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 Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:28 am
Daisicle Sven was just working in the kitchen per his usual routine, with the usual sort of colleagues nearby, but in an unusual sort of mood. For the normally hyper-focused, he instead was making little mistakes here and there, his motions almost absentminded. It certainly wasn't like him.
See, he was thinking over his recent conversation with Alba. Her desire to start a family (not now, but later). Her wish to be together forever. He was analyzing the exchange, convinced she was trying to tell him to propose, but entirely not-so-convinced at the same time. After all, he was terrible at reading others. But even so, this still wasn't the sort of thing she could ask him to do outright - it'd ruin the romance of it. ... Right? He stared intently at the apple-in-hand at hand. Menelie Menahem, who had recently been able to come back to work a few hours each day, was stationed next to Sven. They were making some kind of cake? Honestly he wasn't sure, it was only like his third day back to work. Sven had apples, Menahem himself was peeling and shredding carrots. It was nice to be in the kitchen without the pregnancy nausea, though he did wish that these kids would hurry up and wean so he could get back to his normal self.
"Hey Sven, where d'you want these carrots?" he asked. Then, when he didn't get a response, "Sven?" Dude was in his own little world. "Sven!" he snapped his fingers in the space between Sven's face and whatever he was staring at. "You okay, bro?" he asked once he'd actually gotten Sven's attention. "You were like....zoned out." Mena glanced over at Amaeli, who he'd seen around the kitchen but hadn't interacted with much, and made a silly expression in her direction. He whistled a high, then a lower note in quick succession. Wolfs Heart Amaeli was busying herself assembling the salad for the day. Of course, she always liked to add her own flourish to things when she had the time, so she was carefully cutting vegetables into star shapes. It seemed to be oddly quiet in the kitchen right now, so when she heard Mena calling Sven's name over and over, she couldn't help but glance over curiously every time he broke the silence. She was surprised when Menahem got her attention instead. It had been confusing for her when a decently attractive male coworker one day showed up as a decently attractive female coworker. "Everything okay with him?" Amaeli set her knife down and started at Sven for a moment. "Woah, hey, that amount of sugar seems a little overboard, dont'cha think?" She exclaimed as she peeked into the bowl next to sven. Amaeli liked things sweet, but they'd have a hard time getting a harvest cake to set with that much sugar in it.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:29 am
Daisicle Sven had fully been in his mind, autopiloting his duties until Mena's finger snap. He blinked before looking at him visibly confused and a little irritated, which remained in his face as he glanced at Amaeli and then down at the bowl. Damn... She was right. He clicked his tongue before moving a bit awkwardly to dump the product into the composting bin and then start over.
"I'll fix it... There's still time." He started putting things back into the bowl while congnizantly trying to ignore them. Menelie Menahem raised his eyebrows and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest, then making a face and adopting a different position instead. "Takes a lot to ******** up your focus. Everything OK man?" Wolfs Heart "Hmm, yeah, there's still time" Amaeli nodded. She was just thankful it hadn't gone in the fire yet, she wouldn't have wanted to be the one responsible for cleaning up that mess. She wasn't used to having to catch mistakes, the female did wonder what could possibly happen to make this guy so out of it, but she wasn't sure if it was her place to pry. But maybe she could help. Amaeli returned to her station, foregoing the shaped vegetables and simply slicing them so that she could pay attention to what was going on with these two.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:30 am
Daisicle Sven tried to ignore Mena, but he could just -feel- his eyes burning into him. It was frustraiting, and it further broke his current poor concentration. He set down his tools and reached up to rub his temples before glaring at him. "It's just something Alba said. I've been trying to figure out what she meant by it." Menelie Menahem got a look of genuine concern. "Is something wrong?" He asked. He glanced over at Amaeli, who was clearly listening but pretending she wasn't. He felt a little bad, as he suspected she didn't have all the context here, but she would probably pick it up as they went. "She seemed perfectly content the last time she came over." Well, she seemed as "normal" as was typical for Alba. Baby obsessed as usual.
Oh no. Did she start that conversation with Sven? Maybe he didn't want kids and it was becoming a problem? Far be it from Menahem to meddle in others' romantic affairs, but Sven and Alba had seemed perfect for each other, it would be a shame if something got in the way of their happiness. "D'you want to talk about it?" He asked tentatively. Wolfs Heart Ohhhh, it sounded like girl trouble. He was trying to figure out what some gal meant, that was never good. Girls didn't usually say what they actually meant. Perhaps he really did need her help, Menahem wasn't a full time female, he might not properly understand the complexities of the female mind. "What did she say?" Amaeli piped in.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:31 am
Daisicle Sven shook his head, "No, she isn't mad or anything, it's just..." He crossed his arms and furrowed his brows. It was clear he had been thinking about this deeply. He glanced over at Amaeli, then back to the ground as he tried his best to quote her exactly.
"She said - paraphrasing a bit for context - that she 'loves me so much' and she 'wants to be together forever' and she 'wants to start a family with me.'" A slight pause. "But what did she -mean- by all that..." Another pause, then he looked up with that confused expression back.
"Is she asking me to propose to her?"
Oh how wonderful it is to be socially-inept. Menelie Mena's eyebrows shot up and he couldn't help but grin. So, seemed like things were quite the opposite of what he'd worried. "Well," he began seriously, "you know her better than I do, but I haven't known Alba to say those kinds of things jokingly, so I'd say that...at the very least she is being sincere." After a pause, he turned the question back on Sven: "Do you want all those things? Seems like there is no rush to propose if you don't. But if you do....seems like there's no reason not to." That seemed too complex an answer. "I guess, like...propose if you want to." He said as a summary.
