Emma and Alan arrive at six thirty on the dot. Dad greets Alan with an enthusiastic “Hello!” and a bump to the shoulder, while you greet Emma with a rather less enthusiastic “Hi”.
Emma looks up at you, a slight frown on her face. “Hi,” she says neutrally. She waits a second for you to say something, but you don’t, so she lifts the purse she has at her side. “I, um, brought some movies. Did you want to watch one?”
You let out a relieved breath of air, grateful that she’d broken the tension before it could really become awkward. “Sure,” you reply. Turning, you lead her to the living room. “What did you bring?”
She searches through her purse behind you. “Two movies Dad bought a couple of days ago,” she says quietly. “They’re called, um. Inception and Alice in Wonderland. Earth Aleph imports, I think.”
“Cool.” You extend your hand towards her, and after a moment, she passes one of the DVD’s over to you. Alice in Wonderland, you see. Heading over to the TV, you turn it and the DVD player on, and carefully put the movie in. Then you return to the couch, sitting at the opposite end to it, and curl up against a cushion.
Surprisingly, it doesn’t end up being that bad a night. You’re not really able to relax, but once you extend your power over her and carefully monitor her surface emotions—just a safeguard, in case she’s planning something tricky—you’re able to settle in somewhat and actually pay attention to the movies.
If only her taste in movies wasn’t so terrible, it might have even been a good night.
About halfway through the first movie— Alice in Wonderland— you can’t help but glare at the TV in disdain. You catch Emma watching you several times, a small grin on her face, although each time she sees you glancing at her, she quickly looks away. You can’t bring yourself to care, though, because you’re too busy being offended at just how badly they butchered this movie.
This is not at all how the book went!
Dad and Alan come in at one point, but they don’t stay for long. After about ten minutes of the movie, Dad gets up to go check on dinner. It’s cooked, so you happily pause the movie just before the big climactic battle sequence and head out to go eat.
Inception isn’t quite as irritating a movie, but it’s more confusing. Emma looks more puzzled by it than you do. It’s not exactly nonsensical, but-
“I think you should pick the movies next time,” Emma murmurs around eight. She’s looking deliberately at the screen, and doesn’t glance at you as she says it. You understand why. Next time? That’s a bit presumptuous.
But, somehow, you don’t mind. “Yeah,” you reply simply. You catch the small smile she gives at that, and it’s mirrored on your own face.
The movie ends around ten o’clock, having been interrupted for the duration of dinner—just in time for Alan to poke his head into the living room, eyeing the two of you off. You’re not sure what he’s expecting to see, but whatever it is, he doesn’t see it. “Alright, Emma,” he calls. “Time for us to head home.”
Emma nods, standing. Before she heads out to meet him, though, she hesitates and looks towards you. For a moment, you’re afraid she’s going to try and hug you, but she doesn’t. “Thanks,” she says. “Maybe we could—I think Dad might want to come over again.” She chickens out midway through her sentence. “He might call next week. Or the week after. Whenever’s fine with you.” She searches your eyes for a moment before looking away, frowning uneasily.
You just roll your eyes where she can’t see it. “We’ll see,” you reply neutrally. “I’ll see you at school, Emma.” And you step to the side to allow her to pass.
It’s strange, you reflect later. If it were anyone else than Emma, you’d be disappointed at how uneventful that night was. The two of you barely spoke to each other—hell, barely even looked at each other. And yet, you’re satisfied with that. Satisfied with just—being able to spend the night around her without wondering if she’s going to reverse this in some cruel prank. Satisfied with being able to sit in the same room as her without Dad’s supervision and not have her turn on you.
Sometimes, you really dislike the effects your power can have on you, but on nights like tonight, you’re really glad you have it, just for that kind of reassurance.
You tuck yourself into bed at night, feeling both agitated and weirdly content with how the night went.
