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Macy looked around the park, leaning against a tree at the moment. She wasn't on the hunt at the moment, so a more noticeable blade wasn't hanging on her back. Though she did have a Glock hidden inside her ornate black jacket. She'd gotten more used to seeing vampires on the daily now, and with night just around the corner, she knew she'd start seeing them out again soon. It was all about choice. The problem was, she couldn't kill just any vampire. She was still relatively new at this, and, she was mortal. If they died they got another chance, whereas she did not. She had to know who to pick. But now was not the time for that, she needed to rest a bit.

She chewed on her lip pushing off the tree and starting to walk a lot more freely around the park. What she wanted was someone to talk too, she'd spent way too much time recently killing, zombies, gangsters, stealing guns or equipment from them, feral vampires, sometimes those ones she could find in the sewers. She'd had to take a bath quite a few times to get all the stench out, that was going to be a lot more of a common thing she realized. And while she felt a joy from destroying the undead, it still wore her out. Her muscles were actually a bit sore from it at this point, though she was pretty sure that'd vanish before a few hours were up, it'd been going away rapidly already. Being a paladin had some real side perks.

Her eyes glanced around, looking for something to get into for the moment.

Eli wouldn't have thought that he was the type to keep to a schedule in his adult life. Growing up, his life was controlled by his mother and two sisters; his father was much of a victim as he was, but he smiled fondly at the whole routine, said it was their duty as men of the house. The alarm woke the household for 6.30am and each person checked their calendars for their daily chores and after school activities. The school bus would call by at 7.48am on the dot and drop them back by 6pm, ready for a home cooked meal. Bed time was a military routine: wash, dress, and be ready to sleep by 9pm. But between dinner, homework, and bed, the Brooks had the time to do whatever they pleased.

Philippa, Eli's oldest sister, was fond of conspiracy theories. She read every murder mystery book she could get her hands on. She also insisted that they keep at least three newspapers for the day, just so that she had a balanced understanding of what was going on in the media; in the community and the world at large. It came as no surprise when she decided to pursue a career in journalism. She graduated with honours and moved to New York almost immediately after that. Although Phil was older than Eli by almost 8 years, he still felt close enough to her to read her articles and blogs. He isn't surprised to see the trend of her work change over time; aliens, cover-ups, and supernatural beings aren't something a professional journalist should be writing about in all seriousness after all.

Janette, Eli's second oldest sister, surprised the family by getting engaged to a scientist in Sweden and moving over there to meet him for the very first time in 2016. They'd been dating online for several years, apparently, which was the first any member of the Brooks family had heard about when she popped the news. Although Janette is closer in years to Eli, being just 2 years older, she was always the secretive sort; quiet and observant. She enjoyed stargazing and was fascinated by all things space. Eli supposes that he's never seen his sister as happy as when she'd taken a selfie of herself and Dr Gordon Strauss outside the Large Hadron Collider. He's saved that photo to his phone to remember her by and as he sits on a wooden bench in the middle of a park in Harper Rock City, he thinks that it's a good idea to recreate that memory in charcoal.

It's between the mid-afternoon and evenings that Eli finds the time to indulge in his hobby. He's always been a bit creative as they call it; scrawling doodles in his notebook when he should be solving equations or reciting the work of Shakespeare. Academia wasn't really something he was interested in or excelled at. What Eli really enjoys is being in the moment and capturing those moments in art forms. Tonight he's brought his box of charcoal pencils, setting spray, and an A4 sketchbook, which he's carrying in a medium sized brown leather duffle bag along with his gym gear. Work doesn't start until 6.30pm, so he has a few hours to get started.

He begins with soft lines, setting up the general design of their faces and the background. Janette has a small, heart shaped face and large eyes; too large for her head. They bulge slightly, but Eli remarks to her that it's because she's always eager to see things. The thought makes him grin and he begins to work on the details, smudging shadows to give dimension to her features. As he's working on her button nose, a small breeze lifts his hair into his eyes. As he's working on her frizzy hair, framing her head like the mane of a lion, the wind tugs at the edges of his book. His wrist strays to hold the edge down, smearing some of the doctor's face in the process. Eli pauses and groans before he smirks to himself: maybe it's fate.

Macy eventually noticed the individual with a notebook. She walked a little closer wondering what he was up to, she always enjoyed art a great deal. So much that she was practically covered in it. She wasn't so great at it herself but loved it when other people were. However as she approached she saw the wind pick up a bit getting hair in his face and...smudging the art. Well that was very unfortunate. Those things were not always very easily fixable. She half jogged a little ways and craned a neck around to glance it from the side, grimacing at the smudge but amused it seemed to happen on mostly the guys face.

