After spending nearly two hours sketching the whole scenery, Lynn decided to take a break. Perhaps it wasn’t in her favor that there wasn’t anywhere she could rest by other than the grassy fields near her. But who’s to complain at the hour. She laid down on the field and allowing her thoughts to run free with the wind. She gradually closed her eyes and took a quick nap. Her consciousness wasn’t gone though, she still felt the wind against her and heard the sounds around her. She was just saving up energy. No one would know what might happen minutes from then. Her canvas still stood at the ledge, a clear marking to be exact. The only difference between herself last night and her now was the presence of her staff.
It would benefit her greatly if she was able to take this time to rest as she had an event she had to attend tonight.
(How do you vote this goes down? Zeke finds her? Perhaps he considers attacking her but decides against it since she doesn't recognize him in his "disguise" and he would be at a disadvantage trying to fight her in daylight, anyways? Or… hm… Sorry for my mindless ramblings. I'm trying to brainstorm. XD)
(I’m voting for Zeke finds her, he was going to attack her, decides not to for some reason, looks at the canvas Lynn was working on and… I have something planned after that XD)
(^.^)
Zeke may have overestimated his ability to find her, because it takes longer than anticipated. In his defense, he wasn't expecting her to be in the middle of an open field. Though one could explain the many things he went through the find her, the point is that he did eventually find her– and she was essentially alone, so that worked in his favor. No witnesses. Another thing that worked in his favor was his otherwise seemingly pointless decision to lug this backpack along with him– because now it made him look like a hiker or explorer rather than just some creep wandering through a field for no apparent reason.
There was something humbling about the fact that the woman who had beat him last night was just some chic chilling in the grass with a canvas. Made him feel kind of… cheap. He shouldn't have been defeated so easily.
Even more of a reason to defend his pride.
"Oh, an artist, are we?" he inquired from a distance as he approached. He wasn't concerned as to whether or not she saw or heard him; he was practically unrecognizable.
Lynn turned to the voice and opened one of her eyes; namely her blue one.
”Well… yeah. I’m not really good though,” she claimed with a small laugh. She wasn’t exactly going to rub it against anyone but compared to some other famous artists out there, she was down the scale. Even though her sketching of the scenery in front of her was extremely clean and crisp, a rare find.
Lynn eyed the man up and down…
”How about you? A traveller?” she asked calmly before standing up.
”If so, mind if I tagged along?”
(Also, yes, I just woke up -3-)
(That is okay, friend! ^-^ I understand completely.)
Zeke let out a small laugh, though it was forced. He wasn't the best at lying. Or acting. He was experienced when it came to fighting, but when it came to being charismatic– eh, not so much. "Just going for a walk. It's a nice place to do it," he responded slowly, clearing his throat. He glanced towards her canvas. It was a nicely done piece of work, he'd give her that much. But he didn't have time to make small talk or admire her artistic abilities. He had a job to do. Kill her. Leave her dead body to rot in the sun. Seemed simple enough, except for the fact that he felt like he was at a disadvantage. There were no shadows for him to hide in, and there was no hiding place for him to teleport to if the need arose. He was stuck. Not to mention, if he did win, he would count it more luck and his element of surprise rather than a fair fight– and, if he won that way, would he have truly bested her? He chewed his lip, debating this while he tugged at his backpack straps. Frankly, he didn't look remotely villainous without using his powers or wearing his Nightmare apparel. Perhaps that was why he liked the shadows so much; he wasn't intimidating at all without them.
"You drew this?" he inquired, nodding towards the canvas. "It's not so bad. Better than I could do." He wasn't quite sure why he bothered complimenting her; maybe some dark part of him that enjoyed beguiling her, since he was aware she had no clue of his identity.
Lynn raised a small brow.
”You haven’t answered my question yet,” she scooted a bit closer to the man ”mind if I tagged along?” she asked again, giving off a genuine ray of chaotically positive energy. Her shirt, at that time, was a natural greenish color. More likely that not, it came from the grass she laid on. If anything, she felt safe around these places and though her usual clothing is basically her heroine format, she was never against having a couple of fans approach her when she travelled. Not that it mattered, this gentleman either doesn’t care that he’s in the face of Pastel or he just doesn’t know.
"Well, I'm not really going anywhere. Just– out–" Zeke managed, his face flushing a bit due to just his own awkwardness. This was not going according to plan. He was supposed to come here to kill her, not take a peaceful walk through the countryside with her. Ugh. Why did things have to get so complicated? And her positive energy was about to kill him, he was sure of it. He was going to overdose on the brightness of the entire situation and just keel over if he didn't get the heck out of there.
