|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 7:31 pm
Lark positively beamed at the praise. She had heard it before, fine, but it had never gotten into her brain and warped her like some people. Any praise was a wonderful gift. She was proud of her work, and to have someone else recognize it felt amazing. She had worked hard to get where she was.
When Rob pointed to a specific piece, she stood and approached him from the side. Oh, that one!
"That ended up being the pose for the finished piece," she said, 'It was a commission though, so it's digital and otherwise way out there in the world." She plopped down beside him and smiled even wider when he pointed out her realism. "Thanks. I try."
When he came to a blank page, Lark took her sketchbook back and returned to the seat across from him. She whipped out a brown pencil and began to sketch, all the while chatting with Rob.
"Well, that's very flattering of you to say," she said, and her eyes flicked up to him and back down to the page. "We can make a date of it. Come to see my paintings and we can go to see your setup." it was just a turn of phrase, though. She hadn't meant it to be a date-date. Heck, Rob might even be fuzzy about all of this afterward anyway.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 1:10 pm
Now it was Rob's turn to be flattered. He was one of those people who remembered everything they said or did when they were drunk, often to their embarrassment; Rob was never embarrassed by anything he did when tipsy. And he wasn't even all that drunk at the moment (by his standards, at least). He knew she didn't mean an actual date -- hell, they had just met! But he would definitely remember the conversation, and hold her to it. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, makin' a date of it," he nodded, cocking an eyebrow at what Lark was doing. Retrieving his beer off the table, he leaned back in the couch. The faint tingle of flushing in his cheeks rose as he contemplated the artist sitting across from him, and he tried to act casual. "Um, so whatchu drawin'?" he asked, taking a sip, all the while not letting his eyes leave her hands. He had his suspicions...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 12:43 pm
Lark just tilted her head up and smiled to Rob, purposefully avoiding answering the question.
"So you live here full-time, then?" Lark asked. A musician didn't necessarily need to be home all the time, did they? She had learned about the Hearth, about only being able to leave once a week and not at all for the first week. It might be difficult to manage in the future, but she was sure she'd be fine.
"...if you pop out of the Hearth, do people think it's strange that you suddenly appear? I mean, have you done it?" Her hands now sketched several long lines of different lengths. She glanced up at Rob again, then back down to her sketchbook.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:25 pm
Rob raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I'm pretty much here full-time. I own a house -- well, half a house -- in San Francisco, but I'm letting my friend Sid stay there. She's a Chosen of Apollo, a DJ, but she hasn't been around much. I'm thinking she'd just rather not deal with it all," he said with a sigh. He still didn't understand his friend's choice, but he respected it, and letting her live in his house was one way to ensure she didn't end up couchsurfing or homeless again. "Besides, my brewing setup is here. I'm not ready to find someplace to build a new brewery -- for one thing, I don't have the money for it, or a location picked out. I'm still experimentin' with this whole career change for the god thing. An' I figure that's best done here." He pondered Lark's question about the Hearth for a bit. He hadn't really thought about what it must look like on the other side when they step into Hestia's fire and step out wherever they wanted to be. "I dunno," he replied with a shrug, watching the artist work. "I reckon it would look a bit odd, yeah, but it's like people don't really notice strange stuff like that. Their minds like can't process what's going on and block it out somehow. That's what it's seemed like to me when I've used the Hearth." He shrugged again. "No one's ever said anything to me." Craning his neck, he tried to peer over the edge of the sketchbook to see what she was drawing. His curiosity was going to drive him nuts. He decided to move as little as possible, slowly bringing the bottle to his lips for a sip.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2016 12:02 pm
Lark was listening, but Rob may not have been able to realize it. There were none of the usual nods or curious brow-raises of the minutes previous, but she was still wearing that sweet interested smile. So then some people chose to not live here. She could understand why! Going from a house to a dorm room with a shared bathroom wasn't all that great, but the idea behind it! Magic and adventure!
"Have you seen any real magic yet? Dionysus said 'magic' but I don't think I've been around long enough to see it, except maybe for the Hearth."
