Participants:
| Scene Title | Random Laundry Dancer |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Caspian's tagging a wall, and a couple of the Lighthouse Kids show up too! |
| Date | February 22, 2018 |
Early Morning in the Zone is one of those times that makes you think you're looking at a picture of a war zone. Buildings slump under their own weight, pockmarked with impacts from bullets, bricks, or whatever else happened to slam into them, with a few lights interspersed here and there to show that, while the place is almost a ruin, it's not entirely a ruin, which is a very important distinction. If one sits and watches, people would move back and forth, now and again, going to or coming home from whatever they were undertaking.
Along one of the main streets, near the junction of Pioneer and Richards, just outside and facing what used to be Coffey Park, a man is at work. A large 5 gallon bucket of paint, mostly empty, sits on the sidewalk next to him, the wall he's chosen painted a pale peach that reaches almost as tall as he is and at least ten feet wide. The peach primer was used as a base for the art he's putting the finishing touches on a mural done entirely in spray paint. A mural of a woman smiling out from the wall, a half body image, with long hair and a purple shirt, all blended into a riot of color swirling around her. (https://tinyurl.com/y9vg4xk7) He's standing back, his hands on his hips, resperator mask on his face, black gloves on his hands, and a hoodie keeping the heat in. Stepping closer, he kneels to spray his tag on the arm, like a tattoo. WTC-ONE.
The young woman watching from the shadow of the Coffey Park entrance — or what used to be the entrance — has been there for some time. She's done nothing but watch, made no attempt to stop the painter or otherwise interfere with what he's doing. When he steps back from the tagging she finally steps forward, off to the side and within his line of sight, but not so close that he can reach her. She could bolt in multiple directions from here if he makes any move at her. She waves one hand to gain his attention, and then holds something out to him. It's perhaps a little unnerving for him, the fact that there's a young woman standing there silently doing nothing but holding out a … is that a piece of paper?
The (mess of a) park marks a great shortcut between where Lance was and where he's going as he trots along through it and draws closer to where the entrance used to be. The lanky teenager's wearing a grey hoodie, the hood keeping his head and ears warm, hands tucked into the pockets over his stomach. Long legs carry him along at a decent clip, although he's not making any sound as he crosses the grass. No rustling, no coughing, just a silent ghost of an otherwise normal teenager - easily missed thanks to that.
As he gets closer to the gates, he sees the graffiti work past Brynn, head lifting and brows raising up in interest. A grin curves to his lips, and unheard he murmurs to himself, "Primal."
Stepping back and admiring his work, the man pulls one glove off with a snap and reaches up to pull his respirator off, revealing a shaggy brown head and a rather unremarkable face, a bandanna keeping most of the straggly hair under control. It's about here that he notices Brynn standing right there with her bit of paper and, yeah, it's a little creepy. Still, he's got his backpack on and, if he does end up running, all he'll lose is a roller and an empty bucket of paint. Nothing hard to replace. besides…he's got some tricks to get away so…yeah.
Sidling closer to the brown-haired woman, Caspian leans over to peer at her, and then the paper. not a word has been spoken yet, and Lance? Lance he didn't even notice.
The paper simply says 'It's beautiful work. Will they allow it to remain on the wall?' Brynn, too, is a little skittish, and once she knows he's seen it, she steps back just a little. She watches his face intently. She clearly has no idea of the other young man behind her either.
Wait a second, dead silence, a piece of paper…? Lance's attention drifts from the wall to the two others. Couldn't be. Could it? An impish grin crosses his expression, and he starts to approach in still-complete silence, the grass not even rustling as he steps on it.
Caspian blinks at that, taking a step back himself, looking over his shoulder at the wall and then back to the brown-haired woman. "Thanks." He looks back over his shoulder, then back to her. "I really hope so. I mean…it was just a blank wall before that. Just tagged by a couple of throw up artists. Nothing big like this. The cleanup crews have a lot more to worry about then my skattie there." The man slips into the South African term for girlfriend which may be a little odd from this guy. He pulls off the other glove, tucking it into the pocket of his hoodie with the other, his respirator going into his backpack. Aside from a few splatters of paint on his clothes, it looks like he's just a passerby.
