Orange!Lu and Paul - Paint Party
Aug. 20th, 2015 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainLu paints Paul, and Paul paints Lu, while they discuss their respective sibling and semi-siblings.
Paul had come back to the school just in time for another party, it seemed. It had felt so good, being back home and being able to hang out with Mac. Even Anna hadn't behaved like as much of a bitch as usually, although his mum had fussed over him worse than ever. It had been difficult to leave again, but here he was anyway.
He was wearing one of his regular jeans and t-shirt ensembles, although it was one of his blank t-shirts, since it was likely to get some paint on. It was the point of the party, right? He wasn't sure what to expect, and part of him meant to find Felix or Dana and just stick with them all night.
But he caught sight of Lu first, and he smiled at her when he caught her gaze, waving at her before heading over, glad to find as he came closer that her eyes were orange. "I wasn't sure you were back yet."
Having already painted some designs on her other selves (who'd then taken off, and she wasn't altogether sure she even wanted to know what they were up to), Lu was busily trying to paint the front of her own t-shirt when she caught sight of someone waving out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she smiled, then nodded in response. "Just barely - I got back on Saturday. What about you?" Did you have a good flight and everything?" She grinned and gestured at the front of her shirt apologetically. "I'd give you a hug, but I'd get paint all over you."
"Isn't that the point anyway?" Paul pointed out with a small smile, but he didn't mind. Hugs were a very American thing to do so casually, and he wasn't used to them. "The flight was fine. I slept through it, so I'm probably going to be up through the night."
"Jet lag is the worst." Lu grimaced, then shrugged and smiled and gave him the offered hug anyway, leaving a reversed imprint of the spiral she'd been painting on herself on his shirt. "I'm still all screwed up, too."
He was a little surprised by the hug, but he hugged her back for a second before she pulled back. "We'll be fine in a couple of days, right?"
"Oh yeah, it's just a pain. Anyway, did you do anything fun since I heard from you last? From what you said, I half expected you to show up with Mac in tow for a visit." She gestured for him to follow and stepped back towards the table, considered her choices, and dipped the brush she'd been using into the green paint.
"Maybe I'll try and see if Illyana could bring him for a visit one day," Paul stated with a small smile. "He'd flip out, being here. He thinks it's all superpower hijinks all the time, though."
"Well, he's not totally wrong?" Lu gestured towards where the teleporter in question had suddenly appeared, swiping paint off her face, and then threw a paintball through one of those glowing circles of hers. She smiled and shrugged, then moved in to start painting over the spiral she'd left on Paul's shirt with her brush with tiny green leaves. "Anyway, it'd be nice to meet him. He sounds fun."
"He's the best," Paul agreed with a genuine smile. He missed his best friend, and no one could ever replace him for Paul.
"He sounds like." Lu smiled, just a little wistfully, tilting her head as she brought the end of the spiral up over Paul's shoulder, then dabbed leaves on it here and there. "Did you guys do anything exciting, or just hang out?"
It was really odd, getting drawn on, especially by a pretty girl. Mac was convinced that Lu fancied Paul, but Paul was fairly convinced it was just wishful thinking on the part of his friend. When he'd mentioned the obvious issue of her other two selves, Mac had just cracked a joke about getting three in one, so Paul wasn't even sure that his friend had been all that serious about it to start with.
"Just hung out," Paul confirmed, doing his best to stay still. "Watched a lot of films we hadn't been able to watch together. And he, er. He found an empty warehouse for me to practice flying in." That was the kind of friend Mac was, always pushing Paul on.
"Really? Did you do it?" The paintbrush slipped a little and headed down Paul's arm, and Lu sighed, eyed it critically, and started adding leaves to that as well. "Sorry, I'll fix it."
"That's alright," Paul told her quietly, and then remembered her question. "Yes. I mean, he'd gone through all that trouble. And he was really excited about it. And - I mean - the whole point is to control what we can do, isn't it? It would be silly having wings but not being able to fly."
