[prompto's quick to accept the invitation! dumping himself on the couch, one foot on a cushion and his other leg pressed to his knee as he gets comfortable on VR oekaki. he's gonna be drawing into air with his hand just to go with the motions.]
this feels really weird
[there's several clumsy attempts at the tools and setting them down onto the canvas, but he's drawing lines!!]
also i feel like i'm on the spotlight
[he's drawing messy lines--an oval, intersecting lines, one curve or another throughout. it looks like a terrible sketch, full of lines and no real substance, but Let The Artist Work.]
there used to be a forum that i'd go to a lot when i was in school late nights drawing scenes from my favorite videogames lol sometimes ppl would pop in and leave a comment ppl didn't think i was actually doing it with a mouse
No pressure. [-comes another text popping up in the corner of both of their visions, as if delegated to a tiny chat box beside the canvas.
In any case, he recognizes the oval and cross-shaped lines sketched across its middle. Any artist worth their salt knows where this might be going.]
Did you ever guess that you'd be drawing art in this kind of virtual space? [That's more of a rhetorical question. None of them probably ever guessed to be in this situation at all.] Is this a portrait?
ig if we ever did run out of paper this would be the way to go vr was really uh new back home, dunno how much ppl were banking on this being a thing altho yknow maybe this is where things were going if they could've gone anywhere
[but, you know, insomnia being destroyed and all...]
[that's a sad thought]
[he starts drawing them anime eyes, putting quite a bit of detail on them: the eyelashes, a messy set of lines; the pupil, the iris; lines under the eyes and above it to show the creases in the eyelid.]
yeah i'm trying to remember my fave character you can draw something on the side too if you want??
Maybe so, but even technology can't always capture what it's like to work traditionally. As much as it might try to mimic what was utilized in the past.
[That being said, Markus isn't going to turn down a chance to draw alongside Prompto. He graciously accepts the invite, and uses the other side of the 'canvas' space to apply his own sketchwork.
An oval, then cross-shape lines to adorn it. Looks like someone else might be starting a portrait, too.]
Back home, I used to be a caretaker. The man I lived with, at the time, was a prolific and famous artist. I learned through observation over the years; I hadn't actually started painting in earnest until I came to this world.
tell ME about it i'm not a big fan of taking pictures with ~my eyes~ because it misses all that work that you'd put with your hands on an actual camera! sighs
[he typed out 'sighs']
bet it's the exact same for painting all those little bits of effort, mixing the paint manually, blending... i get it
[he's romanticizing it. he's smiling as markus joins him, though, and prompto moves on along with drawing the hair. it's not quite anime--well, the rather newer tendencies of anime, of making the hair less spiky and more realistic. none of the dragon b*ll spike.]
caretaker? you mean you were taking care of this famous artist...? aw man bet it was the best was he like super rad and had crazy cool ideas that were different from everyone else??? the photographers i looked up to were very different with their reasoning so..
[There’s a delay, but Prompto might just chalk it up to Markus’ focus as he continues to sketch. Features are built into shape — the crinkle of eyes, the bend of a nose. The start of a knowing smile.
And finally—]
He was a great man. Open, honest, encouraging. Witty and wise, and possessing a creativity that I’m not sure I can ever match.
[A pang in his chest. He pushes it down.]
His name was Carl. He helped me become the person I am today, in ways I didn’t realize until recently.
[he's back to continuing on trying to get his portrait to look like an actual face, erasing here and there-- his eyes flit back and forth between their conversation and the face that markus is drawing, too, because he's expecting responses at every point.]
[it takes him a distracted moment looking back at their chat that he realizes something that he missed upon first perusal.]
was? uh sorry i don't wanna be rude if this is um private and personal
It’s fine, Prompto. I don’t mind talking about him.
[Facial features beginning to be fleshed out, and text scrolls across all the while. Working in black and white, not bothering with palettes of color, Markus works in chiaroscuro.]
He was like a father to me. Encouraged me to read, to philosophize, to start thinking of myself as my own individual, rather than just an android made for one specific task. Tried to prepare me for facing an outside world that ran on fear and an unwillingness to embrace change.
I wish
[A pause between texts, one second, two.]
I wish I could tell him everything that’s happened to me since then. I can’t imagine what he’d think.
[prompto stops drawing to pay attention to the words markus is typing out, glancing back at the drawing. he wonders if both are -- related? if the picture is meant to mirror the person he is writing about.]
[he isn't good at these kind of things...]
have you tried imagining holding a conversation with him? if you were that close, i'd imagine that you'd know what he was like, what he would say to you?
[it's a small comfort, perhaps, or not one at all. prompto's used to making up scenarios in his head and deriving comfort from them when he can't talk to that one person in specific for whatever reason.]
