Doug & Mel | The Devil Wears Prada
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xp_logsBackdated to April 29th Doug and Mel chat about dating and work.
Mel had been unmatched on Tinder again. Love must be dead if she couldn’t even get a date in New York City of all places.
This obviously meant she had to watch a movie where the love interest sucked, and do so in a public space so that someone might come upon her and she could bitch about it.
The rec room. The Devil Wears Prada. Woe that is her.
She lounged on one of the couches and absentmindedly braided a piece of her hair as she watched Anne Hathaway take on the fashion world.
A someone did indeed happen upon the movie and its viewer, ready to be bitched at. "Is there anyone in this movie who is not just the utter worst at some point?" he asked semi-rhetorically as Meryl Streep chewed her scenery admirably. "Apparently all the actors are pretty delightful, but on screen..." Doug shuddered theatrically.
“Art, an imitation of life. The horrors of dating and the workplace.”
Doug couldn't quite keep the snort from happening. "I could write a book." He might still be on decent terms with his various exes, but there had been definite rough spots over the years. Not to mention his 'slut era', as some would probably term it. "Then again, the office I work in is far from usual, seeing as it's staffed exclusively by folks who live here and all."
“I would need a podcast that updates every other week. Boys suck.” She shifted to look at Doug properly. “Yer on one of the teams then? They seem very…. Interestin’.” Like even more drama, if that was possible.
"Speaking as a boy, I can confirm." Sure, he was on the downhill slide to forty, but quibbling about the classification of 'boy' versus 'man' was just a quick road to unnecessary arguments. Pedantry wasn't necessary. "Some days this place gives telenovelas a run for their money." He'd met Mel briefly at the Easter dinner Matt and Clint's dads had hosted, but this was the first time he'd really gotten to talk to her.
“There used t’be ten of us livin’ back home, I didn’t think there could be any more going ons under one roof ‘till movin’ here.” Between kidnappings and regular old interpersonal drama, the mansion seemed to have it all.
Doug had long believed the mansion was some kind of 'weirdness magnet', though he was never quite sure if it was because of the inhabitants or the location. Definitely a chicken or egg type of problem - they would probably still attract drama even if the mansion were located in the most boring unremarkable apartment building in the least interesting town in the world. No real way to test the theory though. "As an old friend used to say, 'welcome to the madhouse'. I've been here..." He coughed loudly over 'almost twenty years'. "...and it's really always been like this."
“Damn..” Did this mean she was going to remain single and repeatedly kidnapped? Probably.
"Don't get me wrong-" Doug hurried to add, seeing and hearing some of that hesitation. "We might joke about Halloween being cursed around here and all that, but there's a lot of good stuff around here to balance it out." He'd certainly seen and done wondrous things that he'd never have had the opportunity for if he'd stayed Doug Ramsey, Colorado high school geek. "For all that this is definitely not a 'normal' sort of place, it's worth it in the end."
“So I’ve heard. I suppose the odd incident is alright if I don’ have to pay rent,” she joked, laughing lightly. She’d never had this much money in her bank account in her life, and keeping it there was the goal. “So, you’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff then?”
Doug tossed back his head and laughed, a noise of genuine delight. "I don't even know where to start, to be honest, that's how much stuff I've been around for." These days it often just felt like another day in the office, but to step back and look at things like 'running a heist on a pharma-bro at Burning Man' or 'adventures in an extradimensional library'... Even just 'important member of a sex club for the rich and famous of New York' would have probably overwhelmed him once upon a time. "My idea of what's normal is kind of permanently skewed."
Mel grinned. “You’ll have to give me a run down of the top ten craziest sometime.” All the weirdness couldn’t be completely awful. She bet if she asked enough people, there’d be a few fun ones between them as well.
"Let's see," Doug said with a grin as he settled into one of the overstuffed chairs around the space. It was storytelling time. "There's the town that got pulled back into the 50s by a reality warper...the time a bunch of us got temporarily genderswapped...I once met what may or may not have been Nikola Tesla's ghost...once got caught in a sort of time loop...oh, and the time a big group wound up in Asgard."
Her eyebrows flew up towards her hairline. “You weren’t kiddin’. That’s wild.”
