[Finished] Underneath the Scarf [ Jouko and Price! ]

[Leopleuradon]

It had been some tough times, but Jouko didn't think she'd like to forget any of them. Except maybe the lion, that wasn't very cool. Though she did meet and interesting person because of that, and she had seen even more interesting Soquili too, but in the end she decided to return home. She was sure she'd gained enough experience now, and she was hoping to return home with gratitude and finally being able to settle down. Of course, what would she do then? The thrill of adventure was in her now, she needed a new hobbie!

By now she had hit the clearing, at the base of the mountain, she was about half way home, though it would probably be a day or two still. She didn't really mind, by now she could defend herself quite well against anything that might want to harm her. And she knew this area like the pattern on her rump! She knew where to find water and fruit, but then something caught her attention. It seemed a bit out of place all the way out here, but was that a painting? She trotted a bit closer look, it really was lovely, or it looked like once it was finished it would be lovely.

She glanced around, trying to figure out what had happened to the artist.  

[Kaju_Inu]

If it got any easier it wouldn't be worth doing, wouldn't it? Thats what Price thought anyway. As he tried to challenge himself to do more complicated paintings he grew more and more agitated. If he missed a stroke he'd toss it aside and start anew. His family always told him that he was too impatient. Perhaps that was why there were so many half-finished paintings? Who knows. What he did know was that he lacked inspiration. What he needed was something perfect to paint. Something that he cannot just drop and restart.

He sighed and pushed aside another unfinished painting and got up to stretch. When was the last time he had any contact with others anyway? Too long at least. Perhaps to take his mind off his paintings he would go back to visit his family. Take his mind off things. Admiring the sunny day he turned around to come "face-to-face" (as his keeper would call it) to a mare.

 

[Leopleuradon]

When Jouko didn't see anyone that might have been an artist around, she returned to gazing at the half finished work. She wondered how anyone would leave something so lovely undone, maybe they were planning on finishing it later? Or maybe they had to leave in a hurry...With this last thought in mind, she quickly picked her head up to search the area again, and nearly jumped out of her skin when suddenly their was a stallion basically nose-to-nose with her. She fairly certain that after that, she let out a loud squeal and backed up a good five feet.

After all she'd been through, she was still as skittish and jumpy as ever. She took a moment to catch her breath and try and look a bit sane. She shook out her mane, and untangled her scarf, which was always a hazard in waiting! Then, she took a nice long look at the stranger, the first thing she noticed about him was his scarf! She hadn't met anyone else that wore one, and his coloring was pretty too. Finally she shook her head out of her reverie and actually spoke.

"Are you the one who did that?" She asked, nodding toward the unfinished work of art. She didn't look like much of an artist, but sometimes things weren't so easy to read.  

[Kaju_Inu]

He checked her out right away. She was defiantly his type. Her choice in colors was amazing, as was her scarf. She seemed a bit too timid for him though. But he grinned at her in greeting. When he wanted to talk to someone, POOF, there they were! Someone must have heard him complain! So they sent a pretty mare to talk to him. What a lucky day!

"Yes, that was me. I'm afraid its worthless though. I tossed it aside." He eyed her carefully, trying not to startle her again. "My apologies, miss. I did not mean to surprise you. Most others don't seem to notice me until I get close." He chuckled and shook his head slightly, puffing out his already messy mane.

 

[Leopleuradon]

Jouko went from staring at the unfinished art, to staring up at the mysterious artist. Well, looks like she had been right, he admitted to having started the painting, but apparently he didn't think it was good enough to finish. If she ever sat down and started something, it would drive her crazy to not finish it. Even if it wasn't going to be her greatest work of art. You never knew what other people would like to see from you. Still, she was hardly an artist, or anything really. She spent the beginning of her life basically serving others as a really great friend. Some grand life she lives.

Still, seeing as he was a lovely stallion and had a fairly good attitude about have scared the bejeebers out of her, she decided she might as well be nice to him. She couldn't stay mad at anyone, for any reason, anyway! "Ah well, it's mostly my fault for not paying attention. I consider myself a fairly good detective, and I was just curious about you art too much to see you trotting up to me." She gave him on of her best smiled and then went back to examining his art.

