In the Eye of the Beholder

Lily rode home in a bit of a daze. Normally she’d take her time and enjoy the evening air, but anxiety buzzed inside her, worry about all the things she had told Harper and at the fact she had told them at all. It felt like she had had ****, like the words were going to come no matter what. In a short time that felt like hours, she made it to the small two bedroom flat she shared with her American roommate and stowed her bike before heading up the narrow stairs, witch and raven in tow.

“You’re back early, run out of green things to water?” Jennifer Quinn asked teasingly, pulling a strand of her mousy blonde hair from her eyes as she glanced back from her canvas as Lily entered. Brush in hand, the lanky artist gestured around the small pre-war flat at the several houseplants adorning most surfaces. “Though I guess there are plenty more of your plants here. They need your protection from my black thumb.”

“Um ya. Just wasn’t feeling it today I guess.” Lily answered before forcing her mouth closed, afraid whatever had overtaken her earlier would grab her again as she continued to think about her financial struggle and her dwindling bank account. A shift of shadow flitted through the doorway as she shut the door as Eris and Horace joined the two women. “Looks like the new painting is coming along? She’s… interesting,” Lily said, changing the subject to a topic she felt was less likely to result in unwilling ranting.

“Ya. She just sorta came to me,” Jennifer said. She looked back at the large canvas she had set up in their shared front room and at the strikingly beautiful and rather dark looking woman that was forming there.

“Is that…” Horace started.

“Interesting.” Was all Eris had to say as she gazed upon the portrait that held her own undeniable likeness. Eris glanced over at Jen, who appeared to be looking in her direction though the girl did not react to the witch and returned to her work.

The spark jumped.

It arced through the air and into Jennifer with an almost audible buzz. The brush in the artist’s hand jerked and fell to the floor. Both women looked down at the brush and then back up at each other, unsure what they had just felt.

“What was that?” Jennifer asked confused before bending to pick it up. “I think I just got shocked or something. Power surge maybe?” Lily hugged herself as her anxiety grew.

“O-old wiring maybe? I don’t think much has been done to update things here in a long time.” Lily said, trying to reassure herself.

“Huh. Could be. Let’s hope the place doesn’t burn down then.” Jennifer shrugged and turned back to her work, brushing off the weird sensation easily.

Lily, however, was feeling more than just the shock. The bubbling urge to speak was once again making its way to her lips as Eris helpfully intervened in their conversation. No! Not again. Please! Keep your mouth closed, go to your room and never come out. The words came regardless of her protests. “J-Jen, I was wondering. Are you still interested in me posing for you? Maybe for your new nude gallery series you were talking about this morning? I think… I think I’d really like to do it, to be part of your work.”

It was the last thing Lily wanted to say. She had turned down her friend a few times before, even for far less explicit pieces, not wanting to have herself displayed in art for strangers. But the money… the money had been tempting. With it on her mind again it must be what had brought on the question, she decided, her anxiety getting the best of her common sense.

Jennifer put down her brush and turned fully to Lily for the first time since she arrived home.

“Really? You’re interested? You would be perfect but… are you sure? You’d be okay with nudity? I have a good budget, and obviously it would mean more compensation but if you’re not comfortable…”

NO. Say no. Say no and go to your room.

“Yes.” The word was out and Lily was frozen in place. “I’m interested.” A cold shiver ran down her back. This wasn’t her, worry about finances or not she wouldn’t agree to this. Would she?

“Are you trying to break her before you even start?” Horace asked, watching the trembling farm girl.

“Break her? Hardly. Just loosening them up a little. Besides, I want to see this one work for a bit.” Eris said, gesturing to Jen. “She’s clearly talented.” Eris finished, though the talent she was referring to had nothing to do with art.

“Okay. Um. Great! I actually have a little bit before I have to go. If you want, I could start now?” Jennifer asked though she was already setting aside her current painting and replacing it with a blank canvas. “Where did I… ah!” Lily watched helplessly, hoping that something critical was missing and the whole thing would get called off. But her unorganized roommate found everything she needed to start and set out a stool in the middle of the small room, with a blanket draped over it.