Brynn nods slightly, though she didn't understand some of what he said. She caught the jist — that he hopes they won't clean it off. She smiles brightly at him and then jots down the question 'Would you mind if I added something to it? Nothing big. But there's a space that seems… off-balance.' She rips off the small page and hands that one to him as well, now that they're chatting. And when he skims it, she points to the spot on the wall she's talking about, which — now that he's standing far enough back — kind of does have a minor off-balance look. Her attention fully on the painter and his work, she doesn't move toward the work without his permission.
It is! Lance's grin widens as he draws close enough to make a judgement - and then, hands slipping out of his pockets, he starts an exaggerated creep up behind Brynn.
Knowing there's no way to keep Caspian from noticing, he holds one finger up to his lips if the man looks his way. Shh! Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting Brynnys.
He reads the page, looks up at the art, back to the page, then back to the art again. It's not a normal thing for Caspian to be here to get critique on his art. Generally he's halfway gone before anyone even sees it, and by necessity, doing this at night means that sometimes mistakes are made. Sure, he can repair them sometimes, but it's rare. He swings his backpack around and unzips it, revealing a bounty of spray cans, some still full, and a few bundles of latex gloves to keep the hands clean. "Go right ahead." Graffiti is supposed to be a part of the community, and what better way to become part of the community than to have someone else add on a little more?
Caspian's eyes widen a little when Lance slips into view behind Brynn, giving that exaggerated /shhhh!/ motion. "Use what you like. I generally get rid of them as I head home."
There's amusement when he offers her the spray paint. Brynn looks… rather delighted. Perhaps she hasn't worked in that medium before? Without thinking, she signs, Really? Fistpump! Then she moves to set down her backpack so she can rummage in his colors.
It's an exaggerated and completely unnecessarily sneaking step that brings Lance up right behind the other teenager, that mischievous smile of his never leaving his face. He stops right there and clasps both hands behind his back, moving to match her motions and stick behind her until she notices him. Which may take a bit, he's good at this game.
Catching those hand motions, he speaks - audibly - and translates cheerfully for Caspian, "She said 'Really?'"
Caspian points to the man behind Brynn, calling her attention to him. "Yes, really." He puts his backpack down and starts pulling out cans and a pair of gloves. The selection is fairly nice - about six cans of various pastel colors. Red, green, yellow, a lavender that he used for accents, black, and gray. The rest of the cans are in a box and empty by one of the trash bins. A metal scavenger'll find them and take them for recycling. He's not worried about that - it always happens. And from this distance, you can see the words in the art that he's worked in. 'You're Never Too Young to Dream Big.'
Standing up, she blinks at Caspian, whipping around when he points behind her, hands coming up instinctively to fend off … something. With Lance right behind her like that, in the barely-there light of the dawn, she's startled into backpedaling. But there's no scream of surprise — actually there is little more than a soft squeak. And then she's staring at the boy, blinking owlishly at Lance.
At which point her hands explode into short jerky motions. You utter ass! Why do you DO that??? Which leads to a theatrical rolling of her eyes, and heavy sigh.
As that finger points him out, Lance's eyes get wide in a faux-wounded expression, hands spreading in a 'why did you do that' expressive stance. Then she's whirling around, stumbling back — and he's grinning at her like a loon even as she 'yells' at him with her hands.
His own long fingers dance together briefly in a playful response, I missed you too!. "What," he asks 'innocently', "No hug?"
The woman's exodus - a woman who he has no idea of her name and….her friend, he guesses - send a few of the cans clattering into the gutter, Caspian stepping back to keep a domino effect from sending him tumbling into the dirt too. he also keeps her from hitting the ground too terribly hard, too, if she doesn't manage to save herself.
"We're in a dark city, in the middle of a safe zone, where people are generally armed. Sorry." Caspian says, plucking his fallen cans up, lookign to the woman. "You okay?" of course, this is all behind her, so she doesn't see it and definitely doesn't hear it. He taps her on the shoulder to get her attention and, when she's looking at him, says it again. "Are you okay? Is he a friend of yours?"
Well, at least she doesn't land on her butt. That's always a good thing. Before she can respond to Lance's teasing, though, the other man is tapping her on the shoulder and calling her attention. She smiles at him and nods with a rolling of her eyes. He's a friend, she assures Caspian. When she turns back around to Lance, it's to fly at him and hug him, punch him in the shoulder, and stick her tongue out at him afterward. The hands are moving fast. Isn't is gorgeous?? He said I could fix the color balance of it! Painting on walls is allowed here!
That's … NOT really what was happening there, but … well. It's Brynn and artwork.
