A/N: Hi there. I only started publishing on Wattpad about a week ago (I've been doing almost daily uploads) and just had my first votes come my way! As a newbie on Wattpad, it really made my day! Thank you so much for the votes, it's so nice to get a response!
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A/N: A manga-ka is a cartoonist. The suffix –ka in Japanese is equivalent to –cian or –ist in English. Incidentally, a musician is an ongaku-ka, as ongaku means music.
Moe is a Japanese word that refers to feelings of strong affection.
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Brett was a popular online cartoonist. Eddy was his assistant. The two met on an online manga-site where creators could upload and showcase their work. Brett was a brilliant storyteller and a lot of his work had been ranked in the high charts. Some of his work was monetized on this particular site, which Eddy, an avid manga reader, became an instant fan of Brett's work. After pressing the "love" button to express his admiration for Brett's work, Eddy proceeded to send Brett comments about how much he enjoyed his manga.
Although the first few messages that were sent by Eddy were very fan-girly, they later became very specific, detailed, insightful and constructive. Brett instantly recognised Eddy's comments as invaluable feedback and responded by initiating a private message to thank him. Soon they were chatting regularly. This was when Brett found out that Eddy was also an amateur artist who had dropped out of art school. Eddy had not drawn any manga yet at this stage but loved reading them and was brilliant in drawing background scenery and bodies. As their friendship developed they started to share more and more about their personal lives, Brett had asked Eddy if he would be interested in visiting Brett's studio, which coincidently wasn't that far from where Eddy lived. After seeing Eddy's portfolio he had brought along to the studio, Brett suggested if Eddy would be interested in working as his assistant.
"I need a real person to work with to remain as an active member of the real-life society. Plus because I don't have any formal art training, I could really use your help in drawing a lot of stuff."
Eddy was stoked. He got to work with an artist he admired!"
Brett turned around on his swivel chair, away from his desk and called Eddy who was sitting on the floor.
"Eddy, can you stop what you're doing there and give me a hand?"
"Sure Brett, what's up?"
Eddy looked up from where he was sitting - on the carpeted floor, cross-legged behind a large coffee table.
Their work, sheets of manga manuscript was spread all over the table. Brett worked both digitally and on paper. Today Eddy was working on whiting out some errors on some old-school black and white manga manuscripts while Brett looked like he was doing some sketches off his computer.
"Can you model a violin player?"
"Sure Brett, I actually used to play a bit so I should be able to pose for it properly. What do you need ?"
"Yeah, I actually remembered you saying that before. Just the hands for now. I need them in some weird angles I can't find online."
Brett looks around their studio.
"I need a prop for you. How wide is the fretboard part of a violin?"
"Um, you mean the width of the neck of the violin, right? I'd say about this much. It actually tapers out towards the body. "
Eddy starts folding a piece of paper to show Brett.
"Brett, can I also just remind you that violins don't have fretboards and they're called fingerboards?
Brett turns back around his swivel chair to check the image on his PC screen. He then turns back around to Eddy.
"Oops, yes, you're right, like, of course, you are. Thanks for the reminder. Shit, it would've been soooo embarrassing if I'd drawn frets !"
Eddy smiled.
"I should have kept my mouth shut and let you pencil them in. Don't worry, I wouldn't have let that slip and do them in pen though."
Brett scratched his head.
"Okay, can you also fold another piece of paper for the bow and hold that too? I think I can work out the body bit of the violin. "
"Sure. Also, I can draw in the body of the violin if you like, once you pencil in the hands ?"
"Thanks, but I'd like to practice drawing violins, so let me give it a go first."
"Okay. So, the bow's dimensions are kinda like this. I'd say I'll need at least two more sheets of A4 paper to get the right length though."
"Okay, so can you show me how you hold the bow? Oooh, okay, lemme just erase the straight pinky I just sketched from some free online photo."
Eddy half-jokingly grimaced.
"Bah, that's sAcRiLeGiOuS!! Well, actually it's a common habit in beginners so you just don't want to draw it like that if your character is meant to be an experienced violinist."
A bit of quiet time passed with only quick pencil strokes heard while Brett fixed up his sketch.
"Eddy, I find it funny how the callus on your right hand from drawing is so prominent."
"Yeah, you wouldn't want to draw that in your sketch, most violists wouldn't have that there. Oh, but they'd have calluses on their left fingertips. Not sure if you'd need to draw them though unless you want a closeup as they let go of the neck of their violin."
"Oooh yeah when they just stand there holding the violin under their chin right? I love that, I want to sketch one of those too."
"What? This ?"
Eddy tilts his head to the left as he clamps a paperback novel under his chin and looks up towards Brett.
"Yessss, that ! Definitely a moe angle"
Eddy laughed out loud.
"You serious ?"
"Absolutely. Doesn't do anything to you? Hmm, it must be one of those things that only works on non-musicians. The only problem is, from his angle it might only work on someone who is significantly taller than the violinist. Can you stand up ?"
"Oh, but what if the fan-girl is looking at the violinist from an upper deck seat in a concert hall ?"
"Ooooh, I like that! Okay, lemme get this angle first then I'll get you to stand up."
"This is weird Brett. I've never been the giving end of moe before."
Brett suppressed a grin.
I beg to differ but anyway.
"Oooh, I also love how they tune the violin, it looks like they're cuddling a cat on their shoulder."
Eddy scrunched up his face in confusion.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"
"Y'know, they kinda do this thing. I saw it once on a Youtube channel. This guy, kinda looked a bit like you, was doing it. I dunno, it looked kinda cute 'n sexy to me."
Brett stood up and flapped his arms around in an attempt to figure out which arm he should use. After a few seconds of swimming around in his head, he bent his left arm in an awkward angle and twiddled his fingers around his collar bone.
Eddy giggled
"It's like we're playing a game of charades!"
Brett put his arms down and shrugged.
"Don't you guys do this sorta thing to tune the violin ?"
"Yeah we do, it's the fine tuner. Never thought of it as cat cuddling though."
"Don't you think it's kinda moe ?"
Eddy laughs again as he shook his head.
"Seriously? This ?!"
Eddy poses as if he is fine-tuning his violin. Brett actually blushes to see him do this.
"Yeah, that. Obviously, you do it better than I do. Gosh, I wish I had a proper prop."
"Well if it helps I suppose I could bring my violin in when I come in tomorrow."
"Really? That would be really helpful to complete my reference sketches."
"It's funny how non-musicians romanticises musical instruments so much. I'll definitely have to remember how fine-tuning on the violin is so moe for some when I draw a really sappy love story. "
"Humph, it's all part of being a successful artist. You gotta work out what works with the majority and then throw in a few niche stuff and hope others either dig or at least appreciate it somewhat, as well."
"Well, at least now I know a couple of things that float your boat. Brett."
Brett went beetroot red.
"Oh will you shut up already, don't you forget I do remember the time you went all weird about toes when I asked if I could sketch your bare feet....!!"