Tales of Tajii: The First Tale

The First Tale: Art is simple… It's only three letters.

Much like Tajina was a writer, her character Taij, was an artist. This was strange, considering he'd been a character not too long ago. She couldn't remember writing about him as an artist; only as a thief. Of course, Taij didn't seem to remember any of that, though. No, he seemed to be quite insistent that he was not a character.
"It was real…" He would insist silently. Only, he wouldn't voice his opinions aloud most times.
No, he would have rather drawn them up. The first time Tajina saw him drawing, it was in the living room. Strange as it might be, she lived in a place of her own. It would have been even stranger to say that she'd been living alone since she was thirteen.
She didn't confide in people much, which was the reason people just thought she was a lonesome teenage girl wandering the streets most of the time. She preferred it that way—she didn't need anyone looking out for her like she was a kid.
"But you are a kid." Taij had said to her when she'd tried to explain things to him a few days ago. In response she had frowned. Then, shortly after, she'd thrown a book at him. Taij had looked at her with large sorrowful eyes, but hadn't bothered to ask what he'd done wrong.
It was early in the morning and she had just thrown on a simple but colorful outfit when she saw him sketching in the living room. It was on a simple notepad; one she'd probably misplaced and never bothered to look for. There was only one book that she ever used, and that was the golden book that she held under her arm. It was her writing book—it was also Taij's past life.
At first she hadn't really taken any notice of him; over the week she'd begun to see him as a part of the house. It wasn't until he'd held up the notepad with a huge smile on his face that she'd turned around to look at it. What she'd seen had astounded her.
"You draw?" She'd looked at him incredulously, staring at the thick bold lines crisscrossing across the page. He'd drawn a black and white flower; but it was incredibly detailed. The shadows, the highlights… they were all aspects of art that Tajina did not understand. Yet, she could appreciate the way he'd drawn it. It looked  realistic.
Taij held down the notepad, looking slightly embarrassed. "It's a hobby."
"But you were never an artist in the book…" She mumbled. Taij had looked up at her, curious, and she'd turned away from him and not said anything.
Two days later, Taij was drawing again. Only this time, he wasn't drawing on a notepad.
She was shocked to see that he had somehow come across a bunch of paints and that his new canvas was, well, her walls. He was still in the living room but rather than leaning over a notepad on the couch, he was standing in front of a wall, making huge gestural lines with a large brush.
"Taij!"
He paused, looked at his work thoughtfully. Then, as if in late reaction, he turned to Tajina, his eyes wide. Then, he smiled. "You like it?"
The gestural lines on the wall were wind swirls; it was evident from the way they curved. Then there was the silver moon at the top, emitting a glow that seemed almost real. Everything was painted a dark blue, a serene shade of the sky outside.
"That's not the problem here!" She put her hands on her hips. "You're drawing on my wall."
Taij nodded matter-of-factly. "Uh-huh. You told me the house looked sort of plain, so I took out these paints from the garage and started painting." He smiled and Tajii was taken aback. It was almost impossible to get angry at him when he was smiling, simply because there was a shine to his eyes that was so innocent—and very naïve.
She sighed. "Um, yeah. You're just lucky you're my character."
Taij seemed to ignore this last remark, for he simply looked back at the wall and painted, looking more solemn this time.
Tajina headed for the door, pausing in front of the doorknob as she heard Taij behind her. He was moving around now to the back of the couch. She could see him watching her out of the corner of his eyes, looking almost paranoid.
"I'm going to town." She said after a few moments. "Just going to wander around for a while."
Taij stared at her for a few moments, then he cocked his head to the side. "Want me to come with you?"
She shook her head. "I won't be gone long."
Taij looked somewhat disappointed, and a little bit hurt but he didn't say anything. For a few moments she watched him paint, feeling guilty. Then, she simply shrugged and walked out the door.

Four hours later, she came back home with news.  At first Taij didn't seem to notice that she was there. He was so intent in his painting, his eyes and hand so focused, that he didn't seem to notice her come in. He had just about finished the room, adding additional stars on the wall that seemed to glow with the same brilliant glow as the real ones.
For a moment she could just stare at them, wondering if Taij's paintings might be magic. If he was a 'fictional' character that could use magic in his book, then maybe he could use it here?
His voice brought her out of his thoughts. "You like?" He said with an almost foreign accent, rolling the 'L' off of his tongue like it was natural.
