sirenspull_logs | [OPEN] Look in front of you NOW. Do you have a waffle?

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[OPEN] Look in front of you NOW. Do you have a waffle?

Who: Replica Riku, AKA: Joe Fieldman ....and OPEN to everybody!
When: Wednesday, 1pm
Where: Brinners, in the Underground Mall Food Court
Summary: It's Wacky Waffle Wednesday, and who can turn down food that just costs a buck, and comes with all the toppings you want?
Warnings: This could get unreasonably silly.

Joe Fieldman didn't always know a great deal when he saw one.

But waffles-for-a-dollar with a loaded waffle bar included? Sounded like a great deal. Enough to make a trek down to the mall for them, anyway, and loudly inform his whole apartment, if anyone felt like tagging along.

Of course, the trouble with great deals, especially when they were announced over the public newsfeed, was that a lot of other people seemed just as eager to take advantage of them.

So Just-a-Buck waffles turned out to be over a fifteen minute wait, and by that time Joe had seen so many people pass by with Tantalus Torture piles of whipped cream and strawberry syrup and chocolate chips and sliced peaches and sausage gravy that he decided to buy himself a stack of about <i>eight</i>.

Luckily, he's brought along a old half-forgotten journal he'd found underneath his bed last week (Ciel Phantomhive had managed to make him so self-conscious about the state of his bedroom that he'd actually decided to give it a clean) to amuse himself. He couldn't for the life of him remember where or who he'd gotten it from (Christmas before last, maybe? Or for a 'birthday'?), but it came with all sorts of entertaining instructions for what to do with the pages, and so he went about doodling bubbles and poking pencil holes, dog-earing pages and blackening the edges while he waited to aquire some food to stain the stain log with.

Okay, so it was slightly immature. So were overly-loaded waffles, but plenty of people seemed to be perfectly fine with partaking.

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So, waffles seemed like a good idea, although Namine did decide to wait and hang back at the apartment for a bit. School was coming up again, so some paperwork and preparation were in order.

But cheap waffles seemed like a good idea, and she's never really been to a place that offered free toppings for them. Might as well meet Joe for a nice little lunch, right?

Except after getting her rather modest helping on a single waffle with simple toppings (light whipping cream, chocolate shavings and strawberries), she really can't help but stare at her boyfriend's portion.

Namine knows that the boys can eat a lot but... did Vexen make him with a secret second stomach?

"Is that... gravy?"

"Well, someone told me you should eat waffles with fried chicken." Joe shrugs, looking at her plated waffle, which unsusprisingly manages to look much more dainty and appetizing on the plate than his four waffle sandwiches, dripping with syrups and melt-y soft serve ice cream and various combinations of nuts and fruit. And the one with gravy, which he supposes is his 'savory'.

"...which is weird, you'd think sausage or bacon or something might go better?"

There was a fried chicken place across the way, on the other end of the food court, but now that he was settled and eating, Joe felt considerably less keen on the idea.

"So you got all your school shopping done, huh?" He at least had the manners to chew and swallow before speaking, flipping through the battered journal beside his tray to see what other pages he had yet to mutilate creatively.

"Fried chicken?" Honestly, that doesn't really sound all that appetizing to her. Maybe it's a guy thing. But it doesn't sound like it would taste very good, and she remembers taking a class about healthy eating.

...It's funny, relying on things she found out through school now. Maybe this is how other, girl Somebodies work.

She sits down across from him, nabbing her utensils and getting to work on her own waffle. "I think sausage or bacon might be more fitting. Waffles are kind of like breakfast food, and so are they, right?

"Mmm, almost. There's just a few things I need to pick up still." Like clothes. She has all her appropriate art supplies picked out, but there's something in picking clothing that just makes her nervous. She could ask Xion or Kairi to help her out. They'd probably follow the fashion trends here more than anyone else.

Fidgeting over the thought of shopping, she spears some waffle and strawberry and stares at the book. Not one of hers or Xion's. Maybe Roxas'? But he wouldn't do that to his books.

"Where did you find that?"

"I guess because it's salty, and the waffles can be sweet?" Joe shrugs, with absolutely no attention payed to food pairings, except that 'fried' and 'cheese' usually worked together, and so did 'cookies' and 'milk'. Somewhere in there, he tried to cram a few things in that he knew were healthy, too. "...So it's good-weird, like sea salt ice cream, maybe? But if you ask me, waffles should be anytime-food. So I'd eat them with almost anything, at least to try it the first time."

