More than a year ago, chapter six was uploaded. I bookended it with a footnote that it would be approximately [x] days before it would be continued. Today, out of nowhere with no indication or advance warning that I was going to continue it whatsoever—is chapter seven. Hiss if you must, but I contest that this was not intentional, I don't even plan things this way, they just happen. Hopefully you can forgive me. When we last left our blueberry prince, he was attempting to paint a portrait of Kana per her request only to be struck by a bad case of artist's block. He hopes a momentary breather will be able to quell his fatigue. Kana's idea of a break? Showing off her SSS+ rank stone collection!
Fireminer: Very interesting concept you have here. As a matter of fact, shades of it found its way into this chapter, thank you very much for the suggestion!
Alycore: Thank you! I try to stick to source material, but sometimes that's not enough. What Fates lacks in key character development, I make up for with the liberties you mentioned, with those liberties based on small things we know in-game and can infer from (ie: Azura often has bedhead, Kana has a bun, so we might assume that Kana has a bun because she inherited that bedhead, and her's is just so much more messy and awful that they have to keep it in a bun to contain it all). You're also right in that the story places an emphasis on the siblings bonding with the parents playing more of a background role. I feel like there's a lot of untapped potential for that dynamic as opposed to limiting the children to the background as others find themselves doing.
TacticianLyra: Maybe not a full flashback, takes away some of the mystique, I feel it's enough to allude that it happened and to leave it at that. Thanks for the suggestion.
She Who is Woe: You really binged this? I can't thank you enough for the flattery. Hope this was worth the wait.
robotortoise: We haven't seen the last of Mitama, that I can assure. Or other girls for that matter. Lots of potential to be had with themes so simple as "Shigure and [x] girl do cute things".
Word Count: 2,596 words.
.07 - Shigure and Stones
"We've done enough painting for now. I think we deserve a break."
"And this one is quartz, it's my favorite! I found it in a spring by the mess hall, and see, see, big brother, look! It looks like a teardrop! A rock must've bawled it out when no one was looking!"
"That's quite the find you have there. I've only ever seen these in books myself. Usually they come in deep shades of violet, yet this one is transparent through and through. I hadn't realized there could exist variants this unique."
"Yup, yup! Papa says they come in all kinds of colors like, um. . . oh! This one over here! Opal! Look! Instead of just one color, it's like Mama Nature took all the colors that ever existed and mashed them together into one little stone! It's my other favorite!"
"Haha, I'm not sure if I'd go that far, but I see what you mean—and also see that father wasn't kidding. Goodness, it's like a rainbow!"
"Heehee! A rainbow inside of a tiny little pebble!"
"Indeed, I'm almost tempted to sketch it."
Ahem. Almost.
"And then there's this other one over here papa told me about.. um, what was it... oh—morganite! Check it out! Only one color, but it's pink and I really like pink so that makes it okay! One color or a ton of colors, it doesn't matter to me, I love them all equally!"
"Equally enough to dub each of them your favorite, I take it."
"Of course they're all my favorite—they're all so smooth and shiny and so, so pretty! I can't pick just one! Plus, if there was ever a stone I didn't like—and there wouldn't thank you very super-dee-duper much—it wouldn't be in my collection anyways! It's like I always say—a bad stone brings down all the good stones around it, and a good stone makes all the other good stones around it even goodlier! That's one-hundred percent certi-fried Kana Smarts for you!"
"Kana, the thing about catchphrases is that they tend to come, you know, naturally."
"K-Kana Smarts is a real thing! It is! And if it isn't, it will be in a little bit!"
"For all the wrong reasons, I imagine."
"Hmph, bully.. I bet you won't be so high and mighty after I sic my Dragonstone—my other-other favorite—on you! It lets me turn into a dragon and go rawrggh at bullies, bandits, and bandit bullies!"
"Yes, I'm about as acquainted with these as you are, though I like to believe my roaring is a little more refined, more mature."
"Mature? Ha ha! Everyone knows icky teenagers can't be mature, and you're still one of those, so case closed!"
