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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Jul 8, 2012 21:41:45 GMT -5
Ashton was also like Lark in the sense that he did not think he would need a lot of space. As long as the place had a bathroom, kitchen, and enough space for both a bed and Lilith's tank, he was set. He didn't even care if the bedroom was a separate room, al studio apartment would work out fine in his opinion. He wouldn't be taking the dogs if he moved out, they were family dogs and not his to do with as he wished. The snake was all his own.
He flushed with embarrassment and ducked his head when he realised his mistake, though he was smiling broadly and did not get angry at her for laughing at him. As with when he'd told her the very true story about his shrieking at a spider and falling out of his chair, he didn't mind others taking amusement in his failures. "Shut up," he scolded, but it was with a smile so big it was easy to tell that he meant nothing by it at all. Ashton was glad that he had Lark around and he was glad, at least, that she had not been serious. He looked at it through an optimist's eyes—rather than seeing it as a bad thing that she'd laughed, he saw it as a good thing that she didn't really think he needed to earn any rights in her life. "Don't plan on it!" He liked himself the way he was and all that good stuff. "And horses are for farms, so why are we talking about them?" He grinned and poked her lightly in both sides.
He was glad when he recognised the names that Lark listed off. Gale, the Water leader and thus one of his good allies, Josh, Nell's boyfriend ( fiancé, he reminded himself), Nell herself. Then Devin was mentioned and his green eyes sparkled. Devin was one of his really good friends and classmates, he was on good terms with most of the Earths in his grade but Devin was special. They were procrastination buddies, perhaps not the best thing to bond over but it worked for them. "Ooh, I know all of them!" he said brightly. He didn't know Josh too well, certainly not as well as the others, but they'd definitely talked some and been around one another when their friends all got together. That was the good thing about having mutual friends. Ashton thrived in a crowd, the more the merrier. "Okay! I'll still check with you when I've found some people, though, just to be sure!" He was a people pleaser and thrived on making sure that everyone was happy. He wanted to ensure Lark didn't have any problems with his friends.
Rather than responding verbally to her comment, Ashton merely gripped Lark in a tight hug with a cheeky sort of grin on his face. Then he bit her shoulder very lightly, not enough to hurt at all, and said with satisfaction, "Bear maul. I told you." He was too silly for his own good. He prolonged the hug for a couple more seconds before he let go, still grinning from ear to ear like a kid in a candy store. Life was an excitement.
Though being oblivious could be a hindrance in some situations, it was beneficial to Lark in this one. Ashton hadn't a clue about any misgivings or anxieties she might have been having about the 'date' thing and he didn't stop to consider that it might be her first. He'd gone on so many dates and date-like ventures in his life that it was second nature to call something such and roll with it. Of course, they were not usually dinner dates. He tended to go to the arcade, the ice cream parlour, Timmies. He really liked the carnival when it was in town, too. That had been his first 'job', a summer one. It had been kind of nice, actually, but he definitely preferred a career that was not going to go away as soon as school was back in session. He found that he liked having money in his pockets. "Then we need to just eat all of the things," he proclaimed, punching his fist into the air and laughing as he did so.
Lark did not have a preference and suggested that he surprise her, something that excited him. Rather than groaning because the decision was being placed into his hands, he thought it would be fun. He knew of a little out-of-the-way diner that didn't have as much credit as it deserved and decided that it would be their target. "Ooh, I know the perfect place!" he said, wringing his hands to work off some of the energy and eagerness. "This place'll do fine, I think," he said as he started walking back toward the car. "You'll see!" His friend worked there, hence how he'd discovered it. Normally he'd say that his friendship with her would get him in no matter how busy it might be but he knew for a fact that she was not working tonight. She was spending the night at her boyfriends house, probably doing things with him that would make her parents shake their heads.
