They should've been trapeeze artists...

Who: Finn and Maddy
Where: Fontaine Park
When: Afternoon

It had been awhile since Maddy got to spend sometime in the park without having to worry about it suddenly raining on her drawing pad. Pleased with the conditions, Maddy was in the park by the duck pond, sitting on the bench with some charcoal sketching the leave-less and the three children playing some kind ball game under it. On her left hand, she wore a red and blue striped, knitted glove and on her right she was wearing a plain latex glove. The sleeves of her jacket was pushed up to her elbows to avoid dragging in the charcoal and there were smears of black up her right arm.

Finn had spent most of the day writing music in his little flat above the Apollo, and was about ready to tear up the sheet music in front of him, when he noticed the sky had cleared. It hadn't been nice out for quite a long time. Glad for any sort of escape, Finn grabbed his coat and headed out the door, and started down the street. He couldn't help but run with so much pent up energy inside of him. He didn't seem to care where he was going, and by the time he needed to slow down, he was at the park.

The park was somewhat empty, besides a few children, and a small figure on a park bench. Finn paused. There was something familiar about the huddled person on the bench. He walked a little bit closer, and recognition broke across his face. He started to sneak very quietly up to the girl with the sketchpad. Finn raised his arms up and then grabbed her shoulders, yelling so loudly it scared the ducks.

"DOOOLLLL GIIIIIRRRRRLLL!!!"

It was purely instinctive. Maddy dropped her sketchbook on the ground, grabbed the wrists of the person who grabbed her, and pulled, flipping her assailant over herself and onto the ground. "What the fuck is your problem?" She yelled, her switchblade out but lucky for Finn, she recognized the mop of floppy black hair and the art decorating one of his hands. "Finn!" She kicked him the thigh. Perhaps not hard enough to bruise him, but enough to show him her displeasure at being surprised like that. "Get up! You're on my sketchbook!" Dammit, the picture would be absolutely ruined.

After the initial shock of being flipped over in the air wore off, Finn burst into laughter. He always forgot how strong Maddy was when she put her mind to it. It took him a moment to collect himself, and pick himself off the ground. Still giggling he dusted himself off, and picked up the sketchbook. In a moment, his giggling had stopped, as he looked at the smudged, but still beautiful piece of art. "Wow, DG, this is pretty great." He looked at the pond. "Sorry for scaring your ducks."

Maddy snatched the the pad from him, glowering and looking at the sketch in dismay. "I don't care about the damn ducks. They're not that hard to draw." She ripped the paper out of the book and threw it half-halfheartedly at Finn's head. She slipped her switchblade back in her inner pocket and plopped back down on the bench beside him. Thankfully the piece of charcoal hadn't broken. They were expensive and had it broken, Finn would've been in more trouble.

"Ducks are hard. I couldn't draw a duck." Finn said defensively. He picked up the piece of paper and started to fold it. Finn noticed the annoyance that was painted all over Maddy's face, and he frowned. "I'm sorry DG. I didn't mean to scare you. I swear." He patted her head gently. "Here have a duck." He laughed, handing her the origami bird he'd folded. "How've you been?"

Maddy took the origami duck and turned it in her hand, sighing heavily. "Same old, same old," she said, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. "Nothing too exciting. You?" Nothing much had been happening at all. She didn't have to worry about having to deal with that damn serial killer anymore. While she knew she could get away from any killer's clutches, she didn't like having to be more careful than she was used to being. It cramped her style.

"I wrote a new song." Said Finn, a cocky smile crossing his lips. "I think I'll debut it tonight, at The Kitten Club." He was in his own world of piano, scantly clad women, and smoky clubs again, and it took a moment for him to snap out of it. "You should sing." He said suddenly, looking over at Maddy. "I'm sure you have a beautiful voice."

"Ha!" Maddy just rolled her eyes and held up her sketchbook. "I can draw. I can't sing at all. The nuns used to tell me to just hum when we'd have service." That was one of the few "flaws" they found that they were unable to ignore. And the idea of being up on stage, being oggled at by half drunken men. Maddy couldn't help but shudder in revulsion. She hated adults. She really, really did.

Finn frowned. "Well, nuns can't hear anything with those hood things on, can they?" He had a low disregard for adult-people, especially old women. They always had rules that were painfully easy to break, and often smelled like old soup. "Singing isn't all that exciting anyway. Anyone can sing. Real talent comes from the hands!" He started to wiggle his hands crazily in the air, before playing an imaginary piano manically.

