While Delilah had no intention of calling him the same day Quinn had give her his number, she had meant to call him within twenty four hours. In her defense, she had not expected to be called away for a family dinner with some of the 'elite' members of the city. Her jaws still hurt from the forced smile.
So it had been nearly thirty six hours before Delilah found the folded up square napkin, smacked her head for forgetting, and called up Quinn.
And that was what had landed her standing outside of his place, double checking the address with the one she had written down, and then deciding it was better to knock than stand in the hallway.
Reaching out, she rapped three times then dropped her hand and waited. Standing there, with a bag that had some foil and cardboard in it, she just brought it to show a basic idea of what she might think. Otherwise, Delilah shifted her weight in her knee high flat black boots. They fit nicely over her skinny jeans and matched the leather jacket she wore to keep warm with just a maroon shirt.
Now, she waited.
---
Quinn has spent his time waiting for Delilah's call fielding calls from his folks. His mom had tried to guilt him into joining his folks for a big dinner but Quinn begged off by saying he had a project to work on, it wasn't a lie just a bit of a fudge. He spend most of the night working on the research, potential materials, and history to use in his paper. He didn't know if Delilah had a report to formulate as well as making the dress but Quinn did so he could atleast get everything ready. He shrugged off the extended period of silence, s**t happened and if it turned out she didn't want to team up at least he had everything ready to go. When she called in the morning he readily agreed to need her at his loft. Surprisingly it didn't take him long to make it presentable. And then it was just the task of keeping his cat entertained.
When it got to the point of cleaning up after Isis Quinn gave up and took her out to the local park so the savanna cat could work off her energy. His phone alarm had him heading back with Isis gladly pulling him along.
He had a moment of juggling unlocking the security door to his apartment building, luckily the manager held the door for him. The old lady gave Isis the pat the cat begged and informed Quinn that she let in his lady friend, he explained that Delilah was just a friend but his blush was quite clear. He quickly gave begged off the blooming conversation and with Isis pulling him up the stairs quickly made his way up the three floors. Isis quickly arrived and began to study her guest by sniffing Delilah. Quinn followed and tried to pull the large cat away while apologizing, "sorry about this. Isis is one curious savanna cat. I hope you weren't waiting too long."
---
Delilah was about to give up on waiting and head back downstairs to ask either the nice elderly lady that had helped her or the manager if this was even the right floor! It was easy to mishear someone on the phone so her getting it wrong was completely possible...wasn’t it?
Shaking it off, Delilah stepped back from the door, turned on her heel and let out an ear piercing scream!
Flying backwards and off her feet, Delilah found herself landing in the most unlady like manner on her backside, gazing now eye level with a young cheetah. Her ruby eyes were huge as she stared at the creature that appeared to be watching her, rather confused. Delilah was just trying not to hyperventilate!
“What?” Her voice shook slightly as she realized two things. One, someone was standing behind the cheetah and two, the cheetah had a name. “Isis? Savannah?” Realizing the chances of her becoming lunch might be slimmer now that this thing had a name, she dared to shift her eyes from its face towards the source of the voice. Needless to say she had not been expecting to see Quinn standing there with a leash in his hand. “This...this is your pet?”
---
Quinn winced when he saw Delilah fall back. He reached down and dragged Isis back by her harness. He reached out to give her a hand up while keeping Isis back as best as he could. He smiled sheepishly and nodded, "this is Isis. She is a savannah cat and she is why I had to run the other day when we met." The cat in question chirped and wiggled in Quinn's grasp, really wanting to explore the new person on the ground in front of her.
"She gets into all kinds of mischief if she is left for too long alone. The manager will normally watch her when I have full day of classes but I wasn't really expected to run into anyone the other day." He actually had come to her sleeping on her cat tower. For once she hadn't gotten into mischief by herself but normally she got into everything. Quinn had come home to her lounging on top of the fridge and all his boxes of cereal was scattered across the floor, sadly for her that was pretty tame. Quinn's smile was crooked as he raised an eyebrow in question, "you aren't afraid of her are you? She is a sweetheart I promise. She will calm down a little bit once we are inside, if you're still ok with it that is." Quinn wanted to get the project started but he really didn't want to shuffle Isis off on the building manager.
---
Slowly, and with her eyes remaining more on the feline and less on the man in question, Delilah reached her hand up and took hold of his. The pull up was easier than trying to pull herself in what would have been a rather interesting attempt to gain some grace back. “She isn’t going to try and bite me is she?” The question was an honest concern. Normally she met cats that were able to be held in ones arms. Not ones that a baby could ride on.