It might not have looked like much, wedged between two other stores on one of the less busy downtown streets, but it was a homey sort of place where the food was cooked fresh and the atmosphere was friendly. There wasn't much of a view other than the street outside, which wasn't spectacular in the least, but that wasn't the important thing on a dinner date, the dinner was. It smelled of a mixture of foods when they went inside and his mouth was already watering. It was pretty full but there were still open spots, just as he'd thought. It was not fancy enough to have people that showed you where to sit and so he went over to one of the tables and sat down, figuring that one of the waitresses would be over any second. "I come here a lot for birthdays and stuff," he told Lark. "Their food is so good. Have you ever been?" Maybe she had, maybe not. It was out of the way enough that it would make sense if she hadn't but being a local there was a possibility.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Jul 10, 2012 0:13:50 GMT -5
It really was a good thing that Ashton was such a light hearted person and did not take some things she said or did to heart. She could admit--even to herself--that she had a tendency to be verbally abrasive both in humor and seriousness and sometimes forgot who she was talking to when she did it. Like having a partial filter. She thought about it sometimes, and other times not so much. Having someone that could roll with it and smile at her so brightly was encouraging. Ashton held an even higher standing in her book because of this. Even his attempts at telling her to shut up were just too adorable. Even if he were serious Lark would have had difficulty accepting it as such.
"Good. Because then I would be sad," She commented, glad to hear verbal confirmation that Ashton was going to retain his current personality. She did not want to experience the whole Spiderman versus Venom ordeal. Not at all. Even though Venom's outfit was fucking awesome. Before she could even respond to his next question, he had taken the opportunity to poke her.
Bad idea.
Lark suddenly let out a squeal and grabbed at her sides, jumping a bit out of his way. She laughed a little bit but tried to refrain. "Extremely ticklish, remember?" It was actually a gentle reminder, accompanied by a small (but suppressed) bout of giggles and a smile. "My greatest weakness. Like Superman's kryptonite or some shit. Only I don't get to wear a fancy cape." Hm. Seemed the girl had a love for her comic book heroes. That was fine by her! Nothing to be ashamed of. Lark was shameless when it came to the things she liked. At least, in regards to being ticklish, Ashton would not pinpoint her weakness and use it negatively against her. She was growing to trust him more, understanding that he was not like a lot of people she dealt with in the past. He was genuine. Some things were left tucked away in her heart but that was because she tended to repress things out of habit. If Ashton asked, she would tell without hesitation. The realization that she was willing to do that for him spoke volumes.
"I figured you might," Lark replied, glad that they knew the same people. A bit comforting, actually. She did not know half as many people that Ashton did so she felt good having those select few show up for the party. Then when Ashton invited the others Lark at least had a core set of visitors that she could focus on until she grew comfortable with everyone. Lark was not accustomed to so many people. "Alright, just let me know who they are and everything so we don't have like, random strangers wandering into the house. I don't want to have to use my ninja moves." She made a shifty eyed movement. Part of her comment was meant to be serious though; Lark had been to enough parties to know that people would randomly show up if you left the door open long enough. She had actually been that 'random person' a couple of times in the past. Like the one with Brett. He had invited her, not the host. Bad memories. She tried to remove them immediately.
She pretended to be suffocated when Ashton hugged her, refraining from laughing. Anyone else doing this would have pissed her off. Maybe a good punch. But not with this guy, nope. "Be niiiiice," Lark whined, pretending to try and wrestle herself out of his grip. "Or I'll bite you back." And she meant that too. She dished out what she was given, even in the form of bear hugs and bites.
Her smile widened a bit as she watched her boyfriend get over-excited about thinking of the perfect place to go. He was so energetic! That was a good thing though. "Oh, you do?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Curiosity was eating away at her like a tiny parasite but she did not allow it to show too much. She did say she wanted him to surprise her. It was supposed to be this way. She followed him towards the car and kept pace with him, sticking her hands in her pockets. "I'm sure it'll be fine," She replied, clearly not worried. More curious. "I trust you." Lark did not trust many people, so to say that was not something she merely felt like saying. She did not throw the word around carelessly. The place he had chosen was something she would consider a "hole in the wall", a place that was not something well known like McDonald's or Timmie's, but it was a favorite of the locals and had really good food. At least she hoped they had good food. Lark followed him in and sat down across from him, crossing her feet and leaning on her elbows. "Nope, never been." She looked around. "I've seen it before but didn't stop to try it out." The waitress came by and she said, "I'll take water." Lark was going to keep this cheap if possible. She picked up the menu and looked it over. "Okay since you've been here before...what're some of the things you like? That'll help me decide." She wanted to be confident that it would taste good.
