xp_logs | Doug. Angie. Mall. this afternoon, like -right- after classes. (Reply)

Doug and Angie. The mall. An earring. And - .. how is it that these things always have serious parts? Confession of secrets - Angie finally tells Doug about sleeping with Manny, and getting Manuel to probe Doug after the potion incident. There's.. well, its a calm resolution, but rest assured, it won't be the last we see of -that- trauma.

The arcade was, in order - noisy, crowded, brightly-lit and full of flashing lights. In short, a very typical mall video arcade. Angie fed a bill into the token exchange-machine, smiling in an entirely self-amused fashion at Doug. "I am horrible at these games." she said, handing the small pile of gold-coloured tokens to him. "All you. Go shoot zombies."

Doug grinned self-assuredly. This was his element. This was something he understood. Even if the rest of the world was turned on its ear, video games made sense. "Not zombies, Angie. Terrorists." He walked up to the new Time Crisis 3 game and dropped several tokens into the slot. Hefting the gun in his hand, he readied a foot over the console pedal and assumed a two-handed stance, cocking his head from side to side and narrowing his focus to the screen in front of him.

Angie leaned against the side of another machine, and watched intently. The game itself was of only marginal interest - watching Doug -play- was fascinating. She bounced a few of the tokens in her hand, and folded her arms, alternating her attention between Doug's game and the rest of the arcade.

Doug's play was compact, tightly controlled. He would quickly assess each screen of enemies, assigning priority to certain enemies over others. When those enemies were taken down, he efficiently and methodically worked his way across the screen, double-tapping enemies as he went.

Angie shook her head, letting her hair cover part of her face, letting her watch the group of young men behind Doug without being obvious. They -seemed- to be just watching him play, but she wasn't going to take chances. // "Man. Look at him go." "You in?" "Nah. Ain't gonna touch his game."// She cracked a half-smile and turned her attention back to watching Doug play.

Doug made his way through several screens, then selected the submachine gun. His stance changed, as he hosed his fire across the screen. A few of the young men watching whistled at the ease of his movements and accuracy of his fire. After playing for a while, Doug lost his last life, electing not to continue. He exchanged amiable grins with his watchers, and placed an arm around Marie-Ange's waist.

The pair wandered through the mall, stopping once to giggle over some shirts on display at the Hot Topic - and for Doug to 'educate' Marie-Ange on the wonders of old-school Nintendo games, and again to consider some of the new Harry Potter shirts at one of the kiosks. As they passed the small shop that did ear-piercings, she paused briefly to give Doug a questioning look.

Doug looked assessingly at the shop, then shook his head. "Not yet," he said to Marie-Ange. "Game store?" he asked tentatively.
"Game store." She agreed, nodding. "Should I ply you with promises of Darksteel boosters?", Angie grinned. She could probably use some more cards herself, to be honest. No such thing as too many images to build constructs off of.

Doug kept telling himself it would be undignified to hop up and down like a child at Christmas. Of course, he did it anyway. "Ooh. Darksteel boosters." He grinned.

Angie shook her head, grinning. She wasn't going to tell Doug what bouncing in -those- pants was doing to his leg muscles. Nope. No sir. She wasn't watching. Intently. With absolute attention. Rapt, even.

Doug spun and used one hand to pull Marie-Ange along faster. "C'mon, I wanna see if they have the new Psionics Handbook, too."

"Hrm? Oh. Oh, your game with the monster book of monsters." Angie blinked her attention away from Doug's legs and followed along to the store.
"Yes, love. Dungeons and Dragons. Your boyfriend is a gigantic nerd, you know that, right?" He grinned.

Angie grinned, and slid one hand over Doug's side. "No nerd ever looked -that- good in leather pants," she whispered in his ear. She let Doug lead her over to a display of books, and shook her head. "I give in. Show me how to play, or what to get, and I will -try- to play."

Doug grinned. "You are way too amenable from me getting an earring." He leaned in and whispered back. "I wonder what else I could talk you into right now..."

Angie grinned back. "That is dependant on you -getting- it, Doug." She brushed a few stray locks of her from her face, and smiled. "You are -way- ahead of me, so far. Dinner, cards, playing your silly monster game... "

Doug grinned. "...playing the cello and the bass guitar..." He chuckled. "Don't think I'd forgotten." He plucked a few packs of Darksteel boosters out of the box and watched while Marie-Ange paid for them. Carrying the small bag out of the shop, he leaned in again. "I think we can find something to make it worth your while, love. Was there something you'd like?"

Angie sighed. "All this for a tiny piece of metal. Sometimes I wonder which of us is getting the better end of this deal." She shrugged at his question. "I am .. not sure. Surprise me? Suggest something?"

Doug shrugged himself. "I don't want to...make you uncomfortable by suggesting something that's going to make you nervous." He looked rather tentative as they made their way back towards the earring shop.

