Re: One of Those Monumental Meetings

**GeneralArin** Tue Jan 14, 2014 11:39 pm

Jake laughed as she hit him with his hand.
He looked up at the entertainment center as she asked if he had Taken. Well, exclaimed more like, but all the same, he couldn't remember. It didn't matter, because apparently Ri had already spotted it on the shelf and was putting it in the dvd player. He smiled and gave a shrug as she sat back down, pulling the blanket over when she did.

"Sure. It's a good movie." He said, extending an arm around Ri's shoulder. He looked at her from the corner of his eye: "But one thing I never understood was that Liam Nelson mentored Obi-wan, Darth Vader, and Batman. He played Zeus and Aslan, making him a god in two religions, and he punches wolves for fun." He continued steadily. "Why would you kidnap his daughter?" He tilted his head in a playfully serious fashion.

The DVD player started up the menu, complete with the appropriately driving music for a title screen.

**Cerulaen** Wed Jan 15, 2014 3:08 am

Wrinkling her nose, Daquiri half laughed, half scoffed at Jake's joke. "Nice try at sounding witty, honey," she said dryly, "but I've seen that meme." Once she pressed play on the remote, she tossed the remote to the side and pulled the blanket over Jake and herself as he put his arm around her. For a moment, the red-head stiffened at Jake's gesture; she'd always seen it as a possessive move and usually shied away from things like that. But she shook herself out of the thought, reminding herself it was Jake here sitting alone in a room with her, and relaxed into his shoulder. Realizing how tired she was, she let her head drop against him as the first scene of the movie opened up. Stifling a yawn, she slid her hands under his shirt and around his waist (briefly passing over his amazing abs, of course), enjoying the warmth his body let off. Her eyes weren't too tired quite yet, but she knew it wouldn't be too long before they were. "Promise you'll wake me," she murmured, her voice soft with sleep, "if I fall asleep." Not that she was going to fall asleep. She wanted to watch this movie.

**GeneralArin** Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:37 am

Jake glanced down at Ri as best as he could when she leaned against him. He settled into a comfortable position.
"Yeah, sure." He replied. Giving a slight nod.

They had been watching the movie for a while in companionable silence when Thor decided he wanted to watch the movie too. With a playful yip, the dog jumped up onto the couch on the other side of Jake. He licked Jake's cheek, bouncing around happily.

Jake shoved the dog off the couch, frowning. "Get off." He told Thor. Thor laid his head on the couch and looked up at Jake, whining.

"Down." Jake said sternly. Thor obediently laid down at his feet, the dog's lips curled in a doggy grin.

**Cerulaen** Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:39 am

Daquiri's eyelids had been getting heavier by the minute, as hard as she tried to keep them open. Stupid gravity. However, even gravity appeared to be defenseless against the greatest of evils: giant, slobbering dogs.

Jarred out of her drifting off, Daquiri lifted her head slightly when Jake shifted. She muttered a sleepy, unintelligible complaint under her breath as she moved to a half-sitting up position to see what had caught the blond's attention. When she saw what it was, though, she grumpily flopped back into position and pulled the blanket tighter around herself. "If that Mutt of Thunder so much as breathes on me, he is going to wake up without a tail. Or a tongue." She looked up at Jake with the eye that wasn't obscured and gave him one of her looks.

**GeneralArin** Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:35 am

Jake gave a short laugh as Ri sleepily threatened his dog. "He'll chill out down there." He promised. Thor's tail thumped against the sofa once.

[Timeskip, thank God.]

Jake glanced up at the tv in time to hear the final credits song. He looked around. Apparently, he dozed off during the movie. Thor looked up at him hopefully as Jake shifted. He looked down at Ri. Apparently she had fallen asleep too.

"Ri." Jake said, giving her a light shake, "Movie's over."

She stirred a bit, but was apparently content snuggling. "Ri." He said a bit louder. When she still didn't wake up, he exchanged a glance with Thor. The dog only wagged its tail and gave him a doggie grin.

