THEOS ACADEMY //.b.s.

tessera ; lampsi

FOR A TOTAL OF TEN MINUTES, it was quiet. I kept spraying and she switched to paint sets, painting all over the walls that held specks of gold. I looked over and saw she was painting a mural -- I'm not sure if I should call it that since this wall wasn't really made for a mural. Either way, I couldn't take any more of this silence.

"So... uh, you like... painting?" I nearly slapped myself upside the head with how stupid I sounded. I like how that's the thing I say and not anything else. Nevertheless, she continues to paint. "...yeah, I painted ever since a child actually -- it's a really calming experience..." I noticed how calm she was while painting, she didn't even seem to be worried about anyone coming to catch us.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking too -- what are you painting, exactly?" She stopped painting, the paint set still in her firm grip and her brush still in her hand but she looked up at me with a blank face and then allowed a small grin to slip upon her face. "You'll see."

I blinked and nodded as I went back to spraying the can. I was currently focused on trying to make a middle finger, not as if I knew how to do how. I heard the sound of jostling keys and whistling in the distance along with the sound of something moving. I looked up and saw Artemis had stopped her painting.

She relaxed and continued to her painting.

I frowned and nudged her and she looked up at me from under her very long eyelashes. "Hm?" I blinked away the blood rushing into my cheeks. "Someone might be coming -- aren't you going to do anything?" She grinned at me, I was confused. "Don't worry, no one's coming -- at least I don't think anyway,"

She continued to explain. "You see, the seniors love pulling this shit --" I flinched at her cursing and she scratched her neck. "Sorry, stuff," Artemis looked back at the hall. "They know freshman do this every year and they prank them into stopping like making them believe the janitors are around or thinking someone part of the staff is gonna catch them, except a good group of the staff outside of the servers and secretaries and all that jazz aren't around until next week."

"S...so, no one's actually here and aren't going to catch us?" I reply slowly because in all honesty -- that's all I could get out of that. "Yeah, guessing they're going to try again this year, but I think they know we're not that easy to mess with, so..." I nod and continue my spraying. I couldn't help but wonder if we actually would get in trouble, I looked around for any inconveniences or anything out of the ordinary.

Artemis places the brushes and paint down and begins to pink spray paint and spray it on her master piece.

"What happens if we get caught?"

I pause to look at her in the eye as she grips the pink graffiti can. Her black hair strands danced as she turned around. Her plump pink lips darkened by the dark room. I could've sworn I had seen a smile on her face, but it was too dark to see.

"I'll protect you."

I blinked. I wasn't believing what I was hearing. "So you'll protect me from a bunch of much older and wiser gods, that could beat us in seconds?" She grinned. "Don't underestimate me, that hurts!" Artemis chuckled. She had a hearty laugh, it was really beautiful. "I'm not saying I'd win, but I'd protect you -- okay? I'll make sure your name isn't even in it even if you helped me out."

"Yeah but -- why? One, you barely know me, and two, you'd be taking all the blame for someone like me." There was silence for a bit, and then she turned to say, "Don't worry it's fine, I can see by the way you look you don't look like you get into trouble, so I'm practically doing you a favor,"

I blinked and thought it over. She was right, I had too much to lose to be caught anyway. I felt as though I was spray painting for an hour once I heard a spray paint and something else drop into a bag and zip up. I looked down and sat down my spray can and watched as she took everything into the bag, and Artemis stepped back.

She stared at the wall we practically ruined, I noticed she wasn't looking directly at the wall but rather -- what she had painted. It was a bit dark so I couldn't see, but I could make out the silhouette of the back of a naked body with her hair swept to the side of her neck and I saw red on the back of the figure's body, the letters intelligible.

"What do you think?" She asks. "I can't read it well," I respond back. And she blinks. "Ah, you'll probably be able to see it better in the morning," She hesitates. I stare at her while she stared at her art, her cold blue eyes seemed so deep I wished to fall into them, and then, suddenly-

I heard the jostling and jingle of keys and humming of a person. Artemis' head snapped to the left and she put a protective arm over my shoulder, blinking up at her, she pulled me to the side of the wall and into a nearby door.

"I thought you said nobody would be here!" I protested, and she sighed, running her fingers through her midnight black hair. "Sorry, I forgot the guards would be around-" She paused and looked at me, putting a lock of my snowy white hair behind my ear.

"I can get you out of this, hold on." I blinked as Artemis' closed her eyes and began to mutter something in a language hard to decipher. A black glow overtook us and I felt the ground moving and changing as it turned out we were outside of my dorm room.

How strange, how did we leave so fast? I inspected my surroundings closely, finally turning around, I noticed Artemis' had disappeared from my line of sight.