Closed Artistic Expression

[Kyousuke Kurosawa]

Kyousuke had been intrigued by the conglomerated arts club as soon as he'd heard about it. It was the closest thing he'd have to a drama club, or theatre class, so it was instantly appealing to him. At first he'd been too shy to ask where it was, but eventually he'd plucked up the courage to ask an older student and had been directed here - to this very room. Kyousuke walked around the room, looking at the easels set up, the piano and other instruments in their cases, and the bright, creative air the whole room held. It was impressive, and though Kyousuke didn't really play an instrument or do visual art much, he noted it down as something his younger cousin might be interested in. It was a nice room, and a good place to potentially practice his acting skills. Kyousuke didn't want to get rusty just because he was at a magic school. He experimented with the acoustics, projecting his voice and saying a loud, "Hey!" It reverberated back to him as though he was in a large hall. Kyousuke smiled. Magic was good.

 

[Oswald Brambleheart]

The Hufflepuff dorms were comfortable, but they were loud. As was the student lounge, come to think of it. Oz didn't care much if other people had fun and whatever they did, it was just that his ears were unfortunately quite sensitive to noise. Excellent hearing, but with a few drawbacks. The library was quieter, but Oz didn't feel like he could really sit and do craft work in the library. At least there was always the arts room. It hadn't taken him long at all to go set himself up in the arts room, finding a nice spot on a comfortable chair in the corner to work on a new figure he was making. It was a bit ambitious, but he wanted to carve a hippogriff figure. Eventually, he'd use the animation spell on it from Transfiguration to make it move, but he had to make one good enough first. That was going to be his project for third year, he'd decided.

He was starting with modelling clay, though, just to try and work out proportions, and he was just putting the head together when a sudden noise made him jump, pulling the head right off the body by accident. At least at this point it was just a lump of clay, but it was a bit disappointing regardless. "...don't need to shout," Oz grumbled, hopping off the chair to look at the person who'd entered the room. A young boy, though Oz couldn't really judge by height - he was still probably the shortest student in the school and he was in third year. "Can hear you fine." He remembered he ought to be polite, though, and nodded. "...can I help you with somethin'?"

 

[Kyousuke Kurosawa]

Kyousuke blinked, not expecting to see anyone else in the room. "Oh, sorry, I didn't notice you there," Kyousuke said. He tilted his head at the other boy, looking over to see what he was doing. He approached, and it looked like he was working with clay. The boy before him was remarkably short, and Kyousuke couldn't judge his age at all. "I was just testing the...the acoustics," he said, struggling to find the word for a moment. "I'm new, just looking around and I found this place. What are you making?"

 

[Oswald Brambleheart]

Oz was going to try his best to be more friendly, if only to keep his aunt and uncle off his back, but also because he wasn't an inherently unfriendly person. A little standoffish, perhaps, and quick to react when slighted, but overall a good natured if guarded kid. He relaxed a little, giving the other boy a nod. "Oh. ...sorry." He had jumped to conclusions, after all. "...it's pretty good, the girl in charge plays music. So I guess she wants it to be just right." After a couple of years, he was starting to thaw a little in giving responses. "Do you play somethin'?" Oz looked down at the blobs of clay in his hands, shrugging. "Uh...working something out. Trying to make a, uh, model hippogriff..." he explained, though he felt a bit shy about it suddenly. He knew he still had a long way to go to be good at what he did, and he was only young still, but he felt a little ashamed he wasn't better at it than he was.

 

[Kyousuke Kurosawa]

"Uh, no, I act," Kyousuke said in response to the boy's question. "It's good to hear that my voice can carry. I was trying that out." Kyousuke wondered if the boy before him knew anything about acting - so far he hadn't met anyone who did but it was early days. Kyousuke had to keep reminding himself that. Kyousuke examined the progress the other student had been making thoughtfully. "Oh right. They're the sort of bird-horses, right? It looks tricky," Kyousuke said, not knowing much about clay sculptures. Kyousuke felt a bit insecure about his lack of knowledge of the magical world, but he had a fairly decent idea what a hippogriff looked like. "Do you make these a lot?" he decided to ask, a little bit curious about the whole process.