"Hello there," She said returning to face him and standing upright again, she was not incredibly charismatic but she had no issues trying to talk to people for the most part, she reached out a hand to shake before continuing, "I noticed you drawing a bit, kind of wanted to see what was going on. Though that kind of looks like charcoal...can you...fix that?" she asked looking at the picture again, she knew a few things about drawing and trying a few times. And what she had learned was do not use charcoal if you expect a lot of mistakes. Paint could be painted over, pencil could be easily erased, charcoal she never quite figured out. "That would be rather sad wouldn't it? Oh by the way, I'm Macy Dunn, or Mason technically but Macy sounds better."

There’s a reason why few artists use charcoal and why even fewer use charcoal pencils, but it is easier to go to the park and draw with them over the cumbersome sticks. Plus, it was cleaner and he wouldn’t have to wash his hands a million times before he touched all that shiny chrome equipment at work. On the other hand, it’s not impossible to rub out the charcoal from the kind of paper he was using, which was thick and smooth. The very fact that the lines are finer with charcoal pencils means he could probably get most of that ugly smear from the doctor’s face. Just as he’s reaching for an eraser from his duffle bag to fix the worst of the smudge, Eli hears close footsteps and then a voice. He lifts his head to get a good look at the person approaching and instantly smiles. He clutches the small kneadable ball of rubber and then sits straight on the bench again.

“Hi,” he says warmly.

For a minute, his eyes don’t quite know where to settle. His hands curl in on themselves, dull fingernails bite into the eraser as he fidgets with it. She has the most striking, angular face, reminding him of cut marble. Her eyes seem to look at him with guarded curiosity too, like maybe she doesn’t make a habit of walking up to strangers and having a nice chat. Her choice of fashion hints at aristocracy; the kind that is developed and earned over time because he thinks he can make out a few tattoos under that ornate jacket. Eli has always been a bit jealous of people who have ink, knowing that if he ever went ahead with one design then he might as well live in the artist’s chair. Before long his entire body would be covered and the only place he’d likely find work was in a circus.

When she offers her hand, he hesitates for a second before shaking it. Her touch is uncommonly warm and his grip lingers for an equally long and awkward second before he lets her go. Eli places his hands either side of his sketchbook and watches her keenly. Meanwhile, she’s got her focus on his drawing and it has him wondering about the true nature of their conversation.

“Oh. Well. Yeah,” he begins. “I can fix it. Most of it probably. If I can’t, I’ll figure something out. Maybe cut that part off all together.”

It is no great loss to him if the doctor is cut out of the picture. They’d never met, never spoken - not even virtually - so it’s hard to have feelings about the guy either way. If anything, he knows more about the woman in front of him and is pleased to give her an introduction.

“Nice to meet you, Macy. You can call me Eli, if you want,” he offers. “Technically it’s Elijah, but not even my mother calls me that.”

Macy looked at him again as he was speaking, still smiling. He didn't seem all too bothered by her coming up to speak to him, that was certainly an upside. Too many people were unfriendly about that. She nodded furrowing her brow as he explained. She didn't know too much about him, he looked good to talk to and he was working on art, that was enough to get started with. However, she understood enough of what he was saying. She made a whoops face as he said he could fix it, or just erase it altogether, "Guess I have even less experience then I thought." she said with a chuckle before he introduced himself.

"Eli huh? Well pleasure to meet you," she said, "Sorry if I'm bothering you, I just figured maybe I could find someone to talk too. Plus, you were drawing, and I've always just kind of had an infatuation or something with art. I don't know why exactly, but it's always really made me feel happy. Though, if you want me to leave I guess I can, just hoped maybe I could visit or something?"

Unlike Eli perhaps, Macy didn't have as good an eye for how other people looked. She saw him, and what she saw was a polite artist with features that she only now noticed. She had no descriptions, her life revolved around the basics not the details. Did you look good or bad? Did you act good or bad? Did this work or not? Simple things. Perhaps he was different, after all at least he could draw. She never managed to master that ability as much as she loved it when other people did. Maybe it was perspective, and artists just had the ability to figure out the angles and edges.

Eli smiles and decides to bat away her self-criticism with his own interpretation of the situation. He’s seen it too many times; people putting themselves down and believing the worst truths about themselves. He still likes those kind of people; they generally have a fair look on life and a desire to achieve their dreams and the only thing that’s lacking is a little self-belief. Thinking about it, Eli reckons he’s probably seen just about the same amount of people who big themselves up too; think themselves God’s greatest gift. They probably get depressed around Christmas time when the spotlight goes to God’s other kid instead. If push came to shove, Eli supposes that he probably has to lay down his hat somewhere in the middle; he’s humble enough to know he’s got some work to do, but proud enough to respect the path he’s walked and what he’s already achieved. It’s a happy existence and one he likes to share where he can.

“Don’t say less experienced, say you’ve got appetite for growth. The trick is this eraser anyway,” he says warmly and offers the little ball of grey rubber to her. It’s been warmed by his hands so it moulds to shape with very little effort - like putty. “It’s squishy, so you can get it into the grooves of the paper and pick up the charcoal. I use it for making highlights as well.”

