Paige gave a laugh. "Yeah, true. I actually enjoy doing that. Then again the only people I punch deserve it." Smirking, she hopped off the bike and removed her helmet, watching as Kiva locked it up.

She merely smiled, though the reference went way over her blond little head."Sounds like an idea to me~" She replied, heading into the park, just slow enough for Kiva to walk with her. "Anyplace in mind, or are we just walking?"

Kiva smiled as she fell into step next to Paige. "I was thinking just walking. I've found not having a destination in mind makes it more relaxing." She slipped her sketchbook out of her pack as they walked, but left her pencils inside for now; her claws tapped a little against the back of the book as she found herself looking at the branches of the park's trees, then at the ground.

"Been here for years and I still can't believe how little it snows around here..." she commented faintly, then shook her head and chuckled. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you..." Trudging through feet of snow in minus forty temperatures? Not exactly the highlight of her childhood.

Paige nodded lightly, though she didn't really understand the whole 'snow' and '40 below freezing' concepts. Then again, that was with good reason. "Yeah, I need to relax today, that's for sure," she replied with a small shrug.

"I can't wait to see you draw, but I really wouldn't know about 'snowing so little.' You know, California girl. All I know is I hate cold and snow is cold so...guilt by association. Oh, and I'm serious about looking you up at work one day. Just not sure what I'd want, heh." She gave a slight shrug. Her parents hated the idea of her having a tattoo, but...they were all the way in California.

Kiva smiled and chuckled at the reminder that Paige was from California. "Well, let's put it this way. You know how snowflakes look all light and fluffy? Get a few feet of them and they're not so light anymore." She shrugged. "Can't say I miss it, but it makes nearly anywhere I could end up seem mild in comparison."

Except for the arctic, but you weren't getting her anywhere near the land of permafrost, no siree. She practically shuddered at the thought, and instead just gave a small shake of her head to banish it. "As for tattoos, I can lend you a book full of designs sometime for you to flip through, if you want. Help give you some ideas..."

She trailed off as she caught sight of one of the park's larger trees, and she suddenly veered toward it. Kiva didn't look over to see if Paige was following her, and simply walked up to the tree and looked up at its branches for a couple of seconds. "Hmm..." She lightly tapped one of the lower branches with the end of a claw. "Hey, Paige, can you stand in front of this tree and kinda...reach up your hand and touch this branch here? Right at the base?"

The dragon mutant backed up a little to give her new friend room to actually do such if she agreed. It wasn't a complicated pose, but she thought it might look good, if she could get the sketch of it to look right.

Paige merely nodded at the conversation, understanding, at least to an extent. After all, today was the first time she'd even seen snow. Then, she blinked at Kiva's request, then remembered what the'd talked about and her face lit up. "Sure," She replied, walking over to the tree, reaching up and grabbing the bottom branch, as instructed.

She sort of instinctively put her other hand on her hip, not quite 'sexy' or 'provocative,' but more naturally and not like she was told to. "Like this?"

Kiva smiled when Paige took a pose. She hadn't had anything in mind for her to do with her other arm, so she left her to put it in the pose most natural for it. She nodded. "Yeah. Just, kinda...turn your head so you're looking at the branch, but not taking all your attention off my direction..."

That was all the further direction she gave however, before she grabbed an art pencil and got to work. She roughed out the general shapes of Paige and the tree first, then started on the details. "Forest sprite..." she mumbled to herself. How to translate Paige into a forest sprite?

With a rapidly-moving pencil, details started to take form, and further, smaller details solidified the image. She took Paige's hair and extended it, letting it topple to nearly her waist with smooth pencil strokes, and she gained slender, pointed ears. Kiva added vines to the tree, made some of them wind their way around the hand Paige had on the branch. But that wasn't enough.

The sketch of Paige gained clothing that better suited a fantasy setting, but wasn't some kind of plant-clothing like a cartoon fairy. No, this was a tunic and pants, with a belt and boots that were supposed to be made from a soft leather. No gloves, though; the hand touching the tree was bare.

She looked more elven than anything, though. The 'sprite' quality wasn't there. Kiva frowned and paused. Maybe she should have gone with the plant clothing. No, as much as some folks liked it, she liked to mess with expectations. This sprite dressed like the humans of the land...

She glanced backward. She was wearing her coat, but it didn't matter. Wings. Of course. She looked back the sketchbook and went back to work. Two long 'stalks' made up the top and bottom of each wing, and one was through its center. The thin membrane between the stalks would be transparent, she decided, and she gave them a slightly jagged-looking edge, almost slightly tattered.

Kiva smiled broadly at Paige. "Okay, you can move. Just give me a sec and I'll show it to you." She started going over the 'final' lines of the sketch with her pencil to darken them, then held it for her new friend to see. "It's kind of rough...but what do you think?"

Despite all the changes she made in the details, the sprite was still very clearly Paige; Kiva hadn't modified her face or body type at all. Nor had she made any changes to the shape of the tree despite the addition of vines.

Paige obeyed, holding perfectly still as Kiva drew her. This was a first for her, and she had to admit she rather enjoyed it. Then, came the wait as Drake added the extra details, apparently going through the actual 'transforming' process now.

Finally, the shifter walked over, looking at the sketchpad. Her eyes widened and her lips curled into a smile. "Rough? I love it!" she practically squealed. "You've got some real talent. If I ever decide what I want, I'm definitely calling you for my tattoo," she said sincerely, still grinning.

