<H> mythological irony

[mythological irony]

Day # 15
Theme: redraw oldest drawing



Original:


Comments: Not actually my oldest drawing, but it's the oldest one I could actually find.  

[mythological irony]

Day # 16
Theme: church

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 17
Theme: Victorian fashion

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 18
Theme: color palette

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 19
Theme: Christmas

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 20
Theme: finish/improve (day 16, church)

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 21
Theme: gems

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 22
Theme: monochrome green

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 23
Theme: doubt

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As I moved to cross the street, someone suddenly intercepted me. I recognized her as the woman who’d entered the cafe just as I was leaving the day before. There was still a subtle hint of strawberries in her dark hair, and her brown eyes were firmly locked onto mine until a coffee cup blocked my view.
I blinked in surprise.
“Large black coffee?” she asked.
I took the cup from her, and she all but beamed at me as she lifted a second coffee cup up and took a large gulp.
“It might not be too hot,” she said. “I didn’t know what time you’d be here and I didn’t want to accidentally miss you, so…I’ve been waiting.”
“Ah,” I said, unsure of how to really respond. I shifted uncomfortably. “Are you sure you’re not confusing me with someone else?”
“Of course not,” the woman said. She laughed--a high, clear sound, not unlike chimes. She brushed her hair out of her face, sweeping it back over her shoulder. The action drew my eyes toward her neck, though I immediately realized how that action would be taken--an Immortalis staring at someone’s neck would undoubtedly have people thinking I was going to bite them--so I hurriedly looked away.
“Well, thanks,” I said.
“No problem.”
I waited for her to leave but she continued to stand there, watching me. Her gaze was intense and hard to meet.
She gestured toward the cup of coffee. “Did I get it wrong?”
I moved the cup from one hand to the other. “No, it’s fine.”
“But you haven’t touched it.”
Oh. She was waiting for me to drink the coffee. Which she had bought for me. So how was I going to explain that I didn’t actually like coffee and that I only drank it when I needed to take a dose of blood?
I brought the cup to my mouth and took a small sip of lukewarm bitter coffee. Yum.
Now that I’d had some though, the woman would have no problem going on her way. So why was she still watching me expectantly?
I felt my face pale a little. What if she’d poisoned the coffee? s**t. No. There was no way. Most people wouldn’t go out of their way to murder an Immortalis--at least not one sanctioned by the government--but that didn’t completely alleviate my fears. Even if she wasn’t trying to kill me that didn’t mean she hadn’t put something in my drink. Why else would she be so intent on me drinking the damn coffee?
My fingers tightened around the cup.
“I should be going now,” I said. “To work,” I amended just so it was clear I actually had somewhere to be and not that I was trying to get away from her--although that’s exactly what I was doing and as soon as she was out of sight, I was going to dump the rest of my coffee and hope to hell I hadn’t been poisoned.
“Oh, yeah, of course.” The woman smiled another beaming smile. “Do you mind if I walk with you?”
Yes. Yes, I minded very much.
“I’m headed in that direction anyway,” she continued, “so we might as well keep each other company, don’t you think?”
I swallowed hard, biting back the desire to tell her exactly what I thought about that idea. Instead, I asked, “How do you even know where I work?”
She laughed. “Everyone knows where you work.”
Oh. Of course. Stupid question.
“Apparently, your boss has gotten a lot of flak for hiring you.”
Oh, the poor man. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
The woman took another gulp of her coffee and grimaced before tossing her cup into a nearby trashcan.
“Tastes like cough syrup,” she said, “but it keeps me awake.”
She looked pointedly at the still basically untouched coffee in my hand.
“Do you really like it black? I need mine with mounds of sugar.”
“It doesn’t really matter,” I said before starting down the sidewalk, desperately hoping that she would take the hint and not follow me, but after a moment I heard her footsteps and then there she was beside me. Damn.
“Are you going to drink that?” she asked.
I only gave the cup a momentary glance. “Uh…yeah,” I said but made no move to do so--the possibility of being poisoned wasn’t something I was keen on.
The woman suddenly let out a startling sound--some kind of a cross between a scream and a growl. I jerked in surprise, my attention flying toward her, as did the attention of a couple of other people walking nearby. Thankfully, despite the suspicious glances cast my way, no one seemed like they wanted to intervene even when they clearly thought I had harmed her in some way.
I tore my attention away from the other pedestrians and focused on the woman. She had tangled her fingers in her hair with a vise-like grip, and I could see the strands straining against her scalp. I lifted my hands to grab her and try to calm her down but maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. Right now, I hadn’t actually done anything, but if I started grabbing onto her, there was no telling how this situation might escalate.
“Hey,” I said, trying to get her attention. “What--”
Her head snapped up. She looked wild with her dark hair frazzled around her face and her eyes wide. Her mouth opened once, twice, sputtering, and then she released the death grip she had on her hair and lowered her arms.
She gave a shaky laugh. “I…I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have waited.”
As unpleasant as the situation had been moments ago, this was far worse. I had no idea what was going on anymore, and soon there would be rumors flooding the internet that I’d attacked some woman on the street.
s**t.
Total ******** s**t.
The woman dragged her fingers through her hair, pulling it out of her face in quick, sharp movements.
“It’s cold,” she said. “I should have waited for you and then gotten your coffee.”
I could only stare at her in total confusion. My coffee? This was about the coffee?
I held my hands up, like I was trying to calm a frightened animal.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I don’t care if it’s cold.”
I took a quick glance at the people on the other side of the street. One of them had a phone pointed in our direction, probably recording us in case I started gnawing on the woman’s neck or whatever ludicrous and stereotypical vampire thing they expected I would do--or hoped I would do, as the case often was because as much as people frowned upon the Immortalis, they also drew cheap thrills from them as well. People liked the macabre and the unusual and were often very keen on something dark happening.
