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Tweak says, "Better than Confucius"

molly suresh can beat anyone at hide-and-seek (humanmapquest) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2012-01-28 22:53:00

Entry tags:

!open, damon salvatore, molly suresh

WHO: Molly Suresh and OPEN TO ALL
WHAT: The Vasant Panchami Festival.
WHEN: Saturday evening (so even those who aren't able to go out in the sun are able to join in)
WHERE: The park.
RATING: Not too high.
NOTES: Multiple threads more than welcomed; feel free to have your characters branch off and enjoy themselves!

It had been a bright, sunny day in Colligo. Blue skies, hardly a cloud in the sky, and just enough of a bite in the air to require a light jacket without making it too cold to enjoy being outside. There had been a gentle breeze most of the day, too, resulting in the skies over the park being dotted with kites flown by laughing children and adults alike. As the sun began to set, the crowd tapered off a bit but a good portion remained. The breeze died down, the birds gave way to the chirping of crickets, and the park all but glowed from the various lights that were strung about the booths. Music continued to play from the stage that had been set up and a combination of various types of Indian food hung heavy in the air being consumed by children and adults alike who were there in celebration of a holiday most didn't even understand.

Molly didn't mind that most in attendance weren't Hindu. She didn't even mind that she had muscles she hadn't even know existed that were aching from having spent the entire day on her feet and constantly on the go. The entire point of the Vasant Panchami Festival was to encourage education, arts, and music in a way that encompassed the entire community and, so far, she thought they'd done a good job of that. Yes, there were a few who had shown up with the intention of protesting the event but they had been dealt with quickly and quietly. All in all, the day had been a big success.

And there was still a great more of the festival to go, too. At midnight the entire thing would wrap up with a fireworks extravaganza but, until then, there was food to eat and music to dance to, as well as booth after booth of items to look at and buy. All of the proceeds were being donated to various good causes around the city and Molly, even though she wasn't a local and was rather young in comparison to most of the Hindus from the Temples were were involved, was helping to oversee it all.

Currently she was standing near the booth designated for the book drive. All day, boxes of books had been brought up to the table and dropped off for donations. After each bunch, someone went through them and organized them into various categories. Which was precisely what Molly was doing at the moment - up to her neck in books, with a pad of paper and pen beside her, trying to decide what books would be best off where. And it was obvious from the smile on her face and her friendly greetings as people passed by, that she was enjoying every second of it.

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Damon & Molly.

itsnotinme
2012-01-29 05:40 am UTC (link)

Damon, like the loyal muscle that he was, had been moving books that had been brought in by people all day long, shifting boxes from those who had brought larger loads that couldn't necessarily be dropped off right at the table. Now that it had gotten darker, though, as the day waned into evening, those larger loads had slacked off, leaving Damon to catch his breath a bit. At least, until he'd been recruited to help sort as well. Fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, romance. Though, to be honest, every time Damon had to set another book in the Romance pile, he felt an overwhelming urge to tip them all into the recycle bin which had been set out for books damaged beyond repair. Crappy contents really should count under that category.

Picking another book out of the box in front of him, Damon quirked an eyebrow at it, flipping open to scan the copyright page. A second edition copy of Pride and Prejudice, not in bad order, but certainly not perfect. It would probably go to the university if he set it in the stacks. Casting a curious glance at Molly to see how much she was paying attention to him, Damon smiled when it seemed like she was immersed in her paperwork.

One book wouldn't be missed, and with that thought, Damon made a move to store the small text in the inner pocket of his jacket.

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Damon & Molly.

humanmapquest
2012-01-29 05:53 am UTC (link)

Although Molly was focused on her paperwork, as well as three different tomes that were spread out on the top of various boxes in front of her, she still saw what Damon was about to do. She hadn't been the voice of reason for Adam Young's new Them for the majority of her youth to not know how to do more than one thing at one time. Particularly when one of those things happened to be making sure someone she was friends with didn't do something extremely wrong and ultimately stupid.

For one brief second she considered letting him get away with it but knew, ultimately, that she couldn't do that. Not only was it wrong to steal a book from a book drive but Damon was someone who was working there on her say-so. If he was somehow caught, she would be held equally responsible. She refused to risk her position within the Hindu community in that way, having worked much too hard to get where she was to have it destroyed over a singular book.

Even if it was a second edition copy of Pride and Prejudice.

