The Artist (Out Of Her Natural Environment)

[hellfire_child]

Alistaire pulled up to the house. He still couldn't believe that Grandfather had run Alisa out of the city. He'd deal with that in due time, but right now, he had to get her to stop running. This location was a joke. A dirt road driveway? He was probably going to have to throw away these shoes. A large parcel was in the trunk of the Tesla Roadster he'd bought for the drive. He glanced back over his shoulder at it, before ringing the bell.

It was a lovely house, even if the location was a joke. He'd have to make sure to help her with the reselling.

Comments

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

Alisa was not fully moved in, yet. She was still making trips back and forth between here and the City to get her most precious possessions, sell off artwork that was in storage, and selling her old apartment/loft. The ring at the front door was a bit surprising, as she was not expecting anyone to come see her.

She climbed down a spiral staircase to get to the front door as swiftly as possible. She opened it up, dressed in a tank top and jeans. before looking to see who it is, she spoke.

"Look, I know you are a nice kid an' all, but I told you I don' WANT to subscribe to de local paper. It's a waste o' a good tree!" She then finally looked and stood there in shock. "Alistaire? Did I inhale too much endust dat I am now seein' t'ings?"

[hellfire_child]

He gives her a brief kiss on the cheek, before turning invisible so he can walk past her without her interference. He appears again several steps in, looking around. "There's a package in the trunk. You should get it." He throws the keys to her, before shucking off his coat, leaving it on a chair after he judges the temperature inside to be sufficient.

"Where's the best light in here? You'll need some space as well.

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"Wait a god damn minute! You can' walk in here like you own de place!" She caught the keys, marching back towards where Alistaire went. "Dis is my place, you are a guest here, got it? I don' take orders from you no more, either. If you want me to do sumt'ing, you ask nice."

Alisa frowned, placing the keys back in Alistaire's hand.

"Now try again, but be NICE."

She was still worked up over Alistaire's grandfather making it quite clear she was not welcome in NY high society, much less the city, anymore. To prevent anymore damage to her property, or what was left of her reputation, Alisa opted to leave the city and buy a home near a large lake in North Salem. It cost her 2.5 million for this foreclosed mansion with boat dock, but it was a drop in the bucket to her. Not just that, it was a big stress relief to not have to deal with Shaw trying to "punish" her for staying within the city.

[hellfire_child]

Alistaire raised an eyebrow as she forced the keys back on him.

He looks back at her for a long moment, then moves close. Closer. Some might say in her personal space.

"Alisa.

Please." He takes her hand, holding it up between them, and gives her the keys again. "Go get the package. You should open it." He keeps his eyes locked on her own. Oh there's still a hunger there. And a palpable knowledge. Of what she looks like naked. Of what she tastes like. Of what she likes.

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"Much better. Guess you can teach an old dog new tricks." She took note he was WAY too close for her own personal comfort, but tolerated it. Grumbling a little, Alisa went to the trunk of his car and opened it. Inside was indeed a large package, actually wrapped in brown paper and twine. This made her eyebrow go up.

"Dis better not be a bomb. I already 'ad ONE limb too many blown off." She spoke to herself as she slammed the trunk shut and made her way inside with the package. "An' so you know, de best light is upstairs at dis time o' day. De Master bedroom 'as a glass dome ceiling in de center o' it. Kinda like Vanderbilt Mansion. Why do you ask? An' you do know you can get me in a lot o' trouble at de mansion for allowin' you to be here, oui?"

[hellfire_child]

He reaches into the pocket of his vest and produces a checkbook. "I'm here for your work." He starts up the stairs. "The bedroom will work perfectly."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"Largest room upstairs, you can' miss it." She followed behind him, carrying the large box with her upstairs. Once she made it to the Master bedroom, she carefully placed the box down and began to open it.

Alisa had good taste when it came to pieces of furniture. She got furniture that matched the date of the house, all in a dark cherry-wood. The bed was made, a few clothes in the closet, but there were still a few boxes of things around the place.

"When you say "work", you mean you want me to paint you, don'cha?" Alisa sighed, discovering the box was filled with various art supplies. All were high end art supplies, and the kind she used to play with when she had her gallery. "I'll be honest, Alistaire. I don' know if I can. I'm not feelin' any inspiration to paint dese days. My ego's taken a few blows, an' my muse has been t'rough worse."

[hellfire_child]

"Let me inspire you. I haven't had a portrait done since my aesthetic surgeries were finished." He was finally ready to bare his leg again.

He stood in the center of the room, appraising the light, and started disrobing.

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"No, no no no, no no!" Alisa frantically waved her arms about. If he started to disrobe, there would be trouble. "Keep de clothes ON! Keep'em on! You take'em off an' I may do sumt'ing I'll regret... an' maybe you as well!"

