Balsam Village

[Apollymi]

When Ren went ahead and answered the question Ran told him not to she simply rolled her eyes in response. "I knew you'd say that." she commented. "If I totally didn't agree with you, I might be inclined to think you were just trying to flatter me." she finished. Their gander at her previous shoot now apparently over she simply gave a nod to the woman known as Edna and fell into the same walking pattern as Ren, finding herself headed to the make-up trailer with him where they'd apparently be dolled up with new looks.

Within they'd find a pair of make up artists who'd previously been working on Ran by herself. One male and one female. "Ran-chan and Ren-chan..." the male one said. "Together at last." the female one said. These two individuals couldn't have been more different in appearance. The male was tall, thin, and pale. The female short, tan and a tiny bit portly. But they seemed to have very good styles when it came to make up. Both would aim to seat the two in the chairs asking of them a couple of things. "Edna wants this shoot topless for both of you." the male uttered. "We are going to be enhancing your guild stamps and giving you some inverted light and dark make-up on your bodies. It will only take a few moments." the female mentioned. Their kits were already laid out in front of them, and knowing Edna the way she did, Ran had all but predicted this exact outcome. "Hai hai." the young woman said, taking a seat to the right and removing her jacket, top, and scarf in a matter of a couple of seconds. Waiting for the make-up artists to choose their targets. And she was subsequently approached by the portly, tan, female. If, the same actions were to occur on Ren's behalf he'd also be approached by the tall, thin, pale male who would begin his work as well.

[Bloodedge]

When the Twin Dragons reached the designated trailer, they were confronted by the pair of artists Ren had not seen since his shoot in the previous week. "Good to see you both," he said casually before waiting for further instruction. As it had been assumed earlier, their first paired photo shoot would involve partial nudity. The fact that things had played out this way made Ren chuckle, but he quickly discarded his jacket and pulled his shirt over his head. With that out of the way, he took a seat in his usual chair to allow the male makeup artist to begin his work. "Edna-chan seemed so excited for this. I'll bet she's been waiting for us to ask if we could do our shoots together for months."

[Apollymi]

"It's nice to see you too~" the male said the female had already begun her work on Ran's body but gave a curt nod. It wouldn't go unnoticed by Ran that whenever this female artist was around Ren, she became very quiet and stoic. The same could be said of the male artist around her, which was why she normally only had the female artist present when she was being made up for her solo shoots. While thinking this over the girl would chuckle, but the response she gave would be to Ren, as his male artist also began the work of outlining his guild stamp in lighter hues to match the darker ones going across Ran's chest.

"Yeah, I don't think I've seen her so pleased. It's a bit impulsive actually, to not just set this up for the next magazine and instead do it right just now. I can't say I mind though. Poor Jimi-tan is going to end up brain damaged though~" she said with a minor laugh. As the make up artists continued filigree would be added to the sides of the pairs body that their guild stamps were aligned to. The male ones were more aggressive and bold lines, all white with sliver accents. Meanwhile, the ones being painted onto Ran's body were dark, but much less bold. They were being outlined in gold but had a much more lace like design to them. The whole of this process would only take the two artist about ten minutes. Once they were done they both stood back giving each other a high five.

"Smoke break?" the male asked the female who nodded. "Yeah, smoke break." they said stepping out they were met by another who gave them an update which they would pass along to Ren and Ran before they left. "It seems like Jimi-kun is going to take about another half an hour... so... feel free to chat and relax around in here." they said to the pair of them before closing the door behind them and leaving.

"Yare, yare, they are so transparent. Neither of them smokes... I haven't smelled not one cigarette between them." said Ran having figured out the rather obvious thing that the make-up artists were apparently having a bit of a fling with each other.

[Bloodedge]

"I agree. I don't much agree with the rush, but she was so excited, I couldn't say anything bad about it. It's not like we have much else to do with our time anyway," Ren said as the artists worked toward finishing their work. When they were done, Ren quickly inspected himself, then moved on to appraising the work done on Ran. Another whistle ensued before he decided to speak. "Yare yare. Half an hour, really? I suppose there's no choice; we've already committed. Enjoy your... smokes," Ren said with a grin to the artists. When they were both gone, he addressed Ran at last. "They aren't even the type to smoke. The worst part's gonna come when they realize how each one of them feels about the two of us. Lookin' good, by the way. I might be jealous~."

[Apollymi]

"Yeah, I know she's excited. Which makes me excited too~" she said appreciating that her partner felt similarly about this. After all, they were both generally agreeable and liked the same things, so they always had similar reactions to the situations that they had. As the conversation moved on and the artists relayed their messages and left she couldn't help but laugh a bit more. And after inspecting her own art, she began to have a peek at Ren's as well. Deciding that she liked his as well she responded. "Yeah, yours looks awesome too~ Also I don't think those two figuring that out will actually be a problem, they've probably already done so, subconsciously. It's probably why they always go to the one of their own gender." she said with a chuckle. The way people behaved around them was always so entertaining. They were either always trying to throw themselves at one or the other of them, or always trying to keep their special someone away from one of them.

"Half an hour is a long time... what in the world are we supposed to do for that long." she said he head leaning back against the chair she was in as she exhaled discontentedly.

[Bloodedge]

"I guess that makes sense. Both of them seem a bit afraid to admit anything to us. But... they do great work. Can't fault them for anything when they make art like this," Ren said as he further inspected the woman. While Ran wondered what they would do in the time it took for the photographer to arrive, Ren leaned back in his chair and spun it around once, until he was facing her again. "I dunno, but it is a really long wait for us to not have any entertainment. I think smoke break for the makeup crew is code for a quickie, so they're probably not coming back to chat with us at all either. Mendokuse."

