Gavrien (prime)/Early Morning Political Graffiti

Originally posted on the forums in the Wehnimer's Landing town folder during Wehnimer's Landing Mayoral Election 5118, on 03/11/2018.

The town was never quiet, even in the wee hours after midnight. But in the mists before dawn, when the sky began to lighten but had not yet been touched by the rosy tint of the rising sun, its muffled streets might be considered subdued.

Relatively speaking.

In the thin shadows of Winter Street, a pair of lanky urchins in patched and ragged clothing made their final strokes and swiftly packed up their scattered paints and brushes. The mural they left behind glistened wetly, stretching across the side of a stone-faced shop that had presented the best viewing angle to the west side of the town square.

Painted in bold, stylized lines, the mural displayed a tall and slender figure in a pooling grey gown, neatly coifed with auburn hair swirled into a tidy chignon. The figure's posture was straight, her chin lifted at a proud tilt, and her arms swept imperiously out to each side. Held at bay by the barrier of her splayed hands was a churning darkness, painted in whorled shades of black, violet, blue, and green. Ill-defined yet sinister shapes seemed captured within the layers of dark color.

Scrawled in brilliant blue, the words "VOTE LYLIA" overlaid the darkness to the left of the figure. Lower and on the right, elegantly looping golden letters spelled out, "Our Lady of Silk and Steel."

The artists paused to examine their work from a short distance. "I like the other one he hired us for better," one whispered to the other.

The other raked a critical eye over the drying paint and shrugged. "Not like it's going to last, anyway. Come on, we've still got the fliers to paint." The first groaned but followed her companion down the street and around the corner, out of sight.