Alexander "Xander" Urquhart (zzzander) wrote in newsalem, @ 2011-12-12 21:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | & rp log, brielle mulciber, xander urquhart |
Who: Brielle Mulciber & Xander Urquhart
When: December 10th
Where: Expelled Curse
What: A slightly awkward, but definitely snarky, meet-up under the mistletoe.
Rating: PG
A Saturday like most others, Brielle stopped by the quiet office to pick up work for the weekend. Breaking curses on jewelry and oddities was her favourite way to pass a Sunday morning, and it helped pass the time when her bedmate was still sleeping, before the sun was down. There was such a thing as taking too much work home, so people had told her, but Brielle considered her job to also be her favorite hobby. She didn’t notice the jingle of the bell or the rustling of leaves in the doorway as she entered the main office, her brain more used to the sounds of Christmas this year than ever before. She had her items gathered up and tucked away in a safe box a few minutes later. Now she was faced with opening the door and warding the office back up, while balancing a heavy box. A foot here, an arm there, she had almost just made it out when the box started slipping. “Bugger bugger bugger.” Saturday mornings weren't much different than any other for Xander. He'd already been up for a few hours, owling contacts and scouring his post for job opportunities over his morning cup of tea. He'd had a copy of the magical newspaper from new Orleans, The Louisiana Lumos, forwarded to him ever since Brielle had told him about her plan to go there and he was reading it in his makeshift home office. While the studio above Expelled Curse was a smaller space than he was used to living it, it had been more than enough space in the past year and it let him get his work done in the most efficient manner. It did, however, lack a bit of privacy since the shop below was only a door away and several of his more trustworthy employees had keys and knowledge of the wards protecting the shop. The jingle at the door pulled his attention away from the paper in his hand and he folded it away as he set about pulling on a thin jumper. Xander figured, at this hour, the intruder was most likely Brielle, so he didn't bother with shoes or changing out his pyjama bottoms for real trousers. She'd certainly seen him in less. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, tea cup in one hand and the other ruffling through his still sleep tousled hair, Xander heard Brielle "cursing" and smirked. The cup was quickly discarded and he covered the distance between them in a few long legged strides, his hands shooting out to stop the box from tumbling from her grip. "If my mum were doing the judging, you'd have lost your cursing bet with that one, Mulch. Good thing that's not the case," he smiled crookedly. His gaze dropped to the heavy box, a lazily lifted eyebrow accompanying his words. "Keeping busy, as always..." “Well, your mum wouldn’t like me anyway, and I stand by the fact that ‘bugger’ is not cursing.” Brielle caught her balance when he rescued the box, and leaned against the door frame. She was grateful for his help, but would’ve been happier had she made it out of here without any confrontations. With the door properly opened and her other hand free, she was able to take the box back and shift it under her arm. “I realized I forgot to grab some work for the weekend. There’s no better way than to spend Sunday morning draped in thousand galleon jewels.” She stuck her tongue out at him quickly, “I’ll be wearing real trousers, though.” A small remark, proving that she had noticed his pajama bottoms and wasn’t above teasing him for them. Even if the truth was that she had much of the same routine, sitting around in something comfortable with a cup of tea in her office. But that was when the mistletoe above them decided to jingle excitedly. “You’re lucky I’m even wearing these,” he shot back, lifting a finger to point at her and then vaguely back towards the stairs. “It’s Saturday and I’ve been looking for something for you to do while you’re in the states, so try to be nice, will you?” The jingle above his head caused Xander to twitch in mild surprise. He knew where every item was in this room, down to the smallest and most inconsequential piece of cursed treasure, and there had certainly not been anything pinned above the door before this morning. That he hadn’t noticed when he first came downstairs annoyed him, because it proved that Brielle Mulciber still had a way of stealing all of his attention just by being in the same room, undead boyfriend or not. Tracking a suspicious, but curious, gaze upwards, Xander’s eyes locked onto the mistletoe and an uncharacteristically dark frown clouded his features. “Is this some kind of joke, Brielle? Were you expecting to escape before I came down, leaving me to awkwardly shrug off this discovery with some unsuspecting, and likely humourless, client?” Though she felt a little bad that he was trying to find her a job while she visited New Orleans, all thoughts of teasing his horrible taste in sleepwear and his generosity were wiped clean from her mind and Brielle was left doing her own sort of twitching at the little plant above them. “You know, as brilliant as an idea as that is - and I’ll be sure to keep in mind for future endeavours - I can’t take the credit for this one.” She didn’t really want to, either. Past years, mistletoe was all she really liked about Christmas. The chance to catch poor, unsuspecting sods under it so she could steal a kiss? Heck yes. But this year? Oh no. This year, she was a “taken woman”, and had made an agreement with Blodwyn, just to keep from the two