Face Like Thunder [Ryuu]

[nessa abigael byrne]

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June 2025

The early afternoon for Nessa had consisted of meeting with Nixie McKraken, the cursebreaker that had given a lot of useful information about the career. Nessa was still positive that this was the way she was going to go once graduating, so that was a good thing. There were a few new details that she learned during the chat, like how training worked and what she could potentially see as a salary. Obviously the job was just as dangerous as she had always read about, so there was nothing new on that end.

Nessa wished that she had the ability to freely roam around Diagon Alley after finishing up in the Leaky Cauldron, but the orphanage had decided to take this opportunity and make her run errands for them. The list wasn’t lengthy by any means, but it would have her running up and down the shopping district for probably a few hours at best. Ingredients for fever-reducing potions was number one on the list, and Nessa immediately found the irony in sending her out to fetch everything. The likelihood of her dragging the rampaging illness back to the orphanage was high. Better her than the poor American students being sheltered at the orphanage or the employees though, right? She didn’t care if they thought of her as disposable. There weren’t a lot of reasons for them to like her, other than that Ministry required them to take care of her.

After getting a few of the places done with, including signatures from the shopkeepers so the orphanage workers knew she had visited, Nessa ran into a bit of a problem. She was supposed to pick up sewing supplies from Twilfitt and Tatting’s as her final chore, but there was a note stuck to the front of the shop door: OUT FOR LUNCH. BE BACK AT 4PM. Her wristwatch indicated that it was half past two, meaning she had some time to kill. She was supposed to be back to the orphanage by four. The best she could do to keep the workers off her back when she returned was to have the shopkeeper call up ahead of time. Nessa didn’t mind getting into trouble if it was her own volition, but she wasn’t going to lose brownie points because the dolt of a shopkeeper decided to take a lengthy late lunch.

Deciding that the best way to kill time was to buy ice cream with the minute amount of pocket change she had, Nessa made her way to Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour. Luckily they had her favorite flavor, chocolate chip cookie. That softened the unsavory situation she was now in. She was even greeted at the counter by a girl she definitely remembered being snooty whilst in school, but apparently decided not to be today. Seemingly everything other than the one shop being closed was going in her favor today. Being able to relax on that good luck wasn’t all that bad either, and it was nice to not have to be subjected to the constant annoyance of the American kids at the orphanage.

Nessa made her way back outside, finding a rare, empty table on the parlor’s patio. Kicking her legs up onto the table, her heavy, leather boots caused the rod iron table to shudder under their weight. She was going to enjoy her bit of freedom eating her ice cream without a care in the world. And after that? Maybe go window shopping or find a book to nick from Flourish & Blotts. They had the worst security in the world there.

@ryuu ● 596 ● Short On Time by Lavender

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Ryuu had spent way to long at the hotel that he was staying at while in town. Feeling cooped up, he was only aloud to go out when his chaperone aloud him to, and went with him, but she had finally let him out on his own. He was given instructions to make his way to Diagon alley, which he had been to a few times, and pick up a few books for her while she worked on a new hair color changing potion for him. He knew that it wouldn't work. He had created the effect on his hair so that just a basic potion would have the wrong affect. He had a reason why his hair was the color that it was, and didn't plan to change it soon.

He got into the shopping area, and though of just heading to the book store now, but he wasn't in a rush. And now was the perfect time to draw some. His sketching and artist habits were frowned upon by his family, so he was in the habit of not doing it around them. Being cooped up in a hotel room with a strict older family member, was not fun. He spotted a fun looking ice cream place that he decided to try out. He walked into the place and got a small ice cream. He then headed back outside where he notice a nice corner spot to sit. It was close to a girl with her feet up, but he didn't mind. He walked over and took a seat, the char for the last empty table out side, and he pulled out a small hidden sketchbook and a beat up small pencil. from that he started to lick his ice cream and quickly sketch.

nessa abigael byrne

[nessa abigael byrne]

▲

Five minutes. That was all it took for her peace and quiet in the secluded corner of the patio to be disturbed by another person. They probably figured that because she was the only one over there, it had to be a solid location for escaping the Diagon crowds. Technically that wasn’t wrong, but Nessa had become quite territorial of her spot in those five minutes. She had hoped to have at least eaten her ice cream before another person arrived, but that was obviously impossible now. The scrape of the chair legs being pulled along the brick ground dug into her ears as she was mid bite into her cone. Her jaw locked as she flipped her head around to look at the newcomer, now fully irritated by their arrival.

