Action at a Distance (Yue)

[Appoline Meian]

Despite the fact that it often seemed to get her into awkward situations and predicaments, Appoline still went to public places to sketch people. It wasn't that she was trying to be nosy or a pain or stalker-ish - she just liked drawing people while they were at their most natural. Body language and expressions changed so much when a person knew they were being drawn or photographed - models were useless when a person liked to draw from life like her.

Right now, there was a lot of activity in the training field. The football team had just started their summer training, as had the dance team and cheerleaders. However, it was the track runners that drew the shy girl's interest this time. She rarely drew people running, mostly because getting that natural rippled of movement in her drawings was very difficult. But hey - better to practice, right? In particular, there was a girl that she was sketching that was very intense - she didn't recognize the other Asian girl right off the bat, but that wasn't a big surprise either. Appoline kept her head down a lot, even when she was people-watching. Eventually, she supposed, she might get up the nerve to initiate a conversation (something that hadn't happened since that night with Cam), but right now was not that time.

So, for right now, she sketched happily away, balancing the sketchbook on her knees as she looked shyly up from under the brim of her straw sunhat to the muse running around the track.

[Yue Hirai]

Even in the midst of summer, Yue never took a break from training. There weren't any competitions in her near future, but she knew that if she even took a little bit of time off, her performance would suffer. Therefore, she was racing around the tracks with her fellow track mates in the warm summer sun, sweat dripping down her temples as her breath came out in short, strong puffs. She wasn't racing against the other people on the track, but she was pretty certain she could outrun most of them if she had been; her confidence was unwavering, even though she was definitely the smallest among her peers.

After running several laps around and some other forms of conditioning until Yue felt like her legs were made of jelly, she trudged over to the side of the track to get a drink. She had been practicing for quite a while now - she had lost track of the time completely - and she figured it was better for her to stop before she pushed herself too hard, as she had a tendency to do. As she grabbed her water bottle and took several long, slow drinks, a large straw hat a few yards away caught her eye, and she peered underneath it to see a young Asian woman with a sketchpad on her knees.

Was she drawing people on the field? Curious, Yue took her water bottle with her as she stepped closer to the girl, trying to catch a glimpse of what she was working on. It looked... Well, kind of like Yue herself. "Are you drawing people practicing?" she asked, taking another sip of water. "Those look really good." Yue had no talent in art whatsoever, and so she was rather impressed with the sketches. She wiped a hand across her forehead, pushing away stray strands of sweat-soaked hair as she added,"It must be hard to capture people when they're moving so fast. I hope I gave you a challenge." She then gave a cheeky grin, and winked.

[Appoline Meian]

Appoline had been editing a minor line in the drawing before Yue walked up. In fact, she'd been so intent on it, that when she finished and looked up, the other girl was not on the field anymore. Fortunately, before she could feel too disappointed, a voice at her side signaled the arrival of someone else.

Even more fortunately, she didn't lean halfway out of her seat at the sudden intrusion. The tiny girl jumped a little, but looking up at the Chinese athlete didn't seem so hard. Maybe she was learning. She flushed deeply red at the compliment, though, desperately resisting the urge to cover her face with the book. "O-oh, um... yes... Th-thank you."

Well, there went that good start.

"Oh, well, um...." What kind of double-statement was that? Which would be the right way to answer? "Y-yes, I suppose. You run very quickly." Appoline fiddled with a piece of her skirt, trying very hard not to look the girl in the face - she was blushing hard enough that her cheeks might draw more attention than her eyes, but she still didn't want to take that risk. "I... um, I like drawing people in motion. W-well, p-people in general, but people that move... it makes things look real. Oh, I'm sorry - I s-suppose that doesn't make much sense."

Way to go, kid; first mumbling, then rambling. Way to kick off the conversation.

[Yue Hirai]

Yue cocked her head curiously, noting the girl's nervous start when she had spoken. She hadn't meant to scare her; Yue just hadn't realized how intent on drawing she had been when she had interrupted. "Sorry, I hope I didn't ruin anything," she apologized a little belatedly. She dipped her head in welcome after she girl thanked her, and took a seat beside her, finally catching her breath fully.

She chuckled a bit, taking another swig of water. "Thanks. I've been training like hell to get here, so I'm glad someone can appreciate it!" After all, the girl had chosen her out of all the other athletes on the field - that had to meant she stood out somehow, right? Of course she did. She didn't notice her companion's flush, but listened intently to what she was saying, trying to understand what the girl was trying to say.

