Wolf River, Colorado

Athena gave a small sigh as she stood looking up at her new home, for how long? She really had no idea, but to be honest she felt that this would be a good fit for her. The air was clean and fresh and the whole town looked like a scene from a book or even one of her paintings.

Smiling to herself she fished out a ten dollar note from her pocket, she handed it to the driver with a smile. " Thanks so much..really. It means a lot to me that you actually got me here in one peice, even after you had to stop way to many times to count. I'll work on that "Up" Painting for your daughter. Free of charge it's the least I can do." Athena smiled and tapped the side of the truck picking up the last box under her arm.

Stepping through the threshold, Athena didn't really know where to begin. She had a vague idea of where to put things, but being an artist things changed all the time. She had an office, living room, small kitchen with a lot of storage space. A bedroom, bathroom and a little nook which would be good for all her canvas's. The garden was large, backing off into the forest she would plant some vegetables for the summer and put a nice bench for drawing outside or just watching the world go by.

"Right then Athena...don't stand around, get sorted now. Then explore the town" she muttered to herself as she got to work unpacking her office first, reference books, photos, an abundance of paints, pencils, charcoals. Sketchbooks labeled into categories. Animals, architecture, nature, trees and foliage, fantasy, originals. This room took the longest and after that the house was more or less a breeze.

It was about 1:00 in the afternoon, the curiosity in Athena had been growing since she had arrived. Picking up her back she put in her pencils and small sketchbook incase something had to be captured straight away. Her small camera, purse and a bottle of water. House keys..couldn't forget house keys. She looked around the house for her shoes having taken them off while putting things away, the feel of wooden floor on her feet was lovely. Funnily enough her keys were in her shoes. She was so odd sometimes.

It didn't take her long to start snapping pictures of the town, the sings around town were beautiful. Some burnt into wood, a skill she wished she could master. Everything was so picturesque the trees in the town blended into the Forrest like it was taking over the town slowly but surely. She paused at a large building that looked like a museum which drew her in, but at second glance it was a library. Even better she could have a look at the reference books incase there was something different which was always great. It was quiet silent in the library which was to be expected but Athena could hear small laughter and voices. Kids. Great Athena really liked kids, they calmed her down. Plus Kids just loved her drawings.

She looked around the library pausing to look at lettering on bookcases and the architecture of the library it had high ceilings and looked like a large chandelier used to hang there. Smiling to herself she stepped forward and bumped into someone, someone rather small.

She looked down at the little boy, he must have been about 6, with sandy blonde hair. He was holding a peice of paper with orange paint on it. Which unfortunately was now smudge all over his top. " You..you smudged my painting..it took me ages and now you've ruined it."[i] His voice broke Athena's heart, she crouched down to look at his eyes. " Well I'm very sorry sweetie. I bet we can make it even better with a pen and a few more colours" she smiled and stood. " Do you want to show me where your painting? And I'll sit with you and show you a trick to make smudges much better" she gestured for him to lead her and she saw an open area with tables and an abundance of colours and paper and kids of all ages, glueing and cutting. She felt a tugging at her arm and sat down. [i]" How are you going to fix it? You wrecked it, you should look where your going." The boy trailed of putting the paper down and sitting down next to Athena. " Well young man so should you, at least I have glasses for when I do my painting. Hand me that paintbrush please" she got out her glasses from her bag slipping them on her face and tying her hair into a messy bun.

She looked at the picture and nodded dipping the paintbrush in some white paint. " Right what we are going to do is, put some white paint here. Here, and there. Now get some brown and put it there and there. You can use my pencil to draw some eyes and a nose. There we go..what do you think?" She asked showing the boy.



His eyes lit up with shock and awe " Woah! That's so cool! I thought it was wrecked. But you changed it...thanks for showing me. I'm going to show Willow" Athena smiled taking off her glasses and undoing her hair. " Your very welcome young man." She patted his back and watched as he got up with his improved picture and showed some of the older children, then he went out of sight. Athena smiled to herself and sat for a while watching as the children looked at her, of course she was a stranger here, but a stranger who just made an impression. A little girl came over this time a bit younger " What else can you draw?" Athena sucked in a breath. " Ooh I don't know...what can you draw?" She asked " I can draw a cat..only sitting down ones" Athena laughed " That good cause Cats do spend a lot of time sitting down. Do you want to show me how you draw a cat and then I'll draw one?" She nodded and sat down once again Athena donned her glasses and tied her hair up her pencil in her mouth the little girl chatting away scribbling down furiously.

A voice pipped up " That one over there! She did it!" Athena was mid tie when she saw the little boy from earlier pointing at her. The way he spoke was in between accusation and admiration.

