Gin Vickers is a dreamer (ginsoakeddreams) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-10-28 23:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | 04-13-2017, ember, ember and gin, gin |
The Graceful Ghost Girl and The Bartender Therapist
Who: Gin and Ember
Where: Gin’s Shop
When: Later mid day
Ember had a steady stream of mixed emotions that coursed through her for the entirety of the morning and right into the afternoon. She had connected with Cody in a way she thought she had lost the moment she died, but what good was that to her if she was going to feel irrevocably attached and guilty for it? Even as a ghost, she couldn't fight that emotional bond that formed after having sex with someone. As much as she would love to be that girl who could sleep with whoever she wanted without giving a second thought to them afterwards, she didn't seem to be blessed with that frame of mind. Or maybe it was because she had only slept with her fiance before Cody. Either way, she was lonely and upset and didn't know what to do other than try to distract herself. She had done a decent enough job of it within the town square, wandering in and out of shops until she found herself staring at a painting of the ghostly, brooding man she was trying not to think about. She brought a hand up to her rest against her forehead, pale fingers hiding beneath the bangs of her short, blonde hair.
Gin's door, open in spite of the weather, had failed to give her the little bell jingle of an announcement that someone was there. That and she was so distracted with her new painting that she herself failed to hear anything. It wasn't until she wandered out into the gallery to check a detail in one of the paintings hung there that she realized there was someone in her shop. "Hi," she called pleasantly, brushing hair from her cheek and wiping a smudge of cody's hair color across it. "Are you looking for something in particular or are you just browsing?" she asked with a smile. She wiped her hands on her smock and took it off, tossing it behind the counter. "Sorry about the lights," she indicated a couple that were burst. She hadn't yet replaced them since Cody had popped them earlier. Then she looked around at the nightmarish landscapes, all different and all featuring Cody in some way or another.
In the midst of her wandering, Ember had focused on adjusting her make-up to a tad bit more of a dramatic look than how it had been earlier today. Red encompassed her lid and lower lash line, her icy stare coming off more intensely than she had intended it to thanks to the color. Her eyes scanned over Gin's figure and cute appearance as she approached, a small frown pulling at the corners of her lips. Had Cody mentioned her before? "How do you know him?" She crossed her arms, but gave an upwards nod of her head towards the painting she was standing immediately before. She was both curious and strangely anxious to hear what answer this girl would provide.
Gin's eyes fell on the painting the girl stood in front of now. The strange one where Cody was emerging from a futuristic spaceship crash, very obviously naked though covered strategically by debris. She smiled a bit dreamily. "He's amazing, right?" she asked, her mind not so much on the dream version of the person she'd painted. She'd learned that this wasn't Cody. This was everyone - wearing his face because he'd been the substitute or surrogate or something. But the Cody she'd seen a glimpse of before he'd gone. He was the amazing one. "I met him under a mango tree believe it or not. And he's sort of haunted me." Her tone was a little off hand even though she could probably have gushed. "Do you know him?"
He had fan girls now? She would have been sure this whole thing was a dream now if she could sleep, but that kind of rest was one she wasn't afforded anymore. She learned it the hard way when she had attempted to sleep off the nightmare that was her ghoulish existence in the beginning. "I do.. he's a close friend." Ember moved her feet, slowly wandering to each picture on display and pausing to observe it. "Do you know what he is?" She wasn't above trying to scare the talented artist out of jealousy, in attempts to keep her away. Then again, she could have very literally meant that Cody was haunting her.
Gin's brows raised and she almost giggled. "Oh my. So some of these probably are a little uncomfortable to see, I'm sure. But it's great to meet a friend of Cody's. I'm Gin," she said, so glad to know Cody did have at least one friend to speak of. "I - " she started and then frowned slightly. "What he is?" Well that was a difficult question to answer because she didn't exactly know what Cody was. She had her suspicions but she had never let herself decide on any one conclusion because she felt like some of the mysteries about him should be kept in tact.