Some more people took out there phones--some snapping pictures, others presumably recording and with every passing moment, more passersby seemed to be taking notice.
The woman was still smoothing down her hair, completely oblivious to our onlookers, and once she seemed satisfied with the state of her hair, she finally lowered her arms and focused her attention on me.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said and then sighed. She straightened up and took hold of my arm, leading me down the sidewalk. “Let’s walk and talk. We’re drawing too much attention.”
So she had noticed the people, after all.
I let myself be pulled along beside her, but no matter how far we walked, the group of people followed us. This was not something that I was accustomed to. Generally, these types of people avoided me; they did their work from a distance and I had never been followed so openly down a street before.
“Ignore them,” the woman said.
I scoffed. “How am I supposed to ignore them? They probably think I’m kidnapping you or something.”
She looked up at me with a startled expression. “Oh,” she said. “You think they’re following you?”
I stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded, and then faced forward again.
“Obviously,” I said. “People assume things about me all the time, and you did kind of scream in the middle of the street before.”
She spluttered.
Was it really so hard for her to grasp? Or did she honestly think it was normal for a group of people to be following us around with their phones out?
“Do you…really?” She was apparently at a loss for words, though I couldn’t fathom why.
Finally, she moved forward and turned around, stopping suddenly in her tracks. I locked my knees, trying to keep myself from running into her. My heart pounded as I stared down at her in surprise.
Her eyes were slightly wide as she looked into my face and then she laughed.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just surprised. I thought you were just playing cool before, but you really don’t know who I am, do you?”
“What?”
“I’m Dani Heath.”
For a second I could only stare at her, and then her words finally clicked with me. This was the woman Brandon had been talking about that supposedly had a thing for Immortalis. s**t.
s**t.
I tried to keep my face carefully blank so as not to give away my complete and utter displeasure at this news.
“Well, it was nice to meet you,” I said, “but I really need to get to work, so…”
I started to scoot around her but she moved with me and blocked my path.
“Is that all?” she asked, looking genuinely confused. She pointed a finger toward the crowd. “Any one of them would be ecstatic to have a private conversation with someone famous. I mean, you have heard of me at least, right?”
“Yeah. Yesterday.”
She gave a breathy squeak. “Yesterday. That’s it? Do you live under a rock?”
I ground my teeth together and tried to step past her again, but she continued to block my path.
“Look,” I said, this time not able to hide my anger. “I don’t really care who you are or how famous you are. I don’t have the luxury of being late for work; I was lucky to be hired in the first place and if I’m late, I’ll most likely be out of a job. So get out of the goddamn way.”
She stared at me with wide eyes and then finally stepped to the side. I stormed past her, pissed beyond belief--not just at Dani but at myself for losing my cool. I knew there were going to be consequences for that. Angering a celebrity--what the hell was I thinking? She could absolutely ruin me.
s**t.
I should apologize. Apologize while I actually have the chance to fix things, but the thought of doing so made my mouth feel like dust. I probably wouldn’t even be able to utter the words without it sounding completely fake. She would know, and I would only be demeaning myself.
s**t.
“Wait!”
Despite my better instincts, I came to a halt and glanced over my shoulder. Dani jogged to catch up with me and stopped a few feet away.
“I’m really sorry,” she said.
I stared at her in surprise.
“I wasn’t thinking and it was rude of me to not take into account your needs. I was…” She covered her face with her hands. “…overcome.” She peeked past her fingers at me. “If you give me another chance, I’ll do better. I promise.”
It had not once crossed my mind that she would apologize to me, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. Was she being genuine? She sounded like she meant it, but I couldn’t necessarily trust that. Being a celebrity, I’m sure she’d learned to lie quite spectacularly to keep up an image.
She lowered her hands, and when I could finally see her face again, I felt even more perplexed. She really did look apologetic. But more than that, she looked desperate, like she actually wanted me to think well of her.
When I continued to say nothing, Dani seemed to grow uncomfortable, shifting from foot to foot, eyes not able to hold my gaze for long. Finally, she took a step backward.
“I understand,” she said. “I’m asking too much after the way I acted. I would like to make it up to you, but it’s your choice. If you never want to see me again, just tell me to leave.” She stared down at the sidewalk, her shoulders stiff, as if she already knew the answer and was simply preparing for my confirmation.
“If you want to talk,” I said, “we can’t do it in public.”
Her head snapped up and she stared at me with surprised eyes.
“Really?” she asked. “You’re really going to give me another chance?”
“I guess,” I said grudgingly. This was obviously going to be a horrible idea, but she certainly seemed happy to be able to talk with me, which was not something I used to. Generally, my conversations with people were short and terse, with neither one of us really wanting to be there. However, with Dani, it seemed I was the only one who didn’t want to be there, but I couldn’t hold that against her without any reason, could I?
Dani dug a small notepad from her purse and scribbled her number on a page before tearing it out and proffering it to me.
“Here,” she said. “When you’re ready to talk again, please call me.”
I took the paper, and when Dani smiled brightly at me, I gave a tentative smile in return.
After a moment of awkwardly smiling at one another, Dani gave a curt nod of her head before turning around and walking away. Once she was halfway down the street, the crowd that had been hanging back watching us suddenly swarmed her.
I watched her smile and laugh and sign autographs for a second before glancing down at my watch and cursing as I realized I was almost assuredly going to be late for work.

Comments: I think I'm coming down with the flu, so...I'm doing what comes easiest to me and writing something instead.  

[mythological irony]

Day # 24
Theme: design a book cover

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 25
Theme: villain

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 27
Theme: tired

 

[mythological irony]

Day # 28
Theme: moth

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[mythological irony]

Day # 29
Theme: fighter