Maddy rolled her eyes again. "The nuns were nice," she defended a little. She didn't live there anymore, so it didn't really matter. "I mean, it wasn't that bad there," except for Robert... She shook her head and started sketching a new picture with the charcoal. This time it was the broken statue by the pond, the ice covering it melting slightly. She was only halfheartedly sketching, mostly from memory. "Real talent that I have, you mean," she told him lightly.

"There's talent spilling out of your ear, DG." He said confidently. Finn looked over her shoulder at the sketch. "Very few people could do that. You have a gift, my friend." He paused and chewed his lip thoughtfully. Finn had a lot of respect for Maddy, he knew she'd been through a lot. It was clear in her eyes, and the way she held herself that her life hadn't been easy. He wanted her to smile more. "You should sell me one. I could put it above the piano at The Drake." If his boss let him of course, but that didn't seem important at the moment.

"Yeah?" She eyed him curiously. It was not often that she got to sell her pictures and the idea of making some money appealed to her. "I could go for that." She really hadn't been doing such a good job of getting her name out there, and if she didn't, how was she going to find Jack? "Anything you had in mind?"

"Yeah!" He said, full of enthusiasm. "It'll be great. I've always wanted to add a little something to the piano. It's so plain, and that way I'll have something to look at while I play, too!" Finn couldn't help but stand up on the bench, in a release of excitement. "You know what, I bet when they see the picture, they'll want ten more to put around the hotel." He was grinning, and it took him a moment to realize Maddy had asked him a question. "Oh... well, I think it should be something that appeals to the tastes of the refined gentleman." Finn wasn't sure what this meant, but he'd read it in a magazine, and hoped Maddy would have some idea.

"Refined gentlemen." Maddy rolled the word around in her mouth. The only real gentleman she knew was the caretaker of Hill Street Theater. "Refined gentlemen like a lot of different things." Like little girls, in her personal experience. She looked down at the half-complete sketch and even for being just a mindless doodle, it was still better than what she was working on before. "When are you playing next? I'll come see you. Wanna hear that new song." While Finn annoyed her more often than not, he acknowledged and appreciated her superior talents, but then, Finn didn't seem like he was all there to begin with. Still, she'd never turn down the ego boost. "Will I have to dress up?" She had a dress but she wasn't sure if it'd be appropriate for a night at The Drake.

With a quick, brief grasp of his shoulder, Maddy was suddenly balancing easily on the back of the bench. She held her sketchbook against her chest and gently rested her foot up on his shoulder like he was a ballet rail.

"Well, I'm playing at the Kitten tonight." He said, lifting her up so that she was riding on his shoulders. Finn was a skinny guy, but he did have some tone to his muscles, and had no problem carrying Maddy on his shoulders. He then stood up on the back of the bench, swaying slightly, but for the most part very in control. He started to walk along the back of the bench as though it were a tight rope as he talked. "You don't really have to dress up for the Kitten, no one looks at anyone but the performers anyway. I'm playing at the Drake tomorrow afternoon... I'll have to find you a dress. What size do you wear?" He started to sway a little bit more, and jumped off the back of the bench onto the ground. "I know some dancers... they might have something I can borrow for you."

Maddy had no problem keeping her balance on his shoulders. She rested her sketchbook between the back of his head and her stomach and started stroking his hair, sifting her fingers through the dark locks. "I don't like the Kitten," she said with a little frown. The last time she'd gone to see Finn play there, she'd ended up getting cornered near the bathrooms. "Isn't it rude to ask a lady what size she is?"

"The Kitten is an acquired taste I guess." It was a taste that Finn had absolutely acquired. When it came to most adults he felt uncomfortable and his feet always itched. But as far as the women in the Kitten went, they were his cup of tea. As much as he was like a kid, he still loved beautiful women. Maddy was different though. She was a fellow street kid, a companion, and he couldn't really think of her the same way he though of the Kitten girls. "Is it rude? Then how do men buy dresses for women? I'd be terrible at guessing."

"I'm not sure if I should be offended or not," Maddy said, and did give him a slightly sharp, quick tug on his hair. "But men don't buy dresses for women. At least... I don't think they do." Maddy didn't actually know. She stole the dress she owned. "The dress I have should be fine tho for the Kitten." And she'd go to the Kitten for him. "But can I sit somewhere else? I don't want people thinking I'm a pro."