The man's caution isn't scored, certainly, a grin crooking to Lance's lips of approval as he double-checks that Brynn's okay with him. "Smart man," he admits, and then with a laugh he's throwing his arms back around the other girl and - briefly - lifting her off her feet. Back she goes down, and then the punch - an exaggerated 'ow' as he rubs his shoulder - and he grins back to her. His own hands move in an easy dance, 'They won't stop it' doesn't mean the same as 'It's allowed'.
"It is gorgeous, though," he admits, looking up at it, "Nice work, man."
Painting on walls isn't exactly allowed…it's just not forbidden. A fine line, to be sure. If he were doing this on a wall in Yamagato territory, there might be a few frowns, a few fines, and possibly a quick trip to whatever they consider a jail around here, but out here in the wilds of the zone? It's art, it's not hurting anyone, and it's pretty. So…why not?
Of course, Caspian is just sitting there, watching hands flail around as she talks to him before flinging herself into a hugging-punching situation. A pug. A hunch. Something like that. Ooo-kay. "Dude, you're really going to have to translate for her, just a little. Notes I can read. This…" He moves his hands, signing Random Laundry Dancer before throwing his hands up. "I don't have any idea."
Even Lance's correction on the matter can't dim the girl's thrill at being able to work on the artwork too. She comes back over to Caspian with a grin, and signs, I'll even use just paint. Cuz she could just fix it. Problem is, when they come wash it off, it won't go away. Assuming they ever wash it off, that is.
Grabbing two of the cans and forgoing the gloves, Brynn almost literally bounces to the wall. She obviously can't talk with her hands full of spray paint, but also … well, she's a bit on the teeny side. She puts the cans down, and turns back around, signing rather indignantly, I can't reach it!
The awkward demonstration of the man's inability to speak Lighthouse Cant just brings a chuckle from Lance, his head shaking a little. "She's just all psyched that you're letting her paint," he reports, "I'm Lance, by the way. That's Brynn. Good to meet you, ma— oh for God's sake."
He's laughing as he pads along over towards the deaf girl with a look of utter amusement on his face, fingers dancing back, You want me to hold you up or something?
Even not exactly understanding the hand movements, the little hopping movement Brynn does before signing tells the guy pretty much exactly what she's trying to say. "There are some crates you can stand on, too or just…hang on." He gets up and moves to the base of the wall, putting a hand about knee high. "Put your foot right there." His hand goes out and slaps something, stopping where there isn't anything. "Invisible steps. It's what I used to get to the high parts." He's using his ability to help - its what he did to get up there when he couldn't find a crate.
Sitting back, he maintains the little step for Brynn. "I'm Caspian. Cas." He waves with his opposite hand, watching to make sure the step is wide enough and tall enough. "There's another step just in front of you. You can get higher if you need to. Just…tell me how high and I can pretty much make a platform for you to stand on."
Signing back at Lance, Brynn retorts, Wouldn't be the first time I sat on your shoulders to graffiti something! But she grins as they both approach and she tilts her head curiously as the new friend does… something. Her eyes flicker up to his face, and her brows raise up. Invisible steps? PRIMAL! she signs, her eyes bright. I'm Brynn! There's no explanation, since she's well used to either having someone like Lance nearby or everyone around her speaking sign. Grabbing up her paint cans, she feels around for the steps, finding one, then the other and then she vigorously shakes the cans and exuberantly starts spraying with no real care as to whether the guys below are gonna get out of range of spatter.
At first, as the man gestures to nothing and suggests that Brynn stand on it, Lance's expression is cautiously dubious. 'He's not making fun of her, is he?' seems to be the general gist of the thoughts crossing behind his eyes.
Then she's actually standing on what appears to be thin air, and that suspicious vanishes for an impressed grin. "Oh, shit, that's freakin' primal, man!" Whatever that means. Youth these days and their slang words! "What is that, like, aerokinesis, or a force fi— ack— " He raises a hand defensively as a haze of yellow ends up drifting his way, quickly backing out of spray range.
Caspian lifts his hand above his head and remains crouching there, maintaining the step that Brynn stands on, making it about 3 feet wide and 5 feet long. And, after a while, the thing that Caspian is doing to prevent the paint splatter hitting him starts to come into view as Brynn gets more enthusiastic with her painting. Above him, barely outlined in a haze of overspray, is a little clear curved surface that catches the paint splatters that might hit him from above, the field below her feet starting to accumulate splatters too. It's like an invisible umbrella. Splatters and overspray are kind of a hazard of his hobby and Caspian has gotten good at not getting it on him.