"Flying is fun." Lu smiled, just a little sheepishly. "Kon took me once. I panicked," she admitted, "but not until he started going really fast. Your wings are staying put now, though? That's cool." While she spoke, she dipped her paintbrush in some purple paint and started adding a few tiny flowers. Hopefully Paul wouldn't mind.
"I've figured out how to make them come out, and stay out, I think," Paul confirmed. He was watching her painting him rather than watching what she was painting, so he didn't really notice the flowers. "Like a switch in my mind."
"Well, that's good." She let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Much better than having them disappear while you're flying. Was it cool? And is there anything you want me to paint, now that I've fixed what was there?"
"Whatever you like," Paul answered, not minding in the least. Even if she wanted to draw more... flowers, those were definitely flowers. "I mean, if you've got more inspiration," he added, looking up at her with a small smile.
Lu blushed a little, but smiled back. "I think I can come up with something." She dipped her paintbrush into the red and moved around behind his back. "How were things with Anna?" she asked quietly as she took a moment to consider, then painted on the top swoop of one wing.
"She was Anna," Paul answered, frowning a little. "I think she's... she's a little jealous." It felt weird, to think of Anna being jealous of him, but there he went. "But she hugged me, before I left."
"Well, it could've been worse then, right?" Lu continued painting, pausing every so often to get more paint on her brush. "She wants to be a mutant, you think?"
"I don't know," Paul shook his head sceptically, then thought better of it and stilled again. "She calls me a freak. But she called me that before, too. I think she's just jealous I have something special. Or maybe she's jealous of the attention."
"Did she always get all the attention?" Lu paused, debating whether or not to add feathers, and instead mixed some yellow and orange paint to add a glow-y effect instead. "Either way, she shouldn't call you a freak. That's just mean."
"It's okay," Paul assured her, forcing himself not to try and look over his shoulder. It wasn't like he'd manage to see what she was painting. "It's what she does." Better that than her ignoring him.
"Kind of a sister thing?" She made a face. She really didn't totally understand sibling dynamics, all things considered.
"It's what she does," he repeated, and agreed, with a nod. "What are things like between you three?" He never saw them interact very much, but sometimes it felt as if Purple had almost as little patience with Orange as Anna had with him.
"Mmm. It's hard to explain. We're really not siblings - I mean, we call each other that? But at the end of the day, we're all one person." Lu shrugged. "Mostly we get along okay. I mean, we kind of have to, right?"
"I don't know," Paul answered honestly. "I don't really... understand it? I mean, in theory, but I don't think I really do."
Lu was quiet for a minute, putting the finishing touches on Paul's wings while she tried to figure out how to explain it. "It's...okay, I don't know if you read SHIFT or not, but...when I was little, I was diagnosed as having dissociative identity disorder. Which I don't, because for me, it's just normal - but it's kind of the same." She smiled awkwardly and came around and handed Paul the paintbrush. "So, there's the me with the different colored eyes. She's...well, she's pretty normal, overall? She's mostly the same as we are all combined, but...without the extremes." She shrugged and smiled a little. "Adults always like her. She's practical and level headed and all that stuff."
Paul nodded at her mention of SHIFT, but didn't want to interrupt her. "They're good things to be?" he offered. He wasn't certain what her point was, but there was one thing he had to say. "But you've all got your qualities." Ok, he wasn't really certain about Purple, but... she probably had some as well.
"Oh, I know." She smiled and leaned back against the edge of the table, careful not to disturb the paint. "That's the thing, though, I guess. Purple and I..." her smile tilted. "Well, she's the one with the drive, and the energy. She gets things done, and she doesn't give in. But by herself? She'd probably either be dead or in juvie by now. We need her - without her, we don't have the same...I don't know, drive? Confidence? But...she doesn't do all that well on her own, y'know?"
Paul nodded. "You don't seem complete, when you're apart." He pursed his lips, and quickly added, "I mean, from your astral forms. When you're one, it feels complete. When you're apart, it's a like a 3D puzzle, and I can never see it from the right angle to know which piece is missing, but it is. Though... even when you're apart - they're always there with you." He could feel his cheeks heating up a little. "I mean, that's what it looks like."
