Light meets Darkness PV Hikari F.

Roleplaying as Ginyami Midorimori from Mahoutokoro
"English | Japanese"

"Why would I have a problem with Hobbies in general?" Ginyami laughed derisively. "It's drawing and sketching that's considered shameful. I don't know how you weren't aware. Drawing and sketching are what people do when there's nothing going on in their heads. Anyone can do them. No self-respecting person would waste their time doing something as useless and disgraceful as those when there are much more admirable and practical hobbies to be had."

He gestured grandly with a flourish of his hand. "Take it from your senpai: drawing is worthless. It will get you nowhere in life. Why don't you take up a much more useful pastime like learning a new language? Or, if you must insist on the arts, why not take up learning how to play a musical instrument? It'll put your mathematical knowledge to good use and is much like learning a language in itself. At least, that's what I'm told," he was quick to add. "It's not as though I would bother with such a lowly hobby. I much prefer to perfect my English, Japanese, and other, more useful skills. Studying herbology, the names of other pureblood families, and the like."

Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Ginyami regarded Hikari, looking him up and down. "You must not come from a very respectable or reputable family if they allow you to waste your time doing such things as drawing. 'Fujimoto'...I can't say I recall such a family, so you must not be a pureblood. Of course, no pureblood would be caught dead doing something like this, so that already ruled that out. But then why do you do it? Can you honestly not find anything more productive to do with your time?"

The kid didn't seem to want to talk much, but if he didn't, that was alright. Ginyami could talk enough to fill any silence for the both of them. If Hikari wanted any reprieve from his senpai's berating, then he would have to speak up himself or else take some action.

@Hikari Fujimoto

Japanese -English - Thoughts

To say Hikari was confused was an understatement.

Sure he knew that painting and art weren't high on the list of preferred hobbies. It was a rather uncommon choice, and not something people brought up with pride, or encouraged in the same way as other pursuits.

He'd met a lot of people who knew he sketched, some curious, some indifferent. None of them had seemed to have an aversion towards it.

Even his father had allowed him to pursue it. He'd been accomodating, allowing him to go to exhibitions and enrolling him in classes when he'd been younger. Providing materials without question, as long as everything else remained in order.

Hikari found himself turning the words over, as though testing them for weight.

They didn't hold.

Ginyami spoke like someone who had never lifted a pencil in his life. Easy? Anyone could do it? No-one who had pressed a pencil to a paper would ever say it was easy. No hobby was ever easy, even if one had a natural talent for it.

If Hikari had been Hayato, he would've laughed at his face. But he wasn't.

Hikari didn't laugh. He didn’t interrupt, either, letting the words come to their natural end, and the silence settle after them.

Initially he probably wouldn't have answered much, perhaps only a single three-worded line. But the other's words shifted to his family, blatantly insulting, and for once, Hikari did nothing to keep the disapproval off his face.

"You can't recall." He repeated blandly, "So you decided that was enough to judge? If you're understanding of reputable depends on what you remember.." He paused, "I wouldn't count too much on it."

Did he sound rude? It was hard to say. He wasn't someone who normally spoke up easily, but outsiders speaking ill of his family was not something he could overlook.

His eyes didn't stray from the older. He didn’t add anything further.

Whatever he thought of the earlier comments—the ones about sketching, about worth, about what did or didn’t matter—remained unspoken.

He knew of the Midomori's though. His father, who made it a point to know any and all of the pureblood families that existed, had told Hikari of them. The conversation had been brief, fleeting. If Hikari remembered correctly, they owned some sort of magical plants shops. Herbology. His father hadn't considered them to be particularly important.

Hikari wasn't surprised Ginyami hadn't heard of the Fujimoto nane. His father preferred it that way, —selectively known where it mattered and nowhere else.

Hikari had already learnt that auction houses did not benefit from broad recognition.

Hikari didn't volunteer the information.

He only held the silence; long and steady.

It wouldn't last long anyway.

Roleplaying as Ginyami Midorimori from Mahoutokoro
"English | Japanese"

The change in the boy's demeanor when Ginyami brought his family into the picture intrigued the upperclassman. As did the words he chose to speak. Like Sara, the young man seemed only to talk when he had something significant to say rather than running his mouth about anything and everything that came to mind like so many others did. It was fascinating and said a lot about Hikari's character.

He raised a brow at Hikari's retort, however, not quite sure what he was trying to imply. That he didn't think much of Ginyami's memory, perhaps? Was that because he couldn't recall his family name? Because as far as he knew, everyone's understanding of what was reputable depended on what they remembered. Otherwise, what would they have to go off of about what was reputable other than what they remembered understanding?