 

[Oswald Brambleheart]

"Oh," replied Oz, forgetting momentarily that that was also a possibility. It seemed like most went for music or art, drama wasn't as common. "That's cool," he added, hoping he didn't sound like he was being negative. "There aren't a lot of people who do acting, but, uh, one of the older girls does." There had only been the one drama performance at the arts show, though maybe what Felix and Thistle had done was acting as well. Maybe there'd be more. If they put on a show, Oz would happily work behind the scenes on it. Not on stage, of course. He blinked at the comment about the animals, though realized the other boy might not be that familiar with magic. He awkwardly reached up to see if his ears were covered enough by his hair to avoid uncomfortable questions. "...kinda. More, uh...bird-lion?" Oz shrugged. "I, uh...wanna carve stuff. I use this to practice. Y'know, before I start on the wood." He looked down at the misshapen lumps, a bit self conscious. "What...uh, kind of acting do you do?" It was a silly question, but he didn't know much about it and did genuinely want to know.

 

[Kyousuke Kurosawa]

Kyousuke nodded. He was a bit disappointed to hear acting wasn't that popular at the school. He had hoped at one point there might even be a club just for acting - but maybe it wasn't to be. But that wasn't the be-all and end-all of Kyousuke's hopes for Hogwarts. No, there was plenty more for him to do, to see, to perhaps even conquer. Kyousuke's thoughts whirled around those possibilities as he listened to the other boy correct him on the description of a hippogriff. "Oh, bird-lion. I knew it was bird-something," Kyousuke said in response. "Carving sounds cool. Do you have any works you could show me?" he asked politely. His eyes lit up, though the rest of his face remained stolid, as he was asked about acting. "I like Shakespearean acting the best. The way Shakespeare uses words, and brings them to life - it's incredible." Kyousuke could feel himself getting excited just talking about it.

 

[Oswald Brambleheart]

Oz didn't like coming off like a know-it-all, that was more Audrey's thing. He fiddled with the clay head a bit, vaguely trying to shape out a beak that he'd try and improve upon later. He knew he also needed to practice drawing, but one thing at a time. "...'m still learning," he admitted, a little embarrassed. He pulled out a small cat figure he'd carved. It was very simplistic, but at least it was quite clearly a cat. He reached into his other pocket and shyly revealed the more intricate dragon carving, that was small but very detailed, right down to scales very neatly and deliberately carved into the surface. "...my grandfather made this one." Oz had tried to read some Shakespeare, though he had struggled to get around the language. It was a bit too complicated for him. But if this boy got it, then Oz had genuine respect for him. "That's cool," he said, earnestly. "Uh, you should ask Sky if you could, uh, demonstrate it at a club meeting sometime. If you wanted. I'd...like to see. An' I bet a lot of people in the club would." This was sort of new territory for Oz, but he was trying his best.

 

[Kyousuke Kurosawa]

Kyousuke looked at the cat curiously. "It looks pretty good," Kyousuke said, knowing he could hardly have done any better. Maybe if he really tried, but he wasn't interested in trying. Then his eyes widened somewhat at seeing the dragon. "Oh, that's really good," he said, spying the detail, for a split second thinking the other boy had somehow made that before it was revealed it was his grandfather. "So carving is a family thing?" he asked politely. Kyousuke nodded at the idea of asking Sky. The idea of performing in front of the people in the club - it was both daunting and exhilarating. "I might do that. See if she'll let me," he added, though he was looking forward to showing off what he could do. He was fairly sure he had talent - people had told him so, after all.

 

[Oswald Brambleheart]

Oz nodded. He didn't want to get boastful, especially because his own works were nothing special. But, he hoped he'd get there one day. Even if he didn't end up making toys, seeing as he was interested in learning more about wands. Make one for his grandfather, even though he'd never needed it he thought it would be a really special gift to give him. "...it was that or Gringotts," he admitted, still trying to get used to casually referencing his heritage. But he really couldn't hide it for much longer, if he was even hiding it at all. He gave a small smile at the boy's determination. "'m sure she will. It'd be good. Maybe people might wanna try it out too." He wouldn't be one of them, but surely others would. "...'m Oz, by the way."

 

[Kyousuke Kurosawa]

Kyousuke was a bit confused by the Gringotts comment. "Gringotts?" he questioned, remembering it to be the bank - but only goblins worked there, from what he saw. It took him a moment, but suddenly it clicked. "Ohhh, are you...part goblin?" Kyousuke wondered as he said it whether that was insensitive. It would make sense, the more he thought about it. The short stature and everything. "I don't know much about goblins but they seem cool," Kyousuke said with a small shrug. He didn't know if that was the right thing to say, but he was too young to know any better. "I'm Kyousuke. My family's Japanese but we've lived in New Zealand for a few...for a long time," Kyousuke said, deciding to share his heritage too, but forgetting the word 'generation'.