Post by dexter on Oct 1, 2009 0:15:30 GMT -5
Sara:
Tim had been back from the faction leader meeting for a while now. They had two new members, Karl and Trix. Sara wasn't really thinking about any of this though. What she was thinking of right this minute was Tim and Layla. She'd long ago gotten thoroughly fed up with how Tim and Layla seemed to be dodging their feelings for each other. Tim had admitted to Sara that he liked Layla, and Sara could tell Layla liked Tim. They were practically oblivious to the feelings of the other though and not willing to make the first move. Back before the war she'd yell at TV characters who did that, but she was relatively incapable of doing anything about those relationships. In this case she wasn't going to just sit by an ignore it anymore though.
She had to think part of her renewed efforts of finding love for her faction leader, someone who was a best friend to her, had something to do with her current heart break and trying to put Ethan behind her. Thinking of those two was working for her though so she wasn't about to question what worked. The only thing to figure out was what to do for the two.
She did have an idea, one called giving Tim the perfect opportunity to admit his feelings to Layla. Her idea was to give Tim and Layla something of a first date. If she could figure out what Tim would do, were he able to take Layla on a date that is, she could maybe get the other members of the faction to help her in giving them the closest to that as possible. That's what she was going to Tim's room for right now, to semi-discreetly ask him and set her plan in motion.
Tim:
Ah, today would be a great day to do absolutely nothing. At least in Tim's mind anyway. It seemed a lot had happened and they needed at least a day of not having to worry about anything. It felt like he hadn't had one of those kinds of days in awhile.
And what better way to start it off by getting something to eat? He headed out of his room and almost bumped into Sara. Whoops. Maybe he was taking this whole, not thinking day too seriously. "Hey, sorry bout that Batgirl..." he told her. "Uh, what's up?"
Sara:
Well if that wasn't serendipitous and fortunate. She practically ran straight into Tim and he was the person she was looking for. Now if she could just figure out how to ask him without being too blunt. "No not much," she said, answering his question and stalling for time for herself.
She turned and started walking with him toward the main room, since it seemed that was where he'd been headed. "So," she said finally. "I have a question. Hypothetically speaking, if you could take Layla on a date anywhere you wanted, where would it be?" Oh really nice Sara. That was so blunt it that if it was a knife it probably wouldn't even cut butter. Hopefully he wouldn't realize what she was trying to do..... hopefully.
Tim:
Tim walked over towards the main room with her, waiting for to se ewhat she wanted. Though the question she asked was certainly out of the blue. And ruined the purpose of his whole "not doing anything or thinking anything" day.
"Where's this come from all of a sudden...?" he asked her. Though he had a nagging feeling she might be asking this until he gave an answer, so he started to think about it. "Um...well. Dinner and a movie I guess. Something simple and within my budget. Wouldn't want to be overly showy or anything...."
He turned over to Sara with a suspicous look. "You're not planning anything, are you...?"
Sara:
She'd obviously caught him by surprise, but he did tell her. So dinner and a movie was his idea of a good date.... she could possibly arrange that. She'd have to steal the movie though, but the Nest had a TV, VCR, and electricity.
You're not planning anything, are you...? The question caught her off guard and red handed. Technically Tim was her friend and she didn't lie to friends, but in this case she had to make an exception. She had to do this or she'd go absolutely nuts watching Tim and Layla try to pussy-foot around their feelings. If she didn't feel like it wasn't her right to reveal these things she'd have already told both of them just how blind they were.
She shook her head, putting on her best expression of shook and offense. "Of course not, just being curious and nosy." And if you believe that I have a million dollars to give you. As one of my friends in Chicago would have once said, the horns are only there to hold up the halo. Hopefully Tim saw only the halo and not the horns.
Tim:
"Uh-huh......" Tim said to her. He didn't really buy it. No one asked a hypothetical question unless they were planning something. But what could he do? Its not like he could go and say 'I order you not to set anything up' Even if he did she probably wouldn't listen.
Against his better jusgement, he went along with it.. "Already then Mrs. Nosey." he told her. "Just remember this means I get a free nosy question to ask you later. Fair enough?" He ondered if he was going to regret not calling her on this.
Sara:
He wasn't buying it. Damn, and it would have been so much better if he hadn't been suspicious of her. Now she'd have to be very careful. "Fine then, you get one free nosy question about me, not that you'll learn much." See, thing was the guy she liked was somewhere between here and Mexico, or was supposed to be. Who knows what the truth of the matter was. She couldn't exactly contact him.
"You realize you and Layla are forcing me to do this," she said as she headed to talk to some of the others about setting this up. "If you two stopped pussyfooting around about your feelings and admitted you liked each other I wouldn't be doing this. I swear, if this faction were a TV show I'd be screaming at the screen whenever you two were alone together..... I mean, oops." She'd said a little too much there. She'd revealed, in so many words, that Layla liked Tim and they were both blind to the affection of the other. "Ignore anything I just said. Ok?"
With that she really did leave to find someone else and work plans out. Tonight she would get those two together if it killed her.
Tim:
Tim just stared and watched her walk off before, what Sara had said really stuck into his head. "What?!" he managed to say and was about to say more, but she was gone.
Did....did what he thought just happened, really happen? Did Sara just say Layla DID like him? Well, what was he supposed to do now! Its not like he could really say anything! He was the type to go "Hey, I heard you like me that true?" Though he wished he just would.
He sat down on the couch. So much for that not thinking day.....
Layla:
Finally, a day where she could do nothing! No missions, no one to hold captive, and no thinking required today-- she could happily lose herself in a book without having to do too much in the outside world. It was a day where the DC faction could relax, and she was going to take advantage of it. With a book in hand, Macbeth still since she hadn't finished it yet, she walked out of her room as she read and walked. Her plan was to sit in the living room on the couch and read the rest of the day away. She would finish this book today, no matter what.
Her plan, however, didn't go that way. Not watching where she was going, and concentrating more on the words on the pages, she bumped into Sara. Stumbling back a bit in surprise, she looked over the other-- she seemed to be in a rush of some sort.
"Sorry about that," she said, "I wasn't watching where I was going. Is there anything going on today?" She wanted to double-check-- she wanted to be lazy and not have to do anything for one day, and one day only.
Sara:
Damn it! She couldn't have started this plot off worse. Tim was suspicious now because he hadn't fallen for her horns holding up the halo facade. Now she'd run smack dab into Layla trying to get to another room to talk to Serena or Sol or someone else about the plans for getting Tim and Layla together. Another white lie must be told, and she obviously wasn't doing well making them convincing today so that wasn't good.
"Nope," Sara said, though maybe a little too quickly. "Nothing at all happening today to my knowledge. Feel free to continue reading." With that she dodged around Layla and into her own room. Now she just had to succeed in talking to the others and planning this out so that Tim had his opportunity to tell Layla.
Layla:
Layla raised an eyebrow. She was right about Sara seeming in a rush. Her first words came out quickly, signaling exactly that. She also said to 'feel free continue reading.'
"Well, it's not like I want to do anything different right now," she thought to herself. Sara had her own agenda to carry out today, and Layla didn't think it would be any of her business to be poking around in it. Sure she was nosy, but if Sara had wanted her to know, she would have told her. Shrugging her shoulders lightly, she walked into the living room and sat down, hoping to finish Macbeth today.
Sara:
Sara peered out the door of her room once she had waited for a little while. She could see Layla sitting on the couch reading and that boded well for her being too distracted to pay attention to Sara. All she had to do was talk to the various members of the faction and see if they'd be willing to help her stage this date. First thing first she either had to get to another room or get the others into hers.
After a moment of thought she decided to risk trying to get to someone's room. She walked to the door of Serena's and knocked, figuring politeness would be key in convincing the others to do this. She wasn't even sure everyone else noticed how blind the two were to their mutual feelings. Tim might know now if only because Sara told him. She was figuring she'd have to play this by ear and hope everyone was willing to go along with the plan.... if not she'd have to try and stage it on her own because she wasn't going to be able to keep quiet for much longer.
Serena:
Serena was bored out of her mind. She had nothing to do, so she had decided to look under some old furniture for odd things. "Ah hah! Wait, no, that looks like a mouse trap. Ew." She cringed and was ready to back out from under there when a knock sounded. She jumped, bumped her head on the bed, and winced, managing to suppress her sound of surprise.
She stood up and opened the door. "Heyas, Sara. What's up?" Her face brightened. Maybe hanging out with Sara would rid her of the boredomitis that seemed to be going around.
Sara:
"Heya, Serena," Sara said, smiling brightly as her friend answered the door to her room. She took a quick glance down the hall to be sure Tim and Layla were still in the respective spots they'd been left in, then she went into Serena's room and shut the door. "Ok, so here's the thing. I need to ask a favor of you and probably as many of the other faction members as I can.... Wait. I'll back up and start at square one so you aren't confused."
She tried to think. How was the best way to start this? "Remember the Scrabble game you, Tim, Willy, and I played? Remember how I was teasing Tim about when he and Layla had been stuck in a tree together? That was the first time they kissed, back in Chicago before Tim became a faction leader. He and Layla like each other, but either they don't realize the other likes them or they're both just too shy or embarrassed or.... something.... Anyways, neither have acted on their feelings and yet to me it's completely obvious their feelings are mutual." God.... she felt like some sort of preppy high school girl gossiping about the star jock and the cheerleader he'd made out with.
"If this faction were a TV show I'd be screaming at the screen every time those two were alone together. That's why I want to set them up on a date and give them the perfect chance to admit their feelings to each other. Tim said he'd do dinner and a movie if he could, both of which we could do for them here at the Nest with a little help. You game for helping me spread a little love?" Please say yes.
Serena:
Serena watched Sara come in, and then listened to what Sara said. Already, she had begun to be confused. Then Sara told her she would start at the beginning, and then she said "All right."
Sara continued on about the Scrabble game. "Yeah. I remember that." She had wondered about that. Though learning that Tim and Layla kissed almost made her fall off her feet. "They did-" she stopped herself before yelling out. Man, she felt like a gossiper. Guess it was for the greater good.
Sara asked if she would be willing to help in the love spreading, and Serena smiled at her friend. "Why, of course. They need to pull their blindfolds off." This is a great idea. "Shall we go talk to the other members?"
Sara:
Sara loved Serena's reaction to learning Tim and Layla had kissed. She'd purposefully left out the drama that first kiss had caused which was probably part of why the feelings had taken as long as they had to get anywhere. Kris's death hadn't exactly been a happy result of their feelings for each other. Still, Serena said yes to helping with the date and Sara felt like that was a step in the right direction. Now if they could get help from a few of the other members.
"Yeah," she said. "We'll need as much help as we can get to mock the Nest up as a movie theater and a restaurant for the night. Someone will need to steal a movie from in town, maybe someone else should find out what kinds of movies they both like so we can find something they'll enjoy. I'd go for a romantic comedy if we can't find anything out, but I'm not completely sure about it. Tim would like humor, I just don't know how much Layla would or if she's the kind to like romance."
She shook her head. "Anyways, we should find and talk to the others, see if they want to be in on this. The more help we have the easier this will be."
Serena:
Serena thought for a moment. "A Romance Comedy? Who wouldn't? I think it would be fine." This is going to be good.
"Let's see, we have Trix, Karl, Cynyr, and Sol, right?" She thought for a moment. "I'm sure if we got them to help, it would be easy, like you said."
"Do you want me to talk to Solicia, then? Or should I talk to Trix?" She didn't know Karl or Trix all that well, yet. "Or whoever would be best. Up to you." She smiled at Sara, glad that she could help.
Sara:
Sara thought about it. "I'll go talk to Karl and you talk to Sol. We'll go for Trix after that and probably Cynyr too." Sara was a little hesitant about asking for Trix's help on this. She couldn't see purposefully leaving Trix out though. They had to give her at least the chance, no matter how people felt about how odd she was. Sara had advocated for letting the girl join the faction so she couldn't change her opinion now.
