Graffiti Approved By Owner

Participants:

brynn_icon.gif caspian_icon.gif raquelle_icon.gif ygraine_icon.gif

Scene Title Graffiti Approved by Owner
Synopsis Cas and Brynn are working on Raquelle's salon again.
Date March 26, 2018

Raquelle's Salon


With the specter of winter starting to be beaten back by the inevitable swing of the northern hemisphere to face towards the sun, life has started to return to New York City in the most interesting ways. Long forgotten flowerbeds and planters start to bloom with little sprigs of green, forcing their way up from the frozen depths to seek the warmth of the rising sun, abandoned bulbs and plants paying heed to the ancient call to grow and seek the light.

This morning finds Caspian and Brynn outside of Raquelle's hair salon or, rather, in front of it, giving it a much needed makeover. It's really odd, considering the usual art that goes on with this pair - the fact that they're just giving the walls a nice, even coat and painting the moldings around the windows, but this is more than likely the start of something interesting. Hey Brynn. Caspian waves to get the girl's attention. Talk him picture? Yes, he's talking like a caveman, but learning ASL is /hard/ and he's got a lot of stuff on his mind. "Have you talked to Raquelle to see if he has any ideas about how he wants his walls decorated, or is that up to us, like with Savannah's thing?"

With the Liberty HQ now formally habitable and the worst of the weather's effects receded from the streets, Ygraine is taking the chance to try to see to a few more personal interests. Coming from the direction of the market, she is heading straight for Raquelle's establishment. Clad in black, from practical boots to long coat and raised hood, she's not exactly looking approachable… but as she nears the painting duo her gait slows a little, her head cocks, then her hands come up to flip away the covering and fully reveal her face. One hand starts to come up in a wave, before she catches herself and picks up the pace a touch - moving closer to let Brynn see her without undue interruption of her existing conversation. Her demeanour shifts from watchful wariness to evident pleasure, in spite of the presence of the unfamiliar Caspian.

Brynn's laughter at his ASL is stifled just a little. She waits until he explains verbally what he's trying to say and then sets down the roller she's using. She writes (with her power) each sign as she shows him how to say, Have you asked him what he wants in the picture? Then she swiftly writes out, No, I'll go inside and grab him, Captain Caveman. She's still giggling at him as she pokes her head inside the store, knocks several times on the door itself to get Raquelle to look, and then gestures him outside.

Cas and I are almost ready to start looking at what to actually put up here, but we want you to tell us what kind of look you're going for, Raq.

She caught sight of Ygraine as she poked her head into the salon, but it's not until she comes all the way back out that her brain puts together the pieces and she comprehends who she saw. Then she whips around, gray eyes going wide and a grin of pleasure lighting her features. For the people who haven't yet really seen Brynn comfortable enough to really lose the outward shyness, the quick movement and even quicker hug for a stranger might be somewhat surprising.

There's a tall figure wearing fitted dark blue jeans, black converse sneakers with sparkly blue laces, a long sleeved black t-shirt, dark blue denim vest and a knit scarf, hair coiffed and styled as usual and he is holding wineglass of water. Because sometimes, you have to pretend to day-drink to get through the day.

Raquelle Cambria is wandering out of his shop to check on the progress of things, head tilting to the side thoughtfully as he follows after Brynn, nodding slowly. He sets the glass aside to sign as he speaks. "As long as you do not draw dicks or cats, I'm trusting you all to make it classy and welcoming." Then he turns to catch sight of Ygraine, smiling softly as he notices Brynn go for a hug, giving the woman a waggle of his fingers.

It's helpful having someone fluent in ASL with the ability to write with her fingertips on a wall, giving graphical representation of what the sign is supposed to look like. It is a lot like drinking from a firehose, though, the rush of information. Caspian is doing his best to keep up, though, making the signs as he says them again.

Raquelle gets a wave as he emerges from the place. "Well hell. There goes /that/ idea. All my planning, ruined!" Caspian overacts melodramatically, flinging a page of something out of his notebook to flutter down into a snow bank, giving Raquelle a grin as Brynn scampers into Ygraine's arms for a big hug. Caspian chuckles, crossing his arms after putting his paintbrush down and just watches. Introductions will have to come very soon.

There's a little squeak of surprise, then a warm laugh as Ygraine enfolds the onrushing girl in a warm hug - then bodily hoists her off her feet, squeezing affectionately. Looking to the two men, she offers a slightly sheepish grin. "Hi there," she says… but seems to be quite happy to let Brynn decide when she wants to pull back and reopen space for hand-talking.