Willow looked out at the kids as they worked on their paintings and she smiled. The children were always so full of joy and made some of the most interesting art pieces ever. Their view of the world was as unique as they were. One of the younger girls, about 4, ran up with a concerned look. "Wilwow! Wilwow!" Willow laughed slightly at the child's pronunciation of her name, then crouched to eye level with the tiny blonde.

"Yes dear?" She asked, hoping a child hadn't thrown up on someone again like the day before.

"Adam used allllllll the orange paint and now I cant paint my pitture!" Her face looked like one of sheer terror, as if she would never see another drop of orange paint and would never be able to finish the painting. Willow smiled softly to the girl and stood back up.

"Come on, hun. There's some more paint back in the closet. Show me which orange you want." She led the child to the supply closet and pulled out as many shades of orange as she could find. The girl grinned from ear to ear. After grabbing and putting back almost every one, she finally decided on a soft orangish yellow shade and ran back to her spot carrying the small plastic tub as if it was a baby. Willow smiled and put the other shades up before shutting and locking the closet back. Didn't need the children finding the real scissors and cutting someone's hair again. Just as she turned around, Adam was tugging on her shirt. His front side was a smear of orange, red, and yellow paint. "There's where all the orange went!" She laughed.

"Willow! Look! This lady hit my picture and messed it up but now it's even awesomer than before! Look! Look!" He held up the canvas, which had a matching smear of colors, but this one had brown and white added strategically making it a fox in motion. "Isn't it cool!?" His energy and excitement was almost uncontainable. "QUICK! Come see before she leaves!" He grabbed Willow's hand and lead her to the table where a girl she had never seen before was sitting, attempting to talk to a obviously excited little girl while holding a pencil between her teeth and pulling her hair up. "That one over there! She did it!" Adam yelled with the same enthusiasm as earlier. The woman glanced up and Willow instantly noticed how attractive she was. She had the cute geek look mixed with a childlike innocence.

"So you are the painting hero?" Willow chuckled and smiled big, showing her dimples. "Haven't seen you around before. Passing through?" She secretly hoped the answer was no, but she knew it was best for everyone if it was yes.

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Athena was nodding along with the little girls ramblings, she was now on the subject of food and how her mother would let her help cook, her concentration in trying to tie her mess of hair up was halted by a smooth as ice voice. " So you are the painting hero?" the woman asked and Athena was in awe of how photogenic this girl was. Like she should be on the cover of Vouge magazine or something. Athena dropped her hair through her fingers and slowly took off her glasses as she drank up the looks.

The smile she gave Athena would have buckled her legs if she wasn't thankfully sitting down already, she asked another question and Athena watched every movement she made. The quirk of being an artist was that everything seemed to slow down so you could appreciate the beauty in everything and this new stranger was certainly beautiful.

"Haven't seen you around before? Passing through?"

Athena spoke but it came out as a muffled response, Damm. Taking the pencil out of her mouth she smiled softly. " No actually. I just moved in. About an hour ago. I was exploring the town, and got drawn into her by the beauty of the building. Then I bumped into somebody and became the "Painting Hero" as you so kindly put it" she smiled giving a soft laugh.

She stood suddenly " I'm so sorry do forgive me. Where are my manners? My name is Athena. Athena Edison. It's nice to meet you. Apologies for bursting in on your class" She held her hand out to the young lady with a smile.

The woman dropped her hair and began explaining that she had just moved here. Willow felt her stomach drop. This girl would be around more, that's for sure, but she definitely was NOT the kind of woman her family, or pack for that matter, would approve of. Not that she wasn't beautiful, kind, and with a voice like silk, but she was human. And that meant she was forbidden. The new woman laughed and Willow's heart skipped a beat. For the first time, forbidden was a word she suddenly cared nothing for. Willow drunk in the words the woman, Athena apparently, said and finally snapped out of her temporary muteness when her soft hand came out for a handshake.

"Oh. I... Um yeah..." Willow stuttered trying to find what to say first. "I'm uh... My name is Willow... Hunter... Um... It's no trouble really. I have quite the handful as you can tell." Willow nodded her head towards the group of about a dozen children, all between 4 and 10. "So uh, you just moved... I don't remember a house being on the market. Was it maybe the next town over?" Willow thought carefully of everyone in town. No one ever left, not for long, and only a few people had died recently. Where could this girl possibly be staying? If she was a town over, no one say anything about the human hanging around her, therefore, she wouldn't technically be breaking any rules, right?

Willow just sat in appreciative silence as Athena talked, soaking in every word, almost like she would never hear that voice again an had to memorize the way the words played off her tongue forever. "...Three Pines Drive..." Wait? That was the road next to hers. Is this new girl saying that she moved in to the house on the other side of the clearing that had been empty for 20 years? "...If you ever need any help...I'd be glad..." Wait!? She wants to help me teach class!? This is amazing! Her being a coworker would give me reason to see her all the time without seeming weird! "Point me in the direction of a grocery store?"

