darpow

[darpow]

TASK #27 💐 SPRING SCRAPBOOK

[darpow]

"Yep," he said with a nod of his head, pulling as serious of a face as he could muster. "Alternatively, I can get a little step stool, and every time you get in the car with me, I'll pull it out and help you up into the car and do a little bow and say, 'm'lady' so that you feel incredibly important and fancy…?" To get into an SUV. Which wasn't really all that fancy, but either way, he would always make sure that she was in and out of the vehicle safely, not wanting to risk her getting hurt. But Darrius had a pretty big frame, getting one of those little clown cars certainly wasn't going to work. Unfortunately. "Don't worry. Either way, you'll be covered, you have my word," he touched his hand to his chest with a smile on his face.

"Who do you think they did in?" he asked, turning the letter opener over again, trying to look for any kind of inscription. Maybe it was something he could take into the historical society, clean it off real good from the mud and yuck that had accumulated with time and see if there was anything there. Hopefully. "Maybe it was a crime of passion. Just when they least expected it…" as she asked if they still made them, he nodded. "They do. Not normally this intricate, though, which makes me think it's an actual old thing."

"So, what you're saying here is that I'm going to need to go practically mountain climbing to get into your new vehicle?" She laughed at the picture in her head. She'd known a few friends over the years with jeeps or broncos. The wheels were so big that it felt like a production to climb into any seat. She'd fallen out a few after a night with too much liquor and not enough sense. She held up a hand, "Not saying I don't support it - we could fit all three of the dogs in a car that big - I'm just trying to gauge expectations." If anything, she knew that she'd have Darrius there to give her a little boost or some help down.

They must have been a sight in their waders, with rocks and rusted letter openers in hand, but she didn't mind in the slightest. Even months in, she could still break out in goosebumps when they kissed. She laughed at his suggestions. "Yes, a murder weapon. Used by Professor Plum in the kitchen." She ran a finger over it. "Do they even still make these things?"

[darpow]

I'd believe you if you had a soul. Which … you know, I know you, and so I know that there's no worries about that happening anytime soon. And before you pout, it's part of your charm. Is that what you tell yourself every night when you're song writing? "I'm going to write this song and be so, so cool, and I'll let Darrius ride my coattails a little bit, too!"

What does that even mean? You don't expect me to be surprisingly not disappointing? That hurts deep, deep in my soul, like a kick to the balls of my soul, I'll have you know. Excuse you? It's the other way around, I make you way cooler than you could ever dream, I'll have you know. You're a loser without me.

[darpow]

"I want to build a snow man, I just also don't want to step outside and get sucked into a snow bank," he laughed, "but I'll probably give it a go when things slow down. Should dig out the sled and find the nearest hill and see what kind of trouble we can get into." Heading over to Blades, he knew that there were lots of hills there. But that was for another time, when it didn't quite seem so dire. "I just hope that the ice storms we're supposed to get after aren't too bad."

"Gotta do what you gotta do," she chuckled, in full agreement with Darrius about how best to make it through the storm. It was at least a little something to bring comfort in their current predicament. At the question of going outside to enjoy the snow once the storm let up enough to do so, she nodded. "Oh yeah! Can't miss out on that chance, right?"

[darpow]

"Like you'd have it any other way," he said with a laugh, knowing how much Noa cared about Tarot, and how endearing he found it to be. But then again, he wasn't sure that he could be with someone who didn't have a dog and didn't love their dog. They were a good match in that way. "God, I know," he let out a soft groan, "I've had that Subaru forever, but I'm starting to outgrow it." That, and he was tired of his co-workers reminding him that he was a little out of the normal stereotype to be driving a Subaru. Which was fair. "I thought about getting a Hummer, but those jokes write themselves, and I don't want to go broke. Maybe a Yukon, I feel like the boys would fit in that easy and it would be good for road trips."

Looking down at Noa when she said that he was ridiculous, he opened his mouth to ask her how ridiculous until she plowed through the rest, and he felt himself break into a smile that just as quickly was enveloped into her kiss, returning it warmly and lingering a beat longer than he should have. Letter opener, right, he could focus on that. "Someone who was very angry at the letter they opened?" he turned it over in his hand, examining it, realizing that it actually did look pretty old. "Or maybe it's a murder weapon."

