One Stroke at a Time

Ray put on his headphones, making sure they were snug before hitting the play button on his music player. The headphones were Bluetooth, giving Ray a full range of motion to work while he listened to his noise. It wasn't music, just noise. Today Ray decided to go for something more forest like and tranquil. He wanted some inspiration from nature when it came to what he was designing today. Ray was a prop guy, but rather than moving things around he actually got to create. Ray was allowed to channel of love of art in to making backdrops and decorating objects for production. Normally this was limited to simple background images and other things. However, the school was now putting on a musical version of Alice in Wonderland. Ray was not a fan of musicals, but he appreacited the chance to show off his work.

He worked with a myriad of blues, greens, and a bit of pink for balance as he pained wonderful landscapes. Along with his headphones, Ray had on a black bandanna that covered his mouth along with a thick pair of black glasses. While a part of this was protection for his mouth and eyes, it was also a clear way for him to avoid eye contact with anyone else. He had his sound and his work, the rest would come along naturally. He didn't even hear anyone else enter the room as he created background after background.

The school was putting on Alice in Wonderland, and they were currently rehearsing one of the songs done by the Queen of Hearts and her court, something the twins, who played the Tweedles, were not a part of. Seeing as they had a significant period of time before they were needed for rehearsal and they already had all of their lines memorized, they made their way backstage to the crew shop to see how the set was coming along. They often enjoyed this part of the rehearsal process; they found it amusing to antagonize whichever poor student got stuck doing this task, as few of them had ever been very talented. Today, however, as they entered the room, they were surprised to see that the set looked surprisingly beautiful. They stood in the entrance, fingers lightly entwined with one another as they always were, watching the student work. He was spray painting, and free form at that, making the entire thing that much more impressive.
"It seems that we finally have someone of competency working back here, good brother." Yin Equilan said to her brother, Yang.
"He's very impressive indeed, sweet sister." Yang added, lightly shifting his raven bangs out of his face.
The two slowly and carefully approached the student as he worked, careful not to disturb him, but trying to get a closer look at what he was doing. As they drew closer, hard-soled shoes clicked loudly on the concrete floor, and their shadows slowly inched onto the backdrop. They said nothing to the student, simply watched his work unfold.

Ray was normally pretty good at tuning out anyone while he worked. However, when he was left alone long enough it became easier to tell when someone was approaching him. As he continued to touch up a particularly large mushroom Ray began to hear some sounds behind him, clearly the sounds of someone approaching him. As he looked to his work he also saw two shadows standing behind him. Strange...Ray had only heard one set of footprints.

Ray turned around, his face still entirely obscured by his glasses and bandanna as he saw them. Ah...the twins, that explained it. Ray had seen and heard of them before, though he never had the challenge of facing them himself. The twins had a reputation for being rather rude and bratty towards anyone that they thought worked poorly. It was at this moment that Ray realized they were here to critique his work. He glanced from them to the background before removing the glasses and bandanna.

"I'd normally wait for my work to be done before someone speaks of it, but go ahead since I can tell you want to. What do you think?" Ray asked as he stepped away so they could see it all. He just stood there and waited, knowing the criticism would come moments later.

The twins stopped holding hands and both crouched down in unison to get a bit closer to the work. They folded their hands between their knees as they squatted down, and a light smile appeared on both of their faces; not the half smile they had when they were having fun antagonizing someone, but a genuine smile of appreciation of art. "I must say, this is coming along very well." Yin said softly. "I'm genuinely impressed with the backdrops this time around. Wouldn't you agree, dear brother?"
"Wholeheartedly, loving sister. The art style goes very well with the theme of the show." Yang replied. He turned to Ray, his eyes so dark they almost seemed black. "You're new to the drama program, obviously, otherwise we'd be back here expecting this kind of work. But we were expecting some sub-par scribbles. Can we have your name, please?"

This was unexpected. Ray had never heard the stories of the twins complimenting or appreciating anyone. A part of him suspected that this was some kind of a set up, but at the same time they were hitting him with flattery about his work. It was an easy way to get Ray smiling and in a good mood. "My name is Ray, but you can call me Sketch if you'd prefer. That's the name I'd rather go by if I had a choice anyway" he admitted.

"You two are playing the tweedle twins in the show right?" Ray asked, remembering someone mentioning something along those lines. "Some of my finished work is in the back, I have one or two backgrounds of shots you two will be in if you want to see them" he offered.

The twins raised their eyebrows at the same time, seeming excited at the prospect of viewing the backdrops of the scenes they'd be in. They smiled somewhat excitedly and nodded in unison. "That would be wonderful, Sketch." Yin exclaimed. The twins stood up together. "Also, so we don't forget, this is my wonderful brother, Yang Equilan." Yin said, lightly gesturing to her brother.
Yang gave a light bow. "And this is my perfect sister, Yin Equilan." He added when he stood upright. She gave a curtsy when her brother introduced her, and, with introductions out of the way, the loosely held hands again, eager to follow Ray to his completed works.

