Talents

Who: Eben and Claire
When: Mid-morning
Where: Library - Study Hall

It had been a strange week so far - being invited to a party, hanging out with Josh, tolerating Chrissy Chapman and then somehow being asked to homecoming - on a friends only basis, but that was fine with Claire. It made things less awkward and there was no pressure or expectation to try and be something she wasn't around Gabe. She wasn't looking to impress - only to have fun, so she was pretty excited to be able to go. At least with Gabe she would be able to relax and have fun.

She holed herself up in the library during her study hall period, sitting in the back alone and in the corner. She had a few books in front of her, including her calculus book. She was struggling to finish the work, since she had spent most of the night distracted by texting. Even now she was having a hard time concentrating. She was doodling big, sketchy looking flowers on a blank sheet of notebook paper, her cheek resting in the palm of her free hand. She was by no means an artist - her flowers were more than enough proof of that - but math problems were the last thing on her mind.

Yawning, Claire took a break from the mindless doodling to push herself up from the chair to be able to reach across the small table to her bag to pull out some gum. She snatched the small pack and plopped herself back down onto her chair. Only the chair had scooted back a bit when she pushed off it for leverage so all she managed to hit was the plastic edge before she slid right off with a thud to the ground. It really only took about five seconds before Claire found herself somehow sprawled on her back staring up at the library ceiling. A few snickers from students filled the otherwise silent library. Graceful, thy name is NOT Claire Korey.

Eben looked over at the sound, where he'd been perusing the book selection, trying to find something that sparked his attention. He looked over and saw a girl lying there on her back, and walked over, crouching down next to her. "You okay?" he asked. He probably should have seen that coming. He'd seen the spark of chaos in the corner of his eye, after all, he just hadn't actually looked over. Hell. It could have been his fault that she fell in the first place, that stuff did tend to happen around him. He offered her his hands, if she wanted the help up, but didn't stand up again, in case she was injured.

Claire smiled faintly, though she made no effort to move yet. More out of embarrassment than injury. "I'm totally fine. It's just rare that I get to enjoy this kind of view in the library so... taking it all in, right? The ceiling tiles really don't get enough appreciation." Claire then took his hand to use it to hoist herself up into a sitting position. She reached behind her for her chair, using that to push herself up further. "Thanks, Eben." She reached down to pick up her discarded pack of gum that had fallen on the floor and held it up to him as a thanks offering. "Gum?"

He grinned. "Sure, thanks." he said, taking a piece. "So, beyond interesting points of view to be appreciating in the library this fine day...what're you up to?" he asked, going to take the seat next to her. He propped his head on his hands, and focused his attention on her, not having seen her in a while. So, might as well catch up, right? Right.

"Calculus homework," she explained, settling back in her chair. Nothing hurt, so that was a good sign. She glanced at her homework page. It was pretty much done, she supposed. Nothing she could crank out in the first couple minutes of class before it was officially due. She grinned and tapped a finger against her "artwork" before popping a piece of gum in her mouth. "What do you think? Do I have an arts scholarship in my future?"

Eben eyed her work then took the pencil from behind his ear and started to expand out on it for her. "You will when I get done with your submission." he said, glancing up and winking at her. "So how goes beyond that? What has Claire been up to in recent weeks? Enquiring minds want to know."

Claire laughed, though not too loudly. No need to get shushed by the librarian. She watched him draw, wishing she had some kind of artistic talent. It wasn't fair that it came so easily for some people. "I haven't been up to much at all," she admitted, resting her chin back on her hand, calculus homework once again completely forgotten. "Hanging out, I guess." Hiding from crazy, killer shadows. "What about you?"

He paused, thinking. "Well, I got a girlfriend a bit back but haven't seen her in a while. Then I met this woman, late twenties type thing and she's an artist? Beautiful, has two different colored eyes. I've been..." he paused in thought, looking up a moment, before going back to the drawing, adding more people in, and he of course started on one that was supposed to be her. "...teaching her things, I suppose. She's fascinating. Really innocent in some ways. Other than that...getting stitches and hoping that I'm not hurting myself more by ditching the sling the doctors put me in early. It's just...in the way. Watching my parents lick their own wounds and such. What with the weird crazy thingers that clawed people up a bit back. You avoid them okay?" he asked, bright blues landing on her eyes again.

