Interesting Facts About Giraffes

[Fiori]

"Alright, let's just add some shadows to the neck, and... Wait... Oh, for Pete's sake" Vera grumbled under her breath, crossing out her sketch and turning the page over to start again.

It was at times like this where she missed her drawing tablet, and the ease with which it allowed one to correct their mistakes. But alas, Mr Corwin - ever the traditionalist - shunned the use of such devices in Art class, insisting that they stick with their assigned sketchbooks. Not that she really minded most of the time, but then you had days like this where she found herself stuck with a particularly tricky assignment.

Well. In fairness, it wasn't that difficult a task. If anything it was insultingly straightforward: Do a realistic sketch of an animal. Simple, right? It was as good an excuse as any for the Art department to host a school trip to the zoo, a classic fall-back option for teachers running out of ideas.

She used to really like the zoo. Indeed, her old sketchbooks were full of doodles from past visitations, the penguin exhibit in particular being a childhood favourite. Even now there was a lingering feeling of nostalgia for the place, albeit one tempered by a growing sense of ambivalence towards such institutions. Did they play an important role in education and preservation, or were they a cruel relic of western colonialism? Vera wasn't sure which side of the fence she sat on that particular hot topic.

Regardless, she was here to do some art, and instead of filling her sketchbook with more penguins she decided to challenge herself. Spice things up a little by picking an animal she usually avoided, make this otherwise dull assignment a little more interesting.

Vera looked up, legs crossed and sketchbook on her lap as she sat on a bench, taking a quick glug of water as she observed the long-necked beast standing before her. She had never drawn a giraffe before, having always assumed it would be a nightmare to get the proportions right. And sure enough... Yeah. Nightmare was putting it lightly.

It reminded her a lot of what it was like trying to paint every artist's greatest enemy: The horse. At least with giraffes you know what you're in for, but horses were insidious. They're so ubiquitous that you never realise just how wrong they are until you sit down and really look at them. With their weird long faces, and flowing manes, and bizarre leg-structure, and... Yeah, no. No, she wasn't a fan of drawing horses, but giraffes were quickly proving to be infinitely more frustrating.

She bit her lip, trying to concentrate on the tall yellow bastard ahead of her. Watching as it munched away, gormlessly observing the crowd gathered by it's fence. Making little mental notes here and there, visualise the pencil strokes required to get it looking just right. Any idiot with a canvas can doodle a critter with four stick legs and a long neck. But Vera was an artist™. And she was determined to...

"H-Hey"

Her concentration broken, Vera sighed and turned her head to see who was addressing her. Sure enough it was one of her classmates, a boy with floppy blonde hair and a green hoody. What was his name again? He was part of her class, but she never got around to...

"You, uh... Drawing a giraffe?" asked Keith, meekly.

Vera paused for a moment, then shrugged. "You betcha..." she replied, before turning away to focus on her picture.

"Oh, neat. I, uh... I like giraffes" said Keith.

"MMm-hmm..." Vera hummed, idly sketching a rough outline.

There was a brief silence, Vera scribbling away as Keith stood there, hands in his pockets and glancing between his fellow classmate and the subject of her art.

"Did, uh... Did you know that a giraffe's tongue is twenty inches long?"

Vera stopped, turning back to Keith. "What?"

"Yeah, uh... Apparently it's also, like, prehensile and stuff so they can move it around and grab things with it. Kinda like an elephant's trunk, only... Like, smaller, and it comes out of their mouth..."

Vera blinked. "What?"

"I-I thought, it was... Y'know..." Keith stuttered, followed by a brief pause as he scratched the back of his head. "I'll, um... I'll leave you alone now. Please forget I exist..."

It was at that point that Keith slinked away, head hung low in shame.

Vera sat alone for a moment, sinking into her bench with a bewildered look in her eyes.

Eventually she shook her head and got back to work, trying to block out the bizarre exchange and focus on finishing this damn picture.

Five minutes later, she crossed out her work and slammed the sketchbook shut.

"Fuck it" she huffed, before getting up and storming off towards the penguin exhibit.