darpow

[darpow]

"Let's avoid that." Darrius had been lucky enough to have his parents' love story to guide him -- a hard-working man and a dedicated woman who did their best to give their children the best life that they could; he'd take that route any day compared to a romantic movie on a ship that was doomed. He found, more and more, that reality was better suited for him. "So you'll be intrigued by the fact that such awful creatures can be so easy on the eyes?" he asked, doing his best to hold back a laugh, "I hope that I can be the exception. To the awful part, not the good looking part," but when her arm slid around his back, her foot moved against his ankle, he figured he had already won that. And then maybe lost it a little bit as she smacked at his chest and inched away, letting out a loud laugh as he tossed his arm around her and tried to pull her back in, leaning in to bury a kiss against her neck, "okay, but you laughed!"

"Minus the tragic ending," she agreed. There'd been enough terrible love stories in her family tree to last the ages. The Markham women were due, karmically, for something good. "Yeah, I think I would have picked up on that with my research. They're also just so . . . good looking." One of her hands wandered around his back as they slide together, her foot rubbing back and forth against his ankle. She leaned forward, waiting for him to cross that last inch, her eyes nearly closed . . . "Darrius! Ugh!" She knocked a hand against his chest. "Mood killer! God - I despise you." She was laughing though, twisting a little to inch away. .

[darpow]

ALDIS HODGE

👑😍

[darpow]

That's somehow worse, since you're a little bit insane and also full of yourself if you're staring at photos that way? Although it's not entirely surprising, either, so I guess… good job? Living up to the idea I've always had of you. I probably would, but we won't debate on whether or not you'd return the favor. I was glad when the snow stopped falling, though, I can't lie about that.

Nah, I'm not really the sort of person to do that. I'd cut your face out of the pictures and just look at me in them, thinking about how cool and fun I am, how I'm so much cooler than you. Listen, I think you'd come to see me in a hurricane or a tornado or something worse and scarier. And you'd bring me soup.

[darpow]

Getting a free beer would be a little more fun for Darrius than taking money, anyway -- he didn't need the cash, but he could always use a drink after a long day at work, that was for sure. "I'm sure that Lucie appreciates it, though," he replied with a warm smile, nodding his head. The perks of having siblings in the same town -- Darrius's were scattered all over the country, he held on to envy for anyone who had their family with them, but he knew that they would drop anything to get to him if he needed them, too. "So far, so good. I convinced Noa to come stay with me for part of the storm, then we'll do the rest at her place, check on both houses. Mostly, I'm kind of glad to have the week off of work."

"No no, I definitely owe you." He was going to pay it back in one way or another. He didn't want to just accept the dog food with nothing to give in return. When Darrius mentioning buying him a beer instead, Mason nodded in agreement shoving his wallet in his backpocket. "Okay, you got it. I can do that." He took the bags of dog food carrying them into his kitchen. "I'm doing alright, I should've been a little more prepared but I was being helping Lucie out that I kinda forgot I was running low, what about you?."

[darpow]

"Minus the part where the ship has something catastrophic happen to it," although he hadn't watched Roswell, he had certainly watched enough Titanic to know that he did not want his life to go that way, especially where his time with Noa was concerned. No, he'd rather things go as well as possible. "And I'll abandon mine. Which isn't that hard, I don't know if you know this, but humans? Pretty awful," he said with a low laugh, shaking his head. He wouldn't blame either of them for running away. Pulling his gaze back down to her face, he shifted a bit, lowering himself so that he could lean in to where his lips were almost pressed against hers, letting the unspoken linger there before, "...I think you lay some eggs."

"Roswell meets Titanic," she said, smiling at the lunacy of the idea. There was always that sense of spinning a web with Darrius though, and she adored it more than she can put into words. Days stuck indoors, the storm pounding at their windows, were ripe for this kind of chatter. "I abandoned my whole race for you." There was conviction in her voice then as she watched him drop his head back, her eyes trailing the long line of his throat. The bob of his Adam's apple. "A whole new species, huh?" Her voice was low, innocent if not for the humor she was barely concealing. "How we going to do that."

