Dream a Little Dream [Blue]

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"Sweep the brush...Sweep..." Elizabeth muttered softly to herself as she moved her hand across the canvas, careful with the movement of her brush. The colors of midnight and magenta mixed together in a rather nice combination, blending into a warm tone as she turned away, moving away for a few moments as she turned to get another color.

Coming back to the canvas, Elizabeth raised her brush again and began to paint once again when she stopped briefly. "God... I sound so crazy..." She said as she shook her head at herself. She didn't it let the moment faze her though, and soon she was painting away again as her thoughts consumed her as the painting took her to some far away place.

It was about an our or so afterwards that she finally stopped, and by the point she had painted a very beautiful backdrop. The tall mountains which had become a part of her picture were a deep hue, a beautiful color as the imaginary sunset which was occurring behind the peaks cast shadows down into the small valley below. It almost could have passed for a scene straight out of a movie, if it was a real sight anyways.

Elizabeth smiled. "Seems I haven't lost my touch after all....my teacher has no idea what she was saying the other day." It was a moment longer before she smiled and tilted her head ever so slightly almost as if she were congratulating herself on the work. But it was only a moment, and shortly thereafter she felt as though she needed a good breath of air. She had been in her studio for a good part of the day, after all.

Grabbing her scarf and her knit wool hat she slipped out the door, her coat already slipping on as she buried her hands into her pockets. It was such a normal feeling, and it was then she knew where she wanted to go. Striding through the streets with purpose, it took her a matter of minutes to get where she wanted to be -- the bridge.

Well, it wasn't really anything to special to any passing eye, but for as long as she could remember this had been the place her mother had always brought her when she herself had been upset. Elizabeth often supposed that the trait had carried down to her, although it was more a habit than anything else. Regardless of that fact though, she still loved coming here to this bridge in the little park. It was certainly a good way to relax for her, and as she leaned against the railing of the bridge she let her eyes close, a deep breath slowly coming from her as she forgot the rest of the day, even if it was only for a moment.

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Blue shut his eyes and sighed. Humans kept filing into the bank – which was, of course, to be expected. They were a welcomed distraction, although what the Amir needed to be distracted from he didn’t have any idea. He glanced down at his watch – 4:30 PM. He stood from his desk, pushing back into the employee’s room. He had felt increasingly separated from the rest of the world. His mind kept retreating into itself, leaving him going through the motions dully. He put his hands in his coat pocket and his fingers closed around his pen. His boss looked at him curiously.

“Giovanni,” he said, causing Blue to jump slightly at the use of the name. Mattie had given him that name – Blue Giovanni. “You don’t look good. Have you been getting enough sleep?” he asked. Blue shrugged, looking away. He’d just come for a sip of water to cool his nerves, not for a lecture. “Why don’t you go home? We’re getting ready to close anyway.”

Blue frowned and opened his mouth to protest, but Mr. Lemieux silenced him with a friendly push out of the door. He’d endeared himself to many of the bank workers – he was friendly enough to take over for sick people, friendly enough to listen silently as his coworkers ranted (and even offered the occasional nod or ‘yeah’), and friendly enough to walk women to the bus when they had to stay late to consolidate the accounts. He stuck his hands inside his pockets and walked out the door, pushing forwards through the dreary London weather. There was something different about the day – something that made it seem particularly more dreadful. Blue tried to shrug it off, feeling slightly irritated that he was more melancholy than normal.

He sighed again, although it never made him feel any better so he thought he ought to stop it. His eyes moved towards the park, and he slowed his walking. It was where Mattie had fallen on his Lamp. A smile tugged on his lips before it was replaced with another frown. He stepped into the park and began to walk through it, pulling his coat tighter and looking around. It was mainly empty – of course, most parents wouldn’t allow their children out in such abysmal weather.

Blue shrugged off the thoughts of Mattie the best he could, continuing his walk through it. The other side would lead him a good distance away from his flat, but it was worth it. The stray cat that he had informally adopted had enough food in the feeder outside his door, and there were at least two bags inside his cabinets. The Amir smiled at the thought of the little gray ball of fluff. When he had lived with Mattie, the man had two cats – Genie and Princess.

He walked on the bridge, absorbed in his own thoughts until he brushed against someone. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said automatically, turning to smile apologetically at her. The smile halted half-way, though, when he saw her. Blonde hair, brown eyes, and a pensive sort of aura about her.

