Broken Brush

So, things got weird today.

April, Miss Fally as I like to call her, wanted to show me a surprise! Which was cool at first. I like to be treated as much as the next person. So I was happy to oblige and close my eyes for her... right up until the point where she opened the door and tried to lead me outside.

"Uhhh.... just how far are we going April sweety?"

"A few blocks," she said as if that was perfectly normal. That wasn't fucking happening.

"I'm not walking down the street with my eyes closed for 'a few blocks'," I insisted. That's about when I noticed Slicer and Navi behind me. "What are they coming to?!"

"Of course silly! So we can share in the feels!"

"We can't take Slicer. I don't want him flagging down police to come rescue him from us. Bound as he is, he'll draw a lot of attention."

"Oh..."

I slammed the door behind us. "Navi can babysit. It'll be just you and me."

"Aww... fine," she grumped and then grinned.

"Good!" I smiled back and we started down the street.

I'm really, really glad I didn't let her talk me into walking there with my eyes closed. We went to the trashiest back alley I've seen in a good long while.

"Time for the surprise, close your eyes now!"

"Uhh.... is the surprise that I'm getting mugged?"

"That certainly would be surprising," she said putting hands over my eyes impatiently and pressing her body against my back to forcibly push me forward into the scary looking warehouse we had stopped in front of.

'Please don't steal my organs, please don't steal my organ, please don't steal my organs,' I whispered to myself.

April let her hands off my face. By this point I had closed my eyes on my own a little afraid to open them.

"Behold!" she declared.

I opened my eyes to find a cooler full of ice in front of me. 'Fuck, shes gonna steal my organs.'

"Isn't it great?!" she asked pulling a blood pack out of the ice.

".... What?"

"So you can paint!" she declared. I walked over to the cooler to find it was full of blood packs. I don't mention this often but I only paint murals and I only paint them in blood. Its complicated. I don't want to get into it.

"Oh," I said looking up at the bare disgusting warehouse walls. "We can do that."

Her bright smile waved a little, you know, like a psychopathic mother's might in a cartoon after she spends all night making dinner and all the father has to say about it is 'Oh, it was alright.' That kind of horrific lip quiver.

So I gave her a big bright smile and a hug. "I love it," I giggled. "I...! Am gonna paint you something. What should I paint?"

"Ummm... I don't know."

"Pick something! I want it to be special."

"I want a meadow and flowers and wavy tree.... and a big horse with a fire mane!"

"One /THAT/ coming right up!"

From there on I spent the next few hours hard at work painting. The fire mane was the hardest. Takes a lot of detail to depict fire with just one color. Had to go over that part with a lighter to give it color and texture. When I finally finished I collapsed against the wall content that my work was done.

April... did not seem pleased.

"Picasso.... what is that?" she asked. She was not smiling.

"Uh... A horse," and crawled over and sat beside her with an exhausted huff.

It was not a house. It was two children. One a teenage boy and one a little girl. They were in raggedy clothes and were standing in a beautiful meadow. You could see their hair and their bright beautiful grins... but not their ears, noses, eyes, or really any other part of their faces. Just their grin and their hair.

'FUCK FUCK FUCK' I shouted in my head. My fucking brush had painted something else on me again. It keeps fucking doing that. It pissing my off to no fucking end.

"What, is /that/!" asked April sounding absolutely pissed.

"Uh.... Children?" I asked, as I noticed my tree had turned out wrong too. Instead of a tree, it looked like Father was looming over the children. How the fuck did I miss that?!

April didn't say another word. She got up and rush out the door.

I practically had to chase her down.

"What wrong?" I demanded to know, grabbing her hand.

"Nothings wrong. Why would anything be wrong. Happy, we're happy here. Silver linings is.... were happy," she says forcing a very weak grin.

"April, talk to me."

"We... I, I just don't like children okay."

"I thought you said you loved children?"

"I d-did? Then I do. I love children, lets go see some children somewhere else," she said trying to pull away. I pulled her back.

"April, talk to me. The truth, for once!"

"I dislike children... they make me uncomfortable! Let's talk about something else!"

I nodded and pulled her into a hug. She finally stopped shaking. "I loved my present. I missed painting," I said before letting her go. She looked a little shy and I watched a real grin find a place on her face again.

