Member
Bad Mint
Sadie
Damo021
YoshiSkittlez
Altered Tundra
Alan Woodard and Eliza Brie
Present Day - Lake Tahoe, Earth
The cheers and constant begging of the crowd for more were great, but the blonde who had caught his eye for a fraction of a second was better. Shrugging to those around him trying to beg him into doing at least one more trick, he pushed through the crowd (he could have swore he heard a girl starting to complain to her friend about wanting to be that raven-haired girl Daria that he had sneaked a kiss from) he saw a flash of blonde ducking into the lodge restaurant. Smirking to himself, Alan walked through the threshold, spotting the blonde almost immediately sitting alone in a booth and made his way over. Sliding into the booth across from her as casually as if they had been old friends, Alan put his hands together and rested them on the table between them.
"Hey. Bad morning?" He asked as casually as if they had been friends for years.
Frowning slightly she flicked her light blue eyes up letting them come to a rest upon his figure as understanding came to her mind realizing that this was the very same guy who had been putting the moves on not only her little sister, but also on her friend, raising her eyebrow slightly she stayed silent for a moment contemplating on whether or not she wanted to even engage him in conversation before she ultimately made her choice, her eyes returning back to her work, "I guess you could say that... I did happen to witness this cute guy, who just happens to be sitting beside me thinking he's all that and then some kissing my friend in front of a bunch of strangers; but hey, who really keeps track of that sort of thing these days?"
"Oh, friend of yours?" Alan asked, the makings of his otherwise permanent smirk coming to surface on his lips. Stretching his arms out with a tired yawn of the subject matter, he relaxed his hands on the back of his head while saying, "She's cute, but you're cuter. Beautiful even. But I dunno, I've always been a sucker for blondes, call me cliche' but it's fact." He adjusted himself in his seat a bit, leaning in slightly more over the table sounding more interested at the topic at hand. "You know I think she liked it? I think you're gonna have to paint her cheeks back to their bronze color before that blush will start to fade." He added, talking of course about Daria.
She couldn't help the chuckle that escaped through her lips at his words, so that was how it was going to be? He was going to try and use flattery against her all the while trying to get her to open up to him, shaking her head from side to side she lifted the page she had been working on filling out her eyes gliding over the words on the page as she replied, "You can call me beautiful and cute all you want... Flattery will only get you so far, unfortunately for you, it's not getting you down the path you want it to..."
Reaching across the table she pulled one of the magazines she had closer her finger lifting to her mouth as she licked it slightly the moisture helping her to flip the page as she looked over the ideas it presented writing down those that she believed could be used for either of the parties that she was in charge of organizing, "So... Why are you here annoying me and distracting me from my work? Because you never actually said..."
Taking his eyes from hers for a moment to look down at the pile of paperwork she had brought in, he couldn't help but to scrunch up his nose in detestation, pushing back a particular comment she had made to bring up at a later time.
"Work? This is work? Yech! You know what I just did... out there..." He gestured with his thumb behind him. "Something you enjoy? You know... something fun? Now that is work."
"Contrary to your belief, this... What I'm doing right here... Is fun and enjoyable. And I just so happen to love the work that I do." Lowering her pen she leant forward on the table her hands coming together over the paperwork as she stared at him, her eyes narrowing as she tried to size him up, to figure out what exactly it was that he wanted from her, "I organize events; concerts, parties, day trips... And when I'm not doing that, I'm spending every other moment of my time out on the slopes training. It's all I could ever ask for, oh but, I don't blame you for not understanding. What I do requires talent and hard work... I don't need to resort to cheap tricks to get the appreciation and the love of a crowd..."
Her words seemed to amuse Alan. He sat back in the booth and tilted his head back, baring his throat to her as a cheeky grin came across his face, laughing somewhat and shaking his head before righting himself to look back at her.
"Alright, I get it. Workaholic blonde in the business of making her boss happy. Alright cool, cool I can respect that." He nodded, drumming his thumbs on the surface of the table. "Boring as hell, but I get it." He couldn't help the second airy laugh that came from him again. "Alright but let's rewind a bit. You mentioned something about effort. Now what kind of effort you got in mind? You wanna see a magic trick? I'll hold the kissing to contain your excitement for now but I can show you a neat trick if you got a pencil with an eraser..."
