Participants:
| Scene Title | Paint |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Kendall uses his powers for the forces of good, AKA interior decorating. |
| Date | April 23, 2010 |
This is a medium-sized two-story home, and one that, in its better days, was no doubt a very warm and welcoming home. Now, however, it's succumbed to time, looters and squatters. There is graffiti on the walls, and trash litters the floors. Most of the light fixtures no longer work, and the plumbing, while updated, is more of a joke than anything else. There is dust on everything, and the windows are so dirty that they do almost as good a job at keeping out light as curtains would.
However, the structure of the home is still nice. There are large bay windows which let in plenty of light, and several of those windows are really French doors that lead out onto the back patio, or onto a small square balcony on the second floor. Even the attic has a few windows which normally would keep that space from looking dingy or even creepy.
The first floor consists of a foyer, large kitchen, living room with a fireplace, bathroom and what must be a sort of laundry room. When there are any appliances in the house. The second floor has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, one off of the main bedroom. These rooms are all rather decent sized, though there are doors missing, and broken windows, but for anyone with a vision, this house has something.
It's been a few days since the skeleton was discovered in the basement, and the house already looks infinitely better. For one, it's warm, which makes it easier for Melissa to clean. Which is what she's been doing, hard core. There's no more trash on the floor, it's all been bagged up and set outside, ready to be taken to the dump. The floors have been swept, the windows washed, and though there still need to be repairs done, the house is clean. Not fixed, but clean.
Right now Melissa is dressed in an old tee-shirt and jeans, both black of course, with her favorite black bandana over her hair, and she's standing on a step ladder. One of her 'For Dummies' books sets on the top step, along with some tools, and she seems to be trying to repair a ceiling fan and light. Clearly it's not going well, judging by the frown on her face. Jerry, however, is having a great time curled up on a pile of blankets, legs kicking slightly as he dreams during his puppy nap.
Kendall has helped with the cleaning. Well, a little. At least, he didn't just lock himself in the room, he kinda went about and picked stuff up. Walking past, he spies a puppy belly, and can't resist rubbing it, grinning. Then he goes off in search of Melissa, not for any specific reason.
Jerry doesn't wake up, though his leg does kick a little more. He's a dog. It's what dogs do when their bellies are rubbed. When Kendall enters the living room where Melissa is, she glances over and smiles. "Hey Kendall. So whatcha think of the house now that it's not a total wreck?"
"It's a work in progress." Kendall replies, looking around. "Might want to have official inspectors come in to make sure it's safe though…. I mean, we don't want the floor caving in, right?"
Melissa wrinkles her nose. "I'd rather not. The floor seems to be pretty stable though. I did jump on just about every inch of floor and stairs in this house. That makes it stable, yeah?"
"Either that, or you're making it more likely that it's going to collapse the next time you walk across it." Kendall's parents are architects and interior designers, it's hard not to learn a few things that way. "With the way this place looks, it's possible."
Melissa sticks her tongue out at him, then carefully replaces the fixture she's been working on. "I'll get it checked," she mumbles. "Trying to figure out what color we should paint the walls. Figured you might wanna help with that. Better than those little squares of paint colors, yeah?"
"Well, I guess I could." Kendall goes off in search of paper and pencil, then brings it back and seats himself on the only chair in the house at the moment, conveniently located right next to the table, and starts sketching. "What colors?" a virulent neon green shows up covering the walls, nearly blinding in its vivid hue.
"Oh god not that color," Melissa says, looking pained. "Very much not bright green. How about like…blue or something. Or gray. Black is, sadly, out of the question. Too dark."
Kendall erases something and writes something in, and the colors change to a medium gray color. "This looks kinda boring." he remarks. "Like we couldn't afford white or something."
"How could we not afford white? White is cheap. white is colorless," Melissa argues, hands settling on her hips. "But okay, something blue then? I like blue. Everyone likes blue."