He listens to her external musings, explaining why she came over in the first place to introduce herself. He likes how brave she is and he nods in agreement when she points out her love of art - even if he doesn’t understand just how far that love extends. He does his best to not interrupt her, but when he feels like she’s backing off, he knows he has to say something to let her know he wants her to stay.

“You’re not bothering me,” he says, his voice pitching with eagerness. “I like the company. Really. It’s not often I get to talk about art. Uh...” Eli glances at the space beside him before quickly moving his pencils out of the away and then brushing away a few leaves. He shifts over, then looks up at her again. “Would you like a seat?”

The artist corrected her about saying she had less experience, and rather say she had an appetite for growth. An interesting response as he handed over the eraser which seemed to bend far more easily then most others she'd held. That was quite...odd. She felt it and ran it against one part of her hand thinking on how it would go with paper. Well, that certainly would explain a lot she thought. She looked at it for a moment longer before handing it back with a nod and quick, "Thank you, guess I just hadn't ever run into one of those before huh?"

Still she was a little worried he might not like her interrupting him but fortunately he put that to rest much to her own joy as he said he was good with the company and even offered her a seat moving his things out of the way, "Oh, thank you very much." she said pushing her out to the side a bit as she set down and straightening the black skirt.

It wasn't too often after she became a paladins he'd had any sort of somewhat normal conversation. Or...for that matter, had many conversations at all. She had made herself far too busy, but she was trying to fix that and at least with him that seemed to be working. "Hm, if you don't mind, do you do this for a living? I know I've heard art being a bit of a difficult choice of work for making some good money. And I can only imagine if you don't have someone to sell enough too that it's a really difficult task around here, it's not like everybody's buying things after all."

The starving artist is a cliché because it is so often true. Eli hasn't had any first hand experience in the area, but his involvement with other artists has taught him that it's almost impossible to make a living off of selling art alone. Most people seem surprised at the expectation of payment from the artist who's spent hours on their sculpture, illustration, photograph, or photoshop work at all. You wouldn't expect a free cake just because the baker enjoys what they do, so it makes no sense to expect the same of artists.

“Oh I've heard how rough it is out there. Especially online with everyone just stealing stuff. No, I don't get involved in any of it,” he explains with a light chuckle. “I just do this as a hobby because it makes life easier. That. And, well. I don't know if anyone would want to buy it in the first place. A lot of my work is portraiture. Usually people I know.”

He regards the sketch of Janette; the likeness is uncanny, but her cherubim face is reimagined in earthly, gritty charcoal. Her smile is so bright, her own eyes are squinting. She's leaning on the shoulder of her fiance, but Eli hasn't managed to fill in the area with any great detail so it looks like she could just as well be leaning against a rock. He likes the way it looks; drawing attention to his sister and the radiance of her joy in that moment. He decides to admit Dr Strauss altogether since the image is unlikely to be shared with anyone besides Mason.

“Do you have much family?” he asks casually. “This is my second oldest sister. She took this photo in Geneva. At the Large Hadron Collider. She loves space. I love art."

She nodded to herself as he answered that it was just a hobby. There were a good deal of those around. Like writers, they may not get paid but they still did it for the thing itself. She frowned as he said he didn't know if anyone would like it, because it was portraiture's often of people he knew. Macy looked back at the picture. It looked rather splendid to Macy, even with the smudge. There were certainly people who would pay some for that, but she realized that was mostly those at circus's and they usually weren't looking for good portraits just cartoonish quick ones.

Macy raised her eyes as he asked if she had family then kind of half shrugged, "Not really, kind of an only child here. My parents are...somewhere around I haven't really called them up in awhile. Things around here were just...really busy, it's been at least a month or two since I last heard from them."

She looked at the picture again, "Second oldest? Were you the youngest child?" She asked chuckling, "Or just maybe a large family? Nothing wrong with that of course, just figured I might ask maybe?"

“I understand busy. I haven’t seen my family in a while either,” he says with a weighted smile.“I’m sure they understand too. It happens.”

He can’t truthfully speak for Macy’s family, but he hopes it relieves her of a little guilt. It always works to remind himself of that. Eli hasn’t seen his family since last summer, but he does keep an eye on their activity through social media and even has the odd conversation with them - via text.

“I still am,” he answers. “Youngest of three. So I guess you could say we’re a large family.”

As a matter of fact, it is a Brooks’ prerogative to have an average of three children per family. Eli has two aunts on his father’s side and each has three children. At least two of his cousins have started their own families as well, making him the absent second-cousin to three. He didn’t very much like the idea of having any nieces or nephews just yet and he certainly wasn’t in the mindset to start a family of his own. Maybe he never would be.

“Are you local to Harper Rock then?” he asks.