Summer’s mouth twitched in a wry smile, and she lifted her hands a little. “This one is really simple — I’m just threading beads, well chips in this case, on a string. This is a particular kind of wire called tigertail, that’s very thin and flexible.” She finished the piece of the pattern she was working on, and laid it down to pick up a completed piece with multiple swoops.
She spread it out between her hands, holding it up for him. “This one is a little more complicated.” Putting it back down, she nudged a box of finished pieces toward him. She stirred a pile of gemstone chips with her fingertip, looking for the perfect one to string next.
Ace looked on unabashedly with the type of curious eyes a child would hold.
When he’s the most oblivious to himself and his actions, it’s easy to compare him to something so pure — it’s the subconscious side of him he couldn’t suppress no matter how hard he tried.
He found it hard to focus on just one thing — his gaze shifted from her current piece, to the plethora of materials scattered somewhat respectively around her, before finally settling on the box of finished works she nudged towards him.
With a small smile, cheeks slightly tinted red at the thought of being so… entertained by this one simple thing, but dove into what was set in front of him nonetheless.
Ace’s actions spoke louder than words. He thought she was gifted at this… crafting, but couldn’t bring himself to say so.
The wry smile flashed again, though she kept her eyes mostly on what she was doing. He tried to hard to seem prickly and standoffish, but the way he looked as he lifted out some of her finished pieces told her how much more to him there could be.
In all honesty, she was restraining herself from pushing — there were lots of questions she wanted to ask, and a /lot/ more she could say to him about what she was doing. It wasn’t so much that she was naturally outgoing — she wasn’t. But here was an interesting new person, and there was no one else around to make her feel shy.
But she bit her tongue, just watching him, fingers sliding chip after chip onto the wire. Hopefully, if she was patient, he would open up to her.