Emerson perked up when she heard her name, offering a small smile, followed by a bigger one and then a giggle, as Robin toppled his way into the kitchen and onto a stool. It was weird to think that someone was clumsier than her, but Robin sure did fit the role. She pulled one last thing from her bag - her phone - and tapped away at the glowing screen.
“Well, Madds said she wanted y’to be a zombie,” she explained, trying to pull up the picture she would be referencing to from time to time.
“And since I love makeup, I decided to help.” She shrugged her shoulder and put her phone to the counter, placing it in such a way that she was pretty sure Robin wouldn’t be able to peek at the picture. She wanted it to be a surprise. Surprises could be fun. Green eyes trailed over the table for a bit before Emerson plucked the bottle she needed, giving it a thorough shake. With her free hand, she reached for a cotton ball.
“S’liquid latex,” she said, putting the bottle down.
“When I add it to cotton, it forms, like, something I can work with.” She shrugged again, rolling apart the cotton and tearing off a small piece.
“Figured I could give you some little scars all over. Nothing too extreme, but realistic enough, y’know?” And she didn’t wait for him to reply, scooting her chair closer and studying his face. Thinking better of it, she stood from her chair, since Robin was taller than her, even when sitting down. She grabbed a small sponge, squirted some of the liquid latex on it, and got to work, dabbing the liquid over a spot on his forehead, placing the cotton on top of it, and putting more of the latex on top of that. She repeated the process all over, smoothing out any rough edges with palette knife so the material seemed to almost effortlessly blend into his skin. She compared her work so far to the picture at hand and smiled at her success.
“Okay,” she said, screwing the cap of the bottle closed and tossing aside a cotton ball she hadn’t ended up needing. The next step was his skin itself. Robin was already pretty pale, granted that he was a vampire, so it wouldn’t require much tinkering with to get the look she was going for. The brunette grabbed another sponge and another tube. this time of white cream paint.
“M’just gonna put this all over your skin so you look more dead,” she explained, starting at his cheeks.
“Not that you do look dead,” she said quickly, realizing the flaw in her words, and ended with a mumbled apology. She worked at paling him out in silence, careful not to make the color too drastic, as if he were a clown.
After that, an eyeshadow palette was grabbed, along with a small brush. She cracked open the makeup, swiped over a rustic brown, and tapped away at the excess. Bruising, as she had learned, came in many different colors. Browns formed with reds, purples formed with blacks, and sometimes there was even spots of yellow and green. Balance was key, and it was easy for Emerson to reach. She had, after all, practiced the look on herself a handful of times to make sure she had gotten it just right, although working on someone else was a bit of a different process. Was she being gentle enough? Had she just stabbed him in the eye? He didn’t seem to be complaining much as Emerson messily swirled in various other colors to give his eyes a sunken-in, infected kind of look. And then came the veins. The work was tedious, blue and purple paints lightly being dragged across the neck and temples at varying thicknesses and lengths, but it was done rather quickly, with the effortlessness of practice.
The blood came last. Emerson pulled out the tube, giggling at the label.
“Halloween store blood,” she read with a shake of her head,
“is not true to it’s name.” She swirled a brush around in it, dragging it messily along the corner of Robin’s lip and down his chin. She flicked some over other various parts of his face, stepped back, and smiled. His
makeup was complete, and Emerson was proud of it.
“All set!” she squealed, clapping her hands.
“Not to toot my own horn, or anything, but it looks really good. Now I just have to work on my own…”
