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 Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 6:42 am
While he'd heard of the candy in passing he'd never had the opportunity to have any before. At least not that he could remember. Maybe back when he lived with his parents, but even those memories were fuzzy now.
"Oh," he frowned, his brows furrowed in frustration at himself as he focused on trying to rub the blood from his face, but glanced up just in time to see the playful wink. Why his face suddenly flushed, he had no idea, but he quickly lowered his eyes and scrubbed a bit more vigorously at his face.
It had to be because Caspian was being nice to him, and he was embarrassed that he was so pathetic, right?
"Yeah," he mumbled, balling up the napkin and placing it first on the picnic table, but that was gross, so he put it in his lap, and then finally stuffed it into one of his pockets. Now, without having anything to do with his hands, he placed them on top of the folder to awkwardly brush off the dirt and dust from the scuffle.
"Seems kinda lame, huh?" he added, cautiously glancing up at Caspian again. "But when it's the only thing you're good at, it kinda ends up defining you, you know?"
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 11:48 am
Caspian wasn't certain if Ilian was just shy or if he was just stubborn, or maybe a mix of both. Either way, he found it somewhat entertaining, not at all disinclining him from talking to him. He reached for a slice of pizza and chewed it thoughtfully, the cheesy pepperoni hot in his mouth.
"I like Red Vines and Swedish Fish the best myself," Caspian said airily. "Or really, anything sweet. I just kinda like food in general,"
His head tilted the side, black hair shifting to briefly reveal a glimpse of purple and deep blue beneath the darker strands. Caspian said, with a touch of dry amusement, "Yeah, I hear you. People just associate you with that one thing, right?"
He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "You're not defined by just one thing, though, that'd be kinda shitty, I'm sure you have more to you than just the piano, right?"
Caspian waved a hand at the pizza. "Want a bite? You can have as much as you want, I got a lot."
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 9:07 pm
Ilian watched, both curious and cautious, as Caspian took a slice of pizza to eat. His stomach made embarrassing noises, which he quickly covered by rustling the pages in his notebook, trying to make them somewhat straight, and then frowned to himself when he realized he had no idea what these fish things were, either. Another kind of sweet?
“Like tootsie rolls?” he asked before he could stop himself, and then stared in surprise at the sudden flash of color. He wondered if the light was playing tricks on his eyes. But he could have sworn he saw bright colors under the black. He’d never seen anything like that before.
“Huh? Oh,” he sputtered, glancing down at the pizza as his stomach groaned in protest again. “Uh… if that’s okay,” he mumbled sheepishly, glancing up after he carefully took a slice to see if he could catch another glimpse of the other’s hair.
He had to have been going crazy.
“I’m told I sing well,” he mumbled almost bitterly. Singing and piano. That was really all he was good for. He had no other real talents. He wasn’t good at math or languages or art outside of music. He was horrible with sports. He didn’t have many choices.
“What about you?” he asked, taking a small bite of the pizza slice, not wanting it to seem like he was too eager to take what was offered to eat.
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 7:30 am
"Kinda," said Caspian with a grin. "Swedish Fish are more fruity, though, so maybe like, the flavored Tootsie Rolls, the ones that are lemon or strawberry or vanilla. The lemon ones were always my favorite, or the orange ones."
He took another bite of pizza, chewing slowly, and saw, out of the corner of his eye, Ilian's confused, wide-eyed staring. There was no telling what he was confused about, but Caspian thought not to press it, instead easing back with an elbow on the picnic table, posture relaxed and open.
"Eat however much you want," he said with a laugh, the grin widening. "I mean, I could probably eat a whole pizza myself, but sharing is caring, right? And just because I can doesn't mean I should right? So feel free to stuff your face, there's a lot."
He drew one leg up to rest on the bench in front of him, Caspian plucking a piece of pepperoni from his slice and popping it into his mouth.
"Singing is cool, but what else do you like to do? Have you ever boarded before?" he asked, gesturing at the skateboard that was now propped up behind Caspian, against the bench. "Or done parkour or crafty type stuff or anything like that? I play volleyball, mostly, boarding is just my second favorite thing."
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 11:27 am
"That's about it," he mumbled vaguely, going back to staring at Caspian's hair while he chewed the bites of pizza. He did shake his head when asked if he'd boarded, and he had no idea what parkour was, and at this point he didn't want to ask since it was probably already evident that he had been deprived of many experiences. Like these fruit fish Caspian said he liked.
"I'm not very good at sports," he admitted, pausing as he saw the wind ruffle Caspian's hair. Once again, he thought he saw the bright color beneath the black. His eyes narrowed slightly on a strand he thought he saw still peeking out from beneath.
Without a word, Ilian slowly placed the piece of pizza down, took a napkin to wipe off his hands, and set that down as well, all while staring probably rather intensely at Caspian's hair. But that was because he didn't want to suddenly lose sight of the color.
