The Die-ner

[Dashner Hawke]

Jackie and Ronan shook hands. They both sat down and Dashner listened to Ronan curioulsy. "Uh, well, I dunno. Some try to associate me with chickens, which is weird, but." Dasher now talked louder. 'Thanks Mrs. Aalto! I love gifts," he smiled.

"I'm just so excited to be here. It'll be so nice to meet all Dy-"

"DASHNER."

"-Dashner's creatures and friends! I already met the Marceline ghoul, she's really nice," she nodded and looked over at her son with the 'Why did you correct me' look.

"Mum, that's Doriana Taylor, another selkie, and her um.." he had never met her brother before.

"Doran! I'm one of... many brothers and sisters," he grinned.

"Oh yeah, Doran."

"Nice to meet you Doriana and Doran," Dr. McHeastie smiled softly.  

[Ronan Aalto]

Clearly Ronan completely failed to notice that Dashner had corrected his mother, just smiling softly as he politely listened to the smalltalk.

Ronan's father did most of the talking, his wife's grasp of English seemed rather marginal.

"Yes, it should be... interesting. I admit, I've not spent an extended period around monsters. Other than my immediate family of course." He smiled to his wife who rested her head on his shoulder while she browsed the pictures on the menu.
"May I ask, what are you a doctor of?"
 

[Dashner Hawke]

"Science. You see, I work at a lab where we combi-" Dashner nudged her. She sighed. "I work at a lab, a very nice lab indeed."

"What do you do at your lab?" The young selkie asked curiously.

"We... make things. Well, not make. We experiment making new, living things that can change the world one day." Dashner sighed as his mother explained.  

[Motthew Clendenin]

Motthew had quickly headed back into room and changed into something a bit nicer, though he always looked pretty nice. Grinning to himself, he headed out and flew off to the die-ner.

Just before he landed, as he flew, enjoying the breeze, part of him wondered what Ronans parents would be like. Another part wondered who else would be there too. And another party wondered if his own father would be fashionably late for the tour and conferences. With a sigh, he landed in front of the Die-ner, adjusting his jacket and his sunglasses. He walked in and looked around for them, his antennae twitching curiously. One he spotted the growing group, he smiled and walked over.

"Well, here's an interesting group. Hope I'm not too late." he smiled at them.  

[Ronan Aalto]

Ronan looked relieved as Mothew appeared. "I'm glad you came. " He made introductions once more, which was starting to get a bit exhausting.

His parents politely greeted the mothboo.

"Now that does sound interesting. Is that how you ended up with your son here?" Ronan's father had about as much tact as a battleship.

"I believe that is everyone who said they would come." Ronan pointed out.

His mother looked relieved. "We eat?"  

[Doriana Taylor]

"Motthew!" She got up and ran up to him and hugged her boofriend and smiled.

"DORIANA AND MOTTHEW SITTING IN A TR-"

Dashner patted Doran's back and grinned softly, his mother saying, "Awww" under her breath.

"I agree. Let's eat."  

[Motthew Clendenin]

Motthew nodded as he introduced himself to Ronans parents. "Pleasure to meet you."

He looked up and smiled at Doriana add she Hugged him. He Hugged get tight and grinned "Well, don't you look lovely." He said. He heard Doran and smiled up at him "I see you're shadow tagged along." He chuckled "Hey Doran!"

He looked up at everyone, smiling, keeping one arm around Doriana "Food sounds killer, I'm starved." He chuckled.  

[Ronan Aalto]

Food was ordered and arrived relatively quickly, which caused a lull in the already not particularly vibrant conversation.

Once everyone had finished, Doran, clearly happier with a full stomach, looked around at the group and frowned. He'd clearly been bursting to ask questions since they'd sat down, but now everything was quiet, he took the chance.

"So... you're a normie right?" He asked Ronan's father, who nodded.
"My parents say normies can't be trusted." He looked the man up and down critically. "But you bought me dinner."

Ronan's father smiled and chuckled a little. "Well we can't be all bad then can we?"

"Well my parents say you're crafty and sneaky. They said we shouldn't talk to you."

"Then why are you talking to him?" Ronan enquired, clearly a little irritated by the train of conversation.

"It's alright son. I expected this. Doran? was it? anyway, your parents? They're wrong. We aren't all awful people, if we were, Meri here wouldn't have married me." He put an arm around his wife who seemed to not really be following the conversation.

"How do I know you're not lying?" The child asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well. Do YOU think normies are all bad?"

"Dunno."

"Have you ever met a normie before tonight?"

"No?"

"Do you think perhaps, your parents might not have met any either?"

"Dunno."

Ronan shook his head.
"They're stupid and ignorant."

"Ronan, you shouldn't talk like that."

"Why not? It IS stupid. Look at this table, all of us are different and yet we're all still capable of being civil to one another. It doesn't matter what we look like or where we came from. The prejudice is stupid." He folded his arms and huffed.

