expiationnet | (video) a lil game moment

Born, raised.

Whose was it?

My former mentor. [but never mind,] I lack the funds to acquire my own atelier, so for the time being, I stay in the dormitory at my school.

Your dojo was family-owned?

Nothing's stopping you from transforming your place in one here.

Yep. Sano-family Karate Dojo. I'm a black belt with high dan.

These things take time. You do have a point, though.

[it's a nice thought! but from his room in the inn he can't do very much with the space, so. eventually.]

What is "high dan"? Skill level, or perhaps time spent in training?

I know you need those fancy paints, but you can make those yourself, can't you? I can't think of anything more traditional.

Skill level.

Impressive.

And supplies are merely one part of an atelier. The space itself needs to provide adequate space and lighting, among other things. While I am at the mercy of public housing, I am tragically stuck in a rut.

Temporary. Since you like it so much, you'll find a way to do it regardless of what you have.

[do you wanna commission him so he can buy a house.]

I... Ultimately, yes. For the time being, there isn't any rush.

Do you have work I can see?

I've some sketches completed since I arrived. No fully completed pieces yet, regrettably.

[but to hold his sketchbook up for this "technology"... no, he shan't.]

You would have to meet me to see them.

That's fine. Where?

(damn going out with two twinks like that)

The inn, downstairs in the main common area. I will be setting up for the evening soon to sketch a bit more.

(he's not going to reply. he'll simply throw a baggy cardigan over his uniform, and head downstairs. pretty easy encounter.)

[true to his word, yusuke is downstairs "setting up," which here means moving back and forth between two tables and studying them in some way only he understands - judging the lighting? the angles? who can say. the locals working in the inn tonight are just tolerantly watching him do this...

hi mikey. give him a minute. he'll pick a table soon.]

(at least mikey doesn't have a height complex. he enjoys being tiny, looking like he does, but damn, what is it that y'all motherfuckers drank as a kid? everyone is so TALL.

but he'll wait, watching with mild amusement.)

[does it help at all that yusuke's physique is "get blown away in a light breeze"-level... don't think about his weirdly high strength stat, that's only for shadow-fighting times.

anyway, after a bit more of his keen observations - through his finger-square, naturally - he scoots a chair around to the side of the chosen table from which he can people-watch, retrieving his sketchbook from the seat of said chair as well. he's about to take a seat when he realizes there's even someone else here, and of course:

he holds up the finger-square again. aha.]

So you've come. Join me.

(holy shit, this kid is weird. it might be because mikey doesn't often deal with anyone who isn't from the underworld, or trying to be, but he's never seen... such behavior. although he did say he went to art school, so maybe there, he was normal, right? whatever. mikey can accept him.

hands in pockets, he'll follow.)

[yes yes, come, he gestures for mikey to sit as he sits himself at this Ideal Table. he opens his sketchbook, flipping through some of the pages.]

Tragically, I arrived in this world with only one sketchbook in my possession, so my portfolio is limited. Are you interested in portraiture, or the abstract?

I have a picture on me. If you could draw it bigger-- but I have to see if I like it first.

(he'll show the picture soon, part of him is so worried of just handing it to a stranger, it's such a precious thing. so, instead, he'll buy time, flipping over the pages himself.)

... Pretty good.

Hm.

[ah, this is a request... in that case, he refrains from swatting mikey's hand away from his sketchbook, although he does look not-quite-thrilled about someone else just touching it. rude and invasive? still, there are plenty of drawings in there: a few of them are even fellow chosen, if mikey has managed to meet kotone or astralin yet. plenty of them are strangers. on one page he attempted several times to draw a local house, and it looks good, but he clearly hated it for some reason and so none of those are finished.

hashtag art life.]

A picture of your companions, if I could be so bold as to guess.

(these are good. he'll very carefully removes the charm he wears around his neck from within his uniform, so gentle like it is made out of crystal, as if the slightest rough movement could ruin it. from it, a photography. everyone looks so young... and mikey's smile is so fond.)

Yeah.

[ah, so this is what real gangster kids look like... or more like, ah, so this is a precious childhood memory. yusuke doesn't reach out for the photo, instead leaning over to peer at it while he flips to a clean page in the sketchbook. to create a precious thing like this touches him in a particular way that more casual sketches of people he's met don't; a cherished moment, almost like the sayuri...

yes, absolutely, he would love to do this. let him do this.]

I would be honored to recreate it for you, if you'll have my work. If you're thinking of something much larger, I will first have to procure more supplies...

[like, he can do it real big. if necessary.]

I just want to be able to hang it on a wall.

(it's all he has. the uniform, the charm-- this picture is as bittersweet as it could be. the manji was never built for malice, for crime, it'd been created for protection. kids like them, they never fit. the streets are full of danger, of other gangs, and manjiro-- manjiro's always been the stronger, able to silence even the biggest, oldest, meanest of kids. one is dead. two have been arrested.

it's really all he has.)

I'll have your work. I like it.

[yusuke nearly points out that you can hang very large canvases on walls, actually, but then he remembers to be almost normal and merely hums. yes, okay. on a wall. then a full sketchbook page should be good framing size.

he picks up his pencil, tapping it a few times as he studies the photo a bit longer, then begins to sketch out the roughest details.]

Thank you. You shall have it; I will even refrain from taking on other projects until this is finished. Such a thing deserves the full force of my focus to bloom from the photograph onto the page.

[he's dumping all hyperfocus resources into this, that is. ahem.]

If you'd prefer not to part with the photograph, I will require you to meet me here again nightly, until it is done. I wouldn't dare to hold your treasure captive.

Fine. About payment, I ain't got none. I do, however, take care of people I like. You'd be well-protected.

(it means, mostly, that his empathy will be on. his care, his caring, all of this are going to be currency, easily. if that's not enough, then he'll have takemitchy pay for it somehow, later.)

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