of them arguing over the technicalities of who could kiss who. Every other year, she would have planted one right on his mouth, but this year? This year she was thinking about cutting and running. “Uhhh,” she winced slightly, “look at the time. I have got to be going.” His expression went from annoyed, to confused, then banked for curious before settling on amused. She was nervous and trying to escape. That was reason enough for him to wonder if things had somehow delved into awkward territory with them while he hadn't been paying attention. He ignored the slight pang of disappointment at that thought. If there was a problem on his end, better to find out now and resolve it. But, Xander wasn't naive enough to miss the likely cause of this change. Brielle really was being domesticated. And that thought caused more than disappointment - something closer to outright irritation. "Is that right? No kiss for me this year, hm? Is it my breath? I brushed my teeth this morning I swear," he smirked, huffing a breath into his palm and inspecting the results himself. "All good, s'far as I can tell." He was watching her closely now, his eyes narrowed in a suspicious squint. She never was good under pressure, and the fidgeting and nervousness only increased as he scrutinized her. Brielle knew Xander was smart enough to be picking at her for information, and she also knew they were alike in the fact that he wouldn’t give up until he found out the reason why she wasn’t planting one on him. But she also knew that he’d have a few choice words or thoughts about her reasoning. But she wasn’t one to shirk from explanations, and Brielle went with the blunt option. “Blodwyn and I made an agreement to not kiss others under the mistletoe.” Good Merlin, could that sound less like her? Probably not. “A mutual thing, because I didn’t really want to share him with a hundred fans that decide it’d be fun to bombard him with mistletoe, and I think he didn’t really want anyone doing the same with me.” Her face tilted upwards and her eyes leveled on his, mouth set in a firm line. While he wasn't surprised she admitted to the truth, Xander was a little surprised she put her own possessiveness first in line in the reasons behind the agreement. Willing domesticated, he thought, an unconscious grimace twisting the edge of his mouth. As a person who had singlehandedly ruined his marriage, and her being a large part of the reason, Xander struggled with the idea of her settling down. He wasn't sure if it was because he was a little bitter about being currently alone, or if it was because he knew she was a lot like him when it came to relationships and he worried about what disaster might follow her decision to be monogamous. Still, not one for direct confrontations, particularly about feelings or anything even resembling them, he dredged up a lopsided smile and leaned against the side table near his hip. "Well, that's...nice? What a considerate couple you two make. As your friend, I feel obligated to say that. But..." Xander trailed off, lifting one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. "...as a selfish bastard, I think I'm allowed to be a bit disappointed." Tucking his thumbs into the loose pockets of his pyjama bottoms, he tilted his head and made a resigned face. The truth was, as her friend, he was conflicted, and finding words that wouldn't make things even more awkward seemed to be difficult at the moment. "Any chance I'll be the first to know if you change your mind?" What a considerate couple you two make. Brielle could have dumped hot tea on his head at that point, without much regret. Xander had been the closest she’d ever gotten to wanting to be in a relationship, before Blodwyn. She had high expectations from the men she fooled around with - if they didn’t keep her attention, she didn’t keep them around. Xander had kept her attention. But Xander had the one red mark against him - he was married. She’d had a slight problem with it when they were sleeping together, but that hadn’t stopped her. Her face fell into a dozen different expressions before settling on amused. “Whatever we had has been over for a while, yet you still can’t seem to quit me.” It was better for her to turn the tides back around, trying to get the upper hand. “We’ll see, though. Maybe second or third. I’m a girl with a lot of options.” With a smirk, she took a step out of the door frame, away from him. The cycle of expressions on her face didn’t go unnoticed. It earned her a smirk bordering on smug, before her words hit and it grew into an approving grin. “Well done. I suppose I don’t have to worry about domestic-you being soft on me when I’m being an arse. Yet.” Watching her turn away, Xander started to reach out to hold the door open for her and her burden, but thought better of it mid-stretch. “Since all I’ve gotten is snark and no kiss, I think it’s only fair that I help you on your way.” Pulling his wand out of his pocket and swishing it through the air, he flung a tiny stream of lightly stinging sparks at her arse, just enough to encourage her completely out beyond the doorway. “Say hello to the Missus for me, Mulch,” he added in a cheerful tone before quickly closing the door against any retaliation she might attempt. “You’re a FLUFFING FLUFFERNUTTER, Alexander Urquhart!” Brielle yelled at the door, one hand balancing the box and the other gently rubbing her bum. Working on a weekend and that’s the kind of send-off she got. She wouldn’t be owning up to the fact that she deserved it, and that the sparks hadn’t really hurt. She’d have to do an inspection of her trousers when she got home, though. Just to make sure there were no burn marks. Ungrateful butt-head. |