The excitement of new creation took over as Leo's hand sketched a quick outline on the canvas with soft ley lines of a human skeleton; the lacework of nerve endings hashed in hasty feathers of lead tracing.

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He opened the small lacquered box: his own brand of magic carried in oils and pigments. Leo crushed a tube of red in his hands, scarlet against pale skin, and let his fingers glide upon the canvas to fill in with purposeful strokes the musculature that lay over the bones of neck and shoulder. On the dais, his subject squirmed.