"Don't call me a workaholic... If I had my way, do you really think that I would be sitting here filling out all this paperwork?" Shaking her head she let her eyes turn back to him her back pressing back against the booth as she spoke seeming to have to explain things to him lest he not understand, "I would rather be spending every moment of my time training for my career." Reaching out she placed her pen down on the paperwork she had been filling in before pulling a pencil out from the pouch on the inside of her folder before reluctantly holding it out for him to take from her, "Well, if you must... I guess I don't mind watching one of your so called tricks while waiting for my lunch... Just make it quick, okay Dynamo?"
Smiling, Alan took the pencil from her and examined the eraser a bit before nodding, deeming it worthy of the trick he had in mind. He knew he could get her to cave eventually, he was just worried that she would turn out to be one of those people who thought magic tricks were a work of the devil and didn't even want to be around it. He couldn't even count how many times he had been maced while looking for people to show tricks to while back in New York.
"Uh, it's Alan actually but I think I could swing with Dynamo for a while if you keep saying it like that." Alan smirked, giving her a slight wink. "Really I'd answer to anything you wanted to call me; cute voice like that..." His mouth split, revealing what almost looked like a shy, white smile before it was gone and he was back to business.
"Alright, so I gotta ask you something. Do you remember waaaay back when... when people were all into that voodoo kind of stuff? I guess you can go to Louisiana right now and it's all still there... like all over the place, but you know what I mean? Those voodoo type people? Witch Doctors and the like?" He asked, drumming the end of the eraser on the table a bit.
Thinking over his words she nodded her eyes turning away from his as she tried to ignore the comment he had made about her voice, "Of course I remember, one of my friends from high school was completely obsessed with voodoo and witch doctors. Tried to talk me in taking a gap year so we could travel over there." Tilting her head she narrowed her eyes towards him curiously wondering where on earth he was trying to take her with this whole conversation, "What about it?"
Pleased with her answer, he shifted a bit in his seat and held out his hand for her to see, making a fist with his palm down.
"Alright hold out your hand. Make a fist, palm down..." He instructed, showing her what to do with his own hand. When she did as such, he continued, "Alright I'm gonna ask you two things for this to be able to work. First, you and I need to be thinking of the same exact thing so I want you to think of any card in a deck, any card you want and then let me know what it is so we can concentrate on it together, alright?"
Leaning forward and unable to hold back her curiosity she reached her hand out balling it into a fist palm down in front of him her eyes still narrowed as she continued to try and figure out what he was thinking her own thoughts shoved aside while she thought her way through a deck, her mind coming to rest upon a certain card she had always favored above the rest of them, "Queen of Diamonds..." Crossing her legs under the table she shifted in her seat her eyes never leaving his figure, "My card; I choose the Queen of Diamonds."
"Queen of diamonds." Alan repeated with a straight-forward nod. "The most regal card in the deck. Fitting." Despite the rather arrant smirk crossing over his lips, his tone remained sincere. "Alright, now I want you to think about that card, concentrate hard on it. Visualize the shape, the color, the face...any little detail you can remember and I'll do the same. Now leave your hand the way it is, I'm going to squeeze my hand and see if you can feel it alright?" He waited before visibly tightening his grip on his hand. "Can you feel that?"
Rolling her eyes she shook her head though her features softened slightly seeing the effort that he was putting into the trick a small smile playing on her lips, "No, I can't feel you squeezing my hand. Sorry." Shifting once more in her seat she leant in a little further concentrating her mind on the card that she had chosen her eyes flicking up to meet his waiting for his next lot of instructions, her other hand reaching up to pull her white slouch beenie from her head dropping it to the seat beside her before she ruffled the long locks letting them bounce on her back, "Alright, what next Dynamo?"
It didn't happen very often... Alan had seen and experienced enough people and their reactions and their habits to have seen it all for the most part, but watching the blonde removing her snow cap from her head letting the pale blonde strands of hair fall down the frame of her face, he paused. Blinking twice and clearing his throat he quickly brought his attention to his own hand and frowned at it, as if he didn't know why the trick wasn't working. Alan released his hand and shook it out a bit, trying to get the blood flowing through his fingertips again.
