[OPEN] The Joy of Painting

[backwordscompatible]

Characters: Zatanna Zatara | Midii Une | Aya + OPEN
Date: mid-october
Location: Earth Sector
Situation: Pottery Painting!
Warnings/Rating: things might get a little messy....


ZATANNA

[The 19-year-old Mistress of Magic...was not much of an artist. Although, in her defense, she had never claimed to be. Performance was quite different from paintbrushes, and while her sleight of hand was superb, well...]

[Still, she managed about as well as anyone who's last art project involved allowing a former boyfriend to smear her in body paint so she would turn visible again (long story): after about a half hour, she came away with a few simple, yet seasonally appropriate designs on the bowls she's gathered.]

[She also looked quite proud of herself as she held up one of them.]

Maybe I should use these when I decorate the Welcome Center.


MIDII

[A month shy of her 16th birthday, and Midii had already found herself a present. A teapot. Simple, personal, and something she knew she would get a lot of use out of.]

[It was said the custom was meant to be a social event, and yet she still sat a bit aways from the rest of the group. Several small cups of paint scattered around her. A few drops of every color, in fact, and a small, thin brush she'd used to paint dozens of little hearts all over its surface.]

[One for each friend or otherwise familiar face she'd lost. Not just in Keelai, but...before.]

I wonder...if I should make any cups to match.


AYA

[For her contribution for this most interesting cultural tradition, Aya painted...a green turtle. Because of course she did. She was dressed no differently than ever, unaffected by the cooling temperatures, with the only subtle alteration in her appearance being a...small streak of green on the side of her helmet. Darker than the shade of her construct skin.]

I do hope I have completed the process accurately.

While I have knitted articles of clothing before, I have seldom done anything of this nature in the past.

Comments

[denyamenti]

Carved figures, mostly.

[ Although... other than the one he'd made for Pepper, and the occasional one to occupy his hands, Bakura hasn't done much in the way of tabletop miniatures since a year ago, when he'd set out the game board on Ryou's birthday. Perhaps it was time to take on a new project.

He didn't have any in-progress pieces with him at the moment, but he mimed the small shape of the typical ones. ]

And whatever pieces went with them.

[looksfine]

Do you have any of your work readily available? [She asked with slightly widened eyes, hints of a child-like curiosity to them.] I would be most interested in viewing them.

[denyamenti]

[ The earnestness catches him off guard, especially on the heels of such a robotic (no pun intended) conversation until that point. ]

Not here. There's some at the Dojo.

[looksfine]

[Aya was a constant surprise.]

If it is alright with you, might I attend your Dojo sometime to properly analyze your work?

I am...most curious in these various forms of creative expression. I was never exposed to much of it before my arrival in Keelai, despite traveling to a wide range of worlds and cultures.

[Mostly because there had been some other, far more pressing issue to attend to while she was there.]

[denyamenti]

[ That she was. ]

The Dojo's open to anyone.

[ Essentially. Unless someone aggravated Bakura enough. He also knows that's not what she's actually asking. ]

Sounds like you were visiting the wrong kinds of places.

[looksfine]

Incorrect.

We visited precisely the places that our presence was most needed at.

[...give or take.]

[denyamenti]

If the places you went needed someone who only understands half of what makes people work, I guess.

[looksfine]

[She did not respond right away. Taking his words to heart, and properly processing and adequate response.]

...yes. That is not a wholly inaccurate description of the worlds we visited.

[denyamenti]

[ He's... not actually sure if that's her agreeing with him or not. ]

In any case, the Dojo is open from sunrise until set. Come by whenever.

[looksfine]

[Half-agreeing, really. On their behalf. Not hers; she liked to believe she understood more than people assumed of her. And she rarely countered their claims verbally, preferring to show. In time.]

Thank you.

I will make a point of doing so in the near future.

[denyamenti]

[ Well, he'd heard stranger things. Bakura makes a noise of assent, but as a spot for turning in the painted piece. ]

Until then.

[looksfine]

[And sure enough, in the aforementioned near future...Aya will arrive a the dojo, lingering just outside the main entrance. It was known to her that entrance to a facility owned by another, even if deemed a public residence, was to be made only after announcing one's presence.]

[For politeness' sake.]

Hello?

[denyamenti]

[ Someone will beckon Aya inside and direct her to the dojo's office at the back corner of the main room, where Bakura is working. ]

And lo, she appears.

[looksfine]

[She...accepted that as a cue to enter.]

Actually, I do not possess any abilities involving manifestation or instantaneous teleportation.

I walked here.

[With the pleasantness of her tone and gentle smile, it was impossible to tell if she was serious in correcting him, or actually making a joke.]

