straight jacket fashion [aelevi]

[black]

Ivan sat at an old, splintery wooden picnic table outside a run-down food truck that had been parked in this spot for so long, it was questionable whether or not it could actually be used for any trucking. There was a group of people at a table on the other side of the lot, but Ivan had not interacted with them and they had not acknowledged him, other than to watch him with suspicion when he'd first arrived. He blended in well enough here, even with his proper button-down shirt and jacket; the man still had the appearance of someone who was battling a particularly rough hangover, what with the shadows under his eyes and the fact that his hair looked like he'd just fallen out of bed and shown up here. Although his present location - the middle of nowhere, at a shitty food truck parked in an empty lot - seemed to suggest that he was lost, Ivan was here for two very specific reasons. The first was that he had followed a soul here, and was watching it through the veil. This was a clever one - it seemed to understand that he could not phase out of existence while there were people around, and so it lingered here. This wasn't a problem to Ivan; he could wait until dark.

The second reason he was here was that he loved hamburgers. As a non-human entity, he did not need food, but that didn't mean he was incapable of enjoying it - the Reaper had a particular fondness for horrible, greasy, artery clogging cuisine, and fortunately could eat all of it that he wanted without killing himself. He was truly living the dream, one meal at a time.

As the sun began to set, he munched his burger thoughtfully, staring intensely (perhaps too intensely) at what humans would perceive to be empty space. The soul was lingering here, and he wasn't sure why. If it had wanted to truly hide among humans, surely it would have picked a more populated location? Maybe part of it wanted to be caught - at least Ivan could make that part of it happy.

There was a burst of laughter from the table near him; it was a group of tough looking, biker type people, and for a moment he was surprised at how merry they seemed. Ivan had observed humans for as long as they had existed, yet there were some concepts - happiness in groups, namely - that still evaded his comprehension. He had moments where he craved companionship (he supposed that was some residue of humanity that had rubbed off on him from various souls), but never that of more than one person. Or creature. In fact, the more people that surrounded him, the lonelier he felt - he was more grateful for the spirit's choice of location than he would have liked to admit.

The sky grew darker and the food truck's attendant began to lock up his once-mobile shop; someone from the biker group got up and left his friends, with many shouted good-byes. The soul remained where it was, and so did Ivan. He finished the last bite of his burger - just as good as the first one - and sat in silence, hands folded in front of him as he continued to stare, unblinking, into nothing. It was nearly time.

[Aelevi Spencer]

She woke up face down in the dark woods. Her hands fumbled beneath her, clutching at dirt and dead leaves scattered on the forest floor. She rolled over planting her back firmly on a new cold patch of dirt. Aelevi lifted her hand to her face, but with the poor lighting she couldn't even see the outline of her hand. Definitely going to blame the lack of carotene or maybe just her bad bat genes. She blinked her eyes up at the sky, searching for the hidden offender, as expected thick grey clouds covered the moon. She decided to just wait a couple of minutes, try to regain her thoughts before she attempted to search for her things. Aelevi slid her hands down to her chest, she felt the wool of her jacket, the cotton of her shirt underneath and sliding all the way to her hips she felt her jeans. Good, the fact that she was fully clothed made things easier. She threw her arms out to the side and swept them downward, the same motion it took to make a snow angel, feeling in her radius her fingers brushed her shoulder bag on the right side. Okay, so maybe she didn't need to wait for her eyes to adjust now, she had everything she needed to get out of here.

Ae rolled back onto her stomach and crawled over to her bag, she picked it up and plunked it into her lap. She opened the canvas pack and reached inside, rooting in the even darker space for her lighter and her peckermints tin. She found the tin first. She pressed her thumbs under the tab and popped the top carefully. She pulled out one of her last rolled joints with the flavoured paper and stuck the filtered end between her lips. She closed the tin and threw it back into the abyss of her bag, continuing to root around for the lighter. Finally her fingers grazed against the cold metal and she was able to light the tip of her joint, dragging deep. She pulled the joint from her lips and exhaled, pinning it between her teeth she stood up very slowly.

Aelevi considered it a good thing she couldn't see how horrible she looked. She took comfort in not feeling any wet spots on her body, so she hadn't sat in mud, shit or pissed herself while she was out. Aelevi brushed off her pants and coat as much as she could, but knew that some leaves still clung to her back, but was too lazy to take off her jacket and shake them off. She ran her fingers through her stick straight hair and weeded out and leaves she found there, but she figured she would pass for inspection from any random on the street.

It figures everyone sort of just ditched her, leaving her face down no less, jeez. She hoped she wasn't losing connection with the Boston junkies because she hadn't been invited to a bush party in a long time. Of course, she had made a call to the cops in order to get payment this week, but at least the cops didn't crash the party until after everyone had smoked half their stashes. And she remembered being awake when the cops arrived, but she didn't remember how she passed out. She felt a strange pulse at the back of her head; she could feel a bump there, had she been kicked in the head? Perhaps a cop had done her a favor and clunked her with the butt of his gun so she wouldn't be caught up in the arrests. Ugh, she wished she could remember what happened.

