She accepted the offer of a break. So since they decided to stop for a while or maybe for the day, he decided to try and initiate conversation. He felt the easiest ice breaker was why does she art a lot. He listened to her answer and then said "So... you mean to say that art makes it easy for you to express yourself like emotionally or in any way?"
He knew he used music to express himself and how he felt. And even helped him deal with some inner darkness as he would manage to let it out in a lot less dangerous way.

He looked around the room to look at the art and see if he can stop his gaze on one picture so he could see if he can decipher like a hidden meaning or expression from it. Though he knew he was no art aficionado and probably couldnt derive a meaning from a painting, but he figured it was worth a try

Miriko was starting to think she was explaining things to complexly in some manner for some people around her. So when it was mentioned at the time as that she did say nod in agreement with the statement."It was also one of the few things the nuns at the church I was raised at seemingly left me okay with as they where trying to teach me to be a well behaved child."Miriko also mentioned.

It did not help Miriko was even more scared of almost everything was a young child then she seemed to be nervous of now. It was pretty good so far of her growing up so far. Considering all of the other things she did not talk about."So thus you see some times varying piece of art are reflection of my life or things I see when I am out exploring places."It almost sounds like it could lead the conversation to blossom some kind of ego.

When in reality Miriko thought it as."So not only can I show others how the world around them is beautiful, But to also remind myself how beautiful the world can be as well."It was equal showing things to other people as well as herself too.

He was glancing around at her artwork as she spoke to him. But he believes that what she expresses is something music cant really do. Or perhaps he is not that kind of a musician to sing about the beauty of the world or whatever. He uses music to substitute some unfavourable feelings he has. Whether it be the feel to commit violence or express his feelings of inadequacy or trying to stay true to oneself, to some times songs about having a hangover. Basically Miriko uses art to express the world around her. He uses art to express what he has on the inside. He could surmise that perhaps she'd be just an instrumental musician, in which case he could see her make happy music

Once he heard that Miriko finished speaking, he turned to face her and said "Uhmm... to be honest I really dont know what to say. Im not a big conversationalist. Umm.. you mentioned nuns? Raised by nuns? So you're an orphan?" he spoke as he clung on the only thing he could grasp thats some sort of connecting point between the two

At least Miriko was not shy about answering questions alone, these matter were over all a bit easier to explain."For most of my life I was yes an Orphan yes."Not really mentioning how it changed but just that most of her life she was one."Strict and faith based they where, never much to show affection or positive enforcement...In some manner it was hurtful to a developing mind."Miriko mentioned that she kind of saw the effect of how that played out for her in life and she knew maybe why she was a bit strange at times.

Miriko would get up from her chair for a moment and walk over to her still casually relaxing and lounging about cattian. Opening up one of the travelling bags he had on his saddle and pulled out few fairly large size book, It seemed rather old given it's covers dents and dings, some times the colour of it has been chipped away slightly. She would open it flip through a few pages then closed it.

It seemed to be the book she was looking for. Then returned back to her chair then merely showed."These is one of my first drawing books, It subject matters varies from drawing at what things where going on around me in life, As well as the quality pictures."Why she was sharing this would be a good question, But it surely was as it stated, a progress album of some how manageable and crude drawings of a small child being scared and hiding in various parts of churches with blank faced nuns looking around for seemingly this scared child. It was Miriko's reflection of how she felt in early stages of being in that church and the nuns. It was a telling first picture.

He listened to her and showed great interest in this topic. Perhaps he was one himself, so he wondered how someone else dealt with the loss of parents and being handled by strangers. So he was intrigued and listened how she was raised by strict nuns who were obviously into faith and religion and never showed any love or positive reinforcement
"So... you just took the abuse? Have you never thought about standing up to them. Y'know like metaphorically showing your teeth that you shouldnt be pushed around?"

What was also interesting was that she was so open with the fact that she was an orphan. He kinda sees that as a thing of shame. Something he wouldnt share. Yet she was open with him.