Brynn doesn't stay in the hug long. Her hands are flying. OMG, Ygraine, when'd you get to New York? What are you doing here? I thought you were still out in BFE somewhere — like Minnesota? Who even goes there?? How long are you here? And then she remembers and turns to Raquelle — because her translators aren't here! Raq, this is Ygraine. Could you tell Caspian? It'll take too long to write! She's rarely this animated except with her art.

Raquelle blinks a bit and chuckles softly as he watches the women interact and then he looks to Caspian, eyes narrowing ever so slightly as he raises his eyebrows, picking back up his wine glass of water to take a slow sip.

Then he has to put it down to signs and translate outloud for Caspian. "This beautiful lady with the curves in allll the right places is Ygraine. Brynn is very excited to see another woman because sometimes a girl needs to spend the day huggin a Spice Girl instead of having to follow Boyz 2 Men every where."

Paint splatters on his clothes aside, Caspian looks like a rather well-put together individual, all things considered. He told me. Caspian grins and takes a step forward. "Miss Ygraine? I'm Caspian Dussault." his cleaner right hand is offered to shake. "I've heard your name before, in passing. Not a lot of news after the war trickled down to where I was, but they did mention a British woman testifying in the tribunals with a name that sounded remarkably like yours. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Ygraine has to watch Brynn's flying hands rather intently… but she laughs, cracking a grin and offering a bow to all three people - and a gratefully amused look to Raquelle. "Hi there," she repeats, now accompanying the signs with words. "I've been in and out of the Safe Zone since it was set up. Out for most of the past few weeks." She's talking a little more slowly than normal, clearly having to think about the dual task of signing and speaking." She falls silent to accept and shake Caspian's hand, her grip firm. "That's me," she affirms with a nod. "I'm heading up Liberty here in New York. Not that we're exactly Yamagato or Raytech. But we are trying to help as best we can."

Brynn knew that Ygraine had at least some ASL, but she had no idea whether the Briton would be able to keep up with her flurry. Her grin peeks out again when Ygraine signs and she bounces on the balls of her feet a little in excitement. She looks rather abashed at Raquelle and Caspian, shyly thrilled. Ygraine was my first real set of tattoos. Ooh, Yg, maybe sometime you can meet Pearl and show her? I have part-time art work at a tattoo parlor!

Raquelle ooohs softly and smiles as he regards Ygraine quietly for a moment, nodding along to what Brynn signs, glancing over to Caspian and then back to Brynn and then back to Caspian and then back to Ygraine. "I'ma go make you all some lovely glass of water. I'm hoping one day Jesus comes back right at the right time and turns it to wine." He ducks back into the shop.

Thankfully, Raquelle translates some of the more esoteric signs before ducking away to get water, so Caspian is able to reply. He gives Ygraine a smile and a firm handshake of his own before letting it loose and taking a step back. "I've heard of Liberty. Seen a few posters around looking for volunteers and the like, but I'm not exactly sure on what you guys do. That said…if you need any art, Brynn and I could probably do you a poster or a mural somewhere. And I can hook up your electricity, too. Yay being licensed in New york to do good work." Caspian looks to Brynn with a grin. "You'd be putting tattoo artists out of business with your skills, Brynn, and you'd get work as a painless tattooist. Excuse me a second." Caspian steps back and starts cleaning up a little, putting lids on buckets and brushes into another one filled with water to be cleaned later. A prelude to painting.

Ygraine raises a hand in (temporary) farewell to Raquelle, before laughing and grinning again. "We do what we can to help, as best we can," she directs to Caspian - remembering to sign along for Brynn (and for her own practice). "We're still gathering stories - accounts of their experiences - from survivors, so that we can keep trying to piece together what happened, and where people are. But a lot of what we've been doing here has just been about getting our HQ into a fit state to live in - I've been painting a lot of walls and ceilings - and handing out bits of tech to help people get by day to day. If you want to collaborate at all, we'd be happy to figure out what we can do together. Posters and so on sound great."

Focusing back on Brynn, she smiles warmly. "Show off your work to someone? Of course! I'd be delighted. Are you getting paid work as a tattoo artist now?"

Brynn nods a little bit shyly. Lance and I didn't get into college this semester, although we're both trying to go in the fall. But yes… she's teaching me the art of tattooing without my power. She grins. Plus working with Caspian on wall murals and stuff like the ones Raquelle asked for… he let us loose on the inside of the salon! You should go in and see! Brynn's pretty proud of what they've managed to accomplish.

The hairdresser exits the salon carrying a tray with water in margarita glasses, they are little colorful umbrellas in them. Raquelle takes his time to just stand and watch people quietly for a moment. "Alright, its time to get Safe Zone Wassssted ya'll. Its called being hydrated, no chapped lips and so we think we all that and a bag of chips." He has set the tray down on a small table near the front door so he can sign.

