of all p e o p l e -- [yeager]

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

Lisa wasn’t strange. At least, that’s what she wanted everyone to think.

She just had the habit of zoning out and being more interested in nonliving things rather than actual people. But she did love people—surrounded herself with them every day, like now, as she wandered the streets of Maple Hallow. People just weren’t so fond of her. Humans tend to shrink away from the peculiar and that’s what Lisa was, though she thoroughly denied it. Or rather, she didn’t notice it, because she was always wrapped up in her own little world. She was like her older brother in the way they both had trouble focusing but Lisa, it was more of a choice than anything else. She’s not a rude person—honestly!—just… understand that she won’t find you as interesting as a nearby plant she could paint. It’s hard to find people like that. Probably why Lisa doesn’t have a lot of friends but hey, what can she do about it? It’s not like she can change anytime soon. She only had one year left until school was over for her and she was set into the world. Friends? Pfft. Who needs ‘em anyways? … Her. Because she forgot how nice it was to have one.

Enough of this topic.

It’s normal for Lisa to be wandering around, even on the coldest days of the winter. She didn’t mind the cold (she piled on the layers to the point she looked like a marshmallow!). In fact, winter was her favorite season. It snowed, she could drink hot chocolate without breaking out into a sweat, Christmas was around the corner, and so was her brother’s birthday! The festive feeling always gave her some creative muse and it winter was a nice excuse to get the whole family together to have a nice dinner, catch up on things, and just be surrounded by people she loved. Yes, that sounded really nice. In fact, she could definitely go for a hot chocolate right now. And at that thought, Lisa booked it towards Tim Hortons and ordered one for herself. She took a seat by the window, settling herself into the chair before she took a sip of her hot chocolate—and burned her tongue.

Lisa immediately retracted the cup from her lips, sticking her tongue out slightly as if to inspect the damage. Well, her tongue was numb, that was for sure. She sighed, pushing away her hot chocolate. What use was drinking it if she couldn’t even taste it anymore? Lisa pouted to herself, her tongue still stuck out, and mumbled, “Gotta love winter.” And she did.

Until her hot chocolate burned her tongue.

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[ELLIOT NATHAN YEAGER]

Today, Yeager classified himself as a zombie. They spent their time shambling around, making moaning sounds, and though he had stopped in the whole "woe is me, wah wah" noises, he did a good job at the shambling. Only thing missing was his craving for brains. No, it was more like a craving for Timmies. He lived off the stuff, really, especially during this time. Holidays were supposed to be a vacation, but not for him. Holidays meant family, it meant relatives, and it meant collecting people in the house that were all just about as crazy as the people he already had to deal with on a regular basis. The Water elemental was not made for that, but he seemed to be a crazy magnet. Though, he had to say he was happy to see his biological mother. She'd gotten him glow in the dark condoms and said that she knew what he was up to. Better safe than sorry. And this was the most expected behavior out of the woman.

Going to get coffee was his escape. He wouldn't have to deal with his relatives yelling at each other, the cousins being turned into little demons by his sister, the mayhem now going down in the Yeager residence. He needed calm. So maybe he wasn't a person you describe as calm, but he did enjoy it sometimes. He only liked the mayhem when he was the one causing it, after all. The boy enjoyed pulling pranks and causing disorder in his classes, but then he was in control. He couldn't be in control when he found small rodents in his underwear drawer, a lovely Christmas gift from his younger sister. His parents tried desperately to keep things in order. They handled themselves well, but they were always calmer than he tended to be.

He threw open the door to Timmies, enjoying the warmth as he stepped in and started unzipping his coat. He grumpily ordered a coffee and anything that didn't taste like his father cried into it. With a straight face he corrected himself to a ham sandwich and once he got it he turned his attention to find a seat. Instead, he found Lisa. And considered for a moment just running out of there. Going somewhere far away because he had enough craziness and she was a different kind of craziness. She was the odd type that just gazed at random things in the middle of conversation and he didn't know how to handle her half the time. Yeager also worried about her, because that was his thing, but he wouldn't say that out loud. Of course that, it meant revealing that he actually cared.

Then he figured, being the lovely Earth girl she was, Lisa would be a good refrain from his parents. So, he approached the table with his food in hand. "Is this seat taken? No. Good." He sat right down, putting his coffee in front of him, and starting in on his sandwich. His parents had taught him manners, but that didn't mean he listened to them. Though he had to say, he tried his best to make them proud. Most of the time. "What are you doing here?" he asked, generally uncouth as usual. But he was grumpy, and it was a bad day, and the holidays just sucked for him.