Taking another drag from her joint the throbbing pain lessened. She pulled her shoulder strap over her head as a precaution for walking in the dark forest fully aware of the dangers of stumbling and tripping over tree roots. Thankfully she was near the edge of the trees and could see the streetlights in the empty parking lot.

Nearly empty parking lot, that is.

There was just some guy sitting at a picnic table eyes fixated on hanging air in front of his face. Aelevi sucked on the joint for one last drag and dropped the butt, grounding it to dust on the asphalt. She exhaled the smoke and tentatively began to take steps towards the picnic table. Oh! Maybe he was blind, she rationalized in her head. Like, someone ditched this guy and now he had nowhere to go because he was blind. And he wasn't fixated on anything, he just, was blind. This made sense to Aelevi. She quickened her pace towards him, black sneakers noiseless on the gravel.

She didn't know why, but for some reason she felt like she needed to creep towards him. If this guy was blind, did she need to grab his elbow and say "I'M HEREEE"? Wasn't that code for blind people, touching their elbow? Shit she didn't know. She was so high. Aelevi had the tendency to ramble as much in her head as she did out loud after smoking. She widened her strides as she walked. Holy crap, she thought to herself, is this what it feels like to be a giant? I can take suchhhh huge steps, she giggled, the echo of her voice rippled through the night. Oh no, he must have heard that, unless he was blind AND deaf—BONUS.

She straightened up and peered into the distance, did he just look at her. DID HE JUST TURN AND LOOK AT HER. No, no… he's blind. Right, wait. Did he tell her that he was blind? Wait, Aelevi clutched her forehead with one hand, she swayed in her stance and looked up again. She was closer than she had previously been, not having remembered walking while her face was pressed to her palm.

"I need to sit down," she whispered. Aelevi focused hard on the picnic bench and made a beeline for it, sitting on the opposite side of the guy. She removed her shoulder bag and dropped it down on the tabletop. Then she would reach across the table and grab his shoulder, his elbow was out of reach. She took a sharp intake of breath and asked quite seriously, "Are you…" she paused, concentrating hard; she looked as though she wanted to say something but she couldn't quite remember. And as a result she rephrased her question and asked, "Are there any spiders in my hair?"

[black]

He could hear the approach of the woman, but did not bother turning to look at her. There was a giggle, which confused him because there didn't seem to be anything that amusing going on. Oh well - the stranger's sense of humor was none of his concern...but what was concerning was the fact that she seemed to be approaching him specifically, and not just wandering aimlessly and giggling at nothing. Still, despite his unease, he did not tear his gaze away from the soul, which seemed to be fidgeting now; surely, it would run away if he allowed himself to be distracted by this girl, and then he'd have to waste time chasing after it again.

And so he continued to ignore her, until she actually plopped herself down across from him and, somewhat alarmingly, touched his shoulder. He didn't react to this other than to finally shift his eyes over to her own, look into them for a moment, and then let his gaze pass critically over the rest of her body. Something about her seemed...unsavory. Was it normal for people to be this dirty looking? Perhaps it was acceptable in this area of town...and really, Ivan had no room to talk, considering his less-than-neat appearance. He supposed he really wasn't any better than this girl, though he was saved from pondering this thought by a question.

"Are you…"

He waited patiently for what he thought would be a pointless, probably annoying question. She seemed to be struggling, and Ivan stared blankly at her as she fished for words, not bothering to offer any of the social cues that probably would have helped. He could see the soul out of the corner of his eye; it didn't seem to be trying to run yet. And even if it did, there was nothing he could do now, not with a witness...though to be fair, he felt as though he could disappear in front of her now and she would probably chalk it up to whatever kind of mental disease she clearly had.

"Are there any spiders in my hair?"

This question did surprise him, and he illustrated that with an incredulous raising of eyebrows. But, despite his confusion, he did look at her hair - very carefully. Perhaps too carefully. Were there spiders? Not that he could see. Why would there be spiders? He could not guess. Maybe this woman lived in the woods and only emerged into society at night. It wouldn't have been the strangest thing he'd ever witnessed.

After several long seconds of staring at her hair and saying nothing, because that was not creepy at all, he lifted a hand and delicately brushed a twig off her shoulder. He could see several more stuck to her coat, but did not think an entire grooming session would be prudent. "No spiders," he said finally, almost a minute after the question had been asked. "Unless they're under your coat, where I can't see them." The statement wasn't even meant to sound flirtatious; it was a simple fact. If they were in her coat, he couldn't see them. Perhaps he could have picked better phrasing, something that didn't make it sound like he wanted her to start stripping at the picnic table, but he wasn't yet tuned-in enough to this encounter to pay attention to social norms.