"Okay, alright I must be a little tired, but I'll get this to work, promise." Clearing his throat a second time, he then picked up the pencil he had her give him in the first place for this very trick and started to rub the eraser end on the table, forcing the eraser to erode away and make tiny little shavings appear on the table. "Keep your hand like that, don't stop thinking about that card I got an idea." Using his opposite hand he took a pinch of the eraser shavings and started to rub it into the palm of his hand. The little bits of shavings were already black from wiping away previous pencil mistakes so a small smudge of the graphite was smearing into his palm. "Alright, Queen of Diamonds. Got it... can you feel that? Can you feel me rubbing this into your hand? You should be feeling something kind of warm..."
Tilting her head she raised her eyebrow her lips pursing slightly as she tried to hold back the smile and the laughter that she could feel coming on as he once again asked her if she could feel him rubbing her hand, "I'm sorry, I can't. Are you sure that you know what you're doing?"
Retreating his hand once more, Alan looked at it with a scowl, opening up his palm examining his hand as he twisted it at the wrist frontwards and back.
"Huh... well that's kind of strange..." Alan laid his hand down on the table, palm up and in front of the blonde so that she could see his hand properly. "You saw me rub those eraser pieces into my hand and yet..." He flexed his hand a bit, wiggling each of his five fingers as a cocky smile slowly began to be made across his lips. "...the mark isn't there anymore... or the eraser shavings..." After he was sure she had got a good look at his hand, he sat back in the booth, crossing both arms over his chest looking quite pleased with himself. "Better check your hand, Princess, you might have missed something."
Her lips parted slightly as she continued to watch on his antics and showmanship definitely entertaining her all thoughts about her work gone completely from her mind, hesitating for a moment she reluctantly turned her hand around opening it up slowly to have her eyes widen in surprise as her gaze fell upon the smudge that was on her palm, "How-..." Lifting her gaze back up she sat up slightly her body leaning closer as she held her palm up for him to see, "How did you do that..? Seriously, how did you manage to do that?" She couldn't help the smile that crossed over her lips as she tried to figure out what he had done to manage to get the smudge on her hand, "Okay Dynamo... You have my attention..."
Grinning almost madly at her reaction, Alan responded by putting a finger up to his lips as if to say 'I don't reveal my secrets.' Flashing her a wicked grin, he then gestured with his hand to something behind her.
"Good, cuz I was getting thirsty. Mind grabbing me that beer from the table behind you?" He asked, his voice once again sounding bored with the conversation already not to mention his lack of 'caring' that the beer he was referring to wasn't even his, but a customer who had left it behind after finishing their meal.
Dropping back into her seat she kept her eyes on his searching for the answers she knew that he was never going to give her the smile still plastered over her lips as she shook her her head in disbelief, glancing over her shoulder at where he was pointing she followed his gaze her eyes connecting with the beer bottle causing her to furrow her brows in slight confusion. Shifting her body on the seat she pulled her knees up her stomach leaning against the top of the booth as she reached forward grabbing up the beer bottle that had been left behind by the customer before them, straightening herself again she turned sliding back into place her feet once more hitting the ground her hand holding up the bottle so that he could see that she had gotten it before she held it out for him to take, "You know, if you wanted a beer all you had to do was ask... I could have gotten you a free one, would be a hell of a lot better than this half-empty bottle..."
Saying nothing, Alan simply looked from the blonde to the beer bottle in her hand, back to the blonde and then back to the beer bottle, his eyebrows raising a couple times trying to get her to look at what he was looking at.
"What..? I'm being serious, I could get you a free bee-..." Lifting up the bottle she let her sentence trail off her voice becoming lost as she squinted her eyes slightly taking a closer look at its contents, the rectangular shape that was the Queen of diamonds staring back out at her from inside what was left of the alcoholic beverage, "Okay... You got me... You win... Just-..." Lowering the bottle to the table she turned all her attention over to him her eyes burning with curiosity, "You have to show me how you did that, you weren't anywhere near the bottle, or my hand for that matter."
With the trick finally finished, Alan simply relaxed back into the booth and ran his hand over the back of his neck, scratching there for a moment and just shook his head no. "If I told you then I wouldn't have a job anymore." He pointed out. "But... I think at least by now I've earned your name? I got you smiling when before you looked like you were about ready to level Russia with a glare." He teased.
Biting her lower lip softly she eyes the bottle staying silent for a brief moment toying with him as she contemplated on whether she should or should not give him her name, and if she did, should it be now or later, "Well I guess you did manage to make me smile, so I'd say you earned it." Tapping her fingers against the side of the bottle she relaxed back in her seat her head resting back against the cushion and her eyes on him as she answered, her smile never leaving her lips, "My name is Eliza Brie. It's nice to officially meet you Alan."
