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Judy has been in Zootopia for quite a considerable time now. Having talked to a lot of the other gifted passing and occupying the hideout and yet from time to time she would walk into someone she hadn’t seen before, wondering how she had missed them, for sure with how distinguishable every mammal seemed to be, besides her being a gifted bunny with ears that are definitely not just for show. One particularly colorful meeting, she would have today and this one was waiting with a kitlike glee to show his work to her.
While walking around the huge hangar Judy sees a door standing open that was as far as she knew always closed. A ceiling light shines diffusely through the open frame, as she walks closer to the yet unexplored room, she starts noticing different shapes and figures seeming to be clad in many tints and tones covering the part of the wall she can see. No clear sign that the space is off-limits pushes Judy to the decision to step into the lit room.
Loads of cans and tools are spread all over the floor in a corner of the room. Though it looks very unorganized, with some cans haphazardly stacked and tools strayed about, the floor and walls are exceptionally clean besides the somewhat abstract paintings. Giving a closer look Judy notices that all of them are silhouettes of animals, certain accents drawn over them, like rings, eyes, stars, books, cards, cups and tribal like tattoos, sea of colors around them, some radiating from the mammals, while others cloaked them into a slumbering coat.
Judy hears paws heading towards the room, the mammal in question seeming to have a joyful cadence to its step. Since it seams every other mammal knew when they were about to walk into her and the pace remains consistent, she stays calm and continued to look and examine the silhouettes, as she is sure the mammal must now know, that she is in here already.
“Hey Judy, I have been waiting for this moment,” says a rather youthful voice, once the gifted steps into the room and halts its approach, the phrase spoken with a kitlike innocence, yet edged with absolute certainty. She turns around not sure if she expected exactly the mammal she was looking at. The things she was sure of right from the first look was that the mammal in question was a male wearing a simple white shirt and dark gray pants, with a towel attached to his right side. He appeared to be mostly canine, an adult wolf most likely just from looking at his height, yet maybe the height came from his spotted feline side, as he is sporting jaguar like fur colors and markings, with an appropriate cat like tail to tip it off, one that has its end flicking in an amused yet sparking manner. He wears a big grin with all his fangs on display, Judy almost expects him to yell out, "I missed you!" with his amber specked green eyes looking at her as if she was a longtime friend he hadn't seen in ages.
Feeling somewhat taken by surprise by the deep sense of familiarity the canine is emitting, she searches for words to come, while her purple curious eyes subconsciously wander back to his spots on his fur, she hadn't seen a lot of hybrids in Bunny Barrow, some from different kinds of lagomorphs, but they never stood out as much as the mammal in front of her.
His mouth going from a friendly grin to a knowing smile as he responds on her action, "Yeah, I know most mammals haven't seen a canine with my kind of fur before, I like my spots," opening his arms before jesting to the bare fur below his sleeves, stating with a sense of pride, "The tailor of mother nature is never going to get back this coat, gives me loads of as I call it otherworldly inspiration, as a matter of fact let me point out three of them to you," he says with an excited voice, giving of tone that he needs to share some of the sea of stories which are compressed into only one canine head, while taking his right paw showing of some spots on his left elbow, "Here you can see a mage take on a battle tank, or a pathfinder as he calls it."
Judy looks at the markings, but can't see anything in them besides the normal spots of a jaguar, still if she could see a picture, how would she know what the mage called the tank? She couldn't hear a lie, but how could an image teach him that? As she asks herself these question she can visible see a very small reaction in his lips, but not enough to decide the exact meaning.
His eyes dart away from what appears to be him reading her face, after which the gifted hybrid lifts up his right pant leg pointing at another set of spots, making eye contact again as he says, "And here it shows two mammals holding each other close, the world that they knew no longer there."
She slightly starts to think that he's maybe trying to fool her or something, but his voice was more assuring than joking and his eyes were more eager than playful, so our gifted bunny decides that at least to himself, he sees what he is saying. This time his reaction isn't too small and short, his ears go up a bit more, his smile grows a tad, showing a joyful smile of finding someone, who doesn't downright decides that he is making everything up. Judy notices that it only makes him more eager to show something else, something big with what he does next.
