itsjustagamerp | Ninth Link

Entry tags:

Ninth Link

Characters: Namine, Amaterasu, Zidane
Content: Ammy and Zidane find Nami on the Theatre Deck. Talk of art and other things ensues.
Time: Morning
Warnings: None.
Notes: None

With practically the whole satellite serving as a laser tag arena, Namine hadn’t had high hopes of the theatre deck being quiet. She was pleasantly surprised to find no one else there; maybe they were all sleeping in. Setting the supplies she’d brought with her on the table she’d claimed as “hers,” she set about gathering the other things she’d need.

Finally, with all her crayons, pastels, pencils, and paper set up, she could get to work. Before long, she was so caught up in it that she was only half-aware of her surroundings.

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"And you made the joke about horns." Namine's smile turned a bit wry. Not that she'd fully gotten the joke, but the song Cambot had cued up had given her a hint.

She blushed and ducked her head at the compliment, shifting in her chair as she did so. It wasn't that him saying things like that (or the joke) made her uncomfortable (which was almost surprising, since Marluxia had never made any comments of the sort but had still managed to keep her always checking for the others out of the corner of her eye). It was awkward, since she couldn't quite figure out how to respond. A moment's thought led her to the solution of simply moving on to answering his question.

"No, I'm not playing. I just came here to draw for a while."

And there was a slight pout when she didn't play back with the flirting, but Zidane knew what that likely meant - she was one of those girls that didn't really like it, or at least know how to handle it. So it probably was for the best to drop it.

And Zidane did, stretching once more and stepping out of the pile of clothing to come up next to her table. "Drawing, huh? So are you any good at it?"

Namine was relieved that he was willing to drop the subject so easily. From the pout she guessed he wasn't happy about doing so, which was too bad, but she really wasn't up for that kind of game.

Thankfully, there was another available subject. "I'm not sure, really. I've never had any basis for comparison." No real lessons, either, but that was a story for another time.

What is personal space? Zidane wasn't paying attention to that as he craned his neck to look over her shoulder at the drawing on the table, starting to smile when he got a good look at it. "Hey, that's not half-bad - I've seen other artists sell a lot of their work with less talent. It looks like you're pretty good at this, basis or not."

Fortunately Namine was used to people coming to take a closer look at her drawings. Granted, usually she knew them better than she knew Zidane, but she could at least keep from fidgeting. Instead, she shifted to not only give herself a bit more room and let him see the picture better. The compliment drew a genuine smile out of her.

"Really? You think so?'

Zidane would not do anything to her that she would object to, even in his natural exuberance. ~~It's canon, he has the battle ability.~~ But for the moment, all he wanted to do was look at her pictures, an idea slowly forming in his mind.

"Really - you put a lot of heart into these. That's the one thing that true art requires, is heart and passion - when you give that up, then you're a failure as an artist, and a sellout. But you haven't lost that at all. It's good to see."

Most at fault was the fact that Namine's personable bubble when dealing with new acquaintances was bigger than most people's. Even after a few months on the satellite, she was still getting used to being around new people ~~because of a tendency to hermit in places not a lot of people went~~.

"You think so?" Her eyes widened with surprise, and her cheeks reddened at the compliment. This probably would be a bad time to mention that she hadn't started out drawing to create art. On the other hand, maybe the reason she took so much care with her pictures was because her first ones were memories, and those were important.

Zidane was a bit sensitive about memories, so it was probably for the best that she didn't tell him that.

"Really." He nodded, still looking over the pictures, reaching out to straighten one a bit. "It's like any kind of art - you don't do it because you think it's going to make you famous and wealthy, you do it because there's something inside you that just need to get out. Some people do it for selfish reasons, but all the real artists or musicians or performers I know do it because they love it and can't live without it." And he smiled at her, a real smile, with no flirting overtones. "We're a strange bunch. If we don't like something, then we won't do it. We have to love showing part of ourselves to other people to get into it in the first place."

Memories usually were a sensitive topic for anyone; hence the fact that, while very truthful and willing to explain if asked, Namine did not often voluntarily talk about Castle Oblivion and what she'd done there.

His smile got a real smile out of her, though the rest of her expression was serious as she considered what he'd said. She'd never drawn for fame or money, though the Organization had used her fear of being left friendless to dictate her first attempts. So much of her drawing before she got here had been for others, and she wasn't sure if all ZIdane was saying fit her. "Or maybe...maybe we just want to say something. Tell everyone that we're here, tell them about themselves, or send a message."

It wasn't until after she'd finished talking that she realized she'd included herself among the artists by saying 'we,' and blushed slightly.

It was okay, so had he.

And his smile only got bigger when she said that. "Yeah! A message, an urge, observation - there's something in you that just wants to get out. And that's why we do it - sometimes it's us, but a lot of times it's something else, too. We're just the carriers."

And that idea's back, and after hearing Naminé speak about her talent herself, he's not going to not ask anymore.

"There's not any gil up here, but if I promised to do you a favor when you need one, could you draw me something?"

Namine couldn't help but laugh at how carried away he was getting. He'd certainly thought a lot, and felt strongly about, art. Now that she thought about it, hadn't he mentioned something about trying to write a play, not long after he'd arrived? She knew he'd said he was part of a theatre troupe, so he had experience in some kind of art, even if not the kind she was used to creating.

Not that she was any more sure that what he'd said applied to her. Most of her art had been born of necessity--letting Sora know who she was, reminding him and Roxas of who they were. SInce she'd arrived here, though, she'd had more time to draw the pictures that just came to mind sometimes; that, and send picture messages to Riku.

His question surprised her a little, though. "I guess so...It would depend on what it was."

