i know it's just a number but you're the eighth wonder [ OPEN MINGLE ]

[postictal]

Who: Tim and EVERYBODY WHO WANTS IN ON THIS CAUSE IT A MINGLE
What: Nail-painting. Destressing. We have earned something Nice for ourselves.
When: February 12th
Where: Just outside the Storyteller's Temple
Warnings: Probably nothing of note? Will add if needed.



There's a man sitting cross-legged outside the Storyteller's Temple, general hub of interaction that it seems to be turning into. He still looks like shit, granted, his face a colorful patchwork of bruising and a fresh bandage slapped around his middle, but that hasn't stopped him from making the best of things. A few vials of some various colorful fluids might not be familiar to everyone here, but after everything? Screw it, thinks Tim. They've deserved a break. He deserves a break. The kids here, especially, deserve a break. It's time to celebrate the fact that they are no longer in danger of freezing in the dark and living out the remainder of their days in a bleak, sunless existence.

And he liked colors, as a kid. In the blank white walls of a hospital, where everything was drained of variation and bleached white and left bone-blank, the occasional bursts of color allowed in packages of crayons and colored pencils at art time were treasures. They stopped giving him crayons after he drew the man in his room one too many times, a tall black shadow in the back of every drawing that had the doctors exchanging looks with tightened jaws and the clearing of throats that too clearly spoke to their disapproval.

It dogged him, even once he stepped out of those empty walls, his wardrobe as consistently drab and dull and monochrome as his life. It dogged him with featureless rooms and

Fuck that.

Fuck that especially, because it means that kids like Ren grew up without colors in their lives, and it means that they've had precious few simple little pleasures in the past month, and it means that they are all owed a goddamn break. And if he's bound to be a freak no matter what he does, he may as well be one with a spot of color or two.

So today, to celebrate? We're painting nails.

Fuck it. We're painting nails.

It's safe to say that Tim's new at this, particularly when he only has one good hand at the moment, but he'll still seem quite open to sharing with whoever happens along - especially if you're a kid.

[ooc: yes this is a mingle for painting some nails feel free to top-level all over]

Comments

[buryyourfriends]

[And he'll let her have at it, humming along with whatever tune she comes up with. Sticky blue fingers or not, he's still going to be happy he's spending time with his friends. This island gave him Crow back alive and well and also gave him a safe place to be with Ren.

All he asked for. It's enough for Seto.]

What colors do you like Ren?

[He'll go grab them once Ren's done.]

[catpiper]

Purple.

[Is the first color that comes to mind. It's the only reason she continues to wear her medical gown under all the layers of clothes she's accumulated. Why she even wore it outside of the lab. She simply likes it and now, she associates it with someone that makes her feel safe and warm. A special cat that she continuously looks out for. Even now, she glances up with the small hope his face will be there in the midst of this nail painting crowd. He deserves to have some pretty purple nails too, gosh.

Weh.

But as far as other colors-]

And blue. That reminds me of you. I like that color too.

[buryyourfriends]

[Purple and blue, hun? It's hard to see the medical gown that made Ren easy to pick out of a crowd with all of her new clothing but that was also a good thing too. A mark of the kindness of others, things to keep her warm and safe when he wasn't here.

The people here were kind and made Ren able to smile even bigger then he remembered.]

I think I like both colors too. They're pretty.

[catpiper]

[It makes sense that he would like those colors too-blue at least, because of the jacket he wears. They were surrounded by apocalypse garbage and yet, they never seemed to switch their outfits. She did put her pretty addition on because of the weather, because it was nice, because it was a treasure.

But now, as she goes over his nails for the third time? It's not looking great-she realizes just how important these are becoming. Purple for Murasaki, for Muffet's magic-blue for Drifter's sky colored body and-

When she thinks of that, of everyone, it becomes difficult to not name every color out there.]

They're all very pretty now.

[She can see Guzma's chain, Kidwun's shirt, Kittu's ribbon, Luna's cap, Lup's umbrella, Taako's hat, Tim's eyes, Laurent's hair, a dog's fur-she can see those colors now hold a beauty they hadn't before.

And it's why-]

I'm going to paint your nails every color.

[buryyourfriends]

[Cloth rotted away really quickly and Seto wasn't really in the business of pulling off clothing of skeletons. Blankets from beds yes, but otherwise no.

But colors are important. It let Seto see people from a distance and in his memory. Ren's purple, Crow's black, PF's silver and Sai's red. White went to Shin but Seto couldn't think of a color for his Grandpa.

And this place dressed them both in everything else.]

They are.

[He watches Ren pain his nails and even if it isn't nice looking, at least there's a place for them to sit down and paint.]

...can I paint your toes after?

[Just because?]

[catpiper]

[Unlike Tim, she doesn't have the same hesitation about letting someone near her grody feet. It's gotten warmer-she's barefoot most of the time and when he requests it, she wiggles her toes. Sure, it's fine. She seems overly excited by the prospect of having pretty painted toenails.]

Yes! Then they'll be pretty like our fingers.

[buryyourfriends]

Yeah!

[He will wait until Ren is done with his fingers however and for said fingers to dry before hunting down some more nail polish, however. There's the purple one and yellow and green. And the blue that's still here. Honestly all of these colors are nice but he's not going to take them all when they're for everyone here. Not fair and besides, it's fun with everyone here getting their painting on.

Seto's no better then Ren at nail painting so he's going to miss. A lot. And naturally he can't do any of those fancy nail art that some others could do, but he's got a picture in mind.

A sky, grass and the sun. The purple is the stars and Seto knows it doesn't work like that but meh. It's upside-down too but also meh.]

I wonder why it's called 'nail painting'.

[He gets the idea behind it but clearly you can draw with it too. So why nails?]

[catpiper]

[Meh is fine because the boy is making pretty pictures on her toebeans and this is greatest gift anyone could ever give her. She watches the images take shape, kneeling down and wrapping her arms around her knees to get a better view. It's great. Who cares if the colors get everywhere-it's pretty.

Her toes are so colorful and pretty.

Seto brings up a good point though. Heck, she doesn't know. She's just along for the nail painting ride. Her raccoon fingers have painted shoes and hands and all number of things outside of nails, so she can follow his train of thought, even without having an answer on hand.]

We could ask Tim. He's very smart.

[buryyourfriends]

[He watches for Ren's reaction and smiles just a little bit more. This really is a wonderful place, where there's color and Ren can smile like that and feel safe. And everyone in this group seems happy with these nails paints and quiet conversations. The laughter.

Not being lonely.

It'd make more sense if Seto was told about 'nail art'. But Ren mentions someone else and that causes him to perk up too.]

I'd like to meet him then. He probably knows a lot of he's smart.

[Like Seto's Grandpa was.]

[catpiper]

[Oh ho? What's this?

They haven't met, which means he likely hasn't gotten a chance to get his awesome star stick. That's a crime. And the bigger crime? Not knowing Tim, one of the nicest people around. A guy that hands out birthdays like it's nothing and lets someone paint his shoes and hold his hand.

She wiggles her toes, enjoying the new colors on them.]

He knows a lot and his heart is very kind. He can tell you about music and flare guns and fireworks.

[buryyourfriends]

[And that's enough for Seto to want to meet Tim - although it really doesn't take much prompting for Seto to want to meet people. Still these sound like a very neat person that has very neat things to show and teach, so...]

Can we see him once everything dries? Is that okay?

[catpiper]

Yeah, it's okay. We'll go find him together.

[She'll search this temple area front to back until she spots that peanut in the distance. And if he's not around, she'll keep an eye out for next time and drag The Boy needs to meet him.]