Kip Bundy (exceedinglygood) wrote in lazarustheic, @ 2017-11-07 18:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: kipling bundy, character: marlene mckinnon |
who ? Kip Bundy and Marlene McKinnon.
when ? Tuesday 7th November, evening.
where ? Marlene's house.
what ? Glowing papier mache.
warnings/rating ? SFW.
status ? Completed in gdocs.
It hadn't taken Kip much time to realise he really had nowhere in his flat to do papier mache, so he'd gladly accepted Marlene's offer of doing it at hers. He had, however, been able to bring lots of old newspapers and copies of Wizard Weekly from work. He'd also gone home to change out of his suit trousers and tie, arriving at Marlene's looking much more relaxed. "I've probably brought too much old newspaper, if there is such a thing," he said, once Marlene had shown him inside and offered him a drink, which he'd accepted. "I also brought two aprons, in case you don't have one." He knew Marlene baked, but flour was a lot easier to get off clothes than glue, and he'd figured it was better safe than sorry.
"I'm really quite envious you got to be in the Unicorn Brownies," he said, taking a seat and putting the pile of newspaper down on the table in front of him. "I helped with Dragon Scouts, but they didn't do magical papier mache, or make anything glow." Perhaps, if Kip ever decided to go back, he'd try helping out with younger kids, where there'd be more glowing. "Did you do a baked apple in the oven, in the end?" he asked. "I hope it didn't explode. You don't look like you've had any horrible disfiguring accidents." Marlene looked, instead, very pretty, and Kip gave her a warm smile.
--
Marlene was looking forward to her evening of papier mache making with Kip. She didn't know Kip very well, but since their adventure of looking for hedgehogs (even though they hadn't found any), Marlene had looked forward to spending more time with Kip. He was very nice and seemed to take a lot of interest in crafts, which was something that Marlene could certainly relate to. She'd made some biscuits for when Kip arrived, offering him a drink and then a plate of terribly shaped, but quite tasty, biscuits. "We'll just have to make a lot of papier mache," Marlene teased when Kip said he'd brought too much paper. "Better too much than not enough," she pointed out taking a sip of her own tea before sitting it down on the table she'd cleared so they could make papier mache on it. Marlene didn't think she really need an apron since she hadn't worn anything she'd mind getting a bit of glue on, but she did take one of the aprons from Kip with a 'thanks' anyway.
"I suppose the Dragon Scouts might feel a bit too old for papier maches?" Marlene commented. Brownies were, in general, younger than Scouts, who Marlene always assumed to be around the same age as Guides. Marlene poured some glue in a bowl and set a load of cardboard on the table so they could shape things if they needed to. "I did try the apple! With cinnamon, like you recommended, but I also had it with some pouring cream and it was very pleasant. No explosions or anything," Marlene told Kip with a smile. "It wasn't the nicest looking thing in the world, but I'm quite used to that with my baking," she joked. "So what made you pick Scouts? Were you in scouts as a kid?" Marlene, despite having been in Brownies, didn't think she'd want to go volunteer for them now.
--
"I can always recycle the rest," Kip assured. "Work have recycling bins everywhere, which is nice." Kip's previous job had not gone out of their way to make recycling any easier, and it was one of the things Kip appreciated about having changed companies. He took a biscuit, thanking Marlene before eating it. It was, despite its appearance, delicious. "Now I can feel like I'm getting the full Unicorn Brownie experience," he teased, since Marlene had mentioned that they'd made biscuits as well as making papier mache.
Nodding, Kip slipped the apron over his head. "They feel a bit too cool for papier mache," he corrected. "As far as I can tell, about eleven to thirteen is the age it really matters to be cool. At least for boys." Kip didn't have as much experience with girls, not since he'd been that age himself. "Excellent, I'm glad I'm not responsible for you covering your oven in bits of apple. The scouts did pretty well, too. We had a few underbaked apples, from the boys too afraid of the fire to get very near it, but that was about the worst of it." Picking up the pieces of cardboard, Kip considered what he wanted to make a papier mache of. Something that would glow. "I was," Kip agreed. "Well. I was mostly in Beavers and Cubs, and then Scouts for a few months before I went to Hogwarts. I feel like it was good for me, and I wanted to help other people have that."
