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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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."

This wrinkling of her nose isn't thoughtful at all, simply exaggerated displeasure at having the decision foisted onto her own shoulders. She gives the spoon an experimental twirl.

"How'd you know you were ready to meet my mother?"

He blushes, and peeks at her "Remember when you asked me?"

Edited 2012-10-29 15:33 (UTC)

"Mmhm." There's a pleased arch of her brow, an amused quirk to her smile, as she sets the spoon down again. "Is that the master plan? Wait until you've rocked my world and see if it feels right?"

He laughs, pulling her in to kiss her lips "No, but I knew before then... how I felt about you. Your mother liking me is important to you, so it was important for me. That was enough to make me ready to do it. When you're ready, you'll know. You'll want to meet them too."

Kisses help, keep the smile on her face even as she huffs an entirely over-dramatic sigh at him. "I do want to meet them. I just... want to meet them right. So they'll approve."

Cupping her face he kisses her gently "Eide, you can't do it wrong. I'll talk to my mom and try to convince her to have you over for dinner ok? We will go from there."

A stroke to get her hair behind her shoulder "Besides, if you don't wow their pants off the first time, you can always try again." And the a tug on her earlobe "You're a perfectionist, but just 90% is good enough, you know?"

The shake of her head is instant. "It's not good enough. I can't imagine a world where 90% is good enough for something this completely important."

This, after all, is going to be her future, isn't it?

Whether or not she can admit she loves him, whether or not the idea they'll be married someday is utterly petrifying, CJ is clearly a part of her life. Now and forever.

He grins, murmuring "I love you... so much. I hope you know that. I'd settle for 70% the first night and you slowly growing on them, if that is what it takes. But if you want to score 100%, I won't stop you."

He kissed her softly then, whispering "My beautiful perfectionist."

"You'd settle for 70%?" She can't help that this makes her sound genuinely aghast before he's kissing her and everything falls away all over again.

He's good at kissing the anxiety away.

"It's a passing grade, one that can always be improved upon." He can't help but grin as he nuzzles her mouth, whispering "But aim for 100%, like you always do, always achieve. They'll be unable to do anything but love you once they actually meet you."

"If you say so." She even believes it when she can murmur it against his lips. Everything's easier to believe when they're close like this.

One last peck against his lower lip, and she leans back, pulls one last soupy spoonful of ice cream to her lips.

"Walk me home?"

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