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 Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 6:16 am
You only turned eighteen once, or so Tallulah's reasoning went. You only turned eighteen once, and if you'd never in your life been to a restaurant that you had to dress up in cocktail attire just to get in the door, then your eighteenth birthday was a wonderful time to start. It was especially wonderful when you were eighteen and your boyfriend had the dual advantages of being both a juvenile delinquent and rich. Yes, Tallulah was living the teenaged dream, sure enough.
Not owning a particularly nice cocktail dress (she had very little opportunity to wear them, after all), Tallulah had raided Bell's closet for the occasion and come up with something suitably fancy and flattering. Then they took the bus downtown, because dinner was expensive and public transportation was cheap. The plan was to meet up with the boys on the steps in front of Mikado, a fancy Asian-fusion place where they wore kimonos while they poured your tea.
Tallulah checked the time on her phone, then turned to Bell. "The boys are supposed to meet us here at 7:30," she said hopefully. It was only 7:25. They might have to wait a bit.
Bell had helped her with her hair and makeup, and the newly-minted eighteen-year-old version of Tallulah Cowden felt quite glamorous and grown up indeed.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 6:37 am
Jaimie, wearing black, because he knew damn well he looked good in it, fidgeted with his cuff-links again as he glanced over at Xai. It wasn't all that often that you went to dinner with your girlfriends male 'close friend since forever and ever', and he suspected that he looked a little more awkward than he would have liked. Were cuff-links too much? Cuff-links seemed retrospectively a little presumptuous for a bunch of teenagers having a formal dinner, with no parents along, but it went with the outfit, a black silk mandarin shirt and dress pants, and black dress shoes. The coat was the only thing that wasn't black, an long coat he'd bought in a surplus store, it was supposedly some sort of German Officers dress coat, and it was steel blue and all wool, so it was warm, which was a plus. Everyone was always saying that Silk was incredibly warm, and he was reasonably sure they were full of s**t. For once he wasn't even wearing lions, except for the ones on his cell phone, and the only jewelry he was wearing was an silver chain with an oval of milky blue chalcedony. It went with the eyes... and the coat.
Every so often he dipped his hands nervously into his pockets, both to keep them warm because he wasn't wearing gloves, and because he wanted to make sure that what he had put their earlier still was there.
"I should have sent a taxi to go pick them up." He noted, nervous and conversational. "That would have been the nice thing to do."
He'd missed the bus schedule, so he'd grabbed a taxi for himself and Xai, just so they wouldn't be late, but he was fidgeting anyway, and it had nothing to do with the driving. Funny how you could almost forgive insane taxi drivers when you spent your nights jumping around roof tops and throwing magical attacks at people who wanted to kill you. Which reminded him... for Christmas he should get the team some of those gripper things you put on your shoes for traction on ice.... or at least he should suggest it. He wasn't sure how everyone's boots were really going to hold up on a nice sheet of rooftop ice.
The driver didn't wait for the conversation to finish before pulling up at the curb with an grunt that might have been the price on the meter, which Jaimie paid with fingers (He was fairly sure they were starting to look the same color as his coat and necklace, since the heater was either broken or off...), that were a little jittery.
"Here goes nothing, right?" He added, opening the door and sliding out, and leaving it open for Xai to scootch out without dodging Destiny City night traffic.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 7:25 am
Fancy restaurants were not Bell's forte, which was kind of ironic really. She had no reason to be weary of the high security (No doubt she was be aware of exactly how many dark suited, men in sunglasses with earpieces there were in the vicinity.) or constant attentive nature of the high class waiters. It put her on edge. This was not the kind of restaurant you could be relaxed in. At least, not Bell.
She'd grin and bare it though. At least the immediate company was good.
Bell had chosen her off-white layered dress with the black lace trim at the bottom and the black ribbons to ware that night. She'd paired it with a black jacket, which had sleeves longer than the actual body of the jacket. Her hair and makeup was it's usual style, proving that she worked harder on dolling up her friend than herself. Bell would have a birthday of her own coming up soon anyway. Not that she planned on doing anything for it. She never had before, so why start now?
This was Tal's birthday, and Tal was supposed to be the beautiful stand-out. Bell had made sure of this, although tastefully so. There was been curling, glitter, hairpins, and hot irons. There was lip gloss, eyeliner, shadow, and blush. Bell had let her inner Glinda out.
"Well, we're early, and it's only five minutes to wait~" Just as she said that, however, a taxi pulled up. Well, well, well.... Bell was eager to see what reaction Jamie would give the dolled-up Tallulah. Like an artist looking for praise.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:01 am
Xavier was all kind of fidgety as well, though from completely different reasons. This was his first actual 'date' with Bell. Halloween didn't quite count - they weren't an item back then, and then a crystal crashed the party before he could even think about anything.
If a youma showed up tonight, it was likely to die just by the sheer force of his glare, seriously.
