out of place

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe certainly felt out of place at the party. People everywhere, listening to raucous music played by locals, including two of Zoe's favorite people in the world: Beau LaRoux and Elizabeth Edison. That had been the main reason for her heading out to the party, that and that she knew she needed to keep expanding and at least trying. If she didn't try to be social, then she'd never actually accomplish it.

Yet there she stood, hovering near the edges of the party and staring out at the crowd. She thought Alice was around here somewhere: they'd come together, though her girlfriend was off doing something now. Zoe was supposed to be doing her own thing for a bit too.

Her own thing seemed to be hovering. She moved over to the drink table, looking at the various alcoholic beverages laid out. Zoe had tried alcohol before: wine and champagne. She liked the latter, but she didn't see any of it here. Mostly, ah, party liquors. She reached for a bit of punch, poured herself a glass, and took a sip.

It burned.

Zoe let out a little gasp and put her hand to her mouth, turning to look around. When she caught the eye of someone nearby, she flushed. "I think it's spiked," she offered by way of explanation, pointing toward the bowl. She then looked down at the liquid, trying to figure if she should just drink it anyway. A little alcohol might actually help with her dancing nerves.

[Ryan Alexander]

"Of course it's spiked. I spiked it. Punch is so much more interesting that way." Ryan shrugged.

"I don't mean more interesting to drink though. More interesting to watch people down it and either choke like you did, or get incredibly tipsy. Either way is fun. But shhh if you tell on me, I'll deny it all. And then possibly see if you have any fillings that need extracting from your teeth." Ryan shrugged, taking a drink of her juice box. Then she took one from the khaki utility belt she wore around her waist.

"Here. Want one? Totally pure fruit juice. Unopened. I thought I was going to be the only one left completely sober at this party and you've proved me wrong. For that you deserve some compensation for the coughing I caused. I'm Ryan by the way."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Soon Zoe found herself blinking, not quite believing that someone could be so... so blunt about just outright spiking the drink. The girl continued, insisting that she was doing it to watch other people get drunk or what have you. That made Zoe flush, mostly remembering the last time she'd gotten drunk at a party, and how poorly that had actually went.

Just as she was tempted to simply say that she wouldn't drink, Zoe found the strange girl pulling out a juice box. she looked to it for a moment, blinking, wondering why she would have such a thing. Though as Zoe kept looking, she couldn't help but find herself comparing the girl to Mae. They both had a similar aesthetic, and both seemed kinder than that aesthetic would indicate.

Which meant that of course Zoe had to give the girl a chance. "Um, thank you," she said, taking it, careful not to let her fingers brush against Ryan's overmuch. "I'm, um, Zoe," she nodded, "nice to meet you," and then she worked at trying to get the juice box open, trying to remember how the things worked.

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan smiled.

"Just because I spike the punch doesn't mean I'm not prepared. I had to bring juice so I'd have something non-spiked to drink. Also, I'm just aiming to see the initial reactions like yours to the spiked punch. You gave me a neat reaction, so you earned a juice box from my utility belt." Ryan was very matter of fact about it.

"There's a straw on the side. It'll help you get a tropical punch. Kind of get rid of the nasty aftertaste the punch leaves. I don't drink either, even though my parents did a fair bit. And it isn't like not being legal would stop me...but I don't like drinking it really." She shrugged.

"So what are you doing at the party? No offense but it doesn't really seem like your scene."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe still wasn't sure how to handle being given a juice box by someone who wanted to spike the punch for vague reasons. It struck her as the same sort of mean behavior that she hadn't appreciated when she'd seen it from Jasper Emory. She still had the juice box though, and she did know how to punch it open with the straw, which she did so now.

A little bit of juice squirted out the top, accidentally getting on Zoe's hand. She waved it a few times, while looking up at the other girl. "It's not really," she admitted, looking around. "Though I have been at a few concerts and all." Zoe shifted her grip on the box, taking a tentative sip. It tasted normal, more or less. "but, um, I'm friends with the band?" She pointed in the general direction. "Liz is one of my dearest friends here, and, um, Beau's quite nice. That and my girlfriend is around here somewhere. She's friends with them too, or, well, Liz at least," Zoe smiled, "you really can't be friends with Liz without meeting Beau though."