"I like blue too." Kendall responds somewhat meekly since she's utilizing The Pose. Another erasure, another scribble, and the walls saturate to a periwinkle. "Deeper blue than that?"
Melissa cocks her head, considering. "I don't know…Maybe darker? How will it look when we have like…furniture? Couch and coffee table and stuff? I've got all that stuff, just haven't brought it over yet. Don't wanna get paint on it, you know?" She glances back at him and smiles. "What shade do you want? And do keep in mind, your room can be a different color."
"Well what color are those?" Kendall asks. "My mom would make sure that the walls matched the furniture. She's an interior designer, after all." Such a pity, Kendall could have assisted her greatly in this. Oh well.
Melissa's lips curve. "What else? Couches are black, tables are dark wood. So I guess that color could work well. Contrasts and all that."
"Right, how could I not have known that." Oh, such a dry, dry tone Kendall speaks with, and he makes with the erasing again, deepening the color to a little darker than pure blue.
Melissa snickers. "Considering who we're talking about…Surely you've noticed that I'm very partial to black. And nice! I like that color," she says, glancing around and nodding. She glances back to him and grins. "See? Your ability isn't all bad. Like, say, when you fuck with people's heads after finding a skeleton?"
Kendall shrugs, shifting in his seat. "Well, it's still not as good as anyone else's. I mean, I still wish I didn't have it. It's caused more trouble for me than good."
Melissa climbs down from the steps, moving towards him, crouching down in front of him. "It's very good, Kendall. You can do amazing things with your ability. And who knows? Maybe eventually you can learn how to make illusions without first drawing something. Besides, if you didn't have this ability, we may never have met," she says, smiling.
Kendall doesn't have anything to say to that, and just shrugs. What could he say to that without insulting her somehow? "Maybe."
"Did you meet Tony when you were at the Den?" Melissa asks after a moment. "He could probably teach you. He's very good with his illusions too. And though I hate to admit it, and will deny it if asked later…the thing in the basement was fuckin' hilarious."
"Uh, yeah. He showed me how to use illusions for evil." wow, so melodramatic. "He gave me a beer and it looked like root beer." Well gee, Kendall doesn't think twice about ratting someone out. "I thought so too." Kendall grins at Melissa. "I bet I could make the zombie apocalypse happen and see how many people freak out."
Melissa grins and shakes her head. "I have no doubt you could. You'll be a blast come Halloween. Wanna run a haunted house? See how many people you can make run out screaming?" The beer will wait. For now.
"Yeah, sure… I bet I could make a pretty good one." Halloween's only half a year away! Kendall sighs. "Well, it'd probably take a lot of drawing though."
"Maybe. And maybe by then you won't //need/ to draw to make illusions. Why don't you try now? Just give it a shot?" Melissa smiles. "Until a few months ago, I didn't have any idea I could act as a painkiller, after all. Anything is possible. You're just limited by your perception of your ability."
"What, make illusions without drawing them first?" Kendall frowns, staring at the walls. A few minutes tick by, and nothing happens. "I can't." he confesses, sounding frustrated. "It's just not working."
Melissa smiles reassuringly and pats his knee lightly. "It's okay, Kendall. It doesn't always happen the first time. Or quickly. It took me a lot of work to figure out how to do what I can do now. I'll give Tony a call, ask him to come talk to you, if you want."
"If you like, but I don't think I'll be able to do it." and therein probably lies the root of the problem. If Kendall doesn't think he can do it, he can't.
Melissa reaches up to lightly smack him against the side of his head. "Yes, you will. Remember what I said about being limited by perception? It's why killing pain was so hard for me, and why it's so hard for you to create illusions without drawing. You don't think you can, so you can't. So stop thinkin' like that, kendall."
"Easy for you to say." Kendall mutters. "You weren't hated by the people you love because of your power, huh?" well actually Kendall doesn't quite know that.