[hellfire_child]

He pauses, then turns his back to her. "I'll be tasteful, I assure you. Turn away if you want. I'll let you know when I'm ready. This room suits what I had in mind." He undoes his belt.

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"Like you trust me NOT to look." Alisa rolled her eyes and turned her back to him. "I don' get it, or you, Alistaire. Dere are a TON o' artists your Grandfather would LOVE to send your way. Why come to de one he hates wit' a passion? An' de one who can get into big trouble wit' de Xavier Institute if you hang around her?"

She tries to take a quick peek at him before turning away. Yeah, he was still hot, and she was still in a relationship... she hoped.

[hellfire_child]

"You know I have to push the envelope.

And no-one tells me who I can or cannot associate with. Not my Grandfather. Not the X-Men." He drops his pants to the floor and kicks them away. He finishes undressing, then heads over to the bed. He gets mostly underneath the covers. He leaves himself fully exposed from the waist up, sitting up against pillows, and with one leg emerging from under the blankets. He's decent. Barely.

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"I jus' washed dem sheets, too." Alisa muttered as she looks for her easel to start setting things up. Once she got the easel set up, she put the canvas securely on it, and then selected her paints. Only black and white, with one jar of Alistaire's eye color.

"Seriously, Alistaire. Dis is like dangling candy in front o' a kid." She dipped one of the new brushes in black paint, then back to work on the canvas... all without sketching anything out. That is how she worked. "You don' know what kind o' pressure dis puts me under."

Later That Night...

[realstarpower]

He hadn't been the greatest of boyfriends of late, it's true. Between a burgeoning acting career, his time with the Future Foundation, and the nightmares he'd had lately of an enormous purple helmet-crown-hat thing and glowing yellow eyes, Ryan had been spread a little thin.

Probably unfairly so to Alisa, who he was all-too-aware needed him just then, given everything that was going on with her right now.

Which is why he was here tonight, with wine and dinner from his favourite Italian place - they made a killer seafood stew - and a Blu-Ray of his favorite Simon Williams movie. (Because if Wonder Man could be a superhero movie star, then Ryan definitely could be.)

And so there he was, knocking on the door, not at all expecting what was going to be on the other side of it.

Re: Later That Night...

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

Alisa blinked. She was not expecting anyone else over today. Granted Alistaire was a bit of a surprise visit, who else could know she was here? Making her way to the door, Alisa opened it up, prepared to punch the person if it was one of Sebastian Shaw's goons.

"Holy... Ryan? What de heck are you doin' here?" She looked puzzled. "I jus' finished makin' dinner for a friend. I didn' know you'd come wit' food for me."

God did she feel awful seeing he brought her food. Shaking her head, she opened the door all the way so he could come inside. he could see a pair of Men's shoes in the show rack.

"Come in, make yourself at home. I made enough to feed an army!"

Re: Later That Night...

[hellfire_child]

"She doesn't do things by halves, does she?" Alistaire comments, rounding a corner, worrying at one of his sleeves, making sure he didn't get anything spattered on it. He leaned against wall, watching the new arrival cautiously, sifting through mental files.

"The infamous Ryan Grimm. Pleasure to meet you. Alistaire Shaw."

A 'friend'. Is that what he is?

Re: Later That Night...

[realstarpower]

A friend?

Is that what Alistaire was?

Ryan raised an eyebrow, but brought his hand forth anyway, after having shifted the bag of food and the Blu-Ray to his other hand.

"The notorious Alistaire Shaw. I'd say it's a pleasure, but my parents taught me early on not to lie. The pleasure, I'm afraid, will have to be all yours." His eyes ticked towards Alisa, the question in them clear. What's going on? "I hope I'm not interrupting something important."

Re: Later That Night...

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"You weren't. Alistaire found out where I lived, barged in, asked me to paint him wit' pay... an' den I invited him to stay for a bit, in a guest room on de far side o' de house." She gave Ryan a look as though she wanted to say more but could not. Not here, anyway. Alisa then moved to stand outside with Ryan, and shut the door so they had some privacy while Alistaire was still inside.

"I got no clue how he found me! I didn' give him my new address! He den pretty much demanded I paint his portrait. I was cool wit' dat, only he didn' tell me it was a semi-nude potrait! Dis whole time, he's been makin' me t'ink about goin' back, questionin' everyt'ing, an' I don' know what de fuck I am doin', Ryan... I'm like on auto pilot or idiot mode! Once de school finds out about dis I'm done!"

Re: Later That Night...

[hellfire_child]

Alistaire was in the middle of a perfectly polite-but-firm handshake with Ryan, when Alisa whisks him away. He smiles and shrugs to himself, heading to set the table. He could faintly make out some of the initial conversation. A bit light on context, but nothing untrue. Dinner would be interesting.

Re: Later That Night...