So, without missing a beat, pen firmly in hand and nose all but buried in one of the books, she said simply, "Damon." Putting that book in the appropriate file, she calmly turned her attention to the vampire beside her, one eyebrow arched ever so slightly and a no-nonsense look on her face.

"Put. It. Back."

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Damon & Molly.

itsnotinme
2012-01-29 10:30 am UTC (link)

Freezing with the book halfway in his pocket, Damon flicked a glance over towards Molly, a slightly sheepish smile crossing his face at her pointed stare. "Apology gift," Damon said in an attempt to explain his thought process in taking the book before reluctantly moving to put it back. "But I suppose I can always talk to someone at the university about it afterwards," He said. It looked like he was going to have to think of some other way to approach Caroline after everything that had happened.

Sparing another glance at Molly as he started sorting through the rest of the box in front of him, Damon placed a few more books into the appropriate piles, internally debating whether asking the question that he wanted to would be appropriately timed or not, but in the end figured that any advice would be better than no advice. Particularly when the advice was coming from Molly and was very likely to be accurate and doable.

"So," Damon started, "you girls been having fun?" All right, really not the best way to start things, but it was better than asking how angry Caroline still was or if he'd been making a jackass out of himself by avoiding her. Especially since Molly had already asked him what he was going to do to fix this earlier, and he still had as much of a clue about that now as he did then. And that was none. "I mean, things look like they turned out excellently."

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Damon & Molly.

humanmapquest
2012-01-31 02:42 am UTC (link)

"Or you could try actually apologizing," Molly said mildly as she turned her attention to another book. "Rumor has it that works too." She was quiet for a moment, listening to the distant sound of the music from the stage at the other end of the park as well as the low lull of people laughing and talking amongst themselves as they passed. Mentally, she was counting down how long it would take for Damon to work up the nerve to ask what he wanted to know. She was only vaguely surprised when he instead chose another route.

For a long moment, Molly didn't respond. She simply gave a non-committal sound of agreement, knowing perfectly well that was not what he wanted to talk about. When it became obvious he wasn't going to simply spit out what was actually on his mind, though, she finished up the book she was examining then finally set her pen and paper down and turned to look at him.

"Damon," she said simply. "I'm going to tell you the exact same thing I've been telling Caroline. You two need to talk to each other about this. Not me. Not your other friends. Not a counsellor, higher power, or someone you're feeding on. Each other. You're about to be a parent which means it's time to grow up, suck up your pride, and work through these issues you two have before the baby gets here." She paused, lips curving upward ever so slightly. "Otherwise, I'm going to have to step in and take custody of my godchild. Which would probably earn me a few looks and at least a lecture or two in the Temple and land you in the poorhouse with child support checks. So really. It's better for all involved if you and Caroline sit down and discuss this like to semi-rational adults. Understand?"

And with that, she turned her attention back to the books, growing quiet for a second before tacking on, "Although, if it's any consolation, I do think that Caroline overreacted a bit," she said evenly, with a small, sideways grin in his direction. "I'm just not admitting that to her because I have common sense."

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Damon & Molly.

itsnotinme
2012-01-31 03:15 am UTC (link)

Damon knew he'd made a mistake. He'd let a misunderstand go because the way that his mind turned the situation over, the misunderstanding didn't sound like the worst idea in the world if it wasn't permanent. He could have asked Caroline, told Jeremy to hold off until he'd confirmed that it was all right, but panic had gripped him, panic and fear. His brother was unpredictable, at best, when he was on one of his binges, fatal at the very worst to anyone around him, and the idea that they'd have even that split second where the house wasn't protected... And it hadn't occurred to him that there was a living person already residing in the house. Particularly since it was a living person who had yet to be fully formed.

But it had been impossible for him to admit it. He'd done the right thing, done what he'd thought was best to protect them, and he'd thought that that should count for something even if the situation had become dreadfully awkward. And when Caroline had said she needed to go somewhere, his irrational anger had done the rest. Feeling rather humbled by Molly's words, Damon's attention was fixed fully on the books until she mentioned having to take custody of their child if he didn't man-up and fix this. While Damon knew that Molly was mostly threatening to motivate, a cold chill of fear ran through him at the idea of losing everything that he'd come to care for in this place just because of his own blatant stupidity. He'd already screwed up enough back home. He really should fix this.

He just didn't know how.

"And probably better mood detecting instincts than I do," Damon said with a vague smile at Molly's admission. "I probably should have thought to ask. I just thought that doing something for the right reasons, even if it was something stupid, would at least get me a little credit."

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