Final Paintings - Watchers 3

As the trio of Haedians finished up with the final outfit they were showing off for the scarlet and dark teal runner they had in their grasp. As soon as he was able to move again, Wassail hummed, shifting his wings. The gems and chains they put with the first outfit were still mixed within his feathers, though he has gotten used to them at this point. He left the changing area, still in the garbs that were lent to him. As he left though he noticed that there was a group of darker colored Haedians heading to another portion of the cave systems. Following them at a safe distance, he saw they were carrying different supplies. Tarp like objects and holders for something else. He noticed that in this section, the walls were barren, void of any of the typical wall paintings he had seen in the main halls.

“We know you are there. There is no need for you to sneak around.” One of the haedians spoke up, looking in the general direction of where Wassail was.

This caused the winged runner to jump a bit, startled. His teal eyes went wide before he closed his mouth that he didn’t know fell open.

“Apologies… I didn’t realize you knew I was behind you.” He lowered his head, causing the jewelry in his mane to jingle lightly.

“Do not apologize,” They let out a chuckle, “We have much better hearing than most of the other clans. We were actually going to be painting some new murals on these walls as the old ones had faded and were scraped away.”

She gestured to the wall ahead of them, where the other two were setting out the tarp next to the wall and setting out the holders, which he realized are paint holders. They also set out different sized brushes.

“I would love to help. Thank you… Your clan has been surprisingly welcoming, I do understand any hesitations though.” The scarlet and dark teal runner hummed, fussing with the folded fabrics that were draped across his body.

A light laugh came from the entire group. The ones setting up the tarp had grabbed some of the paint brushes within their slender paws, dunking them into the paint before wiping any excess off into the containers.

“If you are worried about the drapery, please do not. They have been made with things like this in mind, a little paint will not ruin it.” The purple and black haedian chuckled, padding up to the runner and holding out a small paint brush for him.

Taking it within his mouth, he walked on to the tarp. The crunch of the material under his paws was different to the fabrics used to clothe themselves. As he approached the wall he was greeted by the rest of the group, and had a small piece of parchment pushed into his paws.

“We’re repainting this mural of Empyria and the cosmos around her. She is one of the few gods who isn’t actively involved with any fighting, thankfully.” The haedian hummed as they started to paint the base layers of the mural.

During this time, they took advantage of Wassail's ability to fly in to great use, which he was happy to help with. His powerful wing beats would dry the paint along with allowing them to make the mural even larger than originally planned. When they finally got the first layers down they took a small break to put the paints away that were unnecessary at that moment. As they took a rest, they talked about anything that came to mind. Wassail spoke at length of how his friends above ground all had personalities that differed so much from his own, but they all still got along together. When the first paint layer was fully dried, they got back up to finish the paintings. They were nearing completion only a couple hours later, the swooping colors of the plants and star systems along with the grand deity.

“Thank you, Wassail, for your assistance. Being able to scale it up this much has made a huge impact.” The haedian smiled at the winged runner, putting the dirty brushes into a decorated pouch that was to the side.

“It was my pleasure to assist with this.” He bowed a little bit, smiling.

“Hey! Wassail! We do have another project we were working on if you wished to help us here.” A red and white haedian called out to the runner, beckoning to him.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah I don’t mind. Just let me know what it’ll be.” The scarlet and dark teal runner padded over to the other Haedian after finishing helping put away the tarp that had been just used.

“It’ll be a tapestry, something that will hopefully be used to represent your time here, to hold on to the memories.” They chuckled.

“Oh! Of course! I would be happy to help.” The runner smiled, padding after them in to a different portion of the cave system.