"Don't forget to thank Navi too! It was her blood."

"I won't" I said sounding a little more thrilled that I really meant to be. Don't really know why I was so happy. Really no way to tell if April was telling the truth. I think she would have told me anything to get away from that building. I should have exploited that more maybe.

We laughed and hugged again, a little less awkwardly this time, granted I think she only hugged me to drag me further down the street inconspicuously.

We went out to eat after that and before long April was back to her loopy, grinning, goofy self. We brought some food back for Navi and Slicer too since they couldn't go with us. Navi whined about not getting to eat out. Other than that her night seemed to have gone fine. She apparently had a handless fight with Slicer and kicked his ass.

Slicer continues to be a whimp. A title I do believe will immortalize him. Really captures his essence.

Hehehe. Picasso out.

Fun Times with Fun Friends!

Sometimes there are times in your life that you stop and just realize that everything in this world is so amazingly beautiful!

Take the past week of my life, for example.  I'm both no longer being tortured and I get to hang out all day with my three best buddies!  Everything works out well if you believe that it will!  There's no point to wallowing in worst-case-scenarios.  Don't see the glass as empty, see it as potentially fillable with water!  Or delicious juice!  Or whatever you please!  There are lots of yummy drinks to enjoy in this world!

So it's been me and my girl Picasso and our color vision sweetheart Navi and my newest pal Slypher!  You remember him, he's that one who was having the issue waaaaaay back in the beginning about not being able to properly enjoy his job of cutting people up and sewing them back together.  Though Picasso says that it was just his own personal touch to sew his cuts back up and wasn't part of his job at all!  

What a creative guy!  No wonder he was such a valued employee by his boss and his friends!

Plus, it helped me totally not bleed out on the floor which would have wrecked an otherwise lovely hotel room and probably would have been quite the annoyance for the cleaning staff.  He's just a big softy, that's what I say.  A total sweetheart.  

But I'm not one to suppose why others do things, so I decided to ask him myself why he has such a flair for stitches!  Pulled him out from under the bed and gave him some water since a lot of times Picasso forgets to give him drinks if we leave her in charge of it.  Such a silly one, that Picasso!  Seems like she'd have a great memory, but every time we ask about Slypher it's like she's completely forgotten he was there!  And she always talks about forgetting about him strangely loud while staring right at where he is under the bed.  What a silly!

Anyway, I asked Slypher what his deal was with the stitches.  And he said (and he got all pouty and red faced when he said it, the cutie) that he wasn't used to making incisions without closing them back up again.  It was second nature to try and keep the blood inside the patient.

Can you believe that?  My new friend Slypher is a doctor just like me!  We have so much in common!  We can talk about doctor stuff like needles and medicine and have a great bonding happy fun time!  I'm excited.  He insists that he 'isn't a doctor anymore, he gave up being a doctor when he stopped saving people', but that just sounds like defeatist talk to me.

I think he REALLY REALLY liked being a doctor!  When he was telling me about how he used to be one he smiled!  And, let us not forget that that was the original motive of everything!  He seems to have given up on it, but I would never let him give up his dreams!  I'm sure that if we talked to them his proxy friends would be happy to let him go back to being a doctor if we explain that torturing people isn't really up his alley.

I'll go talk to Picasso about it, she was out buying food when I talked with him about this, so she doesn't know the plan, but I think she'd be all in favor!  Her and Slypher get along super duper well.  They're always firing off quips at each other like an old married couple!  ^_^ It's completely adorable.

So finally!  A list of things to be happy about today!

• Slypher is finally opening up to me!  That is the mark of a true friendship being born.
• We live in a society that has invented and endorses pillows!
• You are a unique individual with your own unique laugh (why not let someone hear it today?)
• Cuddles!
• There was an extra pretty sunset today!
• Carter is a super sweet guy, and we got to become friends with him through the magic of the internet!
• There is an endless number of people in the world to become friends with!

And you are the most beautiful person I have yet to meet.

Smile!

A-P-R-I-L-!

Slicer is out of the Closet

For now. Picasso here by the way.

