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abe no seimei

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Since the spell that has brought cherry blossoms to Milliways is stable and does not require adjustment or maintenance anymore, Abe no Seimei can take the time to enjoy it.

He has been making landscape paintings of cherry-blossom-enhanced Milliways from various vantage points all week, and is still at it.

You may find him in the foothills, or by the lake, or on the little Air Temple Island, with his big paper and his kneeling cushion and his pots and his bushes. He is using a lot of white and green and shades of pink.

[Tinytag: Cherry Blossoms]

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If he's ever near the porch, there's a man in a wheelchair also trying to capture the beauty of the trees. It's nothing impressive since every crumpled piece of paper around him is a half sketched scene in one color and marred by a hole where the pencil broke through.

He's currently working in purple and holding the pencil almost horizontally to try and not apply direct force to the paper. He's running out of colored pencils to use judging by the little pile of broken ones.

“Would you like more pencils?” Seimei asks. “Or paper?”

Did he see this guy approach? Gabriel blinks up at the other man, considering.

"Going through pencils faster." It's a five hundred page sketchbook. Or it was, he's gone through a few pages. Literally.

Seimei walks very quietly, unless he deliberately tries not to.

“I will get more pencils,” he says, and is through the back door into the bar in pursuit of this errand before Gabriel has half a chance to decline or object.

He comes back five minutes later with a box of colored pencils and sets it down where Gabriel can easily reach it. And look, he’s also brought a pencil sharpener!

Edited 2019-04-08 13:36 (UTC)

Gabriel is now working in another color, yellow, hard to see on the white paper, but it is, at least, the same sheet judging by the purple scrawl on it.

Only half of the purple pencil is in the broken pile.

He gives the stranger a nod of thanks, slight smile in place. "Appreciate it. Name's Gabriel." He doesn't offer to shake but he does give a small wave.

Seimei bows. “Abe no Seimei. You can call me Abe-san. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Gabriel.” He sees the pile of broken pencils and starts sharpening them back to functionality with the pencil sharpener. It’s a manual one so it makes quiet scraping noises, and drops pencil shavings on and over the edge of the porch.

“Back in my day,” Seimei says, “we did not have writing or drawing implements like these. We used brushes and inks.”

He doesn’t look that old, but he’s dressed in an old-fashioned kimono. And with the kinds of people who visit Milliways, well, you never can tell.

It's an interesting statement. Gabriel is aware of the possibilities that could mean given this is Milliways but he's not going to jump to conclusions just yet.

"Likewise," he says to the greeting. "That mean you prefer brushes?" It doesn't necessarily but he understands being more comfortable with something you're used to.

“For pictures and calligraphy, yes.” Seimei pulls the once-broken, now sharpened (but short) pencil out of the sharpener and blows on in gently, to get the last shavings off. “For practical writing purposes, a fountain pen.” He puts the short pencil down, a little away from the fresh ones that he brought out for Gabriel.

“Pencils are a useful tool, though. Anything that makes it easier for more people to read or write is good.” He picks up another broken pencil and starts sharpening it.

That reading and writing isn't standard also says something about the technology level he came from.

Gabriel is shading in a bit. If he'd known he was going to get to two colors on the page he would've gone in a different order of color. "Probably make more of a mess with inks right now," he admits.

“Probably,” Seimei agrees. He wonders if Gabriel is drawing as an occupational therapy exercise, but it doesn’t seem appropriate to ask at this juncture. “That does not mean you should not do it!” Pause. “If you want to.”

He almost certainly wouldn’t get a good picture out of it. But it might be fun!

"Usually work digitally, just didn't want to risk breaking a tablet. Back when I did this regularly."

He hasn't had much time for drawing lately, or much need to.

"Pencils are cheaper." Cheapest? Inks and brushes are not.

“Pencils do have that advantage, yes,” Seimei says. “And one can remove a mistake fairly easily.” Not so much with painting.

“I never thought of using a tablet computer as a sketch pad.” People do graphic design on them, but landscape pictures? “Is that common where you come from?”

"For professionals, yeah. Lot of the commercialized stuff, cartoons and shit, are done digitally. Easier to make edits, easier to share."

He shrugs, portraying a bit of sheepishness.

"Dabbled in it back in school. Ended up going a different route."

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