fandomtownies | Saturday afternoon to before sundown.

Saturday afternoon to before sundown.

Duce was bored. She'd spent most of the last night working on the gremlin cage, which now resembled nothing so much as a giant Lexan habitrail covering most of one wall of the apartment. Leaving a note for her somnombulant roommate, Duce grabbed her rucksack and decided to head to town again.

Finding her spot on the rim of the fountain empty, she parked herself and pulled out a sketchpad. Working quickly, she roughed in a scene of the street and a view of the campus. She then spent some time people watching and drawing small caricatures.

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((fixing html))

It had been a full day for Red. His inventory accounted for, he was still missing some supplies and if they hadn't come by tomorrow, he would seek out the local clinic to get antiseptic wipes and some isopropyl alcohol. Red wasn't too worried. He had plenty of time.

Intrigued by a recent gift (http://www.livejournal.com/users/_red_xiii_/295.html?thread=295#t295), Red decided to lock up and head out. The town was new for him and had many things to offer. Bada Bing held some appeal but he was too tired with moving and getting things squared away, deciding a nightly jog around the local area before turning in.

He trotted along the streets and turned up to head toward the fountain near the edge of town. Not many people were out, possibly due to the fact that the students were most likely populating the pubs and bars in town. Maybe he would pop in to one for a drink.

Later.

He saw a young woman sitting at the fountain's edge and Red pulled to a full stop. His eyes blinked several times thinking he was imagining things but he wasn't.

Her hair...was moving.

Her hair was indeed moving, and in fact, watching the pedestrians on the street while the human face drew them.

Becoming aware of someone staring at her, Duce looked up and spotted a .. large.. red.. lion?.. with.. a mohawk?

Her eyebrows peaked over her glasses in astonishment, as her voice drawled, "Shall we assume you're sentient, or shall we assume we're lunch?"

Chuffling softly, Red trotted over and sat down in front of her, his tail swishing back and forth. He shook his head, setting up a soft jingling. "You may assume you are not lunch and I am sentient."

He looked around. "The hour is late, should you be out alone?"

Duce nodded complacently. Hey, she read Chronicles of Narnia as a kid, and at this school, one of Aslan's badass relatives roaming around was not inconceivable.

"Cool. Came out here to catch the night crowd, but it's been kind of sparse. Must be the moon." Gesturing up at the full moon, as if that explains everything. "We probably shouldn't be out here alone, but our roommate is asleep. Or dead. Or something. With her, we're really never sure."

Eyeing the lion appreciatively, she asks, "Are you another of the lycanthropes, or do you always get to look like that? You're the first cat we've seen. There's a wolf in the basement."

Red looked down at his fur, his paw ruffled at his mane. "Actually I'm more similar to a canine," he said. When he looked at her again he grinned, his teeth gleaming white. "But I'm always like this."

He stood and bobbed his head. "I'm terribly rude, my name is Red."

Nodding politely, Duce introduces herself, "We're Medusae. Duce for short. We go to school up there." Thumbing the general direction of the school.

His name sounds familiar. Tilting her head, she asks curiously, "Red.. huh. Would you be the bodmod guy who just opened up here in town?"

"The very same, Duce." His tongue snaked out to lick at his nose. "I will open on Monday. It's going to be a bit difficult with no assistant at the moment, though but I've gotten by without one before."

Red paced around to sit closer to her and he craned his neck to see what she was drawing. "Very nice," he said.

Chewing her lip thoughtfully, she asks, "What's an assistant bodmod artist do, anyway?"

Sighing enviously, Duce comments, "Always wanted a tattoo. We can't have one. It'd make us bleed, and .. that's a bad thing."

Tilting the sketchpad to give Red a better view of the drawing, a pencil sketch of the town done as what looks to be a backdrop. Shrugging somewhat selfconsciously, Duce says, "We'd thought of doing a comic based on stuff at the school and in town."

"For me, it's helping prep skin, calm the nervous clients, paperwork for waivers and releases, stock supplies...maybe learn a bit about inking if they're interested." He looked up at her from the drawing.

"You should do the comic, you're good enough to pull it off."

Half her mouth quirks in a grin, "Ah. We're looking for a job, but that part about 'calming nervous clients' probably isn't something we'd suit for."

Making a face, she adds, "It's get a job or join the Glee Club.
We'd rather work than spend time choosing which colours of streamers to use for the Homecoming Dance."

Duce eyes the drawing a moment, shrugging again. "Yeah, maybe. It was mostly something to do. It keeps the detectives off our back. They've been harassing kids for loitering in town an awful lot lately."

"They simply wish to uphold the peace. When young people gather, sometimes trouble breaks out." Red tilted his head. "Come by the shop and apply. I would hate to think such talent is wasted on the Glee Club."

He shook his mane, the tinkling of jewelry scattering softly into the wind. "I also do piercings and have a wide variety of jewelry for sale. If you do not wish to assist with tattoos, there is still much to be done that would be helpful."

Smiling at Red, Duce says, "Thanks. We'll do that. It sounds like it would be an interesting job."