Here to reiterate a few things real quick. As Navi expressed for me at great length in her last post, I did not leave April unattended for any amount of time! That didn't happen. She may have sounded incredibly disingenuous by her word choice but I can assure you all right now... shes been dealt with.

As a complete aside I also did not tackle Navi to the ground and leave her covered in a fresh coat of bruises. That didn't happen... just putting that out there.

Shifting gracefully back over to the title topic, Slicer is out of the closet. After much badgering from April, who seems convinced we're the most qualified to help him as fellow proxies, we let him out of the closet to join us in a friendly little card game to see if he could behave himself. I don't trust the piece of shit though, so we left him tied up. I didn't like the way the asshole was looking at me and Navi was being super awkward around him so we blindfolded him too! He should be lucky he never got re-gagged with the way he kept running his fucking mouth.

Naturally I won our run of poker, because I'm awesome! Slicer seems to think I was cheating but you can't really cheat at cards. All luck and skill. And my greatest skill is my incredible luck! How do I know I'm so lucky? Because I was blessed with these incredible fucking skills! No arguing with that logic.

I was in good spirits when everything was done so I decided not to throw slicer back into the closet. I did shove his ass under the bed where I wouldn't have to look at this moping though.

"Told you this wouldn't work out," I told April. Clearly this was not helping Slicer with... whatever the fuck I'm supposed to be helping him with? Happiness I guess. Everything said and done, we'd just kind of succeeded at pissing him off.

"What are you taking about?" she laughed. "You guys are getting along fabulously. You're thick as thieves!"

"You're delusional!"

"I don't think I'm the delusional on here," she insisted.

"If you're not, then its because you're so delusional its enough for both of us!"

And we laughed.... pretty sure she is the delusional one. I mean, just today she also insisted she had a husband. When I asked her where he was she explained he was a Russian spy working as an ambassador to the united states and never visited because it'd blow his cover. Sound really fucking delusional to me!

But hey, if she wants me to quietly and politely torture Slicer with fixed games of cards, constant embarrassment and harassment, bondage, and my brilliant fucking witty banter so be it~!

I'll be happy to let the smug sack of shit have it.

Picasso out.

Never Not Slicer

Because his name wasn't Slypher.

Which makes sense in hindsight. What the fuck even is a Slypher? Sneaky fuzz?

... Where would it even try to sneak into?

Hmmm... I got it. It's a parasite. Hides on animals and pretends to be fur. Sly indeed.

Navi here, by the way.

I have quite a bit to report. All that fuzz was just the tip of the iceberg! Fuzzy ice!




First off!

We found April's tormentor. Or uh... well he found her. April and Picasso were reportedly out shopping for food when Slicer ran out of an alley and sucker punched Picasso and ran off with April. I have been assured several times that that is exactly how it happened. Picasso at no point left April unattended. She will not stop stressing that the me in texts... and notes... she wrote it in blood on my pillow for some reason. Very well drawn mind you. My cursive will never be that good...

After April was taken, Picasso called Aprils phone I guess. Apparently Slicer, again that's the proxy that's been trying to tormenting her, tried to pass off the situation as being her boyfriend.

Now personally, I would have been conflicted if I had been the one to have heard that. Because April says a lot of shit and maybe 10% of it is true and I'm never sure which 10% it is. I would not put it past her to decide her boyfriend was a proxy one day out of the blue. For all I know at this point, shes not even a real runner. We have not seen the Master once in all this time.

Furthermore, the boyfriend thing doesn't make one bit of fucking sense as to why he would sucker punch Picasso and steal April but whatever. Clearly that 'so totally happened'.

Hold on.... Mask face. Picasso's note here says it makes sense because she has pieces of mask seared to her face and looks scary. Why not. We're just gonna move on.

So after the call, Picasso came back to the room and used the computer to track the GPS on April's computer. We have it turned on for just such an occasion as this. April does, after all, have a nasty habit of trying to wander off without saying anything to either of us so this was kind of a no brainier.

And then from there me and her watched and waited until the cell stopped moving roughly 30 minutes later.

Picasso's plan was simple. 'Path' in and save April, I uh, was not on board. I don't care to go to that horrible baby infested landscape if I can help it. Picasso was quick to rip an entrance into existence for us and drag me through before I got the chance to book it out of there.