Turning around with some bounce in his movement, lifting his shirt and trying to point at some spots on his lower back, "Ah, here we have two mammals in a pit trying to hustle a confession out of a third one standing on the rim...," while he says this, his eyes seem to focus on the details before taking the towel from his side and wiping over it, a smear of orange paint coming off, as he mutters, "I knew it, that one was located somewhere else," he pats his bottom. "This one...," he swallows, with the faintest sound of a whimper as he goes on, "shows a kit getting cut in the eye by his mother, a start of a nightmare for the both of them."
His voice sounds hurt and helpless at finishing said phrase, a sense of empathy going out to some mammals not even real, Judy might not be thinking those exact words, but her conversation partner, even though he has been the sole mammal talking, reacts to the, "Not even real," part with an intense glare, his agitation accentuating his markings with a red golden fury. "They are as real as you and I," he hisses, before going on, "That one strikes far too close to our picture, change a few base colors here and there and we would end up with that situation," he pinches the brig of his snout as he sighs distressed, "That kit is broken, crumbled into a pale shape and will need help to get somewhat more whole and less monstrous monochrome." Staring at Judy intently, "Maybe that someone is a bunny called Judith Laverne Hopps, well not you you, but enough about possibilities and renditions that don't matter to us."
Recovering from the flinch our bunny had gotten from the sudden outburst at her thoughts no less, she now looks at the much more neutral looking yet embarrassed tinted hybrid. Judy is feeling rather annoyed by his constant almost instantaneous response to her unspoken words, she's now more than sure, that Nick was right when he said it was just rude to not let another speak, but didn't Dracs say that Nick was the only psychic here in warehouse 9? And she still didn't even know his name.
Again he answers before she utters a word, but this time the canine down casts his gaze at the floor, while fidgeting with his digits, "I'm sorry, but Dracs didn't lie, I'm no psychic, I'm what you would call a seer, a gifted with the power of precognition though mine resembles chrono vision to a certain extent, my own approved naming is quantum vision," his eyes searching for contact again as he says this with a fluster.
Judy admits that it explains a lot, from his air of certainty to him responding on every thought she was about to turn into a question, yet again his name remains unanswered. The rabbit can see his lips tighten as he fights back an automatic response and for the first time since the mammal entered the room, she can speak out her question, "So you already know that I'm Judy Hopps, but what is your name?"
A friendly grin paints his face as he almost jumps in kitlike triumph over letting her speak, before calming down a notch followed by a slight cough, "Umh, yeah sorry about that, still working on having a proper conversation, as for my name," he says holding up his left paw with all digits stretched out, his grin turns playful at the next spoken word, "Four..."
"That isn't his name right?" goes through Judy's thoughts, but it gets answered by a shake of the canine like head, she hears him snicker slightly.
"Three..."
When she wants to say that she doesn't feel like playing around, Judy hears another set of paws heading their way. It doesn't take long for her to recognize those exact steps, she heard them enough by now.
"Two..."
Knowing who is coming and that this is a seer she is talking to, the rabbit deduces that her new conversation partner will in all likelihood address them both..., with nicknames most likely.
"One."
"Hey fluff, I can see you met our seer and painter of the place, Mural." Looking past the now named hybrid, she sees her favorite canine she can count among her friends, though she almost believes that the two planned this, since the trademark grin was present. Judy wants to have a word with Nick about trying to trick her, when he gestures with his paws to calm down, as he reveals, "Neither of us has a real paw in this, besides me knowing that it would be pretty fun to have your first encounter with him." He gestures at Mural who just shrugs, before the new spotted friend reaches out for a pawshake.
Judy accepts the greeting, as he responds with an innocent enough grin, "As Copper Red has said." Oh he knows, of course the seer does, she hears him say it flat toned, like it is the most normal thing in the world, also noticing Mural's ear flick. "Mammals call me Mural or Mureau, but my given name is Gregory Alder, it is a my pleasure to finally getting to meet you in person, Copper Blue," she can hear Nick stepping closer as Mural says this.
Wanting to ask why blue? Besides it going together with red, she stops as she pulls back from the shake, yet still feels something in her paw, looking at it she now holds a card with a pretty long string of numbers on it. Looking back up at the playful smile, an already too sure sign that he knows her questions as she utters out, "Okay, what is this and how did you hand it to me in that handshake without me noticing it?"
Mural responds with grabbing an empty card out of his right pocket and a black pen out of the left one. He turns around and starts to put the pen to the card out of duos view. Judy's attention falls on his erratic moving ears and the feline like tail lashing as a whip.
