Andie found herself alone again in the Library and wandered back to the obscure antique book collection, but wasn't being drawn to look at it just then and turned back to the main area. That was when she noticed the sketchbook under Cissy's stack of other books. It was positioned just so that she couldn't really see it from the other side where she had been sitting. She knew she probably shouldn't, but she wanted to sneak a peek anyway so she moved the pile in such a way so as to be able to make it look like she hadn't touched it, or at least she hoped it would look like that when she put it back.
The initial sketches were rough, but amazing. Lots of partly done pieces, WIPs of some thing or another. Heads, hands, claws, talons, wings, all arrange randomly like she was just focusing on one thing at the time and none of them went with the same body part. Then she turned a few pages in.
The first full sketch was still just pencil or ink, she wasn't sure, but the detail was beyond amazing. Andie had only seen sketches like this in the best books they sold or from the top artist's posters and other pieces. Page after page was filled with another masterpiece. She was moving along quickly so she could make sure to get the book back before Cissy returned, until she turned the page one more time. She stopped and almost dropped the sketchbook, but caught herself before she did something else stupid.
She stared at the page for a lot longer than the others because she saw a familiar face staring back at her. It wasn't exact, but then there was no way she could have had the time to be able to study the original. There was no mistaking what she saw before her as Fran's Vixandriel. And the only way for her to even have an idea who that was would have been from seeing it at the shop, which made Andie fairly certain that it was her that was at the shop the other night in the dark hoodie with the sketch book. Unfortunately, the latest discovery caught her eye for far too long and she caught a whiff of an odd mix of Cissy's essence and wasabi.
"Have to settle for spicy tuna rolls. The chef is saving some of the other tuna for later tonight, but had enough of the end pieces to make a couple rolls, then added in a little veggie California one. Hope you like wasabi, I asked for extra." Narcissa announced lunch just as Andie turned. The look she got implied lunch might be cut short, or her life, either one seemed to be on the table, along with the lunch tray as it was slammed in place destroying the creative display the chef had worked on. "Who gave you permission to just go through my things and invade my privacy like that?"
Narcissa stormed over to Andie to wrest the sketchbook from her unworthy hands and stood there clutching it to her chest, a chest that had been nicely on display for Andie earlier as the tightness of her top clung to her nicely proportioned figure. Narcissa was generally so upstaged by her mother's wardrobe that Andie had spent so little time appreciating her for herself.
"Well?"
"Sorry. Curiosity got the better of me and I should have asked, but I assumed you would just say no anyway." Andie said apologetically.
"You're right. I only share these with my closest friends." Narcissa replied, obviously angry and violated.
"So, no one really, based on how your mom sounds." Andie said without thinking. "That's not fair of me."
"No, but sadly not inaccurate." Narcissa replied, seeming to cool down slightly. "And mother doesn't really care or count."
"They're really good." Andie said trying to cheer her up and beg for clemency from the executioner. "And I've seen a lot of fantasy art, both erotic and not."
"You mean pornographic, don't you, in your case at least." Narcissa said with a slight look of disgust shot in Andie's direction that slowly turned to a wry smile as she couldn't hold it any longer.
"Got me, yeah, erotic, pornographic as well as normal art then." Andie chuckled, hoping the break was a good sign. "Seriously, though, your art is amazing and you should really follow that passion if you enjoy it."
"Mother will have none of it. I'm not sure what she was expecting with me growing up in a family like ours and in this house. Aside from a lifetime of therapy, what other legacy could it leave or inspire me to become? To be accused of being a witch or worse like half the townspeople say of my aunts and anyone else. They have Horace pegged as a vampire or something. He's the sweetest man you'd ever meet." Narcissa opened up more than Andie could have mentioned and felt herself making a connection she never would have thought was there.
"I'll just say this instead of acting on it, but I kind of want to give you a hug right now, as it feels like you could use it. From a friend and not just from your mom or something like that." Andie was treading lightly trying not to end up with totally scorched earth after she felt like they were finally talking like friends.
"I'm not sure I wouldn't not like that right now." Narcissa tried to say what she meant, but wasn't sure she got it right. She wasn't the one good with words, but pictures yes. "Mother isn't really a hugger either. Well, not those kinds of hugs at least."
Andie felt herself warm in a couple different ways and wasn't sure who or which was causing what. She tried to parse out the double double negatives in Narcissa's reply and thought she got it and moved over to give her a tiny hug to start. When she got a much bigger hug back, she fell into it more. They stayed there like that for a few long moments, long enough that Andie wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed, but her stomach growled at the smell of the sushi and interrupted them.
"Hungry?" Narcissa asked, but her eyes said something about more than just food. Andie thought she was just reading too much into it and decided she did need food, but would let the current moment sit for a while until she could start on a little better footing than the current invasion of privacy scandal; sketch-gate.