“I never would have expected to meet something like this.” Strange, she was more scared of a giant cat than a talking cat. What was the world coming to? “But if you say she is safe, then alright. We can get started. “ Delilah tried to give him a smile, realizing she had held onto his hand too long and softly let go. But every noise that came from below made her shift her gaze. “I’m so glad I didn’t wear silk or something that dangles. I have seen cats climb people for them and last thing I want is her trying to climb me.”
---
Quinn laughed out loud at the idea of Isis biting Delilah. "She will bite no more then I will. At best it's a nibble when she gets to really know you." The savannah cat in question got a bit bored with her new companion and began to wander farther down the hall, her leash still slack but not for long if Quinn didn't move fast. He saw this and fished out his keys.
"Isis is rarely expected. I've had her for about two years now, she was a gift from my folks. And she absolutely loves the attention she garners when we go out and play." He got the door opened and gestured gallantly at open portal. "She won't hurt you any worse as I would. She just is a curious overgrown kitten, who doesn't quite understand her size."
He gently pulled the cat to his side and when Delilah mentioned her outfit he shook his head. "Nah she won't climb on you but she might get in your face. She is tall enough to place her paws on mosts shoulders placing her nose to nose with them." Granted it was normally an average sized person who got to understand just how large savannah cats are. He smiled and laughed before adding, "can't promise that silk would hold up against her though, she does like her attention so she might claim your lap or feet." Isis strained against her leash trying to enter the apartment first, dragging Quinn along with her.
---
Quickly moving back two steps, Delilah made room for the feline to walk into her domain. “She knows who is the boss around here.” The woman finally commented as the tail slipped in the doorway. Slipping past them both in the entranceway, Delilah tried to get out of the way of the feline and her route. To be honest, she was not comfortable with a cat that big right next to her but what could she do? Say no? She needed Quinn’s help much to her demise.
Glancing around the apartment, her eyes fell on different items she would expect to be in a single male’s place. It was very clear the only woman in his life was his feline and she ran the house. Clean was not the word she would have used but chaotically organized. At least she could see the floor. “Maybe I should ask my parents to rethink their gifts. Two years ago I got a desk as a present. Didn’t fit in the location it was bought for.” She smiled glancing up at him before a shrug went across her shoulders. “Anyway, shall we take a look at both projects again?”
---
Quinn laughed, "that she does. That she does. She is spoils rotten but she loves me so it's hard to say no." His smile was indulgent as he followed the two females into his apartment, closing the door behind him. It took him just a few moments to unleashed Isis from her harness and giving her a little rub while he was at it. She affectionately head bumped him before ambling over to the stairs leading to the loft and his bedroom. The large cat bounded up the stairs and disappeared behind the furniture Quinn had put up against the railing to create a fake room from the open and airy loft. Really the only completely enclosed room was the bathroom, everything else was out in the open, giving the big cat free range of everything.
Again Quinn snickered as he hung the leash by the door. "Mom was worried I would get lonely so she got me a pet. She thought the kitten was cute and I don't think she realized just how big Isis would grow." He made his way to his galley kitchen to pull out snacks and the like but paused right before ducking into a cabinet to indicate the large table in the corner of the room. "Did a lot of research and stuff since we talked. Printed it all out over there. My instructions are upstairs, I can get it in a moment. You don't have any preference on snacks do you? Drinks? If you do we can always order take out when we get hungry." He placed his elbows on the island and popped his head in his hands. He made a face and added, "I would offer to cook but to be honest I'm a rather simple cook and take out would likely taste better."
---
“I ate lunch not too long ago so just some water would be good for now.” Delilah hand waved as she turned from the hall and walked towards the direction he had pointed. Shouldering off her own bag, she pulled out a chair and sat down to look through some of his print outs. She noticed things about several items. The fashion he picked to look at was a mix but all very architectural. It made her smirk when she saw a few runway models. “Though if I remember correctly, part of the deal was sugar cookies?”
Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled and reached down towards her own back. A sleek, black leather bag that held her life in it. But what she pulled out was a paper sack. “I wasn’t sure if you would remember so I picked them up on the way.” Standing back up and grabbing two of the images from the table, she walked back to the so called kitchen. “Plate?” She asked placing the sack down on the counter along with the images.
“Alexander McQueen? Quinn, if you want to do something like this then we need to find you a physicist. I am no help here.” Delilah was pointing to the shoes the woman wore as she walked.
---
Quinn nodded and fished out a bottle of water. He normally used a water filter but had forgotten to pick up a new filter for the pitcher so for now was relying on bottle drinking water, soda, and juice. He snickered when Delilah pulled out a bag of sugar cookies, "I didn't forget. Just have pulled them out yet." He fished out his own bag of cookies but gladly put them to the side when she came up with her own. Sadly his were a generic mix of different kinds and he really wished he had had the time to run to his folks to beg fresh baked cookies from the cook but time just didn't allow it.
