"I can talk pretty well, just can't read… at this point I feel like it's kinda too late for me to learn." Lumi rolled over onto his stomach and toyed with a loose thread. They glanced up a bit, looking over their shoulder at Koa. "I dunno. We could… watch TV? Hang out? What do you like to do other than reading?" He asked. "I'm down to do pretty much whatever."
Koa shook his head. "You can learn, I'll teach you. He then took out a sketchpad, with a small pencil attached. "Do you draw?" Koa opened the sketchbook to a random blank page, ripped it out, and threw both the paper and the pencil onto Lumi's face. "There. You can draw now."
(my paragraphs might be slightly shorter since Koa isn't a huge talker. I try to make it up with detail, but sometimes I can't, so uh sorry about that)
(That's fine, I don't mind ^^)
"Yeah, I can draw some…" Lumi grabbed the paper and pencil off of their face and brought it into his lap. He hummed for a few seconds before deciding to make a little doodle of themself. He wasn't an amazing artist by any means, but they weren't awful, and the little doodle was cute enough. "What are you gonna draw?"
Koa shrugged. "The neighbor's dog. I think she's adorable. Little Husky puppy." He took out another pencil and began outlining the dog's form. "I still don't see how you can hate dogs. Must be the cat DNA." Koa traced the pencil first from the snout to the neckbone, then across to the tail and onto the spine. Soon enough, the puppy began to take a bit of a form. Koa then popped out some markers and began to sketch in some color. Grey, white, blue, and pink. They was all they needed. Before they started to color, though, they looked over to Lumi's sketch. "Oh, that's cute. Is it someone you know?"
"Dogs are the worst…" Lumi insisted. "They're dirty and mean and I had a lot of bad experiences with them when I was out on the streets." He huffed a bit, scribbling some shading onto their drawing. "More than just the cat thing." They looked up at the question and flushed lightly. "Uh… it's supposed to be a doodle of me or something. It's dumb… and bad…" He mumbled, starting to crumple up the paper.
"No! Don't throw away your work." Koa grabbed the paper, flattened out the creases, and stuck it in a file folder. He then gave Lumi a new, blank piece of paper, and a small booklet of anatomy reference images. He opened a page showing young adult facial structure. "Start by learning to draw realism, then you move to cartoons, and you develop a style you're comfortable in. Then you make profit." Koa chuckled, finishing up the sketch of the puppy. He decided that he would turn it in to an art show, as he was quite proud of it. After he inked it, and finalized the coloring, of course.
"Mmnh…" Lumi was clearly a bit intimidated by Koa suddenly giving them more resources, and he kind of just awkwardly sat there for a minute or so. "Uh… I'm not trying to make a profit, though. I'm not an artist. I'm just doodling for fun." They insisted, pushing away the anatomy booklet. "I don't really have any concept of what I look like anyways. It doesn't really matter. You're the artist, Koa." He looked over to Koa's drawing. They had to admit that it was well done, but that didn't stop the feelings of unease from bubbling up inside him. Even images of dogs almost always made them uncomfortable.
(My inspiration has died for the night, due to both this rp and me writing a 40,000 word long novel…so uh I'll see you in the morning lol.)
(Don't ask about the title)
(Alright aha)
Koa stuttered for a moment. "Oh, yeah, I know. I-I was just joking around." He grabbed the booklet, and stuffed it in a small, denim bag. "Sorry, I'll uh, I'll go outside for a little bit. I, uh, I need to water my Sunflowers." Koa stood up, brushed the charcoal off his shirt, and walked out the back door.
"Uh… okay." Lumi mumbled in reply, turning his attention back to his drawing. They fidgeted with their pencil for a few seconds, and then just pushed the drawing away so he could start a new one. This is stupid… I don't really know how to draw. I don't know what to draw. He sighed softly, resting their head back against the couch. Hopefully Koa will be back soon… it doesn't take long to water flowers, right?
Koa stood outside, letting the wind blow through his hair. He didn't actually need to water the flowers, there had just been rain yesterday. There was no reason to water the flowers. In reality, he had wanted to draw, alone. Well, after my various attempts to be social, in the end, I just want to be alone. Typical me. Koa grabbed a stick off the ground, and began to drag it across the dirt. Drawing in the dirt never hurt anyone, it's what I used to do. Got me pretty popular, too. Koa took another stick, and brushed it against a tree until it came to a fine point. That would work for the finer details. After that, Koa grabbed a handful of dandelions, placed them on the ground, and mashed them up with a rock. He took the stick, dipped in the yellow paste, and began working on his craft.
(Lacrimoza just did this art of Koa :) https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/778638679979196471/945423905517092964/NB_ai_Koa.png)
(Nice!)
After a while of being alone in the apartment, Lumi looked up and glanced around to see if Koa had quietly returned, but he found himself still alone. They fidgeted uncomfortably, not sure what to do, but soon got to his feet and headed out to the door to check outside for Koa. They quietly opened the door and noticed Koa sitting outside. Still without making a sound, he crouched down beside his friend to see what he was doing. "Hey… you've been gone a while. You good?" They asked awkwardly, his eyes wide with curiosity as he watched Koa draw in the dirt.