Before Rob would really have a chance to respond, she plucked up an eraser from her pencil box to dab at something, then tore out the page and offered it to Rob. It was clearly him, done as realistically as lark generally managed drawing someone with an interesting face or expression or hairstyle on the train. It wasn't quite cartoony, but it wasn't entirely realism either. It was Rob beginning at the top of the table which held the shapes of his beer bottles, but was more vague than his body. He was just as he sat today, in the same outfit, all relaxed and pleased and handsome. lark beamed at him, all the while hoping he wouldn't find it all too creepy.
"Here. For you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 3:01 pm
Rob looked at her quizzically. "For me?" Accepting the page from Lark, he studied the drawing that she had made, and he could feel his cheeks go red against his British pale skin. It was him, all right. He'd had an idea that she might be doing something like this, but the finished product exceeded anything he could have imagined. "Holy… I don't even know where to start, Lark," he said, looking up at her in wide-eyed amazement, a stunned smile playing across his lips. "This is fantastic. You are so talented, like ridiculously talented. An' I'm not just sayin' that because it's a drawing of me." He felt his cheeks flush again, which he quickly masked with a grin. "I can keep this, yeah? Or do you want it for your portfolio thing? Cause it's good enough to go into something like that." Setting the drawing down carefully on the couch next to him so it wouldn't get damaged, Rob leaned forward eagerly. This girl was really something else. "So you asked about magic, like real magic. Yeah, there's real magic here, more than just Hestia's flames. You prove yourself to Dionysus, an' he grants you a magical spell for you to use. The other gods do that too, with their Chosen. Haven't used it in battle yet, though, so I don't quite know how it works in that sorta situation. But you get a bit of everyday magic, too." He laughed, not really wanting to inflict it on her. "Mine is makin' someone feel tipsy-like for a short while." His grin became cheeky and sly. "I've already used that one a couple times."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 8:19 pm
Lark blushed a bit herself and shook her head. Sometimes people lost their minds when you handed them a piece just because they felt that they had to. It was hard to tell the difference sometimes, but she was pretty sure Rob was honestly surprised, although she wasn't sure why. He had seen her sketchbook. All in all it was probably the subject matter, right? Her friends in high school had always wanted her to draw them and were delighted to see their likeness on paper.
"Thank you," she said, because it would impolite to not. She definitely thought that Rob's reaction was being affected by the booze, but maybe not. Maybe he was just an excitable person. Considering the length of this Chosen commitment, she'd probably have time to learn. "No, no. You can keep it. It's just a quick thing."
Flattery could get you a lot of places, though, and Lark smiled as she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and listened. Frankly she was happy for a subject change. Her eyes lit up and she straightened somewhat.
"You can do magic?!" she asked, "Oh, you'll have to show me. I always liked to read fantasy and sci-fi but I never thought it could be real, you know? You're not pulling my leg, are you?" Then she saw his expression and decided that, no, he wasn't. Who would lie and say they could make people tipsy? Unless it was just a knock to his brewing skills. She giggled then: "Oh, only a couple times? What's that say about me if you actually gave me this, hm?"
She picked up her beer again and took another sip. It tasted even better this time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:04 am
Rob looked again at the drawing Lark had done of him. Just a quick thing? He was still impressed. He'd have to think of some way to repay her, like maybe serenade her or something. Yeah, that was a good idea; he even knew the song he'd play for her. "No, love, I'm not pulling your leg," he said with a lopsided grin. "When ol' Dionysus said he'd bring magic into your life, he wasn't jokin'. I never thought it'd be real either, but yeah, I got the powah." He wiggled his fingers for emphasis, as if he was a magician. "An' all it'd say about you is that, well, you're susceptible to magic," he laughed. Then he leaned in conspiratorially. "You want me to have a go at you with it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 3:46 pm
A go at her, huh? Lark's smile went a bit mischievous and stretched, as if it very much wanted to be a grin. Half a beer wasn't going to have made her tipsy, so why not? Let him have a go.