With that made in plans she walked out of Serena's room and made her way to Karls, knocking on the door. This time she didn't check to see if Tim and Layla were still where they had been. She didn't want to start seeming suspicious and going to various rooms was already suspicious enough. Looking over her shoulder ever time she tried to do something would for sure have Tim on the alert.
Serena:
Serena nodded. "Yeah, okay." Serena wasn't too sure of Trix, especially by the fact that the girl honestly believed that she was a vampire. She didn't believe in that sort of thing, but she wasn't going to be the one to call it out. She doubted if anyone would. Trix was certainly a character.
Serena waited a few seconds before following Sara, and then walked to Solicia's room. Knocking, she called, "Hey, Sol, can I talk to you?"
Karl:
Karl opened the door when he heard knocking. "Sara?" he said. "What is it?" He hadn't gotten much of a chance to know Sara yet, but he felt closer to her than to anyone else. Probably because they'd both been controllers.
Even so, Karl hoped that, whatever she wanted, she would make it quick. He was in the middle of writing a letter to David, which, admittedly, he had no way of sending, but if he could find a way, a secure way that wouldn't give him or David, or their locations, to the yeerks, he would do it. He missed David a lot.
Serena:
Sol had a bounce in her step as she went to her door after hearing the knock. Opening it, her face lit up with a bright smile on her face. "Serena, come in!" She said, excitedly. She jumped up and down as Serena walked inside, and closed the door. She jumped on her bed, laying on her stomach with her hands resting her head and feet kicking up in the air. "How are you? Do you need me for something?"
As Sol waited for an answer, Sol thought about her skunk morph and different things she could do using it. She loved her skunk morph. Just the thought of what happened with Serena while Tim was away made her laugh with excitement.
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Serena entered when Sol answered the door and smiled at her optimism. "I'm good, thanks." She took a breath. "Yeah, Sara and I need your help on something. Tim and Layla like each other, but they won't admit it. We need to set up a date for them. Dinner and a movie. Sara says we can do that with some help."
Serena couldn't help but feel a bit giddy about the idea. "So now she's getting Karl, and here I am. Will you help us?" Please say yes...
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Sol's eyes lit up in excitement at the mention of Tim and Layla, and then dinner and a movie. "They liked each other? I didn't know that!" She jumped off her bed and continued listening to Serena.
"I will gladly help you and Sara with the date!" She said ecstatically. She clapped her hands and jumped up and down. "Let's go find Sara." With that, Sol grabbed Serena's hand and they went off in search for Sara, Sol humming a happy tune the whole way, and Serena feeling just as giddy as Sol.
Sara:
"Hey Karl. Serena and I are plotting and we need a little faction help." She glanced down the hall, breaking her promise to herself not to check on Tim and Layla. "Tim likes Layla and Layla likes Tim, but the both of them are way too blind to the others affection and aren't making any moves. I kind of slipped up and let on to Tim that Layla likes him already, but Serena and I are planning on setting them up on a date together."
She took a moment to pause before she explained the whole thing. "The idea for the date is this. I asked Tim what he'd do if he could take Layla on a date, and he said dinner and a movie. Both of those we can do for them in the Nest by cooking a meal in the kitchen, serving it to them in the dinning area, and giving them the living room for the evening to watch a movie we will steal from in town." She paused again for a breath before saying, "So, you up for a little Matchmaking? I know this will probably be odd for you being one of the few guys in the faction, so I'll understand if you say no."
Karl:
Karl wasn't even sure what face to make. A smirk, cocked eyebrow, and a "you're weird" all seemed appropriate, but they wouldn't all fit on his face. "Um, sure. Sounds fun," he said. Also sounds slightly nosy, but who am I to complain? "What do you need me to do?"
He could cook, sure. He didn't know if he could be secretive about it, but he could cook. He had a seagull morph, so he could probably fly into DC, but he wouldn't know where to steal from. He couldn't serve though, since he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep a straight face while he did.
An unwanted image of him in black, with a white apron and holding a silver tray, serving Tim and Layla a candlelit dinner, rose to his mind and he suppressed a shudder.
Sara:
Despite that Karl said it sounded fun his expression and his voice kind of told Sara that he was less than completely thrilled with the idea. Still, he was agreeing to helping with the plan so that worked out just fine. "Well, as far as what we need you to do I guess it depends on what you can do. Cooking would be possible. Also, someone is going to have to go shopping, probably with Cynyr as a guide. He can't do much, but he can do that aside from actually going into a store and getting something."
She saw Serena and Sol come out of Sol's room now. It looked like Sol was in agreement with the plan. That just left talking to Cynyr and Trix. Trix would be interesting. Cynyr would hopefully be easier. Though there again it was a boy member. He might not be quite as into the whole Matchmaker theme as the girls were. And who knew what to think about Trix. Their resident vampire may have been female, but how much did that really mean about how she acted?
Layla:
Lady Macbeth had gone crazy in the story, and Layla herself was going stir crazy. Her feet tapped the ground as she read, growing impatient. She was in Act V, and she was desperately trying to ge to the ending. Though, every page seemed to get longer and longer as the plot was in it's denouement.
She looked up from her book momentarily to relieve her eyes, glancing around the room. She was a bit startled to see Tim in the same room-- when did he get there? Or did he get there before she did, and she was just oblivious to him? Either case was plausible-- when she got deep into a book, the outside world was often forgotten.
"Hello Tim," she said somewhat casually, "Nice to see you."
Tim:
Damn his mind was reeling. Ever since Sara had said what she had said it was all Tim could think about. And today wasn't supposed to be a thinking day! He kept going back in forth, thinking about whether he should say something to Layla or not. He did, then he didn't. He did then he didn't.
Though he was suddenly brought out of his thoughts. It was Layla, who had startled him. "Woah! When did you get there?" he asked her suprised. Though regained his composure and quickly said, "uh...not that that's a problem. Didn't notice you come over,"
Layla:
The look that she was giving Tim right now suggested that he had a yeerk as his head. He seemed a lot more startled to see her than she was to see him-- and by a lot, she meant a lot. His quick cover-up suggested a couple of things, though she wasn't entirely sure. Something was awry, and she just couldn't pin what it was.
"I came in a few minutes ago," she told him, "I didn't notice until right now that there was another person in the room until now. I guess we were both oblivious to the other. How are you?"
Tim:
Jeez....he nearly had a heart attack. He must've been so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't notice.Tim was usually very aware of his surrondings. He was deeper in thought then he thought he had been.
"Yeah I guess we were....." he told her. Sara had said that earlier hadn't she? That they were oblivious to each other's....yeah. Man, why did he have to be thinking of this now? "I'm.....fine," he told her. "Just sitting here....thinking. ANd yourself?"
Layla:
"Just reading, like I normally do," she replied, "Not a surprise is it? I'm planning on finishing this book today once and for all. Then I'll take a break from reading for a while-- Shakespeare is difficult."
She looked toward him, studying him a bit. He looked kind of nervous, tense, and his answers were shorter than they normally were. "Are you sure you're all right?" she asked him, "You look a little off-- penny for your thoughts?"
Maybe being the leader of the faction was finally getting to him. Tim was never one to show when he was stressed, or at least he hid it very well. Though, she could see that something was bothering him right now, and she wanted to know what.
Though, it was ironic that he seemed to get more stressed when he found her in the same room...
Tim:
Tim nodded. Of course, she was reading. When wasn't there a moment of her free time when she was not reading? And Shakespeare too? Dang. "I bet it is," he told her.
Though he was a little suprised at her asking what was wrong. He couldn't really say. He wanted to blurt it out, but he knew he wouldn't be able to. "Yeah, I'm fine Red," he told her. "Just thinking deeply about nicknames. I've been stuck for awhile."
It wasn't a lie. Hell he probably would be thinking about it if he wasn't thinking about....her. "I've been off my game lately, need to step it up,"
Layla:
She had to stop herself at raising an eyebrow at that. Tim would never put that much thought into nicknames, even if he was off of his game. She did have to agree with him that he was-- the faction had been too busy to think of nicknames for their newer members. Though, one didn't put that much thought into nicknames and got all serious and tense like Tim was now. In fact, she would say he was opposite of that usually-- his nicknames were thought up on fly and brought on by humorous happenings.
Though, for Tim's sake, she would pretend to go along with it for now. "Yeah, you do. You haven't got a nickname yet for Karl or Bellatrix, both of which need one. I don't want to share the nickname Red with Karl, and I think Bella would get offended if we simply called her Vampire. As long as it's not related to Twilight please."
She knew he was lying to her, but now wouldn't be a good time to confront him about it. They were both incredibly stubborn, and neither of them liked to show their feelings that much. Today was meant for relaxing, not confrontation.
Tim:
She seemed to believe him. Key word being seemed. Tim had a nagging feeling that she knew he was lying. Damn it. Well, what else was he supposed to do?! Blurt out, "Hey I like you let's go out!" No! He couldn't do that.
"There will be no sharing of nicknames in this....rustbucket hold" he told her teasingly....somehow. "And I don't know much about Twilight so don't worry."
He looked over at her. He really should say something. "So...... I think I'm gonna head for my room," So much for that plan.
Karl:
"I can sort of cook," said Karl. "I don't know how discreet I can be about it though. And, I can help people pick out movies, but I can't go by myself, since I don't know where to go. Just don't ask me to serve." The image rose to his mind again, and he banished it again.
"We should probably meet and collaborate. You know, everyone but Tim and Layla, when those two aren't around. Then we can work out the details."
Serena:
Serena turned to Sara and said, "Sol is excited for the plan," as Sol was nodding her head and restraining herself from jumping. Karl was saying something about cooking and going to the store. Karl could cook? Wow, mad props go to him...
"I could serve, if we're serving. Though, I'm not sure that we should. Probably just set it up for them." She shrugged. "It could work."
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Serena was right; Sol was excited for the plan. She looked at Karl when he spoke about going to the store. "I could go with you, if you'd like. I know where to go. Would we all be going? Or just two?"
Sol looked at Sara with her happy-go-lucky smile, and a small bounce in her step. She couldn't wait for the matchmaking to take place.
Layla:
She snickered lightly at his comment, almost forcing it. She wasn't really sure what to say to him at this point-- the moment was truly awkward again. They seemed to be having a lot of those lately, but why? What was causing them?
Oh yeah... she liked him. That made everything awkward. Those thoughts stayed in the back of her mind as he said he was going to his room. Her first instinct was to pull him back and talk to him more, maybe say something about those feelings she had. The more she thought about it, however, the more foolish she felt. She doubted Tim would even believe her at this point-- Layla having feelings other than cruelty and callousness? What was the world coming to?
Unable to say anything else to him, she merely went with a soft, "Okay," watching him leave out of the corner of her eye as she returned to her book. Unfortunately, her mind wanted her thoughts to be elsewhere than Lady Macbeth's insanity.
Sara:
Looked like everyone was looking to Sara to lead this, and she realized it was partly because this was her idea and, possibly, partly because Tim and Layla looked to her for help at times too. She was sort of the unofficial third in command. She wasn't completely sure why that was, but whatever worked for everyone.
"Ok. Well, we're going to need a few groups to head into town. One to get the movie and one to get the groceries so we can do dinner. We do both of those at once to cut down on the time. Anyone have any ideas what we should make? Also, I agree. We don't serve them, we just set it all up and do something on our own this evening as far as entertainment."
She thought about it for a moment. "So we still need to talk to Trix and Cynyr, but I figure Sol knows the city so if you want to partner up with Karl and get either the movie or the food that will work. Serena and I were thinking a romantic comedy might work for a movie. Fits the mood of the night and the comedy will make it appeal to Tim." Good grief. She'd obviously thought about this a lot. Anything else?.... "Oh! We want them to be at least semi-formal in their dress so it's like a real date. With Tim that might take some sneaky work. So we'll be three teams. Team one: Movie. Team two: Food. Team three: Get Tim and Layla ready and keep them out of the way. I'm willing to stick around as Team three since this is my idea. Karl and Sol can be team two or one depending on Cynyr and Trix's willingness to help. Might need to merge those into one. Let's go talk to Trix and Cynyr and see what they want to do. I think that's everything otherwise."
