LOG: Haroun and Alison - These Are The Cries Of The Carrots!

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And in our next episode of Young Mutants In Love Denial ... Alison and Haroun play poker on Thursday night. Things get silly.



"I am bored." Alison eyed the ceiling as she shared that news with it, sighing heavily. The talk with Moira and Nathan had gone well. She'd been ambushed by Miles sometime before supper, for a bit of book reading. She'd been for a nice jog after. And now found herself in the same predicament Manuel had been a few days ago. Bored. To death. "So very bored." She sighed and leaned forward on the kitchen table, idly running a hand through her still damp hair, still staring at the ceiling.

Haroun wandered into the kitchen (it was after dark, he was fine) to get something to nibble on. Prayers were done, his fast for the day was done, and he was looking to unwind. Besides, seeing Alison sitting at the kitchen table staring at the ceiling with that expression of utter boredom was A) fetching and B) a prime opportunity. "Hey." he called out to her as he headed for the fridge.

"Booooored," was the outdrawn reply, Alison leaning back into the chair once more although she did waggle her fingers at him in greeting. And tried not to giggle at the memory that hand flapping of any kind evoked, because having a fit of laughter now would be bad. There was a witness, for one thing. "Horribly bored. May perish on the spot bored." She pondered that for a moment then looked at him with a woebegone expression. "You?"

Haroun grinned. "Well, I did have nothing planned for the evening, but I think that just changed. Stay there, I'll go get a deck of cards. Want some carrots to munch on? They're quite crunchy, and good with ranch dressing."

"Cards are not boring," she stated, perking up at the thought. "And carrots only, please." She nudged her chair closer to the table, beaming cheerfully. Not being bored was very good. Especially when it kept you from hauling off and doing something Stupid just so you wouldn't be bored. Like taunting Cain or something. Wait. That was just Fun.

Haroun grabbed a bag of baby carrots, a bottle of ranch dressing, two bowls, a coffee cup, and a deck of cards. He then returned to the table with his bounty, and put it all down. "Shuffle and deal. I'll prep the carrots." he said, then divided up the carrots into the two bowls, poured some ranch dressing into the coffee cup for easy dipping, and handed Alison her bowl of carrots.

Cards she could shuffle - she wasn't a good poker player, but she could do really fun things with cards. Grinning she did just that, indulging in a few of the fancier tricks before laying the deck down for him to break. "Thank you," she tugged the bowl a bit closer to her, selecting a carrot to munch on. "Stakes are?" Other than the carrots, which would be used throughout the game, they needed some sort of big win.

Haroun grinned. "Well, seeing as how this is Ramadan, I'll have to keep myself under control. Let's see - my turn on comm-duty is coming up soon. I hate comm duty. I win, you take the shift. You win ...?" he prompted.

Considering she actually liked comm duty, this wasn't much of a chore - especially since she expected to lose. "I cover your comm duty if you win. Hrm. Dunno what I'd want yet. I can suggest things as we play?" Since she was going to lose anyway, why break her head over the question? "Although I'll go with something that makes me not bored for starters," she grinned.

Haroun nodded. "It is a fond hope of mine that you do not find me boring..." he teased as he cut the cards. "So deal, woman!" he mock-commanded, then took a bite of ranch-drenched carrot.

With a snort at the 'command' Alison picked up the deck and did just that, the cards neatly sliding into place one next to the other in front of either of them in turn. "Dealing, dealing!" She pondered what stakes she might ask for at the same time, chewing on her lower lip pensively.

Haroun looked at his cards, then at Alison. He was torn at which one amused him more - the pair of aces in his hand, or Alison adorably chewing on her lower lip. To cover himself, he dipped another baby carrot in Ranch dressing, then just because it amused him to do so he made a great production out of licking the dressing off the vegetable before popping it into his mouth.

"Now that'd do a number on Paul," she pointed out while giving him an innocent look before eyeing her cards with great suspicion. Cards did not like her, she decided, shaking her head. It was that simple. And a conspiracy as well, because that also explained everything so well. "Bad, bad cards," she muttered, pondering just getting rid of them all.

Haroun flicked two carrots into their bet pile. "Ante two." he said, then smiled charmingly at Alison. Maybe she could be distracted through flirting, he thought with a grin. Certainly worth a shot!

That was a nice smile, she thought idly, before glaring down at her cards again. "Matching that." Giving up right when they started playing would not be conductive to no longer being bored, after all. So she munched vengefully on a carrot, keeping that one from being won, and decided on three cards to get rid of in favor of a draw. Course, it was still Haroun's turn to go first on that. "Draw! How many cards?" She paused and eyed the ones he was holding distrustfully. "If any? I remember the last time we played. Grrr."

Haroun laughed. "Just one, thanks." he said, flicking away one card out of his hand and waiting for Alison to deal him a replacement. "It is not my fault that Allah smiles upon me. It's not too late to convert..." he said with a sly wink.

She bared her teeth at him again, cutely so despite herself. "Grr, I say." And slid one card towards him, making sure to have it stop just where the middle one had been for the first deal. "Three for me." She pouted as she discarded the cards and dealt herself new ones. And stared for a moment. Yep. Even worse.

Haroun looked at his new card. King of Hearts. Oddly apropos, he thought to himself. He then tossed two more carrots into the pot. "Raise by two." he smirked.

He was smirking. Should she even bother thinking of a final stake of her own? "Hrm." She didn't mind keeping her comm duty. Oh well, why bother anyway. "You smirk a lot when we play poker." She, on the other hand pouted. Which she did just now, looking at her utterly useless hand. "Fooooold," she pronounced in a lugubrious tone.