Kiva's face heated up, and she glanced away when Paige complimented her artistic talent. "Well, now you've gone and made me blush," she mumbled, though there was no visible colour on her cheeks due to her thick scales. Of course, she got compliments aplenty on her artwork, but she'd never quite gotten used to it. "But...thanks. I'm glad you like it."

She chuckled, flipping the sketchbook closed. "I've been doing this since I was about...thirteen or fourteen. Not long after..." She gestured a little at herself. "Y'know, this whole thing..." There was no negative emotion in her voice when she acknowledged her mutated appearance, though her tone wasn't exactly light, either. "Ink and needles are the only thing I make money doing, though. Kinda prefer it that way."

And that brought her train of thought running in a particular direction, and she considered the important question a moment before she voiced it. "Hey, when I'm actually done the painting of the forest sprites...you think you'd be interested in having it? I mean, if you don't like it when it's done, that's cool, but I've already got a bunch that are my favourites that I have up around my apartment so..."

Paige grinned. "Hey, I may not be an artist, but as a musician, I can relate. I've played guitar since I was six. Well, I started trying when I was six. I was nine before I could remotely do anything slightly decent." She giggled a little.

"Yeah, I understand. I make all my money in a coffee shop, and let's face it, I hate coffee." She sighed softly. "Me? Keep it? Sure! It'd add some life to my cruddy apartment," the girl said lightly with a small shrug.

Kiva grinned a little when Paige said she'd take the painting. "Great. I'd hate to have to just put it in storage or something." Knowing that her newest painting would have a home when it was finished seemed to immediately heighten her mood by a few degrees, and she looked pretty cheerful as she moved to continue their walk.

"Guitar, huh?" she added, as that part sunk in. "Be cool to hear you play sometime, if you'd be up for it." She held back the urge to laugh, though a little snicker did escape her, as the next thought struck her. "Though, before you answer that...I may make an attempt to sing if you do...and I kinda end up sounding like a male country singer or something. Just fair warning."

'Or something' was probably the better description. While her deep voice was not grating to the ears when spoken, she really didn't have much in the way of capability of singing.

Paige nodded, smiling. "I'd definitely hang it in my apartment. It'd liven the place up quite a bit. Trust me. It needs a little life." Paige gave a nod and walked with her. "Yep, guitar. I can play acoustic or electric. I had the idea to play in the park for tips on the side, but I haven't gotten around to actually doing that yet, heh."

She giggled, trying to picture Kiva singing, and she really couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing, though she assumed the latter. "Well if it helps I can improvise pretty good," the shifter replied with a wink.

Kiva thought for a moment when Paige mentioned playing for tips. "I've seen buskers do pretty well before," she commented, faintly. Her reply to her comment on singing, however, caused the blonde's giggle to be joined by a deep laugh. "Well, it'd take some improvising to make me sound any good..."

Kiva trailed off and her expression turned thoughtful. The stud in her pierced tongue clicked against her teeth a couple of times as she considered the thought rolling around in her skull. Finally, with the thought of 'why not?' she cleared her throat a little and launched into a...demonstration of sorts.

"If you're going through hell,
Keep on going.
Don't slow down,
If you're scared don't show it.
You might get out,
'Fore the Devil even knows you're there.

Yeah, if you're going through hell,
Keep on moving.
Face that fire,
Walk right through it.
You might get out,
'Fore the Devil even knows you're there..."

Kiva's singing voice was a deep baritone, and she indeed sounded both masculine and fairly country, along with being...off. A clearly-untrained, lacking-in-range-of-tone kind of off, for the most part, mostly because she was making an active attempt not to show Paige the worst of it. She chuckled faintly after singing those lines. "I am such a prairie girl..." she mumbled, only half-intending for her new friend to actually hear it.

Paige chuckled as Kiva started singing, blushing a little. Okay that was...well it wasn't horrible but it wasn't exactly good either. The blond shifter coughed, looking at her. "I mean if I improvise music, it has no words so you can't sing along," she murmured. "It was kinda supposed to be a joke, heh."

She fidgeted awkwardly for a moment, then decided for a random subject change. "So...you know I can change into more than just a spork? Though...anything electronic won't work. But hey, makes good for a game of hide and seek, no?" she giggled a little.

Kiva just looked amused at Paige's reaction, particularly with the rapid shift in topic. She didn't fight it, just chuckling softly to herself. She'd more-or-less realized what Paige had meant, and had certainly known she was kidding, but the dragon-like mutant had had...something of an ulterior motive, linked to her choice of song.

If you're going through hell, keep on going....

She tilted her head a little at Paige's description of her mutation. "That's cool. I really haven't met any shapeshifters before." she said. Well, she hadn't met them knowingly, at least; as Paige had just pointed out, it made for a good way to hide.

"My mutation's basically just what you see is what you get. Big and scaly." She nearly said 'big and ugly' instead, but she really didn't want to sound like she was fishing for pity. She chuckled as she added, "Well, the 'scaly' part's my mutation, anyway. The height's because of my Irish blood, and I earned the muscles." There was a hint of pride, just a hint, as she mentioned her musculature.

Kiva shrugged off her coat and draped it over her arm, letting her small wings unfurl and stretch. She loved jackets, but she needed to let her wings move every once and while. Struck by a little, curious thought, she looked at Paige after the motion and voiced it. "Can you do things with...mechanical parts, and have those work? Like simple wind-up toys or something?"