"He's so damn spoiled." She shook her head. She'd be concerned when his waistline started disappearing, or when the vet told her that his joints weren't going to withstand it. Until then she'd indulge him right into his chonky frame. She laughed, covering it with the back of her palm, to avoid getting dirt on her face. "I did kind of always picture you in soccer mom car. Pulling up at the local library for history club." Her own hatchback was a practical vehicle, good for lugging furniture about.

She followed him along the creek bed, gathering mostly cool shaped rocks as they went. "You know your ridiculous right?" she told him. "Absolutely, utterly," she stepped close, "charmingly, ridiculous." She stood on her toes to kiss him. And, when he found the letter opener, one eyebrow rose. "Who throws a letter opener in a creek?"

[darpow]

"Yeah, of course," he said on a laugh, bobbing his head, "the not entertaining trouble is too much work, and we're too old for that." Or at least Darrius felt like he was too old to get himself into any kind of trouble. He would say 'these days' but he had never been much of a troublemaker to begin with, it would be out of the ordinary for that to happen. "I've heard good and bad about huskies -- but the bad mostly comes from people who aren't prepared to handle them. If you are, then you'd be great with one," and Mason did seem like the kind of person who really liked dogs. "Jace Browning has one, I see him at the dog park every now and then, whenever my guys aren't too lazy to go have fun."

He didn’t necessarily seek out trouble. Trouble just happened to find him. In the words of his little sister, he was practically a grandpa. Which he didn’t mind - he liked his space a little too much. “Only if it’s entertaining trouble.” He smirked. He couldn’t help himself , Mason had to be entertained in some capacity. “Oh yeah and trying to call her in is hell.” He hadn’t expected his dog to like the cold so much. “I swear she thinks she is a husky. Which is what I have been thinking about getting.” He wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad idea. “Then I feel like I’d have a hard time getting them out the snow for real.”

[darpow]

"So yesterday?" he teased, a grin spreading across his face. High school was long enough ago for Darrius to have forgotten so much of t, not that he wanted to admit that out loud and let it be known how old and decrepit he really was getting these days. "But it's good, that you have that history there. Probably made it a little easier to build something all the more special between you," and he could tell that Jackson was happy in his relationship, and Naomi seemed to be, too, which was never going to be a bad thing. "Gee, thanks," he let out a loud laugh, but knew that it was true -- and that JD was just teasing him, of course. But he couldn't disagree with it, nor would he even really try. "It's a good feeling," he agreed with a warm smile, nodding her head, "and I'm sure that leap has been worth it for you guys, even after all of those years."

"Yeah," he said as he smiled and started to daydream about his girlfriend a bit. They had been having a lot of fun together and he honestly started to imagine their future, even if that future was just the next year or so. Like he was definitely in the throws of the relationship and he wouldn't chs ge a thing. "Yeah, we've known each other since way bsck in high school," he beamed, not that high school for him was too long ago, but they had known each other for at least a decade. And basing a relationship on friendship was something he always thought was a good thing. Letting out a laugh regarding Noa being his better half, he couldn't resist poking fun, "I definitely agree with that. That she's your better half man." But then he got serious for a moment, "don't I know it. Been friends with Naomi for years and taking that leap, it's kinda scary but also like exhilarating? And I absolutely know what you mean."

[darpow]

"He'll be going from house to house," he said with a laugh, imagining the dog being carefully walked from Elena's house to Monique's house, happily getting to see all of his people and all of his furry friends. That was the right kind of neighborhood -- where everyone got along and took care of one another's dogs. What more could someone want? "Oh, I like this idea," he grinned as she mentioned the pearls, imagining Noa dressed to the nines, Darrius in one of his nicer suit jackets, wearing a good watch from his collection, using big words and an authoritative tone as he talked about what kind of car he wanted, explained what he was looking for. "Amazing. I love it. And then to see their heads literally explode when I drive off the lot in an SUV… priceless."

