"I want to finish this painting"

❝A portrait?❞ This chick is all over the place. Is she not getting the hint that he wants to be left alone? As if it’s not bad enough that she disturbed his sleep, she still has the audacity to ask him a favor like he didn’t just catch her staring at him as though he’s Frankenstein’s monster. He sighs and shakes his head in utter disbelief before finally getting back up on his feet.

Now that he’s awake, he will surely have a hard time going back to his nap.

❝Listen, kid.❞ He starts as he pulls out a carton of cigarettes from the pocket of his jacket to take a stick. ❝If you want some grotesque freak as the subject of your artwork, you can always go look for one at the anime club. Lots of fucking freaks there.❞

Nothing freakier than creeps who dedicate their lives to Japanese animation.

❝I know a guy in that club. Real crusty dude. I can give you his number if you want.❞“Kid?! I’m pretty sure we’re in the same age range...” Man, she seemed to really bother that other guy, huh? She usually wasn’t the annoying type, but her old teacher did teach her, that with some people, you had to be a little more bold, in order to befriend them. Also that first looks are deceiving! Even if the others face was a little scary, it didn’t mean he was a bad person underneath... right?

“Kid?! I’m pretty sure we’re in the same age range...” Man, she seemed to really bother that other guy, huh? She usually wasn’t the annoying type, but her old teacher did teach her, that with some people, you had to be a little more bold, in order to befriend them. Also, that first looks are deceiving! Even if the others face was a little scary, it didn’t mean he was a bad person underneath... right?

And especially just that, would make a perfect theme for her next artwork, but she couldn’t tell him that, especially not if he was looking at her like that... “No, that’s not... I admit, I got a little startled when I first did see your scars, but- I think it makes you unique too! That’s why I asked, not because I wanted to paint something... creepy. Though, even ‘grotesque’ things like ghosts are kind of cool, really! Art is all about capturing images and moments that feel special to you, after all! But... I apologize if you took that as an insult, though...”

Oh no, she really messed up here, huh?

Joe did stand out among a group of average university students, but that was just his sense of fashion. There were people who said he dressed ‘too gaudy’ though it’s not like that was going to change anything for him. Sometimes people would stare, not usually going past that often. 

He got startled a bit when the girl sat down besides him. Sure, he had been sitting by himself at the table, but did he seem so lonely that she pitied him? Who knows. “Yeah, it’s alright.” Joe stated briefly, racking his brain around to see if he knew her from somewhere else.  Was she in the board game club? Or a student in another class? Knew him from work? By having all of these possibilities it seemed hopeless for Joe to know unless asking her. 

“Don’t worry about it! I’m Joe Tazuna, majoring in education! What did you need help with? A survey for class?”

“An education major? That’s so impressive! I look up to one of my ex teachers a lot, you know! Being a formidable role model to students is a really amazing goal to have!” It would be rude to say out loud, but her first impression of Joe, sure wasn’t ‘education major’. He had such an extrovert-ish look, that she would have thought he’d be interested in standing out more. But then again, if she thought back to her first impression of professor Mishima... it was pretty similar, huh! You really shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover!

“Haha, it’s nothing as serious, really! I just was working on a sketch for my next painting, and wanted some feedback. You see... Since you seem to like dogs, according to your accessories at least, and you’re also a guy, so, I hope you could help me with your opinion.”

That’s when she reached for her bag, to look in the depths for the paper she was talking about. Once she got it, she proudly presented it on the table that Joe was eating on before. “Ta-dah! Professor Mishima always used to tell me, you should be proud of what you make, but also consider the opinions of others! So...”

The drawing was a... kind of muscular man, with wolf-like dog ears and tail. Thankfully he was only topless, and other than that, fully clothed. It still was kind of... weird to most people, probably. But the art major looked very happy about her work.

❝What the hell—❞ Dabi finds himself shaken awake from his rare moment of peace and is rudely welcomed by the sight of an unfamiliar girl looking down at him with an utter look of horror clouding her features. She soon begins to ramble on in an attempt to justify her unsolicited actions but truthfully, all those words just fly over his head. He sits himself up in an annoyed but still rather drowsy manner.

Just as he’s about to tell her off, he catches her staring at his scars. 

Great. Another one.

❝Why don’t you take a picture? It’ll last longer.❞ He snaps, his lips curled to an impatient scowl. ❝If you wanted to stare, you know you could do so without waking me up.❞ This is the last thing he needs today. On top of accidentally setting his homework on fire, a bandmate leaving Vanguard without notice, then barely getting a wink of sleep last night, all he asks for is an hour-long nap and he couldn’t even have that.