Claire merely stared as he spoke, trying to keep up with all of that. She lifted an eyebrow slightly at his question and smiled faintly. Answering that would be the easiest place to start. "I did, yeah. Hiding in dark places seemed to do the trick, actually. But I'm glad you or your parents weren't hurt too badly. Stitches really suck." She'd had plenty of them over the course of her life. "It sounds like you've kept yourself busy though." Claire looked down at his drawings with a more genuine smile. "Your girlfriend is okay with you teaching things to a fascinating, beautiful older woman?"

"I wouldn't know I haven't seen her." Eben said honestly. He shrugged. "Maybe she's out of town or something. No idea. Anastasia seems to appreciate the lessons, though." he said, glancing up at her again and his eyes ticked over her features. He turned the sheet over and started a new drawing, starting with her eyes. "Glad to hear you were safe, though." he said firmly.

"You don't know if your girlfriend is out of town or not?" Claire asked, finding that fairly strange and a bit curious. Not that it was any of her business - some couples, she supposed, had their own way of doing things. "What kind of lessons are you giving her? Like... artistic ones?"

"She hasn't called or contacted me at all. I just started seeing her, we went on like one date. It's possible she just...decided she didn't actually like me and instead of saying anything to my face, she just decided to fuck off." Eben said, shrugging one shoulder. "So I'm not that worried about it. I mean, it's a shame, I liked her and all, but i'm not going to hound someone if they don't want to be with me or anything. That's just how life goes." Then he glanced up, taking in a few more details as he sketched. "And no. She's lived a really sheltered life and stuff, and like..she'd never even been kissed before." he clarified. Or, partially so, anyhow.

"Aw, I doubt it's like that," Claire assured him, though honestly she had no clue. She didn't even know who his girlfriend was. "But it's a good thought process to have... that's how life goes, and then life goes on, right? If she just started ignoring you, or fucked off or whatever, then it's her loss, right?" Another reason why relationships, especially in high school, were pointless. But Eben seemed to be taking it fairly well, so she wasn't going to rush to comfort. "Do you like her? I mean, the other girl... the never been kissed before girl."

"Something like that. It's a shame, she was in fact, absolutely beautiful." Eben said with a sigh, then smiled at her. "But then, so are you." he told her easily. He pushed the sketch he'd done of her towards her. "For you." he said. "Do I like her like...do I want to date her?" he asked, wondering. "I don't suppose I thought about it, actually. I've just been showing her things no one has before. I suppose we never discussed it, it hasn't come up." he said. "...should it have?"

Claire's eyes ticked away from the impressive drawing he did to his face. She hadn't really let the compliment sink in, because she didn't really believe it much. But she knew blowing off the compliment tended to offend people, or irritate them, so she said nothing instead. "What? Oh! No... I don't know. I guess that depends on how you feel? I'm not really an expert on that kind of stuff by any means." Claire looked back at the drawing. "It just seems like the way you talk about her you might have interest? I dunno." Then again, it was Eben, so she didn't really know.

"I guess I don't usually try to put labels on everything." Eben said thoughtfully, smiling at her as he tucked his pencil back behind his ear. "I don't feel like I have to give everything a definition, or quantify things...some things just are, and that's how it is. I know a lot of people look at me like I'm insane for that though, so, y'know." he finished with a serene sort of smile.

"You're definitely not insane," Claire told him with a small shake of her head. "I think that's a good way of looking at things. Not everyone will get it, but who cares? I wish I could draw like you," she stated rather absently. "I couldn't draw a decent stick figure to save my life."

"Bet you could if you practiced a lot." Eben said. "Or, you could always try something else. I personally am a big fan of experimentation. Never know what might catch your interest." he said. "But thanks for saying I'm not insane, anyways. I appreciate that." Not that it bothered him if people did think he was off his nut, it was just nice to hear someone who didn't think so.

Claire grinned and shook her head. "I'm better at non-artistic things, I guess. Though I guess if there's something out there that catches my interest, it never hurts to try and see if I'm any good at it. And you don't have to thank me for saying I don't think you're insane." She knew what some people in school thought of Eben, but she never had. She thought he was cute, in an unconventional way and interesting, unlike most of the people she sat next to in class.

"So where do your talents lie?" Eben asked curiously, attention landing on her, though he could see little flickers of chaos off behind her somewhere and it was distracting. So he sort of mentally brushed them off, which sadly caused a desk leg to crack, and send a lot of books and stuff sliding to the floor along with a bewildered student. Oops.

"Schoolwork," Claire replied, glancing over to where one of the desks had broken. She winced as the books slid off and was thankful that it hadn't been her. She had filled her embarrassing quota for the hour. "I can remember things, like information or conversations pretty much to the letter, if that's a talent? But other than that, I don't really have anything else. Thankfully it helps in school, so..." She grinned a bit at him. "I like your piercings, by the way. I've never told you that, but they're really cool. Did they hurt?"

