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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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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 (link)
Inwardly, Simon knew he should be more cautious in revealing such information, but the dam of memories had been breached and he saw no reason to stop now. The postcard was taken, refolded and placed back in his wallet, the designated home for it so he was never very far away from it. "I'm twenty-four," he said once he had put his wallet back in his pocket, meeting her gaze once more.

"And... I was raised by a family in North Carolina. Long-distance adoption, I guess, since I found out I was born in Anaheim." Simon paused again, one shoulder shrugging up just a bit. "Why so many questions? I mean..." Another pause, a moment of silence that lingered. "I don't even know your name."

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 02:44 am UTC (link)
"You're twenty-four, adopted, born on Halloween, and you have a twin sister named Olivia," she said calmly, refraining from pinching herself to verify this wasn't a dream and that the singer in the hospital bed that constantly haunted her dreams wasn't going to roll up any moment.

"How much would you charge her for the painting, your missing sister?" she asked, carefully not looking at him when she voiced the words. Instead, she did something that was expressly forbidden at art shows; she took the painting off the wall carefully, and she looked down at it.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 02:49 am UTC (link)
Simon exhaled as he watched her remove the painting from the wall, and he was sure his heart was hammering loud enough in his chest for everyone around to hear. He licked lips that had suddenly gone dry, unsure he could find the words to answer her.

But somehow, he managed, though they came out quiet and a bit stuttering. "Not a cent," he said softly before he let out another breath, this one trembling. "I don't take money from family." He wanted to pinch his arm to try and remind himself that this wasn't a dream, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. She wouldn't talk this way if she didn't have reason to, and the only person who could have reason to react to those words would be...

He closed his eyes again, searching for some calm, some peace when it seemed that things were coming to some ultimate conclusion he wasn't sure he could handle. Simon had been lied to before about his family, about where he came from. He wasn't sure he could handle being let down.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 02:57 am UTC (link)
The owner of the gallery made a sound of outrage, a sound which Aura didn't even hear. She looked down at the paint, her painting, and then she looked over at him. She'd imagined her brother in the years since she found out about him, but she'd never imagined him as quite real. This man beside her, he was real and solid, and she bumped her shoulder against his as she looked down at the painting.

Again, she let the silence drag between them, and she didn't say a word. She could ask for proof, of course. She could hunt down birth certificates, and they could do DNA testing. They could do all the things that this sort of situation called for.

She didn't think they needed to.

She bumped his shoulder one more time. "Do you require DNA testing before I take my painting home?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 03:04 am UTC (link)
The breath he had been holding came out in a long sigh at her words, and all he could manage was a small shake of his head, looking over at her, really looking at her for the first time. Simon had never been able to visualise what his sister might look like, and he was suddenly glad he hadn't tried; nothing could have compared to seeing her beside him.

The sound of outrage from the gallery owner drew his attention briefly, and he looked over in his direction, eyes narrowed in a sudden fierceness that quickly halted any argument from the man. He would explain later, but for now, he couldn't be bothered to deal with his protests.

Wetting his lips again, he looked back towards the woman (Olivia, his mind reminded him. Your sister.), then shook his head, a small smile pulling at his lips, brief as a heartbeat. "I can't believe you'd even ask that question," he said quietly, bumping back into her, a gentle nudge. "You don't... have a minute, do you?" Simon said a moment later, keeping his voice down.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 03:10 am UTC (link)
She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he silently acclimated himself to what she'd just said, and when he glared at the gallery owner, she couldn't help but laugh; a happy sound. She, of course, immediately replaced it with appropriate soberness, and her fingers touched the corner of the painting again, fingertips tracing the oils.

"I could just be trying to rob you blind," she said, but her tone said she was doing nothing of the sort. "You need minding," she added. When he asked if she had a minute, she looked at him (though doing so made her nervous and made butterflies flap their wings madly in her stomach). "I have five minutes. Do you have a stopwatch?" Then. "Do you prefer Simon or Casper?"

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 03:15 am UTC (link)
Making sure that she had the painting held securely in one hand, Simon reached down to take her other hand in his, leading her towards the back of the gallery and the staff-only door that sat inconspicuously off to one side. "I need minding?" Simon echoed, glancing towards her for a moment before facing forward again, pushing the door open and releasing her hand, gesturing her inside.