Haroun grinned at Alison. "I can't help it." he said with a self-effacing shrug. "I have the world's worst poker face, what can I say?" He tossed his cards to Alison and then collected his vegetable winnings. "My turn to shuffle and deal, is it?"

"My carrots," she answered with a piteous look. Hamming it up was not boring. Not one bit. With a sniffle of regret she handed him the deck, gazing at the lost carrots mournfully.

Haroun took the cards and shuffled them into one big pile, then took one of Alison's carrots. "Oh, no! Not me! NO! I'm Alison's carrot! Don't eat me! Nooooo!" he said, pretending that the carrot was speaking and not him. "Ahh, it is too late for you, my short orange friend! Into my belly you go!"

She stared at him for a second and then burst into laughter, wincing a bit as her ribs protested doing such a thing so soon after her giggling fit with Wanda. "Can't believe you just did that," she managed to say, trying to stifle the giggles without much success.

Haroun popped the carrot into his mouth, chewed theatrically, then swallowed. "Delicious." he said, looking right into Alison's eyes. He then grinned again at her and began shuffling the cards.

...Naaaaw. Alison gave him a reproachful look, drawing her bowl of carrots closer not so surreptitiously. "Evil carrot.. eater." And paused. That really hadn't been a spectacular rejoinder by any stretch of the imagination. "Deal, mister!" she compensated with that, returning the favor.

"Unrepentant carrot-eater." he agreed, then theatrically licked his lips while he shuffled. Finally, he dealt out the cards. He looked around the room to see if anyone else was currently in the Kitchen. As they weren't, he leaned up close to Alison. "Sure you don't want that game of strip poker now?" he asked her while waggling his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes at him, saving at least one carrot from a horrible fate by eating it herself. Which was, admittedly, probably no better a fate if you asked the carrot about it. "You know, my luck being what it is, if we did that Nathan would walk right in." Since she'd walked in on him and Moira in the library a way back and all. "And there's no way I'm handing him a blackmail opportunity. Nuh huh." She peeked at the cards. "You've got to be kidding me."

Haroun shrugged. "There are more private nooks here in the Mansion." he offered, then let the matter die. He amused himself by imagining the result of such a game, and then grinned as a fresh wave of hormones got dumped into his bloodstream. "Anyway - ante up." he said, tossing two carrots back into the pot.

Alison looked at her cards again. If it weren't for how outrageous he was being sometimes, she'd... but it was time to ante and her cards actually looked decent this time. Which was of course the deck's way of getting her hopes up before crushing her entirely instead. With careful deliberateness she set two carrots on the betting pile and then added another two, upping the ante. "Must save the poor carrots from a dire fate," she hummed to herself, mentally ticking off only one card for the draw. And grinned at him cheerfully over her cards.

Haroun loved her grin. He couldn't help it, it was infectious. So he grinned back. "See your raise." he said, tossing two more carrots into the pile. His cards were crap, but there was a chance he could turn a pair of eights into something. A small chance, but a chance nonetheless.

Betting round was done and it couldn't hurt to try and improve her hand. "Draw two, please!" She discarded and leaned back into her chair lazily, patting her remaining cards with a decidedly possessive feel to the gesture. "Nice cards," she purred at them. Maybe she should start thinking of something to ask for in case she won. "Hrm. What to ask for when I win, mm?"

Haroun casually dealt her two cards - letting his fingertips trail against hers as he passed her the cards. "And three for me." he said, glancing down at his cards. He dealt himself three, and then looked at them. Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. Total crap. A pair of eights wasn't going to get him bupkis.

He was trying to be distracting, she decided, fingers still tingling faintly from the light touch. And that was cheating, of course, which meant he was getting no mercy - here was the chance to win more carrots back. Nothing good with the new cards, of course, but she still had the others. They had to be good for something, she thought, idly betting four carrots this time. "You going to call on that or fold, partner?" The smugness was just unavoidable really. Leaning back to toy with the collar of her top was probably evil, but definitely fun.

Haroun looked at his cards, looked at Alison playing with the collar to her top, and then grinned. Life was good right now. He tossed four carrots into the pile. "I'll see that raise." he said, eyes alternately glued to her eyes and the collar of her top.

"Ye know not what ye do," she intoned solemnly, heaving a deep sigh before ruining it the whole gloom and doom act by laying the cards down with a bright grin - if she lost it was just the same as usual and if not, it was her winning with the lowest number possible because the cards still hated her that way. "Three of a kind. Watcha got?"

Haroun looked at her cards, and shrugged. "Pair of eights." he said, tossing his cards down on the pile. "This hand to you." he said, watching with great sadness as Alison collected her prize. "Your deal." he said, passing the remainder of the deck over to her.

"Aw," Alison grinned, swiping the cards to her side without any remorse at all. If she'd been a telekinetic, she'd have had the carrots dancing cheerfully into her bowl just to play it up. Instead she selected one carefully for the turn's sacrifice and munched on it pensively. "Well, I still don't know what to ask for. Guess that just means we have to play on into the night." She shuffled the deck with mock sorrow, shaking her head while not quite hiding a grin of amusement.

Haroun grinned. "Oh, you want to keep playing? I'll have your clothes on the table yet!" he leered, twirling an imaginary moustache in his best Snidley Whiplash impression. He then dunked a carrot in dressing and stuck it in his mouth like a cigarette. "Here's lookin' at you, toots." he said, then ate the carrot with a grin.