Draw your own conclusion (for Tarrakhash and Blurugirl)

[Blurugirl]

Shahlah Jacobson thought she had a perfect life. Mostly.

See more

Granted, her life hadn't started off perfectly, mostly or otherwise. Her father had become enamored with an Iranian man, and Shahlah had been the result of the romance. But the romance quickly devolved into abuse and control from her biological father, who left her mother and her when Shahlah was five,

No problem. When Shahlah was nine, Shahlah's mother would meet the man who would become Shahlah's stepfather.

See more

Shahlah loved her stepfather. But she loved all her family. Shahlh's stepfather was a commercial artist who still kept tabs with his classical roots. He was successful enough that he could run his own business out of their office. But he also taught an art history class at the local college, and drew "non-commercially", as he called it. And though Shahlah had no talent of her own, her stepfather made sure Shahlah was still introduced to his world. He had not only taught her about different artists and artistic movements throughout history, but also how to appreciate and critically analyze art as a whole.

Shahlah had a good relationship with her mother. Mostly. Well, Shahalah's felt her slightly nerdy mathlete daughter should be outgoing, and she definitely did not appreciate the mostly frumpy, form hiding clothes her eighteen year old daughter wore. But Shahlah still appreciated her mother. Well, things had become strained between Shahlah's mother and stepfather, and she knew her stepfather spent some nights on the couch in his office, but he always said that was because he was working late. And if the two were having problems, they were going to great lengths not to expose their kids to their marital strife.

And Shahlah adored her little five year old brother. Mostly.

Hunter was blonde and blue eyed (the same as everyone else in the family except Shahlah) and was just as sweet as he could be. He would sit by Shahlah on the couch, cuddle up to her, and ask her for a story if she wasn't busy. Or just sit there and be sweet and good if she was busy.

Hunter was perfect. Mostly.

Except Hunter would draw on anything if given a chance. In response to Hunter's artistic exuberance, the walls were painted with wipeable paints, Hunter was given special crayons, and anything you didn't want drawn on, was locked up and put away. Because Hunter would listen and obey about everything except drawing.

Which is where the story begins.

Shahlah's stepfather would keep his office locked, to ensure that Hunter didn't draw on any of the more expensive books he had on his shelves. In addition, all important papers were kept locked in the bottom drawer of the office.

Shahlah and her mother had keys to the office, and Shahlah went into the office one to use the family printer. While she was printing out a paper due on Monday, she noticed the bottom drawer of the desk was ajar. She was about to close the drawer when a folder in it caughter eye. It was titled "Life Drawings." Shahlah immediately knew that meant Nude Sketches. Although she was a modest young woman (overly modest, in her mother's opinion), Shahlah wasn't shocked about the idea of her father making nude sketches. That's what artists did, after all. She would have been more shocked if her father made landscape paintings. He did have curt words about that sort of thing.

Curious, Shahlah pulled out the folder and began flipping through it. She didn't recognize some of the models, of course, but assumed they were student models her father had met at the college. One of the models, though, looked familiar to Shahlah. It took the teen a few minutes to recognize who the nude woman was in those sketches. It was HER!

Shahal was more than a little shocked that her father has been imagining her nude. Well, he had not only been imagining, he had been mentally airbrushing the nude mental image of his stepdaughter. The young woman in these pictures was gorgeous! It was sort of like the optimized version of what Shahlah thought she could ever aspire to.

Probably the only thing her stepfather had not improved on, Shahlah though with a self-conscious smirk, was the size of Shahlah's breasts in the sketches. But then she couldn't really fault her father on that. After all, with the frumpy clothes she made sure she was wearing any time she stepped out of her room, he had no idea on how to guess. The breasts in the sketches looked to be about a cup smaller than Shahlah's D cup.

Still, the part of Shahlah's mind that her stepfather had trained to look at a drawing analytically thought they were good, if woefully inaccurate. So Shahlah took a couple of post its from the desk, wrote some critiques, attached it to the drawings, then returned them to the bottom drawer. This time, though, she made sure the bottom drawer was locked. Hunter definitely didn't need to get to those pictures!

