|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2024 7:10 pm
Quote: Characters: Ivy and Alex Prompt: When Alex wants to check in on Ivy after the Zombie Apocalypse, but she's just a bit too spacey to notice he's there.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2024 8:06 pm
   Normally, most of her free time was spent in her room. While she was now best friends with Alosa, sometimes they just weren't free at the same time. Something about swimming. Yuck. No thanks. Pass. Risking getting her eyeliner smudged sounded like the worst time ever. So when her new bestie felt the need to be a fish, Ivy retreated into the usual things she did to pass time. Only now she had a whole room that she could duck into to paint instead of having a sheet draped over a corner of her room.
The click of her heels was enough to tell someone she was excited. How they tap tap tapped against the tiled hallways with a swift determination to get to her destination. The other positive about having literally a whole room dedicated to art was that there were supplies that her parents wouldn't usually get her. Despite having the money there was something about blah blah blah oil paints weren't safe blah blah blah. Which didn't even make sense, but no matter how much Ivy had asked it was just like going to the balls. Another thing she wasn't allowed. Here though? They had let her at them with abandon.
Ivy had only drank the turpentine twice.
So far.
Most of her paintings were romantic, lovers tangled in a fantasy scene where the prince was riding off with the princess. Yet this time Ivy had been encouraged to try something new. Her latest painting was a landscape of a garden, lush and pink with spring roses. A sole woman draped longingly over a fountain, as if she were waiting for someone who she loved dearly. Because every painting needed a little romance. What was the point if you couldn't look at a painting and daydream about the story behind it where the prince was going to show up and rescue the damsel from her lonely life? And best of all? She was finally getting close to the finish.
The closer she got to the art room, the less aware of her surroundings she became. The only thoughts that danced across her mind was how she wanted to compliment the pink roses with the soft pink lips of the woman or how the contrasting light blue dress could be delicately emphasized with pale yellow highlights. How many more painstaking layers of paint she could add so that their translucency could build up into soft depths.
The world around her was gone as she found herself in front of her favorite easel, using the hair clip she left there to twirl her long hair into a twisted ponytail that made it appear like it was shorter. Then she was left to gather her things. The painting itself, the paints, brushes, a palette, linseed oil, and turpentine. All delicately laid out before her so Ivy could continue where she left off last time. Thankfully, her latest layer of oils were dry enough she could layer over them despite not being fully cured.
It was only after her brush had touched the canvas that she noticed the tall, dark, sexy, brooding figure looming in the doorway. Her wrist snapped back, almost defensively as if she were afraid of startling and streaking unwanted color across the canvas. She could fix it, of course. But rubbing the turpentine into the canvas to remove the unwanted paint risked ruining the delicate layers that had already been placed. And that would set her back weeks.
So she sat there, staring at the very hot guy who had gotten very annoyed at her very embarrassing slip up only a few days prior. A blush seared over her cheeks, feeling almost like she had been caught doing something naughty. Was he here to scold her? If he did would it be sexy? The idea sent a wave of butterflies into her stomach as she held his gaze. She needed to say something. Anything. "What do you want?" Not that. The question had tumbled out of her all wrong. Frustration furrowed her brow as her teeth fussed on her lower lip. Would he take it the wrong way? How could she say it better now?
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
art room ✞︎ alex ✞︎ outfit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2024 9:22 pm
”Hey, Ivy. Hey! Wait up! Ah, what the hell?” There was no way she couldn’t hear him. Right? And yet Ivy just breezed right on past like he wasn’t there and hadn’t spoken, leaving Alex to trail behind her in utter confusion. Was she giving him the cold shoulder? What the ******** for? Ok, granted, they didn’t really know each other but she could at least just tell him to ******** off so he didn’t waste his time. And yet Ivy really didn’t act like she was brushing him off; she didn’t even speed up. He could have reached out at any time, tapped her on the shoulder or something, except that he wasn’t going to ******** do that. Just randomly touching other people caused more problems than it was worth. So all he could do was follow like a ******** puppy as Ivy practically ******** frolicked to a room full of art supplies.