[darpow]

"Oh, I see, this is one of those romantic alien love stories," the grin that spread across his face was slow, amused, knowing that there were probably movies and television shows (with low ratings) and fanfictions online about this exact kind of scenario… and that they would never end up comparing to hearing her talk about it while laying next to him in bed. "You were just so taken by me that you gave up on the heart of the mission to get closer to me? And of course, me, being a historian, was absolutely fascinated by someone who basically represented the future, the polar opposite of everything I've sworn to learn about," if that was how that worked, anyway. Letting his head fall back and a warm 'hmm' leave his throat as he thought over her question, he answered after a moment. "Neither. I leave earth, you leave your ship. We find a planet that has the oxygen and resources to allow me to live, and start our own species."

"Hypothetically, I've been spending weeks if not months monitoring the human species. I'm not supposed to interfere, but for you I've broken all the rules." She watched him, rising up a little to get a look at his expression and the humor written there. The blush that she wondered if she was just imagining. She dropped a kiss to his sternum, her lips soft over the fabric of his shirt. "That depends. Would you want to come live with me, or do you think you'll charm me to pieces, and I'll just have to abandon my ship and my species?"

[darpow]

Watching her face as she started to speak, he couldn't help the low, throaty laugh that slipped out as he shook his head. He might have been blushing, had the lighting been brighter, had it not seemed so dim there in the powerless room. "So hypothetically, as this powerful alien queen… does that meant that you spent time surveying us lowly humans and I passed the test as the most attractive, brainiest of all humans on the planet?" That was something to be proud of, he supposed. Even if it would eventually lead to science experiments and interrogations. "Are we going to live forever in outer space, or is it my job to sell earth to you so well that you give up your space ship and move here to live on the planet with me?"

"Well . . ." she paused at the feel of his hand on her back. It was as comforting as it was electrifying. In their little space, despite Dare's roommates, it felt utterly private. "I'd have to find out, of course, if all members of your species were as handsome as you. Then we'd get into the broader questions. You see," she smiled, "I was discerning about my abduction. Chose you for your looks as much as your brain." Which suddenly seemed like a very true statement in the midst of this scenario. "Who better than a historian to tell me whether I should stick around."

[darpow]

"Mm," he let out a low laugh as she started to tell him how this abduction would work, assured him that it wouldn't kick off with scientific experiments -- which, thank god for that -- but rather interrogation, figuring out how he worked. That might not be such a bad idea. "And what sort f questions are you going to ask your alien subject?" he asked curiously, moving his gaze from the ceiling down to her, as much as he could see of her where she was resting against his chest, anyway. His free hand dropped to rest on her back, rubbing gentle, soothing circles there, though he supposed that was as comforting for him as it was for her. "Deeply personal questions, or are you going to try to figure out more about earth in general?"

Through this all, Noa was almost happy for the storm. For the impromptu chance to stay with Darrius and forget the world outside existed. The pressures of work hadn't offered them much of that yet. She settled fully against him, resting her chin on his chest as she contemplated his question. One of her hands wandered the stitch patterns on his clothes. "I don't think we have to jump to that, right off the start," she teased. "I'd start with a little interrogation. Get to know you first. Figure exactly what makes my handsome abductee tick."

[darpow]

Yeah, you're right about that! I'd almost always rather get the trouble over with as soon as I can rather than having to deal with it forever. The stuff that follows you around is what really end up eating at you. Right, I don't need to make myself even worse than I already am, please and thank you. That sounds like a good time! The potatoes, I mean. And the beer. Not the snow, although I'm… really glad that's mostly over. The ice today was a pain in the ass, too!

A little trouble for a little bit is better than being in trouble for a long while! It was easily fixed so that was even better. Yeah, it was annoying and inconvenient but the good thing is that I don't have to deal with it anymore! Until next time. Mhmm, oh yeah. That's a whole different type of nerdiness, I think. I ate a lot of potatoes, drank a whole lot of beer, that's for sure. I gues we got our parties on so now we're all like... stuck at home.