"I-I'll have you know I'm not that much younger than fath—!"
"Ooh! I almost forgot about this one! Look, look! This one's azurite!"
"Ah.. If I must. Azurite, you called it? Oh, er, I'm afraid it's a little garish for my taste. I suppose there comes a time when even I'm surprised at how blue something can possibly be."
"Garish...? Hmph, I don't even know what that means and I still think it's rude! You're lucky mama's so nice and forgiving, she would be so hurt to hear you say that!"
"Er, pardon? I must have missed something—at what moment did our mother turn to stone?"
"When papa told me looking at it reminded him of her, of course! I think it's 'cause it's pretty, like she is. That's why I take very special care of it and why you can't say mean things about it!"
"Oh, is that so? Excuse my misgivings then, I wasn't aware it held such significance to you."
"It's okay! Hehe, you should have seen him, papa was acting so sweet and lovey-dovey! His face was all-red and he talked like he was reading a poem. He told me just holding it to his heart put him at ease, like mama was right there, hugging him close and soothing all of his troubles away. Of all my stones, it's my favorite-one-that-reminds-me-of-mama! But it's nothing compared to—"
"Oh? Kana, I hate to interrupt, but what can you tell me about this one?"
It wasn't enough that Shigure was being offered an exclusive firsthand look at the most coveted collection of precious minerals, gemstones, and shiny things this side of the Astral Realm—for free no less, he also had to bog the tour down with his own burning inquisitions (evidently, he was that kind of tourist).
Kana found it hard to blame him though, considering it was she who insisted on showboating her stones in the first place—a proposition that Shigure only gave in to due to her unyielding persistence and the self-delusion that nothing could possibly be better for an artist lacking in inspiration than to have a gander at the kind of naturalistic beauties he could only dream of encapsulating in imagery.
The art world was still a decidedly merciless mistress, one in no shortage of savagery for its devotees.
As for what exactly caught the artist's eye, Kana followed his enchanted gaze to the discreet, yet humble gem lodged ever so subtly in the corner of her treasury. It, like many of the riches to be found in her mini mobile emporium were distinct, no two rocks alike in shape, size, or color. Such values amounted to a logical explanation for the vibes emanating from the collection's most recent addition.
"You mean this one?" Kana hummed, plucking the mineral from its pocket. "Heehee, you've got good eyes, big brother, even if one of them's all covered up! This one is super special, I traded papa for it earlier today. It's a—"
But Shigure's curiosity was far greater than she (and he) anticipated, and he unintentionally jumped the gun on her.
"Is that.. Is that pure crystal?!"
But it was well-justified.
Kana reeled from the unexpected outburst but rallied her marbles quickly enough to shut him down with another crash course in gemology. "Hm, I take it back—big brother is as blind as a bat! A bat! This isn't crystal! It's um.. uh.. papa told me the name.. er—I forget, so we'll call it Fool's Crystal! 'Cause only fools think it's real!"
"Fool's Crystal..?" Shigure mouthed, deliberately ignoring her little aside.
Lucky was he that she was more than delighted to enlighten him.
"It's a pretty gem that only looks like real crystal!" she explained, trademark Kana Smarts in action. "Papa says it's not worth any money, but it still looks just as nice! And I bet you could play some fun tricks on your friends with it! Heehee, Midori's gonna think I'm the richest person ever!"
Kana seemed more than content with boasting of being at the envy of her diminutive peers, a childish ruse so tantalizing it had been replaying itself in her head ad nauseam from the moment the false crystal fell in her hands. She was rather crafty for her age and could get away with most anything—the rascal—so long as those things were relatively within the realm of juvenile innocuousness. Few people sought to stop and think about where the blurred line between misadventure and misbehavior began, though.
"Hm, I see. So you wouldn't consider it a 'bad stone' then?"
The girl was still fantasizing over the tricks she'd pull when her brother reeled her back to reality. "Huh?" she turned to him. "Of course not! Why would it be bad?"