The soul still lingered here. He was rather surprised that it had not seized this opportunity to escape. Maybe it understood that he would eventually catch up to it, regardless of how many strange forest girls assaulted him with questions about spiders. If the soul was going to stay, then he wouldn't bother paying too much attention to it - he could focus more on the girl. Ivan had lived among humans for endless years, yet he still found them fascinating. Especially when they seemed a little crazy.

"Is being covered in leaves a new fashion trend? I haven't read Cosmo for a while." That was still a human magazine, right? About clothes? Or was that the sex one? Damn it. He was going to have to keep up to date on these things if he wanted to keep being clever.

[Aelevi Spencer]

Although she had deliberately walked several feet to greet him with the intention to help this disabled man, the moment her hand fell to his shoulder her memory lapsed. Her recovered intentions switched to a dire need—to know about spiders. She watched his eyebrows rise, but she gave no indication of the satisfaction she felt in getting his attention. Her movements were slowed, stunted by the dope swirling a haze around her head. Aelevi studied his bright blue eyes, those eerie bright blue eyes. He scrutinized her hair like he had with the hanging spot in the air. She felt unsettled by his gaze, but did not understand why. She chalked her discomfort up to the brisk night air and blamed lingering confusion on her muddled senses.

Aelevi wasn't the type of girl that carried things for meticulous primping. Sometimes she remembered to bring a pocket mirror, but this wasn't one of those times. But she could feel smeared mud on her cheekbones streaked like war paint. She touched her free hand to her cheek, scratching the dried muck off her soft pale face. Aelevi lifted her hand from the stranger's shoulder and aided her other hand with a delicate touch tracing the contours of her face. She could feel her chest rise and fall with each sharp inhale, her heart racing faster and faster. And with each fleeting glimpse she dared to rest upon his eyes, she'd wince and like a guilty blushing girl hide her silver gaze under dirtied eyelids.

As if to catch her breath, Ae leaned back, her hair swept from her shoulders and tickled the back of her neck. She lifted a hand to scratch her neck when he reached out to brush a twig from her shoulder. She lowered her hand to the wooden table and looked back at him this time with difficulty. A wave of relief washed over her tense features when he said he couldn't see any spiders in her hair, but that relief dissolved quickly.

"Under… my coat?" she asked, her voice stretching with a groan.

The small possibility of spiders crawling under her jacket made her skin shiver and spike with goose bumps. She stood up with the intention to back out her chair like her seat wasn't attached to the table, and she toppled backwards falling part way with her ass hanging off the bench and her legs curling to save her from collapsing completely. But instead of drawing any more attention to herself, she quickly unbuttoned her jacket, whipped it off and flipped herself up right. Her hair fell effortlessly in front of her face as she leaned over the top of the table to show her back, pressing the length of her torso on the picnic tabletop.

"No spiders, right?" she'd joke this time, quickly rolling over so she had her back laying flat on the picnic table. Her legs were bent and her feet propped up on the bench where she had previously sat. She rocked her torso back and forth, as if wedging herself into place, when really she would attempt to squish any lingering spiders. She would be gazing upward at Ivan now, closer to him if he hadn't moved, able to see the creases in his shirt, her own shirt just a simple tight red tee with nothing printed on it.

With this close proximity she watched his adam's apple throb when he spoke, "Is being covered in leaves a new fashion trend? I haven't read Cosmo for a while." Aelevi took a moment to consider his words. She thought it was cute that he attempted to seem trendy, but she wondered why before realizing he was just making fun of her. She understood, under other circumstances were their roles swapped, she might do the same.

"Mmm," she hummed in thought. "I think Cosmo would only incorporate leaves into a story under the headline 'how to spice up your sex life'," she offered, air quoting the headline for sarcastic emphasis. "I could ask you the same thing, you know," she said.

She was having a difficult time looking up at him. She had to arch her neck, slightly cocking her head to see him. She never felt worried about having herself completely exposed like this, just lying on the table. It was kind of nice and she enjoyed being able to look from him to the stars speckling the black sky.

"The bedhead look? Totally last season," she'd snipe, her voice mimicking a weird valley girl twang. Then she would laugh, had she been in a better position she would have tried to poke at him, but instead she lay with her hands resting on her stomach.

"But I have a better question," she said, her voice lowering with the seriousness in her tone. It wasn't important, but she was curious. She had forgotten why she had come to his side, but now she remembered, and she already knew he wasn't blind. "What were you looking at? Is there something over there that only you can see?" she asked.

She'd half turn, propping herself up with an elbow pinching her silver eyes to narrow her vision (like someone would if they had difficulty seeing without glasses). Maybe if she drew enough attention back to the spot in the air, then Ivan would take notice of it again too.