Noticing Doug's still-nervous expression, Angie led him to a bench to sit for a moment. She leaned her head backwards and stared up at the skylights. "It isn't you, Doug. You do not make me nervous at all. It is... a bad association. Something I would rather not associate with you.." She let out a sigh and frowned. "It is.. I will recover. I -will-."

Doug shrugged himself. "I don't want to...make you uncomfortable by suggesting something that's going to make you nervous." He looked rather tentative as they made their way back towards the earring shop.

Noticing Doug's still-nervous expression, Angie led him to a bench to sit for a moment. She leaned her head backwards and stared up at the skylights. "It isn't you, Doug. You do not make me nervous at all. It is... a bad association. Something I would rather not associate with you.." She let out a sigh and frowned. "It is.. I will recover. I -will-."

Doug tentatively reached over to take one of Marie-Ange's hands. "Can I help somehow?" he asked softly.

Marie-Ange shut her eyes for a moment, forcing her face to relax - to hide the expression of regret she -knew- she was showing. "I . do not know. I.. think, you already do, just by being you." She squeezed his hand and started to stand, in the hopes that the distraction of the -goal- of the trip might keep Doug from noticing her sudden bout of nervousness.

Doug cocked his head and kept Marie-Ange's hand in his, remaining seated and holding her standing in front of him. "What aren't you telling me, Angie?" he asked quietly.

"Nothing.. " Angie responded instinctively, then mentally smacked herself. Doug. With the communication power. Oh -hell-. How had he gone -this- long without seeing it. "I.. " She stammered over her response. "I .. do not know if I can tell you." she finally said, quietly.

Doug nodded. "Okay. If you can't, then it's okay." He helped Marie-Ange to sit back down, and stroked her back reassuringly.

Marie-Ange curled her head onto Doug's shoulder and shut her eyes. It wasn't fair to not tell him. She knew it, she knew .. ~Wait.~. She counted to five in her head, first in French, and then in Latin, and English, and then finally in French again, backwards. ~Five minutes ahead. Just.. five minutes.~ She thought to herself. She brought up the mirror-image of herself that Nathan had mentioned and focused on it, pushing her thoughts out towards that odd direction where the mirror-her started to drape herself in blue and white robes. Concentrating on Doug, and her own thoughts and worries and the nagging -guilt- over becoming intimate with Manuel, she let herself drift for a moment.

Doug sat quietly, sensing Marie-Ange's need for quiet. He tried his best to radiate support and calm, continuing to hold her hand.

Angie was expecting pain - the readings still came with headaches attached - attached with many little hooks inside her skull, to be exact. Prepared for a headache, she hadn't expected what to feel what could be best described as a pin being jabbed inside her eye. She let out a hiss, and then relaxed, and looked up. "I.. have not been entirely up front with you. I need to be. " she said, quietly. She shut her eyes, and swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. "I ... did exactly what you asked me not to, after Kwannon and .. the love potion. I asked Manuel to help."

Doug kept Marie-Ange's hand clasped in his and nodded slowly. "I had a hunch that you might have. I know that I had you really worried, Angie."
"That.. is not.. the problem, exactly." Angie gritted her teeth. "He did not do it willingly. I had to talk him into helping. I .. " She shook her head. "I would not have offered half of what I did if Kwannon had not already been in my head." She scowled, and switched, deliberately to French. "He... said things, asked for things, and.. then when ... you do, I cannot help but hear him, and I know you are nothing like Manuel. I know it. I know it, and I still cannot help but remember him."

Doug blinked as a number of things clicked together in his head, like the one piece of a jigsaw puzzle that suddenly makes it very obvious where several others go. "~Stab his eyes,~" Doug muttered feelingly in Askani. Now he understood why Marie-Ange was so loath to even speak to Manuel, on top of the attempt to force Marie-Ange to use her powers.

Angie twitched an eyebrow at the odd words from Doug, and let out a long, ragged breath. "I.. needed you to be safe, to know if you were as bad as we feared. .. at the time, I thought I really had no choice but to do what he asked."

Doug nodded. "I know. I'm not mad at you, love," he added firmly, placing an arm around Marie-Ange's shoulders and hugging her to him. "You did what you thought you had to do."

"How.. . how can you not be -mad-? " Angie pulled her legs up onto the bench and wrapped her arms around them. "I did exactly what you said not to, I had Manuel poke around in your head, and God only know what he could have done there, and on top of that, I can't stop comparing you and him, even though I know that you are nothing alike."

Doug snaked an arm between Marie-Ange's knees and her stomach and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. "Shh..." he said. "You did what you had to do," he repeated. "I know I gave you and Jamie a lot of cause to worry. If I'm mad at anyone, I'm mad at _him_, for asking that of you in payment for his...services," Doug said, distaste and scorn evident in the last word.