Jake gave a long sigh.
"I guess it's bedtime, then." Which would mean he'd have to carry her to bed. Which would be rather romantic, he supposed; but since only Thor got to witness his act of chivalry, he'd rather not have to lift her. After a moment of making himself just man up and do it, he scooped her up and stood.

He hissed a swear through gritted teeth. Thor looked up at him. "My leg's asleep." He explained quietly.
Thor curled his lips like he found that funny. Jake glared at his dog, then managed to get circulation going again enough to carry Ri over to the guest bed.

He gently laid her down in the bed, and pulled the comforter over her. "G'night, Ri." He said softly. He flicked off the light and gave a sharp whisper for Thor to come on. With that, he went to bed himself.

**Cerulaen** Tue Jan 21, 2014 1:14 am

Daquiri had never been a huge fan of small towns. In big cities, everyone ignored each other and no one talked to someone unless they already knew them. You were walking your dog? You don't just walk up and ask to pet it. That was wildly inappropriate. But in small towns? There was barely any people, so everyone knew each other. And they were--shudder--friends. Several people had already walked up to her and Jake to ask to pet Thor or "catch up" since they hadn't seen Jake since school started. And the red-head had to give half-hearted attempts at being nice and polite so "Jake Arin's rude girlfriend" wouldn't be the talk of the town for the next who-knew-how-long.

Daquiri needed to get off the streets.

"Let's go in here," she said, leaving no room for objection as she practically dragged Jake--who in turn dragged Thor--into a random shop. She didn't even bother to look at the name of it; she just wanted to get out of the open and avoid people. It wasn't until they got inside that Daquiri realized what kind of shop they had gone into. It was... it was...

Oh, Hades have mercy.

She had walked into the town candy shoppe.

**GeneralArin** Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:19 am

Ooh, candy!

Jake had been surprised when Ri suddenly dragged him aside into a shop, but he wouldn't complain being in Baudelaire's Chocolate Emporium. He gave Ri a broad grin.
"Nice pick." He said, sincerely. She didn't normally like sweet and unhealthy things. Before he could make a comment on it, the old man behind the counter spoke up.

"Why, look who it is! Is that you, ya' little scamp?!" The shopkeeper exclaimed upon seeing Jake. Thor barked happily, his tail waving like a flag.

"I'm surprised you still remember me, ya' ol' geezer." Jake replied with equal vigor. "The mind's the first to go, you know."

Mr. B gave a short laugh. "No, the hair is." He corrected. "So who's this?" The old man asked, politely turning the conversation to everyone. (Except Thor, because dogs are bad conversationalists.)

"This is Daquiri." Jake replied, "Daquiri, Mr. B."

**Cerulaen** Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:41 am

Daquiri was attempting to not look around at all the sweets in horror as Jake and the store owner went at it with familiar banter. What the h*** had she gotten herself into? Her attention went back to actual people when Jake addressed her, though.

He introduced the store owner as Mr. B. Since she hadn't been paying attention while going into the store or while the two had been talking, she didn't know what the B stood for. Which bugged her. However, Jake had also only introduced her as 'Daquiri.' Nothing more, just her name. She wasn't really one for possessive titles like 'my girlfriend,' but still. Nothing else? So, just to make things clear, the red-head slid her hand into Jake's as she stared a tad stoically at Mr. B. When she finally spoke, it wasn't what one normally heard after introductions had been made.

"You allow dogs to breath on your candy?"

**GeneralArin** Thu Jan 23, 2014 5:30 pm

Jake frowned at Ri when she said that, but Mr. B just gave a short laugh and shook his head.

"No, no, Don't worry. That mountain of a mutt's got to stay over there in that corner." He assured, pointing in the seating area by the door. Thor, who was currently sitting on the other side of Jake, wagged his tail upon hearing 'mutt'.
"Would you like to try any?" Mr B asked, gesturing across the glass casing in front of him. "It's on the house."