“I, uh, I’m sorry!” Finally she could pull herself together and gaze away.  Nao did learn in her past already that you should never judge a book by it’s cover. Her high school teacher she adored to no end, was called a weirdo by most people she knew. And even she used to be one of those people. But not anymore, she could do better than this!

Yes, she should follow the example her told teacher gave her! If she would talk more to him, he’d surely seem less scary in no time! “I’m very sorry again to disturbing you while napping. I really thought you passed out before.” There was another thing she wanted to address, too...

He’s forced to watch like a trainwreck, you can’t look away even though you want to. There’s a splatter of ketchup on his kicks, he knows this, and the annoyance is rising but…but….

“Paint them? And then eat them!? What the hell? All you needed was to put them in a salad or something!” He says rather forcefully. 

And then.

“You’re not gonna roll a squash next, are you?”

“A squash?! N-no! I have no idea how to prepare that! My old high school professor Mishima said, that it would be wasteful to not eat the food you draw! B-but... I wasted these tomatoes...” She still felt bad about ruining them in front of the others shoes too. He must think she was clumsy. Well, he wouldn’t be that wrong with that. But she didn’t want to be made fun of either!

It wasn’t good to stay cooped up all day and honestly, the words in her textbook were starting to mesh together in her mind… so a good walk would surely refresh her and bring some of that focus back! Coming to Blackwood had given her far more freedom than Lili had before; not having to worry about any sort of curfews and the like was a feeling that she would like to keep. Plus, there were so many things to see in the world! 

Like this girl with messy red hair work away diligently at a canvas that was… wait, that canvas was huge! How did she even bring it outside…? Wasn’t it heavy? Was she going to need some help bringing it back inside? Lili didn’t even realize she had stopped to ponder over these thoughts until the girl spoke to her. 

“Ah, oh, n-no! Not at all, I was outside myself to clear my head… it’s a really nice day outside, after all, ahaha.” She was really nice… Lili couldn’t say that she would be all that nice to someone else if they were staring at her in the way she was. That sigh sounded like she was really down though… and well, talking to another person was still considered part of taking a break, right? 

“If you don’t mind… ah, I’m Lili. Lili… Lee.” Oof, she really had to get more used to this fake name, Lili hoping that Nao could maybe excuse her little wince as just part of her sitting down. “It’s nice to meet you too! Do you um, always take your canvas outside? Is professor Mishima a professor here?” 

An amused giggle came from Nao, when Lili took the offer and did take a seat next to her. She didn’t make too many friends here yet, and this girl seemed very nice and polite. Well, maybe almost too polite, almost stiff! Maybe she would be able to help her relax a little! There was no need to be nervous between girls after all!

Though, the question about the canvas did make her question again, if she maybe did overdo it with the size this time... Then again, there was nothing worse than having inspiration hit you, with not enough room to put it somewhere! 

“Haha, not always! But I do try to get some fresh air when the weather’s nice like this! If I would always stay inside with the same things around me, I think that would have a boring affect on my art too...” Speaking of which, she’s never seen Lili before, so she most likely wasn’t into art as she was. “By the way, Lili. What’s your major? You probably already figured, but mine’s fine arts!” 

Another day, another… student to help? For once, Keiji was just glad that it wasn’t some overbearing parent trying to ask him questions about school safety for their still high school age kid who was only vaguely considering Blackwood as their choice of university. He could only parrot off crime statistics so many times before he needed a break. She looked pretty genuinely troubled too and well, part of his job was making their lives a little easier if he could help it. 

“Hey, no sweat. I’ll help you find it, wouldn’t want you to have an unfinished piece. Your friendly campus policeman’ll help you out.” Sheesh, talk about a professor complex. A little bit of admiration for someone who was a guiding force in your life was natural, but this went a little beyond that, didn’t it? Hopefully that was just one-sided on her part, anything more than that wasn’t something he wanted to deal with… Drawing up a mental plan real quick, he offered up some suggestions to the girl for now. 

“So you’ve already retraced your steps? Maybe someone picked it up and brought it over to the lost n’ found, we’ll check by there first. You try asking ‘round the places where you’ve been all day? Since your professor’s such a looker, I’m sure people’ll got something to say if they’ve seen it.” 

“Really? You’ll help me? Thank you!” The relief in her voice was obvious. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if a campus officer wouldn’t have anything better to do, than looking for a lost item. And she also hated to bother him, but!! This was a photo of professor Mishima they were talking about! She’d do anything possible to get it back! 

