solace. (OPEN)

[○ Draco Foyen.]

If Draco possessed the energy to move, he would have been out searching vehemently for something tall enough to jump off. Instead, he was curled up in the back of some small, earthy bookstore slash cafe, his third espresso on the table before him, Cassius curled up in his lap and sketchpad in hand. Truthfully, the Foyen heir wasn't in much of a mood to create, but he found that focusing on the paper before him helped to alleviate his headache - as did the fact that he had decided to wear his glasses for once.

His hangover surely wouldn't have been so severe if his phone hadn't started ringing around 6am - and ringing, and ringing. Finally, after fifteen minutes the furious boy had snatched up his phone and answered the persistent caller with some colorful language and a very dark tone, only to be met by the crisp, French voice of his mother.

"You're lucky this isn't your father darling," because D'anton Foyen would have sent a jet to pick up his son only to bring him home long enough to discipline him. Hell, if he found out Draco had raised his voice to his mother, to a lady, the same punishment would surely ensue.

"Navré, mère," He had flopped back on the pillows while apologizing, eyes closed as he pressed a hand to his forehead, suddenly glad he hadn't brought home any girls the night before. He asked his mother what she wanted, careful to make sure he sounded polite and interested, ever the dutiful son. Turns out that Celeste had called to ask about Vlad, of all things, and Draco spent the following ten minutes changing the subject so that he could properly excuse himself from the conversation, and hang up.

Draco had been awake since then, unable to lull himself to sleep with thoughts of his son suddenly on the brain. After a few hours involving a lot of nothing, he ventured into town - head throbbing and snarl firmly in place - with Cassius because Cognac was passed out firmly in the back of Kaylen's closet. He had stumbled up on the little shop by accident, bored, hungry and delighted to see that they allowed animals. So he ventured inside, admiring the huge front room, stuffed with couches, coffee tables and books shelves jammed full of used books for sale. Upstairs there was a small cafe and another set of tables and chairs, where Draco had bought his coffee and a muffin to split with his puppy. Now he sat on a worn blue love seat that smelled like incense while he dragged his pencil back and forth across the sketchpad, attempting to create something from nothing.

[Kellan Grace Callahan]

It was a very rare day when Kellan Callahan found that she able to sleep in. If the sun was up, her body was convinced that it should be too, making it virtually impossible for her to ever sleep past eight. Today was no exception. She probably should have been in class and she probably should have been doing some kind of school work, but she juuuuuust wasn’t feeling it today. She had a few errands to run anyway, so she bundled up and headed into town.

For Christmas, she had bought her mother a new set of cookbooks only to discover on Christmas morning that her brother had bought Angelina the same ones. Kellan lost their rock, paper, scissors game, which meant that she was the one who had to return the set she bought and find a new gift. Today seemed like a perfect day to return those books, considering she was staying as far away from homework as possible and it was already more than a month after Christmas.

She entered the bookstore, returned the cookbooks for cash, and decided that if she was going to go back out and brave the cold again she was going to need some peppermint hot chocolate as soon as possible.

That was when she spotted Draco. She didn’t really know the boy too well, but he had always been really nice to her, and that was all Kellan needed to like someone. She smiled at the sight of him with one half of his infamous doggy duo and decided to go over and say hello.

“So is it true that guys take their dogs out with them because they heard somewhere that women adore men with pets?” she greeted, though it wasn’t much of a greeting at all. She really hoped that she hadn’t interrupted his drawing.

[○ Draco Foyen.]

"Yes, absolutely." Draco grinned, but didn't look up from his sketchbook for another long minute after answering Kellan's question. He could recognize her voice without looking, and he really needed to finish something on his drawing before he could break concentration. The Foyen heir wasn't trying to be rude, because he actually liked Kellan a great deal. He thought she was as sweet and quirky and charming as her smile, and it didn't hyrt that she was one of Eiji's favorite people and Draco trusted the boy's judgment a great deal.

"Is it true that girls adore boys with pets?" Setting his sketchpad on the table in front of him, Draco looked up at the pretty blonde with a lazy grin that seemed mildly forced because of the way his head was still pounding, but it was also obvious that he was pleased to see the girl, and even more so that she had decided to come talk to him.

Reaching over to scratch Cassius ear as he continued to snooze besides Draco, the boy smirked. He wasn't much one for animals, and he still wasn't entirely sure how he had even ended up with the two furry little brats, but obviously, he had grown immensely fond of them. He suspected it must of had something to do with their very first entrance and peeing on Eiji's show during in incredibly important and heartfelt moment with Elliot. They were troublemakers, but only at the best of times.

[Kellan Grace Callahan]

--wow, I took forever. sorry ♥

At first Kellan thought that she was bothering Draco. He looked so involved in his drawing and she honestly thought that he was either going to ignore her or flat out tell her to go away. But then he looked up from his sketchpad and Kellan felt a wave of relief.

“Yes. Well, no. Kind of,” she answered, changing her mind. “Most girls do. They like guys with pets because they think that if they like animals then they must have some kind of paternal instinct and want to father their children, which it stupid. Kids and pets are nothing alike. Dogs are smart and loyal and cute and soft, but kids… kids are loud and smell disgusting and are somehow always sticky for some reason. So it’s a stupid assumption to make.”

A simple answer would have done the job, but anyone who knew Kellan knew that that was a task much easier said than done. The blonde girl glanced down at the sleeping puppy next to Draco, absolutely certain that if she had the choice she’d easily choose the little furball for a child instead of an actual child.

“So what are you doing out this early?” she asked. Though she didn’t know Draco well at all, Kellan just couldn’t picture the boy as the kind who would be up at the crack of dawn every morning.

[○ Draco Foyen.]

Draco actually closed his sketchpad as Kellan began to speak, glasses set carefully on the edge of his nose as he looked up at her, the glass wall between the world and the windows of his soul - which were particularly warm considering it was such an awful hour of the day and all. He supposed it had something to do with how much he liked the girl before him, how energetic and contagious she was. In the right light, she reminded him of Lauren, but more real in all respect, and he liked her even more for that.

"Huh," he finally said, a small noise of surprise, "I always just thought it was because girls likes cute things." Girls, and Draco. Shrugging, the blonde reached over to scratch behind Cassius' ear one more time, smirking fondly at the way the tiny animal yawned before nestling closer to it's owner.

"But that is sort of a ridiculous concept. I mean, I'm pretty good with these bastard puppies, but I'm still lost when it comes to my kid." There was a beat, a weighted pause before Draco really had a chance to grasp what he really just given up - fuck. Later he would simply figure it to be an inevitable slip considering that the young boy was already lingering on the blonde's mind after his over-seas phone call that morning, and still, a part of him regretted the admittance.

He tried to cover his tracks, but it was in vain. "Me? Well my mother decided to call me at an obscene hour to talk and I've got one of those monster hangovers that there's no sleeping off once it's been awoken." His smile lit up a bit then, though his aforementioned 'day after' plague kicked in once more shortly after, his headache returning with enough vengeance to make him wince.

it's okay ♥