The summer months were quickly approaching, making the days longer and brighter. While most people would enjoy the sun, Scarlet had a particular s e n s i t i v i t y to the harsh light and heat brought about by the sun’s unrelenting rays. The lack of pigment in her eyes and skin caused her a great deal of discomfort during the summer, but her everlasting adoration of nature in bloom tempted her. Although she preferred fall to summer personally, her mother and Tristan had always loved the warmer months, with her mother holding a fondness for gardening, and Tristan simply enjoying the opportunities the weather brought to leave the house more often. Summer, although physically painful, allowed her to feel closer to the people she had lost... the people she was RESPONSIBLE for losing. While not only being a good source for artistic inspiration, summer provided her with a time for mourning and remembering her purpose.
She sat under a tree in an attempt to shield herself from the sun, sketchbook open in her lap. Wild flowers grew along the park’s grassy plains; sporadic cherry blossoms still clung to the branches above her head offering pops of pale pink hues among the heavy green foliage. It was no wonder some called her a vampire, with her sickly pallor and eyes shifting to red in direct light in combination with her vintage aesthetic acquired through thrifting and hand-me-downs, she truly looked the part. The fact that she never denied any rumor stating that she was cursed, something other than human, or simply plain evil also did not help. But this is how she CHOSE to present herself, as it made it much less likely anyone would try to develop any emotionally significant relationship with her.
The sound of an all-too-cheery tune and the excited laughter from children pulled her from her concentrated sketching, a sound she recognized from deep in her once delightful past as being the ever iconic Ice Cream Truck. She would have brushed it off, staying there in her spot despite how uncomfortable the heat was getting as the afternoon crept closer, until she saw who was operating the truck. He seemed to be in some special effects makeup, giving him the appearance of a reanimated corpse. His green skin apparent even with her rather poor eyesight. Violet eyes squinted in an attempt to see him better until she gave in and decided to approach him for a better look. It had been quite a while since she had treated herself to anything like ice cream, and she had recently been paid for a rather large commission anyhow, so perhaps now was the time she could afford such a treat.
Slipping her sketchbook into her messenger bag that rested at her hip and pulling her crimson hood over her snowy locks, she approached, the atmosphere around the truck becoming noticeably more tense as she took her place in line. She paid no mind to it, however, instead simply scanning the menu before landing on a rather admittedly beautiful cone with ice cream shaped like rose petals. As she reached the front of the line, she removed her hood, eyes glimmering red in the summer sun, and pointed at the picture with a single delicate sprinkled with scars
❝ A strawberry cone in the shape of a rose, please, ❞ she stated, voice cold as ice as she scanned him in a fairly analytic manner. Her fiery gaze flickered up to him, unwavering from his form, eyes scanning and taking all of him in. This makeup was rather suspiciously intricate. Scarlet tilted her head. ❝ How did you manage the effects for your missing eye? ❞