milliways_bar | (no subject)

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OOM: Providing a ride.

Cassian comes through the front door with a wince and a yawn and heads to the counter. As he sits down, Bar provides a first aid kid along with coffee for him, he smiles which makes his lip start bleeding. While he tends it, he tries to find a comfortable way to sit, he hates cracked ribs as the only way to heal them is to wait.

He stares up behind the Bar as there's apparently a plant in the bra behind the counter. Slowly he sets his coffee down and gives it a mist, maybe its a patron, Milliways is always surprising. Then since he's in the back, he takes his coffee and goes into the kitchen to remind himself of what's back there. After a look, he comes out to sit again and on a napkin starts writing possible recipes to cook.

Tiny tag: Cassian Andor, AU week
OOC: Warning for violence in the OOM, not graphic. Catch him at the door, counter or kitchen.

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There's someone else at the bar - a tall, skinny teenager, seemingly oblivious to the world around him save for his glances up to the plant from his sketchbook. A plant ensconced in a bra was too absurd not to draw.

(The drawing, as it happens, is quite good.)

Cassian always notices people who take notes and looks over and sees the drawing, "That's very good."

"Hmm?"

It's a few moments before Yusuke even notices that he was addressed, never mind reacts to the praise. "Ah, thank you. I cannot help but feel something is lacking, myself, but it seems the only way out of this slump is to continue working."

(Yes, he believes he's in an artistic slump. No, literally no one else has noticed.)

He blinks at that since it looks beautiful, "I'm sorry to hear that. I've found working helps with everything. I hate not having anything to do."

"If nothing else, I have absolutely no reason not to keep in practice until I sort this out. But in the meantime, what goes on in the human heart has proven... elusive."

When it comes to his art, Yusuke doesn't exactly believe in small goals.

"Yes, I've never been good at figuring it out. Is that what you're trying to capture?"

Emotions are difficult and important but Cassian always feels like he's making a mess of them. Better to keep a distance that way he won't hurt anyone else.

"It's an ongoing quest of mine."

(Part of the problem is he's sixteen and poorly socialised, so he hasn't learned much about his pet subject. The other part is his mentor's fall from grace was a pretty big knock to Yusuke's confidence, despite it being for the best.)

"Its a life long one. Do you have people to help you with it?"

He's not completely sure how old this young man is and doesn't want to assume he's at school when he's not.

"I do now." The matter is at a standstill until they can fix the atelier's door and get back inside, but Akira's still trying to help Yusuke out; so are the others, in their way.

"That's good. Its hard to do a search like that on your own,"

Its one he tends to not think about and instead focus on work.

"Indeed it is. I'm beginning to think I would have never made any meaningful progress without their intervention."

Certainly he wouldn't have realised how complex the matter truly is.

"How have they been helping?"

Its not the kind of problem that Cassian thinks a lot about solving, he knows how to connect to people but it seems like this young man might be talking about something else.

"In general, my life has been rather lacking in close confidants my own age. Simply having people to talk to is quite refreshing."

And maybe that's a piece of his 'art slump,' all things considered. His art is no longer his only emotional outlet.

"In particular... they gave me the means to escape from my former mentor's clutches."

Cassian nods, he understands that, people to truly talk to are rare. The talk of escape is worrying especially from someone who's meant to help,

"Finding people who understand you and can listen, that's a difficult combination to find. Why did you have to escape?"

Yusuke sighs. "On the one hand, he took me in after my mother's death and taught me quite a bit. On the other, he regularly claimed his students' work as his own, and blackballed anyone who tried to disentangle themselves from his patronage. I was ten years old the first time he deemed one of my paintings good enough to put his name to."

"Someone like that shouldn't be a teacher, but I understand that sense of gratitude that gets tied in after losing a parent. Or when you're too young to realize what you're doing,"

That's not right or fair way to treat anyone trying to learn from you. Cassian didn't have the same kind of ties with Draven and the army but he knows what they look like.

"On my own, I had no recourse - not if I wanted to have any semblance of a life afterward." It's easy enough to find transients in Shibuya who were once under Madarame's thumb.

(And that's not even getting into the occasional pupil who was even more desperate.)

"It was, at that point, easier to justify what he was doing and my own part in allowing it to continue than it was to try to break free."

"But you were able to find allies and escape? Yes, there's a dangerous kind of inertia in safety, but its possible to break free from it,"

Not easy and that sense of maybe you should have done more is always there, at least it is for Cassian.

"They found me, more like, and were utterly determined to do something about the situation whether I wanted them to or not."

Now, of course, he's grateful. At first, he just wanted them to stop prodding into matters (he thought) they couldn't possibly hope to resolve.

Cassian nods and sips his coffee with a weary smile,

"Did they listen to you? So many of that type don't and so don't actually help."

"Oh, they didn't listen in the slightest, but that gave me the opportunity to see that they were completely serious in their intent to help."

And for Yusuke to help save himself.

"That's something and better than some will do."

"Indeed it is. As annoying as it was at first, I'm glad they kept pressing."

Of course, it was mostly annoying because he was sure they'd end up in just as much trouble as they seemed intent on creating for him.

"Good and they were able to actually help?"

That's not always possible.

Yusuke nods. "We arranged matters so that he confessed to his crimes. He won't be doing that to anyone else."

Now that it's over, he's very glad for the fact that he can call himself Madarame's last pupil.

"Well done, he can't run away from that,"

Its not easy to get that kind of confession.

Edited 2017-08-17 00:12 (UTC)

It really wasn't, and of course the biggest emotional punch came before they properly managed it. But that's now this sort of thing tends to go, isn't it?

"Precisely the point. On the bright side, I have several years' experience dealing with galleries and the like, which should be useful once I finish school." And he had a stellar class in what not to do.

"I don't know the art world very well but I imagine that could only help. What's your preferred medium?"

He knows enough about art to know when to call an expert.

"I paint, primarily, though drawing works well enough in a pinch."

Anything two-dimensional, really. Madarame wasn't known for sculpture work, and in any case Yusuke finds drawing and painting quite fulfilling, even in the midst of a self-described slump.

"Do you focus on certain subjects?"

If he works on trying to capture the human condition, people might make sense.

"There's beauty to be found in everything, if one knows where to look."

(Just wait until he discovers the trilobite tank.)

"I agree, its not always easy to see, but improves everything."

Edited 2017-08-18 19:02 (UTC)

The plant is very limited in its communications, but it gives a general impression of comradely enjoyment of the interaction. It would say Hi and Thanks if it could.

He smiles at the plant, he hopes it likes its place.

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