"You get a better sense of the movement for the drawing when the subject is actually moving, rather than holding a pose, yeah?" she asked, hoping that was what she meant. Yue let out an embarrassed chuckle. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I wouldn't really know anything about that. I can't even draw stick people."

Realizing she was being rude, she offered a hand, which she discovered was quite sweaty, and pulled back slightly with a grimace. "Er, I'm Yue, by the way. Don't feel like you need to shake if you don't want to - I am drenched in sweat."

[Appoline Meian]

"O-oh no! Not at all!" The smaller girl was always very careful about making sure her pencils were off the page even faster than her reflexes could make her jump - it was mostly about having them off the page any time she wasn't drawing a line more than anything. "It... it looks fine, I p-promise." Nibbling at her lower lip nervously, Appoline turned the sketchbook more towards Yue so she could see that the Japanese student was telling the truth. "See? N-no problems."

It made her nervous to show others such basic sketches, but slowly Appoline was edging out of the habit. She still didn't let people take her sketchbook and flip through it, but she didn't mind showing progress as much now. Except for teachers - the art teacher snuck up behind her and commented far too often for her liking.

"It shows," she complimented, giving a brief flicker of a smile before ducking her chin again. Appoline wasn't the most eloquent with words, but she did try to give praise and credit where it was due.

She nodded at Yue's interpretation, adding, "Y-yes, exactly." The fact that the other girl didn't draw made it even more of an impressive interpretation, and Appoline smiled at her again, a little more noticeably this time.

Despite Yue's reluctance (or maybe simply to spite her own), the gymnast reached out delicately and shook the other girl's hand. Her palm was cool and dry for the most part, but there were smudges of graphite on the edge of her hand. "I d-don't mind sweat," she answered with a smile. "It's n-nice to meet you, Yue-san. My name's Appoline."

[Yue Hirai]

"Oh good," Yue smiled, taking in the drawings as Appoline showed her. Even for basic sketches, the girl obviously had talent, and the Chinese girl felt great that she was the subject of her drawings. "Those are seriously good. Do you come out here to draw the athletes often?" Yue couldn't remember seeing her before, but that didn't necessarily mean anything; she was usually too focused on her training to notice anything else. Today, she was just feeling more friendly than usual because her times had been improving quite a bit within the last couple of weeks.

She appreciated the compliment, even if her vanity made her already know that she looked great on the field. "I'm glad," she grinned. Yue wiped another drop of sweat off of her brow.

She was quite proud of herself for understanding what the girl had meant, and her smile widened in return. "Well, you're welcome to draw me anytime. I think I can say the same for my track mates." Most of them had a pretty big ego, so having their own sort of personal artist would not be frowned upon at all.

Yue's handshake was firm, but not too strong, since Appoline didn't seem like she would appreciate a gruff shake. "Nice to meet you too, Appoline." She tilted her head at the add-on to her name, unused to being addressed that way. "Are you from Japan?" she asked curiously. Being born in China, she had a taste of foreign culture herself, but she hadn't lived their long enough to really absorb anything; she just spoke the language.

Without her noticing, a small green caterpillar had appeared and crawled out of her hair, and was now making its way down her sleeve.

[Appoline Meian]

The Japanese girl nodded, hiding the blush on her face as best as she could beneath her hat. "Y-es, well, sometimes. Often enough, I suppose. M-most of the time, I... um, I sit in the courtyard, since there's s-so many people there."

Appoline smiled shyly at the invitation. "Th-thank you very much," she replied sweetly. "I, um, I'm on the newspaper team and... well, I put in drawings for them sometimes. Would... would you mind too terribly if I used some of th-these for articles involving the t-team?" It was a big assumption, but she felt the need to ask regardless. Most of the time, people wanted pictures instead, but anytime there was an art piece with something else, Amos had asked her to draw something, too. This was the first time she'd really asked permission on her own, though.

"O-oh! Yes, I am." Appoline had lived in Japan all of her life before moving to the United States, for better or for worse. She spoke the language and knew the culture because it was hers, and the US was a foreign place that was both delightful and terrifying at the same time. "I f-forget sometimes that.. well... um... Americans don't use many titles in daily conversation."

Distracted by the sudden appearance of color, the smaller girl's attention went immediately to the caterpillar on Yue's arm. "Oh!" she squeaked, startled. However, despite her initial reaction, she leaned a little closer and took a good look. "What a pretty larvae!"