Nick now standing right next to her, speaks up, "I can answer that for you fluff, you see our seer here," waving with his paw towards the still busy gifted, "tends to provide us with clues, if he believes that we could use a little bit of help, be it directions, passwords, codes or points of interest. The cards have two sides." Judy flips her card over and now sees a symbol she doesn't recognize. "Just giving information as a seer can be quite fickle, for sure when the information is about something far away in the future, to limit the derogatory influence of stating an observation on the outcome, Mural gives us the information like this, both sides could be a sign to look out for or the clue, a reason why he calls them quantum clues, just this uncertainty lessens the chance of Mural being wrong to marginal levels," as the fox finishes his explanation Mural hands over a card to him, this time holding a sketch of a location on one side and sketch of a mammal on the other.
"On the subject of how," Mural wears a small smile, as he says this, "I could see all of the ways to give it to you and of those few ways to do that without you noticing it immediately, this one seemed the most fun," saying the last part almost as a question, he looks away slightly, betraying his embarrassment at the two smaller mammals.
"Let just say playing pranks on him is quite hard, when he can see what you plan to do," says Nick, before grinning, "He even counter pranks mammals that plan to prank him, sees all the possible ways and picks one of them."
Mural rolls his eyes, as he counter plays, "you are one to talk, not much a mammal can do to prank one who can read your mind and then reads up on your weaknesses and fears, besides I would see it more as a dissuasive action, than a prank on my part." Hybrid eyes settle on Judy once more, a grin filled with teeth as he presents, "Nick said that I'm a painter and I indeed am the painter of these silhouettes, each one standing for a gifted, their essence, special points depicted in some ways and the path they will walk," saying this as his left paw guides around the room.
Judy thinks about what these are, paintings of gifted made by a seer, not surprising a question leaves her lips, "Is there one that represents me?" Her question makes Mural nod before his eyes dart towards Nick, who seems to be looking not at him but at a certain part of the wall.
"I see you finally filled in the space," says Nick partly relieved and somewhat painfully amused. Judy quickly follows Nick's gaze and sees a silhouette of a bunny, it is painted black yet she somehow feels it is gray and soft, colors of a radiant golden orange sun shining from out the edges. A paw holding a beam shaped glass lantern with a scale hanging from the bottom, one caring beam penetrating a deep slumbering blue filled with speckles resembling little stars.
"I started painting the base when you boarded the train, Copper Blue," says Mural amused, sounding so sure about the timing, it would be folly to believe it if he wasn't a seer. "As for why it was empty, look further and ask Copper Red, to explain his side when you're done," states the hybrid with an edged grin, to which Nick raises an eyebrow, before dropping it to look at his gifted bunny and stare at her mural with a mask of a rather neutral expression.
Looking further to where she has left off, she now sees that the deep blue actually surrounds another silhouette one having the contours of a fox, again like all the others it is just a black base and yet it almost eyes as a lush auburn red. The spacious blue dotted with what she assumes are stars stretch out and fade into the normal color of the wall, giving it an endless all encompassing feeling. Midnight green arrows with borders resembling pale moonlight protrude from the silhouette's edges traversing the endless expanse.
"Mural, how do...?" the gifted bunny stops halfway in her question on how he gifts feeling to the color pitch black which feel unrelatable, as she notices that he was already out of the room, almost walking around the corner to disappears from sight. Her glance being pulled by the now verdant green stained towel on his side. "Wasn't it orange paint?" goes the question through Judy's mind.
"You are probably right to assume that is what you saw," voices Nick quite amused, making Judy turn her confused stare at him, before he ads on, "That is quite a normal thing with Mural, first time I saw him, I thought he had stripes instead of spots, Dracs saw him being right pawed instead of left and Reinhart thought he used a camera instead of brushes." Looking at Nick's grin, Judy assumes he will go on and explain why. "The why? Maybe it is a side effect of his quantum vision, at least that is what he himself says. Don't worry it only occurs to everyone once in their first encounter with him."
Judy thought about it for a bit and accepted it and looked back at the silhouettes of them both, asking him, "So why the surprise, slick?" Her purple eyes looking at him, a certain shine in his betraying a sense that he should have known that hers would go there, just like the seer knows about that one part of him in his mural.
