ArchivedLogs:Freedom Flips

Freedom Flips
Dramatis Personae Alex and Nic	2017-03-19 Art isn't about reproducing what's outside, but showing what's inside
Location <WES> Croton Gorge Park - Westchester
Westchester isn't a particularly warm place at the moment, with dustings of snow still piled over the ground. Croton Gorge Park, as such, is bare of the rush of people who tend to flock there during nicer weather. A few people are scattered across the large park, mostly hiking with dogs, one somewhat futily fishing in a half-frozen pond. Sitting bundled up in a tattered looking windbreaker and a hood pulled over his head, at the edge of one of the rock climbing cliffs, Alex is sitting and staring out over the park, legs hanging over the edge. A sketchpad sits in his lap, and a colored pencil is in his hand as he starts adding some color to the outlines of the landscape on the page. The park is one of Nic's favourite places to go for a cool down after training, a climb seemed like a good way to change up his cool down routine from his usual jog, he makes his way over to the cliff edge and peers down. Spotting Alex nearby he looks over at him and asks "You climb? How tough is it?" He notices the sketchpad "Oh you're drawing not climbing?" Alex jumps at the sound of Nic's voice, turning his head in a whip-fast motion that makes him have to grip the surface of the rock to keep from falling off the cliff. This causes him to drop his pencil where it bounces once against the rock, then soars down to the ground to land in the snow beneath. "Jesus," Alex says, breathing quickly, peering down at the pencil and then back up towards the newcomer. Kohl-darkened eyes peer out at Nic from under Alex's hood, one hand still clinging to the rock. "Sorry; didn't hear you coming. Yeah, I was just..." Alex gestures to the landscape in front of them. "Sketching." "Whoa!" Nic starts to move to grab Alex before he goes over the cliff, but stops seeing that he's not going over the edge. The gymnast sits down next to Alex carefully and peers over "Sorry dude... I didn't mean to startle you." He sighs looking down at the snow beneath "Damn... I guess I ruined the sketching, and made you lose your pencil too. Sorry man." With a sigh he offers his hand "Kind of a sucky introduction, but I'm Nic" Alex glances curiously at the outstretched hand and, after tugging the edge of his sleeve up his wrist, takes the other teenager's hand. "Alex. That's alright, I'll just pick it up on my way out of here. I'll just come up with a different color to use," Alex shrugs his shoulders, and gives Nic a small smile. Alex tugs out small case from inside his hoodie, opening it and selecting another color - a similar but slightly darker shade of blue - before returning the case to its nest. "What are you here for? Just a hike, or...?" "A run I guess" Nic explains with a quick shake of Alex's hand "It's a nice place to go for a jog, and let my muscles cool down after a workout it's a little cooler than I'd like today though." He lightly rubs his arms for some extra warmth "I was considering switching it up with a climb this time, but I'm not sure it's a good time for it... snow slicked rock wall might not be a good idea." Alex looks down the rock wall and then leans back, shaking his head. "Not without equipment. Or, I guess, if you could fly." Alex grins at this, a little wryness in it. "Unless you /wanted/ to break your legs and back. After some workouts I used to do, that might have been an attractive option." Nic chuckles and shakes his head "Nah I think I'll pass on the breaking bones... my trainer is pretty rough, but not that bad." He looks around then shrugs his shoulders "I guess I figured there'd be a place to rent the equipment or something. Oh well, jogging's always worked before." "You jog around here a lot?" Alex asks, curiously. "It looks like this place would be beautiful in the spring..." The hooded teenager turns his gaze out onto the horizon, scanning over the park as if he could see it with leaves on trees and grass growing green unencumbered by snow. "I've never come up here before. It's more... open than I'm used to, these days." "Pretty often yeah, it's nice and close to home and even in the winter much more scenic than just jogging around the block." Nicodemus looks out towards the horizon as well, trying to picture the same scene as Alex "I've only been here for a couple months, so I haven't seen it in the spring, but yeah I can imagine it's pretty awesome." Looking back at Alex's last comment "You stuck in the big city for the most part? Those building can make you feel caged in alright..." Alex nods, half to himself, as he looks down at his drawing and begins sketching once more. Indeed, the scene he's been drawing is a strange mismash of seasons -- spring, summer, fall, winter; a panorama across time as much as across the skyline. "Yeah. And my room doesn't have a particularly great view, either, so it's twice as bad. I spend a lot of time in Central Park; it's better there. Still. Nothing like /this/, of course." "I haven't hit Central Park yet, seems like a good place to visit sometime." Nic takes a peek at the sketch when Alex starts drawing again "Hey, you're pretty good, and looks like you already have a good idea what it looks like in the spring. I like the fall myself" The teen says with a gesture towards a more fall looking portion of the sketch "Looking out over the trees with all the different colours mixing together. Maybe I should bring Dakota up here sometime when there's a little more colour in the air." "Thanks," Alex says, cheeks coloring slightly. "No idea if it actually looks like this. Just guessing. I could be totally wrong." The teenager shifts slightly, stretching his back once before hunching back over the