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 Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:37 pm
As the weather got warmer into the summer, Chris found himself going for long walks in the park more and more often, Annabel happily leading the way on her pink leopard print leash.
It seemed as though it would start getting monotonous after a while, but there was always something to do. There were venders out with various foods and souvenirs to purchase, people selling their artwork along the sidewalk, and sometimes there were musicians playing for change, or even just for the fun of it. He sometime thought about bringing his guitar with him to play, but he didn't want any bird droppings on it. And knowing his luck, that would probably happen. He could choose to play fetch with Anna and let her run around in the field, or sit down and read a book. Actually, he wasn't much of a reader, but he would look over the newspaper every now and then.
Today there was a ballgame that caught his interest. It was an intramural team by the looks of it. Maybe a team with the city parks and recreation? It didn't look as though it was with a school, at least. Either way, Chris had stopped to watch for a bit, much to his dog's displeasure. How could he not? He'd always be drawn in by baseball... It was a weakness...
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 1:22 am
Lumiere was dressed lightly, in a blue plaid dress without sleeves, adorned by a black vest. The model had decided, with her lack of jobs this summer, she would take the time to simply relax within the turbulent city. But all turbulence happened during the night, judging from the park's uneventful pace. Lumiere took the moment to just stop, pause, and take a slow halting breath of air. One hand lifted to throw back long blue hair, the instinct to keep her appearance as best as she could .. Well, it was a bothersome instinct. Her hand was tucking stray blue hair behind her ear, turned slightly to the side, the sunlight blinding her for only a moment.
Quite the dangerous moment.
She took little notice of the baseball team, the practice game was quite the distance from her. But the batter must have been an excellent batter, with horrid aim, from the way the ball veered into the outskirts of the game. Violet eyes caught sight of something white in the distance, moving at a velocity faster than her body could move, her eyes closed shut .. In that split second, she knew her manager wouldn't just be vexed. No, the lady would be furious with Lumiere at injuring herself over a careless walk.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:43 am
Chris was just about to turn to leave when the ping of an aluminum bat sounded, a ball heading in his direction, and a few people calling 'heads up!' It was a split second decision to reach out and grab for the ball, wincing lightly at his now stinging hand. His coach would have definitely yelled at him if he'd seen him do that without a glove. At least it wasn't the hand he needed for pitching.
He took a step back from recoil of catching it, and it was then that he realized how close a young woman was to almost getting hit. If he hadn't caught it, she definitely would have been, and he hadn't even noticed.
"Are you okay??" he asked, pulling Annabel away from trying to sniff at her. Wow, and if he thought he was a walking label, he'd obviously never seen her walking around before. Of course, he was just wearing a light blue polo and khaki shorts. It wasn't like guys had much when it came to fashion choice. At least not for what he would be willing to wear...
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:23 pm
What she thought would have been a painful impact wasn't quite so painful .. Nonexistent, actually. She winced at the sound of a voice, cautiously opening one eye to register that somebody had .. caught the ball? Her hands lowered, her tense form relaxing as she instantly tried to regain her composure.
"Perfectly safe. Thank you." The words out of her mouth were automatic but sincere, taking in the mental fact that she should have stepped farther away from the ball-game. She felt a soft brush against her ankles through her boots, looking down in a gesture of surprise at the dog.
"You caught it with your bare hands. Are you ok?" Lumiere asked, her words alced with just the thinnest touch of concern, blue eyebrows creasing when glancing at the brown-tinted ball in his hand.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 11:40 am
"Anna, stop that," he told the dog, not wanting her to bother anyone that didn't want to be bothered by dogs. Much less if they happened to be allergic to them. That would be bad... The girl didn't seem to be jumping back for any reason, though, so that was good.
Chris looked at her in confusion for a second, before down at the ball in his hand. "Oh, no, it's fine," he half-lied, not seeing any reason to worry her about a little bit of pain. Sure, there would probably be marks from the stitching on his palm for an hour or so, and he would have to see if it was actually bruised, but thankfully the college baseball season was over for the year.
He glanced over his shoulder when one of the players came over to get their ball back, and he tossed it to the kid with a smile. "They would have been out if I was actually playing," he said with a grin, before turning back to the girl.
"This is Annabel Lee... I'm Chris," he introduced, shifting the leash into his left hand so he could hold his right out to her. It was habit for him at this point when introducing himself to someone, even a stranger in the park. He was definitely glad he'd caught the ball, though... That would have been really horrible if she'd been hit.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 2:48 pm
Lumiere held out her hand, shaking his gently, offering him a cautious smile. "I'm Lumiere." She replied, blue hair falling over her shoulders. Her hand retreated after the handshake to take out a handkerchief from her purse. It was plain, the light blue cloth adorned with little other than a "L," presumably her name. Withdrawing a bottle of water from her bag, the handkerchief was soon wet in a matter of seconds.
"Excuse me if what I do next may seem presumptious .."
It was inappropriate and rude for Lumiere to do so but she refused to leave her debts unpaid. Never should a lady reach or act so boldly within the proximity of company, especially male company, even if it was only his hand. But Lumiere didn't believe his flimsy assurances. A small wrist reached forward to forced the male to turn his hand, palm faced upwards and the handkerchief pressed into his reddening skin.
".. but lying to someone is unsightly. Especially to a concerned female-- It doesn't do well for their tempers. Right Annabel?" Lumiere told the male, her blue eyebrows furrowed as she applied a little more pressure to the cloth.
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 6:58 pm
Chris smiled as she introduced herself and watched curiously as she took out the handkerchief and water (people sill carried around handkerchiefs?), only to stiffen at her formal language, straightening his back and watching her with a slightly bewildered expression.
"Not at all," he said as she took his hand, although he didn't do anything to resist her act of kindness, not wanting her to think that he thought she was presumptuous or anything like that! He had no reason to mind what she did, bold or not. He wasn't sure if he should be nervous about her formality, and a small voice in the back of his head wondered if his hair was sticking up oddly, or if he had the collar of his polo folded awkwardly.
Annabel wagged her tail happily as she heard her name, spinning around on her leash and watching the two with her large brown eyes. She liked the attention, even if it was just hearing her name mentioned.
"I must apologize, then," Chris started slowly, watching curiously as she went about taking care of his hand. "In my experience, complete strangers don't usually care about minor incidents," he explained, although he didn't sound as though he wanted her to move away. He was grateful for her concern, even if he didn't think it was at all necessary. "I wanted to save you the trouble of spending your time on something like this." He certainly hadn't expected her to show any concern, and he made sure to hold his hand as still as possible as she pressed the wet handkerchief to it.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm used to it. Catching baseballs, I mean," he added, not wanting there to be any confusion on the subject. "Usually it's with a glove, of course, but still..."
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