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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:48 am
Roland looked up mouth wide jaw dropped, "You planned this! You knew I would do that!" He flailed a bit stuffing a crack sandwich into his mouth huffing and puffing and whining.
"I'm such an idiot..."
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:54 am
"I didn't know," Jordan protested. "It was just a hunch. A theory." His smirk widened. "You're not an idiot. Don't blame yourself for my machinations." He reached over to steal another cracker, put a slice of cheese on it, and ate it calmly.
Then he said, "So. Date?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:55 am
Roland let out a frustrated sigh laying on the table. He was blushing horribly, he was torn between smiling and running away to hide and finally he just gave up.
"Date..."
There was a pause, "Please don't tell my parents."
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:59 am
"Meeting the parents usually doesn't happen till considerably later," Jordan said, trying to keep a straight face.
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 11:00 am
"Is never an option, I think my mom might try to steal you.... or dad for that matter."
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 11:04 am
"That would require me to agree to being stolen. Unless you're talking rope and duct tape, in which case, damn, dude, hardcore." Jordan gestured with the champagne flute. "Anyway, little early to be talking family, this is the first date, after all." Jordan glanced over Ro's shoulder back towards the buffet, and an evil grin appeared on his face, just for a moment. "Hang on a sec," he said. "Gotta give a friend some crap." He pulled his phone out of his pocket. Nio Love Text to Robert: You dog, you. Go for it. Then he put his phone back and grinned at Ro. "Dude's been dithering about making a move for ages. Looks like he finally got it out."
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 8:18 pm
"Oh, this would not be the worst date ever," Mimsy assured him, sparing a casual glance towards where she'd last seen Dwight. After a shy pat to the hand that held hers and a smile, she cleared her throat and continued. "But...I promise." The encouragement Clerise provided was doing its very best to mentally clash against the promise she’d just made, so she countered it by adding it to the list of things to ask her about. It was understandable that she might have to move along in her search for the ‘right’ one at some point, but it didn’t seem quite fair to do so after just one date. "It would be unfair for me to abandon something over just one unfavorable outlier, after all. Especially when you seem so per--" The excitement she felt over how well she was handling the situation all by herself had gotten so far ahead of her, and she abruptly stopped speaking before she could ruin that, which caused her to swallow a startled gasp of air, immediately followed by a tiny hiccup. "Drinks. Yes. We...we need those." She carefully released his hand and smiled before walking as briskly as she could in heels towards the champagne tower. It delighted her to see Lucky there, and she completely missed all signs of something being not-right as she bent down to kiss him on the cheek in greeting, giggling contentedly as she plucked up two champagne flutes for her and her date. "Good evening, Lucky! You look very nice! I have a date! If you can spare another moment away from your date..." She nudged him and winked, which did not look nearly as smooth as a wink should. "You should come say hello!" With a toothy smile as she turned to leave, she balanced the drinks in her hands and returned to Robert, extending one towards him. "Okay. Um...drinks! Do we require anything else?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:12 pm
"Whew." Robert loudly huffed out his relief at both the reply, and the promise. He really needed to hear that; and something deep down inside reminded him of how important the kids behind him were. Not as important as Ramona, but they still needed supervision. He knew it would put a hamper on a date, and he'd make it up to her with a real one, one day. At least, for now, she seemed to understand. She said something about unfair to abandon, and for a moment he thought she meant that she understood how he couldn't abandon the children, but she cut herself short in the most painfully adorable way. He winced, because it almost sounded like it hurt, and waited for her to continue. She didn't. "Sorry I can't get them myself!" God, she was so understanding. Exactly what Robert needed in his complicated life. She watched her walk off to get them champagne, but his eyes quickly fell to start counting heads beside him. With a distracted thought in the back of his head, he started to wonder what she was saying when she interrupted herself. He'd heard it, but he'd been too started and relieved to comprehend. So he thought about it for a moment. Especially when you seem so per-It felt like a brick - no, an actual cascade of bricks were falling on his head. Robert's expression fell in dumbfounded surprise, and the children around him grew quiet as they watched him slowly short circuit. He put his hand down on the table, but it wasn't enough - the giant lug of a man came crashing down, sitting on the nearest chair while slumped forward. His posture was terrible - but perfect for climbing on. One of the smaller children did just that. "She thinks I'm perfect." Robert whispered out in an exhale. He was lost to the world - a fact that became even more obvious as the little girl continued to climb, wrapped herself around his head, and swayed precariously from his shoulders. Ramona was perched precariously on shoulders as well, though she seemed a little more stable since Allan was paying attention. The little boy who sat jealously on the other side was no match for her prowess, and she straightened up her back as much as she could, going so far as to push down so she could try to be higher than him, too. Her expression was pursed and wide-eyed - it was her game face. Ramona was clearly saying bring it. The plate of jello was pretty precarious, too. It jiggled and waited for the wrong moment to come. Soon, it would be free.