"And, might I say, if you finished this, it would be lovely. But, I'm not one to really judge. I'm Jouko by the way." She bowed her head, and then smiled up at him again. Boy, it was nice ending her journey with a pleasant encounter with a wonderful artist.  

[Kaju_Inu]

Price smiled and nudged the unfinished painting so it rolled over on the painted side so the painting was unseen. He wouldn't lie, he was embarrassed to have such a pretty mare see his awful artwork. It wasn't his fault though. He just got bored... so easily... But something was piping his interest in her. He quietly walked around her and took mental notes. "Hmm..."

"A detective?" The thought preoccupied him of her having a hat and a pipe and walking around with a notepad. The thought was quickly put aside when she flashed him a smile that made him loose his thoughts for a few seconds and just stare at her. He cleared his mind of the fog and returned to smiling.

"Ah. Well I can see why you'd say that. Thank you for the compliment. Your name is lovely, by the way. But Miss. Jouko, have you ever just had no inspiration? Hmm... I can't seem to get myself to just find something that will make me want to finish them." He frowned and shook his mane out, once again. "Oh! My name is Price by the way. Sorry for my grumpy attitude. I get this way when I had not finished another painting. It's refreshing to finally see another around though. I was getting lonely!"

 

[Leopleuradon]

Jouko watched him circle around, after tipping his painting so she wouldn't be able to see it. If she could do something as awesome as that, she wouldn't ever hide it from anyone. But, like she had said before, she didn't know too much about art. Just that is she liked it, she liked it. She took her eyes off of the blank side of the canvas and returned her eyes to Price.

"Yup, solving mysteries as they come to me." Actually, right now she was just kinda a lost soul, wandering around looking for some guidance that wasn't coming. She had been silly to think wandering around on her own would get her any answers. She cleared her head and then trotted closer to the stallion.

"Aw well, Price, I've been on by own for a while too. So it's very refreshing to see another face around here. I am sorry if I interrupted anything though." For all she knew, he could have been working on a wonderful piece of work, when she wandered in, can caused him to lose his train of thought. That's how she was though, always worried about what she had messed up this time.  

[Kaju_Inu]

"No no. Nothing of the sort. I had stopped working on another painting, you see. Nothing all that interesting. I was really looking more for some contact with others." He grinned over at her, clearly happy about the contact. He tilted his head at the comment. She was turning more and more interesting by the moment. Only one question screamed in Price's mind.

"Do you have any mysteries now?" He frowned at the lack of restraint of his brain-to-mouth filter at that moment. Thankfully, nothing harmful of that question. Perhaps too abrupt though.

"Please excuse me. I couldn't help myself from asking." He chuckled lightly, trying to ease his embarrassment.

 

[Leopleuradon]

Jouko smiled, glad he was just looking for company himself. She though of the last time she'd had any contact with someone, and suppressed a shudder. That hadn't gone over too well, but maybe this time would be different. He certainly seemed like a sweet guy, and he was obviously very curious about her. Which was nice for a change, to have someone interested in her. And she was just as interested in him, maybe she'd stay here for a while, before returning to her home. It's not like they'd be looking for her any time soon anyway.

"No mysteries for me, other then the ones that follow me around constantly. And no worries, I like curious minds. I tend to connect well with people who ask a lot of questions, because I do too." She smiled, and suppressed a little giggle, she didn't want to seem smitten too soon. But she couldn't help it. He was just so handsome and talented, she wondered if he got this reaction a lot. Maybe the whole art thing was all a hoax to get the ladies to fall in love whenever they happened to wander into her territory. Well, it was certainly working on her.  

[Kaju_Inu]

It was his artist in him that made him this way. He just loved to learn and mainly put it all on paper (and canvas). And of course he had an extreme lack of social contact. And to make matters worse, he was into her. He even knew it and he had never even come close to liking someone like this. Her smile, her giggle, it made him brighten up and just admire her all the more. He wanted to dig more and find out all about her.

