Misfits and Hobbies

Dolores's shoulder was killing her. Not that she was surprised; her dad had hurt his shoulder at work yesterday, so she naturally volunteered to take the pain from him, and, naturally, he accepted. Even with her being used to pain, she still suffered from it. She tried to roll it, relax the muscles, anything, but it wasn't helping. A rattling could be heard from the side pocket as she adjusted her backpack to sit on the other shoulder, a reminder that she could always take one of her oxycodone pills. The doctor had prescribed them for this purpose...
She wrestled with herself. She knew she was already dependent on them, borderline addicted, but fuck her shoulder was killing her. Her pace quickened down the street as she thought, a sign of her anxiety, but finally she decided to give into it. She pulled up her hoodie to try and obscure her identity just that much more and ducked into an alleyway between some bakery and knick-knack shop. Head down as she power walked out of sight of the street, she slung her backpack off her shoulder and started to fumble with the side pocket of her bag, pulling out the pill bottle. Her shaking fingers struggled with the safety cap, causing her to grunt in frustration at the obnoxious orange bottle. "C'mon... Stupid fucking..."

Yeah, this spot was going to do nicely! Ray moved over to the fine wall and traced his hand alongside it. It was smooth, the paint was going to adhere to the wall and keep the colors and lines vibrantly. Grinning, Ray lifted up his hood and glasses. After that, he put on a small bandanna over his mouth to make sure that no paint chemicals were breathed in. After that, he began to tape up various cardboard cutouts, beginning to spray over them and created an image.

It took quite some time, but as he was on the last piece, he was adding on just the last highlight part of his work. "There we go" Ray said to himself as he pulled back, smiling at his lovely design. It was a space background, mainly black with some dark blues and purples to really showcase a nebula, and thousands of tiny stars. Ray just sighed to himself as he looked at it. He always got in to his own head while he was working, so much that he didn't even realize someone else had entered the alley...

Finally! Dolores opened the bottle and quickly shook two pills out. She was only supposed to take one, but she really didn't care at this particular moment. She twisted the cap back onto the bottle and raised her hand to take the pills. It was only when she looked up to take the pills that she saw him, a young man in a hoodie, glasses, and hiding his face with bandanna. She let out a sharp shout of surprise and took a step back. "Oh, fuck!" She blinked at him, frozen like a deer in the headlights. He almost looked like someone from East Diamond with his getup; combined with the fresh paint behind him, it was safe to assume that whoever this guy was, he didn't exactly have much regard for rules.
And here she was holding a pill bottle less than twenty feet from him.
Dolores stood there, her eyes wide behind her glasses, silently panicking as she stared at the boy, unsure how to react.

Ray froze for a second, unsure of how to move forward. He slowly turned his head, looking over to see a girl standing aside from him and staring at him. Glancing back to his art, he looked back over to the girl for a moment as he just lifts his hands as if he was surrendering. "Listen...no one got hurt and no harm was done...no need to tell anyone about any of this right?" Ray asks. He didn't remove any of his gear, as he still didn't want to reveal himself that well in case this girl was going to rat him out.

Dolores let out a small sigh of relief as he raised his hands. She nodded. "Yeah, of course. No harm, no foul and all." She shrugged and laughed, partially out of nervousness and partially out of relief. As she did, she quickly tucked the pill bottle into the pocket of her hoodie. It took another deep breath to calm her down, but when she did, she cautiously took a step closer to him, looking up at the wall. "You did this?" She asked tentatively.

Okay, she seemed to be cool and understanding of what was going on. Ray lowered his hand as she came a little closer. Turning to his art, he gave a small smile as he could tell that she was curious about his work. "Yeah, been working on it for a little while, but I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think?" he asked curiously, wondering if she could actually appreciate this kind of artistic representation. Ray rarely got to take credit for his street art like this, so he was curious how she perceived it.

She nodded numbly. "It's... Beautiful." Dolores said after a moment. "You must've been out here for hours doing this." She carefully lowered her hood and brushed her short bangs out from her glasses, tracing over the rolls of the nebula with her grey eyes. She had all but forgotten about the pain in her shoulder. "Honestly, this is... Really, really fuckin' impressive." She let out a short laugh.

"Not hours at a time, I would come out for almost an hour every day, so it took me about a week honestly" Ray acknowledged as he looked over his work and crossed his arms. Smiling, he leaned back against the wall before remembering he needed to put away his materials. After all, it was no crime to just admire a piece of art, but it was a crime to stand in front of one with your spray paint still out. He quickly began to put the cans and materials away, looking back over to Dolores as she was still looking at the piece. "We should probably walk away....just to be safe"

Dolores blinked as he suggested they walk away. Without putting much thought into it, she nodded and casually started to walk towards him. She paused a moment when she saw him again and cracked a nervous smile. "Uh... I-if you don't mind, any chance you could at least take off the bandanna? My parents worry about me enough without me hanging out with masked men in allies." She chuckled nervously, the pain in her shoulder slowly resurfacing in her mind.