Slowly, he rose from where he sat on the bench and climbed up on it, going as far as kneeling on the table so he could reach out and gently brush his fingertips along Caspian's hair, just above his ear.
Sure enough, the black gave way to brilliant color, and Ilian let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"Wow..." he breathed, in awe, having never seen anything like Caspian's hair before. It surprised him. It was beautiful and brilliant and unexpected. Obviously.
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 8:23 pm
"Oh, come on," said Caspian with a grin. "There's gotta be more. What's one thing you wish you could do that you've never done? I mean, if you didn't have to worry about your hands or anyone else or anything or whatever, what would you want to do?"
He wasn't sure why Ilian was looking at him so intently, though it didn't bother him. Caspian, with his outrageous and sometimes illogical way of dressing, was the recipient of a number of odd looks and confused stares, and he had never been particularly self conscious.
It became clear, however, a moment later, as Ilian shifted up onto the bench. Caspian continued eating his pizza as though people leaning extremely close to him and sliding fingers into his hair was entirely normal, and remained quite as calm as he had been, swallowing his mouthful a second later.
"You like it?" asked Caspian, smiling as he picked up a napkin and wiped at his fingers, his slice having been deliciously devoured. "I had it done a few weeks ago. It's kind of a b***h to keep up sometimes, but I like the surprise effect it has, 'cause most people don't even notice it and then it's like bam!"
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 9:56 am
Unable to take his eyes off the strands of color, Ilian nodded dumbly as he stared. "Yeah," he mumbled, brushing his fingers through once more, before finally realizing how strange it probably was for him to be staring so intently and even touching someone else's hair.
Heat rose in his cheeks when he finally made eye contact with Caspian, and quickly snatched his hand away, practically falling backwards onto the bench in order to put some space between them. His face darkened even more as he realized how nonchalant Caspian seemed about it. First he'd more or less saved him from a bunch of brutes, then he offered to share his food, and now he didn't mind having his hair awkwardly touched.
Ilian frowned at himself, although it probably looked more like a pout, as he settled back onto the bench, pulling one leg up to wrap his arm around his knew.
"It's nice," he admitted, not thinking that was the best word for it, but the only one he could manage to articulate.
"I wish I could travel," he said after a few moments of feeling too embarrassed to say anything else, his eyes glued to his knee as he picked at a loose thread. "That's not really what you were asking," he mumbled, more to himself than Caspian, before continuing. "I can't remember ever leaving this city, even before I was on my own. I guess... if I could do one thing, it would be to see the world."
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 5:32 pm
"You ever thought of dying your hair?" Caspian asked, still remaining completely nonchalant in the face of Ilian's abrupt closeness. "I mean, the curls are pretty sweet, my hair's just straight as straight can be," An urge to make a joke about himself was tamped down, in an effort not to completely overwhelm the guy. " - but you ever done anything like that before?"
Ilian seemed to realize what he was doing a second later, and promptly fell back, his cheeks flushed red, but Caspian merely grinned at him, reaching for another slice of pizza. There were a few left in the box, and the smell of pepperoni was delicious as it reached his nose.
"Thanks," he said lightly. "I like it. Might do something else with it later, but we'll see."
He bit into a slice and chewed thoughtfully, Caspian's head tilted half to the side as he surveyed Ilian in front of him. "Travel would be cool," he said in agreement. "My mom travels all the time, she does a lot of s**t in other countries. She used to take us with her, 'cause she's a single mom and all, but she stopped doing that when we got old enough to stay by ourselves. Wanted us to stay in school and all that."
He rested an elbow on the table, his head on his hand. "Where would you wanna go?"
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 7:49 pm
“Anywhere not here,” he said softly as he picked up the piece of pizza he was only halfway through eating to take another bite. “I don’t care where. I would like to see the ocean. Or the mountains. I don’t even care about going out of the country. I just hate the city.”
It took a few moments to realize that the next question he would get would be why he didn’t just leave, and quickly produced an answer before Caspian had the chance to say anything.
“I can’t leave for good. It’s… complicated.” He couldn’t exactly explain the Negaverse or why it was so important for him to be an officer. “And my hair is already enough of a mess to do anything with it. Isn’t dye expensive?” He could barely afford to bother with getting his hair cut. The past few times he needed it trimmed, he just asked his neighbor to help him.
“Where’s your favorite place to travel? What would you like to do? Sorry… you’ve been asking me about so many things that I don’t think you’ve had a chance to say much,” he said with a grimace. “You have siblings?” The use of the word ‘us’ wasn’t missed.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 8:06 pm
"The city's not for everyone," said Caspian in agreement, watching Ilian out of the corner of his eye. He was glad to see that the other was eating, even if he'd taken a moment to take a closer look at Caspian's hair. He seemed far too sheltered of a person. "And hair dye is only expensive if you get it done professionally, you can buy boxes of it for like ten bucks at the store."