Ember shifted her attention from the picture she had been eyeing and tilted her head as Gin introduced herself, finding the name to be interesting. Now she was almost certain Cody had never mentioned her because she would've remembered a name like that. "Ember." She returned as she clasped her hands in front of her, taking a few steps towards Gin. She didn't wear any particular expression, so it was difficult to tell why she felt the need to bridge some of the gap between them. Ember arched a brow as she continued to wait on an answer from Gin, but found she wasn't exactly coming out with anything. "Have you seen him naked?" She lifted a finger to point back towards some of the more risque paintings on display.
Gin stood still as Ember approached and continued to give her a friendly smile. It was interesting to Gin to note that Cody and Ember seemed to both have that drifting thing down pat. She wondered if they both did it naturally or if one had learned it from the other. Her mind disengaged from the multiple questions forming to return to the question she'd been asked. "I know that he's many things. Even if he doesn't believe it." she replied vaguely and then gave a little laugh at Ember's next question. "Only in my dreams," she said, her fingers going to rest on Cody's bare chest in the painting beside her. She had no qualms about talking about things like that. She felt that artists should never be ashamed of what they painted even though, for a short while as she talked to Cody, that had been how she'd felt.
Well, she had been right. There was a living, breathing girl who wanted his dick. It was something she probably would have boasted about just yesterday, given that she was right.. but right now, it just settled annoyingly under her skin. "Isn't that cute." She finally gave a smile, doing a relatively good job at masking how artificial it really was. "You should have him take his shirt off. Or at least lift it for a peek. You wouldn't believe the abs he has." While spoiling the surprise may have been fun then, she liked the idea of it happening from suggestions she could make to the girl a little more. She attempted to scoot past Gin to wander towards the back, curious as to what she might be hiding back there if she was displaying some of the near nudes up front. She would be completely unaware if she brushed against her and sent that signature shocking chill throughout her body or if she actually did manage to slip by successfully, her gaze fixed on her destination.
Gin wasn't interested in Cody's dick. If she'd known that was what Ember had inferred from what she'd said, she would have giggled. As it was, she didn't much care for the statement that it was "cute" she'd dreamed about Cody naked and her smile slowly slipped away. Obviously this girl had no idea about art and about the depths and layers and what a complicated expression it was. It didn't boil down to sexual attraction to paint someone naked nor for her to dream about it. Gin had only painted Cody completely nude once and it was taken from the one dream where she'd been able to tether him instead of the other way around but that hadn't been sexual attraction either. She and Cody had fucked in quite a few of her dreams but that hadn't been something she'd wanted from him in reality. Gin's brows furrowed. "Why would I do that? He's not sitting for a portrait for me. The inspiration was different for this series." She attempted to step out of Ember's way as the girl attempted to pass but wasn't quite successful enough as her skin grazed against Ember's an immediate, deep chill sending a shiver through her. Her breath caught slightly at the discomfort of that but now she understood. Ember and Cody were the same somehow.
Ember shrugged her shoulders lightly. "Who doesn't appreciate a nice set of abs?" She was guessing now that it would be much less easy to influence Gin than she had originally thought. Continuing to be distracted with her own mission, she still hadn't caught on to their shocking contact as she nosily peeked around. She ran her fingers through her hair to ruffle it at the sides just slightly, spinning on her heels to face Gin again. She had no idea what to say to her, finding this entire experience to be odd. What had caused her day to be so fucking strange? It almost made her fearful for what the rest of the day had in store for her. "Has he mentioned anything about me?" The question just popped right out of her mouth before she even realized what she spoke, wishing she had the ability to shove those words right back down where they came from.
"Do you often suggest women undress Cody?" she asked, feeling slightly amused now because really, that had been a strange suggestion. Though she guessed that maybe, if Ember didn't get the purpose behind her art other than to believe it was sexually motivated, that suggestion would make sense. She could see that. She watched Ember move, the girl seeming to always be in motion somehow. There was a fluidity and a grace to her person that was absent in her manner. That intrigued Gin. She wondered if Ember would let her ask questions the way Cody wouldn't. "No," she answered, not in the least weirded out by the sudden directness of Ember turning on her or asking the question. "To be honest, he won't say much about himself at all. But he certainly asks a lot of questions about my art. Did he tell you about it? Is that why you're here?"
