10921/Painting by ten codes

Painting by ten codes
Date of Scene:	29 January 2020
Location:	Salem Center, Westchester County
Synopsis:	Murphy and Alice paint, Colossus gives advice
Cast of Characters:	Colossus, Karrin Murphy, Red

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Colossus has posed:
    Sometimes the early Winter nights get to people over the course of the season. The sunset comes with little fanfare, the sky darkening just after four and as everyone is heading off home it is well and truly night with the first stars in Salem Center visible into the wee hours of six o'clock. For some it can prey upon thoughts, draw out the ill spirits that come with being stuck in a cabin for too long...
    But Piotr Rasputin is not one of those people. There is something to his smile as he walks through the picturesque tableau of Westchester's town square, wending his way through the early shopping crowd. And it is a good crowd, merchants plying customers with their wares and the smell of the local restaurants serving dinner. For a time the tall Russian even stops to just look at the Brazlian BBQ slowly turning in the window, as if pondering stepping inside...
    But no, he has tasks. A list of things to buy and a job to do. He turns away, even as his tummy rumbles loud enough to perhaps gain a second glance from a young woman nearby. But he has no thought as to that. He moves to the Art Emporium, and slips inside once he's close to the door.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Murph's hard at work painting on canvas. She's taken it up with aplomb and enthusiasm saved for her martial arts or competition shooting, or the zeal with her job. Quiet shifts give her time to think. Which, honestly, isn't always a bad thing. Just sometimes it is.

Deft strokes give the painting on the canvas life, a flick of her wrist here, one there, she's making something. With only a handful of colors, a red, a white, a green and blue. It's how she is slowly, slowly, surely painting. Starting with the sky above, she's carefully, cautiously got this...and she's off in her own little world, too focusing on the canvas.

Colossus has posed:
    Around her are others. Students all, tasked with learning and expressing. The instructor, a young woman by the name of Mary is moving around the half-circle of newcomers, giving kind words of encouragement to each person as she steps from easel to easel.
    "That's lovely, Janet. Try holding your brush like this..." She leans over the shoulder of one of the other students, "There, it makes things seem almost foamy don't they?"
    She continues on, nudging an arm gently of one of the children, trying to help the boy's posture and telling him, "Sit up a little straighter, James, or you'll get a twinge in your elbow."
    It is on to Karrin as she steps up, "Oh that's creative, Karrin. Very creative." She leans in and looks, "Perhaps try a little more blending? You can get an easier transition that way."
    Then she's on her way. But it's with those words of wisdom delivered that it might give Karrin a brief instant of respite. An instant long enough when she might hear the bell jangle on the door as it's drawn open, the draft from the chill outside sending a brief rush of cold across the room.
    And then there's the young man who bought that brush for her before, stepping in and smiling to the person at the counter as he walks up.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Murph's listening. She's listening and taking in the advice and putting it to use. Into the white paint her brush goes, working it across where she wants to blend. Oh if only harry or Mouse or Rodriguez or Ramierez or Hutchins could see this. They said she's not creative and painting is a little girl's hobby. Pfft. Murph'll show them. She'll paint and hang it on the SPECTRE office wall

Murph feels the cold as the door opens, head snapping up at the bell. She's snuck her sidearm in here, because reasons, like, she's a cop off the clock and needs it. It's got the safety on, and Murphy's not homicidal. She's painting, not shooting.

No, painting with bullets is not painting. Instead, Murphy sets her brush down and just looks at what she's done. A blue sky, white sun. Now to paint the skyline of Bloodhaven. Oh this is gonna be a pain in the butt.

"Here goes nothing" Murph says. She can totally given an infinite timespan and infinite paint knowledge....do this. Right now? She's just doing rectangles with her paint brush. Details come later!

Colossus has posed:
    Quiet words are exchanged at the counter and after a little bit the clerk smiles and steps away from the counter to head into the back in an effort to procure his order. It leaves the large Russian with some time to himself as he steps out of the way of the register, letting others check out with one of the other employees.
    But now he has time to cast his blue-eyed gaze across the room, flitting from person to person to person. Until his attention finally alights upon Karrin. There's a brief quirk of his eyebrows as they lift, recognition dawning. Then he steps away over toward that half-circle of people painting.
    "Piotr, it's good to see you again!" The instructor lifts her voice and steps into his path.
    "Greetings, Lorelei. How fares your class?" He asks of her even as he spares a glance over toward Karrin. For now his path is cut off as the young instructor seems to focus fully on Colossus.
    "Very good, some professional painters for the future, assuredly." Lorelei replies as she gestures to them.
    "Forgive me, I think I know one of them." Piotr says as he steps around the teacher and heads in Karrin's direction.