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

Lisa inspected her tongue—well, as much as she could, she didn’t have a mirror—so she looked like some cross-eyed weirdo trying to lick her nose or something. It didn’t occur to her that she could go to the bathroom and look there, but it wasn’t like she was bothered by the stares in the first place. Quite the opposite actually. Lisa was curious why they were staring at her? Did she have something on her face? Perhaps a devious kid thought it’d be funny to stick a “kick me” sign on her back without her knowledge? That option was most possible, in fact. Lisa zoned out a lot of the time so it made her an easy target to all ages. She didn’t take it as a bad thing, but her family often worried about her wandering around at night. A serial killer with a running chainsaw could be tailing her without her even noticing. She had pepper spray. She was fine. That’s what she liked to think—she wasn’t one for the dramatics her family liked to dish out.

After a moment, Lisa gave up on inspecting and instead looked around her. It wasn’t that busy, but of course, everyone was probably at home spending their holiday with the family. She had slipped out of the house hours ago; don’t get her wrong, she loved her immediate family to bits, she just couldn’t stand her relatives. They constantly nagged her for her indecisive and “immature” nature. Lisa was hardly immature, but they were probably talking about the fact that she was acting like a child because of her inability to take responsibility and stick to one major. Lisa wanted to paint—that was it. But her relatives liked to stick their nose into her business as if they had any right. She knew that if she stuck around there would’ve been arguing and high blood pressures as well as her frustrated tears. That wasn’t a way to celebrate a holiday and she didn’t want to ruin it for others, especially the kids, so she snuck out (and told her mother, of course) and now here she was, her tongue hanging out like a dog’s and a pushed away hot chocolate. Maybe she’d drink it again when her taste buds weren’t dead.

Lisa figured she’d go get a cookie to munch on—anything, really, she wanted to test if her taste buds hadn’t shriveled up or something—when a familiar face plopped down onto the seat across from her. She raised her eyebrow, though a smile broke out on her face. “Ellie!” she exclaimed, giggling slightly afterwards. Ellie was her nickname for him, though she knew he hated it with a passion just as much as she hated being called Lisa. It was like a stereotypical brother-sister relationship—he being the older brother who liked teasing his little sister. Though in reality, she was the big sister with an annoying little brother. It was in all good fun, but Lisa’s annoying frustrated tears would slip out every so often. “Actually, my imaginary friend was sitting there. You’re sitting on his lap and he says he doesn’t swing that way, Ellie,” she said seriously, her lips in a thin line before she smiled again, indicating she was only joking. Sort of.

“I was enjoying alone time away from the family. Then you came~” Lisa nodded, taking Yeager’s sandwich from his hand and inspecting it before taking a bite, leaning back in her chair with her knees pulled up to her chest as she stared at him. “What about you? You know, besides giving a lap dance to my imaginary friend.” She smiled innocently at him as she paused for a moment, then spoke up again. “Ellie, is it possible for taste buds to die from hot chocolate?” Lisa was honestly curious. She didn’t even taste any ham in this sandwich.

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[ELLIOT NATHAN YEAGER]

Yeager stopped just as he was about to bite into his sandwhich when he heard the nickname. Ellie. He could have sworn he felt his eye twitch. That was not his name, and that was not even an acceptable nickname. No, that was something Gloria would call him when she was being her usual bratty self. Of course, Lisa was different. She was a nice girl, and she didn't use it the way his sister would in a fight. But it still sent chills up his spine. No one called him any version of his first name except his family. And he didn't even think about the fact that he called her Lisa when she hated the name. He could be insensitive, even when he was a pretty good guy with his friends. So maybe being a sarcastic dick wasn't the best way to be friendly, but it was his personality, and he couldn't exactly help that, now could he? Instead of throwing a fit, he stared at her as he bit into his sandwich and chewed slowly. Ellie. There was something unholy about that. It definitely did not sit well with him.

He shifted in his seat, looking down as if he could see the imaginary friend there. Which he obviously could not. Either way, he did not take the girl seriously, but he chose that way to deal with other people. If he took everything seriously, he would be even more stressed out than he already was, and that would just raise his blood pressure through the roof, for sure. So he spoke in what was his very dry humor. "Really? An imaginary friend? You're how old, twenty?" It was very hard to tell if he was joking, for the fact that he wasn't even smiling. Which usually happened. Yeager wriggled his butt in the seat and rotated his hips as if settling back into his position. "I'm sure I can convince him or her otherwise." He was so sexy that he could swing even imaginary people the other way. It was just a talent of his, really. Though he would be concerned if he were sitting on a dude. He certainly didn't roll that way, as far as he knew. He never had any interest in the dick.