[Yue Hirai]

"Ah, makes sense," Yue nodded, taking another sip of water. "Have you ever thought about doing, um, what're they called.... Commissions, or something?" That seemed like something people would like, right? Heck, she might pay Lin to draw her something she could keep, she really did enjoy the sketches of herself. Call it vanity, but she thought she looked great through the girl's interpretations.

Yue listened quietly as Lin spoke, immediately nodding in answer to her question. "I don't mind at all! I think that'd be really neat, thanks for asking." She had had different articles in the newspaper before, mostly other team-related stuff, but never drawings. In a way, it felt much more personal than pictures.

She smiled at getting the correct country. "I was born in Xi'an, China, but I was only a year or so old when my parents brought my brothers and me to the States." It was an interesting blend of both worlds she lived in, and even more so since she had come to Hammel - it was weird not switching between different languages in everyday conversation sometimes, like she used to at home. Now, she only did it with her brothers, one of whom was off at college and the other at his last year at Hammel.

Yue blinked as Lin made a noise, and switched her attention to where the girl was looking. "Oh," she laughed. This wasn't uncommon, but it was still a little embarrassing. "Do you want to look closer?" He held her hand up and waited until the critter crawled onto her hand, before offering it to Lin. "I, um, make caterpillars in my hair," she admitted sheepishly. She still wasn't used to telling people that. "I wasn't fortunate to get a physical ability like my brothers." It was one of the reasons she worked so hard to do well in athletics.

[Appoline Meian]

"Oh, no!" Appoline stammered, shaking her head. "I really d-don't think I c-could tell people to p-pay me when I draw them." She drew people so often without their permission that asking for those same people to give her money would be presumptuous. Besides, if she was doing this for the betterment of her art, shouldn't she be paying them? Or maybe that was just her interaction with Chester earlier this year clouding her perception on the issue. She still had the money he requested in her wallet, just in case she saw him again.

The acceptance of the idea made the smaller girl lift her eyes in wonder, searching Yue's face for any trace of sarcasm even though her own countenance brightened considerably. Very few people accepted the idea of being sketched for the newspaper without having asked for it first. Anyone who didn't like pictures barely even accepted a group photo, and it wasn't as if she could sketch everyone in the clubs quickly - the artist in her was too detail oriented to allow a single mistake, even if most of the students of European descent looked very similar to her. But these single pictures, these little sketches that helped her practice and improve... those she could send in to Amos. "Thank you," she replied gratefully, smiling timidly before ducking her eyes again. "That's very kind of you."

The idea of speaking to someone else who was born in another country appealed to the gymnast, and she smiled again - a bit brighter this time. "I was acquainted with a n-number of Chinese students at Eisai. I've heard that parts of it are very b-beautiful, especially during the New Year's festivals." While Appoline wasn't as excited over such things as her father was, she still enjoyed the various celebrations she'd experienced in her household over the years. "Do you visit Xi'an often?"

The extended contact was letting the normally very shy student to open up just a little bit more, and her stuttering decreased the longer they spoke. The more they talked, the more comfortable she became.

"Please!" Appoline watched in amazement at the little creature inched its way up to Yue's hand, then offered her own palm for the insect to crawl on. Unlike many girls her age, the Japanese exchange student thought insects were just as beautiful and artistic as anything else in the world, sometimes more so. While her father had been studying Egyptian lore of a while, she'd begun to love the iridescent backs of scarabs and had never turned away from an insect again. Though, when the Chinese girl admitted to that being her power, she looked up curiously. That was certainly an... interesting power.

I don't know if anyone is fortunate to have these powers, she thought miserably, though her face didn't change appearance. She'd long since learned to hide her thoughts and feelings from other people (so long as they weren't empaths or telepaths). "Physical p-powers aren't... always... Th-they aren't always fortunate t-to have," she murmured, looking over the caterpillar as it crawled over her fingers. It doesn't help me.

[Yue Hirai]

Yue shrugged; it had just been an idea. "I'd pay for something," she told Lin, but smiled and dropped the subject. Thinking about money, she realized that she should probably start looking for a job in the somewhat near future. Buying protein shakes and athletic attire and other materials for her training was not cheap, and she only wanted to rely on her parents for so long.

"Yeah, of course," she replied with another small grin. She didn't really see the big deal about it, but maybe it was just her want to continue to be recognized by as many people in this school as she could. Vanity drove her to be confident, and if this could potentially spread her name farther, well, it would be all good for Yue. Even if it didn't, she saw no harm in the acceptance of it. At least Lin seemed happy, and she figured that was something good if nothing else came out of it.

