Log [Alison, Manuel & Marie-Ange]

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Music class, afternoon-ish. Alison and Manuel agree on something, much to Marie-Ange's consternation.

"You are both insane. Insane and I think you knocked your heads together."

Manuel sat in Alison's Music class and eyed the chart on the stand in front of him with great suspicion. They were doing Vocal Music, which he enjoyed, but Baptist Spirituals weren't much his thing. One of the only compensations in the entire class was that Marie-Ange was taking it. If nothing else, she was nice to look at.

Except today. She was wearing some sort of blouse/skirt combination in shades of green, and the shades just clashed. After class officially let out, he made his way through the students to talk to her.

"Hey." he said to her with a friendly-enough smile. "I couldn't help but noticing - do you have any idea that you're wearing two different shades of green today, and they're clashing fairly horribly?"

Marie-Ange raised an eyebrow. "I .. what?" Looking down, she examined the material of her skirt against that of her shirt. No, it was definitely still the same clothing she had put on that morning, and it still matched. "Manuel? Did Amanda do something to you? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." he said with a smile. "But those are seriously two different shades of green. The cut flatters, the material looks very nice..." and he reached out and touched her shoulder "... and feels even better, but the colors are just off. Are you OK? Usually you do better than that."

Marie-Ange was now definitely and absolutely sure Manuel was off his rocker. "Other than the usual insomnia, I am as fine as I can be." Just to be sure, she looked down again at her skirt. "I have no idea what you are talking about. My clothes look perfectly acceptable to me." She wrinkled her nose, and peered curiously at Manuel. "Are you trying to be funny?"

"Would I joke about fashion?" he retorted with a smile. "You should know me better than that. I was just trying to help - but if you want to clash subtly, that's your business. I've just about given up trying to dress Amanda, please don't tell me you're going to stop caring as well."

Students tended to stay for a bit before leaving the classroom, something which Alison was well used to by now - it was a change from the mad rush for the door in most of the other classes. The discussion going on nearby however very much of interest considering the topic and she wandered a bit closer, listening in without much shame (ok, none at all).

At this point, Marie-Ange was perturbed. She knew how to bloody well dress herself, thank you very much. "Maybe it is the light.." She mused, and grabbed Manuel's arm to drag him over to the window. "See? They look fine together. It was just the fluorescent lights."

Manuel looked at Marie-Ange's apparel under the more natural light. "Ugh, now it's worse! Look, this top - while quite stylish and very flattering to your assets, is very obviously two shades darker at least than this skirt - which is also very stylish and does fantastic things for your legs. Can't you tell? Do you need labels to tell what colors are what?" he taunted with a grin.

A wince greeted that comment, although there was a brief glimmer of appreciation for it as well - that was lovely as low blows went. Still, Alison kept her silence, only stretching her neck enough to get a glimpse of the colors as well, under the different lighting, to see if that made any difference.

"What is wrong with you?" Marie-Ange untucked the hem of her blouse and held it against the material of her skirt. "Those are the same colours. The skirt and top came as a set, Manuel. They have the same label, they are from the same designer, and they are the same colour." Looking up, she examined Manuel closely. "Are you quite certain you have not hit your head?"

"I'm very positive. And apparently you're not the only one with color problems, if that stuff came as a set. Maybe it faded while it was in the store?" Manuel said with amusement. "But like I said - it looks good, but the colors are off. It was pretty noticeable - to me, anyway."

"Actually, he's right." Alison finally stepped in before things went too far, taking the one step needed to bring herself into the discussion. "Have you washed one more than the other? That might explain why..." She looked at the clothing herself, nodding just a bit. "The top really is a few shades off compared to the skirt."

"I just bought them!" Marie-Ange stared at Alison, and Manuel. Okay, now she was being ganged up on. They could not have both hit their heads.. "They look fine to me. I do not know why either of you think they are different colours when they are the same shade."

"I do not wish to be rude ..." Manuel said with an ingratiating smirk "... but two out of the three of us both agree that you're clashing. It's subtle, but it is there." He turned to Alison and shrugged. "You can see it, right?"

"Yep. Different dye was used." Alison was dead certain of it now, as she looked down at the fabrics. "They probably did the lot of tops and bottoms in different dye drums at the factory which means you'll get variations. It happens a lot more than you'd think - it's why a lot of stuff in the stores is always mismatched..." She grinned a bit ruefully. "My mother used to hate it when I complained about that as a kid. Told me I was being picky."

Manuel nodded along with what Alison was saying. "It's a problem all over the world, actually. It's why shopping online is such a curse - nothing looks like it does on the web site. For any sort of serious purchasing, you absolutely must go see it in person."

Marie-Ange threw up her arms, frustrated. "You are both very strange. I cannot tell the difference, but if it is really so offensive, I can go change my top." Only just a little sarcastic, she added. "Would plain white offend either of your senses of fashion?"

"You'd be surprised at how many variations there are in the whites too, god," Alison groaned, shaking her head. "It's one of the hardest things to match perfectly, it's ridiculous!"

Manuel nodded again. "It's that stupid blue dye they use to make whites "whiter". It doesn't work, it just makes them look bluish." He added. "I hate that."

"Blue dye?" Marie-Ange shook her head. "You are both insane. Insane and I think you knocked your heads together. I am going to go change, so that I do not have to hear Manuel grumbling for the rest of the day." Tucking her blouse back into her skirt, she slowly left the room, still perturbed, and definitely convinced that something very strange was going on.

Manuel watched Marie-Ange's posterior as she walked away in a huff. "It isn't just me, right?" he asked Alison in a low voice. "You did see it too, right?"

"People just don't understand," Alison sighed sadly as she watched Marie-Ange leave. Shaking her head, she leaned against the window's door frame. "Yeah, I saw it too. I learned to stop commenting on it though," she added conversationally to Manuel. "People just get upset and start telling you you're insane."

"They don't." he said sadly. "Just another thing to keep quiet about." he said glumly, then tried to perk himself up. "More vocal stuff next class?" he asked Alison, clearly trying to change the subject.

"If you like," she answered easily. She tailored her classes after student requests, after all. "If students ask for something, I go with that first - the base curriculum is only a fallback in case no one has special requests. Just another thing to keep quiet about, huh? "And hey. It's nice to see at least one other person understands what I mean about colors." She grinned a bit ruefully - it was, of all things. Very much so.

Manuel shrugged. "My singing voice is OK, but it could use the work. If I had it my way, I'd do that or guitar work, but that's just me being selfish." he added with a self-depreciating shrug. "And I do understand about the colors - it's probably some weird mutant thing."

"It's in the notes," Alison pointed out. "Ask for specific things for courses, I'll put them in. I'll consider that a request and also tailor your homework assignments specifically. That good? And besides... if you want extra credit work, we can do probably do something more in depth along those lines." She then smiled a bit, shaking her head. "What, the mutant ability to see colors better than anyone else? That'd be the day."

Manuel shrugged. "I really have no idea where it comes from." he said. "And I actually like this class, so I'd be happy to come in on my free time and do a little extra work." he said with only the faintest hint of a leer. "But I've got to get going, my next class starts in five."

Alison chuckled at the leer, pushing off the wall to walk towards her desk to retrieve her notes. "Extra work it is. Think about if you'd rather do in depth work on one particular topic or more of a surface study on several and get back to me on it. Now, off to the next class with you."

Comments

[x-juggernaut.livejournal.com]

Woo! Tetrachromats!