"I .. just .. " Angie leaned against Doug's shoulder, and tried - only marginally successfully - to relax. "I .. do not know if I could not be mad. I don't understand why you aren't."

Doug smiled gently and pressed his palm to Marie-Ange's cheek softly. "I remember begging you to hate me after the love potion. I couldn't understand why you didn't. Just believe me the way I believed you then, mon coeur?"

"I can try. I.. " Angie pressed her cheek against Doug's hand, and shut her eyes. "What on earth and in heaven did I ever do to deserve someone like you?" she asked quietly.

"It's not about deserving, love," Doug replied quietly. "Lord knows there are times that I think _I_ don't deserve _you_."

Angie ducked her head, and blushed. "What a mess we are. " she said, smiling just slightly. She stayed that way for a minute, just content to sit quietly and try to un-tense.

Doug nodded. "We muddle through somehow, though," he replied, using one hand to rub Marie-Ange's neck and shoulders, encouraging her to relax.
"We do." She untucked her feet, and set them on the ground. "Alison is going to be back -soon-. " she said, quietly. ".. we.. should probably get moving?"

Doug took in a deep breath and let it out nervously. "Okay. But you're holding my hand," he added as they made their way to the shop.

"Both, if you want, and you can close your eyes." Angie smiled gently. Distraction. That would work. She hoped. "It doesn't hurt. Really." She took Doug's hand and led him to the counter, starting to smile just from sheer amusement. When the cashier turned, she grinned widely, and pointed at Doug's ear, letting the gesture explain everything.

The cashier, a rather flamingly gay young man, grinned just as widely at the harried expression on Doug's face. "Putting your mark on him, are you? Smart, girlfriend. An ass like that and pants like those, you better mark your territory."

Angie shook her head. "Not .. quite. Just.. " She broke down in giggles, and made a "I can't explain. You take over" gesture at Doug.

Doug's 'harried' expression remained firmly in place. "You want _me_ to explain?" He laughed nervously. "It's a thing. A 'facing fears I'm willing to face' thing. And she pouts well."

The cashier - Louis, by his nametag - nodded, smiling. "A thing. Of course." He gestured broadly at a single chair near the front of the store. "Go, sit, sit." He looked over Doug's face appraisingly, then turned to Marie-Ange. "Lucky girl. He's a find."

Angie grinned, and nodded. "Oui. Yes, he is, and I am." She picked up the little card with the display earrings on it and handed it to Doug. "Silver, or white gold? Or titanium, maybe. Not gold, though. You are too blond. It would look wrong."

Doug still looked as though he were expecting to wake up from this very vivid, very surreal dream he was in. "Um. White gold sounds fine, I guess. I don't know."

Angie nodded, and handed the card back to Louis, who had pulled out a handful of items from a drawer. A release form, a small silver gun-shaped device, and the plastic and cardboard earring box. After paperwork was signed - by Doug, in multiple places - and explanations were given - and all the appropriate preparations were made, Angie took Doug's hands in hers, and grinned. "You can shut your eyes, if you want, you know." she said quietly.
Doug's eyes immediately snapped shut. "I don't know how much it's going to help. I already saw that gun thing."

Angie nodded, and let Doug squeeze at her fingers. "It does not hurt. Just a little pinch." From next to Doug's ear, Louis-the-cashier made a noise of agreement. "Do you want me to count, or just do it?" he asked.

"Just do it," Doug murmured. Several seconds later, Doug felt a vague pinch sensation in his ear. His eyes opened. "That's it?" he asked, then winced a touch as a bit of after-sensation hit.

"That was it." Louis handed Doug a mirror, smiling broadly. "Nothing to it."

Doug looked curiously at the small, -almost to the point of tiny- ball that now resided in his left ear. "Wow," he said, at a loss for words.

After a few moments - and repeated instructions on how to care for the piercing - and quite a few instances of Doug touching his ear - they were done - earring paid for, and Angie beaming, just terribly -amused- by the entire procedure. "Not -so- scary, no?" she asked, as they left the store.
"I guess," Doug replied. "I just am still waiting to wake up."

"Coma dream?" Angie asked gently. "If it one of your or Jamie's coma dreams, can we not wake up, ever? I am fond of this one. No one is on fire and I have a cute boyfriend." She nodded, looking very mockingly serious.

Doug grinned. "Sounds fine to me, love. I don't think I'd like waking up to discover that the beautiful redhead I've been dating was just a figment of my imagination."

Marie-Ange blushed. "You... you are too much. What.. am I going to do with you?" she asked, before leaning close and pressing a quick kiss to Doug's mouth.

Doug grinned. "I have a list," he replied, automatically, and then leaned in to return the kiss with one of his own.
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*And for those of you who know Doug's player, there's some in-jokes in this log. Doug isn't the only one with new hardwear. ;)