Title: whimsy
Rating: G
Fandom: twofold
Relationship: Olive Penn/Caprice Shiften
Wordcount: 825
Short summary: Millie’s children’s story meets Caprice, and that changes it into something else on a whim…
“I wanna draw for it? Would that be okay?”
“Well, it is aimed at children so I suppose…”
“We can make a picture book!”
Olive is unsure what they are stumbling into upon their return to their apartment from a shift at the Bellhouse. They aren’t surprised to see Millie there; Millie had been coming over more often after she and Caprice had officially become sisters, to “mooch” off Olive’s cooking. And of course Caprice is here, as she has been living with Olive for the past half-year. But what is all this about drawing and children and books?
“…That’s a great idea actually. I was thinking more about how I wanted to edit the text but maybe seeing some art could help.”
“Yay! This is gonna be great!” Caprice stands up to dance in celebration only to notice Olive’s return. “Hey Ollie, welcome back!”
Olive opens their arms out, ready to receive Caprice’s hug and kiss. It’s over in a flash but it’s enough warmth and love to bring a smile naturally to Olive’s face. The shift at the Bellhouse was rather exhausting today, and thankfully everyone here is okay with their takeout menu because that’s what dinner will be tonight.
“Glad to be home.” Olive smiles. “Hey Millie.” They set the bags of takeout onto the counter. “Ready for dinner?”
“Always!” Caprice starts taking the takeout containers out of the bags while Millie clears up the dining table. Ollie takes a moment to refresh themselves in the bathroom and comes back out to a table already set and two of her favorite people smiling at her.
“Let’s eat! And I’ll tell you all about our project—”
“That Caprice just decided on the fly.” Millie laughs.
Olive laughs as well. “Spontaneous? Caprice? Who would have thought?” They smile. “Sounds great. Tell me more.”
“Tada!”
Olive has been awake for a few hours already but Caprice’s enthusiasm, when she truly is excited about something, sharpens Olive’s attention even further. They are ready to be blown away, whether it be from the amazing skill and/or creativity. Either way it will be worth seeing.
Millie too is seeing Caprice’s work on the picture book for the first time and has waited more anxiously. Which makes sense; this could turn out to be her first project she attempts to send to a publisher. And if that is successful, it would fulfill her childhood dream… Huh, interesting…
“So?” Caprice asks nervously after a bit of silence. Olive has decided to keep their opinions to themselves for now and allow Millie to speak first.
“…I didn’t expect them to be otters.”
Millie takes hold of the pieces of artwork, flips through the multiple pages, back and forth. These aren’t polished pieces; Olive suspects there will be some discussion and alterations before Caprice makes another set of drafts. But the otters are definitely…
“Otters are cute! Kids will love that.” As Caprice says.
“Hmm…” Millie does seem receptive to the idea.
“The biggest problem for me, though, is how to color it. Should I go with pastels or bright or solids or…”
Olive tries to imagine these sketches in those various color palettes, reaching back into the knowledge she gained from that semester in art class. Honestly they aren’t sure. They aren’t really an artist after all. And neither are most kids. Instead, if they get any type of pencil or marker or crayon…
“If this is for kids, why color it?” Olive blurts out. Kids would just love to color over the pages anyway, right?
Caprice jumps. “You’re right!” It’s like a lightbulb went off in her head. “We could make it a coloring book!”
“That’s…” Millie is more hesitant, understandably. After all, the story was originally just a story – just made of words. A coloring book is far more art than words. “Intriguing.”
“…No good?” Caprice asks after a moment of silence.
“Not exactly.” Millie holds Caprice’s sketches to her chest. “I think… I have some ideas how I want to edit the story.”
“That’s good?” Olive hasn’t heard a “no”.
“Yes.” Millie smiles. “Caprice, I’ll send you some descriptions for possible art pages, once I retool the story a bit.”
Caprice claps her hands together. “Then it’ll be a coloring book?”
“I think so.”
“Yay!” Caprice turns to Olive and takes their hands with her own. “Thank you Olive!”
“I… do my best, I guess?”
Millie chuckles. “Thank you, Olive. I’m going to head back to my place to do some edits. See you guys tomorrow?”
“I can’t wait!” Caprice gives Millie a light pat on the arm. “You got this, Millie.”
Millie nods. “Thanks, Caprice.” She puts on her coat and grabs her bag. “See you.”
Once the door closes, Caprice turns to Olive. She looks to be radiating positive energy. “Hey Olive. I made some other sketches too, if you want to take a look?”
Was that really a question? Olive laughs. “Any time.”