InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret"

Terry Boot (mrboot) wrote in veritaserum_rp,
@ 2008-09-21 14:03:00

Entry tags:

madeline summers, terry boot

Tag to Maddy! ^_^
Who: Terry Boot and Maddy Summers
What: Terry takes Aidan's advice of taking time off, goes out and runs into Maddy and her kids.
Where: Museum.
When: Early afternoon.

After much persuading by Aidan, Terry was finally convinced to take some time off of work to get himself back on track. He was doing his best, though his appetite still wasn't completely there and he had trouble sleeping sometimes. At least he managed to put himself off of smoking after a couple days of pure, painful willpower and force. Slowly but surely he was feeling better.

Terry had woken up that morning feeling surprisingly refreshed and decided some time out of the house would be good for him. He took a long walk through the park, sat for a while before deciding to go home, and had somehow, in the midst of all that, managed to find himself in the nearest museum. It didn't really bother him, though, considering history was one of his passions.

Once admitted into the building, Terry made his way through the halls, mesmerized by everything he saw.

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quirky_puff
2008-09-21 01:34 pm UTC (link)

She knew something had to go wrong. It always did - especially when things started out so peacefully. There had been only one instance of whining while they got the museum and while the nice lady told them about the pots and pans and the other weird stuff in the glass cases there had been but a mere, shy interruption by little Suze. Of course Maddy would have preferred if the aforementioned interruption had taken a different form than a rather audible 'Maddy? Why does that woman have so much hair on her legs? Is she cold otherwise?'

Maddy smiled at the recollection, ushered the rest of the over-excited kids into the hand of the hairy-legged lady who continued the tour with them and started looking for Craig. Five year old Craig with more curiosity than was good for him and a nose for trouble.

Maddy sighed and rounded a corner. The kid had to be somewhere.

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mrboot
2008-09-21 02:03 pm UTC (link)

Terry was in the area full of skeletons and replicas of ancient animals, such as dinosaurs, when he felt a tug on his jeans. Looking down, he saw a little boy, who couldn't be more than 5 or 6, looking up at him, one hand on Terry's jeans and the other pointing to the skeleton.

"Missir, what's it?" He asked, a mix of interest and concern on his face. Terry looked around; there wasn't anyone else around. He leaned down to the boy's level.

"It's a dinosaur. You ever heard about them?" The little boy looked over at the dinosaur, wide-eyed and nodded a little. "Don't worry, it's not going anywhere." Terry reassured the boy. "What's your name?" The boy paused and bit his lip.

"...Craig." He finally said, clearly wondering if he'd done the right thing.

"It's alright, Craig." Terry said, standing up again. "Are you lost?" The boy thought for a moment before shrugging. "C'mon, I bet somebody's looking for you."

"Miss Summers!" Craig said suddenly, looking around. "I hope she's not mad."

"She'll be glad to see you. Let's go find her." Terry replied with a small smile, hoping Miss Summers wasn't some ancient, callous school teacher. The little boy grabbed his jeans as they walked to the information desk, Terry asking them to page a Miss Summers.

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quirky_puff
2008-09-21 04:14 pm UTC (link)

Was she allowed to yell in here? Maddy looked around and saw a sign that warned people not to touch anything. Her plan didn't include touching. Looking around once more (and finding nothing but an old wizard fast asleep on a bench) Maddy gave up and started yelling.

"CRAIG!"

The old wizard almost fell off his bench, glared at her and went to sleep again while Maddy got increasingly nervous. The kid could have gotten hurt. There wasn't technically too much he could have hurt himself with but these were children - they always found a way. Craig was perfectly capable of falling over his own feet and...Maddy shuddered and halted to keep herself from hyperventilating.

"CRAAAAI...Craig?" Wasn't that the boy? At the information desk? "YOU! Stay right where you are!"

And she sprinted over and unceremoniously pulled Craig into a hug.

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mrboot
2008-09-21 07:05 pm UTC (link)

Terry had just finished telling the woman at the desk how he'd found Craig, that he said he was here with a woman named Miss Summers and she should be found when Craig's name rang through the building. Before Terry had time to react a figure rushed over to Craig and was hugging him.

"Nevermind, I think we've found her." Terry said to the woman at the desk before turning to Craig and the woman, who had finally released the boy. "Miss Summers, I'm assuming?" He asked with a smile as he looked at her and...wow. She was neither ancient or (at least he hoped not) callous. Miss Summers was...was there even a word for it?

Terry caught himself and extended a hand to her. "Terry Boot. Pleasure to meet you."

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quirky_puff
2008-09-22 06:11 am UTC (link)

Maddy had produced a spotted handkerchief from somewhere and was carefully scrubbing some imaginary soot off Craig's nose when his rescuer addressed her. Maddy smiled and got up again to talk to his face instead of his knees.

