inthecoldlight (inthecoldlight) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-20 21:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | alecto carrow, remus lupin |
WHO: Alecto Carrow & Remus Lupin
WHEN: July 9th
WHERE: A museum in LA
WHAT: A first date
WARNINGS: Some talk of dead people and Death Eater things? But generally pretty PG
STATUS: Complete
Today was an oddity for Alecto. Most notably because it was a date. Alecto, by habit and preference did not go on dates. Not that she had any intention of mentioning it. Mostly because pointing out that something was unusual for her usually meant she had to reflect on it and the situation she was currently in and she liked to avoid thinking too hard about her life and her choices. Especially when it involved dating and boys. So she treated as casually and normal as anything else. Rebekah had already given her plenty of looks. In fact, she was the one that dragged her back to her room when she’d come down in her idea of “proper date wear”. Apparently neon short shorts were not acceptable. Alecto had frowned at it, but she didn’t argue too much about the clothing choices.
She’d debated Slytherin colors, but decided not to go with that either. In the end, Rebekah talked her into the outfit that she was currently wearing. It was enough of her to keep her from fussing with it and worrying if it made her seem unlike herself. Sort of like this whole situation did.
Still, the drive hadn’t been awful...even if it did take a little while. She’d even managed not to yell things at random people on the street out the window. Rebekah had cautioned her against a few of her habits. It meant she had to keep those things in mind, but it was probably beneficial. The only thing the outfit didn’t do was hide her Dark Mark, something that was only strange when her mind reminded her of what it meant for Remus. She didn’t really think about it anywhere else.
“Let me guess. Fun fact?” To Remus’ credit, the war photos were pretty great. Being delighted by the number of dead corpses was probably not the reaction that the museum was going for, but she managed to keep her excitement to a low hum and asked about whether he thought it was real or not. “Because you have a lot of those today.” There was a brief pause before she lightly bumped his shoulder in an effort to show she was just teasing without having to say it was only teasing.
To say Remus was nervous would be an understatement. Having never actually gone on a date before, this was new and unchartered territory, and he still couldn’t be sure if Alecto was just being polite or genuinely sort of didn’t mind the thought of going on a date with him. Probably better not to think about it. At least his date plan seemed fine. The car ride, which he’d been the most nervous about it, was good. Idle chatter as they drove to Los Angeles. Not that Orange County didn’t have good military museums, but there were better ones. And he did a good job of not focusing too much on the Dark Mark - okay, sure, sometimes his eyes would flick to it, but he didn’t bring it up. He wouldn’t bring it up. It was just an unfortunate circumstance, like his own lycanthropy, and they were both delightful people. Exactly.
At Alecto’s words, Remus laughed and shrugged, looking away to hide his embarrassed grin. “I can’t help it. It’s all this useless trivia, waiting there to bubble out. Once the dam is broken, the flood keeps going.” He raises his eyebrows and then held up his hands. “Okay, I promise, no more fun facts. The information plaques are probably more than enough.”
She rolled her eyes and bumped him again. “But how am I supposed to collect annoying trivia to pester people with later if you stop.” She didn’t mind the fun facts, but she’d lost track of how many there were. She probably wouldn’t remember enough to annoy Amycus with later. That was her plan. To tell Amycus a lot of information about things he probably didn’t care about. She was still a little annoyed at him for betting against her. Twins weren’t supposed to bet against each other. Her expression soured for a moment as she thought about it, so she forced herself to stop thinking about it. She’d just make him regret it later. “My brother deserves this as a punishment.”
There was a pause as she stared at the picture in front of her. “Because he is sad and boring unlike me.” Glancing at Remus, Alecto tried to think of something she was supposed to say in this situation. Probably that he was not sad and boring. Maybe she was supposed to say she was having fun. She was pretty sure whatever it was was eluding her. There needed to be a dating handbook that gave you precise instructions for each social situation. “So what’s your fun fact?”
“Ah, I see, I’m just a pawn in your harrassment of your brother.” Remus sighed, a touch dramatically, then shrugged again. God, he felt awkward. He knew he was awkward. Probably best not to think about it, really. He cleared his throat as he looked at the photo in question, then launched into his fun fact about the circumstances surrounding the fight that photo had come from. It was definitely not fun, but at the very least it was interesting.
“So, I know we agreed nothing cutesy, but since we’re here in LA already, I think we need to go to this ice cream place. They have ice cream sandwiches made out of macaroons that were featured in a Buzzfeed article, so you know they’re good.”
