Art of the Lows [Dale]

Subject: Art of the Lows [Dale] Fri Feb 02, 2018 3:01 pm

The Slums were such a curious place. A place most who didn't have to, didn't really want to set foot in, and yet, it was the place where every newcomer to Junction had to start at, even if only for a brief moment. It brought back memories. Crow still recalled some of his early Junction days that he had spent running around the streets of this place, in chase of whatever that could make him progress to a better vantage point. Nowadays, his reasons to come down here were clearly diminishing, and perhaps some would disapprove of a Top Warder wandering into the dirty looking places, but he found it somewhat freeing. Here, you didn't have to play the rule game as much as anywhere else after all.

Though, to be fair, this time he only came here due to being slightly absentminded as he took a refreshing speed walk after doing some office work, and found himself so near by, that he figured he may as well go and have a glance at how things were going down in the dumps. Pulling the earphones from his ears for now, to avoid getting unnecessarily spooked while listening to music, the ashen skinned man would languidly stride through the messy streets, occasionally taking a chomp out of the large apple in his hand. Until he eventually came to a large shaggy building, which had a big, red messy graffiti sprayed on it. That sight made him take a brief pause as he faced the wall, placing his free hand on it as he tried to figure out what exactly was scrawled on it. It looked vaguely like words...

"How artsy..."

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sat Feb 03, 2018 12:05 pm

Many a time, the apple in the junc-son's hand would have been all too tempting to try and grab. Not right now, though. These were the more public sections of the slum streets, and that aside, Dale had eaten enough to be getting by on for now anyway.
Instead, he found himself curious as to what had caught this person's attention. Yes, the wall had some colour on it but that wasn't really anything strange. So why?
He looked at the wall, actually paying attention to it for once. And as he looked over, he began to see a shape in the colour, curving lines forming into what approximated letters. He moved back, opened up his view...and he saw something he hadn't seen before, despite the numerous examples he had walked past before.
"What is this...?"

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sat Feb 03, 2018 12:46 pm

Having been distracted studying these very unusually written letters, Crow hadn't at first taken note of the fact that there was another person nearby. Ironically enough, considering he had originally been planning to pay attention while he was down here. You can never know who is doing what down in the Slums. Nevertheless, the slight lapse did indeed happen, and he was about to distractedly take another bite of his apple when a voice reached his ears, making him pause mid motion for a brief moment.

He wouldn't remain frozen up for long though, as he soon turned around, his free hand automatically raised in a 'hello' gesture as he took in the man who decided to join him in inspecting the decorated wall. "Hey there man. I guess you have no idea either, huh?" Not that he was too surprised, as only the one who created this piece of art would know what it was meant to represent for sure.

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:23 pm

He'd managed to draw attention to himself...never a thing he liked, but in this case, he could live with it. Just as much as the location stopped him trying anything, it kept them from doing stuff too. It was one of the few things about being in public places that didn't fray at his nerves constantly.
Still didn't mean he liked them.

Unsure how to respond, Dale repeats the gesture he was sent, exactly as he saw it. "...no? I've never seen something like this." He looks the sprawling graffiti up and down, keeping one eye on Crow as he does. "Why is this here? Where did it come from?"

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:37 pm

Lowering his arm, Crow would place it on his hip as he cocked his head to the side slightly with a mild contemplative expression. "Oh, I guess they're not common these days then?" To be fair, the Slums were a large area, and kept constantly expanding, so he couldn't claim to really know it too well, especially since he only happened to come down here once in a while. Thooooughhh, this guy could just be a recent newcomer. Heck if there was any way to tell just by seeing a person. Anyone could potentially be a new citizen, considering this world's strange habit of eating people for breakfast.

Glancing at the red spray paint briefly again, and then back at the man, he would hum lightly. "Perfect questions. I was wondering that too. Kinda just passed by and saw this though, so I have no idea man. I'd guess someone was bored and painted this here though. I wouldn't be surprised by the Slums having a number of vandals frolicking around like flocks of birds.", he would state with a short laugh, seemingly amused by the whole idea.

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sat Feb 03, 2018 2:12 pm

"I...don't know?" He looked back to the man. "There might be more? Just didn't notice before." And wasn't that strange to think about? They were so big, and strange, and colourful. By all means, they should have been very noticeable, easy to see when you were near one.
But then again, when you were looking for places to hide, people in hiding, and things to grab, it might be understandable to see a wall over what was on it.