Chuckling, Shahlah locked up her father's office, headed to her bedroom, did a few things on the compute, then called it a night. At ten o'clock on a Friday night, Shahlah was happily asleep in her own bedroom.

 

[Blurugirl]

"Well?" Sarai asked.

Shahlah nibbled studiously on her thumbnail before asking, "Could you do one of just Sarai, one of just me, and one of both of us? And Mom cannot know. You know I love her Dad, but I like being me, not her version of me."

 

[Tarrakhash]

He tilted his head looking at the two girls, but he already knew he couldn't say no to Shay,"I can...if that's what you want, Shahlah, and you know your secrets safe with me."

And his would be safe with her....and Sarai,"Let me know before hand because we'll have to plan it carefully. It will take me more than one saturday to draw three pictures."

 

[Blurugirl]

"We/ll start shopping next week," Sarai promised. "But until then...if you have a drawing session next Saturday, and I can invite myself , I have a great costume idea."

Shahlah gave her friend a look and then shook her head in obvious mock consternation. "No no no no no!"

Sarai laughed and continued, "C'mon, Shahlah, it's in technicolor!"

 

[Tarrakhash]

Stephen raised an eyebrow at the girls,"Let me see closer to the time. I may have some work to do." And he wanted to talk to Shahlah first about....well a few things,"I'll talk to Shahlah in a few days, and she'll let you know?"

He smiled knowing the attractive young girl wasn't hearing the answer she wanted,"I enjoyed today so if not next weekend then the one after, okay?"

 

[Blurugirl]

Sarai shrugged, adding, "Well, I really enjoyed today, so a repeat would be fun. But I understand work has to come first. I'm a part-time worker too, y'know."

If anyone looked a little upset, it was Shahlah, but she didn't say anything.

After supper, the girls cleaned up quickly and went upstairs to change clothes. Their timing couldn't have been better. Shahlah's mother came home almost about the time the girls came downstairs, all cleaned up. Hunter immediately ran up to his sister and Sarai, excitedly telling them about his day. The trio went up to their room, laughing and talking. Once alone, Stephen's wife advised him she was tired and going straight to bed, leaving him alone.

 

[Tarrakhash]

Stephen gave Shahlah a glance, letting her know it wasn't all lost, and then focused on his food. He was, somewhat relieved that his wife didn't want to try and talk, he had some drawing to do and some thinking to do about what had happened this weekend, he took a couple of beers with him, he still had to survive Sunday with her.

The week started and Stephen, knowing he wanted to arrange some time to speak to Shahlah, he called into the school and arranged for her to be waiting for him at the office for early dismissal. He got out of week early on Tuesday and came to pick her up. He waited till she was in the car before he smiled at her,"Shay, we need to talk about last Saturday...."

Driving slowly he pulled over and turned to face her,"I have a few questions about Sarai, and how she stumbled across the topic of life drawings? Was that just an accident?"

 

[Blurugirl]

Before Shahlah could answer, there was a pounding on the window. Peering into the window on the passenger side was Shahlah's mother, with a very angry look on her face. She motioned for Shahlah to roll down the window.

"Imagine my surprise when I came to check you out that somebody had checked you out already," Shahlah's mother huffed. "I told you I was coming to pick you up for your appointment. There was no need to involve your father." The last was said almost nastily, with Shahlah's mother pointedly not looking at Stephen. "This is because you knew I was going to take you shopping, wasn't it?"

Shahlah was about to say something, but her mother kept on plowing through.

"Never mind, just get out. We're going shopping. I'm taking you and your brother out of town for the weekend."

Shahlah opened up the car door and got out. "But you can't take me out of town this weekend. Sarai's coming over and Dad's helping us out on a project. A science project," Shahlah hurriedly said.

Shahlah's mother huffed. "Fine. Well come on, we don't want to be late for your appointment." Shahlah's mother gave her husband a baleful look as she stormed off, her daughter in tow."

 

[Tarrakhash]

And Stephen was left with an empty car and a whole lot of unanswered questions...well he supposed they'd have to wait for Saturday, now that Shahlah had ensured that Sarai was definitly going to be there to provide the cover story for her staying. Shaking his head he drove off, frustrated both at himself for being in this position, and at his wife for being...well difficult was too kind a word.

