RP:Paint With Me
Summary: Meri meets Iblis, the two end up painting together (except Iblis cheated) and get to talking about various things. Well, Meri does most of the talking. It is made evident that Iblis would like a tattoo from the woman at some point, but they are interrupted before they can fully hash out the details.
The Ravine
Where once the fish market stood now sits a scar on the very land. The ground has been torn at the streets to the north to stretch down south towards the docks. The ocean itself has pressed in to fill the gap left by whatever cataclysmic event split the very ground. To the north lays a wall and crude drawbridge to span the ravine to link it to the lands further south. It seems that whatever had caused such destruction has been turned to the city’s advantage. The ravine creates an effective moat, securing the city to the south. The city alone are not the only ones profiting from such devastation. Boats floating in the new currents that eddy in the inlet that was made sell fish, the stalls that had marked the area dispensed with and reborn anew in sailboats. The nature of all life was to adapt, and despite the changes, people find a way to adjust.
Meri should be at work, but she is not, though she has also not really strayed far from her place of employment. The woman is really just Right around the corner from the tattoo parlor, having decided she did not want to waste today indoors. The faint dusting of purple in her blonde hair could be a hint as to why she does not feel like sitting still at work, but who in the shop was going to yell at her for these transgressions? Lita? That woman had the soul of a gypsy and the bare feet to match it, Lita would not care. It was often a wonder the parlor even managed to stay open, and both ladies should be thanking their apprentice for that. Setting appointments and making excuses when the artists were not available. Rather than work, Meri has seen fit to haul a whole array of artistic supplies outdoors and she is presently working on setting it up. There is an easel, a wooden board that looks like she must have found it and repurposed it for this project, paints and brushes. Meri was struggling with the easel, trying to get the thing to cooperate and actually balance upon it's three legs so that she can set her art project upon it. Trying and failing because just when she thinks she has the thing set up, it topples.
Iblis is no more graceful than Meri in her endeavors. Her's are decidedly more complicated, however, and should someone with a working brain be trying at them, they'd have long given up by now. Alas! Iblis was born with peculiar talents, and failings. It was a wonder she was alive, as a drow. Pink hair and pink eyes shone from an ebon face, and the drowess crept along the ravine, following a black bunny with glowing red eyes. She'd never catch it, though, not likely. It was a creature of chaos, but less an actual creature, and more an idea... a manifestation of a hex of ill luck, would be the simplest description. Her attention strays easily though, and to Meri it turns, when she notices... could it be... yes, paint! The woman has PAINT! Iblis turns away from the bunny and crawls on hands and knees to where Meri is, forgetting that she is no longer trying to sneak, openly oggling the paint. It made pretty colors... on things! Her beholder sucked furiously on its pacifier, and bobbed in the air behind her, eyes glowering at Meri. The black bunny hopped towards Iblis, now that it was no longer the focus of her attention.
Meri has paint! Yes! She is equally excited about this at present, but her mood is intensely elated with reason. In another situation, Iblis and her beholder may have been regarded in a very different manner. Perhaps suspicion? Perhaps curiosity? Maybe Meri would have just been more mellow but, just as she is excited about being out and about on such a beautiful day with PAINT she is also excited to see another. Why? "Oh my gods! Your hair is PINK! Your eyes are pink!" One might not think that Meri would be so excited about the color pink given the rough and tumble look she had about her, black pants with holes in the knees tucked into black boots, the most feminine aspect of her outfit the red bodice she wears. But Meri was also an artist and all colors had a place in her world. Except that it seemed she was so hyped up that she was about to forget why she was out here to begin with, at least temporarily. The easel she was setting up is forgotten and the black bunny is pointed at with a tattooed hand, Meri excitedly declaring, "Oh man! It is coming closer to you! Quick! Like a bunny! Maybe you could catch it!"
Iblis blinks at Meri, as she talks about the bunny. Oh, yeah! The bunny! She looked back at the bunny, which froze in its tracks, then dived for it! She seemed to catch it, the beholder watching without any real interest, and held the bunny close to her chest, excitedly. Haha! The bunny's nose twitched, then suddenly, Iblis was struck by lightning, from a cloud several miles away. She dropped, singed and twitching, and the bunny hopped out of her arms, then settled on top of her head. Yep, it was a bad idea to try to catch this bunny. Fortunately, Iblis is fairly resistant to such energies, and sits up after a moment, looking disheveled and angry... but in a cute, impotent sort of way. Her cheeks were flushed, and the bunny seemed to lay its flabby fluff on her head and balance without effort even as she moved... even when it should have fallen off. Losing interest in the bunny for the time being, she turned back to the paint, and crawled over to it, pointing at the blue, and looking at Meri with a questioning look in her eyes. What was she asking? If she could use it? Maybe.
