Boys, Boys, Boys

Walking slowly Celine entered Paradise. She was introducing her new Jeune, the pet Art had gifted to her, to the outside world. The critter was sitting on her shoulder and she made sure to be careful so it didn't fall off. Jeune were lizard type animals and she had read some species of lizards liked trees. So far her pet had been climbing up her body and various pieces of her furniture with ease, so she hoped this would be please her. The green female Jeune didn't have a name yet, but she had only had her for a day and as Art had taught her upon meeting a name just had to feel right and she'd have to search for it. She was sure the perfect name would come to her any day now and if it didn't then surely Art would have a great suggestion for her!

--

To be quite honest, Lemur had absolutely no clue why he'd decided to hang out in Paradise. Surely he could, perhaps, find something to draw inside- Susanna had come up with all sorts of prompts for him, obscure ideas that he fancied bringing a visual representation... but no, he found himself outside, with a blank sketchpad, a single pencil, and no idea what to draw or if he should find something to draw at all. So he shifted tirelessly on the bench, scanning the area repeatedly for a decent subject or perhaps someone he knew.

Oh, oh. Now there's inspiration; what a startling profile! And what nice, distinct markings that adorned her face. Now there, that is a portrait worth drawing. Lemur picked up his materials and approached the girl quietly, hoping to not be noticed. He had to be sure this was someone worth his time to draw, after all. But from what he was seeing as her surveyed her, though his admiration of her artistic appeal only grew, he also felt the urge to just speak to her. This didn't trouble him as he felt this way almost perpetually towards people he didn't know, it was troubling, however, because trying to hold a normal conversation while staying still was challenging. Not that Lemur wasn't up for the challenge.To be quite honest, Lemur had absolutely no clue why he'd decided to hang out in Paradise. Surely he could, perhaps, find something to draw inside- Susanna had come up with all sorts of prompts for him, obscure ideas that he fancied bringing a visual representation... but no, he found himself outside, with a blank sketchpad, a single pencil, and no idea what to draw or if he should find something to draw at all. So he shifted tirelessly on the bench, scanning the area repeatedly for a decent subject or perhaps someone he knew.

Oh, oh. Now there's inspiration; what a startling profile! And what nice, distinct markings that adorned her face. Now there, that is a portrait worth drawing. Lemur picked up his materials and approached the girl quietly, hoping to not be noticed. He had to be sure this was someone worth his time to draw, after all. But from what he was seeing as her surveyed her, though his admiration of her artistic appeal only grew, he also felt the urge to just speak to her. This didn't trouble him as he felt this way almost perpetually towards people he didn't know, it was troubling, however, because trying to hold a normal conversation while staying still was challenging. Not that Lemur wasn't up for the challenge.

--

Celine had finally reached the area she wanted to visit. It had lots of trees and other plants and flowers but it wasn't too crowded with other Companions. She certainly didn't want her Jeune to run off in fright! A nice calming area like this would do just fine for right now, although she definitely wouldn't mind some company. Being all alone was never something she enjoyed for a long time, but fortunately her Jeune made her feel not so alone, keeping her occupied as she watched the critter climb up a tree branch. She was so busy watching her pet and cheering the tiny creature on that she hadn't even noticed another Companion was walking up closer and closer to her!

--

Lemur would've stopped her sooner, but she seemed to just keep walking for a while, so he followed- not wanting to run after her since it seemed she was actually headed somewhere. But it would probably seem weird to be caught following someone, so Lemur definitely felt better that she- or anyone else hadn't noticed him. He saw that she was watching something on a tree, obviously absorbed by whatever was going on. He didn't want to startle her or come off as creepy, so he might as well just do what he does best: smotheringly kind. He approached the last couple feet carefully, reaching out to tap the girl lightly on her shoulder, "Hello." He said cheerfully.

--

The feline Companion watched her Jeune happily when she felt a soft touch to her shoulder. Turning around to face whoever it was that had approached her she was greeted by a simple yet cheerful "Hello." The Companion standing across from her was a boy, something monkey-like judging by first glance. He seemed to be about her age and, dare she think it, he was quite handsome.

