Paintings Galore (Ian and Kitty)

"Finally finished." Ian sighed tiredly. He had spent the rest of the week working on it, and now it was finally finished. The painting was of a meadow with a young woman in it. She had long, curly brown hair that draped over her shoulders and touched the bottoms of her feet. Her face was round and pale, with the color rose painted on her cheeks. Her dark brown eyes were covered in a curtain of thick, long eyelashes which stared down at a flower she held in her small dainty hand. It looked like something you might see in an art museum. In the bottom right-hand corner was Ian's twirly signature and the title of the painting in quotations, which read, "Damsel in the Field." It was a rather lousy name, but Ian was a painter, not a professional name maker-upper or whatever it was called.

Ian whipped the sweat off his forehead and took off his painting apron--hanging it up on his canvas as he always did--and took his long orange hair out of the ponytail which had bound it together and let it fall over his hansom face once again.

Kitty lightly knocked on Ian's door. Ian told her he'd be done with a painting he was talking about not that long, so she came to see how he was. Today was her off day at work, so she decided to stop by since his house wasn't that far away from her own. Hopefully she wasn't bugging him or anything, she was curious and bored, so she couldn't help that she showed up here. Maybe he wouldn't mind seeing her right now.

Ian was in the middle of getting dressed into something more casual which he heard a knock at the door. He quickly finished slipping on a pair of long baggy jeans and ended yo answering the door without his shirt on. "Hey." he said seeing Kitty at the door. What was she doing here? Oh ya, he had invited here. "Come in." he moistened inside of his house.

Kitty heard some noise coming from Ian's house, he was probably cleaning up quickly or something like that. The door opened and there Ian stood without a shirt on. It's not like she hasn't seen him without one before, but that was while they were swimming. She couldn't help but notice how fit he was too. "Hey," she said stepping aside trying not to be rude and stare at him. "You done yet?"

"Yep." he said smiling. "Just finished. Want to take a look?" Ian help the door open wider so Kitty could come in. "You can step inside, the place isn't booby trapped or anything. At least not as far as I'm aware of." Ian scratched the back of his head. It had been tough, finishing it up so quickly. Normally, it would have taken him a lot longer to finish it, but for some reason, he had been looking forward to showing Kitty the painting. So he had done his best to finish it up as quickly as possible. And although it probably could have been better, he was still kinda pleased with the way it came out.

She nodded and entered his house. It was pretty neat aside from the occasional art supplies here and there, much like her own home in a sense. "It'd be weird if you didn't know of any traps in you're own home," Kitty pointed out. "So, where's the painting?" she asked egar to see it. Ian was a very good painter and she started to get interested in looking at his work.

Ian leaned up against the wall and nodded his head towards a painting in the corner of the room that had a thin white sheet thrown over top of it. It was so the painting wouldn't collect dust. "Right over there." he said. "I hope you like it. It's...well....kinda based off of you, I guess."

Kitty's eyes settled on the painting and she took a few steps closer to it. The girl was pale and had hair longer than Kitty could stand to have herself. She seemed happy though as her deep brown eyes stared at a small flower in the palms of her hands. It was beautiful, a masterpiece in other words. "Ian, it looks amazing," she admitted. She wasn't shure if she should be envious of his skill as an artist, since she knew she couldn't do anything like it herself.

"Thanks." he said smiling. "I'm glad you like it." Ian was silent for a moment, and scratched the back of his head, thinking. "Um, would you like to see the others as well?" he asked. "I mean, I have a full room full of paintings. It's where I store them. Hopefully one day, they'll be able to be seen by other people though."

"Gladly," Kitty said almost immediatly. Ian was a good artist and she appreciated it since she did art of an unusual form, well compared to his painting. She understood that patience is important and how long it takes, since she makes stuff from metals, objects that don't want to bend so easily. Her arms got pretty strong from all of the hard work though. "You might want to put on a shirt, if you haven't noticed yet," she suggested.

"What?" Ian asked. He seemed to notice for the first time he wasn't wearing one. "Why?" she chuckled. "Does it bother you?" But Ian didn't say any more after that. He ran in and got a t-shirt from his room and slipped it over his torso. Then he motioned Kitty to a back room. "This way." he said.