--
Marlene laughed when Kip said her biscuits provided the full Unicorn Brownie experience. "It's better than the actual experience," Marlene promised. "For one you don't have twenty screaming six year olds here," she pointed out with a grin, which then turned into a wide smile when Kip corrected her, informing Marlene that the Scouts were too cool for papier mache. "I don't blame them," she said shaking her head. "I don't imagine boys are meant to find papier mache very exciting." Which was a shame, really, because Marlene thought it was pretty fun (and evidently so did Kip).
Cutting some of the paper into strips, Marlene nodded when Kip said how he'd only been a Scout until he'd gone to Hogwarts. "Yeah, I never went past Unicorn Brownies." For somewhat similar reasons because Marlene could've gone to Guides but she hadn't really cared to. "Once I got to Hogwarts I did a lot of music. Did you do many activities outside studying?" Marlene asked dipping some of the paper in glue so she could start sticking it to, well, more paper.
--
"I hope you didn't scream all the time," Kip teased. Even the Scouts didn't scream (or shout) all the time, so it seemed a pretty safe bet. He gave a small sign, nodding in agreement with Marlene's point. "Some of them are very concerned with not doing anything that's 'for girls'. It's something I try to work around. I did get them to do some sewing, at camp, by having them decorate superhero capes." It had been somewhat of a triumph, and Kip was pleased with himself. "And now a few of them are even sewing on their own badges, when they get a new one."
Kip dipped one of his cardboard strips into the glue, pressing it against another of the strips in an attempt to get it to hold. "I didn't at first," Kip answered. "Most of the extracurricular stuff I saw advertised in Ravenclaw was for academic clubs, and I wasn't very good at that." Certainly not enough that Kip had wanted to do more school work outside the homework he was already doing. "Eventually, Flitwick introduced me to Hagrid and he started giving me jobs to do on the grounds. Then Sprout got involved as well, and before too long there was a group of us - like a local Scout group, but without the badges." It was something Kip was very grateful for, because his Hogwarts experience would have been far different without it. "Did you do music with other people?"
--
"In my memories we did," Marlene replied with a grin. She was sure that her Brownies group hadn't, in fact, constantly been screaming, but Marlene did remember all the girls being very loud. Marlene nodded when Kip explained how the boys were concerned about doing things that were seen as 'girly'. "Oh, that's a great idea!" Marlene praised Kip because superhero capes definitely weren't something Marlene imagined boys to dislike making. "Didn't Spiderman make his own costume?" Marlene asked. "My brother used to love the comics," she explained. "Is it difficult? To make the boys do 'girly' things?" She assumed probably more so than the other way around.
Marlene also had had no interest in academic clubs back in school, but then again, she had been a Gryffindor and they were never really expected to be particularly academic. "I was in the choir," Marlene replied. "From my First year. Because my dad was a famous singer, they basically recruited me before the Sorting Hat could even finish saying 'Gryffindor'," Marlene joked. "I also had... not quite a band, but like a few people I played with regularly? We didn't perform or anything, just played the guitar together." Which was how Marlene had learned to play the guitar.
--
Thinking back to his own memories of Beavers and Cubs, Kip nodded. "In my memories we ran all the time," he offered. He was sure that wasn't true, that there had been plenty of sitting down listening to things, and doing crafts, but mostly he remembered running from one place to another, excited. He grinned at Marlene's praise. "I've only seen the films," he answered, "but he makes his own costume in at least one of those. As far as I can remember it's shit, though. I don't remember now how he got a better one." Movie-logic, Kip supposed. There was probably a montage. "It can be," he said, nodding. "The problem, really, is that if one of them says something is too girly, they all then don't want to do it, even if they didn't have this idea of it being girly at all until someone else said something. There's quite a lot who I know do 'girly' things at home with sisters, and enjoy it, but will refuse to do it in Scouts." Kip talked to the parents quite a lot, which is how he knew these things.
"Did you enjoy it?" Kip asked. "I mean, I assume you enjoy singing, since you haven't given it up at any point since you were eleven, but did you enjoy being in a choir?" Kip had never been in a choir, or really any kind of musical group, so he wasn't sure how it would compare to doing music things alone. "Have you ever wanted to perform by yourself?"