“There. Undress and I’ll pose you here. This is gonna be fun, you’ll see.” Jen tried to smile reassuringly, patting the stool. She had never actually thought Lily would agree to anything like this, though she had always thought she'd make a fantastic subject. Jen wanted to capture Lily's country girl shyness, awkward but endearing, and she felt doing that with Lily bare and exposed to the world would only strengthen those qualities. Jen hesitated, worried she would ruin the moment and lose her opportunity but she made herself ask. “Are you sure about this? We could do something clothed? With one of your cute cottagecore dresses maybe?”

Eris stepped close behind and tapped Lily on the back just between her shoulder blades, a dark tendril of power sending another stronger shiver down Lily’s back just as she was about to respond. You need this, just... Just do it. The thought both felt as if it were her own and alien at the same time. Lily found herself moving towards the stool, hands already working on buttons and dropping discarding her shirt and pants behind her.

“Oh. Um. Great. Here...” Jennifer helped Lily situate herself on the stool, surprised at her usually shy roommate's suddenly brazen courage. Jen shifted her friend’s shoulders back, Lily’s breasts lifting with the motion and tilted Lily’s head demurely down and away from the perspective of the canvas.

“Okay. I admit your little game is working and leading you to your cast. And while it will be your job to play with the toys, that usually comes after they are brought to the show, Eris. The set isn’t even fully readied and the sand is falling. Let it go, you have six. Pick your master, the actor, the brother, anyone. You couldn’t possibly do worse than that buffoon Colt and his monk. Take the girls now. You’ll still have a couple hours to get things somewhat ready.” Horace said, his feathers puffed in irritation and anxiety.

“No,” Eris said easily as she sat back on the couch and watched the horrified farm girl stay statue still on her seat, unable to cover or hide. The witch didn’t let any of the girl's feelings of humiliation reach her face, though Eris relished in sensing them herself.

Horace was silent for a moment before shaking his head in annoyance. The artist was beginning to work, her attention entirely on her friend as she sketched. The quiet inaction grated on the raven and he piped up again. “Fine. There have been all female casts before. Even better, you can be done now.”

“Relax. There is plenty of time.” Eris said, patting the bird several patronizing times on the head. Horace shied away and then flew from her shoulder entirely, landing instead on the bare shoulder of Lily who made no sign of feeling or noticing the large bird in any way.

“There is not ‘plenty of time’. We have less than two hours now until your deadline.”

“Then I’ll be ready in less than two hours. Now stop talking. Don’t you have any appreciation for the arts?”

Jennifer drew. She worked on several quick gesture drawings first, getting down the pose and capturing the feel more than the figure. It was when she started to add a little detail that she noticed the anomaly. Her hand slowed and then stopped for the first time since she had begun as she looked at her work. _What the fuck? _Lily was there, exactly how she had envisioned and she’d captured her well for a quick gestural sketch. It wasn’t her nude friend that was the issue however. The issue was the bird that sat on her shoulder in each of her drawings.

She looked at her friend, at her shoulder, a shoulder that was completely devoid of any avian of any sort and then back to the distinct and detailed bird on the canvas. Eris glanced at the girl's work and then floated easily over for a closer look, drifting just over Jen’s shoulder.

“Oh my. This one sees perhaps a little too well, Horace. You best move off before she shatters your illusion completely.”

“Seeing through your magic? I thought you a little more accomplished than that, Eris, didn’t you tell me you once froze an entire village in time? I guess age is catching up with you,” Horace quipped as he flew from Lily's shoulder.

“It’s basic invisibility, nothing special. Perhaps we give miss painter a bit of a distraction of her own? It’s only fair.”

“Ha! That’s a laugh. You of all people caring about fair,” Horace said, resettling on the back of a chair just out of line of sight of the still confused artist. Eris reached a finger up to Jen’s temple and began to stir, altering the patterns inside Jen’s mind temporarily. First she made Jen draw a ridiculous looking top hat on the raven's head followed by a small monocle on his eye. It’s the little things. And then gave the girl something entirely different to think about.

Jen lifted her hand to draw and paused, her focus altered and eyes roaming her subject in a completely new way. She sketched slowly at first and then faster, eyes focused on her Lily’s curves, her thighs, her breasts…

What.. what the hell?