"Don't know what to exactly call it. Force fields, I guess, is the best way to put it." Caspian shrugs with a grin, peering up to watch the painting through the haze of spray.
The petite brunette is definitely enjoying herself up there, her face lit up with pleasure in the early-morning sunlight. She fills the space that looked 'off' with a graceful sweep of color. And then she steps backward, studying it, and frowning a bit. Then she's back at it with a deep orange-red color. Her denim jacket is going to be a mess. But when she stops the second time to look down at them, the orange smudge across her cheek where she rubbed it without thinking is ridiculously cute, at least. Silently gesturing to the wall in an expectant fashion, she demands a response wordlessly. From both of them!
"It's awesome, is what it is," Lance praises, watching the rain patter down on the unseen shielding with a broad grin, "I'm just really fuckin' quiet, myself." His ability, one presumes, given the context!
Having stepped cautiously back away from the whirling dervish of painting that she's become, he looks over the paint as she shows off her work. Hands come together, fingers moving as he signs back, I like it. Good color choice!
Cas steps away from the wall, one hand out straight to maintain the platform while he looks over the painting. That did help, the orange adds a burst of color where it really needed to have one. He gives a simple thumbs up gesture. "Looks good!" he calls. "Hold still and I'll get you down if you're done." If he gets the signal, he turns his hand palm up and slowly starts to lower it to the ground, the platform Brynn is on sinking as if she were on an elevator.
The grin Cas gets in return is bright as the sun. She bobs her head joyfully and 'rides' the lift down, hopping off and tossing paint cans back into the bag. Turning around, with both hands free again, she enthuses, Now, can't you just see that brightening up everyone's day when they come by it? It's so cheerful! And I love the way the colors meld into each other over there. I could absolutely make that swatch sparkle in the sun… Her fingers trail off and she looks worriedly at Lance. Maybe she shouldn't have said that. She's not sure he'll translate it, but since he's sitting here talking to the guy *and* Cas is an Evo too, well… Maybe she's just seeking the reassurance that it's okay.
As the force field 'elevators' its way down, Lance's hands spread as if to show it off. "That is seriously primal, man, I love it. Must be super useful getting up high to tag," he observes, grinning between Caspian and Brynn.
"She's all saying that it's cheery and it'll brighten everyone's day and shit, and…" He pauses in translation, fingers flickering briefly her way, He seems cool if you want me to tell him.
When Brynn is just a little off the ground, Cas stands and the field melts away into the pavement, her feet hitting the ground as if she stepped off an inch high step. He dusts his hands off and stuffs them back into the pockets of his hoodie, re-adjusting his backpack once the cans are thrown back in. Two orange, yellow, red down. Will have to restock. he does a little mental math at that, watching Brynn sign, then looking to Lance to translate and to answer. "Yeah, it works out pretty good. Back home I tagged the places that people just wondered how I got up there without a helicopter, rope, and all that stuff. Here…." Cas shrugs. "Here is brand new. This is my first piece after arriving. A hello to the Zone." Cas walks over with a can of black and offers it to Brynn, pointing next to his signature at the bottom. "Sign it. Take responsibilty. You helped."
Brynn shrugs a little hesitantly to Lance, unsure. And then she smiles that mischievous quirky grin that heralds FUN in their world. She turns to the wall, putting her hand on the damp paint and smoothing it up the wall across the entire swath of one of the strands of hair that Caspian painted. They can see the subtle shift in color, though it will clearly be far more brilliant when the morning sun hits it — the outline of the woman and one flowing portion of her hair will sparkle like multi-hued diamonds in the daytime. SHe takes the paint can from Caspian and tags the bottom corner with nothing more than a stylized, flowing "B." Then she turns and hands the can back, dusting off her hands, clearly pleased with herself. But she bites her lip as she steps back toward her backpack. Hoping that they like it.
"Oh, so first you're shy about it and now you're showing off," Lance teases her once she's turned around, shaking his head a bit. One hand lifts in a motion towards the mural, and he declares, "Voila!"
To Cas, he offers, "Thanks, man. Girl just loves art, go figure, right?"