"Mr. B's got the best candy around." Jake added, though admittedly, he wasn't sure if Ri would want any. "And he's got just about anything: Chocolate, brittle, Turkish Delight, you name it."

**Cerulaen** Thu Jan 23, 2014 7:15 pm

If Jake gave her a look, Daquiri didn't notice it. She did look at him, however, when Mr. B responded good-humoredly, as if to say, See? I can still get away with being rude.

She glanced at Thor as he lolled his tongue happily when Mr. B addressed him. She may have gotten away from all the people on the street, but it unfortunately looked like the big slobber machine wasn't going anywhere. When the owner asked her a question, though, she looked back up, slightly taken off guard. She opened her mouth slightly, then closed it again. In truth, the reason she didn't eat candy was because she never had. She was pretty sure if she had any form of sugar in large amounts, she was internally combust into a pile of carbs.

"Jake, I... don't even know what half these things are," she informed Jake quietly. What was the big deal about candy, anyway?

**GeneralArin** Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:35 am

"Well, Turkish delight is kinda like a jelly bean, only the outside is powdered sugar instead of the hard stuff." Jake explained. He went with that one first, since it was both a rarer thing to try and something he figured Ri would be more likely to eat than anything. "It can come in lots of different flavors, but usually more of the default fruity flavors, like cherry, raspberry, lemon, and lime." He added, "Not many candy stores have it, since it's more of an exotic thing, but it's really good."

Jake glanced through the display quickly, since Mr. B occasionally reorganized it. He pointed out the colorful cubes when he found it. He hooked Thor's lead over a chair so he could more freely move around the shop without the dog and told him to stay. Thor waved a tail and panted patiently.

He was familiar with most of Mr. B's stock, as he had tried most everything in the store at some point or another. Never again would he try chocolate covered chili peppers.

**Cerulaen** Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:11 pm

Daquiri rolled her eyes. "Well, gee, that's extremely helpful," she muttered to him, "considering I don't know what a jelly bean tastes like." She crossed her arms and cautiously walked over to the case after Jake. "How do you know I'm not allergic to any of this stuff? What if I break out in hives or something ridiculous?" Seriously, wasn't there something about getting rashes if you never had sweets? She was pretty sure she'd seen that on a Drake and Josh episode one time. In one of her foster homes where the TV had been on 24/7...

**GeneralArin** Mon Jan 27, 2014 2:49 pm

Jake gave her a incredulous look. He didn't even know what to say to that.
"You were a very deprived child." He said simply, his brows coming together.

When she mentioned being allergic to it, he raised a slightly amused brow. "I don't think you can be allergic to a little sugar." He shrugged off the notion, however, and continued. "If you're allergic to peanut butter or something we can avoid those." He looked across the case for a moment.

"Tell you what, I can just buy a bunch of things, and you can try them. Me and Thor will be more than happy to eat whatever you don't like." He offered with a wry grin. Thor, from his place by the door, gave a happy yip upon hearing his name and 'eat' in the same sentence.

**Cerulaen** Sat Feb 08, 2014 2:14 am

Daquiri rolled her eyes at him and folded her arms crossly. "I'm sorry for being extremely susceptible to getting acne from sugar," she ground out sarcastically. "And for having foster parents with crazy rules," she added, slightly under her breath. Seriously, what was so great about candy anyway?

Well, on the discussion of allergies... "Cashews and strawberries," she said flatly. Then she frowned. "And I hate peanut butter." At his suggestion of buying a bunch and Jake and his dog eating her undesirables, however, Daquiri snorted. "Fine. Whatever. But if your candy makes me puke, I am so-o-o blaming you, Flame Fingers."

((Pretty much a bunch of useless dialogue. Let's poof to a random cafe.))