"I think I'd like that a lot," she said with that same smile. She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and looked Rob right in the eye. She'd be lying if she said there hadn't been any flirtation in it, but hey, Rob was a good guy even if he was drunk. It was all so hard to believe, seeing some real magic (or feeling it, as it were) would definitely help!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 11:59 am
With a huge, wicked grin, Rob's brown eyes caught and held Lark's gaze. "Alright, love, you asked for it." Closing his eyes, he focused on the feeling of inebriation -- easy enough, given how tipsy he was feeling. He thought about passing that feeling along to his fellow Dionysus Chosen, visualizing the feeling as a cloud of some sort passing from him to her. Then he concentrated on the cloud surrounding her head, her body, being absorbed into her. He opened his eyes after a few seconds. "Well? How you feeling?" he asked, the grin still on his face. grasshopper pie Out of Combat Effect: Rob can make one person feel double the effect of an alcoholic drink for about 20 seconds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:49 pm
It happened gradually, but quickly. Lark suddenly felt like she'd perhaps drank enough, and then a little too much. Her focus became slightly more foggy and she felt that good old warm weight in the center of her chest. A flush ran to her cheeks and she laughed.
Wow. Magic. Real, legitimate magic.
"That's amazing! I mean unless this is some special sort of beer..." She eyed the bottle as if it might exclaim that it had some kind of magic herb of suggestion in it, but hey, that would be magic too, right? She covered her mouth and nose and giggled. What an interesting power!
"I feel pretty nice, actually. Thank you." She beamed at him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 11:59 am
"You're quite welcome," Rob chuckled. "It doesn't last long, maybe half a minute at most." He watched her face and smirked a bit when she giggled and grinned at him. Yeah, it wasn't a long duration… but it was fun. He wondered if there was some way he could use it in combat -- make his opponent feel drunk and miss their blows or something. He'd have to give it some thought, and learn more about this magic stuff. His attention turned back to Lark. "You feeling any better, love? Want more beer?" He followed it up with a cheeky grin. "I promise, there's nothing in the beer."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 4:59 pm
Thirty seconds still felt like a decent amount of time, as evidenced by Lark's wavering sort of attention for the rest of it. She looked up, around, back at their table, down at her sketchbook. She wasn't drunk, no, but she was markedly tipsy and warm. It fled as quickly as it had come, though, and she ended up smiling back to Rob.
"That was amazing," she repeated, "Thank you for that. I've never experienced magic before, not the real kind anyway. I always liked sleight of hand and all but it's not real. Plus, good beer doesn't hurt." All she had left was one good sip, and she took it with a sigh and leaned back. "Thank you for that too. I think you're a special kind of person, Rob."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2017 9:56 am
Rob's cheeks turned pink again, and he grinned and ducked his head before meeting her gaze. "Thank you. I think you're a pretty special kind of person too, Lark." Of course she was -- she was a fellow Dionysus Chosen. That made her extra special. "You'll be able to do something like that yourself, you know," he nodded as he leaned back. "A bit more experience, provin' yourself to Dionysus with your art an' stuff… It's just a matter of time, really. I have every confidence you'll be doin' magic yourself in short order." Retrieving a bottle of beer -- he didn't care if it was one of his or not -- and his church-key bottle opener, he popped off the cap and held it out to her. "Want some?" grasshopper pie late tag is hella late XD
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 3:11 pm
Was that a bit of bashfulness? Lark had a hard time believing that Rob was going to be bashful. He had been sort of exuberant and a bit drunk, but not bashful. Either way, she was delighted. Lark grinned.
"Really? I wonder what it'll be." She'd have to work hard on her art, then. There had already been plans to get herself a desk for her dorm, but maybe she should find herself some space in the studio as well. If magic came with hard work and experience, she definitely wanted some of both.
When Rob offered another beer she nodded and took it, but only took one swig after looking at the label and handed it back. She didn't want to get too tipsy yet, even as kind as Rob was. She also had a feeling that he wouldn't mind her mouth on his bottle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
