Worth a Thousand Words (For Week 15) [Active, Closed.]

[halfdarkened]

Characters: Riku and Namine
Content: The two pass pictures to each other!
Location: Their respective rooms
Time of Day: Varies
Warnings: Adorbs?
Notes: Continued from this.

It'd become a part of the daily ritual, much like reading the paper. Riku got up and went to retrieve the drawing that had been slid under the door before even getting dressed. It'd become his coffee, as he was always curious enough to get out of bed to see what it was rather than roll over. Sometimes it even meant he was up before noon for a change.

Namine had created another detailed drawing, presumably in this case to clarify what she meant in the previous one. Riku smiled and shook his head, laying the picture on the dresser before grabbing a shirt and some pants to replace his loungewear. After changing, he brought the picture over to his desk and hung it there while he drew his reply.

Later in the day another badly-drawn picture was scooted under Namine's door. It was almost identical to the previous, but there was a word bubble over Riku's head that read, "This one must've taken a lot of hard work, too."

Comments

[colorbymemory]

Namine had come to look forward to seeing a picture from Riku each day. Usually it arrived while she was out, working the theatrical deck, exploring the nature deck, or in the cafeteria. It was like...well, she guessed it was like coming home to a letter in the mailbox, though she'd never had that experience.

Looking at his latest picture, she wondered if she'd managed to confuse Riku again until she saw the speech bubble. She smiled, then went to put the picture up on the wall in her room she reserved for their picture conversations. After that, she settled in at her desk and started to draw.

The next morning, she quietly slid her latest picture underneath his door on her way to breakfast. It showed a picture of him, Sora, Kairi, Xion, and Namine herself as they usually were on one side of the page, and their new adult appearances on the other. Between the two was an arrow with a big question mark over it.

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Riku'd placed her picture on his desk, pausing as he simply looked at it a moment. He decided he'd be mulling over his response while he got breakfast. He hadn't seen Namine yet since the change, and he wanted to avoid any more awkwardness after what happened with Xion. So he decided to be careful in his reply in what he addressed.

Its mid-afternoon when Riku slides the picture under the door. His picture mirrors Namine's in that he and Sora are depicted normally on one side of the paper and as adults on the other. There's an arrow between them as well. On the normal side, there's a height indicator, showing just how much taller Riku is than Sora. Riku wears a smirk and Sora seems surprised. The expressions are reversed on the other side, where the height indicator shows that though Riku is still taller, it's not by nearly such a large margin. Over the question mark is a "?!"

[colorbymemory]

Namine finds the picture waiting when she gets back to her room, and smiles at it. This latest trick of the satellites was causing a lot of confusion, though she thinks Sora is probably enjoying being closer in height to Riku. She set the picture on her desk to look at it while she drew a response.

This one had all of them looking like adults; she included Lea and Isa this time. Only, where each person's heart would be, there was a picture of them as a teenager--how they saw themselves. They had to remember that, no matter how they looked now, the change was only in appearances.

As usual, she slides the picture under Riku's door the next morning.

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When Namine returned the next afternoon, she wouldn't find a picture under the door. Nor that next morning either. For that matter, Riku didn't seem to be around much. However, a picture appeared in early afternoon of that next day.

It was a picture of Namine in both forms. The adult form was turned, her (poofier) hair blowing to to side and obscuring her face. She had a sketchbook up and looked like she was drawing something. In front and facing forward was the Namine he knew, standing much shorter, but also with a sketchbook held up and colored pencil in hand. She wore a smile on her face, as if she was satisfied with what she had drawn and was checking it against her subject matter: the viewer.

It was plain white paper that it'd be drawn on, and there were quite a few smudges. It was obvious they'd been left by a lot of erasing. The linework was bolder on the hands, indicators that they'd been traced. But from what wasn't clear, since they still weren't well-drawn. They also looked a little chunkier than they should, despite being drawn appropriately small for Namine. Had he referenced his own hands, then traced his drawing? A lot of careful attention had been put into the face, though again smudges were abundant. Riku knew enough not to draw a delineation between the cheek and upper lip, since that can make the individual look older. ...Or did he just learn that? There were eraser marks there, too, visible even with the peach crayon overtop it.

Regardless, though still a crude picture, it was certainly his best yet, and it was very clear he'd put a lot of work into it.

[colorbymemory]

Namine was a little bit concerned by how long the next picture took to arrive. She knew things had been...awkward for Riku so far this week. She'd just decided to check on him if nothing showed up before she went to dinner that night when she found a picture waiting when she got back from the theatrical deck.

She guessed pretty quickly why this one had taken him so long. She knew he did his best with the drawings, but it was obvious that he'd put even more effort into this than the others. She tacked it up on the center of the wall.

It was a good thing she'd come back early, because this one took her a while. It showed what was obviously a grown up Riku from the back, looking into a mirror. The reflection, though, was that of Riku as she was used to seeing him. Getting the reflection in the mirror to look like proved to be difficult, though-several unfinished drawings were cast aside for not looking quite right.

FInally she finished, and was able to deliver it at her usual time.

[halfdarkened]

It was nice to have a picture that morning when he didn't the previous. He really had gotten used to them, he realized. The picture was a perfect compliment to the one he'd given her. He hung it above his desk, away from the others as a result, something to look at while he drew if he wanted extra inspiration. He looked around at the mess his room had become after yesterday. And his reply came to mind.