Lu smiled, both surprised and relieved. "That's it. Exactly. I'll have to remember that. So...it doesn't really matter if we all agree, or disagree, y'know? We're still all, well, me? Us?" She grinned crookedly and shrugged. "It probably doesn't make a lot of sense. I always wanted to talk to Cal about it - he mimicked me once, so if anyone was going to get it, he would have, right? - but then that got kinda weird."
"Weird how?" Paul asked with a small, curious frown.
"Umm..." Lu shrugged awkwardly, then offered a crooked, faint smile and made a "what can you do?" sort of gesture. "Purple slept with him? And then the other two of me handled that really badly, because Neutral wanted to know if he was okay with it and what he wanted to do, and...yeah. I don't really want to bring it up, y'know? I think he'd pretty much rather just forget it."
"I can't see why," Paul stated without thinking, and then started to turn a lovely shade of pink. "So, um. I'd offer to paint you, but I'm terrible at art. I've always had terrible marks."
Lu blushed a little too, but smiled. "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one actually painting," she admitted, gesturing towards the nearest other people who seemed busy throwing paint at one another. "But...I'd like that. If you want to?"
"You'd like some terrible painting," Paul replied, with a small smile, feigning confusion. "All right." He'd been fiddling with the brush she'd handed him, so he might as well. He dipped it in some red paint, and moved to her back - there was no way he was painting anything down her front, and she already had that spiral anyway. He wasn't sure what to paint, until inspiration struck. A triskelion was so simple, hopefully even he wouldn't mess it up, and it worked with the spiral on her front, and with, well, her. All of her.
"Terrible or no, it's something, right?" Lu made a face. "I painted the rest of me, but then they took off. And painting myself is a pain." She tried to peer over her shoulder at what he was doing.
"Don't move, I'm trying to make something decent," Paul chuckled when she tried to look. "A triskelion," he added, to satisfy her curiosity. "It fits, doesn't it?"
Lu turned back and held still, but smiled. "It fits. Thanks."
Paul had come back to the school just in time for another party, it seemed. It had felt so good, being back home and being able to hang out with Mac. Even Anna hadn't behaved like as much of a bitch as usually, although his mum had fussed over him worse than ever. It had been difficult to leave again, but here he was anyway.
He was wearing one of his regular jeans and t-shirt ensembles, although it was one of his blank t-shirts, since it was likely to get some paint on. It was the point of the party, right? He wasn't sure what to expect, and part of him meant to find Felix or Dana and just stick with them all night.
But he caught sight of Lu first, and he smiled at her when he caught her gaze, waving at her before heading over, glad to find as he came closer that her eyes were orange. "I wasn't sure you were back yet."
Having already painted some designs on her other selves (who'd then taken off, and she wasn't altogether sure she even wanted to know what they were up to), Lu was busily trying to paint the front of her own t-shirt when she caught sight of someone waving out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she smiled, then nodded in response. "Just barely - I got back on Saturday. What about you?" Did you have a good flight and everything?" She grinned and gestured at the front of her shirt apologetically. "I'd give you a hug, but I'd get paint all over you."
"Isn't that the point anyway?" Paul pointed out with a small smile, but he didn't mind. Hugs were a very American thing to do so casually, and he wasn't used to them. "The flight was fine. I slept through it, so I'm probably going to be up through the night."
"Jet lag is the worst." Lu grimaced, then shrugged and smiled and gave him the offered hug anyway, leaving a reversed imprint of the spiral she'd been painting on herself on his shirt. "I'm still all screwed up, too."
He was a little surprised by the hug, but he hugged her back for a second before she pulled back. "We'll be fine in a couple of days, right?"
"Oh yeah, it's just a pain. Anyway, did you do anything fun since I heard from you last? From what you said, I half expected you to show up with Mac in tow for a visit." She gestured for him to follow and stepped back towards the table, considered her choices, and dipped the brush she'd been using into the green paint.