The second reason was that he felt like a fish out of water. He'd certainly never set foot in a fancy restaurant, and he certainly did not own anything fancy to go with it. In the end he had to improvise - he picked his nicest pants to go with one of his father's black turtlenecks, and now all he had to hope was that he wasn't going to be kicked out on sight. The turtleneck was a little too big for him, but hopefully no one was going to notice.
"If my stupid car had decided to work, this wouldn't have been a problem..." Was all that Xavier had to give in answer. That had been the original plan - he was just going to pick everyone up - but of course, his car decided to refuse to start. Again.
Piece of s**t that his car was.
He'd reached for his pockets to pay the taxi, but Jaimie beat him to it. Really, he was just glad to be there - this god damn cab was freezing. At least the heater on his car worked ! ...When the rest of the car actually did.
"Yeap, time to roll." He slid out of the taxi and closed the door behind him.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 3:42 pm
Tallulah was looking around like a nervous rabbit, and with her eyes so wide it was hard to not spot the boys as soon as they emerged from the taxi. Wobbling ever so slightly in the kitten heels Bell leant her, she made her way down to the curb. "Hi!" she declared enthusiastically, giving Jaimie a quick peck on the lips. She slid an arm around his waist and led both boys up the steps towards Bell. "Let's go on in - there shouldn't be a wait, I made reservations."
Once inside, a hostess in a kimono took their coats and showed them to a table by the window. Once seated, Tallulah beamed at the assembled group. There really were no other three people she would have liked to spend tonight with, although she sort of wanted to have a bigger, cheaper party for the rest of the Basterds later... maybe she'd bring pizza to the next meeting. "Thank you all for coming," she said happily, cracking open her menu.
"Like they say," she added, "You only turn eighteen once."
Not that she'd done anything stereotypically eighteen today like bought cigarettes or porn. But getting her hair and makeup done by Bell-the-Glamazon was more than enough to make any girl feel like a fully-fleged princess.
"Let's go ahead and order, okay?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:03 pm
"Wow..." Jaimie took a moment, in spite of the cold, to admire the surprising sight of Tallulah in a fancy dress, and was glad he'd gone with blue accents to his black outfit.
"You look good, by the way." He pointed out, when they were inside and settled, flipping open his menu and taking a look at the interior of the menu, wondering what she'd order, how the night would go...
"I gotta admit I always thought sweet sixteen parties were pretty dumb, but I can deal with a Classy Eighteen party." He flashed her an awkward smile. "Sorry for the long 'vacation' guys. I'll explain, but not tonight. It's too nice a night to talk shop." He explained, referring to his stint of absence from patrols, and briefly from Destiny City entirely. "Totally missed you guys though." He added. Well... Bell and Tal anyway, since he didn't know Xai well yet.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:24 pm
Bell, satisfied with the reaction to her work, now allowed her attention to turn to Xavier. And she had to admit, it had been hard not to jump straight to that and assess the reaction to her work later. However, she was trying her best to learn some self-discipline, to harness her emotionally charged nature. That done, she waited, patient as she could make herself be, for the three to return to where she and Tal had been standing previously.
"Hey~" She greeted both, but the adoring smile was reserved for Xavier. Whatever self-consciousness he might have felt about his attire, he didn't have to worry about Bell's opinion of it. One arm linked with his as they entered the restaurant, and for a moment a cheek rested on his shoulder before the contact was lost as jackets were taken, and her own shoulders were left bare.
Bell smoothed out the skirt of her dress as she took a seat, "Well, might as well make the most of tonight, because it's not much different than seventeen. Aside from the occasional 'gasp! I can toootally do that now!'" Bell had that reaction the first time she'd gone to buy medicine, and she was able to tell the cashier that yes, she was old enough to buy it. Her statement was accompanied by a small chuckle.
She opened the menu browsing it. Surely there was something that wasn't fully combined with stir-fried veggies, right? Unlike Tallulah, Bell was a fan of meat...and not so big on the veggies.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:33 pm
...Who was this woman, and what had she done to Tallulah Cowden ?
He said nothing, of course - but the 'waaaat' look on his face spoke volume. It wasn't often that he had the sight of Tallulah in a fancy cocktail dress and make-up.
But then, it wasn't often that she had the sight of him in a neat turtleneck, perfectly groomed down in a way that made him look more like he was in his 20's than 18. In a way, they were perfectly even. Or would be, once the jackets would come off.
For now, though, Xavier had a whole different woman to lavish with attention. "You make that dress look lovely." Yes, she made the dress look lovely, not the other way around. He did manage to sneak a kiss on her cheek as his valid arm was taken and they made their way inside.
"Gotta make your 18 better than my 18, def." He commented with a grin. His 18th birthday had been spent home alone - his father had been on a business trip, and Tal...
Yeah, not thinking about that. Instead, he started to look though the menu as well. Though, if she made a point to say out loud that she'd seen this shirt on his more-built father before, the menu miiiiight go flying in her direction. Old habits died hard.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:30 pm
If Tallulah noticed that it was Mr. Avery's shirt, she didn't say anything about it, though she did give Xavier a wry grin. "I think I'm going to get the tofu and vegetables," she announced, setting the menu down. She looked around the table expectantly, then frowned at Xavier.
