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passionbound ([info]passionbound) wrote in [info]paxletalelogs,
@ 2010-06-23 13:33:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:baldr, fenrir, hel, isis, mami wati, morrigan, poseidon

Who: Simon & Others
What: Opening day of his first exhibit
Where: SoCa Metro Gallery
When: Today and throughout the week
Warnings: None to speak of
Notes: Consider this to be an open, party-style log. Since his exhibit is running for a week, feel free to drop in at any time. Just title your comment with the day in question in case other characters are there at the same time. I'll tag in to anyone who comments, though if you don't want me to, feel free to say that as well. Simon doesn't have to notice everyone who stops in. xD

SoCa Metro Gallery was small, tucked into a small space on a busy street, and unless you were particularly interested in finding it, one was likely to simply pass it by. But that was something that Simon was rather fond of, because it was in places like that that one often found little nuggets of beauty.

He could only hope other people could think the same about his exhibit.

Opening day, and he was wracked with nausea at the mere thought of people coming in to see his art, potentially buying it, and potentially hating it. He was much more content to bring in several pieces to sell when he was no where near the place to keep an eye on things, but the curator of the gallery had requested him to spend as much time as he could at the gallery, particularly during opening day. So there he was, rubbing sweat-slick hands against his slacks, trying to gather his nerves into a bundle that he could handle.

It wasn't going very well.

Various examples of his paintings were hung on the walls, most featuring picturesque scenes of the ocean, mountains, and forests. There were also several abstract pieces that were bright in colour and thick with meaning to their creator, and centered in the midst of those abstract pieces was one piece that could only speak of one thing. Halloween. It wasn't obvious at first glance, but the colours and motifs used in the oil piece all pulled together to speak of a day that was both important to him and frustrating as well. Maybe a part of him hoped that it would have some meaning to someone else; part of him hoped the person out there that was his twin would recognise it and say something.

But Simon didn't hold his breath.

He did hold on to a bottle of water, though, taking a drink from it every few moments as he paced the gallery floor, waiting for people to arrive so he could attempt some manner of hospitality to them.



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Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-23 11:47 pm UTC (link)
Aura dressed carefully for the occasion in grays and blacks, with her hair loose and clean. She wore no makeup, and her only concession to fashion was a pair of very comfortable combat boots. If asked, she would say she was attending the opening out of idle curiosity. Honestly, however, she liked Simon a little, and she wanted to see what he could do. After all, he owed her a commission.

She walked into the gallery, and she immediately liked the feel of the place. A deep, soothing breath told her no one in the immediate vicinity was dying, and she tied her hair up in a loose knot as she walked straight to the Halloween painting, as if drawn to it. She clasped her hands behind her back, and the tipped her head to the side as she examined it. The small smile on her lips was honest and thoughtful, and she became lost in the piece of art easily.

She wondered how much it would cost.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-23 11:52 pm UTC (link)
The crowd was thinning (not that it had ever been thick to begin with), and Simon found himself getting into the rhythm of how things like this went. The response from the public had been relatively positive, and he had already sold several pieces (though they would remain on display through the end of the exhibit) and commissioned three other pieces. So really, there was nothing to be disappointed in.

He had just said good night to a young couple that had wandered in when he noticed someone paying attention to his Halloween painting. Simon couldn't help his smile, inwardly pleased that someone had noticed. So he wandered over, taking up a stance beside Aura, his arms folded over his chest. "You like this one?" he asked, his tone casual and easy going.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-23 11:56 pm UTC (link)
She made a quiet, affirmative sound, not looking away from the paining immediately. "I like Halloween," she said truthfully, not knowing him for a tenant and therefore not being defensive. "I don't think people understand the significance of the day, so they make it about scary things they can understand." She looked over at him then, and she was quiet. No, not his time yet, she decided, then she looked back at the painting again. "What do you see in it?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-24 12:02 am UTC (link)
A brow arched when he looked at her, but he didn't say anything further until she was looking back at the painting. "I see a day that seems really important to the person who painted this," Simon said honestly, shoulders sinking down the slightest bit as he relaxed. "A day beyond the commercialism that the world puts on it... but really," he paused then, shoulders shrugging up just a little.

"That's just me. What do you see in it?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-24 12:15 am UTC (link)
"The world commercialized Halloween because they don't know what to do with death," she said bluntly. She reached out, and she touched the painting (which was strictly not allowed), trying to get a sense of the painter. "They don't understand that without death, we'd all be hedonistic murderers and serial rapists." She ran her fingers down the paint. "What's the medium?" she asked, looking for a card around the painting itself. She didn't realize she was talking to the artist, not at all. "What does the art connoisseur think of Halloween?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-24 12:20 am UTC (link)
He almost reached forward to stop her hand from touching the painting, but held himself back, keeping his hand tucked in against his upper arm. "Death is one thing that no one can escape, an end of a story we can't ignore." Simon paused, his lips pulling into a small, quiet smile.