...which was totally not a dare invitation, or at least he didn't mean it that way, although something like a boastful declaring tone always had this creeping habit of sneaking it's way into Joe's voice.

"Huh? What, this?" He glanced down at the journal, thick with taped-in things and glued in things and shredded pages. "Under the bed. It's some weird journal I started a long time ago and must've forgot to finish. There are directions, for what to do with the pages. You're supposed to mess it up."

"Anyway...you still have some more stuff to get? I though I saw the bags, with your supplies." And snuck a wincing peek at the receipts, too. Who knew art stuff could be so expensive? He really needed to find another good source of munny, soon. The landlord had been talking about raising rent.

"I guess that's true." Sea-salt ice cream and waffles are still two completely different things to her, but she could see where Joe was coming from. Still, chicken just seems a little odd to her, but that's what he wants.

She blinks at the book some more, wondering what is hidden in those pages. She couldn't imagine doing that to one of her sketchbooks. "Instructions like what?"

Namine glances down at the mention of her bags. She's been trying to keep them hidden ever since they played hosts to Ciel in Joe's body, just to help keep the apartment clean. A lot of it she could afford, but it was expensive. "It's supplies for class, but... I wouldn't mind picking up some new clothes."

Back-to-school clothes shopping for the first time.

"Well," He thumbs through, some pages are messy with intentional stains and others are almost completely covered in ink from being doodled on. "There's page for fingerprinting, a place to put fruit stickers, a page to poke holes in, and some you're just supposed to shred up...lots of things" Shrugging, Joe shuts the journal again, sliding it away out of sight beneath his tray.

The journal probably wasn't filled with the kind of 'art' that someone who was talented at it, like Namine, could take very seriously. In fact, someone who went to school for it might even be a little offended by the 'wrecking' process.

And what is it with girls needing so many clothes, when they already had perfectly good nice ones to wear? But Joe bites his tongue on those opinions, though. No girl ever wanted to hear it.

"So you're going to go with Xion, or Aqua?"

It's far from fine art, and Namine can already envision most of her teachers snubbing their noses at it and the idea of messing up what could be a perfectly fine sketchbook. But she stares at it very curiously as he flips through it. Fine art, schmine art. It might not be her taste exactly, but she could tell that he's had fun with it, and that's really what mattered.

Her gaze lingers on the book under his tray a little too much. Maybe there was a page she could draw on in there. She hasn't drawn too much for him lately, and he does deserve it. "You're trying to finish it now?"

She bites her lip, idly playing with half a strawberry and her fork. The one that probably would be best to go out with would be Kairi, but, it's been a while since they've talked last, and she doesn't really want to intrude on her Somebody's life.

"Maybe just Xion. I wouldn't Aqua coming, but, I think she's a little busy. But, Xion knows a lot of things, ah... about what girls should do."

"Oh, she just thinks she's some kind of expert because she reads all those stupid magazines in the bathroom." Joe laughs, rolling his eyes. Xion seemed to be interested in some really girly things, once she got on a kick...baking, cute dresses, kissing her boyfriend in the back of the movies and grinning about it when she came home. (Joe blamed Ven entirely.)

To be frank, it was a little worrying sometimes. He and Roxas had to work to keep the boy-level of the apartment balanced out with the girls being...girls. Namine could, of course, could be as girly as she liked. And he supposed that a few new nice things for school would be okay, as long as none of the boys in her classes got the idea they could like her as much as he did.

He taps his pencil at the journal, and makes little pressed dots with the end of tip against the cover.

"I figure I'd take a crack at a few pages again." Joe shrugs noncommittally. "Until the next time I get too busy and forget about it."

"...She still knows more than me." Admittedly though, she has flipped through quite a few of them, but she couldn't see the appeal in all of the clothes and weird poses the models took and, most of all, the 'love' advice.

But there were a few dresses in them that she liked, and maybe thought she could find.

"Anything I can help you with?" Who knows if there were pages that you could share with other people, but it was worth a shot. She wouldn't be opposed to doing something fun in there for him, even if he thought it wasn't 'fine art'.

