[SE] One track mind, one track heart

Heroes always get remembered

But you know legends never die

Taking pictures was a concept unfamiliar to Bastien, but a fear of beginning to look ignorant made him just nod, hoping he could pick up the meaning through context. "A sequence...like Hogarth's illustrations, perhaps, but...quickly laid over each other." Bastien repeated, trying to imagine it in his head. Perhaps it didn't need to only exist in his imagination; he leaned forwards with a bold smile and asked: "Could you make one of these movies for us, then? It sounds like a spectacle worth seeing."

Bastien's eyes carefully observed Melita's painting too and he smiled softly, gently chiding Nate with what may as well have been his catchphrase by now: "Everyone can paint. Too many people are just scared to try." He had yet to meet in years of his sanctuary anyone that was entirely creatively bereft. Even those that insisted they didn't have an artistic bone in their body could make something beautiful with colours, encouragement and time.

He put a finger to his chin and leaned back, taking a break from working on his doll as he considered what he would imagine a ghost to look like. In the end though, it was really quite easy: "Like a person. But dead. Perhaps glowing or blurry."

mortal kings are ruling castles

Welcome to my world of fun

BASTIEN

the voice wants to be a hand and the hand wants to be something useful

”Yea, kind of.” Nate agrees immediately, that same fear of looking stupid rising up in the back of his head, though his feels far more warranted. As for whether he could actually make a movie, well... he makes a show of thinking about it, the disappointing reality already sitting on his tongue when he realizes maybe he doesn’t have to resign himself to that. Something simple, almost painfully so, is well within his reach. ”It’ll take some time, but so long as you don’t mind waiting, I can make something to show you.” A flip book illustrates the idea well enough, even if it doesn’t compare to the movies he’s talking about.

Nate rolls his eyes fondly, half expecting them words before they even leave the artist. ”Ill give you that, but everyone being an artist doesn’t mean everyone is good at it.” He gestures again at Melita’s painting, hand waving while he does. ”I could never do that.” While he speaks, his other hand reaches for his sad looking doll, shaking it as he lifts it up. ”This though? This is all me.” It might not be beauty, but at least he’s still making something.

Bastien’s explanation of a ghost has Nate frowning hard, his head cocked to the side. ”But... that’s so bland. Ghosts are just the spirit, so they... look like spirits.” All wispy and wavy and exactly what he was portraying with his Ludo doll. Perhaps though, this was just a situation where they had to agree to disagree, some things simply too unfamiliar to accept. They still manage to work beside one another, making companionable conversation. Nate’s serious request comes up again, an invitation to a shrine that he’s building, once Nate has had his fun in the Grounds. Far too soon. Better to enjoy the moment, and not worry about the future.

Fin

NATE