He gestured to Amaeli. "How about a woman's perspective?" He suggested. Wolfs Heart "Hmmm," well that was a bit of a conundrum. "It definitely sounds like she wants a family with you, but..." A female could want to spend the rest of her life with someone without wanting to get married. It depended on how she felt about marriage. "Has she ever said anything about marriage to you before, even commenting on some other pae's marriage?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:32 am
Daisicle "Mmm... I hadn't really thought of it before now..." That was why he was so torn now, and why he was putting in legitimate effort in trying to figure it out. Like, it wasn't like he -didn't- want to, but it also hadn't occurred to him as something to do previously. How troublesome...
He looked over to Amaeli and glanced up to think before looking back at her. "Not explicitly that I remember. Her parents aren't married, and her brother... well..." he carefully trailed off on that one and, quite successfully, managed to refrain from glancing at Mena. "...isn't married either. Actually, I don't think anyfaun in her family is. Isn't that the weirder thing? You're supposed to be married before starting a family. Wait." He paused. "My brother isn't married and just stole some kids too." He wasn't going to go further into that nonsense, despite the bombshell statement he'd just made. He furrowed his brows. "The Tree's gone mad - what happened to structure?" Oh lord, it seemed he was getting lost in his thoughts again. Menelie Mena listened as Sven responded to Amaeli's line of thought. He muttered "nice save" under his breath and rolled his eyes at his non-comment about Rho. Then, as Sven began to spin his wheels again, he put up a hand, as if to pause him. Emotions weren't his thing--he wished Tirzah were here, she'd sort all this out in a heartbeat--but he knew his colleauge responded to reason and logic.
"It sounds like you are interested in marriage, especially before kids come along. So it sounds like the next logical questions are, do you want to marry Alba, and do you want to do it soon or wait a while?" Wolfs Heart Wow, sometimes Amaeli thought her family was complicated, but hearing Sven go on... and on... and on. Her family was starting to feel more normal. It seemed that perhaps she had only made things worse by trying to help him decode his female when he started spiraling at the end. Amaeli gave a sheepish expression to Mena, sort of like an 'oops'. Maybe she should just go back to making artistic artisanal salads. Mena had a good point though, it was starting to sound like marriage was important to him, at the very least.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:33 am
Daisicle "I'd assumed we'd marry at some point." He plainly responded back as if it was an obvious answer, his expression relaxing a bit. Why wouldn't he want to be with her - she was so kind and sweet and lovely of a faun. "I'm not concerned with the timeframe... But... I'm not sure it's what she wants..." He hmmed a bit. The female mind was mysterious - nevermind there was one close to him Menelie Alright, now Sven was just overthinking. Mena pinched the bridge of his nose and threw a glance at Amaeli to see if she was still listening, then caught her eye and made a "can you believe this guy" gesture.
"Alright, you didn't ask for my advice, but since I'm here I'm gonna give it to you. I don't claim to know much about girls, mostly by choice, but even I can see that you've got a good thing right in front of you. Alba's crazy about you, you said she told you she wanted to be together forever, and even if she hadn't thought that would include marriage I doubt a proposal would change that. So my official Gay Coworker advice is to just ********' go for it." He clapped Sven on the shoulder and started to return to his work. He still hadn't figured out where he should put the shredded carrots, however. Wolfs Heart Amaeli's eyes widened as Mena offered his advice. After her explosion of a failure at trying to help Sven, she couldn't imagine this going well. No, nope, she was going to chop vegetables again. She busied herself with the knife again, but of course she was still listening, she was invested now. She just about died at Mena's conclusion, holding her breath in order to hold back her giggles. "You won't know until you try," she added, still chopping away. And Mena and Amaeli would be here the next day to make sure Sven didn't put any pieces of himself into the soup if it didn't go well. She made a mental note to keep an eye on him in the coming weeks.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:34 am
Daisicle Sven notably scowled as Mena hit him on the shoulder before reaching up to rub the spot - that had kind of hurt! "I didn't ask for advice..." He grumbled before looking between the two of them and sighing, then returning to his work.
This time around, he was putting in the correct measurements.
"Where do you even find the flower though?" Menelie "Do I look like I've proposed to a girl lately?" quipped Mena, returning to peeling carrots, then paused and pointed the peeler at Sven. "Don't answer that."
"Hey Amaeli, you're a girl. D'you know how this all works?" Wolfs Heart "You're a girl, says the girl," she teased with a dramatic roll of her eyes. Obviously she must know all about marriage and babies because of her female ways. No. She knew about food, and she mildly knew how a female's brain worked. "It's as Sven said, the tree's gone mad," she said nonchalantly, referring to the lack of married pae. "I don't know any married faun, I'm not currently entertaining a prospective mate, so I haven't had to think about these things." Amaeli stopped chopping and tried to think about who might know how the marriage ritual went, other than like, the chief. "You know, now that I think about it... It would probably be the tree's flowers right? Binding two souls to each other and the tree... Actually, that's kind of really romantic." She tossed the vegetables into the salad. Daisicle Sven had paused to look over at Mena and his mouth was even half-open when he was interrupted from saying what was probably going to be a very unkind - or at the very least untactful - comeback. At least Amaeli was more useful.
He looked over at her and nodded before looking back at his work with a soft, "Thanks." It seemed he'd have a bit more to think about going forward.
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