[OPEN LOG]

[nukeoleptic]

Who: Jade + literally anyone
What: Jade bribing people into her restaurant with free things.
When: Day 355.
Where: The Highwind, in Heimdall's district.
Rating: PG-13 for language at most!

EDITED TO ADD: Also, totally feel free to threadjack and use this as a mingle log IF YOU WOULD LIKE ♥

[ It had worked once before, back in the heat of late summer in Asgard, so Jade was trying it again. She had dragged the sign out to the front of the store, right in the middle of the sidewalk, and written in huge letters:

free hot chocolate! :D
just come inside ♥

The temperature hadn't broken the sixty degree mark today - it was getting chilly fast. Both Orihime and Annabeth were gone, and the store was oddly quiet. Jade will be found keeping herself busy throughout the day with odd little chores when it's completely empty of customers - sweeping, dusting, and occasionally dozing in a booth near the door when the boredom becomes too much to bear. ]

Comments

[wasthemaster]

Kicking me out? [But he would totally take that bag thank you.] That is a pretty fair trade though...

[nukeoleptic]

I'm not kicking you out. I just figured you'd be pretty impatient to get back to work.

[wasthemaster]

I've been working a lot lately. [...someone...might be feeling a little clingy at the moment. Ignore him.]

[nukeoleptic]

[ It was loneliness in the empty shop that had led her to message half the city to bribe them over with free hot chocolate. She isn't going to drive him away, but she seems to be studying him in a vain attempt to figure out if he actually wants to be there or not. ]

Yeah... that's why I assumed you'd want to get back to it?

[ It's not accusatory -- simply curious. ]

[wasthemaster]

[He just regards her just as carefully, not really revealing anything in his expression.] Not particularly. I took the day off.

[nukeoleptic]

Oh, um. Okay. Hold on, then, okay?

[ She heads back to the counter, taking two tall carafes of hot chocolate and settling them there next to a small stack of cups, a bag of marshmallows, and two cans of whipped cream, before she snags another bag of the marshmallows herself and returns to the booth Draco and Osiris are at.

Wordlessly, she slides into the seat across from him, sort of awkwardly offering the bag out. ]

[wasthemaster]

[As soon as she sits Osiris is moving from Draco's side to sit near her legs, leaning bodily against them. Draco meanwhile is taking a marshmallow out of the bags and popping it into his mouth. He silently lifts an eyebrow, chewing slowly as he thinks of how to phrase this.]

You look very, very surprised right now.

[nukeoleptic]

I just didn't expect you to, um. Hang out here. On purpose? It's not a bad sort of surprise.

[ But her hand sinks into the dog's fur. ]

Mostly I was worried I was interrupting you.

[wasthemaster]

Uh huh. Have I ever let you interrupt me before? Honestly.

[nukeoleptic]

... I dunno. Maybe? I never really know what you're up to when I text you.

[wasthemaster]

Maybe I feel like spending time with you and you shouldn't question it. Is that okay?

[nukeoleptic]

What? Yeah, of course it's fine. I just wasn't expecting it.

[ She shakes the bag of marshmallows at him. ]

[wasthemaster]

[He gives her something of a lopsided grin before shaking his head and taking another marshmallow.] I mean...if you really think about it? [He stops, chewing on the marshmallow for a moment.] Does it seem like we see less and less of each other now that we're actually living together and dating each other, or is it me?

[nukeoleptic]

Well... we're both really busy people, right? [ She picks one of the marshmallows apart, wrinkling her nose when it sticks to her fingers. ] And we've known each other forever now, and you're mostly eating and sleeping okay, and I'm mostly alright, so it's not like we have a reason to want to be stuck so much in each others' business all the time, right? I think all couples are probably like that.

[wasthemaster]

My parents are like that. [Which is a startling realization, and not one he's sure he wants to parallel.] They loved each other and all of that but mostly stayed out of each other's business until Father was sentenced to Azkaban. [He's just watching her pick apart the marshmallow.]

Doesn't it bother you though?

[nukeoleptic]

-- what? [ The question trips her up, and it's clear from the way her expression seizes that it does. But she shakes her head and puts the marshmallow down, sitting back and half-smiling apologetically at him. ] You're always there when I need you. That's more than a lot of people get.

[wasthemaster]

[He's not sure why it bothers him, but he knows it does.] Which is why you had to abscond on a train for a few days with Potter?

[nukeoleptic]

I invited anyone who wanted to go, Draco. It was good, though. I think Harry and I needed that after the whole... thing that happened. With James. [ She sits back, fidgets. ] I invited the whole city. You could've come if you'd wanted.

[wasthemaster]

I could've, but somehow I think it was better that I didn't. [Since things were really, really weird after everything, of course.]

[nukeoleptic]

... yeah. Sorry that things got so... dramatic. [ She picks up the half-mangled marshmallow from before, popping it into her mouth. ] Wish you could've been there, though. Vanaheim is really something else.

[wasthemaster]

I'm thinking about going soon. I still need to get a new engine for the motorcycle before it gets too cold to fix it. [He's grabbing another marshmallow.] ...maybe you could come with me. Just you and me for a few days, leave the dogs with Ellie.

[nukeoleptic]

... really? [ She seems surprised but quietly pleased, before leaning down and trying to coax Osiris up into the seat next to her. ] If you think you can leave the apothecary that long, yeah. Just give me warning? I'm gonna see if Dave wants to do anything for our birthday.

[wasthemaster]

I'll leave it under the care of Professor Snape or Euri. I'm fairly certain she'll tell me I need a vacation anyway. [Osiris is getting pretty big to be a lapdog, but he's jumping up and trying to be anyway.] ...that's soon, right? Beginning of winter and all.