He was about to say that he was escaping his family too, what were the chances? But then she did something that no one should ever do to a hungry person. And his enthusiasm just dropped when he was about to take another bite but she decided it was her and took it from his hands. He blinked, holding his hands up in the same position, looking at the empty space where his food had once been. For a moment there was simply the angst of losing his food, but then he sighed. "Never take a man's food," he muttered, shaking his hand as he watched the girl. She was a strange one, indeed, and he was lucky that he hadn't lost his mind yet with the kinds of people he managed to make friends with. She returned the question, and he just looked blankly at her. "Right now? Right now I'm contemplating hopping over this table to get my food back. I will kill you. That is an option here." God, he really was hungry though. But he actually honored her with a serious answer after. "Family escaping, too. My mom gave me glow in the dark condoms, do you happen to have any need for them?" She was a college kid, surely she would be getting up to some college stuff. He couldn't particularly wait himself. He was ready to go to college already. "No, but I know what can kill taste buds. Calling me Ellie. Put that on the list of things you need to stop doing." He said the last part slowly, as if spelling it out for her like she could not understand what he was getting at. It was beginning to drive him mad, that was for sure.

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

She scrunched her nose at Yeager’s tone. Lisa had expected it, but it still hit her every time. “Twenty-one, in fact,” she corrected, smiling at him. “Besides, it doesn’t matter if I’m twenty or twelve. Who really grows up anyway?” Okay, to set things straight, Lisa didn’t have an imaginary friend—in fact, he was more like her thoughts projected into a human form who just so happened to not be real. Wasn’t that fine? In a sense, it was like having her own personal consultant in her life without having to pay for each hour they “talked.” “C’mon, don’t tell me you’ve never had an imaginary friend!” Lisa nudged him with her foot under the table. “Or you don’t wonder where they went after you forgot about them!” Lisa was horrified at the thought of forgetting her “imaginary friend” or who she liked to call, “her consultant” (it sounds less weird that way). Besides, it was a harmless thing; a thing she picked up when she was younger. Her brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was ten years old, and from there, things got a bit lonely. She and Gelo were really close, so she felt abandoned and depressed, like she was losing something important to her. Thankfully, Gelo learned to deal with it and are just as close as they were before the horrid diagnosis. “…” Lisa stared blankly at the seat, her eyes slightly widened an horrified. Um. Yeah. “He does not approve of your advances, Ellie.” Her lips formed into a thin line, still staring at the seat. She was torn between amusement and absolute horror. Maybe next time she’ll leave her consultant at home. It was best for both of them.

Confused for a moment, Lisa blinked back at Yeager, unsure of why he was staring at her like that. “… Ellie?” She waved her hand in front of his face (albeit, the one with the sandwich in it), slightly concerned and uncomfortable. Maybe this is what people feel like when Lisa stared at them—but she wasn’t staring directly at them, just sort of… past them. In reality, of course. In her own little world, she was imagining what their face would translate to in animal form. “That’s a silly reason to kill someone,” she pointed out, tilting her head to the side as she took another bite. Honestly, at this point, any normal person’s senses would kick in and give the man back his sandwich, but she was oblivious as to why he was so… sarcastic? Was that it? Lisa had trouble distinguishing sarcasm, so she was thankful when he finally gave her a serious answer though she sort of laughed and cringed at the mention of condoms. “Um, no. I think you’d find more use to it than me, honestly.” Needless to say, Lisa wasn’t exactly any guys’ “type.” She was weird, unlike any other girls that they’d be interested in. It was kind of a depressing thought, with her being twenty-one and barely ever having a boyfriend. Oh well. It’s not like Lisa would notice them much anyways.

Lisa frowned, succumbing into brief moment of silence. She hadn’t meant to make him upset—in fact, that was far from her intentions. “… sorry.” She chewed on her lip, a sudden wave of rejection hitting her. It wasn’t the romantic type where the girl gets dumped by the guy she likes—God, no—but more like the feeling of being rejected for being the person she was. Maybe that was an exaggeration, but that’s what it felt like. There were times where she was oblivious, but she knew fully well what she was getting into the majority of the time. Like now, when she called him Ellie. Lisa didn’t understand what the problem was with the nickname—it actually made him sound cute, which she didn’t find him that way at all, but Yeager had his moments. It wasn’t like she called him Ellie just to spite him; it was a way to show her endearment, even though she’d never admit that to Yeager. Lisa didn’t have a lot of friends, and with the friends she had, she showed her appreciation by calling them special nicknames she gave them. So, it felt like her appreciation was being rejected.

Goddammit. Here comes the tears.