“There are worse things to be in this world.” She gave him a quick smile. “I mean, you could always be someone less interesting’s pawn. At least I look great in skinny jeans.” That was followed by a wink before she quieted as he spoke about the photo, trying remember all the details so she could tell Amycus all about it later. Maybe she’d just start texting him useless facts. It was probably bad manners to do that while she was currently on a date.
“When did ice cream become cutesy? I missed that memo. Also this is macaroons we’re talking about. It is strictly necessary.” Alecto nodded sagely at that. “Like...okay, you remember Madam Puddifoots? I never went in there, but that’s cutesy. Also things like walks on the beach and watching the sunset and...things.” A pause. “Poetry readings…”
“Ice cream isn’t cutesy? I totally thought ice cream counted as cutesy,” Remus said, with a touch of a (dramatic) sigh. “That’s good to know, then. Next time I will remember that ice cream does not equal cutesy.” He nodded, then laughed. “I’m so glad I never had to go to Puddifoots. Some places are just … Not acceptable. That’s one of them.”
He began to walk back towards the entrance of the museum, raising his eyebrows a bit. “Poetry readings are cutesy? What if it’s sad poetry? Also, my friend suggested we go bowling, but I figured that was probably also cutesy. If there was a contest for how many times a person could say cutesy, I’d probably be almost winning by now.”
Despite her best efforts, Alecto found herself smiling. Even if she did roll her eyes at the same time. “It’s ice cream. Unless you’re planning on doing some weird shit like having me lick your ice cream. That might be cutesy. Unless I made it sexual...which, let’s be real...I probably would.” Alecto knew herself well enough to understand her habits, but that didn’t necessarily mean she had to change them. “I would never go. I saw enough of that place to know it was terrible.”
She tilted her head slightly as she walked, eyes squinted slightly as she thought over the question. “Well, I did find funny poetry, but most of it is dirty. Love poetry, though...I don’t know about that. Maybe if it was morbid poetry.” There was a long pause before she said, “Well, bowling is okay, I guess. Laser tag is more fun, though. I think it’s something to do with all the shooting people and also the possibility of epic tumbling and war cries.” She nodded, resisting the urge to bump into him on purpose. “That’s definitely a leggings and tank top sort of situation, though. But I mean, if you wanna fight for the title of who can say cutesy more times than the other person, I’ll fight you.”
“See, when you say you’ll fight me, I actually believe that. I believe that you will very literally fight me, and I’m actually not good at fighting so I’d lose and it would be so embarrassing. Also like, laser tag also seems like it would humiliate me.” Though he was pretty good at magic, and, well. If you can master a wand you could master a laser gun, right? … Probably not. On the way by the main desk, Remus dropped a donation into the box and held the door for Alecto.
“So. Lunch and ice cream, then … I guess whatever.” They were adults after all. They could head back to Orange County whenever they wanted, and there was a lot to do in Los Angeles and a lot of day still ahead of them. “Where do you want to eat?”
Alecto laughed. “That’s probably true. It would be embarrassing.” But it was one of those things that Alecto was pretty sure would be weirdly endearing, too. She didn’t like endearing. At least not usually. It almost made her narrow her eyes at Remus suspiciously. “You need to learn the art of being a badass and rolling on the ground in an effective manner before shooting at people.” She sighed slightly. “But I suppose we can let you keep your dignity. For now.”
Walking out the door, Alecto arched an eyebrow slightly. “Burgers. Let’s go with that.” It didn’t feel too fancy or date-like, so she liked it. The ice cream was ignored because she liked ice cream. That and she wanted ice cream. “I’m sure we can find somewhere.”
“Burgers. There’s burgers everywhere, sure.” Burgers were totally easy. Burgers Remus could do. Just him and Alecto, eating burgers. As they walked to the car, he used his phone to find what locals considered the best burger places, because they shouldn’t just eat any burger on their first date. Right? “All right, I got a place. Do you wanna give me directions while I drive?”
Remus handed over his phone after opening the car door for her. When he went around to his own side, he climbed in and headed out of the parking lot. “Left first, right?”
Alecto walked with him to his car, casually arching an eyebrow as he opened the door for her. She decided not to say anything about it, though. It wasn’t something that she felt she needed. Romance felt weird to her in most forms, but she guessed it felt right to other people and he seemed to want to impress her, which was also an oddity. She guessed it was difficult to really get to her, but most of that was purposeful. When she sat down, she took the phone, studying the directions as she waited for him to get in the car. For a very short moment in time, she considered telling him that it was right, but at the last minute she decided to be nice. “Yeah. It’s left.” She waited for a moment. “And then it’s a right.”