"If I was familiar with your family name, I would have all the more reason to judge because that would have meant you were raised a pureblood and should know better than to take up hobbies like those. As things stand, however, I can only assume you are not, in fact, a pureblood, which would explain why you're not aware of how little and lowly a skill like that is thought of among high society. Neither you nor your family are a part of high society, so why would you know anything about it?" he asked with an air of pity. "Or am I wrong and you are a pureblood after all?"

@Hikari Fujimoto

Japanese -English - Thoughts

Hikari stilled as he listened with increasing focus, expression growing more distant the longer the older student spoke.

Pureblood. Reputation.

High society.

Hikari had never heard his father use the term specifically before, even though he knew that they were, technically a part of what people called the 'high society'. It was clearly important to the older student, who had used the same word twice over the course of a two minute conversation.

The words circled around him without settling anywhere important. He knew what Ginyami was talking about, of course he did, but he it felt oddly disconnected from the original conversation.

They'd started off the conversation talking about drawing.

His fingers tightened around his sketchbook, the rough, familiar texture warm and grounding. The mention of his family lingered unpleasantly. Hikari did not particularly wish to discuss them with strangers, especially not in this context.

The pity in Ginyami's voice did not escape him either.

Still, rather than being offended, Hikari mostly found himself just confused.

Being at Mahoutokoro had made it very clear to him that there were people who cared deeply about blood status and social standing. But what he didn't understand was why exactly people viewed art so unapprovingly.

The issue that the older student was describing stubbornly refused to settle into place in Hikari's mind.

He'd been drawing for as long as he could remember. It was something he was encouraged to do, not something that had stemmed from momentary teenage rebellion, hiding away from the world, from his parents, like some people he had heard vaguely of.

His father was someone who tolerated things he frowned upon.

His gaze lifted back towards Ginyami at last. "I admit you have me confused." he said quietly. "We started the conversation with drawing being a waste of time." which it's not. He paused for a second as he mentally retraced the conversation, "So what exactly does it have to do with me being a high society pureblood?"

Roleplaying as Ginyami Midorimori from Mahoutokoro
"English | Japanese"

The seventh year sighed and rubbed his temples with the tips of his fingers as if the conversation was beginning to pain him to even hold. "It has to do with you being - or not a high-society pureblood - because no pureblood in their right mind would be caught drawing even at wandpoint," Ginyami explained slowly and patiently, as if he were being the most magnanimous person in the world for doing so. The condescension he exuded was nearly palpable as he patronized the younger student.

"If you aren't a pureblood," he continued, "I can understand your ignorance, but if you are one, I simply have to know how such a grievous error could be made in your upbringing that you would not realize how utterly...scandalous your actions truly are." He raised his brows and inclined his head slightly toward Hikari. "Do you understand now?"

Barely waiting to receive an answer from his addressee, Ginyami went on to say, "I like you, Fujimoto-san. And it is because I like you that I seek to further enlighten you on what is and isn't considered proper at this school and within our culture. But in order to do that, I need to be certain of your cultural background, first. So the answer should be simple: are you or aren't you a pureblood?"

@Hikari Fujimoto

Japanese -English - Thoughts

Were they not going around in circles...?

Hikari blinked up at the older student.The conversation seemed to keep returning to the same point. Ginyami appeared determined to establish whether or not Hikari was a pureblood, while Hikari was still trying to understand why drawing was supposedly such a terrible thing in the first place.

The two seemed to be discussing entirely different problems.

Hikari wasn't particularly interested in talking about his family. He rarely was. Conversations with strangers did not normally require that information, and he was yet to see why this one should be any different.

Still, Ginyami seemed unusually intent on obtaining an answer.

The question in itself was simple enough. He knew the answer, of course he did. But he could not see why it was so important.

He found himself mentally retracing their conversation.

Drawing was worthless. No respectable person would waste time on it. No pureblood would be caught doing it.

Hikari vaguely wondered if it was a blood status issue or a culture issue. However, he dismissed the thought quickly. Japan had a rich heritage related to the fine arts, so it was probably the former.

Still, the logic felt incomplete.

Or perhaps He lacked some piece of information everyone else seemed to possess.

That was not impossible. There were many things he didn't know. Plenty of customs and expectations passed between old families that had never particularly interested him. It was entirely possible that there was some historical reason behind the older student's conviction.

If anything, Hikari felt further away from understanding than when the conversation had begun.

"I am a pureblood," he said briefly, voice clipped.

The words fell flat... they felt strangely unimportant after the amount of effort that had gone into obtaining them.

"Since we've established that, please tell me what your problem is with me drawing."

He paused, brows furrowing together.

"And why exactly you find it..." He paused, the older student's previous words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth, "...scandalous."

Scandalous.

What am interesting word to use in the situation they were in. Was it not rather out of place?

As though he had been caught committing some terrible offense rather than carrying a sketchbook through the gardens.

Still, Hikari thought he had a general idea of what the boy was alluding to.

"If I weren't a pureblood, would it have been alright?"