Celine wasn't used to hanging out with Companions her own age, not counting Art. Usually she would be the one to seek out someone to chat or play with, mostly they would be Younglings. Having another teenager around, one who would come to her instead of vice versa, and a handsome boy nonetheless was something the girl had not been expecting. Despite having spend so much time in Art's presence she still wasn't used to guys approaching her. She knew most girls her age dated, but she had never given it much thought until Art had just maneuvered his way into her life. And here was another good looking guy just randomly walking up to her! It was an odd occurrence, but of course she had no idea if he was really interested in her just yet, maybe he just needed to ask her something? He seemed friendly enough and she wouldn't mind spending a bit of time with him.

"Hi." she greeted back just as friendly, but not as energetic. "I didn't think anyone else ever visited the more quiet areas of Paradise. It's nice to have some company, other than my pet." she admitted. Sure, coming here had been intentional and she knew it was unlikely to run into someone, but she was pleased that she had nonetheless. This would make the afternoon more pleasant for sure and it would be a great way to socialize her Jeune a bit further without overwhelming the critter.

"My name is Celine." she introduced herself with a friendly smile. "And this," she spoke while turning back towards the tree and picking up her Jeune, "is my pet. She's still nameless unfortunately, but we're working on that. She's a Jeune, in case you're wondering. Who are you? And what brings you to this are of all placed?" she made small talk with the boy. She wondered if he had obtained a real name yet, if he hadn't maybe she could tell him about what Art had taught her?

--

Oh, well that went better than expected. Lemur let his tail swish happily, smiling brightly at girl- Celine. She seemed pretty talkative- a trait Lemur could respect though not ideal for drawing subject purposes.

"I'm Lemur," he replied, watching her collect her little pet. A Jeune? He hadn't seen one of those before, but then there were so many strange creatures that seemed to be showing up around the Facility lately it wasn't a shock he hadn't seen all of them. ...Nor had he drawn a single one of them- oh, how could he have not thought of that before? Lemur leaned in to inspect the.. lizardly looking creature, certainly seemed cute enough to draw.

It dawned on him he probably was looking pretty weird. "Well, to be honest," he said, taking a step away from her again. "I was following you over here." Wow, that sounded way worse than he intended.

"I draw people-" he amended, motioning to his sketchbook. "And I saw you and I was gonna ask if I could draw you, or your Jeune." He smiled, "Or both."

--

Celine watched Lemur as he looked at her Jeune. The boy took his time, observing her Jeune with what appeared to be great interest. It gave her some time to observe him in return. She admired his build, the way his muscles flexed when he bent over and blushed when she realized what she was doing. The thought that Art was much more slender in build quickly crossed her mind.

As she was still waiting for the boy to turn his attention back to her she thought about how Lemur must be quite strong, but not in a scary way. It must be the fluffy fur on his head, she mused, which gave him a sweet boyish look. Not like Art, who always seemed more mature to her, more like a man, both in looks and in wisdom.

Despite what it might seem like, the teenage girl wasn't really comparing the boys to one another, not consciously anyway. She wasn't even really aware that thoughts of Art kept alternating with her thoughts of this new boy. Comparing things, pondering right and wrong, better and worse, it just wasn't really in her nature. It was just that Celine had been spending a lot of time with Art, feelings blossoming slowly in the process and she thought about him more and more often. Now he even kept creeping into her thoughts when she was in the company of another handsome boy, but Celine wasn't consciously aware yet just how big a part of her daily life Art was becoming.

By now the Lemur boy seemed to have enough of staring at her Jeune for the moment and had returned his focus back to the feline girl. He took a small step back, giving her back her personal space, as he started to explain why he was to be found in this exact part of Paradise. The answer surprised Celine. He made drawings? And he wanted to draw her? She felt honored he would want to do such a thing. She smiled gently at the boy as she gave her reply. "Hi Lemur, it's nice to meet you. So you're an artist? Could I see some of your drawings?" Celine asked.