Willow's head went wild. Grocery store? Offer to walk her! No! Offer to take her to dinner! No! It's way too early for that! You don't even know if she is straight! Ask if it's just her or if she is cooking for her boyfriend! Willow cleared her throat quietly. "There's a small farmers market a few more blocks down the road. They always have fresh meats and the ripest fruit and veggies. And Mrs. Smithson owns a grocery store. You take a left right before you get to the market and she's a block down that road." Willow mentally chuckled as she carefully worded her next line. "Or if you don't feel like cooking tonight, There's a family dinner that's got a great deal where 2 people can eat fairly cheap." She gave a devilish grin before adding, "You know, for you and your boyfriend?"

Athena mentally printed out a map in her head, it helped her visualise where to go. Her imagination begs to put discription into color full images. "There's a small farmers market a few more blocks down the road. They always have fresh meats and the ripest fruit and veggies. And Mrs. Smithson owns a grocery store. You take a left right before you get to the market and she's a block down that road."

Athena nodded gently, already thinking what she needed to pick up. Milk, bread, cheese, maybe some tomatoes and herbs. I wonder if there's any herbs in the kitchen cupboards.... her thought process came to an immediate halt at Willow's next statement. "Or if you don't feel like cooking tonight, There's a family dinner that's got a great deal where 2 people can eat fairly cheap." Athena's face became bright red and she looked down sheepishly. Was this woman asking her out?, they had only just met. Was she even gay? Again her thinking was jolted again "You know, for you and your boyfriend?"

If possible she became even brighter at the question and she giggled softly " I don't have a boyfriend, or a girlfriend for that matter. I'm a homosexual" she explained twirling her fingers in her hair, she wondered what Willow's hair felt like, it looked so soft and silky like she was a rabbit. " if you like I can hang around with you until you are finished, I'll help you clean up and you can show me the markets. Would you like to join me for dinner at the diner? it might take a while, an Artist eye takes in all the beauty and I'm always stopping to look at things and take reference pictures for my work"

That should do it, a small bit of courage was all you needed. It wasn't like she was asking her out it was more like a friend thing. Someone to show her around, get to know her and then ask her out.

Willow watched as Athena's face turned red. She somehow looked even cuter when she blushed. Then she looked down. Oh fuck! Did I say the wrong thing? She quickly added the boyfriend part and hoped she hadn't offended the new girl. She blushed even harder before giggling and replying. "I don't have a boyfriend, or a girlfriend for that matter. I'm a homosexual." Willow's heart raced. She's gay too!? Oh my gosh!? This just got a million times better! The woman played with her hair and Willow smiled. "Would you like to join me for dinner at the diner?" Willow's heart sped up even more. This woman had just asked her to come to dinner with her. What should she say? Go! You're simply showing the new girl around! There's nothing wrong with that!

Willow nodded softly, mostly to her inner thoughts, before replying with a smile. "Sure! Class is actually almost over. They leave here in about 10 minutes so we actually should be cleaning up right now." She glanced over to see everyone working hard on their paintings. "Then I can show you the store and market so you have some stuff for in the morning. Drop that off at your place and head to the diner if you like?" Willow mostly wanted to go by her place just to see the house. No one had lived there in her lifetime, so she had never seen more than the silhouette on the hill.

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"Sure! Class is actually almost over. They leave here in about 10 minutes so we actually should be cleaning up right now." Athena nodded and put her bag on the chair she was sitting on making sure that there wasn't anything dangling down that people couldn't trip over. She had that misfortune plenty of times through school and college. "Then I can show you the store and market so you have some stuff for in the morning. Drop that off at your place and head to the diner if you like?"


Athena smiled widely " Suona alla grande. (Sounds great!)" She began picking up paintbrushes and pencils, putting then back in the pots where it seemed they belonged. She gently reminded children that they would be leaving soon and to make sure that everything was finished with painting and such. She dished out compliments and encouragement to the younger children who had seemed to have used all of the colours they could get there hands on.

The little girl who had sat with her to draw a cat toddled over holding up the picture of a cat. " See I told you I could draw a cat sitting down" she gave a toothy grin and waited for Athena's response. Athena's eyes widened " oh my goodness! Look out Picasso, there's a new kid on the block. How about next time I'm here we can draw different animals I can show you if you like" She said smiling, the little girl nodded and ran over to her parents.

Athena laughed softly as she picked up the last bits of clean paper that could be used next time. Taking off the paint covers off the table she folded them up neatly. " So Willow...have you always taught art to kids? Is that what you do as a chosen profession?" she asked as she picked up her bag getting ready to follow Willow wherever she would lead her. To be honest she could lead her to the back of a car and Athena wouldn't mind.

She got out her purse and made sure she had enough money to buy food and stuff. Just about. Until her next pay check came in.