"Not with that attitude," he said stubbornly, fully knowing that she was right, and he was not going to be finding a woolly mammoth in that creek bed, but that didn't mean that he had to give up on his dream of making this happen. "It's a diamond bracelet … belonging to a woolly mammoth, actually," he grinned, and then leaned down to brush some mud off of something shining in the dirt, pulling up an old letter opener. "Hey, this is kind of cool?"

"That makes sense. I'll mention it to Lena and Moni soon, see who wants to take the cuddle bug." It was rather a toss-up lately on whether he loved Freya or Pepper more. Days weren't fully complete unless he got to gawk and/or lick at one of them. She smiled at the idea of further trips, letting the plans stay vague. They'd germinate eventually. She was laughing however at his description of them in a Porsche, stepping back into the river to run her boot over the rocks and comb for more teeth. "I could put on a pair of my mom's fake pearls, and we could really play it up. I bet they treat those customers better too. Offer them special European chocolate, champagne, the whole nine yards."

She pocketed the tooth he handed back and shook her head. "Ain't no way you are finding a wooly mammoth in this Creek Dare. You'd have a better chance with the diamond bracelet you were suggesting earlier."

[darpow]

It's because they wanted us to get one of everything! There was a little bit of pride involved, if you could say that you got one of every toy in the collection, you know? Oh yeah, we had a good time with Pokémon! I did that whole Pokémon Go thing for a while, too, until… it became uncool. Pretty quickly. Ooh, see, I liked the M&M ones! But I also love when they do special ones, for holidays and what not. I'm a sucker for festive desserts, I saw Wendy's was doing new Frosty's! Good, bring along some pompoms.

Fair, fair. I just wanted one of everything because… well, I guess I was a chipmunk who just hoarded things. Pokemon is fun though! You’ve always got some chance of getting something you haven’t. Although, I think it also depends on the day. Maybe? I guess? Something like that. Oreo! Definitely Oreo. Oreo is the supreme winner. Ha, yes! And you know I will. I’ll be cheering extra loudly.

[darpow]

Exactly right, although maybe more in the spirit of a 'challenge.' I'm not really worried about that, though, I think that it's going to be a challenge no matter what the weather is like. But a good challenge! And I'm glad we'll have a little 'vacation' around it, since I might need a day to unwind afterwards. And, you know, I like the chance to get away with everyone. My classes are actually officially done at the end of this week! Which is good timing. I'll have a couple of finals to grade, and that's it. So I'm in the final stretch! I bet it's a lot nicer to show homes this time of year, minus having to keep out all the mud.

I feel like it would be ten times worse or at least ten times harder in that case! So at least things are mostly less went and dreary now. I've been doing a bit more running lately, so that's always a plus on my end. Absolutely! I can imagine. How many more weeks of school do you have? Well, the fun doesn't stop for the summer for me but at least we've got a bit more open houses to do in the warmer months!

[darpow]

"That's true," Darrius didn't really need to worry about his family not being willing, but around… that was the struggle. Some were still in Chicago, and a lot had moved to other areas of the country, happily settled into their own lives. That meant that he had created his own little family for himself there in Merrock. Namely Aisha and Tamika, and of course Noa, and people like Chetan and Trey and Alec, but he still would always hold that special place in his heart for his biological siblings and his parents. "Yeah, the ones where you don't really expect them to have beef, until they show up on Family Feud and you realize that you must have missed something?" he asked on a laugh, shaking his head, "but it makes for some very interesting television." And that was the point, after all, to draw in viewership and make sure that people tuned in again and again. As they pulled up to the next stop, Darrius began to pick himself up from his seat and ducking his head to see where they were. "Let's see where this next adventure takes us."

“You do what you need to do when your actual family isn’t around or willing,” she told him. She knew that it was much easier to build a winning team with people who weren’t biologically related. At the end of the day, she didn’t think the producers really cared. It wasn’t like anyone had to know if no one told them. “Yeah, they’re have casts of stuff. It’s usually pretty entertaining especially when they have these weird rivalries between shows that don’t make any sense.” She didn’t really go out of her way to watch that kind of thing but she would tune in, especially if she didn’t have anything better to do. She nodded, listening to him talk knowing that a lot of times that was how it worked. There didn’t tend to think that a lot of things were real. A lot of it was rehearsed to get the largest viewing audience. If they could bring the drama, they could get people to tune in. “I’ve learned that most things are,” she confessed. “I’m doing my best to hold onto the faith I have left.”