He pulled out a simple Pyrex plate and said sheepishly, "I am hurt that you think I would forget our conversation that fast," his smile was wide and full of mischief, "but I think your cookies will taste better. Sadly the store nearby doesn't have the best selection, or tasting, cookies." He shrugged and ran up the stairs to grab his paperwork noticing Isis sound asleep on his bed.
He shook his head indulgently and made his way quickly back to Delilah. "Who?" He glanced at the images and laughed. "Nah I was going to use that for my paper." He handed her his instructions and pointed to the bullet points that stated if the possible, examples of real life uses must be provided. "Figured pictures would work although I'm hoping that we can use the dress as the example with these other guys as supporting examples." He walked back to the table and dug through the various examples and information. He showed her pictures of clothes made out of chocolate and other unlikely items. "These are for you. Didn't know if you needed to do a paper or anything but the one I figure you would like the best is this guy, Alex Seton. Alastair Thomson though has more of a clothing side to his work so maybe he will work best." If Quinn hadn't known better as he was looking into the various artists he would have thought that some of the sculptures those two had made were no real. It really was amazing what people can create.
-----
“Never heard of him.” Delilah admitted as she took the papers offered to her and glanced around for a place to comfortably sit that would not take up his desk space. Deciding not to make herself too at home, she opted for going closer to the table and leaning her back against it. The images had her mind turning. “What is he using?” She pulled the image closer to her face as if inspecting it before turning the page in different directions.
Putting the first few images back onto the desk, she glanced at who she could assume as Alastair Thomson based on the change in style. At first she seemed to inspect them the same way until her eyes caught a beautiful dress on a wood base. “OH!” She exclaimed, standing up right once more. “What is that material? Marble?” She asked looking at the image closely and then quickly looking up towards Quinn. “It’s breath taking. Where did you find this?”
There was the shine back in her eyes as she gazed at the appearance of the stone photos in her hand before looking back at the male in front of her. He had a eye. He had impressed her by his choice. Maybe not by the cookie choice but she would let that slide, for now. “Quinn, you have a good eye.” She finally admitted, putting the images back on the desk. “It’s a different way of thinking for this final piece. They never said it had to be able to walk down a runway after all.” She smiled, thinking about this in a different light now.
As she moved back to her place against the desk, her eyes fell back on the designs. “But tell me more about yours. A paper, well, you are writing your own there.” She gave him a half joking warning look out of the corner of her eyes. “But the model or physical piece. I know you said it needed to be out of the box but in what direction?” As she talked, she walked over towards the bottle of water he had gotten for her. Opening it and taking a quick sip before eyeing the cookies he had gotten, the girl smirked. “The sugar you got aren’t bad with tea. Softens them up in the warm liquid. No hope for the chocolate chip though. A friend of mine and I tried many different ways and no matter how it came out, cardboard. But hey, you get inventive on a college budget.” Shrugging with a smile, Delilah walked back over to join him and listen.
---
Quinn was pleased. She had the same reaction he got when finding a particularly interesting piece of architecture. "Both work in marble. I was poking through google and came across some homemade outfits out of duct tape and toilet paper. It got me thinking about the exact wording of your assignment and figured it never hurt to dig into stuff that looked like clothes but isn't." He had actually stumbled upon a lot of sculptures of figures in outfits first but the idea of just the clothing really led him to those two. He never realized just how structural clothes could be.
“I’ve got a good start on the paper with all the research.” He looked at the paper scattered around and smiled rather sheepishly, “I might have gone a bit overboard actually. Its pretty typical ten page paper but the teacher loves to see physical representations of the endless projects he gives us even if its only pictures.” He chuckled lightly, “I wish I could show you some of the snowman creations that the class did in the snow last year. It ranged from traditional to some pretty strange ones. One kid did a crop circle type design in a park field, I still wonder how he got the aerial picture it took.” As for out of the box, he hummed contemplatively and shrugged, “I think the way we are going right now is pretty good, I’ll still use the more ‘fanciful’ designers like that McQueen guy.... You ever think anyone asks him where Mater is?” He laughed and followed her over to the cookies, swiping a chocolate chip one, he took a bit just as Delilah mentioned cardboard. Quinn made a face, swallowed his mouthful regretfully, and tossed the rest of it. “Yeah I don't think theses are much better than cardboard. Should have just done Oreo’s or Chipsahoy regardless of the budget.” He was glad he had the typical college stapes of chips and dip because he didn't think he really would try another of his cookies, hers didn’t look so bad though. “What about your project? Do you have to do a paper as well or just the dress?”
