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

[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."

[hellfire_child]

"Does it? Tell me." He puts one arm behind his head, letting the other rest across his abs. Alistaire wasn't the classic overtly muscular build, but he was lean and taut.

"Xavier's doesn't deserve you, if they're going to try to control you. What makes them any better than Grandfather forcing you out of the city?"

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"I like de kids at de school. I can relate to a lot o' dem." She admitted as she focused on her brush strokes. "I'm learnin' a lot from dem an' de teachers. Only draw back is dat Brooke drives me up a wall. Constantly insults an' belittles me. I get it, I'm socially awkward, I ain' good wit' people... but she needs to give me a break!"

Alisa finally peeked from the side of her canvas, before returning to her work.

"I recently had to protect two o' de students from members o' de FoH. It felt so good to do dat. To know I was doin' de right t'ing." She peeked again. "As for you, you are jus' a piece o' eye candy to me. If I wasn' in a relationship, or tryin' to be a good guy... well... you know I'd be in dat bed wit' you."

[hellfire_child]

"Why tolerate her then? You could break her. And get away with it even." He watches her as her head emerges to the side.

"I know I'm more than eye candy to you, Alisa. You're lying to yourself if you say otherwise.

And it's good you got something satisfying. Morality is outdated, but some things are an easy win. Brutalizing FoH members high among them.

And I still don't know why anything stops you from getting in this bed... once you finish your work, of course. You're a professional."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"I dunno... sumt'ing about bein' "faithful" to someone I care about, an' who appears to love me feels important." She admitted, opening up the tube of white paint and working with that, now. "It's jus' ... Ryan's got a lot on his plate. I can' go to his place because I ain' exactly welcome dere, an' when he runs off to go save de world... I get lonely, because I don' know when an' if he'll come back."

"You are right, you are more den eye candy to me. I still care for you, Alistaire. But you can return de same feelings, so I try an' distance myself an' focus on my relationship wit' Ryan."

"As for Brooke, your Aunt would NOT be happy if any harm came to her. Last t'ing I need is anoder Shaw wantin' me dead."

[hellfire_child]

"Auntie has other concerns." Alistaire says, his tone making it clear that they won't be discussing that topic any further.

"I can give you.. what I am. All of what I am." He responds to her talk about distance. "And I only ask you to be what you really are."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"What you are, all o' it? What's dat supposed to mean?" She asked, looking out from the side of her easel. "An' what am I, really, Alistaire? Rather, what do you t'ink I am?"

Her brush strokes were moving a bit faster, now. She appeared to be using the color for his eyes in the painting. It was hard to focus on her word when he was being so... enticing.

[hellfire_child]

He adjusts, getting a bit stiff from holding still. His fingers drum idly against his chest.

"You... are someone I want to understand me. Someone I can trust."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"It's hard to understand someone who can' love another person. Much less take dere feelings an' emotions into account." She spoke honestly to Alistaire. "I've told you dat before. I want to love you, because I trust you. You've never thrown me under a bus, or tried to hurt me. You've respected me, but not enough."

She started to clean the brush off, then dry it with a towel before using some black paint once more.

"You don' gotta pose anymore. I got dat down solid. Jus' relax an' talk, Alistaire." She offered him a small smile. "It's funny, we both want to be understood, an' we both trust each other... kind of an irony."

[hellfire_child]

"I think you like that we're that opposite. I bring no emotions, and you bring them all. You can't help it. You're the way you are, and I'm the way I am." He lets his posture relax a bit, still giving her that look.

"Alisa... what are you doing here?" He waves a hand around. "The house is beautiful, but there's nothing here for you. No life. No society. No emotions to feed on.

You can't stay here.

If you stay, you will rot, wither, and die.

I'm all the quiet you can take. This place isn't for you."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"It's safe, an' dat's what matters, Alistaire." She shook her head, putting her paintbrush down and sitting on the edge of the bed he laid in. She had not a drop of paint on her... despite how quickly she was working.

"I was attacked by a Guild member in my first apartment. Your Grandfather walked in on it an' killed de man before he could do anyt'ing more den beat me up bad. He den turned to me an' called me "pathetic". Scared me good." She never told Alistaire this, because she feared what he would thing.

"De next place I moved to didn' feel safe, either. Your Grandfather's men ruined my car. Cut de gas an' break lines... an' when I had it towed to a mechanic, dey found sugar in de tank. It was gonna be too expensive to fix, so I decided it needed to be totaled or sold for whatever parts were good." She sighed, laying back on the bed. "Den he decided to have my art gallery fire bombed. I had to have Ryan stay wit' me for a few days. I was scared he was gonna come for me next... or hurt Ryan to punish me more."

"I can' win in a fight against your Grandfather. Even if I absorbed all de hate an' rage on dis planet, he'd still be able to take me out. So, I decided to let him win. I moved. I'm close to de school, which is good 'cause I still need a new car. Can' rely on a rental forever. An' despite it bein' so quiet an' lonely... it's beautiful inside an' out."

[hellfire_child]

"Leave Grandfather to me." Alistaire says, sitting up from his reclining position. The sheets slip, almost dangerously so.

"I can give you anything you ask of me. I can protect you. I can make you powerful and respected.

And all I ask is that you stop saying no to yourself."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"Alistaire, I don' know..." She took note of the blanket, then turned her head away from him.

"You know, part o' de reason I left was not just to protect myself or Ryan, but you as well. You skate on thin ice wit' your Grandfather. You wouldn' survive his wraith, or if he tanked your bank accounts like your father did. Would be selfish o' me to stay an' get de people I care about hurt."

[hellfire_child]

"I don't care. I'll survive. Don't underestimate me, Alisa."

He reaches for her hand closest to him.

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

She allows her hands to be held by his. For a bit, she is silent, looking as though she is thinking quite hard on what to do. She could give up on all the hard work she had done to try and get the Institute to try and trust her, a relationship in which her partner truly seemed to care for her, and her safety... for Alistaire Shaw.

"I really don' know what to do..."

[hellfire_child]

"I won't make your decisions for you. I'd get bored with you if I had to." He gives her hand a brief squeeze, then lets go. He pushes hair from her face, and then gets out of the bed, walking confidently across the room to his clothes.