[denyamenti]

Your ability for humour still needs work. I wasn't sure you were serious about coming by to see what I've been working on.

[ Through the back of the office is another door that leads into the kitchen, the separated back half of the dojo having been into living spaces. ]

Through there, on your right.

[ Bakura stops at the sink, filling a glass with water nodding Aya through to the living room. The space itself is unremarkable, with only a minimum of clutter, but one whole corner of the room is taken up by a table, on which a growing village was taking form. It's very different architecture than Keeliai, but the village is being slowly assembled from the center outward, with some places marked off for future pieces, and some that are only half finished. It's not just the buildings either, but landscape surrounding them, bushes and trees, rocks, all in various stages of construction or painting. A small cluster of people figures, each only an inch or so tall, stand to the side of the table. ]

[looksfine]

I am always serious when expressing interest in a new hobby or endeavor.

[She headed inside the living room, and immediately took note of the display. Her eyes scanned it for a long moment, circling around as much as possible without threatening to disturb anything.]

It is...lovely.

Although I do not recognize most of the architectural landmarks and structural designs.

[denyamenti]

[ The compliment is surprising, somehow. He didn't get many, and the ones he did almost always came from those much closer to him. ]

It's just something to do, to keep my hands busy or when I can't sleep.

[ Although judging by the size of the diorama, he's either very bored or very rarely sleeps, or some combination thereof. ]

This style fits with the idea of "classic" fantasy... on Earth, anyway. Did you know Bakura Ryou, when he was here?

[ The pronunciation of the name is slightly different than Bakura uses on his own, particularly if she'd ever spoken to Ryou directly. ]

He used to build this sort of thing all the time; that's where I got the design styles from, and most of the technique.

[looksfine]

[Not so personally as she'd known others, but the name was familiar enough to warrant a nod. Followed by a second when he explained the origins of his design.]

I see. Then it is a design of Planet Earth. That would explain why I am unfamiliar with the layout.

[Because she had never been to Earth, obviously. In fact, before her arrival in Keelai, Aya had only encountered one other human.]

I can empathize with the desire to occupy one's time during the hours of most carbon based life form's nocturnal sleep cycles. However...may I ask why it is you do not sleep as they do?

[It wasn't so surprising an admission for her, given the fact that she know Mr. Insomniac, Tony Stark, himself...but she was curious.]

[denyamenti]

[ Bakura would have been surprised by the directness of the question, if he hadn't already started getting used to the almost-tactless way Aya was asking things. ]

Never have. [ a shrug ] Hard to sleep through nightmares when they're memories, not dreams.

[looksfine]

[Oh. ...oh.]

[She wasn't completely without tact, though inexperience in certain situations could lead to that impression. Once it was clear Bakura's answer would touch upon less biological reasons and more person...she had the grace to look sheepish for asking in the first place.]

I am...sorry. That you struggle with such memories.

I, too, occasionally wish there were events in my past that I could no longer recall.

[denyamenti]

[ For his part, the thief seems unperturbed by her awkwardness, but fixes Aya with a thin frown. ]

I didn't say I wanted to forget them, did I? That would be far crueler an outcome.

[looksfine]

[This time, despite the less than receptive reaction she received from him, Aya did not waver from her sentiment.]

I have been told such a thing before.

However...I have yet to verify how truthful it may be. If memories bring about pain, would it not be better to forget and alleviate that pain?

[denyamenti]

Forgetting pain doesn't make it go away, it just means you don't know what's causing it. As for the truth of it, are you so eager to leave here, and forget everything that's happened? Is there no one who's been here and left that you think even the minimum of to want to recall them?

And I thought my standards were exacting.

[looksfine]

[She hesitated for a moment. His point and hers did not seem to match up, based on her understanding...but, perhaps, that was part of the problem. This was something she had yet to fully understand.]

I would want to remember them, certainly. But that is because their memories do not cause me pain. Thinking of them brings only happiness.

[And the rest were...presences she would not mind remembering, either, but whose erasure would not cause any pain. Although, on that note...]

Please...there is one thing I am still uncertain of. [Well, one MAIN thing.] How is it...memories can still cause pain if you do not remember them? Surely, the lack of reason to feel sad would negate its effects.

[denyamenti]

Then we should all be so fortunate as to have your compartmentalized mind, aashem-miaht.

[ When she thought of those departed, she felt nothing negative about them not being here, even if they were not from her world? Well, it wasn't the first confirmation Bakura had that Aya was strange. Even the thief, who was generously described as 'emotionally prickly' on good days, would have allowed that there were certainly former citizens of Keeliai that he missed. ]

I doubt I could explain it to you.