Work Text:
Remus was sitting criss-cross on the floor in his room, surrounded by various art supplies and a few blank bells he had made and primed for painting. He’d already done one bell for himself, more as a test that had gone extremely well, and he liked the final result enough to want to make a bell for each of the other Sides. They could make good Christmas gifts, he thought.
The bells weren’t fully assembled, but rather in pieces; the handles were already painted and drying up on Remus’ desk, each one painted with a base color that represented each of the other Sides. The chain and clapper assemblies for each were all set aside, and he was working on painting base color coats on each of the castings. Contrary to what most of the others seemed to believe, Remus was fully capable of being careful and precise. He just usually chose to be his usual chaotic self.
He made careful brush strokes over each bell, making sure there were no bristle or drip marks. Each bell would sound different; Virgil’s would have a softer sound that wouldn’t bother him too much, Patton’s would have a more cheerful chime to it, Janus’ would sound a bit darker and foreboding, Logan’s would have a fuller and slightly louder ring, and Roman’s would have a full and resonating sound. Remus had been careful in crafting each one so that they would sound just right for each Side, and he hoped they would notice that.
The paint Remus used dried fairly quickly, and after a couple of base coats of each Side’s color, he was able to move on to the details. He was careful to make sure the base colors were completely dry before masking off parts of the bells for Virgil, Janus, Logan, and Roman. He taped off the parts of Virgil’s bell he wanted to keep purple, for the patchwork pattern. Janus’ bell was taped off so he could paint the scales properly. Logan’s bell had a base of a slightly lighter blue, over which he taped a circuit board design inside a heart-shaped cutout; there were four such hearts that would go around the entire bell, and Remus had to mask them off carefully so he could paint them on. Roman’s was simple masking, so he could have clean edges on the red sash. He could freehand the roses and vines later.
It would take quite some time to really get all the bells finished. But Remus didn’t mind the time investment, especially if the others ended up liking their gifts. For now, he was content to just sit on the floor, working on the bells.