Serena:
Serena listened to Sara's plan, and understood what she wanted to do. Sneaky work on Tim? That will be fun. Serena couldn't help but smile. That sounded fun, it really did. "I can be on either team. Whichever will need me more." It made sense. Well, to her anyways.
Hm. How to get Tim into semi-formal wear? So many ideas. So little time. She knew she had a couple of ideas that she could suggest, but she wanted to see what other ideas came out. She was intrigued, to say the least.
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Sol jumped up. "I'll go with Karl to get the food, and we could probably get the movie while we're out. If it's in the same area as the grocery store, we could do it. If there's any trouble, I can spray them in my skunk morph." Sol looked at Karl to see if he was excited as she was.
"This is so exciting! Won't we just have fun doing this? We get to go out of the Nest!" The last time Sol was out was with Serena when they decided to try spraying peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches and came across a controller; that was fun as well. She hoped that this was just as fun.
Bellatrix:
Trix was wandering around, not doing much of anything when she suddenly ran into Tim. He looked like he was leaving someplace in a pretty quick hurry and even bumped into her since he was in such a distracted mood. "Whoops! Oh, hey there." She smiled at him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "thought today was uhm, a day off right? But here you are, rushin' around. Looks like you've got a speed hex on you or something."
She laughed at her own joke, "Anything the matter?" Trix matched his eyes with hers, "If it is, I bet I can help."
Tim:
Wow, he must've really not have been paying attention to have bumped into someone else again. This time Tim had happened to bump into Trix. "Sorry bout that..." he told her.
He forced a smile for her and a laugh. "Must be under some kind of hex," he replied to her. She asked if there was something she could do to help...but he didn't really think anyone could at the moment.
"Nah, its nothing," he told her. "Today's a relazing day like you said. Don't worry bout me,"
Bellatrix:
"How can I not?" Trix responded, holding him back softly. "C'mon. You want to relax? I've got the perfect thing. Scouts honor!"
She grinned widely and pulled him back down the hall toward the kitchen area. "See, I'm part mahoutsuki, or majo if you will. Er, but the english call its something else right? Are we speaking english? Ha, whoops, hello, yes we are. Well in that case you'd call me part-witch." She winked at him, "And i'll make you a potion to make you feel better, k?"
Trix dragged Tim along back to the kitchen and whipped him into a chair from their momentum, setting him down with her hands on his shoulders to make sure he wouldn't get up. "Actually that was a joke," She laughed, "yeah right, me as a witch! Can you imagine? But I do know something of the art..." Trix made a face that a mad scientist would envy. "Let's just see if you can resist the curiosity! You know you want to see what I'll do next..."
Tim:
Tim soon felt himself dragged down the other side of the hall by Trix, toward the kitchen. She said something about being part-witch and making a potion? "Really, you don't have to I'm fine," he told her as he was dragged along by her.
He then felt himself being sat down and Trix had her hands on his shoulders. If she was trying ot make him relax, it wasn't working. Her next words were.....interesting to say the least.
He really wnated to just head back for his room, but it didn't look to be an option at the moment. "Seriously, I'm fine, Trix," he told her. "You don't need to go to any trouble at all"
Bellatrix:
"Oh c'mon mr. tight-britches! We're in the kitchen, i've already made up my mind! Any stalling on your part is the only trouble here." Trix grinned and spun away, rifling through the cupboards, tossing various cooking objects over her shoulders. Things flew into the sink, clattering about, or onto the counter tops where they spun off onto the floor. She tucked what she needed under her arm and then caught sight of the fridge.
"Aha! Perfect!" She ducked inside the door, gasping at what she found there and then quickly shut it back. "Hmm... never mind... although" Trix mumbled to herself, her eye brows sky rocketing as she came up with a new ingrediant to her ever changing recipe. She turned back and grabbed it, then set to work on her concoction within the empty sink. The entire time she made sure Tim couldn't see exactly what she was doing, but she kept grunting and running the water, then tossing things in the trash before adding more spices or butter to the now steaming experiment.
Trix then whirled back, facing Tim exctatically. "Fabuloso! Now prepare yourself Tim!" She pulled from behind her back a plain plastic cup, filled to the brim with a dark brown liquid. Carefully, so as not to spill, she held it out for him to take. "Sorry I couldn't make any whipcream, but I always think hot chocolate is a stand-alone kind of drink anyway." With a joy only a kid at christmas could replicate, she watched him hold it to his lips, adding quickly before he drank, "It's my family's recipe! Or at least, most of it is. I kind of had to substitute some things, but... all in all, bis zu einem gewissen Grad!"
Tim:
Trix then started scrounging through the cupboards. Tim wondered what exactly she was up to. He thought about just getting up and leaving....but he couldn't do that. So he waited there watching her, an eyebrow raised.
She sure had no problems looking for whatever it was, and if it wasn't wahat she was looking for it was tossed. Kitchen had become a bit fo a mess. Soon she had what she needed and began making....something.
He couldn't tell, Trix had it so he couldn't see what it was. She soon presented him excitedly with a cup of...hot choclate? Wow.... he was not expecting that at all. He took the cup she handed over. SHe loooked so excited about having made it. "Um...thanks..." he said. He was about to take a sip when she said her last bit about subsistute some ingredients.
Well.....what harm could it do? He then took a drink from the cup.
Bellatrix:
"..aaaaand?" Trix jumped in place excitedly, eyes wide as he debated, then took a sip.
Well he didn't keel over, that was good. But she couldn't tell anything else since his face was hidden by the cup. "I ah, thought the eggs might have gone bad, and you only had three so i kind of had to add in more butterscotch. Or at least I think it was butterscotch. You guys don't really seem big on gormet cooking so..." Trix started to get anxious the longer he took to comment, wriggling around, trying to catch a glimpse of his expression.
Tim:
Tim soon finished the drink. All and all.....it wasn't too bad. He hadn't fallen over like he had been poisoned or anything. Admittly he had never had hot chocolate very often, but this was pretty good.
He looked over at Trix who just seemed eager to know what he thought of it. "It was pretty good," he said suprised himself. He gave her a small smile. "Thank you very much,"
Bellatrix:
Trix gave a dramatic sigh of relief and collapsed onto the table. "Oh thank goodness!" Then she snuck a peek back at him and grinned, "I'm glad. You looked like you needed a good old fashioned home remedy. That hot chocolate," She nodded at his empty cup, "Was one of my sire's recipes, passed down to our family through her, from her human grandmother nearly six generations before. Heh, when you've got a lot of time indoors, you pick up a lot of habits like that. Collecting, and learning."
Trix resettled herself as she spoke, sitting on top of the table with her legs hung over the edge lazily. "I liked languages, more than anything else. Drove my family nuts. But you'd be surprised how many guys are interested in a girl who can sweet talk in swedish." She laughed, "Ahh, but that was before all this. Long before, really... and it's all become blurry like all memories eventually do."
She shook her head suddenly, "But wait a sec! I'm supposed to be taking care of you!" Trix adopted a psychiatrist's stance, complete with crossed legs and her fist held to her chin contemplatively. "Now, tell me what you feel." Then she giggled and dropped the act, "But really though, what's got you down?"
Tim:
Tim couldn't help but smirk at her response to his. It was so over the top. Then again this WAS Trix....she was pretty over the top in her motions. Though he was suprised to hear that it was a family recipe of hers.
He then listened to her mention she liked languages. "Really? I hadn't noticed," he joked. "What with you slipping into different ones all the time. Recognized some Japanese you spoke from before." Though he was amazed she could remember so many different lanaguages.
But of course, soon the focus was turned back on to him. She was wondering what was up with him. He fidgeted with his fingers. Could he really say anything? Only Sara really knew last he checked, and who knew what the hell she had cooked up right now.
Trix had gone through all that trouble though.. "I....like Layla," he mumbled the words all jumbled together and almost incoherant.
Bellatrix:
Trix blinked. "Lay...lah?"
She stumbled over what to say, "O-oh...right! Well, um, of course... you and Layla... totally could see that.. i guess." Trix let her shoulders slump and turned away a bit so she could look around the kitchen. "Shoot, what a mess. Better, ah, clean up." She jumped off the table a busied herself with putting things back or wiping things up. Then finally she started back on their conversation. "So, um, have you told her yet? You haven't right? Hmm, of course not, written all over your face with how long it is." She looked back over at him from her shoulder, "Anything I can help with? Maybe talking it over, you know, practicing or something, could help you?"
Tim:
Tim looked at her. She was all fumbling over her words after he had said that. She then started cleaning up the kitchen form all the stuff she had tossed around, not saying much for awhile. He wasn't sure of what else to say.
Though soon she started talking up again. "No...I don't think so," he told her. "I don't think no amount of practice will let me be able to say that to her," He sighed. "Not even sure how she feels.......And don't want to say anything and just have it....hang there ya know?"
Bellatrix:
"Yes! Exactly!" Trix flashed him a smile, "Of course. Ah, I mean, uhm, well you don't know how she feels back right? And girls, oooh you don't want to mess anything up that they might warm up to in the future right? Best to just wait for something that really definitely says that she likes you back before you charge into something... embarrassing." Her tone grew dark and ominous.
Then she bounced back, "But if you ever did want to practice, I've always had a knack for recognizing honest to goodness love. Er, but of course that's not to say I didn't see any in Layla for you... but... ah, maybe some practice would help? Or, maybe you should try and let it just set for awhile and think about other things?" She added, quickly trying to change the subject for his benefit, "Um, what about those yeerks huh? real nasty buggers."
Tim:
Tim nodded. Oddly, she made a lot of sense. Did he just think what he thought he just thought? Yeah he did....but Trix had made a lot of points, a lot of them things he thought himself which kept him from saying anything to Layla.
"Yeah...I'll probably try to think about other things," he told her. Though she started on about the yeerks. "Yeah they are," he told her. "But this is supposed to be a relaxing day right? Let's not think about them for once,"
Sara:
Trix, as it turned out, was distracting Tim at the moment and doing a very good job of it. She was helping without really realizing it, so Sara had decided to leave it at that and the rest of the members would go out and get what they needed. There wasn't a whole lot of shopping to do, and splitting the tasks had cut down on time.
Now they were regrouped in Sara's room with their purchases - which were really more like stolen goods in a few cases - in various bags on the floor around them. Sara had searched through a few books in the Nest and found a menu for a romantic Italian dinner and Cynyr, Karl, and Sol had gone shopping for the supplies for it. Sara and Serena had gone to get the movie, stealing it from an abandoned movie rental service. Their choice had, in the end, been Hitch after much deliberation.
"So," she said addressing the rest of the faction. "We have two missions now. Mission number one: Get Tim and Layla out of the main room and dressed in something nice for their date. Meanwhile, mission number two: Get everything in the main room set up. That means cooking and using the candles and tablecloth to set up the table nice. Oh, and setting up our stolen CD player and the mood music. We really need more people on mission two than mission one right now. Who volunteers for what? I'd personally like to be on mission two since I can oversee the setup that way. This was my plan and I'd like it done right."
Serena:
Solicia set down her bag of stuff by her side and had a smile plastered on her face from having so much fun getting the stuff for the dinner. Sara started talking about plans and the two different groups, and Sol's eyes lit up. "I'll be in group number two! That sounds like so much fun!"
Sol thought about the music. "Oh, will there be dancing?!" She hoped so. She loved dancing, and she hoped that Tim and Layla would too.
Serena smiled at Sol's enthusiasm. Serena thought for a minute as to which group she should be in. "I think I should be in group number one; I'm not that great with decorations." Serena started thinking about how to get Layla and Tim to dress up nicely. "Hm...how would we get them to dress up, though?"
Serena went over different options. "We couldn't just go and ask them to get dressed in those clothes, they would be suspicious." Her mind was going fast over the possibilities.
Layla:
Cynyr was honestly excited for this-- it was a mischievous plan, and it was going to go well. Sara did a good job at planning it. Getting the supplies for the dinner was no problem-- Italian meals were easy to cook anyway. Weren't they all just pasta? The cat's mind would love to play with the spaghetti noodles...