The next afternoon, after another boring day at school, you arrive home to find that Dad’s left you a note on the table, informing you that he’s going to be home late—working late to catch up on the work he couldn’t do yesterday, apparently. You nod to yourself, scrunching the note up and tossing it on the table.
Then you pause. Wait, if Dad isn’t here, and isn’t going to come home for a while…
A big grin spreads over your face, and you head into the kitchen. Finally, you can do something you’ve wanted to do for a while.
The fridge is cool, and for once, nearly half-full. You look through it, searching for anything you could use for a quick snack. There’s crackers in the cupboard, and some cheese wrapped in plastic slices in the fridge. Two stalks of celery, too. That should do fine as a snack, right?
Everybody likes cheese and celery.
You set about cutting the celery stalks up as efficiently as you can. You manage to get one of them cut up before the doorbell rings, and you’re forced to step aside, pouting down at the half-done job. Damn it, you’d hoped to be done before she got here.
Sure enough, it’s Sophia at the door. She greets you with a cocky grin, hefting her schoolbag up over her shoulder. “Hebert,” she says cheerfully.
You smile at her. “Hello again, Sophia,” you say happily. “Come in. Take your shoes off, they’re all muddy.” She scowls at you for a second before kicking them off, seeming to remember your deal. “Good, good. I was just making snacks. Do you want some?”
“Depends.” She follows you into the kitchen, looking around at the walls in here. “What are you making?”
You gesture at the cutting board. “We didn’t have much,” you admit. “Do cheese and celery crackers sound fine?”
She stares at you for a long moment, slowly raising her eyebrows. “Cheese and celery?” she asks, as though to clarify. You give her a cheery nod, and she smirks at you. “I don’t think they’re quite meant to go together like that, but sure.”
The crackers don’t actually turn out too bad, although Sophia is right, the celery doesn’t add very much to it. The taste of the plastic-y cheese and the celery don’t mix together very well, even when you lightly sprinkle some black pepper over the top of them.
The two of you dutifully eat the two dozen crackers you’d prepared, though. At the end of it, the two of you each make a face at the other.
“… I think I’ll get something different next week,” you conclude, heading over to the fridge to get the two of you a glass of milk.
“Mmm.” Sophia hops up onto the counter for a moment. You consider telling her to get down, but she’s still just below eye level to you, so you let it slide for today. “Try carrot instead of celery. More taste.”
“Maybe.” You pour the milk into the glasses, then hand one of them to Sophia. “Would you like that?”
She shrugs. “I won’t complain,” she replies.
“Yeah, but would you like that?” you pester her. “Or is there something else you’d prefer? I don’t have a lot of money, but I can try to get you something better.”
“Mmm.” She looks at you consideringly. “Usually, they give us fruit salad after—track meet. They don’t put anything fancy in there, apple, melon, pear, that kind of thing.”
You think about it for a moment. “I can try,” you say doubtfully. “Fruit’s kind of expensive, but I’ll give it my best shot.”
She shrugs. “It’s fine if you can’t. I don’t come here for the food anyway.”
“You should.” You pout at her. “I’m a good cook.”
“Mmm.” She doesn’t respond to that, but she doesn’t dismiss you, either. Progress. Any progress is fine.
Things proceed as usual after that, although you’re careful not to spend too much time kissing her today. From what you’ve been able to tell from her assignments in Chemistry, she’s improving, but she’s not doing as well as she could. She does actually need to study, and kissing her silly won’t help her much with that.
By the time she leaves at nine, you think she has a more solid grasp on the concepts you’ve been studying at class. Hopefully. She’s been misunderstanding some of the concepts being taught, and you think you’ve helped her get a grasp on them.
It’s kind of hard to tell, though, because she spent more of her time watching you out of the corner of her eye than she did listening to what you were saying.
Argh. You don’t know why she’s asking for tutoring if she’s not going to listen.
You shake your head roughly, trying to put it out of your mind. Either way, your goal was a success, you think. She might not have liked the particular snack you made— and to be fair, neither did you— but she seemed to appreciate that you made it at all.
