capitalh | Open Log: Try to interact with the antisocial 15 year old

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Open Log: Try to interact with the antisocial 15 year old

Who: Neku and ANYONE
Where: Downtown LA
When: Daytime, post sinkhole
What: Neku being Neku. Wandering LA unsupervised, spray painting random shit maybe, generally being grumpy and unpleasant and having MASSIVE RELUCTANT HERO ANGST
Warnings: None yet.

((This is my first time throwing up one of these open posts on anything ever so ummm yeah IDK just. I'll throw a thread start on here but I'm also just generally open to doing whatever the hell anyone wants, you can start your own scenario..... it's up to you, I just really want to get Neku interacting with more people))

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It's mid afternoon on a school day and Neku should probably be in class right now. Instead he's hovering around a back alley between a couple of office buildings, leaning back against a wall and absentmindedly using his telekinesis to practice lifting items of varying weight, from discarded newspapers to dumpsters. His brow is furrowed in thought, and every now and then he casts a glance over to the mural that caught his attention of this spot in the first place.

Up, down. Up, down. Up, down. Up, down.........

It would be hard to miss Ammy, no matter how deep in thought someone may be. The alley isn't that big, after all. She pauses, head cocked to one side as she watches the levitating objects with interest.

Neku pauses for a moment as he catches a fluffy white mass out of the corner of his eye, the garbage can he was currently experimenting with hovering in midair. MAN that is a huge dog.... he sets the can down carefully and turns to face her, tilting his head curiously. Didn't he see the same dog before, during the whole dinosaur incident...?

"You lost or something there, snowball?"

He may not like people, but animals are totally OK in Neku's book, for a plethora of reasons.

Ammy wags her tail in response, coming over to sniff Neku's hands and possibly be petted. She is, of course, not lost at all, and quite pleased to re-encounter the nice, sensible young man from that incident.

Raising his hand, Neku chuckles a little and starts scratching Ammy behind the ears. "Guess not. You're probably just a compulsive wanderer too, huh?"

OK now I'm talking to a dog. I'm definitely on my way off the deep end, he thinks.

At least she seems like a smart dog? Ammy smiles up at him, leaning against his side. (His clothes clearly didn't have enough dog fur on them. It will show up very nicely.)

She edges forward to sniff inquisitively at the mural that she'd seen the young man admiring. Graffiti is not an art that she has any familiarity with, as wolf or goddess.

Ah well. Screw it. Even if he was doing crazy shit like talking to a dog, at least this one seemed pretty perceptive of what he was saying.

He turns back towards the mural as well, expression thoughtful. "That's one of CAT's older works... and one of my favorites. It just kind of speaks to me, y'know?" He pauses to fiddle nervously with a lock of his hair and then continues. "It's a good spot for me to come and think at, I guess."

Ammy goes up on her hind legs, pushing her forepaws against the wall to balance herself. She cocks her head, looking at the graffiti from this higher vantage point.

It isn't something Amaterasu would have normally considered art; a part of her still can't help but see it as indecorous vandalism. (That was mostly her human reflection in Heaven; ever the formal patron.) Maybe it's the wolf, this experience of anonymity and spontaneity, that lets her perhaps see a tiny part of what this young man does, and that sentiment is lovely.

Neku can't help but chuckle a bit at the sincere inquisition on this dog's face. "Street art is unique... by the nature of being so public it's unavoidable, like people have no choice but to hear what you're saying even if they don't necessarily listen to it. No one else holding you back, no censoring your ideals for anyone." He pauses. "That idea used to be so straight forward to me but now..." Expression turning distant once more, he bounces a soda can up in the air telekinetically.

Ammy turns her head, listening to this explanation. It was a new concern for her; in her own form, she could command any forum she chose. This young man's difficulty finding voice...

...Well, she had excellent ears as a wolf. That would suffice for the moment. It was clear that he needed someone to listen. Ammy pushed away from the wall, front feet back on the ground, and zeroes in on the bouncing soda can. Tail waving, she bounds over to chase it.

The soda can spins, gliding back and forth in the air as Neku focuses on moving it around for Ammy to chase; may as well play with the pup a bit since he needs the practice anyway.

"I'm just not really sure... I've never been one for helping people. Getting up in anyone else's business. But now I have...... this," he gestures at the floating can. "I don't want to feel responsible... but I do?"

Ammy leaps after the can, more than willing to hear the young man out by giving him something else to concentrate on.

He floats the can around for Ammy to chase, letting his mind drift. It's actually pretty enjoyably mindless, playing fetch with this abnormally large dog. And he's getting in some good telekinesis practice, to boot. Ammy's presence just gives him a generally relaxed vibe, which is far preferable to the noise of other humans.

"I just don't know... should I register? I never really wanted to use my powers but... this whole sinkhole business just has me thinking a lot, I guess."

Dirk should definitely be in class right now, but he doesn't want to be so he's not. There will probably be consequences for skipping, but he can't be bothered to care at the moment. He's way more interested in admiring the masterpiece he just finished spray-painting on one of the more obscured sides of a building. It's the shittiest possible painting of a dog anyone has ever done. What a perfect homage to his bro's work.

Neku had been on the way to doing some work of his own, shuffling along the side streets, head bobbing ever so slightly to the music he-- ... what the hell is that. He stops dead in his tracks, transfixed by the abomination of graffiti, trying really hard not to let the confusion and disgust that he's feeling read on his face.

Dirk hears someone walking and turns around to see who it is, ready to run if it's a cop. It's not, unless the police force in this city hires teenagers. But now Dirk sort of wishes it was, because he doesn't really know what to say. Social stuff is hard. He settles for a blank look, willing to let this person make the first move.