”Seriously, what the ********> Nope, she still wasn’t paying any attention to him. Alex’s brow furrowed as he leaned in the doorway, watching the busty girl bounce around the room, setting up an easel with a painting it looked like she’d been working on for a while. At least he guessed so; he didn’t know s**t about painting. He knew what he liked though, and okay, Ivy was pretty good. No point trying to tell her though since he apparently didn’t even ******** exist.
Ivy was just about to get down to business when she looked over at him like he had just ******** stepped out of a space time portal like two seconds ago. Was this girl for real? Did she really not see him following her or hear him speaking to her? She was staring at him red faced and Alex was stumped. He’d caught her painting, not touching herself; what the hell was that look for?
"What do you want?"
”And a Merry ******** You to you, too.” Alex responded with some amusement. What the hell kind of reaction was that? Maybe she really did want him to get lost. But instead Alex straightened up and stepped further into the art room. ”But seriously, I just wanted to check up on you after that weird s**t a few days ago. I mean, it doesn’t look like you got hurt or anything, but that was probably some scary s**t. But hey, if you want me to ******** off, just say so. I’m a big boy, I can take it.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 3:07 pm
The way he was looking at her was probably, like, super not good. ”And a Merry ******** You to you, too.” Okay. He sounded a little amused but that was also kind of super not good. Ivy had definitely pissed him off. Was it really that offensive when she had said ******** me out loud? Like, yeah, sure. It had made her want to die of embarrassment. And she actually really didn't like to be a potty mouth out loud. What had her mother always said again? Proper ladies didn't curse like sailors or something something only in their heads. But surely it didn't do anything to him... Right? Unless he, like, really, really hated when ladies cursed and now he was going to get extra super mean about it.
”But seriously, I just wanted to check up on you after that weird s**t a few days ago. I mean, it doesn’t look like you got hurt or anything, but that was probably some scary s**t. But hey, if you want me to ******** off, just say so. I’m a big boy, I can take it.”
Somewhere in the middle of his speech Ivy's jaw dropped open. He... He wasn't mad at her? He was worried about her? Her grip on the paint brush faltered and it tumbled out of her grasp. The sudden loss of feeling the brush in her hand snapped her out of daze. Snapping her jaw shut, her wide eyed gaze snapped down to find a dot of pink paint on her chest where the brush had bounced off of her breasts and then down her skirt then legs where it had tumbled down to the floor. Then her head snapped back up to the man who had taken a few steps into the room, back down to her dress, then back up to the man again.
"You didn't see that." The sentence came out as more of a request than a demand. Too much embarrassment laced her words for it to come out as anything close to assertive. For a moment she considered picking up the traitorous paint brush, but decided to punish it by leaving it on the floor while she took care of her dress. Her heels were the only sound as she crossed the room to get a rag, bending at the waist and craning her neck to try to get a better vantage point of the spilled paint.
Fussing her lip as she carefully lifted the first layer of her dress to dab the oil off, her eyes trailed up to get a better look of the man who had come to check on her. Tall. He was so freaking tall. Even than her in heels. God, it should be a crime to have such a hot bad boy look. Her eyes flashed down to his lip, wondering what it would be like to kiss him with the piercing there.
Refocusing on her skirt, she finally convinced herself to break the silence between them. "You were worried about me?" Tall, dark, and hottie wasn't wrong. The night of the explosion had been one of the scariest nights of her life. She'd known there was a war, everyone did of course. But to actually see everything that night? It had been a shock. There was no way that she'd ever have known what war was actually like when it was actually like that. "Thank you." Dropping her skirt, her hands started to wring the rag.
Then she realized the second half of what he had said. "Wait..." It only took a few short steps until she was face to face with him. One of her hands shot out, lightly pinching the hem of his shirt as she met his gaze. "Why would I want you to f- f-, um, leave?" Because she didn't. With him not yelling at her, she desperately wanted him to stay.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
art room ✞︎ alex ✞︎ outfit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2024 3:18 pm
Seeing Ivy’s dropped jaw and wide eyes was like reading an open book, except Alex felt like he had skipped to the last page and didn’t know a damned thing about the rest of the story. Sure, he could see plainly that she was shocked that he had popped in to check on her, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why it was surprising. The only other time they had even spoken was because he was checking on her, making sure she hadn’t bitten off more than she could chew. But then… maybe she still hadn’t picked up on that? Come to think of it, she probably figured he was just spoiling for a fight. That would make his concern now seem pretty sudden and uncharacteristic. His own fault, though… He kind of made a point of not letting on that he gave a s**t about anything or anyone most of the time.
