundreds of years went... by...
She stopped on one page, a little shocked.
She was looking at a drawing and notes, and it was very well-done, but that wasn't the issue. It was that she knew this piece. She'd seen it, and once upon a time, she'd grabbed it from the Haddyn Art Museum. She'd admired it, too, and kinda wanted to keep it. But it was worth more sil than she'd rake in in a month, otherwise.
It was perfect, the drawing. She knew exactly what she was looking at. If she remembered right, it was called "Beast," once it was finished. And it ended up a sculpture.
It was indeed a beast, something between feline and lupine, leaning over a figure of a sleeping woman. One paw was raised with claws extended. She'd always thought the beast was attacking, but looking at the sketch now and the notes, Mel could see it was protecting the woman. And the woman's hand was outstretched, touching the beast's other paw. The beast's claws were extended but covering her for protection, not in rage.
But he was talking to her. She looked up from the sketch, setting the book down and looking back at Julian.
Mel shook her head. "School's not really my thing," she said. She already had a life-long job. And she was already a good thief. Maybe there were things she could focus on to make grabbing and slaying better. Was there a way to major in fighting?