"Ow," Finn protested, rubbing the spot where she pulled his hair. "Sometimes men buy dresses for their sweethearts. And some of the better singers at the Kitten have gotten a dress or two delivered before." He didn't know much about women's fashion. Finn knew a dress was a dress, and women didn't normally wear pants. "You can sit wherever you want to sit. Well, except on stage, that wouldn't really work. I can set up a chair next to the piano if you want."

Maddy made a thoughtful sound and resumed stroking her fingers through his hair. He really needed a haircut, but she didn't say anything about it. "I'd like to sit by the piano..." Maybe she could draw each performer and sell it to them for a few cents. They could hang it up in their dressing rooms. There'd be enough light there for her to sketch. "Would your girls mind?" she asked with a grin. Maddy would never admit, ever, that the girls of the Kitten made her a little self-conscious. She was fifteen and flat chested and gangly but whatever. It didn't matter. She was better than all of them anyway.

"Do you think they could say no to this face?" Finn looked up at her, barely able to lean his head far enough back to see her. He made a puppy dog face. After he felt he'd made his point, he started walking around the park with Maddy still on his shoulders. "I'm sure they won't mind. They should be honored to have such an accomplished artist in their audience."

She moved easily with his footsteps looking out over the park. "Well, then, I guess I'll come. When did you say it was again?" Feeling balanced enough, she took out her book and rested it on top of his head and carefully began sketching again. She'd give it to Finn when she was finished.

"I'll get there at 8:30, and the girls start at 9." Said Finn, heading towards the opposite end of the park. He wasn't exactly sure where he was going, but then, he rarely was. What he was sure of was that he felt hungry. He hope wherever he ended up they had food. "You can arrive with me, the girls won't mind."

Maddy didn't mind if they left the park. She had all her things with her anyway. "How long have you been working on your new song? What's it like?" She started shading in a miniature Finn into her picture, rubbing some shadow with her blackened pinkie. "Someone singing it or is it just a solo piece?"

"A month. It's a jazzy piece. It has lyrics... it would sound better if a woman sang it, but I'll give you a preview..." Finn cleared his throat, and started to sing for Maddy. The song was happy and fast paced, and though it was true, it would sound better from a woman, Finn brought life to it. At the instrumental parts he sang all the jazz chords in an odd scat melody.

"I like it," she told him, carefully pocketing her charcoal pencil. "I always like your fast stuff." Maddy didn't know much about music except what Finn told her. "Do you have anyone in mind to sing it?" Maddy considered adding a sun to the picture, but it seemed strange to put one in when there never was any sun in Eidolon City so she just did careful, stylish smears of clouds.

"Do you know Sandy? The blonde with the dimples and the ..." Boobs. Legs. Lips. Hips "Blue eyes. She has a really rough, really fantastic voice, and she knows how to have fun on the stage." And offstage, as he well knew. She was a very beautiful singer. The started to near the edge of the park, and he noticed a small cafe. "Fancy a bite to eat?"

Maddy had no money and she didn't want to tell Finn that. She stopped him with a gentle tug on his hair and hopped off, careful not to smear her picture. Carefully, she tore two pages out: the picture and then a blank piece to keep the charcoal from smearing. "Here." She held it out to him. "For your piano."

Finn grinned. "Thanks. It's wonderful." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few dollars. "I'm sure it's worth a lot more." He held it gently up into the light the sky was emitting. "My hair is getting long." He laughed.

"Look at Mistah Rich Boi with his paying jobs," she teased to hide the uncomfortable feeling she had and pocketed the bills quickly. "Mistah Rich Boi who needs a hair cut." The idea of food didn't occur to her when it came to money. Maybe she would have enough ow to buy a canvas for a proper painting. She was never that good with keeping track of actually eating. The idea of counting her ribs didn't bother her and didn't seem to bother the men who bothered her. She carefully took off the latex glove and dropped it down the storm drain a few feet away and pulled out another glove. This one was just plain red. She held her hands out in front of her, making sure there were no tears that she couldn't tell.

Finn chuckled, and rubbed her head. "Would you like to meet me in front of your theatre at 8:15? I should go home and put some finishing touches on the song, work out a couple of kinks." He also needed a cigarette, and he'd left all of his at his apartment in the rush to get out. There were ties to tie and dinner to eat, and he badly needed a nap.

"Okay. I'll be waiting." If her dress didn't fit properly, she'd raid the costume room. "I'll see you later, Finn." She gave him a little wave with her striped hand and bounded off to Hill Street to inspect her savings.