Artistic Talents

Ray was at his studio, a personal area the drama department allowed him to work on their backgrounds and other commissions. Today, Ray was working on a beautiful cityscape for the recent production of "Cats" that the school would be performing. Humming to himself, he was working on the minute details of the windows and beautiful lights of the city. This one had taken him longer than usual, it was too important to rush or mess up on.

Hearing a feint noise, Ray turned his head and saw too familiar individuals. Finishing up the window hecwas on, he put his cans down and removed his goggles and face mask. "Well well, came to offer some more pointers? Or did you want to see how this one was progressing? You two have a big scene in it, don't you?" Ray asked the twins.

The twins smiled as they stepped into the shop, their heads turning to look at the various pieces of the set. While they were in their normal outfits, their faces were completely covered in face paint to make them look like the two characters they were playing. Yin turned and addressed Ray first. "Offer pointers to you, Sketch? Why, we wouldn't dare to."
"You've long since proven that you don't need advice from us."
They smiled and spoke in unison. "And yes, we do have a large scene this time." Unlike when they usually told people this fact, their voices didn't carry their usual bragging tones, but more of an appreciation, a "thank you for noticing".
"We apologize for intruding while you work, but-"
"We are quite impatient, and our curiosity drove us to see how things were coming along!"
The two walked up on either side of Ray, gazing up at the cityscape. They silently scanned over it with their eyes. Fascinating as always. They thought together.

Ray just smiled, while the twins weren't well liked, they had always been kind to his work and mindset. Ray enjoyed their visits, as he always felt like their work was worth noting and appreciating. Still, he could see why they were best appreciated in small doses.

Ray moved aside and began to lean against the nearest wall. "So what do you two think? Any changes you want me to do before I start the final coating? It's not too late"

The twins gazed up at the backdrop for a short while longer before Yang turned his head to Ray, Yin still looking at the art, a rare break from their synchronization. "I don't think much needs changed about this myself. What do you think, good sister?"
Yin turned as well, her heavily painted face making her smile that much more noticeable. "Nothing at all, sweet brother. Fantastic work as always, Sketch."
The twins stepped back from the mural and turned to face him. "Out of curiosity, Sketch, we were wondering..."
"Any chance that we could ask for a commission from you?"
"Paid, of course." They said in unison.
"We enjoy memorabilia from each show we're in, and we think it would be most wonderful to ask you to make it for us for this show."
"You've helped make several other shows wonderful to this point, so it only seems fitting we have something to remember you by as well."

A commission? Ray had to admit that he was surprised, he didn't think that the twins would ever want something personalized by him. He had made various drawing and portraits before, always based on whatever the customer wanted. For the twins to request something though, he hadn't seen that coming. Ray pushed himself off of the wall in order to give them his full attention.

"Alright, we can definitely discuss that. Though, I won't be able to start on it until I finish the rest of the scenery for the show" he reminded them. "That said, what were you thinking of exactly? And of course, we would have to discuss price based on how large and complicated it is"

The twins nodded attentively. "Of course, the shows needs must come before ours." Yin agreed wholeheartedly.
"As for what we were thinking, it wouldn't be too complicated." Yang continued.
"We'd be interested to see your interpretation of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer."
"Two playful, mischievous cat twins." They said in unison before looking at each other and giggling.
"Though we would like to have a shot of the stars or a cityscape in the background."
"We love the way you make small lights; your detail is always delightful."

"Hmmmm, now that's interesting" Ray said to himself as he thought about the challenge of it. They were two interesting characters, and he knew that they were who the twins were playing as in the actual production. Ray knew that this commission would be important to the twins, they always took their roles seriously. "Very well, I think that I could arrange such a thing. I'll keep you updated on my work as I start it. I'll make sure you only receive something of quality"

The twins grinned at his assurance and bowed slightly to him. "Very much appreciated, Sketch." Yang said.
"We would like it to be of a decent size, if possible. Not a full wall mural, obviously, but something that would take at least two hands to hang on the wall." Yin added.
The twins turned back and looked up at the cityscape again. The twins were silent for a moment before Yang spoke again. "With that out of the way, we've been wondering how you've been."
As someone in the drama program, Ray would surely notice how out of character it was for them to ask about anyone outside of themselves.

"I'm sure that I could do that, rather easily actually" Ray insisted as he thought about how he would approach the work. It would take some doing, but nothing he hadn't done before. He knew the twins truly appreciated integrity and value though, so he'd need to make sure that he was able to provide the kind of work they were used to.

Looking over, he was surprised to hear the twins were asking about him. "Me? Things have been fine, very fine" he insisted. "Why do you ask?"

The twins took a synchronized breath, organizing their words. "We're just... concerned about you." Yin explained.
"You're by far the best painter this drama department has seen in our entire time being here, so the last thing we want is something that could..." Yang looked at his sister, trying to find the proper words.
"Endanger?"
"Jeopardize?"
The twins smiled and nodded, turning back to Ray and speaking as one. "Compromise your ability to continue working here."
"We just want you to know that if something happens-"
"Anything at all-"
"We're more than willing to help you out." They concluded in unison.
The twins didn't know exactly what Ray was up to in his after school hours; all their powers could divine from him was that he was participating in low-level delinquency. Could be something as harmless as vandalism, could be drug running for someone in East Diamond. All they knew is if he got in trouble, it would make things much more boring in general for them, so they took great interest in not seeing him get arrested for... Whatever he did.

This conversation had gone from complimentary to strange so quickly. The twins were talking like they knew some secret deed that Ray had made with someone. Ray considered his work art, and he never painted anything that was offensive or could even be seen as inappropriate. Still though, he could tell the concern from the twins were quite honest.

"Well that's kind of you two. Should anything happen I'll keep that in mind. Thankfully, life is doing fantastic right now. I'm sure you two will have nothing to worry about"

The twins smiled and bowed to Ray. "Well, we're very glad to hear that, Sketch, aren't we good brother?"
"Very much so, lovely sister. Glad that things are doing so well with you."
They stood straight again and nodded at him. "Well, we just wanted to check in on you."
"And put in our commission, of course." Yang reminded his sister.
"Of course. We should probably let you get back to work, Sketch."
"We have to work on our dance number as well. They expect a lot from us for this show!" They concluded in unison, large smiles on their faces.
As they left, they silently conversed with one another, unsure of how to react. They were happy he was doing well, of course, of course, but... They were still concerned. Even if they didn't show it, they weren't sure how they felt about the last part of their interaction.
Maybe being able to sense secrets wasn't such a good gift, after all.