Private Finished [agodr] A Lesson in Patience

Shale let himself take a slow, deep breath, settling down from his mild frustration over his failure thus far. He watched his mom even more closely this time, and after she finished he took a new paper and started trying again. This time, he was incredibly slow and meticulous, sometimes taking almost twenty seconds for a fold. Eventually, he managed to finish his first swan; it was still a little bit rough but he was getting the hang of it.

"There...is that one okay? It has a bent beak and stuff, but...I'm doing my best." He knew that he could do delicate, gentle art, looking at his sculptures, but this was another matter entirely. He compared his work to his mom's and it was another league altogether from his own. "Woah, you're really good at that." He smiled at her gently and went to give her a hug, leaning on her for a moment before getting back to work.

Shale smiled softly at that and gave a nod of agreement, thinking those were fair enough terms. "Alright, sounds great. I appreciate you going easy on me, mom." He leaned over and sheepishly pecked her on the cheek before scooting back over to his seat, taking a new paper and beginning to construct a new swan. He was more careful and measured in his movements, aware that it was easy for him to apply too much pressure. He completed one more, a bit cleaner than the first, grinning over at Celeste and then subsequently producing a second a few minutes later; he really was starting to get the hang of it. "This is actually a lot of fun. Honestly I don't really care if I win or not...I just love getting to spend time with you one on one. Um, and I love you too, of course."

Shale beamed at the praise from his mom, a very light gold blush tinting his cheeks before he went back to work. "It's kinda funny, I guess, such a simple, calm thing being this nice. I guess it's all about who I'm doing it with, huh?" He smiled more gently now, focusing again on his work. He went slower this time, being more careful of the beak and doing his best to make his folds clean.

By the time he finished his first one to be judged, it was clear that he was a fast learner, but there were still mistakes being made. Compared to Celeste's his weren't quite as symmetrical, and there were a couple extra creases here and there, but they did have a certain kind of personality to them. "It's a shame Roldan had to go, huh? He, uh...seems nice." Shale furrowed his brow a bit at that before moving on to his next swan. He didn't really want to talk about this in depth right now, but felt that it was worth mention that he did like him.

Shale looked between his own swans and his mother's as they went; hers were both cleaner and being made faster, but he was improving with each one. He set down his fourth, giving Celeste a light smile with just a hint of pride.

"I, uh...yeah. We get along and all that. I liked having him over for a little bit." He looked away momentarily after saying this, apparently not ready to talk about it any more than that...maybe another day. He finished one more, now half done, and decided to scoot over to give his mom one more hug. "I'm feeling, uhh...oddly affectionate today."

Shale gave a light nod in response to that, starting on his next swan and working very carefully, humming a bit as he did. "Oh, yeah. He offered to spar with me, even...I think he could tell I'm kind of stressed out." He did another fold, leaning close to the table and tilting his head a bit to make sure he was at the correct angle. "How's what? The affectionate thing? Um...I don't know. I've just missed you a little bit, I guess. I feel like being close and hugging you and stuff." He finished the sixth, setting it in the line and smiling with a hint of pride.