Meri just about jumps out of her skin when that bolt of lighting streaks down from a cloud that is miles away. Holy heck Meri was not expecting that. First spiders, now bunnies. The heck else is she going to meet that can summon lighting? Eyes go wide and the woman starts to approach to make sure Iblis is okay but the little thing soon demonstrates that she is quite reslient, to Meri's relief. It is not until Iblis gestures to the blue paint that Meri's jittery mind jumps back to the whole reason she came out here to begin with. Oh, freaking, yeah. Paint! As no words were actually voiced, Meri is left to her own assumptions. "Sure! You can paint with me." But the board was hers, so she set about fetching Iblis a piece of paper from her sketchbook. It is ripped clean out of the book and then presented to Iblis, only for Meri to bustle about gathering the other things that may be needed. A tray to hold paint, a few different colors of paint to fill to tray, a thick-tipped brush and a thin-tipped one, and finally a tin of water to rinse. Iblis gets all of these things before Meri goes in for round two of the easel set up. This time she is successful and her board is placed upon he easel. So far, Meri only has a background painted and that background seems to perhaps be of the forest in the Kelay area.
Iblis watches as Meri brings all the odds and ends of painting, which include... many things which she cannot identify the purposes of! Of course, Meri has painted something beautiful already, the background providing a realistic depiction of the flora of Kelay forest. Iblis, not to be outdone, quickly sets about on her piece of paper, dipping her fingers into the paint and smearing it all over the paper in random directions. Whatever she was finger-painting... it was unlikely to be recognizable, if there was something she was actually trying to paint anyway. It would be half an hour before she finally finished slapping her fingers around the paper, and there'd be as much paint around her mouth as on the paper. Wait... did she eat the paint?! Iblis giggled, and held her work up for Meri's inspection. What she'd see on that paper was... an amazingly realistic depiction of herself, with the baby beholder biting the back of her skirt and trying to tug it off, while she made a bashful expression. Of course, Iblis cheated and used magic. Somehow. Obviously. She had to, right?!
Meri paints while Iblis paints. In that half an hour that it takes Iblis to perfect her master piece, Meri has managed to add to her own piece. It is not just a peaceful forest scene anymore, a trio of dead bandits have been added to the piece, collapsed on the earth in a bloody mess. Roots were creeping out of the earth, entangling the bodies and pulling them down into their 'graves'. Just a little morbid there, Meri. It seemed as there would be more added to this scene, there was still plenty of space to be painted upon. What else she will add remains a mystery for the woman looks over at Iblis and her completed art project. Cheater! The last time Meri had looked over, there was nothing but a mess of paint being smeared around. No sense in outright calling the girl out on this though, she will instead get a, "Nice!" And then the fact that Iblis may have been eating the paint is observed, the evidence is around the mouth. "Oh my. " Meri exclaims, and then quickly logics away any reason to be concerned (she should probably never have kids). "I mean I do not know what those paints are made from so hopefully nothing dreadfully toxic but then again you were just struck by lightning and seem to be okay so I don't think I should worry too much...You will be okay! But that is a very lovely picture you painted. It is definitely better than mine." Not that Meri's was even close to bad, she was an artist, but compliments never hurt anyone.
Iblis beamed at the compliments, as her picture faded back into a mess of colors, and quickly hid it away, whistling. No cheating here, nope. She totally had mad painting skills, her first time around, yup. She looked over at Meri's painting, and oo'd and aww'd over it. It was morbid... but there was a clue in her traveling company that Iblis didn't shy away from such subjects. She tapped her finger to her chin, looking at the painting, and wondering what it would be like to go into that painted world. Well... it wasn't precisely impossible. Not with chaos magic. She got a silly looking grin on her face, and started wiggling her fingers. Oh, no. This is Meri's chance to run or spoil her casting in any way possible, because if she doesn't, she's going on an adventure. Into her own... artistic side. Which seemed to be pretty dark.
Meri's inspiration was drawn from a conversation with a little murder doll that haunts the forests. It does not typically sit on morbid, but the subjects of an artists work can be extremely wide ranged. If Iblis was casting a spell, Meri was clueless too it. As a psion, she did not pick up on these subtle clues like a mage might. She is also high so her attention span is rather short, her interpretation of the finger wiggling is this. "No! I gave you a paper to paint with. If you want to paint another picture I am happy to give you another paper but this one is mine." She also takes to pointing at her painting as she goes on to say. "It is going to be a gift for Chisel when I am done with it. I am going to take it out to Larket and she can keep it." If the woman's ramblings were enough to distract Iblis from her spell? Who knows. She could very well be going on an adventure, that would be just her luck. "Do you want to paint another picture with me?"