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[ELLIOT NATHAN YEAGER]

Twenty-one. Even better. She could legally drink, something he was jealous of, and she still had imaginary friends. Some might have found it adorable. He supposed he did, as well...along with believing it cause for worry. "I do. I wear man pants. And I shave now. Do you shave? I hope you shave. But unless you're still going around with a twelve-year-old mentality, I doubt it." It actually didn't matter whether she shaved or not. He wasn't going to jump her bones. He viewed her too much like a sister to want to do that, it would feel like incest. He snorted when she nudged his foot under the table and asked after the status of his imaginary friends. "No, I had real friends." He couldn't remember them. Maybe he really didn't have them, or perhaps he had just forgotten. Either way, he was going to stick by his words. "And isn't that the premise of a cartoon? Foster's Home, or whatever." That hadn't been his childhood, really. His childhood had been Courage the Cowardly Dog and Spongebob. Those had always been his favorite as a child. He didn't get to watch them as much after Gloria came around and kind of messed everything for him. The Water elemental almost died laughing when Lisa look horrified. Priceless. "I apologize, that was very forward of me, I shouldn't have." He looked behind him and said, "Sorry, man." He really was very, very sorry. Or not. He actually had no remorse, but he could pretend.

Lisa spoke again, not only spoke but waved a hand in front of his face. Ellie.That name again. If he could twitch his eye on cue, he would have. As it were he simply narrowed his eyes at the offender. The truth was he liked the girl, really did. He just...did not know how to show his feelings really well. What did you expect from him? Yeager was a guy, despite what rumors may have said in grade school. Growing up with two gay fathers didn't make him any less of a dude. In fact, it probably made him more manly considering he had two male influences in his life. And a near-absentee woman one. Not counting his Cannabis addicted grandma. He blinked at her words. "You'd be surprised what a man could be driven to." Unfortunately, he wouldn't be surprised if he Google searched "death by fries" and found a homicide reported over someone stealing some innocent guy's fries. Maybe he wouldn't be so innocent after the fry incident, and he would be possibly psychopathic, but he felt for anyone who got their food filched from them. He shrugged on the matter of condoms. "You sure? I mean, you could use them as balloon animals...at night." He could probably use them to prank his sister because Yeager did not think he would be using them any time soon. But then he thought of Raine and figured she would get a kick out of that kind of stuff.

Wonderfully oblivious as he was, he didn't have any clue that she was put off by his behavior. He really didn't like the nickname, sure, but he didn't have much practice in being nice about it. Robert had hit him in the back of the head quite a few times before, especially at the dinner table when he was forced to be with his family. Yeager liked to think of himself as honest. He called people out on their bullshit. He didn't let that kind of stuff fly, even if they were relatives. Other people did not really appreciate that. They came up with terms like "jerk" to describe him. "Good, you should be." It was followed by a short grunt before he continued in on his food. "What person wants to be fucking called Ellie, anyway, I mean come on..." The curse was unnecessary, as they usually tended to be, but he couldn't help his...sentence spices. That's what he could call them. They enhanced his conversation and stories. Not that he was saying something very interesting, as is, just admonishing a girl for something she had been innocently doing. Cutesy little nicknames were probably her thing, he knew a lot of girls who did that. He wasn't one of the guys who appreciated it. That made it a problem, and he didn't know how to let Lisa gently down on that matter.

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

Even though Lisa was considered to be at the “golden” age, she paid no mind to it. Partying, going to bars, getting drunk—they were all irrelevant to her interests. Besides, can you imagine a drunken Lisa? That’d be a sight to see. Maybe she’d be those drunks who excessively cried about everything. “I do shave!” Lisa shot back defensively, pouting. Then she realized that Yeager was probably making a jab at her and she huffed. Not a lot of things got to her, but geez. He knew how to get under her skin sometimes. “And if the man pants you’re referring to are your Spongebob boxers, that doesn’t count.” She smiled innocently at him, swirling her still too hot chocolate around in her mug. Okay, she didn’t know what kind of underwear Yeager wore—and hell to the no, she did not want to find out—but she figured a dude with his personality had at least one pair of embarrassingly childish boxers. It’s not like she’d hold it against him if he did; Lisa still had a few pairs of Disney Princess underwear. Pouting, she propped an elbow onto the table and rested her chin in her palm when he mentioned real friends. “Yeah, well, some of us weren’t that lucky.” Lisa was one of those kids who sat against the wall or stay in the classroom during recess. She wasn’t shy per se, but she was afraid of rejection from the other kids. Besides, she always had a sketchbook in her hands. After all the years of not having any friends, Lisa knew how to preoccupy herself. “And yes it is, as a matter of fact. It’s just like putting your own child into a foster home. You just don’t do it unless you have to.” Maybe that was an exaggeration, but that’s how she saw it.

