Urban Nights [Doppo/Clem]

When the rumors of block parties happening around Fiore reached Clem, she nearly stopped breathing from excitement. It had been years since she had participated in one. Back in Neutral Grounds, they were nearly a nightly occurrence. If you knew somebody, and that somebody knew somebody invited to the party, you were automatically invited. Nobody ever complained about having too many people. It was all a street cred and popularity contest, but Clem always went for the music and the community. Parties like that were one of her only ways of discovering new music. At the time she barely could scrape up enough to get food for herself and her sister. There was no chance of being able to buy new discs, or even a radio for that matter.

The more Clem heard about this Urban Nights event, the more agitated she grew in anticipation. There would be bars, glowsticks, music, food, and even paint! Paint was her favorite thing! This whole night she would totally be in her element. Every part of this sang to her interests and personality. The painter would fit right in and she knew it. Thus, she decided to head to the biggest party in the country, the one in Capital Crocus.

Upon arrival, Clem had stood in place for several minutes with her jaw on the ground, taking it all in. Black lights had replaced every street lamp, illuminating all the colors in the clothes of everyone beneath. Oh, the colors! Clem was in heaven. Vibrant neons blessed her eyes and got her heart racing, but the dark purples, blues, and blacks of the night soothed it just the same. Every color sang in rugged harmony and Clem felt as if she was physically soaking it all in. This is what she lived for. Paint and color were what ran in her blood and fueled her every movement. Her soul would be incomplete without pigment!

Clem herself was dressed in her finest and favorite gear. The comfy puffy jacket she had been given by a friend accompanied a white tube top and black pants that were one half shorts, one half pants. On top of everything, she was able to use her own 'blacklight' ability without standing out. Upon gaining her magic, the painter had been able to switch on and off a peculiar ability. With this, her skin turned dark indigo, her hair neon magenta, and her eyes gold. Anything on and around her appeared as if under a blacklight. Previously unseen swirls of neon teal adorned her jacket, and a set of teeth appeared on her face mask. Permanent paint marks were splattered here and there on her body, especially her hands, but were only visible when in her neon form.

When she finally spurred herself to move, the dark mage had no idea what to do first. Drinking? Games? Music? Food? The possibilities were endless! She was soaring on cloud nine. The bar was the choice she eventually made, where she tried a drink called the Lit Meow Splash. To her surprise, the drink had caused her skin to start glowing! Clem had laughed in delight and continued on her merry way. She felt at home among the crowds of ravers. Nothing could break her stride.

Well, metaphorically. Something did physically break her stride, that something being another person. A clumsy guy with red hair had knocked into her, spilling his drink. Luckily, she had dodged the liquid, but the guy was not so fortunate. With his sweatshirt now soaked in lavender alcohol, he had made the effort to check on her first.

“Are YOU okay, dude? You actin’ like a real clunker right now,” Clem shot back. She was feeling feisty and a bit hyper tonight. “How you gonna just walk around and ain’t look where you goin?”

That was when she noticed the pendant around his neck. He was a Rune Knight, the sworn enemy of her own guild, Errings Rising. While the policing force of Fiore wanted rules and structure, the dark guild was all about chaos and destruction. They were truly opposite forces. In her days before joining Errings Rising, Clem had experienced many encounters with Rune Knights that caught her spray painting buildings. Of course, they didn’t appreciate her art, and she often had to lead them on a wild goose chase to avoid getting arrested. At first, these pursuits caused her heart to pound with fear. But as she grew older, they became a fun game.

Clem was feeling up for a bit of a chase as it was. That would certainly add some more excitement to an already great event! It would just be like the good old days, all she had to do was piss off this Knight and give him a peek of her guild mark, then surely they would be like cat and mouse.

