2026-01-21: Graphic Gossip
- Log: Graphic Gossip
- Cast: Umie Akabane, Yusuke Kitagawa
- Where: Paulownia Mall, Tatsumi Port Island
- OOC Date: January 21, 2026
- IC Date: September 13, 2012
- Summary: Umie stops by an art supply store in Paulownia Mall, attempting to get a lay of the local gossip concerning Dimitri Tachovsky. There, she encounters someone else who seems interested: Yusuke Kitagawa, a person she definitely has never met before, ever.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Did you hear? Dimitri Tachovsky's latest work'll be exhibited in a local art show here! There was a flyer posted up just recently."
"Really? I thought they were going to hold off on it... I hope he gets better soon."
"it's always a shame, when an artist can't make their own showing..."
If there is a way for someone to indicate whether or not something may be afoot in the grand scheme of 'things that may become concerning', one sign to look for is if there's an Umie Akabane nearby, listening intently.
This is what Umie would think, anyway, if she were aware of how, despite standing an aisle over, she's looking ahead with the barest inclination of being all that occupied with her own shopping. Sure, a small red basket is slung over one hand, with a few art supplies: some brushes, fixative spray, and a tube of acrylic paint: one of the cheaper brands, in a colorful red hue.
Tucking a bang behind one ear, she tries to focus on the tube of acrylic paint right then, turning it over before noticing the price.
"...!" The tube is placed back on the hook gingerly.
Yet, she hesitates, deciding to extend the charade by picking up another color and looking it over, her ears (and eyes) focused on the conversation going on one aisle over.
She can't help but frown, slightly, itching underneath one cheek with a lavender nail. "...."
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
Yusuke Kitagawa regularly patronises the art store at Pawlonia Mall. Is this a wise choice, for a young man on a student's budget, to be around such expensive art materials?
Well, anyway.
There is a moment's pause as the dark-haired, lanky boy reaches out for a set of brushes, head turning towards the conversation and a frown crossing his brow. "Tachovsky," he murmurs to himself with concern, tapping fingertips on the brushes before returning his gaze to them.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
*Is* it wise? To feed the body, you must go to the grocery store, where there is expensive cuts of beef and spices that can soak up your budget. To feed your artistic passion, you must--
--cut back on feeding the body, really. (It doesn't get any better when you're an adult, unfortunately.)
Thankfully, eavesdropping is free!
Hearing that voice, Umie cranes her neck towards a person she has never met before, ever, and looks up. And up, until it's hard to look all that casual about it.
(What is it with this area and tall, lanky people?)
Deciding to aim forward before she seems suspicious, Umie murmurs, "I... saw a flyer about that." No, Umie is lying; she blundered right past the flyer, apparently, or, possibly, it had been in an area she hadn't noticed, just yet.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good cover story. "Do you know anything about him? He does portraits, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
Yusuke blinks at the sound of a voice he recognises, and looks up from the brushes.
So that's what Akabane-san looks like under the mask, he thinks, trying to not look like he recognises her.
"It's strange," he admits. "The story is that he's unwell, but the gallery is going ahead with the opening. My understanding of him suggests that he would prefer to be present even under the direst straits."
"That said, there has been quite a lull in his work - perhaps he simply chose to focus on his next piece now that inspiration has apparently returned to him?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
The first time they had met, Umie had been rather bloody. And muddy. And injured. Great way for one party to build a positive association with an entire group of people, but bad for actually gaining a good gander at one another.
Really, sans the hood and the mask, there's not a whole lot that could disguise the young woman, and the cognitive tricks Badb affords her are nowhere close to the level of those among the Phantom Thieves, depending on certain conditions that can be invalidated rather quickly.
But, she also lacks any resonance at all except in times of emotional stress, a pattern that's carried from previous encounters.
And Umie herself, for better or worse, seems completely unaware of Yusuke being anyone other than an artist of some stripe, depending on whether or not he's wearing his school uniform.
"... I see." Umie tries to mask that glint of interest in her voice, trying to compare two hues of paint, trying to see like she has more than a novice's knowledge in what she's doing as she looks them over.
(--wait, lightfastness? Like, will the paint fade under a lot of light? Is that something she needs to worry about? Wait, no, she's often working in the dark, soooo....)
"That client of his is a mysterious one. I heard it was something to do with a client's relative..."
It comes to Umie, then.
Mommy. Mummy. Gozen. _Shit, this is because she mentioned Gozen to Sudou_.
".... aha," she continues, lightly chuckling off the urge to scream. "I've heard artists develop quite a relationship with their clients, but this is the first time I've ever heard of something like this..."