She took another sip, then nodded at the girl. "Um, thanks for this,' she said, raising it. "So, um, why are you here then? Just to spike the punch...?"

[Ryan Alexander]

"Aw damn you've got a girlfriend. Smart girl, with my compliments for beating me to it." Ryan grinned with a chuckle. When Zoe thanked her for the juice box and asked why she was at the party, Ryan shrugged.

"I didn't come here originally to spike the punch. That was just kind of an 'on-the-whim' sort of thing to do. I have this thing about watching people. Anything that elicits a reaction that I might like to watch. Then I try to take those emotions and...I kind of try to portray them on a canvas. Part of the reason why I spiked the punch with alcohol. I have a piece planned that is centered around alcohol. Its effect on people, its destructive capabilities...so I thought it was only right to see what alcohol does to people who normally don't drink it. They choke like you did. But when you drink too much alcohol, it doesn't have that effect anymore. And that makes me think it does something to the person with too much consumption. Am I making sense?" Ryan sighed.

"What am I saying? I know that I rarely make sense. Anyways, spiking the punch was basically research. Taken because I came to this party to try to hit on girls. And haven't been successful, hence why I'm bored." She laughed.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe flushed at Ryan's compliment/comment... and it seemed as though she was complimenting Alice too. Part of Zoe almost wondered if Alice would be jealous if she saw someone else flirting with Zoe. Probably not, seeing as she had to know full well that Zoe had fallen hard for her.

Besides, as Ryan continued, she seemed to remind Zoe less and less of Maelea and more and more of Devyn. The want to try something out just to see what it would do, the mention of some sort of strange project. Though Zoe had to admit that the latter sounded more like her, even down to the mention of strange project. If Zoe was doing a project though, she likely wouldn't be tormenting other people, and she was tempted to suggest as much.

But she didn't want to interrupt Ryan, and so let the girl keep talking, getting everything out. "Oh, you just... there are quite a few girls here that would probably be interested...?" Zoe looked around for a moment, trying to remember which ones. Sadly the only ones that came to mind were her girlfriend, her ex, and the girl who her ex cheated on her with.

"But, um," she looked back to Ryan, "do you really think that spiking the punch is a... a good idea?"

[Ryan Alexander]

"Oh I wasn't looking to be successful. It's more about the conquest. I don't really go through with anything. Never did while I was at St. Bethany's or Acton Vale either." When she asked if it was a good idea to spike the punch and Ryan sighed, looking at the punch bowl, then at Zoe. She tapped her chin in thought for a moment.

"Hindsight is 20/20. Honestly, it's probably not one of my better ideas. Putting my chewing gum on the spring break railings with fortune cookie-like fortunes was probably a better idea than this one. But...it isn't all bad. It allowed me a good conversation starter with you. I'm pretty new and I don't really know too many people at Bellefonte yet. So really I might have just been a genius, eh?"

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Again, Zoe found that she couldn't quite follow the girl's thought process. It's about the conquest, but not about being successful? Zoe could only stare, feeling more confused with each passing moment. At least her question seemed to cause the other girl to stop and consider her actions. So Zoe supposed that may be a good thing...?

Yes, it did seem as though the girl was admitting that it wasn't one of her better ideas. Zoe nodded a bit at that, only to end up flushing as the girl insisted that it ended up being good. She swore that now that she was out every pretty girl wanted to compliment her. Well, that or sneer at her and call her disgusting, depending on who she talked to.

"um, thank you? Though I don't know if it's really that great that you're talking to me," Zoe had to point out, gesturing around her. "It's not as though there's a line to do so or anything..."

[Ryan Alexander]

"You see a line of people wanting to talk to me?" She mimed looking around and even put her hand over her eyes to search high and low.

"I think I even see a bloody tumbleweed." She shook her head and grinned lopsidedly at the other girl.

"Annddd...you don't know if it's that great that I'm talking to you?" Ryan rubbed the back of her neck and sighed.

"Okay you don't want to talk then? I can take a hint. You just took a juice box, right?" Ryan shrugged, smirking slightly. But honestly she did think that maybe this girl was telling her subtly to get lost.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

What was the girl doing with the looking? Zoe frowned for a moment, before realizing that it was just another little show or something. She flushed, realizing that she should have noticed that much sooner. Flushed and averted her gaze, bringing the juice box up and taking another sip as if to cover it. No, there definitely didn't seem to be anyone coming over. Though Zoe was tempted to point out that she'd been there first and...