The paintbrush dropped from Ivy’s hand and Alex’s eye followed its descent as it bounced off of her ample bosom (lucky inanimate object), tumbled down her legs, and finally clattered onto the floor. And god help him, he had meant to lift his gaze back to hers but got caught up on the dot of pink that marked the swell of one breast. Whatever; anyone who met Ivy and claimed they weren’t staring at her chest was ******** lying. They weren’t sweater puppies, they were full grown-a** sweater hounds.
Ivy took a moment to look back and forth between him and the brush as if in disbelief before telling (asking?) him that he didn’t see that. ”See what?” he responded agreeably enough, but he couldn’t help grinning as he said it. It was kind of ******** funny. At least he managed not to laugh; Ivy already sounded pretty embarrassed by the whole thing.
Alex idly wondered if he was supposed to pick up the brush when Ivy stepped away, but he forgot all about it pretty quickly. All it took was a distracting glance at Ivy who was bent over to clean the paint from her dress. Come to think of it, that was a hell of a fancy dress to paint in. He would have expected something old that she could splatter paint over all day and not care. She wasn’t waiting for somebody, was she? Maybe a romantic rendez-vous with ******** Gerolt of Rivia from before? Alex considered that he should make tracks; far be it from him to cockblock the happy couple.
Just as he was thinking that, Ivy looked back at him. Was he crazy or was she looking at his mouth? Alex subconsciously tugged at his lip ring with his teeth, a habit he’d had for years and hardly even realized he did anymore.
”Well yeah.” Alex responded when asked if he was worried. Ivy and her little friend didn’t exactly look equipped to take on a bunch of zombies when he’d last seen them. So seeing Ivy now, it felt like a good idea to make sure she was alright. Alex thought to ask about the other girl too, but was caught off guard when Ivy suddenly stepped over to him and reached out for the hem of his shirt.
It was only his shirt… he didn’t have to freak out… but Alex still quickly took a step back. ”Woah, careful. You don’t want to touch me; you’ll get poisoned.” He wasn’t supposed to give out that kind of information, but Ivy was the only person who could hear it and she was from Corthyr the same as he was. It was better to be upfront and not take any risks. In his worry, Alex didn’t even consider whether he actually could poison someone who was the antidote; he’d had to be careful his whole life and he didn’t take unnecessary chances.
Wait, was Ivy tripping over the word ********? After her memorable offer to tall, pale, and brotherly? That surprised a short huff of laughter from Alex.
”Why would you want me to ******** off, you mean? Hell if I know; you just seemed bothered to see me here. Had to follow you for a while; you couldn’t hear me for s**t. Must have been real excited to get to your painting, huh? It’s pretty good, so I guess I get it.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2024 7:21 pm
Was it just her or did tall, hot, and scary look like he was nervous as she approached him? The step back really kind of hammered that home. ”Woah, careful. You don’t want to touch me; you’ll get poisoned.” No, actually his comment hammered it home... Wait. Poison? Ivy cocked her head curiously to the side as she absently dropped his shirt. They weren't supposed to say where they were from. But then again if they were going samesies on kingdom, did it really matter? He didn't seem to think so. In fact, he seemed to be implying that he knew she was from the same kingdom as him. Oh gods. Was she supposed to know his name?
”Why would you want me to ******** off, you mean? Hell if I know; you just seemed bothered to see me here." Wait... She had? When? The most she'd felt was surprise. And a little scared. Maybe a bit horned up at the idea of what his piercing would feel like against her skin. But definitely mostly surprised. ”Had to follow you for a while; you couldn’t hear me for s**t. Must have been real excited to get to your painting, huh? It’s pretty good, so I guess I get it.”
Oh.
"I didn't mean to ignore you!" A hot blush traveled down her neck as she realized she'd been lost in her own world. Like how could she have possibly been so zoned out that the poster boy for hot and emo was calling out to her and she hadn't even heard him. Was it possible for the ground to swallow her up whole? Like just a little bit? As a treat?
