2020-01-07 - Vivid Stuttering

There's no class at the moment, but the word out and about is that the sessions have become quite popular. Fortunately Hera doesn't have much of a mess to clean up but she seems to be looking over somethings behind the main counter, "Rose, a shiraz, shouldn't have too many people tomorrow." She talks to herself because, who else is there to talk to? Yes, there's Queso who brushesssssssss up against the easels and Hans sit sitting down on all fours peers in her direction. This time she looks over at him and sighs, "Yes, I need to take you into the vet boy. I should have today, I'm sorry. You were just acting odd last night." With a bit of concern on her face, she goes over to scratch him behind the ears. "It'll be ok, I promise."

Yes, just a tender moment with her and her dog, outside of that, nothing too unusual here, at least not yet.

Slipping into the gallery, without his tool belt, and pulling off his hat, Thewlis comes striding. Hands being jammed into his pockets, the handyman sidles in, brow knitting together as he looks to the gallery pieces and the easels. His mouth drops open several times, to try and speak, but as ever he remains quiet and in silence admonishes himself, staring at the floor now.

Hera pets Hans a bit more, concern obvious on her face but when she hears Thewlis come in she smiles. "It is a relief to see you my friend." she says and stands up, "Thank you, for coming by." Even Hans sees the guy and slowly begins to wag his tail, hair brushing along the floor. "Can I get you something to drink?" Queso spots him too and, oh no, could he be here to reinforce the shelves? Fortunately cats don't have that kind of awareness so he just goes back to brushing up against the easels.

A blink and jump at the cheery greeting, Thewlis looks to Hera and then Hans. A bow of his head and a weak wave offered before he speaks, "I... uhm... Do you have cof-cohf-cohhhh-coffee?" looking to Hans again and kneeling to call the pup over, brow knitting as he opens his arms to call the dog over.

Hera nods to him and stands up straight. "Of course." She says and she goes over to the coffee pot. "I think you just like it regular, right? That's pretty easy to do. I don't have a need to give too many fancy coffee drinks around here."

And it's Thewlis, Hans' hero. The one who changed his food to the wet side. Also since Thewlis has been around Hans has been able to get some good kibble! He pads over and whines a bit, but it's a whine wanting affection. It doesn't take long and the large puppy is nuzzled against him and wanting petting.

Among the people passing by outside the windows of the gallery, a shark passes among the guppies. The sheeple part before he comes passes the window in a slow jog. Long, flowing hair bounces freely behind his head, down around the hood of his hoodie, cascaded around his pale white skin with the air current his running causes, headphone cords bouncing off his chest with each footfall. In his workout clothes, he shows off a lot of gams. Mm. Gams. Passing the first window, it is not until he hits the second until the giant looks to his left and peers past the window into the Art Gallery’s interior. And then Everett double-takes, coming to an astounded quick stop before turning his attention to the window.

Thewlis actually ducks a bit and puts his arms around the dog, smiling and breathing a little "Yuh-yeah... Just b-b-b-black, lot of s-s-sh-sugar, please." nodding to Hera before he resumes snuggling the dog, drawing some strip treats out for the dog, holding them in his palm for Hans to take, not seeing Everett just yet, too busy being calmed by puppers

Hera thinks she /may/ have seen Mr. Mountain of Muscle but she takes a deep breath and just...tries to go zen about it all. Surely it's not the large guy who mistakes her for various types of animals, right? Besides, she has better things to do like make coffee, an easy thing really. "Of course. No cream right?" She switches her focus from Mr. Muscle to Mr. Coffee, besides, one likely has a more effective filter than the other.

Hans is just a dog though, and while he /is/ a smart dog, he is a dog that loves the snuggles. In fact, here it comes, the long pink tongue going slurrrrrrrrrrp in Thewlis' direction and his palm is assaulted. It doesn't take long and the strip treats are gone.

Re-shouldering his backpack over his left shoulder, Everett approaches the window, exhaling a puff of white air into the winter air while his mouth stays open. Of course, nobody inside would notice someone shielding their eyes, pressing themselves close to the window so they can look inside against the glare on the window. It’s just a minute for the army green eyes to look in. To see what’s, or who’s inside. And then the thug steps back, leans his spine backwards and to the sky, has a silent fit of laughter. While he holds his abdomen, shaking gently with violent laughter. When he recovers, some, he starts resuming his trek, out of the view of the window.

"If you ha-aa-ave added it, fine... cream... it's fine." Thewlis smiles a little and looks up towards the window, brow raised, and then looking back to Hera - unaware that Hera has now entered a high humidity period due to Beef Bulk-Chest. He's oblivious, but he's accepting dog affection, feeling calmer than he has in... well since he was last with Jade. It's gooey gushy sounding, but suck it. It's true.

