Happy birthday Kana-bean! And what better way to cap off that birthday than this: Duh-dah-daaah! Back by uncontrollably ravenous reader demand, presenting the long-awaited next installment in this continuing saga of.. of.. er.. loosely-tethered shenanigans that you can read on your phone while on the bus home from community college! .. What thrilling escapades await you!
Recollection of Foam (or Ephemeral Memories or Future Past 2 Electric Boogaloo: Variable Parents Don't Exist Edition whatever it's got a bunch of different romanized names). I was waiting for a mad crazy Future Past-esque DLC and it's finally here, I was convinced that ship had sailed. We even have some new scrambles with unique conversations for literally every single parent/child combination and parents who are unable to support in the main game. Obviously it's no question which ones I immediately lunged after (and yes, they did satisfy).
Now, moving on. Certain authors are apprehensive and refuse to accept any of the new name changes Fates has given to a few of the characters. I can respect that decision, but as with Awakening, I think they'll eventually come to adapt to the changes after a year or so at the longest (not to sound offensive if you're one of those ill-fated holdouts, I'm merely talking facts as an observer.) I'm more open-minded to adaptation, so I've gone back and edited the previous few chapters to adopt localization terminology where necessary (fortunately our star duo escapes NoA relatively unscathed).
Also, expect minor dialogue changes to better complement personalities as they appear in our version of the game (though honestly not much has differed on my part, so good for me right?) Starting as of this chapter, this will be implemented whole-scale. That notification out of the way, let's proceed with the week's endeavor.
Thank you for reading and please don't hesitate to spare a review if you can! Your thoughts are welcomed and appreciated. Bluefield and Apocyryphal One, your great chapter suggestions have been duly acknowledged, thanks for the input and continued support!
Word Count: words. 1,584 words.
.06 - Shigure and Painting
"Kana, you're shaking again."
"Wha?! No I'm not!"
"You are. Please, for my sake, remain still."
The young artist drew his dripping brush from the easel, glancing at his progress before comparing it to his jittery muse. The disparities were nil, few and far between. To the naked eye, it was a near-perfect artistic interpretation, a solid piece brought to life by a truly gifted hand.
Hm..
A trained eye would argue otherwise, and Shigure's was well-within that scope. His perception adept to a T, no amount of blemishes could escape his scrutiny unnoticed, and very few of those could escape unscathed.
The glimpse was brief but it hardly mattered, whatever subdued contrast present was enough to draw a ragged sigh from his lips. With shades of relent, Shigure laid the brush down and looked across to his fidgeting model.
Something wasn't right.
"Big brother.." she tiredly whined, fighting the urge to break her fine-tuned posture (her smile would be the death of her). "A-Are you almost done?" she forced through the slits of her teeth. "I-I don't think I can sit still much longer.."
Far from it, honestly..
The artist brought a clammy palm to his face, rubbing his cheek with the other resting on his knee. "Actually.." he began, tone treading on an subtle degree of weariness. "On second thought.. perhaps it would be best if we start over."
It took the brunt of Kana's innermost self-restraint to not jump up right then and there (she settled for curling her toes as far as they would go). "Wh-What?! Start over!? But why?! D-Did big brother paint too rough and make a hole in the canvas, or mix his colors wrong, o-or make Kana's bun too big on accident?!"
A light smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as she tallied off her worries. "Hehe. No, no, nothing that extravagant, but if you were to ask me, a large bun would be quite accurate for you."
"Hey! Bully!"
His grin lingered for another moment, but trailed off as his thoughts returned to the painting.
"On a more serious note—Kana, I don't mean to come across as inconsiderate, but.. you don't exactly fit the mold for an ideal model—"
"Ahh!" to which he was abruptly cut off by the sound of Kana surrendering her endurance—and proving his point in doing so. She eased her muscles and practically sank into her chair with sweet relief, relief that instantly died upon registering his words. "..Wait, huh?!" her eyes snapped to chilling reality."N-Not ideal..? Why not..? I-Is it because I'm not cute enough?"
"Eh? No, it's nothing to do with your outward appeal, it's just.." Shigure hit a roadblock, and when he spoke again, it was with a decidedly calmer tone."How shall I put this.. You have a tendency to squirm around.. It's natural and difficult to suppress, I understand, but too much of it can affect the quality of the portrait."
"Oh.." Kana mouthed, her bundled bun seemingly drooping in despair along with her. "I didn't know... Kana can't keep still.. so big brother has a hard time painting.."
"That's right," he nodded, only to immediately double back after catching wind of her low spirits. "Er, not that you should feel ashamed!" he shook his head (rather hastily at that). "I-It is true that a good portrait demands an artist capable of envisioning detail, and a still muse works wonders for that, but even so.. it's quite a tall order to expect someone to stay in one position for so long, isn't it?.. I understand if you lack that endurance."
Her pointed ears perked at that, twitching with a faint need of assurance. "S-So.. it's okay if Kana's not as stiff as a statue?"
"But of course," he answered without hesitation. "After all, a sister sounds preferable to a statue, don't you think?"
Her ears perked again, this time in delight, and if they could perk any further they'd surely be jabbing holes in his tent. "Of course! Ehehe! No statue in the world could ever be as cute as me!" she haughtily declared. "Heehee, okay! We can start over big brother, I'll just make sure to keep really, really still this time!"
