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 Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 2:45 am
Who: Doucette and Shepard
Where: Barton Zoo
When: Day-long adventure!
Weather: Blue, blue skies and perfect clouds but maybe a bit too warm in the sun
There had been protests, but none of which were because of the location. She didn't even understand what Shepard had to be feeling bad over anyway. Doucette was the one who'd dragged Shepard into this, and Doucette was the one that didn't have the foresight to own larger clothes and thus forced the poor Aussie to wander about clad in a towel. It had also been Doucette who'd killed the bowl of moonstones as it had been her soul bottle that pulled whatever life they could from their cold grasps. Shepard had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time for every occurrence and he shouldn't feel obliged to apologize at all.
But the child in her had been unable to refuse a day at the zoo.
Despite a small limp (that she did everything in her power to hide and thus keep Shepard from feeling all the more terrible) and the shadow of the phone call she'd gotten from her mother, the red head was very close to her usual high spirits. It was only poorly concealed shadows under her eyes and they way she seemed to look over her shoulder every minute or visually size up any man that seemed to get a little too unnecessarily close that would give away the tempest within her heart.
With the map and zoo guide with times and extra clutched to her chest she whirled about to Shepard with eyes like dinner plates under her unruly mess of curls pinned down with a newsboy style cap. "Where to next?" she asked in a breathless woosh, childish in her zeal, darting her gaze about left an right.
Already she had gotten in trouble with one of the keepers while in the open bird habitat for trailing after one of her so-called new exotic 'friend'. Well it hadn't been her fault that the thing had wandered off the path, only that she'd just had to follow it on it's journey beyond the trail. Even earlier than that she had attempted to feed the groundhogs located in one of their open, miniature exhibits along the main walkway. Unfortunately this had scared the little fuzz balls instead of endearing them and her and Shepard (the innocent victim no doubt) received a number of angry looks from mother comforting children sniffling the first of many disappointments of the day.
It was apparent that nothing would stop Doucette in her enjoyment of all the zoo's wonders. "What about the monkeys?" Her gaze almost screamed mischief.
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Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 11:07 pm
Shepard Ryan was convinced: Doucette Delacy did not like him.
It wasn't that she couldn't have reasons. She certainly did, in fact, have reasons. First of all, he made her acquaintance by all but stealing her lunch. Promptly, he and his best friend continued to worry her to tears over her soul bottle, force her out in a storm, and watch idly as she twisted her ankle -- which, he had noticed despite Doucette's best attempts at hiding, was still not healed. Then, he hefts her around like a sack of potatoes, and lounges half-naked (more than half) around her abode... and kills what's left of her moonstones. Yes, Doucette certainly had reasons to dislike him, that was for sure.
As he and Doucette made their way to the monkey enclosure, Shepard wished, and not for the first time, that Vivi had been able to make it that day. Alas, she had shoved a lunch at him and claimed that Someone Or Another was getting married and needed their cake (... and for what, he demanded to know, did a couple need a cake for nuptials?) -- and so, there he was: Shepard Ryan and The Girl Who Did Not Like Him, making their rounds about the zoo.
"Think the monkeys are in this direction," he remarked in something of a mumble as they reached a crossroads, working a little on autopilot as he surreptitiously studied Doucette. He wondered, what would Vivi say if she were here?
"The Shepard, he jumps to conclusions." Vivi's voice scolded him in his own head. "How does he know that Doucette dislikes him? She is a doll."
Well, for one thing, she seemed to think he was going to sneak up on her at any moment and drag her behind some bushes. The way she peered over her shoulder at every moment pained Shepard; he had taken to clearing his throat, or coughing, or generally making random comments to make sure she knew where he was at all times. And she wandered away from him often, risking the anger of zoo employees and exotic birds alike, cheerily informing him that she'd only been 'making friends' or something when he arrived to save her yet again from the hands of zoo guards.
"Yes," the Vivi in his head agreed sadly. "She certainly does not like you at all."
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 8:20 pm
The woman would have laughed outright had Shepard voiced his fears to her. Doucette hardly disliked anyone, and Shepard was so far from that list it made the general notion nothing more than ridiculous. It was apparent that the both of them found their own guilt in the other's predicaments, but Doe would have waved off his worries with a flicker of her pale blue manicured nails. He was just being silly!
But of course she couldn’t read thoughts and thus couldn’t have given him a good finger shake for his own. The flighty glances about would continue but for all purposes how could he assume she disliked him what with the utter joy he’d so clearly brought her by accompanying her to the zoo?