"Well, I'm sorry I was in a coma," she answered primly, and refused to believe that he didn't have any friends besides her to celebrate his birthday with. She opened her menu once more, bit her lip, and then added, "I think we should get a pot of tea for the table - how's that sound?"
That was the point of Mikado: that they wore kimonos while they served your tea. It was how you knew it was fancy.
"What sounds good to everyone else?" she asked expectantly, and her hand found its way into Jaimie's.
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 9:38 am
"I haven't really decided yet..." Jaimie admitted. "...I'm thinking chicken..." He wasn't particularly concerned about the normal rumors about chicken at Asian restaurants, especially after meeting Astrea-Luna. ((Or Assy-Loon, as he would occasional call her when he was feeling particularly snarky.))
"Really, Tal. It was enormously inconsiderate of you to be in a coma don't you know. These things require lots of advanced planning so people can work their schedules around it." He teased, giving her hand a squeeze. One of his greatest birthday gifts had been the fact that he -had- been able to celebrate his own birthday with her, after she had emerged from the coma. He'd spent as much time as he could get away with visiting, though he'd gotten glowered at by Angus so much that he was half sure the man's eyeballs would be tattooed by force of stare into the back of his head. He was not, however, planning on shaving his head to find out. It took long enough to grow his hair out and keep from dealing with the hair-disaster known as the split end, let alone educate fellow Hillworth students that it was not, on penalty of bent and spindled fingers, a handhold.
"Tea sounds fine." He added. Maybe he should have bought her a kimono, they sold them online, and it would have looked cute on her, but he wasn't sure how she would have felt about it. They weren't exactly sporty day wear.
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:47 pm
"The tea sounds fine," Bell said closing her menu, "As for me, chicken lo mein, and a small plate of the peanut chicken." Bell would no doubt eat enough meat to make up for Tallulah's lack there of. Granted the serving sizes were small - Bell had eyed the dishes on other tables on their way over - so the order wasn't that bad, all things considered. She also knew there were six security guards in their general vicinity. That factor made her scoot close to Xavier. Bell had...issues with security guards. They just weren't human, man.
Content with that, she leant slightly to rest her chin on Xavier's shoulder. Nifty shoulder!pillow was nifty. And public decency as well as consideration for their company forbade Bell to initiate full out cuddle-mode. That was alright. Some other time, some other place, another smile a warm embrace~ Okay, breaking out in to song in one's mind was just asking for trouble. It did bring a smile to her face however.
She had forced Xavier though CATS. Sometime before Christmas, RENT was totally on the list. She wasn't sharing what role she'd played in that one, however. Yeeeaaaahhhh~
She decided not to add in any comment to the coma talk. Bell had visited once, then skipped town. Simple as that.
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:20 pm
Xavier seemed to take his job of living cushion extremely seriously. It might as well have been a career choice.
He also certainly hadn't meant the comment like that, and he frowned quietly to himself as he continued to scan though the menu. Thank god his dad had given him money because... jeez, those prices.
"Ill, um..." He pondered out loud. "Im gonna go with the General Tsao." Classical. He set his menu down, which finally freed his working hand to slide around Bell's waist.
"And the tea." Xavier wasn't a fan of most tea, actually. Olive branch officially extended.
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 6:06 pm
Tallulah settled closer to Jaimie in her seat. So this was... this was a definite double date. It made her really happy to see Bell and Xavier together, especially after pushing him so hard to ask her out! Score one to Cupid Cowden.
Following Bell's uncomfortable glances, Tallulah's gaze found its way over to the security guards. Oh, she understood, and turned back to her friend. The guards were probably on the lookout for sailor-suited terrorists. "Don't worry about work tonight," she said, smiling. Having so many senshi in one group was always a risk for attacks, but nothing had ever attacked a Basterds meeting so she hoped that they were statistically protected.
"Tonight is just for fun," she added pleasantly.
The waitress returned. "Have you all decided yet?" she asked, and Tallulah glanced at Jaimie.
"I'll have the teriyaki tofu and vegetables," she said, "And do you know yet, Jai? And - oh, a pot of tea for the table, please!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:54 am
"I'm gonna go with the Chicken Katsu I think." Normally he went with beef, but he just felt like a change tonight, and anyway he preferred his beef in 'steak' or 'burger' form, preferably dripping with bacon, cheese, and the sound of arteries hardening just from looking at it.
The only thing he was slightly worried about was his rusty chopstick skills, but he didn't think he was rusty enough to accidentally send strips of chicken flying across the restaurant.
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Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 7:19 am
Her nervousness had been noticed. Well damn, "Sorry. Suits just...creep me out. It's..probably some uber-repressed childhood stuff." Bell waved off any concern. Yet another reason she could never work for her father's company.
She tried not to act as nervous, and gave a cheery smile, "Besides, I'll be alright," Bell gave Xavier a quick kiss on the cheek, "I know who'd save me from the big bad cyborg guards."
Bell then gave her order to the waiter, who had quietly been writing down all their orders.
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