Wait. Wait wait wait. Was he still worried about her after all of this? If he knew who she was then surely...? "I can't be poisoned." Her voice was soft as she stepped back into him to close the gap he'd tried to create. The hand that had been pinching his shirt came behind her to grasp her other elbow. Then her brow furrowed. "Well, I think. None of the poisons I've drank killed me." Really it was just poisonous gasses that she wasn't sure about. That was the problem with being so valuable, it painted a target right on her back. Or, that was what her parents had said. That was why she'd only been allowed out to a handful of events hosted within their house and only for a limited time.
His laugh had made her heart skip a beat, and now the compliment of her painting was making pride bloom in her chest. "Do you want to see it?" Without a second thought, her hand shot out and wrapped around his fingers as she pulled him forward. As they approached the canvas she stopped just short, looking down at the terrible, awful, no good, traitorous paintbrush. Giving it a small kick, she continued pulling him forward until he was up close and personal with her painting. The bundle of nerves that was making her heart beat faster made her forget to drop his hand. "What do you think?"
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
art room ✞︎ alex ✞︎ outfit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2024 8:35 pm
As unbelievable as it seemed, Ivy really hadn’t heard him calling out to her. Alex was sure of that now; he didn’t think she could fake her surprise and embarrassment upon being told about his chasing her down. He almost wanted to shake his head in disbelief, but ******** it, it was kind of cute in an airheaded kind of way. Probably a thought he should keep to himself; airheaded wasn’t exactly a compliment even if it was kind of endearing.
But maybe he shouldn’t be throwing any ******** stones at glass houses. ”You… what…?” Ivy couldn’t be poisoned? Ivy couldn’t be poisoned. It kind of made sense… So why had he never even once considered the possibility? He who used to keep vials of her bodily fluids on hand at all times for his dad’s stupid ******** parties. He knew she could neutralize poison, but somehow he had just assumed it only worked on other people. Alex was still dumbstruck as Ivy went on to explain that none of the poisons she had drank had killed her. He really couldn’t poison her… She was safe from him. It was like his brain didn’t know how to process that information.
He was still processing when Ivy actually grabbed his hand. He almost pulled away out of sheer habit, but there was no reason he really had to. He could just let this happen. The stiffness in Alex’s shoulders relaxed and he let Ivy tug him closer to the painting. And he still remained awkwardly silenced… until Ivy kicked the traitorous paintbrush that was still lying on the floor. The absurdity of it all was just too much and Alex shook his head as a chuckle tumbled from his lips. Ivy was… something else.
”I like it. I don’t know s**t about art, though. Did it take a long time to do all this?”
Ivy hadn’t let go of his hand and Alex would be damned if he let go first. He had never been able to just hold someone’s hand, stand casually close and just not be ******** worried about it. Ivy’s hand was warm and her skin was soft; it just felt really ******** nice and he was going to milk the unexpected contact for all it was worth. Jesus, he pretty much never touched anyone unless he’d paid them first and that kind of company wasn’t really into hand holding.
”Hey… No judgment and all, but what’s with the dress? It’s kind of fancy to paint in. You got a hot date tonight or something?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:43 pm
The question about how long it had taken made her furrow her brow. Bringing her free hand up to her lip, rag still in hand, she tried to think. How long was a long time? Sure she'd spent the better part of a week on it and it wasn't done, but that was barely a drop in the bucket compared to famous artists. Right? Or were they able to just hammer out a painting in a matter of hours no problem? Was... Was she actually bad at this? Wait. Was being slow the same thing as being bad? No, no, no. Slow and steady won the race.
Satisfied with her own mental battle for the moment, Ivy gave a small nod. Oh, right. He was Corth not Phronese. Meaning not a mind reader. Answering. Out loud. With her mouth. "Just a couple of hours over the last week." Originally she'd been trying to downplay the amount of time she'd spent in this room, accidentally drinking paint thinner without thinking. But now that the words hung in the air between them it felt like bragging, making her shrink into herself. It had been so exciting to have someone who wasn't a teacher see her painting that she'd forgotten it could be seen as showing off. In books people who showed off were the villains and no one liked them. Slowly, her eyes drifted to his face.
