Deli

Deli looked up when Indelia came back and let out a small happy bark when she set some blue feathers in front of them! "Yeah! Those are good! More, I want more!" They bounced to their feet and looked around for some more, but perhaps their head split between excitement and carefully watching Indelia's every move made it difficult to concentrate on their task, so they set themselves down, not dampened at all, to crushing the feathers she'd brought them.

They did the same as they'd done to the green feathers, crushing them between their paws until they formed a thick paste, slathering it on the stone on the ground, in a different spot then the green, and drooling a bit to thin it up. It would have been easier if there'd been some water source nearby, but they were out of luck.

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@Indelia

Indelia grinned as Deli took the feathers and began to make them into the paste. They seemed to look, briefly, for more, before giving up. Very well then - she'll get the feathers herself. It's rather fun, and she doesn't know how to grind them up the way Deli does. So this is what she can do.

She set off again, a slightly different direction, and looked in the crevices for more feathers. Once more, it took a bit to find any. She wouldn't give up though! She had to find these feathers. And, finally, she did. Some red ones that she quickly retrieved and brought back to Deli, dropping them nearby. She was glad she could do this at least. And it definitely beats just walking around aimlessly.

Speech. Thought.

@Deli

Deli

Deli was licking the blue-colored residue off of their paws - and spitting it out, it tasted foul - when Indelia came back with some red feathers. They lit up when she set them in front of them! "Oh, very nice!" He picked up the feathers and began to crush them in their paws, thinning it with a bit of drool, and spreading it on the rock next to the other two. Now, they had a palette of red, blue, and green to play with! "And now, we paint!"

They dabbed their paw into the green and began to poke at the wall, spreading bits of paint on its surface. Small streaks and lines until it formed the outline of a head. It could use more color, though! With their left paw, they dabbed it in the blue and was about to paint the wall more when an idea came to mind.

What if they...combined it together?

They smacked their paw pads against each other and rubbed, like they were grinding feathers, until they peeled it away, their paw pads a nice combination of the bright blue and green colors. Their smile grew wider, and far more genuine then the plastered one before. "Oh...this color...its so nice! I want to keep it!" And as their desire grew stronger in their heart, heat spread across their shoulder and the serpentine peeking from their fur began to glow. A tingling feeling ran over their paw pads as the paint was absorbed and affixed, but they didn't really seem to notice, shrugging and reaching forward to paint more on the wall.

But the paint wasn't coming off their paws.

Confused, they pulled their paw back and looked at it, still grinning, and running their tongue over the pad. They could taste the bit of paint on their fur that hadn't been dyed, but their paw...just tasted like paw. "Huh? Uh, oh, I think I did something!" They showed Indelia their paw pad. "It's not coming off!"

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@Indelia

Indelia watched with interest as Deli crushed the feathers and thinned them using their drool - which she thought was a little gross though she managed to hold her tongue - and then start to paint. It seemed so cool, how they could just...color the surface.

She looked down at the paint and wondered if she could do the same. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, as Deli started to rub their paw pads together. She watched, frowning slightly. What were they doing? She looked a little closer as they stopped, and realized it was a different color now. That...was interesting. All of this was! How had it taken her so long to discover this?

And then suddenly Deli was speaking again, and she turned to their paw. What had they done? Was the dye permanent? It hadn't seemed like it was. What had been done differently?

"What happened? What did you do?" she asked, her tone that of curiosity more than anything else. She looked at the dye and wondered if she could permanently dye herself.

Speech. Thought.

@Deli

Deli

The smile was returning when they realized that they really had just totally recolored their paw pads. Oh, that was fantastic! "I don't know! I think I used magic! I used it before but it was different, I just changed, like, how light or dark my fur was! Wait, lemme try again..."

They dipped their now colored paw pad in some of the red, drawing two lines on the surface of the wall. The second one, they tried again to think and to concentrate on making it permanent, welling up that same, strange energy in their shoulder. It was getting hot and glowing for a moment before it died away. They liked their other paw and rubbed at the first line. The paint came off pretty easily, but with the second line, it didn't even smudge a little.

They put their paw down. "Oh, nice! I guess it was magic, then! HEY," they yapped loudly, suddenly whipping around towards Indelia. "If you ever want to be a different color come to me! Bring stuff you need and I'll paint you!"

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@Indelia

Indelia tilted her head a little at the mention of magic. She had heard of magic before, though she'd never done any spells herself. She didn't know what kind of magic she had. Nor did she have any idea what kind of magic this was.

She continued watching as they tried it again, seemingly using magic for the second line. And...it seemed that the magic made the dye permanent. That was...really cool. And then they were turning to her and yapping and it startled her and she took a step back before listening.

Be a different color...she didn't know what color - pink, maybe? - but she did know this was something she had to do at some point. Some pink markings, maybe? She'd have to think about it. "Ok...I'll have to search for the items but I'll come to you when I do!"

Speech. Thought.

@Deli

Deli

Deli nodded, happy that they'd made a new friend, since apparently this constituted making a friend, and turned back to the wall. Well, now things were more interesting! They could create all kinds of wonderful paintings and never have to worry about them washing away! Dipping their paw in the red paint, they began to make lines and markings, glancing at Indelia every so often as they did.

As they continued, the lines began to take the shape of a face with ears, wide, cat-like eyes, little whiskers, and stripes on its head and cheeks. It was a fairly simplistic drawing, mostly thicker lines, considering that they only had a single color to work with, but it definitely had a resemblance to Indelia and was talented enough considering Deli only had paws.

Once they finished the last detail, they stepped away, tail wagging happily. "Hey! I did you! Waddya think?"

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@Indelia

Indelia started to think about what she wanted on her fur. Definitely pink - were there pink feathers? There must be - though she didn't know what design. She'd definitely have to think about it at some point. Maybe some swirls? Or just random designs? Cover her spots? So many possibilities!

Her thoughts were interrupted by Deli speaking and taking a step back. She looked and...wow. Was that...her? It looked just like her! It was definitely amazing, especially considering that Deli had just paws. She wondered if she could do something that well.

"It looks amazing! She stared at it a little longer. She really did look good, didn't she? And Deli had managed to capture that. "You're really very good at this."

Speech. Thought.

@Deli

Deli

Deli waited a little on edge for Indelia's commentary, a sense of anxiety beginning to overtake them. Internally, they were absolutely losing their mind. If she turned around and said it was ugly, they didn't know if they would be able to do art ever again. Just pack it up and give it up because this one person said "no it looks bad". So when she sincerely complimented them, told them that their art was good, they warmed and smiled wider. "Thank you! I'm going to work to get so much better! Much much better!"

Deli leaped up and pressed their front paws against the rock wall, just off of the lines of the painting. For a second, their gem glowed as they sent magic into the art, before it died away and the painting was forever affixed to the wall.

They sat back down on their haunches and gave Indelia a flashing grin. "Hey, now you're never coming off the wall! You'll be up there forever!"

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@Indelia

Indelia watched as Deli set their paws on the stone near the painting and seemed to apply magic to it. She grinned as they told her that she'd be up there forever. She glanced back at it, at the drawing of her. Whoever passed this way would see it. They'd see her beauty - drawn by Deli, but it was her - and hopefully admire it.

"Nice," she mused, before turning her attention back to Deli. "You've already got a great start, so you can only get even better!" A quick glance back at the drawing and then she was grinning again. "Better start practicing. I'll always be up to be a model, if you want it." She struck a pose, stretching out slightly, a front paw raised, and winked at them.

Speech. Thought.

@Deli