“Retraced my steps... I think I did. I was working on my piece this morning, then I did take a break to get some lunch, and when I came back, I couldn’t find the picture anywhere anymore...” That’s also why she thought, that someone must have stolen it. How else should it disappear, if she hadn’t moved it herself today? 

“I really hope you’re right and that we’ll find it at the lost and found place. He really is a looker! Like, I don’t think anyone looks even similar to him! It’s very unique and stunning! I’m sure you’ll be surprised too, if we find it, mister policeman!” 

“Eeeek, watch out!” She called out for the guy, she was running towards to. For him a very weird sight, or at least so until he’d see the rolling tomatoes on the ground, that were rolling ahead of Nao. But before she could catch up to them, they did turn already into ketchup in front of the strangers shoes... Oh no, looks like she lost the unwanted race. Well, no surprise there. Exercising wasn’t her strong suit after all. On top of that, they weren’t the most freshest tomatoes after all, as it looked like.  

When Nao picked up her creamy coffee for the day, she couldn’t help but notice, how someone on a table close by was reading something familiar. It wasn’t an usual book though, more like a comic book... Wait, wasn’t this...?

“Ah! Wait, are you reading... that one comic where a teenage boy gets possessed by an old samurai ghost? I always wanted to check that one out!”  Nao wasn’t really too big into superhero comics. But comics were just another kind of artwork, and she loved spooky stuff related to ghosts and demons as well. Of course, she also had some healthy respect for those kind of things, but as an artist, she couldn’t help but feel very curious about it as well!

Maybe taking that big canvas outside of the building, really did draw too much attention to her. But it was already too late to worry about that. Then some rather pretty looking girl, was already staring at her with big curious eyes. 

“Oh, hello there! Is it weird that I’m working outside? When the weather’s sunny like that, it’s really nice to take your canvas outside... It can give you some new creative ideas! Or at least, that was what professor Mishima always told me... I somehow lack the inspiration today...” Maybe it was because she quite missed him. A sigh left her lips, before she put the brush down, and gave now all of her attention to the girl that approached her before.

When taking another break from her work, she did get herself some juice in the cafeteria. When she was looking for a place to sit down, there was someone who did stand out from the general looking crowd, and as an artist, Nao of course had an eye for something like that! 

And just like that, her mind was right back to art. So she decided to approach him, and take a seat next to him. “Oh, um... sorry, is this seat free? Actually, I wanted to ask for some of your time, if that’s okay?” Was it too forward to talk to a random student she didn’t know yet like that? Maybe. But there was something about him, that just made him look like a perfect judge for one of the pieces she was working on right now. Not that he looked like an artist himself, but he sure did look like a dog person! And the thing she was working on at this moment, was dog related... so... Oh, but she didn’t want to scare the poor guy!

Nao needed a breather from all that painting, which was why she decided to go to the rooftop of the building. It was important to take some distance from your own work, so when you come back, you could see it with some different eyes. At least, that was one of the many useful things the high school professor she adored so much did teach her. 

However, once she got there, she quickly realized that she wasn’t alone. Someone was lying there on the floor! Oh my god! Was he okay? Without hesitation she rushed towards that guy and tried to shake him awake. Though, before she could even ask if the other was okay, she was greeted by the other opening his eyes and glaring at her. That sure did startle her!

Usually, Nao preferred to stay out of trouble. But after looking for that one lost item for a while now, she was desperate enough to ask a campus officer for help. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t nervous when doing so though:

“Um... excuse me...” Man, he was really big and somewhat scary... But, he was here to help, right? There was no need to be so scared! “I lost something very important to me. I tried to search through all kind of places already, but couldn’t find it... Um, don’t get me wrong, I really don’t want to put the blame on any of my classmates, but what if it got stolen?!”

Hewwo, you probably already know me from my Sou Hiyori blog! I know, I’m boring for applying a character from the same series again, but Nao just fits into the blackwood setting very well and I wanted to try her!

Can be somewhat of a Wallflower, especially at first glance

If you want her to open up, you can either talk to her about art or... her high school professor Mishima...

She has a weird obsession with him, please bear with her.

Is a really good friend though! She cares a lot about the people around her and always tries her best to help.

Seems to have an easier time befriending girls than boys, however, she’s willing to befriend both for sure!

As an aspiring artist, she sure has her quirks too... She’s known to draw things like this, or also... paintings au naturel 

Big red hair fluff... like... really huge volume of hair.

Besides paintings and her old high school professor, she’s also known to like cute things a lot!

She would have the time of her life when talking to other art majors tbh.