Red has posed:
What does Alice do up in Westchester County? She's a city kid. She doesn't even have a driver's license. But she had been up here a couple days ago. And actually, she had taken a room somewhere in town to get over that shooting just in front of the shop she works at. and possibly rally people into joining into the lawsuit she tries to set up. Because in her mind, the mere existance of Sentinels is a 1983 violation against X-gene carriers. As in 42 U.S. Code § 1983: Civil action for deprivation of rights. But now, she wasn't around as Alice, helpful costume shop clerk and propmaker, but as Artist. ArtistRed.

As she slips into the studio doing the art class, looking around the shop before moving to the clerk. "Hey there... You got Plasticlay and PVC sheets here? And EVA foam? Got some ideas, but need some materials..." she asks, then listens for the respnse, searching her pockets while the clerk tells her about the art class ongoing. "Know what? Write me up for that class... I wanna try something. Painting you said?" She pulls out a couple bills to pay, pushing the change back to the cashier before she moves over to the circle of artists

A couple moments later, she takes a seat on one of the open spots, reaching over for the paint tray and a paint spatula instead of a brush. She's totally not a brushpainter. Spatula. Stuff gotta have structure in her mind. "Do we have a topic or something?" she asks over to the pair that seems to be the instructor... wait, she knows that one, right? "Weren't you at that party at the weekend?"

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Karrin nods and is off in her own world. She's got brush in hand, filling in the skyline of Bloodhaven. Hey, she likes that place, right. She /likes/ that place a lot. So, she's painting the skyline, blue sky, buildings, screw the finer details. She's just going for a far off view of Jersey, like if she was sat ac ross the river painting it...this is what it'd be.

She's got style, but is dressed business casual, too. Towel on her lap to catch paint, as well as an apron she's picked out. Smart girl, that Murphy

Colossus has posed:
    As Piotr tries to step around Lorelei, the instructor steps in his way quickly, "Oh no, they're very busy, very focused. I feel bad disturbing them when I, you know, give them help and advice." The young woman with the bright blue hair and the wide smile seems to, at least in this moment, only have eyes for the Russian fellow.
    "But I can talk, if you like, Piotr. They can just..." She waggles a hand in the direction of the others, only then realizing that Alice has joined in...
    And then Alice /talks/ to Piotr.
    And what's worse Piotr seems to know her!
    "Oh hello!" He says in greeting, lifting a hand to wave in Alice's direction. "Da, you were there wrestling with my friend. And she lost her." He starts to make a hand gesture. But in good taste he stops. He even has the wherewithal to blush a little, but he does not elaborate.
    "Is good to see you again." He remembers her, perhaps not her name, however.
    Lorelei, however, grimaces a little. But she's professional enough to get on with her job she tells the new person to join them. "We were considering landscapes. Choose four colors you'd like to focus on and blend. I'll be around to help you get started."

Red has posed:
Alice smiles back at Piotr, giving him a wink. "She told me to keep it." she teases a little before concentrating onto the blue haired one.
She nods at the simple instruction, picking exactly three real colors: Blue, Red, Yellow. And then reaches for the two non-colors. White goes onto the tray and if not stopped a squirt of black would join it. She knows her color theory. She got the whole color palette with those in hand. Mixing in the right ammounts opens the whole area of colors. She doesn't take an apron or towel, no.
It takes her all but a few moments to use the spatula to leave a thin line on where she plans the horizon, then some simple rough shapes. She has painted before, but she is not of the brush paintiny side. She's all up for plastic painting. A lot of paint on the canvas, shaping 3D paintings.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Murph's point is...cityscapes are landscapes. Skylines, too. She's down the bottom end of the canvas now, adding in the river...as dirty and polluted and stinking as it seems to her. Shaking her head she adds in a dash of white, then considers....hmmm, some dark blue green for the buildings, maybe a morning mist?

That's ever so slowly being blended in. hey, this isn't so bad after all, once she takes her time. Maybe Harry can display it in his office after all. She's fairly sure paintings aren't technological in nature. Then again...

