(open & closed) december catch-all

[shadowier]

WHO: fushiguro megumi & others
WHERE: all over stygia
WHEN: throughout december
WHAT: event & notice board shenanigans
WARNINGS: n/a - will update as necessary!

( please feel free to hit up his inbox at any time, or plot with me over here if you'd like a closed starter! )

Comments

[prozaic]

[sorry, megumi. he can't respond right now because he's too busy laughing.

at the very least, shalem has covered his mouth so he can preserve some dignity while trying to breathe through his laughter.

like megumi, he thought this was going to be something more advanced, like the study of wrinkles and folds in fabric and the body in motion, not... a beginner's class to figure drawing with nude models. he's laughing at the mistake, but also megumi's reaction. with how stern he tends to be, sometimes it's easy to forget that he's pretty young and inexperienced.

and that not everyone is as accustomed to showing skin like actors.]

That-- that's up to you. [he breathes deep so he can speak properly.] I've no problems with that, really. I could be the model myself, if you truly need the money.

[shadowier]

( great. this is great. he really should have expected the laughter, but even so, it seems to both flicker at his temper and force him deeper into embarrassment; his cheeks go pinker, and frustrated, he lifts up a hand, pushing back through his unruly hair as though that might offer him some kind of reprieve. the room feels warmer all of a sudden, though that's likely because he's absolutely mortified--the kind of mortified that he would attribute to his friends messing with him in front of strangers, and not anything like this.

the offer that shalem makes is kind: but he can't take him up on it. it would be completely rude to force someone else to do work and forfeit the pay; at the same time, he needs the coin, and he doesn't like the idea of giving up on something when he should be pushing himself to continue learning and growing in this place.

with a glance over his shoulder at the artist, and then back at shalem, he presses his lips into a thin line--and reaches, with cold, gentle fingers, to touch at one of shalem's wrists, almost bidding him to come closer. )

...It's fine. I'll do it. ( there, now he's gone and said it. no taking it back now. ) But can you just...stay? With your eyes closed or something?

[prozaic]

[in truth, shalem would have asked megumi the same thing-- look away from the nude adult, and whatnot. if he were with another adult, he wouldn't have minded, but megumi is underage, and thus shalem feels... some responsibility. almost the same sort he feels towards rosa, but she was also his coworker, an intern he took turns watching over as she proved herself, while megumi is a civilian friend that he hasn't seen in a professional capacity yet. still different things.

the snake raises his wrist, and holds onto megumi's elbow.]

You don't have to if you're not comfortable. I don't mind doing it myself.

Of course, if you're set on doing this yourself... Just say the word, and I'll end the session and bring you home.

[shadowier]

It isn't...that big of a deal. ( the touch at his elbow is--calming, in a way, but it doesn't seem to do anything about the flare of heat in his cheeks. either way, he's already decided what he's going to do; his stubborn nature means that he's going to see this task through to the end, whether he enjoys it or dies of embarrassment during. ) Right? No one's going to be looking anyway.

( a shrug of indifference, and he gives one last, lingering brush of fingertips against shalem's wrist before he draws away from him, steeling his breath so that he can turn to address the artist. of course, he's polite about his acceptance, quietly bidding to do as he's told--the artist, seemingly comfortable with maneuvering around his discomfort, instructs him where to move into the middle of the room.

a few steps inward, towards the pillows scattered around a blanket on a round pedestal in the middle of the room; he steps onto it with the air of one moving along death row. )

...You ever do something like this? ( this is to shalem, though he doesn't look to see if he's turned away--instead, he's working on peeling off the heavy sweater he has on, ruffling it off his head and working methodically to draw up the shirt he has on underneath it as well. )

[prozaic]

I've done many things that are... well, inappropriate for such young ears to hear. [that's vague and vaguely suggestive, but better suggestive than the alternative that's quite macabre and horrible. and bloody.

shalem settles down next to the platform the pedestal is on, back against it, and thus facing away from megumi.]

I was trained as an actor before I became an office worker, you see. Sometimes, the script calls for you to do something entirely different on stage, and reservations about our bodies were trained out of us quite quickly.

[but really, he hopes megumi doesn't ask for details.]