dollymixtures | Open Post

"I know, right?" M'gann cheerfully agrees with the clothing assessment, Dick doesn't dare look round because he really isn't sure if he wants to laugh or turn red and this whole situation went from heroic to super awkward. He's really glad when she's successfully dressed and then can get back to the helping her find this... Eric. Whoever Eric was.

"You're looking fora Prince Eric.. who has a... dog? Called Max. Right." That shouldn't be... completely impossible, right? Just very, very hard. "Prince in a castle probably means Europe, so we just need to look up European royalty until we find an Eric... is that everything you know? Where did you meet? This castle, is it near the shore?" he asks, trying to think of other ways they could narrow down their search criteria.

Lydia looks curiously over at him when she noticed Dick taking a deep breath once they get inside. It isn't followed by a sigh and she pulls a facial shrug as they get in line. That's the kind of thing Scott does, but it's probably just a coincidence.

His offer makes her smile, though, setting aside her observation entirely. "Does that make this a date?" she asks playfully, lifting her eyebrows with amusement.

Ariel's cheeks turn pink at Megan's response to her thought and she at least has the grace to look apologetic.

Right. Dog? What a funny word! Huh. Oh! Yes! Where is Europe? Is it far?

Her eyes avert downwards when Dick asks where they met. That's...sort of the thing… Um...well...I rescued him when his ship hit a bad storm. ...but he never technically met me…

Her face goes red with the confession. This all seemed like such a good idea at the time. She had made the mistake of underestimating how difficult Ursula was going to make this for her. She made the mistake of being naive enough to believe that they would both be playing fair, not just Ariel. Her expression falls.

He's never going to have time to fall in love with me by the time we find him...is he?

That thought comes out loud and clear because she wants them all to know it's less a thought to herself and more a question; a reality check.

Dick tried to reply but it just came out as a splutter, cheeks flushing red. He really wanted to have given a smooth response that would have impressed her and maybe got him an actual date, but of course that wasn't the way his luck worked was it? He probably had the best luck with girls of any of his brothers, but that didn't actually mean he was actually any good.

"Uh..." he tried again, slightly more successfully "Do..you... want it to be?"

"It's pretty far, but we can get there, don't worry about that," they had plenty of ways to make high-speed intercontinental trips, that was really the least of their problems, they just had to...oh. Her confession has them all exchanging concerned glances again, they're not sure how they're supposed to find a prince that she's only met once and didn't actually technically meet. This is getting more complicated by the second.

"I...don't know..." Dick admits after a long pause where they all try and find something to say "It seems kind of a long shot... but... maybe we can find another way to help?"

Ariel doesn't like the answer that she gets, but she expects it all the same. It's good to know that at least they can get her to Europe, if that's where Eric is, but she wishes that Dick had a more hopeful response than "I don't know" and "it seems like kind of a long shot." The worst part is that in retrospect, she knows he's right. She's never going to get him to fall in love with her in time and she's going to end up in Ursula's crutches for the rest of her life. This is what she gets for being so impulsive.

Visibly, she deflates, looking down and shrugging. They must all think she's so stupid...

I signed a magical contract. If I can't get true love's kiss in three days, then unless someone overwrites my signature and sacrifices themselves, there's no way out of it. ...I should've known better. I should've known she'd make a dirty deal, but I was just so excited to come on land... Her thoughts trail off. She was just so excited to come on land that she hadn't thought it through or read the contract in full at all; she'd just taken Ursula at her word. For all Ariel knew, being relocated well out of the way of Eric's castle was the least of her troubles...

At the sputtering, Lydia can't help the little giggle of amusement that escapes her. That's adorable. Something as simple as asking whether him paying would make this a date gets him all flushed and out of sorts. Wait until she gets you in the bedroom, Dick.

"Maybe," she replies coyly with a grin to match her tone. She's clearly going to have to take the lead on this though because apparently all the girls in Gotham were completely blind. "Or...this could just be lunch and you could take me out to dinner," she offers nonchalantly before reaching the front of the line and making her order with the guy behind the counter. Lydia turns back to Dick when it's his turn. "Up to you."

Dick feels terrible at how disappointed she looks, he really wanted to be able to tell her everything was going to be okay, but he also knew she'd be even more disappointed if it didn't turn out that way, and people just didn't fall in love that quickly, did they?

"Hey," he steps forward, reaching gently to lift her chin so he could meet her gaze, however ineffective it was through the sunglasses "I promise you we'll do everything we can to help, okay? We're not going to let you get tricked by this witch." he'd scour the whole of europe himself if he had to.

"Let's head back inside, we can start looking for Eric, and," he glances over at Kaldur "Could you go find out what you can about this sea witch? Anything we can do to stop her?" the Atlantean nods, already moving away to do just that.

"That's what I thought."

Which was when he sped up a little and started heading for a familiar Tower. They'd have much more privacy in his rooms at the Luthorcorp building than in his dorm room.

Ariel looks up when Dick lifts her chin and it's hard to meet his eyes when she can only barely see them beneath the sunglasses he's wearing, but she tries anyway. Her eyes shift slightly as she studies his face and she takes a deep breath before giving him a weak smile that she tries to make look more genuine. She does truly appreciate his insistence that they'll do everything they can to help.