"Oils. It's an oil painting. See the layers of colour, here?" He pointed a section out, finger not brushing the painting, just millimeters from touching. "You build the colour up, and because oils take so long to dry, you have a long time to work with it. You can put so much into an oil painting. I think this one took a long time to do, so I'm fairly sure the artist really cared about the subject."

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-24 03:36 am UTC (link)
She liked the idea of layers creating the thick swirls of depth on the canvas. The notion of the time it took to create the painting, the patience in applying layer after layer, was something she appreciated. "No one takes the time to do things like this in my family," she admitted, moving her fingers back from the painting. "November second is El Dia De Los Muertos," she explained. "Death is supposed to be celebrated."

"Why do you think he cared?" she asked, referring to the artist. Halloween, despite being her birthday, tended to be a silly holiday with the populace. "Do you think he dresses up on Halloween, the artist?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-24 06:14 pm UTC (link)
He pulled his hand back as well, tucking fingers back in against his side as he listened to her. "El Dia De Los Muertos... that's a... is it Spanish? Having a background like that... it's very neat." Then there was a quiet hum as he thought how to answer her question without giving his identity as the artist away.

"Mmm. I don't think he does. There's a lot of bright colour here, but I don't think he likes to stand out in the world. Look at the rest of his paintings. They're rather sedate. Perhaps the day itself has some special meaning to him beyond the holiday?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-25 03:14 am UTC (link)
"It's a borrowed background," she said, not explaining more than that.

She looked over at him when he mentioned the other paintings, and then she looked around the room, noticing them for the first time (she'd been drawn immediately to the Halloween one). He was right, of course, everything else was somber and sedate.

"Or it has a bad meaning, something he fights with," she suggested thoughtfully. "You'd think the majority of the paintings would best depict the man, no?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-25 11:12 am UTC (link)
That had him looking at her with an arched brow, though he didn't say anything at first in response. A borrowed background? Simon couldn't even begin to think what she could mean with that. So he pressed on, turning his attention back to the painting in question.

"You would think, yes. But artists do weird things sometime. That's why they're artists..." Shoulders shrugged just a bit and then he turned towards her, extending his hand to her. "Simon Erikson. I've never had anyone question a painting so... thoroughly. I don't even know how to answer."

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-25 02:08 pm UTC (link)
She looked over at him when he gave his name, and she quirked an entertained brow. "The artist?" she asked, looking down at his hand before shaking it firmly, surely.

She gave him a slow, dragging look over, and it was obvious she was sizing him up in 60 seconds. After those 60 seconds passed, she looked back at the painting. "How much does it cost?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-25 06:30 pm UTC (link)
Once he had retrieved his hand, he slid it back into his pocket, that look making him more than a little self-conscious. But then she spoke, and he had to look back at her, a brow arched. "You're kidding... right? You want to... buy this?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-25 07:14 pm UTC (link)
"I think you're supposed to act very sure that was the expected outcome all along, artist," she said with a small laugh.

She liked him; it was official.

She looked back at the painting. "And I have another commission. A black snuffleupagi."

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-25 10:24 pm UTC (link)
Simon looked off to the side at her words and that small laugh, but at her calling him artist, something triggered in his memory. "You're from the hotel, aren't you? The new apartment building?"

And then came the question about her commission. His look was most likely priceless, a mixture of confusion and complete dumbfoundment. "A snufferaoctopus?" he repeated, having absolutely no idea what she just said. "Is that some imaginary friend of yours?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 12:41 am UTC (link)
She laughed, and it wasn't a demure or careful laugh, not something intentionally adorable or sweetly attractive. "It's something for 103. He seems to think black Snuffalupagus are not the thing." She looked back at the painting. "You didn't tell me how much you wanted for it. Do I get it cheaper if I admit to being from Pax?

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 12:50 am UTC (link)
"Well, I'll do my best for you and him then," he replied, for hearing it was for Billy... well. The man was the only person in the building he would consider even remotely close to a friend, though Simon wasn't sure he was comfortable giving anyone that label yet. He didn't know anyone that well.

And then she asked that question again, the one that made his stomach do turns and flips because he really hated putting a price to anything. "If I told you it was free would you believe me?" he asked, raising his brows in hope. "I hate putting prices on anything... It's just." His face wrinkled up just a bit and he glanced back towards the painting. "You asked why the artist painted this... right? Do you still want to know?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 01:35 am UTC (link)
She wasn't going to let him give it to her for free, not when he'd already offered to do a painting for that annoying stalker for mostly-free, but his offer to explain to her why he had painted it sidetracked her. Yes, she wanted to know.

"If you want to tell me," she said, looking back at the painting and touching the corner of the thick paint. Something about it (and about him) felt amazingly meaningful to her, and she didn't understand why.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 01:40 am UTC (link)
Glad to have the topic off of money for the moment, Simon looked at her, then back to the painting, a distant expression sliding over his features. "It's my birthday. Halloween is, I mean." He paused, considering his words and how to put his thoughts into them. "It's come to mean a lot in the last few years. I don't know... well. I don't know much about my family. But I'm pretty sure that they can't fudge my date of birth, so..." He paused again, then he laughed, a sudden, unexpected song.