He gave her a smile at the 'official' greeting, but something wasn't setting right with him. Eliza Brie? No... it just didn't fit... something was off... Not that he thought she was lying to him, she wouldn't have any reason to and he was pretty damn good at picking out the liars by now. Shaking his head from the thought, he reached his body forward slightly and took the beer bottle from her, removing the card and setting it on the table before draining whatever was left inside. "Now, was that so hard?" He teased setting the empty bottle down, in turn picking up the pencil and then handed it back to her. "Tell you what, you give me one more and I'll buy you lunch?"
Arching her back slightly she pushed herself away from the back of the seat her body leaning forward and her arms crossing over one another as she looked into his eyes her own softening into a slightly more flirtatious manner as she spoke, answering his questions though with all intentions of giving him at least one more bit of information about herself, "Well, my father... Who you claim I'm trying to impress... His kind of a big deal around these parts, so lunch for me and anyone with me is free. But how about I give you one more anyway? Just for fun, might help to pass the time..." Chuckling softly she began to gather her things into a neat pile sliding them to the opposite side of the table so there was nothing but the beer bottle sitting on the table between them.
He wasn't sure why her dad owning the lodge came as a surprise to him. Really if he just sat there and thought about it he wasn't sure why he hadn't picked up on it sooner. He just had to blame it on the fact that she was blonde and absolutely gorgeous in every way. But that was neither here nor there no matter how much he wanted it to be.
"Now what sort of gentleman would I be if I weren't able to offer you anything in return for sitting through these 'cheap' magic tricks?" He asked, using her own previous words against her. "Name it, what do you want?"
"Hm... Anything right..?" A small smirk played over her lips as she bit her lower one nibbling on it softly as she thought about what to ask him for, making it seem like a bigger decision than it really was before she finally answered poking fun at him for his earlier antics in the lobby, "Well, I would have asked for a kiss... But from your eagerness earlier on, it seems you would rather leave that sort of thing to my friend."
He chuckled and shook his head a bit. Truly he didn't see that one coming, she just didn't seem like the sort that...well... her friend was. What was her name again?
"Alright. Fair enough. You couldn't handle this anyway." He jabbed back, taking a moment to rake his fingers through his long brown hair. "She certainty couldn't. And if you two are as close as I think you are then I know you wouldn't be able to either."
The gentle smirk that had once crossed her lips twisted growing in size as her eyes narrowed her head gently shaking from side to side, "Oh you poor thing... You think you know me, how cute... But don't worry about me, I can handle a lot more then you think I can..." Turning her head away from him her eyes closed her hand reaching up so that she could use her thumb and pinky finger to push her hair back off her face, the long blonde lock moving only to fall back to where they had begin, "If anything, I'm say that you wouldn't be able to handle me..."
"Well then..." Alan said removing his previous smirk to return to his normal expression and sat back once more, putting his hands together to rest on his lower abdomen. "I guess we'll never find out... and you won't get to see my other trick." He shrugged, as if he didn't care. "That's fine. They're just stupid tricks anyway, right? Probably wouldn't have impressed you anyway."
Opening her eyes a smidge she glanced over at him his figure entering the corners of her eyes taking in his new found posture, "You're probably right you know... I doubt it would impress me..." Turning in her seat her hands pressed down on the cushion they shared her body leaning in and her expression showing that she was curious while her eyes gave away just how eager she was to see more, "But why don't you try me anyhow? Test your luck."
He took a minute to scratch an itch on the tip of his nose, making it a great deal to think on his answer before nodding and sitting back up straight.
"Alright, but only cuz you're cute and I wanna see you smile some more. You got plenty of paper there, and I know you got a pencil. So take one of those pieces of paper and write someone's name down. Now it has to be someone that means a lot to you, could even be a celebrity, doesn't matter so long as it's someone that has helped to change your life in some way. But don't write down your friend's name cuz that would just be too obvious for me. Someone I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet." He got up from the booth and turned his back. "I'm not gonna see you write it down so just write it down, then take that paper and fold it up a few times."
