Creative Endeavors (Hana/Mako)

It was only logical that the two most professional artists in the art class should decide to continue working on their project immediately after class. They were both so used to deadlines that they would get right on top of this project here and now. Better to get it well underway before that deadline crept up on them. A manga like this needed space to breathe and time to be developed into a beautiful symphony of art and story. Their story of the tragic heroine Masako and her sister Kanna would be the best submission for the assignment out of the whole academy. Combine Hana's artistic and creative talents with the lesser but still substantial ones of Mako and you had the perfect team for this!

Mako was also interested in working on this together with Hana in a more intimate setting. Free from the distractions of classmates buzzing about their ideas, she could focus on their collaboration. And the cute girl who surpassed her own talents but not always her sense of punctuality. As they walked Mako began to spin a long, rambling tale of what Masako's life story would be; each word was accompanied by a gaze at the other girl to see how interested she was. When Hana was engaged in a project she had so much energy it was adorable! Thinking about it made her want to squee with joy at how wonderful Hana was. If only she could tell Hana those things, let her know how much she was admired..

By the time the arrived in their dorm Mako had created enough story arc for a long-term project. Masako would start off being naieve and optimistic at first, accepting her powers without questioning where they came from. Then she'd deal with the tragic loss of her parents and (so she thought) sister while a creepy guy took care of her and guided her in the magical girl role. Many battles later and she'd have truly embraced her dark powers as a weapon for good.. at which point Kanna would reappear. From there a whole war of magical girls would ensue between the two. Mako grinned as she tugged at Hanna's uniform sleeve.

"So? So? What do you think? Pretty great isn't it? And the heroines are pretty so they're super marketable too!" Mako explained, giddy as could be about the project.. and getting to spend time with someone she loved.

Hana, of course, had listened in her normal, calm, massive Manner as Mako explained everything she could think of about the Heroine. In her head she saw their sketches as if they were an anime, living all of the moments her adorable friend was talking about. She could almost feel the tension right at the moment of Kanna's big reveal. Mako really did come up with ideas really fast and easily. She couldn't express how much she secretly idolized the girl even if she really wanted to. Well, she did really want to... she just couldn't.

They arrived at the dorm and Hana plopped herself on the bed. She didn't really care if she was wearing the school uniform at the moment; her brain was wrapped around Mako's idea. By the time Mako stopped, Hana was amazed at Mako's incredible speed with which she'd come up with an actual, viable story. 'You're the cutest genius ever, Mako...' "I'm... not even sure how to add to that," Hana admited as she scratched her head. "I know! Let's get started on what we want the first manga to be, and we can plan that out, and figure out what would be the best for a teaser for the class."

It made sense to Hana. A teaser without context wouldn't be a great teaser. Plus... 'I want to work on an actual manga with Mako.' "Our publisher has wanted new things from us... maybe we could work on it together for a longer term project if they like it enough."

Hana of all people had to be pretty aware of just how quickly Mako's brain worked when she was excited about something. Once the girl got an idea in her head it would be vetted in order to determine just how viable it was as a product. Usually her ideas were for manga or stories so thinking of them as products was a typical mindset. This really seemed like something that they could sell to a number of audiences who would eagerly gobble up the issues that were published. Adding their relative fame and following which already existed and you had a recipe for profit! Mako could get carried away with her plotting and sometimes worried if she were in fact merely confusing her close friend by going on tangents.

So far Hana had been rather adept at keeping up with her jumping from one idea to another, which made Mako pretty happy. Not many people could keep up with the girl's imagination and still add ideas onto it. A smile crept across her lips as Hana suggested that this could be the basis for an entire manga, which they could then present to their publisher. It was just like what Mako had imagined earlier in class! Use their project as both an assignment and a submission for work. A joint effort between two of the best new manga artists from the same magazine! She was sure she could pitch it to her editor or someone with influence and turn this magical girl thing into a full blown work of art! All thanks to the brilliance of the pretty artist extraordinaire sitting on her bed.

