Beauty in the Sewer

Claudius tipped his head from side to side as he considered the drawings. Then he gave a soft purr of approval. They were beautiful! Yellow and bright like the sun. Exactly what this cold room needed. He turned and nudged her shoulder with his snout. Thank you, Ingrid. It was exactly what he wanted.

He looked at the flower pictures. Blue flowers would look nice among the yellow flowers. He sorted through until he found a nice blue one that seemed to grow from a bush. This one! Green and blue. He nudged the picture carefully with his claw and gave Ingrid a hopeful look. Was it asking too much?
 
The approval seemed to dismiss her earlier criticalness somewhat, leaving the woman with a look of satisfaction. Not pride, but, close. 'As long as he likes them', her mind rationalized, 'they're good enough.'

Ingrid picked up the new picture in question and looked it over, smoothing out a few crinkles with the side of her thumb least stained with colour. Her eyes left the paper to pick out a new and suitable patch of wall, and when it was found, the paper was left to float to the ground whilst Ingrid migrated to the chalk boxes.
"I'll do this one, and then that'll be it for today for my artistic contributions," Ingrid stood up straight and leaned back to stretch, grunting in momentary discomfort when far too many limbs protested at once, "I need to keep my energy for moving the other stuff down here, too. Not to mention those bags."

Although growing a little weary, Ingrid didn't hesitate to start drawing on the wall again, adopting the same delicate tactic as before.
 
Claudius watched Ingrid until he realized he was hovering. He turned away and walked back to the center of the room. He couldn't do delicate work like flowers, but he could do other things!

It was still awkward work for him, but the dragon managed to get the chalk back in his claws. He worked to finish the blue water then started on the green, following the swirl of the blue, leaving space for a third color. He checked on Ingrid now and then with a glance, but he tried to be quiet and leave her to her work.
 
Some more there....A bit more here...Ingrid's hand curled into a fist in irritation. She had done just fine on the first one, so why was she struggling to replicate it now? Maybe she was starting from the wrong angle.

In an attempt to better her efforts, Ingrid stretched up to try and reach higher, in the same beat resulting in a hot jab of pain in her side. Recent stitches to old wounds, having been strained enough already, gave her an ultimatum; Stop now, or it'll get worse.
Hunching over slightly, and supporting herself by holding the wall, Ingrid waved Claudius over.
"I think that's enough, for now. I'll be able to get some more done in future, I promise, I just--" She stood up straight almost as quick as she'd stopped. "Need a bit, okay?"
 
Claudius turned to see Ingrid nearly collapse. What was wrong?? He dropped his chalk and hurried over to her, scales rasping over concrete as he rushed. She looked a little pale to him, and her hand pressed against her side. Oh dear, that old wound still hadn't healed? He could not say he was surprised with how much she galivanted around and pushed its limits. She was truly a physician's worst nightmare. Perhaps he should not have been so eager to accept her help with the colors and the pictures. He should have recognized this would push her limits physically. He could not do anything about that now, but perhaps he could try to limit how much she worked while down here.

He nudged her shoulder gently and turned, offering his own shoulder to her. She could lean on him if she wanted, and he would take her out. Unless perhaps she needed a bit to sit and rest? Then she could sit on his foot. It was not exactly the most dignified offer, but it would potentially be minimally more comfortable than sitting directly on the cold concrete floor.
 
"I'm alright, Claud."

Her mouth moved far faster than her mind, and Ingrid spoke the second she spotted the dragon approaching. She straightened her stand with the help of the wall and took to leaning a shoulder against it; All the while trying to minimize any expression of pain. This happened sometimes. It looked bad, but, Ingrid was sure it was nothing major. In her eyes, it was a combination of small issues amounting to the occasional outburst of pain.
Though if she genuinely believed that, or it was what she told herself to make herself feel better, she couldn't say.

Ingrid hesitated to lean on his shoulder when her skewered sense of pride threatened to get the better of her. Even after deciding it would be a better alternative to the wall, and standing shoulder to shoulder with the dragon, she still made an effort to not rely on him completely.
"I know this looks bad," She began with a sigh, "but it happens sometimes. I was always a frail kid, so, even small things can hit pretty hard- And out of nowhere, too. It goes away after a while though."

She pat his shoulder with a hand, looking up to try and catch his eye and give him a smile.
"I suppose you don't have to worry about how fragile people can be when you're covered in scales six days outta seven, huh?"
 
Claudius grunted softly. He was not amused, nor was he particularly convinced this was a small thing to be brushed aside. Still, what could he do about it? Unless Ingrid chose to take care of herself, there was not much he could do, and nagging would not help anything. It would only drive her away, and he did not want that. He settled for giving her a worried and disapproving look. There. That should be a good halfway point.

Moving slowly, Claudius minced over to where they'd left the bags and scooped them up, hanging them on the spines closest to Ingrid so she could reach them with relative ease should she desire to. Then he started walking toward the exit. It was past time to get her home. She needed to rest. Now that he could help with! Sort of. At the very least, he could carry her to the ladder and boost her up, if she wanted it. Of course, it all depended on her.
 
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