The disturbance was a white-haired boy – one that she certainly didn’t recognize from school – and he was writing down something in a notebook. Nessa took another couple of licks of her ice cream as she watched him, trying to determine what it was that he was hurriedly writing down, only to realize that he was instead drawing. She knew the hand motions from watching Nate draw all the time. He wasn’t drawing her, was he? From that angle it made her the perfect subject, and she never would have noticed if she hadn’t turned around to check out what was going on. “Hey,” Nessa called over at him as she bit down into her ice cream again, leaving more cone than ice cream in it. “Hey, you better not be drawing me, kid.” Her tone purposely came across as slightly aggressive, because she certainly didn’t want anyone drawing her without her permission. Artistic types were all like that – always pushing their boundaries without thinking about the people around them. Nate had certainly tested his luck quite a few times, and Nessa made sure that he understood when he could and couldn’t. She was going to make sure this guy learned the hard way if he really was doing what she thought he was.

@ryuu ● 344 ● Ashes by Ghost

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Ryuu didn't care much for his punishment. He had to spend all day inside, completing his homework from the half way mark in the school year, and once he finished parts of that, he was given more work from Mei Sama who was determined that he would not enjoy himself. He only had this, a moment to himself. He could finally sketch things down. He had picked the spot, because it was the least populated area, with only one girl there, and he was certain that they would just leave each other alone.

“Hey, you better not be drawing me, kid.” Ryuu looked up at her. Was she challenging him? H was proficient in multiple fighting techniques, with and without weapons. Did she think that she stood a chance? True, he wasn't good at magical dueling, but that was by choice. He was raised to be respectful and polite, but he who was to punish him if he wasn't this time? "Why would I draw you?" He didn't talk to much about his drawing. The only close friend that he had that he showed his art to was his best friend, who was expelled last year from school. Ryuu looked down at the creature that he was drawing and took lick from his ice cream. If this girl wanted to pick a fight, he had no problem complying. "And who are you calling kid" His English wasn't perfect, but he knew well enough.

nessa abigael byrne

[nessa abigael byrne]

▲

The boy unfortunately had a good point: why would he draw her? It would be one thing if she was someone famous or doing something wacky, like stacking ice cream cone after ice cream cone on her head, but she was neither of those things. Slouched in a chair with her legs kicked up was far from being sketch worthy, and much too time consuming for the length she would be there eating her cone. Nate had told her that once about sketching on the fly. Right now she was more photo worthy, in which she would make a stink about having her picture taken.

Nessa was more irked that he had taken up camp with his ice cream at a table near her, and he looked weak enough that she could scare him away with a snarl and a few choice words. Now he had her on the hook for figuring out a good reason for her initial comment. She was lacking words for it though, and simply scowled at him as he sort of dismissed her with a lick of his ice cream. That had her curling her lip in anger, which was only quelled by taking another hard bite out of her ice cream cone.

With the boy’s second question, she had a chance to retort. “You,” she pointed at him as she looked around them to signal that there wasn’t anyone else around to take up the mantle. “And how do I know you’re not lying? Gonna show me what your scribbling over there?” Nessa didn’t really care what he was drawing (as long as it wasn’t her), but seeing what it was, was also her only out without looking a complete idiot. Deciding that he was taking too long, which was only a few seconds, she dropped her legs off of her table and started towards him, dragging her chair noisily behind her. Placing it directly across from him, she sat down again and stared at him, unblinking. Once he showed her the drawing, she would be gone. But a little intimidation would make it a lot more fun until that happened.

@ryuu ● 357 ● Jigolo Har Megiddo by Ghost

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

If Ryuu wanted to sketch the girl, he could have. But it would require him to truely look at her, and continuealy glance up and down as he did. And this was the first time that he really took the chance to look at the girl. He knew that she was there, but that was just about it.