"Maybe I'll try and see if Illyana could bring him for a visit one day," Paul stated with a small smile. "He'd flip out, being here. He thinks it's all superpower hijinks all the time, though."
"Well, he's not totally wrong?" Lu gestured towards where the teleporter in question had suddenly appeared, swiping paint off her face, and then threw a paintball through one of those glowing circles of hers. She smiled and shrugged, then moved in to start painting over the spiral she'd left on Paul's shirt with her brush with tiny green leaves. "Anyway, it'd be nice to meet him. He sounds fun."
"He's the best," Paul agreed with a genuine smile. He missed his best friend, and no one could ever replace him for Paul.
"He sounds like." Lu smiled, just a little wistfully, tilting her head as she brought the end of the spiral up over Paul's shoulder, then dabbed leaves on it here and there. "Did you guys do anything exciting, or just hang out?"
It was really odd, getting drawn on, especially by a pretty girl. Mac was convinced that Lu fancied Paul, but Paul was fairly convinced it was just wishful thinking on the part of his friend. When he'd mentioned the obvious issue of her other two selves, Mac had just cracked a joke about getting three in one, so Paul wasn't even sure that his friend had been all that serious about it to start with.
"Just hung out," Paul confirmed, doing his best to stay still. "Watched a lot of films we hadn't been able to watch together. And he, er. He found an empty warehouse for me to practice flying in." That was the kind of friend Mac was, always pushing Paul on.
"Really? Did you do it?" The paintbrush slipped a little and headed down Paul's arm, and Lu sighed, eyed it critically, and started adding leaves to that as well. "Sorry, I'll fix it."
"That's alright," Paul told her quietly, and then remembered her question. "Yes. I mean, he'd gone through all that trouble. And he was really excited about it. And - I mean - the whole point is to control what we can do, isn't it? It would be silly having wings but not being able to fly."
"Flying is fun." Lu smiled, just a little sheepishly. "Kon took me once. I panicked," she admitted, "but not until he started going really fast. Your wings are staying put now, though? That's cool." While she spoke, she dipped her paintbrush in some purple paint and started adding a few tiny flowers. Hopefully Paul wouldn't mind.
"I've figured out how to make them come out, and stay out, I think," Paul confirmed. He was watching her painting him rather than watching what she was painting, so he didn't really notice the flowers. "Like a switch in my mind."
"Well, that's good." She let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Much better than having them disappear while you're flying. Was it cool? And is there anything you want me to paint, now that I've fixed what was there?"
"Whatever you like," Paul answered, not minding in the least. Even if she wanted to draw more... flowers, those were definitely flowers. "I mean, if you've got more inspiration," he added, looking up at her with a small smile.
Lu blushed a little, but smiled back. "I think I can come up with something." She dipped her paintbrush into the red and moved around behind his back. "How were things with Anna?" she asked quietly as she took a moment to consider, then painted on the top swoop of one wing.
"She was Anna," Paul answered, frowning a little. "I think she's... she's a little jealous." It felt weird, to think of Anna being jealous of him, but there he went. "But she hugged me, before I left."
"Well, it could've been worse then, right?" Lu continued painting, pausing every so often to get more paint on her brush. "She wants to be a mutant, you think?"
"I don't know," Paul shook his head sceptically, then thought better of it and stilled again. "She calls me a freak. But she called me that before, too. I think she's just jealous I have something special. Or maybe she's jealous of the attention."
"Did she always get all the attention?" Lu paused, debating whether or not to add feathers, and instead mixed some yellow and orange paint to add a glow-y effect instead. "Either way, she shouldn't call you a freak. That's just mean."
"It's okay," Paul assured her, forcing himself not to try and look over his shoulder. It wasn't like he'd manage to see what she was painting. "It's what she does." Better that than her ignoring him.
"Kind of a sister thing?" She made a face. She really didn't totally understand sibling dynamics, all things considered.
"It's what she does," he repeated, and agreed, with a nod. "What are things like between you three?" He never saw them interact very much, but sometimes it felt as if Purple had almost as little patience with Orange as Anna had with him.