The artist shrugged. "It was simply a thought of mine. I'm afraid I can't explain it in vivid detail—I'm not the revered gemologist here—but it's still puzzling all the same. Didn't you claim it was worthless just a moment ago, a shameless impostor of the real thing?"
"Uh-huh.." Kana slowly nodded, not quite sure of where he was headed (but more than sure she wouldn't like it).
"Then it stands to reason that an imitation would have no room to stand alongside the likes of any genuine treasure. Even the name you've given it suggests that only a fool could find worth in i—"
"Woah!" Kana yelped, her blue bun bouncing as she unconsciously slipped into her best impression of Felicia. "Woah, woah, woah! No more, no more! Not another word!" she cried. "That's enough of that crude teenager talk of yours!"
Any offense Shigure could have taken to that was mitigated as he found himself bringing two fingers to his lips.
Pat pat, pat pat.
"Hm," he hummed. "Doesn't feel very crude to me—"
"T.. That's not the point!" Kana huffed, free hand waving frantically. "Just cause it's not worth anything doesn't mean it's worthless!"
An optimist way of looking at things, to be sure.
"'Things that are objectively worthless... aren't actually worthless,'" Shigure smirked, bluntly spinning her own words back at her. He chuckled and placed his hands on his knees to meet her at eye-level. "Did father teach you that as well?"
"Oh, uh-huh!" she smiled. "How'd ya know?"
"A-ah well," the artist paused, hand at the back of his neck as memories of Kana's most recent birthday came to mind. "Let's just say father has a... unique understanding of wealth, so to speak—m-mostly due to Miss Lilith's generosity."
"Oh! You mean how auntie showers papa with gold all the time? Gold she sorta pulls outta nowhere?"
It was certainly one way of putting it.
"Er, y-yes—that. I think it's emboldened father, to be frank. He doesn't view anything as worthless because he can afford just about anything, and if something has no monetary value, there's always the possible sentimental attachment it could bring that gives it some sense of worth. And if it lacks even that much—he simply gives it one."
"So.. my crystal.. you don't think—"
"You said it looked nice, didn't you?"
Kana nodded, gaze locked on her treasure.
"Then that's all the reason you need," he said, standing up. "It's no different than your azurite. One reminds of you someone we both hold dear, and the other is among the prettiest in your collection—both are strong sentiments that are worthy in their own right, whether or not they have a price can't take that away. "
"So when you tried to call it a bad stone.."
"I was testing those Kana Smarts of yours—or at least, I was trying to, I didn't realize father had beat me to the punch on this one. You two must be really into this little hobby, I take it."
"You bet!" said Kana as she placed the crystal back in its respective pocket, all the while marveling at the rest of her treasury. "Heehee, spending time with papa is so much fun! We trade stones, tell stories, and sometimes we dance too! I mean, I know papa's very busy all the time, mama too. They can't always make time for me, and sometimes that makes me feel lonely."
"Kana.."
"B-but that's okay! Because then it makes all the times we do get to spend together really special! And that's what makes my stones all the more—"
"—valuable?" Shigure suggested.
Kana's mouth fell open in revelation, then closed in contemplation, then open again in refutation, then closed once more in toleration. She had half a mind to contest him on instinct alone, but whatever thoughts she could draw now petered out into nothing, so she simply went with his flow.
"Yeah, that's it!" she said with a bounce. "Ehehe, it's as valuable to me as your portrait's gonna be!"
Her gaze went starry-eyed and it was Shigure's turn to drop his jaw. "E-eh, my portrait?" he asked, bemused at the shift in subject. "What of it?"
"You painted mama and papa for that big art show a while back, but you didn't put me in it! Now I get to have a pretty, priceless portrait of my own, and we're gonna put it next to mama and papa's, and I'm gonna love it, and it's gonna look great!"
"Hold on, I thought you said you didn't need a reason to want your portrait done."
