Sky Painters

The morning light was weaker than that of the early afternoon.

Marcus didn’t know what to do about that.  He’d painted it just as strongly as he usually drew the afternoon, but the color just seemed to bleed away down the horizon.

With a sigh, he let his arm drop to his side.  The paintbrush in his hand dragged an arc of yellow-gold across the clouds and spattered against a tree that was stretching too close to the sky.

“Oops,” he said, his voice bouncing across the valley to ring like thunder. 

“You could try just going for quality instead of quantity,” said a voice that hovered around his right shoulder.

“Shush, you,” Marcus said, putting the paintbrush behind his ear and switching paint buckets.  “It’s all about the truth of the color.”

“Morning is more about subtlety,” the voice said.  It sighed.  “But what do I know, right?  I’m just the guy who paints the eclipses…”

“Oh shut up, Nick,” Marcus snapped, dabbing at the clouds with a violent pink that bled away into a pastel color as Marcus watched.  “Oh my God I don’t get it! Why won’t the colors stay?!”

“It’s like I said, dude.  Quality.  Try just doing like a subtle pink edge and then getting the orange glow off Sol’s entrance just right.” Nick shifted on the cloud he was sitting on so his feet dangled off the edge.

“She’s not going to notice unless I paint bold colors.”

“Oh, it’s about her, huh?”  Nick laughed and jumped off the cloud which scuttled away to join the rest of its family across the sky.  “What happened to artistry and ‘I’m just in it for the color’?”  Marcus just stared at the horizon, his paintbrush dripping.  Nick sighed and put his hand on Marcus’ shoulder. “You’re running out of time, dude.  You asked for this transfer, make it count.”

“Fine,” Marcus said.  “Stand back.”

Reaching down to his left side, Marcus took the entire bucket of blue and splashed it into the sky above the clouds.  He rubbed most of it out with his shirtsleeve, fading it back to the night that was still being painted in behind him.  Against the horizon, he added a faint blush of pink then a light lilac color.  Nick stepped back and hummed contentedly in his throat.

“By Jove, I think he’s got it,” Nick said with a laugh.

“Shh,” Marcus said, his frown tempered by the smile on his lips.  “And now…” he whispered, seemingly to himself, “time to see if it works.”

Marcus dabbed at where Sol would emerge with a faint orange, the light yellow, and a speck of a neon green that had Nick wrinkling his brow before he smiled and clapped Marcus on the back.

“You’re done, Marcus.  That’s awesome.  Let’s see it in action.”

“Right,” Marcus said, stepping back and surveying his handiwork with a grin.  “We can stand over there,” he said, pointing at the tree he had splattered.

The two moved to the hilltop and watched as Sol stepped daintily over the ridge, first her fiery hair coming into view, and then her blazing eyes.  As her shoulders slipped over the horizon, Marcus smiled and waved at her.  Sol narrowed her eyes in confusion then smiled at them and danced over the rest of the hill.

“Marcus!” she said, her voice bright and full of life, “you painted my entrance today?”

“Yeah,” Marcus said with a smile, his face paint-spattered and happy. “Sonya and I switched.”

“It’s beautiful,” she said as she stepped up onto the clouds that hovered around her feet, “thank you!”

“You wanna, maybe, hang out later?” Marcus said as Nick elbowed him in the side.

Sol blushed and ducked behind a cloud then came out again, sitting cross-legged at eye-level and nodded.

“I’d like that,” she said, “maybe after my shift is done?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Marcus said, bending to pick up his paints.  He slid his paintbrush behind his ear and waved as Sol turned her face to the vault of the sky and kept climbing.

Nick pumped his fist into the air behind him and did a little dance.

“Awesome, dude! Awesome!  You’ve got a date with Sol!”

“Yeah,” Marcus said, with a grin. “Yeah, I do.”

“I told you she liked morning best.”