Work Text:
A lonely artist sits at their work desk on a cold, fall night. The weather outside was cold, windy, and clouds were scattered across the dark midnight sky. The artist scribbled away at the paper on their desk, their window open for the cold midnight air to pinch their skin as they scribbled away. The artist thought to themselves.
Ugh…these flowers aren’t positioned right here…they need to be brighter here…some pops of colors here…
“C’mon Ena, you can do this!” The artist slapped their cheeks to get themselves in the right mindset as they continued to draw. The piece looked to be a woman in the rain, she appeared to be in a field of flowers with trees dotted in the background as if she was in a clearing of sorts. The woman appeared to have long silver hair, and a tired, sad expression.
For some reason…I keep drawing this girl…why? It's almost as if she appeared in my dreams and moved my pencil to sketch her long flowing hair…
The artist thought.
As she continued to sketch, the door to her studio cracked open behind her.
“Shinonome-San…? It’s midnight, shouldn’t you be going to bed soon?” The figure yawned as they said that.
“Mochizuki-San I’m telling you it's fine…besides I already fixed myself up with some dinner that I’m eating so don’t worry.”
“Shinonome, that…
sighs
fine please just…go to bed soon…” Mochizuki pinched the rim of their nose. They were a young woman, presumably in their early 20’s or so with brown-red hair and brilliant blue eyes. They had a bit of a chubby frame, but it was in an endearing way that made you want to give them a great big hug. Her curly hair usually was up in a side ponytail up to the right, but as it was currently night, she had her curly hair down to just below her shoulders. They were a drummer and presumably, Shinonome’s roommate.
“Right right…” The lonely artist; Shinonome Ena. They were older than Mochizuki, late 20’s or early 30’s or so. Their hair was about shoulder length, but was often in a short low ponytail tied together with a white ribbon. Besides that, they had brown hair with similar round chocolate brown eyes. They wore an apron stained with various paint, graphite, and oil stains. There was a pocket in the front of it that contained various paintbrushes of different sizes and shapes. Besides the apron they also had a dark long sleeve shirt on; they learned from drawing many times that wearing white was a death wish. And similar dark shorts that went just above their knees.
Mochizuki closed the door and went to their room, after they closed the door Shinonome continued to work on their art piece.
“There we go…sketch is done…” Ena exclaimed.
She wiped the sweat off of her forehead, and stood up to stretch her arms. They went on over to put on some dark gloves that she would often wear when doing lineart and colors. Ink and Paint often stain the skin and aren’t easy to wash off right away, whereas graphite is easy to wash off in seconds.
“
Sighs
..alright time to…” Before Ena could continue their train of thought, they saw something fly by their window. “Start…?”
They went over to look outside their window. There wasn’t anything abnormal at a first glance, then after she looked closely, something was flying in the midnight sky…and it looked to be searching for…something.
It was then that she heard a subtle meow coming from behind her.
“What was that?”
She looked around to see a pinkish brown cat with a red ribbon around its neck. It was very fluffy and well groomed and was medium sized. It probably came in from the window that was open while she focused on her art. She approached the cat.
“Hi there kitty-kitty…”
The cat looked over towards Shinonome, then darted past her and sat on her window sill. They then looked at them, as if they were mocking them to come on over.
“O-oi! Kitty that’s dangerous you know1’
Shinonome then rushed over to the cat on the window sill and just before it was about to jump off, they managed to jump forward and catch them with half of their body out the window.
“Phew…..caught you….”
They let out a breath that they had been holding.
Phew….this cat loves to cause trouble….
Then the cat leaped out of her arms.
“H-Hey! Get back here-”
Shinonome then proceeded to fall out of the window.
“Oh fucking- AAAAAAAAAAAAA-”
Before Shinonome thought they were about to fall to the ground, they felt something light and gentle catch their fall.
“Ah…are you okay there, Ms?”
“H-huh? What-”
Then when Shinonome looked up, she saw a beautiful young woman with long, flowing white hair that appeared as if it was pure snow. They had sparkling blue eyes that looked as if they were made out of freshly cut sapphires. Their skin looked unnaturally soft and smooth to the touch…and to top it all off, they had a long flowing coat that was made of a soft velvet, topped with a matching witches hat made of a similar material that was a deep pink color.
“I’m assuming my cat gave you trouble I’m… sorry. Mizuki, my kitten likes to run off a lot…”
The young woman looked away from them, as they felt like they were bothering them.
“Ah, it's really no problem…wait.”
As Shinonome looked down…they could see that they were in the arms of the woman…but…they…They were flying on a broom!
“Wait a second. HOW ARE WE FLYING?!”
The young woman seemed to panic at that.
“A-ah calm down! I can explain in a second- uhm… get on behind me first…?”
The young woman brought Shinonome up so that they could sit on the broom behind her. The broom was neatly kept and on the back there was a lantern and the cat…called ‘Mizuki’ was sitting there and seemed to be laughing at them.
