Information



Tablet
Legacy Name: Tablet


The Common Yaherra
Owner: Riu

Age: 13 years, 6 months, 6 days

Born: September 22nd, 2010

Adopted: 4 years, 8 months, 2 weeks ago

Adopted: July 8th, 2019


Pet Spotlight Winner
June 23rd, 2021

Statistics


  • Level: 7
     
  • Strength: 12
     
  • Defense: 7
     
  • Speed: 10
     
  • Health: 11
     
  • HP: 11/11
     
  • Intelligence: 14
     
  • Books Read: 14
  • Food Eaten: 1
  • Job: Unemployed



by:Heart

The young artist's apartment lacks stunning views and convenient public transportation but the place is clean, fairly quiet and within her meager budget. She curls up on the couch she acquired from a college roommate, her tablet in hand.

Her car has more rust than paint and soup is her meal of choice most nights but she would not settle for second best in purchasing Tablet.

The miniature android resting alongside the screen comes to life as the power-up sequence is activated. Tiny green lights in her armband and belt blink three times as an indication that startup of the device was successful.

"Good morning, Laura. What shall we create today?"

Tablet's voice is no brittle metallic clangor, but rather a soft and melodious voice. Laura thinks of the tablet companion as a helpful sprite with a power cord plugged into her back.

"Show me autumn-themed templates for 3D sculptures."

Tablet's fingers dance over the screen, pulling files from the graphic design programs and online databases to which Laura has subscribed. Images of clay cornucopias, leaf and twine animals, and pumpkin people come up as thumbnails that Laura can easily expand and shrink at the pinch of two fingers. She's intrigued by a sculpture that uses barrels, plastic sunflowers, and miniature gourds but a quick glance at the list of materials used to create it proves discouraging. There are seventeen unique items needed for the embroidered skirt alone.

"Would you like to search again, Laura? I'd be happy to suggest projects by color or theme."

"No thank you, Tablet. Show me paintings themed around autumn landscapes."

Tablet provides her with an online gallery of online works that can be blown up to full size on the screen with a single click. Here are Van Gogh's "Autumn Landscape", Palmer's "Harvest Moon" and Bierstadt's "Autumn Woods".

Laura starts to play around with possibilities in her mind. She could take a walk past the little park three blocks over but the scenery is mediocre. The big park on the south side of town is almost a mile away and the best views are often spattered with pigeon droppings. It is fun to daydream about taking an autumn drive out in the country. Her car has three tires in the junkyard already. She's sunk more money into repairs at this point than what she originally paid for the rusty heap.

She convinces herself to at least get out her paint set and see what is left in the jars. Most of her yellow, black and white paint went into a small portrait she did of her childhood cat. She convinced herself to keep the piece as a wall decoration since it was really a very good representation of Snickers and nobody would pay for such a small painting anyways.

Blue is about the only color that's full at this point. The last time she made any serious use of blue paint was early in the summer, when she got the urge to paint the family lake cabin from memory. The half-finished painting was resting under a drop cloth in her closet. She would get around to finishing it...next summer.

"Tablet, show me the five base color paint sets."

"Paint Palace has a five-pack of acrylic paint pints for $25.00. The Artist Emporium has half-gallons for $30.95 apiece. If you'd like, I can even get you a fantastic discount on full gallons, your choice of any ten colors for $149.99.

Laura's sigh is full of longing. She's lucky to have $5 to her name at the end of a month. She'll just have to hope one of her sisters is feeling generous come the holidays...again.

"Never mind, Tablet. I want to go online."

"Would you like to sign into Artist Corner or Color Wheel?"

"No thank you. Take me to my Face Space page."

Laura has nearly a hundred friends. She has little interest in real-world meetings, but online she delights in making witty comments and bragging up those half-finished projects she swears are going to make it into a gallery someday.

Rob (a high school classmate she spoke to maybe twice in four years) has posted a hilarious cat video. She cracks up at the phrase. "Don't care how, I want it Meow." She can't resist posting a reply that reads "Salt's got nothing on this cool cat."

After half an hour of wasting time online, Tablet's sensor goes off. Tablet taps Laura's hand gently. "You haven't opened Photo Prime since start-up, Laura. Would you like me to bring up a list of your current projects?"

"No thank you, Tablet. Take me to Artistic Distraction's Face Space page."

