CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN – A BIT TOO ECCENTRIC

"Jacob, the brave! While your jaded airs may suggest a skeptic's soul, I sense within you the smoldering sparks of a defiant creative spirit just waiting to be stoked into an inferno!" Without breaking his theatrical stride, he was already snatching up a stained leg warmer and blindfolding the bewildered teen with it. "Therefore, I shall first awaken your unshaped instincts by depriving you of visual distractions - only the pure emotions driving your expression shall guide your strokes!" Plunging his brush into an ominous sludge of charcoal and crimson with a flourish, Diego abruptly gripped Jacob's wrist and began guiding the hapless teen's hands in broad, furious slashes across the canvas while he flailed helplessly. "Let the anguish pour forth in unbridled defiance!" Diego bellowed with manic intensity, his own body whirling and contorting as he channeled his protege's painting into a series of savage, discordant motions. "Rage, rage against the weight of oppressive conformist