Arts & Crafts 2, Tuesday Afternoon, Main Campfire

[screwyoumarvel]

"Good afternoon," Steve said. "Today we're going to make dream catchers, as I have been told they are traditional at summer camp. The instruction sheets and supplies should be on your tables. If you need any help, just let me or my TA--" Steve nodded at Teddy--"know. Also, I thought it would be nice if we all introduced ourselves so no one's working next to a total stranger. I'll start. Like I said last week, my name is Steve Rogers. I'm eighty-nine years old--yes, really--and I'm from New York City. I used to be in the army, but before that I went to art school." Steve pointed to a student at random. "You're next."

Comments

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[halfshell-hero.livejournal.com]

Mikey admired Naminé's bead selection for a moment, then grinned at her. "Dude, that's nice. How did you get so good with colors, anyhow?"

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé flushed a little. "I'm not, really. I just like to observe. Colors make patterns just like everything else. If you watch things enough sometimes they start to make sense."

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[halfshell-hero.livejournal.com]

Mikey nodded faintly. And then his mind switched tracks entirely, as it was prone to do. "You know," he ventured, "even if you don't think you're real? You're, like, totally real to me, okay?"

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé flushed a little. "My life, if you can call it that, is a little complicated. I don't think I'm my own person. I'm her shadow, that's all. I only ... I've only existed for a year and a few months now. I don't remember being her, but how can I be anything else?"

She looked down a little, focusing very intently on her dreamcatcher. "That's why ... I don't deserve a hero. She might, but I don't."

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[halfshell-hero.livejournal.com]

... Okay, screw the dreamcatcher today.
Mikey set down his handful or green and orange beads and shimmied a little closer to her, shaking his head stubbornly. "I don't know her, I know you, Nami. And you're my friend, you know that, right? And I look out for my friends, especially the ones who want to be kept safe. And you're right here and you're picking out cool beads and you're in this class and I think you're really pretty and you're a good artist and existing for a year or for sixteen of them doesn't make you any less real, okay?"

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé shook her head. "Someone ... rescued me, last time. It was only because I tricked him. Made him think I was worth saving. He ... he thought I was her, not me. He doesn't even remember me, now."

She was carefully lining up her beads, not looking up. "How can you say it doesn't matter? I'm an echo, not a sound. A reflection of the original. I can't ever be more than her footstep. I'm sorry, Michelangelo."

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[halfshell-hero.livejournal.com]

"Are you tricking me, Nami? Am I your hero because I think you're someone else?"
Mikey's tone was gentle, not in the least bit accusing.
"I don't think you are, you know? I think... You're a totally gentle echo and a really pretty reflection and I think that if you're really just a footstep, then she left everything that makes her an awesome person all concentrated in that footstep, like how water pools in them on the beach or something, you know? And that pretty little footprint with water in it gets bigger when the tide comes and goes and maybe becomes a tidepool, with all kind of life in it? And you're not a footprint anymore, you're totally a tidepool. I don't see a footprint. I see all this life in you, even if you aren't the foot or the whole ocean in reality... You know?"
This whole speech was followed up by a slightly anxious wiggle. "Totally a tidepool. With little fishies in it and everything. Pretty ones. In white and blue. Who are good with crayons."

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Near the beginning, she had opened her mouth to object. His words poured over her and she found herself unable to interrupt him.

When he finally finished, she had tears shining in her eyes, and still couldn't say a word. He thought she ... when she was only ...

Rewrite Sora's heart, and you can be somebody, not just the shadow of somebody. In Sora's heart, you can be real.

Maybe it could work without powers or any of it. Maybe the teacher was right. Maybe you were real just by being real, to someone else.

Naminé hiccuped slightly, trying not to cry, and reached out nervously to wrap her arms around his shell. "Thank you," she said softly. It was all she could manage without breaking down.

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[halfshell-hero.livejournal.com]

Mikey wasn't quite sure what to do about a hiccuppy hug, as he had never really been in this situation before.
Ever.
So he did the only thing that came to mind and he returned the hug.
"He, don't worry about it," he said gently, offering another smile. "I mean, it's totally true."

Re: Make a Dream Catcher/Chat

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé sniffled and stepped back, a touch embarrassed, dabbing at her eyes. "I thank you anyway. You're ... you have a very good heart, Michelangelo. I guess that's why you're a hero. It's something they all seem to have in common."