The cleanup with Caspian doesn't take long. Canvas has been put down on the sidewalk in front to keep splatters from happening from the rollers, and now, looking at the place, it looks…well…boring. At least, that's how it's going to look before he and Brynn get their hands on it. "No dick cats. Gotcha." he says with a smirk as he sets a couple of buckets in the back of his van, emerging with a stencil and a can of black spray paint. "Raquelle, since this is your place, would you please do the honor of spraying this stencil in the lower right?" He offers the cut piece of cardboard to the proprietor which, when read, says 'Authorized Graffiti Area.' in large letters, where below it says 'Permission has been granted to decorate this wall by the owner of this business/building and the SZC.' He takes one of the margarita glasses and smiles, lifting it in a toast before he remembers. "Got some rice for you too, pretty boy."

"I'm really proud of you," Ygraine both says and signs to Brynn, before laughing aloud at Raquelle's exceedingly teetotal cocktails. "Thank you. It's very kind of you," she informs him, reaching out to carefully take a glass. She shifts position a little, to be sure that Brynn can easily lip-read her, now that her signing is terminated. "What do you have planned for the mural here?"

Brynn giggles silently at Raquelle. She moves to help Caspian clean up, blushing at Ygraine's pride comment. She'll let Caspian tell about that, since her hands are busy putting away things. She rolls her eyes (for like the fourth time today) at Caspian — it's about his stencil. She thought it unnecessary. Then she comes back for water, which she gulps several swallows of while watching the others talk.

The hairdresser eyes the stencil and then over to Caspian and then back to the can of black paint and then back to Caspian and then back to Brynn and Ygraine and then back to Caspian. "Is this like a NDA for painting porn outside my shop?"

"We're not going to paint porn, Raquelle. This just shows that you've given permission for us /to/ paint it. Some of the commission are a little annoyed with my work, so I've started having the owner of the building - that's you - give permission in paint. So far it's worked pretty well." Caspian grins, passing the can and the stencil to Raquelle before ducking back into his van. "Isn't much, but I got this in trade from someone for a refrigerator I fixed. I've got plenty so…considering I know how much you love the stuff…." Caspian emerges with a 20lb bag of long grain rice. "Consider it a down payment on a haircut in the future."

It's true, Ygraine mouths teasingly at Brynn, before laughing at Caspian's unexpected mode of payment. "If you'd like some cash… I could probably make use of some of that up in Jackson Heights. I could buy a few bags from you, if you wanted. But I could honestly imagine that'd be more popular with many people than money. And… yeah. I can see why the Commission would be interested in having you do this. Public advertising for them, among other things."

Brynn looks a little confused about why Caspian is paying in rice for us to paint the building? She looks to Yg and shakes her head. No, you misunderstand — some twit from the commission decided that a wall that got painted was 'vandalism' and was harassing some of the homeless kids, yelling about how they'd done it. It was a painting Cas had done to lighten up the place. The owner of the building was a dick about it, and the twit from the commission was, by definition, a total twit. Which I'd use the word that has the 'a' in it, but I know that's a cuss word in British.

Raquelle sets the black can of spray paint aside like it is of the devil, so he can sign as he speaks. "…this some straight up bullshit honey. But if you /want/ me to do this. I need you to get me purple, and grey paint as well. Maybe some pink. I'm not putting just plain /black/ on my wall." He snaps his fingers. "C'mon bitch, you /know/ me." Raquelle adds in a hair toss and smirks.

AND THEN THERE WAS RICE. And he gasps softly, taking a deep breath and tilts his head to the side as he listen to all this with a shake of his head. "Thank you baby for the rice, that means alot. We can feed alot of people with this. We'll make some warm congee and get that passed out to some of the homebound people." And then he weighs in. "No baby, the words isn't 'twit', he signs the word for 'nosey asshole'. You can accidentally paint a dick on his building next time, I'll back you up and everything."

Caspian rolls his eyes with a chuckle and ducks back into the van, returning with the requested colors of purple, grey, and a hot pink that sears the eyes. "Be careful with the pink. It's vivid." he warns, taking back the black and placing the trio of colors, plus gold, in easy reach for Raquelle to do his thing with the colors. He sits on the bumper of his van, packed full of electrical stuff and paints for wall art, and nods to Ygraine. "Let me know what you need. 90% of my work is on a per diem basis. It's that ten percent that pays my bills and keeps my belly fed. I do lots of trading. If you need rice, I can probably get you a few bags like that. I'm fairly sure I have a shelf of the stuff at home."