Lisa sort of shrunk back into her chair when he narrowed his eyes at her. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t be so intimidated because whenever she as around Yeager, it was just playful banter back and forth. He never really glared at her, or at least, if he did, she didn’t notice. So she stayed quiet and instead reached over to poke his cheek to gauge a reaction from him. As long as he didn’t bite her finger off, Lisa would be fine. “What man?” She scrunched her nose a bit, clearly confused. It was obvious she didn’t think of Yeager as a man—the thought was quite laughable—but more as a little brother whom annoyed her, but adored. Yes, that was it. Not a man. “Um, no thanks. Though, that would be quite wonderful,” she said, though cringed a bit. “I don’t think my brother would appreciate seeing condoms in my room. And from you, of all people.” Lisa bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing a bit when she imagined her older brother’s face when he saw the condoms. He was rather… overprotective. And intimidating, she guessed. There was no way Gelo would let her drop the subject, no matter how many times she’d insist that she was still a virgin and planned to be for a long time. But then again, Yeager was kind of a bad influence. Lisa would understand where her brother was coming from; though she’d feel bad for unsuspecting Water. He’d have no idea he was put on her brother’s hit list.

Falling into silence, she dropped her gaze to her mug, absentmindedly gripping the hem of her skirt tightly in her hand. Lisa practiced this. To prevent the uncontrollably, annoying tears from falling, focus on something else. Block out everything. Close your ears and take deep breaths until the lump in your throat disappeared. Potentially hurt yourself to distract—like right now, where Lisa was digging her fingernails into her palm. She was not going to let them fall, she was not going to let them fall, she was not going to—Lisa flinched when he spoke again, and just as the curse word slipping from his lips, a few tears slipped down her cheeks. She was never a fan of curse words; always found it too harsh, cold. They were directed at her for so many years—it was why she tuned out so much of her surroundings. Hastily, Lisa wiped her cheeks with her sleeve, frustrated at herself. God, why did she have to be such a crybaby? Especially now, right in front of Yeager? He was the last person she wanted to witness her tears. Who knew how he dealt with tears? For all Lisa knew, he’d hold it against her and make the crying worse. Just… just…

She quietly muttered to him, adjusting her hair quickly to hide her eyes. “You’re such a jerk.”

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[ELLIOT NATHAN YEAGER]

Yeager only smirked when she shot back defensively. She really was an adorable person, he didn't think they came in adult sizes. He thought once you hit eighteen, you turned into a cynical jerk. He'd always been a cynical jerk, so he hadn't noticed himself. "Spongebob is very manly," he said, face in a deep frown. So what if he did have Spongebob boxers? The closest he really had were his Pinky and the Brain boxers, and he wasn't going to admit this to the Earth graduate. That would be dirt. He can't give people dirt. "Everyone can make friends if they try," he said. He really was insensitive, wasn't he? The boy always had had friends, he didn't know what it was like to be the kid sitting alone in the sandbox. He'd been outgoing as a child, and he was outgoing now. He didn't have a very broad spectrum when it came to views, though he did feel bad since Lisa was implying that she didn't have any real friends. To make it a little better, he told her, "I'd have been your friend." He was friends with her now, no doubt he'd have been friends with her back then. It had only been a matter of timing. "I think that's what a lot of patients in psychiatric hospitals say, Lisa," he told her and once again, used her real name. His sensitivity knew no bounds, did it? He was always such a very nice person, especially when it came to making his friends feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, he didn't pay much mind to words that came out of his mouth.

He watched as she shrank back, his lips twitching a bit. He maintained a straight face, though, as she questioned which man he spoke of. "Any man. We're very territorial." It was shocking that more guys didn't piss on their possessions to mark their territory. Wrinkling his nose, he realized that some might. In his mind, men were more in touch with their primal side than women and that's why you did not take their food. Lisa was lucky; he hadn't bit her hand off when she reached for it. Just glared. And glared hard. The topic of his condoms did bring to mind some ideas. "Nah, don't think I want a professor breathing down my neck. Wonder if he would appreciate it if I gave them to him, though?" He barely even knew the man, just saw him around and he believed he'd once nodded his head at him in greeting before. That was the extent of their relationship, and he didn't know if would be very inappropriate to give him condoms. Not that Yeager really knew what boundaries meant, anyway.

So preoccupied with his food, Yeager didn't notice when the girl began crying. Especially since when he looked up, her face was angled away from him. But he leaned over, further over, almost falling out of his chair until his shoulders sagged with realization. Ah crap. Crap, crap, crap. She was crying, actually crying and he froze in the spot like he just jumped into the middle of the street in the direct line of headlights. Like flipping through a manual inside his head, he tried to think of the best ways to deal with this, past experiences with his sister who rarely even cried anymore. He had missed her recital once and she chose suffocation over tears. Hug? Do I hug? God, he could be an insensitive prick sometimes. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, you can call me Ellie. I love the name Ellie. It's creative!" She would like that, right? Creative? She wanted to be creative, she was a creative person. It at least showed how caring he was, the fact that he wanted to make this better and he was panicking in his efforts to do so.

