All art is..

[You were nomadic, wandering, gathering from wherever you can, but recently you had begun to stick with a few safe locales, sweet spots around your Fibonacci home that you knew would always yield wondrous fruit. It was easy, wondrous pickings, though you knew you couldn't stay there forever. It was in your nature to wander, and so eventually, wander you did.]

[You weren't sure what ward you were in this time. The streets unfamiliar despite your certainty that you had gone everywhere there was to go, alleys ominous yet enticing with the prospect of something new, something strange, something to take your work to the next level. But, while hoisting yourself into one of these dumpsters, less leverage than you were used to from the Fibonacci wastes back home, you... may have lost your balance. Happens to the best of us.]

[And while you were stuck ass over teakettle halfway buried in the muck of your hubris, you heard somebody wander up to witness your plight. If you were anyone else you might be a little embarrassed being seen like this, but at this point you figured any bystander could be a good chance at assistance out of this situation, lest the blood rush any quicker to your head.]

CHARUN: .. CHARUN: .. CHARUN: ..

SOLLUX: …

[You don’t say anything. Only because bringing tools never came to mind. You could always just use your powers to get it down, loose and screws, undo any nails, all that stuff without the actual tools. Now that someone was there to help out- they aren’t going to have the same powers as you do.]

[And there they say that proving something you should have foreseen a long time ago.]

SOLLUX: sadly i d0n’t. i wasn’t really thinking 0f bringing t00ls. 

[You rub your temple to think this over. Is there really no other way to get it. You would be the one that has to get them and the camera down. Probably. Please you hope they say something along the lines of ‘don’t worry i can get down’ or other.]

SOLLUX: y0u d0n’t need help getting d0wn d0 y0u. rather be safe with yanking something like that 0ut. after all, it gives me s0mething t0 figure 0ut in this mess. SOLLUX: if y0u suddenly g0 ar0und breaking s0mething that expensive- well wh0 kn0ws.

CHARUN: .. CHARUN: .. CHARUN: ..

[You can only blink, bewildered at the lack of preparation for this sort of thing, though you suppose you have no room to talk as it sounds like something you would undeniably do. Jumping headfirst into situations without plotting it out beforehand is akin what you do on a constant basis, leaping into dumpsters without a care in the world to fish out whatever you can find, injury be damned.]

[...Well, you tried, you suppose. That's all you really could do in this situation.]

CHARUN: No i can get down just fine

[Still crouching so you didn't put too much weight on one part of your body and fall through, you shimmied your way down the awning back towards the bench that helped you up onto it, gingerly letting yourself hang off of the side as your feet searched for the seating you planned to use as a stepping stool. Eventually making contact, you slowly lowered yourself off of the awning, sighing in relief as both your feet lay steady against the bench. Holding your arms out to correct your balance ever so slightly, you hop off of the bench, glancing back up towards the security camera as a new matter of interest rose up from the depths of your foggy thinkpan.]

[...You two are gonna be caught on that camera.]

CHARUN: .. CHARUN: Now what

     ▲ ❝ It seems to be quite interesting! I have yet to fully look into it in great detail, but it seems like a wonderful hobby, ❞

     ❝ And perhaps somewhere within Archimedes? That is where I see many things art related, ❞

CHARUN: Right.. CHARUN: Archimedes does sound likely

[Suppose you needed to make a quick trip to Greece.]

I think you'd really like marbling.

CHARUN: Think so?

      ▲ ❝ It is incredible how many forms of creating art there is out there! I have been wishing to look into ceramics and the like… Perhaps that would be a good place to start for you, as well? ❞

CHARUN: Ceramics..

[That... sounded pretty fun, actually.]

CHARUN: I hadnt considered that one before CHARUN: Good idea

[There was little to it, really. You were barely home except for when you had an idea to construct, barely still unless you had a reason to be. If you could, you would carry your home on your back like a turtle, portable and roaming wherever you go, a free place to sleep no matter how far you fled from your base location. Better than trying to pay for a hotel room, or sleeping in dumpsters and on benches and getting chastised by local law for sleeping on public property.]

[But that wouldn't be practical for your art. So you carry on.]

[You hadn't been home for a few days now, just wandering Archimedes and its Grecian arches as your mind drifted itself to locations you hadn't yet quite processed. Slightly to the left, slightly out of focus, your floaty demeanor kept you going, wandering through the streets until something snapped you out of your daze and drew you in. Usually that something was little more than a piece to use in a sculpture - something shiny, something soft, something broken, something that could be just a little bit more than what it already was. Something to ponder, to alter.]

