Color Me, Sugar

Chapter 1

Dex

My intrusive thoughts never got the best of me before but last night they almost did. Things would have gone very differently had I not put my foot down then. I have no idea how I managed to get myself out of that situation but there was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind telling me it wasn't over. "Hey, could you pass me that?" I pointed with my brush at the bottle next to the sponge. My assistant put down his brush while I continued working on the latex mask that I had created for the lead actor. It was the first time using the face piece on set and I needed to make sure it was perfect and seamless. Being a perfectionist came in handy in this line of work. Ever since I was young, had anyone asked what my number one passion was, my answer would always be, cinematic makeup. There was nothing more freeing than creating something with your own hands and then using it to transform an actor into a character.

"You got it," Theodore Rivera, my assistant, grabbed the small white bottle and poured more of the adhesive into the dish I was dipping in. Theodore, who refused to let me call him as such, was also very talented in makeup application but struggled with creating prosthetics thin enough for seamless application. He still needed to perfect his craft in creating the molds for the castings and the prep of the latex. In between his classes, Theo was happy to be my assistant to learn from me as much as he could while getting hands-on practice. In the last four years that we have been a team we quickly became more than just a mentor and assistant. He grew on me like an annoying little brother I never had despite the one-year difference.

The actor I was working on squirmed in his seat. He had been sitting for a few hours already, but it was all in a day's work to transform him into a demon that had been released from the underworld. His character was given a mission to find a lower-level demon that had escaped from their version of prison and was wreaking havoc on Earth in the opening scene. When the actor's character changed into his demon form, his face was supposed to look mutated with horns and feathers. He had a third eye on his forehead as well which protruded without an iris, leaving it all white. On the left side of his face, his sharp teeth were made to seem visible with bits of exposed muscle. It complimented his torso which was supposed to look emaciated with his ribs exposed beneath his skin and spikes that sprouted from his shoulders.

It normally would take about four hours of application with two extra pairs of hands, however, today I only had Theo to help me since the other artist called out sick. Our agency usually sends a replacement when things like this happen, but they didn't have anyone available that wasn't already on a project. After the prosthetics were applied, the base color needed to be painted in a thin layer before the actual color of the demon's skin. At that point, I would take a break so the actor could get up to do his body paint and dress in his costume with the help of others from the costume and props department.

"Well, one more hour to finish his torso. I'm starving though," Theo slumped into the seat next to me and sipped his strawberry water out of his rainbow water bottle. Thinking about it, I have never seen Theo drink regular water unless we were in a fancy restaurant and even then, they put lemon in it. It always had to be infused with some kind of fruit. According to him, if it didn't have flavor, he couldn't drink it. One time he managed to convince me to give it a try and it made me gag. I couldn't get past the aftertaste. Then again, I am also picky with the water brands I drink since I hate the taste of minerals. However, I agreed with Theo, I was also starved. We had been at it for five hours now with cramped fingers.

"Yea, my stomach is beginning to eat itself," I rubbed my stomach in thought, accidentally putting paint on my shirt. Tacos would do great to solve my problem or at least a breakfast burrito. The actor who had stood up so we could work on his torso nodded and pointed at his own tummy as well. He must have been hungrier than we were now since his stomach growled extremely load at that exact moment. But his miming I thought was rather funny. Since I needed to reapply the prosthetic on his cheek, he couldn't talk until the glue dried.