Tajina couldn't tell if it was sarcasm in his voice, or if it was an attempt to sound 'cool'. Who knew with him? Back when he was a story character, she'd known everything about him. He was a thief and he stole because him and his sister, Trish were poor. His girlfriend was a girl by the name of Serenity—she was still an unfinished character so it was undecided if she was polite and cheery or angst and morbid.
He'd worn nothing but black and white; which still hadn't changed—but now there were a pair of earphones on his ears. A pair she was sure had not existed until he had well, become real.
"Tajina?"
When she didn't respond he came to her and held up his paint brush, as if to catch her attention.
"Yeah, yeah I'm listening." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper; one she had collected from the streets earlier today. Some random guy on the street claiming to be a man of artistic popularity had passed her this advertisement for an art contest, saying that she looked like a rather artistic person with her colorful clothing. Truth be told, she couldn't draw to save her life. All she could manage was a disfigured stick figure. Taij, however, was different.
She held the sheet up to him and he stared at it for a few moments, looking rather confused. Then, the realization seemed to dawn upon him. He took the advertisement from her and nodded his head in acknowledgement. Without looking up, he questioned: "An art contest?"
Tajina nodded eagerly. "Yup. These types of opportunities don't come up very often, you know." She grinned. "The grand prize is a ton of money. Which I need, by the way." She pointed at Taij. "And since you're staying here, you may as well help me pay rent."
Taij seemed to be concentrating for a few moments then he looked up, appearing very serious. She was half expecting a complaint to escape his mouth but instead he simply asked, "Should I go with abstract or realism?"

The Art contest was taking place in the town of Yusel, which was known most for its festivities. Although the house Tajina had rented for herself was not located in the town itself, it was located near the outskirts. She had never wanted to live in a town; not where there were so many people. Instead, she'd settled with a place that was out of town, but not too far away as to be inconvenient.
Having lived here for nearly two years, she had memorized the streets of Yusel by heart. Taij, meanwhile, did not seem to know where he was going. Looking closely at the advertisement, she had walked through the streets with Taij, expecting him to be following closely behind her.
Only, when she looked back five minutes after entering through the West Gate, he was gone. Aggravated, she simply stood in place and waited for him. When he didn't show up, she continued forward, remembering that when she had first met him, Taij had somehow found his way to her by himself.
She didn't have to worry for long; he popped in and out, somehow making his way to unknown locations while still finding her in the crowd. While people stared at her with raised eyebrows, there were many people that looked at Taij with admiration. Was it his black and white clothing they found so charming? His cheerful smile and blue eyes? She couldn't tell. Whatever the case, she didn't seem to have any of that charm.
Upon arriving at Central Square, Tajina entered Taij's name onto a clipboard, which allowed him to participate in the contest. While things were set up, she simply watched in the background, scouring the crowd for any professional looking artists that had a chance at winning. If necessary, she would do whatever it took to sabotage them. She wasn't much for cheating, but she couldn't afford to lose to anyone. She paused and caught herself. Couldn't afford Taij to lose to anyone.
However, none of the contestants seemed to be in the crowd. Taij wandered around quite aimlessly, attracting attention everywhere he went. There were a group of little kids that came up running up to her at one point, holding Taij's hands.
"Color Fairy!" They squealed in delight as they pointed at her clothing.
Tajina raised her eyebrows, sighing. Then, to satisfy them, she raised her hands and said in a very mellow voice, "Yay, rainbows."
"Rainbows!" The little kids cried out.
Once they had left, Tajina frowned at Taij. "You give them that idea?"
Taij looked surprised. "Not at all. There's a sign by the park that says 'The Color Fairy Visits Every Monday'. I thought it might be you."
Tajina was about to lecture him when the contest announcement was made. The contestants were all asked to gather on the stage, where they would draw live in front of the audience. A group of judges would decide the winner based on different artistic concepts.
"I don't care about art concepts," Tajina said with a sniff. "Just get in there and draw something that'll impress the judges. Something that'll knock their socks off, you know?"
Taij, looking quite nervous ascended to the stage with nothing but a single paint brush. He'd only brought two tools; a small cup of black paint and a small black paintbrush. Tajina had no idea what he would be doing, but she knew that it would be impressive. Hopefully, it would be impressive enough to place him first. Honestly, there was no consolation to be found for placing anywhere after first.
The first artist was an older man that wore a large black hat. He looked quite foreign and spoke with an accent that was thick and unclear. He drew a flower made with pinks and blues, and described his color choices with a background story.
