This Old House - Marie-Ange and Alison
Apr. 26th, 2020 10:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsMarie-Ange and Alison tackle the music room re-paint job. Alison has built a Thing, and Marie-Ange gets a chance to kvetch about old ex-friends.
"And so. I have a question" Marie-Ange asked, as she finished tucking her braid under a Toronto Blue Jays baseball cap she had certainly stolen from Garrison Kane. "Is your powers control tight enough to etch away a single layer of paint?" She had already placed dropcloths on the floor and taped over light fixtures with painter's tape. "This is for reasons of art."
"Uh.... maybe?" Alison basically asked as she finished screwing another paint roller onto its rod. "I admit I've never actually thought to try. Why do you ask?"
"Because this room is in dire need of something to look at besides soundproofing." To be fair, it had whiteboards and a large screen television, but the remaining walls were bare, single color and dull. "Laser etching from our resident pop star would be interesting."
"I mean, I guess we can try?" Alison said with a shrug. "Could be interesting, and god knows we've got enough paint that if we mess it up it won't hurt anything.
"Yes, regarding paint." Marie-Ange pointed to the side of the room, where a ... contraption sat. "To quote a phrase, because people keep watching Doctor Who in my living room, what in the name of sanity is that?"
'That' was an unholy amalgamation of paint buckets, milk crates, spigots, a draining pan, and far too much watertight caulking and duct tape to inspire any sort of confidence in its structural integrity. Adding to its complete and total absurdity, the entire contraption at its highest point stood an inch or two taller than Alison. And a quick peek showed that the pan was full of a dark turquoise paint.
"You like it?" Alison asked with a smile. "I call it the Paint Behemoth. It's a 20 gallon paint bucket system designed to ensure perfectly even paint blending to get the same color each time, every time. What do you think? I invented it myself!"
"Like is such a useless word." Marie-Ange walked over to the Behemoth and poked it gingerly. "This is because why?"
"Okay, so, like..." Alison floundered. "It's dumb, but it's not. Basically, it's designed so that all of the paint mixes itself together to get a smooth, even color before it goes up on the wall." She gestured towards one of the far walls. "Like, that wall right there looks like one solid color, right? But it's not. Whoever painted it last must have run out of paint and gone to get more. But you just can't mix the same color twice like that, because even though to everyone else it looks fine and normal, it isn't. Half of it is a different shade from the other, and there are streaks and brushmarks and little dabs of paint markings all over the place and it's chaotic and literally nobody else can see it."
She kicked one of the wooden boxes. It, supporting several gallons of paint, did not move, although it did make a fairly satisfying thunking sound. "So this thing means that won't happen, and it can hold enough paint that we won't run out. Because I ran out when painting my dorm and oh man do not get me started on how impossible it is to try and match paint after something's already half done. Basically you have to get enough paint the first time or you're screwed."
Marie-Ange's eyebrows went up once, and then she looked for all the world like she was trying to suppress laughter as Alison explained. "Oh, I see. Well, I do not, because I do not have that particular power, but I understand." She waved a hand at one of the walls. "So you buy ten cans of paint and mix all ten together, this makes sense. Why you have not said before, less sense, but who demands sense right now, there is art to be done."
She picked up one of the rollers, and flicked her fingers, spinning it lazily. "Let us get to painting, and while we are at it, I will tell you about one of my ex-classmates who had the same problem. He was the reason we re-painted this room in the first place, because no one liked him. You? We like."
"And so. I have a question" Marie-Ange asked, as she finished tucking her braid under a Toronto Blue Jays baseball cap she had certainly stolen from Garrison Kane. "Is your powers control tight enough to etch away a single layer of paint?" She had already placed dropcloths on the floor and taped over light fixtures with painter's tape. "This is for reasons of art."
"Uh.... maybe?" Alison basically asked as she finished screwing another paint roller onto its rod. "I admit I've never actually thought to try. Why do you ask?"
"Because this room is in dire need of something to look at besides soundproofing." To be fair, it had whiteboards and a large screen television, but the remaining walls were bare, single color and dull. "Laser etching from our resident pop star would be interesting."
"I mean, I guess we can try?" Alison said with a shrug. "Could be interesting, and god knows we've got enough paint that if we mess it up it won't hurt anything.
"Yes, regarding paint." Marie-Ange pointed to the side of the room, where a ... contraption sat. "To quote a phrase, because people keep watching Doctor Who in my living room, what in the name of sanity is that?"
'That' was an unholy amalgamation of paint buckets, milk crates, spigots, a draining pan, and far too much watertight caulking and duct tape to inspire any sort of confidence in its structural integrity. Adding to its complete and total absurdity, the entire contraption at its highest point stood an inch or two taller than Alison. And a quick peek showed that the pan was full of a dark turquoise paint.
"You like it?" Alison asked with a smile. "I call it the Paint Behemoth. It's a 20 gallon paint bucket system designed to ensure perfectly even paint blending to get the same color each time, every time. What do you think? I invented it myself!"
"Like is such a useless word." Marie-Ange walked over to the Behemoth and poked it gingerly. "This is because why?"
"Okay, so, like..." Alison floundered. "It's dumb, but it's not. Basically, it's designed so that all of the paint mixes itself together to get a smooth, even color before it goes up on the wall." She gestured towards one of the far walls. "Like, that wall right there looks like one solid color, right? But it's not. Whoever painted it last must have run out of paint and gone to get more. But you just can't mix the same color twice like that, because even though to everyone else it looks fine and normal, it isn't. Half of it is a different shade from the other, and there are streaks and brushmarks and little dabs of paint markings all over the place and it's chaotic and literally nobody else can see it."
She kicked one of the wooden boxes. It, supporting several gallons of paint, did not move, although it did make a fairly satisfying thunking sound. "So this thing means that won't happen, and it can hold enough paint that we won't run out. Because I ran out when painting my dorm and oh man do not get me started on how impossible it is to try and match paint after something's already half done. Basically you have to get enough paint the first time or you're screwed."
Marie-Ange's eyebrows went up once, and then she looked for all the world like she was trying to suppress laughter as Alison explained. "Oh, I see. Well, I do not, because I do not have that particular power, but I understand." She waved a hand at one of the walls. "So you buy ten cans of paint and mix all ten together, this makes sense. Why you have not said before, less sense, but who demands sense right now, there is art to be done."
She picked up one of the rollers, and flicked her fingers, spinning it lazily. "Let us get to painting, and while we are at it, I will tell you about one of my ex-classmates who had the same problem. He was the reason we re-painted this room in the first place, because no one liked him. You? We like."