[This time, however, the thing that caught your eye wasn't a thing, but a person. Wandering as you were, slightly to the right, a similar soul.]

[Something in you compelled you to say hello, or at least, make your presence known. Which is... a little out of character, you would admit. Maybe the island and its close living was finally breaking through your solitary mind.]

[As the winter hustle and bustle, the holiday whirled around you like an unavoidable storm, you did your best to try and avoid it.]

[You never really cared for the end of the year holidays in the first place - but that is to say you also never really cared for other people. Holidays all about friends and family and community and everything else just left you feeling... well, disconnected from it all, not particularly wanting to deal with the other lives running so frantically around yours. Like you were a small planet on the edge of a busy and overcrowded solar system, grazing by the gravity of the sun holding it all together but not enough to pull you into its chaotic run. And you liked it that way, really.]

[You never knew how to talk to people. It was only recently that you found yourself wanting to do so.]

[So you spent your holidays rather simply, as you would spend all your days before them - digging through the trash. The winter months provide a rather new assortment of garbage to adorn to your work, with the wrappings and bows and bags of gifts pulled open, the bright colors and nice patterns your work often didn't see. And you were determined to swipe up at least a few pieces of this prolific material before the season ended and you lost your chance.]

[And as you turn into the alley you'd frequented so many times before, you realize you're not alone. Which... isn't a bad thing, hopefully. You just didn't expect it.]

[That seems to be a running theme with you, oddly enough. Running into people drawing on walls. Though this time, you're not faced with an old friend.]

CHARUN: .. CHARUN: Hey

[You supposed your hunt for materials could be put on hold. The holiday spirit might have gotten to you after all.]

   The phone lifts your attention and you take it gratefully. You feel your tail swaying side to side behind you as you scroll through the available photos, making sure to give each one a good look-over. The sculptures are… most certainly made of trash, as Charun said! You’ve never seen anything like them, but you’re enjoying looking at them—especially while keeping the other troll’s motivations in mind.

:33 < these are neat! :33 < to think the trolls throwing all this stuff away had no idea itd be turned into cool art, h33h33

You hand the phone back to them when you’re done. 

The words ‘to make yourself happy’ really stick with you here. You didn’t mention happiness specifically, but Charun isn’t wrong if they’re assuming that’s part of the reason why you draw. It’s a nice thought, if you don’t think too much about why you needed ways to keep yourself happy while you were living in that cave. Truthfully you started doing certain things to cope, but you don’t really like to acknowledge that part.

:33 < well, i cant argue with that :33 < something making you happy is as good a reason as any to do it! :33 < unfurtunately all the art i made at my hive is long gone, but :33 < at least i can k33p doing it here, and where people can s33 it now

A big audience would probably embarrass you, but an audience of one is pretty nice.

[You can't help the swell of pride that floods your chest at her admiration towards your work, the soft pulse of your pusher thrumming pleased against your ribcage in the wake of her compliments. Though you rarely doubted yourself, rarely let the opinions of others get in the way of what you wanted to do personally, it was nice to have a little positive affirmation from a fellow artist. Someone who sees by hand and by color and by light, by line to make the world something more beautiful, regarding your work as a positive force.]

[It was enough to lighten your thinkpan of its worries, enough to soften the blow of society regarding something like yours as little more than garbage. Even if you didn't really know how to express your appreciation.]

CHARUN: ..Thanks CHARUN: Its neat to think about actually CHARUN: Theyll never know their trash became a little something more

[You gingerly took the phone back, locking it and sliding it into its home in your pocket.]

CHARUN: Right.. CHARUN: All the stuff i just showed you i made while i was here CHARUN: Lost the photos of my work back home when i arrived

   You listen to them, sitting back on your heels now that you’re no longer bent over your artwork.

:33 < sculptures?

That’s something different. You understand artist to be a broad term, though, so it’s only fitting that the two of you should have different means of creativity. Charun sounds like they might be a bit more dedicated to their craft than you are, but that’s okay. Even if you ever thought to do something like that, it isn’t as though you could’ve ever gone dumpster diving. You lived quite far from other trolls and any stuff they could’ve thrown away.

:33 < ooh ok, thats neat! a way of making sure things get put to good use, i like that :33 < im sure its something i would wanna s33!

Speaking of people looking at their work… It occurs to you that you don’t usually have anyone looking at your work. You glance down at what you’ve drawn again, hoping suddenly that it doesn’t look silly.

