Todd stumbled across the gravel and tripped but was caught by his collar. He went to push off the thing that was holding him but his hands and then his whole arm felt like they were being dissolved when he did. The thing let him go which landed him on his butt.

Hyperventilating now, he slowly gathered his surroundings: he was in some kind of town, surrounded by desert, this is an abandoned garage, and there is a large mirror propped up on the wall.

“Are you good?” asked the towering masked man who reached out a gloved hand, “you look like you saw a ghost.” He wore the trench coat now. Was that what caused my arm to feel like it was dissolving? Todd accepted the hand, mindful of the coat sleeve as he was pulled up.

“Good, fine, great. Just had a lot happening at once there. All very confusing. Thanks! Thanks, by the way.”

He started walking away. He rounded a corner down the street before Todd ran to catch up to him. Even if he had already been running earlier, with the way he was heaving now, Todd realized just how out of shape he is. But more than that, as he followed the man, he began to realize that no one else seemed to be around like it was some kind of ghost town.

“Why are you following me?” He asked without stopping or looking back.

“It’s not like I have anything else to go on right now,” answered Todd, “I don’t know where I am and even if I did it’s not like I can go home.”

“Then I can find you an apartment. Send you an allowance. If that’s all you want.”

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“If that’s all I want huh? Oh, I get it. Well, I’m in.” The man stopped in front of a shirtless guy who was sitting on a grocery crate holding a palette with hollows full of paint. The guy had sweat dribbling down his muscles that were as handsomely sculpted as his wings. The sight distracted Todd for a moment before he returned to his train of thought. “I mean if you’re doing more of that stuff just now. And you don’t get too weird. Then I’m in.”

“You hear that Angel. Don’t get too weird, you’ll scare him.”

“I can’t make promises on that,” said Angel, standing up to face Todd now, “If you really want to join, then help me paint this mural,” He flourished his sentence with a beautiful smile as he held out the palette. His wings unfurled to reveal more of his marbled body.

Todd realized the concrete brick wall next to them and backed up into the street to get a better view of it. The mural started from the left with an impenetrably dark and thick forest filled with predators. As you began rightward, the trees were less dense but the night was no less dark. The only light, faint as it was, came from the moon, which was being carried like a torch by a man who lead his children through the forest.

“It’s pretty tacky,” said Todd. There was a better piece of art to look at anyways.

“What!? It’s not tacky, you like it right?” The man looked away from the mural, “Come on, I worked really hard on it. Just one stroke, that’s all I ask,” said Angel. Todd was searching for the painting brush, about to ask, when he saw the iron feather that hovered above the palette. Todd dipped the feather into the pastel blue to add one stroke of moonlight to the mural.

“Is that all?” Asked Todd, “Cause, no offense, but give me some cans and I can do better than this.”

“Oh really? Well, I can’t wait to see what a real auteur tagger can do,” said Angel.

“Just one question. Who are you guys?”