[darpow]

With the cupcake devoured and his chocolate milk set aside, Darrius shifted his weight carefully, sliding his arm around Noa's back and shoulders, to let her rest more fully against his body, rather than the bed or the headboard itself, sinking down a bit and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. It was comfortable, he realized. Yes, there were storms outside, and yes, flashing lights all around from what could be battery powered, and maybe a little chilly when one of those big gusts of winds blew outside, but… he felt warm in that moment, snug on the bed with her. "I'd like to see that," he said thoughtfully, a slow grin spreading across his face, "what are you going to do to me once you abduct me? Science experiments?"

There was an expanse of feeling behind her just then. Words and memories and the complications of blood family. But, the further removed from those years, the more grace she had toward everything that had happened. She'd never have the comfort of looking into others faces and seeing resemblance, but she had Lupine Lane and, in ever expanding ways, Darrius. She swallowed those down now as she nodded, forcing her face into a serious mask as she said, "I'd go Independance Day on their asses. No one gets to abduct you but me.".

[darpow]

[darpow]

"Of course," he let out a low laugh. Honestly, Noa didn't seem like a 'bad' kid, or even a bad teenager -- he could have been surprised to hear torrid tales of all of the horrible things that she had gotten up to, but… it just didn't seem possible, knowing what he knew about her now. "It happens," he said softly, nudging her from where their legs were entwined. Granted, it hadn't happened for him. Most kids had a rebellious phase, a crazy phase, any kind of phase. But Darrius had always just been… steady. The good kid. The one that his parents could rely on at any point in time. And he liked that about himself, unlike a lot of people that had yearned for something more. He realized, as he talked about aliens and the ocean and things unexplored, that her eyes were on him, ducking his own down to find her face as she spoke, reassured him that the aliens would have to fight her off, and he couldn't help but to smile at the thought. "You'd fight little green men with big eyes and all sorts of foreign technology and powers for me?"

"Maybe once of twice." Her voice dipped then, imitating an innocent tone, before she shook her head. "I wasn't terribly rebellious though. Not until I was a teenager and then I was mostly just bitter and quiet. Put my mom through the ringer a little." Her head tilted up as she listened to Darrius and, for the most part, agreed with him. She'd read in a book once that there were more stars in the universe than grains of sand on earth. It was a concept almost too big to wrap your head around. She enjoyed mysteries, and the idea that exploration hadn't come to an end. But, listening to Darrius - watching that same passion pumping in him - her thoughts drifted a little. He was handsome in the candlelight, in the blue and red glow of a few battery powered lightsabers. She was smiling a little slyly when she said. "Any alien tried to abduct you, would have to fight me. Green or not."

[darpow]

And I'm not the kind of person that needs constant surprises and fun -- sometimes I like things to be cool, calm and collected, you know? But… I enjoy a good time, some fun, a little bit of a laugh here and there. Adventure. Me too, I would've been pretty bummed out to have to become some sort of ocean creature. Or, you know, dead. I guess that also could have been an option. The snow is a bit much, I'm not going to lie. I know they say that false spring is a thing! But this is a little bit extreme. But we've been surviving, Noa came to stay with me, then tomorrow we're going to drive out to the 'burbs and check on her place and her neighbors. How have you and Tasha doing?

I agree! Always nice to have some fun in our lives! Something different keeps us on our toes. Sometimes life can get a little monotonous and predictable. We like surprises, but the good kind of surprises! Good, we’re all glad you didn’t get lured into the ocean, Dare! Always a plus. We need our favorite history nerd in town. So far, so good, right? Except, you know, the snow coming in at the last minute. Maybe the weather just wanted one last hurrah. Phil needed more attention. He wanted the last laugh.