--
Marlene laughed at Kip's comment, because she, too, remembered a lot of running, though still more shouting than running. They had definitely also made things, though, like papier mache, which clearly was a skill she had still retained, since the legs of her octopus were coming together quite well. She nodded when Kip said he'd only seen the films. Marlene hadn't, what with being dead and all, but she had, since her Return, heard that there were a lot of superhero films. "Oh, that's a shame," she commented shaking her head. There were a lot of things she felt were deemed 'girly' that really shouldn't. Like dancing. "Do you think with Strictly boys will want to do dance more? Andrew and Sid seem to be really enjoying themselves," she commented sticking another piece of paper down.
"I did enjoy it a lot," Marlene nodded. "I've always enjoyed doing music with other people, so I don't think I've ever really considered doing it on my own. I used to sing backup in my dad's performances, and obviously now I have Pretty Fixation." Marlene thought she could perform much better in collaboration, the creativity that other people brought in allowed her own to flourish. "What about you? Do you sing?"
--
"I'm not sure Strictly is cool, either," Kip said sadly. "A lot of the mums watch it, and some of the sisters, but not very many of the boys." There were, naturally, some exceptions, but probably not enough to get the boys dancing in Scouts. "I had to do square dancing as part of PE at school," Kip said. "I don't think I was particularly concerned about what was girly, but I still remember that being awful. I enjoy dancing a lot more now." And even then, he wouldn't pick ballroom. "Did you get to go and watch Andrew and Sid?" he asked. "I haven't watched it, did they do well?" He hoped Marlene wasn't about to tell him one of them had gone home, that would be a touch awkward.
Kip nodded, because it made sense to him that doing music with people and doing it alone were probably very different experiences. "Do you all work on things together?" he asked. "I mean, on the creative side. I assume you need to practice together to be able to perform well as a band." He shook his head at Marlene's question. "Not at all, I'm afraid." Kip probably wasn't completely tone deaf, but he didn't think himself very musical. "Sometimes I get dragged into campfire songs, but I usually cop out by leading the actions, instead."
--
"Oh," Marlene said somewhat sadly. It made sense, though, because she hadn't really heard anyone young discuss Strictly, nor had there been any young kids at the show. "I did go," Marlene nodded. "We wore t-shirts with Andrew and Sid's faces on them," she added with a grin. "They did very well, both of them." The scores had reflected that, not to mention that they were both still in the competition. "It's a shame your Scouts are Muggle," Marlene commented. "Otherwise I'd offer for Andrew and Sid to go talk to them. I'm sure they'd both argue that dancing is very cool," she said with a grin.
Reaching to take a sip from her tea, Marlene shook her head. "No, not really," she answered. "Usually two or three of us do things together. I help Sid with the songs he writes, Andrew helps me with mine, so on," she explained. "And then we also pass it around, see how others think things might be improved." It was a process that Marlene enjoyed a lot, she really didn't think she'd like doing it on her own. She laughed when Kip admitted that he only did campfire songs and barely even those. "Well, I can always help you if you'd like to learn," she teased.
--
"That's excellent," Kip said, smiling. "I won't ask you who was better. Do you think they'll both stay in the competition for a while?" Kip assumed things were only likely to become awkward once one of them was voted out, so the longer that could not happen, the better. "It's a good idea," he praised Marlene. "But I don't think it would quite work without the kids knowing who they are. Which is a shame. I don't imagine any of the celebrities on the muggle version are easy to get hold of. Though I think Jonnie Peacock is very cool." And quite attractive, but that was neither here nor there. "He's a paralympian," he explained, in case Marlene hadn't been able to see any of muggle Strictly.
Kip listened to Marlene's explanation, with interest. "Do you find it very difficult?" he asked. "Sharing things you've written with other people?" Kip could, in some ways, be a very private person, so it wasn't really something he could imagine being comfortable with. He was happy to share his shit crafts with people, because he didn't take them very seriously, but writing something was very different. "Do you take criticism well?" Kip assumed you'd almost have to. "Oh?" Kip asked, amused by Marlene's offer to help, and her apparent confidence that it was something that could be learned. "Do you think everyone can sing, if they're taught how?"
--
Marlene laughed at Kip's promise not to ask her who was better, which she was glad for, because honestly, Marlene wasn't sure she was really qualified to tell. "I hope so," she commented honestly. "I don't know what it'll be like when one of them leaves," she hoped it'd be fine, and it wasn't like Marlene thought the band is going to fall apart or anything, but she still didn't imagine it'd be completely not awkward. "A paralympian! That's very impressive," she commented. Marlene hadn't had a chance to ever see the Muggle Strictly but she had heard that it mostly had actors off soaps, no one had told her they had a paralympian on! "Ours has James Potter and he's hardly famous," Marlene half-teased (she had expressed as much to James who'd mostly just rolled his eyes at her).
