(no subject)

[needleandink]

As Adrian padded back into town the night after the beach party, he had a vague hope that this time, he'd manage to make it into the shop before someone caught him shifting back to human and he ended up bare-ass naked in front of yet another Siren Cove resident.

At this point, he thought, he might as well just strip down and run through the center of town, get seen by everyone at once and save himself the worry.

He'd tried last night to cut the naked probability down by stripping and shifting at the edge of the forest, leaving his clothes there but when he'd checked the spot just now, his clothes had been gone. Kids pranking, someone liked the look of his jeans, whatever.

It was done and he stood at the door to his shop, took a look over his shoulder, and shifted back to human.

Open to anyone, but mainly for Kat and Anna. Find Adrian shifting, or just stop by the shop later in the day and say hi.

Comments

[annasun]

Hair falling in front of her eyes, she ducked her head and ignored the catcalls coming from the bar closest to Adrian's. Pulling her jacket closer around her, she made herself a little smaller as she kept kept her head down and kept walking. Licking her lips nervously, she took the corner a little quickly almost running into someone outside Adrian's.

"S-s-sorry" Glancing down, Anna's eyes widened in shock before she let out a surprised little squeak. Stumbling over her own feet and into the man, the flash of tattooed skin made her hope to hell it was Adrian and at the same time made her instantly panic. Looking upwards immediately, Anna took a great interest in the sky as the blush spread down her bare neck and down the low cut dress. "A-Adrian?"

[needleandink]

"Anna?" Adrian said, shocked to see her but pleased at the same time. Of all the people who could have caught him like this, though, her hands on his bare shoulders was better than anyone else. And the dress, the view, were spectacular...so much so, he should probably stop looking before he seriously embarrassed himself.

"Are you okay? You were moving pretty fast."

[annasun]

Anna sucked in air into her lungs, taking another gulp in without exhaling as she tried to not look down. The momentary panic becoming a little bigger as she tried to not imagine him on top of her, pushing her down, smiling at her and... it was too- it was too-

"Mmm," Anna pressed her lips together not sure what he was asking her as her vision swam in front of her before she fainted into his arms.

[needleandink]

"Ooohkay," Adrian said as she went boneless in his arms. With one arm around her waist, he opened the door to the shop and got them inside it. Once in, he scooped her into his arms and carried her back through the studio and up to his apartment over it.

He laid her down on his couch, found sweats and tugged them on before getting a cold, wet washcloth for her face.

"Anna? Come back, darlin."

[annasun]

Brow furrowing, Anna made a soft noise of protest before batting her hand up as she felt ice, cold water drip down her neck. Squirming, she opened up her eyes wearily and stared up at Adrian's chest- his- Anna took a breath in and looked pointedly at Adrian's face.

"Ummm-" Anna began trying not to stutter and stumble or freak out but all she could think about was his- Covering her face with her hands she mumbled into her hands, knowing her cheeks were a furious shade of red. "Oh hellsbells."

There were times she wished that the ground would just swallow her up whole; knocking out the SCPH quarterback in an attempt to get away from Les Parker was one of them, crying in front of the Mayor was up there and fainting at the sight of- at the sight of... Adrian's Everything was definitely going to end up there. She wanted to die.

[needleandink]

Adrian chuckled and pulled at her hands, trying to get them away from her face. "What's this all about? Why are you hiding the best thing I've seen all day? Talk to me, Anna, tell me what's going on in that red head of yours."

He was pretty sure he knew, but he wasn't about to assume and make himself sound like an egotistical creep.

[annasun]

Anna felt the rough, warm touch to her wrists and hands and let him pull her hands away from her face. Blushing, she pressed her lips together and tried not to look worried or panicked or any of those things. She'd promised honesty, she said she would be but it was hard when all she kept thinking about was-

"itstoobigandit'llneverfitandohmyg-goshneverfitnotever" Anna breathed the words out in one long rush of words before trying to cover her face with her hand and when that didn't work she leaned up to bury her face against his shoulder, neck, anywhere that might possibly hide the flame of colour coming from her cheeks.

[bachjones]

Bach was sure he just saw a naked guy pass by. In another place that wouldn't be very exciting, but this was Siren Cove and he probably wasn't naked for a fun reason.

"Did I.." He looked around. "Am I not the only one who saw that?"

[needleandink]

Adrian turned around and looked over his shoulder. "It's not exactly the first time you've seen me naked," Adrian commented, then opened the door to his shop and went inside.

[bachjones]

"This time there was action and movement", he grinned. "Bad night, man."

[needleandink]

"You have a lot of those," Adrian tossed back and went behind the counter to get his emergency sweats. Again. "Maybe a lifestyle change is in order?"