Each new exhibit of creatures had her eagerly pawing through the guidebook she’d wasted her money upon, for she’d bought and kept one for every adventure to the zoo thus far and had a considerable stock of them in her closet. If ever zoo guidebooks would become the currency of the land, Doucette would reign as queen. In fact, the redhead could practically recite the entire book on her own, but she delighted in gazing at the pictures and reading out the interesting tidbits to the Aussie at her side.
Doe was so excited about the monkey exhibit in fact that she found his pace to be a bit on the slow side (no doubt dragging his feet for fear she would confront him with her distaste of the afternoon at any moment). Reaching over she took his hand and gave it a tug, a wide smile dimpling her cheeks amongst her many freckles as she attempted to get him to pick up his pace.
This exuberance lasted but a moment though, for as she turned to continue down the path with Shepard in tow she spied a man with a head of curls of a dark red and the looks of someone down on his luck.
Could it be him? Could this man be Liam?
Doucette pressed slightly against Shepard’s side until she was even slipping partially behind him in her attempts not to be seen by the person that passed them by without even a glance.
And then like a light being switched back on she proceeded to begin tugging Shepard along the path once more, eager to see the little monkeys that swung through the trees like jungle spirits.
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 10:50 pm
And Shepard went from convinced to confused as Doucette took his hand, his mind pausing in its previous lamentations to take this new behavior into account. He gave the redhead a grin back for her smile, and readied himself for a sprint -- until Doe stopped dead for that moment, and shuffled her way practically behind him. The motion froze him, and not so much with confusion as with shock. Everything else that had happened thus far he'd been able to explain by the neat solution that Doucette disliked him. But this, this was different, and altogether unpleasant.
Doucette was scared of something.
The first thing that passed Shepard's mind was: of what? Or whom? Who on earth could dislike Doe? Shepard's eyes narrowed as the man passed them, but it was clear from his body language that this stranger was no threat. The Aussie craned his neck to look back at Doucette, to study her expression in hopes of being wrong. But it was fear, certainly, in those wide, innocent eyes, even though the fear was fast dissipating as the stranger passed -- and then, like a bubble popped, it was completely gone. Before Shepard had the time to gather breath to ask her what was wrong, they were barreling down the pathway once more.
"The monkeys aren't going anywhere," Shepard assured her with a helpless sort of laugh, dodging a stray toddler at the last possible moment before he and Doucette trampled the poor curious thing. He shot the mother an apologetic look as she snatched her child and reddened furiously, but he and Doucette continued confidently onward toward the monkeys without pause.
When they finally paused in front of the enclosures, Shepard allowed himself to look around them for anyone that seemed... unduly interested. Was Doucette afraid of an ex? A chef who'd gotten a bad review? (... did she even give bad reviews?) A zookeeper who threatened to throw her out if she ever returned?
... that last one might actually be it, Shepard thought to himself with a fond sort of exasperation, returning his gaze to the redhead beside him. If she didn't try to steal a monkey by stashing it under her shirt, he'd be surprised.
"Fascinating things," he commented to her, watching a particularly fuzzy little monkey deftly separating a fig. "Gotta say I'm a big fan of opposable thumbs."
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Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 5:35 pm
“You never know what you’ll miss!” Doucette crowed with delight as she dragged the man along behind her. Of course, she wasn’t nearly so strong as to be able to haul him around if he didn’t want to be moved, but thankfully he seemed amiable to the suggestion of her mad dash. Zoos were simply causes for excitement and the general abandonment of the norm, so why not scurry from sight to sight? Maybe Doe was taller, but in her heart she enjoyed the zoo in the same manner as any of the other children. The parents might not understand that because they had to temper themselves with restraint from the very birth of their child, but Doucette was not hindered with such things.
When finally the reached the monkey house it was the smaller monkeys with the long tails and inquisitive faces that had her pressing her hands to her cheeks and ‘ooh’ing with delight over their every little antic. For shame they were behind such a large pane of glass and not out in the open where she could mingle with them like the birds! And surely she’d never put one of the monkeys in her shirt! Shepard’s shirt would have done much better for such an adventure. But that was neither here nor there since she was entirely unable to reach them or make friends with them.
For quite a stretch of time Doe was oblivious to the pulsing of people around her, as she had been with the enchantment of every new exhibit they’d stopped at. But when a man accidentally stumbled into her and proceeded to give her a dark look as if it had been her fault for being in his way the Irish woman found herself shutting down again, shuffling like a child just a bit closer into Shepard’s shadow.