Panicking enough, in fact, that he took the lid off the coffee and said, "I'll hurt myself, that's funny right? So you'll laugh. Hahaha...holy tits." Yeager had plunged his hand into his coffee during his words and he yanked it off, steadying the cup with the one hand that was not throbbing with pain. It had not at all cooled down, and tears of his own were welling in his eyes. They were both crying now? "Oh fuck, that really hurts, need a napkin, need a napkin..." For now he just shook his hand, looking desperately at Lisa. This is what he got, this was the penance for being a douchebag. He knew he was going to get his comeuppance one day. "It's not funny anymore..." The water boy squeaked out past his pain. Second degree burns may be funny afterward. He hoped so. He hoped he didn't need skin grafts, as well, it hurt that fucking bad.

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

Lisa really wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. She wasn’t a violent person, far from it. She was more of a passive-aggressive, and right now, Lisa wished she had a huge magic eraser to permanently scribble out his smirk. Maybe she’d try it with a regular eraser. That way it’d hurt. “A lot easier said than done,” she pointed out. Lisa wasn’t a shy child; she was quite the opposite. Jumping from circle to circle, hoping to make friends. And on the rare occasion that she did, her “friends” would instantly pull back once they knew what Lisa was like regularly. Kids were kids, but they could be just as judgmental as adults were, unfortunately. She was branded as the type of kid who would go look at bugs and hang out near the rose bushes instead of running around screaming on the playground. Playing games wouldn’t have worked out for her. Lisa frowned a little at the memories, but she couldn’t help but smile a bit when Yeager said he would’ve been her friend. “D’aww,” she cooed, reaching out to nudge him with her shoulder, a bright smile on her face. “How sweet and gentlemanly. Who would’ve thought~” Yeager… Yeager was a hard person to describe. He could have his jerk-ish moments (which she often experienced) and he had his sweet moments (which happened very rarely). It was confusing, but she dealt with it because he also managed to deal with her. Besides, he was also a very good friend despite the age difference. “Stop calling me Lisa.” She cringed, pouting. That was thing she hated the most—being called Lisa. It made her sound plain and boring, something she despised. She was slightly jealous that her siblings got unique names and not her. It was a small, petty thing, but she couldn’t help it. At least she had several nicknames to suffice.

She couldn’t help but giggle a bit at Yeager’s straight face. It was unusual. “Sounds like something off the Discovery Channel.” Lisa handed him back his sandwich, settling back into her chair. An image of his face pasted onto a lion suddenly popped up in her mind and she laughed, beginning to dig into her bag for a pen. Taking a napkin from Yeager, she started scribbling on uneven surface, her creativity flowing more than it should have with that image in her head. It was hilarious and ridiculous, yet it fit too well with their conversation. “I think you’d have a mouth full of condoms if you did,” Lisa laughed. Her brother’s temper wasn’t a bad one; rather she’d imagine him just staring blankly at the Water before walking away. That image in itself was quite hilarious, as she knew Gelo hadn’t any experience in the romance department, let alone in the sex department. His Schizophrenia robbed him of that and much more before he could. “Maybe you should just avoid giving the Grace family any condoms. Mother would freak out if she saw Gelo with condoms,” she giggled. In all honesty, Lisa would too. She was so used to seeing her brother single that the thought of him having sex made her shudder. Actually, any thought of sex made her cringe. “… do I even want to know why you’ve got them in the first place?” After another split second, she already knew the answer. No. Lisa didn’t want to know of Yeager’s… inappropriate activities. She liked remaining ignorant about that sort of thing.

Lisa fiddled with her skirt, trying to tune out anything that Yeager could be saying. For all she knew, he could be making fun of her and that would just make things worse. Just ignore, just ignore… I love the name Ellie! She could faintly hear his voice through her wall and she peeked up, wondering if she heard wrong. Lisa stared at him with watchful eyes. Was he… panicking? She tilted her head as she continued to watch him, confused as he opened up his coffee. She opened her mouth to say something when he dunked his hand straight in, exclaiming the obvious that it was hot. Lisa stared at him blankly for a moment, looking at the hand and back at Yeager, until her lips twitched at the corners and she smiled. A choked up giggle bubbled at her lips, shaking her head and she took his hand gingerly into hers, dabbing at it with a napkin. To a near busboy, she asked for a cup of ice and turned her attention back to Yeager, sniffling a bit. “You’re crazy,” she said simply, still giggling. The tears stopped and she wiped the tears with her sleeve then wiped at Yeager’s eyes. “It’s no good if we’re both crying. Why’d you dip your hand into hot coffee anyways, Ell—Yeager?” She stopped short when she almost called him by his nickname, correcting herself quickly. When the busboy returned with the cup full of ice, she took a few and dug around in her purse and found a small handkerchief she got as a present from her father. It was pink with floral designs, but Yeager was “manly” enough to deal with it. She wrapped the ice inside the handkerchief, gently placing it onto his hand silently with a small smile on her face. “Next time, a small apology is enough to suffice. No need to hurt yourself,” she giggled again, looking up at him. “But thank you.” At least she now felt better about burning her tongue with hot chocolate.

