Who: Justin Taylor and Clary Fray What: Random Encounter and Talking About Art When: Backdated: Saturday, October 19th. Late Afternoon Where: The Beach Rating: Family Friendly Status: Complete
Ever since him and Billy had officially started dating, Justin had, had less time to surf, what with his job and spending time with his boyfriend, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t mean that he didn’t still try to find time to surf. He was still trying to talk Billy into trying out surfing, but so far he was having no luck. Either way, when he did make time and Billy was available, the brunette would come to watch him. Today Billy was busy with Zelda, so Justin was at the beach by himself, trying to get in as many waves as he could before the sun went down.
Clary had settled herself on the beach, propped herself up and laid on her towel with her book to read after she’d been for a quick paddle. Simon had been busy today so she had decided to take her book and sketchpad down to the beach to relax a little. The dreams she had been having were disturbing and what she’d learnt from Jace even more so. She was torn between wanting to know more and wanting to forget. Hopefully reading would help her forget, at least for a while.
That had been the plan, however she had caught sight of a man out in the surf enjoying the waves. She sat contemplating him for a while before reaching for her sketchpad and pencils. Putting pencil to paper, she started to draw him in the waves.
Justin stayed out on the water for a few more minutes; well until a wave knocked him off his board that is. Once he broke the surface of the water, Justin reached for his board, which was tethered to his ankle so that he wouldn’t lose it and pulled himself up onto it, on his stomach and paddled his way back towards shore. Reaching the shore, he detached the tether from his ankle and headed to his spot where his other things had been left. He was just running his towel over his head when he noticed the red headed girl nearby with a sketchpad. Hoping that he wasn’t about to be that creepy guy who approached random young girls, not that he had any ill intentions of course, he started walking towards her, curious as to what she was drawing.
Clary’s focus was completely on her drawing. So much so that she didn’t realise there was someone standing over her until a drop of water dripped on to her arm. She wiped it off as she looked up to find the man she had been drawing in the surf standing over her, looking at her drawing. “Oh...um...hi,” she said nervously. “I hope you don’t mind, I just...saw you out there in the surf and it was just...inspiring,” she explained, worried he might be weirded out by it.
Justin hadn’t realized that the girl was sketching him until he got close enough to see her sketchpad, “Don’t worry, I do the same thing all the time too.” Sometimes the best sketches were complete strangers that he happened to see while people watching, but as far as he knew he hadn’t been anyone’s random person to sketch before, “It’s really good, by the way.”
“Oh...thanks,” Clary glanced down at the pad on her knees, brushing away some rubbings. “It’s just a quick one,” she shrugged. “Are you an artist too?”
Justin nodded and ran a hand through his damp, blond hair, “I’m currently in the art department for Black Widow.” He really needed to start looking around for a new job since the show was ending. He’d been looking when he got the chance, but so far there were no openings on any other shows. He was going to set his sights on movies next. They were always making movies in California after all, so that shouldn’t be too hard. “Mind if I sit?” It would be easier to talk to the girl if he wasn’t touring over her and Justin was probably the least threatening looking person Clary would ever meet so she had nothing to worry about with him.
“Cool, so you’re in ‘The Biz’?” Clary asked. “Not at all, pull up a piece of sand,” she held her hand out to the sand next to her.
Justin nodded as he took a seat beside her, sand sticking to his still damp wetsuit, “Yeah, been working on Black Widow for awhile. Did some video game storyboards during the hiatus this year. What’re you planning on doing in art?” He was always interested in finding out what other artists were planning on doing.
"Storyboards for video games? That's pretty awesome, how did you get into that?" Clary asked him. "Im not sure really, I just...draw at the moment," she shrugged.
“I had a friend out here for awhile do worked in video games. She got me a gig for the summer.” Doing storyboards for video games hadn’t been that different from doing them for tv shows really. “I’m Justin, by the way. Justin Taylor.”
“Clary Fray,” she held her hand out to shake his. “Nice to meet you Justin,” she smiled at him. “What’s it like then? Working in Hollywood?”
