Strokes of Genius, Thursday

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

It had been a few days, so Katchoo set up to paint as soon as she got to work. Clocky beeped hopefully and did a circuit around her feet.

"No, you tiny wheeled menace, I'm not painting you."

A disappointed beep, but that didn't stop Clocky from trying again a few minutes later.

"I said no."

This could go on for a while.

[OOC: Where was I when we lost OCD? Where was I when lies were spoken? You know the drill -- it's open, potentially slow during the day, etc.]

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[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She didn't know if this was a good idea, exactly, but the idea had niggled at her for days and so finally, she was here. She didn't know what half of the things in the store were other than the very basics, but she was going to find something she could get for Griff as a thank you for the picture, and to encourage him with his art.

Fiona was a little dismayed when she got to the counter and saw who was there.

"Hello? May I trouble you for a little help with something?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"It's always trouble," Katchoo said dryly, not looking up from the paints she was arranging on a palette. "But that's what they pay me for, innit?"

Clocky beeped scoldingly.

"Aw, shut up, you."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She peered at the clock on wheels... and didn't comment.

"Yes, well," she started, keeping her eyes down for the moment, "I was wondering if you were familiar with what a sketch artist might need to do his work. What might be good to get one."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Clocky rolled up to Fiona and beeped again, this time as if in apology for its human's rudeness.

"I could be." Katchoo liked giving people a hard time, okay? "What were you gonna do if the answer was yes?"

. . . yeah, she loved giving people a hard time.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She looked down and stooped to offer a hand to the clock. It seemed to be acting almost like a puppy so... it seemed a viable option. Then she peered up at Katina.

"I'd ask you what you'd recommend since I wanted to get Griff something. He did a drawing of me and I wanted to say thank you. And encourage him."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Sketchbooks're a good start, obviously," Katchoo allowed grudgingly. "Pencils . . . that's a personal preference thing. I'm not one of the psychics around here so I can't tell you exactly what kind of lead he likes."

Nor did she care, but that went for pretty much everyone anyway.

Another shrug. "We oughta have one of those pencil assortments in the metal boxes down there." She gestured vaguely toward the appropriate aisle. "Erasers, too, but again people like different kinds."

This wasn't actually her being a deliberate pain in the ass. It was just that artists tended to be picky about their supplies. Although she'd take it as an excuse to be a pain in the ass.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"Okay," she said, trying to remember what he'd drawn her with.

"What kind of erasers do you have?" she asked, remembering him commenting or maybe just making a face at the one had on him.

She'd get him a pencil assortment, a couple of nice sketchbooks, and some erasers.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Across the aisle from pencils. The clicky-stick kind, the German brands I can't pronounce. Everything but the cheesy pink kiddie ones." Katchoo smirked faintly. "The soft rubber kneady ones, those're fun. Supposedly make great stress balls but they've never worked for me."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She headed for the erasers and pulled a couple of each kind into her hands, peering at them thoughtfully. She couldn't think what he could use each one of them for, or why someone might need more than one, but she figured she'd best be safe.

"I'm used to the pink ones," she admitted as she put them up on the counter.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Who isn't? Works fine for homework or whatever --" because Katchoo was so good at doing her homework -- "but artists are a demanding bunch."

She eyed the items on the counter and -- making a few prices up off the top of her head because she couldn't be bothered to check -- started to ring them up. "Throwing the pink ones at things to see how they bounce is fun." They'd worked great for bouncing off classmates' heads in study hall back at Puncture High. And then they went another direction and it was harder to get pinned with the blame.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't know. You can't know less about art than me."

She tucked a curl behind her ear.

"And Grandmother" she winced internally at saying 'grandmother' instead of 'mother' still "wouldn't allow that kind of play."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Well, that's no fun," Katchoo said, not being the type to go inquiring into other people's families. "Believe me, we're picky. Or maybe it's just me."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"'Fun' was pretty much against the rules," she said with a wry smile.

She and Eliot had joked more than once that the unofficial 107th rule was 'no fun'. Then Audrey had added two more rules and the joke hadn't even been funny anymore.

"What kind of art do you do?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine came in after her classes with bagels, cobwebs and a thought. Only the bagels were actually visible.

"Hi," she said, and the strength of the effort to make things not weird was still there in every movement and sound, but. She had cobwebs and a thought.

And pineapple cream cheese spread.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Hey, Francie." If Katchoo just looked a little tired, the effort of making things not be weird wore her down a lot, but that didn't stop her from smiling. Cupcake emblem on her superhero class suit or not, that was Francine's real superpower as far as Katchoo was concerned: emitting some kind of make-Chewie-smile field. "How was crazy spandex time?"

That, with a casual-looking grabby gesture at the bagels, just to distract from the real crazy spandex time that had been a couple of weeks ago.

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine was not wearing the crazy spandex, for which she was sure everyone on earth was grateful, but she scratched at her ear as if there was still something stuck there, even after a shower. "Obstacle. Course. Crocodiles. Pudding. Slime."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Au contraire. Katchoo would have been at least partly grateful for the crazy spandex.

"What. The. &*()@#!. Hell," she said, which was a minor miracle given her slack jaw.

[thatsamilkshake]

Okay, Francine took the thing about Katchoo never being shocked back. But she'd meant more by people than by...stuff, when she was thinking it this morning.

"We were supposed to be testing out the suits," she explained.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"But -- but," Katchoo sputtered. Surprise! She could totally be shocked. "With crocodiles? Geez, Francie!"

. . . yeah, see, crocodiles would do it.

[thatsamilkshake]

"They weren't real crocodiles!" Oh, did she neglect to mention that? "It was in the danger room thingie."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Still, crocodiles?" Katchoo demanded. "It's spandex, not kevlar!"

[thatsamilkshake]

"Actually, this was the 'good material, dahhhhling.' " Her impression of Edna was... so bad it was almost accurate? "It is kind of like Kevlar."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"The hell? Nothing that stretches that way can be armored." Somewhere, Jen was feeling the urge to morph just so she could pound her helmeted head into a wall repeatedly. "Screw it. I don't wanna think about that when there's bagels."

[thatsamilkshake]

"There's blueberry and jalapeno," Francine said. "...Not together."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Well now, that was a metaphor if Katchoo'd ever heard one. "Hey, spicy and sweet go pretty well together."