Yeah. Ivy definitely didn't want him to hate her.
Her hand shifted in his, realizing that she wasn't that comfortable just holding his fingers. If anything it kind of made her feel like a toddler. Oh god. She was a braggy toddler girl. This man, of all men, was not allowed to think of her as a braggy toddler. Uncurling her fingers from around his, Ivy adjusted her palm so that it laid flat against his before holding his hand properly. The fact that he had never pulled away had been enough for her to feel like this was allowed.
”Hey… No judgment and all, but what’s with the dress? It’s kind of fancy to paint in. You got a hot date tonight or something?”
"Is this not right?" The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could think better of it. Once they were out though? Regret. Pulling her lower lip into her mouth, she bit down on it while looking away. Here she was, away from her ivory tower for the first time. She was supposed to be an adult. Adults knew how to dress themselves. What was appropriate for every situation they found themselves in. But she didn't even know what to wear to paint in.
Chancing a glance back up at him, she could feel her ears burning as she realized exactly where he was looking. But then he seemed to know a weird amount about her... right? "You know who I am right?" Maybe he would understand. Shifting her free hand behind herself out of sight, she couldn't help but cross her fingers and hope. If he knew about her then he would know she was doing her best. Even if she still didn't know what was a good painting outfit.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
art room ✞︎ alex ✞︎ outfit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 9:32 pm
”Holy s**t, just a couple of hours? Damn. That’s pretty awesome.” Alex was well and truly impressed. He really didn’t know s**t about art, but if someone gave him a couple of hours here and there over a week to paint, all they would get out of it would be a stick figure and some scribbly dicks or something. He wouldn’t have even known where to start with painting something like this. But man, he still couldn’t believe she was painting in such a fancy dress.
For a moment Alex thought that Ivy was pulling her hand away, but she was only readjusting. She actually wasn’t going to take her hand back. In fact, more of their skin was touching now. And Ivy was fine; there was no puking, shaking, blisters… She didn’t have so much as a runny nose. Even so, he wasn’t exactly sure why Ivy would bother keeping her hand in his. He wasn’t going to ask either; the last thing he wanted was to have her decide to pull away her hand after all.
When Alex asked about the dress, he couldn’t help looking at it again. And looking down at Ivy, it was like his eye couldn’t avoid her broad endowment. He was practically staring the girls right in the eye. But he managed to drag his gaze back upward when Ivy asked if the dress wasn’t right. That actually caught him by surprise; did she always dress this fancy to paint? Did it put her in the mood or something?
Ivy then asked if he knew who she was. ”Yeah, of course.” he responded in confusion, but then it started to dawn on him. Ivy was practically kept prisoner for her entire life; she had no reason to know things other people would take for granted. He should know that as well as anyone given that he had a similar experience when he was just a kid. Alex lightly chewed at his lip ring as he thought about what he really wanted to say. He knew how condescending he could come across and he usually didn’t really give a s**t, but Ivy seemed a little vulnerable. He could at least try to actually be helpful for once.
”Look, honestly you can wear whatever the ******** you want. Only reason I ask is paint gets messy and won’t always wash out, so people tend to wear s**t they don’t mind getting paint on. It’s practical, you know? If you have like… a ratty old shirt and some sweats, you could wear something like that. But s**t, you look great. If you feel great and you can handle getting a little paint on it, wear what makes you feel good.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:15 pm
By some miracle, he didn't think she was bragging. Or arrogant. If anything his tone towards her softened. It had been the right question, because understanding seemed to dawn in his eyes as he pulled his lip ring into his mouth. The small voice in the back of her head that liked to talk about scruff on her thighs was screaming about how jealous she was. Ivy was trying so, so hard to ignore that voice and focus on what he was saying because for once someone was actually trying to help her. No spit required.
Her heart squeezed at the mention of ratty old clothes. It made sense, but she didn't really have very many old or worn clothes. Nearly everything she'd owned had to be replaced in the last two or three years as her body had grown into adult hood at a rapid rate. She wasn't sure she could get some of her old night gowns over her chest anymore, if she was completely honest. "I'll..." Her voice wavered, not sounding confident as she looked back at her painting. "...try that next time." The lie stuck to her tongue, but maybe at least she could wear something a little plainer. If she owned something plainer. It was no secret that most of her clothing was lace and frills.
