The play's the thing

[plaguedrat]

"In brief, to set the needless process by, how I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd. How he refell'd me, and how I replied...Damn...that's..."

Rat sighs and adjusts his posture in the mirror, trying to capture Isabella's conflict, her desperation, her guilt. He hates admitting it, the idea that after only two months he might be settling by looking for work. But a proud soul often means an empty stomach and he's nothing if not practical. There are few jobs that he's suited to perform and equally few he's willing to submit to without being desperate.

So he stands in front of a mirror, wearing a thrifted dress that he's pinned to flatter and diguise his figure. A little makeup, expertly applied, and he's transformed into Eve again.

Comments

[silenttrainbaby]

Chasing that thumb, Grey catches it between his teeth with warm eyes. Is Rat still leaving?

[plaguedrat]

Just to clean up. He extracts himself from the couch and pulls Grey along to show him his own reflection. The two of them look a sight.

[silenttrainbaby]

Surprise paints itself with the red on Grey's face as he looks at himself. He catches himself reaching for the reflection rather than his own face, then he looks at Rat in the mirror.

Can Rat make him look like he does? Grey arches a brow. Can he?

[plaguedrat]

Rat raises his eyebrows, trying to analyze the questions that Grey is transmitting. "What do you want?"

[silenttrainbaby]

A touch to Rat's cheek, then Grey's - color like Rat has. Why not?

[plaguedrat]

"My face...your face..." Rat tilts his head. "Makeup?"

[silenttrainbaby]

If that's what it's called - yes. Grey nods. Make up. For him. To see what he looks like.

[plaguedrat]

Rat nods and takes him to the bathroom so that he can clean off both their faces first.

"It's usually for women," he admits. "But I wear it when I act."

[silenttrainbaby]

Make up was, for the most part, extinct on the train, at least in the back. Further up, Grey had seem all sorts of strange colors on faces.

He leans his hip against the sink and lets Rat do as he pleases.

[plaguedrat]

Rat nods. Years of practice tell him that the colors he has will have to be used carefully on Grey and his darker skin. Carefully, he marks up Grey's eyes and mouth, softening the shape of his jaw and brow.

[silenttrainbaby]

It tickles, the strange touch, the feel of something sticky on his eyes. But Grey has spent his life learning to do as he's told and he stays still even if the sensations are entirely new.

[plaguedrat]

"Okay, done," Rat says, putting the brushes down. "Go look in the mirror."

[silenttrainbaby]

Turning, Grey opens his eyes and stares. He looks strange. More exotic perhaps, his angles shadowed. He blinks and looks at Rat. Do they look alike?

[plaguedrat]

Not very much, Rat thinks. He'd taken care to use the colors to Grey's best advantage not too garish nor too subtle. "Never thought I'd do this for someone else," he admits, turning on the water to wash his face again.

[silenttrainbaby]

Watching as Grey washes the color away, Grey doesn't move. It seems silly to wash it away if it was just put on, even if he swears he can feel the weight of it on his skin.

[plaguedrat]

"Do you like it then?" Rat presses his face into the towel and it's suddenly a thousand times easier to actually be himself again.

[silenttrainbaby]

Like it? It's a novel experience, but Grey isn't sure "like" is a word he'd apply to it. He shrugs a shoulder, and when he feels the cat at his feet, he bends down to pick him out and face him.

The cat doesn't seem to care one way or another.

[plaguedrat]

"It suits you, if you need a Halloween costume," Rat says, running a thumb over Grey's cheekbone.

[silenttrainbaby]

"Halloween"? "Costume"? Once again, Rat gets Grey's confused face as he cradles the cat to his chest, always soothed by the hum of the purr in the furry body.

[plaguedrat]

Rat nods, trying to remember the particulars. He'd read about All Hallow's Eve in books, but never experienced it in person. "It's what's happening at the end of the month, why there's pumpkins and decorations," he explains. "Ancient people thought that All Hallow's Eve was the on day that the dead could return to the earth, but now most people just celebrate it as something fun and kind of spooky. So lots of costumes and candy."

[silenttrainbaby]

Well, that sounded strange. Though Grey did like the idea of a reason for candy.

The dead returning to earth, though? The corner of his mouth twitched. Wasn't he already dead returned to earth?

[plaguedrat]

"Yeah, maybe it's a little more real in a place like this," Rat agrees, mouth twitching similarly. "I don't know if I'm going to be doing anything."

[silenttrainbaby]

Grey doesn't know enough to advocate for such an activity. He shrugs, setting the cat on the floor and moving to wash the color off his face. (He only knows to do this because Rat did; left to his own devices, he would probably leave it on until it faded away, making quite the sight of himself.)

[plaguedrat]

"Young kids go out in costume, knocking on doors for candy. Trick or treating," Rat continues. "Adults usually go out partying. Or hand out candy."

[silenttrainbaby]

His face feeling tight from the soap, Grey wipes it dry before he looks over at Rat, dark circles of make up still around his eyes. "Partying" is not something he's familiar with either.