Another hour goes into staring enviously at the latest postings. Laura has had three of her works featured in the online gallery to date, a fact that makes her very proud. She swears every day that she'll make it to five and earn that bronze metal but two recent rejections have dulled her motivation. She's almost positive the theater mask sculpture will make four, if she can ever settle on the mouth shape of the final two faces.

Another half hour of doing everything but art makes her realize how hungry she's getting. She remembers the half-pizza in the fridge and is genuinely excited to be eating something that has more than two of the basic food groups.

She always feels a little guilty when she powers down Tablet, especially on those days when she hasn't touched her work. It's ridiculous to think a computer can have emotions, yet somehow the little sprite always looks a little sad when the screen goes black and Tablet curls up in the sleep position.

*****

It's a new day and Laura makes a promise to herself as she finishes her morning yoga routine. She is not giving in to internet distractions and she is not letting herself get discouraged by fantastic projects she can't afford to do. Today is going to be about what she can do. She hasn't felt this confident about having a good day in weeks. Tablet comes to life at the usual press of a button.

"Good morning, Laura. What shall we create today?"

"Tablet, take me to my Unfinished Projects folder."

"It will be my pleasure."

Seven projects await the finishing touches of an artist's hand. The one called mega-blargh is a joke piece, an awful scribbled mess she uses for stress relief and for when she's feeling stuck. The one she opens is a digital drawing called Twilight Meadow.

"Would you like some recommendations on themes befitting your existing color theme?"

"Yes, please."

The list Tablet pulls up includes 2D visuals ranging from charcoal sketches to paintings to stained glass sculptures. There is one drawing in particular that captures Laura's attention and refuses to let go. It is by an artist she has not heard of before, and it is entitled "In the Grove Where Fae Left Me". The glow of the witch-lights is subtle and the hollowed-out tree with the gash across its face could almost be singing a song of lament.

"Tablet, open Twilight Meadow in Photo Prime."

"Certainly."

Tablet holds up the pen for Laura's reaching hand. Some strokes are bold, some are subtle, and some are deleted with a tap on the trash can icon. Tablet's frequent helpful suggestions both aid the project and help Laura to stay on task. When the last detail has been put to the screen, Tablet sits in the center of a lily pad, looking forlornly at a tree that looks to be on the verge of laughter.

The full work takes a whole week but Laura never gives up. Tablet comes up with color suggestions that prevent artist's block and allows Laura to compare brush styles to see their effect before they are applied. She suggests features available through Laura's online profiles that make the process easier so Laura can spend more time advancing the digital painting and less time worrying about the best places to display it. Tablet also works quietly in the background while Laura is drawing, backing up files and seeing to it that a working copy is saved so that there is no possibility of lost work.

"Tablet, move Twilight Meadow to finished projects and take me to Artistic Distraction's website."

"Congratulations, Laura! Your project is now saved in the Finished Projects folder. Way to go!"

Laura knows Tablet is programmed to give this response. She entered the text herself. That "way to go" is no less appreciated, however.

Tablet has all her logins memorized, allowing her to get to the home page of Artistic Distractions easily. She uploads Twilight Meadow, adds the digital painting to her favorites, and completes the short submission form before she can change her mind.

The next three days are an agonizing span of waiting and self-doubt. When the email comes in entitled "Your Submission", her heart is pounding and she's seriously tempted to just shut Tablet down for the night and check email in the morning.

"Stop being such a coward and just open the bloody email, Laura."

"I'm sorry, Laura. I didn't quite catch that last command. Would you like me to open the email from Artistic Distractions Inc.?

"Yes, Tablet. Open the email."

Success! Her fourth front page display is already up on the site. Laura spends long moments staring at the featured works box, her mind racing with new possibilities. She could do sprite paintings befitting every season, with special ones for the holidays. Why let her creativity stop there? She could do another series, one exploring the lives of common mythical creatures. She could even show fairy tale characters in the before and after that nobody talks about when telling the story of the three bears or little red.

She will not only achieve her fifth feature; she will make it all the way to 100. It is the ultimate goal of Artistic Distractions, one that only six have managed to complete. The reward is not only a platinum star trophy for the site profile but a letter of recommendation from one of the AD admins, a select group of the most talented young artists in London.

She has her inspiration and this time she will let nothing serve to dampen it. When Laura shuts down Tablet for the night, she could almost swear the little personal pixie is smiling in her sleep.

Art by Cure
Profile by sonata
Story by Pureflower

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