"It may not always be fun, but it's certainly never boring."
Mel had been unmatched on Tinder again. Love must be dead if she couldn’t even get a date in New York City of all places.
This obviously meant she had to watch a movie where the love interest sucked, and do so in a public space so that someone might come upon her and she could bitch about it.
The rec room. The Devil Wears Prada. Woe that is her.
She lounged on one of the couches and absentmindedly braided a piece of her hair as she watched Anne Hathaway take on the fashion world.
A someone did indeed happen upon the movie and its viewer, ready to be bitched at. "Is there anyone in this movie who is not just the utter worst at some point?" he asked semi-rhetorically as Meryl Streep chewed her scenery admirably. "Apparently all the actors are pretty delightful, but on screen..." Doug shuddered theatrically.
“Art, an imitation of life. The horrors of dating and the workplace.”
Doug couldn't quite keep the snort from happening. "I could write a book." He might still be on decent terms with his various exes, but there had been definite rough spots over the years. Not to mention his 'slut era', as some would probably term it. "Then again, the office I work in is far from usual, seeing as it's staffed exclusively by folks who live here and all."
“I would need a podcast that updates every other week. Boys suck.” She shifted to look at Doug properly. “Yer on one of the teams then? They seem very…. Interestin’.” Like even more drama, if that was possible.
"Speaking as a boy, I can confirm." Sure, he was on the downhill slide to forty, but quibbling about the classification of 'boy' versus 'man' was just a quick road to unnecessary arguments. Pedantry wasn't necessary. "Some days this place gives telenovelas a run for their money." He'd met Mel briefly at the Easter dinner Matt and Clint's dads had hosted, but this was the first time he'd really gotten to talk to her.
“There used t’be ten of us livin’ back home, I didn’t think there could be any more going ons under one roof ‘till movin’ here.” Between kidnappings and regular old interpersonal drama, the mansion seemed to have it all.
Doug had long believed the mansion was some kind of 'weirdness magnet', though he was never quite sure if it was because of the inhabitants or the location. Definitely a chicken or egg type of problem - they would probably still attract drama even if the mansion were located in the most boring unremarkable apartment building in the least interesting town in the world. No real way to test the theory though. "As an old friend used to say, 'welcome to the madhouse'. I've been here..." He coughed loudly over 'almost twenty years'. "...and it's really always been like this."
“Damn..” Did this mean she was going to remain single and repeatedly kidnapped? Probably.
"Don't get me wrong-" Doug hurried to add, seeing and hearing some of that hesitation. "We might joke about Halloween being cursed around here and all that, but there's a lot of good stuff around here to balance it out." He'd certainly seen and done wondrous things that he'd never have had the opportunity for if he'd stayed Doug Ramsey, Colorado high school geek. "For all that this is definitely not a 'normal' sort of place, it's worth it in the end."
“So I’ve heard. I suppose the odd incident is alright if I don’ have to pay rent,” she joked, laughing lightly. She’d never had this much money in her bank account in her life, and keeping it there was the goal. “So, you’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff then?”
Doug tossed back his head and laughed, a noise of genuine delight. "I don't even know where to start, to be honest, that's how much stuff I've been around for." These days it often just felt like another day in the office, but to step back and look at things like 'running a heist on a pharma-bro at Burning Man' or 'adventures in an extradimensional library'... Even just 'important member of a sex club for the rich and famous of New York' would have probably overwhelmed him once upon a time. "My idea of what's normal is kind of permanently skewed."
Mel grinned. “You’ll have to give me a run down of the top ten craziest sometime.” All the weirdness couldn’t be completely awful. She bet if she asked enough people, there’d be a few fun ones between them as well.
"Let's see," Doug said with a grin as he settled into one of the overstuffed chairs around the space. It was storytelling time. "There's the town that got pulled back into the 50s by a reality warper...the time a bunch of us got temporarily genderswapped...I once met what may or may not have been Nikola Tesla's ghost...once got caught in a sort of time loop...oh, and the time a big group wound up in Asgard."
Her eyebrows flew up towards her hairline. “You weren’t kiddin’. That’s wild.”
"It may not always be fun, but it's certainly never boring."