"I love the beach myself," Caspian went on. "I play volleyball, and the beach is the best place to do that, though I've mostly competed in schools and s**t. Haven't been to the mountains myself, but I think I'd like that, you know, climbing and all."
He twirled a strand of black hair around one of his fingers and said, "It's all right, I can understand that, but maybe you could like, take a vacation or something. You know," he said encouragingly, "Take a break. Go sightseeing. Take a tour of the world."
Caspian reached for the box of Red Vines. "I got a twin sister," he said, making a face, but it was tinged with affection. "Her name's Cassiopeia, 'cause our mom decided it was bad enough we're identical, she's gotta name us s**t like Caspian and Cassiopeia too. But if we're talking favorite places..."
He tapped the candy against his chin thoughtfully.
"Hawaii. Definitely. Or like, New Zealand or Australia. I would spend all day on the beach."
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 10:52 am
Ilian took another bite of his pizza as he listened with some envy of all the places Caspian had traveled, although he tried not to seem too put off by it. The farthest he'd been away from the city was when he traveled to the lake close by, but even then it wasn't much of an excursion into the wild.
"Yeah, maybe one day," he said in agreement, if only to not bring any more attention as to how poor he really was. He barely had enough to make sure all his bills were paid. It helped a lot now that Lovely had a job and lived with him, but there wasn't much room in the budget for travel or vacations or non essential things.
Ilian didn't dare suddenly that Caspian and his sister were lucky. He didn't know him well enough to be able to determine whether or not his life was better than his. All he knew was that his feelings of jealous over Caspian traveling the world was drawn to the forefront of his mind.
"That sounds like fun. Especially having a twin. I bet you guys are pretty close," he said instead, and then took an extra large bite of his pizza so be would not have to say anything for a while. He didn't usually feel so awkward around people, but since Caspian already saw him at his worst, there wasn't much for Ilian to hold himself up with.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:20 pm
Caspian chewed on the end of a Red Vine and said, "There are all sorts of like, youth hostels people stay at 'cause hotels are too expensive, I think that would be the route I would go if I went anywhere again. I mean, it means you've gotta share your space with a strange, but I'm not really shy."
He flashed a grin at Ilian. "As you can probably tell already."
His hand stretched over the table to reach for another Red Vine, Caspian twining them together in a sort of makeshift braid. "Yeah, she's a brat," he said with a shrug. "But she's my twin, so I love her. We grew up with just my mom and us, so we're all pretty close."
His eyes flickered towards Ilian, noting the silence.
"You don't have any siblings?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 8:00 pm
Ilian nodded to show that he was listening to everything Caspian was saying, wishing it was as easy as it sounded. “I don’t mind sharing,” he told him, shrugging lightly. He was used to it after years in foster care.
Hearing about Caspian’s sister was nice. Even if she seemed to be a brat. He definitely understood how it was to be close to a sibling and to share a world with them.
For a few moments, he caught himself smiling lightly as he thought about how Caspian and his sister must get along, and remembering all the times he was with Sorin. But then the conversation turned to him, and the smile quickly faded.
It was a long moment before he finally responded with, “No, I don’t.”
The sudden emotion was almost too overwhelming for him to hold back, and Ilian reached out to take hold of his folder of sheet music, gathering it up into his arms.
“Sorry, I should go,” he said, avoiding eye contact as he stood up from the bench. “Thanks for helping me. And the pizza.”
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 10:53 am
He caught the smile, however faint, and thought that it would have been better for Ilian to smile more. It lightened up his face, made him look less like he was angry at the world - though he supposed that maybe that was just Ilian's default expression.
"Woah, hey - " said Caspian, startled at the abrupt change. He scrambled out from the bench, swinging his legs over the side and standing, though he didn't try to stop Ilian. "I didn't mean to say anything stupid, or whatever. You sure you don't wanna stay for another piece of pizza or something?"
He wasn't sure if it was the comment about his sister or something else that was making Ilian so antsy now, but whatever the case, it seemed their conversation was coming to a rapid end.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 8:21 pm
”You didn’t,” Ilian quickly shook his head, not wanting Caspian to think that he was upset with him. He was upset with himself and all of his faults and inability to do anything of use.
The thought of more pizza was appealing, but Ilian shook his head again. “No thanks,” he told him, making sure he had everything in his arms as he backed away from the table for a few steps. “So, yeah… thanks for everything. And sorry you got hurt,” he mumbled, keeping his head down because he didn’t want to see the concern that might be on Caspian’s face.
He paused for just a moment longer, a curious last glance up at the other young man and his mysteriously colored hair, before he turned to leave.
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