Always (Drawing)

Charcoal lines the backdrop of the canvas with delicate precision, evoking a scene of soft rain and lingering gloom. The faint strokes suggest a steady drizzle- enough to soak the atmosphere in melancholy. Towering trees frame either side of the scene, their dark tones merging with smudged charcoal to form rich, textured shadows that bleed into the rain-soaked air.

In the foreground stands a solitary lamppost, its glow casting a gentle halo upon a weathered bench below. The wooden planks are blurred, slick with water droplets that catch a faint blue shimmer- perhaps the subtle effect of paint laced with gem dust. The bench appears timeworn, its surface splintered and edges darkened by age, likely to creak under the weight of anyone daring to rest there.

Beneath it, wildflowers emerge from the cracks in the cobbled street. Their stems twist through patches of unkempt grass, rendered in loose, almost reckless brushstrokes that push defiantly through stone. The scene breathes quiet neglect, save for two striking details: a brass plate affixed to the bench's edge, and a glass jar resting atop it. The plate, dulled by time, bears a single word, barely legible: Always. Within the jar, distorted by the rain and condensation, swirls a deep crimson- suggesting, perhaps, the presence of a heart.

One final detail haunts the canvas: a faint smudge of black ink near the lamppost's light. Subtle, yet unmistakably shaped like a butterfly, it flutters ghostlike amid the shadows. It leaves only the echo of a form, like a memory fading at the edges. Perhaps it is a quiet signature, the artist's hidden mark. Carved delicately within the smudge is a single, enigmatic letter: V.

       Day 13, Month 3 (Ches), 186 AR
       ''Violet Ashenbourne''