Day 57: Arts & Crafts Room (Fourth Shift)

[gald_digger]

When she left the lobby, Anise still didn't know what to think about her visitor. All this time, she thought the one person the institute would never truly get to was the Colonel, and that if he was gone, then maybe he was hiding somewhere, plotting a way to rescue the rest of them. Now that she thought about it... maybe that was naïve of her. She only thought those things because she didn't want to believe that the institute had that much power...

Thinking about it too hard made her feel so anxious it made her stomach churn, though, so Anise decided it would be best to distract herself in the meantime, and then think about it when her head was clearer. She'd probably have to tell Guy and the others what happened, too.

While she really wanted to see the movie she helped select, she also really wanted to see if the Arts & Crafts Room had those new sewing supplies the Head Doctor talked about a while ago. When she arrived, she asked her "nurse" about it, who cheerfully replied that yes, they had them, and that Anise was among the ones fortunate enough to have the privilege of using them. Was that a good behavior thing, or a military rank thing...? Well, in either case, it meant Anise got to check out the new materials they brought in, so she wasn't going to complain.

There were some pretty floral patterns among the pieces of fabric, so Anise selected those. Anything that she made had to have a few cute elements, after all. She brought the pieces to her table along with some needles, thread, scissors, and a roll of a thick cord-like material.

Before she could begin, however, that "nurse" returned, dropping an envelope on the table in front of her. "This is for you," was all she said before walking away again. When Anise picked the item up, her eyes widened in shock. There, on the envelope, was the name Dolores... written in her Mama's handwriting. Much of the other information on the outside had been blacked out, but... was this from her parents!? Without a moment's delay, she tore open the envelope and began reading the letter within, her hands trembling as she did.

[For Claude!]

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Claude was curious to see how else she'd decorate the bag. The simple design didn't look bad, but maybe Anise had something in mind. To be honest, before now he hadn't realized that the staff had followed through with their promise to let some patients grab sewing kits. It was nice to see a friend making use of it.

When Anise asked after the picture, Claude tilted the paper enough to show her. Although it wasn't as complete as he would have liked, he thought Anise's hair and facial features were recognizable enough. He'd even embellished her pigtails with a pair of ribbons. Her eyes looked bright, and she wore a cheerful smile. Of course, he'd seen her during really rough times, but Claude thought this was an expression that suited her best.

"I don't think I'll have time to color it, but...what do you think?" he asked, genuinely curious and maybe a little nervous.

[gald_digger]

"Hmm..." Anise cupped her chin with her hand as she studied the picture with the most serious, analytical look she could muster. Actually, she really liked it; she just wanted to see if she could make Claude more nervous by not reacting right away. She couldn't hold the stony expression for long, though, and soon she broke into a smile.

"It's great! It looks just like me." Most of all, she was glad to see he drew her smiling. That was the kind of impression Anise wanted to leave on people who met her. She had a lot of sides to her, and Claude had seen a lot of them during their time together - but when people thought of Anise, she wanted them to think of cuteness, youth, and cheer. It looked like that was just what Claude saw in her, to her delight.

"You should put it on the wall in your room! If anyone asks, you can tell them it's your cute girlfriend," she teased him with a wink.

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He watched her scrutinize his work, wondering what she would say. The last thing he wanted was to annoy her with something he'd drawn. Soon enough, though, she saw a smile light up her face, and he offered a grin of his own in turn.

"I'm glad you like it!" he said with a laugh. It made him happy to see she was pleased with what he'd come up with. With how dark and gloomy life could be here, Claude wanted to do whatever he could to lighten someone's day. Besides, after receiving those kinds of letters, Claude thought they could both do with something fun.

When she made that suggestion, however, he couldn't help but rub the back of his neck. While Anise was certainly cute, he couldn't exactly tell people that. "A-actually, I meant for you to hold onto it. If that's okay with you, anyway."

[gald_digger]

"I can take it? Really?" Anise hadn't expected that, but she supposed it didn't need to be so surprising. It was just like Claude to make a nice gesture like that, and the only thing she could do was accept.

"Well, okay! But you better sign it first. That way, if you get famous, it'll be worth a fortune someday!" She giggled at her little joke, though she was half-serious. It was in Anise's nature to look for a profit in everything.

In the meantime, she was just about done her own little project. She just needed to finish sewing one more line into the third bag. Fortunately, she was able to multitask well enough that she could talk to Claude while finishing her work.

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"Of course you can have it," he said, and he meant it. It seemed silly to hold onto every drawing he did, after all. Claude hoped Anise would think fondly of him whenever she looked at it, even if it wasn't a finished product.

When she suggested he sign it, he chucked and rubbed the back of his neck again. "I don't know about 'famous', but..." Well, it couldn't hurt to sign his name, right? Turning his pencil toward the bottom of the page, he left his signature.

It was starting to look like Anise was about to finish up her own presents. That was probably for the best, since he had a feeling the shift would be ending soon. But before they went back to their rooms, Claude figured there was something he ought to bring up.

"By the way," he added as he slid the drawing over to her, "can I ask you something?"

[gald_digger]

The last bit of sewing was finished, and to finish, Anise turned the bag inside-out and tested the drawstring. Perfect! That was three done.

Her grin widened when she saw Claude sign the picture. Sure, there was no guarantee that he'd end up famous for anything, but if his family was already well-known for their talents, he had a better chance than most people! Maybe a book he authored would turn out to be a big hit. Anything could happen!

When Claude suddenly said he wanted to ask her something, though, she gave him a curious look. It was hard to guess at what he might ask, but Anise didn't have anything she really intended to hide from him, so she supposed it couldn't hurt to answer. "Hmm? Sure! You can ask me anything, so long as it's not my weight."