Ygraine intently watches Brynn's hands, before laughing and shaking her head. This time, she replies in sign alone - perhaps needing too much concentration to manage both languages at once. A moment's hesitation precedes her reaching around to set her glass onto the small pack she wears… where it stays without much evident means of support as she launches into ASL. Yeah, it's rather intimate. Means the same as f-a-n-n-y in British English. That came as a real surprise, when I first heard it being used in public by an American! She winks, then nods to the two men, reclaiming her glass from its precarious perch. "Rice, I'll gladly buy. We're not running an organised food programme, but we try to help as best we can. And bulking out a few meals might be good. As for the Commission… heh. I could bore you all with theories of communication and power, but I don't think this is the place."

Brynn looks puzzled. Isn't your fanny the same thing as your butt? she asks, clearly with no clue that the word is used for something else!

Looking back over to Raquelle, Brynn grins and waits to see what kind of colored craziness will come out of the stencil.

"Front butt." Caspian says with muffled cough.

"Intefering with my baby's creativity…like me getting tatted and my nipples pierced and going fabulously punk in highschool was for no goddamn reason, I swear to god…" Raquelle mutters as he shakes that can, and yes…uses the searingly pink spray paint and purple and grey to spray the stencil then sets it aside to kneel down and under it write in Japanese kanji and hiragana a small sentence. This is taking time. (Translation of kanji: Raquelle kindly invites you to kiss his ass.)

When Raquelle starts getting creative with the stencil, Caspian 'borrows' the can for a second to switch out the nozzle for one that gives finer lines instead of the broader strokes that the can normally would produce before giving it back.

"I'll see what I've got. I'm already feeding the Lighthouse Kids on a weekly basis, as well as a few people who just show up to eat, but I think I can get you a few things, here and there. Consider it a donation?" Caspian grins to Ygraine and her magical floating glass, watching Raquelle as he works.

Ygraine coughs, laughs, blushes… and then shrugs apologetically to Brynn. He's right. Then she nods to Caspian. "If you've got good use for it all, then feel free to hang onto it. I'll buy any you'd rather trade for money, and put it to use up in Jackson Heights. Either way, it can help people. And feeding the Lighthouse kids sounds entirely worthwhile to me." Raquelle's artistry earns an arched brow, but she seems to have no idea what it is that he's adding.

Brynn blushes FABULOUSLY, her gray eyes go wide. That was not what she was expecting, but being around Raquelle, she is totally getting an education… a royal one! She simply ducks her head a bit — sometimes it's hard to remember that she's still just a kid, really. Knowledgeable and jaded about certain things, she's managed to remain somewhat innocent about others just because of lack of widespread communication and exposure.

This is almost as bad as Raquelle saying "VIBRATOR" out loud, she informs Ygraine, mortified.

Raquelle calmly accepts the change of nozzles and then stands back to look at it with a proud expression. Then he looks back to all those gathered and he raises his hands to sign. "You run into any more bullshit like this, you come and tell me. I refuse to go right back to where we were trying to make things better by putting restrictions on shit like art. The stencil is a goddamn lie because there is no fudging way that the whole council can approve every damn thing you paint. You get a piece of paper, write out a contract, have property owners sign it to have an on paper agreement, okay…that makes sense. This stencil is just shit, like you are some child having to run around and prove to the world mommy and daddy said it was okay." He takes a deep breath. "Caspian, you are a grown ass man. A fine grown ass man. Get your paperwork, get your signatures and if the person who told you to do this gotta problem you can give them this address. I will be waiting for them with a glass of water and eyeliner so sharp I just have to blink to cut a bitch."

The problem with money nowadays is that the items you get for it sometimes are more valuable than the money itself. Inflation is a bastard, so adding on 50% to the price of something isn't unheard of, which is why Caspian does a lot of bartering. "We'll figure something out. Let me get your address and I'll see what I can spare and run it by. It's not going to be vast and amazing…mabye a pallet or so, if I sort it right. Just my extra stock. But it'll be enough to keep a few folks fed. I can also do electrical work and solar panels, but that I'll need to charge for."

And then Raquelle does his speech, Caspian grinning as he goes deeper. "Trust me, Raquelle, I've done that. This is just a visible finger to the one person who made me erase my last mural because someone complained about it." Guess some abandoned buildings aren't that abandoned. "I left off the person's name, because I think that'd just be poking the bear a little /too/ much." He rummages around in his truck for his black book and shows the picture of what was, and the aftermath - a bare gray wall. "See, she made me scrub this off….Still hurts." https://tinyurl.com/yastz5bz

Ygraine shoots Brynn an amusedly apologetic look… before giggling, coughing, and blushing a little herself. She clears her throat, half-suppressing another laugh, then moves closer to peer at Caspian's picture. "Oooh. She's impressive," she says admiringly. "All your own work? And yeah - you guys are certainly fitting with a lot of what I could say about communication as a form of power-play. It sounds like you're giving as good as you get. As for work with Liberty? We should be able to figure out a few things, Mr Dussault."

