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His gambit worked and he was able to successfully change the topic of the conversation. The problem was, now that he had done it he wasn't sure how good of an idea it had been. Mac really didn't seem like she wanted to talk about the woods in that drawing, she even said as much, and here he was making her. Maybe he should have thought this through a little better. Regardless of that however, here they both were and Mac seemed to be resigned to tell him.

The truth it seemed was much worse than he could have imagined. He listened as Mac told him about the murder of her father and her life on the run. He didn't really know what to say and after she finished he waited a moment or two before deciding that there really wasn't anything to say and yet, he still thought that he should say something. "Mackenzie, I...I'm sorry. I didn't know." It seemed pretty feeble in light of what he had just heard. He knew that it had been hard for her to say all that even with the strong face she was putting on for him but he could only respect her for being so honest with him, a guy who was still pretty much a stranger.

"I know it doesn't mean much but I am sorry you had to go through that. I can't say that I know what that must have been like but I do think I can understand why you wanted me to draw you that picture now." Austin could understand the need to have something to hold on to even if it did stir up bad memories. It was important to have those anchors, those touchstones that could center you when nothing else could. He had a few of his own. "Listen Mackenzie...Mac, I know there’s nothing that can make any of that ‘better’ but if you ever do, you know, need to talk about it I can listen. It’s not much but no one should have to feel alone...you know?"

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."

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.”

“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.

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

With an exasperated groan Luke snapped his palms and almost instantly the surroundings were peaceful again as the water monster fell apart. Luke certainly knew how to get people’s attention, Austin would give him that but that big of a show was a little much for his tastes. Luke did bring up an interesting point though and that got Austin thinking. In the meantime he decided he would answer Luke’s question…or questions as best he could.

“Oh this? I just came out here to paint the scenery and relax. We don’t get a lot of time away from training and when we do I usually like to come to a place that's nice and quiet so I can chill.” Austin smiled at the boy. He didn’t really mind him being here. People were fine in general he just didn’t like big groups. Still, it might be a good idea to put up his paints for now. “Nah, it’s cool man. Were you out taking a walk or something? I don’t usually see people out this far from New Rome and the camp.”

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.”