"Goodbye dear !" Toriel called out before closing the door.
They were now alone in the house, and knowing Toriel, buying those groceries was going to take ages. They'd surely be on their own for an hour or two.
Frisk was actually unsure what to do now, it was the weekend and they had already done their homework, they had just stopped reading their book and didn't intend on continuing it just yet. It seemed that messing around on the internet was the only option they had to pass time.
...Or was it ?
Frisk just had an idea, there was one skill that they would like to learn. And they already had a teacher with them at all times. Since no one was home they could attempt it without looking like a weirdo to everyone else.
"Chara ?" Frisk thoulked, they had been keeping them out of their thoughts so Chara didn't know what they were up to yet.
Yes ?
"Can you teach me how to draw ?"
To… draw ?
"Yes !"
Chara had liked drawing things before Frisk was even born, despite the fact that they were physically barely older than them. Side effect of death and rebirth. Chara was pretty good at it although they were no artist either, they were easily better than most kids were at least.
Whenever they had an art project to make for school, Chara always proposed to do it for them, they would take control of Frisk's body and use it to do their work. They didn't even request anything in exchange, they just liked doing it and Frisk found it convenient.
On the other hand this meant Frisk had no chance to actually get better at it since they just relied on Chara all the time, and now they wanted to fix this problem.
Alright, i will see what i can do. Go get some pens and paper.
Frisk did as requested and set everything on the table, slightly exited.
So what do you want to draw ?
"I… i don't know ? Anything ?" Frisk hadn't thought this far ahead.
Lets start with someone easy then, how about a flower ?
Frisk attempted to draw a flower, the result looked like what the average little kid would draw in this situation. Just as they were done, Frisk picked another pen and traced a large red cross over their new creation. They were ashamed of themself.
Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad.
"I can feel your thoughts Chara, you're lying to me to make me feel better. I know it was bad, no need to baby me." Frisk responded.
Alright fine, do you want me to give you an example ?
"Sure..." They answered with a low voice.
Frisk laid back and felt their right arm moving as Chara used it to grab a couple pens. They used their other hand to hold the paper still.
I will go slowly, observe carefully.
Frisk did their best to concentrate on the way Chara moved their hand and attempted to keep it in mind order to be able to replicate it on their own.
Chara was very cautious in making sure to give them enough time for them to see everything, they weren't sure how much they'd actually remember though. One advantage was that instead of just watching someone else doing it, they could actually feel their own arm as it was doing the drawing for them, it was already starting to get muscle memory without them doing anything. Hopefully it would make it easier afterwards.
Once Chara was done, on the paper sat a large drawing of Chara's favorite flower, a golden flower.
"It looks better than the ones you drew in the underground" Frisk genuinely complimented them.
I made those ones not long after i fell, i got better at it afterwards, i did a lot of drawing with Asriel but mom and dad ended up just keeping the first ones, even if they weren't as good they had sentimental value.
Chara turned the paper around so the drawing could no longer be seen, then Frisk felt their arm suddenly fall as Chara let it go.
Alright, now its your turn. Try to draw a golden flower.
Frisk took some time to remember what the finished drawing looked like and where Chara had started. They hesitantly began imitating what Chara had been doing as well as they could. Once they were done they took some time to examine their creation.
It was basically a less detailed and less smooth version of the one Chara made. A sort of poor copy of it. At least it was better than what they had made at first.
I agree. Chara thoulked to them, having been listening to their thoughts.
"Its still not that great though. Like for exampl-" Frisk was about to enumerate all the imperfections of their drawing before Chara cut them off.
You can't fix all the problems after just one attempt, don't beat yourself up. That was already pretty good progress.
"If i need to draw a hundred flowers for them to look good im never going to be able to draw things that are actually difficult" They complained.
Oh come on, where did your determination go ? Fine, do you want to try something else and go back to this later ?
"Okay."
Alright, but you need to stay focused.
Frisk nodded and let Chara take control of their hands again. If a flower was already this tricky they'd need to pay full attention for whatever Chara was going to draw next. It was surely going to be something more difficult.
Chara started with a curved line pointing upwards from both sides, then on each of those sides they made a sort of wave pattern starting from there and going further on the sides, although moving up slowly with each wave before eventually stopping and retreating upwards to connect with each other. Once Chara went back to where they had deviated from previously and continued the line for a little bit before drawing what Frisk identified as an ear. They understood that what Chara had been drawing just before was actually hair.
With that new perspective, Frisk observed the drawing as a whole again and smiled, they knew what Chara was drawing now.
Chara was drawing them.
They stopped for a bit once Frisk did that, they had surely felt that Frisk had understood. Then they kept going. They were drawing Frisk in a cartoon-ish japanese style. Of course they were ! Chara had a thing for anime, anything else would have been surprising.
Frisk kept grinning once Chara was done and gave them back full control.
"It looks so cute !" They told them, looking at their miniature cartoon self.
Stop flirting with yourself.
"Not my weirdest flirt" Frisk winked at Chara.
Why do they have to be like this ? Chara wondered, reminded of all the ridiculous situations in which Frisk somehow thought flirting was a good idea.
