Alistair Theirin (bloodoftheirin) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-01-18 01:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alistair theirin, maia amell (the warden) |
Who: Alistair Theirin and Maia Amell
What: Two Grey Wardens Meet on the Street
When: Backdated: Wednesday, January 8th. Afternoon
Where: Out & About then a Sandwich Shop
Rating: Mostly Family Friendly.
Status: Complete
Alistair had been in Orange County for a few weeks now and had gotten a little better at figuring out where things were, but at times he still relied on the GPS on his iphone. He had heard about a deli near his place that was supposed to be really good, because it was small and not part of a supermarket, so he’d decided to check it out. Only problem was, not all the street signs were very easily spotted. Glancing down at his phone, he frowned as the arrow that was supposed to be him move away from his destination and he sighed, “This really shouldn’t be that difficult,” He said to himself as he glanced down the street the way he’d come then turned back that way.
Maia was out and about because she couldn't make herself sit still. She was hearing the voices again and that was always disturbing. But what was weirder was when her senses went off. Darkspawn or a Grey Warden, either way she burst into a run to investigate.
What she saw was Alistair. What she did was envelop him in a bear hug.
The last thing that Alistair had expected was the woman who practically tackled him out of the blue. Phone still in hand, he held his hands out to the side, eyes wide and unsure exactly what he should do in this situation. He wasn’t sure if he was being mugged or what, but he knew that he was extremely lost. Did he push the woman away or call for help? No one around him seemed to be paying any attention, so he assumed that they must have thought this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, “Um...can I help you?” If she was trying to mug him then she was doing a pretty bad job cause her hands were nowhere near his wallet.
“Well hello there handsome!” She flashed a toothy grin at him and bounced back and on her heels. “Fancy a sandwich?” Maia peered at him and had to resist the urge to pinch his cheeks. Or to snog him.
For Alistair’s part, he did confused very well and continued to stare wide eyed as the woman released him, “Um…” She seemed vaguely familiar, but wasn’t able to place her with the woman that he’d spoken to briefly on his first post on Valarnet. “I think you have me confused with someone else.”
“Oh, I hardly doubt it.” She waggled her finger at him. “Come, I’ll buy you a sandwich, I know this great place.” Then she grabbed his hand and started to drag him along as though silently saying ‘oh the ADVENTURES we’ll have together!’
And now Alistair was even more confused than he was when the woman had first hugged him. Most guys probably wouldn’t mind having a woman throw themselves at them then buy them lunch, but this was completely new to him, so he wasn’t entirely sure what to do aside from let the woman lead him on, “And who exactly do you think I am?”
She tapped her finger against her chin. “A handsome man who probably doesn’t know how to cook. You’ve got a bit of a kingly stature and you’re a wee bit awkward around … everyone.”
And she just hoped he forgives her for the whole making him sleep with Morrigan thing.
Kingly?! Well that was one Alistair had never heard before, nor had he ever thought of himself that way. However, she hit the nail on the head with the awkward part. He still didn’t understand why she was dragging him around though. It didn’t make any sense at all. “I’m still confused.”
“That’s all right. I’m going to buy you some sandwiches, and you’re going to enjoy the because really, you can’t beat free food from pretty British girls, hmm?”
“I….Alright.” She didn’t really seem to be giving him much of a choice, so it just seemed like a much better use of his energy to just go along with it and really, free food was always a good thing, “I should at least know the name of the pr...person who is buying me lunch, don’t you think?” He’d almost repeated the way she’d described herself, but stopped before he spoke.
“Maia. My name is Maia.” She shook his hand but didn’t let go and instead resumed dragging him along towards the nearest cafe, humming to herself. This was good! A good day! It was Alistair!
“It’s...nice to meet you, Maia.” At least he hoped it would be good. He really hoped that he wasn’t going to regret being dragged around by this woman. “I’m Alistair.” Little did he know, she already knew that.
“Alistair? What an interesting name, did your mother give you that or were you just born with it?” She flashed a grin at him and goosed him in the butt as they went inside.
“I….” Alistair frowned, unsure of exactly how to answer the question, but when she grabbed his butt his frown disappeared and his eyes widened and he let out a bit of a yelp as he was dragged into the cafe. This woman was unlike anyone he’d ever met before and he was still trying to figure out exactly why he was meeting her now.
She giggled at him as they took their seats, and pushed a menu over towards him. “Order whatever you want, I’ll buy! Have you been in town long?”
Alistair took the menu and started looking through it, glancing over at Maia every so often, “A little less than a month. I just moved here.” He wasn’t sure exactly how much information he should give her, but he supposed that as long as he kept anything personal to himself, he should be alright. “Have you lived here long?”
"Where from, exactly? I'm a recent transplant too, but I've been here since last summer." She wrinkled her nose. "I don't recommend moving in the summer, it was pretty terrible!"
She leaned forward, studying him. She was curious. She wanted to know what he was like here, what he'd done, if he really was going out with Zevran like she'd stalked on the net.
“Sacramento.” Alistair said as he continued to look over the menu, “Where did you move from?” If they just kept the conversation on normal topics then it wouldn’t seem so strange, the way they’d gotten there.