Damn it. Fruit salad is going to be expensive, though. If you want her to actually appreciate it, you might have to try and save some money to buy some fruit for her next week.
You head up to your room, trying to put it out of your mind. You have something else you need to focus on, anyway; your plans for the weekend.
What are you going to do over the weekend? So many choices, so little time. [Pick three of the following options. You currently have enough money for two large expenses, or six small expenses. Note that going to the book club is locked in, as Taylor has made it a habit by now.]
[] You’re going to head to the mall before noon on Sunday and spend some time buying some things. You should be able to make it and still have time to attend the book club, if you want to go this week. What to buy, though…
[] You’re going to buy Madison a choker— it’s about time you did. You can’t afford much, so you’re going to have to be cheap and frugal about it. It’s not about how nice the gift looks, anyway— what matters is the message it conveys; a visible message telling people that Madison is yours. Costs one small expense.
[] You’re going to buy Madison a nice choker— one that not only conveys your message, but one she can actually feel proud about owning. It won’t be the fanciest choker ever, but you’ll pay good money for one that looks nice, and get it professionally engraved. You think you know a place that won’t charge too much for just a name. Costs two small expenses.
[] Buy something else. What are you buying, and who are you buying it for? Costs varying amounts, with the price depending on what you’re buying. Requires GM approval.
[] Victoria has asked for you to meet up with her on Saturday so she can teach you makeup tips, as she wants to spend Sunday afternoon with you taking you shopping for clothes instead. You don’t appreciate Victoria pushing you so hard there, but— she knows what she’s doing, it seems.
— Chance of success: Cannot be failed.
— General results: Taylor will spend some time Saturday morning with Victoria, who will attempt to teach Taylor how to apply and remove makeup without hurting herself. Victoria will then take Taylor shopping for clothes out of her own wallet and initiative. Taylor will receive a substantial boost to her self-esteem, as she is able to consider herself at least somewhat pretty when using makeup. Will also result in Taylor ceding a very small amount of control in their relationship to Victoria, potentially preparing her for losing more of it in future.
[] Spend some time at home with Dad. You do have an ulterior motive— you want to get comfortable enough around him that you feel okay with asking him if you can move your room down into the basement— but beyond that, you just… you like being around him. You want to repair your relationship with him, even if it’s only in small increments.
— Chance of success: Cannot be failed.
— General results: Taylor will spend some time Saturday afternoon with Danny, trying to grow comfortable again with him. Depending on QM mood, this interaction might go in various ways, but will always result in Taylor feeling a little more secure in her relationship with Danny. Will also result in Taylor once again growing completely comfortable in her house, enabling more options to stay at home and destress later.
[] After your visit to Parian’s, you felt surprisingly comfortable around all the lingerie— and you didn’t even end up feeling bad when Madison bought you some. You’re not quite comfortable enough to go just for yourself, but you do have some girls who might appreciate some lingerie. And the sales clerk was cute. Maybe she’s working again? You could stand to get back on your footing with her, after her reaction to you and Madison. But who will you buy the lingerie for? Costs two small expenses.
[] Victoria
[] Sophia
[] Yourself— Chance of success: 70%
— General results: Taylor will head to Parian’s store whenever she has some free time downtown and purchase some lingerie. Different people may have different reactions to it, although nobody will react negatively.
— On a success: Parian will be working that day, and will lightly flirt with Taylor. Taylor will be taken off-guard, but reciprocate the flirting anyway, intriguing Parian a little. Opens Parian for recruitment.
— On a failure: Parian will not be working.
[] You indicated to Amy that you might be able to go watch a movie with her on Saturday, around lunchtime. You’ll have to pay for it out of pocket, as it would be mean of you to expect Amy to pay for herself, but it’s a date. A proper date! With a cute girl! One you didn’t even have to use your powers to get! Costs two small expenses.