Anyway, getting on track, Sara mentioned splitting up into groups. One of them would help get the two ready while the other prepared the room. He couldn't really help with that second group, so that only left one option.
<<I'll help get them ready!>> Cynyr exclaimed, then he considered the problem Serena said. Yeah, that was definitely an issue. He knew both of Tim and Layla got suspicious easily-- he especially saw it in Tim. <<Maybe if we mess up their other clothes so they have to wear the nice ones? I think I can talk to Layla though and not have to do that-- I know how to talk to the ladies.>> There was his flirty nature kicking in. Layla couldn't be that hard to convince to wear nice clothes.
Karl:
"I think I"ll need to be in group two," said Karl. For him, getting them dressed in something fancy would be the least of his worries. Rather, he would worry about it once he was done worrying about how impossible it would be for him to get them out of the room in the first place.
"I can cook," he added. "But I suck at decorating." He was also trying not to laugh at the idea of a cat helping someone get ready for a date.
Bellatrix:
Trix had sat with Tim in the kitchen for a rather long time now, regaling him with stories and adventures she'd had in the deepest of nights, and worse, the brightest of days. "So there I was, totally bo ji and about to hong kan because of some crazy guys with torches who thought I ate their babies. Which was absurd! Mostly because they're way too sweet, and also there weren't any bodies left! And that, I found out later, was because there were never any babies to begin with! Dude was a total liar." She laughed, "But anyway so they've got me up on this stake about to light me on fire and suddenly-"
Trix stopped and looked around, "do you hear something?" She got up from her chair quietly, head tilted to one side, drifting toward the window and whatever it was she heard. Slowly she reached up a hand and pulled back the blinds, a shaft of dull sunlight falling on her. Quickly she let go, the curtains falling back, and turned away with her hands on her head. "Oh..." She moaned quietly. The sun was about to set, they'd talked for so long. "I-uh sorry but I don't feel very well... I need to... go."
Tim:
Tim had sat here for awhile now, listening to all the crazy stories Trix had told him. Whether any were true or not, were questionable, but some seemed to be true. Or at least she was exaggerating about things she had done. They were interesting to listen to though.
Though suddenly it all stopped. Trix looked outside and then she looked in pain. He got up. "Here, let me help you to your room..." he told her and began leading her there.
Sara:
Ok, that was good. They had enough people wanting to do each of the various jobs. Now was just time to put everything into action. She poked her head out the door and saw Tim starting to lead Trix to her room. Trix always seemed to head to her room early, so it seemed they wouldn't get her help, but they also wouldn't need to worry about her being in the way.
She ducked back into the room. "Ok," she said. "Tim and Trix are heading down the hall. I think we'll need Cynyr to go and get Layla out of the main room and Serena, you're going to have to make sure Tim doesn't go back in. Once it's clear, the rest of us can head out and start getting things ready." She glanced at the other four in the room. "Does that work for everyone?"
Bellatrix:
Trix smiled softly at Tim's offer, "Thank you..."
They walked together down the hall and she had to lean on his arm to keep from falling over. Tonight was especially bad, although every night had been worse since coming to the Nest. It always happened that way when she was around more people during the day. Her vampiric nature would get peeked by the fresh scents. But she couldn't change around Tim... not yet... not if she didn't have to. She didn't want him to see her like that until she'd managed to do what she'd been wanting to their entire conversation.
"I..." Trix turned as she reached her room, standing in the door frame and glancing around at the floor. "I.. wanted to say... really, thank you, for taking me in a being so nice... and, well" She lifted her eyes to his and as soon as they met, she swiftly moved, going up on her toes so she could kiss his cheek. Before he could say anything, she turned and slipped inside, shutting the door quickly just as the final rays of light fell back over the horizon.
Seren:
Serena nodded. "Works for me." Already, she was thinking of ways to keep Tim away from the main room. It wasn't that hard really if you thought about it, but who knew if he would be dead set on returning to the main room. She heard a door close. "Trix must be in her room now. I think I should go out there now and distract him."
After saying that, Serena slipped out and crossed the hall. She closed her door, which she accidentally left open. Fortunately it looked like she came from there. "Tim, hey Tim!" She walked over. "I've been looking for you."
Tim:
Tim helped Trix walk down to her room. He still didn't get what exactly happened to Trix at this time. SHe thought she was a vampire didn't she? So, shouldn't she be all about the night? It confused him greatly.
Soon they reached her door, and Trix paused there a minute to say something. She was thanking him and he gave a soft smile staring to say "No Problem," when she reached up and kissed his cheek. Then the door closed.
He felt his cheek confused. What was that about? He wasn't really expecting that. Though he didn't have much time to think on it (which was probably a good thing) since Serena had come by. Regain his composure he turned over to her and said," Well....here I am. What do ya need?"
Serena:
"Yes, yes, there you are," Serena said, a bit giddy. She thought for a moment and said, "I have a question for you." She scratched her head. She had acted too quickly again. Nice one, genius... "Uh..."
Well, that was one way to keep him away from the main room. "Oh!" She had an idea. "So, I had a question for you. The question is, what was my question?" She raised an eyebrow. "I think it had to do with something. But not sure what. Oh, well."
Serena shrugged. "I'm a bit on the bored side. Want to do something? It's like our day off, or something isn't it?"
Tim:
Tim stared at her a bit. She wanted to ask him something but forgot? Well....I guess that wasn't too strange. Not really anyway. Maybe he was still reeling from what had just happened, only a moment ago.
She then asked him about doing something. Well.....he kind of wanted to lie down....but he guessed he could do something. "Yeah its supposed to be anyway," he told her. "Sure, what did you have in mind?"
Serena:
Serena thought of something. She needed to do it fast before he got any ideas of going into the main room. "Here, follow me, I have an idea." She latched onto Tim's arm and started leading him away, away, away from the main room. Where she was leading him, she had no clue.
Soon, though, she realized she was actually at the other end of the nest. "Oh, dead end. Would you look at that?" It was a good thing no one could see this end of the nest really well. "Okay! So....." She looked around. "Hmm...I thought something was here. Ah hah!" She found a cd player. "Looky, it has a radio on it."
Tim:
Tim started to be dragged over to...somewhere in The Nest by Serena. Jeez...what's with the girls being all over me today....? he asked himself as he followed quietly. Maybe they shouldn't have taken the day off, he'd give anything to keep his mind occupied at the moment.
Then Serena brought out....a cd player with a radio? "Hmm.....you think the yeerks still have radio stations working?" he asked her.He doubted it, but maybe they could find a cd or something.
Serena:
Serena looked at the radio. "I don't know; let me test it out." Thinking it would be really soft, she held it close to her ear. Turning it on, she yelped and immediately dropped the cd player. "Ow. That's loud." She stared at it and all it was making was static. "Well, that station doesn't work." Picking it up again, she tried switching the channel but held it away from her ears. "Well, let's see..." She found one that sounded okay.
"Well, while that's playing, why don't we see if there are any CD's laying around?" Serena asked. Maybe she could get Tim to help with the date without realizing it.
Tim:
Tim watched her turn the cd player on and at the loud static brought a hand up to his ear. She dropped the thing and soon got it to be quieter. He put a hand by his ear and said, "Ow....maybe we should check the volume first next time,"
He nodded then to her suggestion of looking for cds. "Yeah, probably a good idea," he told her. "I doubt many stations would actually still be in use,"
Serena:
"Ya think?" Serena teased. She moved the radio over and then said, "Where should we start?" She got down on her hands and knees and looked under tables and stuff. She didn't see anything.
"Find anything yet, Tim?" She hoped he had, but then again who knew what was hidden in the nest. "Hey, just because we found the cd player here, doesn't mean that the cd's were kept here, right? How tidy was this place when you found it?"
Layla:
<<Yup, that works for me!>> Cynyr responded to Sara. He scurried off to the main room, finding his prey sitting and reading a book like she normally was. This was good, very good. He also noticed that her pants were somewhat worn, and the bottoms were frayed and torn a bit from much use. Maybe he could use that to his advantage...
Calmly walking over to Layla, he started playing with the ends of her pants. He was well aware that the girl had a soft spot for cats, seeing as she had that ocelot morph that she favored, and she let him come in her room once in a while. Getting under that cold exterior of hers wouldn't be too hard for a kitten.
"Cynyr, what are you doing?" He stopped playing for a moment upon hearing her voice, looking up to see a perplexed face and a closed book. He cocked his head to the side, studying her for a minute.
<<Just playing with the ends of your pants>> he said, <<It looked fun! Your pants are all ripped though-- why don't you wear nicer things?>>
He just earned the weirdest look from the red-head before she answered. "You never know when a mission will arise," she replied matter-of-factly, "I need to be ready at all times, and wearing something nice isn't exactly practical."
<<Yeah, I guess>> he responded, <<But you don't have any missions today-- you should wear something nice! It's not like you're gonna go anywhere anytime soon. I'll even help pick them out!>> He rubbed against her leg, working that kitten charm to get what he wanted. Layla couldn't resist forever.
"You have a point... but I don't see a point in suddenly putting nice clothes on."
<<There doesn't have to be a point silly! Come on, I bet you have some good stuff to wear.>> He continued to rub against her leg, trying to get her to budge both physically and mentally. Finally, with crossed arms and a sigh, she stood up and looked down at the cat.
"Fine... but no looking while I get them on-- understand?" she said this as she started walking towards her room. He followed suit, an air of triumph evident in his steps.
<<Okay okay>> he replied, following as she went into her room and closed the door. He did most of the talking from there, giving signs of approval or the opposite with what she picked out. While she kept looking, he secretly sent a private message to Sara.
<<Mission successful!>>
Tim:
Tim scratched his head. Did they have any CDs here? He joined her in her search. But they weren't having any luck. Tim shook his head to Serena's question. "Yeah, they might not be over here. Place has always been kind of a mess. And its not like we really looked for this stuff before," he told her.
He then snapped his fingers and had an idea. "You know, I think I saw some CDs in the main room somewhere," he told her. He then started to head that way. "Let me go check,"
Serena:
Serena was under a table when Tim said he was headed to the main room. She tried to stand up quickly, but forgot she was under a table. BONK! Rubbing her head, she inwardly cursed. Damn damn damnity damn! She got to her feet and cast out a hopeless glance and something caught her eye. "Wait!" She ran over, grabbed his hand, and managed to get him back. "I think I found some."
Serena opened the cupboard that had caught her attention, and grabbed two cd's that happened to be there. Looking them over, she saw one with the perfect song for the date. "Hm, well this one is no fun." She set it down and left a mental note to pick it up later. The next one made her dance inwardly. Perfect, perfect, perfect!
Serena smirked at Tim. "Okay, I'ma gonna need your help." She put the CD in the cd player. Gah, I hope this works. This is my last resort.
Tim:
Tim heard a banging sound as he started to leave, which causeed him to pause for a moment. DId Serena just hit something? He soon felt himself being grabbed away from the main room, Serena saying she found some.
She looked at one and smirked. He couldn't see what the CD was, she had put it into the CD player before he could. "So what is it?" he asked her.
Serena:
Serena smiled. "You'll see in a second. I need you to do something." Setting the cd player down, she motioned for him to come over. "Okay, as soon as I say ready, all you need to do is press play. Oh, I suppose I should set it up, huh?" Putting the cd on track 4, she hit 'Play' twice, making it on pause.
Backing up, Serena focused on her cockatoo morph. Feathers began to grow on her skin, and her eyes shifted to the side and became all black. She shrank to cockatoo size, and grew bird feet. After she was fully morphed, Serena said, <Hit it, DJ Tim!>
Tim:
Tim just stared at her for a bit before she told him what she wanted him to do. He was a bit confused but went over to the CD player. "Um....alright," he told her.
He soon heard Serena's voice in his head. She had morphed cockatoo. "Ok, here it is...." he said and pressed play. And when he first heard the music it clicked and he couldn't help but say. "No way......"