Now, how could she annoy this doofus? Clem glanced him over with narrowed eyes, settling on his feet. Ah, sandals. Gross. She’d make them prettier. Removing one of her paint cans from her belt, the dark mage gave it a good shake and sprayed neon pink paint right on his feet. Trailing upwards, she painted a nice, dripping smiley face right on his chest. Paint mixed with lavender alcohol on his shirt. Now that was art! Plus, she was living up to her guild’s operandi modus. Nothing like causing a little chaos.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot you weren’t a wall. You sure run into people like one!” Clem stepped back with a smirk on her face. Her puffy jacket was conveniently slipped over her left shoulder, exposing the spiky Errings Rising guild mark on her chest to the night air.

”Oh no, your poor sale sweatshirt,” Clem drawled with an exaggerated pout. She was enjoying this, it had been a while since she had taunted a Rune Knight. It wouldn’t be too long before he would lose his temper and try to arrest her. As a youth, she had developed a taste for thrill-seeking. That familiar adrenaline was rising in her veins.

A split second was all it took. The sound of shattering glass pierced the air as what was left of the man’s drink and cup were smashed in his closed fist. Clem took a step back. The veins in his neck began to show under his reddening skin. Oh, he was extremely pissed. Whoops.

Though Clem had experienced furious insults being thrown at her before, things were starting to look worse than she had intended. The smirk dropped from her face for a moment as she took a few steps back. A twinge of fear tainted the adrenaline coursing through her. Maybe she had gone too far?... Nah. This is what she had signed up for, and now she had to see it through. Her eyebrows raised at a few of the swears and insults. ‘Rainbow-looking-ass’? That was new. At least he had recognized the colorful effort she had put into her outfit. That seemed to be the only positive spin to any of his words. It appeared she had chosen a Rune Knight with anger issues.

“Geez, dude,” Clem mumbled as he insulted her mother and her grandma, who she didn’t even know. She was starting to feel anger of her own, which only fed into her determination of leading this guy on a wild goose chase. Now that he was making jabs back at her with twice the venom, she just had to ruin his night even more than she already had. He wouldn’t catch her if she relied on her agility and street skills. Clem felt mostly confident in her abilities, but would have to see just how much of a challenge this would be.

Taking a few quick breaths to pump herself up, Clem glared at the Knight with stubborn golden eyes. He had picked up a nearby table from the front of a cafe and was drawing it back to throw at her. She only had a moment to suck in a sharp breath before the furniture was hurled right in her direction. Luckily she managed to dodge out of the way, catching her fall into a roll and returning to her feet. Phew, that was close. Now it was her turn.

Clem flipped her paint can in her hand a few times before taking action. Light on her feet, she darted towards the Knight, zig-zagging as she went in case he decided to repeat the projectiles. When she was a few inches away, the painter spun away from his hands. On her way, she delivered a swift but savage kick to the man’s shin. Her departure was just as quick.

Glancing behind her as her skate shoes pounded into the pavement with each step, Clem grinned. That would surely leave a gnarly bruise. She paused for a moment at the corner of the street.

“Come and get me, assface! I bet yo daddy was yo uncle too!” Clem’s insult was juvenile, but truthfully she didn’t know many witty insults. However, as the Knight had proven earlier, insulting one’s parents always seemed to work.

She stuck her tongue out at him, then disappeared around the building and into a nearby crowd, leaning down as she ran. Being small in stature, it didn’t take long before she had lost the red-haired man. Slowing to catch her breath, Clem looked around. She had to find out something to do in the meantime until she was found again and the chase would continue. Music was blasting from a nearby stage where a DJ was playing, but another sound caught her ears. It was a rhythmic thumping, a sweet and steady beat that could be heard under the bass of the DJ’s jams.

Clem followed the noise until she found a circle of people. Pushing her way in, she came upon a most delightful scene. A group of drums had been set up in a semicircle. Drummers came and went, but one thing remained the same: each and every drum was covered in a layer of brilliant paint that jumped and danced with each hit of the mallets. Anyone nearby was in the splashing range, and many already were splattered with patches of paint. If it were possible, Clem would have had stars in her eyes. She nearly forgot about her predicament in all the excitement she felt. Music and paint! What could be better?