"You probably have noticed that the walls over there are still empty," says Nick, as he points at the corner left of the door. "When Mural joined us, he painted everyone in order from first to join to last..., except he left one space open, one right after mine and even after others joined, the space kept being unused," Nick was saying it, while looking at her silhouette, a memory of an old and a new conversation going through his head. His eyes dart back to Judy, as he speaks almost with a muffed tone, "When I asked him who and why, he answered, "I can't tell you, besides you wouldn't want me to spoil the fun for you," agh, I should have known that he would refuse to say it outright, seer quirks and all."
Okay so she wouldn't get to hear the why just like Nick didn't, but that explanation did peak her curiosity. "Quirks? What are they?" asks Judy, keen on understanding and the working of another gifted.
"Okay fluff, I already told you about him not being able to give a direct answer to something in the future, since that just screams for things to go different and with different it tends to be bad news and if it was already bad news, it turns worse," Nicks voice becomes somewhat dark at the last part, another memory flickers past his gaze, sighing as he continues, "If Mural had told me, that it was a space for yours, a lot of stuff could have happened, like you getting captured by the AGU and even you joining up with the Crimson Claw instead, as unbelievable as it sounds."
Judy practically flinches at hearing those outcomes, before staring at him, hoping to see that he is joking with her, but the only thing she can see are honest eyes staring back, Nick sighs frustrated, "I had asked Mural why yours? After I had spoken out about him finally filling it in." Judy concludes that her psychic buddy had a private moment in the painter's mind. "He told me what could have happened, if he had told me who before we met, to make me drop the question," says the gifted fox with motion of regret, "he was quite frustrated after that and Dracs wanted to talk to him, so he left," he scratches his neck, as he just has told the reason why Mural was gone all of a sudden.
After a short silence, Nick coughs slightly, before saying, "So back to seer quirks one o one, time is a strange concept for a seer, everything happening feels more like a revisit of the past, mammals who could and most likely will become good friends, he will like them from the get go and treat them as you would treat a favorite family member," Nick stating that, makes Judy remember his very friendly and homey first greeting.
"Mural can't feel surprised or feel fear, because as a seer there is no unknown." Judy gives a look that says, "Really?" to which Nick chuckles and gives an affirmative nod, "Okay let us skip to that before going back to what I wanted to say, anyway it's true, he knows everything, every possible outcome that can be and could be, every facet of our world and beyond. But he doesn't understand everything, if he did he would have chrono vision, but like he said he doesn't have it, it is close but no. An example would be, he can state any book on philosophy word for word, give definitions on concepts and rules, but when you ask him if he understands it, Mural will most likely say, "Not at the moment, I need some time to understand it," him and us can both learn, but while we learn to know and understand at the same time, he just has to deal with the understanding part," says the gifted tod, who seemingly has had experience with it already, scratching the scruff of his neck as he continues, "That difference doesn't help him with his social skills, Mural knows that he acts differently from others, him getting to understand things, while already knowing makes him rather self conscious and embarrassed at times, he has gotten better," the fox stops and chuckles at the memory, "it used to be that he almost didn't look at anyone he was talking to, most generics thought he had some form of autism caused by him being an hybrid," Nick wasn't laughing at the last part, his tail lays limp, it clearly had caused some issues for Mural in the past, ones that Nick had seen.
Noticing him being plagued by a past memory Judy tries to lift the mood with a quip, "Well at least he is a humble and energetic know it all, unlike someone I know."
Her friend forms an amused grin, "I'm not a know it all, guess that makes me humble and energetic." Judy snorts at that, while Nick gives a chuckle and says, "So..., back to the point we skipped halfway, talking about feelings coming forth from not knowing. In situations that would make us surprised, he just becomes happy and excited, in cases where others gets scared, he mostly becomes either annoyed or frustrated."
Thinking about what Nick just said, makes Judy trying to fit stuff together in her mind, like any good case solver does, Mural's actions were sounding more and more understandable now, yet a certain connection felt edged and dangerously sharp, her mind made up as she formulates the question, "Does that mean that the reason why mine is there could be considered something to fear by another mammal's standards?"
Nick looks up at hearing the question, he knows Judy isn't a dumb bunny, but she did a very good job fitting things together. He takes a deep breath and says, "It could be the case, probably too important to tell it outright, his frustration isn't fear though, but more his anger that he can't tell us the answer, as he cares a lot about his friends." He lets out a small chuckle before he adds, "You know fluff? Those two questions, have been the only two I kept nagging Mural with, all the other times he said he couldn't tell me, I let it drop and never asked them again," his eyes focusing back on the bunny's silhouette, an intrigued voice leaves him as he softly states, "I don't know why, but that empty spot kept drawing my attention." Looking back the gifted bunny, to say in lighten manner, "I think I can finally stop asking him why, doesn't mean I will stop looking for an answer though," he says with a wink.
