ArchivedLogs:Fair Trade

Fair Trade
Dramatis Personae Pedro, Tag	2015-11-30 "{Do you need to uh see everything to colour everything?}"
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Rooftop - Lower East Side
An open-air escape especially popular with smokers and fliers, the Common House rooftop makes good use of its limited space. The railing that circles it has child-resistant gates where walkways can be extended to connect to the other buildings in the development. A colorful and ever-changing table with sometimes-matching benches provides an ideal spot for an urban picnic. There are two garden boxes on the south-facing side, one for vegetables and the other for herbs and flowers, a tool shed and small patio table with chairs between them. From above, the roof of the Common House looks like a lush and fantastical garden today, though a closer look shows it to be two-dimensional, painted onto the floor. Tag is sitting at the patio table in the /actual/ garden (much more modest, and mostly bare now), dressed in a rainbow whirlpool hoodie and black cargo pants dotted with colorful metallic stars. His hair is electric blue with an icy shimmer, and his eyes a strange, deep shade of indigo. He's singing quietly to himself in Mandarin with more enthusiasm than skill, his voice breaking frequently in the upper limits of his register, "{In the rolling red dust I can still hear the language of music, following your legend and miiiiine...}" Pedro is enjoying a rare flight though the city, keeping relatively low to avoid things like drones and radar, yet high enough to be about of the reach of thrown objects. Guns are a different thing altogether, but the less worry about that the better. It is obvious that he has not flown past this building this closely, because he stares at the lush garden. Then what sounds like a noisy cricket can be heard from him, and he grins. The colourfully clothed person below is recognized, and the batty mutant begins to circle, slowly getting closer til he's only ten or so feet above. "{Hello! Your design on the floor here is most colourful! It looks like a jungle garden from above, very well done.}" A look of concentration passes over his face, and he comes to a complete halt in the air, hovering over a breeze that goes straight up, filling his wings tightly. "{May I land and sit a while? I have a question or two about your uhm.. wing colourings.}" The cricket sound draws Tag's attention upward, and he flashes a bright smile at Pedro, waving him down even before he's quite gotten around to asking permission to land. "{Hi! Please, come, sit. I came up and saw...}" He gestures at the winter-bare garden boxes to either side of him. "{Very sad. Want green, so...}" The same hand sweeps out over the rest of the roof. "{Please, ask! But, maybe need to use small words. Talk slow?}" The batty one gently floats to the ground, getting his bare feet under him to plop down in a crouch. Straightening, he moves to settle into the seat to Tag's left. "{Sorry, I will speak more plainly, and not so far. Pedro is my name. We were not properly introduced, so, nice to meet you.}" Pedro offers up a hand-wing for shaking, while looking around again at the riot of colour. "{Do you charge people money for wing and body painting?}" Tag leans forward and shakes with Pedro, his own hand skinny, cold, but with brilliantly glittery nails. "{Oh, yes! I forgot. Was excited...coffee.}" He giggles and runs a hand through his hair, which starts shifting toward purple as his fingers comb through. "{Usually yes. Not only skin, can make colors, anything. More if...hard thing to draw, or bigger? But also trade, other things, not money.}" He shrugs, smiling. "{You look for art?}" Pedro shakes enthusiastically, taking a moment to admire the glittery nails. Grinning, he nods. "{I understand. It was great coffee.}" He looks a little crestfallen, and runs a hand-wing through his mess of hair. "{I don't have much money at all. None, really. Especially with...}" The young mutant gestures to the city at large. "{With zombies everywhere. What would you take in trade? Dusk's wings look great. And I can only imagine Isra's. And I think you offered to do all of Dusk. Did you mean all of him?}" "{Some people trade...doing things for me?}" Tag struggles to come up with the right words, his blue-violet brows wrinkling with concentration. "{Some people trade things. Mostly food. Not so much lately to trade anything.}" He's studying Pedro's wings now. "{Maybe...you help me with Spanish? I paint your wings?}" Pedro nods slowly to Tag. "{That is a good trade, but I am getting better deal. What food do you like? I'll find it. But. What about all of me? Want to ... surprise someone.}" He rubs a wing against his cheek a moment. "{Maybe that is too much right off the start, yes?}" "{I like...many fruit and vegetables. Hard to find now. But still can find in...}" Tag frowns, and finally pantomimes turning a can opener over an invisible can. "{Don't want to make you...danger. To find things. Even flying, not always safe.}" Considering the request, he makes a beckoning gesture at Pedro's hand. "{All of body? Can, but take long time. What colors you want?}" The bat's ears perk up, and he grins broadly. "{I am a fruit bat. Can only eat fruit. I will bring you a giant tin of peaches that I found. And I will bring others besides.}" Pedro nods and shrugs, "{I have to go out into danger anyways, to look for food and useful stuff. No extra danger to share with you.}" His face grows thoughtful on the question of colours, and he glances at Tag. He pats his chest. "{All of body. Blank canvas. What would you paint?}" Tag nods, his smile growing wide. "{Well...me? I paint /all/ the colors.}" This phrase slips from him smoothly, not like the rest of his halting Spanish. He had clearly picked it up a long time ago and used it often. "{Maybe...like the sky. Body day, wings night.}" Even as he speaks, Pedro's skin has begun changing: pale blue over most of his frame, but deep, deep blue on the membranes of his wings. The fine fur that covers his whole does not change as quickly, nor to the same shades, but gives a curious sort of dimensionality to the blank sky he has just made. Then long swirls of clouds appear, some white and others fantastical sunset hues, and stars dot the night of his wings. "{Can change, if not like,}" he says absently, his attention focused on his art though he has not moved from his seat at all. Pedro listens as Tag describes what he is deciding, the bat grinning at the phrase 'Paint /all/ the colours'. His eyes go wide as the skin of his wings begins to change colour as he watches. "{I can hardly believe that this is happening. So cool!}" His smile widens, and here and there patches of fur stand up on end. "{I like this very much!}" Pedro takes a moment to look down inside the front of his hoodie, and then he looks away. "{Do you need to uh see everything to colour everything?}" When Tag blushes at the question, the rosy color travels all the way up into the roots of his hair, which start turning magenta along with his eyebrows. "{Not need to see for big...all one color. If draw little things, or write, is better to see.}" He's smiling, though, and certainly not embarassed enough to interrupt his art. "{Not need to take off. But if you want, can go inside. For warm.}" Pedro grins then, sharing in the blush, even his ears turn pink inside. "{I don't want to be so forward to be whipping out my junk like that. But if it helps? I could do. But either way, inside would be nicer, I think my bottom is frozen to this seat.}" He raises each wing up in turn to look it over. "{Gorgeous. Oh... I need a mirror, has my face and hair changed too?}" Tag actually laughs loud, covering his mouth to stifle the noise. "{Not need take off /all/ clothes, either. Whatever you comfortable; many of my clients, no clothes, but not need.}" He gets up and waves for Pedro to come with him. "{Come. My house there.}" He points at a building fairly covered in brightly colored psychedelic murals. "{I make you coffee, finish painting.}"