She got up from the chair and went elsewhere and looked for something. She found a book, seemed real old. And then she approahed him and showed him the content of it. She explained this was one of her first drawing books. Her first drawing collection

He looked at the drawings. Crude drawings of a small child being scared and hiding in various parts of churches with blank faced nuns looking around for seemingly this scared child. It was what he surmised, that she used art to express her emotions. Children cant sometimes vocalize what they feel. Emotions are complex for a young person and they cant express themselves. Thats where art comes in. You use it to express yourself.

She does in the form of visal art, but he does it with music and audio. He sings. His hand hovered over her childhood drawing and it followed her lines. He didnt even dare touch the art as to not ruin or smudge it.
Its interesting. She felt fear during this stage of life. Perhaps when she lost her parents and got dragged to a church place with angry nuns she felt fear.

Meanwhile when he was taken in by people he felt sadness and anger.
I reach to the sky
And call on your name
And if I could trade, I would
And it feels, and it feels like
Heaven's so far away
And it stings, and it stings now
The world is so cold
Now that you've gone away
He remembered his music. But he never really sings to anyone, he only does it to himself alone. It helps him express himself. And even shed 'manly' tears. But he remembers his pain. Something about the theme of orphans and something in her drawings made him flash back and think of those times when he'd just reach up to the sky wishing to get his parents or thinking of seeing beyond the clouds.
But he also had the angry moments. The anger remained with him even to his teenage years and made him a ruffian, a delinquent. Perhaps because of his race which is more wild and easy to anger. Its just he felt that way.
Maybe that was his defencive system to ward of other people and pain they bring. He chose to be alone to not hurt. And yet here he was with someone. Socializing.
What should he feel now? He didnt know and that was scary. He just felt frozen

In some manner it might make light to how Miriko was as a person, or maybe it showed some of the many flaws with in her that the world would never highlight over her master pieces. Maybe these odd behaviour where her trying to be herself but the ones that raised her for the most part seemed to have halted a few things.

But with that reality hitting Michael Mimi turned the page, To something a bit different. but maybe something a bit more telling. A world merely shown with the basic pencil shade of face with eyes and a bit of details. it was woman carrying away the child Miriko in the last picture, With tears down the child face as they reached out for some one. The centre of the picture was a church, how it ever it was on fire and seemingly starting to fall in upon it's self. At the other end of the picture was the remaining of the faceless nuns leave some one who looked to be about Miriko's age at the time with blonde hair. Easily seen that the person carrying child Miriko away was a woman with blonde hair as well.

With out explaining it very well could be possible conveyed that woman carrying away Miriko was her mother, The other child being carried away was either some one she cared about it enough to note or in reality if asked Miriko would reveal it was her twin sister. It seemed the part of being a orphan was true, but some one came back for them only getting one of the two. Then she merely closed the book and started walking away with it. There was most likely many tails yet to be told with in that drawing book, things they seemed to be able to show a lot about Miriko herself.

But she did answer his question."I was never a brave child, Far more then I would care to admit now, The world always scared me in some manner."She might have improved a fair amount at this time but there was reason for how this changed to be good or bad at the time. This meeting was having an interesting twist and Miriko pondered when they would consider getting back to the guitar playing. Or if she had shown too many things already. Both there pretty good to think.

He glanced away from the drawings because he couldnt really watch it. He wasnt certain what he felt or why was she showing him this. But it made him act defencively again. Maybe the drawings were too much or too much at once. He was glad she closed the book and took it away
"Get that cursed thing away from me" he thought to himself, not really having the courage to vocalize that

Instead he listened to her speak how she was not a brave child. The world scared her
"Right" he said, his voice was more subdued and quieter as opposed to his usual and confident or normal voice. Its as if it lacked its usual energy
"So.... do you wanna try and play more music? Do you think this is enough of break or do you need more?"
He didnt wanna talk about his past, it was upsetting. While they were handed similar cards, they had very different outcomes. He was not a fan of that. But he couldnt change that. As much as he'd want to be petulant and petty. He just didnt have the energy for that.
He couldnt place what, but something about her story really bothered him. She was the quiet artsy girl who obeyed, meanwhile he was the loud rebel who fought the system.
Day after day your home life's a wreck
The powers that be just breathe down your neck
You get no respect you get no relief
You gotta speak up and yell out your piece
So back off your rules, back off the jive
'Cause I'm sick of not living to stay alive
Leave me alone,I'm not asking a lot
I don't wanna be controlled
That's all I want
Where she drew, he wrote and sang. But again, he didnt really tell her anything. He just couldnt really speak to her. Just something shook him with what she shown him. He just couldnt completely place what it was. But it made him uncomftarble. Instead he just wanted to switch back to teaching her music. He needed the money. He can get a home maybe