[darpow]

"Probably not," he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, "at least on a trip to the city, just because I'd be a nervous wreck having them around so much traffic. I'm sure Aisha and Tamika wouldn't mind taking care of Walter and Gale, or I could get Che to come do it, and like you said, the Lupine gals are good help… but we could maybe plan a second trip that would be something really fun and dog friendly," he grinned at the idea. Actually, that would be fun, imagining them stopping every so often to get a Pup Cup here, a Pup Cup there, the dogs completely spoiled the entire time that they were on the road. Was he getting ahead of himself? Maybe a little bit. But he didn't mind when it was with her. "Ooh," at that, he grinned, unable to help himself, "get behind the wheel of some fancy Ferrari, tut tut about how the Porsche handled better… and then probably end up in a GMC or something?" Which actually seemed like a lot of fun, and right up his alley.

"Weird to think about, isn't it?" he asked, pulling his gaze from the tooth in his hand to the area around them, knowing that she was right, that everything had been different. Maybe in millions of years, the earth would be different again. If it was even still there. But that was the kind of thought he didn't want to entertain as he held it out to her. "Hold onto it. It's your prize million year old small shark." Slowly, he grinned, "I'm going to find a woolly mammoth now."

"And maybe just a little bit for Walter and Gale." Which made her think - "Do you imagine we'd bring them with? On our trip I mean. I'm sure the Lupine gals wouldn't mind watching Tarot, and I wouldn't want to impose him on your sister." She wondered briefly though what a small-town dog like Tarot would make of New York City. "And it might get a little crowded in that backseat with three pups demanding walks every hundred miles." Which made them sound like their children, and the dogs were in all the ways that mattered. She tucked her hair behind her ear, nodding when he suggested car shopping. "I'll go with you. Maybe we can talk a dealer into letting us drive the fancy models. Pretend we're rich."

She came to stand pressed against his side again when she handed over the tooth, and rested her head against his shoulder. "Some small shark. It's got to be millions of years old though - this part of Maine was underwater once."

[darpow]

I feel like me being solely and terribly disappointed is just par for the course when it comes to you, anyway… or should I be nice and not say that? I don't want to hurt your feelings. Or maybe I do, who knows. I'm the best best friend in the world, actually, do you know how many cool points I add to your score every time I take the stage with you? I'll give you a hint: it's a lot. Yes, you do. No one can say that they don't know what they're getting when it comes to you.

Yeah, you can't believe I'm a good person or else you'll only be sorely and terribly disappointed and sad. Respect for me as a human...you can't even try to love me more than that? You're the worst best friend in the world, in fact. Well, I try to be really up front about who and what I am, no matter what.

[darpow]

"Alright," he said with a warm, jovial laugh, "pretty much the only time that I'll accept being second best is if the first best is going to my parents." It did make him feel happy, knowing how much she wanted to impress him. His last two relationships had taken place when he was in college -- anything after that hadn't made it past the dating stage, there hadn't really ever been a reason to introduce his parents to one of his partners. Until Noa. She didn't just break the mold for Darrius, she was the mold: and he wouldn't have had it any other way. "I am looking forward to that -- summer. Getting to come bug you all the time at work, taking little road trips, eating those peaches," that part made him grin. "Deal. I'm actually thinking of trading mine in this spring, maybe I'll drag you along to help me pick something out. I'm afraid I've outgrown the old Subaru."

Reluctantly letting her slip out from under his arm that he had wrapped around her shoulders, he stood where he was, letting her take the lead in this investigation, and kept his eyes on her as she moved through the water, reaching for something that only she saw. But when she returned to his side, and showed him what was in her hands, he broke into a grin, "look at that! I've found shark teeth on the beach, but never anything in the creek," he leaned forward to examine it, "what do you think it's from?"

"You," she tucked an arm around his waist as they walked, tugging him against her, "can get some from the second batch. First ones go to your parents." She smiled up at him. "And then you can have as many as you want the rest of the summer." The rest of the year, even, though she typically put the grill in storage after daylight savings time rolled around. The thought of summer thrilled her, though. More time with Darrius, more chances to enjoy the outdoors - it was something she thoroughly meant to experience. "We'll have to take your car. Mine was old when my mom bought it for me."