The fanatical fireworks in her eyes fizzled as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her bun. "Oh, that! Ehehe, well, papa told me big brother was super stressed making the deadline for the art show. I wanted a picture just like mama and papa's, but I didn't want you going cuckoo and keeping yourself up all night over it like you always-always-always do, so I thought I'd tell you it was no big deal!"
"Something tells me you didn't think this through enough," Shigure discreetly mumbled.
"What was that?"
"O-oh! Nothing, nothing, sister. I'm just feeling relieved is all. You might even say a little cathartic. Ahaha.."
"Big brother, no way, you didn't..."
"Obsess over artistic imperfections and irregularities while internally debating over subjectivity versus objectivity and whether or not I was losing my soul—why yes, yes I did. What did you think the break was for?"
"Shuh-guhhh-ray!" Kana frowned, employing a rare—albeit deliberately butchered—use of his name. "I can't believe you! Dummy! I told you it wasn't for anything important so you wouldn't get so worked up about it—and then you went and got worked up anyways! No wonder you wanted to start all over, you probably messed one little thing up and thought the whole picture was ruined!"
"K-Kana," Shigure began with shaky laughter, seeing her pursed lips and balled fists. "You have to understand, I-I tend to take my craft very seriously, regardless of how serious a commission i—"
She lightly pounded on his chest with a barrage of punches. "You make mountains out of molehills! Mooooolehills!"
"O-only because I believe you and everyone else deserve my very best!" he explained, doing his best to get a word in over the savage slew of 'dummies' he was receiving. "I simply wouldn't feel right if I gave you a portrait I know I didn't give my all!"
Kana refrained from a response and simply continued battering him.
"Er, Kana..?"
The artist didn't feel bruised so much as bewildered.
"Kana, how long are you going t—?"
"What difference does that make!?" Kana exclaimed out of nowhere, tilting her head up to meet him. "Big brother's very best shouldn't leave him strained and losing sleep! How d'ya even know what your best is, anyway? How d'ya scale that? If you're painting so hard that it stops being fun, is that really your best? You'd be painting just to paint!"
"I-I, erm, well—"
She has a point.
At last, her fists came to a stop. "You're my big brother, I don't care if there's a few little mistakes that only you can see—I'm gonna like it anyways 'cause it came from you! That's what counts!"
That's what counts..
Oh.
Shigure's jaw was still hung open in disbelief, so Kana took the liberty of closing it for him.
"Ah.. thank you, sister. I suppose I needed that."
"Save your thanks for when I tell you how great the finished portrait looks! I mean, really! What kinda dopey teenager tries to teach his cute little sister about worth while also thinking his paintings have to be super-dee-duper perfect or else it's ugly and soulless and nobody will like it even though they all look pretty and oh woe is me?"
"I do not sound like that."
"Yes you do! You do! All the time! Here, undo my hair tie for me and I can look like you too!"
"That's it, break time is over. Kana—go back to being a statue."
To be continued.. whenever, although I can soundly guarantee it probably won't take another full year haha don't kill me. If you really need the reassurance, I've been simultaneously working on this chapter, the next, and the ninth during the break with ideas for chapters beyond that also on the backburner, so expect those up sooner rather than later. Really. I mean it. Don't give me that look.
- I was notified during the hiatus that this story found its way onto TVTropes! Thank you for the recommendations, Fireminer, Karxrida, and The Apocryphal One! Both the former and latter are consistent readers of mine, and I've read some of their works as well, consider me honored! . . . assuming they even see this year-late response. Robotortoise also contributed by adding some of my other stories to the page, again, thanks for the support.
Reviews are appreciated! Even if you think otherwise, even if you're afraid, or if you think what you have to say is minuscule or unimportant, or if you don't even have a proper account, they help more than you'd believe. They let me gauge reader interest in a story (very useful!), whether it should be continued, as well as evaluate what works and what doesn't, and cultivate the fic to improve the experience for everyone. Hence, your questions, comments, concerns, critiques and suggestions are always welcome and I make an effort to respond where necessary. Thanks for sticking with me.
—a little something about dancing shigure next time? your call!