That night he cornered his wife and very politely explained,"For the record, Shahlah did not 'involve' me, I was going to surprise her and take her out somewhere....but, you didn't let me know she had an appointment? What appointment is this? I know you and I are not seeing eye to eye with the kids, but please at least keep me up to date with whats going on in their busy lives that you've planned down to the last nano-second?"

Yeah, he was definitly going to be sleeping in the office again, but this was getting ridiculous.

 

[Blurugirl]

Things had been strained all this week, ever since the mix up with Shahlah's mother and stepfather. Shahlah had had an appointment with her gynecologist, and it wasn't the sort of thing she would talk about with her stepfather. Just the very thought of doing so mortified her. And when her mother still found out her daughter was a virgin...

Shahlah shudder at the mother-daughter talk. Personally, Shahlah thought her mother was becoming a little unhinged.

Even Hunter was becoming affected. He had gotten in the habit of sneaking out of his bed and staying with Shahlah for the night.

Finally, Friday night came and Sarai was with them again. Of course, she had brought the costumes and had even given Shahlah a sneak peak. Shahlah pretended to be aghast, but inside she thought it was hilarious. Ever since they had watched Hugo, Sarai had become fascinated with movies made before her grandparents were born. Her grandparents!

Dinner was a civil affair, and Hunter took his place before Sarai and Shahlah. Shahlah's mother was actually pleasant toward everyone, even her stepfather. And after dinner, she shooed the kids up to Shahlah's room. On one hand, Shahlah adored her little brother, and wanted to give him a psychic cushion to land on in the middle of all of this. On the other hand, Shahlah had not had a chance to talk to Sarai all week, and after what her stepfather had asked, Shahlah was wondering what Sarai might have guessed. She really didn't think Shahlah knew anything, and Shahlah hadn't told her anything, but could Sarai have guessed something. And Shahlah couldn't exactly have a frank discussion with her friend in front of Hunter. Because obviously Hunter wouldn't understand what was being said, but she couldn't risk innocently repeating part of that conversation back to her mother.

Downstairs, Shahlah's mother was polite but curt to her husband. She told him that dinner was wonderful, but she was tired, and going to bed now.

Alone.

Upstairs, all three kids were happily asleep, with Hunter the only one unaware and unconcerned about the different dramas unfolding throughout the house.

 

[Tarrakhash]

Stephen was tired of the fighting so when his wife was...well..polite he didn't fight it, nodded and wished her the best on the weekend away because there was a pretty good chance she'd leave without talking to him again. Sitting at the kitchen table he considered his life as it was and let out a long sigh, getting up he grabbed a couple of beers, he had very real fear that he was on the path to become an alcoholic, the only thing keeping him sane was the moments he got to spend drawing Shahlah or with Hunter...and the latter was becoming less and less common with his mother dominating the time with him.

Moving to his office he unfolded the bed, cracked open a beer and took out a sketch pad, a pad he hadn't used since Shahlah had let him draw her. The one that had started the drawings, he got started sketching what looked like it was going to be a naked Shahlah and Sarai and he stopped, laughing at himself. Getting up he threw the sketchpad on his desk and lay on the bed, drinking his beers and moping till he fell asleep.

 

[Blurugirl]

Both Shahlah and Sarai were awakened by a bouncing, laughing Hunter who seemed excited about his trip today. The girls laugh, grabbed their bathrobes over their flannel style pajamas. and headed downstairs. Shahlah's mother was downstairs, making breakfast. The older woman was in a good mood and pleasant to everyone.

Well, everyone except Shahlah's father, who was noticeable by his absence.

Everyone was laughing as even Hunter helped clean up, and before Shahlah's mother left, she told the girls she had put a plate in the oven for Shahlah's father when he woke up. Everyone was in a good mood when Shahlah's mother and Hunter left for the weekend.

Maybe things are getting better between Mom and Dad, Shahlah thought to herself with guarded optimism.

"So are we going to do the drawing session?" Sarai asked Shahlah. "I got costumes from Neptune's Daughter!"

