Amara Carroll / Maid Marian (needsofthemany) wrote in fableless, @ 2016-11-20 17:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log/thread, amara carroll, hal cooper |
WHO: Amara Carroll and Hal Cooper
WHEN: Backdated to Thursday, October 27th.
WHERE: Lion and Stag
SUMMARY: Amara and Hal meet for the first time and have a big fight. Just joking, they're perfectly nice.
WARNINGS: None!
Amara got there early. That was her way. She was punctual to a fault, and she liked to go over her plans in her head before the other person arrived. She didn't know entirely what to expect from this. She'd watched Hal on the network for some time now, speculating and with vague interest, and she knew that he didn't have the most positive experiences with Marty or Gideon. She understood why. But Amara was a peacemaker by nature, and picked up a few political tricks from her years in DC. It was in their best interest not to alienate him, as far as she was concerned, especially with Olive in the mix. Besides, she was never someone who let other people's opinions sway her own. She'd make up her own mind about him. She'd suggested the Lion and Stag for lunch, something simple and easy for them both, and she already was seated. She dressed for success in a way, always with the heels (she was short otherwise), and professional power suit dresses that were bright, bold colors. This one was a deep blue. She checked her phone and seemed perfectly content to read the menu and sip her water until he got there. Contrary to what Michelle and Kelly frequently thought of him, Hal had been hard at work that morning, doing his best to get his paperwork done, research a few potential leads that had come by the Business Office, and take an online test for the latest workshop they’d been having on diving expeditions. Not that Hal needed his recertification, yet, but swimming among sunken ships and potentially still-live leftover torpedoes required him to constantly evaluate his abilities. But, when his alarm on his his phone went off, warning him that if he didn’t leave now, he’d be late for lunch with Amara, Hal jumped out of his seat and made a beeline to his car, after shoving his wallet and phone back into his pockets. He was not going to make a bad impression by being late. He arrived a few minutes before the agreed meeting time, and spotted Amara where she sat at a table. Hal knew what she looked like by her picture on the Academy website, so finding her was no problem. “Amara?” He said as he approached her, and held out his hand. “I’m Hal. It’s so good to finally meet you.” Amara glanced up when he said her name and she smiled, standing up to smooth over her dress and take his hand. Her shake was firm and warm, much like the woman herself. Dark eyes took a quick swipe over him; young, handsome, a little eager to please. In this case, she thought it was probably specific. After two failed meetings with Marty and Gideon, it only made sense he would want this to go differently. And she was ready to give him that. That little tug between them was felt, recognition of their Tale, and she sat back down once the greeting was done. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Hal. It must be busy in your office these days, so I appreciate you taking the time." Amara was busy, being a professor and a Hand of Grimm member caused that, but the Business Office was to a different level currently. "What is it you do there?" She didn't want to probe him, despite the suspicion of the place, and it was a general enough question. What do you do. Already, Hal could feel the tension in his shoulders starting to slip away at Amara’s...lack of open hostility. Her politeness didn’t even feel forced, and as a society family, he knew when someone was being passive aggressive. Amara wasn’t. It felt genuine, and he was more at ease because of it. He took his seat across from her, taking note of the twinge that came with meeting someone else from the Sherwood Forest. “It’s my pleasure,” Hal assured her, and rested his hands in front of him on the table. Amara was smart, too. Casual in her observations, sincere but curious, like she was waiting for him to confirm something rather than expect brand-new information. “I’m an archeologist,” Hal replied lightly, and reached for the glass of water at his left. “You’re a professor at the Academy, right? With Marty and Gideon.” He said their names calmly, unflinchingly, but anyone who knew Hal knew that their names sounded detached from his lips. Maybe it was the way he looked at Amara knowingly, or the way his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes; that’d be enough to tip off anyone who knew how to read a person’s body language, but only someone like Nic or his siblings would’ve noticed the quiet shift in his tone, from familiar to just a little bit more formal. Amara had a sharp eye and no small amount of intuition, so she noted the difference, however slight. It was probable she saw it to because she knew Marty and Gideon weren't that nice to him either. They had that back and forth, when she said she was going to speak to