"And I'm... honestly not sure. I don't even know who Casper is," he said quietly, closing the door behind them, the privacy welcomed, away from nosy guests and prying eyes. Simon let out a breath, leaning back against the door with his eyes closed, taking a few moments to calm himself before he could look at her again. The staff area was small, but tidy; a small desk rested against one wall and against another, a small, grey-upholstered loveseat. "I don't... Do I call you Olivia or...?" Since he didn't even know her name, or the one she went by now.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 03:24 am UTC (link)
The fact that he took her hand surprised her; it was so polite, and she looked down at her fingers in his as he led her toward the back, trying to get accustomed to the unfamiliar feeling of having a hand clasped in her own that was actually, truly related to her. "You need minding," she repeated. It was something her mother always said about her, and Aura had always wondered if she'd picked it up from someone coming through town; it definitely wasn't Mexican.

She put the painting on the desk with great care, unhurried, much like everything she did was, and then she hugged her stomach as she turned to look at him. "Mi mama always told me to dress up when I left the house, because I never knew who I might meet," she said, explaining away her attire and messy hair nervously. "My family calls me Aura," she explained, the word distinctively Spanish on her tongue. "But I don't use it unless I have to."

She thought back to what he'd said about not knowing who Casper was, and she smiled. "I don't know who Olivia is either, if it helps. I think she might like the color pink, though, which would be entirely unacceptable."

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 03:31 am UTC (link)
Simon watched her move about the small office, the slow, deliberate way in which she placed the painting down safely, looking for similarities that would speak of their relationship. His eyes rose to her own when she spoke again, the Spanish accent on some of the words giving them a decidedly exotic sound, one that both surprised and intrigued him. Twins raised so far apart and in families that couldn't be more different.

"Would you mind if I called you Olivia?" he asked quietly, "Even if she does like the colour pink, though I think it would flatter her nicely." Simon let out a breath, easing away from the door where he had been leaning, and then he simply opened his arms. "Come here. Please."

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 04:36 am UTC (link)
The similarities were there, and Aura noted them as he asked if he could call her Olivia. The hair color, the skin color, the demeanor. It wasn't a stretch to think they were related, at least based on physical appearance. He was handsome, she thought, and it was a proud realization; the way you feel pride in someone who belongs to your blood.

"I think I could answer to Olivia, Casper," she said truthfully. It was strange, being Olivia, but it was no stranger than being Aura - which had never felt quite right to her.

When he opened his arms, she marveled at how accepting he was of the truth of this; someone else would ask for proof. She had given none whatsoever, and yet he was still willing to accept that what she said was true.

She moved just as slowly and deliberately as before as she crossed to him, and when she went into his arms it was with a sigh of homecoming. "You don't have any reason to believe me," she said quietly, her arms winding around his waist, her cheek resting on his shoulder.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]passionbound
2010-06-26 04:43 am UTC (link)
Hearing that name spoken on those lips... Simon wasn't exactly sure what that feeling that he felt was. It was strange, tickling at the edges of his perception, and he wasn't entirely sure if he would ever really understand it. But instead of questioning, he mere kept his arms open, waiting for her to move closer, and when she was near enough, his arms folded around her securely, leaning down for his cheek to rest against against the side of her head, eyes falling shut.

"I don't have any reason not to," he murmured in reply, words barely above a whisper. She had noticed his painting, after all, and there was no real benefit to claiming a relationship with him, not that he could see. So acceptance, strange and overwhelming as it was, came easily, just like the way she fit into his arms came so naturally.

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Re: Well after 6, opening day
[info]calaveritas
2010-06-26 04:51 am UTC (link)
Aura wanted to ask him if he could do anything strange, if he had any abilities, if he was a freak like she was, but she didn't. The last thing she wanted to do was run him off, and she was equally frightened of pushing too much and having him disappear. "I found out I was adopted when I was five," she told him, not moving out of his arms. "Because I don't exactly look Chicana," she said with a touch of sarcasm. "But all they knew was that I was born in Anaheim, had a twin brother and was named Olivia." She paused. "It could all be a coincidence. Some horrible trick of fate that would only make sense in a telenovela," she said reluctantly. He felt safe, and he felt solid and real, and she didn't want to move.

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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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