Participants:
| Scene Title | Old Fashioned Recklessness |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Two girls meet over dessert and decide to blow off steam via the arts. |
| Date | October 07, 2010 |
As the paint-covered young woman enters the finest of fine establishments - those catering to the sweet tooth - she shrugs out of her jacket, wrapping the sleeves around her waist and tying it up before sitting at one of the bar stools at the counter. Sooner or later, someone's going to find her latest masterpiece, which she's kind of surprised she managed to finish at all, given the location and the scale. Still, Katalina has to pat herself on the back and give herself a well-deserved reward for managing it at all.
"Just a dozen of whatever," she says to the person behind the counter. "You don't have to box it."
As her treats are decided upon and placed in front of her, she pulls out the band holding her hair back, letting it fall on her shoulders. Currently, its midnight color is marred with the same paint that covers the rest of her, mostly at the ends, where it trailed into a bucket of particularly beautiful green she'd been wanting to use for awhile.
Sitting a couple stools over is a sad looking woman in her mid-twenties, dressed in all black from head to toe. She's halfway through some brownie dessert, the drink sitting next to her plate clearly an alcoholic variety.
When the girl sits down, Monica looks over at her, her brow furrowing a bit as she looks her paint-splattered self over. "You look like you've been busy," she observes, a hint of a smirk coming to her face.
"Eeeexcellent," Katalina mutters as the last of the twelve desserts are set in front of her. She picks up some sort of donut-like thing, and is just about to begin to eat her way into a sugar coma, when she stops, hailed. With her mouth open and the donut-thing poised just in front of it, her eyes slowly turn toward Monica.
Well, there's nothing like a wasted bite to ruin a good day! So the dark-haired painter just shoves the entire pastry into her mouth. "Mrhhmh!" she agrees at Monica's assessment. An explanation of why she's covered with paint follows, except it's unintelligable around the food.
"So that's how that went down," is the first thing she says when she is able to speak again. Pulling another plate close, she eyes its chocolate syrup covered contents. "But they'll never know it was me. I signed it 'George Washington.' I'm sure they'll buy it and go after him, right? Man, I can't wait to see tonight's news."
Monica looks a bit lost at first, but when she gets through the words she can actually understand, the mimic smirks a bit. "I think they'll only buy it if you painted a dollar bill somewhere," she says. She's not as concerned about taggers as she once was, apparently, as she doesn't seem to disapprove entirely.
"Walking around covered in paint probably doesn't help you look innocent, either," she adds before she takes another bite of her own dessert.
Ah, but Katalina paints beautiful pictures! It's hard to avoid becoming covered in your art. "No, they'll buy it. Have a little faith in humanity, huh?" She gives Monica a wink, before starting in on her second dessert. This one disappears slower than the first, though still more quickly than a normal person would want to eat something so sweet. By the time Monica's taking that next bite off her plate, Kati's already starting on her third helping.
"Couldn't help noticing that you've got something sparkly and non-carbonated sitting there next to you. Never liked the old vino with my sweets, 'specially not before five." Pausing, she eyes the paint-covered watch on her wrist, noting that it is, indeed, after five already. "Oh. Well. In that case, I saw you looking kinda down when I came in. Got a reason you're drowning your sorrows?"
"Hey, slow down a little and enjoy, yeah?" Monica blinks when her drink is mentioned and she looks over at it. "Oh, it's not wine. It's just a whiskey and water… I've been having a bad day and I just… wanted some chocolate and a drink." She looks back over at the girl and sighs just a bit. "I was keeping a secret from someone I care about and it all came out it the most dramatic way possible and I'm feelin'… about three inches below dirt."
"Trust me, this is the best kind of way to enjoy." She'll slow down eventually, once she's eaten so much she has a stomach ache and can barely walk. It actually takes a lot longer to finish dessert number three, but she nevertheless starts in on the forth. "Well, I have some advice…" She pauses, sliding herself and the remaining plates down to the seat next to Monica. After looking at the whiskey-drinking chocolate-loving sorrow-drowning girl, Kati pushes a piece of chocolate pie at her. "Have another piece of pie. Serious. Three inches below dirt? Could be more dirt. Could be like, gold or somethin'. Who knows what the hell people drop around New York, huh? And at least you're not pie. Then tomorrow you'd be eaten. Can't imagine that'd be fun." Her eyes wander for a moment, then she mutters, "It'd kinda be like… Body Wars. You remember Body Wars? It was this ride-thing at Disney World. It was weird."