"Yeah, well." He glances away, seeming suddenly a little uncomfortable with discussing Xion's femininity. "She and Ven are really....uh..." 'I think they're a little more enthusiastic about their making out in the movies,' but that's probably not such a nice thing to say to his somewhat-more-modest girlfriend. "...serious about it."

Maybe it was because there wasn't much girliness in the Organization, aside from Larxene (what a role model), and so now Xion was trying to overcompensate just a little. The blue nail polish. The dresses with bows.

Or maybe she was just trying to be more than a replica, just like him, more than a tool to harvest hearts, and trying out all those girly things were just one more way of finding her own way.

"Uh... Well, I don't know. I guess it depends...what kind of wrecking you want to do?"

"...They're very close." Namine's gaze trails to her waffles, feeling a little guilty. They've had dates and dinners, but being a girlfriend was still strange for her. Love was still something she wasn't sure she could handle. Xion was more of an expert, and every time she catches the other girl sending Ven a message and giggling right after he responds, she feels twists in her gut. Should she be doing that to Joe? By no means does she want to be a bother to him.

"Well..." She looks back up, a little sheepish, but her smile returns. It's a bit broader, more sincere. "Is there anything that doesn't involve too much destruction?"

That's against the rules, but she wouldn't mind doing some creative destruction (although she'd much rather just draw something for him in it).

"Yeah." There's uncertainty, awkwardness, as he watches her carefully across the table. Even after so long, living right there with her close by in the apartment ever day, sometimes it feels like there's a distance with Namine that he just can't seem to cross.

In part it's because he desperately doesn't want to scare her, make her nervous.

On the other hand she's made it clear so many times that Nobodies aren't like most people, they don't have hearts, they're lacking certain important things to do this right. Joe's been adamant about pursuing her anyway...but it's slow goings, maybe a little too much thoughtful hesitating, not knowing when it's okay to try and be someone more for her. The little gifts, the tiny things, they pile up of course. But it's not like Xion and Ven seem to be, and sometimes that's frustrating.

He wishes he could tell her being a Nobody doesnt matter at all, at that she'd actually and wholeheartedly (...oops) believe him.

"You could do the...draw some circles page? I haven't really figured out what to do that's creative, for that?"

The subject change comes at a good time, and her smile is small, earnest. As closed off as she can be with their relationship, as terrified of hurting him with her affections or lack there off, she's still wanting and striving to please him.

She ponders over the offer, twirling her fork around before spearing another waffle, coming up with ideas. Once she thinks of something, Namine looks up and nods. "I think I might have an idea."

"Here-" he turns the fat and battered journal around, presenting her with the (mostly) untouched page. All the corners have been dogeared, and the page numbering's been handwritten in.

"It's all yours."

She takes it carefully to her side of the table, examining it for a minute before riffling through her bag for a pen. She's got an idea, though it might not be the perfect drawing that she's done. It would probably be something her teachers don't like, but this is only for Joe.

So Namine gets to work, creating small little circle in the upper areas of the page, numerous little circles. By the time she's done with it and moving onto another area of the page, it's in the formation of a star.

Joe settles his chin on one hand, munches a mouthful of food, and watches her work with neat little bubbles on the page, closely joined. He's wearing an expression that probably reads clear all the way across the food court as the unmistakably infatuated blush of adolescent adoration.

She could be scribbling up the most shameless wreck of them all, for all he cares. But instead she's drawing the symbol of their promise, and so something in him melts faster than the ice cream sandwiched between his waffles.

She keeps going on the page, creating other stars with varying sizes in no particular pattern, never once looking up at him to see his expression. Only when she finishes with the eighth star, that she looks up, and locks eyes with him for a moment. A very long quiet moment that makes her cheeks hot.

"Umm..." Namine glances back down at the pages, eyes scanning the surface for some more inspiration. Stars were okay, but it didn't feel like it was enough. And she had already created something for him involved Destiny Islands. Scenery of the Port could work, but from where? Their apartment? It couldn't be anything too big since she was only drawing in circles.

"What else do you think should go on it?" She looks back up at him. It is Joe's journal after all. It should have something he really wants.

A pleased, warm feeling bubbles up, when her eyes lock on his. The kind of look that makes him eager to swoop up, lean across the table and kiss her, but the mall food court isn't exactly the most romantic of places for it. And his mouth would probably taste like waffles and syrup.