"Something from this century would have been better," Shahlah responded, sticking her tongue out at Sarai. Now that everyone was out of the house, Shahlah wanted to have that discussion with her friend that she had put off last night. But Shahlah didn't want her Dad walking into the middle of that discussion. And maybe it was necessary. Maybe her stepfather was being too paranoid, and it was rubbing off on her.

"Let's see if he's in his office,"" Shahlah said, not wanting to have to discuss with her friend about her father sleeping in his office. In truth, Sarai had been around the Jacobson household enough to know things were strained between Shahlah's mother and stepfather, but it was one of those things that was understood but left unsaid between the two friends.

With Sarai almost tiptoeing behind her, Shahlah knocked softly on her Dad's office door and quietly called out, "Hey, Dad, are you in there?"

 

[Tarrakhash]

Stephen shot up at the knock, still fast asleep and a little groggy, stepping out the bed he kicked one of the beer bottles that he had left laying on the floor and it went for a roll as he muttered foul words under his breath before responding.

"Give me a couple minutes to clear up and I think I'll need a shower, Shay, say about 30 minutes or so?", crap he had overslept. Moving quickly he gathered up the bottles, folded away the bed and otherwise did his best to make the place look less like he lived there. Of course he didnt go near his desk....or think about what was sitting on it as he tried to stroll casually out of the office, beer bottles hidden behind his back somewhat.

Seeing the both of then he gave his best attempt at a smile,"Hey girls, I'm going to get cleaned up quick. If you've got props feel free to get them set up and all...I just need a little time. Okay?"

His mind felt like it was filled with cotton wool, drinking as much as he did last night was not a great idea at 52. So up the stairs he went and the shower started.

 

[Blurugirl]

"Hey, do you think your Dad might have gotten our picture colored in?" Sarai asked. Or rather, asked and moved, heading toward the desk.

Shahlah didn't know what was on the desk, but perhaps some instinct or sixth sense kicked in. Or maybe she was embarrassed for Sarai to see that her Dad wasn't sleeping in his own bed. Whatever the reason, Shahlah stopped Sarai before she stepped into the office.

"Why don't we get ready ourselves for our drawing session?" Shahlah said. Sarai nodded, and the two headed back up to Shahlah's room.

 

[Tarrakhash]

Her intuition was on point as a few moments later, still seemingly wet from his shower although he was fully dressed Stephen came tearing down the stairs looking concerned. Once he realised no one had gotten in he stashed the book away, somewhere safe, promising himself he'd throw away that incriminating evidence as soon as he had a chance...it wasn't likely that would ever happen but it was what he told himself.

Then he got himself properly ready, and for a change went searching for the girls to bring them to the office for their drawing. More because he was still a little skittish after forgetting his latest attempts at nude drawings of his daughter, and her friend....he really needed to lay off the beer for a bit. Once he found the pair he leaned against a wall, running his fingers over his mustache as he looked at the two of them,"What have you got planned for today, girls?"

 

[Blurugirl]

The knock at her bedroom door made Shahlah smile. Her father was finally learning boundaries. He leaned up against the wall, stroking his moustache, as Shahlah stuck her head out of the bedroom.

"We'll be down in a little bit, Dad," Shahlah answered. "In the meantime, get your technicolor pencils ready." Shahlah's answer provoked a giggle from Sarai, unseen beyond the partially open door. Shahlah laughed as well, and closed the door behind her. The laughter of teenage girls could be heard from beyond the door.

 

[Tarrakhash]

Shaking his head Stephen made his way downstairs, and the girl lectured him on boundaries after digging through his books, he smiled and once he got to his office he gathered his stuff and his color pencils wondering what exactly the pair of them had in mind this time. He was sure it would be spectacular and they had the whole weekend so he could pretty much do whatever they wanted, and it was very likely he would, Shahlah had him wrapped around her finger at the moment and he had to smile as he thought about it, his blue eyes twinkling with affection.

 

[Blurugirl]

"Hair in a bun or not?" Sarai asked as soon as Shahlah's father went downstairs.

"Well, you're the time period expert, you tell me!" Shahlah responded.