After responding, she seemed to be apeased in some way. He had turned the agretion back on her, and he was certain that she wasn't expecting that. She wasn't worth his time. He didn't have a lot of freedom normally, and he wasn't going to waste it on this girl, he was just about to turn back to his sketching when she finally spoke again. He looked up at the girl, they had to be around the same age, right? He wasn't that good at guessing ages. Ryuu had thought about just showing her what he was drawing and just get it over with, but then she got over and scraped her chair over to his table and sat down, staring at him. This made his habit of hiding his art for about half of his life from his family spike up. She could have just looked over his shoulder and perhaps he would have let her, had she been nicer about it.

He glared right back at her, and moved to close his sketchbook, a drawing of a five eyed, and horned monster with a thin, starved body, and elongated limbs being closed up on itself. "I'd show you, if you ask nicer" He glared back into her unblinking eyes, challenging her. There was no way he would simply give in to this girl. She obviously thought that everyone was afraid of her. Why would he be? He took a nice bite of his ice cream, he wasn't afraid.

nessa abigael byrne

[nessa abigael byrne]

▲

Watching the boy close his sketchbook right in front of her as she dragged herself over to his table was sort of aggravating. Why was he putting up such a fight when it came to showing her what he was drawing? That only made her think that it was actually a sketch of her, or maybe something inappropriate. Or something inappropriate of her. He had no reason to be so defensive about it either. While her questioning about the drawing elicited the opposite response that Nessa wanted, she was already too deep into this to back down now. He was going to show her the notebook whether he liked it or not. Simply trying to turn her away wasn’t going to work at this point. He had his chance to show her and get it done with too.

There was one stipulation to that though: all she had to do was ask nicely. Nessa wasn’t sure if she was even capable of being nice at this point in their encounter. It would seem too fake, and she hated nothing more than fake people. Phoniness was literally the reason she only had one friend, because everyone else was full of it. Stooping to that level just to see a sketch wasn’t her at all. But she had her own way of being polite. “Show me the damn drawing,” Nessa said through gritted teeth, without showing a sign of actual regret for the way she had been acting so far. “Please?” That was the best he was going to get out of her right now. The next step was snatching the sketchbook from across the table. He had his chance to accept her request first though. If not, she could get ahold of the edge of the book no problem from where she was sitting.

@ryuu ● 303 ● Falling by Dude York

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Ryuu's family felt that art was best left to those with nothing better to do. In their opinion, Ryuu had better things to do. Years of hiding his creations turned into habit. He thought about just walking away, but they were too deep into this now. This girl seemed more determined than ever, to see his sketchbook. He had decided to show her, though he still didn't really want to. Luckily there was no way it would get back to those who he really hid it from. This was the main reason he added a stipulation.

Ryuu was quite surprised with the girl's reaction. It wasn't the manners that were drilled into him since he was young. She spoke through gritted teeth adding a questioned "Please" shortly after. While it didn't seem conventional, it did seem genuine, in a sense. He thought about it and after rolling his eyes he opened the book to the to where he was working, and turned it, sliding it towards the girl.

The drawing was dark and intimidating, showing a monstrously large and threatening creature.

nessa abigael byrne

[nessa abigael byrne]

▲

Merlin, she could feel the attitude seeping out of the boy just from watching the roll of his eyes after she finally relented to niceties. The fact that he had gotten her so worked up just by talking back to her was going to end up eating away at her for the rest of the week. She could already tell. Every time something like this happened, she found it impossible to let it go or shake it off. Even with him showing her the contents of his sketchbook, Nessa was still going to be pissy about it days later. She’d probably just end up taking it out on one of the younger kids or Nate. That seemed fair enough to her.

As for the actual drawing that the boy had been working on, Nessa was a bit perplexed. He definitely hadn’t been lying when he said he wasn’t drawing her, unless he could see inner demons of people, or some stupid shit like that. Whatever the thing was, it was hulking, scary, and detailed, and it was the sort of thing that Nessa couldn’t even begin to explain how it was drawn. But she liked weird, dark things like this, so it was already starting to grow on her.

“What’s it supposed to be? Is there a story behind it?” she asked before realizing that the drawing had sucked her in and made her completely forget about being an asshole to the kid. “Because whenever I see art like this, there’s always a creepy story to it. Like those online stories muggleborns are always going on about.” Which was funny considering mythical beasts and monsters tended to have magical creature equivalents. She had paid enough attention in Care of Magical Creatures to at least learn that. She hoped the boy had something to go off of as well too.