Tim had been back from the faction leader meeting for a while now. They had two new members, Karl and Trix. Sara wasn't really thinking about any of this though. What she was thinking of right this minute was Tim and Layla. She'd long ago gotten thoroughly fed up with how Tim and Layla seemed to be dodging their feelings for each other. Tim had admitted to Sara that he liked Layla, and Sara could tell Layla liked Tim. They were practically oblivious to the feelings of the other though and not willing to make the first move. Back before the war she'd yell at TV characters who did that, but she was relatively incapable of doing anything about those relationships. In this case she wasn't going to just sit by an ignore it anymore though.
She had to think part of her renewed efforts of finding love for her faction leader, someone who was a best friend to her, had something to do with her current heart break and trying to put Ethan behind her. Thinking of those two was working for her though so she wasn't about to question what worked. The only thing to figure out was what to do for the two.
She did have an idea, one called giving Tim the perfect opportunity to admit his feelings to Layla. Her idea was to give Tim and Layla something of a first date. If she could figure out what Tim would do, were he able to take Layla on a date that is, she could maybe get the other members of the faction to help her in giving them the closest to that as possible. That's what she was going to Tim's room for right now, to semi-discreetly ask him and set her plan in motion.
Tim:
Ah, today would be a great day to do absolutely nothing. At least in Tim's mind anyway. It seemed a lot had happened and they needed at least a day of not having to worry about anything. It felt like he hadn't had one of those kinds of days in awhile.
And what better way to start it off by getting something to eat? He headed out of his room and almost bumped into Sara. Whoops. Maybe he was taking this whole, not thinking day too seriously. "Hey, sorry bout that Batgirl..." he told her. "Uh, what's up?"
Sara:
Well if that wasn't serendipitous and fortunate. She practically ran straight into Tim and he was the person she was looking for. Now if she could just figure out how to ask him without being too blunt. "No not much," she said, answering his question and stalling for time for herself.
She turned and started walking with him toward the main room, since it seemed that was where he'd been headed. "So," she said finally. "I have a question. Hypothetically speaking, if you could take Layla on a date anywhere you wanted, where would it be?" Oh really nice Sara. That was so blunt it that if it was a knife it probably wouldn't even cut butter. Hopefully he wouldn't realize what she was trying to do..... hopefully.
Tim:
Tim walked over towards the main room with her, waiting for to se ewhat she wanted. Though the question she asked was certainly out of the blue. And ruined the purpose of his whole "not doing anything or thinking anything" day.
"Where's this come from all of a sudden...?" he asked her. Though he had a nagging feeling she might be asking this until he gave an answer, so he started to think about it. "Um...well. Dinner and a movie I guess. Something simple and within my budget. Wouldn't want to be overly showy or anything...."
He turned over to Sara with a suspicous look. "You're not planning anything, are you...?"
Sara:
She'd obviously caught him by surprise, but he did tell her. So dinner and a movie was his idea of a good date.... she could possibly arrange that. She'd have to steal the movie though, but the Nest had a TV, VCR, and electricity.
You're not planning anything, are you...? The question caught her off guard and red handed. Technically Tim was her friend and she didn't lie to friends, but in this case she had to make an exception. She had to do this or she'd go absolutely nuts watching Tim and Layla try to pussy-foot around their feelings. If she didn't feel like it wasn't her right to reveal these things she'd have already told both of them just how blind they were.
She shook her head, putting on her best expression of shook and offense. "Of course not, just being curious and nosy." And if you believe that I have a million dollars to give you. As one of my friends in Chicago would have once said, the horns are only there to hold up the halo. Hopefully Tim saw only the halo and not the horns.
Tim:
"Uh-huh......" Tim said to her. He didn't really buy it. No one asked a hypothetical question unless they were planning something. But what could he do? Its not like he could go and say 'I order you not to set anything up' Even if he did she probably wouldn't listen.
Against his better jusgement, he went along with it.. "Already then Mrs. Nosey." he told her. "Just remember this means I get a free nosy question to ask you later. Fair enough?" He ondered if he was going to regret not calling her on this.
Sara:
He wasn't buying it. Damn, and it would have been so much better if he hadn't been suspicious of her. Now she'd have to be very careful. "Fine then, you get one free nosy question about me, not that you'll learn much." See, thing was the guy she liked was somewhere between here and Mexico, or was supposed to be. Who knows what the truth of the matter was. She couldn't exactly contact him.
"You realize you and Layla are forcing me to do this," she said as she headed to talk to some of the others about setting this up. "If you two stopped pussyfooting around about your feelings and admitted you liked each other I wouldn't be doing this. I swear, if this faction were a TV show I'd be screaming at the screen whenever you two were alone together..... I mean, oops." She'd said a little too much there. She'd revealed, in so many words, that Layla liked Tim and they were both blind to the affection of the other. "Ignore anything I just said. Ok?"
With that she really did leave to find someone else and work plans out. Tonight she would get those two together if it killed her.
Tim:
Tim just stared and watched her walk off before, what Sara had said really stuck into his head. "What?!" he managed to say and was about to say more, but she was gone.
Did....did what he thought just happened, really happen? Did Sara just say Layla DID like him? Well, what was he supposed to do now! Its not like he could really say anything! He was the type to go "Hey, I heard you like me that true?" Though he wished he just would.
He sat down on the couch. So much for that not thinking day.....
Layla:
Finally, a day where she could do nothing! No missions, no one to hold captive, and no thinking required today-- she could happily lose herself in a book without having to do too much in the outside world. It was a day where the DC faction could relax, and she was going to take advantage of it. With a book in hand, Macbeth still since she hadn't finished it yet, she walked out of her room as she read and walked. Her plan was to sit in the living room on the couch and read the rest of the day away. She would finish this book today, no matter what.
Her plan, however, didn't go that way. Not watching where she was going, and concentrating more on the words on the pages, she bumped into Sara. Stumbling back a bit in surprise, she looked over the other-- she seemed to be in a rush of some sort.
"Sorry about that," she said, "I wasn't watching where I was going. Is there anything going on today?" She wanted to double-check-- she wanted to be lazy and not have to do anything for one day, and one day only.
Sara:
Damn it! She couldn't have started this plot off worse. Tim was suspicious now because he hadn't fallen for her horns holding up the halo facade. Now she'd run smack dab into Layla trying to get to another room to talk to Serena or Sol or someone else about the plans for getting Tim and Layla together. Another white lie must be told, and she obviously wasn't doing well making them convincing today so that wasn't good.
"Nope," Sara said, though maybe a little too quickly. "Nothing at all happening today to my knowledge. Feel free to continue reading." With that she dodged around Layla and into her own room. Now she just had to succeed in talking to the others and planning this out so that Tim had his opportunity to tell Layla.
Layla:
Layla raised an eyebrow. She was right about Sara seeming in a rush. Her first words came out quickly, signaling exactly that. She also said to 'feel free continue reading.'
"Well, it's not like I want to do anything different right now," she thought to herself. Sara had her own agenda to carry out today, and Layla didn't think it would be any of her business to be poking around in it. Sure she was nosy, but if Sara had wanted her to know, she would have told her. Shrugging her shoulders lightly, she walked into the living room and sat down, hoping to finish Macbeth today.
Sara:
Sara peered out the door of her room once she had waited for a little while. She could see Layla sitting on the couch reading and that boded well for her being too distracted to pay attention to Sara. All she had to do was talk to the various members of the faction and see if they'd be willing to help her stage this date. First thing first she either had to get to another room or get the others into hers.
After a moment of thought she decided to risk trying to get to someone's room. She walked to the door of Serena's and knocked, figuring politeness would be key in convincing the others to do this. She wasn't even sure everyone else noticed how blind the two were to their mutual feelings. Tim might know now if only because Sara told him. She was figuring she'd have to play this by ear and hope everyone was willing to go along with the plan.... if not she'd have to try and stage it on her own because she wasn't going to be able to keep quiet for much longer.
Serena:
Serena was bored out of her mind. She had nothing to do, so she had decided to look under some old furniture for odd things. "Ah hah! Wait, no, that looks like a mouse trap. Ew." She cringed and was ready to back out from under there when a knock sounded. She jumped, bumped her head on the bed, and winced, managing to suppress her sound of surprise.
She stood up and opened the door. "Heyas, Sara. What's up?" Her face brightened. Maybe hanging out with Sara would rid her of the boredomitis that seemed to be going around.
Sara:
"Heya, Serena," Sara said, smiling brightly as her friend answered the door to her room. She took a quick glance down the hall to be sure Tim and Layla were still in the respective spots they'd been left in, then she went into Serena's room and shut the door. "Ok, so here's the thing. I need to ask a favor of you and probably as many of the other faction members as I can.... Wait. I'll back up and start at square one so you aren't confused."
She tried to think. How was the best way to start this? "Remember the Scrabble game you, Tim, Willy, and I played? Remember how I was teasing Tim about when he and Layla had been stuck in a tree together? That was the first time they kissed, back in Chicago before Tim became a faction leader. He and Layla like each other, but either they don't realize the other likes them or they're both just too shy or embarrassed or.... something.... Anyways, neither have acted on their feelings and yet to me it's completely obvious their feelings are mutual." God.... she felt like some sort of preppy high school girl gossiping about the star jock and the cheerleader he'd made out with.
"If this faction were a TV show I'd be screaming at the screen every time those two were alone together. That's why I want to set them up on a date and give them the perfect chance to admit their feelings to each other. Tim said he'd do dinner and a movie if he could, both of which we could do for them here at the Nest with a little help. You game for helping me spread a little love?" Please say yes.
Serena:
Serena watched Sara come in, and then listened to what Sara said. Already, she had begun to be confused. Then Sara told her she would start at the beginning, and then she said "All right."
Sara continued on about the Scrabble game. "Yeah. I remember that." She had wondered about that. Though learning that Tim and Layla kissed almost made her fall off her feet. "They did-" she stopped herself before yelling out. Man, she felt like a gossiper. Guess it was for the greater good.
Sara asked if she would be willing to help in the love spreading, and Serena smiled at her friend. "Why, of course. They need to pull their blindfolds off." This is a great idea. "Shall we go talk to the other members?"
Sara:
Sara loved Serena's reaction to learning Tim and Layla had kissed. She'd purposefully left out the drama that first kiss had caused which was probably part of why the feelings had taken as long as they had to get anywhere. Kris's death hadn't exactly been a happy result of their feelings for each other. Still, Serena said yes to helping with the date and Sara felt like that was a step in the right direction. Now if they could get help from a few of the other members.
"Yeah," she said. "We'll need as much help as we can get to mock the Nest up as a movie theater and a restaurant for the night. Someone will need to steal a movie from in town, maybe someone else should find out what kinds of movies they both like so we can find something they'll enjoy. I'd go for a romantic comedy if we can't find anything out, but I'm not completely sure about it. Tim would like humor, I just don't know how much Layla would or if she's the kind to like romance."
She shook her head. "Anyways, we should find and talk to the others, see if they want to be in on this. The more help we have the easier this will be."
Serena:
Serena thought for a moment. "A Romance Comedy? Who wouldn't? I think it would be fine." This is going to be good.
"Let's see, we have Trix, Karl, Cynyr, and Sol, right?" She thought for a moment. "I'm sure if we got them to help, it would be easy, like you said."
"Do you want me to talk to Solicia, then? Or should I talk to Trix?" She didn't know Karl or Trix all that well, yet. "Or whoever would be best. Up to you." She smiled at Sara, glad that she could help.
Sara:
Sara thought about it. "I'll go talk to Karl and you talk to Sol. We'll go for Trix after that and probably Cynyr too." Sara was a little hesitant about asking for Trix's help on this. She couldn't see purposefully leaving Trix out though. They had to give her at least the chance, no matter how people felt about how odd she was. Sara had advocated for letting the girl join the faction so she couldn't change her opinion now.