"Because its hilarious to watch people's reaction to being flirted with when they least expect it" Frisk answered, having just read Chara's thoughts.
Don't change the subject. Now its your turn.
"Humm.. Can i keep the one you made as a model ? Its gonna be too hard otherwise." Frisk asked, not that confident in their abilities.
It'd be better if you did it without but if you want to, you can.
"Thanks" Frisk answered before examining Chara's drawing to try and find where to start. They found it a bit uncomfortable to draw themself though. Couldn't they draw someone else that looked like them instead ? Maybe they co-
No. Chara interrupted them knowing exactly where their train of thought was going.
"Please ?"
No.
This whole thing was relient on Chara accepting to help them so if they really didn't want it, Frisk wouldn't push it. They resolved themself to accept sticking to Chara's plan. Too bad, they would have liked to try and draw Chara, although it might have been embarrassing if they ended up failing and making them look ugly.
...Maybe it was a good thing they didn't actually.
Frisk began drawing again. They kept looking at the model every couple seconds to make sure it looked the same. They were also drawing it much slower than Chara because of this, it took them like four times as long.
When they were finished, Frisk was pretty happy with what they got.
"I think it looks great" They congratulated themself.
Well, yes it does. But the problem is you pretty much just retraced mine entirely rather than making your own based on the model. That's not how you improve. The drawing is good but you won't actually get better if you do not make your own versions.
This actually ruined Frisk's mood a bit, they had been happy about this one.
"Oh..." Their smile dropped and they lowered their head to let it rest in between their crossed arms instead. They couldn't see anything aside from a close up view of the table. Frisk stayed like this for a few seconds.
Please do not take it like that Frisk, i am just attempting to help you.
"I know, i know." Frisk thoulked as they looked up again.
They took a deep breath. they were gonna do this. They needed to take it slow and to follow Chara's directions.
"Can i try and do the flower again ?"
It had been over an hour since they began, there were random sheets of paper spread everywhere around the table now. Most were from Frisk, a couple more were drawn by Chara to inspire them. Frisk did manage to improve slightly but it was going to take some serious time if they wanted to actually get good.
"Why does this have to be so hard..." They complained.
It takes practice.
"That's easy to say for you !"
Chara noticed Frisk was getting really frustrated at this point.
Perhaps it would be better to stop here and continue this another time. Chara thoulked.
Frisk was about to nod before changing their mind.
"Actually, can i try one last drawing ? I want to draw myself again." they asked them.
I thought you felt like drawing yourself was weird ? Chara questioned.
"Yes, but i wanna try to do this one without any help now" Frisk explained.
Sure.
Frisk began their 16th or so drawing of the day, they quickly accepted that whatever they would make it wouldn't be as good as the other one, but at least it wouldn't be a copy this time.
They took their time with this one, they really wanted to try and make something good for the last one, in order not to quit with a taste of defeat.
Frisk's work was brutally interrupted when the front door suddenly opened.
They had lost track of time, they weren't meant to continue this long.
Reflexively Frisk grabbed as many of the drawings as they could, particularly Chara's as it would be difficult to explain the clear skill difference between one drawing and the next as well as all the ones that hadn't been flipped. They had managed to gather most of them into a big messy pile in their arms by the time Toriel turned to look at them.
"I am here ! Oh... What's this ?" Toriel asked after seeing the mess on the table and Frisk with a bunch of papers. The child held up the pile in a way that prevented Toriel from looking at it.
"Its nothing" Frisk nervously smiled.
Toriel noticed the crayons on the table and put two and two together pretty quickly.
"Were you drawing my child ? Can i see them ?" Toriel asked, curious to see what Frisk had made.
"Uhm.. I'd rather not, sorry" They quickly took the last few flipped ones and ran to their room.
They sorted them all in a smaller and less messy pile and hid it somewhere, hoping Toriel wouldn't question their behavior further.
Sorry, i should probably have reminded you of the time but i had forgotten as well. Do you want to finish that last drawing now ?
"Not really, im not in the mood anymore" Frisk answered.
If you say so.
"Wanna continue the book ?" They proposed.
Yes ! I can't believe you stopped at a cliffhanger again Frisk ! You know i hate it.
They giggled.
"Alright i won't keep you waiting" Frisk reached for their book and sat down.
In the meantime, Toriel was wondering why had Frisk been acting so shy just now. They were usually very willing to share anything they did, they were quite extroverted. She had gotten to look at a couple of Frisk's art projects and they were pretty good, they had nothing to be ashamed of.
Something caught her attention, under the table was once last paper that Frisk had forgotten about when they gathered all of them. Toriel couldn't help but to satisfy her curiosity and picked it up.
It was a golden flower.
Frisk had drawn… A golden flower….
Toriel felt her throat tightening. Golden flower drawing were very familiar to her because of another of her children.
She got lost in thought for a few moments.
Toriel wondered if Chara and Frisk would have gotten along if they had ever met each other. Probably not, Chara was distrustful of their own kind. Would they have given Frisk a chance ? Maybe Frisk would have pulled it off somehow, they had befriended people who wanted them dead before, they might have been able to get on Chara's good side.
Who knows ?