I could probably stand those trips if it wasn't for all the slimy little hands.... ew... feel like I might just vomit thinking about it.

I'm not exactly sure what happened when we arrived. I uh... may have flopped to the floor and assumed the fetal position. I can admit that because I'm not a petty mask faced child. When I had finally collected myself and pulled myself to my feet April was tied to a bed and some guy (Slicer) was on the floor with his hands tied behind his back with his nose magically squeezing itself down into an unnatural position.

I found out later that Picasso had broken Slicer's nose and was holding it for him after she knocked his ass over and tied him up.

I got up and let April free. She had several new cuts down her arms. Cuts that had already been sticked back closed because for whatever reason that's how Slicer tortures. He cuts you up and then he sews you back up. Never seen that before. Its weird.

She seemed so fucking happy to see us. Not because we had saved her, mind you. But because now would could finally meet Slicer and help him overcome his sadness. Because clearly that's why we're here.

We uh,... proceeded to immediately fail at doing that. Kind of glad we didn't try. Picasso's concept on happiness is very... carnal. I think that's the word. No, whatever it was she was doing instead of trying to do that, it was scaring the shit out of poor Slicer. He looked about ready to crap his pants.

I don't know what questions she asked but I know what the answers were.

(It's worth putting in a quick reminder here that I can't see or hear Picasso... important details.)

Slicer definitely does not operate alone. He admitted he was part of a cell and that his cell alone had as many as 15 people and that his boss, 'the Duke', has many cells in most of the neighboring cities. We probably could have taken a small little proxy cell on our own but not an entire little division of many cells. I was under the impression that independent cells like that (I hear we're calling those 'fallen' cells?) should be nowhere near that powerful so that was pretty concerning.

Rather than deal with that problem right now, since that's not what we're here for, Picasso apparently decided it would be best if we just fucking booked it as far away as we could in one night. Which made sense. 'The Dukes' influence couldn't possibly extend much further than a few cities.

So we gathered our things and took our car and drove all night. April spent a lot of that night pestering the shit out of Slicer trying to figure out what makes him happy. She actually managed to wear him down. The torturous little nerd likes rubix cubes. I'm told those are something like a puzzle box, only color based.

We probably should have just killed Slicer and been done with him... or since we're not allowed to kill just dumped him on Fracture/the Free Market to be hollowed and put in storage. But April has an awkward hard on for the guy. I don't know why but she really wants to make him be happy.

Picasso says we need to do whatever we can to help April so... I guess we're gonna try to help her. It all sounds kind of stupid to me though. I mean, I can see wanting to make your friends and family happy. But the guy who shows up out of the blue to kidnap and torture you? Fuck that guy. Seriously.

But what do I know right?

Navi out.

You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile!

Or a dress made out of rainbows! Which is what I'm wearing now. Navi says I have to change clothes eventually, but I'm not sure I can stand to live NOT in this dress anymore!

IT'S SO COLORFUL!

Anyway, I had just a wonderful day yesterday! I had to share it with you.
I have a very busy lifestyle you know. I have to hold down my very important job, people are depending on me. Plus my surprise visits with Slypher which I don't get to plan and always tend to take forever! I tell you, torture is hell on the schedule! ^_^

Well, I haven't seen Slypher since the girls showed up, but the time I spent with him is spent hanging out with them now. The point is, I don't have much free time to myself, but I always find time to do something for the children. I love kids! I've never had any myself, but they're soooo cute!

So I always find the time to sing on street corners. All the happy classics! Never fully dressed without a smile, Spread a little sunshine, What a wonderful kind of day, that kind of thing! It's worth it to see those kids smile. Some even come back to see me again and again. I'm kinda like a local legend. The girl who sings outside the courthouse!

So I brought Piccolo with me this time, having brought Navi along when Piccolo was off shattering. But when we got there she made some kind of big fuss about it!

(Now guys, don't tell Picasso I said this but I think that she was just jealous of the kids that they got to hear me sing and tried to keep me for herself. Isn't that adorable of her? She's so cute!)

So I humored her. I could tell me singing only for her and Navi would really make her happy and I live to please! She gave some silly made up reason for it like the Motel 6 we were at being safer since Slypher didn't know I was there rather than being out in the open following my regular patterns.