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[ELLIOT NATHAN YEAGER]

He grimaced when Lisa spoke of getting a mouthful of condoms, which did not sound pleasant in any case or scenario whatsoever. And went on to say that her mother would also freak out, at which point Yeager realized they had very different families. His fathers had given him the talk and knew he was 'sexually active', but they trusted him. So when she asked how he got them, Yeager smiled and told the truth. "My mom. She's usually touring, but she comes over sometimes with weird gifts and usually they're like Voodoo dolls or something." He didn't know which gift was better now.

Though condoms were the last thing on his mind after he just ruined his coffee.

Yeager believed that he made the fact crying caused him to be very uncomfortable very clear. The fact that his hand felt as if the skin was melting off of it made that clear enough. But she was giggling. Giggling. If that wasn't a success, he didn't know what he would have been aiming for otherwise.

At her question, he squeaked out his answer: "To make you laugh." However, as he'd stated, it was not that funny anymore. But didn't everyone like to watch people injure themselves? Some slapstick comedy? If there was one thing he knew, it was humor. "Because I didn't want you to be crying, and it's the first thing I thought of, and I am not that smart, okay?" Self-deprecation was something else he was quite professional at. And because he'd been more preoccupied with that, he hadn't even realized that she had called him by his nickname. The pain was more pressing at this moment in time.

Lisa got the ice and took out a handkerchief, one he'd noticed looked really nice, but he really didn't feel like protesting anything at this point. The icy cold as she wrapped it around his hand made him sigh happily. Relief, sweet, pink-colored relief. "You know, that might have been better, but this is me," he said about the apology. He was Yeager, he did stupid things and freaked out at inappropriate times and one didn't classify him as completely stable. And he was also the guy who thought all of his friends were the freaks. (Lovingly thought they were freaks, of course.)

Holding the handkerchief steady on his hand, he asked her, "Okay, okay, so what should I call you?" She had given him the nickname he felt most comfortable with, but he did not know what she liked to be called because he had never called her that. And he sometimes wasn't exactly...observant. "And this looks really nice, you sure it won't ruin the fabric or something?" He lifted up his hand, and it looked like he was wearing a very feminine ace bandage. He had no problems with the color pink; growing up with his family could do that to a kid.

[really sorry for the change in format, forgive me.
i'm being really weird and trying new stuff. >>]

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

She giggled as he talked about his mother and her strange gifts. She kind of sounded like Lisa’s own mother with the eccentricities. That’s where she got her weirdness from, actually; her mother. Lisa has a very close relationship with her, thus the very similar likes and dislikes they shared. It was rather unsettling, but she embraced it wholeheartedly. As long her mother didn’t give her glow-in-the-dark condoms like Yeager’s mother to him, she’d be fine with any gift. Hell, she’d incorporate it into her sculptures whenever she had the chance. “Your mother would get along well with mine, then,” she laughed, pulling out a small figurine of a duck-dinosaur-platypus figurine. “It’s supposed to be for good luck.” Lisa glanced at it with thin lips and dangled it in front of Yeager’s face, glancing between the two. “You know,” she started, holding back giggles, “… kind of looks like you.”

Lisa frowned at him, suddenly feeling horrible. “So you hurt yourself?” She shook her head, patting his cheek gently. “Now I feel bad…” Lisa glanced at his bright red hand and cringed; she didn’t mean to make him hurt himself, nor did she mean to cry in the first place. So indirectly, she was the one who forced Yeager to stick his hand into boiling hot coffee. Well, that was a pleasant thought. Not really. “Well, now that you’re crying, what am I supposed to do?” Lisa pouted at him for a brief moment before reaching over for her own hot chocolate, sticking her hand into it without another thought. The pain didn’t come instantly rather, she had to keep her hand into her mug for a few seconds before it felt like liquid fire was engulfing her hand. Lisa squeaked slightly, instantly recoiling her hand from it. She pouted, holding her wrist tightly as she looked up at Yeager. “There! So don’t cry anymore!” God, that was probably a stupid idea. Oh, well.

She stuck her hand in the cup with leftover ice and sighed in satisfaction. She didn’t really regret it, but times like these kind of made her panic. A lot. Lisa hated to see any form of crying (even her own). And this was compensation for Yeager being an idiot. She can be one, too. “Well, we’re even now,” she laughed, holding up her hand limply. She figured hers wasn’t so bad compared to Yeager’s, as her hot chocolate was sitting for a while, which gave it time to cool down a bit whereas his coffee… well, it was a just a wonder his skin didn’t melt off.