[Apollymi]

"Hai hai. No fault... they are great artists. Though, it makes me wonder how many people act like the two of them around us. Freaking out about us but trying to be professional... but not being so obvious about." Ran said speaking opening her eyes in time to see the man spinning about and taking in the appearance of his body in his chair, shirtless, and very well decorated. "Smoke break, code for a quickie? Seems about right~ I suppose it seems less obvious than anything else, if one is trying to be discrete. Good for them, but bad for us." she said, but she was a Dragon Slayer so her sense of smell was such that she couldn't really be fooled by that sort of behavior. Still if that meant that the pair of them weren't coming back and no one would likely come to fetch the pair of them until it was time for them to start the shoot then it was the pair of them just waiting. At the thought of this Ran's legs crossed and she sighed again.

"We really have to amuse us for a half an hour... ugh~ I can't do it~"

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. Great artists are bad hosts if you use those two to craft the stereotype," he said as he hopped out of his chair and walked toward a mirror posted on the wall. From here, he inspected himself and the work done to his body by the male artist. A few minor turns here and there allowed him to observe himself from multiple angles, and he had to admit he was satisfied. "I don't think we've ever been stuck alone together without it being our choice. It's a bit weird when it's forced, huh? Got anything you wanna do?"

[Apollymi]

"Yeah, I bet that is about right. Never heard anything good about artists and interpersonal interactions." she mentioned. With the male now hopped out of his chair she turned in her own to where he was standing watching as he inspected himself without being the slightest bit abashed about the action. Seeing him looking at himself standing made the young woman want to do the same, so she did, rising from her chair she also walked to the mirror and gave herself a few turns while stretching to have a look at the dark filigree laid out over her stomach and side. "Eh, it is a bit weird for our being together to not be our choice. But we also don't really choose to be apart that often either." she said making faces at herself in the mirror. "I don't know what to do... I usually let you decide, unless I'm hungry." she said using the mirror to stare at the young man and herself imaging the pair of them together within her head and knowing these pictures would likely be amazing because of this. "What about you? Oh and I think I should mention, I am kinda jealous of your work... I think I like it better than mine. Next time we force the artist to switch and face their fears~" she commented deviously.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah, but when we're alone together by choice, it's usually because we have something to do." Ren continued inspecting himself, and soon enough, Ran was next to him in front of the same mirror. He, too, was constantly changing his pose and expression beside the woman, and a grin crossed his face when he thought of how much better this shoot would be with the two of them posing simultaneously. When Ran expressed her jealousy of the work done on him, his eyes widened, and he looked at what had been done to her. "Eh? What're you talking about; yours is incredible." With that said, Ren spun around and stopped when his bare back was pressed against Ran's. From here, he aimed to press just a bit more, as if to lightly shove her closer to the mirror. "Yours is so fancy, and it looks like she did something to make your boobs pop out more. I don't know why she thought that was necessary, but holy hell."

[Apollymi]

"I guess that is true." she said continuing to pose with and make faces with the man with her in the mirror. After her commentary about liking his work better than hers she was pushed forward to the mirror. After a few seconds she inspected her work and she supposed it did make her boobs look larger for reasons she couldn't begin to fathom. After she laughed just a little. "Well, I suppose that is true. Look at you~ Knowing just what to say...but..." she turned a little around him shifting their position so that she could stand with her back to his while eyeing his work and hers in the mirror. "Yours makes your torso look so long~ I know it doesn't go any further down and even I am trying to catch peek. Dayum~" she said while looking as if she was trying to peek further down his body. Now that she thought about it, they did look nicely matched this way.

[Bloodedge]

"Who are you telling?" Ren asked rhetorically while watching Ran's bit of self-appraisal. He also had a bit of his own, which involved stretching out his spine and inspecting this apparent torso-lengthening effect Ran spoke of. "I've been trying not to be rude and check you out this whole time. I think I've been succeeding... while you were watching, anyway," he said with a chortle.

[Apollymi]

Ran laughed as this man with her claimed he'd been trying not to be rude to her by only watching her while she wasn't looking. A tiny bit of a blush appeared on the young woman's face as she rolled her eyes and kept posing. "Eh, you're doing better than me, I haven't been trying at all. I've been staring the whole time. I'm surprised you haven't said something about it~" she said a bit sheepishly. She knew she shouldn't have been but it was kind of hard not to considering there was literally nothing else for the pair of them to do right now. Actually, right at the moment she'd stopped moving much and was staring down this man's body as he posed, in the mirror.

[Bloodedge]

"Have you? I hadn't noticed. Like I said: I was too busy trying not to get caught looking." As he said this, Ren looked through the corner of his eye to give the woman a once-over... followed by another, and another, until he was absentmindedly standing motionless in front of the mirror, and outright staring Ran down. "Not that I would say anything about it regardless. I should be flattered, since it's you. As a matter of fact... I do believe I am."

[Apollymi]

"Well, I wouldn't have noticed I was too busy staring myself." Ran said, it seemed that this man had no qualms with her apparently rude behavior. That being said, they'd both completely stopped moving and were instead staring at each other, way more than was actually necessary. Since he was flattered she stopped caring about the pretense of being polite. "I am pretty sure, I am also flattered. Since it's you~" she mentioned. She was still staring, it was like she couldn't help herself, they were two incredibly attractive individuals standing in front of a mirror, half-naked, painted up as polar opposites while looking alike. It was... hot.