Wandering [torie]

Upon finding out that there was village near the school, Constantine was significantly interested. It only bothered him a tiny bit as he walked through the market to look at all the things being sold, that some people briefly stared at him. Other villagers paid no mind at all it seemed, maybe they were more used to weird students than the ones who stared.

Stopping at a window with pottery, Constantine's attention was caught by a terrifically red vase. It made him think of that girl he had met with the red hair, what was her name again? Vivian, he thought. Deciding that he had the time for it, Constantine stepped into the shop and was welcomed by a girl at the cash register. Catching glimpses of other pottery that had almost the same shade of red, Constantine's interest kept on going back to the same vase. Sighing lightly, he perused through the rest of the store.

The winter months were finally, blissfully, behind them, and the sun was shining full force. Viv hadn’t felt so alive in months, and she was not going to spend a moment longer stuck in that stuffy old school! For once, Cam hadn’t been hard to shrug off. Her sister was always running off because of something super important, not that Vivian really minded. It was nice to be able to get some privacy for once.

Though she usually wanted nothing more than to spend her days in the meadow or the forest, she hadn’t ventured too much in the town nearby. Usually, she wouldn’t have gone without Camille but, seeing how beautiful it was out, she decided it was time to get out there on her own.

The weather was warm enough for a sundress, so she chose one of her favorites, a mint-colored one with a fitting top and loose skirt. Camille had always liked her clothes to fit her body, but Viv had always liked things to be loose and flowing on her. She hated feeling restricted on any way, especially by her clothes.

She’d kept her hair down, her normal waves flowing, an untamable lion’s mane. Around her wrist were at least four ribbon-like bracelets that she found were good for pulling her hair up with. They didn’t hurt to pull out, and were cute if she didn’t want to mess with her hair. She’d keep them in case the wind picked up later.

The town wasn’t as crowded as Vivian had thought it would be, and most people didn’t give her a second glance. She knew she was nothing special to look at, nothing that shouted GIFTED! the way others did. The only thing different about her was her eyes, but not many people paid that much attention to a random girl walking around. They’d grown lighter with the coming summer, and were a deep shade of green that could rival fresh grass.

A pottery store caught her eye, and she almost had to pivot to not miss it. Her room was bare of any decorations, and she needed something to bring some life to the room. Perhaps she’d even be able to find a nice vase for some flowers (that she would buy intact and keep them alive for the colder months before replanting them somewhere safe).

Vivian walked around the store slowly, looking at every piece she could find. It was amazing how talented these people were. She had no natural talents the way others did, nothing that set her apart from the crowd. Her parents had tried making the triplets take music lessons and while Maurice and Cam had excelled, Vivian had never found music to come easily to her. She didn’t mind; some people were just of a different make.

She had almost scoured the whole store when a young man caught her eye. She knew him, remembered him from somewhere. The memory was hard to come by again, and she had to concentrate to remember. He had been the boy who’d got in a fight months ago, before the winter ball had even happened. He’d had an odd, long name… Constance… Con…Constantine! How had she not seen him since? Oh well. She was seeing him now.

Tentatively, not wanting to disturb him, she walked towards him, smiling warmly. “Hey there, Constantine! It’s been a while, huh?”

As his name was called out Constantine jumped in surprise, like a cat would do if you tried to pet them and they didn't want to be petted. Instead of running away though, he still stood there with his brows quirked slightly. "Hello Vivian," he said to the girl in front of him - caught in between confusion as to what to say next and surprise that he ran into her here. "Did you see that vase in the front window? That's what made me come in here, it made me think of your hair," Constantine's mouth dropped after he realize what he said and he put and a hand against his forehead. She must think I'm a creep, he thought to himself as that hand ran down the not scarred side of his face.

Constantine didn't apologize though, he had really no need too - he just chewed his tongue and waited for her response. He wasn't necessarily the best at talking with people, and it showed obviously through his mannerisms when you looked at him.

Vivian giggled when he jumped, only feeling slightly bad about scaring him. It was kinda cute, how flustered he was. As he mentioned the vase, Viv glanced at it curiously. “Y’know, it does almost match my hair color. Good eye.” The choice of words didn’t seem bad until he ran a hand over his face. She regretted them immediately.

Clasping her hands over her mouth, Vivian let out a little gasp. “I’m so sorry, really I am, I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just a phrase, oh I’m sorry,” she rambled. Her face flushed, embarrassment running over her. She hoped he didn’t think anything of it; she hadn’t meant to be offensive, not at all.

She had glanced at vase he pointed out when she first walked in to the store. It really was a pretty vase. Maybe she’d end up buying it later. Not until he left though; he had seen it first, and she didn’t want to take it from him.


He seemed so nervous, standing there fidgeting. Was it her? She needed to make him relax more. She bit her lip, trying to force a subject to come to her. She didn’t want to offend him again. Vivian had to choose her words (and topic) wisely. And then it came to
her. “Oh! Did you end up going to the Christmas Masquerade? It was a wonderful time.”