“Me?” Lisa blinked at him for a moment, confused, until she finally understood. A small smile spread across her face and she hugged his side tightly, nuzzling her cheek against his shoulder before pulling away, a bright grin on her face. “Nuh-uh. You’re supposed to make up a nickname for me. That’s how it works, Ellie!” Lisa crossed her arms across her chest, waiting patiently for an answer. She just hoped it wasn’t something weird, but secretly, she wouldn’t mind it that much. Anything was better than Lisa. “It’s endured worse, trust me~” Being as clumsy as Lisa was, handkerchiefs had to be sacrificed for many things—namely blood, because she was horrible with scraping herself. “Besides,” she giggled. “Floral print and pink suits you!”

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[ELLIOT NATHAN YEAGER]

Yeager blinked when the girl -- woman, actually, it was often hard to keep that bit in mind -- patted him on the cheek. Yeah, she was strange. But then at her next words, he mustered whatever could be the most defiant expression when he was so focused on pain. It's just in the mind, your Jedi powers are much stronger than this, he thought. "I'm not crying," he squeaked in his little voice. Okay, he really was not convincing anyone, but he had to defend his manly honor here. His parents may have said that there was nothing unmanly about crying, but he had been molded by society.

When she decided to dip her hand into her own hot chocolate, he gave an exasperated look. Some people may have told him that he was a little too high strung with his friends, but he surrounded himself with people who liked to do stupid things. This may have been a stupid thing in response to his own stupid thing, but still! He was going to die from high blood pressure. "You're going to kill me, I swear, you and everyone else around me is going to just boost my anxiety." He looked up, pinching the bridge of his nose with the fingers on his good hand. Yeager's behavior was very close to that of an old queen, and by queen he meant aged gay man. It made sense.

His eyebrows wrinkled together at her suggestion, that you don't want to do that expression. "Yeah, no, you don't want to do that," he told her. His nicknames weren't very nice, and giving him the go ahead to make up a nickname was like giving him the go ahead to bully. "See Lice would be my first option, but uhm...okay, I can do this...Lizz? You like Lizz?" The most nicknames he gave out was Lucifer, which he called his little sister. And just generally what other people called his friends. Yeager came along because...actually, he didn't know how that nickname had come about. It just came to be when he was a child, and that's how great things seemed to happen.

He sighed as he looked down at the handkerchief. She said it was okay, and he chose to believe her because this was hella relieving. "Probably what my nursery looked like," he muttered. Whenever he made comments about his parents like that, they were all good-natured and teasing because he would not have wanted to grow up in any other kind of home. He loved his family, despite all the trouble they caused. He lifted up his cup and said, "Here's to the holidays," before sipping at it. He didn't want to burn his tongue, too.

[we can end it with this or your post? and totally have another thread haha!]

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

Lisa looked at him through blurred eyes, though when he spoke she let out a small, choked up laugh. “Your face says otherwise,” she pointed out, laughing again, before pouring more ice into her handkerchief for him. She dabbed at his eyes again, forgetting her own tears. Yeager was definitely a strange one, but maybe that’s why they got along. He didn’t show it much, but times like these, Lisa appreciated his… care? Friendship? She didn’t know what to call it. But it was rather warm and fuzzy.

Oblivious to Yeager’s stare, she felt her eyes water. Not too much about her emotions, rather they were from the searing, hot pain that was shooting up her arm. Probably wasn’t her best idea. Maybe Lisa should’ve stuck to her own advice instead of diving into something that would potentially scar her. “I-I don’t mean to,” she stuttered, hear hand lodged into the cup with ice. People were staring, she could feel it. “But if you ever get high blood pressure, I’ll pay for your medication.” She nodded once, biting her lip. Lisa didn’t have any intentions on causing Yeager stress—but thinking about it, why would he have stress, he always seemed so relax. But maybe that was evidence he actually cared? Lisa hoped so. But she also didn’t hope so. If caring meant that he’d get a heart attack or something, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be a part of that reason.

She tilted her head when Yeager spoke. Why not? was the first thing that popped up into her head. Yeager wouldn’t pick an awful nickname like… Lice. Lisa grimaced at him, giving him a look. “Lice? Really? You have no idea how girls work,” she said as she shook her head, though she grinned at him as he gave her another option. “… Lizz. Lizz is nice.” She smiled. “Does this mean I can still call you Ellie?” Okay, maybe she was pushing it. A lot. But Yeager wasn’t so bad. He did say she could keep calling him that (of course, he was in a panicked state that most males would be in after making a girl cry) so she figured it was alright. That, or she was massively simple-minded. She nodded once, grinning, and lifted her own cup (though she doubted there was much left, with it all being spilt on the table. “To the holidays!”

end.

[yes, of course. we should totally make a new thread. ]

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