"Maddy Summers. It's a pleasure to be met." She introduced herself and gave his hand a quick, firm shake. And then she remembered him. A vague picture of blue robes and broomsticks appeared in her mind and though Maddy couldn't quite remember if they ever talked - apart from a nice 'Pass the potatoes, will you?' - she was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face. A friendly familiar face. "It was very nice of you to save -"

"He told me about dinos!" Craig interrupted proudly, then stopped. "And I told him my name but he didn't offer me sweets because I can't take sweets from strangers." The five year old rattled down with a thoughtful expression. "But he's not a stranger now anymore...could I take sweets now?"

Maddy rolled her eyes and ruffled Craig's hair. "Sweets rot your teeth." She said decisively and sighed upon the questioning look that Craig cast Terry. "Come on, Terry. Do sweets rot his teeth or not?"

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mrboot
2008-09-22 07:57 am UTC (link)

No. Definitely not callous. And there was something about her, Terry wasn't sure if he'd ever seen her before but he figured he would've remembered her. Maddy Summers. It didn't exactly ring a bell, but you never know. And either way, he knew her now.

"Yeah, sweets rot your teeth." Terry replied, putting on a straight face and nodding at the boy, who put on a disappointed face. "But would you like to more about dinos instead? I know a bit about them, and other stuff in here." He looked at Maddy. "Well, if that's okay with you? I don't want to intrude on your visit."

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quirky_puff
2008-09-22 01:45 pm UTC (link)

Maddy gave Craig a look that clearly said 'See?' and managed to carry a whole lot of smugness, too before she turned back to Terry.

"Actually, that would be nice but the others are waiting and we need to join..."

"Madeline?" The voice of an elderly woman interrupted them as the hairy-legged woman - accompanied by the kids - approached and gave Terry a brief smile. "It's three o'clock and Josh and Mike said they would take the kids from here. They're going to a theatre or something frivolous of that kind." She sniffed, obviously in disapproval. "That means I just grab Craig here and...there they are!"

The woman turned and shooed the children over to the other social workers before turning to wave at Maddy a final time. "Tomorrow at eight. Don't forget to bring bananas! And have a nice day!"

Maddy, too, waved still quite surprised with the way things had played out. "Well, there goes your audience for the great dino show." She looked after 'her' kids who seemed excited at the prospect of going to a theatre, then back to Terry. "Unless you want to show me those dinos." Maddy joked lightly. "I swear I can channel the spirit of a five-year old like...a five-year old." She finished rather lamely.

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	quirky_puff 2008-09-22 01:46 pm UTC (link)
	OOC - If you'd rather go a different way, let me know and I'll edit my tag :) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

mrboot
2008-09-22 02:52 pm UTC (link)

Terry watched as things made a rather unexpected turn, returning the smile that woman Maddy apparently worked with gave him- Terry couldn't help being thankful she hadn't been the one to find Craig. She looked a bit frightening to him. But seeing things go from the most likely prospect of returning to wandering around the museum on his own to the opportunity of walking around with Maddy seemed to him like he'd much rather do than mope around on his own. Besides, there was something about Maddy, he couldn't quite place it, but it made him believe they'd have fun.

"Did you....want to walk around?" He asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I was planning on staying around for a bit more anyway, and company's always nice. Especially in a large room full of dinosaurs." Terry gave a small laugh cleared his throat, wondering how ridiculous he sounded.

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quirky_puff
2008-09-24 01:09 pm UTC (link)

In retrospect Maddy asked herself what in Merlin's name she had been thinking to ask Terry to show the dinosaurs to her. She couldn't care less about dinosaurs and...it didn't make sense. Maddy blinked, quickly laid the blame on the shock Mrs. Hairy-legs had given her and smiled.

"Well, it sure looks like you need protection against the scary exposits and what kind of social worker would I be if I denied my help?" The smile got a little insecure. "Not that you're a case for a social worker, I mean I'm more like doing the thing with the psychological help and..." Maddy frowned. What was wrong with her? "I'm not saying that you're crazy by the way." But judging from the way she was rambling she might very well be. Maddy shrugged and smiled innocently.

"So either there's going to be a hole in the ground that conveniently opens up and swallows or we quickly go and take a look at those dinosaurs."

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mrboot
2008-09-24 07:47 pm UTC (link)

Terry couldn't help but laugh as Maddy kept talking. "I don't think you're crazy either." He responded, his eyebrows raised in a joking matter. "And since there doesn't seem to be any holes suddenly appearing, maybe looking at dinosaurs might be the best option. Or if there was something else you wanted to look at. We could wander; I think just about everything in here is interesting." He smiled a little goofily at her and ran a hand through his hair. Now he was the one rambling.

"So, you're a social worker? That's great. The kids seem to really like you." In truth, Terry had never had much interaction with social workers or psychologists, but he respected the work they did. It was a job that required a lot of patience and commitment.

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