"Hmm? Oh right, sorry" Ray says as he pulls off the bandanna and slips it in to his pocket. After that he dropped the hood and pulled the glasses off. Looking normal was much less suspicious than walking around like you were about to rob a place. Thankfully, at this point they were now walking enough away that no one would probably pinpoint him as the tagger. "Thanks for not shouting or anything. You'd be surprised how freaked out people get if they see me working. One time I actually had to hide in a dumpster just to avoid getting caught"

Dolores laughed at his story. "Oh, don't worry about it. I can understand people thinking you're something that you're not. Besides, you seem pretty chill." She eyed him up and down again, now without the obstructions. "Weird question, do you go to Alabaster High School? I think I recognize you from there." She adjusted her ripped jeans and smiled at him, feeling mostly relaxed.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, we haven't really done official introductions have we?" Ray realized. Coming around another corner, he was certain that they were out of any potential danger. Now they were just two kids hanging out. Ray stuck out a hand. "Ray, Ray Easel" he said. If she recognized him from the school there was really no point in hiding his name from her. "I have to admit I'm surprised you recognize me. I usually do what I can to keep a lower profile"

Dolores shrugged. "I do, too, usually. But being a wallflower means you get to see pretty much everything. I'm Dolores Agony." She smiled and pulled her hand out of her pocket to shake his hand, but as she did she accidentally pulled out the pill bottle, causing it to clatter to the ground as they shook. Her face went bright red and she pulled her hand back, quickly scooping it up and stuffing it back in her pocket, along with the two stray pills she got out in the alleyway. Once again she stood stock still for a moment, unsure of how to react, unsure how Ray would react.

"You're probably more observant than I am" Ray admitted after shaking the girl's hand. "Me? I'm usually too focused on my projects to notice anything around me. Believe me, it's caused problems on far more than one occasion" Ray acknowledged. After shaking Dolores' hand, he glanced down and noticed the pill bottle. Ray wasn't much for medical knowledge, so from the brief glance of the label he couldn't make much of what it was. "Sick?" was all he asked as he looked back up to the girl in front of him.

Dolores took a deep breath and shrugged. "K-kind of. Depends on who you ask, I guess." She muttered. "I'm a super. My power, uh... It... It can cause me a lot of physical pain, so the doctors prescribed me pain killers." With the cat out of the bag, she grabbed the stray pills from her pocket and quickly downed them, lowering her head slightly to avoid direct eye contact. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't go around telling people about it."

"Wow, that sucks" Ray said rather simply. Scratching the back of his head for a moment, he just gave a shrug. "None of my business to tell anyone. It'd be a pretty dick move after you just avoided shouting and telling anyone what I was up to" he pointed out. "Super though huh? Gotta admit I wouldn't guess it by looking, but most people would probably say the same thing about me" Ray admits with a small smile. "Don't worry, I won't say anything to anyone"

She looked up and offered him a weak smile. "Guess that's fair, then. We both know a secret about each other." She laughed and relaxed again; she could already feel her pills working, and Ray seemed very chill about everything. "So you're a super too? Lemme guess, it has something to do with that kickass mural you can make, huh? I mean, I've seen good street art, but that's on a whole different level of awesome."

"Related, though not directly" Ray admitted before glancing around. It wasn't like it was possible for his power to hurt anyone in its current state. Pulling out another panel, he started to spray an intricate ward on the ground with various colors. It took a while, but he soon pulled it back and looked up to Dolores. "Start moving through it, I promise it won't hurt but you gotta see what it does to fully understand"

Dolores watched as he worked, clearly fascinated by how well he could make something so intricate so fast. When he asked her to move through it, she shot him an incredulous look. "You're serious?" She laughed and shrugged. "Fuck it. Why not?" She casually walked towards him at a normal walking pace, and immediately noticed its effects as she went through it. "H-holy..." Her legs seemed like they were made of solid concrete; they simply would not cooperate with her. She managed to drag herself to the other side of it, and looked back at the sigil, still not feeling quite like herself. She turned back to him and offered a half smile before bursting into laughter. "That's a helluva thing there!" She exclaimed, laughing again. "Remind me not to piss you off, Ray. At least not when you have enough time to set up for me." Dolores cracked a wise-ass grin.

Ray just have an embarrassed smile as Dolores was being so complimentary of his work. "You're far too kind. Sadly, that's really all I can do. It slows people down, but not that useful for actual fighting. It's saved me from getting caught a few times, but if someone jumped over it, it's useless" he admitted.

Dolores shrugged and grinned. "Not every power has to be used for fighting. There's more to the world than hurting and getting hurt. This is real life, after all, not a comic book." She laughed and took a deep breath, leaning her head back and smiling, the sun feeling so nice on her face. Yeeeeaaaah, shouldn't have taken two. She thought to herself; as nice as this felt, it wasn't healthy for her. She shook her head and came back to reality. "And besides, it helps you do what you do. So who cares if it's not super flashy?"

"Yeah I know you're right. My parents just want me more involved with that after school program" Ray thought out loud. "I think they mainly want to just make sure that I'm not getting in trouble" he admitted. "It's why I volunteer with the drama department. I'm their main artist when it comes to creating their backgrounds"

Dolores nodded. "I've been meaning to enroll in that program too. See if I can figure out how to work this safely." She shrugged, then grinned over at Ray. "I don't see why your parents are worried, though. I mean, you don't seem like a troublemaker at all." A light laugh escaped her. She looked up at the sky again; she was having trouble keeping up with her thoughts. After a moment of silence, she looked over at Ray. "I'm hungry. Wanna join me for a bite?"

"You know, I showed you my power but you didn't really explain what yours was exactly" Ray pointed out as they continued to walk together. She had mentioned that it involved pain somehow, but that was rather vague. "Food sounds fantastic actually" he admitted as he thought about it. "Where would you like to eat?"

"I could really go for a burger at Eddie's Eats." She said somewhat dreamily. When Ray asked about her power, her smile slowly faded. "It's... Complicated. Well, not really, it's simple, it's just..." She took a breath to compose herself, thinking about how to explain it. She sighed and stopped walking. "It might be easier to show you, too. Roll up your sleeve and show me your arm. This might hurt for a second, fair warning."