"So you're quiet, she's colorful, and I make things to stand on. Gotcha." Caspian tucks the black back into his bag and zippers it up tight, swinging it around over his shoulder with a grin to the pair. And, as the sun starts to come up over the city, the mural starts to be illuminated and Brynn's touches become more apparent. "Well ain't that something…" Cas lets out a low whistle as the mural starts to sparkle in spots, highlighted as if it had glitter and light mixed into the paint. "Wow. That's awesome."
Women's prerogative! Brynn retorts in sign, cheeky grin firmly in place. It's Caspian's reaction, though, that makes her look relieved. She could have changed it back! Since she knows Lance will translate, she looks at Caspian so he knows she's talking to him. So… I'm new here and this? This is would REALLY like to do again. Wanna meet at another wall sometime?
Glancing back at Lance again, she signs, I'm really glad you came along. I had no idea how to find any of you! They made me go to this camp! How do I tell him where it is?
Lance's blue eyes roll in his head at Brynn's retort, although his own grin doesn't fade. The signing's watched, and then he tilts his chin up to the older tagger, "She's saying that she just got to the Safe Zone but she'd love to collab sometime if you want to meet at another wall sometime."
The second part has him hesitating, I mean he seems pretty primal but are you sure you want to let some guy you just met know where you live? The camps don't exactly have a lot of policing.
Cas is glancing at his watch, so he misses the back end of that exchange but he does hear what is said. "Yeah, I think that'd be nice. We could plan something out - work on black books for a little while to get the art right, get a spot and just bomb it over an evening with the morning bringing the light in. It'd be primal." Cas looks up and grins. He's trying. Really he is. He falls into slang really easily. "I run a legit business here. Doing electrical work, setting up solar panels and stuff. The paint is just what I do to relax, y'know?"
Brynn nods slowly to Lance. Yeah, I guess you're right. Although he did say he was new and EVERYONE seems to get routed to the camps. But maybe he has a place to live, how would she know?? There's a shrug and the usual bright smile appears on her face. If he's interested, maybe we can meet up in the Market! That place is great!
She tilts her head slightly. Are you and the others still in the camp too? The place is kinda creepy at night. I was thinking I might find an alley. It might be safer. She grimaces. And then shoots Cas an apologetic look because she left him out of that last.
It's probably perfectly safe, but Lance was raised to be - quote - 'paranoid as fuck' after all. "She says maybe you can meet up at the market sometime," he translates, "Good central place to get together." Lots of people!
Fingers flicker and move together, Nah, I finally got out. You want to crash on my floor for a bit until you hit the lottery or something? Eyes roll, You're not staying in an alley like my dumb sister.
"Yeah, I think I'd like that." Caspian is watching as the sun starts to illuminate more and more of the art, the shimmering coming into focus now, like a disco ball has been stapled to the art in places, shining with rainbow light. He glances down at his pocketwatch, tucking it away after a moment or two. Plenty of time for a shower and breakfast before the first day's appointment, he tells himself, looking over at the pair as they converse.
"I hear there's coffee in the market. Little old lady runs a stand." Caspian adds, almost as an afterthought, shouldering his pack. "You guys got a way I can contact you?"
Lance's signing is met with a flurry of fingers. You have a place already?? Why isn't Hailey staying with you?? What did you say to her, Lance?? Cuz he's the BOY, it's obviously his fault! Plus he plays a lot of pranks even when people get annoyed. Does she stay alone? She's okay, right? Despite that she herself was thinking about sleeping in an alley, obviously she knows that is arguably a far more dangerous proposition than even the camps. If you're serious, I would definitely rather sleep on the floor at your place than be there. Guys… you know. They LOOK at her. And she's actually pretty shy about that. For a lot of reasons.
Brynn turns her gaze back to Caspian after he's agreed that he'd like it, so doesn't catch that part. But she does see when he talks about coffee. She knows that place! And she needs someone to jabber art at! Buuuut…. she shakes her head regretfully. No phone. Not that there's much in the way of cell service anyway.
It's just a flurry of teenagers waving their hands at each other now. Poor Caspian. I didn't say anything! She insists on staying with the animals out at the zoo! And she was okay last time I went to see her, we can go see her later if you want, Lance signs back, And yeah, it's not much but of course you can stay.
"We don't exactly have phones," he admits, lumping himself in with Brynn. No phone here either. "Unfortunately."
Cas shifts his hips a little, hooking his thumbs into his belt loops. "They didn't say a lot when we came out here. Just needed bodies to come in and help get the place set up. S'why I showed up from where I lived. But…it's not very good here, in places, is it?" He glances from Lance to Brynn and back again. "It's pretty bad for folks, yeah?"