Justin smiled as he shook Clary's hand, "It's not bad. But I'm not in Hollywood exactly. The studio is actually fairly close to here." It was one of the things Justin liked about his current job. It was close to home. "But I have gotten to meet quite a few famous people."
“Really? Like who?” Clary asked with a smile, twiddling her pencil in her fingers.
“Mostly actors from Black Widow,” Justin said, smirking. “And then there’s the ones I’ve talked to on this internet community I’m a member of.” When he thought about it, there really were quite a few famous people who used Valarnet.
“That’s pretty cool,” Clary grinned. “I’m afraid I’ve not had much of a chance to watch the show, we just moved here last month and there’s still so much unpacking to do!” she apologised.
“Where did you move from?” Justin asked, hoping he wasn’t being too nosey and that Clary was just too nice to tell him. He got the feeling that she didn’t mind his company, so he was hopeful that she didn’t mind his questions either.
“New York, we just got a feeling we needed to move out here,” Clary shrugged. It was hard to explain, it was just a...feeling. “How about you? Are you ‘native’? she asked. “New York is pretty cool. I’ve been there a few times,” Justin also still had the memory of his one dream where he’d run away to New York for a day. In response to her question, he nodded, “Yeah, I grew up in Beverly Hills actually. Do you like it out here? It’s got to be a big change from New York. Did you live in the city or suburbs?”
“Oooo, Beverly Hills...is it as posh as it’s made out to be?” Clary asked teasingly, looking at him askance. “Yeah, it’s...not as fraught as New York. I used to live in the burbs, which was nice but, y’know,” she shrugged. “It was New York, there was always something going on, here…” she looked out over the surf, feeling a calm in herself she hadn’t felt for a while. “Here...there’s time to find yourself, y’know? At least that’s how it feels for me.”
Justin laughed a nodded, “It was a little like 90210, if I’m honest. You could definitely tell who had money,” His own parents were rather well off, considering his father owned his own company, but it had never gone to Justin’s head and he’d never become a snob or thought he was better than anyone else. “Are you in high school?” She seemed young enough, but he’d always looked young for his age too and even now could probably pass for a high school senior even at twenty four.
“Yeah, my last year,” Clary told him. “Not sure what I’m going to do with myself next year to be honest, probably an art course or something,” she looked at him. “Any advice? How did you get where you are? If you don’t mind me being nosey,” she quirked a grin.
“Well, I knew that I wanted to do illustrating. So, I looked into the various art school and things and just went from there. I talked to my guidance counselor a lot too. That’s always a good place to start.” Justin was lucky that so far he’d gotten to do what he loved. Someday he wanted to illustrate a book or comics or something, but for now doing storyboards was just as good.
“I only spoke to her once when I first arrived and she suggested I post on the Net to help the integration process,” Clary admitted. “I probably shouldn’t dismiss her so quickly, but I got the feeling she was a little...condescending,” she told him. “I suppose I should give it another go. I really do need to get started on sorting out next year,” she smiled at him.
Justin wondered if she meant Valarnet, “Where on the net?” It wouldn’t be the first time Justin met someone who happened to also be on Valarnet, “It wouldn’t hurt to talk to her again. Might show her that you’re serious about wanting help.”
“On ValarNet, have you heard of it?” Clary asked. “I suppose...I guess last time she was just giving me the adjustment spiel,” she said with a little shrug, looking down at her drawing. “Do you want to keep this?” she asked him, holding the sketch up.
“Yeah, I’m on Valarnet actually.” It seemed that he was meeting quite a few people from Valarnet without even realizing they were members. “If she can’t help then I’m sure you can always ask on Valarnet, there always seems to be someone there who has the answers.” When she asked him about the sketch, he thought for a moment then nodded, “Yeah. If that’s alright.”
“Cool, I’ll keep an eye out for you,” Clary smiled. “Isn’t that the problem with the internet? Everyone having the answers,” she joked, carefully tearing the top of the sketch away from the pad. “Sure, here you go,” she handed over the drawing happily, it was him after all. “Just promise me you won’t go and sell it for millions as soon as you get home,” she laughed, closing up her sketchpad and putting it back in her bag with her pencils. “Give it a few years to appreciate in value,” she winked.