Young Writers Society

James glanced over at the water, taking in a deep breath. The thought was nice, but he was still a little on edge. Dressing down and getting the water felt too vulnerable. He couldn't run, or fight, or defend himself as quickly or as easily if he was caught off guard, bathing in the river.

It sounded silly - and he knew it might if he were to say it out loud - so he kept it to himself.

"Maybe tomorrow," he said, even though he had no plans of doing so. "It is quite beautiful, though."

He paused, and looked to the waterfall, and then to Evaline.

"Is there a lot in nature that you haven't seen?"

Evaline pursed her lips at his response, suddenly realizing that she probably comes off as a reclusive person who hardly ever stepped outside. James was a nature man, so in comparison, his experiences and sights toppled hers.

"Compared to you, probably," she said, deciding to say the thought out loud. "But I lived in a closed environment for most of my life. I know Earth has most of the nature here in Nye."

She paused, her gaze falling down to the fire. "I just haven't had the chance to see any of it."

James nodded slowly and looked around, scanning the trees and the area around them thoroughly before he looked back to Evaline.

"Would you like to?"

Evaline raised an eyebrow, looking up at James, then at the waterfall, then back at James. "What do you mean?" she asked before glancing around their surroundings. "Is there something else nearby?"

James met Evaline's eyes and smiled. "Yeah."

He pointed to his head. "If you use your memory power, I can show you."

Evaline wanted to groan at the bad joke, but her interest was piqued just enough that she didn't display a proper reaction at first.

Memory power, right. She could do that. In Earth, she didn't even utilize it that often because it was a niche mutation that only seemed to help people remember strong memories, which didn't happen often in the first place. She was having a tough time processing that James wanted to show her something with no real purpose other than he thought she would enjoy it.

"I -- uh -- okay," she finally sputtered out. "You mean, you don't need help remembering? You just want to... show me?"

James nodded. "Yeah. I just want to show you. If you want to see."

Evaline hesitated. It felt strange to use her power this way, and although she had no reason to be on guard around James, she couldn't help but feel wary of his intentions.

"Okay," she finally said, nodding and scooting closer to him. "Ready?"

She reached out to gently touch his shoulder.

The memory ended, but Evaline didn't let go of James right away. It was silly, but she wanted to hold on to him just a little longer in hopes that the feelings from the memory would stay, just a little longer.

She felt an inspiring awe and wonder on top of being blissfully happy that could only be felt as a child. It felt nostalgic. It reminded her of her youthful years when she and her friends would be at "the edge of the world," as they liked to call it, and watch the artificial sun set. But it felt so much more different to be watching a real sun over real hills, and on top of that, have a parent by your side, providing unending love.

She finally let go as the feelings already started to subside. "Thank you," she breathed out through a smile. "It was beautiful."

She paused for a moment, her smile slowly fading. "Your sketchbook," she said, gesturing towards Elliot. "May I?"

James opened his eyes and took in a deep breath. The happiness swelling in his chest was one he hadn't felt in a very, very long time, and he couldn't help but feel torn. Part of him wanted to hold onto it as long as it would last, but the other half of him knew it would fade, and cynically wanted to forget it.

It took him a moment to register what Evaline was asking, but he nodded.

"Oh - sure. Yes," he said, without fully processing what Evaline even planned to draw. The sunset, maybe? He got up and fetched his sketchbook and pencil from his saddlebag and brought it over to Evaline, opening to another empty page near the back.

Evaline took the sketchbook from James, wiping the page from any possible dust as she briefly closed her eyes to concentrate on the memory she just saw. She didn't have much time to absorb the picture, but she had been taught over and over to focus and study the details so she could recreate it. Even though James probably wanted her to sit back and just enjoy the view, she couldn't help it. It was instinct.

She twirled the pencil around her fingers a few times before letting it flit across the paper, hurriedly drawing the picture in her mind before she would forget. Her face was scrunched up in determined focus, even if the pencil was a bit dull and the paper was more rough than she was used to.

Minutes passed, and silence fell between them. The fire cackled as the sounds of the pencil vigorously scratching the paper was heard, accompanied with the white noise of the waterfall nearby. It was rather peaceful, just the two of them next to each other with the waning feelings of happiness, neither of them focusing too much on the other.

The sounds of the pencil moving across the paper stopped. Evaline tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, eyes focused on one part of the drawing like she wasn't fully happy with it.

