"Oh." He looks a little wide-eyed at the coincidence - he was aware Elizabeth had a roommate, sometimes, but not who it was. "She's been - very kind. She showed me a gallery in the Enclosure that she made."
"She - she gave me some art books from the library, first," he says. "She said that some things are - are easier to express in art, than by talking. I think she wanted to show me that, in the gallery."
"And how did you find it?" A lot of the art she saw in there was very Western, but there were pieces in there that stirred her. Even if she doesn't understand most art.
"...strange," he's forced to conclude. "There was a lot I didn't
understand. But...it helped me to know what she meant, when she told me
about how art can....express things."
"There was - a painting of a woman," he says, steering his mind away
sharply from the city scene, the smear of indistinct darkness across the
night. The things it had stirred in him, the way he'd panicked. He hates
thinking he might have scared Annie.
"She was, um, naked. But that's not what I liked about it," he adds
hurriedly. Beyond the initial embarrassment of feeling like he was
intruding somehow, he hadn't really noticed, there'd been nothing salacious
about it to him.
Now that they're there she opens the door, then guides the both of them to the little sink she's got in her room. There's an inconspicuous little jar of cream on a shelf, and she picks it up but doesn't do anything with it yet.
It wasn't so much that he liked it, exactly, though he's using the word to cover a lot of other things he can't express. It was the one that made the second-deepest impression on him, and it wasn't horrifying. And Annie liked it, which made it safe to like, because he was just agreeing with her. He was just...borrowing her opinion.
All the same, though, he's faltering.
"I -- I don't know."
It's not a completely unacceptable answer, he doesn't think. Art is subjective and not always easy to explain. Apparently.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2017-01-26 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-01-26 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-01-26 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-01-28 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-01-29 01:01 am (UTC)"...strange," he's forced to conclude. "There was a lot I didn't understand. But...it helped me to know what she meant, when she told me about how art can....express things."
WOW this is so late sry
Date: 2017-02-01 11:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-01 12:17 pm (UTC)"There was - a painting of a woman," he says, steering his mind away sharply from the city scene, the smear of indistinct darkness across the night. The things it had stirred in him, the way he'd panicked. He hates thinking he might have scared Annie.
"She was, um, naked. But that's not what I liked about it," he adds hurriedly. Beyond the initial embarrassment of feeling like he was intruding somehow, he hadn't really noticed, there'd been nothing salacious about it to him.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-02 09:22 am (UTC)"What did you like about it?"
no subject
Date: 2017-02-02 09:39 am (UTC)It would absolutely not have been alright, but he's too busy getting tangled up in the next question.
"She looked -- very strong," he says. "Even though she looked...vulnerable."
Exposed, but still self-assured, not without power.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-04 08:56 pm (UTC)"Why did you like that?"
no subject
Date: 2017-02-04 09:10 pm (UTC)All the same, though, he's faltering.
"I -- I don't know."
It's not a completely unacceptable answer, he doesn't think. Art is subjective and not always easy to explain. Apparently.