She had wanted to see the orangutan display, where the large orange creatures did tricks overhead from one enclosure to another. There was nothing magical about the small monkeys being graceful and sweet, but the larger (and in some people’s eyes uglier) creatures were truly amazing with the way they could almost fly through the air despite their bulk.
Now the event was tainted with a slight of darkness. What could happen while her eyes were trained on something else instead of watching the crowd carefully? Doucette looked over her shoulder again at the thought, frowning as she attempted to push away the bad thoughts and enjoy her day. She wasn’t being fair to Shepard.
Hastily she consulted her little zoo manual. “If we watch the orangutans then we will be a little late for the elephant washing or early for the snake feeding.” Doucette looked at Shepard expectantly, waiting to hear what he wanted to do to be fair. There were so many options to choose from after all!
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Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 9:53 pm
Options indeed. The Aussie peeked over Doucette's shoulder to look at the zoo manual, looking over the options with only a feigned enthusiasm. It had not escaped Shepard, that slight discoloration of fear that tainted the jubilant blue of Doucette's eyes even as the rest of her face exclaimed only excitement and happiness. The relief of being more or less certain that his behavior wasn't the cause had been fleeting.
Now, looking at the zoo manual, fiddling with the top button of his collar absent-mindedly, Shepard wondered how to proceed. Did he ask Doe? Did he protect her silently and surreptitiously, glaring at passers-by and guarding her like some stone-faced gorilla? Or did he wash his hands of the matter and chalk up her unhappiness to some benign (though unseen) cause?
"They've got a giraffe feeding in 30 minutes," Shepard pointed out, reaching around Doucette's shoulder to tap the manual. "Went to one of those once, got to actually give the giraffes some food, myself. Interested?"
There. It seemed like something Doucette would enjoy, and the feeding areas were small enough that Shepard could keep an eye on any of their fellow feeders. He knew that choosing the 'gorilla bodyguard' option was... well, perhaps not ideal, but Shepard also knew that he had absolutely no idea how to bring up the issue to Doucette.
Were they even friends yet? Was ... this, whatever this issue was, something that Doe would trust him with? Certainly, he wanted to be friends. And... looking at Doucette, as Shepard now did with his strange sea-colored eyes -- looking at her clear, unconcerned face and the untamed red of her curls; the pleasant pink curve of her happy mouth and the reckless smattering of freckles that seemed to underscore her overall picturesque innocence -- Shepard found it difficult to believe that Doucette would distrust anyone.
But fifteen minutes ago, the Australian was rather assured this woman fairly hated him in her mild, pleasant manner. It seemed too sudden to leap from that to friendship in his brain, and so he would wait for all evidence to catch up... and until then, feed giraffes.
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Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 1:06 am
Doucette's contemplative manner over the elephants versus monkeys versus snakes flickered into rapt excitement at Shepard's suggestion that the two of them attempt to watch the giraffe feeding. This kid-in-a-candy-store expression even flickered up a watt at the possibility of being able to feed them herself. Would she be able to touch them as well? Maybe rub their nose like a horse would like, or finger their cute fuzzy horns. The possibilities were endless and the proposition was favored highly over the other's she'd been pondering. How had she not noticed the giraffe before? Well, that wasn't any matter now.
Even her thoughts and worries of security were swept from her mind at the prospect of doing something new. It mattered not to her whether there would be someone in a large or small crowd attempting to do...something. Whatever that something was, Liam had clearly not yet made his intent known. Surely it was unlikely that he would approach her in such a public place, especially when she was with someone.
But there was a slight problem. The dash to the monkey house had not be a pleasing experience for her on-the-mend ankle and it was letting her know how unhappy it was with her with a dull throbbing that seemed to pound in her ears for extra effect.
"Well the feeding isn't for another 30 minutes, so I guess we have time to watch the monkeys until then," she said with a pleasant smile and trying not to think about how they were probably going to get some bad seats for arriving later. Doucette just didn't think she could take another step at the moment, and the way she rested her weight on her opposite leg and hip made that slightly more obvious than she would have liked.
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:12 pm
A faint frown settled over Shepard's features as he watched Doucette's stiff motions. Try as she might to disguise it, the Australian could tell that the redhead was uncomfortable on that ankle -- an ankle that he and that damned impulsive Vivi had played a part in straining.