"Well, truth be told, if we were being true to the time period, I'd have to hack half of my hair off at least," Sarai responded. "The only time you saw actresses with long hair in the 40s and 50s were either if they were exotics, like you...you know, non-Europeans who were usually played by Europeans wearing wigs and makeup---or if they were doing powdered wigs and quill pens. And I'm not cutting my hair. I say leave our hair down. So which bikini do you want? I'd say the pink one, for your skin color."

See more

Shahlah laughed at the bikinis used in the movie "Neptune's Daughter" that Saira wanted to do a drawing from, thinking they looked more like modern jogging attire than bikinis. Truth be told, though, Shahlah and Sarai both wore equally conservative one piece swimsuits to their all women gyms, and definitely wore more conservative workout clothes.

"You know, on second thought, hair up," Sarai decided. "You're Dad can decide to change the hairstyle if you want to."

Shahlad nodded as she slipped on the bikini top, securing her ample bosom within. Of course, the costume had been fitted for someone with Shahlah's or Sarai's measurements, because it was the 1940s after all. Spillover, wardrobe malfunctions and visible belly buttons were simply not permitted!

"So I take it that your examination didn't go well on Tuesday," Sarai asked, as she began helping Shahlah with her hair.

"Well, Mom and Dad had a disagreement," Shahlah began, not going into detail, "And then Mom got a full report from my gynecologist, which I think is illegal, but since Mom's paying the bills. And discovered I'm still a virgin, which I thought would relieve her but....that woman really, really needs to stay out of my social life."

"Well, my aunt has me on birth control, because just because you plan to keep your legs crossed doesn't mean they're going to stay that way." Shahlah gasped and laughed. "Sorry, it doesn't sound quite that bad when she says it in Yiddish. Anyway, she just says be careful and lets me lead my own sex life. Or lack of a sex life. I'm in the virgin boat with you. But you know that."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that your aunt didn't take you to Victoria's Secret to go shopping after your gynecologist exam." It was Sarai's turn to gasp.

"What did she buy you?" Sarai asked.

"Stuff I'll never wear," Shahlah said vehemently. "But I'll show you tonight after dinner."

The two teens shifted the conversation to innocuous things until they had both their hair in buns, and then headed downstairs in their 1940s swimsuits, knocking on Shahlah's father's office door and ready to get their technicolor portraits.

"

 

[Tarrakhash]

"Come in, ladies.", it seemed to be how all these sessions started, his lips curled up in a smile this time as the two of them walked in and he looked them both up and down slowly as though deciding how to react to the costume, in the end he went with a low chuckle,"You know, I don't think there are any other girls in your age group who would pick those costumes....and likely the only two who could pull them off." Laughing he added,"Sadly I'm also likely the only person you know who is old enough to appreciate those costumes too."

Looking them over her pulled out two folding stools,"For this one I think we're going to have the two of you sitting back to back, if I had those pool chairs for you to lay on I'd do that, because costumes and pool chairs is almost as classic as those costumes." Chuckling he let them both sit down, reaching down to angle their shoulders so they touched one shoulder and then were facing towards him from there. He walked around behind them, adjusting their hair slightly, tied up worked well as far as he was concerned.

Then he stepped around the front and moved their legs forward and arranged them to display the long, shapely legs then he paused, looking at their midriffs,"Eh, this might be a bit complicated, remember out discussion Sarai? Stomachs are a pain, particularly seated, we may have to try a few positions to get the best look." So he spent about 10 minutes helping them lean back, tugging on the bottoms of the costumes and politely gesturing to where on the tops they needed to tug to get their bellys as flat and smooth as possible in a seated position.

Once he was done he smirked at them,"Well, it's much easier with you guys since you're both in such great shape...trust me if people have...extra on them this process takes much longer." He didn't want to mention that the two young girls 'extra' was in all the right places, he moved over and settled down starting to sketch the two of them,"Good call on the hair by the way, makes it a classic, normally I'm all about that long flowing hair, but this works very, very well! And is something different for my collection." Because he was starting to have a collection, as he started sketching again he smiled,"Oh, and I finished the Greek Drawing, and the Superheros for you girls to look at afterwards."