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Jul 12, 2012 17:06:10 GMT -5
He definitely did not want Lark to be sad. Then again, there was little to worry about when it came to his personality. Ashton had stayed much the same since he was a little kid. He'd always been bright, bubbly, cheerful, and completely willing to socialize with a rock if he thought that it was going to give him a good time. He was glad Lark enjoyed his personality at any rate. It would suck if she wanted him to change for her. He'd try, surely, because he'd do almost anything to please someone he cared about, but he was not good at the whole 'change' thing.
He jumped when Lark squealed and stepped back the same as she did, laughing a second later when he realised that they'd both reacted negatively to the actions of the other. He had not been thinking about ticklishness when he'd poked her, he was simply a physically affectionate person who tended to hug and poke and mess with his friends on a regular basis. He ducked his head sheepishly at her reminder. "Right, sorry!" He felt kind of bad now because he thought she might be annoyed by the slip-up but she didn't seem irked with him. He took this as a good sign and allowed the relief to flood in. He did not have to hope that it wasn't falsified. Optimism was a wonderful thing. If he wanted things to be okay he could usually make them so. "Well that's not fair," he said. "Everyone should have a badass cape if they want one. You should get a cape." He was grinning from ear to ear at the mental image of Lark going around in a cape. "It'd be super cool if capes gave you the ability to fly," he mused. He would like to fly. The birds looked so happy and free and they didn't have to pay gas money to get from place to place.
He hated paying for gas.
Though often oblivious to the woes and concerns of others, Ash had enough respect for Lark and her personal space that he did not have any plan to go over the top and invite twenty plus strangers into her apartment. It was doubtful that many would fit but even if they did he would not have considered it. He was only planning maybe three or four and all people who he thought would get along with her. Forcing random and incompatible company on your girlfriend was hardly fair. "That would be super creepy," he said at the idea of random strangers walking in. He loved meeting new people but not when they wandered in uninvited. "We'll have to plan for food and stuff, too. Like a huge pizza party or something." He loved pizza. Most of the time when he went to parties with friends he tried to avoid the parties with lots of alcohol and drugs and instead hang out in a group at someone's house eating pizza and chips and drinking soda. It was a good time.
Had he known that she'd once had a serious aversion to touch, perhaps Ashton would not have been so brave as to hug and bite her in the same gesture. Maybe neither at all. They probably wouldn't have been together because he wouldn't have gone for the kiss, either. He valued his unbroken nose, thanks. He was blissfully unaware, though, and so he only smiled broadly at her. "He-ey," he said. "If you can bite me I get a free pass." Sharing was caring and all that good stuff. Why were they having this conversation again?
Had only Ashton realised the significance of the word 'trust' he might have given a bit more of a pause to smile and thank her, tell her that he was glad that he'd earned it. He hadn't known Lark for an extremely long period of time, though, and so he didn't know as other friends might that she didn't let anyone in often and didn't place her trust in just anyone. There was practically a skip in his step, so good was the mood that he was in. It crossed his mind only briefly that they were supposed to be back at school and in class or at least doing their homework but he pushed the thought aside with the ease of a chronic procrastinator. "Do you have orange juice?" he asked of the waitress. Might have seemed an odd choice but he really loved it. "Oh, pretty much everything they have is good!" he enthused, the waitress smiling at the comment. "But their steak is really good, and their soup, and the scalloped potatoes, and... yeah, pretty much everything," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I really like their fish, though... maybe I'll get some of the smoked salmon." He'd always had a fondness for fish. Maybe it was a Vancouver thing, living so close to the sea.