“Left. Then right,” he repeated. He followed the directions, mindful of the crazy LA traffic. What as he thinking, coming to Los Angeles for a day date? Ah well. Too late now.
“So.” Remus paused, clearing his throat. He was a naturally polite person but curiosity was winning out. “Does it hurt? The mark.” His head nodded in her arm’s general direction while keeping his eyes on the road. Maybe they’d get to food soon and this already awkward conversation would be over with soon.
Alecto had never really minded traffic, but that was probably because she didn’t drive much. Amycus didn’t really let her borrow the car, so she just took taxis wherever she needed to go. It was an excuse everyone generally accepted. Traffic was bad.
The question caused her to look up from the directions, arching an eyebrow slightly again. “Not now. It hurt when I first got it. Since it’s pretty much branded into your skin with crazy magic. And if I dream about being summoned, it’ll hurt a little, but most of the time it’s just there.” She shrugged slightly. “It feels pretty much like any other tattoo, though. You can touch it if you want to. Or not. Either way.” She kept her voice casual and much like she was talking about something ordinary and not the fact that she was the enemy in her dreams. Everything was normal. Even if it wasn’t.
“If it’s all the same to you, I think I won’t. Touch it.” Remus seemed to realize how awful that sounded, so he cleared his throat. “What I mean is, all things considered. It would just be weird touching it, specifically, not touching you. Touching you wouldn’t be weird.”
Welp. That was sure smooth. He dutifully kept his eyes on the road, because Los Angeles was full of terrible drivers and an accident was not the way to start off … Whatever this was they were starting.
Alecto nodded. “Touching me is definitely not weird. I can speak from experience.” She bit down on her lip to keep from smiling or laughing, which only worked for so long before she was smirking. “But all right. No touching my snake-tongued skull tattoo.”
And now she didn’t know what to say, so she was quiet as she tried to think of a different topic. “Oh. Left up here,” was the best she could do. “Do you have a favourite spell?”
That’s a good subject change. Thank you, Alecto. “I’m rather fond of charms in general, I think. Well. Actually, I’ve grown really to like Expecto Patronum. I haven’t tried it yet, it seems a bit advanced still, but there’s something very soothing about it.” Remus paused. “I guess that’s the nature of it. Security and all that.”
He followed her directions and took the left, and he could see the restaurant up at the end of the street. “What about you?” Though once he asked he almost regretted it. Please don’t say an Unforgivable, he silently pleaded.
Alecto considered Remus’ answer. It made sense, but she’d never been able to cast that spell in the dreams. She wondered if that meant something. How could she have no good memories to make a spell with? She didn’t say anything about it, though. Maybe she’d be able to do the spell here. “Sounds like a very you response,” was her response when she could finally think of one.
What was her favourite? Well, she knew that her dream self favoured offencive, which made sense. She liked to strike first. But for the sake of not being too honest, she said, “Probably the Tarantallegra one. Especially when it’s someone who doesn’t normally dance and they just look really, really cross while being made to dance.” It wasn’t the worst. “I guess I’m a troll in both worlds.”
“Does it?” Remus furrowed his brows. Was he very Expecto Patronum-y? That was sort of a cool compliment to get. Then her answer made him laugh, and most of that was out of sheer relief but also because … “That is a very you answer.” He couldn’t help but grin, turning to flash his smile at her before returning his attention to the road.
Once traffic had moved along, Remus parked in the lot of the burger joint and let out a sigh as he turned off the car. “I’m starving. And have the biggest craving for a chocolate milkshake.”
“You just seem like the sort more interested in protecting people than fighting them. Is all.” She shrugged, clearing her throat and looking out the window in the hopes that she didn’t come off as some weird person. She turned back toward him when he laughed, however, and smiled a little. “Well, I live to be amazing. As you know.”
A milkshake sounded good. She didn’t get them that often...unless she was getting the girls sugared up for fun or Rebekah was already getting one. “I was thinking strawberry, but chocolate’s probably a pretty good second choice. It’s too bad you can’t get all three.” She got out of the car before he could open the door for her this time in an effort to avoid any weird feelings about it.
“Probably could. I mean. They just blend up chocolate and vanilla together?” It made sense to Remus. He’d make her one, if she ever asked him to. But right. No being cutesy. Instead he just walked up to the door, and this time a stranger leaving held it open for them. “After you.”
“I’m asking,” she said when she followed him, flashing him a quick grin. “Thanks for the day of dead bodies. It’s been great. Next time we should probably look into a way to transport them easier.” She looked over at the stranger holding the door open and gave them a quick smile and enjoying the look on their face before disappearing into the restaurant.