**GeneralArin** Sat Feb 08, 2014 3:35 am

(lol, sounds good to me.)

Jake leaned forward and put his elbows on the small table, looking at his girlfriend in amusement. He had made good on his offer to get a variety pack of a good selection of candies without anything resembling peanut butter, strawberries, or cashews. Mr. B had helped them out with the selection. So, Thor had gotten a few bits of the reject candies without a lot of chocolate in it. The cafe owner had decided it was too cold for Thor to hang about outside, and so the dog was laying quietly by Jake's feet, half under the table.

The cafe was rather quiet, which was probably another reason that Thor was allowed to stay inside. Jake liked having his dog leaning against his leg. It was one of those little comforts he didn't get as often as he liked. There was a half-empty hot cocoa cup on the table between them, along with Ri's drink.

He made a motion with a hands.
"So, Princess. Have you found any to your pleasing?"

**Cerulaen** Sat Feb 08, 2014 3:49 am

Daquiri flicked a piece of caramel at the blond. "I don't like caramels,--yes, they're pronounced CARE-uh-mehls--taffy, or anything that gets stuck in my teeth. I like coconut. I like lemon. I like the sours." The red-head sectioned off each of the candies as she named them, making a reject pile and chosen pile. The chosen was ultimately much, much smaller than the reject. "And..." she paused as her hand hovered over the remaining pile, "I love cherry." With that, she set apart said cherry pieces and swiped the rest off into the reject pile. She debated pushing them off the table for Thor, but then figured that problem wouldn't go over very well. Then again, if he attacked the sweets and got thrown out--

Taking a sip of her chai latte, she crossed her arms and sat back against the wrought-iron chair back. "Now. Isn't actual food supposed to come before dessert?"

**GeneralArin** Sat Feb 08, 2014 4:07 am

Jake looked between Ri and the candies as she went through them. He wisely opted against correcting her pronunciation of car-mel and just patiently waited for her to finish.

"Is it?" He asked innocently, tilting his head and giving her a wry grin. "I figured it was interchangeable." He said. "Or you can just alternate: dessert, food, dessert, food, and the rest of your desserts." He added, moving his hands as a visual aid. His grin broadened and he leaned back in his chair.
He shrugged.
"Want anything in particular?" He said, motioning to the small menu on the table.

**Cerulaen** Sat Feb 08, 2014 5:28 am

Picking up the menu, Daquiri skimmed her blue eyes over the options, her pert nose occasionally wrinkling at the sight of some of the rather unappetizing choices. "Hmm," she hummed, tapping a manicured finger against her lip, "Mediterranean salad. No dressing." When Jake decided his own order, he flagged down a waitress and they both ordered.

Once the girl had left, Daquiri eyed her boyfriend and scooted her chair a little closer. Since she'd never been one to beat around the bush, she basically cut to the chase. "So. Christmas Eve," she said bluntly. Sticking a hand into her bag, she brought out a smaller box-shaped gift that had been wrapped in gold leaf paper. Even if she was giving this to someone else, she refused to use the obnoxiously-colored Santa one.

"Here," she said, a little softer. She slid the present over to him.

**GeneralArin** Sun Feb 09, 2014 1:51 am

Jake straightened up as Ri pulled out a box. He grinned at her, all wryness and irony gone from it. Thor looked up to see if Jake was getting excited about anything interesting, and deciding he wasn't, put his head back down.

"I can open it now?" He asked, excitedly. He took it before she could give him a look or comment about the question. He systematically peeled back the gold paper, and opened up the box.

He tilted his head as he saw a glass bulb and he carefully pulled it out.

It was a snow globe. And inside was a frame. It showed a picture of him and Ri. He gave it a light shake and watched the white flakes inside swirl in the clear liquid. The picture had changed to another while he was watching it. The base felt heavy. He flipped it over and confirmed his suspicions. There was a wind-up mechanism to play audio. He gently wound up the key and turned it upright again.