This whole thing was strange to Dale. The person before him just....didn't seem to care that he was there. Instead, he had questions. Like he did, so often. They were even thinking about the same things right now.
A couple of things caught his attention out of that. A word that sounded like it was how this got here, and another that sounded like people. The rest weren't as important, right now. "What is 'painting', exactly? And what are 'vandals'?"

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sat Feb 03, 2018 3:29 pm

Huh. The ash skinned man would twirl the half eaten apple in his hand. "I see. Being distracted. That's one way to go too." He couldn't even say much, as he just did the same exact thing moments ago when he managed to not notice the guy until he spoke. Booya. Guess it comes round and back.

Things. But yeah, it wasn't that he didn't care the guy was there, but he just didn't particularly mind as long as he wasn't being harrassed to no end or some shit like that. Wasn't like he could order people to stop existing within a certain reach of him, as much as he would admit there were moments he was tempted to, just to get some much needed peace of mind for once. People were like annoying flies that never leave you alone in some cases. When the man asked him to define his word choices, Crow would blink a few times at first, slightly surprised at where this was going. It was...a strange occurrence for someone to not know words, even though the word vandal he could see, but on second thought...anything could happen in this place. Nevertheless, it was still a bit of a novelty surprise. Crow would scratch his cheek lightly with the index finger of his free hand, as he thought about this. "Hmmm, well a painting is like...when you draw colorful stuff onto some solid surface. In simple terms, I guess. Vandals are the kinds of people that cause trouble and destroy or mess with other people's properties. That help?"

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sun Feb 04, 2018 12:09 am

After a moment, Dale nods. "...yes, it does. I...I don't even have to ask what most of what you're saying means."
Its something akin to a religious experience for Dale. Rarely did things make sense at first explanation, let alone so completely as this time. It's entirely novel.
The feeling goes as swiftly as it came, bringing Dale back down to earth. Once more, his gaze runs over the sprawling graffiti, taking in its shapes and its intricacies. And as he looks over it, processing what he just learned, for a brief moment he finds himself detached from the usual plague of persistent terror that had come to hang over so much of his life. From inside his jacket, a little artificial dog clambers onto his shoulder, and looks with him.
As the two of them look on, one of Dale's hands coming up idly to pet the dog that found its way to his shoulder, for once he finds himself with a question with less to do with his lack of knowledge or his survival. "How do I paint things like that...?"

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sun Feb 04, 2018 6:36 pm

...success? Well, Crow wasn't about to complain about that. He certainly wouldn't consider himself a teacher or any of the like. Thus it was a mild surprise that this went as smoothly as it had. Perhaps it was him being used to social situations that contributed to this? Or his choice of words? Not that he had any real idea, but overthinking it wouldn't bring him much clarity. Offering the man a languid smile, Crow would respond in an easygoing tone. "That's great. I usually don't do this often, so I wasn't sure if I did a good job at first." Hmm, how badly can one fail at explaining simple things though...?

Yellow surrounded eyes would blink as a small machine-like dog suddenly wiggled out of the other's clothes, though before he could process that and pose a proper question, there was one being thrown his way instead. Crow would hum under his breath as he tried to come up with a decent answer to that, tossing the leftovers of his apple up and down with his hand. "Well, the simplest way would probably be to look for a place that sells painting tools and colors you could use. The rest is kinda up to your own imagination. You could draw anything you like." Technically....at least. Skill was sometimes needed too, but that was a category of its own, right? "You got a nice pet, by the way.", he'd add as an afterthought.

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sun Feb 04, 2018 7:18 pm

"No..." He shakes his head, not entirely there. "You're fine. No shouting. No saying bad stuff, or trying to get the chasing people. No new words. Just...you say, I know now. It's good."

Dale's gaze returns to Crow as he answers a question he hadn't expected him to answer, listening attentively while Chip continues to stare at the graffiti. "Right..." That mostly made sense...it was another thing that needed money, though. He hoped it wouldn't cost a lot. Like clothes. Clothes always costed lots. Though, there was one thing there he needed to make sure he had before going as far as that. "Imagination?"

"Pet...?" For a moment, he looked confused, until he followed Crow's gaze to the pooch on his shoulder, now looking at Dale with his little tail wagging. He barked as Dale's eyes met his display.
Dale looked back to Crow a little more wary after that, tilting the shoulder bearing the pup away from the person nearby. "...yes. Been with me a long time."