Then again, maybe if they ventured off together, they could stumble across a dark forest– and maybe there he could make his attack. Plenty of shadows. Plenty of darkness. No one to hear her screams–
He swallowed and nodded a bit. "But, I– uh, I don't see why not."
Well, the only good thing his generally awkward nation was doing for him was ensuring that he wasn't intimidating. That was a plus for now (albeit an unintentional one), since he didn't want her to know who he was.
”Sweet!” she smiled with glee before scooting to his side and tucking on his sleeve before pointing towards a tranquil-looking path.
”There’s this nice forest pathway I heard of though I’m not brave enough to go alone—“ she looked back to the man ”—but now that you’re here, I might just be brave enough” she gave a nervous laugh.
”Oh, right! Names! I’m Evelyn, also known as ‘Pastel’—“ she introduced herself before she went to quickly gather her equipment ”—and you are?”
Zeke's face flushed more, and he swallowed. Things were definitely not going as planned. Not even close. Abort mission. Abort mission.
Darn his inability to handle even the simplest of scenarios without getting flustered.
He glanced down at her hand on his sleeve. Even though he hadn't released his name to the public, he wondered if it would be risky of him to tell her his actual name. It wasn't likely she'd have any clue who he was, but just to be on the safe side, he made up a fake one on the fly. "Nick." He cleared his throat, promising himself not to forget what name he used. This was already turning into a disaster. The last thing he needed to do was forget his own fake name. He stared at her momentarily before a look of false recognition washed over him. "Oh, you're that hero chic, aren't you?"
(Two notes: #1 is– I love Evelyn. :3 She is suh pure. #2 is– Poor Ezekiel is regretting his decision on coming here and probably swears to himself never to do anything like this without better planning again because he's not good at these things. XD He thinks he is more villainous then he is but he's just a little broken dude uwu)
(Evelyn will be the death of me irl if she was real to be honest XD and yes Zeke will be regretting everything)
”Don’t call me that, I’m just a rogue to be honest.” she gave a rueful grin before stepping in front of the man and turning back to him.
”I know the way, just follow me” she claimed as she started on the path. She was wearing her usual clothes though her baseball cap wasn’t exactly the light gray it used to be. Today it was red with the yellow text of ”I’m Fire~!” imprinted on it.
”So, Nick—“ she started after some time of walking ”—what do you do for a living? Like do you work somewhere or for someone? Sorry if it’s a little weird to ask, I’m just curious, heheh” she chuckled a bit at the end, reaching her hand to cover her mouth.
Zeke chewed his lip as he followed her, wondering where the heck he went wrong. How did a simple mission to kill this chic turn into– whatever this was? It wasn't supposed to be this complicated.
Find Pastel.
Kill her.
Go home.
Seemed easy enough– but maybe it wasn't, because now he was apparently some guy named Nick who was going on a walk. And that walk happened to be with the very person he was supposed to be fighting with right now.
He should've stayed home.
Or at least done some more thorough planning instead of coming after her on a whim just because he got embarrassed about losing to her last night.
Oh, boy. What a mess he had gotten himself into. What a lie he was spinning himself into– and he just seemed to be getting deeper.
"I'm– well– uh–" He tripped over his own words. What's a job that he can say he has without having to prove it? Agh– His nerves were about to go through the roof. This entire mission– big mistake. He scolded himself for ever being foolish enough to think this would work. "I work for myself right now. I'm an aspiring writer," he said, hoping that lie could sustain him for now. It was something that couldn't be proved if he hadn't finished a manuscript– which he hadn't, since he was most definitely not a writer– and a simple, quick answer. Still, he wasn't the best liar to walk the earth. Not even close.
”Hm?” Lynn stopped when the man said he worked as a writer. She turned to face him and took a really deep breath.
”WhatKindOfStoriesDoYouWrite?DoYouHaveAnyFavoriteWriters? CanYouTellMeMoreAboutYourBooks? CanWeWorkTogetherSometime?! IWouldLoveToDoThat!!—“ she paused and took a breather ”—please?” she blinked casually before what appeared to be stars glittered in her eyes. She was pressuring chaotic positive energy into the man and it was possibly too much to handle.
Zeke's eyes were round by the time she finished. He'd never been a religious man, but he was ready to pray to God for mercy and escape from this entire situation before he drowned in positivity and anxiety– two words which were possibly synonyms in Zeke's mind. After all, this was the guy who liked to sit alone in the shadows, stare in to the dark, and contemplate what would be the best way to die.
This most certainly was not the best way to die.