----
“Just the dress.” Delilah offered softly, lifting a hand upward to hide a chuckle as she watched him fight back the reaction of eating cardboard. “Tried to warn you.” Walking over to the bag she had brought with her, Delilah pulled out one of the cafe sugar cookies and offered it to him. “Here, this might help get rid of the taste. Otherwise, you might want something more than water. That taste does not like to give up.”
Once the cookie was out of her hand, she tapped her finger to the side of her chin. “No, no paper for me. The last time they had us write a paper and make an outfit, the professors regretted it.” She gave a simple shrug as if saying it was no big deal. “Seems people either focused on one or the other. We have some that turned in a paragraph and some with half finished outfits. Someone wrote a paper on a wedding dress and turned in a vest.” Now she wasn’t going to even try to admit what she had done. “But anyway, the hard part now is to figure out how to do something like that.” Her attention went back on the paper images. “Because I have no hope in carving marble.” Chuckling slightly in a rather embarrassed manner, she locked eyes on him. “So do you have some mad carving skills hiding around here?”
Walking over, she lifted a blanket up and looked under it. “Nope, not here. What about in the closet?” She pointed to the other door.
---
Quinn gratefully took Delilah's offered cookie and nodded before opening the fridge to show a rather empty appliance. He had a quarter of milk left in the gallon jug, sodas, some orange juice... But not much else in the way of edibles. He finished the cookie as he pulled a coke out and opened it. After a healthy swallow to wash the taste away of his bad buy he turned back around to face his guest.
"No paper? Lucky." He shook his head regretfully. "I've had to write so many papers I think I could have papered the whole building in them." It was an exaggeration but, sadly, not by much. "That makes sense though, since the teachers would rather have someone turn in one perfect item rather than two half a** things. When we do models our papers are normally due first so we have more time for the models."
When Delilah talked about having to imitate the two carvers Quinn quickly shook his head. "You don't have too. I like our concept besides I couldn't carve my way out of a paper bag." He chuckled at not only his joke but Delilah's antics. "Sorry closet only has washer and dryer." He walked over and opened it only to scramble to close it as his pile of dirty clothes began to tumble out. He finally got the accordion doors closed. With his back against them to keep them that way, a sheepish look on, he apologized. "Haven't had a chance to really do all the laundry. At least it's not crawling out like some kind of monster." His embarrassed chuckle faded as he silently wondered if he would ever meet a youma like that. After all he had seen some really strange ones already.
He nervously cleared his throat, his mouth suddenly dry. "Anyway," he left the doors and strode over to his soda he had put down. After another swallow he continued. "We can change the concept if you want but I really do like what we have planned so far. We should get started any way." He really wanted to get his mind of of the nonsense he encountered at night.
----
Her hand was covering her mouth as she watched him attempt to control his dirty laundry. So that was where all the mess disappeared to! Why had she not guessed! “I think it would disagree. That seemed as if it wanted out rather badly. Giving it some more time and you might come home to a dirty clothes monster being sat on by your cat. “
Quinn’s attempt to hide his embarrassment had Delilah fighting back another laugh, It was cute and very human. He had appeared to completely forget that he had not done laundry in awhile. All college students seemed to have two weaknesses: food and clothes. But he didn’t need to know she was no exception.
“Well then, why don’t we get out of here and I can introduce you to my friends Silk and Cotton.” Reaching for her bag, she shot him a look to confirm he was following. “And most likely starch for you. Unless you want an object that moves in the wind?”
---
Quinn forced a light laugh. If he didn't have a small worry about that actually happening the mere thought of Isis taking down a clothes monster would have him cracking more than just a feeble chuckle. He wondered how Isis would actually fare in a fight with a youma and figured she wouldn't do so bad with a small one but the larger more scary ones she probably wouldn't do so hot.
He gladly accepted the change in topic. "Heading out is fine with me. Cotton is king man, silk is nice but I would think it would be too slick." He had seen a decent amount of silk dresses, his mom liked how they flowed. He even had a few silk shirts up in his closet in the loft that he wore on occasion but he prefered his simple shirts. He palmed his keys and headed to the door. "Starch is good I guess. The design is all you, I'll just be grunt work. I know I can spin just about any kind of outfit."
With Isis asleep upstairs, the only reason she wasn't down there with them, food and water set out for her. All he would need to do was to give the manager a heads up that he was heading out for a bit. He gallantly opened the door for her. The first step in the project was just beginning and it was already so interesting.
Fiction1119