Hal. She was capable of being both calculatingly curious and genuinely warm at the same time. "That's right, I teach Government and Political Science. I know they can be difficult. The reason we all got along right away was because I took the best notes and had the best arguments in class." The best notes for Marty, the best arguments for Gideon. She loved them dearly, especially for their flaws, but not everyone would. Or should. "I came back five years ago after my husband passed away. My daughter's a freshman at the Academy. She knows Olive, actually." A fact that surprised their Little John, but amused her too, and Amara thought it was particularly amusing that Harriett found two of her Talemates before she did. She was an honorary Robin Hood Tale. "I was out of town for a long time in DC, but it was easy to come back. Woodsbridge has a charm to it." Her staying had somewhat to do with her mission there, but that was not common knowledge. "But you would know all about that, since you're born and raised here, right?" Difficult probably wasn’t the word Hal would’ve used to describe Marty. Gideon, yeah, sure, Hal could see it, but there was a difference between being difficult and actively disliking someone, and Hal was pretty sure Marty fell into the latter category. But he merely nodded along to show he was listening, rather than say so, and took a sip of the water their server had placed on their table. “Did you know they were Talemates early on in your friendship, or did that come later?” Hal asked after a moment, trying to picture the three of them in college together. In a classroom. In the library. How different their worlds had been, then. “My condolences,” he murmured at the mention of Amara’s husband, but smiled when she said she had a daughter. “My youngest sister Olivia’s also a freshman this year,” replied Hal conversationally, and then nodded slowly. Woodsbridge did have its charms. It had its faults, too, of course, but he’d never hated growing up in a small town, particularly not one like Woodsbridge. “Born and raised,” he confirmed. “Though I haven’t been home to enjoy it very much since I graduated from the Academy.” "Gideon and I found out immediately. We were in class together and both love a good discussion, so we met up after class to continue talking. And it came up pretty quickly." Amara smiled wistfully at the memories. It was over twenty years now, and she would remember how excited they were, how enthusiastic. "With Marty we'd been friends for some time before we figured it out. I mentioned I was from Gideon's Tale, and that made it all click. I was already with Joe by then, so we didn't need to have any awkward Robin and Marian discussions." And it was for the best, considering they still were friends to today, and messy relationships might have stopped that from happening. "Thank you," she said sincerely. The sting of his death was permanent, but she moved past most of her grief. "I think she's friends with Harriett, or friendly at least." Amara kept tabs when she could, and Harriett was in general a very warm and inviting person. She made plenty of friends, something that was no surprise to her mother. "Ah yes, traveling the world as an archaeologist, right? That must be exciting. Very Indiana Jones." She smiled at him. "Was that part of the inspiration? You must be asked that all the time. I'm being very cliche right now." Hal nodded as he considered this. Amara already being in a relationship probably did help avoid some of those awkward conversations. All the better that none of them had had the idea of soulmates wrapped up in their head, which Hal knew to occasionally be the case when Talemates found each other. “That doesn’t surprise me at all,” he shook his head with a small smile, recalling the conversation he and Gideon had had a few weeks ago. “Olivia is...often pretty quiet, so I’m sure Harriett’s friendliness is much appreciated.” Hal said sincerely, feeling a small sense of reassurance wash over him, knowing that his baby sister wasn’t attempting to take on the Academy completely alone. Not that he’d thought so to begin with; he’d seen her network interactions with her peers, but it the added relief wasn’t unwelcome by any means. “No, not at all,” he smiled back, waving away Amara’s concerns. “I mean, yes, I do get that sometimes, and yes, I did like Indiana Jones, growing up, but you’re not wrong. I’ve had a lot of really unique opportunities because of it.” Hal said earnestly. "Everyone loves Indiana Jones. He was a terrible professor though," Amara said with a smile. "Always running off finding valuable items instead of grading term papers." It was a nice concept though, for a character. She handed one of the menus over to him. "Let's order and then I'm going to warn you now, I tend to ask a lot of questions. I'm an overly curious person. I want to know more about you." Her tone and general attitude though was still open, friendly, and positive. He'd get no jeers or accusations from this end. "You should feel free to ask anything yourself. Deal?" Hal took the menu from Amara and smiled. “Deal.” |