"Mmm. It's hard to explain. We're really not siblings - I mean, we call each other that? But at the end of the day, we're all one person." Lu shrugged. "Mostly we get along okay. I mean, we kind of have to, right?"
"I don't know," Paul answered honestly. "I don't really... understand it? I mean, in theory, but I don't think I really do."
Lu was quiet for a minute, putting the finishing touches on Paul's wings while she tried to figure out how to explain it. "It's...okay, I don't know if you read SHIFT or not, but...when I was little, I was diagnosed as having dissociative identity disorder. Which I don't, because for me, it's just normal - but it's kind of the same." She smiled awkwardly and came around and handed Paul the paintbrush. "So, there's the me with the different colored eyes. She's...well, she's pretty normal, overall? She's mostly the same as we are all combined, but...without the extremes." She shrugged and smiled a little. "Adults always like her. She's practical and level headed and all that stuff."
Paul nodded at her mention of SHIFT, but didn't want to interrupt her. "They're good things to be?" he offered. He wasn't certain what her point was, but there was one thing he had to say. "But you've all got your qualities." Ok, he wasn't really certain about Purple, but... she probably had some as well.
"Oh, I know." She smiled and leaned back against the edge of the table, careful not to disturb the paint. "That's the thing, though, I guess. Purple and I..." her smile tilted. "Well, she's the one with the drive, and the energy. She gets things done, and she doesn't give in. But by herself? She'd probably either be dead or in juvie by now. We need her - without her, we don't have the same...I don't know, drive? Confidence? But...she doesn't do all that well on her own, y'know?"
Paul nodded. "You don't seem complete, when you're apart." He pursed his lips, and quickly added, "I mean, from your astral forms. When you're one, it feels complete. When you're apart, it's a like a 3D puzzle, and I can never see it from the right angle to know which piece is missing, but it is. Though... even when you're apart - they're always there with you." He could feel his cheeks heating up a little. "I mean, that's what it looks like."
Lu smiled, both surprised and relieved. "That's it. Exactly. I'll have to remember that. So...it doesn't really matter if we all agree, or disagree, y'know? We're still all, well, me? Us?" She grinned crookedly and shrugged. "It probably doesn't make a lot of sense. I always wanted to talk to Cal about it - he mimicked me once, so if anyone was going to get it, he would have, right? - but then that got kinda weird."
"Weird how?" Paul asked with a small, curious frown.
"Umm..." Lu shrugged awkwardly, then offered a crooked, faint smile and made a "what can you do?" sort of gesture. "Purple slept with him? And then the other two of me handled that really badly, because Neutral wanted to know if he was okay with it and what he wanted to do, and...yeah. I don't really want to bring it up, y'know? I think he'd pretty much rather just forget it."
"I can't see why," Paul stated without thinking, and then started to turn a lovely shade of pink. "So, um. I'd offer to paint you, but I'm terrible at art. I've always had terrible marks."
Lu blushed a little too, but smiled. "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one actually painting," she admitted, gesturing towards the nearest other people who seemed busy throwing paint at one another. "But...I'd like that. If you want to?"
"You'd like some terrible painting," Paul replied, with a small smile, feigning confusion. "All right." He'd been fiddling with the brush she'd handed him, so he might as well. He dipped it in some red paint, and moved to her back - there was no way he was painting anything down her front, and she already had that spiral anyway. He wasn't sure what to paint, until inspiration struck. A triskelion was so simple, hopefully even he wouldn't mess it up, and it worked with the spiral on her front, and with, well, her. All of her.
"Terrible or no, it's something, right?" Lu made a face. "I painted the rest of me, but then they took off. And painting myself is a pain." She tried to peer over her shoulder at what he was doing.
"Don't move, I'm trying to make something decent," Paul chuckled when she tried to look. "A triskelion," he added, to satisfy her curiosity. "It fits, doesn't it?"
Lu turned back and held still, but smiled. "It fits. Thanks."