"Doesn't help that I was named after a character popular around Halloween. Or maybe not named after but..." He shook his head. "Sorry. I'm rambling. You just brought a lot of thoughts up. That's all."

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 01:52 am UTC (link)
She looked honestly and truly shocked a moment, and she said nothing as she continued to touch the edge of the painting quietly in the endless still.

"I tried to have my birthday changed to November 2nd when I was 12 years old," she told him, looking at the painting all the while. "Halloween was, I thought, a bad day for a birthday. Not because of death and spirits, but because it's so commercialized, so wrong in every way. It's not about what it should be about; about living." She looked over at him. "I think that means I share a birthday with the artist. I should get a discount."

"Why did your mother name you Simon?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 01:57 am UTC (link)
"She didn't name me Simon," he answered after a long while, not entirely sure where this conversation was leading, not entirely sure he was ready to hope like this, but he pushed on because the reason he had left home, left the family that had loved him was to find his own roots. "And I'm not even sure it was my mother who named me. But... I was born Casper."

Simon swallowed hard and looked to where her finger traced the edge of the painting, silent and still as the night. He didn't say anything further, part of him worried about what might happen. Hope was a fragile thing, and it shattered far too easily.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 02:05 am UTC (link)
She made a quiet sound. "Casper," she said finally, fingers sliding to the edge of the painting and touching the wall just beyond it. "Why do you call yourself Simon then?" she asked.

She knew her own birth name, but she never used it. Olivia, the name she on her birth certificate, was as foreign to her as the woman who had birthed her. "Casper," she repeated, and she smiled over at him. "It suits."

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 02:11 am UTC (link)
He let out a breath, eyes falling shut after a moment as he tried to keep the tension from rising in his neck and shoulders. "It's the name my... adoptive family gave me. They got me when I was only a few days old, so they didn't keep my birth name." Simon swallowed again, opening his eyes to look at the painting, the colours, remembering so clearly when he painted this particular piece.

"I actually came this way to try and... find anything out about my family. I guess I have a sister. A... twin sister." There was a pause, and he reached around to pull his wallet out of his back pocket, withdrawing the worn and tattered post card that he never went anywhere without. "This was with the adoption paperwork my family received when they adopted me." Simon sighed, unfolding the post card carefully, staring down at it with a distant, somewhat sad expression. "They say it's her name. Just her first name, so it's not a lot to go on, really. Do you know how many people in the United States are named Olivia?" He let out a laugh then, folding the postcard back up, his eyes widening for a moment as he tried to reign in his emotions.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 02:16 am UTC (link)
She went completely and utterly still. She didn't breathe, and she didn't blink, and her fingers stilled on the wall beside the Halloween painting, which suddenly seemed so much more important than it had just a few moments earlier.

It could be a coincidence. It could be. Aura had given up on finding her sibling years ago, and she'd just about convinced herself that who she was didn't matter. That she was a misfit in a family not her own, and that she would never know anything different.

"It's not that common a name," she finally said, though her voice trembled a little with the words. "More common than Casper, though," she admitted, and she moved her hand from the wall and held her hand out, palm up. "Can I see that?" she asked, hoping it had a date on it, hoping for something when she touched it.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 02:20 am UTC (link)
When she held her hand out for the postcard, he felt a little strange, this woman whose name he didn't even know... But something told him to stop being so suspicious; she was only asking to look at it, after all, and he really doubted she would run off with the bit of cardstock that probably only meant anything to him. So Simon placed it in her palm, still folded up on itself. He didn't say anything, wasn't entirely sure what to say. This was bridging on topics he just didn't talk about with people, hell, things he didn't let himself even think about as much as he used to.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 02:26 am UTC (link)
She turned it over in her palm, the postcard old and worn from his fingers throughout the years. There was, however, nothing on it but the name he'd said, the name that was also hers - or, rather, that had been hers. "How old are you?" she asked, holding the card back to him. "And who raised you, if you were adopted?" It was obvious the questions were more than idly curious, more than just small talk at an art opening.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]passionbound, 2010-06-26 02:31 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]calaveritas, 2010-06-26 02:44 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]passionbound, 2010-06-26 02:49 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]calaveritas, 2010-06-26 02:57 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]passionbound, 2010-06-26 03:04 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]calaveritas, 2010-06-26 03:10 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]passionbound, 2010-06-26 03:15 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]calaveritas, 2010-06-26 03:24 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]passionbound, 2010-06-26 03:31 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]calaveritas, 2010-06-26 04:36 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]passionbound, 2010-06-26 04:43 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]calaveritas, 2010-06-26 04:51 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]passionbound, 2010-06-26 05:05 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]calaveritas, 2010-06-26 05:14 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]passionbound, 2010-06-26 05:23 am UTC
Re: Well after 6, opening day - [info]calaveritas, 2010-06-26 05:41 am UTC

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