 

[Blurugirl]

"Just remember, you can't draw our belly buttons," Sarai said, as Stephen tugged on her bottoms.

"Don't," Shahlah said with a mock shudder, "Don't ask her why you can't show belly buttons, or you'll get a whole cinematic history of the belly button. Comics too, and how naval oranges introduced belly buttons into the comic strips. Sarai is the uncontested queen of cinematic niche trivia. Let all tremble in her presence!" The rant got both girls giggling."

"Oh absolutely we want to see both drawings, but especially the superheroes!" Sarai said.

"Because you nudged your way into the spotlight on that one," Shahlah said, which got her a tongue stuck out and another round of giggles.

 

[Tarrakhash]

Stephen chuckled,"Oh I know about belly buttons....and don't worry I'd have to imagine them at this point. I can't see them, those are quiet the costumes you got there." He chuckled again as the girls teased each other,"I feel like both your heads are filled with lots of knowledge that isn't well known."

Smirking he started drawing in earnest, mumbling,"Such smart cookies...." He drew and drew but knowing he was in no rush he took a break half way and showed them the colored pictures before doing a bit more.

As the light started to fade he smiled at them,"Great....I think I'm done. Come have a look and tell me what you think? Do you guys have plans for tongiht?"

 

[Blurugirl]

"Watch television, gorge on snacks, that sort of thing," Shahlah said. "I've got kale chips in the pantry."

"Because nothing says being a couch potato like healthy snacks," Sarai said with a laugh. "Hey, you know who would enjoy this?"

"She wouldn't come. Not after that one time," Shahlah said, a tone of wistfulness in her voice. "I'll go get the snacks and such started. You can stay and geek out on being Green Lantern," she added with a laugh.

"I like how you made me and Shahlah seem active in this picture," Sarai said, admiring the picture of Shahlah and herself as Wonder Woman and a Green Lantern.

 

[Tarrakhash]

Stephen chuckled as the girls described what they were going to do, although an eyebrow rose slowly as he tried to figure out who they were talking about who would have enjoyed being there but in the end he just didn't know enough so he focused on Sarai and her questions...or at least compliments,"Well, you read comics, so you know how it's done..a lot of it is in the pose, hence the reason I take so long to get you ready for me to draw. The human mind is easily tricked, there are some positions we don't naturally take unless we are moving, that's part one and then part two is simply what I do with the space around you to make it seem like you are about to fill it with movement."

He pointed out a few other tricks he had used to her and then frowned,"Now, what is all this interest in art, Sarai, last week it was a bunch of questions about Life Drawings, and now you've got more to say....are we a budding young artist?" He smirked,"Or are you just trying to butter me up so I'll draw more of you and Shahlah?"

 

[Blurugirl]

"Oh, no," Sarai laughed, "Outside of fractal imaging, I've got no artistic talent at all. But just because I don't have a talent toward creating, doesn't mean I don't have an interest in it. For example, I love old movies, and I think I got into it for a lot of reasons, but I don't have this burning interest in making one. It's just one of those fun things, plus, in our little group, it's one of the things that tie us together. And it's good to get out of your routine. I mean, me and Shahlah and some of our group, well, we're all in the same AP STEM classes together, but that's not what we all want to sit around and talk about all the time. Sort of like you and these drawings. I mean, yeah, it's fun for me to be a Green Lantern or Esther Williams or something like that, bt I kinda think you enjoy getting away from what you get paid to do and do what you want to do, you know?"

 

[Tarrakhash]

"Oh, so you're all interested in art? Well that's pretty neat then.", he smiled at the thought that his interest in art had drawn Shahlah to her friends, the smile slipped just a little, and earned her mom's eternal ire,"Everyone likes to have something to distract them. You aren't wrong, I enjoy drawing Shahlah, and you of course, it's very relaxing."

Smiling he rolled out the Greek picture,"Look at this, this is possibly my favourite of Shahlah so far, doesn't she just look lovely?"

 

[Blurugirl]

"Very lovely," Sarai said, though there was perhaps a hint of an arched eyebrow and an odd note to the tone of her voice as she said it. "So, it is difficult, taking a subject and imagining them in a certain situation?"