Nodding at his request she once more sat up straight her hands fumbling around with her folder a moment before she pulled a piece of paper in front of her, her eyes staring at the blank page carefully for a moment or two while she picked up the pencil her mind a complete blank when it came to people that she truly cared about. Taking a deep breath she sighed softly through her nose her hands working to write the name of one of her favorite actors over the paper, Misha Collins. Replacing the pencil on the table she picked up the paper folding it a few times before she held it out for him to take from her, "Okay, done."
Walking over to her, still standing while she was sitting, he took the piece of paper from her and kept it folded, not even so much as glancing at it. A sort of snickering laugh came from his throat suddenly as he reached into his front pocket and pulled out a lighter, his head on a swivel looking out for anyone who might have the authority to kick him out.
"Don't know if I'll be able to do the whole thing or not but I'll try." Turning his head back to her direction, he raised the folded up piece of paper, ignited the lighter and caught the end on fire. The flames only lasted a second, then turned into the paper more or less just smoldering away. With the paper still in his hand he started to slap the smoldering edges on the shirt of his stomach, wincing every once in a while while he felt the heat seeping through. He kept doing this until the paper crumbled into nothing but ash. Then, taking two hands he found the hem of his shirt and started to roll it up, all the way over his navel until there as clear as day and in her handwriting in ash was 'Misha' across his abdomen.
Her lips fell apart her eyes slowly raising from the word written across his abdomen stopping only when she had managed to catch his gaze her expression one of both awe and disbelief that he had pulled off something like this, "Okay... How you do these things is a complete mystery to me... But I think I'm starting to like it more than I used to..." Shifting her body she slid herself out from the booth until she was standing in front of him biting down on her lower lip as she reached around him her hands slipping into his back pockets until she found the items that she had been looking for.
By reflex, Alan's chest puffed out a bit, expecting a spur-of-the-moment hug or something to that nature but the moment he felt her small hands sliding down into his back pockets he couldn't help the light chuckle of both skepticism and confusion.
Pulling her hands back she held them up showing him the sharpie and the deck of cards that she held within them, "So now, it's my turn to do a trick for you..."
This had Alan raising an eyebrow, staring back at her with a blank expression before blinking twice. Raising his hand, he scratched his left temple trying to contemplate just what on earth this blonde beauty was up to... surely she didn't know magic like he did...
Reaching back she put the sharpie on the table before she slid the deck out splaying it in her hands before she held it up for him to see, "Pick your favorite card..."
Lowering his eyebrow back to it's intended position, Alan simply shook his head with a 'what the hell?' kind of attitude. Bending down a bit to be eye-level with the cards, the thumbed through a few before finding what he was looking for; one of the two jokers in the deck. Plucking it from the multitude of other cards, he handed it to her before folding his arms over his chest.
"Alright, let's see what you got, Princess..."
Waiting until he had chosen the card that he wanted she gathered the rest into a neat pile a smile on her lips as she reached out taking the Joker from his hands, "Thanks... Now, everyone knows that there's one magic trick that will make anyone happy..." Her voice trailed off slightly as she turned her back to him placing the joker down on the table before she picked up the sharpie her body leaning over as she signed her name across the card followed by her mobile number and the words 'Call me...', standing up straight she replaced the lid picking the card back up before she turned to face him again.
"A little magic trick I like to call 'getting you to call me after the first date'..." Stepping forward so that their bodies brushed against each other she held up the card slipping one of the corners into his mouth while she used her other hand to slip the sharpie back into his pocket, her voice softer now that she was as close as she was to him, "Ta da..."
Chuckling to herself she broke out in a wide grin turning to collect her things up in her arms before she glanced back over her shoulder at him, "I'm available twenty-four seven. I'm looking forward to our second date, so hurry up and call me okay?" Shaking her head softly she tried to ignore the light red blush that had risen in her cheeks her feet carrying her quickly back to the entrance, shooting him one more glance she couldn't help but giggle once more before disappearing out the door leaving him to stand on his own watching after her.
Blinking, Alan eventually removed the card from his mouth, not quite sure what the hell had just happened. It was hard for him to admit, even if it was just to himself, but that... that was a first. Turning the card over in his hand, he stared down the bold letters and phone number before looking back up to see that she had gone completely. Shaking his head with a smile worthy of the Cheshire Cat himself he slipped the card into his pocket and headed out of the restaurant, snatching up a couple fries from a table that was waiting to be cleaned and popping them into his mouth before exiting.
