Private Finished Smile for Smile

Tadashi looked up from his drawing, "Oh no, I hope you don't get too hurt. I don't know a lot about crashing but i'm pretty good at landing on my feet." He seemed to be genuinely concerned. Crashing sounded painful.

He smiled and finished the drawing as best he could. A few touch-up marks were made in response to her critiques, though there was no color added. "I'm really sorry but I can't really work with colors. Best I can do is some shading here and there."

As soon as Tadashi stepped back the drawing turned to face Sapphire and waved the arm that wasn't holding the banjo at her. The movements were a little jerky but it didn't seem unstable. Tadashi was glad she seemed to like it. Sometimes people got a little weird when he made drawings of them.

Tadashi nodded, "It's good that you aren't getting too hurt by the crashes, that would probably take the fun out of flying if you got hurt every time." Being hurt sucks and Tadashi didn't want anyone to get hurt if they didn't have to. Well except certain people who might deserve it, but that wasn't related to this.

In response to her strumming the drawing did its best to mimic the movements but of course there was no sound without strings. The movements seemed to be getting a little more smooth each time. "It's definitely not the pencil, it's me doing it. I would be pretty useless with the crayons though. As far as I know I can only use pencils or charcoal. I don't really know why but maybe that's because it's what I watched my master draw with." He looked on in curiosity as she tried playing in that form despite the lack of fingers.

Tadashi kept working on imitating the strumming with his drawing until it couldn't get any better without him actually learning how to play the banjo first. Since he had to control every movement it could only get as good as what he own knowledge and observations gave him.

"I think I probably will get better with practice and time, but I don't see what the school has to do with that. I don't think i've tried colored charcoal, if there is such a thing, but I get the feeling I might be stuck with black and white for now." Tadashi walked over to the low wall and sat down on top of it. The drawing stayed pretty much where it was and continued "playing."

"My master? I never knew his name, he was just some old man who got me when I was little. Pretty sure he was colorblind because he always drew in pencil or charcoal. He was really nice to me and would give me some of his fish sandwich sometimes. I would just sit on his shoulder or lap for hours while he sipped tea and drew amazing things. I miss that sometimes. Tadashi stopped making eye contact with Sapphire as he spoke about the old man and seemed to be a little lost in his own thoughts. He frowned for just a second at the end before his casual smile returned to his face.

Tadashi watched her change forms in fascination. It wasn't that he was surprised or new to shifters, being one himself, but he still thought the transformation was cool. "I guess maybe they can. I just don't like going to class all that much. It's boring and feels weird and I get in trouble if I doze off." The drawing had stopped "playing" and just stood where it was without moving.

The topic of parents seemed to be bothering him quite a bit, though he was struggling to keep from showing it. "No, not really. It's hard to explain but he was just my owner and then he... died," Tadashi couldn't help but let a grimace cross his face as the guilt washed over him. The pat on his back seemed to help him though. "I don't have any parents. I had an owner and then I had a... guardian? But now they're gone. I did find my sister here though so things are looking up."

Tadashi's smile returned to his face again and the drawing started moving, "I'd be glad to be friends with you, though I don't think i've met Minna or your siblings yet. If they are as nice as you i'm sure they'd be great to meet."

Tadashi didn't bother arguing about the classes. Probably if he had spent more time getting used to them or just being a kid in general he wouldn't be so bothered by them. Heck, science wasn't all that bad and he at least understood why they had math even if he hated the tediousness of it the most. "Maybe I'll try a little harder to like the classes. I'm kinda stuck going to them anyways if I want a place to stay."

The drawing started slowly moving each of its limbs in different ways as if testing its range of movement while they talked. "I like how happy you are. I'm sorry if I brought the mood down a little. I really am pretty happy with how things are going now that i'm here on this island and You can never have too many nice friends." He continued smiling as he looked over at the drawing. In reality he was splitting his attention between their conversation and controlling the movements of the drawing. It was a habit he had developed to help keep himself from getting emotional.

"I'm actually still figuring that out. Before I came here I pretty much just did homeschooling and then worked at a cafe during the day. At night was when I could be a cat and hide it. I just drew things when work was slow. I don't really know what kids are supposed to do but i'm learning!"