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Frankly, Indigo wondered the same sort of thing about the children with wings--didn't it get confusing, having something that wasn't an arm or a tail? How did wings even work? The show she'd once seen on bats said wings were like arms, but she didn't quite get it.

She did, however, look quite impressed when Earako fanned out her dark wings. They really did look like hands, with really long fingers... "Black is good, too," she agreed, uncapping the black marker as well. "It'll match your wings!" She pattered closer to the younger girl, brandishing the markers and considering Earako's outstretched arm. Hm--flowers didn't come in black, but polka dots did, and she could draw polka dots like Keanu's or Sahra's! That would look really pretty.

Mind made up, she hunkered down on her knees, using the black marker to add several big dark splotches on Earako's arm. "This'll be really cool when I'm done," she assured the younger girl. Then, curiously: "Does it tickle? I know it tickles when I draw on me..." Just plain black spots weren't interesting enough, so Indigo added some big round O's, like Cheerios or Lifesavers.

The dot Indigo was drawing smudged a bit as Earako pulled back a little, but the velvet worm didn't appear upset by it. In fact, it actually looked kind-of neat, and so she smudged a couple more of the dots with her fingers. "You're doing really good," she added aloud, to the younger girl. "I know whenever somebody tickles me I always get really squirmy."

As the black dots were meeting with approval, Indigo started on another row of them happily, before switching over to Earako's other arm. "Don't want you to look mismatched, after all!" she declared, happily. Now more black dots--now some pretty red spirals down near her wrist and more red splotches on the back of her hand. Indigo had never met anyone with such white skin before, so maybe it was no surprise she was getting a little carried away with the markers!

"Thank you! I promise this'll be really nice when I'm done." Without really looking down, Indigo shuffled through the markers with her lowers, picking out a blue one. She was about to exchange it for the red when Earako asked for more. Quickly, Indigo transfered the blue back to one of her lowers. "Sure thing! It really does look neat, doesn't it?"

Moving over a bit, she added more red swirlies to Earako's arm to match the ones she'd done on the other. Then some dots, and a little more black here and there. "Did you come for class, or did your dad just drop you off here?" she asked as she did, almost absently. "Sometimes Mom just leaves me here when Auntie Tee can't babysit..." Switching the markers around in her hands, she began adding red swirls up toward Earako's shoulders.

"Say, I could do your face, too! That would be really neat, if you wanna."

Mwahahahahaha! Indigo had--been given permission to further her coloring dominion. This was most excellent. "I dunno," she said, rummaging for a color that looked good with red and black among her markers. Glancing down briefly to do just that, she added, "I think being white would be neat! I mean, I like my spots and my 'tennas, but it would be sooooo cool if I could change colors any time I wanted to."

Picking out the orange marker, she looked up again, smiling brightly. "Ohhhh, is it class with Mr. Orpheus? He's my favoritest teacher. Last time I learned all about crawling around under stuff and looking for things." She paused, uncapping the marker and considering. "Oo--look up just a little?" Waiting for the younger girl to do just that, she then started in on orange and red dots on Earako's face. Dots rapidly turned into stripes, though, as Indigo attempted to imitate the makeup she'd seen someone wearing on the TV once.

Caught in the act! Indi had just been about to say something small and pleasant about Mr. Orpheus when the door creaked open and Earako's dad walked in. Then Indi was about to call a hello to him when he stormed over in a state she could distinctly recognize as "mad".

Her antennae cringed, and a moment later, the velvet worm did too, recapping the markers in a flurry of hands and ink. Uhm, uhm, what was she supposed to do? Usually when it was Mom she either curled up in a ball or screamed back and then felt really bad, but this was another not-Mom adult and she was s'posed to be respectful to them. "Uhm," she said aloud, before promptly hiding all the markers and all her hands behind her back.

"Nothin', Mr. ... uhm, Mister. I was just decorating her so she'd look pretty for class!" Okay, hopefully that would fly. If not, Indigo always supposed she could start crying hysterically. That might work, too.

"B-but...it was my fault, honest!" Indigo blurted out, not liking the thought of her new friend getting in trouble. She promptly clapped two hands over her mouth after that, eyes agonized. Nor did she really want Michael yelling at her, since he seemed a lot like Mom got when she was angry. That would be a horrible thing to add to her already bad day.

A moment later she pulled her hands away from her mouth, gathering all four of them in front of her and looking down at her bare toes. "'M sorry. For making you upset--please don't make her late to class, mister! They don't like it when that happens." She cringed with her antennae, drawing them back toward her head while still looking down.

Well, that had--sort of worked? Indigo waved an upper and called out, "See you!" to Earako as the other girl departed, apparently not grounded or kept home from classes for the day. Her face lost its smile, though, as she looked back at Michael. She clasped all four of her hands before her then, looking down at her bare toes, antennae drooping as she doodled with foot on the carpet.

Finally, she cleared her throat in a way that sounded painfully feigned. "Erm--th-thank you? F-for not getting too angry at her," she managed, at last.