expiationnet | (video) a lil game moment

(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.)

Protected... [his brow furrows slightly, a little mild confusion while he continues to lay down some rough lines. is this, like. a gang thing. is violence anticipated. he supposes the locals don't all politely tolerate his artistic endeavors, but the most he's gotten is a few unkind looks...

well. hmm.]

From what, exactly? Make no mistake: I will complete this piece for you without monetary gain, [because he's bad at money, but mostly because it Touched him,] but you've made me curious.

People misunderstand what gang culture really is about, you see, or what it should be about. It's a mess nowadays, and not at all what I believe in. I believe in caring for our people, being there when needed, all for one, or nothing. That's what I mean. You'll have a friend in me, and in all of the other Tokyo Manji members who step on this place.

(because he makes the rules, ok. if he says it's so, it's so. it doesn't need necessarily to be violent. they're there to help one another. does that mean, often, to punch someone's face in? yeah. everything else, too.)

That's what this picture represents, too.

[oh, so it's being friends... plus. not entirely like the phantom thieves, for obvious reasons, but he sees the concept. it seems like a lot to offer for a single art piece, despite how much it clearly means, but then again - people keep offering to help him out with anything and everything in this place, for no particular reason, and it's a surprise every time. no one besides the thieves has ever looked out for him; very different.]

I see. In that case, I... accept. I suppose if you ever find yourself in need of something besides artwork that I can assist you with, you're welcome to seek me out.

[yeah he's doing this friends thing SO good,]

(don't be fooled, yusuke... he only gives a shit about his people, he's only being nice because you caught his eye...)

Not to offend you or nothing, but you seem like you literally only think about art.

Well, I think about art very often. You did come here to see my art.

[thanks that's a compliment--]

But as I told you earlier: I do have a variety of interests.

And yet, you didn't list one.

[hey. he actually pauses his sketching now.]

Yes I did. I told you about the museums.

That's still art-related.

What is your point?

I'm just curious. You do anything that isn't art-related? Ever tried riding a bike?

Occasionally I make trips to the planetarium, when I have the funds for the train.

[back to the sketch again. and,] Your type of bike? No.

... You got money problems?

(oh.)

Mine ain't here, so. If I can find pieces, I'll probably be able to put one together, but I got no interest in riding anything else but mine.

(video) a lil game moment

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