Oh this cat I swear
.
“With this get up I’d say you were a witch or something, geez this looks so magical!”
The young woman then turned around to face Shinonome.
“That’s because I am…I live in a nearby forest where a fellow wizard happens to dwell…but Mizuki ran off into the city so…I had to come flying to search for her…”
The young woman looked exhausted, they probably were searching for this cat for a while.
“Wha- Okay Miss, let me get this straight. You’re telling me all of this magic stuff that has all been make believe all of my childhood…is real?!!!”
I mean…Shinonome wouldn’t admit it but even they still had believed in magic a bit. It’s hard to let go of the wonders of childhood, even if you’ve grown up.
“Well…I mean it is…oh right- Yoisaki Kanade…Nice to meet you Ms…?”
“Oh, Shinonome Ena, nice to meet you, Yoisaki-San, even though this was a tad bit strange.”
Kanade giggled at that statement
“Oh don’t worry, stranger things have happened to me…anyways since you’re here you can go on a short flight with me if you’d like…”
When Shinonome looked towards Yoisaki, they swear they could see the faintest tinge of pink on their cheeks.
“Really…? Yes!!! I- I mean, it would be fine thank you.”
They looked away from embarrassment.
“Haha, well then, let's go shall we?”
Then, Yoisaki slowly started to rise into the sky on their broom with Shinonome on it as well.
“W-WHAAAAA!” Shinonome of course was very startled as the two began to rise in the air on Yoisaki’s broom, as the sudden jolt brought the two into the air. Shinonome held on very tight with their eyes closed of course.
“Uh, Shinonome…? You can open your eyes now.”
When Shinonome opened her eyes she was in awe. They were surrounded by the night air from up here, as they could see the stars better and the details of the small town were all but little splotches on the canvas of the earth. It was….beautiful…they always had wondered what their town had looked like from a different perspective but this was…so new! It was so different and…amazing.
“Wow…” Shinonome said as she looked at her tiny little town from all the way in the sky…it was scary but…I guess even people like her need a break now and again. Sometimes stepping back from the art and looking at everything else can help when she’s worked up.
“N-Now suddenly I feel like I can go back to my painting again…it’s…so soothing, being up here…” Shinonome smiled as they continued to gaze.
Yoisaki turned to look fondly at the other, Mizuki was used to the broom rides of course, but Shinonome seemed to get used to it very quickly. That was nice…
Shinonome looks so at peace here…
Yoisaki then had a twinge of pink bloom on her cheeks.
She’s…so cute like this…
“-isaki? Yoisaki-San you there?”
Yoisaki had been so lost in her thoughts that they had spaced out…
“A-Ah! S-sorry about that…so, you make paintings hm?” They responded in return…somewhat smoothly.
“Hm?” Shinonome blinked. “Ah! Yes! Mainly about various feelings that come across my mind. I usually paint a woman that appears in my mind a lot too…she’s kind of like my muse at this point if I think too hard!” Shinonome giggled.
Yoisaki blinked and looked at her for a second…ah so that’s it…
“Ah, really? What’s the woman in your mind like?” Yoisaki responded.
Shinonome thought for a moment to remember the woman…in her mind she seemed soft, kind, like a warm blanket that could envelop her and tell her it was all okay…she was her warmth in the cold loneliness that overwhelmed her sometimes…
“She’s…warm. That’s the best way to describe her.” Shinonome blushed and smiled just thinking about her…
“I see then…we’re close to your apartment if you want to go back by the way. J-just saying…” Yoisaki gently smiled at the other.
Shinonome blinked. “Ah! Sure then…” A short look of what seemed to be…disappointment…? Flashed across her face.
“Ah, Alrighty then.”
Yoisaki then flew her broomstick down a bit more into the town, then they both had arrived at her window that she previously had fallen out of trying to grab Mizuki. They then hopped off the broom and stepped back into the safety of her apartment.
“Thank you Yoisaki for…everything. Now I think I can focus on my painting a bit more!” Shinonome smiled as they leaned out the window, thanking the other woman.
“Ah! No problem, anybody else would have done the same, Shinonome.”
Mizuki, the cat, mewled in agreement from her broomstick.
“Now then I have to go back to my house now…”
“Ah, Okay then, see y-”
Before the brunette could react, she could feel a soft pair of lips place a chaste kiss on their cheek.
“See you, Shinonome.” They looked fondly at the other before gripping their broomstick and flying off, leaving the other in shock…what was that…?!
“H-huh…? HUH?!” Shinonome then immediately became a blushing mess. A girl just kissed her. HER!!! And she was so pretty to…agh..
Shinonome sat back down at her desk where her painting lay, still waiting to be inked and painted over. Then she looked back to her window.
“I guess I’ll be leaving my window open more often now.”