[RL with Daisuke]

[dragon_scholar]

It was Friday, and today Philomel would get to fly. She was, understandably, excited about the prospect. She'd managed to convince Philip and the others that she needed the day to work on her art, which had given her a chance to get away for a while, with no questions asked. (Of course, she'd had to bring some of her supplies, for verisimilitude

Comments

[lolcrayons]

Despite the given descriptions, it had taken Daisuke three times to correctly draw the spot he was supposed to land in. His first two sketches gave no passageway whatsoever, which was probably a good thing - it would've been bad to land in a lake or a jungle, after all. His shoes sunk into the sand when he landed, and he almost tripped face-flat in the process.

"Right!" he said, regaining his balance. With jumped on his shoulder, giving a loud "kyuu!"

[dragon_scholar]

Philomel had, perhaps, gotten a little too absorbed in her doodling, as his arrival startled her enough that she almost fumbled her sketchbook right into the sand.

"Ah. Hello!" she called, clutching it tightly. Her eyes flicked to With, but didn't linger; she didn't want to appear rude.

[lolcrayons]

Daisuke spun around, almost tripping in the sand again. He laughed nervously and patted With on the head to calm him down. His other hand held a drawing of his room, which he stuffed in his pocket for when it was time to head back home.

"Hi, miss!" he greeted. Daisuke's eyes immediately looked at Philomel's sketchbook - he hadn't realized that she was an artist as well. "I'm Daisuke. I'm in the right place, right?"

[dragon_scholar]

"I'd say you are, yes," she said, smiling and standing up. She tucked the book under one arm and approached, careful not to trip on the rocks that broke up the smooth sand of the beach.

She glanced at the creature on his shoulder again. "I assume that's...With?"

[lolcrayons]

"Yup!" Daisuke picked up With from his shoulder and rubbed his thumbs on the familiar's belly. "Cute, isn't he? He's been with my family for centuries."

His focus went back down to the sketchbook. The curiosity was killing him, so he asked, hoping he wasn't imposing.

"Are you an artist, too, miss?" he questioned.

[dragon_scholar]

"Simply adorable," she said, craning her head for a better look. "He doesn't appear that old--centuries, you say?"

"Oh? Yes!" She bobbed her head, as if to reinforce her words. "I'm a portraitist by training. And yourself?"

[lolcrayons]

"That's right. But he still looks like a rabbit." Daisuke plopped With back on his shoulders and began rubbing behind his familiar's ears.

"I'm not much of a portraitist," he said, "but I really like drawing and painting landscapes. It's how I found out that I could make passageways to other places."

[dragon_scholar]

"Truly fascinating," she murmured. "We have nothing like that here."

"How does that work, exactly?" she asked. "If you don't mind the question..."

[lolcrayons]

Daisuke bit his lip at the question and pondered for a moment. He didn't mind people asking about it, but whenever he did explain it, everyone seemed to just get more confused. Still, there was only one other person who had the same situation as him.

"It's in my blood...well, not really." He sighed and started again. "My family line has always been involved with art, and it's our job to, ah...take certain artworks that have restless spirits or worlds in them. I'm the first artist in my family, though, so I can't fully explain why I can do it. But me and Satoshi-kun have powers like that."

[dragon_scholar]

"Huh," Philomel said, and thought about that for a minute. She shifted on her heels, and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "So...art on your world is more than just images of things, isn't it?"

[lolcrayons]

Daisuke gave a small sigh in relief. It looked like his explanation didn't end up to be a jumbled, confusing mess this time.

"Depends on the maker," he said. "Only a few people now have the ability to give their artwork life. So most the time, if a normal person draws a picture, it'll just be a normal picture." He bit his lip. "I'm sorry; it probably doesn't make much sense."

[dragon_scholar]

"I'll admit that it really doesn't but artwork here is always just art," she said. She shrugged, and spread her hands, her left still clutching the book. "So it's rare trait--a type of magic, perhaps?"

[lolcrayons]

"Something like that." Daisuke laughed nervously. "It's a family thing. I don't know how it all works out."

He clapped his hands together energetically. "Right! So how about some flying"?

[dragon_scholar]

"All right," she said, nodding. She'd have to take that as it was, then, and quash the scientist in her who was clamoring to find out more.

"Right! Yes!" She chuckled, a little embarrassed that her interest had distracted her. "Is here all right, or would you rather we remove ourselves to somewhere a little more isolated?" She waved one hand up the beach, away from the unseen town to the south--and all associated docks and fishing boats.

[lolcrayons]

Daisuke scanned all of the shoreline that he could see. It looked secluded enough, and flying close over the water was probably a good idea, in case one of them fell.

"This is perfect!" he said with a smile. He picked up With from his shoulder and placed a hand on top of its head. Almost immediately, the rabbit changed into a pair of large, black wings. A few feathers drifted down to the sand.

"Turn around and I'll place him on your back. It won't hurt or anything - he'll just hang there."

[dragon_scholar]

She watched With's change, eyes wide with clear fascination, but kept her thoughts to herself. "Turn around?" she repeated. "All...all right." She did as he requested, turning and presenting her back to him.