Iblis paused in her finger wiggling, confuzzled. That's when you're so confused, it ruins your spell. And it fuzzles out. Yeah. "Yeee!" She seems excited to paint another picture, her chaotic magic already forgotten. She was as scatterbrained as any creature of chaos. This time, however, she pauses before taking to her painting, and starts to notice Meri has drawings... on her SKIN! Her mouth falls open in shock, as she starts examining Meri's skin, oo'ing and awww'ing over her tattoos. She'd never seen anything like it! They were wonderful. She pointed and gestured excitedly, wondering what the secret to such wonder pictures on her skin was. If she could have pictures on her skin, that would be amazing!
Meri is safe! ...and blissfully unaware of the situation she just narrowly dodged. Before Meri even has a chance to fetch Iblis another piece of paper, it seems that the notion to paint again is all but forgottten because Iblis is hawking at Meri's tattoos. It was all the excited pointing that delays piece of paper number two for round two of painting. Instead Meri drops down to a crouch, letting her knees touch the earth so that Iblis could get a close up inspection of her tattoos. The vibrantly colored sleeves are the most obvious, they stretch from knuckles to shoulders on both arms. One is a lovely mermaid on a rock, sunbathing, the other a Kraken destroying a ship. Of course there were more, one of the side of her neck often hidden by her hair, nautical stars on her shoulder blades that seemed oddly discolored in spots. Probably even more covered by clothing but Meri would keep those covered. Iblis had plenty to look at, "I think you are a little wanna be artist in the making. You seem to have quite a fondness for colors and pictures." And a cheating talent for it too.
Iblis could probably learn to be a great artist, perhaps even infusing magic into her work! And from the looks of things, she was truly fascinated with art. She oggled Meri's tattoo's extensively, finger tracing along a lot of the lines and figures. Her fingers were dry... the paint wouldn't get all over Meri. She would look up at Meri pointedly, though, and point to herself. "Color Ibbles?" Not capable of much intelligent speech, that was about the limit of her linguistic capabilities. She couldn't even seem to say her own name right! Iblis wondered if she could learn to be an artist like Meri. She was fascinated with her artwork.
Meri did not mind a little paint. If it was not paint it was ink and if it was not ink it was charcoal. "Ibbles? Is that your name. Interesting name...It reminds me of Bubbles. I think I will call you Bubbles instead." Perhaps not the most logical jump in names but all one needs to do is look at the roots of her hair to see that logic was lost awhile ago. She would find it again at some point. Maybe after a good nights sleep, not that she looked anywhere close to tired. Color Ibbles though. Meri rises back to a stand as she considers this request. "I have colored on drow before. I did not think that it would turn out decently, I still think that had I used my own ink it would have not turned out. The skin is so dark. The color would not come out the same. He made his own ink though, so that it would glow. I do not know what he used, I do not know how to make my ink glow. I am not sure I could color you. Besides? I think you are too young for me to color upon. You need to be older." Or Meri is grossly misjudging age.
Iblis looked down when she mentioned age. She had woman lumps, and child bearing hips! She blushed, and chewed her lip. She was probably a lot older than Meri, after all! But mention of inks did sink in. Glowing skin pictures? That sounded perfect! She looked back down at the inks Meri had, then tapped her chin. Yes, yes... she stood, and wiggled her fingers, focusing on her magic. She could make great use of glowing inks in her skin, after all, for helping focus her chaos magic, and to defend her vulnerable person. She finished wiggling her fingers, and said, "Awooo!" And her spell was cast. There was an unearthly sensation of wrongness, as the inks started to bubble, then glow, saturated with chaos magic. It was a primitive working, and the stuff would probably be dangerous to anyone who didn't use chaos magic as tattoo ink... but it'd work for her needs. She put her hands on her hips, and beamed proudly at her work.
Meri just saw a tiny little thing! She was not such a creeper that she would try and look for lady lumps and curvy hips on what she presumed to be a little mini. It seemed that Bubbles was insistent and persistent on this tattoo issue as a spell is cast and ink begins to bubble then glow. What is this! Meri is quite intrigued, needless to say, but she would not get the chance to explore this line of thought. A teen, maybe about seventeen or so, rounds the corner and has the audacity to scold Meri for flaking off. "You told me you would be right back! That was like four hours ago, Meri! What the heck?" Jax, apprentice at the parlor exclaims, but he is not so unused to this behavior. "Look there is a guy in the shop demanding he get a tattoo and he get it now. He won't freaking leave and won't accept that no artist is available. Go deal with it." Fiiiiiiiine. It is Meri's turn to speak, "Fine! But you are stuck cleaning up my mess!" Meaning he gets to drag her supplies back to the shop. Bubbles is given a few parting words, "Come by the parlor some time. We will talk about this more. Just not right now? Gotta go yell at some idiot." Meri does not wait for a response, she just moves on her way.