"No, I don't," Marlene shook her head. "I think I'm just used to it? Growing up in a family with a musician father taught me to share my ideas from an early age. They weren't necessarily always good," she added with a small laugh. "But I was encouraged to express myself, I guess that's stuck." Marlene was certainly glad her parents had always supported her drive to be creative, as much a they'd supported her brother's drive to play quidditch. "I'd like to think I take criticism well, but I suppose my bandmates might be better placed to answer that," she replied with a small shake of her head before nodding at Kip's question. "I know people who are actually tone deaf exist, but there aren't many of them, so yeah, I think with some lessons, most people can learn to sing."
--
Kip didn't know Andrew or Sid well, so he couldn't really offer Marlene any reassurance on what it would be like if one of them left. "Hopefully, the band is more important to them both than winning Strictly," he offered. He assumed it would be, in that he assumed most people doing creative pursuits were quite passionate about them. "It is very impressive," Kip agreed, nodding. "He's a sprinter, and he did at least one of the dances on one of the running blades he uses." Kip had felt that was pretty cool, and he seemed to be doing well in the competition, at least as far as the popular vote went. Kip raised an eyebrow at Marlene, because James Potter really was quite famous, albeit mostly for being the father of Harry Potter. He realised that Marlene hadn't actually experienced that, which must be very weird for her. "It's been interesting to hear what people in the office are making of it," Kip said. "I think because they work in journalism, quite a high percentage of them have TVs."
It was interesting to hear about Marlene's experience growing up with a musician father. "I suppose mum always encouraged me to express myself," Kip mused. His mum had certainly never dreamed of stopping him. "I just didn't really have a way to. I wasn't particularly talented at anything creative. It wasn't really until I was out of school that I got into crafts, and even now, I don't feel I'm particularly expressing anything about me." Mostly, Kip just liked trying things out with his hands, and so he picked whatever he thought he could pull off. Kip also hoped he took criticism well, though his current employers might not agree, given his reluctance to dress as casually as they were telling him he could. "Well, I don't mind trying to learn" Kip agreed. "Have you taught many people?"
--
"I'm sure it is," Marlene said with a smile, because as much as both Sid and Andrew did seem to enjoy Strictly, she knew they both definitely loved music more. Marlene nodded when Kip went to tell her more about the paralympian on the Muggle Strictly. "Maybe next year they'll have more athletes, I know that a lot of quidditch players turned it down because they're playing," Marlene commented. Or well, Rai had told her that a lot of quidditch players had turned it down, Marlene didn't know that many (though, she supposed she did know Arran, even if it had been ages since she'd last spoken to him). "Yeah, I've been thinking of maybe getting a telly, but Andrew said he got one and apparently they're not showing anything very good. On the other hand, I feel that if I get one and support the wizarding tv, it'll become better?" Or such was the hope anyway. Marlene hadn't decided whether to get a tv yet, though.
Marlene smiled when Kip commented that his mum had been encouraging of him to be expressive. "Maybe that's why you're so much better with things that are 'girly'," Marlene offered with a grin, lifting one of the sticky strips of paper up as an example. "I've been enjoying doing crafty things and it's not something I've ever really done before. Apart from in the Brownies, obviously." But since Marlene's Return, now that there wasn't a war to fight, she'd had a lot of time on her hands, even with the band. "I used to help teaching the younger kids in school, that's most of my experience, but I think Andrew's taught kids?" Or well, Marlene wasn't sure if he'd taught kids to sing but Marlene could probably ask for tips anyway. "I'm willing to try to teach you if you want," Marlene told Kip with a smile. "If nothing else, you can tell your Scouts a pretty woman's teaching you to sing," she teased. "Might inspire them."