She had never met an artist before! She herself wasn't that kind of creative, but she had a strong love for the performing arts, acting in particular. Drawing hadn't appealed to Celine much before because it seemed like something solitary, which she disliked. But she now realized that if you drew people that wasn't the case anymore! Drawing and acting weren't very similar things, but they both required creativity so Celine felt they already had a bit in common and she was excited to spent some more time with the handsome Lemur boy. "I have never been a model before, so I'm not sure if I'd be any good. But well, if you want to draw me, we can try it. You'd have to help me a bit, give me directions or something. I've done some acting in my free time, if that helps at all?"

Her Jeune climbed back up her shoulder, nibbling on a strand of her hair to get her attention. She let out a short and soft giggle and moved her hand to pet the critter. "You can try to draw my Jeune as well, but I'm not sure if she'll be any good at sitting still. But we can try that as well. I haven't had her for long, but we seem to have bonded quite well, she seems to like being close-by. So if she wanders off while you're drawing me I doubt she'd go far."

--

Lemur chuckled happily. "Sure!" He opened his sketchbook and handed it to the girl, presenting some of the drawings he'd completed earlier in the week. One page was dominated by the blonde image of Lemur's keeper, Samantha. The pages behind it contained some half completed drawings of other companions. "I've always been really into art. Every kid draws but I guess I just never stopped."

"All you'd really have to do is sit sort-of still. Like, moving is fine, so long as you aren't actually like walking away or something." Most of his subjects were bouncing all over a play room, so she'd be much easier to draw than they were. Lemur opened his pencil case and selected some skin tones in preparation to draw. "And if your Jeune just can't sit still I can add her on afterwards." He grinned at the little creature.

"By the way, what are you? Species-wise, I mean. I've never seen something with spots like yours. Which is why I wanted to draw you, actually!" He tapped his pencil at the edge of his mouth, contemplating her markings. His definitely were nowhere near as complicated (or visible) as hers, considering they existed only as huge bars on his arms and legs. And she was only a domestic, too, he couldn't think of anything with markings like those they'd mark as domestic. 

--

Looking over the sketches Celine was impressed. He seemed to have quite the talent! She didn't hesitate to tell him so, complimenting the prominent drawing of his Keeper in particular. "I've seen this woman around the facility. You drew her very well, I recognized her right away!"

She knew exactly what he meant when he spoke of turning something all kids did into a hobby of your own, magnifying it to something you really loved, something that was more than what kids did during a break. "I always felt that way about acting too. Every kid plays house, but I was always coming up with all these interesting characters. It was even more fun to act them out, to be someone or something else for a moment and really make everyone believe in that character. I hope to be an actress someday." It was the first time she had shared her dream career with anyone. Her Keeper thought it was just something she did for fun, because she was playful or something like that, but it was much more to her. Lemur being an artist he could surely relate to this, so she felt safe sharing this with him, not worried at all that he would make fun of her for wishing to become an actress.

Celine nodded happily when Lemur explained his plan for drawing her. She could do that. It didn't sound difficult at all, actually. She had been worried she wouldn't be able to model properly and she would be sad to disappoint such a nice, handsome boy. She smiled at him again, feeling at ease now that she was reassured she could do as he wanted. "That shouldn't be a problem! Do you mind if I sit against one of the trees? That way my Jeune can easily climb back and forward between me and the tree as she wishes. I read somewhere that certain species like trees and she's always climbing all over me, so I wanted to bring her out here."

The teenage girl sat down as Lemur started preparing his supplies. "My animal is an Ocelot. It's some type of cat, quite small and built not much differently from domestic cats, but it's a wild cat. The markings give it away, obviously." She laughed, finding it funny that some viewed her animal part as domestic while others thought it was feral. Once, she had scared a Youngling by accident, her spots reminding the child of the much more feral leopard. Apparently the kid had seen bits of a documentary on the TV in one of the common rooms and for a second had been convinced she'd eat him. Celine and his Keeper had quickly explained and they were able to laugh about it, even play together for a while using the scare as inspiration during a bit of acting.

--

Lemur blushed sheepishly and thanked the girl for her compliment in an unusually timid voice.

