lukeoutbelow | (no subject)

(no subject)

Stiff after the long drive, Lisa rotated her head on her neck and stretched kinks out of her back on the walk to the little cafe where Arnold had wanted to meet her. It was bitterly cold, but she wasn't too bothered. She had her green wool jacket. Ethically sourced, it hardly bore saying, she knew something about everyone and everything involved from the sheep and alpaca to the young woman who'd applied the buttons, and tailored expertly to her frame. It had a certain military flare and while Lisa couldn't condone just about any military she knew well, she had to admit it looked good on her.

"Just a tall chai, please. 'Lisa' is fine." She found a stool, grateful this place was sleepy just now, and checked her designer watch. He might be caught up in a project, or just met an unusually large and fluffy dog. It'd hardly be the first time. She smiled with fond resignation, thinking back.

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The poor man will have to get Arnold's car back somehow. Oh, well, he'll manage. Lisa's electric car is quite small. Two people have to be rather cozy to fit into the back.

'Aging in reverse' gets one of Lisa's famous raised eyebrows. Her brows are distinct, sharp and mobile. "I see. That should be interesting."

She knows some things about the Numbered. If this other Lisa was an elf, or even had much to do with them, the ears would have set off another Numbered episode.

Jeeves is used to it.

"Mm - well, I suppose folk might think you a cougar, love, but if you dislike it, I will leave when it happens" He promises.

He guessed that much as well, and it saddens him - elves, the stories say, are immortal, or close to it. If Lisa has not echoed the ears, not here in the boundaries of Locke... she is not. And he refuses to live immortal without her.

"I admit, I am rather hoping for something useful or fun! Did you know Thorir echoed a golden harp and the skill to play it?"

"I'll handle it," she says firmly. She doesn't like how people take an interest in her relationships, but she has long been resigned to the fact that it happens. "You can do things without me - but I hope you'll come visit the real world now and again."

Lisa thinks she might go for youth and immortality, if it was offered. There's so much left to do, and she's getting older. No matter how she builds her company it will change without her. It might lose its way. But it's not an option, and even if her husband outlives her into perpetuity - a prospect which does make her feel uncomfortably small and insignificant - he doesn't have the temperament to take her role in it.

"Is that so? Wasn't he terrible with music?" Lisa has had just a little to do with the man. While they haven't hit it off and she knows he isn't fond of her, she also knows that compared to her brother Teagan she seems friendly and personable.

"I sometimes feel like I can't" He shoots her a grin but mostly keeps his eyes on the road. "I'm lost without yoU~" He croons and then laughs and stops. "As often as I can, yes, absolutely."

It isn't so much the though of immortality that he minds, so much as the thought of forever without Lisa. It wouldn't be worth it, he thinks.

"Not terrible as such, but certainly he had no skill with it before!"

Arnold is more sensible than he likes to appear. Lisa doesn't let many people drive her car - actually, watching movies she's been known to complain about drivers not paying enough attention to the road. "Then we'll manage. We'll get through this."

He's going to get in trouble here, she's sure of it, and there won't be much she'll be able to do. If the worst happens, she can manage alone, but it's such a lonely and unpleasant prospect.

"So you're hoping you'll become some kind of bard? Or something less far-flung?"

"We will" Arnold nods, eyes on the road. "The same way we get through everything yeah? Together. I'll try not to get in too much trouble."

It is inevitable, he knows. But he can try and mitigate the damage.

"Hm. Well a bard might be fun! But I was rather hoping for magical powers, like the stories in the books, you know?"

"Be sure you do. You and Liam." They do need to be able to work without her.

She leans back in her seat. "You want to be able to fly and throw fireballs, don't you."

"Eheheheheh" Arnold giggles sheepishly although he does not actually duck his head while he is driving.

"Well. Maybe not throw fireballs... exactly...." Yes he totally does.

"Not in the house," she says firmly. "It's been in the family too long. Teagan would have your head."

"Aw" He pouts a little at her and then smiles "True. I don't want to upset him. Well, maybe I will and maybe I won't. Either way, I promise not the break anything in the house"

"Don't break everything in it, either," says a Lisa used to the loopholes people will pull. "It's better to tweak his tail in other ways, anyway. You could buy a barn and fill it with used pottery."

"Yes dear" He says meekly but he laughs. "I could, yes. But I do actually like your brother, even if he despises me! I will be careful, I promise."

"Nothing you do will make him like you. He hates almost everyone, so try not to worry about that," she tells him dryly. "We're coming up on the house. Any additions in there I should know about?"

"One day I will win a smile from him!" He vows with a laugh and shakes his head. "Not in the house proper. Liam has a dog, but he doesn't keep him here. And he echoed back weapons, I think, but again, I don't think he keeps them in the house."

"Make sure to take a picture." Lisa's not big on teasing. Low-key dry sarcasm suits her fine.

She unclips her seatbelt - something lights on the dashboard when she does - but won't open her door until Arnold's parked and removed his own. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to adopt anything yet."

"I will be too busy boggling, I think!" Arnold chuckles softly and pulls in, checking the handbrake before turning the engine off and unbuckling his seatbelt.

"Oi! I don't just randomly adopt things!" Yes, Arnold, you do. "Well, Liam has a dog, in any case so... I didn't want to bring home something just in case."

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