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 12:25 am
Between mouthfuls of cake, someone cheerfully announces, "Almost there! Ten minutes to 2014!"Quote: This AU closes tomorrow at midnight! The countdown begins tomorrow evening!
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 12:32 am
In truth, Mimsy was not all that surprised when she discovered that she had very obviously broken Robert. Her very short history of dating had not exactly left her with the most positive of results, and a significant portion (if not the majority) of that had absolutely been her fault. It was disappointing that she had apparently done nothing to improve upon whatever the root of the issue was, but not alarming enough to make her shut down too.
"Um." Concerned, she glanced towards Ramona, hoping that she might offer some insight. When she saw that she was preoccupied, she anxiously shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and put both glasses of champagne on the table next to him.
"Was it important for...should I have waited until you could retrieve the drinks?" She picked up his hand just long enough to move it towards the champagne. "You can give it to me instead, if you prefer."
What other standard protocol had she neglected to sufficiently inform herself about? In an effort to distract herself, she reached with deliberate, calculated motions to remove the girl from his head, settling the clingy child on her hip instead. She smiled and booped her nose with the end of her pointer finger before she returned her attention to her date.
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 12:47 am
" Tomorrow..." he repeated, a bit less cheerfully. So much for his plans for the evening. And next evening. But before he could get too engrossed in last-minute project specs in his own head, Mimsy came along and offered him a sufficiently interesting distraction. Upon noticing her, he visibly brightened. "Mimsy! I wondered where you were." It was nice to see his sister was handling the party well. He'd been expecting to run into her much earlier, under much different reasons... like quite a few other parties they'd been to before this. "You look like you're having fun." "You have a date? Who? Where? Wait--" He grabbed the closest filled flute to replace the one he'd lost to Sam, and lagged a few seconds behind her in pushing through the crowd to the table.
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 1:00 am
Robert heard her voice, even if it was just a quiet 'um', and his entire head lolled to one side to look at her, transforming the broken man into something even worse. A goofy, drunk smile plastered on his face for a second. She thinks I'm perfect.He almost thought it like he was teasing himself about it, but then he shook his head and sobered up. She'd brought the glasses, which several children were already eyeing curiously, and Robert returned to his senses with a very stern, very powerful - "No." Then he returned to looking up at her, all smiles once more. "No." He repeated, this time with an airy sense of awkward flirtation. "You're fiiine. I couldn't have left them for this. You did me a favor. I was starting to feel a little like a failure before I'd even begun." But he didn't feel like a failure anymore. Because she thought he was-He looked genuinely startled when the leech of a child was pulled off of his head. He reached up to check if there were any others attached to him, and wondered how he'd lost almost all sense of self-awareness so easily, but he had the loveliest sight to distract him. Mimsy, playing sweetly with the child, gentle and hesitant with just the softest hint of care. And suddenly Robert reminded himself that she was perfect. too. "You're pretty good with them, huh." Robert sounded like he was practically fawning; and it would have been embarrassing if he could hear himself. He reached for his glass again, and finally turned to take a sip - once more aware of everything around him. Including - "'Ey, Lucky." Robert harped out, putting his glass down so he could extend his hand for a firm, bracing handshake. "Happy New Year! How you making out so far, buddy? You ready to ring in a new one?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 2:28 am
