open ✘ someday we may see a woman king

[monalisablues]

[OOC: AND BECAUSE ELLA IS AN INDECISIVE TWAT, SHE SWITCHED PBs/JOURNAL IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD. SARAH IS NOW WOUNDABLE. SORRY AND THANK YOU.]In Grant Park, there is a young angel of death. Sixteen going on seventeen, to be exact

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[thelightofgrace]

Charlie Wellman can't think of anything, really, that's better than spending a Saturday afternoon in Grant Park. Not that the flood had done much for the landscaping, but it's good to get outside and just ... be there. To breathe.

It's hard to breathe when you're cooped up inside all the time, and used to sleeping in tents.

He wanders through, hands in his pockets, and when he spots the girl sitting in the park, offering portraits, he can't help but take up the offer. He moves over to the seat, and sits down with a lazy grin.

"Make sure you get my good side. I don't want my nose to look to big or anything like that."

He's teasing. Mostly. He would appreciate if you kept his nose proportional.

[monalisablues]

"Uh."

Stare.

Why would a beautiful specimen like this one worry about someone not capturing his good side? From where Sarah is sitting, all of his sides are good ones.

... Anyway.

"Think you should probably worry about the size of the head," she says teasingly, once she's recovered. The last thing the guy needs is a ridiculous teenager oggling at him.

[thelightofgrace]

His grin widens a bit. "Hey now. I happen to like the size of my head. Let's not get carried away."

Charlie always did like banter. And he's in a good mood for once, so he's taking advantage of it -- even if it's at this girl's expense.

[monalisablues]

"Yes, sir!" she says, with a small grin and a bit of a salute towards him. Sarah's in a good mood for once herself, usually finding herself in the throes of teenage hormones and all those fun things.

"Anyway, I am Sarah and I will be your artist for the evening. I'll watch out for the nose, promise."

[thelightofgrace]

"I appreciate that, Sarah," he nods with a smile. "I'm Charlie. Nice to meet you."

[monalisablues]

"Nice to meet you, too!" she says, and she opens up the sketch pad and makes a show of studying Charlie's features intently before she starts the initial sketching.

"Have you lived here your whole life or did you move here? People always get surprised when I tell them my family moved here willingly six months ago."

[thelightofgrace]

"I moved here too. I'm from Iowa originally. Decided spendin' some time in another place might do me some good."

He does as best to sit as still as possible, not wanting to effect her concentration. He knows that some people are a bit anal about that kind of thing. He doesn't want to interrupt her flow.

[monalisablues]

"And what did you like about Iowa, Charlie?" Sarah asks, lifting up her gaze and grinning sheepishly. "Sorry, I like... asking questions. To the people I'm drawing. It kind of feels like I get to know them better and the portrait's more... real, somehow. If that makes sense."

She doesn't mind if he moves as long as the movements themselves aren't too abrupt. She's not anal but she is big on concentration and getting it right, but she also understands this is for fun and she doesn't expect people to take it that seriously.

[thelightofgrace]

"I liked the community. I spent my whole life there, so I knew everyone and they knew me. You can't buy those kinds of connections, you know?"

He misses it a lot sometimes. He misses it more than he cares to admit. But he doesn't fit in there, not anymore.

[monalisablues]

"Nope, you can't force it, either. It's just there or not. Kind of hard to put into words," Sarah says with a nose wrinkle. She studies him watchfully, eyes moving from his face to the sheet of paper on her lap.

"You have connections here, though? Most of the people I talk to, they say that's why they stay. The connections they have with each other."

[thelightofgrace]

"I do, but that's not why I stay," he admits, exhaling slowly as he looks around. "City reminds me of myself sometimes. Good, and trying to help, but just goin' about it all the wrong way."

[monalisablues]

That catches her attention. She briefly stops her drawing to glance up at him with admittedly curious eyes.

"Can I ask why you think you go about it the wrong way? I mean, I guess there's that whole 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' thing, but I'ven ever gotten that."

[thelightofgrace]

He shrugs. "I've been through too much to know the difference between the right way and the wrong way. For the most part, I just go with ... what feels right. And that doesn't always work out so well.

[monalisablues]

"At least you try," she points out, and she isn't discrediting what he's saying, but she feels it's important to try. "And sometimes mistakes are part of what make us who we are. That's what my mom says, anyway. What seemed right at the time was probably right at the time, even if it wasn't ... right in the long run."

[thelightofgrace]

He shrugs slowly. "I've learned not to look too long term. It's not really in the cards for me at the moment." And it's not. He'll be lucky if he makes it to forty, but that's the price that comes with a Calling.

[monalisablues]

"Okay..." Sarah says, voice trailing off in lack of anything else to say. Talking to adults is so weird sometimes. She concentrates on finishing the portrait, and once she does, she tears the paper out of the bound book and lifts it up for him to see.

She grins. "I hope there are no inconsistencies with your nose and your head."