Private Finished Smile for Smile

The drawing started clumsily dancing a jig in the background, stopping to catch itself occasionally when it seemed like it was about to lose its balance and fall over. "Well i've made at least one new friend today, so there's no reason to be sad. Besides its a nice day," he beamed. Whatever sadness and guilt he had been expressing had been fully buried once more.

It felt a little weird having someone throw their arm around his shoulder but it felt nice. Like when his sister hugged him after they were reunited on this island. That said he had absolutely no idea what to do with his hands at the moment so he just flipped the pencil around between his fingers. "You remind me of my sister a bit- she thinks i'm too serious too. I would love to play games or watch movies with you sometime as long as its nothing too scary. I don't do very well with horror movies"

The giggling was great to hear for Tadashi. If laughter was supposed to be contagious then giggling had to be doubly so. He couldn't help but be ecstatic at how much Sapphire seemed to be enjoying the drawing. Slowly but surely the drawing seemed to get a little better at it's movements and need to catch itself less and less.

"I didn't say she was wrong about me. I just need to get more comfortable with people." At least his drawing were almost never serious. They were the kind of goofy that revealed that deep down Tadashi wasn't really as serious as he seemed sometimes. "Yeah I think some of the horror movies are a little funny too, but I try to be really careful. If I get too afraid... well it isn't pretty. That could just be me not lightening up enough though," He shrugged. He wasn't sure if a horror movie would be enough to cause him to go into his uncontrolled half-cat form but the thought of that happening was terrifying.

Tadashi almost tried to put a hand on Sapphire's shoulder when she shivered but realized it had the pencil in it sh he just let it flop back down to his side. Besides the giggling had started up again and he started to do it too just merely because Sapphire was.

What was with this girl and all the cool stuff she could do? First she could shift and fly and play the banjo and now she was literally floating in midair like it was nothing. Tadashi was pretty amazed even though they were on a magic island and he had his own magical drawing dancing around literally just feet away. "I don't think I could imagine you being that shy. I mean you walked right up to me without a problem."

There was the hint of a frown for a moment as his lips twitched but he kept smiling, though it was a little muted. "I was brought here by scouts. You know how I said it wasn't pretty if I got too scared? Yeah... I made a little bit of a mess and got arrested by humans. I don't really have any other place to go now." It was true, the only person he could have stayed with back in the narrow reality had abandoned him after the incident at the cafe he had been living and working at. Fortunately he hadn't killed anyone during it but several people were pretty badly injured before Tadashi was calmed down.

My sister though is kind of a funny story. His smile was back in full force as he began to explain. "I had been here a couple months mostly keeping to myself and running off to go enjoy being a cat a lot. One day I was skipping class and sleeping over near the lake. Next thing I knew another cat was pouncing on my head. Somehow after almost 14 years apart we found each other again because she was out hunting and stumbled on me and I happened to be sleeping in the right spot. So far it's been great having Tomomi around again. Now we just have to find our brother too." The more he talked about being reunited with his sister the happier he seemed to get.

Tadashi glanced over at his dancing drawing and made it give one last bow before he let his concentration on it drop. The figure collapsed into dust and then blew away in the breeze. He could maintain his drawings up to an hour but he had grown a little bored with it so it was time to let it go.

"I definitely don't blame the scouts for bringing me here. It is a lot safer for me and for everyone else too. This doesn't quite feel like home yet but i'm sure it'll get there eventually." He was serious. This island was probably going to be his home for a long time and that was perfectly fine with him.

"Yeah I'd pretend it was destiny or something cool like that but it really was a complete accident. Though I think given with what we are, doing something to get noticed and have us get brought here is pretty likely. I don't know how much Tomo would want me to share but lets just say she also was involved in a little bit of a mess and got brought here." It was probably a similar story for a lot of people on the island. Magic and trouble and being brought to the island for safety.

Tadashi stopped fiddling with the pencil and tucked it behind his ear for safe-keeping. He never did like the feeling of a sharp pencil in his pocket. "So, how'd you end up living with werewolves anyway?" He had noticed she was a little uncomfortable when she mentioned her parents being "away" so he felt it would be bad to ask about that. Hopefully he wouldn't poke too much into something that hurt her.

Tadashi instantly realized his mistake as soon as the girl's demeanor changed and she stopped making eye contact. He had indeed poked his nose in something that he had no business asking about. He listened carefully to what she said but all the while he was mentally kicking himself for making his new friend talk about something that was obviously painful for her.

All of her mommies? What?

Tadashi was honestly confused. Of course he knew that this was a magic place and all kinds of people had some very unusual things going on, but from the way she was talking it sounded like she had a whole bunch of people she called mommy. Whatever, that was definitely something he wasn't going to bring up. "I'm sorry, you don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable. I just felt like I wasn't being polite because I wasn't really asking you about your life. I guess a lot of people here have had kind of a rough time."

In an attempt to raise the mood a bit Tadashi decided to try focusing on something other than the absence of parents that seemed to be bothering both of them. "A werewolf scout though... Good thing they didn't send him after me. I'd have been squeezing through the jail bars and causing all kinds of mayhem like in a cartoon just to get away from him" Tadashi laughed a bit, "it's a cat thing. Dogs are out to get us I swear!"