With that made in plans she walked out of Serena's room and made her way to Karls, knocking on the door. This time she didn't check to see if Tim and Layla were still where they had been. She didn't want to start seeming suspicious and going to various rooms was already suspicious enough. Looking over her shoulder ever time she tried to do something would for sure have Tim on the alert.
Serena:
Serena nodded. "Yeah, okay." Serena wasn't too sure of Trix, especially by the fact that the girl honestly believed that she was a vampire. She didn't believe in that sort of thing, but she wasn't going to be the one to call it out. She doubted if anyone would. Trix was certainly a character.
Serena waited a few seconds before following Sara, and then walked to Solicia's room. Knocking, she called, "Hey, Sol, can I talk to you?"
Karl:
Karl opened the door when he heard knocking. "Sara?" he said. "What is it?" He hadn't gotten much of a chance to know Sara yet, but he felt closer to her than to anyone else. Probably because they'd both been controllers.
Even so, Karl hoped that, whatever she wanted, she would make it quick. He was in the middle of writing a letter to David, which, admittedly, he had no way of sending, but if he could find a way, a secure way that wouldn't give him or David, or their locations, to the yeerks, he would do it. He missed David a lot.
Serena:
Sol had a bounce in her step as she went to her door after hearing the knock. Opening it, her face lit up with a bright smile on her face. "Serena, come in!" She said, excitedly. She jumped up and down as Serena walked inside, and closed the door. She jumped on her bed, laying on her stomach with her hands resting her head and feet kicking up in the air. "How are you? Do you need me for something?"
As Sol waited for an answer, Sol thought about her skunk morph and different things she could do using it. She loved her skunk morph. Just the thought of what happened with Serena while Tim was away made her laugh with excitement.
------------------------------------------
Serena entered when Sol answered the door and smiled at her optimism. "I'm good, thanks." She took a breath. "Yeah, Sara and I need your help on something. Tim and Layla like each other, but they won't admit it. We need to set up a date for them. Dinner and a movie. Sara says we can do that with some help."
Serena couldn't help but feel a bit giddy about the idea. "So now she's getting Karl, and here I am. Will you help us?" Please say yes...
----------------
Sol's eyes lit up in excitement at the mention of Tim and Layla, and then dinner and a movie. "They liked each other? I didn't know that!" She jumped off her bed and continued listening to Serena.
"I will gladly help you and Sara with the date!" She said ecstatically. She clapped her hands and jumped up and down. "Let's go find Sara." With that, Sol grabbed Serena's hand and they went off in search for Sara, Sol humming a happy tune the whole way, and Serena feeling just as giddy as Sol.
Sara:
"Hey Karl. Serena and I are plotting and we need a little faction help." She glanced down the hall, breaking her promise to herself not to check on Tim and Layla. "Tim likes Layla and Layla likes Tim, but the both of them are way too blind to the others affection and aren't making any moves. I kind of slipped up and let on to Tim that Layla likes him already, but Serena and I are planning on setting them up on a date together."
She took a moment to pause before she explained the whole thing. "The idea for the date is this. I asked Tim what he'd do if he could take Layla on a date, and he said dinner and a movie. Both of those we can do for them in the Nest by cooking a meal in the kitchen, serving it to them in the dinning area, and giving them the living room for the evening to watch a movie we will steal from in town." She paused again for a breath before saying, "So, you up for a little Matchmaking? I know this will probably be odd for you being one of the few guys in the faction, so I'll understand if you say no."
Karl:
Karl wasn't even sure what face to make. A smirk, cocked eyebrow, and a "you're weird" all seemed appropriate, but they wouldn't all fit on his face. "Um, sure. Sounds fun," he said. Also sounds slightly nosy, but who am I to complain? "What do you need me to do?"
He could cook, sure. He didn't know if he could be secretive about it, but he could cook. He had a seagull morph, so he could probably fly into DC, but he wouldn't know where to steal from. He couldn't serve though, since he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep a straight face while he did.
An unwanted image of him in black, with a white apron and holding a silver tray, serving Tim and Layla a candlelit dinner, rose to his mind and he suppressed a shudder.
Sara:
Despite that Karl said it sounded fun his expression and his voice kind of told Sara that he was less than completely thrilled with the idea. Still, he was agreeing to helping with the plan so that worked out just fine. "Well, as far as what we need you to do I guess it depends on what you can do. Cooking would be possible. Also, someone is going to have to go shopping, probably with Cynyr as a guide. He can't do much, but he can do that aside from actually going into a store and getting something."
She saw Serena and Sol come out of Sol's room now. It looked like Sol was in agreement with the plan. That just left talking to Cynyr and Trix. Trix would be interesting. Cynyr would hopefully be easier. Though there again it was a boy member. He might not be quite as into the whole Matchmaker theme as the girls were. And who knew what to think about Trix. Their resident vampire may have been female, but how much did that really mean about how she acted?
Layla:
Lady Macbeth had gone crazy in the story, and Layla herself was going stir crazy. Her feet tapped the ground as she read, growing impatient. She was in Act V, and she was desperately trying to ge to the ending. Though, every page seemed to get longer and longer as the plot was in it's denouement.
She looked up from her book momentarily to relieve her eyes, glancing around the room. She was a bit startled to see Tim in the same room-- when did he get there? Or did he get there before she did, and she was just oblivious to him? Either case was plausible-- when she got deep into a book, the outside world was often forgotten.
"Hello Tim," she said somewhat casually, "Nice to see you."
Tim:
Damn his mind was reeling. Ever since Sara had said what she had said it was all Tim could think about. And today wasn't supposed to be a thinking day! He kept going back in forth, thinking about whether he should say something to Layla or not. He did, then he didn't. He did then he didn't.
Though he was suddenly brought out of his thoughts. It was Layla, who had startled him. "Woah! When did you get there?" he asked her suprised. Though regained his composure and quickly said, "uh...not that that's a problem. Didn't notice you come over,"
Layla:
The look that she was giving Tim right now suggested that he had a yeerk as his head. He seemed a lot more startled to see her than she was to see him-- and by a lot, she meant a lot. His quick cover-up suggested a couple of things, though she wasn't entirely sure. Something was awry, and she just couldn't pin what it was.
"I came in a few minutes ago," she told him, "I didn't notice until right now that there was another person in the room until now. I guess we were both oblivious to the other. How are you?"
Tim:
Jeez....he nearly had a heart attack. He must've been so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't notice.Tim was usually very aware of his surrondings. He was deeper in thought then he thought he had been.
"Yeah I guess we were....." he told her. Sara had said that earlier hadn't she? That they were oblivious to each other's....yeah. Man, why did he have to be thinking of this now? "I'm.....fine," he told her. "Just sitting here....thinking. ANd yourself?"
Layla:
"Just reading, like I normally do," she replied, "Not a surprise is it? I'm planning on finishing this book today once and for all. Then I'll take a break from reading for a while-- Shakespeare is difficult."
She looked toward him, studying him a bit. He looked kind of nervous, tense, and his answers were shorter than they normally were. "Are you sure you're all right?" she asked him, "You look a little off-- penny for your thoughts?"
Maybe being the leader of the faction was finally getting to him. Tim was never one to show when he was stressed, or at least he hid it very well. Though, she could see that something was bothering him right now, and she wanted to know what.
Though, it was ironic that he seemed to get more stressed when he found her in the same room...
Tim:
Tim nodded. Of course, she was reading. When wasn't there a moment of her free time when she was not reading? And Shakespeare too? Dang. "I bet it is," he told her.
Though he was a little suprised at her asking what was wrong. He couldn't really say. He wanted to blurt it out, but he knew he wouldn't be able to. "Yeah, I'm fine Red," he told her. "Just thinking deeply about nicknames. I've been stuck for awhile."
It wasn't a lie. Hell he probably would be thinking about it if he wasn't thinking about....her. "I've been off my game lately, need to step it up,"
Layla:
She had to stop herself at raising an eyebrow at that. Tim would never put that much thought into nicknames, even if he was off of his game. She did have to agree with him that he was-- the faction had been too busy to think of nicknames for their newer members. Though, one didn't put that much thought into nicknames and got all serious and tense like Tim was now. In fact, she would say he was opposite of that usually-- his nicknames were thought up on fly and brought on by humorous happenings.
Though, for Tim's sake, she would pretend to go along with it for now. "Yeah, you do. You haven't got a nickname yet for Karl or Bellatrix, both of which need one. I don't want to share the nickname Red with Karl, and I think Bella would get offended if we simply called her Vampire. As long as it's not related to Twilight please."
She knew he was lying to her, but now wouldn't be a good time to confront him about it. They were both incredibly stubborn, and neither of them liked to show their feelings that much. Today was meant for relaxing, not confrontation.
Tim:
She seemed to believe him. Key word being seemed. Tim had a nagging feeling that she knew he was lying. Damn it. Well, what else was he supposed to do?! Blurt out, "Hey I like you let's go out!" No! He couldn't do that.
"There will be no sharing of nicknames in this....rustbucket hold" he told her teasingly....somehow. "And I don't know much about Twilight so don't worry."
He looked over at her. He really should say something. "So...... I think I'm gonna head for my room," So much for that plan.
Karl:
"I can sort of cook," said Karl. "I don't know how discreet I can be about it though. And, I can help people pick out movies, but I can't go by myself, since I don't know where to go. Just don't ask me to serve." The image rose to his mind again, and he banished it again.
"We should probably meet and collaborate. You know, everyone but Tim and Layla, when those two aren't around. Then we can work out the details."
Serena:
Serena turned to Sara and said, "Sol is excited for the plan," as Sol was nodding her head and restraining herself from jumping. Karl was saying something about cooking and going to the store. Karl could cook? Wow, mad props go to him...
"I could serve, if we're serving. Though, I'm not sure that we should. Probably just set it up for them." She shrugged. "It could work."
------------------
Serena was right; Sol was excited for the plan. She looked at Karl when he spoke about going to the store. "I could go with you, if you'd like. I know where to go. Would we all be going? Or just two?"
Sol looked at Sara with her happy-go-lucky smile, and a small bounce in her step. She couldn't wait for the matchmaking to take place.
Layla:
She snickered lightly at his comment, almost forcing it. She wasn't really sure what to say to him at this point-- the moment was truly awkward again. They seemed to be having a lot of those lately, but why? What was causing them?
Oh yeah... she liked him. That made everything awkward. Those thoughts stayed in the back of her mind as he said he was going to his room. Her first instinct was to pull him back and talk to him more, maybe say something about those feelings she had. The more she thought about it, however, the more foolish she felt. She doubted Tim would even believe her at this point-- Layla having feelings other than cruelty and callousness? What was the world coming to?
Unable to say anything else to him, she merely went with a soft, "Okay," watching him leave out of the corner of her eye as she returned to her book. Unfortunately, her mind wanted her thoughts to be elsewhere than Lady Macbeth's insanity.
Sara:
Looked like everyone was looking to Sara to lead this, and she realized it was partly because this was her idea and, possibly, partly because Tim and Layla looked to her for help at times too. She was sort of the unofficial third in command. She wasn't completely sure why that was, but whatever worked for everyone.
"Ok. Well, we're going to need a few groups to head into town. One to get the movie and one to get the groceries so we can do dinner. We do both of those at once to cut down on the time. Anyone have any ideas what we should make? Also, I agree. We don't serve them, we just set it all up and do something on our own this evening as far as entertainment."
She thought about it for a moment. "So we still need to talk to Trix and Cynyr, but I figure Sol knows the city so if you want to partner up with Karl and get either the movie or the food that will work. Serena and I were thinking a romantic comedy might work for a movie. Fits the mood of the night and the comedy will make it appeal to Tim." Good grief. She'd obviously thought about this a lot. Anything else?.... "Oh! We want them to be at least semi-formal in their dress so it's like a real date. With Tim that might take some sneaky work. So we'll be three teams. Team one: Movie. Team two: Food. Team three: Get Tim and Layla ready and keep them out of the way. I'm willing to stick around as Team three since this is my idea. Karl and Sol can be team two or one depending on Cynyr and Trix's willingness to help. Might need to merge those into one. Let's go talk to Trix and Cynyr and see what they want to do. I think that's everything otherwise."
