Touchstones | Mac

[Austin Jennings]

Austin waited nervously on the corner of the street his finger drumming unconsciously on the sides of the frames that he carried tucked under his arm. There were few things in life that could make the boy quite as nervous as standing around in public without any place to be. He had learned early on in life that being a scrawny kid with a speech impediment who was carrying art supplies was something akin to being a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti. Bullies just seemed drawn to you. Fortunately he had progressed passed the bullying stage of his life. Unfortunately for him one of the few things that still made him nervous was talking to pretty girls. Something that he was hopefully about to do without embarrassing himself.

Austin still hadn't been able to decide if this was a date or not. He had spent some time back at the barracks trying to figure this out but ultimately decided that he was putting too much thought into it and he should just keep it casual. In fact, he thought that was a good rule as a whole for the evening. Keep it casual. Don't over react. He kept telling himself this but truthfully it wasn't doing much good. He stomach was still twisted in knots despite this reassurance.

To give his mind something else to focus on Austin checked his watch for what must have been the thousandth time just to see how close it was to 7:00. It was currently ten till and he wondered again, for probably the thousandth time, why he had showed up so early. Mac would come. He hadn't done anything so embarrassing that he might have run her off...yet. Still, the waiting, he discovered, was the worst part. 'At least it's kind of nice outside.' He thought to himself and came to the conclusion that if it was a date at least the setting would be good.

McKenzie Carter

[McKenzie Carter]

Mac only partially considered this a 'date'. In reality, she would probably treat it was one because that was in her nature, but she also kind of liked the idea of just making a friend first... but that wasn't in her nature. It was almost seven, but Mac took her sweet time finishing up getting ready. She had her hair braided down to one side and wore a loose cotton white blouse with a short jean jacket and dark skinny jeans with short boots. Her make up was the usual- just subtle browns and tans to compliment her face rather then complicate it.

She was excited to pick out a frame for her drawing. She was a bit nervous about telling him her story but... it had been so long since she'd shared it with anyone. She almost was even a little excited about having someone else who knew the truth. Depending how much of the truth she ended up sharing.

Two to seven she arrived at the meeting place, grinning at him as he stood there, frames under his arm. "Austin! Glad you made it. Hope you haven't been waiting long?" her voice was back to it's usual syrupy sweetness, the honesty sapped right out of it.

[Austin Jennings]

Austin had just checked his watch again when a sweet voice called to him across the forum. He glanced up just in time to see source of that voice coming towards him. She was grinning and as Austin saw her he couldn't help but smile back giving her a little wave as he went to meet her. If something was different in her voice he didn't notice it and he probably wouldn't have paid it any mind if he had. The important thing was that she hadn't stood him up and that was good. Granted she was getting something out of the bargain so that probably didn't mean anything but he was happy to see her again nonetheless.

"Hey McKenzie. I uh...Mac." He stammered realizing that he probably should start using the name she preferred to be called. Austin fumbled with the frames in his arms bringing attention to them. "Hey I brought the frames like I said. Probably should find somewhere to show them off though. There's a cafe over there that has great coffee...if that's something you like. We could go somewhere else too if you know of anything better."

[McKenzie Carter]

Mac grinned as he corrected her name to the nickname. Oddly, though she oddly didn't mind him saying her full first name, but she wasn't about to tell him that. Not yet, at least. Then her gaze shifted to the frames as he shifted them. "Coffee at the cafe sounds perfect," she said sweetly, "can I carry anything for you?" she offered, reaching her hands out towards the frames. There it was again. Her sweet side showing. Not the fake sweet, the real one. She decided it wasn't worth the effort to act as much anymore as her fingers grazed one of the frames, "I feel bad making you carry it all." She looked up at his face, smiling softly.

[Austin Jennings]

“Great!” He said enthusiastically as Mac agreed to his idea of hitting up the café across the street. “I think you’ll like it. I mean I’m not sure if coffee is your thing but I uh…I like it.” Giving Mac a smile he started to turn away from her but stopped short as she offered to help. People didn’t usually offer to help him out like that. In fact, he was kind of used to juggling an arm load of canvases, paints and brushes so Mac’s offer was a little bit of a surprise.

“Oh you don’t have to worry about me but...well if you want to...” It was a little weird. He didn’t know a lot of girls who would be so willing to help him out like this. Wasn’t it the gentlemanly thing to carry all the stuff so she wouldn’t have to? Mac had offered though and Austin kind liked that she wanted to help. “Thanks Mac. Umm…Here, you can help me out with these.” Shuffling around he managed to hand her a few of the frames and his smile returned. He still held on to the majority but the lightened load definitely helped.

