—
—
“Art is not only my means of expressing myself, but it is my weapon to fight back against a system that has only taken from me… Through art I can send a message, either it be one to inspire people like myself, or to strike discomfort in those above me. That said, I never was a fan of working on a canvas to make a simple picture to be framed and hanged up changed decoration. It doesn’t compare to the rush of scooping out my colony for dangerous and tricky spots to throw up my work at the dead of night, then return in the morning to see a crowd admire my work slack-jawed at the brazen stunt I pulled. I don’t have much in this world, but my art is all I need.”
- ??? ‘Okiku’ ???
“I don’t snitch to the police!”
March 13th YC 123
Torrinos V Lunar Mining Colony - Some scheduled alleyway
< Paint can hissing >
“Hey! Girle!”
“…Huh?!”
< ‘Okiku’ being picked up and throw into some nearby trash cans >
“You gonna ■■■■■■■ snitch on me will you?!”
< ‘Okiku’ being picked up and slammed against the wall >
“I - < Gasp > -don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“■■■■ you! The police are already swarming my ship! They’re gonna be coming down on me and my crew next! I knew you did it!”
“I don’t snitch to the police!”
“Yet you were threatening me with doing just that!”
“I’d have to turn myself in to talk with them! Think about it!”
"Cops want you for tagging some stupid ■■■■■■■ walls! You think any of what you’ve done matters?! You could’ve sold us out and walked with a slap on the wrist!
“I’m telling you! I had nothing to do with this!”
“Then how else do they know?!”
“Maybe because your dumbass was sitting around drinking and wasting time when you could’ve cleared out! Cops are already on high alert with the bombing, nothing is secret from them right now!”
“…”
< ‘Okiku’ being dropped to the ground. >
“Tel! Check her bag!”
“Wh- Hey! That’s mine!”
“No ■■■■? What we got Tel?”
“Bunch of paint cans…”
< Spray cans clanging on the floor >
“Some ration sticks…”
“Gimmie one of those.”
“H-Hey! That’s my dinner!”
< Ration bar being unwrapped >
“Yeah? Mmm… guess you’re going hungry tonight then. What else Tel?”
“Let’s see… some kind of… Book?”
“…H-Hey… That’s-”
“Lemme see this… some kind of incoherent comic book? bunch of scribbles and doodles… Oh! What’s this… Well, this little scribble right here looks like what you were working on right here with this wall…”
“T-That’s my black book! All my concepts are in there!”
“Oh? Sounds precious then…”
“Yes! Take whatever the hell you want! Just leave the book!”
“… Think I care about all this junk? The snack is nice and all, but this right here? Holds a special kind of value, a sentimental one… People go to extraordinary lengths to afford such things…”
“What do you want…?”
“… You ■■■■■■ me and my people over, I should kill you right now, but you still have some use to make it all right…”
“…”
“You have experience sneaking into the starport, and you’ve already been in my hanger. You’re gonna do just that and help us regain access to the hanger so we can get back to our ship and get the hell out of here… Do that for us? And you get your precious little book back…”
“… I want to go with you!”
“I’m sorry, it sounded like you were negotiating there for a second. I do hope I misheard you…”
“I help you get back to your ship and then what? I’m left behind to be arrested not only for my art, but assisting drug smugglers in escaping?!”
“Shouldn’t had opened your mouth to me kid… We wouldn’t be in this situation. If you don’t want to help? We’ll just kill you now and I’ll burn the book just to aid salt to the wound… Help? You get your book back, and keep your life and we go our separate ways. Your choice.”
“… Fine! ■■■■ it! Fine! You win! I’ll… I’ll help you!”
“That’s what I like to hear… You know? Looking at these concepts of yours… I gotta admit you got some talent. Almost a waste that such talent resides in some whelp like you, but hey. At least you got something going for you…”
“…”
“I gotta ask though… Why are you borrowing so much Guristas symbolism in your work? You ain’t Gurista… You know, some people might take offense to that.”
“That’s the point… It pisses these people off! You wanna trigger a suit? Put rabbit ears on something. The authority here will start feeling more and more uncomfortable once they’re surrounded in Guristas symbolism, the suits will starts squirming and as a result they’ll all look weaker… Vulnerable.”
“… So trying to incite something in people, is that it?”
“I can’t do much else. This is how I fight, this is how I stick it to these corporate bastards. It may be insignificant to you, but to me? It keeps me going… And I’d say it’s working. That piece I tossed up on the apartment building? I had inside help with that, the staff there are just regular people like me when off the clock, they’re uniforms are snazzy, but they wear the same rags I do when they’re at home… I told them my plan to try and humiliate these pamper asshopes they clean up after, and they opened doors for me to make it happen… Let me in after hours, let me access the rooftop and let me use this lift they need to clean the windows with… Managed to pull it off before sunrise with nobody the wiser and everyone was either infuriated at their sacred leaders being depicted in such a way, or laughing their asses off like me.”
“… Do you regret it?”
“Hell no.”
“Well! At least you got some sand in you kid… I like that. But we’ve wasted enough time with flattery, get up - We’re going now.”
“Wait, right now?”
“Yes right now! You think I wanna wait here any longer? You’re getting us back to our ship immediately so we can get the hell out of this shithole! Now move it!”
“Alright, alright - I’m going…”