A new thought occurred to her as she scooted back, setting herself upon one of the various art stools on the room. Hungry eyes started at their joined hands before slowly traveling up his arm to his face. Hot and emo knew who she was. To be fair, that wasn't hard when you were from Corthyr. Everyone needed antidote, either for accidental power use or to bribe others with. But she didn't know who he was. Which, again, was not hard.
"I don't know who you are." Was this the wrong time to say that? Like they were holding hands already and she didn't even know his name. But he knew hers so maybe that was fine. Oh, but sometimes in books the hero would save the princess and she'd be in his arms when they introduced themselves. Maybe this was like that. Either way, she really wanted to know his name.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
art room ✞︎ alex ✞︎ outfit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 11:01 am
Ivy didn’t seem so sure about the idea of wearing something worn out for her painting. Maybe she just didn’t have anything like that? It was possible; he didn’t really, either. He pretty much replaced his s**t as soon as he wasn’t feeling it anymore. It was a habit that carried over from when his dad was still alive. While the old man favored smacking him around to instill fear and loyalty, he wasn’t opposed to just buying that loyalty with new clothes, booze, and women. Maybe Ivy’s parents were the same way? Well, hopefully without the ******** beatings.
”You can borrow something from me, if you want. I’ll probably be replacing some s**t soon, anyway.” If it wasn’t true before, then it could be now. He didn’t mind helping Ivy out and it didn’t seem like she would feel comfortable asking. Fair; they barely even knew each other.
Ivy scooted back onto a stool before letting her eyes drag up over his arm to his face. Alex smirked a little and was probably about to say something he should regret, but Ivy got to it first. Alex blinked then laughed, running his free hand through his hair. ”s**t, did I not even tell you my ******** name? Damn, I am really slipping. It’s Alex; Duke Alex Corbin if we’re being fancy. Nice to officially meet you.” In a moment of frivolity, Alex dipped into a formal bow and lifted Ivy’s hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles.
”I’ve seen you before this place, technically, but we never got the chance to talk.” Alex straightened up and stepped in closer, looming over Ivy on the stool. ”Guess I should have figured you wouldn’t know who I am. There’s nothing stopping us from getting to know each other now, though.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2024 8:29 pm
A bright smile had started to spread over Ivy's face when the man in front of her had offered to let her have one of his old shirts to paint it. Not only was it super cool of him. And super gentlemanly. But if she wore one of his shirts would she get to smell him every time she moved? The idea of having his scent wrapped around her was so nice. He smelled good. Like man. And soap. If it was socially acceptable she wouldn't mind burying her head in the crook of his neck and just smelling. But, despite her limited social knowledge, that was weird. Probably. Still sounded nice tho.
Then the soft whispers of realization hit her. Glancing down at her chest and back up to his slim frame, her face twisted. Ivy hadn't meant to grimace, but stop her face from contorting as she realized there might be two rather large problems with his plan. Heat creeped over her cheeks as she glanced to the side. "We'll see if it works." Hopefully it did. She wanted it to work so badly.
His laugh was nice, rattling around in her brain as she watched his fingers thread through his hair. Gods, she wanted to do that with her fingers. Was that weird? Probably. Maybe it was better to keep her hands mostly to herself. Right? Right. The fact that he was tolerating her palm pressed against his was already pushing it with the 'don't touch me blah blah something something poison' thing. Pushing it any further was probably a mistake. This was the most she'd gotten to have a real, actual whole conversation with someone. Ending it because she didn't know how to keep her hands to herself would be sad.
'Alex is a nice name. Easy to scream.' Her mind whispered as she attempted to formulate a proper and feminine and dainty response to his introduction. Instead the words died in her mouth and her heart stuttered as Ivy watched him dip down. Her eyes grew wide as he pressed his lips to the back of her hand, surprised that he was suddenly so okay with touching her. Not to mention how gentlemanly that had been. And how warm his lip ring was against her skin. She'd expected it to be cold. Now she really wanted to see how it felt under her lips.
