Kiv & Vin, Art Connoisseurs? (Librarian Mission - April)

The table seemed perfectly reasonable, considering just how many there were. Vin had been testing his back wings a bit: he couldn't fly just yet, but they were still pretty strong, and with Kiv's help he managed to carry a few more art pieces carefully balanced on his outstretched wings. The pup thought it probably looked a little silly, but it was worth getting to the meat of the task sooner. In the back of their head, they didn't really care how silly it seemed: Vin had been growing more and more comfortable with the library (especially with Kiv and the other siblings around), and found a sense of calm within its walls.

"I think we'll know it when we see it. I'd say things that are violent and bloody probably shouldn't be hung up for starters." Setting aside a beautiful painting of the Mossy Mountains in the 'hang' pile, Vin's ears and earwings perked up, an idea coming to them. "Oh, I got an idea. Remember when we were born, and our parents were telling us all they knew about the world? Think back, Kip was telling us about everything, and I mean everything. If Evrah was wincing and acting awkward about it, it probably shouldn't be hung." The speckled pup grinned mischievously at their sibling before looking back at the table, putting a rather dark and dull picture off and too the side, starting a 'rejects' pile.

It wasn't long after before Vin came across a beautifully framed painting of 3 close figures. Drawn in by the colors at first, it took a moment to realize just who was in the picture, and what was happening.

Vin's ears and headwings fell into the pups eyes as they tilted their head this way and that, trying to make sense of the piece. What they were doing didn't make sense to them either: it looked like their parents were having fun, but it seemed like something that casual readers might not want to see. "I wonder. I feel like...talking about this sort of thing, he would. But here he is! Kip sure wouldn't, if anything he'd blush like he is there." Noting the 3rd blob and making a mental note to keep an eye out, Vin flipped the frame over and scooted it off to the side. "Why don't we...set this one right here. Maybe they'd like to see it, or at least like to know it exists, right? And if they do, then no harm done, I suppose."

Thankfully there were no other similar surprises in the rest of the art, and the rest of the sorting went by smoothly. By the end of it, there were a few 'definitely yes' pieces, along with some general 'good' ones and a large 'maybe' pile. With more than enough to work with, the next challenge would be actually hanging the things. Vin noted that, even standing on their hind legs, there was plenty of wall out of reach. "Well the librarian said the nails should slide right in, that'll be easy enough. But...how do we actually get them up there? I can't fly so well yet, probably cause more of a mess if I tried..."

((WC: 259))

"Yeah...yeah, I think this could work!" Vin nodded enthusiastically, watching for a smile or grin from Kiv at the praise. "I like it Kiv, would you mind giving me the boost?"

The two pups took a minute to get situated, falling over eachother once or twice. Eventually, Kiv stood below, paws and tail bracing himself steady. Vin stood on two hind legs on Kivs back, their front paws pressing the painting against the wall, with wings stretched wide to help balance. They held a couple nails in their mouth, carefully studying just how to proceed from there. "A'ight, thish ish going well. We jus-woaahhh!" Vin cut off as they wobbled a bit, before their own wings and Kivs rebalancing steadied them again.



"Ah...ahahhahhaha~" Vin let out a quiet nervous laugh between the nails in their mouth, trying to keep balance as they maneuvered a paw to a nail. "As I was saying, now I just gotta...get the...nail in...". Vin was mostly talking to themself at this point, the pup focusing solely on the nail, trying to shove it through the wall to finally hang the painting.

The librarian was right about the nail just sliding in, which took them completely by surprise. Vin fell forward and bonked his head on the wall, wings flapping wildly to try and maintain balance. Below, Kiv was making distressed noises and trying to correct, but it was already a lost cause. With a yelp, Vin fell backwards, tangling with Kiv in a mess of wings, limbs and tails on the floor

Groaning, Vin lifted an earwing from their eye, checking that Kiv wasn't seriously injured. "Oof...I liked the idea Kiv, but maybe we should regroup and think of another."

((Wc: 290)

How fortuitous!!! "Hey, Vana!" Vin replied in a chipper tone, gently untangling themself from Kiv before offering him some help up if needed. "Oh yeah, this is a bit of a hassle. Maybe..." Their voice trailed off for a second as they pondered Kiv's thought. "That's a good point...Vana, I think we'd still like a hand in it since the Librarian gave the task to us. You're pretty big and strong, think we could try standing on your back instead?"

After considering for a moment, Vana nodded and offered to stand wherever the two needed her. Vin beamed at her and Kiv, eyes wide and bright with excitement.
They hoisted themself up onto her back, a long black tail raised up as a sort of guard in case they fell. "Ok! I think we can get this done pretty quickly. Kiv, it'd be a huge help if you could hand paintings up to Vana or me, and I can hang em." After a nod of approval from Kiv and Vana, they were off!

It was a pretty efficient system: Vana slowly moved into position with Vin keeping themself steady. Then, Kiv handed one of the 'yes' or 'maybe' paintings to Vin, who was able to hang it pretty easily with Vana's support. They had made their way around most of the library when Vin thought to bring up their parents painting to Vana, thinking she might find it interesting as well.