Monica just… sort of stares for a moment. But, after a pause, pulls that pie over to her for a bite. "You don't make a whole lotta sense, you know that?" she points out, between bites. "And I never did go to Disney World." Which makes her droop a little, too. "So what's Body Wars? Doesn't sound very clean, if you ask me."
"Disney's the best. My parents took me back when I was little, it's like the best place in the world. Actually I think that's their little catch phrase." …or something. "It was this box, and you went in, and there was a movie on the screen, and the box would kind of move like you — " No, bad explanation. "Okay, you're shrunk down to flea-size, and you're in this little capsule that goes through the body, I don't know, because it's sick or something. And… That's about all I remember. You'd have to be there, okay?" But the point is clearly that it's far better to not be pie than to be eaten.
"I might not make sense, but you're not thinking about what's making you sad anymore, are you?" Katalina smiles, then frowns. "Well, I guess now you are, 'cuz I said something… Look, there's a thousand other things to be upset about. So you kept a secret. I'm sure things'll get better?"
Okay, so DisneyWorld's a little weird. But, Monica chuckles a little. "Yeah, you've got a point. I'm trying to think about how bad being pie would be. And really, I suppose it depends on when you'd lose consciousness. Or if you ever did." And that's truly horrifying. "It was just… a really bad secret. I was just trying to figure out what was really going on, but then it all came out and everyone's mad. Including me. And I know, things'll get better, but… I think I lost someone's trust. She's like… she's family." And that… seems to be an important distinction.
Despite the fact that they've only just met and Katalina has no idea what this girl's name even is, she reaches up to put a hand on Monica's shoulder, if she's allowed. "Y'know, back when I was in high school, I kinda alienated everyone I knew. I mean, it wasn't my choice, but it was one of those 'secret' things that you're talking about, and it just happened. But nothing's so bad you can't fix it, trust me." Rolling her eyes, she ponders that bit of wisdom for a moment, then amends. "Right, I guess if you beat this friend with a rake and then stabbed her in the eyes with a stick, things might be a little hard to fix, but, I mean, if you didn't care, you wouldn't be upset. Aaaand, if she didn't care, she wouldn't be, either. Here, have a donut." She pushes another plate at Monica. Hell, Kati has … had … a dozen. She can share a couple!
Monica is friendly enough to allow the hand on her shoulder, and she just sort of sighs. "It's… way too complicated. But she's right to be upset. I just hope she can still… trust me. You know. Later." She glances down to the donut, then up at the girl again. "You're not, like, the Hansel and Gretel witch or something, are you? Fattening up unsuspecting women?"
Katalina shrugs. "Wish I could make everything better for ya, but…" It's pretty impossible to solve the problems of two people she doesn't know. She kind of feels bad that it's out of her hands, but, then again, meddling could only make things worse.
Chuckling at Monica's assessment of her sweet tooth, Katalina shakes her head. "Nah, I just got these for me and thought you could use a pick-me-up. I'm gonna be painting another mural later tonight, and I'll never be able to stay awake if I don't have some of the food of champions in me." She's already started on her fifth now, which may just be a good stopping point. She hasn't decided just yet. The rest she can box up and take with her! "You could come. You like painting?"
"It's… it'll be okay," Monica says, patting Katalina on the arm to comfort her in turn. "It's just fresh." She takes another bite of her brownie, which is followed by a drink of her whiskey. "Sugar Rush, huh? And you paint murals? Where are you painting?" As for whether or not Monica likes painting, she tips her head and lifts a shoulder a little. "I like it. I'm not to good at it…" But she could be!
"I know the feeling." To the question of where she's going to be painting, Kat shrugs. "I dunno yet. Prolly somewhere dark." She has her own light, so it's cool. "I'm trying to brighten up the city a bit. I mean, it's ot exactly — " She lowers her voice. "Legal in the strictest sense, but there's some cops out there that let it slide. I mean, it's either a blank cinderblock wall or one with some pretty dolphins on the side. I'd take the latter."
"'Legal'," Monica repeats with a bit of a sigh, "Well, it's harmless. So don't worry too much. But hey, maybe it'll be just what I need. A little old fashioned recklessness." Nothing world breaking, just a little fun. Blowing off a little steam. "After my brownie," she says, pointing her fork down at her plate.