[realstarpower]

Ryan listened quietly and calmly for a long moment while Alisa went on in that quick, excited, word-jumbly way that she sometimes had. "Okay, Alisa? Breathe. I'm not angry. A little bit confused, because you keep on saying how you want nothing to do to him, but he comes on popping up - in more than one way, it would seem - but..." Ryan's brow furrowed for a moment. "Alisa. You and Alistaire have a history. And he's still not...he's still not over you. Obviously. Clearly. Do you...Do you still reciprocate those feelings for him, Alisa? On any level?"

Re: Later That Night...

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"Dere a little part o' me does." She hated to admit it. It actually brought her to tears. "But if I do dat, what's to say I won' lose another limb, or get killed. He'd never love me back. Jus' ... he'd jus' use me all over again. No matter what he tells me, he'd never change! So... why does dis tiny part o' me still exist, Ryan?"

It hurt to actually say that. Once she had a clear head (and Alistaire had his clothes ON), she realized he was manipulating that small, insecure part of her. Playing her like a violin, offering her an easy way out instead of all the hard work she had been trying to do.

"Ryan? You haven' touched me in a long time. You don' invite me to go meet your friends, or meet your family. Are you ashamed o' me?" She had to ask. "Did I do sumt'ing wrong to you? I jus' ... I love you. An' I don' know if I am doin' sumt'ing wrong or somet'ing to drive you away from me."

[realstarpower]

"I...can't answer that question for you, Alisa," Ryan replied. "About why you feel the way you feel. That's...I mean, that's some soul searching stuff right there." He sighed and leaned against the wall opposite Alisa, crossing his arms and staring at her intently. "And no, I'm not ashamed of you. But my family is...it's tricky, Alisa. My brother was attacked by someone with eyes very similar to yours, and meeting you would bring back bad memories. I can't subject him to that until he's okay. And the others...well. Given your past, it would be a hard sell. We have issues enough with Vincent Amorason - or von Doom, whatever name he's using this week - and he was an Avenger. An Avenger who's related to Dr. Doom, so you can see why we have our apprehensions. You aren't doing anything wrong. This is just very...complicated." He paused, his eyes ticking towards the door to Alisa's place. "All kind of complicated, clearly."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"I didn' know dat." She sighed, joining him with her back against the wall by his side. "I'm sorry someone hurt your brother dat badly. An' well... I guess all families are tricky? I really don' know."

She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to think.

"It's like Alistaire knows when I'm at my weakest an' shows right up to take advantage o' it. An' I've nearly fallen for it TWICE. It's two times too many, Ryan! I am wit' you, an' I don' ... no, I can' go back to de life I had wit' Alistaire. I'm not better den de Xavier School like he says! I'm better den him!" Her eyes narrowed. "Dat said... how do you feel like helpin' me get a RAT outta my house? Maybe my life for good? I am not gonna go back to de city wit' him. I'm NOT gonna risk gettin' played like a violin ever again. An' if I REALLY have to, I'll get a restrainin' order on him to keep him away! I mean really... it's creepy how he finds me, sometimes."

She gave a visible shiver. It was getting cold outside, and this was playing on her nerves.

[realstarpower]

"It's not something that we really discuss?" Ryan said. "Alisa...there has to be something there that keeps on drawing you back to him whenever he appears in front of you. Clearly, there's something unresolved that needs to either be resolved...or be continued." He paused and then drew a very deep breath. "You keep on flip-flopping, Alisa. That means that there's something incredibly wrong here. I don't claim to be the brightest guy - powers not taken into consideration - but there's a pattern." He turned his head so that he was looking at Alisa. "I like you, I do. I can't say that it's love yet because it feels too soon for me to say that, but I like you. Having said that, though, I'm not sure if you know what you want yet, Alisa. It feels like when I'm in front of you, you want to get rid of Alistaire, but whenever I'm not around...he seems to be. Around you, I mean." His brow furrowed. "I think that you need some time alone to sort through things - your feelings - figure them out. See what you really want or need right now. Because this has the potential to get really messy, and none of us need that."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

That... was hard to swallow.

"I need some time alone? I've had plenty o' time alone, Ryan! Every-time I am alone, if I move, if I go somewhere... dere is Alistaire Shaw, uninvited, tellin' me how I deserve better den what I am doin' ! I don' go to him! I don' wanna go to him!" She pointed towards the house.

"Everyt'ing gets twisted an' turned upside down around him, an' I don' know what to t'ink or do! I can' tell left from right, up from down! He knows how to t'row me off balance an' bring chaos into my life. Take away every good t'ing jus' so I will go back to him! Breakin' t'ings off wit' me is like a huge WIN to a sociopath like him!"

She looked scared, she really looked scared that the only good thing left in her life was going to just up and leave. That little sparkle that made her smile and happy.

"Please, don' do dis..."