Brynn grimaces and then simply nods to Caspian. It really isn't great anywhere, but some places - the coasts especially - took the hits way harder than other places. She looks like she didn't really catch what he said about being /sent/.
She'll get back to the other thing via sign with Lance on the way to his place. She doesn't have anything more than the backpack on her back here in town.
In contrast to Brynn, Lance flashes the other man a broad grin. "Hell, man," he spreads his hands to either side, "We've lived way worse places that this. Nobody's tried to kill me since I got here!"
Lack of death doesn't always mean things are going great. The corner of Cas's mouth turns up a little, the man nodding. "Well, aside from not having attempts made on your life, is it okay for people like us here? The guys manning the walls think I'm negative, and since I was tested with a fixed kit right when it all started, I've never been caught." He comes closer to the pair, looking down the street for a moment. "Is it bad for Evolved here?" he asks, quietly, sounding worried - something Lance almost certainly can pick up on. "I spent the war in somewhere that didn't care, the reconstruction everywhere, fixing, where they couldn't be bothered to care. Now i've shown up here to help out. Is…." he glances around. "Is there anything a guy like me can do?"
Brynn frowns. She reads enough of the first part to catch 'attempts made on your life' and the question of whether it's okay. She also catches 'negative' but a lot of the rest, his worry is making him speak a little faster and probably lower of tone, and she doesn't get most of the rest.
She looks between them, signing for Lance. Did he just say he's negative and someone tried to kill him? Because she wasn't looking at Lance when he made the quip. Is it still that bad in this place? She really would like to go to school — and the college here is a big draw. But is it really still that bad?
There's a flicker of Lance's hands back to Haley. Guessing he spent the war somewhere unpleasant for us, he answers her, It's not that bad here.
He shakes his head, then, "I mean— that's a pretty heavy question man, I mean shit, I'm just eighteen. I don't know what I can do." Wry, "But it's not that bad for us here. People are a lot more accepting inside the 'Zone than outside, so long as you don't - like - commit crimes and shit, you know?"
Like graffiti? >.>
"Yeah, sorry…." Cas says, making sure Brynn can see his lips move. "It's just a…hangup I have. Justified, I guess. I've been non-registered for my whole life, but I've known about my little tricks since high school. And growing up in the middle of a red state, you can guess that it wasn't….very good for evolved." He scrubs his head with his right hand, looking down.
"Listen, I…I've got to get to work. I've got a rewire job at ten and a panel install this afternoon." He looks up. "I don't know anything about this place other than it's where there's a lot of work to be done. I think you two have a little more experience with things than I do. Sorry for being so much of a downer." He looks up at the picture on the wall, shimmering in the morning sun.
Nodding to Lance's explanation, Brynn watches Caspian's reactions to what he's being told. She has no real memories of being Unregistered… nothing really changed for her when it happened. But she sympathized with his fears, clearly. When Cas looks up at the painting, she smiles a little. It makes him happy — it's all she wants for people. To find a way to be happy. See you in the market sometime, she offers Caspian. Because he's clearly gearing up to leave. And Brynn, now that she's found at least one of the people she was looking for, wants to know what the heck is going on with the others!
At the man's words, Lance gives his head a shake. "Trust me, man, you don't want the sort of experience we have…" He steps along beside Brynn, offering a crooked smile, "Sounds like you had it pretty shitty yourself, so - look, just don't sweat it. This ain't a bad place at all, just watch your back."
A glance to Brynn, then back, "She says she'll see you in the market sometime. Maybe I will too, huh?"
"Yeah…yeah." Cas gives them both a shaky smile, reaching into his pack to hand them a business card with his address and a phone number on it - Outside Electric - before pushing his hands into his pockets, looking up at the picture again and smiling. He can't help it. "We all had it pretty shitty, I guess." he gives a one shouldered shrug and a bob of his head. "The market sometime. We'll see about getting one of the walls all painted up with a mural. Change the brick into something a little more cultured."
Brynn feels bad that he was scared. She doesn't like that he looks so worried. It'll be fine, she signs. Because things HAVE to get better eventually, right? it's certainly better now than the war. She gives the other artist a gentle smile and waves to him as he hands Lance his card and agrees to meet up sometime soon again.
Only when he's actually walking away from them does she demand of Lance, What do you mean she's staying with the goddamned ZOO ANIMALS? Has she LOST her MIND??