...he does sound like a dad i'd like to have
[he hopes that lands well, is what he thinks as he continues tracing on his side of the canvas]
[It lands well enough, even if it’s advice that he’s taken on his own accord more than once. The wish to speak to Carl during times of uncertainty, cropping up so very often in this strange world, in this cumbersome New Amsterdam, is frequent enough that he wonders often what the man would tell him. Yearns for that advice that he’ll never truly hear again.]
I do. Often. Sometimes when I dream (dreaming is new for me, you know), I return to his studio, and I do try to tell him everything that’s happened to me here in New Amsterdam.
[And sometimes the words stick. Other times, they dissipate slowly from his lips, leaving him inarticulate, useless, heavy with the weight of a dream unwilling to lift its haze from his subconscious.
The portrait becomes more recognizable as an individual’s face, that of Carl Manfred, defined by the lines around keen eyes and a wry smile. Markus works in shadow, cleans up the contours. Debates on whether the following would be a comfortable topic to tread, knowing what he does of Prompto.]
Did you have anyone you looked up to when you were growing up?
bet the dream doesn't really go the way you plan it, huh? did someone give you an explanation on how dreams work? i don't really dream myself i mean i probably do but i don't remember ever having any...
[he thinks he's finished with his own drawing; it's your typical facing left anime face. instead, prompto looks over at markus's work--this is some real ASMR shit--watches the face come to live.]
if you... wanna share the things that have happened, you could talk to me? or! whoever else! it's not the same as your old man, but having a conversation about those things you wanna say might help give you some sense of direction about it
IF THAT MAKES SENSE lol
[he doesn't wanna say the lamest of things, but here he is, trying his best!]
me? nah, not really my adopted parents weren't home pretty much ever they were really busy and traveled a lot, learnt to be my own man though haha
[Prompto’s anime face is quaint. Could use a bit more refinement, but overall Markus thinks that with enough practice, Prompto could manage a few impressive sketches of his own someday. And his own drawing of Carl is, in the end, just that: a sketch. A few more filling of shadows, and it’ll be done soon enough.]
I appreciate it, but there’s no point in me bogging others down with homesickness, or worries that I can’t do anything about here.
[Not so much shut down, as Prompto is seeing first-hand one of Markus’ inherent habits — to keep his own worries reined in, for the sake of appearing strong enough to harbor the issues of others.]
You’re right about the dreams, though. They’re always baffling. [But as for Prompto’s upbringing-] So you learned to be independent at an early age.
we're all gonna be homesick sooner or later, you know that, right? i for one would like to know what others worlds are like to make eos seem so different to everyone else
[the fantasy...idiot]
[he gets it, though]
some people keep a dream journal! find patterns or see if it relates to some current anxiety so i've heard anyway
mhmmm independent's a word for it i didn't really interact with anyone older i got the more i tried to get to know my neighbors helped them out with chores and babysitting so i could get some extra cash
[but!!]
mom and dad sent me money each month for rent and utilities so it isn't like they were bad people or anything i imagine it must have been difficult for them too
I know. And I'm not trying to dismiss anyone's want to return home by downplaying mine. ['Downplaying'. A small, subtle concession if Prompto is keen enough to notice it.] But I'll tell you all about Detroit if you like. As long as you return the favor.
Can I ask you a question about your situation back home? If it's too personal, or you just don't want to talk about it right now, you don't have to answer.
You told me of your origins, of course. But I was wondering what happened after that; how you fell into a “normal” life afterwards. You were adopted by a concerned family?
i wasn't really on the loop when it comes to that information from what i found out, a lucian took me as a baby from the lab in niflheim and brought me back to insomnia where i'm assuming i got put into a foster home
idk if where i came from would expedite the process or if i was put together with the other kids or if i was passed on to people that could be trusted to keep things low key
they might have been two unsuspecting parents wanting a kid or i could have just been given to them with an extra monetary package for their silence
i run these things through my head a lot
concerned or not...i can't remember them ever being home
[he refuses to admit their actual first meeting. ask noctis for his own retelling of their meeting, the discrepancy]
i mean everyone knew who he was so it's not like i didn't recognize him or anything it was kind of intimidating we actually were in school together for a while but i never got the courage to talk to him until we were fifteen
He told me that he was royalty. His father was king.
[Speaking of father figures, the question seems to be a fitting one.]
This is Carl. As I remember him, at least. They say that the human mind is flawed, and state of its memory is one of its many imperfections. Art is the best way to circumvent that, keeping it alive on a digital canvas. I'm sure you'd agree that photography is the same way.
oh good having to keep this all hush hush was kinda weird even though i get where he was coming from he doesn't like it but yeah the intimidation factor was that he was the crown prince and it was no secret his dad was king for so long... it's strange to think of noct as king now it sucks though considering the reason why he is..
anyway
[prompto cares a lot!!!! obviously]
yeah! photography's like that! i wish i could show you my pictures like the ones from my actual camera carl looks like he had kind eyes he was pretty old huh?