Whatever you say, Picasso. *wink*

So on the way home we went shopping for singing costumes and Piccolo bought me the most beautiful rainbow colored dress! If you are reading this Monsieur Fracture, then I would like you to know that I rate your employees at full stars! Plus they're both lovely singers. We had a wonderful concert!

I even got flowers! It's nice to have fans! It was such a nice evening. Having friends around is the best.

Though in the whirl of it all I never got to explain to Picasso why it is I love my street concerts so much.

When I was a kid, my mom was a stay at home mom. She had a job, but it was on the computer. Something that had to do with being on the phone a lot. She would sing to herself as she worked. She had just an awful awful voice, but my sister and I loved to listen to her. One day, the three of us were home. I don't remember what I was doing, playing or something, but I remember hearing my mom singing in the other room. That was when we heard a strange noise from downstairs, our door bursting open and heavy footsteps. My mom gathered my sister and I together and we all huddled in a corner and she sang to us softly to keep us calm. When the burglar came to the room we saw he had a gun and he and my mother locked eyes and everything stopped for a second. Then my mom just continued singing.

And that burglar he dropped his gun fell to his knees and cried. I stood up, and my sister did too, and we joined in singing and he knew the words and he sang and took off his ski mask and smiled. Really really smiled. It was the most beautiful moment of his life, he said. It was the magic of music! The magic of singing and the magic of smiles.

And now, a list of things to be happy about today!

• Everyone has a song in their hearts!

• Our room number is 14 and that's my lucky number!

• Have you thought recently about sleep? It's magnificent! Continue to enjoy it!

• Planet of the Apes is an amazing movie!

• No matter how alone you feel, there is someone who believes you and believes in you!

• There are so many colors! And they can be made into dresses!

• There is a countless number of people in the world to make friends with!

And you are the most beautiful person I have yet to meet.

Smile!

Love, 
A-P-R-I-L-!

Showers to Flowers!

Hi!!!!!

Hm. That may not be enough exclamation points. Lemme try again.

HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do exclamation points make you feel all shiny and happy inside? They do for me!

My name is April! I think Piccolo already introduced me to you, but I figured I ought to do it myself! I'm not really familiar with computers much but she showed me this blog thing that apparently is really cool so I figured I would join in! I'm not one to miss out on cool things. Plus the fact that she asked me to make a post, so it would be silly of me to refuse such a request!

Since this is an introduction post, I figure that I should tell you all a little bit about me. I like the color green and singing! I like smiling and mist and the game Sorry! I like Disney movies! I like Navi and Piccolo too, they're both really nice, coming to help me out just because I sent in an email. Isn't that really kind of them?

We've been hanging out, it's great to have some company. Especially the company of two such pretty young girls. Did you know that Navi can't see Picasso? It leads to some confusing situations. That's why it's so heartwarming that despite all adversity they still are best friends. It's like a Hallmark movie! Star crossed friends! I'm super happy to have gotten to meet such interesting people. We played truth or dare! And watched a movie! And hair braiding! It's basically the best sleepover ever, every day.

Sometimes, people think I'm silly for seeing only the happiest parts of life. I say it's scientifically PROVEN to be awesome. You can trust me, I'm a doctor.

So in that vein I offer to anyone reading this who might be sad, a list of things to be happy about today!

• It's sunny!
• You can get pizza at any time of night!
• It was Christmas recently!
• It's almost a new year!
• Gummy bears are delicious!
• Navi and Picasso are great friends!
• Picasso got to see her love!
• Navi sings!
• Dancing exists!
• There are an infinite number of people in the world to make friends with!

And you are the most beautiful person I have yet to meet.

Smile!

Love,

A-P-R-I-L-!

So... April

The shattering went well. Kind of. I don't want to get into it. It was Moth's special little event thing so I'll let him talk about it and throw in a link here when he can finally be fucking bothered to post. Be seeing as hes procrastinating like fucking crazy I'll share this to tie any curious souls over.

Moth's mask was shattered, the ritual was completed, hes allowed to talk now, and I'm gonna kill the fuck out of that snide asshole Maggot for trying to beat Moth to death with his Mask!

Satisfied?! Good.

Lets talk about work.