"When I was a little boy, my mother had a garden." He started, holding out his arms.
Tajina allowed herself to blank out, only looking up to see the artists start their paintings.
A young woman went next, drawing some kind of deformed self portrait, explaining that the figure was purposefully distorted, expressing human imperfection.
Tajina looked at the rest of the audience, who were solemnly nodding, some with tears in their eyes. Conceptual. Everything was conceptual, wasn't it?
She put her hands together in silent prayer for Taij, who looked quite nervous as the judges called his name. "Money, please." She prayed. Then she corrected herself. "First place, please."
It wasn't long before Taij began to draw, his brush flowing across the canvas. There was a time limit of seven minutes for all of the contestants, and Taij's painting easily took the longest. At first there didn't seem to be much form to it. Then after a while, it took outstanding form and became recognizable as a face.
Tajina nudged the woman closest to her, who was looking on in awe. "That's my charact—uh, cousin. Isn't he amazing?"
The woman stared at her for a few moments—with her colorful clothing she was quite the sight. Then she looked at Taij, with his black and white clothing. "You're quite opposite." She said thoughtfully.
Taij lifted his paintbrush and stood aside, holding out his arms in grand presentation. "I give you… Tajina!" He gestured at the artwork which Tajina now saw, was a replication of her face. She stepped back, both shocked and secretly pleased. Still, the shock was hard to let go of. The picture was perfect—and for a sketch, flawless.
She could see the judges murmuring amongst each other, pointing at things here and there. The expressions of shock were apparent on their faces as well but at the moment, Tajina didn't care about them. She only had eyes for the portrait. It was perhaps the most beautiful thing that had ever been made for her.
"It's a portrait of someone very special to me." Taij said simply, smiling his charming smile.
Then, that was all. The final contestant was a young man that looked not much older than Taij. His painting was done in all but one minute; he had done nothing but splatter colors on the canvas. At first, many people seemed doubtful but then he began to speak in a grand voice.
"This art piece contains a very personal concept. It reflects the state of our earth." He pointed at the red above the green, which didn't look much like anything but blobs to Tajina. "The forests that are on fire…" He pointed at the deep blue. "The waters that are rushing and sinking our planet…"
He went on for at least five minutes, and the judges did not stop him. Still, the audience understood that the contest had been decided. It may have been a bit biased, but Tajina could not look at anything but Taij's portrait. Was it so wrong to love something that had your face on it? Was it selfish?
The head judge stood up around twenty minutes later, hushing the crowds that were excitedly chatting. Taij had returned to Tajina's side, although he had yet to retrieve the painting because it had been judged at the time.
Now, the judge held up his hands in triumph. "All of the entries were astounding," He started, his voice loud and crisp. "However, there was one entry that we enjoyed most—both for its meaning as well as its artistic execution. Without further ado, I present the winner… of this art contest!" He held up his arms and Tajina watched in excitement as he made his way to the winning painting.
Only, he did not stop in front of Taij's painting. Dumbstruck, she watched as he stopped at the final painting, with its colorful blobs. "The title of winner has been attained by the wonderful David Oiran!" He cried out.
The crowd applauded cheerfully but Tajina could do nothing but wince.
"Although we are unable to provide prizes for any other placements, all participants will receive a complimentary balloon!"
"A balloon!" Taij seemed to brighten considerably. He left Tajina to stare at the ground as he went to collect his balloon.
"How…?"
"Tajina!" He came back shortly after, holding the portrait under his arm and the balloon in the other. It was a simple blue balloon with an open mouthed smiley on it. "Doesn't it make you happy?" He grinned. "That was pretty fun, huh?"
Tajina stomped her foot against the ground. "No, no it wasn't! I'm going to go talk to the judges. Their decision didn't make any sense!" It was just as she was trying to push herself through the crowd that Taij grasped her arm, still smiling.
"It's no big deal. We'll make the money some other way."
"But your painting…"
Taij blinked. "You liked it?"
Tajina raised her eyebrows. "How couldn't I?"
An expression of pure joy covered Taij's face and for a moment, Tajina was taken aback by how happy he looked. "Then that's all that matters." He laughed. "In the end… art is pretty simple isn't it?"
Tajina sighed. "I guess." She tried to let the aggravation leave her but to no avail. Still, seeing Taij's smile made her feel just a bit better. "It's only three letters, after all."