drawing. "Dakota?" Alex asks, glancing back at the other boy. "Girlfriend or dog?" Nic shrugs his shoulders "Doesn't matter how accurate it is, maybe doesn't mean a lot from someone who's not an artist, but an old painting instructor told me 'Art isn't about reproducing what's outside, but showing what's inside' I was never really good enough to do either." The young man laughs softly "Uhh girlfriend, she jogs with me sometimes, but we haven't really sat to take in the view." Alex smiles and nods, pencil carefully shading in the shadows of leaves along one of the trees. "Your painting teacher was a very wise man." Alex pulls out the box of pencils once more, switching out to another color and removing a small sharpener. "I'll bet you haven't." His lips move into a teasing grin, lightly flashed at the other man. Alex turns back down to his sketchbook, one hand tugging the hood back down around his head. With a nod Nic says "Yeah, he came highly recommended, I didn't stick with painting very long though... just wasn't my passion I guess." He watches as a new colour is selected "How long have you been drawing?" At the teasing grin Nic colours slightly and shakes his head "Ahh well we only started going out recently, so not like you're implying either." "Uh-huh. That's what they all say." Alex says, grin still hanging on his face. "Oh, I've been drawing since I was a little kid. Charcoal, pencils... I never really got the hang of oil paint though. Except when I was /really/ little and could just smear it all over the walls, I guess. Post-modern art genius." The teenager shrugs his shoulders. "Just a hobby, though. I don't think I'm good enough to do it professionally or anything." With a chuckle Nic shakes his head "Well for another clich that they all say, I guess we're taking it slow." He watches the other boy sketching for a bit "It's a tough gig to get into I guess. It looks to me like someone would pay good money if your sketches are all this good, but I don't know much about art... I was only in that painting class for a couple weeks. Mom had me try out all kinds of different things when I was young." "When you hear 'artist', you think 'starving artist', not 'millionare artist'." Alex says, gloomily. "Thanks, though. It's really nice to hear that. I'm hoping to sell copies of this one, eventually. When it's done." The teenager shrugs his shoulders, glancing back up at the landscape and switching out pencils again. "We'll see. I only sell the ones I'm happy with." Alex glances to the other boy, asking, "what did you end up landing on?" "Yeah... starving artist is the typical term you hear thrown around... Well I wish you luck, and if you decide to sell this one give me shout, I'll take a copy. I can give you my number." Nic grins and stretches before leaning back on his palms "Eventually I found gymnastics, and I guess you could say I stuck the landing. Thus all the training." Alex blinks and flashes a wide smile at Nic. "Sure, I'd love to." He tugs out his phone -- a flip-phone, believe it or not -- and holds it out to Nic after a few button presses. "Gymnastics, huh? I don't think I could ever be that flexible. It's hard enough touching my toes, never mind doing all those /flips/." Alex reaches up to the inside of his hood, scratching at his head for a moment, pulling his hand out slowly and making sure to tug the hood down about his forehead again. "Wow, old school phone, that's pretty sweet" Nic says as he accepts the phone and proceeds to key in his number. "It's easier than it looks." Nic says handing the phone back to Alex "Well it takes a lot of practice and conditioning, maybe I just took to it better than most." He looks curiously towards the other teen as the hood is carefully repositioned again, but he doesn't mention it "All those /flips/, tumbling through the air, makes me feel very free." "Mmm." Alex says, taking the phone back and putting it back in his pocket. "I know that feeling. Weightless, for a moment, before you start to soar back down." This, for some reason, causes Alex to quiet, shadowed eyes staring out on the landscape spread out beneath the two teenagers. Eventually, his eyes drift back down to the page in front of him, though he doesn't immediately put pencil to paper. "Do you do those... bars? High bars, or whatever they're called? I remember trying them once in gym." "Something like that" Nic agrees "Sounds like you must have had a pretty good experience with the kind of 'freedom' I'm talking about, though I don't think you found it in gymnastics." He nods at Alex's question "Oh yes, the high bar, the parallel bars, pommel horse, I try to practice a variety of events. The high bar seems like a difficult one to start with though." "Yeah, not exactly in gymnastics. Mostly, of what I remember of gymnastics, there was a lot of falling and not balancing very well." Alex shoots Nic an innocent looking grin. "It was during a 'try all the events' thing back in junior high. Not many people actually successfully /did/ anything on them. Except, I guess, falling off. That, we all managed." "Well I guess learning to fall is both very important and one of the first things to learn in gymnastics." Nic smiles back at the artist. "Eventually you get better at the balancing and other stuff." He picks himself up, and brushes himself off "Well I better get going, my trainer's going to have kittens if I keep her waiting much longer. Give me a call when you finish the drawing." He offers his hand again "It was great to meet you Alex, we'll meet up later yeah?" "Yeah, definitely." Alex takes the other boy's hand quicker this time, grabbing it and giving it a firm shake. "Good luck with the rest of your practice." With that, Alex turns back towards the landscape, and the tetraptych in front of him.