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
Yusuke is in fact wearing the Gekkoukan uniform, carrying a large flat portfolio bag in addition to the more usual student bag.
"It's strange, though. I would have thought, after the Madarame scandal, that the news would have lunged upon the original story of Tachovsky-san's disappearance, but it warranted little more than a brief mention outside of dedicated circles."
He frowns, selecting a brush at last before turning back to Umie. "What do you mean by 'relationship'?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Oh, thank goodness for Fuuka; if she hadn't said anything, Umie would have spent a longer time trying to get to this point. Perhaps Fuuka and this person know each other?
If she could get a name, like--
Madarame. Umie pauses, her brows furrowed in thought. She's heard that name... Ah. That was the second target of the Phantom Thieves. (Would it be worth it to directly ask them? .... No, she thinks, this has to do with the Mark. This is her duty. She can figure something out herself.)
"So this isn't a pattern for him..." she murmurs, her gaze lowering. "Now that you mention it, it *is* odd."
She could make a theory as to what happened, but not the whys of how it was covered up--
Tatsuzou. It has to be him.
Her lips thin, briefly. "When a person is powerful enough, sometimes they feel they operate outside the whims of society," she says, her soft words betraying a certain bitterness. "But maybe I'm just reading too much into it..."
'What do you mean by 'relationship?' The question snaps Umie back.
"Ah..." Umie hums, closing her eyes briefly, chin angled in thought.
"Well, when you look back in history, portraits usually require lots of time to complete, due to the process," Umie says, brush in hand, tapping the handle to her chin. "The size, the medium, the cost, the time; the people in the portrait had to stay still. Photography may've sped things along, but that's still not going to crack it, if you want to capture the person, especially today. The relationship between a subject and an artist, would be a better way of putting it. I'm assuming that it's the client whose portrait is being shown... but maybe it isn't."
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
"That's very true, but even then, there were... rumours," Yusuke frowns here, as if he doesn't put much stock in such things, "about Tachovsky-san having been refusing commissions for a while, in a way that would suggest he didn't already have work lined up. Accounting for that, to suddenly have a new piece to present..."
He looks back towards the shelves of products. "... The more I think about it, the more strange it becomes."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Rumors. Umie makes an inquisitive sound with her mouth as a polite show of interest.
This person Umie's talking to...
... couldn't have been more of a godsend. A critical eye, not only sharing tidbits of information, but questions, which makes the one-sided act of listening to gossip pale in comparison. She stifles the way one corner of her mouth wants to slant upwards, the Badb in her happy to indulge in all these shiny pieces of mystery.
"Perhaps he's found a muse," she offers, even if she doesn't believe it, at all. "Isn't that sometimes how someone gets around an art block?"
And yet. "But then, when taken with him being sick, and this mystery client..." The brush drops from her hand into her basket. "So something isn't adding up for you, either. But, I suppose, that's all the more reason for someone to..." Go to the showing, Umie *would* say.
But this is someone in high school, one already plagued by supernatural errors. "..... not to go to the showing, at all. Just some rich guy who wants to claim someone's fame for himself, it sounds like."
<Pose Tracker> Yusuke Kitagawa has posed.
"Maybe so," Yusuke admits. "And yet, I must confess, there is something in me that wants to see exactly what this mysterious piece is."
He looks down at his own brush. "I had best pay for this. ... Thank you for the conversation," he concludes, before stepping away.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Maybe."
There'll be many, like that, at the show. If the Old Maid is going to show up, like Umie suspects he will. Maybe, even as the client himself...
She opens her mouth with a soft intake of breath, with she was about to make a warning.
She decides against it. It'll only intrigue someone further.
If the painting is meant to spread the madness of the Mark in some form...
Subconsciously, Umie touches the index and ring finger of her left hand to the top of her right, just above her wrist, both covered by a ribbed cloth like a fashion statement of some kind.
She then justifies it consciously by extending the left into her basket, checking an item.
"... Yes, it was pleasant talking to you." She extends a small grin, her eyes making a show of noticing Yusuke's uniform before looking back up. "Do you happen to know a Yamagishi-san? She goes to Gekkoukan High as well; maybe she's in the art club? Anyway." Ha ha ha what if this young man *isn't* in the art club, what then, Umie Akabane?!
It's not important.
"If you do know her, next time you see her, tell her that Umie Akabane says 'thank you for your help, the other day'." If Yusuke adds nothing more, Umie will wiggle a paintbrush between index and ring finger in a sort of 'goodbye', turning to go to the cash register to pay for her items.
(Wait, Umie, that was the expensive brand! You forgot to put it back!)