So we met April. That was weird. Shes really weird.

I sent Navi to the fire escape window for the apartment address April provided when she made her request for help. I stood outside the apartment room's door.

The plan was simple. Navi was gonna get 'April's' attention by knocking on the window and if things went south I was listening in from the door to kick it in and assist if it proved necessary. Navi had instructions to make lots of noise in case of such an emergency. We were ready to kill the shit out of any hostiles that came at us.

What we got instead was a smiling freak. April apparently let Navi in. And after some amount of muffled talking I could barely make, Navi let April know where I was so she could let me in. This pretty little Asian lady with the biggest stupidest fucking grin you could ever imagine in her late 20s.

She offered us sodas, and called us pretty, and started playing twenty questions with us. All huge red flags. April was being painfully too nice and too generous. Especially for a runner. It was suspicious as shit. Especially in light of her fancy fucking. So few runners get away with such grand accommodation and living conditions. It didn't seem like she needed any kind of protecting or even any kind of help. She even still had a job apparently. Shes a brain surgeon.

So I started driving the conversation back at her to try to figure out what her game was.

"So Father, er... the tall and Slender Man is hunting you right? Hes stalking you? You are a runner?"

"Of course silly!" she says smiling bright. "Its why I called. I am a runner."

"But you don't seem to be... in any short of need. Does he not bother you much?" I asked

"Sure he bothers me sometimes, but I don't let it bother me!" she declared. I could feel my face drop in disbelief. I wasn't sure if she was being serious or if her answer was being colored by her inhuman amounts of optimism.

That was when I got a text from Navi. Its been explained in a few places but I don't know if I've explained it here. Navi is very blindish. She sees the world save for whatever Father wants her to see as entirely black. And when she is allowed to see people, they have colors. Colors she knows to be representative of a person's emotions. This is all important to know because I got a text from Navi explaining that April here didn't have any emotions. Her big smile was a big fake. And that such a complete lack of emotional response to anything could be indicative or a deep internalized issue or that April is a psychopath.

Not one to beat around the bush I confronted her with it.

"You don't have emotions?" I asked bluntly.

"Of course I do. Can't you see how big my smile is?"

"You look happy but you aren't," I insisted. With that her smile looked a bit strained but she refused to let it drop.

"You're so silly," she giggled.

It was pretty apparent she wasn't going to accept what I was telling her. Possibly some self denial there. So I decided to push back to our last topic. I noticed she has cuts and busies on her arms.

"You said Father isn't really bothering you right? Where did those come from?" I asked pointing them out.

"Oh! This wasn't your Father. It was one of his other followers," she said smiling bright again... creepy.

"A proxy then?"

"Yes!" she giggled. "We've been spending a lot of quality time, and I thought talking to his family might help!"

"Does he... need help? You just said he was hurting you," I questioned.

 "He's just lying to himself."  April said shaking her head, "No matter what I did I couldn't get him to smile!  I think he's hiding his feelings behind torture.  I didn't know what to do, so I called you!"

My face dropped again. At least this wasn't a complete waste of time. She did actually need some protection. Granted she doesn't seem to actually want it...

"I just want you to try and help your brother figure out what he really wants to do with his life!" she said cheerily and optimistically.

"... Sure. Just as long as that means he stops torturing you... we can do that," I said with a frustrated huff. I have no idea what we're actually gonna do but at this point I get the sense its a waste of time to try to argue about it with.

April smiled, looking actually happy for the first time since I've seen her. "Thanks for caring so much, Picasso.  You're super sweet."

He laughed and sighed a bit. "Yeah. Its whatever. I try to be I guess."

That's about when she let a bunch of other bomb shells drop. Like, this isn't her apartment. In fact I'm not even sure if she even knew the owner anymore. I know she somehow knew he was on a business trip of some sort, which was sketchy.

So we decided it would be best to just move her rather than risk her getting herself arrested staying in a stranger's house. So we looted the place and left. And now the three of us are sharing a single Motel room. So that's been awkward.

But besides that things have been normal. April, though wierd and creepy as shit, is nice and easy to get along with. Its just a matter of catching this proxy guy that's been bugging her now... which shouldn't be too hard I guess.

This job will be done in no time.

Picasso out.