sweethymns | Mι∂ηιgнт ιη Ƥαяιѕ

[YEAH WELL, IGNORING....

The elevator goes up two floors before they get to Iona's classroom. She leads them down the hallway and the smell of oil paints and thinners permeates the air and flows out the open windows. David Bowie music blasts from someone's MP3 player and inside the painting studio, it's a mess of canvases, palettes, and brushes.

Some of her classmates have left the classroom, but a few have stayed behind, playing on their phones or continuing their work. One of them perks up at the sight of Oren and his lunch basket.]

"The Iron Chef has arrived!"

"Oh my GOD, took him long enough!!"

"Oren, when are you gonna go out on a date with me!"

"What is it today?? Oh wow, that's a lot of toast!"

"Huh, who are you guys?? You know Iona??"

[Iona looks at Claude and Gus, encouraging them with a tilt of her head to try and speak some English. The magic's supposed to work now after all!]

[ Gus hardly needs to be prompted: he strides up towards the gaggle of girls and, surprisingly enough, bows as politely as can be expected of someone with a good upbringing. ]

Hello! [ He hopes that this doesn't end up being complete nonsense, that would be disappointing... ] My name is Gustave, call me Gus! Me and Oren are best friends.

[ Ah, he used his alias... also yeah Oren, BEST FRIENDS.

Meanwhile, Claude just. Lingers back, not because he's particularly shy (he isn't), but because he isn't interested in talking to a whole bunch of girls on his own accord... nerd. ]

[Oren is definitely going to replace the sugar in Gus's food... Just wait... Iona lets Oren and Gus talk to her classmates while she grabs two chairs and motions Claude to sit in one.]

You just let yourself get pulled along with Gus a lot don'tcha??

[ He's grateful for the seat, and he settles himself down, watches his brother make something up about how Oren totally crammed a whole baguette into his mouth that one time. ]

Me? No. This is the most time I've spent with him in a while.

[ A slow smile, a raise of the brow. ]

Never a dull moment with him, though.

Mm. So I gathered.

[Iona looks fondly at Oren and Gus (the former is passing out water and trying not respond to anything Gus says as the toast is being feasted on)]

It's been a while since I had this much fun actually or this much to look forward to.

Is that so? I would've imagined you'd be inundated with things to do, people to look forward to seeing. All of them of a magical, exciting persuasion.

[ Slightly condescending, but also slightly self-deprecating: he toes a fine line. ]

You've your family, too. I can't imagine you'd be bored.

Oh, well I do have some regulars that meet me at the cafe frequently. But sometimes they got their own things to deal with so I can't hang out with them all the time.

[Iona stretches her arms before setting them on her lap.]

I don't see my grandmother all that much. She's got her work and if you couldn't tell, Berna's her own kind of special. Also, it's hard to hang out with a grandparent who looks like she's my older sister.

My big brother's busy with his apprenticeship. [Solomon threw himself into mastering his magic especially after...] We still talk! But it's not the same as before.

Edited 2015-06-19 07:48 (UTC)

[ Oh no, this is the slippery slope of emotions: the three things you should never talk about if you want to maintain polite distance is politics, morals, and family. Warning bells.

So, of course, like a big weenie... ]

But you have Oren.

[ ...he sidesteps. ]

Mm.

[Her left hand reaches up to instinctively touch her right arm. There are days when she can trick even herself into feeling a smooth surface instead of the rough stones embedded in her arm.]

He makes it easier.

[And there's no way she can ever repay a person like him, one who already gave 100% of himself and more.]

Oren was with Berna for a long time. It might not seem like it, but he's still getting used to me.

[ It's her openness that boggles Claude, how she's so willing to talk about something that is probably a mild point of discomfort or contention on her part. He's long since gotten used to people having acute aversions to anything that might make them seem anything less than perfectly put together, so her forthrightness is... uncomfortable. Strange. He knows it doesn't obligate him to talk about himself, but still. He doesn't know what to do with all of this, in all truth.

He folds his hands on his lap, watches Gus try to sketch a picture of Oren on someone's notepad. Gus makes it look easy, the whole living business.

He knows it's not. ]

And? Are you unhappy with that?

[She blinks at his question since it was kind of weird and no one had ever asked her that before.]

We didn't get along when we first met. [Iona shrugs lightly.] But it got better. A work in progress.

[The witch smiles as Oren gives some culinary advice to the poor students who need the survival cooking skills.]

I'm pretty happy with that.

[That was Iona; someone who found the work in progress, the present moment worth living for.]

Then there's nothing to worry about.

[ A slow shrug, a careful once-over. He watches her smile, and it confirms one thing: she's someone that'll probably continue doing so. ]

You lied. You've things to look forward to.

Hah! You're probably right!

Kind of like how I'm looking forward to taking you two to the beach after I'm done with class. ♥

[ Promptly: ]

You must be joking.

There's this amazing invention called sunblock lotion so if you're scared of crisping up...

Are you so desperate to see us with our clothes off?

[Iona grabs a nearby paintbrush, loads it up with some ultramarine blue and pokes Claude's cheek with it.]

Bloop.

[ Ah...

He feels for the streak on his cheek, smears it a little when his finger gets into contact with it...

...and almost, almost sighs. ]

A silence indicates a yes.

[ He reaches, smears the blue on his thumb on her nose. ]

[Is this it. Is this what it comes to??]

Why are you trying to make me sound like I'm some kind of pervert weirdo?? Weirdo.

[And another streak of blue on his opposite cheek. Well, even if she isn't a perv, she sure is childish.]

[ This is it, this is what his upbringing led to.

He comes dangerously close to snorting, but holds it in before he takes the same thumb that he used to paint her nose with. this time, he runs it along her cheek. ]

Maybe your classmates would benefit from knowing how you'd like to see me and Auguste without our clothes on.

Honey, if I wanted a guy to take his shirt off for me, I wouldn't have to be sneaky about it.

[Iona uses cadium yellow on Claude's forehead! Direct hit!]

[ And, ah—

—blink and you'd miss it, he exhales softly and twitches his lips up in a semblance, a semblance, of a real smile. ]

Bold words.

[Was that just her imagination? That brief sincerity that's gone way too fast catches her off guard somewhat and she looks at him bewildered maybe even transfixed--...]

"IONA!! Why are you using my palette as face paint!?"

Oh! Sorry, sorry, I got carried away!

[Iona hops off of her seat to appease the disgruntled classmate, but not before whispering to Claude.]

Um, Oren should clean that off for you! Sorry, I got bratty there on you.

[ He slips back into distant amiability again, but not before he adds one last streak of blue on her chin. ]

No need to apologize, it's what I wanted to see.

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