[bachjones]

"I miss my cat", Bach mumbled. "Borrow me yours? Or yourself to sleep on?"

[needleandink]

"I would, but Shadow'd never go with you," Adrian commented, then grinned, "and panthers are nocturnal feeders. I don't think you'd want me around in panther form at night."

[bachjones]

"I have very expensive cat food."

Bach looked at him. "Maybe you could help me out of my misery." He wasn't very serious. "Else, it been a while since I had any part of me eaten."

[alfiehaywood]

Alfie could hold a grudge if he really wanted – but with Bach it had been annoyance on the ship. Nearly dying and spending a week with blood relatives who had disowned him just because kissing a guy was as good as a girl, meant that he didn’t really hold any ill feelings toward the other man.

Naked people didn’t appeal to Alfie. Dicks after all were not aesthetically pleasing so seeing one during a casual walk was not something he expected. Part of him wondered if he’d imagined it, following the nudist week the lodge had hosted a few weeks back. But then he heard Bach essentially speak his thoughts out loud. With a small shake of the head, he replied, “Definitely a naked guy…”

[bachjones]

"Alfie! Man, you're alive!"

He made to hug the guy, until he realized that okay maybe he was still angry about something Bach had done that he didn't completely remember. "You're alive. And good?"

[alfiehaywood]

“Thanks to a bud, yeah, otherwise it’d be more like a giant crispy strip,” he replied, his mind skimming back to Les saving his life. “How about you? Get out ok? You look like you’re doing well.” Alfie noticed the aborted movement and wondered if he should ask or offer up something. He did feel a little bad at storming off, he did usually have a better grip on his reactions.

[bachjones]

"Good to hear. The saved part, not the crispy strip part. You're already hot enough to eat anyway."

Bach was unsure if he should have said that. "Oh yeah, fine. I just slip out between the disasters, you know? Nothing really touches me. Anyway, naked guy. That's probably not very weird for Siren Cove, you think?"

[alfiehaywood]

The slight blush is something he will ignore, and if asked later, adamantly deny. But for anyone there to witness it, the slight blush on his cheeks is definitely nothing to do with Siren Cove’s temperature. Not sure what to say, he continues with the later part of the conversation.

“Well, maybe karma or fate, or whatever will cut you a bit of a break soon. Exploding cruise liner is a big enough disaster for a while.” At least Alfie really hopes so because his insurance costs are getting stupid. “I think it’s weird for Siren Cove, because it’s a normal weird. If that makes sense.”

[katdelaney]

Kat's been itching to hunt Adrian down ever since her phone call with Anna. A quick Google search (thank you, Anna) and some deductive reasoning had led her to his tattoo shop, and she stood outside.

She's surprised, to say the least, that this is the kind of guy that Anna is going around with. She'd always expected someone more wholesome, more... Boring. Happily, she wanders up to the door and opens it, stepping inside. "Hello?"

[needleandink]

Adrian looked up from the computer where he was playing with a few designs and smiled at the young woman in the doorway.

"Hi, come on in," he said in greeting. "You looking for ink or just curious?"

[katdelaney]

"A little from column A, a little from column B." It's not a complete lie; she's thought about getting inked a few times, but she had wanted to wait until after college. Her father didn't want her to, and it seemed disrespectful to do so while he was paying her tuition.

She sizes him up, guessing this must be Adrian. He is attractive, she'll give Anna that. Again, she's surprised that Anna is going for this rough, dark and dangerous looking tattoo artist, but then again, maybe that's not such a surprise given her stiff upbringing. She thinks momentarily that Adrian is more her own type, and wonders if she's rubbing off on her. She grins and holds out a hand. "I'm Kat."

[needleandink]

"I get a lot of that," Adrian smiled and came out from behind the counter. "I think I can count on one hand the number of times people have come in here ready to go back and under the needle."

He took her hand, gave it a quick shake. "Good to meet you, Kat. I'm Adrian. If you want to see a little of what I've done, I've got some framed pictures on the wall or a portfolio you can look through. If anything, it might give you a few ideas for column A."

[katdelaney]

"I know," she says when he introduces himself. "I mean, I guessed." She follows where's he's indicated to the wall of artwork and looks around. He's good, she can tell. "You know my friend Anna?" She questions, seemingly innocent as she continues to look through his work.

[needleandink]

Adrian's eyebrow was already up when she said she knew who he was. Granted, it wasn't like he'd be confused with another tattoo artist or anything, but something about her tone made him think that wasn't it. Then she mentioned Anna and he figured it out a lot quicker.

"That I do," he smiled. "And you've come to check me out?"