Yes. He told me about it; the unfortunate circumstances of war and loss. It’s always hard to hear about, even if it’s not my own world.
[But perhaps they should move on. In the end, he’s glad for Prompto having formed such a close friend in Noctis.]
Carl was 75 when he passed away; he was kind, witty, and looked at the world in ways I couldn’t comprehend until much later. I think you would’ve liked him.
And who knows? You might get your camera back one day, Prompto. It isn't unheard of.
[well. what can one say about that topic before getting into real depressing territory? not much, really.]
reading about him and seeing your rendition of what he looked like? yeah i think i would've liked him sounds like he was real good for you you helped him out right? as his caretaker
and well heh... we'll see the odds may yet be in my favor!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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this feels really weird
[there's several clumsy attempts at the tools and setting them down onto the canvas, but he's drawing lines!!]
also i feel like i'm on the spotlight
[he's drawing messy lines--an oval, intersecting lines, one curve or another throughout. it looks like a terrible sketch, full of lines and no real substance, but Let The Artist Work.]
there used to be a forum that i'd go to a lot when i was in school
late nights drawing scenes from my favorite videogames lol sometimes ppl would pop in and leave a comment
ppl didn't think i was actually doing it with a mouse
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In any case, he recognizes the oval and cross-shaped lines sketched across its middle. Any artist worth their salt knows where this might be going.]
Did you ever guess that you'd be drawing art in this kind of virtual space? [That's more of a rhetorical question. None of them probably ever guessed to be in this situation at all.] Is this a portrait?
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vr was really uh new back home, dunno how much ppl were banking on this being a thing
altho yknow maybe this is where things were going if they could've gone anywhere
[but, you know, insomnia being destroyed and all...]
[that's a sad thought]
[he starts drawing them anime eyes, putting quite a bit of detail on them: the eyelashes, a messy set of lines; the pupil, the iris; lines under the eyes and above it to show the creases in the eyelid.]
yeah i'm trying to remember my fave character
you can draw something on the side too if you want??
[the canvas is large and ripe for collab]
how did you get into painting and stuff?
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[That being said, Markus isn't going to turn down a chance to draw alongside Prompto. He graciously accepts the invite, and uses the other side of the 'canvas' space to apply his own sketchwork.
An oval, then cross-shape lines to adorn it. Looks like someone else might be starting a portrait, too.]
Back home, I used to be a caretaker. The man I lived with, at the time, was a prolific and famous artist. I learned through observation over the years; I hadn't actually started painting in earnest until I came to this world.
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i'm not a big fan of taking pictures with ~my eyes~ because it misses all that work that you'd put with your hands on an actual camera! sighs
[he typed out 'sighs']
bet it's the exact same for painting
all those little bits of effort, mixing the paint manually, blending... i get it
[he's romanticizing it. he's smiling as markus joins him, though, and prompto moves on along with drawing the hair. it's not quite anime--well, the rather newer tendencies of anime, of making the hair less spiky and more realistic. none of the dragon b*ll spike.]
caretaker? you mean you were taking care of this famous artist...? aw man
bet it was the best
was he like super rad and had crazy cool ideas that were different from everyone else??? the photographers i looked up to were very different with their reasoning so..
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And finally—]
He was a great man. Open, honest, encouraging. Witty and wise, and possessing a creativity that I’m not sure I can ever match.
[A pang in his chest. He pushes it down.]
His name was Carl. He helped me become the person I am today, in ways I didn’t realize until recently.
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[he's back to continuing on trying to get his portrait to look like an actual face, erasing here and there-- his eyes flit back and forth between their conversation and the face that markus is drawing, too, because he's expecting responses at every point.]
[it takes him a distracted moment looking back at their chat that he realizes something that he missed upon first perusal.]
was?
uh sorry i don't wanna be rude if this is
um
private and personal
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[Facial features beginning to be fleshed out, and text scrolls across all the while. Working in black and white, not bothering with palettes of color, Markus works in chiaroscuro.]
He was like a father to me. Encouraged me to read, to philosophize, to start thinking of myself as my own individual, rather than just an android made for one specific task. Tried to prepare me for facing an outside world that ran on fear and an unwillingness to embrace change.
I wish
[A pause between texts, one second, two.]
I wish I could tell him everything that’s happened to me since then. I can’t imagine what he’d think.
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[he isn't good at these kind of things...]
have you tried imagining holding a conversation with him? if you were that close, i'd imagine that you'd know what he was like, what he would say to you?
[it's a small comfort, perhaps, or not one at all. prompto's used to making up scenarios in his head and deriving comfort from them when he can't talk to that one person in specific for whatever reason.]