Her heart started beating faster as she sat on the other bed across from Hana. She doesn't even know how hard it is for me to keep these feelings in.. I just can't tell her though. Instead of that she suggested, "That sounds like a perfect idea! We just map out what events are in the first manga and go from there to add detail to her world. I think the sister reveal is a later event, so we don't need to show her. Maybe just have her appear in flashbacks so there's some foreshadowing?"

Then Mako asked, "So where does the best friend with the cat fit in? I wanna have her appear in the first manga, even the teaser, but what's her role in the story?"

'You even like all my ideas. That's better than our publisher... You're like... so much better than me in every way...' Hana considered for a moment what was being said. Mako barely needed the small brunette girl's help, but she still wanted to collaborate with Hana none the less. She was a really good friend. Hana felt lucky. "That's easy," Hana nodded as she took out a piece of paper and started doodling again as she talked. "Cat loving girl is the mischievous best friend at school. She knows the girl's secrets but is totally trustworthy and pretty."

On her paper the girl in the long coat and the cat were being sketched with an arm around the main character's neck in a friendly, side-hug manner. It was amazing how much more Hana opened up when alone with Mako, if one stopped to think about it - especially when her brain was occupied with something cool to do with her extremely over-creative brain.

"She probably is the type who's really loyal, but kind of a troublemaker. Sometimes she's the mature one when our magical girl needs it. Sometimes she's the comedy relief. I want to call her Kotone." It sounded like a kind of tough yet feminine name. A best friend who knew dark secrets most certainly needed to be tough. 'Plus I think you'd be the tough one if I needed support, and she is based a bit off of you.'

Mako could already see where the cat loving girl would fit in with the story thanks to Hana's quick inspiration.  With how strange the events in the magical side of the plot were it would really help pull the audience in to have a character who was a normal girl.  Normal in the sense that she didn't have any dark magical powers or anything.  A stout friend who stood beside Masako as she battled both with the enemies of happiness and her own inner demons.  Almost certainly fans would start shipping Kotone with Masako, which could create a lucrative market for doujinshi and spinoff  materials too!  I really should've thought about making a character who looks like you, though!  You're so cute everyone would love that character like I like you..

"It sounds like we have a solid plan for Kotone-chan then: best friend, support for Masako and normal girl for the audience to really connect to.  You, my friend, are brilliant!" Mako replied as she sketched out Kotone linking arms with Masako and the evil sister Kanna.  Perhaps a plot point later.

Then she gave it some more thought before suggesting, "I think that we need to have some potential for romance in the plot to give it more emotional punch.  There's going to be plenty of negative emotions going on with our heroine and her sister, as well as the backstory with creepy guy.  To make this something girls would want to read I think we should strongly consider adding in a suggested if not actual romantic subplot going on somewhere.  And incest would be weird even if I'm sure that some fans would ship the sisters anyway.  Do you have any ideas about what to do for Masako's love life?"

Had Mako said anything aloud about Hana making a lovable character, she would have disagreed. She was antisocial to anyone but Mako, and it showed most of the time. People didn't even really know her; even the people in their year thought she was a first year or younger, rather than their classmate of two years. It was just how things worked.

"That's exactly what I thought," Hana agreed with Mako's support comment with a semi-enthusiastic nod. "People need someone who's normal to put the weird into perspective. Otherwise it's just a weird world where no one is normal and people wonder how many people are like that and stuff."

Hana, too, paused before answering the comment about romance. "Do we want it to be a yuri manga? Or to have a boy in there somewhere?" Hana asked thoughtfully. Both had their own appeals to different audiences, though each artist was currently known for their female-oriented interests with their characters. "It Shouldn't be Kotone. That would turn it into too much of a romantic story and that's not what we're going for..."

Based on all the feelings swirling around in her head and heart Mako should have been having a difficult time getting things accomplished on any front. Every thing that Hana did just reminded her of how brilliant and supportive her friend was. She was incredibly fortunate to know anyone who was so interesting, clever and talented as her roommate. With each of those thoughts surfaced a thought or pounding of the heart as she considered the extended thoughts on what Hana meant to her. Their meeting must have been some kind of fate which you normally only saw in fiction of the same sort Mako specialized in. Living without Hana by her side wasn't something that the girl who published her work under a pseudonym wanted to even consider. These all blended seamlessly somehow as they made plans for not just a class assignment but a collaboration effort for work. I never thought I'd get paid for things I did with you.. seeing you open up and smile is enough payment for me though.