Sitting down had really highlighted just how tall he was, forcing Ivy to crane her neck to meet his eyes as Alex stepped into her. Maybe it had been the kiss to her hand. Or how forward he was being right now. Whatever it was felt like a magnet, making her unable to break his gaze. "Not surprising." It had taken her a moment to finally force the words out of her mouth, too distracted by his everything to think properly. "I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone... But, I'd like like that. Getting to know you."
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
art room ✞︎ alex ✞︎ outfit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2024 1:03 pm
Ivy glanced down at her chest and Alex… did his level best not to look down at it again himself. He had definitely already been caught looking and, if he was being real about it, he wasn’t even ashamed of that. But there was a fine line between appreciating Ivy’s curves and being gross about it. Probably. Maybe he was already being gross… Whatever; Ivy didn’t seem to mind too much. She seemed to be more focused on just how exactly she was supposed to fit one of his shirts over her curves. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that was what she was thinking, but he wasn’t too worried about it. He wore his shirts a bit loose and many of them were made with comfy, stretchy material; he was bound to have at least a few he could part with that would work for her.
When Alex had dipped into a bow to kiss Ivy’s hand, he was honestly being just a little silly. Maybe he was inspired by the fancy, frilly dress or the romance of her painting or even just the fact that he actually could do so without poisoning her or something, but he wasn’t taking himself too seriously. He expected Ivy to just laugh at him and maybe even think he was being kind of weird for their current setting. He wasn’t really expecting her to look at him with wide-eyed surprise. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that, but she didn’t snatch her hand away so he decided it was probably a good response.
Standing over her like a hooded giraffe was probably not the best move, though. Ivy had to look way up at him and that couldn’t have been comfortable. Alex gave a quick look around and reluctantly let go of Ivy’s hand at long last to go grab a stool. He carried it over, set it down, and parked his rear; at least this way he lost the height advantage of his gangly a** legs. He was tempted to reach out for her hand again, but decided that was a little too weird and selfish. Just because he wanted to touch someone finally and she hadn’t stopped him didn’t mean he should take advantage.
”Alright. Getting to know each other… I guess since I already learned something about you-” Alex tipped his head toward the painting before turning his attention back to Ivy. ”That makes it my turn to share something. I can’t paint for s**t, but I like music. I play piano. You wouldn’t ******** believe it to look at me, but I’m pretty good. I’ll have to play something for you sometime. I like it… it calms me down.”
“So… I’ll ask you something, you can answer if you want. Then you ask me something. Alright? Might be a little awkward at first, but sometimes meeting new people is a little awkward.” Alex smiled, then tried to think of something simple and not too personal to ask. ”You got any other hobbies you like aside from painting? Not that painting isn’t plenty. I just can’t really imagine what it must have been like, being hidden away as long as you were.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2024 8:14 pm
The loss of his hand in hers left her palm feeling cold. Trying to snuff out sense of emptiness that Alex taking his hand back created, she pressed her hand into her skirt, trying to warm it back up. It wasn't the same, the layers of her dress preventing any of her own body heat from dulling the cold sensation. It had made sense. He couldn't have gone to get another stool without either dragging her over like a rag doll or letting go of her hand. And Ivy could concede that letting go was the more sane choice. Even if being dragged around by him sounded like a really nice time. Maybe if she was lucky he would pull her hair too.
The metallic clang of the art stool being set in front of her made Ivy blink back to reality as Alex sat down in front of her. Her eyes trailed down to his fingers, wondering if she was allowed to take his hand back now that they were face to face again. When he didn't reach for her hand though? Maybe he was trying to tell her not to touch him for real this time. Maybe she'd clung to him for too long. This time she would be good, keeping her hands to herself.
"I... want to listen. If that's okay." Her hands shot up to her hair, tugging a long strand of it over her shoulder despite the clip to play with it nervously. Of course it was okay. Alex had literally just said he would play for her. Oh gods. He probably thought she was so stupid and couldn't pay attention to anything to save her life. This probably wasn't how a first impression was supposed to go. Wait. Did this count as a first impression? He'd already known who she was. She was the only one in the dark. "Do, you know where the music room is?" That was not a good save. This was going all wrong. Someone strangle her with her own hair.