Riku's reply came a little later than usual the next day, but not by much. It was a picture of himself sitting at his desk tossing a wad of paper over his shoulder. The desk was very badly drawn, but definitely had that overly-detailed quality associated with someone meticulously trying to draw something in front of them. It must have taken most of his time. Surrounding Riku in the drawing are wads of paper everywhere. There's barely any floor space! Some of the crumpled papers have bits of color on them, indicators they were once drawings he thought didn't make her look good enough.

[colorbymemory]

It was odd how quickly they'd become used to using the pictures not only as a way of communication that was private to them, but also as a means of checking on each other. Namine supposed that they could use written messages the same way, but this was a lot more fun. It was certainly easier for her in some ways, though she didn't know if the same was true for Riku.

She looked at the picture for a moment as she thought up a response, then propped it up on her desk to look at as she drew. It was really four small pictures on one page. The top left quarter showed Riku scrutinizing a drawing, while the top right quarter showed him throwing a wad of paper over his shoulder. Namine herself was depicted similarly in the bottom half of the page.

[halfdarkened]

For Riku, drawing was harder across the board. Whether it was through expression or communication, his mind didn't work that way. However, his mind liked to be challenged. As bad as he was with drawing, he took it more as a challenge than anything else. As such, he found that quite enjoyable, even if he did end up having to clean his room more often than he'd like. Besides, since he didn't necessarily see her every day, it was very nice to know she was still around. Some people had vanished from the ship, presumably going back home. And while he wouldn't wish being stuck here on anyone, it was nice to have the others here.

Riku set to work quickly that day, making a fast stick-man doodle, getting dressed, grabbing a bowl of cereal and milk and taking it back to his room. Had Namine been around when he saw the picture, he would have had this reply for her right off the top of his head. Instead, he drew a picture of himself under two large thought bubbles. The first one showed her drawing. The second had her holding up the paper (complete with a few sparkles) along with the words "First try!" The picture of Riku looked surprised as he looked at a piece of paper, presumably her reply, and that was accentuated by a "?!" right next to him. The two thought bubbles were circled in red with a big red slash to indicate what he thought wasn't the case after all.

[colorbymemory]

For Namine, pictures came a lot more easily than words, mostly because it was so much more easy for her to visualize something than think of the words to get the idea across. She didn't think of herself as particularly good or bad; it wasn't a matter of skill to her. It was something she enjoyed doing, and it was a nice way of having daily contact with one of her friends, reassuring her that he was still here. The satellite was so big, it was easy to go days without seeing each other.

Namine smiled at his drawing. True, she hadn't had time for multiple attempts on a picture while working with memories. She'd taken to practicing for accuracy here, though, which meant several tries sometimes. She found a spot for Riku's drawing on the wall, then went to work on her own: a series of three smaller drawings of her. In the first, she was drawing happily at her desk under the caption "First Try." Next was a picture of her drawing still, but looking a bit resigned, under the caption "Fifth Try." The last showed her asleep at her desk, head cushioned on her arms, with finished picture beside her and a satisfied smile on her face.

The caption read "Tenth Try."

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Riku spent a chunk of the previous day with a trash bag in his room, filling it with the wadded up paper he'd tossed aside when his waste basket overflowed from the last several days. His room was usually a little messy, but never with trash before. He stood at his door and folded his arms, giving a nod of approval before looking at the filled trash bag. Slowly he reached for it, but stopped short. Riku hummed a note in thought before leaving it.

His brows raised as he looked at Namine's picture. Riku smiled and grabbed a clip so he could hang it on the lamp at his desk. There it would serve as a source of reassurance when he was having trouble drawing. Well, more trouble than normal. Late afternoon Riku slipped hi reply under her door. The picture depicted the two of them smiling and shaking hands (as indicated my convenient motion lines around their hands!) Above Namine it read "10 tries" and above Riku it read "30 tries." Underneath it was a caption that said, "FAIR ENOUGH!" ...Riku still depicted a pile of wadded paper behind himself, though.

That day he looked through the theatrical deck. He could be seen making trips back and forth to his room with scissors, a plastic tarp, wire and cutters, window screening, cloth, a tupperware tub and some paint. A few clean sponges vanished from the kitchen, too, never to be seen again.

[colorbymemory]

Namine had her own collection of paper wads filling the trash can in her room. She wasn't much of one for clutter, but debris from drawing built up more quickly than one might think. Cleaning up after each attempt was a habit she'd developed early, mostly because colored scraps of paper stood out well against the white of the rooms where she'd drawn.

She would have been happy to know Riku was using her picture for reassurance. As it was, his picture got her to smile as she worked on her reply. It was a set of four smaller drawings set up to look like an equation. On each side of the equals sign, there was a picture of her, a plus sign, and a picture of Riku. The difference was that, while on one side, the caption for her read "10" and the one for Riku read "30", on the other the caption for each of them read "20."

She noticed the paints and other things missing from the theatrical deck, but didn't think that Riku had taken them.

Start new week thread for your reply, plz. :3

[halfdarkened]

Within another day, Riku had started filling another trash bag. Naturally, he was picking up after himself again, but that didn't bother him much, given what he'd started planning.

Riku laughed when he saw Namine's drawing. His reply came a few hours later with a picture of him in front of a chalk board and a bunch of math equations written up on it. One equation read 10+30=20+20. Another implied that 10 and 30 equalled 20, and a teacher was hitting Riku over the head with a yard stick. The picture was captioned. "I wish I could use that math."

At one point, Riku might have been caught carrying a tub of water to his room. In addition, the blender had vanished from the kitchen. Strange sounds started coming from his room, ranging from sloshing water to odd splattering and of course the blender. Someone was very busy.