[OPEN] We've opened our eyes

[furgood]

Who| Meulin Leijon & Terezi; Meulin and you!
What| Meulin hangs around the commons and then takes Terezi on an ill fated late lunch
Where| Tribute Towers Commons; out on the town
When| Backdated to the Sunday after the medieval ball
Warnings/Notes| None so far

A. Open
Meulin bounces on the balls of her feet, looking around at the magazines spread here and there. She's early for her outing and that makes her a tiny bit nervous. Various tributes and staff might not have been as appreciative of her work as they could be and well--she'd be happy when they were out of the tower.

If her picture hadn't been in there, maybe she wouldn't be so nervous. It was too late either way. There was no time to send a message to meet somewhere else and she was already here. She picked up Celebrus and flipped to an open page.

"Oh yes, tell me what outlandish new styles should be my own, Celebrus. Inquiring minds want to know." She mumbled, louder than she means, and pulls out a pen to take the ridiculous quiz.

B. Closed to Terezi

When she spies the young troll, Meulin pushes off from the wall she'd been propped against, leaves the magazine on a nearby table and starts moving to meet her. A purse is slung over her shoulder and she pauses for a moment to pull out her pen and paper. Her smile is still a little hesitant at the corners, not quite as light as it might have once been.

"I hope you're hungry, I have a reservation made for that weird fish place I told you about. The one where you catch the fish and they cook them. And there's a great place in the District 11 section of the shopping center that does fruit smoothies, ice cream and all that. I asked around for suggestions."

She looks so proud of the research she put into this, be proud of her Terezi. She might be a little awkward around Terezi but there was no excuse not to do things right.

Comments

[a_minute_younger]

There is definitely something written inside, and in familiar handwriting. The bright yellow highlighter bleeds through the thin notebook paper to the point where just holding it up to the light probably makes it readable, although kind of awkwardly mirrored.

lol hi

So no, not quite the product of a child, but it might as well be. But the question remains: Where is the culprit? He's not immediately visible in this crowd...

[furgood]

She gives it a strange look before the familiarity of the handwriting becomes apparent. So, this is a stranger start to a conversation but she's not entirely sure what she'd expect from him. He wasn't purrcisely what she was used to.

Spinning in place, she tries to spot him. He'd definitely be close enough to see what she did. It was just a matter of spotting him.

Somehow, when she came to the Tower today, she hadn't expected playing Hide and Seek. Teach her to expect anything in particular here.

[a_minute_younger]

Being one of the bigger kids means that Gary isn't too good at your typical variant of Hide and Seek, but he is excellent at moving around quickly and staying just barely out of sight. He gives her the chance to complete a few aimless circles before closing in.

From just behind her, Gary firmly taps one of Meulin's shoulders. Then he ducks around to the opposite side and tries to delicately pluck her copy of Celebrus out of her distracted hands.

[furgood]

His tactic is distressingly effective, given her reliance on sight and touch. She turns to see who it was--though of course it's Gary, who else would it be-- and there goes her magazine. He even manages to take it without her noticing for a few seconds. Her hands are empty and she still has no prankster to show for it.

"Oh--wha--I was almost done with that!"

[a_minute_younger]

Now that Gary is successfully in possession of the magazine, he makes no more attempts to hide. Instead he strides around behind her with his nose eagerly pressed into the page Meulin was just flipped to.

"'Your friend bursts through the door and demands that you attend a party thrown by a famed sponsor of District 4! What do you wear?'" Gary reads off the quiz with wild, dramatic abandon, which he knows Meulin can't hear. Still, he clearly expects her to know what he's doing judging by how he frequently glances up at her to see her reaction and diligently keeps the magazine out of her reach. "Now what did you put here...Penciled in 'Prosthetic cat appendages to threaten all the fish-scaled themed sponsors into submission,' I bet..."

[furgood]

"You know I can't hear what you're talking about, right? Are you just reading my answers?"

The exasperation on her face is real. Her answer for that particular one would obviously be to go find something as ocean themed as possible to represent her District or possibly go pester Kurloz for something but she had had to pick 'Hit the stores for something fabulous with fins'. The answers are very limited after all and each one is transparently geared towards a particular overall option.

[a_minute_younger]

Gary was hoping for a slightly more flustered, dramatic response to his teasing, and while exasperation is good, it's not quite satisfying enough for him to keep going. He huffs, pulls out the highlighter he used to make the first note from his pocket, and starts writing in the magazine so he can show her.

idk maybe
Do you want me to or

[furgood]

Yellow on white isn't the easiest to see on those glossy pages so she has to lean in close to read. She rolls her eyes and looks up at him with both eyebrows raised. Really? She has a younger sister, she is well versed in the silly games younger kids play. Even if he's only four or five years younger.

"I was asking what you were doing! Meowbe is not an answer." She pauses, then smiles, "And no, not purrticularly. My bias will show so clearly."

[a_minute_younger]

And Gary is well-versed in playing the part. Perhaps a little too much. If he wasn't so good at being an annoying younger sibling, perhaps he wouldn't enjoy it so much and would be inclined to do it less. Instead, he searches for the encouragement he needs and is pleased to find it soon enough.

ofc "meowbe" isnt an answer
Thats why I said "maybe" u dork

He gives Meulin just enough time to read that, then spins around and straightens the magazine out to the next page of the quiz.

[furgood]

So rude! He must be delighted when he gets a huff and her hand reaching for the magazine. He turns just before she can snatch it back, much to her frustration, but she doesn't go running around the other way. She can wait for him to let his guard down again. She has nothing but time.

This is a lie, she has places to go soon, but he doesn't know that.

"I don't know what you're hoping to find out. I'm from Four, obviously all my answers are going to point to fish."

[a_minute_younger]

Meulin gets her next chance quickly thereafter, once Gary scribbles his response and holds it out for her to read. Unfortunately he's holding it slightly above her head. He's had a lot of practice with this, he knows what he's doing.

FISH tho????
Ur a CAT
U couldnt possibly stoop 2 that level
All the other cat pun aficionados will laugh @ u!!!!

[furgood]

She snorts, shaking her head and not even bothering to reach for the magazine quite yet. No, no, one must wait a little while longer, until he's bored with the game. Whenever that will be.

"I purrfur the title shipcat thank you. I'm from Four, it's in my blood to do fish things. OR something equally stereotypical I guess."

She grins, wide and with teeth. It resembles nothing so much as a cat ready to toy with her prey. Let the cat pun afficiandos come. She will take them all on with nothing but her excellent puntential.

"And I'd like to see them laugh at me when I can pun them under the table. "

[a_minute_younger]

Thankfully Meulin has pegged Gary right there--his attention span is the Achilles Heel to his teasing expertise and is already starting to set in, perhaps not so much because he's bored, but because the conversation has him distracted from the goal. This time, he's too invested in the reply to bother turning around and guarding the magazine when he writes in it.

PUNt them across the room
PUNish them for not recognizing ur pun-prowess

ok but for real why not fish puns

[furgood]

She lulls him into a false sense of security, not grabbing the magazine yet either. Let him think she's forgotten and he will not expect it in the slightest. Her smile is no less predatory now.

"I like cats. But I occasionally do both actually. Fish puns just seemed a little too...on the nose for my District. Bereef me, you can get tired of fish after a while."