Jen froze again as she became aware of what she was doing and her speeding heart. She couldn’t keep her eyes off Lily or control the less than platonic thoughts that ran through her mind. She stared at her friend like a teenage boy seeing his first naked woman. Jen shook her head, closing her eyes hard. Her eyes found their way back to Lily a breath later however. She couldn’t look away long, Lily was just so fucking hot! How had she never noticed before? What is going on? Why do I… mmm. God! Whatever the new energy was, it was something Jen had never felt before and was both unsettling and... exhilarating!

“Let’s… let’s try another pose? If that’s okay?” Jen asked, hiding a sudden quaver in her voice. Lily jumped at the question and strained to say no. She was done. She felt like she’d light the room on fire if she stayed exposed any longer.

“Of course.” Lily heard herself say instead, her hands refusing to let her cover up her tits and her legs remained still when she was begging them to take her anywhere else. “Whatever you think is best.”

“Ok. Great!” Jen moved to her friend in what felt like slow motion.

“You’re like a child playing with dolls.” Horace complained, though Eris was watching the two with amusement.

I’m not about to do this. Jen thought. A minute before she had felt none of this, it was impossible. She briefly considered she may be having a stroke or something but she felt fine otherwise. Heart racing, she turned her friend to face her. “Put your hands back behind you on the stool. Ya, there. Arch your back for me a bit?” Oh my god. Oh my god! Jen’s eyes took in Lily’s body, falling from her boobs and lower to her closed thighs. Lily was fit, though not muscular, a body toned through physical labor rather than specific exercise. Her legs seemed to continue on forever.

Jen reached out, hands suddenly trembling. She placed one on each of her roommate's thighs just above the knee and spread her legs. A little at first but then wider and wider, expecting at any moment for her timid friend to slap her or tell her to stop. Lily’s portrait that Jen had envisioned as a demure exposure became an in-your-face, hold nothing back, damned near pornographic pose. Jen turned away, face on fire, and hid herself behind her canvas. _You’ve lost your goddamn mind! Why did you do that? She looks… nnnnggghh. FUCK. _Guilt almost stopped her from picking up her brush but it just felt so good to look at her. Just.. just go with it. She wants you to… Jen started to paint, letting whatever was happening happen and feeding off the nearly electric energy.

“These two blind little mice have no idea what is about to happen to them, none of these baby witches do for that matter,” Eris commented. “Both so flustered by what? A little nudity… a little arousal? I am going to enjoy watching them squirm all season.”

“Let’s hope you’re not the only one who will enjoy it,” Horace huffed, his nerves approaching their limit.

Jennifer’s phone unexpectedly began to beep loudly, causing her to almost knock over her sketches and breaking the mood of the room. Eris let both her spells drop with the sound of the alarm. With an almost audible clack Lily’s legs slammed closed and she fell off the stool in her haste to cover up. Jen fumbled with her phone, suddenly very dizzy and confused, her raging physical attraction to Lily snuffed out like a candle

“Shit! I’m going to be late.” Jen rushed to put her stuff to the side and then was gone down the hall. She reappeared a moment later with one of her newest completed paintings. “Bag. Where is my bag? Keys… fuck. There! Uhhh. Can you grab the door?”

“S-sure,” Lily answered, pulling the last of her clothing back on and swearing to herself that she’d never take them off again. “That’s your friend from Salem, right? The Tik Tok girl… the cosplayer?” She asked, nodding towards the painting under Jen’s arm as she opened the door in an attempt to distract herself from the scream she felt building inside at what had just happened.

“Huh? Oh! Yes. Corrine posed for this. She’s amazing. She’s in Boston now though.” Jen held up the painting awkwardly as they both stood in the doorway. The painting was of a black woman kneeling in the center of a white chalk pentagram, a snake coiling down from her neck and towards a bound voodoo doll. Candles glowed all around the circle and reflected off her dark skin. Jen looked at the woman she’d painted, her body much curvier and fuller than the one who’d just driven her wild. Cheeks pink, she hurriedly tucked the painting away, not wanting to examine her feelings close enough to see if the alien attraction was truly gone.

Eris watched the spark sputter and flicker within the artist as it crossed the mental bridge Jen had created by thinking of her friend. Eris frowned. Something with the next girl causing it to misbehave? Still, the link seemed secure. Eris gestured and Horace joined her once again as they followed her magic across the ocean once again.