lowtohigh | [log] pleased to meet you

[log] pleased to meet you

It isn't easy, planning around Argine's health. Now and then, after all, she simply can't keep an appointment, simply needs to stop and sit, simply stops being a Ten and a mother and becomes a woman struggling against her own mortality. There's a good deal of hoping when it comes to setting dinner dates. A good deal of hoping in general.

But tonight was going to go well. The date had been set a week in advance, and was going to stick. The former Queen has been resting all day, her former Ace hovering and attending with nervous energy. The kitchens had been more than happy to pull together an early meal for three, to drag a table up to Argine's quarters and find a comfortable chair for the woman to rest easy in during an extended conversation. Everything is falling into place. Eileen should be ecstatic.

Is, in some ways. And is also starting to get ridiculously nervous, the way a young person gets when introducing their significant other to their only living parent.

So as the hour draws near, Eileen worries. Frets. Helps her mother pull herself properly into the semblance of the regal woman she used to be and get her settled in at the table. Argine's tsk is soft as she smooths her daughter's cheek, tells her to run along and get ready, not worry so much about an old woman.

She barely sees herself in the mirror as she throws on a bit of makeup, runs her hands through her hair ineffectually and calculates that she doesn't actually have enough time to change out of her usual fare.

Goes to loiter nervously at the door and wait for CJ to arrive. Maybe stealing a kiss before bringing him in will soothe her jangling.

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She started it, he's just repaying the favor. She said the same thing to him when they were little, just with children's words. Almost. She was never, sadly, quite a child.

"No se... algo. But I'm here, and you're here, and that's what matters. You're you now, and we will never know. But I love this you, because you're wonderful." he kisses back, caressing her cheek.

And then the food comes, and ruins the moment, almost. But he kisses her cheek and thanks the waitress again, keeping her close. He grabs a fork and stabs some saucy, cheesy fries, murmuring "Ice cream first? or fries?" wiggling the fork as he looks at her. "Ladies first"

No moment ruined. Not really. Because at the end of every moment, they're still sitting next to each other, just like this. This moment, the next moment, all the moments after this.

Her own fingers catch at the spoon, lift a scoop of ice cream toward him. "Trade you."

And open goes her mouth, expectant and trusting.

He moves the arm around her shoulder to cup his hand beneath her chin as he lifts the messy fork towards her mouth, and inside. As soon as it's in place he leans closer and Ahuummm's around her spoon, mm'ing when his lips pull back and he kisses her wear.

"Delicious."

Silly noises, of course, are absolutely required while taking a bite off someone else's fork, so she manages a satisfying 'nom' sound as her own lips close around the spicy mess he's offering. It's just a little much, and she sets the spoon down to grab a napkin and dab at her lips as she chews.

"Slightly more delicious than shepherd's pie."

He laughs "Only just." He stabs more fries and leans over the plastic basket to not spill on his own pants, when he pushes them into his mouth, and chews, warm and spicy behind sweet and cold. It's good, and he exhales, stroking circles along her arm.

"Ok so, how do we convince my parents that you are as amazing as you are?" he licks the spicy sauce off his lip.

She hums softly, takes a scoop of ice cream to chase the spice. All in all, a lovely sort of dinner. Or, at least, a lovely way to be ending the day with him.

The question, however, has her properly sighing, blowing cool air through her lips and slumping very slightly. "Maybe that should wait. It might not be so bad when I'm Ace again, right?"

That might cancel out the not being Spanish or Catholic or without blood on her hands.

He laughs, giving her a soft nudge "You know, it doesn't have to be now. But we could start planning now." He spears more gooey fries, but waits to lift them.

"Mm, maybe, but that's less important to them than it is to you. They just don't know you yet. Only 'of' you." He grins, caressing her hair. "You like Spanish food, right? Maybe if you came on a Sunday, that might impress them. But, it's a long day, and you'd have to face mama Ramos, and everyone else. Not just my parents."

"Everyone at once? What, at church?"

It's actually quite unlikely he's seen her frightened before. Not much has seem worthy of fearing, after all, since she was somewhere between ten and twelve years of age. She's faced the life-threatening with absolute equanimity.

But the idea of meeting his whole family at once? That sends a mildly terrified shiver up her spine. Clearly time for shoveling more ice cream into her mouth.

"No..." he frowns, sigh "You know I'm always busy on Sunday, all day, at least until late. That's because after church we all... it's just a Spanish thing. We eat, and talk and take a nap..." he laughs "It sounds so stupid."

But that look and the shiver against his arm has him pause, and he looks at her pushing ice cream into her mouth, murmuring "Ok... not Sunday... just my parents then." He looks worried though "Are you ok?"

The shake of her head is quick, easy, and the press of her lips against his cheek lightly just a little cool, sticky. "It doesn't sound stupid. It's nice."

There was, after all, a lot she was going to have to learn about being part of a big family, at least eventually. Baby steps, however, would clearly be necessary.

"I'm fine." She drags the spoon idly through the ice cream for a moment, tracing patterns almost unconsciously. "It's just... I want them to like me."