His brows went up as it played a recording of Ri's voice:
Merry Christmas, Jake. I love you...idiot.
He gave the thing an amused smile as it played a familiar tune. The picture had changed again, and the flakes fluttered lazily down around it. He studied it for a few moments longer, then looked up past it to his girlfriend.

He smiled.
"I love you too, Princess." He said softly.

**Cerulaen** Sun Feb 09, 2014 2:31 am

Daquiri started to open her mouth to deliver a tart reply to Jake's rather rhetorical question, but when he went ahead and started opening the present she just rolled her eyes. He seemed way more into the whole gift-exchange thing than she was. All the same, though, Daquiri had put a lot of thought into the gift. She may not be able to make anything and everything out of a piece of scrap metal, but she did have a creative-oriented mind.

And some connections within the Hecate Cabin.

She had originally gone to one of Jake's half-siblings to see if they could get the snow globe to rotate the pictures and record the message like it did. However, they had told her parts of it could only be done with magic. They'd been able to put the song on the wind-up, but her own voice had been a different matter, as well as flipping through the pictures. So, naturally, Daquiri had gone and enlisted the help of the children of the goddess of magic. Perhaps the red-head wasn't incredibly well-liked throughout the camp, but when they heard it was something she was doing for Jake, they'd all seemed more than happy to oblige.

Now that Daquiri was silently watching as Jake examined the globe with an eye that only that of a mechanic could possess, the red-head was glad she'd gone out of her way for the gift. She knew she gave Jake a lot of grief with her misconception on how a lot of things in relationships worked--who could blame her for never watching love movies growing up?--but in the end, it was him she liked. The feelings of genuine affection still felt strange coming from her, but she was learning that feeling loved was... well, just about the most amazing feeling ever. She might not have expressed that to Jake all that often, but from the look on his face as he looked at the gift and listened to her message, she could tell he knew. When he looked back up to meet her gaze, her chest constricted at the sight of one of his rare, not-goofy smiles.

"I love you, too, Princess."

Closing her eyes, Daquiri felt an invisible shiver run through her body at hearing the use of Jake's pet name for her. It was strange. A name that held so much meaning for her, but from a different person... resurrected to take on a new meaning. The only two men in her life that she had ever loved. Perhaps she didn't remember loving her father, but... she knew, somewhere inside, that she had. Once upon a time. She'd never really been into all the fairy tale s***, but being here with Jake now felt something akin to what she could imagine fairy tales were like. The only difference was that this was actually happening.

And when it was actually happening, kissing was a whole lot more enjoyable.

Softly blinking her eyes back open for a few moments to look at Jake, she tiled her head and put a hand over his as she leaned in, closing her eyes once again. The moment was electrifying and they were almost met when... a growl.

That d*** dog.

**GeneralArin** Sun Feb 09, 2014 2:45 am

Ri put a hand over his, and he leaned forward as she did, moving in for a kiss.

Then his leg vibrated. Rather, his dog did. Thor gave a low, steady growl.

Jake jerked back, drawn out of the moment. He set the snow globe aside and turned to his dog. Thor wasn't a dog that growled very often. Since he was a whole lot of dog, he acted obviously friendly towards everyone. Well, most everyone. Thor was halfway into a crouched position, his mouth cracked open to make a growl. His lips weren't curled back at the moment. Jake followed the mutt's gaze to a wall on the far end of the cafe. There was no one inside at that direction, which would explain why Thor wasn't in full-on ready mode. However, the fact that he was growling in the first place....

Jake turned back to Ri, dropping into a more serious mode himself. "We should head out." He said, putting the snow globe back into the box and then digging into his jacket pocket for his wallet to pay for the drinks and the food they were skipping out on. Thor kept his eyes trained in the same direction, the shaggy fur around his neck rising.