Glancing over, she smiles to Red and then nods to Piotr and the instructor before returning to her painting, eyes closed for a moment as she settles back, just enjoying it for a moment or two....or five.

Colossus has posed:
    Another chuckle is drawn forth from Piotr at the memory of Alice's antics. He shakes his head as he takes that opportunity to step away from Lorelei who now moves off to tend to another group of young artists, her efforts apparently stymied for the moment. It leaves the Russian youth to step around behind the shoulders of not just Alice but Karrin as well, though he addresses the former first.
    "It was, indeed, a wild event. I am glad you seemed to enjoy yourself."
    But then he tilts his head to consider Karrin's efforts and he lifts his voice to her, "And good day to you, Miss Murphy." He naturally remembers the little dynamo of a woman as she had embarked on her art career with an enthusiasm that was infectious.
    "It seems you have made great progress." He crosses his arms over his broad chest as he looks on at the painting, eyebrows lifting as he perhaps tries to see what she is expressing, perhaps key to what emotions she may be conveying with her depiction of the city.

Red has posed:
Alice chuckles as she starts to mix colors on her pallet, white and black to get grey, then a tiny speck of blue and applying that onto the upper half of the painting in broad, quick strokes of the spatula, leaving behind a somewhat gloomy sky color without brush texture but rather smooth. In fact, she works away the notches over time as she smears the paint on rather thick.
But she isn't someone that can't talk while painting. "Well, 't was fun trying to get her down, but slipped the wrong moment. Anyway, was worth it to get some funds in for relief to the X-gene carriers that suffered from the Sentinels, though maybe some should also help out in trying to change the law situation. I hired someone in NY to try something like that. I mean, a lawyer to manage the lawsuit. Like, given him some initial funding for one."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
If Karrin has to pin an emotion to the city, it...isn't that easy at all, actually. She's unsure what emotion she's going for. It's more the art dictating emotions. Even so she listens to Red, and then Piotr then over to the instructor and shakes her head at the painting again. Looking at it again, she sighs. "It's missing....well......something" she muses, not quite able to put her finger on just what.

Murph sneaks a glance at Red, hoping to God the artist doesn't figure out who she is. Mostly since Murph was front and center in that cluster in Flatbush...great.

Colossus has posed:
    "It is good to work that avenue. All of the heroics of the world may not matter if the law of the land remains unchanged." At that Piotr nods as his gaze distances for a moment, thoughts shifted and reflecting. But then he holds up a hand, "But here perhaps for a time one can put aside the world." He looks toward Karrin as he considers her painting...
    "Put it aside and focus on what beauty we can find within each other, yes?" As he says those last few words his accent deepens a touch. But then he recovers with a smile.
    When Karrin admits that she feels something is... missing. Piotr reassesses her landscape and hrmms softly to himself. With her attempt it is unlikely discern what she means. But perhaps he can offer some insight. "When I first put brush to canvas, I often felt as if I was failing somehow. As if something was being lost in the translation of what I wanted to depict, and what was there before me."
    He rubs at his chin thoughtfully, then turns his head toward Karrin. "Until a friend of mine told me to go in with no expectations. And see what I had then."

Red has posed:
Alice works quick on the next mix of paint, first creating an even, somewhat browninsh paint to cover the ground area in before mixing in darker tints. Bit by bit shadows and hills are sculpted over the ground. Small hills in a row behind a dark crevice. A trench. Dirty green things, bottles, start to grow on the small hills as she works. Some building, almost grabable, starts to appear, the sides scorched black in some spots, the red roof broken in. It's not contemporary, that much the shape of helmets scattered onto the still barren ground tells, the pallet a mess of dark browns, greys and generally dirt colors.
"Oh, you know, legally there is little 'heroics'. Technically it's all vigilantism, or so says the law. It's jsut that the state attorneys have the disgression to decige not to go after some cases because they have too much to do, but they might change that any time..." Alice notes, the landscape on the picture having become pretty much a nightmare of The Grand War as she steps away to wipe her pallet clean. Or rather, what might be left after the fighting stopped.
She isn't done yet, because she reaches for the red and black bottle of paint again. Just pure black and red.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Karrin's right /there/ listening to this. She's agreeing, and speaks up, "Politics is a fool's game, anyhow. When you can't do your job because somebody gets butthurt you protected somebody else. Then politics wins out and everybody else loses" Murph says simply, watching Red for a moment, then she has an idea. Okay, can she...