"A pleasure to meet both of you, just come right this way. They're in storage since they take up so much space. They'll pull them out only a few days before the show, but I'm sure you knew that" Ray said as he realized he was starting to ramble. Whenever someone really wanted to discuss his art it was hard for him to keep a filter up, he would just keep talking even if the information was obvious.

The artist took them to a nearby room and unlocked it with a set of keys. He opened the door and turned on the light, allowing the twins to head in and see five or six more backgrounds in the same style that they had already seen. "Ah, here's my favorite one actually" Sketch said as he tapped lightly on one of them. Much like the others it was a forest scene, though there were a far greater amount of strange creatures and plants in this one than the others. "I had a lot of fun designing the creatures on this one, took me a while to get it all right"

The twins stepped forward, heads cocked slightly as they inspected the piece. They extended their hands slightly as though about to touch it, but their hands stopped about a foot away. In the air, their fingers traced along the paths of the lines in the wood, over the interesting creatures. The two for a moment seemed to forget that Ray was there. "Sketch seems a bit more competent than the last few people who were a part of this program, don't you think, good sister?"
"That's most certainly an understatement, silly brother. He's got some true talent..."
"I agree as always, sister."
The heads of the twins seemed to move at the same time as their eyes moved across the piece, almost mechanically. After a moment, their heads turned to Ray. "You did this all with spray paint, yes?" Yin asked.

"The far majority of it" Ray admitted as he looked over his work. "The spray paint makes all of the color, sometimes I use easels or other materials I find lying around to help make an effect, it's hard to explain" Ray said with a small laugh as he was trying to be modest about his work without getting too excited. IT was rare for someone to really take the time and appreciate it. Most people just saw it as an annoying side project...

Of course most other people were giving Ray a hard time because he was caught creating grafitti.

"At any rate, I'm glad that you two enjoy it. I must have about sixty different sprays I used to work on this one alone. Alice in Wonderland is a pretty trippy story, so I didn't want any two scenes to look identical. I wanted everything to be different, like its own fingerprint"

The twins turned their heads back to the piece, their eyes fixed on the art. "Impressive." They whispered in unison.
Yang turned back to him after another minute of viewing the piece. "Well, you've certainly done a fantastic job of making them noticeably different."
"Indeed. I think you've very well accomplished what it was you set out to do." Yin agreed, turning as well. The two walked over to him. "Well, we probably shouldn't keep you from continuing your work." She extended a hand to shake. When Ray took it, she would bend down slightly and kiss his hand.
"It's been a true pleasure to meet such a talented artist. We hope to see a great deal more of you." Yang said, extending his hand as well. Like his sister, when Ray shook his hand, he bent down and kissed Ray's hand as well.

Well Ray hadn't been expecting that. While a blush came to mind when Yin kissed his hand, it almost immediately disappeared when Yang did it. These two really did everything together didn't they? Still, Ray couldn't help but feel appreciative and flattered by their compliments. The Twins very rarely spoke to others like this, and Ray felt like he could offer them something.

"Hold a moment" Ray said before turning and trotting over to the twins. "You know I can do commissions. I normally charge for them, but since you two seem to appreciate the work so much, I think the least I can do is create something for free"

The twins' eyebrows raised excitedly when he offered to make something for them. The thought of having some fantastic piece of art to call their own would be... Fantastic. They turned to each other and smiled. "Well... We've always enjoyed the night sky." Yin said.
"Do you think you could do something with that?" Yang asked.
"And don't just do something boring like the stars and the moon. We'd like..."
The two paused for a moment, then in unison said, "Something more..."
"I'm sorry if that's not much direction..." Yin said somewhat apologetically.
"But you seem to be creative and clever enough." Yang added.
The two smiled, and turned their heads back to the stage; it seemed that the cast was getting the hang of the number, and they'd be needed soon. "And don't worry about making it for free. As much as art is meant to be appreciated, the artist should be too." Yin explained.
"And it's not like it's much of anything to us to pay. Father is very wealthy." Yang smiled.

"Night sky, not with the stars or moon, well it's not a normal request but I'm sure that I can come up with something. Give me a few days time, I'll get it to you. And if you insist on paying then I will let you determine the worth once you view it. I will not charge you a large amount for a piece if you only barely enjoy it" Sketch insisted before giving them a small thumbs up.

"I'm going to be here the next several days to make sure the rest of the backdrops are perfect before rehearsals start. Just come visit whenever you wish, I'll present it to you once it's ready"

The twins smiled at Ray. "We look forward to seeing what you can do." Yin said.
"And we will certainly come by whenever we can." Yang added.
Their heads turned to the stage; it sounded like they had finished the song, which meant the twins needed to be in position very soon. They turned back to Ray and bowed slightly. "Until next time, however, we must go." They said in unison, and quickly made their way off to the stage.