Brynn by now is giggling helplessly … and out loud again. It seems to happen a lot at Raquelle's, which her brothers might say is a good thing — she really hasn't had reason to laugh so hard that it's vocal in much of their lives. I think I love you, Raquelle. Coming here is always so much fun. She wipes tears of laughter after signing that.

Raquelle considers this for a moment. "Then you definatelly need to add a dick to it." But he just gives a small nod and sighs softly. "Oh god, that made me forget the hardon I got about the damn rice." He pinches the bridge of his nose and then exhales softly. Right, then first things first. "Alright, free hair cut and shave Crispy Cream. Anytime. Just swing by. Whatever you can get me, I will have made into soups and curries and congees so that it stretches." A look to Brynn and Ygraine as he signs. "Do both of you know how to stretch the rice using the congee cooking method?"

"sounds like a lesson that would be good to have taught. Anything that stretches limited food supplies is a good thing, I think." Caspian chuckles a little, the thought of addign a dick to the mural discarded since he really doesn't want to give the SZC reason to get rid of this mural, too, even if their enforcement is overcompensating for something. "Same as I told Ygraine…I'll see what I can get you."

"Rice porridge?", Ygraine checks. "And please, no dick. This should be a place of beauty. Keep any 'up yours' messages subtle," she requests with a smile. "And yeah… we could probably see about organising some opportunities to share methods for making food go farther. Bring, stretch, and share - or something." She shrugs amiably. "Anyway… I have an errand to run nearby, but I'll be back soon to see how the mural's going, and to book an appointment with you, Raquelle. Assuming you're still up for some hair-dyeing work."

There's a moment where Brynn wrinkles her nose just a little. Rice porridge does not sound appealing to her. That said… she has never had the luxury of being a picky eater, so she doesn't comment. Whatever food can be come by, she is always more than grateful for.

"Yes, Rice Porridge. But seasoned a bit so it doesn't taste like - " Raquelle looks at Brynn, and one of those old commercials with innocent puppies places through his brain. He can't do this to Brynn or to Ygraine because he is in front of ladies and one of them is gay so he just finishes smoothly. "Bland." Then he looks over to Ygraine and he bows his had a bit. "Of course I am honey bunches of steel will. You swing by anytime." Then he looks between Brynn and Caspian. "Get your people together one of these days, we'll do some classes and have dinner together and all. It'll be good. Fun. Brynn can change it fun colors for the kids."

When hunger is a thing, "I do not like green eggs and ham" is not a thing that's heard. If it's food and there, it's liked, no matter the taste, texture, or smell. "I generally do rice pudding when I can find the cinnamon. Tastes a lot better than plain rice porridge, but takes a few more ingredients and a bit more time. If you can find coconut milk….I can whip up kheer, but you might as well say unicorn tears, how hard coconut milk is to get up here."

With little interest in the cooking conversation, Brynn's attention has wandered. Her eyes have taken in the Chinese food place next door and she has been pondering what to do with the exterior. Now, just because it's occurred to her, her hands are on the wall that she and Caspian just whitewashed to get a fresh canvas. Both hands are moving, and in some ways it's like watching a Disney movie — each movement of her fingers or sweep of her palm leaves colors in its wake. The outlines of a massive purple dragon begin to take shape. Maybe she just does it to see what it looks like though — like Samantha Stevens once did with her Christmas tree in an old show. just put it up there to see how it looks, the remove it and do it by hand. Or not!

So babygirl is over there painting a dragon and Raquelle is watching quietly as he asides to Caspian, taking a sip of his water. "You both make a good team." Raquelle offers softly. "I ever get married, gonna hire you both to handle the decorations."

"She's talented. There's no denying that." Yes, they're talking about you, Brynn. "I'm just lucky that we found each other. She's working with me on a mural down in the market for one of the members of the Safe Zone…Savannah something…to advertise her new book. With Brynn…" Caspian actually waves to Brynn, so she can see and lip read if necessary. "We can do so many things so quickly. She thinks it and it's there. I thought I was fast with my cans….she just puts her hands up and boom, a dragon."

Brynn looks over from where she's done what she can with what she can reach, silently awaiting the approval of both men before picking up her bottle of water and going back to poking at it a bit.


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