With his arms a little more free Austin had no trouble giving a nod toward the café. “Come on. It’ll be easier to talk inside and conversations are always better with a little coffee.” He chuckled showing that he was relaxing a bit and led the way across the street and inside. If nothing else at least they could get some refreshments.

[McKenzie Carter]

Mac giggled as he seemed to excited about going to the cafe. He was so nice and easy to read, at least that's what she gathered, that she almost felt bad that she wasn't being completely herself with him. She was just so used to her act that it was like second nature to her. Granted, she was getting more comfortable with this honesty thing today. "Coffee is totally my thing," she assured him.

He said she didn't have to worry about him but let her help anyway. Well, offered but didn't make a move to do anything right away. Then she moved forward as he offered her some frames to hold. "Of course, any time," she said.

She followed his lead and nodded as they entered the shop. They found a table and she set the frames down gently on the seat. "This is a cute place, isn't it!?" she said happily.

[Austin Jennings]

At least he seemed to be doing well so far. They both liked coffee and in Austin's book that was a win. Personally he probably liked it a little to much but he was right, coffee did make conversation better even if it things went south which he was hoping he could avoid.

It was a short walk to the cafe and when they entered he followed Mac's lead by setting his frames down by the table. He chuckled a bit at her cute comment before looking around and giving a little nod. It was a lot better than cute in his opinion but that didn't have anything to do with the look of the place. Instead it had everything to do with the coffee and on that point Austin had been very strategic in picking the place they would meet. "Just wait until you try their coffee." He said with a smile and then motioned for her to sit. "W...what's you're favorite kind of drink? I'll get you something. It's my treat."

[McKenzie Carter]

Mac bounced excitedly on her toes when he implied the coffee was just as good as the décor. He seemed at ease here, in a way, and she liked that. She stepped forward, smiling widely, as he asked what her favorite drink was. She ignored his gesture to sit for a moment in order to place a hand on his arm, "that's so sweet. I'll take a caramel macchiato. I'm traditional," she giggled, giving his arm a little squeeze before moving to take her seat. Really, Mac liked to think of herself as unique more than traditional, but when it came to coffee she just loved the basics. They reminded her of home. Seattle was famous for coffee on a rainy day, after all.

[Austin Jennings]

Mac stepped closer to him giving him one of those dazzling smiles and catching him off guard. The closeness lasted only a moment and Austin probably would have been okay but then she was calling him sweet and squeezing his arm and he almost missed what she said. “T…traditional right…” Giving her a goofy grin Austin stepped back from her to head to the counter and nearly tripped over a chair in his awkwardness. The resulting chaos served to sober him up real quick but not before some fumbling and stumbling and regaining his balance.

Realizing he wasn’t doing such a good job of this playing it cool thing as soon as he had regained his balance Austin turned to make his order so that Mac wouldn’t see his beat red face. At least the coffee would give him something to focus on besides making a fool of himself and for that he was grateful. Fortunately he had a few minutes to regain his composure while he waited and when he returned with coffee in hand he thought he could get back to business as usual. He hoped at least.

“One caramel macchiato.” He said as he handed her the steaming mug with a white spot of froth that had been shaped into a flower design. “I uh hope you like it. I think it’s some of the best coffee in town but…well that’s just me.” Taking the seat across from her with his own steamy mug Austin hoped beyond hope that she had forgotten about his little display a few moments ago. He probably wasn’t that lucky but maybe he could at least try to distract her from coming back to the subject. “So uh how was your afternoon? I don’t think I asked.”

[McKenzie Carter]

He was having trouble getting words out for a minute and his little goofy grin caused her to smile even more, breaking into a real grin for a second before he moved away, nearly tripping over a chair. She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. She'd never really spent time with someone so... cute, in a quirky way. Her ex was Ezra for the gods sake and he was nothing like Austin. She was relieved to be making a friend like this, even if it was outside the norm for her.

She sat down while he ordered the coffee and smiled gratefully at him upon his return, taking the mug gently as to not burn herself. She nodded, "I'm sure it's lovely," she said, setting her mug in front of her and giving it a moment to cool down. He asked how her afternoon was, and she shrugged, "I'm not sure if you did ask, no. But that's all right," she chuckled. "It was fine. "I just got some rest and did a little bit of training..." in fact, she hacked at a dummy with her two short swords for a good hour, but that wasn't necessarily important. "And yours?"

