Setting Up Shop | Mac

[McKenzie Carter]

She smiled wider as he said that he was glad she liked it. Of course he would be, any artist liked being told they did well. He offered his name, Austin, and she chuckled at his mentioning being distracted. She had gotten distracted too, of course, at the thought of having a painting of home. She didn't know why she didn't think of it before.... maybe because it was bittersweet. She could never go back, so there was a definite darkness to having the painting, but it was also nostalgic and even comforting. She was wrapped up in that thought, watching him work on it more and she almost missed his asking her what her name was.

"Oh, I'm McKenzie," she said swiftly. That was weird, she never introduced herself as McKenzie anymore. She cleared her throat, "Or Mac. Either one," she said, looking down at the paper again, "so, how long does it take to dry and what do I owe you?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the painting for now.

[Austin Jennings]

McKenzie. It was a nice name. Austin liked it. The shortened version was fine too and he would probably use it at some point but there was just something about her giving him her full name first that him want to use it. “It’s uh…nice to meet you McKenzie and thanks for stopping by to give me something to draw. You’ve got a pretty good eye for the details to be able to describe all that to me.” Now came the hard part though. It was the part that he was never any good at and the part that worried him the most about deciding to set up shop out here. He had to decide on the compensation.

The reasons it was hard were pretty simple. For one he just enjoyed the doing involved in the artwork. Money was good but creation was the real joy. Second how did you place value on your own work especially when you were your toughest critic? The picture was pretty much done though so he was going to have to come up with something. “Don’t worry much about it drying since it was a pencil sketch. I’ll wrap it up and the sooner we can get it framed for you the better that way you don’t run the risk of smudging the colors. I can do that for you later if you want.” He glanced at her noticing that she was pretty lost in the picture at the moment and that was when he decided. “I’ve got a deal for you.” He said not really knowing if this was the right choice or not. “Tell me the story behind why you wanted this scene instead of the beach. You don’t have to if you don’t want to and if you’d rather just pay we can figure something out but it does seem to be pretty important to you.”

[McKenzie Carter]

She shrugged at his words about her having an eye to detail. "Oh, it's nothing special," she just spent so much time there and etched it into her brain when she ran away... since she knew that she could never go back. She chuckled as he explained it was a pencil sketch, "oh, yeah, sorry," the lines were so perfect that it looked like it could have been painted, blended with water rather than with a pencil. That took some skill. He said he would wrap it up and get it framed and what not and she grinned, "if you have time, that'd work fine," she said.

Then he brought up a deal and she looked back up at him. His question, about telling him the story behind it, caused her stomach to lurch. She furrowed her brows and chewed her lip for a moment in concentration. Some other campers knew her story... but not many. She found herself giving a short nod. "Okay. But not here," she started. She gently placed a hand on his arm, "how about you get that frame and meet me somewhere say... around dinner time?" she suggested.

[Austin Jennings]

He could understand what she was saying about a scene being etched on your brain. He could think of a few such scenes he could almost paint with his eyes closed because the memories were so vivid. Still, he also knew that the kind of connection she was talking about took some time and some pretty significant events to ingrain itself so completely in your thoughts. He wondered what Mac's story would be but that, it turned out, would probably have to wait. At least until he could make a time to come by and frame her picture.

"D-dinner time?" He asked as he felt his cheeks begin to heat up a bit. He hoped she wouldn't notice but then again his name wouldn't be Austin if he didn't do something to embarrass himself before their conversation was through. "D-dinner sounds great." He said finally hoping to distract her. "I'll uh...bring by a few frames and you can pick out which one you want. Then we can get something to eat while you tell me about your s-story. Does that sounds good to you?" He figured she would be fine with the idea since she had suggested the dinner thing but he was going to give her an out if she wanted it. Even though he kind of didn't want her to take it now.

[McKenzie Carter]

She smiled and nodded as he started to confirm the idea. He seemed to be unable to say the word 'dinner' without a stutter, but that was okay. His cheeks were reddening and she bit her lip to stifle a chuckle. She nodded at his suggestion about bringing a few frames, getting something to eat and having story time. "That sounds perfect," she responded. Then she did the typical Mac thing and kissed his cheek before standing up, "we'll meet back here at seven sharp. See you then, Austin," she tossed him a signature wink before turning away to walk on.

As she left, she chewed on the inside of her cheek nervously. Was she really going to tell this total stranger her story? Well, it'd been a while since she'd trusted anyone... why not now?

(the end! unless you want to do one more post. do you want to start the dinner one or should I? also, random side comment, I dropped Pan so if you want Callum McCaullife back have it it XD)

[Austin Jennings]

Austin didn’t think he had ever been more surprised in his life. Sure, people liked his work sometimes. He often got comments about it but this might be the first time he had gotten a kiss on the cheek. Embarrassment that was already quite plain on his face heated up even more as she leaned in and gave him that light peck and at that point it was all he could do to watch after her as she walk away giving him that little parting wink.

Did he just get a date with a cute blonde girl without even really trying? He wasn't really sure but he was getting to see Mac again which he thought was pretty special. What was he supposed to do now? He guessed he should probably go get some frames and be back to meet her here at seven sharp. Otherwise she might find him sitting here still rooted to the spot when she returned.

As she got out of sight Austin thought it best to do just that. He shook himself visibly out of his daze and turned his attention to gathering his things. It didn't take him long but he did it distractedly as he was still thinking about Mac as he went. He wasn’t sure what to make of all this but one thing was for certain, he was excited about tonight.

(I can get us started off as I've already got a good post in mind. This should finish us up here and I'll tag you in the next post)