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Jul 16, 2012 22:11:14 GMT -5
If Ashton had been anyone else, Lark might have been upset by being tickled, even if it was an accident. Her past dealings with being tickled never went over well and she was wary of people who decided to try their luck at seeing how far they could press their luck with a tickle fight. Fortunately that was not even his intent and she could only chuckle and try to calm down the quick palpitations in her heart when he touched her. "It's all good," She said, emitting a small sigh to settle herself. She was smiling though. All really was well.
"You know what," Lark shook a finger at him and passed him a rather serious expression, though there was a glimmer of amusement in her dark eyes. "I think you're right. I should have me a bad ass cape. And run around the city and fight crime." Because that would be intensely awesome. And hey, she already did have some sort of super power right? Fire elemental and all. Not that it could really be used in public. Thus the whole secret identity thing. Cliche, but it worked! Now if she could just go and live her life in a comic book. Her eyes lit up a little at the prospect of flying. "That would be sweet! You just...put it on and you can fly anywhere you want." And she would go home to Hawaii for a little while. Maybe take Ashton with her. That would be a nice vacation. Oddly enough, if she were to obtain some sort of super power she would prefer something a little less generic. Invisibility, invincibility, super strength, flying...it was all overused and boring. She would have to think on that later.
Although she was used to the random parties she would definitely prefer to avoid the strangers wandering into her house at night. She never did understand how people felt brave enough to let people do that. Didn't shit get stolen that way? Not good. Not good at all. Not that there was much for them to steal from her but even so she did not want to offer up the temptation. Fortunately she did not have a huge group of friends and Ashton was not intent on dragging a million people over either. That helped. "Yeah, definitely not interested in inviting hobos into my house," She joked lightly, envisioning some homeless guy just walking in and laying down on the kitchen floor to take a nap. It would be more comfortable than a park bench, she supposed. Did hobos even sleep on benches or was that just a cliche movie deal? Random trains of though for the win. Lark glanced over at Ashton and nodded her head eagerly with a smile. "That sounds like a plan," She agreed. "You can head up the food if you want. Pizza sounds good, but we might have to have people pitch in and shit so we'll have enough." They both had jobs but feeding a decent sized group of people (most of them guys with bottomless pits for stomachs) would probably be expensive. Having everyone toss in a few bucks would alleviate that.
She laughed at him and bit him on the shoulder, playfully of course. It was not extremely hard; Lark had no intentions of becoming some sort of daytime vampire. "You already bit me so I get the free pass." She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled. Only with Ashton did she find herself so comfortable. Somewhere in her subconscious she knew she responded to him differently but at the same time it felt so natural there was no need to question it.
Lark appreciated simplicity. There they were, sitting in a small diner after having an epic battle of the Nerf guns at Walmart, and neglecting their classes for a few hours. Best. Date. Ever. She had a small but complacent smile on her face as she listened to Ashton request orange juice. So random. But that's what makes him so great. He really helped bring her around. To come out of her little shell a bit more. Lark tilted her head and admired his enthusiasm for a half second before looking up at the waitress and smiled. So complementary. "Well, that doesn't help," She pointed out with an amused chuckle. "Because I don't think we can afford, nor can I eat, everything on this menu. As much as I would like to try." Having an eating contest like that would be rather awesome. She just was not sure if she would have the capability to walk afterwards. Might have to put a few notches in that belt of hers. Lark felt her mouth water as he listed off some of the menu items, then wrinkled her nose in automatic response to his choice of meal. "Eh, I'm not a fan of fish. Maybe I'll go for scalloped potatoes or something." Oh, yes. The starchiest of starches. Couldn't go wrong with that, she thought. She made her order, and enjoyed sitting and chatting and laughing while they ate. It was a good memory. Something she would cherish.
After the meal was over, though, Lark looked at her cell phone and passed Ashton an 'oh shit' look. "We should probably get back to school. Finish off the last couple of classes before too many people realize we're gone." Because that wouldn't go over well and although she was used to detention she did not exactly what that to be the ending to her day. Everything else had been smooth sailing and fun! Detention was not appealing in the least.
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