Hera takes a deep breath and looks like she's about to say something, but, just some large dude running around with ear buds, nothing too unusual. "I don't think anyone should drink around him." she mutters, thinking about how large guys and alcohol don't mix. But she returns back to Thewlis with the cup. In the meantime Hans continues licking the man's hand and yup, there goes the busy tail again, it goes awaggin! "Does he, look ok to you?" she asks, "He was being wierd the other night."

Blinking at Hera's question, Thewlis nods and ruffles Hans's ears. "He lo-luh-looks fuh-fuh-fu-fine to me. Maybe he... I mean. He... Saw... But... He." trying not to stutter one way and so doing it another. "He's a... guh-good boy." looking to the coffee cup and reaching out for sweet delicious wake-up juice.

The atmosphere is a calm one at Vivid Dreams. There's really no one else except for Thewlis and Hera. Normally the art gallery is fairly tidy and, for the most part, it still is. However, Hera was perusing something behind the counter before her friend came in. Now the place smells slightly of coffee due to a fresh coffee pot that was brewing. There's a few cups near the caraffe and small containers of cream and sugar are there as well. The tabby cat, also known as Queso, continues to brush up against the legs of the easels. Some of them are empty, some have blank canvases. Probably the most notable thing is a German Shepherd cuddled up against Thewlis. The kind man seems to have been giving the guard dog some treats and so, the working canine has turned into a big puppy.

Probably the only unusual thing here is a large guy, who would give both Ramboo and The Rock a run for their money, jogs outside, molests the window with his hot breath, then likely jogs off. Yes, there are strange people in this town. Blowing on windows is totally normal, right?

Tyler enters the art gallery, looking around a bit like a deer in headlights. He's wearing a pair of bright, expensive blue jeans with the knees stylishly torn out and a navy blue turtle neck sweater. He sniffs, his cheeks flush from the cold air outside, and he just shoves his hands nervously deep into his pockets and begins to look at the nearest painting, eyes squinting just a little in thought.

Looking to the new figure that appears, Thewlis blinks and shrinks against Hans a little. The man isn't skinnym though he is lanky and clearly looks like he could... kinda come in behind Everett. But the new figure is unfamiliar, and for all of his working man build and general lank, he is more intent to hide behind the dog, watching Tyler warily for the moment - forgetting about his coffee for now.

Hans sees a new person and his head immediately turns to look over at the newcomer. The dog looks like he puts himself in between Thewlis and Tyler, or maybe he just wants tons of Thewlis snuggles? Whatever the case may be, the owner rises to her feet to properly welcome the man. "Welcome to Vivid Dreams. Please, come in, make yourself at home." Her tone sounds friendly enough as she asks, "Would you like some coffee? I just started a pot if you are interested?" Queso briefly looks over at Tyler too but, meh, right now the cat doesn't seem that interested. But, it's a cat and it's got things to rub up against. Hera should learn to quit cleaning things. 😉

Tyler furrows his brow a bit at the painting once more, then turns to the owner. "Oh, hi." He pushes a nervous smile onto his face, glancing at Thewlis to throw the man a nodded greeting, then looking again at the lady. He rubs his chilled hands together, "Oh, yes, please, coffee would be wonderful." He smiles, and looks around a bit more. "I was hoping I'd maybe be able to buy a painting," the genius jock says, as if he's not in an art gallery.

Thewlis flinches at the nod, but returns it after a moment, and much more slowly. "G-g-guh-good evening, Sir." Thewlis greets at well, but keeping quiet when he begins talking business for Hera. But he has the dog, and the dog is comfort. More treats are given to Hans as he sits quiet, focusing his attention on the animal.

Hera looks over at Thewlis and Hans as the two continue to bond. But the request for coffee is easily taken care of. She returns to Tyler and offers the cup to him. "What type of art do you like if you do not mind me asking?"

Tyler holds the warm cup for now, simply enjoying having the heat on his fingers. He glances her way with a goofy, ignorant look, "Kind? Like," he thinks just a moment, and then confidently gives her exactly the answer he's sure she was looking for, "A painting. Not a drawing. I'm wanting to replace a photograph I have." He nods a little, to himself, and grins a little, "I thought maybe I should try a little adulting, you know?"

Hera tries to get more information and asks, "What exactly are you trying to replace? Any particular interests?"

"C-c-c-an I suh-see the puh-picture?" Thewlis pipes up now, from where he is kneeling with Hans, curiosity overwhelming him as he looks from Hera to Tyler, and then quickly to the floor once more, unable to maintain eye contact for more than a second or two.