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sun Feb 04, 2018 7:39 pm

That was a slightly odd way of speaking, that's for sure. "Heh, I can work with that. Chasing people though? Something happened around here recently?" He was actually kind of curious, even though he wasn't quite sure what the man meant by those words. Regardless, it was something that piqued his interest for the moment, and while he didn't frequent the Slums daily, hearing about what was going on never hurt in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps it was a habit, as he used to gather all kinds of information back when he was stuck in the low society positions himself.

That aside...uh. "I mean...like, things you can think of. You know, you could think of some sort of animal in your mind, and then draw that for example." This one was a little bit harder to simplify, but he gave his best attempt. Oddly, it was almost like having a talk with a young kid, despite the fact that this guy here definitely didn't look the age. But hey, appearances could be deceiving here in Junction, so Crow wasn't going to scratch that possibility away just yet.

The Chimera man would offer a cheeky grin, his sharp teeth poking out slightly, as he tried to 'bark' at the strange doggy. "Woof?" Yeah right, great impersonation, definitely. He would have his free hand though. "No worries though. I just thought he looked cute." For a machine thingy, at least. He didn't see pets too often, strangely. Guess people were not focused on that. Or maybe it was the fact that here even animals could be fully independent beings..? Hmm...

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:05 pm

"No, no, nothing happened. I think? Just..." He seems deep in thought. "'Police'. Those people. Didn't have them, before...still learning about them. They act weird. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but not like what I'm used to."

Dale nods. So that's what it was. Made sense. He could do that.
Admittedly, he didn't know what they meant by an 'animal', he'd heard that one a lot...best not to ask more there, just in case. He could learn that himself.

For a moment, Dale just blinks at Crow after his impression, the cogs turning in his mind...metaphorically, of course. His eyes open wide, realising what it was they were doing, and he starts to giggle with childish delight. By the end of it, there's a rare smile on his face. "Chip does it better."
As he calls Chip cute, he remembers the last time he heard the word, and takes him in hands to look at him well. The little dog yips, tail wagging away, and he finds himself realising just what Julie meant before. "...yeah. He is." He lifts Chip up again, and sets him on his head, where the synthetic pup wastes no time making himself comfortable.

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:40 pm

"Oh right, guess that might be a thing down here." To be honest, Crow didn't know a whole lot about Junction's police forces. It wasn't like he ever tried to get in their way or speak to them for no reason. What they actually did when on duty was largely a mystery to him as well. Thus he had nothing big to comment in terms of whether their acts were good or bad in the end.

"Heh." Looks like his attempt at 'talking' to the little one came of as funny. Well, that was fine. Being entertaining was kind of his job anyhow, even though that's not what he came down here to do originally. It was still a plus point to see people had fun, however. "Guess I'd need more practice." And he'd also need a different set of vocal chords, but that was currently irrelevant. Sticking his free hand into the pocket of the jacket he was wearing as the man observed his pet, Crow would tilt his head with a wistful smile. "It's a nice thing to have good company with you."

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:54 pm

Company...? Ah. He...he thought he could guess that. And then...yeah. His eyes drifted up, as if to look at the top of his head...and a little more than they probably should have been able to, honestly. "It is. I...don't know what I'd do without him." The twinkling of his eyes fades a little. "Company...company is good. Only company I have. Ever had."
Fight. Run. Hide. Take. Hide. Move. Take. Fight.
Alone before. Then only Chip. Only one that came with him. Only one that never hurt him.
"...nothing like Chip."

Subject: Re: Art of the Lows [Dale] Sun Feb 04, 2018 9:58 pm

Crow would half-grin at that answer. This guy seemed quite attached to his little friend there. It was quite an interesting thing. Maybe he should look into getting a pet later too? They were such interesting beings. Albeit with his life, he probably wouldn't be able to devote enough time to it. Bummer. Not that he needed a reminder of his woes right now..heh. "You two are close, eh? Take good care of him then. Losing comrades is never a good experience." Unless you were a killer or sociopath/psychopath yourself. In which case, kudos to you.

» Asking Around (Dale)
» Like a Lost Cat [Dale]
» Twice as Clueless [Tiny Tin/Dale]
» Fear the Repair (Dale)
» Every Little Helps [Cassiel/Dale]