Serena:
Serena listened to Sara's plan, and understood what she wanted to do. Sneaky work on Tim? That will be fun. Serena couldn't help but smile. That sounded fun, it really did. "I can be on either team. Whichever will need me more." It made sense. Well, to her anyways.
Hm. How to get Tim into semi-formal wear? So many ideas. So little time. She knew she had a couple of ideas that she could suggest, but she wanted to see what other ideas came out. She was intrigued, to say the least.
-------------------
Sol jumped up. "I'll go with Karl to get the food, and we could probably get the movie while we're out. If it's in the same area as the grocery store, we could do it. If there's any trouble, I can spray them in my skunk morph." Sol looked at Karl to see if he was excited as she was.
"This is so exciting! Won't we just have fun doing this? We get to go out of the Nest!" The last time Sol was out was with Serena when they decided to try spraying peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches and came across a controller; that was fun as well. She hoped that this was just as fun.
Bellatrix:
Trix was wandering around, not doing much of anything when she suddenly ran into Tim. He looked like he was leaving someplace in a pretty quick hurry and even bumped into her since he was in such a distracted mood. "Whoops! Oh, hey there." She smiled at him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "thought today was uhm, a day off right? But here you are, rushin' around. Looks like you've got a speed hex on you or something."
She laughed at her own joke, "Anything the matter?" Trix matched his eyes with hers, "If it is, I bet I can help."
Tim:
Wow, he must've really not have been paying attention to have bumped into someone else again. This time Tim had happened to bump into Trix. "Sorry bout that..." he told her.
He forced a smile for her and a laugh. "Must be under some kind of hex," he replied to her. She asked if there was something she could do to help...but he didn't really think anyone could at the moment.
"Nah, its nothing," he told her. "Today's a relazing day like you said. Don't worry bout me,"
Bellatrix:
"How can I not?" Trix responded, holding him back softly. "C'mon. You want to relax? I've got the perfect thing. Scouts honor!"
She grinned widely and pulled him back down the hall toward the kitchen area. "See, I'm part mahoutsuki, or majo if you will. Er, but the english call its something else right? Are we speaking english? Ha, whoops, hello, yes we are. Well in that case you'd call me part-witch." She winked at him, "And i'll make you a potion to make you feel better, k?"
Trix dragged Tim along back to the kitchen and whipped him into a chair from their momentum, setting him down with her hands on his shoulders to make sure he wouldn't get up. "Actually that was a joke," She laughed, "yeah right, me as a witch! Can you imagine? But I do know something of the art..." Trix made a face that a mad scientist would envy. "Let's just see if you can resist the curiosity! You know you want to see what I'll do next..."
Tim:
Tim soon felt himself dragged down the other side of the hall by Trix, toward the kitchen. She said something about being part-witch and making a potion? "Really, you don't have to I'm fine," he told her as he was dragged along by her.
He then felt himself being sat down and Trix had her hands on his shoulders. If she was trying ot make him relax, it wasn't working. Her next words were.....interesting to say the least.
He really wnated to just head back for his room, but it didn't look to be an option at the moment. "Seriously, I'm fine, Trix," he told her. "You don't need to go to any trouble at all"
Bellatrix:
"Oh c'mon mr. tight-britches! We're in the kitchen, i've already made up my mind! Any stalling on your part is the only trouble here." Trix grinned and spun away, rifling through the cupboards, tossing various cooking objects over her shoulders. Things flew into the sink, clattering about, or onto the counter tops where they spun off onto the floor. She tucked what she needed under her arm and then caught sight of the fridge.
"Aha! Perfect!" She ducked inside the door, gasping at what she found there and then quickly shut it back. "Hmm... never mind... although" Trix mumbled to herself, her eye brows sky rocketing as she came up with a new ingrediant to her ever changing recipe. She turned back and grabbed it, then set to work on her concoction within the empty sink. The entire time she made sure Tim couldn't see exactly what she was doing, but she kept grunting and running the water, then tossing things in the trash before adding more spices or butter to the now steaming experiment.
Trix then whirled back, facing Tim exctatically. "Fabuloso! Now prepare yourself Tim!" She pulled from behind her back a plain plastic cup, filled to the brim with a dark brown liquid. Carefully, so as not to spill, she held it out for him to take. "Sorry I couldn't make any whipcream, but I always think hot chocolate is a stand-alone kind of drink anyway." With a joy only a kid at christmas could replicate, she watched him hold it to his lips, adding quickly before he drank, "It's my family's recipe! Or at least, most of it is. I kind of had to substitute some things, but... all in all, bis zu einem gewissen Grad!"
Tim:
Trix then started scrounging through the cupboards. Tim wondered what exactly she was up to. He thought about just getting up and leaving....but he couldn't do that. So he waited there watching her, an eyebrow raised.
She sure had no problems looking for whatever it was, and if it wasn't wahat she was looking for it was tossed. Kitchen had become a bit fo a mess. Soon she had what she needed and began making....something.
He couldn't tell, Trix had it so he couldn't see what it was. She soon presented him excitedly with a cup of...hot choclate? Wow.... he was not expecting that at all. He took the cup she handed over. SHe loooked so excited about having made it. "Um...thanks..." he said. He was about to take a sip when she said her last bit about subsistute some ingredients.
Well.....what harm could it do? He then took a drink from the cup.
Bellatrix:
"..aaaaand?" Trix jumped in place excitedly, eyes wide as he debated, then took a sip.
Well he didn't keel over, that was good. But she couldn't tell anything else since his face was hidden by the cup. "I ah, thought the eggs might have gone bad, and you only had three so i kind of had to add in more butterscotch. Or at least I think it was butterscotch. You guys don't really seem big on gormet cooking so..." Trix started to get anxious the longer he took to comment, wriggling around, trying to catch a glimpse of his expression.
Tim:
Tim soon finished the drink. All and all.....it wasn't too bad. He hadn't fallen over like he had been poisoned or anything. Admittly he had never had hot chocolate very often, but this was pretty good.
He looked over at Trix who just seemed eager to know what he thought of it. "It was pretty good," he said suprised himself. He gave her a small smile. "Thank you very much,"
Bellatrix:
Trix gave a dramatic sigh of relief and collapsed onto the table. "Oh thank goodness!" Then she snuck a peek back at him and grinned, "I'm glad. You looked like you needed a good old fashioned home remedy. That hot chocolate," She nodded at his empty cup, "Was one of my sire's recipes, passed down to our family through her, from her human grandmother nearly six generations before. Heh, when you've got a lot of time indoors, you pick up a lot of habits like that. Collecting, and learning."
Trix resettled herself as she spoke, sitting on top of the table with her legs hung over the edge lazily. "I liked languages, more than anything else. Drove my family nuts. But you'd be surprised how many guys are interested in a girl who can sweet talk in swedish." She laughed, "Ahh, but that was before all this. Long before, really... and it's all become blurry like all memories eventually do."
She shook her head suddenly, "But wait a sec! I'm supposed to be taking care of you!" Trix adopted a psychiatrist's stance, complete with crossed legs and her fist held to her chin contemplatively. "Now, tell me what you feel." Then she giggled and dropped the act, "But really though, what's got you down?"
Tim:
Tim couldn't help but smirk at her response to his. It was so over the top. Then again this WAS Trix....she was pretty over the top in her motions. Though he was suprised to hear that it was a family recipe of hers.
He then listened to her mention she liked languages. "Really? I hadn't noticed," he joked. "What with you slipping into different ones all the time. Recognized some Japanese you spoke from before." Though he was amazed she could remember so many different lanaguages.
But of course, soon the focus was turned back on to him. She was wondering what was up with him. He fidgeted with his fingers. Could he really say anything? Only Sara really knew last he checked, and who knew what the hell she had cooked up right now.
Trix had gone through all that trouble though.. "I....like Layla," he mumbled the words all jumbled together and almost incoherant.
Bellatrix:
Trix blinked. "Lay...lah?"
She stumbled over what to say, "O-oh...right! Well, um, of course... you and Layla... totally could see that.. i guess." Trix let her shoulders slump and turned away a bit so she could look around the kitchen. "Shoot, what a mess. Better, ah, clean up." She jumped off the table a busied herself with putting things back or wiping things up. Then finally she started back on their conversation. "So, um, have you told her yet? You haven't right? Hmm, of course not, written all over your face with how long it is." She looked back over at him from her shoulder, "Anything I can help with? Maybe talking it over, you know, practicing or something, could help you?"
Tim:
Tim looked at her. She was all fumbling over her words after he had said that. She then started cleaning up the kitchen form all the stuff she had tossed around, not saying much for awhile. He wasn't sure of what else to say.
Though soon she started talking up again. "No...I don't think so," he told her. "I don't think no amount of practice will let me be able to say that to her," He sighed. "Not even sure how she feels.......And don't want to say anything and just have it....hang there ya know?"
Bellatrix:
"Yes! Exactly!" Trix flashed him a smile, "Of course. Ah, I mean, uhm, well you don't know how she feels back right? And girls, oooh you don't want to mess anything up that they might warm up to in the future right? Best to just wait for something that really definitely says that she likes you back before you charge into something... embarrassing." Her tone grew dark and ominous.
Then she bounced back, "But if you ever did want to practice, I've always had a knack for recognizing honest to goodness love. Er, but of course that's not to say I didn't see any in Layla for you... but... ah, maybe some practice would help? Or, maybe you should try and let it just set for awhile and think about other things?" She added, quickly trying to change the subject for his benefit, "Um, what about those yeerks huh? real nasty buggers."
Tim:
Tim nodded. Oddly, she made a lot of sense. Did he just think what he thought he just thought? Yeah he did....but Trix had made a lot of points, a lot of them things he thought himself which kept him from saying anything to Layla.
"Yeah...I'll probably try to think about other things," he told her. Though she started on about the yeerks. "Yeah they are," he told her. "But this is supposed to be a relaxing day right? Let's not think about them for once,"
Sara:
Trix, as it turned out, was distracting Tim at the moment and doing a very good job of it. She was helping without really realizing it, so Sara had decided to leave it at that and the rest of the members would go out and get what they needed. There wasn't a whole lot of shopping to do, and splitting the tasks had cut down on time.
Now they were regrouped in Sara's room with their purchases - which were really more like stolen goods in a few cases - in various bags on the floor around them. Sara had searched through a few books in the Nest and found a menu for a romantic Italian dinner and Cynyr, Karl, and Sol had gone shopping for the supplies for it. Sara and Serena had gone to get the movie, stealing it from an abandoned movie rental service. Their choice had, in the end, been Hitch after much deliberation.
"So," she said addressing the rest of the faction. "We have two missions now. Mission number one: Get Tim and Layla out of the main room and dressed in something nice for their date. Meanwhile, mission number two: Get everything in the main room set up. That means cooking and using the candles and tablecloth to set up the table nice. Oh, and setting up our stolen CD player and the mood music. We really need more people on mission two than mission one right now. Who volunteers for what? I'd personally like to be on mission two since I can oversee the setup that way. This was my plan and I'd like it done right."
Serena:
Solicia set down her bag of stuff by her side and had a smile plastered on her face from having so much fun getting the stuff for the dinner. Sara started talking about plans and the two different groups, and Sol's eyes lit up. "I'll be in group number two! That sounds like so much fun!"
Sol thought about the music. "Oh, will there be dancing?!" She hoped so. She loved dancing, and she hoped that Tim and Layla would too.
Serena smiled at Sol's enthusiasm. Serena thought for a minute as to which group she should be in. "I think I should be in group number one; I'm not that great with decorations." Serena started thinking about how to get Layla and Tim to dress up nicely. "Hm...how would we get them to dress up, though?"
Serena went over different options. "We couldn't just go and ask them to get dressed in those clothes, they would be suspicious." Her mind was going fast over the possibilities.
Layla:
Cynyr was honestly excited for this-- it was a mischievous plan, and it was going to go well. Sara did a good job at planning it. Getting the supplies for the dinner was no problem-- Italian meals were easy to cook anyway. Weren't they all just pasta? The cat's mind would love to play with the spaghetti noodles...