“I haven’t met a lot that he talks to.” Ember answered honestly, seeking somewhere to place herself. While she was physically fine, she felt emotionally drained and her expressions were beginning to betray the inner feeling. “Actually, I haven’t met any. He was stalking some tattooed girl a while back, but who knows what happened with that. Maybe you’re the lucky winner now.” She took a seat on the nearest chair she came across, glancing back up to Gin. “He’s probably trying to be mysterious.” She rolled her eyes, leaning forward to prop an elbow on a knee and in turn resting her chin in hand. Being away from him was helping her to regain some of her previous attitude towards the guy who really was her best friend, and it made her hopeful she could move past whatever emo sad session she was experiencing and return to normal. There was no point in being attached. None. That was what she would need to keep reminding herself. “He didn’t mention anything about it, which is why I’m so..taken aback. You’re good though, I’ll give you that.” She went back to eyeing the closest art piece from her seat. “I’m here because..” She let out a soft, bitter laugh at the irony. “Well, something happened with Cody that confused me. And I was trying to get away from thinking about him for as long as I could. Turns out, that wasn’t very long.”
It was a strange friendship that Ember and Cody had if Ember would disclose the fact that Cody stalked people. She wondered if it was actually a friendship after all or if Ember was someone spiteful, here to be sure that Cody had no friends. She'd met women like that in the past working in her aunt and uncle's bar. Girls who came in to be sure the pretty bartender wasn't hitting on their man and they took great pains to destroy that man's character. Or maybe Ember just had no filter. Either way, Gin was taking what she had to say with a grain of salt. "I don't think he'll be back," she said honestly, a hint of regret in her tone. If Ember was going to sit, Gin supposed she should too so she settled into her own chair, tucking her legs beneath her. "Thank you," she said with a pleased smile at the compliment on her paintings though her smile faded at the sound of that laugh. She couldn't help but look concerned immediately. "Are you okay?" she asked, tugging at the bottom cuff of her jeans.
“He’ll be back.” Ember answered matter-of-factly, not needing to ask why she assumed Cody wouldn’t be. Gauging by the light situation, he must have thrown some type of temper tantrum which meant he would get over whatever it was he was going through and return. How long that would take was another question, but she had gone through enough of those episodes to know he never stayed away. At least, that was her experience with him. She was caught off guard with Gin’s next question, blinking at her a few times as she tried to process what exactly to say. When was the last time she was asked if she was okay when she voiced some kind of trouble? This girl even looked concerned over her well being, and Gin didn’t know her. If anything, she had been a little bitchy to her and here Gin was showing her some type of kindness. “I’m fine.” She shifted in her seat, unsure of how to make her answer sound less cold. “Just figuring out how to salvage a friendship after things get.. sexual.” She leaned back in the chair she had made herself comfortable in, crossing her arms. Vocalizing what she was thinking made her feel small and she didn’t particularly like it. She needed to get a grip on this situation and force it back to where it needed to be. Cody was probably walking around without a care in the world and she was here, exposing herself to an artist that had a pension for painting him. “I’m being such a little bitch. I don’t get it.”
Gin didn't dare hope Ember was right. She needed to make peace with the possibility that Cody might never come back. "Maybe, maybe not. Either way he's changed my life and how I look at things. That's important and worth remembering a good long time." She watched Ember, quietly taking her in, and the way her hair seemed to always be moving. Maybe it was a trick of the light but if it was real, Gin really liked it. It went with the rest of Ember's physical grace. Gin bit her lip as she listened to Ember speak, the mention of things getting sexual putting her back on her guard somewhat. Though it could be true and Gin wasn't going to jump to conclusions. "You don't normally find yourself connecting with people more intimately when you have sex with them? Or is it that it's Cody and that's confusing because of your friendship?" It was a nosy question but she'd ask what she could get away with. She was curious about these beings who defied reality. Though reality wasn't what it used to be before zombies and werewolves were a thing.