Thankfully he seemed to gloss over her clumsy attempts at conversation to ask her a question. About her other hobbies. Immediately her impressive collection of stuffed animals came to mind. Averting her eyes, she fussed her lower lip between her teeth. There was no way she was admitting to a hot guy who was taller than her that she liked to sit on the floor and talk to her stuffies. Like a baby. It took her a moment to think of anything else, but finally she realized there was an answer she could give him without wanting to be swallowed into the ground alive. "Sleeping? I like snacking too. Sometimes I would read a lot. A lot of fantasy with..." Trailing off, she could feel her face growing warm. "Um, romance in it."
Dropping her eyes down, she found herself holding the top layer of her skirt. Fiddling with the hemline like it would make the question she wanted to ask him easier. Part of her wasn't sure if it was a question to get to know him better personally, or just her own morbid curiosity. It was amazing how the weight of another person being in the room made talking so much harder. "What is it like?" s**t. No. That wasn't enough to tell him what she meant. "O-outside, I mean." Technically she'd been outside all of twice. Once to get in the carriage coming here and once to get out of the carriage when she got here. Since being here it hadn't occurred to her that she probably could go outside all on her own. Not when it was such an unknown.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
art room ✞︎ alex ✞︎ outfit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2024 11:27 am
Watching Ivy was, in a small way, a little like looking into a mirror for Alex. Except instead of trying to play it cool, Ivy seemed a lot more honest. Her eyes dropped to his hands where they hung idly between his thighs and her own hand was pressed into the ruffled skirt of her dress. Alex didn’t think it was reading too much into that to think she might have wanted to hold hands again. Maybe her hands were just cold? Meanwhile he was just fixated on touching the first person he’d ever met that he couldn’t poison. He was such a ******** loser. But s**t, he knew that already; no point getting bent out of shape about it now.
”Yeah, it’s totally okay.” Hell, that was the point. He mostly played when he was alone, sure, but he thought it would be cool to share something with Ivy after she shared her painting. There were worse ways to make friends, right? It was a little odd for Ivy to ask if it was okay when he’d offered, but that barely even caught Alex’s attention. If she was a little awkward, who wouldn’t be after living her life? ”Oh, yeah. I spend a lot of time in there when it’s empty enough.”
What did catch his attention was when Ivy looked away and Alex had the thought that he’d kill to know what came to her mind first that she felt she had to hide. Unless she was just embarrassed that her only other hobbies were sleeping and snacking. s**t, those sounded like great hobbies. He wished he could sleep more, and who didn’t love a good snack? But when Ivy got around to mentioning her fantasy romances, Alex figured that was probably the embarrassing secret. He chuckled a little, picturing Ivy reading in bed, kicking her feet in the air, propped up on her massive chest pillows, blushing and squealing whenever she got to the sexy bits. That was what girls did, right? ******** if he knew, but it was cute in his head, anyway.
What was what like? Fortunately Ivy filled him in before he could more than blink in confusion. ”Outside, huh? This area’s actually pretty nice. Lots of trees and nature and s**t. Even found a lake a while back. I could teach you how to swim, if you wanted.” Not that she probably needed much help with those built in flotation devices, ********.
”There’s some nice trails for running or walking. Some wildlife. I haven’t seen anything too dangerous, just like… squirrels and s**t. Seeing it'd be better than hearing about it. I don’t want to take you from your painting sesh or anything, but we should go out there sometime. Take a walk, get some air. ******** feed some ducks or something.” If she hadn’t gone outside on her own yet, she might just be afraid to. Having zombies and diamond dog things running around probably wasn’t helping with that, either. But man, he couldn’t imagine going back to being cooped up all the time and he wasn’t sure how Ivy wasn’t crazy from it; he had to get her outside, at least for a little bit. At least then if she wasn’t about it, that would be a choice and not just what she was used to.
”Hey, gimme your hands.” Alex said suddenly, acting on an earlier thought. He took Ivy’s hands in his, rubbing them between his for warmth for a moment. Then he tucked her hands under his shirt over his abdomen. He was usually pretty warm there, or his neck, so if she was cold, she probably wouldn’t be for long.
But he probably should have asked before shoving a girl’s hands under his shirt.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