His face burned, because his lie just kept getting more out of control– as did this overly enthusiastic woman, who was starting to freak him out. He needed to get away from her. ASAP. To think, he'd come here to kill her and now he was almost on the verge of fleeing from her.
He swallowed hard and took a step back, maybe just to put more distance between her and the overwhelming amount of psychotic– er, chaotic positivity.
Had she really defeated him a second time without even trying? Maybe not physically, but– essentially, yes. There was no way Zeke could say he was winning this round.
"Oh, um–" Which question was he even supposed to start with? This was a disaster. 1000% out of control. He never realized such a simple task could go so horribly wrong. "Maybe." He didn't show it too much, but deep down inside, he was ready to panic. And leave. Maybe he'd be wiser to just accept defeat since she was quite possibly insane. "Well– what about you?" he blurted out in a desperate attempt to change the subject. "What do you do for a living? B-besides– being a rogue or a hero or whatever–"
Evelyn gave the man a daring grin with a raised brow.
”Well…” she took a deep breath… again.
”I work as a freelance, a digital artist. I make money selling landscape paintings and portraits. For landscapes, as you might have seen, I just finished that burnt village one. As for portraits…” she got out an A4 sized folder which was packed.
”I draw heroes and villains I’ve encountered and so far, this has to be my favorite one—“ she got out one of the several sheets, one that showed a finely done portrait of the infamous ‘Nightmare’ in an action stance.
”I met him last night and honestly, he was cooooooooool~~ I’m not supposed to say this, but I will. I am a big fan of his” she stated with a small smile.
”You know him? He’s quite famous! And honestly adorable in his own way… somehow!”
Zeke's face burned red hot.
Did she just call him adorable?
Yes. She did. Adorable. That was her exact wording.
"I– but– he–" He sputtered, unable to string his own words together. He wasn't adorable. He was a killer. He was a force to be reckoned with! How could she think he was adorable? That was– ridiculous. He wasn't sure which was worse: the blow he'd taken to his self imagine (considering how much emphasis he placed on himself to become intimidating) or the fact that he was so flustered by that simple statement. "He– He's not adorable," Zeke managed, a little more defensively than he intended to. "Why would you think he's adorable? I mean he– kills people." His face grew warmer and warmer, while his heartrate was already through the roof. He needed to chill, because on some level he realized that now would possibly be the worse and most awkward time to blow his cover.
”Yeah? Let’s see… killed a hero who had a secrecy in crime, another who committed several frauds, another who abused his wife to the point of suicide. If he’s anything, he’s an idol for other villains” she claimed, listing the cases she remembered from ‘Nightmare’. There was… a slight air of fana—no, a strong fanatical air.
”Say what you want about me, but he’s great!” she presented her thoughts like it was her second nature.
Her phone rang. She took the device out of her pocket and gasped a bit.
”Oh dear—“ she leaned in a tad bit closer to the man ”—sorry but I’ll have to go. I have an event I have to attend at the Grand Museum. See you around Nick!” she ran the other direction, giving the man a wave and a cheerful smile before going full speed to the bus stop.
"Bye."
Zeke did have justification for all of the heroes he killed. He wasn't a serial killer or a mindless murderer. But he wasn't adorable. Or at least, he didn't think he was. He wasn't supposed to be.
It didn't help that he was already so discomposed and blushing scarlet just from their short encounter. This did not end how he had hoped or intended it would. He… was supposed to kill her. Instead, she killed him. Maybe not literally, but… close enough.
The problem was that he left that place not knowing how he felt about anything anymore. He wanted to be upset and mad– because he was not adorable. That word made him feel weak. Vulnerable. Small. He didn't like it. Even if it had a positive connotation– he didn't want to be labeled as adorable. Nobody would take him seriously.
At the same time, he felt like a jerk. Sure, he wasn't the most moral person in the world, but he still had a conscience– and it was chastising him big time the entire trip home. He had went all that way with intentions to kill her, when she had only good things to say about him. Granted, he wasn't sure whether or not he considered adorable a good thing– but she had some positive image of him in her head, like he was actually a decent person. To put it simply, he felt kind of bad for wanting to kill her in the first place.
When did murdering his enemies get so complicated?
Needless to say, Pastel had won not only last night's physical battle, but today's mental battle as well– whether intentional or not.
(Question, can I play another character as well? Like a minor villain?)
(Evelyn: "Nightmare is adorable" :D Zeke: "nO hE's nOt" >:( goes home to pout about it)
(Meanwhile, me irl: is incredibly amused by the entire ordeal)
(You can play as many characters as you like, my friend. ^-^)
(I love their dynamic so much… Evelyn being chaotically good while Zeke is lawful evil, love them XD)