--
"It seems like a lot of training for someone who's still playing at a professional level," Kip agreed. "At least, judging by the muggle version. I think they mostly have a lot of retired athletes. Football players and boxers and so on." He wasn't completely sure whether Jonnie Peacock was currently running, but he assumed that most sprinting competitions happened in summer. "A wizarding TV wouldn't work where I live," Kip said, with a shrug. "Maybe one day they'll figure out a way. I don't know what percentage of people live outside magical areas." Wizards did have the advantage of not having to worry about travel time, so Kip assumed a lot of them lived rurally, where it was fairly cheap. Perhaps that was his own bias talking, however. "Do you listen to a lot of the wireless?" he asked. "I assume you listen to more music than I do."
Kip hummed, nodding that perhaps his lack of anxiety over his masculinity did at least partly come from his mum. "It probably helps that I'm bi," he added. "There's a lot less pressure to be stereotypically masculine if you're not straight." At least, Kip had felt there was less pressure, living in Brighton. "Do you feel it's a very different sort of creativity to writing a song?" Kip asked. "Aside from one being much more visual." He laughed, amused by her suggestion he tell his Scouts a pretty woman was teaching him. "I think the Scouts are more interested in what kind of car I drive than what kind of woman I'm seeing," he said, almost apologetically. "But I do hear stories from the women who run Brownies and Guides that their girls are always planning elaborate romances for them, so maybe I can get them on board with your plan."
--
It did seem rather a lot of training and Marlene nodded. "Andrew and Sid have been training a lot," she said. "We've all been trying to be very accommodating, but I know at least with Andrew that he does end up getting home quite late." Marlene didn't really know how that played out with Andrew's boyfriend, but she didn't really feel comfortable enough to ask. Andrew hadn't said it was bad, though, just that he wished there was more time to squeeze all the things in. "Oh, of course," Marlene nodded, quite sure that she had known that Kip didn't live in any of the magical places in the UK. "But at least you get normal telly?" She joked before shrugging slightly. "I listen to Radio 1, but I have to be honest, some of the music they play is... confusing to me. I've missed almost thirty years of music, that's quite a lot." So it was somewhat difficult for Marlene to track the progression, but she was trying.
The casual way in which Kip told Marlene that he wasn't straight was so startling to her that she broke off one of her octopus' legs. "Shit," Marlene swore almost taking half a step back. "Sorry," she added looking up at Kip and blushing slightly. She didn't really know whether she was apologising for swearing or for finding his comment startling, but Marlene also didn't clarify her apology, instead nodding. "I think it's different, yeah," she confirmed. "I don't really feel like I express myself through crafts and more... I don't know. Just create stuff? Music feels different," Marlene explained before snoring when Kip said his Scouts weren't very interested in pretty women. "I suppose that's fair," she commented and then grinned when Kip promised to tell Brownies and Guides instead. "I could do with someone planning me an elaborate romance," Marlene decided with a smile.
--
"It looks quite fun, though," Kip observed, again only able to judge from Strictly's muggle incarnation. "At least, a lot of the celebrities who do well seem to be having fun." Some did look more awkward, but that usually came through in the dancing and they didn't last long, which Kip supposed was for the best. "Would you do some kind of TV show, if they asked you?" Kip asked. "I suppose you don't know what all the options are, if you don't have a muggle or a magical television. There's celebrity versions of a lot of things, at least for muggles. There's a baking one, even," he teased, taking another biscuit. "I do get normal telly," Kip confirmed. "My mum's a big fan of Strictly, so I watch it with her when I'm not busy." Kip felt that some of the music available was confusing to him, and he hadn't even missed 30 years, so he could definitely understand where Marlene was coming from. "I'm terrible with music genres," he admitted. "I rely mostly on hearing things I like and tracking down who recorded them to see if they've got anything else I like."
Kip couldn't be sure what had caused Marlene to break off one of her octopus' legs, but with her so recently reminding him that she'd missed thirty years of progress, he couldn't help wonder if she wasn't used to people being quite so open about not being straight. "It's okay," he said, accepting whatever her apology was for. Kip wasn't going to lie, or hide what he was, but he also didn't want to make Marlene feel awkward around him. He nodded, instead. "I don't feel my crafts are very expressive, either," he agreed, holding up his half-formed half-papiered star. "I mostly went with 'stars glow, and I can make triangles'. I'm not sure that says anything deep and meaningful about my personality." Perhaps it did. His mum would certainly be able to think of something. He laughed at Marlene's comment that she could do with an elaborate romance. "Me too," he agreed. "I don't seem to be doing a very good job of it by myself." He paused, taking a sip of his tea. "Were you - seeing anyone, before you Returned?" he asked, assuming that was somewhat gentler than asking if she'd been seeing anyone before she died.