"It's interesting that you brought up how weird the world is, since that's probably a driving force behind the visuals and storytelling. Maybe there should be a subtle change in the background whenever Masako goes into magical girl form to battle whoever we throw at her? Something to show that this is a weird thing going down," Mako thought aloud, tapping her pencil lightly on the drawing pad, "Or should she even transform? Should she just always be dressed like the concept picture, not really fitting in?"

With a laugh she nudged Hana in the side, "Now come on, Hana-chan, you know how hard it is for me to write for boy characters in romance plots. It's like I can't get inside their heads no matter how hard I try. Besides with my name on this the fans will be expecting yuri, won't they? Best way to ensure that we sell enough copies to get optioned for more issues is to have a bit of what they'd expect."

Then she got a fierce grin as she added, "However! You're right that Kotone shouldn't be the girlfriend in this story. Not only would it take away from the mood we're setting, but it'd be way too predictable. Obviously people are going to ship them anyway but that can be left to readers' imaginations. I think she should maybe have a boy she likes if anything. Not that he'll appear of course. Anyway, we'll worry about the romance later I think. Right now let's decide what we want to include as a teaser. You know about action manga, so do you have any ideas?"

Hana chuckled. She had no trouble writing for boys or girls. She didn't see a big difference other than the obvious physical. That and what they were taught to be like. Her way of thinking like this was probably a big contributing factor to why she liked Mako so much though, instead of some boy. She was just so cute and huggable, she couldn't imagine not wishing she were forward enough to just glomp her and hold on tight and talk about how cute she was.

"Yeah, girls are so much cuter anyway, right?" she shrugged. Drawing them was certainly easier for Hana; she'd spent a lot more time drawing their more curved body shape and their clothing styles in manga form. It was also probably what helped Hana to appreciate girls more. Well, now she was guessing in her head for no reason. 'Stop that! You're planning with Mako! This is no time for self-examination!' Hana lightly shook her head to clear it of the randomly looping thoughts that were all connected to her attraction to Mako. She was both the most inspiring and most distracting person in her life. 

"Okay, so no love interest at the moment," Hana could get behind that. The love could come as a pace changer later when people needed a break from the action and drama... well, that type of drama. Love in stories always included drama, or it was too sudden. One of the two. 'Now... what to put in the teaser?'

The answer came to Hana quite quickly. "The meeting with the first bad guy," she grinned triumphantly. "Where she's not familiar with her powers and has the 'can she beat the bad guy yet?' factor. We leave off with a cliffhanger." 'Perfect! I hope Mako likes that idea as much as I do!' She was pretty sure she'd have just as much fun (if not more) if she were allowed to actually be cuddling with Mako while they were planning and stuff.

Hana was so much better at this action stuff than Mako! Somehow it never would have occurred to her to do what her friend was suggesting for their preview. Being more experienced in romantic manga she would have suggested some scene that tugged at the heartstrings while also being adorable. The absolute best combination to sell a couple to fans expecting nothing less than her absolute best! That wasn't the kind of feel they were going for in their manga though so she figured she needed to listen to what her cute roommate was suggesting. Oh that grin! Mako's heart pounded just seeing the girl be so happy about her craft! I'd love to reenact some of my more famous works with you, Hana... No! Focus! Coming up with an idea she sketched out a rough draft of what the first enemy might look like. It was a kind of outlandish magical girl who wore a feather boa around her neck and had a somewhat sadistic grin on her face. The overall style made her look like a Lolita or something, but it was really slapped together from different types.

"You are amazing, Hana-chan! That's just what we need to make people really interested in our comic but leave them wanting more," she replied cheerfully, then held up the sketch pad, "How's this for the first enemy? She's kind of crazy and disjointed and tries to keep anyone else with powers down. Can't stand to see anyone take her place as a magical girl but then along comes Masako to challenge her... dun-dun-duuuunnnn!"