While one hand reaches across the tabletop to smooth at the top of the journal paper, the other's very tempted to reach beneath the table and brush at her knee, where the hem of her summer sundress should give way to softer bare skin.

He's still not so brave as he'd like to be, when it comes to Namine. Maybe because he's still a bit afraid of that special bond Terra talked about not working just right.'

"Circles?" He shrugs blankly, wishing he could muster a little more directive imagination. A fingertip traces along the part of the pen that extends from the top of her pen, then settles over her hand. "Just draw whatever you want. The page is for your wrecking, I gave it to you, okay? You've got my permission to do anything you want to it. It's a free pass. The whole book's supposed to be like a huge free pass."

That seemed to sum up a lot of things he'd been wanting to say to her. About everything.

It was probably the close proximity of their hands, or the choice of his words, but her expression sobers up quite quickly. Almost as quick as that blush on her face. She almost wants to refute with him, tell him that maybe he shouldn't, but Namine reminds herself that it's his book, his choice. And he was drawing something in it for him.

Not for her, and not for one else.

"A-alright," that isn't really helping her slight dilemma here, and her eyes shoot downward to the book far too quickly. For a while her stokes on the page are faint, loose and vaguely in the form of a circle. But after a moment or two, they start to take a more tangible form; rails and shapes of tall buildings in the background. While she might have been thinking about the apartment, it looks more like the fire escape that they sat on months ago.

He sinks his chin into his hand and watches as lines form shapes, and finally an image he can recognize- it's sort of marvelous, how Namine transforms those careful lines across the paper.. A bit more angular, in the end, than the intended circles, but hey, who cares about following the directions anyway?

Joe takes a wondering interest in whatever she does. Especially the things that Namine creates from her own mind. From what could be her own heart.

She doesn't always say the things she's feeling, so often he tries puzzling them out of her pictures.

A few more lines of circles and borders, and she paused, lifting the pencil up from the page. It was a little too sketchy in her opinion, having had her teachers comment about trying to finish up pieces as best she could without a lot of mess, but it was good enough. After all, it was the meaning behind the drawing and not the quality of it.

She glanced up at him, turning the book around in his direction so he could see it better. "How's that?"

"It's great!" Joe gushes with a grin, holding the sides of the 'wrecked' journal, and one very lovely fire escape doodle in the middle of all the mess.

"Your ah- oh, what's it called," (Because he wasn't so sure, when it came to art terms, he'd only flipped through her textbooks and sketch exercises whenever she happened to leave them out in plain sight in the main room of the apartment) "perspective has really gotten better and better since you've been practicing it for school. I mean, the way you draw nowadays keeps getting more and more real-looking."

Which was meant to be an earnest compliment, on her improvements.

"Thanks," she blushed lightly, grateful for the compliment. It was hard to notice how she improved from her perspective, but now that he did mention it, she could see what he meant. She has gotten better since her faceless scribbles from Castle Oblivion.

"A lot of assignments have us do different things - scenery, still life," she glanced down sheepishly, "They're things I wouldn't think of if I didn't go."

Another pause before she looked up at him. "You really think it's a lot better?"

"Well," Joe considered carefully, because what he could say might not earn him more than plaintive skepticism. He couldn't say she put her heart into it now, because she still didn't believe Nobodies could have their own. "I think the difference is, even if they're assignments?"

He cast his eyes wandering over her carefully sketched lines. "You're still drawing things now because you want to, not because you have to."

Not because Marluxia or Larxene are making you do it, or because you're fixing a mistake, mending Sora's heart.

"And I think...that way, you get to put more of your true self into it."

Her true self? A while ago, she probably would have considered that to be Kairi, the original and the one with the heart. But now, she wasn't so sure that was true anymore. Namine glanced away, eyes focused on a tile in the food court floor. With all that's been revealed to them, things have been difficult to accept. More so than for Roxas.

"I guess... that is true," she bit the inside of her lip thoughtfully, taking a chance and looking at Joe for a minute before keeping her eyes down again. Her tone is soft, but neutral, neither annoyed nor particularly sad.

"One of the teachers has always said to put a little bit of yourself in what you do. To put your heart into it."

A phrase that, while she knows it's true, never exactly sat well with her.

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