Anyway, getting on track, Sara mentioned splitting up into groups. One of them would help get the two ready while the other prepared the room. He couldn't really help with that second group, so that only left one option.
<<I'll help get them ready!>> Cynyr exclaimed, then he considered the problem Serena said. Yeah, that was definitely an issue. He knew both of Tim and Layla got suspicious easily-- he especially saw it in Tim. <<Maybe if we mess up their other clothes so they have to wear the nice ones? I think I can talk to Layla though and not have to do that-- I know how to talk to the ladies.>> There was his flirty nature kicking in. Layla couldn't be that hard to convince to wear nice clothes.
Karl:
"I think I"ll need to be in group two," said Karl. For him, getting them dressed in something fancy would be the least of his worries. Rather, he would worry about it once he was done worrying about how impossible it would be for him to get them out of the room in the first place.
"I can cook," he added. "But I suck at decorating." He was also trying not to laugh at the idea of a cat helping someone get ready for a date.
Bellatrix:
Trix had sat with Tim in the kitchen for a rather long time now, regaling him with stories and adventures she'd had in the deepest of nights, and worse, the brightest of days. "So there I was, totally bo ji and about to hong kan because of some crazy guys with torches who thought I ate their babies. Which was absurd! Mostly because they're way too sweet, and also there weren't any bodies left! And that, I found out later, was because there were never any babies to begin with! Dude was a total liar." She laughed, "But anyway so they've got me up on this stake about to light me on fire and suddenly-"
Trix stopped and looked around, "do you hear something?" She got up from her chair quietly, head tilted to one side, drifting toward the window and whatever it was she heard. Slowly she reached up a hand and pulled back the blinds, a shaft of dull sunlight falling on her. Quickly she let go, the curtains falling back, and turned away with her hands on her head. "Oh..." She moaned quietly. The sun was about to set, they'd talked for so long. "I-uh sorry but I don't feel very well... I need to... go."
Tim:
Tim had sat here for awhile now, listening to all the crazy stories Trix had told him. Whether any were true or not, were questionable, but some seemed to be true. Or at least she was exaggerating about things she had done. They were interesting to listen to though.
Though suddenly it all stopped. Trix looked outside and then she looked in pain. He got up. "Here, let me help you to your room..." he told her and began leading her there.
Sara:
Ok, that was good. They had enough people wanting to do each of the various jobs. Now was just time to put everything into action. She poked her head out the door and saw Tim starting to lead Trix to her room. Trix always seemed to head to her room early, so it seemed they wouldn't get her help, but they also wouldn't need to worry about her being in the way.
She ducked back into the room. "Ok," she said. "Tim and Trix are heading down the hall. I think we'll need Cynyr to go and get Layla out of the main room and Serena, you're going to have to make sure Tim doesn't go back in. Once it's clear, the rest of us can head out and start getting things ready." She glanced at the other four in the room. "Does that work for everyone?"
Bellatrix:
Trix smiled softly at Tim's offer, "Thank you..."
They walked together down the hall and she had to lean on his arm to keep from falling over. Tonight was especially bad, although every night had been worse since coming to the Nest. It always happened that way when she was around more people during the day. Her vampiric nature would get peeked by the fresh scents. But she couldn't change around Tim... not yet... not if she didn't have to. She didn't want him to see her like that until she'd managed to do what she'd been wanting to their entire conversation.
"I..." Trix turned as she reached her room, standing in the door frame and glancing around at the floor. "I.. wanted to say... really, thank you, for taking me in a being so nice... and, well" She lifted her eyes to his and as soon as they met, she swiftly moved, going up on her toes so she could kiss his cheek. Before he could say anything, she turned and slipped inside, shutting the door quickly just as the final rays of light fell back over the horizon.
Seren:
Serena nodded. "Works for me." Already, she was thinking of ways to keep Tim away from the main room. It wasn't that hard really if you thought about it, but who knew if he would be dead set on returning to the main room. She heard a door close. "Trix must be in her room now. I think I should go out there now and distract him."
After saying that, Serena slipped out and crossed the hall. She closed her door, which she accidentally left open. Fortunately it looked like she came from there. "Tim, hey Tim!" She walked over. "I've been looking for you."
Tim:
Tim helped Trix walk down to her room. He still didn't get what exactly happened to Trix at this time. SHe thought she was a vampire didn't she? So, shouldn't she be all about the night? It confused him greatly.
Soon they reached her door, and Trix paused there a minute to say something. She was thanking him and he gave a soft smile staring to say "No Problem," when she reached up and kissed his cheek. Then the door closed.
He felt his cheek confused. What was that about? He wasn't really expecting that. Though he didn't have much time to think on it (which was probably a good thing) since Serena had come by. Regain his composure he turned over to her and said," Well....here I am. What do ya need?"
Serena:
"Yes, yes, there you are," Serena said, a bit giddy. She thought for a moment and said, "I have a question for you." She scratched her head. She had acted too quickly again. Nice one, genius... "Uh..."
Well, that was one way to keep him away from the main room. "Oh!" She had an idea. "So, I had a question for you. The question is, what was my question?" She raised an eyebrow. "I think it had to do with something. But not sure what. Oh, well."
Serena shrugged. "I'm a bit on the bored side. Want to do something? It's like our day off, or something isn't it?"
Tim:
Tim stared at her a bit. She wanted to ask him something but forgot? Well....I guess that wasn't too strange. Not really anyway. Maybe he was still reeling from what had just happened, only a moment ago.
She then asked him about doing something. Well.....he kind of wanted to lie down....but he guessed he could do something. "Yeah its supposed to be anyway," he told her. "Sure, what did you have in mind?"
Serena:
Serena thought of something. She needed to do it fast before he got any ideas of going into the main room. "Here, follow me, I have an idea." She latched onto Tim's arm and started leading him away, away, away from the main room. Where she was leading him, she had no clue.
Soon, though, she realized she was actually at the other end of the nest. "Oh, dead end. Would you look at that?" It was a good thing no one could see this end of the nest really well. "Okay! So....." She looked around. "Hmm...I thought something was here. Ah hah!" She found a cd player. "Looky, it has a radio on it."
Tim:
Tim started to be dragged over to...somewhere in The Nest by Serena. Jeez...what's with the girls being all over me today....? he asked himself as he followed quietly. Maybe they shouldn't have taken the day off, he'd give anything to keep his mind occupied at the moment.
Then Serena brought out....a cd player with a radio? "Hmm.....you think the yeerks still have radio stations working?" he asked her.He doubted it, but maybe they could find a cd or something.
Serena:
Serena looked at the radio. "I don't know; let me test it out." Thinking it would be really soft, she held it close to her ear. Turning it on, she yelped and immediately dropped the cd player. "Ow. That's loud." She stared at it and all it was making was static. "Well, that station doesn't work." Picking it up again, she tried switching the channel but held it away from her ears. "Well, let's see..." She found one that sounded okay.
"Well, while that's playing, why don't we see if there are any CD's laying around?" Serena asked. Maybe she could get Tim to help with the date without realizing it.
Tim:
Tim watched her turn the cd player on and at the loud static brought a hand up to his ear. She dropped the thing and soon got it to be quieter. He put a hand by his ear and said, "Ow....maybe we should check the volume first next time,"
He nodded then to her suggestion of looking for cds. "Yeah, probably a good idea," he told her. "I doubt many stations would actually still be in use,"
Serena:
"Ya think?" Serena teased. She moved the radio over and then said, "Where should we start?" She got down on her hands and knees and looked under tables and stuff. She didn't see anything.
"Find anything yet, Tim?" She hoped he had, but then again who knew what was hidden in the nest. "Hey, just because we found the cd player here, doesn't mean that the cd's were kept here, right? How tidy was this place when you found it?"
Layla:
<<Yup, that works for me!>> Cynyr responded to Sara. He scurried off to the main room, finding his prey sitting and reading a book like she normally was. This was good, very good. He also noticed that her pants were somewhat worn, and the bottoms were frayed and torn a bit from much use. Maybe he could use that to his advantage...
Calmly walking over to Layla, he started playing with the ends of her pants. He was well aware that the girl had a soft spot for cats, seeing as she had that ocelot morph that she favored, and she let him come in her room once in a while. Getting under that cold exterior of hers wouldn't be too hard for a kitten.
"Cynyr, what are you doing?" He stopped playing for a moment upon hearing her voice, looking up to see a perplexed face and a closed book. He cocked his head to the side, studying her for a minute.
<<Just playing with the ends of your pants>> he said, <<It looked fun! Your pants are all ripped though-- why don't you wear nicer things?>>
He just earned the weirdest look from the red-head before she answered. "You never know when a mission will arise," she replied matter-of-factly, "I need to be ready at all times, and wearing something nice isn't exactly practical."
<<Yeah, I guess>> he responded, <<But you don't have any missions today-- you should wear something nice! It's not like you're gonna go anywhere anytime soon. I'll even help pick them out!>> He rubbed against her leg, working that kitten charm to get what he wanted. Layla couldn't resist forever.
"You have a point... but I don't see a point in suddenly putting nice clothes on."
<<There doesn't have to be a point silly! Come on, I bet you have some good stuff to wear.>> He continued to rub against her leg, trying to get her to budge both physically and mentally. Finally, with crossed arms and a sigh, she stood up and looked down at the cat.
"Fine... but no looking while I get them on-- understand?" she said this as she started walking towards her room. He followed suit, an air of triumph evident in his steps.
<<Okay okay>> he replied, following as she went into her room and closed the door. He did most of the talking from there, giving signs of approval or the opposite with what she picked out. While she kept looking, he secretly sent a private message to Sara.
<<Mission successful!>>
Tim:
Tim scratched his head. Did they have any CDs here? He joined her in her search. But they weren't having any luck. Tim shook his head to Serena's question. "Yeah, they might not be over here. Place has always been kind of a mess. And its not like we really looked for this stuff before," he told her.
He then snapped his fingers and had an idea. "You know, I think I saw some CDs in the main room somewhere," he told her. He then started to head that way. "Let me go check,"
Serena:
Serena was under a table when Tim said he was headed to the main room. She tried to stand up quickly, but forgot she was under a table. BONK! Rubbing her head, she inwardly cursed. Damn damn damnity damn! She got to her feet and cast out a hopeless glance and something caught her eye. "Wait!" She ran over, grabbed his hand, and managed to get him back. "I think I found some."
Serena opened the cupboard that had caught her attention, and grabbed two cd's that happened to be there. Looking them over, she saw one with the perfect song for the date. "Hm, well this one is no fun." She set it down and left a mental note to pick it up later. The next one made her dance inwardly. Perfect, perfect, perfect!
Serena smirked at Tim. "Okay, I'ma gonna need your help." She put the CD in the cd player. Gah, I hope this works. This is my last resort.
Tim:
Tim heard a banging sound as he started to leave, which causeed him to pause for a moment. DId Serena just hit something? He soon felt himself being grabbed away from the main room, Serena saying she found some.
She looked at one and smirked. He couldn't see what the CD was, she had put it into the CD player before he could. "So what is it?" he asked her.
Serena:
Serena smiled. "You'll see in a second. I need you to do something." Setting the cd player down, she motioned for him to come over. "Okay, as soon as I say ready, all you need to do is press play. Oh, I suppose I should set it up, huh?" Putting the cd on track 4, she hit 'Play' twice, making it on pause.
Backing up, Serena focused on her cockatoo morph. Feathers began to grow on her skin, and her eyes shifted to the side and became all black. She shrank to cockatoo size, and grew bird feet. After she was fully morphed, Serena said, <Hit it, DJ Tim!>
Tim:
Tim just stared at her for a bit before she told him what she wanted him to do. He was a bit confused but went over to the CD player. "Um....alright," he told her.
He soon heard Serena's voice in his head. She had morphed cockatoo. "Ok, here it is...." he said and pressed play. And when he first heard the music it clicked and he couldn't help but say. "No way......"