Miriko had no problems continuing one, putting the book away. With her meek nature seemingly being her normal way of being. Alistair seemed to look at them both pondering if anything was wrong or not. But Alistair then settled into just kind of taking a nap and sleeping casually. To Miriko this was entirely normal. After the book was put away and Alistair settled into a nap. Miriko seemed to gentle pat him on the head.

With Alistair being a sleep, he did not really react but it showed that she valued her cattain, not because of it's rarity in which so far as Miriko knew he was the only one. But also for the things Alistair did for her, Being eternally grateful for the things he does. It goes beyond just carrying her around and storing things. in some manner Alistair was just a massive emotional support cat that defended Miriko when needed from a few things.

Then Miriko seemed to be willing to go back to attempt to learn music."Yes that does sound good to me."Miriko mentioned as she seemed to settle back in quickly and even picked up her strange magically made guitar too. Ready to try again.

He was glad that she did not try and probe him for information and stuff. And he was glad that she didnt notice anything up with him, even if there was. He had his own inner turmoil as he still hasnt really gotten over his past. He didnt find closure. He had no answers who killed his parents. He had no vengence or justice. He had no family old or new. He had no skills for work. He had no home. He had no accomplishments. He was a nobody. And that still all bothered him

But he hid that and instead focused on teaching Miriko how to play a guitar. He hoped he could at least do it considering money was on the line. Michael honestly didnt know. Was he the problem she was not playing or was she the problem. This was the thing when you werent a teacher. You had no idea if you were not teaching well or if the student was slow on the uptake

Miriko seemed to dive right back into attempt thing with out even a second consideration. She was not giving up anytime soon that was very apparent. just even right away having the same problem of trying to pluck the string while pressing the notes to them not fretting out.

And it seemed to leave Miriko puzzled, Then she tried for a moment to apply more pressure. The note sustaining a bit longer thing time but Miriko seemed to lighten her grip strength on the pressed guitar string to it buzzing out quickly in which left her almost determine to try and figure out she seemed looked at it like it was a form of oddity that she might not be able to figure out at this time. But seemed to at least had already gotten to the point where she might be okay with her failure as she brought up before.

He observed her and her attempts. He tried to advise here and there to help her get to a sound. And even demonstrated on his own guitar. He played a few notes. Pulled a few strongs real close and made a point how he moved his fingers and the amount of pressure he puts or doesnt. He played a tune, albeit in super slow motion, that you couldnt tell was part of a song.
Mostly because the point wasnt the song he was playing, but rather showing her how to replicate a sound.

Speaking of sound. There was a song stuck in his mind. Playing in his head over and over. But he couldnt focus on it. Instead he focused on his student. He now looked to see if her next attempts will prove to be more fruitful. Will she replicate sound. He tilted his head to the side as he would observe and listen
"I'm sure you can do it" he thought to himself

There was signs that Miriko was going something right, every once and a while Miriko seemed to be trying to mimic what michael was doing but she was pressing only slightly harder sometimes other times it was almost like Miriko forgot that her guitar was magically made and she might be paranoid about breaking it. It was not shocking but this was just how she was.

But more often then naught Miriko did seem to be failing. but over all it seemed like she was content with this and she might consider other things in the future"Hmm....maybe this might perplex forever.."However she stated that not sounding like she had given up more just kind of thinking she was at a stump in the road and almost consider this a good thing for herself to be at. Michael most likely might view it differently but it was how Miriko thought of it.

Michael observed her and listened as she said she might be stumped like forever. He grumbled to himself as he felt helpless. He knew what she was doing wrong and he tried to explain, but it felt like he wasnt doing it right. Like the message was not coming across
"Maybe I'm just not a good teacher" he said with a shrug.

