I own nobody. That's why this is on fan fiction dot net and not being published and placed on a shelf. If you see any grammatical or spelling errors, please correct me.

Quintessential

For some odd reason, Haru, not the most spectacular girl you've ever seen; average clothes, no fancy hair or ornaments to decorate, has the ability to talk to cats and a stone crow. With such a strange talent, you think she could go far in life. Become an animal psychiatrist or something. Be the next Cesar Milan, the cat whisperer. Or help push the government for animal rights. But Haru, now in college had no idea what to do. She had tried on several attempts to communicate with other species. After all, once you've talked to a stoned crow a Howler Monkey should be nothing.

But after trying such an event she wasn't going to do that again. For a long time.

Even over the sound of her pottery wheel she could still hear snickering in the back. 'They have the right to,' she thought, 'trying to ask a cheetah what it's favorite color was in front of all those people...' she hissed under her breath as she attempted to raise her vase higher than five inches without it falling on itself.

She was willing to accept if all she could talk to was cats. She never owned a dog, so she didn't feel like she was missing out on anything. 'That cheetah was probably screwing with me. Probably stunned that someone wanted to have an ornate conversation.' But did it have to be reduced to the house cat family? Not that she minded, she just felt a bit silly. Okay, very silly after what happened that weekend at the zoo.

She shut her eyes tightly, her hand dropping to the button on the right side of her seat to stop the pottery wheel. Her newest creation, another flop. Literally, it fell in on itself, deficient of life. She pushed herself off the chair and grabbed her glob of clay and tossed it into recycling. Staring at the drying glob, she wondered what it would be like to create something with all of your heart. To give it a name with such pride as if you gave birth to it. She wondered that upon those words being uttered, did whatever you create suddenly burst with life. She looked at the shelves covered in her peer's sculptures of the past month and looked for the beginning of life. Many showed little to no detail of love, the only story that could be read was one of tired students trying to finish their projects on time to get to the next thing. Nothing worth lasting, nothing that wanted to stay, anyways.

Haru then walked to the cupboard that held everyone's early works from the beginning of the year. Opening the dusty doors she saw work made by amateur hands. Unbalanced statues, pots and vases that had parts missing due to exploding because of forgotten bubbles in the clay, and other work that had been damaged due to the explosions. Awkward paint jobs and legless animals. Other students would've slammed the doors in shame, embarrassed by their ignorance. To Haru, looking at these pieces was like looking at historical pieces. There was one that the student had claimed was suppose to be a ram. It had lost it's back half because of a lack of foresight, but she could see the care the student had put into the face. The etching was harsh, but it showed a calm, opened eyed character. It might've liked to dance in it's spare time and sleep in the clover it ate. The detail on the horns showed a proud character. But back on that shelve, there was a new ram. This ram had all the parts required to make a ram, but there was something more important missing.

Spirit.

The new ram didn't look tired, happy, mad or anything. It just stood there standing straight. It didn't look like it was going to lie down, or if was about to go somewhere or even pose. The new horns didn't have detail like the old one, the student probably didn't want to risk the animal to become top heavy and only gave it only small smooth horns. The impression it gave Haru was one very similar to taxidermy. The attempt to give something dead, the look of life.

She saw this trend in a lot of her other classes as well.

In painting students started out with bizarre creatures. Teasing squeezed between honest comment of trying to figure out what one was looking at. Was it a squid or was it a giraffe? Teasing aside, despite not knowing what she was looking at, Haru could see characters. An orange striped thing that liked to garden, a four legged brown thing that loved the ocean. As students were pushed to be atomically correct, thoughts disappeared. Now it was just a cat sitting by a tomato plant and a dog staring at an empty beach.

Haru closed the doors to go find herself some fresh clay. Cutting herself a square she began to message the grey mass into a more pliable mound on her desk. She had a name, and she wanted to give it to something. She wasn't sure what the name was going to go to. She figured that one day, one character of hers would stand out, if it be a cartoon sketch or photograph that the emotion behind the name would show itself and create a person. Whatever it was would like and dislike things, it would be good doing one thing and dreadful at something else. Dreams and fears all wrapped up in one package.

Only she and a few other students have been able to hold onto their dream of art since the beginning of the year. To be able to retain the knowledge without losing the creativity. Haru wondered about the great artists her teachers would push them to be like. How some of them never went to art school, and how some of them died doing what they loved while no one else did.

Who was the person who created the Baron like?

She would never ask the Baron such a personal question, but she wondered. Did he like movies? Sweets? Did he exist during a time before theaters? Did he have a silly hobby like collecting stamps? Like to fish? Was he even a he?

Considering the world of art, there wasn't any place to start. A young boy could've made the Baron wishing he were as strong and confident as others in his life. An old man could've made the Baron out of frustration with how the generations are becoming less and less polite and charming from the previous. A poor man could've made the Baron out of envy of the rich who could afford education. She hoped none of these were the case. Haru didn't like the idea that the Baron, such a sweet and caring person was created from anything but pure intentions to inspire and encourage others of following one's dreams.

A pause in thought, Haru stared at the figure that began forming in her hands. It was anamorphic, human shaped with definite feline features adorned with a cat face and beginning tail. Using a toothpick, she poked a few centimeters above the lips where the whiskers would be. It was then as she fingered out holes for the eyes she could see the name appearing on this objects face, no longer making it a thing, but a person.

"Louise." she breathed.

Was it okay to give a name to something that wasn't finished yet? She figured that there was no problem with that, humans did it all the time to large scale projects and some people knew exactly what they would name their children before they were even married. But the character was there, not in her hands but in her mind. A character with shining green eyes and white fluffy fur.

'Clay is the wrong medium for this.' Haru decided as she squashed the figure in her hands. Did this college have a woodworking class? If not, did they know someone in the area who wouldn't mind giving her a few pointers? She pulled out her sketchbook and began to draw the idea in her head, she couldn't trust herself to remember in her excitement. A large purple hat with blue ribbon, a light blue cape with a stone to hold as a fastener...

Haru didn't care if it would take years to learn to carve and tailor the clothes. She didn't care if it took even longer to find the right gems for the eyes. She was designing this with a certain friend in mind, and his approval was the only one that mattered.

She'd turn into a great art critique, I'm sure. Thank you for reading.