"Heheh.. Right, starting over.. About that.."
As if on cue, his eyes drifted back to the notorious painting, and as his gaze woefully reflected on the almost-refined-but-not-quite canvas, he held back an inward curse. Words alone could not convey its shortcomings, its faults, the little things that made him say 'this is good, but it could be better'.
To everyone else, it held the trademark zeal of his former works, but to Shigure, it was apparent that there was something amiss within his sister's illustrated form, something beyond mere surface aesthetics. What it was, he couldn't say, all he could discern was that its essence left a hollow, almost sterile feeling within him. Where it excelled in heart, it lacked in soul—
'Or.. does it excel in soul but lack the heart?'
'Or does it have neither..?'
If there was one thing he did know in that moment, it was that analyzing art—gods forbid his own—was a taxing ordeal.
'Art is subjective, I know that—I even told her as such—but surely there must be some standards to live by.. ideally not any extremes, but at least something that would constitute a fair judgment..'
'Would starting over even fix anything?'
'Should I simply give up?'
Regardless of the precise issue, it still led him to the same verdict: if the muse wasn't at fault, then the artist was, and if that was the case, then he couldn't possibly condone a portrait of this caliber to epitomize his one and only sibling.
'Agh.. artistry is a cruel mistress..'
Truly, an artist has no greater critic in the world than himself (and people who are just genuinely bitter, but that goes without saying).
A brief pause followed, lasting until an impulse prompted the artist to act.
"Kana," Shigure began, facing away from the scathing easel. "Forgive me for asking.. but what exactly is this for?"
A solid and understandable inquiry, given the fact that for all the exasperating trouble Shigure had gone to for her in the past hour, Kana had not once elaborated to him the specifics of her unprecedented desire for a portrait.
A desire that, if recollection serves, was delivered unto him in a manner no quirkier than this:
"Hey, hey! Big brother! Can I ask a favor?"
"Oh! Kana, you startled me. What can I do f—"
"Can you paint a picture of me?! Please, please, please!"
"Can I—pardon?"
"Ahh! So you will?!"
"Eh? So I will.. what? What will I be doi—"
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the bestest big brother ever! I'll meet you after Papa and I finish our 'Pretty Stone Collection Show-and-Tell'! Okay?"
"Okay..? Wait, stone collectio—?!"
"See you in twenty minutes!"
"K-Kana, wait!.. Agh.. Father.. your ideas of recreation are rather odd.."
The tent had been bereft of any bells, but it certainly sounded like one had just gone off.
Dumbstruck aside, what little context he could gather from that amounted to nothing more than a heightened awareness of his father's devout devotion toward inexplicably emasculating side-hobbies (not that it was surprising, the man was always a paragon for oddly-alluring naivete and did little—if anything—to hide it).
Having invested more than an hour into this commission, Shigure couldn't help but wonder if some of that had rubbed off on him.
"Duhh, what's this for?" Kana mimicked in a low voice, stifling a few giggles in-between (she was somehow convinced that her impression was the pinnacle of acting). "No reason!" she chimed. "None at all! Why? Does Kana need one to want a pretty picture from big brother?"
Shigure faltered, unable to argue such broad logic. "I.. well, not necessarily, I suppose," he gripped his chin, a fleeting doubt on the tip of his tongue that petered into a sigh. "Honestly.. I could never turn down an opportunity to lend a hand if you need something. You're my little sister, wishing to put a smile on your face and going to whatever ends to meet that goal is.. just something that comes naturally. Familial intuition, if you will."
"Familiar inter-witching?" Kana echoed to her best endeavor. From that, her lips twisted until they held a decidedly smug look, as if to suggest that his brotherly aptitude was fated to be met with all the cheeky, conniving wit that was to be expected from a diminutive, half-dragon misfit.
"Ehehe, big brother is like a servant! My servant!"
In her defense, he had most certainly met his goalpost.
"Call it as you please, I don't mind," he waved her off, a shred of spice to his speech.
'Though I doubt you'll be seeing me in a suit anytime soon.'
As if it mattered whether he buttled for her in a formal suit or a birthday suit, Kana had been so engrossed in the gushing giddiness of indentured sibling servitude that she hadn't noticed him getting out of his seat, much less halfway out the tent flap.
Shigure motioned for her to follow, and Kana noted that he seemed a little too eager to get away from the mess they had started.
"We've done enough painting for now. I think we deserve a break. We can return to this later, once we've freshened our minds."
To be continued.. whenever. And this phrase actually holds weight this time. Figures I'd drop a cliffhanger after being away for so long, but the next scene change proved to be too far off from the chapter's focal point, so it warranted some reorganization. One wonders if our blue-haired, animal-loving cyclops boy will ever uncover the reasoning behind his sudden artist's block, or realize he's just being too uptight about everything needing to be 'pish-posh apple sauce'. I dunno, tune in and see in about... [x] days. Suggestions are always welcome.
Reviews are most appreciated, your thoughts are more interesting than you could ever know. It's amazing to think that, despite the inconsistent schedule, I still get many notifications for this story every day about new followers and favorites, thank you all for the morale boost!
