And your tears have been worthwhile [Day 293 | OPEN]

[bedheadstyle]

Who: Haruka Kokonose and you!
Open: Open
When: Day 293, afternoon
Where: Old Apartments, outside
What: Haruka is finally getting that mural started. Or at least he was, until he decided to take a break and fall asleep
Format: Will follow
Warnings: -

[Some time between Day 290 and 293, a strange structure had come to sit against an outside wall of the old apartments. And also in that time, the entire side that it sat against had been painted pure white.

Slowly through those days, a rough sketch started to appear as well, detailing familiar faces of the residents of the Bastion in various poses as well as a large "banner" drawn above them with... some sort of text that most people weren't going to be able to read unless they were Japanese.

Not that Haruka was giving much thought to language barriers. This was his mural project, the same one he had been going on about for some time now, in it's beginning stages with not much to be impressed about beyond the obvious skill behind the preliminary sketches that had gone up.

Today was no different in that he would be continuing to work on it, and even starting the arduous task of painting all those people.

Though if anyone passed by in the late afternoon, they might think he had ducked out early due to the absence of the scraggly-haired teen on the scaffolding that Colin had built for him.

Except...

is that snoring coming from up there?]

Comments

[daughterofursa]

Is it?

[She clearly knows nothing about art. What's wrong with birds?]

[bedheadstyle]

N-not that basic is bad! I just... like challenging myself.

[And this many people is a challenge. At least compared to the somewhat simple things he did for the video game he and Takane made last year.]

I mean, if they were really detailed birds and landscapes that would be something challenging, too.

[daughterofursa]

It's all the same to me. I'm no good at painting.

[Although if the birds are far away you can just do those little Vs and there, birds.]

[bedheadstyle]

[But that's too easy!]

Well, not everyone can be good at it! I've been practicing almost all my life!

[daughterofursa]

Some people could practice that long and still fail.

[She's so... positive.]

[bedheadstyle]

That's a really negative way of thinking.

[Zuko, you need to meet Takane...]

No amount of natural talent trumps hard work and practice.

[daughterofursa]

[They've met, actually! Zuko likes her.]

Natural talent gets you farther, faster. That's a fact.

[bedheadstyle]

[... not surprised. At all.]

That also means it's easier to hit a wall faster and become frustrated with the limits of your talent. If you don't practice you can't expand your abilities beyond what you're naturally gifted at.

[daughterofursa]

When you don't have talent, there's always a wall. Don't expect me to feel sorry for you.

[bedheadstyle]

Why would you need to feel sorry for me?

[daughterofursa]

You're making it sound like it's such a struggle, being talented.

[bedheadstyle]

I'm just saying, there's more to art than talent. There's more to talent than natural gifts. It's far more complex than most people realize. They see a work of art and think "That must be so easy for the person that made this! I wish I had their talent!".

But the truth is, even if you had a thousand wishes and used them all to wish for "talent", when it comes right down to it you would only be mimicking the things you've seen and wished for. Having talent doesn't mean anything if you don't make it your own.

[He turned to the unfinished mural then, crossing his arms over his chest.]

Art is all I have. I can't... run or be a part of a sports team or sing or even dance. All those things were taken away from me when I was young, it was never even an option. So I had to take what I did still have and make it my own. It's taken a lot of years to be able to do this, and even I know I haven't learned everything there is to know about art yet. But I still want to. I want to get better, even if it means struggling.

[daughterofursa]

Well, good for you.

[Sorry if Zuko continues to be uninspired. Creative pursuits are kind of... foreign to her.]

[bedheadstyle]

[Even Haruka has his limits on entertaining people that clearly don't want to have a meaningful conversation with him. Any trace of a smile vanishes and he sighs, going back to the wall and his paints.]

[daughterofursa]

[She warned you you might not like her, Mr. Let's-be-friends-anyway.

Not that being right about that makes her feel any better.]

...

Sorry. I was thinking of my sister.

[bedheadstyle]

[It's not like he's mad, he's just exasperated and can't think of a way to continue the conversation that wouldn't break down in to a full on argument.]

Hm?

[daughterofursa]

[In other words she's a total downer and of course he dislikes her. That's totally what that means.]

She was always better than me at everything. That's all.

[bedheadstyle]

Now that's not logically possible. She can't be better at everything. No one has that much skill or brain power.

[If he disliked her he wouldn't be talking to her. Even he has his limits of being nice.]

[daughterofursa]

I am better at failing.

[Oh look, it's the rare and often unidentifiable Zuko joke.]

[bedheadstyle]

Heh...

[Okay that did get him to laugh.]

Maybe there's something you haven't tried yet?

[daughterofursa]

[It... it worked? She did a joke?]

Like I'm good at something I don't even know about?

[bedheadstyle]

[It worked.]

Mhm. It's not like there's only one or two skill sets out there.

[daughterofursa]

If I haven't even tried it, it's probably not that useful.

[bedheadstyle]

Not everything has to be useful.

[Look at what he's doing.]

[daughterofursa]

Maybe not.

But I'm not sure I'd care about it if it wasn't.