...wait, what? Zoe seemed almost startled as Ryan talked about taking the hint. "What? No, I just..." she fidgeted, again looking away, this time toward the ground. "I'm not... I'm in the corner," she said, her eyes looking the other way, "away from the party and all. I'm not exactly the party girl or anything. If you really wanted to get people to notice you, you should talk to someone else. Like, um, Erika or something."

This was the Bellefonte girl's party. Zoe had some classes with Erika, which had been somewhat odd, but she didn't exactly know the girl. They did have friends in common though, enough for Zoe to mention her. She kept chewing her lip, wondering if she should try and find Erika to point out to Ryan now. Though surely she knew who the Bellefonte girl was; Erika was the hostess of the party.

[Ryan Alexander]

"Oh. Good. Just your own little insecurities and not you being totally pissed at me. Always nice. And just for the record, just because you're in the corner doesn't mean you disappear. I approach the people I think look interesting. If I saw you, you aren't invisible like you think." Ryan smiled.

"As for Erika...naw I'm good. I'm talking with you. I don't need to talk to her. She's cool too of course. Into art, has a good mind for it. But I heard you're a photographer. Since I get a lot of new ideas for paintings and stuff from photos, I thought you might be interesting to talk to. And don't ask how I know you're a photographer. My parents make a point of looking at art, and I make a point of knowing the artists in the area I'm in. Especially when they tackle many of the same topics I do in my art. Like you with your power paintings for example."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Yes, just her own little insecurities. Hearing it put like that did make Zoe blush and lower her head, but at least it sounded like it was something of a relief to Ryan. The vibrant-haired girl soon continued, insisting that Zoe looked "interesting," which just had the shy poet looking even more intently at her juice box, as though it could somehow save her from actually having to talk.

The suggestion to talk to Erika didn't go over so well either: it really did seem as though Ryan wanted to talk to her. The mention of Zoe's chosen, well, profession, had her looking up, surprise widening her expressive brown eyes. "Did you hear about my show, maybe?" she asked, unable to keep some of the hope out of the words. She had done some advertising and she did have several friends that mentioned it and there had been the appearance on Tim's show.

"It's not, um, I don't just do photography. I also write poems, sometimes putting them on the photo and all," Zoe explained, gesturing with the hand not holding the juice box. She ended up lowering her hands, flushing slightly, excitement at least mixing with the embarrassment this time.

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan saw Zoe stare down at her juice box and what not and Ryan couldn't help but think it was kind of sweet how insecure and shy the girl seemed to be. Ryan knew this wasn't attraction really. Yes, the girl was attractive. But more than that, Ryan longed to bring the other girl out of her shell. Then photography was mentioned and the girl seemed to light up. Ryan smiled, happy to see it.

"I did hear about your show. I'm unfortunately probably not going to make it there. But I heard about it from Erika. You see, I came up with the idea to make a series of paintings expressing things about the elementally powered. Kind of...trying to show how it feels. Or the feelings around them. Or just the motions of what they're controlling and how they control it. Each elemental controls their element differently, even the ones with the same element as each other. I kind of want to show that. It was just my good fortune to bump into you here though."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe's brow furrowed slightly at the mention of her show. That was still planned to run through March, which was still a little ways away. Still, she didn't see any reason to really press the issue: if Ryan didn't want to go, then Zoe didn't see any reason to make her.

The girl seemed to have some artistic inclination herself. Zoe had met a few of the more avant garde artists in her time, and while she didn't always quite "get" their visions, she often found herself impressed by their daring and imagination. Sometimes her own work felt downright mundane by comparison. Though the thought of emotionally powered paintings was...

"It sounds like you're very avant garde," Zoe offered, knowing the right terminology, "and it's always great to run into someone else who's interested. My project's mostly about showing how our powers can be beautiful sort of,' she gestured, "the beautiful side, when all people seem to notice is the ugly..." which Zoe knew all too well. She took a sip of her juice box, reminding herself yet again that she was fighting against that, and that more people had forgotten the Lesbian Pikachu thing than remembered it.