Return to Form

Log Info

• Title: Return to Form

• Emitter: Andelena

• Characters: Andelena, Dolan

• Place: A pub somewhere in Alexandria

• Summary: Andelena's fresh off an arm wrestling match with a random bloke in a pub when Dolan appears! The two Daeusites share a meal and discuss a number of subjects: the prospect of having children (one day, but Andie's in no rush, and neither is Dolan), Andelena's estranged family, and Dolan's parents back on the farm. Dolan suggests bringing Andelena back to the farm to meet them, and Andelena even agrees to not swear in front of Dolan's mother--a rare thing indeed. The Daeusites finish their dinner and booze before racing back home for a well-deserved evening off.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Dramatis Personae =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-    
Andelena             6'0"     180 Lb     Human             Female    Redhead with steel-grey eyes and powerful build.                           
Dolan                5'10"    174 Lb     Human             Male      Brown-haired human with scars down his face.                              
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

"Ready... set... go!"

"Come on, you can do it, Jerry!"

"I got my money on the lady!"

Andelena's steel-grey gaze is leveled on her opponent in front of her, grinning as she watches the ginger-bearded man in front of her strain against her might. The man pushes hard against her--as hard as he can muster, anyway--but it's not long before he falters, and Andelena pushes through the weak link in his defense, slamming his arm flat against the table.

The small crowd around them roars in a combination of a cheer and an upset, depending on who was betting for who. Andelena simply sits back and claps her hands together. "Good show--just, you know, focus on conditioning your arm muscles more. I don't recommend jacking off as exercise, though."

The man just grumbles and saunters away from the table, the crowd following him--apparently his buddies. Andelena is left alone, and she looks way too pleased with herself.

"Well done as always," a grinning Dolan murmurs in her ear, setting down two mugs of their usual poison on the table in front of her. He smells of soap and woodsmoke and is quite clearly freshly out of the bath. Dark hair clings damply to neck and shoulders, the topaz-set eye glinting in his face to match the sparkle of cheeky good humor in the brown, flesh one that is paired with it. Where'd he come from? "You eaten yet?"

There's that light in Andie's face once again as she hears her favorite man in the whole world's voice, combined with that squeaky-clean smell that means he's taking care of himself. She grins and pulls him down for a little peck on the lips, letting go of him to let him take a seat. "Look at you, mister 'Dolan', sneaking up on a lady like that," she says, although the word 'lady' is delivered with a jeer, as always. "Nah, haven't eaten yet. Just got off shift."

Which is evident by the fact she's still dressed in her Sunguard finery and armor--then again, basically only ever wears that, Dolan's(?)/hers(?)--their--pajamas, or her birthday suit, so it checks it. She leans back a little in her seat and stretches a bit with a pleased little groan and a smirk. "I should have made that guy bet he'd buy me a meal. He was talking shit." (When are they ever not talking shit?)

Dolan's deep chuckle matches her groan, and he accepts and returns the peck on the lips, then slides into a seat across from her, leaving her one of the mugs and taking the other for himself. "Ain't a lady in this place, Andie, and damn well you know it." The grin hasn't faded in the slightest, and the mention of someone talking big only gets a snort from him. He's used to that. "So I'll buy you a meal instead. It's been too long since I took you out to dinner. How'd the day go?"

"Oh, you know. Same shit, different hole," Andelena says as she knocks back a drink of her mug, nodding appreciatively as she sets it back down. "Caught a thief who seriously tried to yank a necklace off a lady. He succeeded only in giving her one hell of a red neck."

She smirks again, which appears to be the common theme for her today. "Caught him, of course. Made sure the lady was all right after. Her kid was even with her, too. She asked me if she could be like me one day, and, well, hell--not too many kids ask that, y'know? Choked me up a little." There's the classic Andie soft spot for kids showing through.

"She'd have to learn a lot of words her mama doesn't want her to know." Brown eye sparkles over the smart comment as he lifts his own mug to his lips and takes a pull from it. "Good. Always good when you can take care of some of those. and it's simple. " He stops a moment, considers her thoughtfully. "I assume you want kids of your own someday," he half-asks and half-remarks, a little more gently and low-toned.

Andelena looks more reflective now, but her steel-grey eyes not losing their mirth. Maybe she's picturing Dolan trying to chase little kids around a house. "Well," she says, "I wouldn't mind them. I'm thirty-one now, and y'know, I've got time left and all to have my own--but I don't think I want to have my own. There's too many damn orphans in this world who need parents, you know?"

