damned_institute | Day 51: Arts & Crafts (4th shift)

There were very few activity shifts, Cloud was sure, that could possibly make him feel more like he was being treated like a child. He took a seat at one of the tables and blankly examined the materials set out before him. A pair of the dullest scissors he'd ever seen were labeled 'ages 3 and up'. It was good to know where the patients stood in this.

He wasn't much of an artist, and he ignored most of the paints and other drawing utensils in favor of a few sheets of colored paper and instructions on how to make origami. That sounded vaguely familiar. Didn't Yuffie have throwing weapons made out of paper at some point? It was something to do anyway, and thus Cloud began the process of crafting what ended up being very elaborate paper wads.

Sadly, his attempts to keep from dwelling on the subject of his missing friend failed when he realized this was something Aerith probably would have enjoyed greatly. Tonight, he and Yuffie would go out and try to accomplish... something. It was depressing to think there really might not be anything they could do, that they might all end up the same as the flower girl eventually.

[for a hopefully more optimistic materia thief]

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That was the spirit--or however that phrase went. Ange felt a slight tinge of gratitude for not having to elaborate on exactly why paint didn't have to be on paper. As long as the man understood the concept, an explanation wasn't important. He appeared willing to try, too, which meant she actually had not screwed up her conversational skills this time.

She leaned back against the chair, as if content. Her expression, however, soon shifted to surprise at the question; of all things, Ange had not expected him to express a desire to paint her. Painting human forms were a little ambitious, for starters. Plus, it was not like there weren't other subjects in the room to choose from.

Then again, if she would be allowed to watch him paint, perhaps this was the appropriate cost. "I don't mind," she answered quietly.

She looked surprised, of course, and Kibitoshin didn't blame her- he should probably have picked something a little simpler to start off with, like a table or a cat (urgh) or a splodge of paint (even he couldn't mess that one up). Still, it wasn't as though this was a competition, right? Anyway, for all he knew he could have had some sort of amazing hidden talent.

... yeah, right. Even he wasn't that naive.

Undeterred, he starting to mix up a reasonable-ish skin colour with the pink and yellow. It still looked a little, well, luminous, but it just needed more pink. If all else failed he could just pretend he was using creative license. Unless she got offended, of course, and then tried to hit him for i- "I just realised, I haven't even asked your name yet!" he said quickly, blocking in the young woman's face to distract himself. "I'm Kibitoshin, by the way."

Remnants of her surprise faded to a blank wall, and Ange watched him begin to mix pigments. Given the colors he had chosen, he appeared to be starting on her face (or a really light shade of her hair). If what he had said was true and that this was his first time, she shouldn't expect much of a replication; however, the young woman was partly curious as to what he saw in her and how he might duplicate it. As long as she did not anticipate a certain result, anything he made might be interesting in its own way.

This, she decided, was slightly better than simply watching him paint. He was wise to ask.

When he brought up the topic of introductions, Ange blinked rapidly, realizing she, too, had failed to ask for names. It didn't really matter in her honest opinion, but if she was to be a portrait's subject, she might as well tell him who she is, no? Or at least that fake identity. "Ah," she started. "It's Greta."

Now that gave the Kaioshin pause. He looked up from his art again, head tipped curiously to one side like a puppy trying to comprehend the word 'sit'. "Greta? You mean... like the Earth story? Or is that Gretal?" To be fair, there were so many different planets out there, all with their own myths and stories, and he'd only become a regular visitor to Earth over the past few decades- it was only natural he'd get a little mixed up here and there. Anyway, if he wasn't careful he'd just end up distracting himself (not a good idea with so much paint around). "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Meanwhile, her portrait was taking shape- at least, it was 'taking shape' in the sense that the thing on the paper could maybe be described as a 'shape' if you squinted. Hmm. It would probably look better once it had features and hair- and now that he actually thought about it, that cerise would almost certainly not do. A brief search of the cabinet next to him turned up a crusted bottle of red, mostly empty but with enough to paint in Greta's hair. There. That (http://i33.tinypic.com/96m9tt.png) looked slightly better.

As he was painting in more hair (he couldn't forget the hair bands, at least the cerise would be useful for something), it suddenly occurred to him that he wasn't saying anything. Ah- was that rude? "Are you sure you don't mind just sitting there?"

Oh, so he knew the fairy tale? Only one other person had caught the reference (as accidental as it happened to be). The fact of another drawing the same conclusion came as pleasing to Ange, who would have smiled if she was anyone else. Consequently, she only nodded. "Greta, Gretel. It probably doesn't make a difference." Ange would accept either since both fit the theme. "Nice to meet you as well, Kibitoshin-san."

Additionally, he was making progress with her portrait, the paints taking actual shape on the paper. Though another might have scoffed at the less-than-accurate forms, Ange thought it was a little interesting. As stated previously, art didn't have a wrong method. And here, she could at least start to see a face and a set of hair come to life. So to speak.

It didn't seem like much time had passed before Kibitoshin asked another question, another concern regarding Ange's (lack of) activity. Here, she smirked, though the expression vanished in the next instance. "I'm sure."

So it was Gretel? Well, that was one more bit of Earth folklore to store away ~~and promptly forget~~ for a rainy day. "I don't know how you can do it," Kibitoshin answered, washing his paintbrush. "I can barely sit still for a minute, never mind long enough for someone to paint me."

Anyway, now he just had the face to do. That shouldn't be too difficult, right? He didn't have a black for the outline, but maybe if he mixed up enough colours- well, okay, it hadn't quite made black, but it was dark enough that it could probably pass for black if you didn't look at it too hard. Nor did he have white. Hmm. Oh, well. The eyes and nose were easy enough to put in without being offensively off, but the mouth and eyebrows proved more of a problem. That little flicker of a smile had only lasted a second, so he couldn't copy that, but...

"Oh." It looked as though 'indifference' was harder to capture than he'd anticipated. Somehow, he'd managed to give her a slightly disapproving look (http://i36.tinypic.com/263xcat.png)- a look that he recognised all too well, albeit from someone rather different. In fact, make that plural. He'd been given that look by plenty of people since he'd turned up here. "You haven't ended up looking very happy," he said apologetically. "Maybe I should try the mouth again."

Day 51: Arts & Crafts (4th shift)

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i actually aww'd in real life; kibitoshin is so cute. :[

then my work is done~ \o/