"Mysteries that follow you? Sounds interesting! What are some that happened around you recently?" He grabbed his paper and started sketching something.

 

[Leopleuradon]

Jouko had never felt so strongly about someone so quickly. She had had crushes before, and had tried and failed at flirting herself. Still, none of those were like the way she felt now. He asked just the right amount of questions, and he was obviously handsome. She wasn't one to be picky about another's looks, but he had everyone going on for him in that perfect way.

"Well, I don't actually know who my parents are. Recently? I came upon an Angeni that needed my help to discover who had been picking flowers from his garden. It was interesting to say the least, and it turned about to be a bunny. Where he had thought it was someone in his family." She smiled, remembering the good time she had had figuring out with the larger stallion. That's another thing she liked about Price, he didn't completely tower over her. He was still tall, but at a comfortable range.  

[Kaju_Inu]

Price nodded at her comments. "I see. Well rabbits can be sneaky little creatures. That must have been fun, trying to solve the mystery." Was it sad to say he was jealous? He barely knew Jouko... But it was the truth. The one trait he didn't knew he had in him just went through. He was possessive. Well, he couldn't be that way unless he confessed first.

He grinned at her. He liked her. That was it. Now to get the courage to move forward was another story. His sister always made fun of his lack of courage after all. He kept doodling to hide his red face.

 

[Leopleuradon]

Jouko watched him doodle, wondering what he could be doing. She didn't know if it would be impolite of her to ask or not. However, after his reaction to her little story she thought she could see a little spark between them. Did he like her? Really, there's only one way to find out. Jouko was never one to initiate a relationship, but it was about time she had fun.

She trotted closer to him, and tried to peek around at what he was drawing. But before she could get a good look at it she turned her blue eyes to his golden ones. "You know, I don't know if you've noticed this or not. But I think you're really....Amazing." She was terrible an coming up with words. And she blushed a bit. But now that she was close to him, she could see that he was blushing too.

That only made her smile more. "And I see that you like me too~" She laughed a bit, trying her hard not to make it that squeamish, giggly laugh. That would be embarrassing. She gave him a little nuzzle, trying to give him a hit to man up and take charge!  

[Kaju_Inu]

Price jumped at the sudden movement closer to him and dropped what he was sketching onto the floor. The sketch was of her. Well, it seemed that way. It was very rough and hard to tell. And of course, when she spoke, he swore his heart stopped.

In fact it did and he stopped thinking for a few seconds. He just stared at her with his mouth slightly open. "T-thank you. I think your amazing too. Like... more then I've ever seen, you know?" He needed to learn to shut up. He really did. When he gets nervous or excited he talks....and talks...and talks.

He grit his teeth, not knowing what to do. He was excited, yeah. But more so nervous. And of course unsure. He had no idea what to do! He had never liked someone before. She was so pretty. Her coloring was wonderful, as was her fashion sense. Her blue eyes were sparkling like gems. She was smart. He loved that. And she had a great sense of humor.

He gulped and nodded at her second comment. "I...yes. I do... Was it that apparent?" He nervously laughed. She likes him? Nobody likes him. He is anti-social and quiet. But he heard it, although indirectly. He still wasn't sure what to do, so he hesitated but nuzzled back a bit more roughly and with a lot of emotion.

 

[Leopleuradon]

Jouko nodded, "Yes, your face is such a lovely shade of scarlet" She glanced down at his dropped work and smiled. It was rough, but she could sort of make out the small ribbons in her hair, and her very dainty build. Now she was blushing more, especially after Price really admitted that he thought she was amazing too. She knew that wasn't the same as 'I love you'. But, it was getting close.

She returned his nuzzle again, still refusing to be the first once to actually kiss the other. Even if she wanted that, she also wanted to know that Price was willing to take that step. "You know, I think I love you." She smirked, and then thought better of what she said.

"No wait, I know I love you." She was sure about it, even if they had just met. She'd traveled all over the world to find this perfect stallion.