**Cerulaen** Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:38 pm

The red-head wasn't all too happy when Jake full-out pulled away to take a look at what Thor was growling at. Seriously? He was a stupid dog. He probably saw a fly on the wall and was going through battle tactics in his puny brain to make a sneak-attack up on it. Then suddenly, Jake seemed to get a whole lot more serious.

"We should head out," he said grimly, starting to pack up. Daquiri shot him a look bordering between confused and irritated.

"What do you mean?" she protested. "We haven't even eaten and all your stupid dog does is growl and suddenly we're--"

Daquiri, however, did not get to finish bashing on Thor, for a rather irritatingly loud BOOM interrupted her. Why did things being destroyed always have to hurt her ears? But then, when she noted that the cause for the explosion--and the giant hole now torn in the cafe wall--were because of the largest wild boar she'd ever seen... well, to say the least, she supposed she should switch her focus at this point.

"Great," she muttered. With an eye roll, she removed her dagger from her English riding boots. "Do you want the front end or the back?

**GeneralArin** Mon Feb 10, 2014 4:23 pm

Jake had instinctively shot up from his seat and drew his shield at the sound of something crashing through the wall. Thor snarled and jumped to his paws as well.

It was a boar. One of the several Greek ones, which meant several degrees larger than a normal boar. He frowned at it. Between them, they had two knives and a shield. You don't fight boars with knives. You fight them with bows and spears.

"Actually, I was thinking a strategic retreat." He said, keeping his eyes trained on the boar. Thor held his ground, head down and growling. "Let's get back to my truck."

Jake had some weapons in the back of his truck, including the aforementioned spear. Just about any weapon would be several degrees better than a knife.

**Cerulaen** Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:30 pm

Okay, that was a reeeeeally big boar. And it did not look happy at the moment. Surprise, surprise that it was Ares' special little pet... It was strange, though--its attention didn't seem to be focused on her and Jake, even though they were both demigods with fairly strong scents. Daquiri frowned when it let out a squeal, but directed at something behind it. She opened her mouth to say something about it, but Jake beat her to it.

"I was thinking a strategic retreat. Let's get back to my truck." Daquiri almost started to protest, but then she thought about it a little more. It was just her and Jake--definitely not enough people to overwhelm an angry Christmas ham of those proportions. And that aside, the only weapons they had were Jake's pocket knife--because he was an idiot and still hadn't made a transportable sword--and her own dagger; both close-range weapons that would ultimately get them stepped on if they attempted to use.

"As long as you have something longer than a pen in there," she deadpanned in agreement. When he started to grab her hand to make a get-away, though, she tugged it back and glared at him. "I know how to shamelessly run away on my own, thank you very much."

**GeneralArin** Thu Feb 13, 2014 12:01 am

"Well excuse me, Princess." Jake muttered, they took off out of the store, Thor at their heels.

It was a block or so to his truck, and the snow on the ground made the run terribly unfun. Jake was huffing as he opened up the tailgate of the truck. There was a good inch or two of snow covering things, but it didn't take long for Jake's hand to find the solid shaft of the spear. He shook it for a second, to get a quick judge of where the point of it was, and then pulled it out. Once it was clear of the bed and in a place where he wouldn't hit anything, he turned it vertical and examined it.

His spear, made specifically for fighting giant pigs, was an 8-foot affair. Well, technically just under 8, so then he could fit it in his truck. There was a portion of it where he could attach his shield to guard himself while he was getting a solid position. The top was in a typical boar-spear fashion, with a sturdy spearhead and a moderate sized crossbar underneath. But, since this was oversize boars he was fighting, there was a much longer part attached to stop a charging boar much more effectively. The stupid thing would work when planted properly-- he had perfected it in several long sessions with Agamemnon. Those sucked.
Jake tapped the folded up crossbar and nodded, apparently satisfied.
"Hold this." He said, handing off the spear to Ri, and then climbing onto the truck bed. He shuffled to the large toolbox right behind the cab.

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