My one shots

Newfound artistic freedom

It's only been around one month, yet so many things have happened. So many appalled looks which came his way, from young and old alike. Yet, Dominic has felt not an ounce of remorse for his actions. And frankly, he doesn't believe he should. Because as he's openly shown his love for art, he's met people. People who he was most grateful for. It was a boy and a girl; their names were Atticus and Charlotte.

He met Atticus first, or more appropriately ran into. Of Course they knew each other.  Not by name, but they worked side by side commonly. But the way Dominic remembered his face was once he recalled how Atticus commonly played baseball with the other boys after work. It was only around two days after Dominic's love for art was publicized once Atticus came running to the boy.

It wasn't while they were working, or even when he was playing with the other boys after. They met in the early morning while Dominic was painting in the woods before work hours. And by pure coincidence, they met because they were both looking for the same thing. While Dominic was painting a pod full of geese, Atticus was looking for some animal to make art of, to sculpt.

Atticus was the first to speak between them. He recognized Dominic for his brave display of his love for art. Dominic was surprised, he expected an expression of loathing.  But no, he was met with a look of admiration, one of jubilation.  Dominic wasn't proud of amusing, but he would've assumed Atticus would've never liked any sort of art whatsoever. He seemed like one more interested in sports, and of course he was. But he was more interested in something else, sculpting. And he hid his love for the activity just like Dominic did with his paintings.

And at that, they instantly clicked. They felt like they related with each other, both loving forms of art, but not being able to express it outwardly. At first Dominic's words were so inarticulately spoken with his mumbling, it took a while for them to have a two-way conversation. form but now they can easily hold a conversation between them for hours at a time. They commonly met in early morning, along with late night in order to share their art pieces with each other without other eyes on them. Of course, they interact while they work as well, which has slightly put a distance between Atticus and his other friends. Most of them didn't support Dominic's love for art, they avoided him at all costs. And as Atticus started speaking to him, they started to avoid him as well. But Atticus seemingly didn't care much, as he still spoke with Dominic in whatever situation was appropriate.

Their friendship has been strong ever since they've met, they're quite close. But the same couldn't be said with Charlotte. Charlotte was a conspicuous girl. Whether it be with her clothing or her louder voice, she always attracted attention to herself. Dominic wouldn't label her as "popular" as none of the children were truly popular. He would've labeled the girl more as known. Because she was, she was known as a strong independent girl by the other children, and a vile girl by the elders.

She always tried to worm around the rules the elders have set for the working girls. Her actions of slight rebellion were still noticed by others, however. Whether it be her wearing her hair down when the girls are supposed to have it up while working. Or her denying some orders her mother or father ask her to do. She seemed to wallow in not following rules. So, it makes sense why she came running to Dominic after he openly showed off his love for art.

When they met, she ran into Atticus and Dominic in the woods. She spotted them while they were perfecting their crafts. Dominic painted the deer drinking from the lake, while Atticus was sculpting the scene while sitting on a rock next to Dominic's feet. Charlotte came up to them unannounced, while Atticus was leaning on Dominic's legs. So, once she snuck up on them, almost sent Dominic's paints flying and Atticus' head into the corner of Dominic's easel.

So, their first meeting wasn't a good one. As Charlotte killed the calming atmosphere, startling away the deer. The two boys both looked at her with one of the most disgruntled looks on their faces. But surprisingly, the girl apologized to them. She explained how she loved how Dominic openly shared his love for art, and how she loved his little act of "rebellion". So, she asked how she could make art as well. And that was only around a week ago.

The boys are still wary of her. As her loud speaking and sneaking up on them killed the calming atmosphere they were both used to. But it seems she's trying to stop her yelling while they're in the woods, as Dominic explained to her how she scared away what they were trying to recreate in their art. Dominic was surprised she didn't claim he was just trying to oppress her words. As some of the elders have done the same to her, and that is what she claimed to them.

Either way, Dominic and Atticus started to enjoy her presence. But she only comes to the woods in the afternoons. She never met them for their early or late-night meetings in the forest. Which was surprising as going out too late or early was told to be wrong.  But the boys preferred to keep it that way, as neither of them liked the idea of her yelling in their ears at the late hours at night, or early hours of the morning. And she probably never came at these hours because she was sleeping. She seemingly always shows up late for work in the morning as she sleeps in almost every day. And always seemed to sneak away from assigned late work to go back to her cottage and sleep.

But the boys enjoyed their time together, seemingly not caring if they lost sleep. But sometimes if they're tired enough, their meetings won't be of them sculpting or painting by each other's side. Sometimes they just met up and talked with each other. One time they even fell asleep with them leaning on the tree they sat under. They seemingly slept so late that they were randomly woken up when Charlotte woke them with her usual loud greeting. Which meant they skipped their work for the day, so they would both be reprimanded by the elders along with their parents. But that happened a while ago, so thankfully the three of them can laugh about it now.

Dominic wrote about all of these things in his personal journal. Which he's stopped trying to hide from his parents, they looked through it before, why hide it if they'll just snoop around and look through it again? He wrote about Atticus and his sculptures and how he's progressing on them each day. He writes about Charlotte and what she did to "rebel" against the elders' rules. And of course, how his painting he did and other thoughts which came to his head. Dominic wasn't sure if his parents were reading through his journal entries or not, not that he minded. Because if they were, they didn't care enough to bring it up, so why should he?

Not like his parents talk to him much anymore. Ever since he's admitted his love for art, his parents apparently felt great shame for their son liking such things. They didn't express it through words, actually it was the exact opposite. The newfound silence between them showed his parents disappointment for his actions. The only time they spoke was when his mother asked him to get some groceries from the local market. Dominic thought he would've felt sad, but he doesn't, he feels more relief than anything. Whether it was because his parents overwhelmed him, or that it lifted a weight off his shoulders as he stopped hiding his love for art. He now stopped hiding his paintings under his bed, now happily displaying them on his walls.

His parents even refused to go into his room anymore. As in myths they've been told, going into a room with paintings could curse you somehow. Which Dominic thought was obviously fake and absurd. But his parents didn't, so they didn't even try to get into his room. Wish was a blessing, as Dominic's fear of them destroying his past paintings were demolished.

As Dominic looked back on all the things which have happened ever since he's revealed his art. He wondered why he never did it sooner. Because after he did, he felt happier than he's ever been. One friend whom he can closely relate to and can feel like he could openly share anything with him despite only knowing him for a month. Too a girl who's showing off her determination to not follow rules and openly shares that she's friends with Dominic. To the newfound relief of no longer hiding his passion, no longer hiding how he wanted to make it into a career. To his mother and father no longer being overbearing towards him. The thought of Atticus made him smile. The thought of his newfound freedom made him smile. Just the thought of him now being open made him smile. So perhaps his actions had good consequences rather than the horrible ones his parents suggested would happen. And that thought made him smile.