Judy lightly giggles at his mannerism, giving a slight tap to his arm, before saying with a smile, "Well slick, you aren't alone, as you will have me searching the why together with you." She wouldn't stop either as this is a great mystery, one that involves herself no less.
As the gifted bunny looks around the room again, she feels that her encounter with Mural ended up being just as colorful as his paintings, an experience she wouldn't forget anytime soon. She isn't the only one present though, curiosity flares up as she looks back at her auburn colored friend. "Say Nick, how was your first encounter with him?" asks Judy rather peaked by learning that Mural was even more socially unique before.
"Well it was quite an experience, while us two ran into one another on accident, I was actively searching for Mural," as he says this Judy's ears perk up, the fox continues, noticing her elevated interest, "Paintings like the ones here, were popping up around downtown and nobody knew what they meant, except by the gifted who were depicted, each one made along the path they traversed the most." She could see the trouble coming already, and Nick responded accordingly, "Yeah, it was worrisome, while the owners of the painted buildings weren't really mad about it, the gifted were afraid that it was someone that wanted them to be found out, so others and I went to find the troublesome painter."
Judy was kind of confused, Mural should have known better, but why? So she asks, "If he knew that it could cause trouble, why did he do it? And not just come here in the first place?"
"Well, he had bloomed earlier that week, and his manner of getting a hold on it, came in the form of making these kind of paintings, gifted are more colorful and contrasting to him, clearer and more defined, but after the first few he knew and could indeed have headed to safe heaven on his own, no help required, he had stopped painting more, but he didn't come, Mural wanted me to meet him first," chuckled the tod, rubbing his neck almost embarrassed, the does nose twitched in anticipation.
She can see a tender glimpse in his eyes as he says softly, "Mural felt isolated and was lonely, even other gifted didn't feel much closer, to him they could just as well have been generics with just a different faith, being a psychic makes me act differently even compared to most gifted, just like him being a seer, we are all unique, yet similar in some ways," Nick wears a small smile, recounting the fact that being himself helped another mammal. Judy's eyes glaze over at hearing why he wanted to meet Nick and his next word just seal the deal, "First thing Mural did, when he saw me was hug me and cry."
Same Room 4 Years Ago
Empty walls surround a teenage Gregory, as he grabs the paint that he knows he will need for his first new mural, for Dracs' he needs a combination of greens and blues for the surroundings, with yellow, orange and dark brown for the accents. Being a seer has it fair share of extremely useful uses, knowing mammals all over Zootopia who had excess paint laying about, being one of them and most of them are glad to have someone getting it of their paws and hooves. Helping out that gothic shrew had been the best deal paws down, the rather farsighted rodent had accidently filled in the wrong code for some black paint, ending himself up with the amounts needed for a home of an elephant, the hybrid had to stifle a giggle when the gothic was about to tell him, that he had wondered why it had such a large package discount on it. Great for him though, the basic silhouettes he paints were and will be black.
As the mostly canine hybrid starts to paint without worry of getting any pigments on anything except where he intends to make it go, he reflects on the less joyful side of getting the paint for free. Most mammals had looked at him with pity, thinking that he was a defect, that his parents didn't care about his wellbeing and that they should have sticked to their own species. Gregory had tried to steer the conversations away from the paths were it ended up being discussed, but in the end everyone has a free will and he can't control others. A knowing itch spreads just for the moment on his left wrist. He understands that he's partly to blame for it, he pretty much knows that if he acted like all the others, he would be seen as less of a defect and more as a very healthy hybrid, which he is, but even if a mammal knows that something is more fitting, it doesn't guarantee that the individual will be doing it and even with him being a seer, the hybrid is still just a mammal.
Putting down the brush on the wall without much of glance, knowing how the colors will mix and settle, the flowing and shifting only strengthens what the seer already knows, his blooming two weeks ago hadn't been fun, oh he had known that it wouldn't be very fun. For two whole days, it felt like he had been thrown into a paint mixer, with colors that at the same time mixed and refused to do so, he was nauseous and what did he do those two days? He went to school like nothing was going on, didn't matter that he couldn't see the white chalk on the board, or the black ink on the pages, he knew everything without the need to see.