"Sure, a tree would give a nice background, actually!" He considered the texture, but wasn't sure if he had enough pencils with him to give it enough detail so it didn't look too cartoonish. He knew how to make people look realistic with limited supplies, but he hadn't gotten used to backgrounds yet. More practice, it seems!

Lemur scooted in front of her, then a little to the side, then the other way, trying to find just the right angle. Dead-on would be too plain, but too far angled and it would seem a little more dramatic than he'd intended. She seemed like a pretty simple girl, not one to advocate something more action or drama-based, even if she was into theater. That'd be pretty interesting, actually, to see her on stage! She had a lot of personality about her and surely she would shine on stage. Once he had settled on an angle, he opened up his little pencil case and selected a plain pencil to sketch with.

"Ah! Now I understand, I guess the collar was throwing me off." He agreed as she continued to explain her species. He began to outline her face and get a feel for the underlying facial structure. As he slipped into the simplified mindset of his artistry, thinking only of the simple lines and shapes that represented Celine's face and upper boy, he began to talk again.  "I'm just a lemur, even wild lemurs are pretty docile  so there wasn't much of a question about my collar. And we don't really have beautiful spots like yours-- the most interesting part of me are the stripes on my arms!" He motioned with a pencil to the lighter tan stripes over his forearms and calves. 

--

Celine was starting to feel more and more comfortable around Lemur. Conversation just seemed to flow easily and she really felt like they could form a friendship. That was a rather foreign concept to the adolescent girl. She didn't really have any friends, she had always gotten along nicely with other kids and could arrange a simple play date without much trouble, but somehow she hadn't really managed to go beyond that and really form a friendship. Art was the first person to show an interest in really getting to know her, but he was giving off more and more signals that this was more than a friendship to him, which made her very nervous. She didn't have any experience with boys, she had no idea how to handle herself!

While Lemur seemed to be her age and was without a doubt a handsome boy, she didn't feel the nervous jitters with him that she felt around Art. She didn't think those nerves were really a bad thing, she didn't even really consider it at all actually, but she was aware of how comfortable she was around Lemur, how easy it all was. They just seemed to match up somehow, she felt understood by him and she could relate to the things he was saying. There was just this easy understanding between them. She wasn't completely sure why that was, as she had really only just met him, but she wasn't going to question it. This level of comfort around someone was a new feeling for her, something she wasn't used to but quickly began to like more and more. She hoped she could see him again after today. Having another friend would be great.

Celine tried to sit as still as she possibly could, admiring how Lemur's face took on this focused look as he got lost in his own world. It was a nice look. She wondered if she was like that as well when she was on stage. Like nothing else mattered at that moment. It was definitely how she felt when performing, she could get totally lost in the character she was playing. It seemed to be that way for Lemur when he was drawing, like the world was no larger than his canvas, pencils and the subject he was drawing. It made her feel very special, beautiful even. She blushed a little under his gaze as she responded to what he was saying. "I'm not too sure why I have the collar I do. I guess they just thought I was a nice child? I never really disobeyed much or caused any trouble, I think... I haven't read too much about the behavior of Ocelots in the wild. I don't know why, it just never occurred to me to do so. I might partially look like an animal, but I'm just a girl. I never thought about how our animal part might influence our behavior. I guess it makes sense that it could..."

--

"Well, I just assumed so." He replied without looked away from his drawing. He filled out the curve of her ear, giving a smaller, lighter curve to denote one of her colorful spots. "I mean, most of the tigers are wild. At least, for what I've seen." He took a moment to tap the pencil on his lip to consider this. Fossa was marked a wild and she definitely acted like such and she was definitely... predatory. Lemur shivered uncomfortably to pull himself back to the subject at hand.

"I guess it's not all genetics then." He continued, moving down to give shape to her shoulders. When the Jeune would sit happily, he'd add the little lizard creature onto her shoulder. But for now he was nearly done sketching; he finished a loose line to her hair before continuing his thought. "Wouldn't really be fair to put a wild collar on someone a nice as you, huh?" He gave a playful wink and grinned. "What do you think of this?" He said, turning his sketchbook around to show her.