"That may be so, but you can't call THEM stupid for believing it."

"Why? Anyone with any sense can see it's ridiculous."

"You have to try to understand other's perspectives son. Many Normies still find monsters frightening and strange, and many monsters return that sentiment. There's centuries of misconceptions and stories on both sides, it takes a lot to work through all that."

"Then how'd you manage it?" Ronan glared at his father, unhappy about being scolded in front of his friends.

"Well, you know, i'm not really sure. Your mother, she's something special. "

Ronan's mother seemed to have caught up. "He different to other normies. Nice man, not like nasty vicious men he associate with." She frowned deeply and made a face.

Ronan's father sighed and shook his head. "Even your mother isn't without her prejudices Ronan. People don't just change overnight, it takes a long time to get over centuries of horror stories."

Ronan stared at his empty plate, nodding vaguely and mumbling "It's still stupid."

"It is, but you can't force people to change. You can just hope they'll see sense in the end."

"They won't." Ronan huffed.

"have a little faith son."


"Leopard seals don't change their spots." Ronan's mother said decidedly, nodding as she picked up the menu. "Desert?"  

[Doriana Taylor]

Doriana glared at Doran. "What??"

Doriana looked at Mister and Miss Aalto with an apologetic look. "I assure you, Mr and Mrs Aalto, that I am not prejudiced like that. I think that we are all equal, and I certainly think that love is love. Doran is just being taught wrong by our parents."

She sighed, "But as long as I'm around, I'm gonna make sure that all of my siblings get to believe the same thing I believe. Maybe one day we can end all this prejudice and actually think us all as equal."

She rested her head on Motthew's shoulder. Doran glared at her but remained quiet. Maybe he was wrong...

Dashner cleared his throat. "Dessert sounds great."  

[Ronan Aalto]

"Don't worry about it." Mr Aalto smiled to Doriana.

His wife watched Doriana and Mothew critically and turned to Ronan to ask him something in Norwegian.
Ronan flushed a little and shook his head.

"Well it's nice to see you're still on good terms whatever happened." Ronan's father shrugged.

Ronan sighed. "Nothing happened, that's the point. We went to tombcoming together, we left with other monsters." He paused, now that he said that outloud it did sound a bit catastrophic. He looked to Doriana, and to Mothew and smiled softly. "It's better this way. See?"

"Romantic." His mother beamed. "When we meet new ghoul?"

"I don't know. She's working. Hopefully she'll be free tomorrow night."

"Get ex to come, but not ghoulfriend? tisk..." His mother tutted and Ronan rested his head on the table in defeat.

"She's not my ex. We never even dated.. right? We didn't date?" He looked up at Doriana suddenly a little worried.

"I'm not convinced, i'd call taking a girl.. sorry, ghoul to tombcoming a date." His father wasn't helping.

Ronan gritted his teeth. "It doesn't matter. She has a boofriend, I have a ghoulfriend, it worked out great."

"Well I think it's wonderful that you all remain friends. Great to see young folk acting so maturely."

Ronan felt the sudden urge to beat his head repeatedly against the table top. So THIS was what people meant when they talked about parents being embarrassing.  

[Motthew Clendenin]

Motthew scratched his head as he listened to Ronan and his parents. The conversation was definitely leaving am uncomfortable strain in the air. He was glad, at that point, that his father wouldn't be in yet. One embarrassed boo at this table was enough.

"Honestly, if you don't mind me saying," he started "As long as everyone is happier now, isn't that what's important?" He smiled a little "It doesn't matter about all that technical stuff. At least I don't think so." He shrugged his free shoulder.  

[Ronan Aalto]

Ronan glanced up faintly and looked thankful at Motthew.

"So how did you two end up together then?" Ronan's father asked, smiling softly. They were a sweet couple, he only hoped his son had picked the right ghoul. It wasn't as if the boy had much experience with females or dating after all.
Both he and his wife were honestly a little anxious to meet this Meme ghoul and learn more about her and what made her so special in Ronan's eyes.  

[Motthew Clendenin]

Motthew grinned and straightened a little "Its really just a typical story." He said, an idea popping in his head. He hoped it could help lighten the mood.

"There we were, practically on the other side of the world. It was a normal day," he shrugged "until, of course, higher forces than we know came into play. She tripped and fell and, like the hero I truly strive to be, I swooped in at the speed of light and saved her from harming herself." He laughed a little.

He smiled sideways at Doriana "She's been falling for me ever since. Sometimes things like that just... happen."  

[Doriana Taylor]

"Well hey now, you have to like me too if we're dating," she laughed.

"And we got together by... Well, he just asked! And I obviously said yes," she grinned.  

[Motthew Clendenin]

Motthew just laughed. He grinned at Doriana "Silly, Dori. I was only joking." He poked her nose "Think you need Little more time to think about it." He teased her with a laugh.