"A bit." Eben said. "It was an ice cube home job." he explained. "I did them myself when I was fifteen, but thank you for saying. I still like them. I know a lot of people sort of get piercings and then phase them out pretty soon after or whatever, but I don't really see any reason to let mine go." Considering he still enjoyed them and so far no one cared what he did or didn't do with is lower lip. Though, he supposed he'd gotten a couple of compliments from people in interesting situations, but that was hardly the point.

Her eyes widened briefly before she cringed in mock pain. "You did them yourself? Ouch. I would keep them too, if I put myself through that. I'm thinking of getting a tattoo though," she admitted. "But I don't know if I could ever pierce." She used her finger to motion around her face. "I like them though so... yeah. You can pull them off without looking scary or whatever." He had such an angelic looking face as it was, and really pretty eyes. The piercings just sort of fit in with the rest somehow.

He grinned at her. "Thank you. I never really wanted to look scary. But a tattoo...now you've got to indulge me in that. What do you want? Have you picked out a design, or placement?" he asked, curious. It was body art, and all art tended to attract his attention. Tattoos in particular. He'd actually designed a few in his time, they decorated random people throughout the u.s. and some in canada.

"I don't have the slightest idea yet," Claire said with a shrug. "I was thinking maybe my stomach, or like, my shoulder or something. I know I want one, I just don't know what yet. I imagine it'll come to me eventually. Do you have any?"

"A couple." Eben said. "Your shoulder would probably be nice. Something you could show off a lot. I would suggest trying to figure out something that means something to you. Not just get a generic design or something that's going to later make you wonder what you were thinking. Abstract is always good for that."

"Abstract..." Claire nudged her notepad at him. "Can you draw me like an idea?" She knew getting something that meant something to her would be the ideal way to go. Only every time she tried to think of something, her mind came up blank. She didn't know if that meant that very little was meaningful in her life, or she just hadn't had that moment yet.

"Sure." Eben said, of course delighted that she'd ask. So he started work on something, though he kept looking up at her and thinking about things, musing over design work. Then he would add a little more. So far, what he was coming up with was something with swirls, lines, and circles, all sort of arranged into a design that circled in around itself. He added in little suggestions of flowers off of some of the twists in the design--but not proper flowers. More just like the silhouette of them.

She watched him draw, smiling a bit as the design started to come together. That was talent. Being able to put a pencil to paper and just create something that looked like that off the top of your head. "Can I keep that?" Claire asked, shifting her gaze from the drawing to his face. "Just in case my less than creative brain can't come up with anything else?"

"Of course you can." Eben said. "If you want me to color it for you sometime I can too. Whatever you wish, my lady, I am at your service." he told her with a wink, ans he put a few more touches on it before he slid it over to her. "And of course if you want something else I can just keep doing new things til you find something you want." he added. He never minded.

Claire took the drawing, a grateful smile on her lips. "Thanks, Eben. I may actually take you up on that. I'd rather have something unique and interesting, than say, like Foghorn Leghorn or whatever." She slipped the notebook into her book bag. "I'll pay you too, if I decide I want to use it. An Eben Original, you know? Are you going to art school for college, or something?"

"Oh, you don't have to pay me." Eben said, waving that notion off. "It's all good. And I don't know if I will. I might be able to get a scholarship for it or something but who knows. Otherwise I won't be able to afford it." he admitted, though he didn't sound upset about that. The bell rang, and he glanced over, surprised, considering he hadn't been expecting that. "Is it that late already?" he asked.

She winced at the sound. She hadn't finished her calculus. "It appears so. Thanks for keeping me company though," she told him sincerely. She didn't talk to Eben all that often, but he was always an interesting person to have a conversation with. "And thank you for the design, it's really beautiful." Claire shoved the rest of her things into her bag and stood. "Be prepared that I may come find you if I want a few more ideas."

"I'll be prepared and waiting eagerly." Eben told her with a flourish, standing up and grinning at her. "Have a good rest of the day, pretty girl." he told her. "And don't be a stranger, I'll see you around and shit. And probably work up more designs just on principal." Because he did that kind of thing. Then he leaned over to smooch her temple before he wandered away.

Claire blinked in surprise when he kissed her temple and left. Had it been anyone else, she probably would have taken offense, or had a major case of WTF. But it was Eben, and it was just... something he would do. So Claire shook her head and slipped her bag over her shoulder before heading off to her own class. She would just have to finish her calculus homework in Brit Lit.