Ian didn't seem to notice that he was shirtless all of this time and she couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Maybe it does," the next thing she knew he had run back into a room and came out with one on. Then he lead her into a room filled with dozens of paintings. Each one looked different, but they were all made by Ian. He really was talented. "All this makes me sort of envious," she admitted aloud.

"Hm? How so?" He asked. "Paintings may look nice, but they have a darker meaning than anyone looking at them can guess." Ian walked over to one painting of a man hanging from the ceiling and gently ran his fingers on the side of the canvas. "Each painting, no matter what it is, has the artisan's emotions sculpted into it. Perhaps a chapter of his or her life or an event they remember vividly. Some happy, some dark. Whatever it is, the painting is always a burden to the artist. No matter how lovely. Be very grateful you cannot paint like this."

"Even the dark things can be great, in a sense," Kitty said. The painting was rather disturbing, but you could see the sadness and despair in it. It probably was a little strong for the weak of heart, but Kitty wasn't like that. Evil was in everyone, including herself. She still wanted to be good like Ian in the arts of painting, but she probably would never try it out her self and stick to smithery.

Ian clicked his tongue. "I suppose so." He was silent again for a minute. "Anyway, painting is really just a hobby. If I wanted to make a career out of it, I'd pretty much be a starving artist. Well, I already am. But someday I hope to become a musician, like my parents were."

"That's why you had that voilin that one time," Kitty said coming to a conclusion. Ian was clearly a naturally artistic person. Painting as a hobby but music as his true dream. Perhaps for his whole life he was hoping to be like his parents, which she wished she had the opprotunity to do so also. But life was life, and it took away her memory. Nothing was left of it and her's instead of consisting of 22 years was only about 3 years long. Kitty did her best not to think about it much. "What are you're parents like?" she wondered aloud.

"My mother was a very talented pianist. I spent my time trying to please my her, but all she ever saw was my elder brother. My father also played the violin,but he was a very strict man." Ian smiled. "So I can't say I was a very loved child, but I've moved away from all that so I could forget about it." Ian frowned and shoved his hands in his pockets, His expression turning dark and serious. Slowly, he approached Kitty and circled around her, glaring at her like a hawk about to attack its prey. "In fact, I find myself envious of you, Kitty. If I had the chance to forget about everything and start over, I'd choose amnesia any day. But memories are only as precious as one holds them to be."

Ian seemed to be happy thinking about his mother. Which in turn made Kitty wonder what her own mother was like. There were so many unawnsered questions about her previous life that seemed to hide forever. Then Ian's expression changed and he began to circle her. It felt unusual, like air was harder to breathe and the world slowed down. "Don't say that," she said. "I am blinded by it, it isn't as great as you claim it to be."

"Is that so?" He questioned. Ian paused in front of her, thinking thoughtfully. "Is that really so?"
Ian stroked the side of her cheek with the back of his pointer finger, looking deeply but coldly into her eyes; his face slowly getting closer and closer. "Still, to forget all the hurt and the pain. A fresh start, isn't that what everyone wants? What you want? Wouldn't that be great, Kitty?"

Was this Ian's true self? He seemed so different, almost alien to Kitty. His finger slid across her cheek and she could feel her back tensing up. His yellow eyes where still his own, but it felt as if daggers were being pierced into her own brown eyes. Their faces were getting closer and closer, and part of her was honestly scared. "It isn't," she said pushing him away from her and taking a step back away from him.

Ian grabbed Kitty violently by her shirt and pulled her close to him. Their lips weren't but a centimeter apart. He held her there for a moment, unsure of what to do next. Slowly, he let her go, his breath slowed down. Rubbing his temples frustratedly, he said, "You....really are an intriguing woman,now please leave. Sorry I got so violent." Ian spat these words, left the room, and went into his own room, slamming the door behind him.

As soon as she thought she was free from Ian's spell he grabbed Kitty by the shirt and pulled her closer. Their faces were so close and their lips almost touched to the point she could feel him breathing. Then she was released and she took a few more steps away from him. He apologized then told her to leave, before she could manage to say anything he went into a room and slammed the door behind him. She then left without saying a word or looking back.