"Let..." He began to say 'let me carry you,' but that statement was cut off as he recalled to mind the last time he'd tried to play those heroics. Doucette hadn't just looked uncomfortable with the idea then, she'd looked downright horrified by it. And that had been practically alone, in a storm, in the middle of a jungle. How would it fare here -- in public, in full view of children and parents and monkeykind alike? No, no, better to play it safe.
"Let's take that bench for a little," Shepard offered instead, putting an unobtrusive arm around Doe's as an unspoken offer to lean as heavily as she may want on him.
With his other hand, he fiddled again idly with his collar, trying to get out some of the agitation that had hitherto plagued the day. His fingers twisted the top button of his collar -- this way, then that, this way, then that.
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Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 6:02 am
As reluctant as she was to sit down and show off her weaknesses (and likely upset Shepard being that it was so very obvious he felt guilty about the ankle which was completely not his fault and he should just stop worrying about it. Now.), Doucette found herself steered over to the bench with Shepard's arm about her. Too much in a daze to really lean on or away from him, she simply found herself suddenly upon a bench with the strangest of tingling sensations prickling up and down her body.
Probably the heat.
Doe pushed back her heavy, fizzy curls and rubbed at the back of her neck before letting her hands fall idly into her lap, fingers alternating between tapping and rubbing absently against the denim of her jean shorts. Despite her own awkward, fidgety nature she noticed his own inability to stop playing with his collar button and she laughed as she reached up and swatted his fingers away from the defenseless thing.
"Leave it!" she said with a grin, flattening out the fabric and making sure the thread hadn't been stressed too badly. "If you end up pulling the poor button off then I'll have to be sewing it back on and we might miss the giraffe feeding."
But quickly she pulled her hands away and tucked them back into her lap, her eyes watching the crowd though it seemed to rest more upon giggling children than anything else. Only a tightness at the corner of her eyes betrayed anything of what she was thinking. Perhaps she was feeling guilty that she was berating a grown man about his shirt buttons, or embarrassed for sounding like such a domestic, or quite possibly even worrying about looking too close with Shepard and giving her creeping brother some reason to upset her further.
Whatever it was, the redhead was back in a little shell.
"Oh, I think we should probably get going, since we aren't running this time. We don't want bad seats," and with that she pushed herself up out of the seat despite having hardly rested her ankle enough to feel better about it.
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Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:19 pm
This was ridiculous, Shepard thought to himself as he lifted himself from the bench after Doucette, his face assuming its natural expression of faint discontentment. His brows knit as he slowed his steps to match hers, and over and over he thought again: this was ridiculous.
So her ankle hurt, and so he felt some guilt over that. So she might not want to ask for help to make him feel worse, and he didn't want to offer it just in case it embarrassed her. Well, damn all that bloody mess -- he wanted to be her friend, sod it all, and he didn't bloody care if he had to stomp atop a few eggshells to do it.
"Listen," the Aussie said a touch more grumpily than he'd intended. "It's obvious that ankle a'yers isn't healed yet, and it's rather nice of you to try and hide it, but it's like this: let me help you, carry you, act as yer crutch -- whatever you like. If you do, I promise not to say another word about it or send you guilty looks or whatever I've been doin'."
He paused, the effort of having spoken so many words catching up to him, and mustered a smile.
"There's more important things than feelin' awkward. Like getting good seats to the giraffe feeding and still being able to walk around afterward." His smile loosened a little, relaxed, and he attempted to make his tone lighter. It wouldn't do, after all, to scare poor Doucette into anything, would it? She seemed already quite at the end of her rope -- because of him? Hopefully not because of him. Don't be so damn gloomy, Ryan! "And maybe saving me the nervous touch around the collar buttons, even if you say you can sew 'em back on for me. "
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 2:24 am
If Doucette was startled by Shepard's sudden outpouring of words and emotions and she did her very best not to react to it though the back of her neck prickled with a growing blush. Confrontation, that's what it was and that's what she wanted to avoid. Both of them were right in their own little way after all. Shepard because he simply wanted to do what was best for her health and clear the air and Doucette because she wanted to come off as strong and careful not to make him feel bad. Certainly neither was going to win, but if they could both manage not to lose as well, that would be best.
With a flicker of her gaze up towards him and a blush on her ears, Doe reached over and looped her arm into his. She would point-blank refuse to allow him to carry her without bones protruding from her flesh, and she wasn't leaning upon him so heavily he could be called her crutch, but her limp was growing less pronounced and it was clear that her silent truce over the topic was going to be the best he'd get from her and he should be grateful for it.