As the sky darkens, the movement on her head slows to a minimum. Her posture relaxes slightly, and there's a small change in her verbage, "Does it take long to learn how to do bodmod? At one point, I'd thought of drawing tattoo flash designs, because it took so long to become a registered tattoo artist."

"Well," Red sat down again, his butt resting on the ground so he could scratch at an ear. The kicking motions caused his jewelry to rattle. "I could show you what you need to know for the basics in a couple of full days but I wouldn't do that." He grinned and wiggled his head. "It's irresponsible because there is more to it than just where to stick someone.

"If you're interested though, we can work out an apprenticeship or something, show you...work with you..."

With his snout, he motioned to her drawing pad. "And I'd love to take a look at what you can do for flash designs. I have some but it's always nice to a wide variety."

His eyes widened as an idea hit him. "And what do you know about henna?"

Duce shakes her head, "A couple days definitely wouldn't do it. I mean, I suppose if I wanted to go totally ghetto and do prison ink, yeah, but not for art. If it were easy, there wouldn't be so many people wandering around with shitty ink engraved on their bodies. I'd definitely be interested in at least learning more about it, if you're willing to teach me. I could bring the other sketchpads with me sometime this week. I have a portfolio; this pad's just for doodles."

Snorting softly to herself, she answers dryly, "Henna. When I was around the first time, it had just become popular in Rome, and the ladies all went around with elaborate designs painted on hands, arms, legs, necks. The stuff they sell here now is commercialized crap. The resin's bad because nobody can tell what good henna should smell like anymore, and the companies that import it can get away with it. There's two, maybe three, decent suppliers in the US."

Shaking her head in disgust, "Have you seen what they're trying to pass off as henna these days? Most of it is hair dye, and there are idiots just lining up to get some tribal design painted on them, without realizing that the shit they're putting on their skin is an ammonia based dye." Rubbing her nose slightly, self conscious at the long-winded rant, she adds, "Pet peeve of mine. A friend got her arm mutilated at a state fair once."

"Aaaahhhh," Red said. "It's a good thing I asked the expert. I have no experience with it and as a result, have no time to look into it." He tilted his head and looked at her thoughtfully. "Two questions for you. Do you think you could find a place that sells the good stuff and do you think you could recreate the elaborate designs? I think it might be quite the money maker if we do this right."

Duce doesn't even have to think about the answers to those, "I know of two places that sell high-quality henna, both online importers. I could try to find somewhere local, sure." Her mouth quirks, "For some reason, most East Indians fall all over themselves to be helpful to me. And it's not as though I can be fooled about the quality. I don't smell it so much as taste it, and good henna has a very distinctive flavour."

"As for recreating the designs.." Flipping a new page of the notebook, she traces one of her hands on the page, and begins filling in a pattern of dots, whorls, diamonds and flowers. Frowning at it, she comments, "That's what I can do with something the size of a pen tip. Many of the designs I remember used multi-size implements to apply the henna, including brushes, styli, and fine needles made from heron bones." Looking off into space for a moment, she contemplates, "Could probably get a similar effect with a hypodermic needle, blunted."

Trotting over again, Red looked at her doodle. "I might have a supplier for heron bones if we could find a way to fashion what you want from the raw material. As for the rest of your supplies..." He sat again, his tail waving excitedly. "It's getting late and you should return to home safely.

"Make a list of items you would need for henna work and bring your portfolio by the shop on Monday," he tilted his head giving her a look, "after your classes. We'll talk set up, prices and pay."

Duce snorts, "I can't fashion needles from heron bones. That was always the job of trained slaves." She ponders this a moment, "Although if you can find a supplier for heron, my roommate would probably like some for a dinner party we're having next week."

Hopping off her seat, Duce tucks her sketchpad into her bag and nods, "I'll head on home. Wednesday might be awake by now. heh. I'll see you after class on Monday then, if I'm still in one piece. I have Combat Journalism with Professor Jerusalem first thing Monday morning, and he's been in an absolutely foul mood lately." Waving, she heads off toward Efferton Manor.

Only to stop a few steps away, "And Red? Thanks for this."

Smiling, all toothy, Red nodded once. His eyes blinked slowly. "It's my pleasure. Although bear in mind, I don't have slaves to help me out."

He held a paw up for inspection. "While I am independent and have done much to overcome my limitations, there is still much I have trouble doing on my own. Sadly...no slaves."

Red stood and shook hard, red fur floating into the air. "We'll finalize details on Monday. Have a pleasant evening, Duce, and be careful going home."

With one final nod to her, he turned and trotted into the shadows, heading back to his shop.

((*exuberent leaping around* does this mean she'll work for him?))

"Oh, no, in this day and age, you couldn't have slaves even if you wanted to. However, you could have.. minions." Her teeth flash in the dark, a smile.

((Hell yes :) *mad cackling* This is gonna be fun!))

((I'll go to the directory entry and put in to have you added! *cheers loudly*))

((done! and now trotting off to bed. *thud*. thanks!))

((*grin*))

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Saturday afternoon to before sundown.

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