“How has he changed your life?” Ember was having a difficult time wrapping her mind around Gin’s thought process. Was there some philosophical view that he had been hiding from her all this time? Maybe they bitched at each other too much to ever get into that. Or maybe it was the bitching philosophy that really shook things up for her. If that was the case, she decided she should see them together. Her mind would be blown. Her personal thought pattern amused her up until she was being questioned on why she was feeling the way she did. Normally, she would tell someone to fuck off if they were getting close enough to figure out her true emotions if she didn’t want them to.. but she had no one to talk to this about. She was clearly biased with her opinion, or lack thereof, and Cody didn’t seem to get it. Whatever it was. She paused, teetering on whether she wanted to actually open up or not, then made her decision. “..the only other person I’ve been with was my fiance. And he’s dead. Obviously I didn’t fuck him when he was dead. Before that.” Her gaze had shifted elsewhere, pretending that she was speaking aloud to the air rather than to her in particular. It made being honest and open easier. “I didn’t think I could have sex ever again. Like, forever. And now I just had it. And then these feelings.” She pointed towards her stomach, as if that was the origin of them. “I don’t know if they were there or not before, but he didn’t really say anything. I don’t know what I wanted him to say. Or do. I’m going insane.” She leaned forward to hang her head between her knees. It was as close to hiding inside her imaginary turtle shell as she could get.
Gin smiled thoughtfully and settled in her chair a bit more. "The fact that he exists, for one. And he has a way of asking questions that really cut straight to the marrow. Things that, when answered, leave you bare and exposed but more understanding of yourself." She was curious that Ember didn't know these things about Cody but perhaps Gin had simply inspired that part of him with her own loneliness and need for human contact apparent in the paintings and their stories. Or… or maybe she'd just read a lot more into the questions he'd asked because she'd needed what she believed he was getting at. That thought felt disappointing and maybe explained why Cody had left. She'd put too much on him. Given him too much credit that he couldn't ever possibly live up to it on a third meeting. She immediately wished she could find him and take it all back but she was here with Ember and she would focus on her. Gin bit her lip again, this time to keep from tittering because it was a little funny that Ember needed to clarify she hadn't fucked her fiancé when he was dead. She forced her face to remain straight, Ember didn't deserve to be laughed at. "What if he'd said something sweet like, 'You're so beautiful?' Or if he'd said, 'Thanks, babe!' and high-fived you?" She was curious if the girl had a reaction to either one. Sometimes it was easier to know what you didn't want than it was to know what you did.
Listening to Gin speak about Cody was confusing Ember more. Maybe he was more insightful than she had really given him credit for in the past, but she couldn’t really think of a time she felt more bare and exposed with him than when she was literally bare and exposed, in his arms and close. It was nice and comforting and sexy and hot all at the same time. Maybe she had forced all her real insight about him to the back of her mind to avoid reaching this point? And there went all the questions again, the internal debate over what she was feeling and thinking raging strong. She lifted her head back right at Gin’s next questions, thinking over them for a moment. If she wasn’t a therapist, she should probably look into it because she was good. She sighed, realizing what the answer was in her mind and not liking where it was most likely heading. “I would’ve liked for him to tell me something sweet.” She lifted a hand. “Wait, I think he asked if I wanted him to say it was awesome. So, he did say something. It just wasn’t the right thing, I guess.” Talking it out with someone else made it a little bit more clear in her head. “How do I make things go back to how they were?”