--
Marlene thought that the dancing did look fun but it also looked like a lot of work. She admired the fact that Andrew and Sid (and even James, though he didn't have a job along side it) were taking such a task on. As for whether she'd do something on the tv, Marlene shook her head. "I turned Strictly down," she admitted. "I thought they might only be asking me because I'm 'Marlene McKinnon the Returned'," she admitted making a face. Whether that was true or not, Marlene had no idea, the mention of a baking show made her eyes light up though. "Ooh, maybe that, that I could give a go." She wouldn't be very good at it, no doubt, but Marlene thought she'd probably enjoy it. "That's a good approach," she nodded. Marlene did a similar thing, really, but she was also trying to catch up with 27 years of music, which was quite a bit.
Reaching for more paper so she could fix her octopus, Marlene laughed at Kip's unexpressive star. "I like crafts because it keeps me busy," Marlene commented honestly. "I don't think upcycled flower pots really represent my personality." And if they did, Marlene would feel somewhat offended, really. She liked to imagine herself at least slightly more interesting than a flower pot, even an upcycled one. "No," Marlene shook her head. "Unlike most people, I didn't think it very smart to date in the middle of a war," she commented honestly before shaking her head. "I get bored quickly," she admitted. "I just broke up with someone, like last week? Nothing serious, but I feel like I should be given kudos for not just sending a break-up owl," Marlene joked. Sort of, she had asked Lily if she could just do that (only to be told 'no'). “What about you?” Marlene asked. “Are you seeing anyone?”
--
Kip could understand not wanting to be famous for, essentially, having died and come back, so he nodded. "They have a non-celebrity bake off as well," he said, "but I think you might have better luck getting on a magical celebrity one. Then they wouldn't care so much what things looked like. The muggle non-celebrity one has a lot of quite demanding things, like making a sculpture out of bread." Which, Kip assumed, Marlene likely wouldn't be quite up to the task of, if she could only bake ugly things. "There's also quiz shows, and a show where people make robots out of old bits of metal," he informed Marlene, with a laugh. "You're welcome to come over some time and see, if you like. Though the baking show has just finished." There'd still be some episodes on catch-up, if Marlene were interested.
"Yeah, I like crafts for the same reason," Kip agreed. "I don't like to just sit not doing anything, or I get bored, so I started getting into crafts so I'd have something to do with my hands." The lack of attention Kip actually paid to things, once he'd got over the hurdle of learning how to do the, probably explained why a lot of his crafts weren't very good. "I tried beading this year, I quite liked that." More than he'd expected to. Kip didn't say that Marlene's decision not to date had probably saved her the complication of potentially coming back before, or without, whoever she might have been attached to. He doubted she needed him to point that out to her. "I don't really get bored with people," he said, which made his experience somewhat different to Marlene's. "But I think, if you do, you definitely get credit for telling him." He shook his head at the question. "Not for a long time," he admitted. "I suppose I should. I don't really have any experience dating. I just end up in quite serious relationships, until suddenly I'm not anymore, for whatever reason."
--
"A sculpture made out of bread!" Marlene exclaimed. "That sounds like a show I want to watch," she decided. Robots made out of old bits of metal made her shake her head. "Yeah, I don't think my upcycling would get me that far," she commented before smiling at Kip when he said she could come over and watch tv with him. "Oh, that's a shame," Marlene said because she really would've liked to see the baking show. "But thank you, that's a very nice offer, I might take you up on it anyway," she said with a smile.
Marlene definitely understood wanting to do craft for non-boredom reasons. She figured one of the reasons she did so much crafts was because it stopped her from getting stuck in her head too much. "Oh, I haven't tried that, bet I could make things from beads." She wasn't necessarily very good at things like knitting and stuff, but beading was just stringing stuff together, wasn't it? "I like dating, dating's fun," Marlene said before frowning at Kip when he said he hadn't ever dated. "You should!" She told him encouragingly. "That's the fun bit," she informed Kip. "Want me to take you on a date?" Marlene offered with a smile before frowning slightly. "Do you... date women?" She asked a touch awkwardly but Marlene was quite pleased with actually asking.