:33 < i guess ive always just drawn fur myself :33 < illustrating good things about my day or just some of the stories that pawp up in my head, heh

[As usual, any time someone expresses interest in your work, you light up like a 12th Perigees tree, and this was no different. Your back straightens, gaze not leaving your new(?) friend as you shift to fish your phone out of your pocket, quickly pulling up an album and passing it towards her for her to pore through.]

CHARUN: Its not the same as seeing the real deal CHARUN: But i take photos of all my work if youre curious

[She seemed to be doubting herself, you eventually figured. Soft and sheepish was her tone, and though her emotions were valid in your eyes you couldn't stand to see someone so creative putting themself down like that. If you could say anything about it at all, it would be...]

CHARUN: And thats okay CHARUN: Any reason to create is a good one CHARUN: Even if its just.. to make yourself happy

CHARUN: Especially then, actually

[Getting toss out of this place, then thrown back with nothing but a phone that you would need to get around was a little frustrating, but the ideas of getting everything you want together to occupy yourself in your room would be well worth exploring outside. This place really did seem like the place to be, cameras around that were keeping track of people walking along the sidewalks and whatnot? Surely that camera would have some use to make something that could update his own husktop.]

[You barely notice the other troll close by, as if contemplating on using your powers to get that down or not. Two problems with that; first off you don’t really want to use it because it’ll make a scene. Second, it’s a fucking headache to even attempt it. Though it’s like your thoughts were easily answered by another troll you clearly have never seen before asking about the camera. And that they can get it down.]

[Well now. That was less painful.]

SOLLUX: i’m n0t g0ing t0 be paying y0u t0 get it d0wn, but it w0uld be less 0f a headache f0r me if i were t0 d0 it. SOLLUX: if y0u’re 0ffering, be my guest.

[You take a step back to see the other do their own thing. Wow… you really didn’t think it be that easy.]

[You hadn't really climbed anything since you got stuck a few times during the apocalypse this world had dropped you in. Or, not anything high, at least. You don't exactly count hoisting yourself into the dumpsters you've begun to frequent as climbing.]

[So now was your time to shine, you supposed. Maybe you could make a friend along the way here.]

CHARUN: Wasnt expecting you to

[With that, you were off. The security camera was near an awning that you could very easily hoist yourself up onto once you got a bit of leverage - and so, using a nearby bench as a stepping stool, you gripped onto the top of the doorframe, pulling yourself up and maneuvering your way onto the awning. It wasn't the most sturdy thing in the world, but it could surely hold your weight for a little bit. You weren't exactly heavy or anything.]

[You reach out towards the security camera, gripping the pole holding it in place before realizing you may have made a... little bit of an oversight here.]

CHARUN: .. CHARUN: You wouldnt happen to have a screwdriver or anything like that

Leo had long since discovered that what he saw, and what other people saw were very different things. He’d already been attacked by a few monsters, and for the most part, he was trying to stay out of the way from more of them. He heard a familiar voice and looked up, smiling. “Hey!” Gods, seeing them slide down towards him on absolutely nothing made his brain freak out. It was like seeing through the Mist, but he couldn’t actually see through it. It didn’t even act like the way the Mist from his world would normally act, which was more frustrating for his brain.

“What do I look stuck in?” He was genuinely curious. It wouldn’t matter what though, since he was usually covered in grime, and at one point he had to dig his dragon out of Port-a-Potty sludge so nothing really phased him anymore. You couldn’t be a mechanic and worry about your appearance or things like dirt.

He fiddled with his tool belt, not his magical one (he still didn’t have it, and he missed it more every day), but one he had… acquired thanks to a friend. It held his three hammers, gifts from another friend, which he kept pulling out and putting back in, just to make sure they would still be easy to take out in case of an emergency. 

“You see anything coming? Or are we safe right now?”

[Okay, now that was just... disorienting. What kind of question was that, "What do I look stuck in"? You figured it'd be very, painfully, disgustingly obvious, up to his waist in dumpster in the middle of an alleyway threatening to flood with more. Though, a small part of your brain began to wonder if he really couldn't see all of it... and if that was true, what would it mean for you? For him? For everybody here?]

[...Were there still people around, anyways?]

CHARUN: .. CHARUN: .. CHARUN: .. CHARUN: A pile of garbage?

[You murmur, soft, confused, as you shift to squat down so you were more at his eye level, arms draped loosely over your knees as you give him a curious look from under the shadow your hat now cast on your face.]

CHARUN: Can you not see it CHARUN: Theres trash everywhere