Which wasn't anything new, even before he had bloomed he knew about anything happening around him, about what a book said, that he had just wanted to pick up, to what that female panther would do if he told her, he liked her fur. The thing that is new, is him knowing everything that goes on beyond what he ever could observe directly connected to him, Gregory now knows what every mammal on the globe had for breakfast, how a kit would stumble out of a tormented place in an infinite number of ways and variations, knowing things about other dimensional planes and those three.
Gregory lays down the brush, as he starts moving cans to the next location where he will need them, leaving the first finished mural free and clear to anyone who will stand in the room. A black timber wolf silhouette, eying dark gray, with an atmosphere of authority and responsibility, coated in a gleam of smug satisfaction, fifteen rings interlocked into a giant circle surrounding his shape accentuating a sense of unity, while the surroundings start out with a body of water at the bottom, flowing and churning from waves breaking to vertical straight lines making up the picturesque skyline of modern Zootopia at the top.
Painting the murals had given him the needed understanding to get some form of orientation again, but even after that, there are still two big things Gregory didn't like, one was even after dealing with it and coming to the understanding of how extremely wide his knowing was now, his sight was still obstructed, the very nauseating feeling was gone, yet the cursed law breaking paint mixer had only switched places with something that could be compared to an overeager projector that was beaming multiple film rolls at once. The sad part is Gregory knows, that whatever he does it won't get any better than that. Second still majorly frustrating part was not being able to share and tell most of the stuff he wanted to talk about, marvelous things that could help others, he had to keep secret and painful destructive plans weren't allowed to be disclosed openly to the mammals who could stop them.
The hybrid had messed up majorly once already, a bit after meeting Nick, he had a run in with a certain bigoted smoke addicted boar, who couldn't let it slide to bombard Gregory with a ray of slurs, no matter what he tried the boar kept going on, the usual about his parents, the fact about Gregory acting socially awkward, and he would have just left the boar alone to his hateful brooding, that was the case till the bigot said all the words Gregory hated with a passion, in a way that it threw everything that he knew about possible consequences into the backseat.
"Oh, maybe I should feel pity for your parents instead, I mean a defected mutt is barely better than a misfit," the boar had said with glee noticing each and every word making Gregory ears twitch and his tail dangerously flick like a snake, the boar's insults continues with a fabricated gasp "Oh, I'm sorry, pretty sure that those savage misfits are still smarter than a defect mongrel, at least they don't go make pretend."
Gregory had snapped at that point turned around and had snarled at the boar, who had prepared for a brawl, but was quietly cursing as the mutt in front of him almost looked like a barely contained inferno, spots seeming to glow as the hybrid started spitting out the worst path the boar could and would most likely go down, details about his life, finances and work said in so much snarled detail, that the boar got startled and when his now very talkative target got to how his life would break with conviction that only bared ruthless certainty, the boar started to beg for him to stop, but the words kept flowing like an unforgiving torrent leading to the generic's imminent demise by his own hoof, his last thoughts included, what was left in front of the now huffing hybrid was a sobbing and squalling mess.
And when the understanding came back, regret set in fast, the boar in question was indeed a bigoted smoker, but he wasn't all bad even if his good friends called him annoying to no end and now with everything that Gregory had told, he would go perform the deed, now almost sure to take place that day instead of a few years. The hybrid quickly called Nick asking for him to come as fast as he could, the one that would carry the final cost of messing up and making it better would be on him alone though. It ended up with the three of them on a roof and if Gregory wanted the boar to have access to the possibilities of a better future it had to go a certain way, it came to a shuffle, where Nick obscured the memories of the talk enough to make the boar think of bettering his ways instead of dead, while the teenager fell of the roof towards an open trash container, smashing his left wrist on the edge resulting in a complex fracture and a muffled scream as he bit in his right arm.
Rubbing on his now healed wrist as he starts painting Nick's mural, him having worked through the others without much trouble. Gregory likes the fox a lot and remembers what he did the first time they met, how embarrassed he feels right now thinking about the hug and crying from the get go, at least the gifted fox could read his mind to find out that he was acting on the principle that they already had their conversation, he said something about overly emotional and dramatic seers, which made Gregory laugh. And after that moment he had his least forced and most connected conversation since he was conscious, making him finally wanting to go visit Safe Heaven. Nick being considerate after what happened with the boar, helped a lot with confirming Gregory's decision to join.