When a spot opened up, Clem leapt in. In an instant she settled into her claimed spot and began banging on the drum. Paint covered her hands and arms, some even flecking on her face. The crowd continued cheering for her and any other people that joined in. Clem wasn’t the best at it, but she was having a blast. Everyone around her seemed to be as well, though some were surely hopped up on substances or Sloth Toddies. That was a common thing at parties like this.

Happy and being splashed with more paint by the minute, Clem looked around. So far, no sight of the redhead. She remained on edge anyway just in case he decided to burst from the crowd or something.

Clem was getting into her drumming almost too much before she heard it. She froze in place, a chill going down her spine. It was his voice. From the nearby stage, where music had been playing since she arrived, came the continuation to the barrage of insults she had endured earlier. Somehow the Knight had taken the DJ’s place and was using the microphone to broadcast his fury.

“My ears aren’t ugly,” Clem grumbled to herself, reaching up to touch her pierced earlobes. The crowd had quieted to listen to the odd interruption from the usual loud bass. Many people around the drummers, who had paused their beat, were looking around in confusion.

“Damn, who shat in that guy’s cornflakes?” muttered a nearby man to his friend. Clem caught the comment and mentally stored it for use at a later time.

‘Haven’t-come-out-of-the-closet’?! “Oh hell no! I AM NOT GAY YOU JAGWEED!” Clem stood up and shouted in the direction of the stage, forgetting that she was supposed to be hiding from the officer. Her own anger and denial burned furiously in her stomach. People had asked or accused her of the same thing before. It was always met with a vigorous denial. However, every time it was brought up, Clem felt an uneasy twinge in her stomach and her heart picked up pace. This time was no different.

“Shit.” She clapped her hands over her mouth and glanced around her. The voice coming from the stage seemed to have drowned out her voice, and nobody seemed to have heard her but the nearest person, who gave her an odd look. Luckily for Clem, the redhead was too angry to describe her to the crowd. She was free from suspicion by the other attendees, but she still had to keep up her game.

The shouting died down, and seconds later the beat dropped. Clem could hear the raucous screams of the excited crowd. Maybe the DJ had removed the Knight from the stage due to his irate blabbering, or maybe the fool had come to his senses and realized that the ravers were not here to listen to him rant. Either way, he was gone from the stage and back out of Clem’s radar. Her adrenaline picked up again as she sat with the drummers and began the beat once more. A knee bobbed rapidly in anticipation.

The shout startled Clem, who jolted and scrambled from her seat. As much as she had anticipated the encounter, it still caught her off guard. She slipped on the paint coating the ground around the drums and fell on her butt. Clem scrambled backwards through the colorful liquid, staining her hands and clothes. The Knight approached, and Clem had to think quickly. Being on the ground had her at a disadvantage.

“Shitshitshit,” the painter mumbled as her window of opportunity was running out. Then it hit her. “Wow,” Clem groaned under her breath, reaching up a hand to smack her forehead in exasperation. Paint smeared all over her forehead and a bit of her hair. The paint! Of course! When she had finally found the paint dragon lacrima with the paint dragon himself, her friend Magenta, she’d discovered the ability to control paint and pigment with her hands. It was an ability she had totally forgotten about in the past few months.

Raising her color-coated hands out, Clem delved into her magic power and focused on the paint below herself and the redhead. The paint quickly glowed and warped, buoying a fallen drum atop a wave of kaleidoscoping paint. With a flick of her wrist, the paint launched the drum right at the Knight’s head, followed shortly after by a splash of paint aimed right for the eyes.

“Woo! Get fucked you absolute gorilla! You useless jar of tomato sauce!” Clem taunted. She didn’t know what all this guy was capable of, but if she wanted to continue the game of chase she had to get the hell out of this area. Scrambling to her feet, she took off through the crowd, pushing people aside and leaving painted handprints on skin and clothing as she went. The painter forgot to check her shoes, though, and left a trail of painted footprints in her wake.