[prp] this is what makes us - (blue/jun)

[moonjavas]

Blue had gone to Boston for the day, and now, back in the evening, he was obligated to spend time with his dogs. Leashes on, appropriate dog rain jackets fastened, and a few minutes later, Blue was on the street. He made for a strange sight - a young adult dwarfed by two giant dogs, as though he were compensating for being so small. He was dressed in a floral dress and leggings, the bulky scarf around his neck covered by the furred hood of his jacket, his hair tied in messy curls into a ponytail against the nape of his neck.

Here, it was nice to be anonymous when he'd spent all day getting yelled at for not giving it his all, as though they expected him to change overnight.

He was planning on a short walk through downtown, but had stalled to watch a violinist busking on one of the corners, eyes curious, mouth set into a thin line. His dogs loitered by his feet, sniffing at all of the scents in the air, though they crowded close and only nibbled at his hands.

Once the violinist was done, he tilted his head.

"You're good," he said, "Do you do original work too?"

Kolina

 

[Kolina]

With the rain finally stopping, and other things going to s**t in both her own life and the general life of Ashdown, Juniper had decided to vent some of her frustration and pent up energy with playing her violin. As it stood, she rarely ever just played for herself anymore. If she had time to play, she busked. So, dressed in a long, red peasant skirt, a t-shirt with a random logo from some sort of restaurant, and a pair of black boots, Juniper worked the instrument on one of Ashdown's many sidewalks.

She switched between more popular song covers to classical and some celtic. Anything that she felt like playing, she did. Normally she tended to cater to the crowds around her, but damn it, she needed to feed her own soul a little bit.

By the point that she finished the rendition of Ave Maria, which had managed to gather her a decent crowd and some money tossed into her violin case, she found a young man standing in front of her. Blinking she took a moment to process what he had asked her. "Oh, Thank you. Um, I can't say I've spent much time formally composing things, but I can certainly improv." She shrugged. "Since college I've just been pandering to crowds to get money and most people tend to hear things they know." She shrugged. "It's not necessarily my most favorite thing to do, but a girl has to make do."

"Juniper, by the way." She said as an introduction. "And you and your gorgeous dogs are?" She smiled at the teen and his large and fluffy canine friends. God she just wanted to bury her fingers in their fur.

elkbones

 

[moonjavas]

Blue watched her with amusement, eyes flicking to the violin and the thinning crowd. A part of him felt bad for interrupting her, but if she'd wanted to keep playing, she would have. He knew the pressures of the public eye, but also the way it could suck a person in. When he was on the ice, it was hard not to get pumped up by every eye on him.

"Oh," Blue responded mildly, "You have a nice flavor to your style. If you composed original sometime, I think it would be nice." He shrugged. He'd done enough skating routines to old, boring tracks that coaches had selected for him. At that point, his skates were doing more work than his mind. "You should let me know if you do, I'd love to hear."

His eyebrows rose a little at the introduction. He'd intended to start walking again now that she'd answered him.

"Blue," he responded, and let Victor have a little bit of leash so he could pad forward and stick his nose against Junipers legs, licking up at her with a keening noise. He was a baby when it came to pets.

"This is Victor," he said, and pointed to the Eskimo Dog, "That's Trinket. You can pet both of them if you want. They always act like they don't get enough love."

Kolina

 

[Kolina]

"Well, with a request like that maybe I'll have to find some time to sit down and compose something." After all, it would be a good skill to cultivate. She was in need of some new music for festivals, assuming of course she could get away from work long enough to attend one. The mere thought of work put her into a sour mood.

Thankfully, there were fluffy dogs around to drag her out of her miserable mood almost instantly. With a smile, Juniper put both her violin and bow into the same hand and knelt down so she was more on the dog's level (not that it was hard considering the size of them) and let her fingers sink into their fur. "Their beautiful, Blue." She glanced up from her pettings to the teen. "And complete sweethearts." Juniper hadn't ever owned a dog, but she had thought about getting one. Mind, that would be at a time she had a place that was big enough to accommodate a dog, when she had more time and more money as well. So, in all likely hood it wouldn't be anytime soon. Which was fine since her cat Star was a very lovely flatmate.

"So, do you play violin or any other sort of instrument?" She was curious considering that Blue had taken such a keen interest in her playing. "Or are you more of the dancer sort?" And that wouldn't surprise her one bit with how Blue moved and presented himself.

elkbones

 

[moonjavas]

Blue made a noise like amusement, and said, "You should, if you like it so much."

He gave both of the dogs a looser leash so that they could snuffle and lick at Juniper when she came down to pet them. Despite their size, both of them seemed adequately trained and excited but not overtly pushy. Victor had no concept of his own size, but he was content to sit and wag his tail at the newest person to give him attention. Being the size that he was, it wasn't hard for him to attract a number of people wanting to pet. At least it made everything easy on Blue.

"Thank you, they're the only family I have in Ashdown right now," Blue said, patting Trinket fondly. The rest of his family was hell to deal with, but he didn't mind his dogs.

The question caught him a little off guard, but he didn't show it. His mouth curved and he leaned back, crossing one ankle over the other.

"Competitive figure skating, actually," Blue said. He'd already qualified at regionals.Sectionals would be next, with November looming to remind him of that fact. "I moved here to get away from the public eye to train for the season. And it's my hometown too."

Kolina

 

[Kolina]

The dogs were so well behaved. Considering their size and the size of their handler, it wasn't unsurprising that they had been trained well. If they were the type to pull or want to take off, she had no doubt that Blue would stand absolutely no chance with them. So, to reward their good behavior, Juniper made it a point to scratch them where it seemed they enjoyed it the most.

"Well they're certainly very lovable family." She smiled at the doggie expressions of happiness she was receiving from the two. "I'd have no problem curling up with these two on a couch. Especially now that it's getting colder at night."

"Figure skating?" Her head snapped up from the dogs. "That's definitely different." She grinned and stoop up, though she was still able to reach the dogs heads while standing. "Huh. That's really neat, though! How long have you been competing? Do you do solo work or partner?"

elkbones