She looked up as Lin spoke, nodding in agreement as she thought of her town of birth. "It's a very nice city," she replied; Yue didn't visit all that often, and she was pretty well-adapted to life in America, but she definitely appreciated the foreign beauty of Xi'an. "My parents and siblings and I usually go there once every year or two. We have family there, and it's nice to sort of get back to my roots sometimes, I guess," she said, her gaze going distant as she thought of China. "But I'd definitely say you should go there if you get the chance. The famous terracotta army is really close to Xi'an; it's amazing." That was definitely something worth seeing.

Yue tilted her hand to allow the creature to crawl onto Lin, smiling faintly despite herself. It was funny how different people reacted so differently to her abilities; from disgust to confusion to interest or awe, she never knew what to expect. Yue herself had grown to appreciate the little critters, even if she still wished she had a more practical ability. She looked at Lin as the girl spoke, raising a curious eyebrow at her words. "Is you ability physical?" she asked curiously. "Ju-long and Zhaung, my brothers, have strength-related and speed-related abilities, respectively. I know they definitely have some cons, but they seem to get along alright most of the time." Apart from some injuries over the years from pushing themselves too hard, Yue hadn't heard of anything really terrible about such abilities, and she was curious to hear Lin's opinion.

[Appoline Meian]

It was honestly surprising to hear Yue say that, especially since the work she'd seen from the smaller girl was so limited. It made Appoline's cheeks flush just a bit more red, and she stammered lightly, "W-well... if you like them... maybe I c-could sketch you something for your birthd-day or the holidays..."

Gifts were something freely given, and the artist in her liked the idea of giving something so personal (even if the bullied little girl didn't). It made it more special, somehow, than going out and trying to buy a gift that suited someone. Maybe it was because buying a gift meant you had to know more about someone... that could be it. She was just too shy to get to know people, so she drew them instead. While it stung to admit it, it was probably the truth.

Still, the ability to draw the team (and Yue in particular) for the paper was... pretty special. She'd have to keep up on her skills until the spring tryouts rolled around again.

Appoline's eyes grew slightly wide as Yue described visiting Xi'an; she never really visited anywhere outside Japan until they moved here (and the States were so vastly different, it felt like a whole other planet sometimes). The city sounded lovely, even in such plain language. Add in seeing a famous landmark - and possibly sketching it - and... well, it sounded just so lovely. Not from what words Yue used to describe it, but from the feelings that seemed to drip from her words as she imagined it. It must be very close to her to get that reaction.

Still, even as she lowered her eyes to the caterpillar, the shy girl grew silent and still. She hated her powers. She hated the advantage they gave her to her favorite physical activity, hated the way people treated her for them, hated the powers themselves because she didn't want them. But... it would be rude not to answer... "Yes," the gymnast muttered softly. "My powers better my reflexes."

From her words, it would seem like the powers in question were totally normal and beneficial; from her tone, they were anything but.

"Perhaps your brothers..." Appoline started, faltered, then continued, "...maybe they're more suited than me... Maybe that's why it's not so bad..."

[Yue Hirai]

Yue smiled at the idea. "That would be great, if you'd like! My birthday is actually very soon." There was absolutely no obligation for Lin to go through with it, but it would be totally sweet if she did. While Yue was fine with people buying her things (especially if those things were protein powder, athletic clothing, or something similar), the idea of having a special drawing of herself was super amazing and Yue was determined to become better friends with her now.

Traveling was definitely something she enjoyed, though Yue didn't get to do it as often as she would like between school and finances. Still, she deemed herself lucky to get to visit her birth town as much as she did, especially with her family. Her two older brothers weren't around as much as they used to be, which made her sad, but also even more determined to be the best athlete she could.

Yue would have loved to have Lin's abilities. Even knowing the problems that came with them, she was so into being the best that she would have been thrilled to be able to play with physical abilities. Still, she caught the hesitation and sadness in Lin's voice, and she frowned. "That doesn't sound too bad," she replied in a softer tone, though obviously she didn't know why Lin felt the way she did about them.

She pondered over Lin's suggestion. "Maybe. I know they would have been natural athletes even if they hadn't been meta - kinda like me, except I just have a useless ability rather than none at all - so you might be right."

Yue wanted to talk more about it, but she glanced at her watch and let out a huff. "Shoot, I have to go to a training session pretty soon," she told the girl, standing and beginning to grab her things. "It was really nice talking to you though, Lin, and I would like to talk more about... Everything." She offered a friendly smile. "I'll see you around sometime?"