What's in a Name? (Tag: Sunshine)

"M-Maybe?" Namine agreed. "T-Talking really helps."

She should know. She had gotten through a lot by talking about it. There were still things too tender for her to discuss even with Omar, but even she could see she had come leaps and bounds. She was now able to string together entire sentences without stammering. Though, it was still a nervous tick she hadn't broken quite yet. She was also living for the first time. Her friends helped. Her yoga classes with Adeline, her cooking lessons with Jane, listening to Omar's music at the bar (where she never imagined going), having dinner each night with Aqua, even Lance helped in his own way.

"He thinks he's a lap dog," Namine said.

Lance was much too big to be a lap dog. That did not stop him from taking every opportunity to curl up next to Namine when she went to bed. If she sat on the couch, she was fair game for him to try to laze on, no better than a couch cushion to the behemoth of a pet. Lance's tail wagged, as if trying to proclaim innocence.

It was a bit of a surprise to hear all of these insecurities from Sunshine. Namine had always thought Sunshine to be so well liked and so popular among everyone at their workplace. But then again, that was work. People were different outside of work. Namine had slowly learned that lesson. She used to worship the ground the police walked on because they had saved her from a bad situation. But not all the police officers saw her the same way.

"I-I understand," Namine said. "It's not easy."

"O-Oh, um... People? I guess."

Namine had all but thrown herself into her work with the BPD. Rarely did she ever get to draw anything other than criminal sketches. And for a while, it could be enough. However, Omar asked she drawn an album cover and she did. It had been fun, but almost like she was breaking some sort of rule and being bad by doing something else. Adrien offered to let her draw for him, new fashion lines designed by her hand and it was tempting. Oh so very tempting.

"It's not easy." Namine agreed.

It had taken her a great deal of work to get any amount of skill down. Plus, everyone had their own likes and dislikes when it came to certain crafts. Namine herself hated using using pens. The ink bled and sometimes it stained her hands for days on end. Or until she had washed her hands so much they became dry and chapped. Her job just so happened to require her to be good at drawing people. Namine didn't exactly take joy out of her work, it was just a job. She did it because she felt she had owed the police.

"I g-get a lot of practice."

"M-Maybe we could draw together sometime?" Namine suggested shyly.

She had never drawn with another person before. It could be a learning experience for them both. A lot of the studios she tried to sell pieces to declined her art because it was all very clinical, drawn very much like the sketch artist she was. Without passion or life. She was starting to realize that now. She was trying to bring more life to her works, drawing more, sketching more random things, more exciting things. In turn, Namine found herself relaxing more and more. It helped with Lance being the big stress magnet that he was. He almost seemed to absorb all of her worries.

Namine flashed Sunshine a bright smile. She felt rather proud of herself, considering she was the one who took action to make plans. She was getting out and doing more - recovering from all the years she spent as just a wallflower. She was improving, slowly but surely. She wondered if her mother would be proud of her. She glanced over at Adrien's house. Lance seemed to notice this, because he placed a big wet kiss to her hand, nuzzling into it. His tail had started to wag again.

"J-Just let me know whenever you want to!" Namine said.