Day 43: Arts & Crafts Room, Third Shift

[euphemise]

The princess felt a little better after her talk with Soma. It cheered her up to have made a friend - from what she was quickly learning about this place, the more friends you had, the better off you were. It gave her a little more hope, after what had been said about the Head Doctor. And if there was anything in this world she was good at doing,

Comments

[jokers_wildcard]

After impromptu drawing session via salad dressing, Harley was suddenly really in the mood to finger paint again. So when her grouch nurse came to collect her and asked where she'd like to go 'relax,' she didn't have to think it over very long.

Ahhh! It's been a while since she'd come here to paint. It was one of her very favorite rooms! The people here already had everything all set up at a few of the tables just for people who wanted to paint. The different paints were in the middle of the table and a bunch of paper was organized here and there so people could just sit down and get to work. The set up was kind of military for her tastes, but eh. Take what you can get, right?

So Harley did exactly that: she plopped down in a seat and slid a sheet or two in front of her. Then she dipped two fingers into the red paint and got to work.

[heeere Spidey, Spidey, Spidey~]

[jokers_wildcard]

Harley continued to smear the mess across the paper, bringing her face close to the page and sticking her tongue out on in concentration. Red and white and side to side and loopty-loop and back again. ...Nnnnn... Okay!

She pulled her hands away and reached for the green paint. It was here she finally noticed the other kid sitting at the table now. She'd looked at him just in time to see that washout of a fake smile he threw at her before staring down at the paper in front of him. Her whole body froze - body hunched forward, arm stretched toward the paints - like someone had hit the pause button. And like that she simply stared at him like she was somehow unable to comprehend his presence. Wow. This guy...

"...It's not gonna paint itself, ya know," she said, still frozen and looking positively bewildered.

[jokers_wildcard]

What the... heck? She settled back in her chair, and tilted her whole body in a ninety degree angle in an attempt to get a look at the face he was trying to hide in his hands. Yikes... Was he actually crying? "Whoa, there, kiddo! Don't get all mopey on me. It ain't that bad."

I mean, okay. It actually was pretty pathetic that he'd never painted before in his whole life, but it wasn't the end of the world or anything. Jeez-la-weez. Talk about a big ball of stress! Just look at him. Poor guy was gonna explode.

Harley sat up straight again, somewhat annoyed. Even so, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the little guy. So she was resolved to help him out. That gray, barren lifestyle they force-fed society into living really did stuff to people's mind after a while. Poor kid just needed a some fun; you know, a little zest in life. And that was something Harley could most certainly do

[jokers_wildcard]

"Come on! Don't be so serious. Loosen up!" There was absolutely no outward sign of her having heard a single word he'd just said. Mainly because nothing he'd said was worth paying attention to. Live without painting? Yeah, sure. It sounded simple when he said it like that, but this wasn't about painting. Paints were just an outlet.

Both hands were on the boys shoulders now. The grip was light, but it somehow seemed like she was holding him in place. She grinned down at him. "Don't you listen to what they say 'bout starving artists, 'kay? First off, you just had brunch, didn't you?" She pulled her attention away from the kid and looked down at the paints, hoping he would follow her gaze and feel a bit of excitement at his first ever painting session. "You can't paint stuff when yer all mopey, got it? You gotta get loose. Liven up. You're supposed to be havin' fun here, right

[jokers_wildcard]

The smile faded a little at that response and she stared at him quietly, like he'd just said something in a foreign language. Then she slapped a palm to her forehead with an "Oy!"

Jeez. This guy just didn't get it, did he? What, was he waiting for an invitation or something? Oh well. Maybe she should have figured that a kid wound up this tight would be no good at just plunging in. He was so shy, it hurt. He was probably worried about get his poor little fingers all dirty. He was probably some super pampered kid who never did anything like this before. Look how hopeless he was! What was with that face?!

She guessed Mopey just needed a little nudge, that first step before he could keep going. "Come on! Don't be shy! Not like it's gonna hurt you or anything!" Harley grabbed one one of the boy's wrists, pulled it forward, and forcefully shoved his whole palm right into the blue paint. She laughed. "See? Squishy!"

It's on now~

[jokers_wildcard]

It happened in an instant. One second, she was introducing Mopey to apparently foreign world of dirty hands, and the next, something squirted up and smacked her right in the face. Harley blinked for a second, uncomprehending. The blue paint and splattered straight up the center of her face and a bit of her bangs, creating a dividing line that would make even Two-Face jealous.

But even more surprising was the boy started to... laugh. He was actually laughing. More than that, he was going at it pretty hard. Who would have thought a big ball of nerves like this could laugh so hard? The sight was enough to get Harley giggling herself. And soon both of them were laughing heartily, like Mr. J had just gassed the place.

Oh, this was great! This was just great! She hadn't gotten to laugh for real for so, sooo long. Now, for just a few moments, Harley felt like a real person again. Like she was back home. Like everything was back to being normal. It was such a nice feeling. She was so happy

You're out of your league, Petey Boy~

[jokers_wildcard]

Oh! He was quick! He was out of that chair and throwing a glob back before she had much time to react. Luckily, she didn't care much about getting dirty, so she didn't even bother trying to defend. The paint smacked her right in the chin and splattered onto her neck and shirt, staining the little happy face with droplets of red.

Still laughing, Harley reached out and grabbed two handfuls of yellow and green paint; one for now one for later. She threw the yellow gob his way and ran around the table trying to catch up to him. If she managed to catch him, she was rubbing that green piece right in the kiddo's face~

So apparently when Spiderman dances, he slips and falls? Accurate.

[jokers_wildcard]

Bwahahahaha~ Gotcha now!

Harley practically pounced, a devilish smile on her face. She brought her green covered hand out to playfully grind into his face, but the guy reached out to hold her back. His hand got her in the cheek, holding her back so she couldn't exactly reach enough to do that. But she reached her hand out for his face regardless.

The end result was the two were now both shoving at each other's cheeks, cackling like hyenas. Still keeping her hand where it was, Harley attempted to hold the guy in place with one hand and reached her free hand for the paints in the center of the table, trying to reach some before he could. She was going to permanently paint a smile on that face~