--

Art had seen enough by this point. He had been watching for a while, growing more and more angry at the scene playing out in front of him, but unsure if approaching was the right thing to do. Celine had only ever seen the parts of him that he had wanted her to see and it was nothing short of sweet and charming. Scaring this boy off could ruin his progress with her and he couldn't have that. But it seemed to be escalating. The boy was clearly flirting with her and Art was only just getting into Celine's head and heart, he knew there was still a way to go. He couldn't have this stupid primate ruin that for him. He had to come up with a good excuse to get the pretty ocelot girl away from there and he had to think of it quick. It would probably only be a temporary solution, he knew odds were great that they would seek each other out again. But he could always try and scare the idiot off later, for now he had to separate them without Celine thinking any less of him. While being naive she was not completely stupid and he wanted a believable reason before he intruded on them.

--

Celine tried to remain still for Lemur, continuing to admire his focus and dedication to this drawing. It was easier than she'd expected to keep the same position for long. Maybe because the company was pleasant. She noticed a shiver passing through his body briefly and wondered what was going on in his head. She'd love to know. He was very interesting, that was for sure. She was also curious whom he had encountered. "I don't think I've ever met a truly wild Companion. I mean, no one was ever really mean to me. But I mostly talk to Younglings. I like their imagination, they can help me practice my acting. Maybe Younglings are less wild? Or perhaps I got lucky, I don't know." she finished explaining.

Her Jeune chose that moment to climb from the tree onto her head, messing up her head and making her giggle. "No, don't do that!" but her voice sounded full of joy instead of stern. She simply couldn't be mad at the cute little critter. Luckily Lemur had already paused drawing and didn't seem to mind the interruption. Celine blushed a bit at his next words, even more so when he winked at her. She was happy he seemed to genuinely like her. The girl really felt this chance meeting had gained her another friend. Then he turned his sketchbook around and Celine gasped, her hand shooting up to cover her gaping mouth. "It's... it's beautiful!" And it really was. It was totally and recognizably her, but in a way it was better, much prettier than she had viewed herself in the past. "Oh... Thank you!" she breathed. "For asking me, I mean. And the drawing. It's very flattering. No one ever did anything like that. And you are a very talented artist, I'm glad I've met someone who is also creative. This has been a really good time." she added, smiling shyly.

--

Art had to contain himself before he did something stupid. This was NOT going according to plan and he was not used to things being out of his control. Celine was blushing and giggling and looking all shy and bashful, this was not okay! He was pretty sure she wasn't even aware of how she was portraying herself, but he didn't think the lemur was as naive as her. The boy would certainly think she was flirting with him and he seemed all too interested in her himself. Art had to do something about it. Screw coming up with a good reason, he couldn't keep standing here. He took some deep breath to get himself back under control and sauntered over there, keeping himself out of view for as long as possible so they wouldn't realize he had been this close by for a while.

"Hi Celine," he greeted her as he approached, bending down to kiss her cheek. "I didn't realize you were out in Paradise as well. Who's this?" he asked, trying to keep his expression if not charming at least neutral. Him kissing her cheek would not only turn her focus back onto him, but also give off a clear signal to this boy whose girl he was trying to get with. Celine was spoken for and the sooner he realized that the better off he would be. Art wasn't going to lose her, she was surprisingly not annoying to be around and would be of so much use to him now and in the future. No one was getting in between that.

He half listened as Celine introduced the boy as Lemur, clearly one of those bland unoriginal facility names, and kept smiling sweetly. "I'm sorry to be interrupting. But I thought you had a check-up appointment at three o'clock, dear?" he feigned mock concern and confusion, knowing fairly well she had no such thing. It was next week. But Celine trusted him and usually told him about her daily plans, so she was sure to buy it. And as he expected her expression changed to one of shock, getting up and making her excuses to the boy as she prepared to leave. Perfect. "I'll walk with you." he said, putting an arm across her shoulders and steering her away before the lemur had much of a change to response, leaving him behind in confusion at how quickly it had all changed.