Slowly, she disentangled herself from him and walked ankle deep into the water. "They're usually in shale or limestone rocks," she shifted through the small rocks in the shallows. "But sometimes . . ." she trailed off before smiling to herself, "sometimes they are just lying there." She stood walking back to him and showing him the tiny little tooth, dulled by millennia, in her hands.

[darpow]

If Noa wanted to make his family some peaches, Darrius wasn't going to complain. Both because he found it really endearing that she wanted to treat his family to her favorite thing to make, and also because that meant that he would probably get to enjoy some, himself, and that was never a bad thing. "As long as I get some, too, you can make whatever you want," he said with another grin, leaning in to steal another quick kiss before he was lighting up at the idea of the road trip, burning through some playlists, imagining listening to her favorite songs, his favorite songs, finding out where they overlapped. "Then we'll plan on it," his tone was light, warm, happy, knowing that he meant it. And it would be the best trip that he had ever taken.

"Shark teeth, crabs, got it," he nodded his head, narrowing his eyes as he watched for rocks that they could turn over, "normally when we were flipping rocks as kids, we were looking for salamanders, I feel like. Or those little crayfish." Not that they did anything with them, other than squealing and running the other way at the sight of the tiny little creature. "Are fossils normally in bigger or smaller rocks?"

She leaned up into that kiss, feeling a warm trickle of comfort slip into her limbs. She knew that Darrius wouldn't ambush her, but it was still hardwired in her to ask, just like those old anxieties. They lingered, but they didn't diminish how she felt just then. She smiled when he pulled away, biting her bottom lip. "I might be planning to show off just a tinsy tiny bit," she held up her thumb and pointer finger in a pinch. She imagined the trip down, the spots they'd stop at that she'd never visited. How they'd be solidified in her brain, imprinted alongside all her feelings for Darrius. "I'd like that," she said. "We could burn through whole playlists on a trip like that."

She rubbed her thumb over the back of his palm as they walked along the bank, her eyes on the rocks. She turned over one large rock with her boot, watching the little critters underneath scurrying away. "Not our kind of fossils. Think shark teeth, little horseshoe crab looking things."

[darpow]

"In which case, my job will be done," he laughed, nodding his head. Although Darrius did appreciate getting a head's up about what someone liked for a birthday gift, so he would keep that in his back pocket and use it if he needed to. "That doesn't sound bad at all," he shook his head, "sometimes it's nice when you work in education to be able to actually read something for yourself, something that you enjoy," not something that you were only reading due to a lesson plan, which he knew all too much about. "You. Trouble. You would," he grinned, "does the pooch ever try to go out in this snow?"

"Thank you. I'll consider it a early birthday gift." He joked. He knew that being alone in a snowstorm wasn't ideal. Mason had his siblings but he was a loner by choice. He loved his siblings but he also appreciated just being by himself in his own little world. "I read a lot of books in my downtime so it hasn't been too bad." It kept him occupied and focused on something else other than any negative thoughts. "Me? Trouble? Why I would never."

[darpow]

Mostly depended on what the toys were and what we wanted! I remember trying to barter with one of my brothers for a specific Pokémon toy, and there was no way that he was going to give it up, no matter how hard I tried. My sisters were big into the Barbies the one year, I was still really young, but we ate a lot of McDonald's when those were out. Those are pretty good! Do you do the Oreo or the M&M ones? No! But that's… wild. Makes me feel better, though, like maybe I wasn't too possessive about my toys, if that's how people are. Make sure you cheer extra loud when you see me!

Mine too! And we had a lot of those... some of them duplicates! When you went with your siblings did you all get the same ones or different ones or did you just like trade 'em? Ha! Can't get enough of those chicken nuggets. I was also a McFlurry girl. I loved those. Haha! Beanie Baby Lord! I love that. Did you hear about the whole court case about this couple and their Beanie Babies? They actually split them up into piles... in the courtroom! Literally! I think I will! Well, good on you, you know where I'll be, cheering loudly from the sidelines!