Constantine was listening to her, until she quickly apologized for what she was saying and the young man looked up in surprise. He shook his head though, "It's okay," he said to her with a nonchalant shrug to show that it really was okay. He looked around the shop momentarily, seeing that the shopkeeper was eyeing the both of them with part curiosity and part something else.

Carefully, Constantine put his hand on Vivian upper arm to lead her out, "Let's go outside and talk about it?" he asked her. "Let's look at the other shops together and I can tell you about it." Constantine had a feeling that the shopkeeper was most likely only uncomfortable with his disfigurement and was curious as to why this pretty girl was talking to him. He was a little curious about himself but choice not to ask why just yet.

Vivian let out a sigh, relieved he wasn't angry or offended. She had to start watching what she said around him. She never wanted to come across as rude or inconsiderate of his feelings. New people often came with new challenges, but Viv was used to that. Usually, she was too overzealous with new friends. Her excitement over the smallest things proved too much for them, and she ended up scaring them off. It was that reason she toned it down now, keeping her smile small and her movements to a minimum.

He led her outside, and Vivian looked back at the shopkeeper curiously. He watched them leave, sneering triumphantly, as if he alone had made them leave.

"What was that about?" she asked, frowning. They hadn't done anything to the man or his shop. Immediately, she wanted to go back in and apologize for whatever they had done, but she had a feeling Constantine wouldn't want to go back in there.

Vivian shrugged, and took his hand in hers. She didn't especially like being led around like that. She hoped that by holding his hand, he might be a little more comfortable with her.

At her question Constantine frowned for a moment, not sure as to whether or not he should tell her about his suspicions on how the shopkeeper felt about them. Looking at her though, he felt a sudden urge to share a lot more with her than he actually should. Unable to help himself, Constantine started to speak "I don't think he was very comfortable with me being in there because of my scar."

Suddenly Constantine noticed that Vivian had reached out and grabbed his hand, with his brows furrowed he looked at her very confused and tilted his head almost like a cat would. Not many girls would just blatantly volunteer to hold his hand, and so from that he felt this strange sort of tingle in his chest causing him pull away from her in even more surprise. "I, uh... you... um..." It seemed as if Constantine frown got longer and longer with each passing second. "You surprised me there, people don't really do that with me..."

She was taken aback at his words, and stopped walking. She opened her mouth and then closed it, wanting to say something but not sure what she could say. "B-but... No, what kind of person is that judgmental and rude? Are you sure it was your scar? It could've been anything. Maybe it was just because we're teenagers." Vivian didn't want to believe anyone could be rude to somebody just because of the way they looked, especially if it was a physical thing.

She could feel her face redden, and took a deep breath. Vivian wasn't used to being angry; it had been a long time since a situation had come up that really pissed her off. Still, that didn't give her the right to get angry. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, after all. Viv cleared her throat and smiled at Constantine. "Well, his loss. If he doesn't want customers, that's on him."

As he pulled away from her, she let out a little whimper as if he'd hurt her. Once again, she'd done something wrong. He frowned, and kept frowning, and kept frowning, and Vivian felt her smile melt away. "I-I'm so sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to make you mad or upset or anything, really, I just-" She backed away from him. "I'm sorry, maybe I should just go, I keep offending you and saying and doing the wrong things and I'm just sorry."

Viv kept her eyes to the ground, too embarrassed to look up at him. She couldn't stop mucking everything up today; she was usually so sure of herself and knew the right things to say to people. Apparently, Constantine was not like most people.

Constantine couldn't help but think that Vivian might have been right about the shopkeeper just not liking teenagers, but his pessimism decided not to verbally agree with her. A surprising thing happened then that Constantine couldn't help but think was... well, for lack of a better word cute. Vivian seemed to get some sort of angry expression on her face but it faded just as soon as it came. "I suppose so," he said in response to her talking about the shopkeeper.

As she started to apologize to him after he had pulled away from her, Constantine's eyes went wide "You're not doing anything wrong." He said to her at first, confused as to how he should deal with this situation. He could easily agree with her and have her go and that be the end of it. Some part of him though felt like it was necessary to keep her around a little bit longer. "It's not your fault, I'm not used too..." he paused for a moment unsure as to how he should explain himself. "I'm really not used to having company," he finally said to her hoping that explained everything, but some part of him know that he could come up with something better than that.

While he was sitting there trying to figure out how to talk to her more, a small kid behind them was running up and getting closer and closer to them. Suddenly, the kid stopped at Constantine and dug in his pocket quickly grabbing the teen's wallet. Constantine was so shocked by this that he barely reacted, and in another split second the kid jolted off with Constantine's wallet. Still gaping until the whole incident processed, Constantine finally said something "H-Hey! That kid! He took my wallet!" Constantine looked at Vivian conflicted for a moment "I'm going to go get him, you can follow if you want." With that Constantine bolted off after the kid.


[ooc; you can control this kid also, just to make it interesting o: ]

[ooc; dead thread until otherwise revived]