Yes. Bats swarming over the city, a symbolism of the area's reputation, the odd strea of blood, and....hmm, what else is missing? Sure, she's borrowing colors now, but she's really getting into this painting lark. It's fun, and she'll make something she likes.

Colossus has posed:
    Sparing a glance for Alice, Piotr watches for a few moments as she works on her own painting and his lip twists upwards. He nods for a time but has no critique seemingly, though when his eyes slip away from her canvas to meet he eyes he tells her with a smile. "You are clearly not an amateur, Alice." And indeed, he remembered he name. So nice.
    But then he turns back and suddenly there are bats, bats everywhere and blood? His smile broadens and he looks between them.
    "Mr. Rasputin?" The clerk emerges from the back with the box of Piotr's order, setting it down with a faint /fwumpf/ and then moving to the register to start ringing him up. The young mutant takes that moment to start to slip away. "Forgive me for intruding, ladies. Perhaps we will speak again." He steps to the side and moves toward the front of the store.

Red has posed:
"Remembered my name, huh? I do Props for a living, so working with paints on something is somewhat a natural..." Alice notes, starting to mix some black into the red to start on touching up the ground. Soon it is spotted in red flowers. No, covered. Almost fully covered, swashes of poppies everywhere. The whole ground seemed to be overgrown in them, only parts of the trench and some bottles left free. Like... the whole thing is overgrown in poppies.
Alice isn't entirely silent... there's a little hum. Something sad... an old melody... In Flanders Fields, the poppies grow, between the crosses, row on row...

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Murph's done and dusted. Bloodhaven. She needs to darken the sky though, maybe a moon over in the corner. Okay so she's not done in thst. But she's not humming, either. Silent concentration as she adds a moon, then stares at the painting. How to darken the sky, hmm....hmm, darken it, maybe play up the reputation...

Hearing Alice, Karrin looks over to her, "Hey can I borrow that black a minute please?" she asks. Karrinn's got reason to ask. She needs it. Or something like it to, well, sort this painting out. It started as one thing. Turned into another

Red has posed:
Alice nods as she hands the black bottle over to Karrin, herself pretty much gone on to complete the poppies by giving them their characteristic black center. "Sure. Painting over with black to darken is harder than it looks though.

Colossus has posed:
    With the package secured, Piotr wanders back to the half-circle of the students. He adjusts his grip on the large cardboard box, tucking it under his arm though it's still fairly unwieldy. From within the confines of his jacket he produces a cellphone that he sweeps to life with the brush of a thumb as he turns to look at the others.
    "Here, if you have questions or thoughts, I can be reached here..." And with a push of an app icon he will allow their phones to take his information if so willing. Once that's done he nods to them and tucks the phone back into his jacket pocket even as he steps bck.
    "Until next time, take care of yourselfs, yes?"
    And with that he makes his way to the door.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Murph's solution is to.....just darken it a little. Handing the bottle back, Karrin nods. "You're not using a brush?" she asks, having heard Red's humming. "Why not?" she asks with a genuine spark of curiosity in those eyes.

Red has posed:
Alice takes out her phone a couple moments to exchange the contact with Colossus as he offers, handing him one of Murdock's buisiness cards too.
"Nah, Brushes are to work flat or onto dry paint. I want to give it some plasticity and work onto the wet paint. Like... have it come out of the plane into a relief a little." Alice answers to Karrin, the whole picture having a little more than a quarter of an inch depth between the different layers she applied thickly. "Different style."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Karrin nods, looking over Alice's picture. It's better than her one, but, hey. Karrin's a beginner after all. She shakes her head, listening. "Ah, well....see, I'm just a beginner,

Karrin nods, falling silent as she stutdies her painting, watching it as she sighs. "Now how am I gonna get this home?" she asks carefully.

Red has posed:
Alice says, "No idea. Let it dry and have it shipped? Or in the back of your car?" Alice asks, shrugging a little. She doesn't comment on the quality of paining. Art is subjectively. Her work is somewhat impressionistic, yet she was never in Flanders. It is a picture based on an impression formed by pictures."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Karrin nods, "I'll get it home. Somehow" she offers getting to her feet. With that, she's heading for the door and carefully, cautiously carrying her painting with her. Oh yeah she'll find a way home for it. Seee. Harry gets his painting. Murph gets to feel good. She's also been productive, so win, win.