She grins at Dolan, the mirth fully returning to her eyes. "There's a couple of other things, too: can you picture me pregnant? I'd go fucking insane if I couldn't fight. And honestly, there's a part of me that gets a kick out of my disgraced 'noble' ass adopting some kids who came from nothing. My parents would have a heart attack."

Is that a flicker of disappointment in Dolan's eye? It's an odd thing about him only having one eye - that half of his face is almost impossible to read, and the cues are that much smaller on only one side, but they're still there. He focuses on setting his drink down on the table. "Yeah. There are. You're right. Even here." The grin has turned into a gentler smile, a one-sided thing, and he takes another long pull from his mug and sets it down. "Would you do it to give your parents the heart attack, or to help the kids?"

Andelena barks out a little laugh. "Heh, to help the kids, of course. The likelihood of us even seeing old 'Sir and Lady Calogref' is almost nil so long as we're here in the heartlands."

She takes another sip from her mug, holding it in her hands as she looks at Dolan for a longer moment. "Of course... Heh, I don't know. I shouldn't rule everything out. Much as I'd prefer to adopt, I don't know. Not only are you the only man with the brass balls to be with me, you're also the man that I'd be willing to try just about anything with once. Could give the whole waddling around for a few months thing a try if you really want."

"Good. They can stay where they are, Andie. I don't care if your family ever stirs itself from their house again. I've got better things to worry about than an overdressed twit or three with their noses so far in the air they could catch flies." Dolan has never made a secret of his contempt for Andie's family - at least not to her. He was a little more politic before they disowned her, at leAST.

"I dunno, Andie," he says seriously, some of that smile fading. "As much as I'd want to see our children - maybe not right now. I'm doing too much crazy stuff right now, and we've both got work for the Knight still to do first. Maybe when all this werewolf shit blows over. I want to make sure that any kids we have, adopted or not, have a father."

"Honestly, I hardly ever think about them," Andelena says, putting her mug back down onto the table. "The parents, that is. Or my brothers. I considered the people at the Temple my family once my mother sent me there. Probably the only good idea she ever had for raising me, even if she didn't think so."

She looks at Dolan and nods again, her mirth dialing back a little. "Yeah. World needs us--the people needs us. Everything we can do, everything we can give--for now, that is. Until things are safer because of what we've done to keep people safe."

Andelena holds out her hand on the table--usually a precursor to handholding. She's not one to shy away from PDA, but she also shows a softer side from time to time. "We'll get through all of it together, Bry. Like we always have."

Without hesitation, Dolan reaches for that hand on the table, taking it in his callused one, running his thumb along her palm in a caress. "Yeah. They - we - are your real family. We ought to go see mine, though, when things are a little quieter. They deserve to know that we're all right, yeah?" His gaze seeks hers, the brown eye open and full of joy. A simpler night, with nothing more complicated to deal with than bruisers - these are to be treasured.

The last part of it draws a simpler, warmer smile still - still the farmboy. "Yeah. I never knew how wonderful a full night's sleep was until I stopped getting them." He's been sleeping through the night lately, although he does on occasion cuddle up to her, or start twitching. "So where was this robber, in the market?"

Andelena grins much more fully at the mention of Dolan's family. "I'd fucking love to go see them, Bry," she says. "Some of your relatives probably don't believe I exist, I bet, cause women like me are like fucking... unicorns, or some shit. Sure'd love to prove them wrong."

She squeezes his hand, mirth dancing in her eyes as he mentions sleep. "Yeah, you get all cute and cuddly again," she teases him. "Not that I'm complaining. I like holding my little Bry-bear." She can't help but just grin the biggest shit-eating grin at using a phrase that's not been said aloud for quite some time.

At that, Dolan snorts, and picks his mug back up with his free hand. "Papa'll just see you as a hand around the farm, with sterngth like that. He won't care. Mama helps with the harvest chores, sometimes. He's not picky. Ain't nobody too good to help around the farm." He takes another long swing from his mug, but still hasn't let go of her hand. "They don't know about the eye yet, Andie," he says, a little more gently. "There's a damned lot they don't know, and I figure I'll owe 'em a visit once the barley's got a solid start."

He squeezes her hand and sets down the mug, then, at the pet name. "Still as cuddly as ever. But that means you stilll sleep with cuddle toys."

