The morning sun hit Oakhaven, illuminating the fifty grey concrete statues that now lined the garden path. They looked durable. They looked uniform.
They looked depressing.
"It's too... monochrome," Taylor admitted, staring at the grey army. "Valerius wants 'Vibrancy'. He wants 'Passion'. I gave him a parking lot."
[System Message: You have achieved the aesthetic of a Soviet prison block. Congratulations. If depression had a color, it would be this specific shade of grey.]
"I need pigment!" Taylor slammed her fist into her palm. "I need Red! Blue! Gold! But natural dyes fade. I need... Synthetic Chemistry."
***
[The Lab: Operation Rainbow]
The lab was chaos.
"My Lady!" **Luna** cried, holding a basket of crushed beetles. "I have gathered the Cochineal bugs! If we smash them, they make red! It is gross, but effective!"
"Too slow," Taylor muttered, adjusting her goggles. "We need industrial quantities. I'm attempting to synthesize **Mauveine**. The first artificial purple dye."
She held up a beaker of coal tar (which smelled terrible).
"Ria! Bring the aniline!"
**Ria** kicked the door open. She was holding a massive bowl of purple berries.
"Why use chemicals when we have nature's candy?" Ria argued, popping a berry into her mouth. She walked over to Taylor, her lips stained a deep, seductive purple.
"Taste it, My Angel," Ria purred, leaning over the coal tar. "It is sweet. Like you."
"Ria, get back! This is volatile!"
"Just a little lick..." Ria whispered, her purple tongue extending toward Taylor's cheek.
*BUMP.*
Ria's hip checked the table. The beaker of aniline wobbled. It tipped. It fell into the vat of boiling coal tar.
"NO!" Taylor screamed.
[System Message: Chemical Reaction Detected. Run.]
***
**[The Blue explosion]**
*BOOM.*
It wasn't a fire explosion. It was a *Pigment* explosion.
A massive cloud of expanding, ultra-fine blue powder erupted from the vat. It filled the room instantly. It coated the walls. It coated the floor.
And it coated the people.
When the dust settled, Taylor stood in the center of the room.
She was blue.
Her hair was blue.
Her clothes were blue.
Even her eyelashes were blue.
"I..." Taylor coughed, puffing out a small blue cloud. "I think I synthesized Prussian Blue instead of Mauve."
Luna crawled out from under the table. She looked like a sad, blue goblin.
"I am a berry," Luna wept.
Ria licked her own arm. "Hm. Tastes like chalk. Needs sugar."
Suddenly, the window opened.
**Ren** poked his head in. He was wearing a straw hat he found... somewhere.
"Captain," Ren said, looking at the blue room. "Did we move to the ocean? Or is the sky falling?"
"Ren," Taylor sighed (a blue sigh). "Did the explosion hit you?"
"No," Ren said. "I was fighting a cloud. I won. But you... you look like a spirit of the wind."
He bowed respectfully to the Blue Taylor.
***
**[The Canvas]**
"This won't wash off," Taylor realized, scrubbing her arm with soap. "It's a chemical stain. It will take weeks to fade."
"I like it," a voice whispered from the corner.
**Violet** stepped out of the shadows. The explosion had missed her (because shadows don't get stained?), but she walked right up to Taylor.
She ran a finger down Taylor's blue cheek. The contrast between Violet's pale skin and Taylor's blue skin was stark.
"You look like a corpse," Violet smiled, her eyes dilating. "A beautiful, frozen corpse. Can I keep you like this?"
"No!" Taylor snapped. "We have to hide! If Valerius sees us, he'll think we're mocking him!"
*Knock, Knock.*
"Hello? Little Engineer?"
It was **Valerius**. He was outside the door.
"Panic!" Luna screamed silently.
"Hide!" Taylor hissed.
But there was nowhere to hide. The entire room was blue.
The door opened.
Valerius stood there. He was wearing a suit made of sunflowers today.
He looked at the blue walls. He looked at the blue Taylor. He looked at the blue Ria.
Silence stretched for ten seconds.
Then, Valerius gasped.
"AVANT-GARDE!"
He fell to his knees.
"You... you became the painting!" Valerius wept, tears streaming down his mask. "You rejected the canvas! You rejected the separation between Art and Artist! You *are* the Blue Period!"
He crawled over to Taylor and kissed her blue shoe.
"Magnificent! The commitment! The monochromatic bravery! 10 points! No... 12 points!"
**[System Message: Villain Logic: Incomprehensible. You literally exploded a beaker, and he thinks it's high art. Just nod and accept the points.]**
"Yes," Taylor said, her voice trembling. "It represents... sadness."
"I knew it!" Valerius sobbed. "I feel the sorrow! Keep it! Do not wash! Stay blue for the Garden Party!"
He ran out, shouting about "Revolutionary Cyan" to his guards.
***
**[The Aftermath]**
Taylor sat on the floor, blue and exhausted.
"We passed?" Luna asked, blinking her blue eyelids.
"We passed," Taylor groaned. "But now I have to go to a formal party looking like a Smurf."
"I will carry you," Ren offered. "Blue things are lucky."
"I will eat you," Ria offered. "Blueberries are delicious."
"I will paint the rest of you," Violet threatened, holding a knife.
"I hate art," Taylor whispered.
[Ding!]
[Quest Complete: The Pigment Crisis]
[Reward: The "Blue Skin" Status Effect (Duration: 7 Days)]
[Charisma: -50 (To normal people)]
[Charisma: +100 (To Art Snobs)]