Gregory stands still for a second sighing with a smile, as now a half finished mural takes up the space of the wall, silhouette and accents already present, now for the rather special surroundings for his buddy canine. As he starts dragging the deep blue paint for the surroundings, the hybrid knows that 'he' is watching him paint a representation of his domain and oh how 'he' doesn't like the ant doing it, for sure in the context the mutt is painting it in.
'His' hate now focuses in on the defect making a visible link between his garden and that stupid red pelt. The broken mutt thinks that he knows what 'he' will do, the ridiculous notion of this ant makes 'him' snarl, the nerve of some of these pests that crawl in his presence. 'His' sense of satisfaction sending the fur of the emotional lacking pup stand on end, as the scheming is already decided and dealt with as the amalgamation of corrupted genes annoyingly and foolishly tries to reach the finishing touches of an abstract piece of scribbles. The wrong fitted puzzle growls at the bastardising of the description and view of his insignificant self and the piece of a universe that holds no value.
Hind paws moving as the freak of a dogcat scuffles to snatch the only pigment that will barely suffice. The blinded misfit can't do anything but finish the beautiful expression that caresses the forefront of its inferior mind, as black strokes drip the wall into an encumbering direction. The mismatched children book finishes its task and lays down the tool to deny 'his' conformity, closing the door behind to only to stop all the other lesser beings from trespassing, as the omega of felines drags itself to this hole called a bar, foolishly trying to unearth 'his' doing, as the unwanted monster puts his paws to its face, huffing out, as the understanding of what just happened flares up in its juvenile mind.
"It took you long enough, ant" scoffs 'his' voice displeased in the counterfeit chimera's head, yet baring marks of amusement as 'he' ads on with glee, "Let us change the game shall we?" the phrase isn't a question, as why would 'he' ever listen to a thing so far below 'him', the marked vermin isn't holding the burning magnifying glass is it? "Well, then let's start it."
The world's view snaps almost completely back into its balanced and generally unbiased state, as a flood of all past gone taunts overrun the dotted dog's mind, making three particularly entangled emotions submerge his annoyance and rising anger. "Ah, you broken mongrel, it is your bad luck that I have to take satisfaction in these three flat flavors of you instead of the best one," toys 'he' with a small sense of indulgence of watching something break in a less bore some way.
A deep disconnecting sense of isolation spreads it's ugly head, as a wasteland with nothing but a abnormal glitch taking up only a measurable amount of awkward volume. Voices recounting it standing and sitting alone being given a look of avoidance, its inability to seek a closer bond with his parents and the conversations containing slurs that got thrown at the other coated beast all based on him being different from the norm.
Sadness falls like an never ending rainstorm, with no mammal to give the thin tail a means to keep from getting drenched in echoes of fights and arguments popping up, because of there being a malcopied cat having a desire to be himself and wanting to be treated like anyone else, yet gets denied time and time again.
The cold of hopelessness freezing the rain, covering everything up in an inhibiting coat of colorless gloom, no happiness to thaw away the cold, as the cheap imitation of an artist sees the recounts of him not able to address stuff directly and able to do anything significant. A meaningless existence is what this missing link is and will ever be.
The hybrid reaches the door again, knowing that others are worried, as his cheeks are still being stained with tears and a snarl looks to be edged onto his face, with fur standing on end with an agitated gleam, yet with ears and tail in a scolded position. Mammals had literary jolted up and out of the way as he had marched back without much of a sign and mentioned reason, to do something about that overgrown dark personality's actions.
As Gregory closes the door, a smell hits him even before his face turns to what he has been made to drawn onto the wall, instead of finding 'his' symbol clad in dripping black paint tainting the very spot with its presence, the hybrid finds it to be even worse, as the attention demanding group of lines had switched from substance and color, now the wall was covered in partly dried blood and by the memory of the smell, his own. "Ah, that is what I call a masterpiece, got to admit nudging your side effect was nice for the added effect," says 'he' very smugly.