“Mattie?” he said, confused, because it looked and felt like Mattie, but there wasn’t any way that this woman could be Mattie. Because, clearly, it was a woman and not a corpse. And he was probably going to scare this human female, staring at her with wide eyes and a slightly hopeful smile. He lowered his eyes sheepishly again. “Sorry,”

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"Oh, I'm sorry."

The sudden sound of the voice was an unwelcome sound. She had become so accustomed to on the silence and solitude while out on her bridge that it was almost surprising to have the presence of another out herewith her. Okay, so it wasn't exactly her bridge, per say, but it might have well as been. This had always been her place of comfort for as long as she could remember, and never once, even when she was with her mother, had there ever been another soul on this bridge.

"It's fine." She murmured, hardly even turning to look at the stranger. It was a man, that much she knew mainly from the sound of his voice, and truthfully, she didn't really care to know much else. In fact, it almost made her want the silence back more.

"Mattie?"

At the sound of his voice again, she turned. Elizabeth was ready to ask him to leave, since that was what she was aiming on doing right then and there, but when she found herself staring into two wide eyes she stopped. It was strange to see such an expression on the face she had never met before, and after a moment she turned away again, the uncomfortable feeling she had received from the strange look more than enough to turn her away.

"It's fine." She repeated, although her voice was a bit softer this time. She looped her arms through the metal railing, taking comfort in the familiar feel of the cool, worn metal that had been here much, much longer than she had ever been.

Elizabeth found her eyes wandering down to the small trickle of the stream below the bridge, watching with little fascination as the water carved it's path across the already frozen patches of icy. A simple result from the days wind and the obvious telltale signs that winter was nearing in the seasons.

After a few more moments of silence Elizabeth glanced up again. She saw that the man had averted his eyes now, obviously embarrassed by the event that had just occurred. She smiled slightly, the edge of her lip twisting upwards slightly. Things like this happened, and even though she would have still preferred to be alone, she wasn't about to be rude and force him to leave.

"If you're going to call me anything, call me Elizabeth. It is my name, just so you know." She certainly wasn't going to let him call her Mattie anymore if they ever met again. That would just be a bit to weird.

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Blue’s brain was still staggering to catch up. She seemed annoyed with him – Mattie was much too polite to be annoyed by very much, but he could forget about that because everything else was beautiful and spot-on. He gripped the metal rails and tried his hardest not to stare at her. He could tell he had made her uncomfortable – she’d turned when he’d called her Mattie and stared her. And although he knew that she wasn’t Mattie – that no one but Mattie could ever be Mattie – it was okay because she was close enough to his beautiful dead little human.

“It’s fine,” she told him again, knocking Blue from his thoughts. He looked up at her gratefully, offering a small smile. She sounded friendlier than she had before, but he still didn’t feel particularly welcome. He leaned against the bridge and ran his fingers across the wet metal. She had told him it was fine. Most humans would have fled the scene, but Blue had always been a selfish Djinn. He looked back up at her curiously, watching how she observed the water below them. He moved his eyes down to the small brook and shut his eyes, thinking back to his first encounter with the man.

A smile curved on Blue’s lips as he thought about it. It had been winter – or, at least, it had felt like it. Mattie was swaddled in his winter get-up and he tripped over his shoelaces, and landed on Blue’s Lamp. He’d apologized profusely and demanded that Blue ‘go home’ because he really didn’t need any wishes. And normally Blue would have listened – he really would have – except Mattie had already made an impression. A bumbling and kind idiot who believed the best in people – sure, it wasn’t the best impression, but it was only a matter of time before Blue realized he’d fallen in l—

“If you’re going to call me anything, call me Elizabeth. It is my name, just so you know.”

He looked up at her with a sheepish smile and a blush on his cheeks. She must have been as embarrassed as he felt. Still, it wasn’t as though he could walk away from Elizabeth now. She was much too like Mattie. He couldn’t decide if he liked that or if it made his heart ache even more for the dead human. “I’m Blue,” he replied quietly. “I’m sorry,” he repeated again, with yet another sigh because he was almost certain that this wasn’t helping the pain coiled tightly in his chest.

“It was just a bit of wishful thinking on my part.”