Somehow, this felt almost, almost as important as knowing she could be Ace again.

He combs his fingers through her hair, smiling "Maybe not."

He takes his bite, chewing before he grins, sighing "Me too. They just have the wrong idea." He leans back and stares at the ceiling, sucking on his lip. "Hmmm... well I guess we can just let it wait. But I don't care what they think, I just got your mom to accept me as your boyfriend, so I'm not going to let you go. That's final."

Of course it's final. Of course, even if her mother had disapproved, they would have managed to stick it out. And of course they could let it wait.

But.

"...they have the wrong idea? What idea do they have?"

He coughs around his fries, and covers his mouth "... That since you're not a catholic, you're some kind of anti-catholic atheist who is willing to kill people to become ace again?" His voice lifts higher, an octave, almost falsetto as he ends in a question.

He blushes, shrugging softly "They just have no idea that you're smart, and beautiful, and kind, and not a killer, and not anti-catholic?" a slightly less high pitched question this time.

"...I can do that." She's not, after all, anti-Catholic. Or a killer in cold blood. And CJ, at least, thought she was kind and beautiful, and certainly there were few people in the world who wouldn't call her smart.

She sets the spoon down completely for a moment, shifts to settle against his shoulder properly just a moment.

"I'll wear a longer skirt, nn?"

He holds her again, sighing into her hair as his other hand drops to just gently touch her bare thigh "Yeah, if we added immodest to the package, they'd really dislike you." He smirks, and clings to her.

"You're amazing, we just need to help them see what I know to be true."

She can't help that her leg shift slightly toward him as his fingers brush over it. The words that accompany the touch, at least, have her pulling her knees together properly tight again.

"You'll have to coach me, nn? What I should say and wear and all that."

He pats her thigh gently and pulls his hand away, because lingering there is just going to lead to something less than good for public consumption before he shrugs. "Just wear a skirt that goes to the knee, instead of upper thigh, and be yourself. You're smart, Eileen. You're very interesting. You have goals, but that's good. People our age don't usually have goals. And if you compliment my mother on her cooking, you'll be at least half way there. And try to eat anything she puts on your plate. She's not as bad as my grandmother, but... it's just what they do. Feed people."

He rubs his hair "Um, anything else... anything else..." It takes him a minute "My dad likes classical music. So do you, you could talk to him about that?"

Edited 2012-10-29 14:13 (UTC)

"Eat and talk about classical music. That's not so bad." There were plenty of conservative skirts and blouses and sensible shoes to wear. "That's really all there is to it, then?"

Something good to focus on. This would go well. At least as well as tonight had gone with her own mother.

Right? Right.

And yes, more ice cream.

"And my sister Nana, she's only 5. But she likes coloring. Maybe... a coloring book? Disney princesses?" He bobbed his head from shoulder to shoulder. "Or anything, maybe more crayons. She loves crayons."

And that has her brightening up properly again. Maybe it was her own lack of a proper early childhood that had her so completely enamoured of youngsters.

"Is she really five already?" The next bite of ice cream is a calmer sort of thoughtful, lips curved into a bit of a smile. "I don't suppose I could just spend an afternoon with her to get your family's approval?"

He strokes her cheek with his knuckles "She was born the year that I met you..." He nods and starts eating again, now that she's eating too.

But he looks at her sidelong "You want to babysit her?" He sucks air "I'm ... not sure if my parents would let a girl they don't know or like very much yet take care of my sister all afternoon." His tone is teasing as he adds "What if you spout anti-catholic propaganda or something?"

"But after they see you're not the devil, if you offer to babysit so they can have an evening out, that may get you all kinds of bonus points."

Amazing, really, that they've only known each other five years. Feels almost like a lifetime. An important five years, clearly.

"It just seems easier to sell a five-year-old on the fact I'm not devil-spawn than full-grown adults." Still. Long skirt. Classical music. Complementing food. Nothing outside of her skill set.

Particularly since she's brilliant enough to steal a fry with a spoon. Clearly a sign of genius.

"Probably better to get it all... settled before you start getting ready to go to Sevilla, right?"

He laughs, and grabs ice cream with his fork, tit for tat, even thought it was getting drippy he managed to grab a melting clump which he whisked into his mouth at lightning speed.

"True, which is why trusting you with her right away is not a viable suggestion. Little kids are easier to manipulate, usually." He smiles "But be nice to my sister, their baby, and that may help you too."

He looks at her and sighs, "Yeah, a year is going to fly by." He looks almost sad, 4 years without Eileen's face every single day is going to be hard. So he kisses her cheek and leans close "The sooner the better. Because if I can have you over, for a change, without sneaking you in... It's going to be a better year than otherwise."

"Nice I can do," she hums, licking carefully at the spoon to get all the spice off before digging it into the ice cream again. And, really, children she could do--now that she wasn't one anymore.

Besides, she had a whole year, really, if she needed it.

Her elbow nudges his ribs slightly. "How soon is soon, then?"

He beams "I know that." He scrapes hard cheese and chili with the fries that didn't get coated in sauce, looking at her "Whenever you're ready, Eide. You just say when."

/applause!

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