"Being hated would have been a step up for me, Kendall," Melissa says with a sigh. "And right now the guy I'm falling for is wanting to avoid me because of where my power landed me. So yeah, I know what you're going through. But you know what? You've got me now. And I won't hate you or kick you out. Mi casa es su casa for as long as you want. There may be no pieces of paper that say that I'm your guardian, but as far as I'm concerned, you're mine now."
"That sounds ominous." Kendall kind of grins at Melissa at that, ducking his head in case she wants to smack him. "Thanks, though…"
Melissa laughs softly and shrugs. "Maybe it is. But I won't hurt you. Or keep you hostage or anything like that. Besides, it was your idea. Remember? 'Will you be my mom?'?"
"I don't remember saying something like that!" Kendall protests. And if he did, he'll blame it on being sick and vulnerable and not in his right mind and stuff like that.
Melissa's brows lift and she looks entirely too amused. "You did say it. At the Den. Why? Do you wanna take it back? I'm sure Magnes wouldn't mind if you moved back in with him…of course he did say you'd lose Final Fantasy for a year for the basement prank…" she teases.
"No thanks, I think I'll be just fine right here." Kendall hastens to say. Nooooo! No need for that! "I like it here." not that Magnes isn't a nice guy, but he has no clue what he's doing in regards to a teenage boy's needs.
As if Melissa does? She was never a teenage boy! But Mel smiles and nods. "Cool. Then I think we need to pick out paint for you room, so we can get it done and get you…you know…a bed and stuff."
Well sure, but Melissa has mothering skills. "A bed would be really nice, not that I don't mind sleeping in a pile of pillows. Makes me feel like I'm in some sort of bird's nest." Kendall nods. "Jerry seems to like it too."
Melissa laughs. "Yeah…you've stolen my dog. It's cool though. I'm glad you two are keepin' each other company. I'll try to get the painting done tomorrow so we can get you a bed on Sunday. God knows I'm lookin' forward to having mine."
"Paint takes a while to dry." Kendall points out. "I'll look forward to having a bed on Sunday, but if it takes longer, Monday's good too. Who's doing the painting?"
Melissa's lips curve into a wry smile. "Me. And you, of course. Think I'm gonna let you get away with not helpin' in your own room? Nuh uh."
"Aww." you mean Kendall has to actually do work? "I suppose it makes sense that I'd help with my room."
Melissa grins and shakes her head as she straightens. "It's your house too, yanno. I'm fine with doin' most of the cleaning since I'm pretty damn picky about it, but painting could be fun. Just no painting Jerry, okay?"
"I don't think he'd let me, although he might end up painting himself if we let him near the paint buckets. Don't think you'd want paint all over the floor and the dog, so keeping him out would be a good idea." Kendall suggests.
"Yeah, he probably wouldn't, but that doesn't mean you won't try," Melissa says with a knowing grin. "But yeah, that's a good idea. And…is there anything you need or want, Kendall? I do want you to be comfortable here."
"I can't think of anything at the moment. I'm not high maintenance or anything." aside from his video games and stuff. "Although I might need new clothes soon, but I doubt the stores are open anywhere." Kendall has only a few changes, after all.
"Yeah, it'll be tough finding a store, but we'll find one," Melissa says, smiling and nodding. "I'm gonna get back to fixin' these lights though. Grabbed a DS though, if you wanna play that instead of help."
Melissa laughs. "Neither do I. It's why I have all these books," she says, motioning to said book. "You can always take Jerry into the back yard to run around or something."
"Yeah, that sounds good. And before we both freeze to death we'll come back inside." sounds like a plan to Kendall! "Of course, first I have to wake up Sleeping Beauty over there." pause. "You'd make a better prince, why don't you do it?"
"Hey, I don't have the equipment to be a prince. Besides, you'll do just fine. Now go, before I electrocute you and me both," Melissa says, grinning.
"Good point, I'd better go before you blow up the house." with that cheeky parting shot, Kendall goes to wake the dog and lead him outside, squealing a little as he lets in the frigid air. "It's COLD!" well duh.