"I've been... away from home for awhile, even since before coming here. And while I was there, I lost all my memories and got them back little by little... even now there's still a couple of gaps..."

He got more serious as he spoke. It wasn't overly serious or anything, but the teasing, joking tone faded until it disappeared completely, and the smile as well. Zidane didn't frown or look depressed; this was obviously just something that was, very much, important to him.

"If you could draw me a picture of one of my friends, I'd be grateful."

"Describe them for me, and I'd be glad to." Namine was already reaching for her supplies.

She knew how delicate chains of memories could be, and how long it could take to reform the links that would allow for easy recall. Here she had none of her powers, but even if she did they would have no effect on Zidane. If a picture was what she could offer to help, then draw she would. It was obviously important to to him. After seeing the effects that losing even some of their memories had had on Sora and Riku, she didn't like to think of anyone else dealing with that.

He wouldn't tell her everything about where he'd been - it would only make her depressed.

But Zidane smiled when she agreed, pulling up a chair to sit with her. This could take awhile - especially given his propensity to wax poetical about a beautiful girl. But at the same time, Naminé could notice that he spoke about this girl in a different way than all others, including herself.

"Well, she's... very determined, and stubborn. She's got brown hair - it's very thick, and it's rich, and shines every time the light catches it. It used to be really long, but she just cut it off, so now it hangs at her chin. And her eyes are brown, too, a deep brown like a velvet, and her skin is very pale and smooth."

If he ever wanted to talk, she'd listen, but that didn't have to be now.

She smiled back as he settled in and began to talk. From his facial expression and the way he spoke, it was obvious this girl was someone very special to him. Which called into question his way of talking to her and some of the others, and surprised her for a moment. She quickly decided to reserve judgment until she had more information. Instead, she focused on selecting a few different shades of brown, as well as a few colors that she thought might work for the skin tone he'd described.

"Do any of these look like the colors your thinking of?"

It was just his way of having fun. That... might be hard for Naminé to understand, though. Heck, it was hard for most people who had significant social interaction to understand, so it wouldn't really be her fault if it confused her.

Zidane studied the color samples, then reached out and tapped one of the browns - a dark, rich one, like chocolate. "That, with a couple of lighter sections scattered in. Not much lighter, though. And... that one." The skin tone was close to white - almost as pale as Naminé's herself, though not quite there. "With a pink undertone."

There was a lot about social interactions that were confusing to Namine, though she was picking up on things more quickly than some might expect. Having bits of knowledge from Sora's memories helped.

She nodded, and set aside the colors he'd indicated, plus a shade for the highlights in the mystery subject's hair, a light pink she used a lot for skin undertones, and black, white, and gray for shading. After she'd put away the rest of the colors, she settled in to work. "Okay, can you give me a general description of her face? Like, if her eyes are big, and what shape they are? I'll probably need a lip color, too..."

It took him a moment to start to speak - he knows her so well, or knew her so well - that finding a place to start was much more difficult than it should have been. Finally, Zidane followed Naminé's directions, and started at the beginning.

"...Her face is round, but her chin is pointed. Her nose is thin, and very straight, and small. Her eyes are almond-shaped, almost pointed at the ends, and very dark brown, and they're set not very far apart, but not very close together, either. Her mouth is a little small, and she doesn't wear any sort of face paint - she doesn't need to."

Maker he wanted to see her.

Namine smiled as she listened to Zidane's description and began sketching. If she'd only guessed before that this was someone special to him, now it was clear. Which meant that it was important this picture turn out well.

Her smile faded slightly into a look of concentration as she focused on sketching and shading. Working from a description was different from drawing based on her own imagination or what she'd seen in others' memories. She knew it would probably be different from what Zidane was thinking of, but she hoped it would be close enough.

"Does this look like her?" Namine turned the picture so he could see it.

Zidane couldn't help a slight gasp when Naminé showed the picture to him, because... there was Dagger. It was her, completely, and he didn't notice the smile spreading across his face.

"Yeah... Yeah, I think you've got it. She'd like it - she likes art, a lot."

His smile was catching, and Namine beamed at the compliment. There might also have been a hint of relief that he thought it was a good likeness.

"Really? Did she draw, too, or maybe something else?"

"She likes art in general, but mostly theatre, and she sings. She's got the most beautiful voice..." And abruptly, Zidane realized just how obvious he was being, and flashed the blonde a grin. "Not- Not that you don't, but she really is good. She could probably be a professional if she wasn't... busy all the time. But she'd love this, too."

As far as Namine was concerned, he'd started being obvious before that slip, but she appreciates the compliment. "I don't sing that often, and I've never done theatre. Mostly I draw, though I've been trying some other things lately."

A few lumpy attempts at clay bowls and papier-mache crafts can be seen as testament to this.

He did tend to get pretty goopy about his girl. He couldn't help it; she was just amazing. Anyone would get goopy about her. Lots of guys tried; he just happened to be lucky enough to win her love.

"That's good! Trying other things is the key to improving your growth as an artist. Even if you end up sucking at something, at least you've tried and you've got that experience behind you now."

Though Namine doesn't have anyone that special to her, she was familiar with the concept. Sora had never been good at hiding how he felt about Kairi (and Riku was little better).

"Or you figure out where you made the mistake and try it again, only better." She smiled.

She still wasn't sure if she considered herself an artist, but she was beginning to thing maybe she should trying to think of herself as one. Talking with someone about it like this, trying new things because she wanted to, was fun.

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Ninth Link

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Sorry about the phrasing, it's just too appropriate XD

XD No apologies needed, for it is.

Indeed it is!

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