xp_logs | Doug and Maddie (backdated)

Backdated to April. Doug and Maddie meet for lunch to work on her ASL tutoring, and she totally tries to convince him to take her somewhere. It doesn't take much convincing.

And since you can't buy spray paint if you're under 18, Maddie signed. Her face was animated as her hands waved wildly, if not all that quickly. I had to use sidewalk chalk. But at least I got a picture before the rain washed it off.

I feel as though I should be discouraging your little graffiti projects, Doug signed back with a twist of his fingers that indicated humor, along with his inability to suppress a grin and be anything like stern. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and so forth. He shrugged. But I'm pretty delinquent myself, so. Madelyne's grasp of ASL was coming along well, if he did say so himself, since he was her tutor. So her lessons were turning toward the ability to carry on a conversation, and building her vocabulary.

Maddie curled her upper lip up in exaggerated disgust, and stuck her tongue out at her tutor. Whatever. You're totally old, eyeroll, and I don't need another 'When I Was Your Age' story. I actually have walked to school in a foot of snow. Beat. Okay. I walked from the car to the school door through the snow. On purpose, she relented under Doug's incredulous gaze. But my point still stands!

You are so full of... Doug's hands paused. Then he thought and came to the conclusion that if she wasn't going to learn the next sign from him, she'd either learn it from Artie or the internet. Probably Artie. ...shit. Speaking of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Doug took everything Madelyne said with a grain of salt. The girl had a tendency to...embellish.

Audible gasp. "I'm telling the professor you're teaching me how to swear."

"I'm teaching you, hm?" Doug asked with a grin. "Then how did you already know what that sign meant, hm, Miss Pryor?"

Maddie glowered, her lips set in a firm line and her eyes glaring at her tutor. Doug had pointed out a flaw in her logic, and that annoyed her. "I hate you," she said, as she crossed her arms huffily to further illustrate this point.

"Join the club." Not that Marie-Ange really hated him. Or maybe ever really had. But still, Madelyne was in good company in the I Hate Doug Ramsey club, even if just restricted to redheads. In any event, though, Doug could bear Maddie's kind of hate with equanimity, as he'd had worse.

So her attempt at blackmail had failed, and Doug seemed immune to her patented Death Glare; he was definitely a hard nut to crack. Whatever. It wasn't like she was really trying that hard anyways. Switching gears, Maddie daintily lay her hands on the table and smiled sweetly. I think I could use some more real world experience, she signed smoothly. With people who have a different way of signing. A different "dialect" you know?

And what did you have in mind? Doug didn't trust that sweet smile any more than he did Madelyne's tendency to spin yarns. Her moods flashed like quicksilver, and it was almost difficult to keep up. But he suspected she was going somewhere with this new tack, it just remained to be seen where.

I-n-t-r-e-p-i-d. The smile became more genuine, and Maddie bounced in her seat as subtly as she could. She didn't want to seem too excited, that might make Doug even more suspicious of her request. And it was completely innocent this time. Sure, she had already visited it over Thanksgiving, but that didn't mean she didn't want to visit the aircraft carrier again.

They have ASL tours.

Sounds like fun. And you're right, the ASL tours would be good practice. As requests went, it was pretty innocuous, and from the way she was trying not to be too obvious about it, she was honestly interested and excited in the idea. When were you thinking you might like to go?

"Eee!" Maddie quickly covered her mouth to muffle the squeal of delight. As soon as possible, she signed carefully, knowing that in her excitement she was more likely to mess up what she was trying to say. And she could probably convince Doug to make a day of the field trip by bribing him with Big Gay Ice Cream after the tour. It would be just like skipping class, except she wouldn't get in trouble for it because it was educational.

They have a space shuttle! She made a 'whooshing' sound as her fight hand arched high into the air in the sign for 'rocket'. With all pretense of nonchalance completely gone, Maddie figured it was okay if Doug knew about her Big Obsession with the space shuttle. Even if this one really hadn't been to space.

Doug grinned at Maddie's attempt to play it cool. And then her failure to keep it cool with the whooshing and swooping of her hand as the space shuttle. The space shuttle is pretty badass. And really, he meant both the thing itself, and the sign for it. It was going to be educational and fun. And he was maybe a little giddy himself at having an excuse to go see it.

Yes! Maddie pumped her fist in celebration; she loved it when a plan came together. It had taken a few unsuccessful tactics, but finally she had succeeded in convincing Doug to take her on a field trip. She stored the knowledge that sweetness and polite rationalizing was the best way to bend him to her whims, at least when it came to quasi-academic activities. At the end of the day, she would count this as a win in her corner.