"So like... a former hero type who doesn't deserve her spot anymore..." Hana considered it thoughtfully. After a moment, she nodded before running her hand through her hair in thought. Normally she cared about what her hair looked like to a point, but she tended to forget little things like that when she was hard at work. The one thing her mind didn't seem to be able to forget was just who she was working with... at least when it was Mako. Apparently. If only she could just... scoot over and crawl in Mako's lap... maybe they could...

Hana shook her head. Just because getting compliments from Mako-chan made her feel all warm and fuzzy didn't mean she needed to go fantasizing inappropriate things about her best friend, no matter how totally in love Hana felt like she was with the girl. "You have a good idea. Maybe she can even be a recurring villain, and eventually learn and be a helper to Masako. She seems like the type who is able to show bad people they're wrong and make them good once she beats them..."

Hana got up and sat down next to Mako again, reasoning that it would be easier to share her ideas if they were sitting closer. It was part of the reason anyway. She fixed her hair a bit as she did so, though part of it still stuck out a bit. "What do you think? We need to make it all actiony and super romantic to showcase what we could do together as partners."

Mako's concentration was failing her a bit as she sat listening to the adorable Hana analyze her idea for who the first villain should be. Even the tiniest things about her were so cute that Mako could've watched them for hours and not become bored. The way she messed up her hair in thought was so endearing! Hana was hard at work figuring out what the best way to use this antagonist was, and that mussed hair made her look all the more focused! I just wanna reach out and hug her right now! No, that would be unprofessional and this is an important discussion.. The girl in the navy cap blushed a little when Hana sat next to her, even though she knew it was just so they could communicate more readily. It was odd how warm Hana was - nice and comfy. No! Again she had to remind herself to stick to the plan, stick to the assignment!

"I think that's a pretty good idea - she starts off an antagonist but eventually Masako wins her over. We have to make sure that she's not a viable romantic option for our heroine though. Somehow the idea of this crazy looking girl and the tragic heroine together doesn't mesh in my mind," Mako responded, focusing intently on their work so she didn't get distracted by Hana's charms. Then she screwed her face up in concentration for a few moments before figuring out what to do.

"I'm not sure how we mix in romance with this preview, but maybe Masako starts off with someone she likes.. and they're about to confess... and then crazy girl attacks?" Mako suggested, "That way we start off with just a cute romantic scene and suddenly make it all actiony! Both of our strengths are shown off in one preview!"

Mako didn't know it, but despite being able to put so much focus on her art, Hana was actually rather distracted sitting so close to the girl of her dreams. She wanted to be hugged right now, and wouldn't complain about the option of reaching out and hugging her arms around Mako either. Always wearing the short, cute dresses she wore, she was actually rather chilly sometimes, and right now she was enjoying the warmth her friend gave her. She was close enough to obviously have meant to sit right up next to (and touch) her friend, but she didn't quite have the guts to actually be flirty about it. Hana could say a lot of things despite being quiet, but 'screw the assignment and cuddle with me' wasn't one of them.

"She's a bit too crazy to be a romantic interest, you know." Hana reminded Mako. She doodled the same girl making a face like she was a bit insane, but she was just exaggerating in her own mind. It helped her think. "Besides she'd probably be the type of friend that was always putting her down but didn't mean it... stuff like that. Not very good for a relationship... but some friends are like that."

Hana tilted her head a bit, then started sketching out another girl - cute, maybe a little shy, with big eyes and a happy grin. She had a cute sweater and skirt, and lightly colored hair. it was all done with a pencil so it wasn't obvious what color hair she actually had. "Maybe this is a girl our protagonist has had a crush on for awhile? Or better... maybe she likes the protagonist and the protagonist hasn't noticed, and she confesses but at just the wrong moment for the protagonist to not even notice! Then people will want to know if the protagonist likes her back, and it'll be really cute." 'And totally mirror how I feel about you...'