"Oh, here," Tyler responds, pulling out his cell phone. He fiddles around with it a bit, not nearly as adept at using it as someone his age should be. After a moment, he gets his photos open and shows her. It's a photo of his white wall at home, with a large black and white framed photograph of a beach and giant waves. He looks at Thewlis, offering a smile, "You can see, sir. If you want, I mean."

Hera goes behind the counter and disappears for a few minutes. She then returns with a painting. It's about three by two feet and it depicts a nature scene, as if someone could easily go for a walk in the words. The trees are nicely painted and shades of yellow might show a sun in the distance, "Would you like to look at this?" she offers.

"I like t-t-trees b-buh-b-better too. They're ca-ca-ca-calmer..." Thewlis notes and settles back to scratching Hans's ears and petting his scruff. He doesn't even realize that he just spoke much more clearly than he normally does. Perhaps only Hera could really tell.

Tyler walks over and looks at the painting. "That's nice and all, really. I was kind of hoping for ocean, though." He shrugs, "I surf." Looking at Thewlis, he smiles, "I prefer the water. It helps me feel."

Hera ahs and goes to get a variety of canvases, some of them of the woods, but many of these new paintings have beach scenes and ocean scene." Take a look if you don't mind feel free to see what the other canvases have, right now I need to go check on something

"Oh. I... I get th-th-that. Yeah." Thewlis frowns. "I n-nuh-know she has some ah-ha-hah-haround here... seen them wh-wh-while working." chewing at his lower lip. "I... Hrmmm..." he starts to turn a slow circle, as if that will help him remember the location.

Tyler wanders over to look at some of the paintings Hera had brought out. He nods a little as he looks at them. She slips into the back, so he talks with Thewlis. "Yeah, you work here?" he asks, curiously.

Tyler wanders over to look at some of the paintings Hera had brought out. He nods a little as he looks at them. She slips into the back, so he talks with Thewlis. "Yeah, you work here?" he asks, curiously. "What do you do here?"

"Me? I... No... I." he draws out a card from his wallet, offering it towards him. "I... I..." frowning as he has trouble getting this out. "Hhh-andyman..." as the card also states. "I'm The-the-th-Thewlis." he motions vaguely towards the rough direction of Maple, "I... Th-th-theater... Starlight Theaters."

Tyler takes the card, looking at it. He nods, "The Starlight. Never been. I um, heh... I don't really watch movies. I've heard it's nice, though." He introduces himself, "I'm Tyler. I'm a fireman. And I'm definitely not a handyman." He laughs a little, "I'm terrible with repairs."

Thewlis bobs his head a little. "No-not everyone... for. Everyone." looking down at his feet, "It's h-how I muh-meh-et Hera. She. Work. She nu-needed work d-d-done and I haah-ha-happened to be b-b-by." looking around the gallery. "Whu-whe-we became fuh-friends.:

Tyler nods, "Nice." He smiles, and he looks back at the paintings once more. "Do you know, does she get new art a lot? I'm not sure any of these are quite right, but I'm cool with coming back next week to see if there's anything else." He glances at Thewlis, then looks at him once more, a little more direct. His brow creases ever so slightly, "Huh." And then he realizes he's staring, and he looks back at the paintings.

Somehow, Thewlis keeps his cool when he's being stared at, head lowering, eyes on the floor. He hunches and shifts, trying to become small - but he doesn't panic. "I... I don't. I. She. Regular... You. She... you should... She. Ask her... She..." breathing coming more rapidly under scrutiny.

Tyler nods, "Okay. I will. It's okay." He lays his hand on the man's shoulder, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I was just surprised. You um..." He leans a little closer, speaking more softly, "You sparkle."

The physical contact nearly makes him react, and for a moment the glimmer flares and swirls like a thunderstorm. Thew tenses and begins hyperventilating, arms up to protect his face "Please. I... Don't. I. Won't. Don't. I'm..." attempting to scuttle back, and even Hans is trying to interpose between the men, hackles up.
"I know. I know. I. It. I do. You do. She doesn't. Don't. I won't. Please!" panic being held barely in check,

Tyler watches the man's reaction carefully. He purses his lips a little, then he nods. "Okay." He sniffs, and he obviously withdraws his hand. "So," he takes a little step backward. "I'm... I'm going to go now." He lifts his hands into the air as he slips away. "Let your friend know I'll come back." And he opens the door to go.

"I'm... I'm. I. Sorry. I. Touched. I. Please. Don't. I don't..." swallowing hard "I... I'm. You don't have... I'm..." Thewlis watches and shame facedly tries to make some eye contact. "I... I know... We both. I..." taking large breaths, trying to calm further.

Tyler pauses at the door, looking at Thewlis. "It's okay, Thewie. Just let her know I'll come back." And he slips out.