@ryuu ● 309 ● Rollin' Stone by Muddy Waters

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Showing someone his art was something that Ryuu DID NOT DO. Period. The first and only time that he did, he regretted it, severely. Rather, he was made to regret it, by his uncle who found that it was interfering with his studies, required for school and home. In truth, many of his monstrous drawings were representations of his situations. Some one somewhere stated "draw what you know" and Ryuu knew monsters, and demons of his own. He just interpenetrated them differently, and in a way that they would never recognize it to be them.

The boy watched the angry girl as she looked over his drawing. It was fairly good. He had been working on it for quite some time now. “What’s it supposed to be? Is there a story behind it?” ....yes. "Does art need an explanation?" He wasn't one to talk about his family issues with complete strangers. Even his best friend at school didn't know everything. Why else did he find great use in getting out his aggravation as a beater in school? He had calmed his voice though, much like the girl had. He looked down and away. He was a little ashamed at his reaction when she continued to talk. "I'm not that good at story telling. And I can only usually draw for short periods of a time." In complete secret, but he didn't want to share that part. He shrugged, feeling like he should add something more "Art is meant to be a way of expressing feelings and invoking them in others"

nessa abigael byrne

[nessa abigael byrne]

▲

Nessa gave him a sort of perplexed look when he asked her if art required and explanation. How was she supposed to know? He was the artist here. The thought that it was a rhetorical question didn’t even cross her mind, so she immediately began to think of a way to answer. “Well I think it should,” she finally said. “How am I supposed to know how to interpret it if I don’t know what it’s supposed to be? Because this certainly isn’t abstract or anything…” And that was the extent of her knowledge on art. She only remembered what abstract art was because it literally made no sense to her. Portraits were pretty easy, but whatever this kid was drawing was out there. It was more aggressive than anything she had seen in person. Which, him hiding it from her, now made sense.

He went on to explain that he wasn’t good at the story-telling bit and that art was supposed to invoke something. But didn’t that just go back to her last point? How was she supposed to feel about something that wasn’t explained? Being confused about what she was looking at only frustrated her more. She couldn’t understand why anyone would want to make art that only served to confused and anger people. “Uh-huh…” Nessa nodded her head as her eyes drifted from the boy’s face down to his drawing. “So am I supposed to understand that you’re expressing some violent monster inside you?”

@ryuu ● 247 ● Lullaby Love by Roo Panes

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

The girl seemed confused by his answer. Ryuu knew that art could have a very deep and personal context to it. His art did. He also didn't show his art to many people. Much like he didn't talk about what a hell his life was. While Ryuu didn't consider himself to be knowledgeable in the arts, he did know that many famous pieces were left unexplained.

“So am I supposed to understand that you’re expressing some violent monster inside you?” Guess that wasn't too far from it. He could consider himself a monster. There were monsters and demons in everyone, as he had learned from personal experience. He was somber as he spoke. "Art is my way of expressing how I see the world." he paused. That could be interpenetrated wrong "Or with past events. There are many 'violent monsters' around" He seemed to be warming up to the girl, a little. He felt like he would give her some more.

nessa abigael byrne

[nessa abigael byrne]

▲

Hadn’t they already gone over the fact that art was supposed to be expressive of something? Nessa figured that the way he drew was his own view on things, but she didn’t really need him to repeat it. She wasn’t that lost on the subject. Like she had just said, she knew what abstract art was like. With the colors and swirls, and whatever. In her defense though, even that only expressed her feelings of confusion even more, so maybe she really didn’t get it as much as she thought she did. He went on to explain that his work was also about things in the past, and that her description of monsters worked for a lot of things out there.

It took her a second to process the information, and then she immediately furrowed her brow as she looked at him. “Is that some smartass way to call me violent?” Nessa asked. The kid definitely seemed the type, from the way he had been talking to her earlier. At the same time, she was being sort of a jerk to him. “Because I definitely can be. Just not today.” She eased up in her chair again, returning to the relaxed position she had been only moments earlier. If the kid was drawing monsters about his world experience, surely that meant she would show up in the sketchbook if she did anything to him. He had already proven that he wasn’t drawing her and wasn’t out to get on her nerves. It was more of an issue she had with herself, always ready to fight at a moment’s notice. “Well, whatever it’s supposed to represent, it’s cool I guess. I can’t draw for shit.”

@ryuu ● 284 ● Deliver Us by Darkest Hour

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0