"James," she called, still looking at her drawing. "Look at me for a second."

She looked up at him but only made eye contact for a brief moment. Instead, she focused on the other features of his face to absorb every little wrinkle, dimple, freckle. She only really quickly studied faces when using her power, and although she had been around James enough that she could draw him without a reference, this was the first time she'd be studying the small details of him. The last time she drew a person in front of her was when she was learning how to draw; it felt weirdly strange and vulnerable to study a friend.

"Tilt your head, just a little, like this," she said, imitating what she wanted. "And push your hair back a little -- yeah, like that. And... smile."

She actually didn't need to see any of these things, but she wanted to see if the tough and mighty James would model for her. She had to suppress a goofy smile as she pretended to draw his hair and dimples, but at this point, she already memorized them.

"Okay," she said after a few more moments, looking down at her drawing with a look of approval. "Done."

She flipped the sketchbook around so it was facing him, and on the page were two headshot sketches of James. One was what he currently looked like now, and the other... well actually, if you looked at it closely, it wasn't James at all.

It was his father.

"I know you didn't request this, but I thought you'd like to have a drawing of your father," Evaline said sheepishly, handing the sketchbook to him. "I'm not sure if you realize this, but he's the spitting image of you now. I did my best to highlight the differences."

She almost blurted out how exactly they differed, but stopped while she was ahead, looking up at James a bit nervously, not knowing if this was something he wanted.

James had a feeling he was being used as a reference once he was asked to pose, and he had a gut feeling about what Evaline was drawing.

It still felt different when he finally saw it.

He stared down at the two drawings with his eyebrows drawn together and he looked at every little detail. His mother had always told him that he looked so much like his father, but neither his mother nor his father had seen him grow into adulthood. James had always felt like, because of where his life ended up going, that he didn't really resemble his father anymore in any sort of way. His father had been a warm and kind man. A loving husband, family man, and a caring and attentive father to his children.

James was none of those things. He was just an outlaw.

But he couldn't deny the truth that he and his father shared so much of the same face. There were little differences, sure. He had his mother's dimples, and his features were just a little sharper, but... it had been so long since he'd seen his father's face. Even longer than he'd seen Larrel's.

He held the sketchbook close and brushed his fingers lightly over the page, afraid to smudge Evaline's work and ruin the image of his father.

"Thank you," he said softly. "This is really thoughtful of you. I'll treasure this, just like your picture of Larrel. Really."

He paused, leaving the journal open in his lap as he looked at his father's soft smile again. He didn't really want to look at his own face - he'd seen enough depictions of himself on posters, and even though none of them had been smiling, like this one, it still felt strange.

He looked up at Evaline.

"You're a really talented artist," he said. "How long have you been drawing?"

Evaline smiled warmly. She sometimes felt like a burden to James, utilizing his resources and slowing him down without being able to offer much in return. It felt nice to contribute, even if it's something without much utility.

"Thanks," she said in reply, scooting back so she was across from him again. Although he complimented her skills, it didn't feel like much of a compliment because it was expected of her to be good at drawing faces. She didn't feel insecure about her drawing skills anymore because of the never ending training when she was young. At this point, it felt like a second instinct.

"I've been drawing since I was very young. As soon as I was able to pick up a pencil, I was drawing," she said flatly as she replayed her earliest memories in her head.

It then occurred to her that she sounded like a prodigy who had a passion in drawing at an early age, but that wasn't the case at all. Evaline bit her tongue, wanting to admit this, but knowing that if she did, she'd have to explain her entire childhood. She knew she had to open up, but...

"Let's play a game," she said, leaning back on her hands again. "I say two truths and one lie. You'll have to guess which one is the lie. If you guess right, I go again. If you guess wrong, then you have to say two truths and a lie."

She looked up at James, trying to gauge his reaction. It was a silly game, but it oddly comforted her knowing that she could open up because of a prompt in a game, and not because James asked her.

"What do you think?"

James narrowed his eyes a little, observing Evaline closely with the hint of a smile on his face.

She'd been pretty quiet about herself the last day or so, ever since they talked about the note. He had been mentally preparing questions and ways to subtly guide their conversations to make it easier for her, and he was surprised that she wanted to start with a game of all things. Two truths and one lie. It seemed simple enough, but he wondered if there was a catch to it.

"If I guess wrong, do you have to tell me which one was actually a lie?" he asked. He knew the same would apply to him.