[darpow]

"No kidding," he let out a low laugh, shaking his head. And it wasn't as though they were in an area where it was uncommon to find Irish people, to call someone up who had a pub band that would come in to Merrock for a pretty penny and a good time. Darrius -- very far from Irish -- enjoyed the fact that it felt authentic in a lot of ways for them to have these celebrations. As they made their way inside and to the bar, he followed suit with Sunny's moves, grabbing up a drink and downing the small amount before nodding his head, "it makes sense. It probably takes quite a bit for the alcohol to go bad, too, right? If anything, you just have less to order the next time that you need to get some new stuff in, so that's not bad," and definitely a better option than ending up with not enough and angry customers who demanded what they wanted or swore that they would end up somewhere else. "I don't envy you, though. Seems like a lot of work -- but you do it really well."

There wasn’t honestly that much planning required beyond showing up when it came to a bar crawl. An outfit, a little cash and a dream were more than enough to suffice until it came time to go home. That was where the planning was important. When she was younger, she might not have given it a whole lot of thought. She would have gone in without a plan, ended up drunk and then tried to figure it out. As an adult, she knew it was better to have a plan before you started drinking. Have things programmed into your phone for a rideshare or a time and location in place to meet up with a sober friends. “I feel like it would be culturally insensitive to hire bad bands to play Irish music,” she admitted. It wasn’t as if there were a ton of them though. She supposed that those who dedicated themselves to that genre strived to be at the top of their game. She laughed as she followed behind, moving in and getting her hands on a drink that she downed before responding. “It’s definitely not something you want. I usually would rather have too much than not enough. Running out on a day like this is just money down the drain. If you have some left, you can always figure out a special.”

[darpow]

I know that the Squishmallows aren't really cheap, 'cuz they're a brand name stuffed animals and super popular right now, so I get that, but when I was growing up, I feel like we always wanted gigantic stuffed animals and my parents said no because they were too expensive… and now they're actually not? Which is pretty wild. I guess that's the only thing in the world that's gotten more affordable! I wouldn't expect anything but for you to sing along to songs in your head. Is that how you've been letting the time pass during this storm, keeping everyone entertained with songs?

Yes! You got that right! Especially the Squishmallow part. You get points or tickets for the bigger prize! Because those giant Squishmallows are huge. I also support this idea, because heck that would be so much fun. Yeah, that was a time. We all thought we were pretty cool but it is much better to laugh at it now and think of our youth fondly. Always singing along. In our heads? Maybe but I totally will sing along out loud when no one is around. They did! I'm 87% more human now.

[darpow]

One of the worst parts of being cooped up at home meant that… well, they were cooped up at home. They couldn't go grab coffee or pizza or head down to & Chips. And Darrius loved a good fish and chips. But he also loved having hot tea in the house, and thankfully, Tamika made a good cup. "Something sweet -- but surprise me," because he wasn't picky at all, "I need the sugar so I'm not falling asleep every five minutes." Not that there was much more to do in a snow storm.

Anything to keep warm, in this circumstance specifically. Tamika kicked the throw blanket off of herself, before slowly getting up to head back into the kitchen. "Flavor preference?" she asked. They had a variety of options to choose from, so she was more than happy to make each person their own.

[darpow]

"Oh no, don't worry about it," he shook his head, waving off the idea of owing him anything for the food. Darrius knew what it was like -- you stocked up, did your best, looked at the bag of food... and realized the store was out. It happened, especially in a small town when everyone needed the same thing. "Just buy me a beer next time we're in the same bar," he laughed, ducking into Oliver's house and handing over the large bag of dog food -- and a couple of smaller bags of treats -- he had brought over. "How're you doing with this mess?"

Who: Mason & @darpow Where: Mason's home, suburbs When: March 23, 2025 "How much do I owe you?" Mase swung open his front door. He had thought he had enough food for his dogs. That was the plan and he usually did but when he went to check this morning, they had half a bag left. He tried to get more when he was out with his sister but of course, other dog owners over prepared themselves. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Penny owes you." He referred to his black lab. "Come on in, get out of the cold."