"Good with...hm?" Not quite following what he was getting at, Mimsy tilted her head and waited for him to clarify. Before he ever got a chance to, there was a tug on her braid, abruptly tilting her head back towards the girl. It was kind of impossible not to know what he was referring to at that point. "Oh! Ha...um." She smiled and gently untangled five tiny fingers from her hair, seamlessly offering her necklace as a replacement when once was freed. "Truthfully, I have very few opportunities to interact with them. I just think about it. A...lot." Even she knew that sounded crazy. "I...mean...how nice it would be. They're all so cute and curious and fascinating." Little adorable bundles of human traits and human personalities, as long as those things were nurtured and encouraged. And they would be, when she had her own. She picked up her champagne again and took a generous sip, and offered her glass towards Lucky for a toast, even if it was not quite the proper order of operations. "This is my date!" As if she felt compelled to offer further proof, she inched closer to Robert, stopping when she could lean against him. "I guess you probably already figured that out though, huh? He only asked me a moment ago - I promise I didn't keep such a secret from you!"
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:11 am
Lucky took a second to recognize he was being spoken to, but upon doing so, he gave Robert a pleasant smile and a mostly confident handshake. His fingers felt strange in texture, scarred and calloused so many times they were hardly recognizable by touch. It was the compounding effect of so many hands-on lab accidents. He set his champagne glass down and ran a finger along the rim of it. "Robert - it's Robert, right? - nice to see you again. I just can't believe another year's come and gone so fast. I could stand to invent a time machine next, I think." Mimsy's announcement had him clapping his hands together. "Forget the new year; this is worth celebrating!" He swiped his half-full glass back to clink against Mimsy's enthusiastically. He nudged Robert slightly with an elbow. "You're probably thinking that as her slightly older brother I'm supposed to threaten you or something - but I'm really just so happy my sister's found someone!" He leaned even closer to Robert with a confident smile and a low voice. "But, for the record, I do work in a runic ballistics lab. Full of weapons. And explosives." Without missing a beat he clapped Robert on his Mimsy-less shoulder before taking a sip of his drink. "Isn't being in love wonderful?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:54 am
"You could have more opportunities." It was a delayed reaction, before Robert realized what that sounded like. "I MEAN IF YOU COME BY THE STUDIO." He stammered out an explanation, trying not to explode from the heat that flooded his cheeks. And Lucky had even been there to hear something so.. so.. embarrassing. "I know you come for the evening classes, but you're always welcome to come hang out with me during the kids sessions, if you want. It's a lot slower, they can't do the kind of stuff we do, so.. I mean.. I could use the company." He wasn't offering to knock her up. Honest."They are pretty cute! Kind of a pain in the a.." He flickered a glance to make sure Ramona couldn't hear him, before bending down and whispering quietly. " a**, sometimes. But so are adults." A good case in point presented itself when Robert felt the buzz of a text finally getting to him, and he took out his phone to read it. As soon as he had, his head snapped up, and he searched around for some sign of Jordan. He wasn't even that far away, but Robert had been so lost in the whirlwind Mimsy's acceptance had created around him.. But now he saw his friend, sitting very cozily beside his date. And Jordan deserved to get as much as he gave. Prolixity Text to Jordan: I COULD SAY THE SAME TO YOU BAHA Robert snapped his phone shut and grinned up proudly at Lucky when Mimsy introduced him as her date. He couldn't have been happier - even when Lucky leaned in to do his brotherly duty. Robert laughed - a loud and violent sound - and reached out to give Lucky a one-armed bear hug. Even as he did this, his face was burning from the quick use of the word love. It was a little fast for him, but he played it off smoothly. "Don't you worry, Lucky. I know she's something special. I promise I'll make sure she's safe, and happy. That's the Morris date guarantee."
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