"Just another hand at the farm's alright with me," Andelena affirms. "It'd be a nice break from the usual idiots, although I sure like beating them when they're talking hot shit. More than anything, it'll be nice to... Talk to normal people."

Her hand remains in his as she finally finishes off her mug, allowing the moment that it takes to drink the last of the stuff to turn into thoughts. She finally says, "Bry, I'm sure that they'd accept everything that happened--and accept you--just as before. They'll be upset, of course--but they'd just be happy their boy is alive."

And, well, she can't help but chuckle at his cuddling remark. "Guilty as fuckin' charged--won't contest that. You're the best cuddling toy they don't sell in stores, though. Couldn't put a price tag on you if they tried."

Dolan's cheeky grin returns, and he raises a hand to flag down a server. When the woman comes over, he bespeaks for them each another round and a plate of whatever's on the fire. He produces coins from his belt pouch, and she bustles off. With that accomplished, he turns back to her, snorting softly. "Oh, probably. Just - I know it'll be a blow. They're simple folk, Andie. I hope ot doesn't weird them out too much." There's some hesitation there. "But I'm sure they'll be just fine with you, although Mama won't have the cursing in the house." Andie probably knew that.

"A toy, am I?" There's challenge there. "Ever had a toy play with you back?"

"I can hold my tongue just fine around kiddos. Sure I can manage it around your mother," Andelena replies, smiling. "If anything, I expect her to have some choice words for me about why the hell your eye's gone. And I'll stand there and take them if I have to--normally I'd be fighting people for that kind of thing, but... Well, I want your folks to like me. I may not care a rat's ass about mine, but yours are a different story."

She laughs from the belly at the challenge Dolan's presenting her. "Nope. Sure as hell wouldn't mind seeing that later," she says, a dangerous glint in her eyes. (Dangerous for the bed, that is.)

"I wanted your folks to like me. I really did, when we first met." It's true. Dolan had tried super hard to be on model behavior and be a decent fellow, but that wouldn't ever have gotten anywhere with the likes of Andie's classist parents. "Once I figured out that they weren't going to like me no matter what I did, I made up my mind not to care." He picks up his mug again and finishes it off, setting it aside with a *clunk*.

"Don't you worry. If Mama gets in your face, I'll stop her. That wasn't your fault, any more than it was mine." There's steel underneath those words, steel morphing into teasing. "Oh yeah. You'll see it later. You'll see it when we get home."

Andelena just shakes her head and gives a sort of noise that's somewhere between a sigh and just letting the air out of her lungs, like a blow to the chest in slow motion. "Yeah," she says. "Yeah, I remember how hard you tried, too. I kinda hoped deep down they'd... pull their heads out of their asses and stop deepthroating other nobles long enough to realize that you are a good guy, Bry, and you're the one I want. You're the one the Knight gave me."

She leans back in her chair and just shrugs. "But, they made their bed. They have to lie in it. And let me tell you, I don't think my mother's ever actually changed bedsheets on her own before, so that bed looks like fucking shit. I'm sure my older brother will run all of the goodwill my dad's ever built with his liege into the ground, and my little brother will be playing grab-ass with him to keep right behind. We're better off without them."

But she grins at Dolan. "Well, shit, Bry, you're giving me a reason to just inhale that food and throw that drink down my throat when it gets here. Home's sounding real fucking good right about now."

"Andie, the Knight gave us bigger and better things to do than worry about the likes of them." It's at this point that two plates of a chicken stew arrive, and two fresh mugs, set down in front of the pair of them. Coins change hands, and first the coins and then the server disappear into the crowd. "I'd never want anyone else, Andie. You know that. I'm still blessed that both you and he forgave me." He squeezes that hand one more time, then releases it to pick up his spoon. "Get some dinner into you. You'll want that energy." He waggles his eyebrows at her, an odd thing with scar tissue replacing the one eyebrow, but the cheeky grin that accompanies it holding plenty of meaning. "We'll go see my folks as soon as we can get a few free days."

Andelena snickers at Dolan's cheek, picking up her own spoon to dig into the stew. "Bry, thank the fucking gods we're here--and thank the gods we're fucking," she says, in a sentiment she has expressed more than once before.

The two Daeusites scarf down their meals and finish their drinks perhaps a bit too eagerly. This is the 'problem' with Dolan taking Andelena out to dinner: they're often just a bit too eager to get back home, and when the Daeusites arrive home, the door snaps shut behind them just a bit too quickly and a bit too loudly.

A good return to form all around.