the same old face

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe peered, not entirely sure if the person she was looking at was the same old face she remembered. It had been quite a while, and Zoe couldn't recall having seen the young man around the art studio in those several months. Surely if he'd been around then Zoe would have run into him by now. She practically camped out in this room, especially now that she was balancing her art show with all her coursework. Maybe they just hadn't run into each other before now?

Zoe approached cautiously, trying to get a good look at the young man without trying to make it too obvious. She leaned forward slightly, but he seemed to be focused on his work. Not that Zoe could blame him: she was usually like that herself. She'd only looked up to get her eyes away from her photo collage and adjust and just happened to see him.

Now the work caught Zoe's eye. She shifted slightly, taking a few steps back and looking at it. The colors did seem strangely familiar, and there was something about the brush strokes. Though before Zoe could really think or process, the words came out of her mouth: "That's quite beautiful," she flushed and bit the inside of her cheek slightly. "Sorry, I, uh, it's good though," she tried again, leaning forward slightly to see if the person was who she thought. Well, he was an artist, so they could always talk about that, right?

[Regan and Cole Robins]

It had been a long time since Cole had been so absorbed in his artwork, because it had been a long time since he'd even created any.

Why, he couldn't say. He knew it had something to do with being back here, and being reminded that the happiness he'd left behind had pretty much stayed gone. He'd avoided most of his old haunts because they all reminded him of Gabriel and he wanted to stop missing him so much. Eventually he'd gone to talk to Ari. "You can't hide forever," she'd said. "You have to make new memories in these places. Happy ones."

So he did. He found his way, finally, back to the studio and within minutes he was so into what he was painting that he was oblivious to everyone around him. This was his zone, and here he was home.

He'd chosen to paint a raven in flight, as seen from below, sun up above and surrounded by the crowns of pine trees. Symbolic, probably, of wanting to just let himself take flight again. Be that free and happy. Who knew?

"That's quite beautiful."

Cole jumped badly, startled, broken out of his zone, and turned to the girl who'd spoken. She looked flustered. Corrected herself. But Cole was already smiling, remembering the other reason he used to come here so often, and remembering another painting he'd done nearly a year ago.

"Zoe!" He hopped off the stool and before he could stop himself was heading right over to her for a hug, giggling in his excitement.

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OOC Notes:

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The jumping nearly made Zoe jump. She ended up smiling somewhat sheepishly as he turned to look to her instead. The flustered comments still came, but at least they were twisted a little more positively then they might have been otherwise. Zoe found her joy soon expanding as Cole cried out her name and headed over for him.

Zoe's developed reflex of freezing kicked in for a moment, but she quickly pushed past it. After all, she'd learned by now that she needed to move beyond her power. A quick hug wouldn't do more than leave Cole a little tingly, after all, and only on the bits of him that interacted with Zoe. So she quickly raised her own arms to return.

"It's good to see you again!" she said, making sure to pull the hug back and smile at him. "I hadn't seen you for some time! I missed you!" Though, admittedly, that was more in retrospect. Though there were times when Zoe remembered all the people she'd grown closed to, those people who seemed to have drifted away throughout the years.

[Regan and Cole Robins]

Cole had been so excited about seeing Zoe again that he'd completely forgotten about her power, and he let go as he felt the tingles wave across his body. He felt Regan pinching him to ask what that was all about, and he quickly pinched back an all-clear before scratching his head with a blush. "Sorry, I forgot... it's just really good to see you. I missed you, too."

He smiled a little at her. She had changed, but she was still... her. He'd gone from 15 to 16 and really didn't think he'd changed all that much. Well... not on the outside. The inside was another matter. He frowned for a second, the thought calling up the trip they'd taken, but shook it off. Now wasn't the time. Zoe was here. He was smiling again almost immediately.

"You know, I was always curious if you kept that portrait I made of you... I was thinking the other day, I'd want to look at it again. I liked it. It was, um... it was really you. At least then." He smiled a bit shyly.

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OOC Notes:

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe nodded. "It's quite alright. I'm almost happy that you forgot: it's nice not to have to think about it. And," she smiled gesturing with her hands toward Cole, "I missed you too."

Though she still backed up slightly, wanting to put just a bit more space between them and all. Cole did look perhaps a bit taller, a little fuller, and there did seem to be something a little different about him. Then again, that much time passing would affect nearly anyone. Zoe knew that she looked quite different as well, a fact that Cole pointed out.

Flushing, she looked down. "I actually did," she admitted. Zoe raised a hand to tuck some hair behind her ear. "It's back in my room though, so I couldn't really show it to you right now. And I do suppose I'm different now," she looked up, meeting his gaze. "Since I'm letting my hair grow back out," said hair did happen to be at a slightly awkward shaggy stage, with bits of it starting to curl into her more natural bounce. Zoe took another step back, to better look over Cole. "You seem a bit different as well: more, um, older." she flushed, knowing the comment was rather inane, but figuring that Cole would appreciate it for what it was. "Um, what were you working on?" she turned slightly to look, though she knew that she'd just been examining it a few moments ago, and it was rather obviously a bird in flight.