...he does sound like a dad i'd like to have
[he hopes that lands well, is what he thinks as he continues tracing on his side of the canvas]
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I do. Often. Sometimes when I dream (dreaming is new for me, you know), I return to his studio, and I do try to tell him everything that’s happened to me here in New Amsterdam.
[And sometimes the words stick. Other times, they dissipate slowly from his lips, leaving him inarticulate, useless, heavy with the weight of a dream unwilling to lift its haze from his subconscious.
The portrait becomes more recognizable as an individual’s face, that of Carl Manfred, defined by the lines around keen eyes and a wry smile. Markus works in shadow, cleans up the contours. Debates on whether the following would be a comfortable topic to tread, knowing what he does of Prompto.]
Did you have anyone you looked up to when you were growing up?
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did someone give you an explanation on how dreams work?
i don't really dream myself
i mean i probably do but i don't remember ever having any...
[he thinks he's finished with his own drawing; it's your typical facing left anime face. instead, prompto looks over at markus's work--this is some real ASMR shit--watches the face come to live.]
if you... wanna share the things that have happened, you could talk to me? or! whoever else! it's not the same as your old man, but having a conversation about those things you wanna say might help give you some sense of direction about it
IF THAT MAKES SENSE lol
[he doesn't wanna say the lamest of things, but here he is, trying his best!]
me? nah, not really
my adopted parents weren't home pretty much ever
they were really busy and traveled a lot, learnt to be my own man though haha
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I appreciate it, but there’s no point in me bogging others down with homesickness, or worries that I can’t do anything about here.
[Not so much shut down, as Prompto is seeing first-hand one of Markus’ inherent habits — to keep his own worries reined in, for the sake of appearing strong enough to harbor the issues of others.]
You’re right about the dreams, though. They’re always baffling. [But as for Prompto’s upbringing-] So you learned to be independent at an early age.
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i for one would like to know what others worlds are like to make eos seem so different to everyone else
[the fantasy...idiot]
[he gets it, though]
some people keep a dream journal! find patterns or see if it relates to some current anxiety
so i've heard anyway
mhmmm independent's a word for it
i didn't really interact with anyone
older i got the more i tried to get to know my neighbors
helped them out with chores and babysitting so i could get some extra cash
[but!!]
mom and dad sent me money each month for rent and utilities so it isn't like they were bad people or anything
i imagine it must have been difficult for them too
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Can I ask you a question about your situation back home? If it's too personal, or you just don't want to talk about it right now, you don't have to answer.
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and yeah of course! ask away about insomnia and lucis whenever
uh i guess? go ahead, i'll be the judge of it
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from what i found out, a lucian took me as a baby from the lab in niflheim and brought me back to insomnia
where i'm assuming i got put into a foster home
idk if where i came from would expedite the process or if i was put together with the other kids or if i was passed on to people that could be trusted to keep things low key
they might have been two unsuspecting parents wanting a kid
or i could have just been given to them with an extra monetary package for their silence
i run these things through my head a lot
concerned or not...i can't remember them ever being home
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[Except with them never being home, which is… lonely-sounding, obviously, but seems to lead straight into another question.]
When did you meet Noctis?
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first day of high school!
[he refuses to admit their actual first meeting. ask noctis for his own retelling of their meeting, the discrepancy]
i mean everyone knew who he was so it's not like i didn't recognize him or anything
it was kind of intimidating
we actually were in school together for a while but i never got the courage to talk to him until we were fifteen
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question: you know what his family is?
[also this is an anime drawing thread!! prompto smiles big as he looks at the contrast in their drawings.]
did you draw someone you know? [carl... but prompto doesn't wanna say it]
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[Speaking of father figures, the question seems to be a fitting one.]
This is Carl. As I remember him, at least. They say that the human mind is flawed, and state of its memory is one of its many imperfections. Art is the best way to circumvent that, keeping it alive on a digital canvas. I'm sure you'd agree that photography is the same way.
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even though i get where he was coming from
he doesn't like it but yeah the intimidation factor was that he was the crown prince
and it was no secret
his dad was king for so long... it's strange to think of noct as king now
it sucks though considering the reason why he is..
anyway
[prompto cares a lot!!!! obviously]
yeah! photography's like that! i wish i could show you my pictures
like the ones from my actual camera
carl looks like he had kind eyes
he was pretty old huh?
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[But perhaps they should move on. In the end, he’s glad for Prompto having formed such a close friend in Noctis.]
Carl was 75 when he passed away; he was kind, witty, and looked at the world in ways I couldn’t comprehend until much later. I think you would’ve liked him.
And who knows? You might get your camera back one day, Prompto. It isn't unheard of.
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[well. what can one say about that topic before getting into real depressing territory? not much, really.]
reading about him and seeing your rendition of what he looked like? yeah
i think i would've liked him
sounds like he was real good for you
you helped him out right? as his caretaker
and well heh... we'll see
the odds may yet be in my favor!
(no subject)