“London,” she replied, playing up her accent. She winked playfully. “I got a job at UCI teaching mythology. I’m the crazy teacher that uses puppets.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“Wow. That’s pretty cool.” Alistair didn’t have an interesting job to talk about or any job for that matter, but he didn’t feel inferior or anything towards her, “What kind of puppets do you use?” It was an interesting way to go about teaching mythology, that was for sure.
“Sock puppets. And a few real ones. All to represent the different gods, goddesses and mythical creatures. I even have a satyr with a giant stuffed phallus!”
Alistair’s eyes widened slightly at the mental image of that and just at that moment the waitress decided to come over to take their orders. Once she left though, he turned back to Maia, “Well that sounds...interesting.” He’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t just a little curious about this whole puppets thing.
“College students are basically big kids. Some of this stuff is hard to pay attention to even for adults. I could use drawings, but the puppets are so much fun and my classes are always over full.” She smiled a little proudly. “If I get a couple people interested enough to pursue, I’ll be happy.”
“And what does the school think of the way you teach?” He could only imagine that there had to be some people who weren’t too impressed with her teaching with puppets, but it actually sounded like a fairly good way to keep peoples’ attention. “Ever had anyone complain about the way you teach?”
“It brings in the students and my reviews last semester were stellar,” she replied, winking at him. “Maybe a little dirty sometimes but Zeus does kind of put his willie everywhere.”
Alistair flushed slightly, “Yeah, I’ve heard about that.” He was pretty sure that most people knew at least a little Greek mythology and Zeus was usually a popular god to hear about. “How’d you decide to get into teaching?” He was always curious as to how others had decided on their jobs considering he had never had the chance to make many of his own decisions. His father had made pretty much all of his decisions for him until now.
“You know, I don’t think I remember? I’ve always been interested in mythology. History a little bit but mythology is my passion! The stories the ancients passed down to explain the world! I actually wrote a paper on how many creation myths are similar! It gets passed ‘round all over the place.”
Suddenly Alistair wondered if he could find Maia's paper on the Internet. He didn't know why he was curious, but he was, "That's pretty cool." It was then that the waitress came back with their food, "Thank you again. I still don't know why way around just yet. Following google maps only gets me so far, I've found."
“Well, that’s a start. If you’d like I can show you a couple of places. Depends on what you want or need.” She winked at him. If she wasn’t with Pam she’d be trying to get into his pants.
"Yeah, that'd be great. I need all the help I can get really," If Alistair knew where her train of thought was going, he probably would have turned bright red. "I did manage to find a Target, so I've got all the essentials. I just don't really know what to do with myself now." He still needed to find a job too.
“There’s a good restaurant nearby with some all natural food. No additives or anything like that, so if you like that sort of thing you’ll be happy!”
Alistair nodded, “I wouldn’t mind checking it out.” He didn’t want to admit that until now he’d never actually done his own grocery shopping. Before he’d moved to Orange County he’d still been living at home; the Theirin family house was so big that he practically had part of it to himself, but someone else had always done the grocery shopping. Now everything was up to him, “I need to find a job too.”
“What are your skills? We always need interns and help around the University. Before I was a teacher I ran one of the libraries!” They always needed help in those places!
"That's kind of the problem." Alistair looked down, intently at his sandwich for a moment then back at Maia, "I don't really have any. I was going to school for Political Science before I moved out here, but that was what my father wanted me to do."
“Well what do you want to do?” She felt momentary guilt over his fate in the dreams. Only momentary. She hadn’t trusted Anora as far as she could throw her.
“I’m not too sure, to be honest.” Alistair had only talked about his family life with Zevran, but now that he’d spent a little bit of time with Maia, she didn’t seem like the crazy lady he’d first thought she was when she’d practically tackled him on the street, “I’ve never really been able to make my own decisions. Have you ever heard of Maric Theirin?” This could be a mistake or it could be good, but he wouldn’t know unless he took the chance and opened up.
“Name rings a bell,” Maia said, evenly. She wasn’t sure about who he was in this world, but she knew him in the other. She’d liked him a lot, even after finding evidence of his relationship with Orlais. She wondered what would have happened if he’d been able to do something about that. A new sort of alliance. Would be useful against Blights.
Besides, love always made her happy.
“He’s a politician, so my entire life has been about appearances instead of what we really wanted.” Alistair took a bite of his sandwich, chewed and swallowed before he went on, “I came out here because I wanted a life of my own instead of being told what I should be doing.” And so far he was doing a fairly good job of it. After all, before he never would have actually gone out on a date with someone of the same sex.
“That’s the way to do it, but you’re in California so it’s really easy to want to try to conform.” She winked at him. More guilt about the things she’d made him (made everyone) do filled her stomach. Gods, she wanted him to remember her but not if it made his waking life a nightmare too.
“I just want to find something that will make me happy.” Once he was a little more settled, Alistair planned on really looking for a job. He still had the allowance from his father for a little while longer, so he hoped he’d be able to find something before that ran out. “I just don’t know where to start.”
“Well if you want any help or a door into the University system, let me know? You seem like the decent sort, love, and I’d like to help you.”
“I...thank you.” Alistair didn’t know what else to say to that. So far everyone he’d met since moving had been quite nice, even if his first meetings with them had been less than normal, but now he was quite glad that he’d met both Zevran and Maia.