[Austin Jennings]

Small talk had never really been Austin’s thing. In fact, that he was here and not a stuttering mess in front of Mckenzie was still something fairly new to him. Still, as they sat and he relaxed things didn’t seem so bad. At least she wasn’t mentioning that spectacular show of clutziness that he had put on a few minutes ago and with that being the case he thought he could do this. He just had to come up with things to keep the conversation going.

Austin listened as she talked and sipped on his coffee. Mckenzie was definitely a soldier. Strong, powerful…pretty. He wasn’t sure if that last part applied to most soldiers but it was certainly the case here and he wasn’t surprised to hear that she had been training. Austin on the other hand…well he was a painter that did some fighting sometimes. Maybe that counted for something. “Well mine wasn’t near as exciting as all that. I have a few paintings I’m working on. N…nothing finished yet but I’m getting there. Plus I had to pick out some good frames for you. Have you had a chance to look at them yet?”

[McKenzie Carter]

She nodded as he mentioned that there were a few paintings he had been working on. "Maybe that's why your eyes look like so many different colors," she found herself saying in a soft voice, not layered with her faux flirting at all. She cleared her throat, letting him finish about how he was finishing choosing frames and asked if she had a chance to look at them. "I haven't! Been a bit distracted," awe, there we go, her little trace of falsity was back. Thank goodness.

She reached over to the seat and looked at the frames, picking a few up one a time until she found a dark wood one that was absolutely gorgeous. In fact, the wood reminded her of the trees back home, and if that wasn't perfect she didn't know what was. "This one is amazing," she said softly, before holding it up to him, "I like this one."

[Austin Jennings]

Austin blushed a little when Mac made her comment about his eyes. "T...thanks. You really think so?" He had never really had anyone talk about his eyes like that before. In fact, he didn't really have much experience with flirting at all if that's what this was. Mackenzie though...had she really been looking into his eyes that deeply that she got distracted? He could definitely understand the feeling but he decided it was probably best to let that go for now.

Glancing down to see which frame she picked Austin's face broke into a grin. "I thought you might like that one." He said sounding genuinely happy. "It's got the right tones and it shouldn’t clash so much with the walls back at the barracks so as to distract from the picture. You've got great eyes...for uh...this sort of thing." He grinned a little wider hoping she wouldn't catch that slip and then as if to cover himself he added. "So if you're sure I think I can come over and get your picture framed and then help you find a good place to show it off. If you still want to of course."

[McKenzie Carter]

So, she hadn't gotten away with the comment about the eyes. Awe, well, she needed to own up to it now. "Yeah, I do," she answered back confidently. She was a firm believer in innocent until proven guilty, and she had just been proven guilty of staring into his eyes and she wasn't going to lie about having done that. Mac wasn't one to back down from something she'd done, and she expected the same from others.

Mac grinned as he said he thought she may like the frame she had chosen. He was so honest in his emotions, it was almost hard for her to believe. It was hard enough to believe that people like that really existed. Then he described how, from an artists standpoint, it was a good choice and somehow managed to compliment her eyes accidentally at the same time. She chuckled, biting her lip as to try and control the grin on her face. "Austin, are you getting lost in my eyes too?" she teased, full faux mode, though she did feel more honest then she expected to. Then he mentioned coming over to get the picture framed and she nodded, "of course I still want to! It's beautiful," oh no. Her face fell as she realized what was coming.

It was almost her turn to tell her story.

[Austin Jennings]

This keeping it cool thing was a lot easier said than done especially when Mac was around and giving him compliments. It was pretty distracting and could he honestly be blamed for a few slip ups? Never mind that he actually did think her eyes were one of her best features and he had already had enough trouble trying to stay away from them. Gods, if he started looking in them now that she had mentioned it he probably would be lost and would be happy to do it as well.

Now wasn’t the time for that though. Not, when he was trying to keep from creeping her out. Maybe he would own up to that comment if she cornered him on it but right now he could tell that she was only teasing albeit in a very cute way. “Well then,” He said clearing his throat and just trying to ignore the question for now. “I umm…I’m happy to help.” He needed a distraction. He needed something to get the attention off himself. It may have been a cop out but he was willing to use one just this once if only to give himself a little break from the spotlight. That being the case he pulled out the one thing that he had been wondering about this girl since they first met. “So…now that the important stuff is out of the way. I uh don’t think you ever did tell me about the painting. Do you feel like talking about it now?”