He really did try to get his moneys worth. So it was a bit of a bummer he was failing. Though he knew that people learn over the course of days or weeks. But he just didnt have any teaching experience, so he didnt know what was the teaching basis. Was he making good teaching progress or was he sub par. He didnt have any frame of reference what was it like.

He bit his lip as he was frustrated over this. Disappointed at himself more so then having any ill will towards her.
"Right so um... wanna call it a day?"

Miriko over all seemed to be okay with ending it here."Yes, I have learned enough." She did not sound up set or bother if anything you could figure out that Miriko most likely learned a fair amount of things form all of things that she might not have entirely considered with not really being able to play music, but she also did not really worry about it as well. But being that she was find from moving on so quickly it seemed she held nothing against him for this matter.

just letting the paint made guitar go. Then moved on to asking."Well, how much do you want? or do you want a painting?"Miriko asked politely and nicely. Since it was an agreed upon situation. Alistair seemed to be no longer napping watching casually while laying there waiting to see what was said. Miriko still seemingly at peace with her failure.

It seemed that she had no ill will towards him. And even asked how much he wanted which surprised him. He wasnt sure if she made this a one time thing or if she intended to like take this as a course. The way he imagined it, it'd be like a course where she LEARNS the guitar, not like a one time lesson

"Uhm.. well... how much do you have on you?" he asked a bit akwardly. He scratched his head a bit nervously as he wondered how he should ask about the next time
"So um... when are you free again... ?" he asks very awkwardly.
He did agree to teach her. So he wasnt gonna half ass it. He will look into teaching if she agrees to make this a regular thing. He definitelly needed teaching pointers and a frame of reference if he was doing well or not as a teacher

It seemed they where settling the bill pretty decently with out worries, it seemed pretty good over all Miriko would keep most of this stuff pretty good in the matter of making deals, what did she have here was mostly art stuff, but she did have some money. But if he was really choosing jewel Miriko would give it to him with out a second thought. She was a fairly well off but it was work and effort she put into all of it to make money and continue on from this day on.

So she would walk over into her travel bags on Alistair and then after moving a few things around. Then she placed a small bag of jewel and offered it to him. Miriko most likely did not look at how much it was, but the bag seemed some what heavy compared to it's size."Is that what you consider fair?"

She placed a bag of money infront of him and asked if thats what he thought was fair. He said "Yes" it wasnt a confident yes. But it was one where he pretend to be such.
He took the bag and realized the weight was a bit greater than he imagined. He wonder how much was there. But he imagined that she probably didnt know as well

So he focused on something else. Repeating the question he asked "When are you free again?"
He was willing to try for a lesson 2. It was a question did she wanna continue learning this or just make this a one time lesson. He needed to know. Because if she wanted to learn for real, he'd need to look into teaching and lesson giving, if they were to make progress. But if she just wanted this to be a one lesson where she gets a feel of the guitar, so be it. He got what he wanted, right?

Miriko did almost forget that question, over all she seemed to ponder on it for a moment when was she free next was a simple question."I am free any time next week."It was the best answer because she knew she would busy with the various other things she always did during the time she was here, most of the time other people kind of busied her with various things when they saw her, At least saying next week it was open ended and they could just find out a bit more in the future.

She did not mind taking a bit of time to her self to process the lesson in which was some what okay she was use there was some use from it but unsure still how much future she would progress in the future. Also paranoid she would learn another thing that she would just be demanded to do. But eventually after the plan they would leave and seemed in the end it was a good ending.

[exit]

Michael nodded "Okay. Then next week I'll find you at your guild and we can try and do a lesson 2 thing" he said.
After all he'd feel shitty if he scammed her and didnt teach her how to play the guitar.

Anywho, he bid his farewell from the mage and made his way back to the inn. He did not expect to meet someone today or becoming a teacher, but it was a thing that happened. It was kind of nice to do something productive and like earning cash the honest way. It was weird too, considering before he fought against the system and stole or did bad stuff. But now he was like legit earning it. It was so cool. Or not? Well he was kind of confused because he never felt this way. He tried to scrub those thoughts away and just go to his room to rest and work on his music

(The End)