Unfortunately for Dirk, Neku is just as painfully socially inept, and there's an incredibly long stretch of awkward silence where all he can do is kind of awkwardly gape, face blessedly half obscured by the cowl like scarf he's wearing, while Dirk stares blankly at him. "U-um..." he manages to stammer out, and immediately regrets saying even that much.

Ok, looks like the new guy isn't saying anything either. After a moment Dirk gestures in the direction of his graffiti. "Terrible, right?"

"It uh... yeah, it's definitely up there," Neku responds, sounding incredibly vexed.

"Thanks," Dirk says, completely missing the new kid's tone of voice. "I tried to make it as bad as possible, but, y'know, in the good way."

"The good way??" Neku asks. Without thinking at all. He doesn't actually care that much. Dammit.

Edited 2014-02-18 02:48 (UTC)

Wow, he sounds really interested. Dirk's glad he came out today and got the opportunity to share one of his many passions with some random guy on the street.

"Yeah. The ironic way. See, my brother - well, he's not really my brother but that's a long story - was - is I guess? - something of an artistic genius. There's room for improvement but on the whole he really knows his way around all the different tiers of irony, and is definitely capable of tapping into more than one at a time, for maximum humor value. Peaches - that's the dog here - is an especially clever commentary on the place of household pets in the popular media of this era. Or I guess it might only be relevant to dogs, since different species tend to occupy different narrative roles. There are a number of theories as to why he's always shown sitting up - a rather anthropomorphic pose - or why his name is what some would consider "feminine", despite being presented to us as a male dog.

"But I think I'm getting off topic. If you're asking about the art style, you should know that it's exactly as shitty as it needs to be, in exactly the way it needs to be. See, most of my bro's famous work is his movies, but he got his start drawing webcomics. The first few were a scathing parody of some well-known but still non-purposefully-terribly-drawn webcomics at the time, utilizing a variety of techniques intended to highlight their visual pitfalls - but at the same time, perform a sort of meta-criticism on common online art criticism itself. For example, some of his comics were drawn entirely by mouse. Not because that was 'worse' than a high-end tablet" - he makes little air quotes with his fingers here - "but because of its perception as such. Others were painstakingly crafted over the course of a number of days, with as much technological overkill as possible. Tablet, fancy software, et cetera. And of course, various elements of these styles were switched around in all sorts of combinations. Usually he relied on file format misuse for the compression artifacts, but I know of at least three cases where he drew them all by hand. It's this sort of supreme dedication to the craft that allows for the additional layers of meta humor for which my brother was famous. One critic described his work as 'a fucking onion'."

Dirk looks to his own painting of Peaches. "Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with spray paint, so I can't replicate all of that here. But I'm sure the fact that it's illegal would be more than enough to make him proud."

Neku just kind of gapes uselessly for a moment. He really did not expect there to be that much thought behind a shitty painting of a dog, but.... well he can't say that he gets it, but he is kind of impressed by how passionate this guy is about his work. Even if it is incredibly fucking weird.

"Can't say I can give you any feedback on that but... that's legit, I guess."

Dirk has to struggle not to smile like a huge dork. It's not often he finds someone who can appreciate his interests. Usually when he starts talking about them people think he's weird.

"So." He gestures toward the small collection of paint cans next to the building. "Are you into street art?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah..." Neku focused back on the conversation again. "Not really necessarily... this kind of thing, but I'm a big fan of CAT. The sort of stuff that's symbolic, but still really in your face about the message it's trying to send, y'know?" He shrugs. "I'm still kind of exploring my own style but, yeah."

Dirk nods. "I prefer subtlety most of the time, but there's definitely something to be said for blunt force trauma with the truth. Do you have any works around here?"

Neku looks off to the side nervously. He's not super confident about his work at this stage in the game, having just kind of started street art as a hobby in earnest. "Um...." he mutters. "Not around here but I was about to go and start working on a new piece.

"Cool. What kind of piece were you thinking? Or are you just gonna improvise most of it?" Dirk walks over to his own painting and starts gathering up his spray cans. One by one they go from the ground to his hand to- nowhere. They just disappear.

His response is abruptly cut off as he notices the disappearing spray cans, expression slightly startled. "What the heck was that?"

"Was what?" Dirk says, even though he knows what. Dammit. Now he's going to have to explain shit. He hates when people get all fascinated over his cool future technology, even though he knows he would probably be fascinated too if he were in their position.

Fortunately, Neku picks up on that pretty quickly-- A rare bonus for being an empath. It's like a minor emotional wall has suddenly been thrown up, and he knows better than to pry too hard. "...don't worry about it, it's no big deal.... just startled me is all," he responds, giving Dirk a mildly sympathetic look.

What? He's just dropping the subject? That's.... really weird, but convenient. Dirk doesn't let his guard down just yet, but he knows not to look a gift horse in the mouth. "So, you were saying? About your piece?"

Neku shrugs noncommittally. "I was kind of just gonna wing it. See what comes to mind and roll with that." He wasn't really sure how comfortable he was with having a stranger watch him work, but this guy actually seemd alright and he didn't really want to be rude, for once....

Dirk nods. "Yeah, I can dig that. Some of my best work was improvized. Mind if I come and watch you, or would that kill your flow?"

Neku pauses for a moment there. He's really not keen on it but.... There's something kind of interesting about this guy, he guesses. "...Yeah sure, why not."

"Awesome. Lead the way, then." With any luck, Dirk would continue to get along with this guy, and they could be street art bros or whatever. It would be nice to have someone to share that interest with.

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Open Log: Try to interact with the antisocial 15 year old

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sorRY I'M SLOW AA

ahaha believe me I am nobody to throw stones

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threads what are threads

Re: threads what are threads

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I suck horrendously at tagging with Neku apparently ARGH

omg it's ok xD

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