Gin took a moment to think about what Ember had said. She nodded. "Seems like he does better with questions than answers. Did he do anything sweet afterward?" If he had, that could have been his way of communicating and if Ember didn't realize that, it was going to be very difficult for them if they were going to make any kind of relationship work. Those that spoke their feelings often mistook those who showed them instead as not caring. And vice versa. She'd learned that in pre-marital counseling and it was coming in handy. Father Andrew would be proud. If he was still alive. "The truth is, you probably can't make things go back to how they were. Sex changes things even if no one admits it. But that doesn't mean the change has to be bad or anything. I do know that finding him sooner rather than later to work through things is the best idea. The longer you think rather than do the more chance you have of overthinking it into a really bad place. I have a feeling Cody's worth it so if you want him, make sure of it and then go get him."
Ember shook her head slowly then tilted her head. “Right after we were done, he did kiss me really.. sweetly.” She brought her hand to her forehead, rubbing at it as she wondered when she became this girl. The one that pondered over actions and words and feelings. Things had never been like that with her fiance, but things with Cody thus far hadn’t shaped up to be the same as they were with him. In some ways they were better, in other ways they were worse. She supposed the fact that they were so different was good, and maybe she could find some true insight into Gin’s words that those changes weren’t necessarily bad. Was this the breakthrough? She eyed the girl from where she sat, less hesitant to address her with what she was thinking now. “Well, shit. You’re smart and you paint well.” She offered a small smile, a real one this time. “What can I do for you now?” She owed Gin, she knew that. She managed to guide Ember through a dark maze that she herself had created as if she were a bright torch and compass in one. A beacon of surprising light and much needed direction.
Gin gave Ember a gentle smile. "See he did say something. He just didn't use words. Iiiii'd say that if he kissed you sweetly afterward that there's a lot he doesn't say." And here Gin felt a twinge of jealousy. Not for Cody per se but for the contact. The connection. The sweetness of a kiss and what it meant. She hadn't had that in what felt like a very long time. Gin slid her legs out from under her and placed her palms on her knees. She smiled at the compliments. "Thanks, I just spent a lot of years playing bartender therapist I guess," she replied with a self-deprecating little laugh. "And the paintings? Well, thank Cody for these because really it was his fault they even happened. He scared me to the point I almost peed my pants. It opened this huge dark portal in my mind out of which all of this fell." And she waved around at the paintings. "What can you do for me?" she asked and pondered a moment. "Maybe when things are settled again between you and Cody… maybe let him know that I would like to talk again? But only once you're back on track with him. And if you want, come back and visit me yourself from time to time. Who knows, maybe I'll have painted your pretty face."
"You've got it." Ember wasn't sure she particularly liked the idea of sending Cody back to the girl with the blood spitting man obsession, but she appreciated her advice enough to push her own discomfort about it aside. Besides, she and Cody had off handedly decided on still being just friends before they parted ways, it was just a different kind of friendship now, one she was going to have to learn to adjust to. One that meant not trying to scare off other potential friends out of jealousy. She grinned and shook her head, "I'm not as interesting or haunting to be painted like that." She stood then, knowing that she had to figure out what she wanted to do. She at least had somewhat of a clearer head to start with. "Thanks for listening.. and everything." What an odd day it really had been so far. Ghost sex, Cody attachments, Coda Lisa paintings galore, opening up, and then saying thank you. She moved towards the door and hesitated. "No one living really listens. It's very much appreciated." And with that, she went invisible. This was how she wanted to spend the rest of her day because, good or bad, she wasn't sure she could take any other surprises for the moment.
Gin lifted one brow and tilted her head. "You'd be surprised what my mind comes up with. You are interesting. And beautiful, just so you know. I'd love to paint you and the way your hair moves. So graceful," her tone was a bit dreamy and she supposed, as she was used to doing, she'd developed a little bit of a crush on Ember's grace and exotic prettiness. If she'd thought about it sooner she might have asked for a kiss along with the favor of letting Cody know she hoped he'd come talk with her again. But that might have been like taking advantage of a girl who was confused about the sexual encounter she'd just had. It was good she hadn't thought of it sooner. "You're welcome and honestly? Any time." No one living. So there was confirmation. She hadn't wanted it but there it was and it sat like a cold stone inside her. She watched as Ember went invisible, feeling an echo of the disappointment she'd had when Cody had done the same thing earlier.