The apparent withstanding of the abuse of the mutt's very being, turned the submerged annoyance to a full frustrated fit, knowing that he himself can't do anything to 'him', but he does have a say of his own and looking at the symbol he comes to an understanding, in the shape of a tearstained toothed grin, the sign is double edged sword, giving power to act in payment of spreading chaos and destruction, as a seer there is no greater spread of chaos than unfiltered speech, which is mostly a bad thing, but in a slight number of cases it can be good, for he needs both his opinion and look on the case stated to himself. A means to break the surface with his real emotions and cut 'his' taunts with the rock 'he' has provided. Figuratively making the giant stub his own toe on his own placed obstacle, so to speak.
"Okay, you want destruction, I'll give you some, but not the one you want," says the hybrid with an edged smile, making 'him' raise an eyebrow at the ant's rather confident and unbroken attitude. Gregory snaps his fingers, before giving the finishing touches to Nick's mural, "First of, I'm not alone, we all are different and some might be more than others, yet we are connected for good and for bad, and while mammals might not comprehend me on some things, doesn't make them unable to know me for who I really am, we learn and I know he is one of them," saying it with clarity pointing at Nick's now finished mural, as the hybrid feels warmer, when one of the taunting threads snap and burns up.
Taking a towel and heading towards the still half wet bloody symbol, Gregory states, "Secondly, anyone can be sad, but being sad doesn't take away any of the happier moments we share with others." He daps away the excess still undried part, as his smile softens. "My parents get dealt a gifted seer and that has caused loads of pain for them and I, still we laugh together, hug and share the nicer things in life, I know it could be more, but I also know it could be far less, so yes, we can be happy," says the hybrid, taking step back from the now dry and less bloody mark with a nod of his head, feeling the tears stop flowing as the second vocal outcry gets dried up.
Grabbing a brush coated in basic wall primer, the hybrid steps back and starts covering up the unwanted strokes as he says, "Thirdly, meanings are something we give to ourselves, yes even the small once, that you consider irrelevant, because to others and me they are relevant and though I might not be able to reveal the big outlines directly, I can give a guiding paw enough to make a change, as a seer enough to make it better and as a mammal enough to make it more colorful," says Gregory, as he puts the brush back on the can for further layers later on, his sense of hope and purpose coloring over the last bleaching fixation.
'He' snarls as he watches the last of his taunts gets refuted, but then mocks the mongrel, "Just painting over it won't work, my pride isn't something you can stop, you defect." Gregory isn't born yesterday, as he wasn't expecting the paint to stop the aura, still there is a way to counter it and thus he decides to paint that mural in the future on that exact spot. 'He' knows what the infidel of an ant has decided to paint and rumbles out at it having the needed effect to stop working on him already and 'them' getting involved. "You know how you fall, you know how all of them fall. Make your choice, it's you or them," 'he' growls out, before 'his' encumbering influence fades away, leaving the hybrid alone again in the lit up room.
After some time passes and more coats have been applied over the symbol, Gregory finally finishes the last mural for the time being. His own black silhouette now adorns the wall, a white blindfold painted across, a contrast of him not being able to see, yet seeing everything, only joined by the contrasting accents of orange jaguar spots on his left arm and green tiger stripes on his right leg, whose colors further contrast the surroundings, with a blazing fire raging on the right side and lush plants thriving on the left.
A knock on the door draws out a response from Gregory, "Hey Nick, you can come in, I just finished all the murals for the moment." The gifted fox enter the room as the hybrid starts moving the cans and other equipment to the unused corner next to the door.
Nick stares at him, examining if everything is alright, coming up to him after hearing that his newest buddy had some kind of fit earlier, but from what he can read it appears to be resolved and thus the fox looks at all the new wall paintings instead. They are fascinating and fitting to the gifted in question, but the empty spot next to his own, keeps pulling his attention more and more, looking back at the hybrid who keeps cleaning up without giving any sign of stopping soon, gives Nick the hint that he might not want to answer the question and yet he asks, "Say Mural, why is this spot empty and if you are planning to paint someone, who is it?"
Gregory lets out a heavy huff as he grabs another brush to rinse, "I can't tell you, besides you wouldn't want me to spoil the fun for you." Unspoken words were laced with making good stuff turn bad, as a certain very hurtful experience had already proven to the gifted tod, before an excited grin comes up on the spotted canine like face, as the hybrid says, "You know what? I'll give you a hint, I like your nickname for me so much, that I will give you one in the same conversation, where who gets revealed to you." And with that the now nicknamed Mural steps out of the room snickering as he knows a quip forming in Copper Red's future.