For a moment, Koa didn't notice Lumi. He just kept drawing. When they spoke, Koa jumped up. "Oh, hi Lumi. I, uh, drew you. Kinda looks like the drawing you did earlier, haha." Koa continued to work on the drawing. It was mostly done, but still needed some extra details. Luckily, it was just a bust, so there wasn't a daunting amount of detail to add. "What do you think? It'll wash away tonight, the clouds look grey, like rain."
Lumi jumped a bit when Koa jumped, startled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you… um… it looks nice." He replied, fidgeting with their hands a bit as they continued to watch. "It looks better than mine, c'mon. Don't sell yourself short." He rested his elbow on one knee, and their head on their knuckles in turn. "Looks like it's gonna rain pretty soon. We should probably head in before long, yeah? Hopefully it's not too bad tonight when we have to go out…"
Koa added the last few strands of hair, before looking down on his completed work, and then back to Lumi. "Oh, you didn't scare me, I'm just naturally jumpy." Koa through the sticks over onto someone else's property, just for the neighbor's husky puppy to run out and grab them. "I'm not selling myself short, I based it off your drawing, silly." The puppy ran over, slobbering and snorting. "Yeah, we should go in, haha." It seemed that Lumi hadn't noticed the dog right next to them. "Let's go."
"But you didn't see my drawing for very long. How do you even remember what it looks like?" Lumi asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. When the dog came up, they froze for a moment before scrambling away from it, clinging to Koa for dear life. They had a death grip on him, and he was doing everything in his power to keep the dog from touching him. "Get that thing away from me!" They insisted desperately from where they were hiding behind their friend. His ears were flattened back against his head, and their pupils were very dilated from fear.
(Sorry for being late.)
Koa pointed to an open file folder, displaying Lumi's drawing, still slightly creased. "I keep everything, in this folder right here." Koa smiled, pointing at the folder. When Lumi noticed the dog, Koa chuckled. "Lumi, it's fine…she's just a puppy. I doubt she could even draw any blood with those tiny teeth." Koa reached down to pet the puppy, before she jumped out of the way and ran over to Lumi's leg, still making a huge, snorting, slobbering ruckus.
(Np)
"No, no, no, no, no!" Lumi tried to shake the dog off, clearly upset and distressed by now. He was pale and his heart was beating a mile a minute, and they were noticeably shaking as they gripped Koa tightly. "Get it away from me! P-Please…" He buried his face in Koa's shoulder from behind, whining as the dog kept jumping and trying to get to them. "Koa, make it go away! I don't want it here!"
Koa stopped laughing, shook Lumi off, and picked up the dog. He then walked over to the neighbor's door, opened it, and placed the dog inside the house. Koa then walked back over to Lumi, and sighed. "She should stay in there, until the neighbors come home." Koa looked up at the clouds, before sitting down in the dirt. "Here, let's just sit and talk. It shouldn't start raining for at least another 30 minutes."
Lumi was curled in on himself by the time Koa returned, trembling and staring blankly at the ground with their ears turned back. He was still pretty stressed, and they kept glancing over to the neighbor's door to make sure that the dog wasn't coming back out to attack them again. "…O-Okay…" He whispered weakly in reply, seemingly unable to meet Koa's eyes.
Koa paused for a second. "So, uh, are there any animals you do like? Like, pet animals." Koa grabbed another stick from nearby and began to etch it into the ground. "Just wondering."
"Mmnh… I-I like cats? Uh… little animals like hamsters and stuff are fine… they don't bother me." Lumi fidgeted with his hands a bit, trying to think of other animals people might have as pets. "I don't mind reptiles… I wouldn't want a tarantula or scorpion or anything. Birds are too noisy, but they're neat, I guess…"
Koa nodded. "I love hedgehogs, I think they're just adorable." Koa smiled, doodling a little hedgehog in the dirt. "Or turtles." Koa looked back up at the clouds. Why had it not began raining yet? Usually it would be pouring down by now, considering the clouds..Eh, maybe my senses are getting skewed from being inside too often. Koa returned to conversation, trying not to get lost in thought. "Which do you like, hedgehogs or turtles?"
"Uhm… I guess hedgehogs. They're pretty cute. Can't do a whole lot with either of them, though." Lumi shrugged a bit, eyeing the dark sky warily. It hadn't begun to rain yet, sure, but that didn't really make them feel better. Surely it would start to rain soon. "Mmnh… we should probably head inside now, yeah? Before it starts raining?"
Koa nodded, wrote something in a journal, and stood up. "I'm gonna go inside and read for a few hours. I really like this book…just tell me when we need to deliver the stuff." Koa's nose twitched as the first drop of rain hit him. "Yeah, let's go in." He walked across the back area, kicking up a bit of dirt as he did so, and back into the apartment. He sat on the floor, and continued his book. Something about a dragon.
"Alright, if you say so… I guess I just… fine something to occupy myself with while you're reading." Lumi got to his feet unsteadily and followed Koa inside. Once they had gotten themself settled on the couch, he sat in silence for a few minutes before he simply turned on the TV to have some sort of entertainment while Koa was occupied with his book.
(uh should we do a time skip?)