--
"It was a good episode," Kip agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "One of the bakers made a dragon out of bread, that was amazing. I can probably find that bit of it for you, even if I can't find the rest." Surely the bread dragon would be on youtube, even if it wasn't still available on Channel Four. "You should take me up on it," Kip agreed, teasingly. "I enjoy introducing people to television they haven't seen before." At least, Kip had enjoyed introducing Marcus to zombie things, and he was sure he'd enjoy introducing Marlene to bake-off just as much. "We can do crafts together while we watch."
Kip grinned, also sure that Marlene could make things from beads. "It's really quite easy," he assured her. "And you don't have to count as much as you do with knitting." Kip was quite good at keeping count, even while he was doing something else, but he knew it was something people struggled with. "Plus, you're mostly doing smaller things, so you finish them faster. I made a bracelet for my friend's birthday." It had been, in Kip's opinion, a good bracelet. "I find the relationships quite fun," he told Marlene, shaking his head slightly. People did tell him he was too serious, and perhaps that was true, he just didn't really see the appeal of dating only to get bored of someone before you'd really got to know very much about them. "I've had girlfriends," he said, in answer to Marlene's question. "I'm not sure I dated them in the way you mean." They'd gone on dates, obviously, but they'd also already been quite sure they were a couple at the time. His mind briefly flashed to Marcus, to the attraction Kip knew he felt for the man. They weren't anything more than friends, though. It would hardly be wrong of Kip to agree to a date. "You don't feel I'm a bit old for you?" Kip asked. "I'm nearly 35. I won't be offended if you say I am," he added, realising he'd put Marlene in potentially an awkward position by asking.
--
Bread shaped like a dragon did sound very interesting and Marlene smiled when Kip said she should take him up on his offer. "Yes, lets do that," Marlene nodded. "And crafts! Maybe you can show me how to do beading," she suggested with a grin. "Or I can show you how to redress a lampshade," Marlene joked. She had become shockingly good at redressing lampshades (she'd found a shop in Diagon Alley that let her redress their lampshades and give the lamps back to them).
Marlene couldn't really comment on whether she found relationships particularly fun, because she hadn't had any longer than a few months, nor, really, had she ever been bothered by that fact. She was still quite young, a thought which was then followed up by Kip telling her how old he was and Marlene laughed. "We're doing papier mache together," Marlene pointed out. Their age didn't seem to be particularly important in that. "It's okay if you think I'm too young for you, though," she promised. "I don't really mind when guys turn me down, so I won't cry, promise," Marlene said winking at Kip across the table.
--
"I'd be happy to show you how to do beading," Kip agreed. "I've got all the stuff." He did, and his beading experience had been recent enough that he still felt quite qualified to teach Marlene how to do it. "I'm not quite sure what redressing a lampshade is," he admitted. "But I have lampshades, so you can tell me whether you think they need to be redressed." One was very boring and white, so if redressing was going to make them more interesting, Kip was more than happy to let Marlene teach him.
Marlene made an excellent point, that their age didn't seem to be holding them back from enjoying their papier mache together. Looking at Marlene, although she was very pretty, Kip couldn't quite imagine having a relationship with a woman ten years younger than him, and even though she clearly didn't expect dating to become a relationship, Kip wasn't sure he really understood what the point was otherwise. "My ego is not so big I thought you were going to cry over me," he assured her. "I think I enjoy our hedgehog hunting and papier mache plenty as not dates. But you're still welcome to come over and try beading."
--
Marlene smiled when Kip said he'd show her how to bead and laughed at the addition of how he didn't know what redressing a lampshade meant but that she was welcome to have a look at his anyway. "I'll bring some cloths and stuff, we can see if we can redress your lampshade," she promised. "Might need more than one programme of fancy bread making, though," Marlene commented with a small shake of her head before setting down her octopus to dry a bit, because she'd successfully attached all of its parts.
"I'm sure you're perfectly worth crying over," Marlene teased, but she really didn't mind. To Marlene dating was about having fun and maybe flirting and if that went further well then it did, but perhaps that was where their age difference was showing, because Marlene was hardly looking for a husband (or even a boyfriend) and at thirty-four, Kip might have different ideas of what dating should achieve. "I definitely will come over and try beading," Marlene nodded. "Right, do you want me to show you a spell to make your star glow? It's best if you apply it whilst it's still wet, so the magic settles with it as it dries," she explained looking around for her wand.