"I'm only doing this for the sake of your buttons by the way," she said after a long pause of silence, grinning wide and lopsided as she nudged her shoulder against his arm, possibly even of the verge of laughing about the whole situation.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 12:01 pm
A silent breath of relief left Shepard as Doucette took his arm, and the mild (bizarre) exhaustion of having said so much settled neatly in. For that long moment of silence, he felt only grateful for the redhead's compliance, and they walked on together companionably, slow and steady as a tortoise.
"Hm?" A faint, almost helpless grin began to play around Shepard's lips as Doucette spoke again, and he allowed himself a short, breathy chuckle, shaking his head. "My buttons say thanks," he said almost solemnly, unable to wash the amusement from his tone. He peered down at the other, his grin becoming a little impish. "Could you really sew 'em back on, if you wanted? Right here?"
This was better. A little awkward, but better than before, with so much hanging so stupidly unsaid. As he peered down at Doucette, at that ready blush that was now just fading, he wondered about her life, about how she dealt with the unpleasant things that came to her. Innocent and sweet, he thought, wholly unspoiled. The sort of girl who deserved oversized blankets and laughter and the first pick out of a new jar of jelly beans -- and certainly not the sort who deserved that unfathomable reserve of fear that had played behind her eyes all day.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 9:32 pm
A rather unladylike snort of derision came from the redhead at Shepard's question. Could she show on a button? What kind of a silly question was that? "I don't see why not!" Doe said with a little huff but a smile on her lips all the same. A little shake of her hobo-purse was given for emphasis, "I don't leave home without my sewing kit."
For Doucette, a sewing kit was the second thing into the purse after her wallet. Stray threads, missing buttons, sudden embarassing tears? She was ready to conquer them all with the miniature domestic items! Perhaps she would never be great at cooking and perhaps she was rather mediocre at cleaning and tidying, but her strength lay in her nimble fingers and keen eye for sewing and stitching. Many of Dolce and Gabby's stuffed animals to chew and cuddle with had been made by Doucette herself, and ever so rarely she'd step out in clothing she'd designed and stitched herself.
"Is it very strange?" she asked without the usual trepidation she felt over the possibility of not looking 'normal'. But then again, she didn't care if it was strange. Doucette liked stitching and sewing and very rarely she liked knitting. If it was strange, then she'd just suffer it gladly.
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Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 8:24 am
"Strange?" Shepard ruminated on the thought for a beat. His life had never been a particularly good measure of normalcy, and the goings-on of women's purses and their innards had never been a specialty of his. Truthfully, Shepard was the sort of man who, when asked to fetch something in a woman's purse, would go and bring the entire thing to the woman in question without even peeking inside. He always assumed that, like Mary Poppins, every woman had everything imaginable within her purse.
Which, among other things, explained why they could never find their keys.
"I don't actually know," he admitted with an expression of faint amusement. "But it sounds useful. Never know when something'll rip."
The tall gates of the giraffe enclosure was dawning before their careful pace. There was already a line forming to feed the creatures, who also seemed to know their special treat-time was quickly approaching. Humans and giraffes both milled about in their separate areas, waiting impatiently for the feeding time to begin.
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Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 11:23 pm
Doe laughed a bit at his reply, hugging her purse a little closer to her form. True, woman did seem to cram their purses with just a bit too much for sanity's sake, but the redhead's deceptively large purse held very little in it in truth. She was not the type to carry around make-up and other sorts of bits and bobs. Hair combing in public was more like a circus performance than a quick tidy up, and so there were no combs either. Sometimes a book could be found shoved into the recesses, but for the most part the bare necessities were all she carried leaving the large size of the bag to be an unfortunate result of the over all appearance being cute.
As the two of them arrived at the giraffe exhibition the freckled face fell slightly at the sight of all the people. No doubt the two of them would not in fact be able to feed the long necks on their own, but at the very least they could continue to watch.
"I'm sorry I made us late," she said sheepishly, squeezing his arm slightly in further apology. But she didn't really seem all that upset. With that same childish enthusiasm she watched the giraffes poke around, from time to time wandering close to the fence in anticipation. One woman's large hat seemed to have caught the eye of one of the beasts and Doucette couldn't help but to laugh as it attempted in vain to stretch it's lips onto the bulbous accessory.
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