Finally, she nods her head. I trust you. That's probably incredibly naive of her, but it's just who Ariel is.

She hangs close to Dick, feeling bad that she's apparently ruined their day at the beach. Ariel holds onto his arm with both hands as they walk, stumbling on occasion because she's still getting used to her new legs, but managing to keep upright by using him as a crutch. Once they've gotten inside, Ariel touches Dick's shoulder when he starts to move away, in order to get his attention. She clutches at her heart with both hands and gives him another little smile, this one more genuine. Thank you, she says silently, forming the words on her lips rather than thinking them for everyone to hear. That sentiment is just for him.

Oh great, and now she was laughing at him, good job Dick, really impressing people on your first day. Dick Grayson you are a god damn creature of the night, act like it. And what? Bite her? Yea that'd make a great impression. Clearly his brain had abandoned him to humiliation.

Only.. then she seemed to actually be wanting him to take her out on a date and did that really happen? Did cute redheads really just whisk you away to taco bell and heavily imply (ok, outright say) that they wanted you to ask them out? Man he loved Beacon Hills.

He stammers out his order in a rush, trying not to blush, and turns back to Lydia with what he hopes is a charming smile "I'd like to take you out to dinner."

Lydia doesn't really mind having to take charge to get what she wants. It's something she's been doing for the larger part of her life and she doesn't really s any reason to pump the brakes on it now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, as the saying goes.

And, predictably, it works like a charm. Lydia smiles back at him. "Then you probably should, don't you think?" she asks as they call her number and she picks up her tray — a power bowl with chicken and a cup for her to get herself some iced tea from the fountain machine. "I'm free tonight," she adds offhandedly.

Dick grabs his own food and smiles, feeling a little more comfortable now she'd actually agreed to it (even if it was clearly her idea in the first place, and hey, isn't that a bit of an ego boost, that she wanted him to ask her out), "Well, as you can imagine my social calendar is absolutely packed being the new kid in town, so I'm free as a bird."

Heading over to a table, he can't quite keep the grin from his face "You'll have to tell me where the best place in town is though, I'd hate to take you somewhere not very goo-" he froze mid-step. Tonight. Full Moon. Well. Damn.

"...I can't. Not tonight."

Lydia grins, taking her tray to a seat after filling her cup with raspberry iced tea. "It'll fill up, just give it a minute," she says confidently. Lydia pulls her drink closer, pushing the straw into it and taking a sip as he goes on.

When he stops short and says that he can't tonight even though he seemed pretty enthusiastic about it a second ago, her brow creases with confusion. "...why not? You got another hot date that beat me to the punch?"

Edited 2016-09-01 15:52 (UTC)

Dick is happy to let her lean on him as they head back to base, and that might have something to do with her being a pretty redhead with big wide eyes, and okay, he couldn't deny he had a bit of a hero complex and the damsel in distress routine certainly helped, but it wasn't just that.

The thank you almost melts his heart, and he turns a little red, running an awkward hand through his hair.

"It's...it's no problem. I'm happy to help, really, I couldn't just leave you there..." he feels like he's babbling, but it's true, he wouldn't leave anyone in distress if he could do anything about it. "So let's see if we can find your Prince Charming, shall we?"

"Uh, not exactly," he grins awkwardly, he feels pretty terrible having to change his mind right away and he really hopes that what he's about to say doesn't just sound like a terrible excuse. "It's actually..uh... it's kind of a family thing? I mean we've just moved here and everybody's been so busy and it's kind of a big family, I have three brothers, and it's this family bonding thing we do every month we kind of have to..." and yea he's telling her way too much information now and probably overselling it, but he really wants her to understand.

Ariel smiles a little, ducking her head slightly as her own cheeks turn pink. The thing is...no one would probably have faulted him for ignoring her; she could've been anyone.

Yes you could have. But you didn't, she points out, lifting her eyebrows for emphasis at the thought.

Her expression falters with confusion. Maybe she's just being stupid, but...

Okay. Um...but his name is Eric, not Charming. Remember? It's kind of an important distinction as far as she knows. They'll never find him if they're looking for the wrong prince, after all.

Lydia gives a little nod. She hasn't had a "family thing" in a long time and she kind of misses those, really, but she can't help being a little bit relieved that they aren't as much of a thing because she'd probably have to explain her way out of them more often than not the way things seem to go around here lately.

She's totally bought into the family thing until he continues and her eyebrows lift both knowingly and with interest. Then, she gives a facial shrug. "Mmm, yeah I get you. You know, I should probably actually make myself available to my friends tonight, come to think of it. Sometimes crazy things happen on the full moon," she answers casually, but the look in her eye says she's testing him with that comment.

She's curious whether it's a coincidence the way the monthly thing happens to fall on the full moon and if he'll laugh and think her superstitious or if he just babbled a little too much and didn't realize it until it had already been said and the day actually does hold some significance. If it's the latter, he'll know that she knows, because he'll have smelled it on Scott and Malia or at least Scott.

Lydia takes another sip and then pops the top off her salad. "Another night, then?"

Dick tries not to laugh, he doesn't want to be mean, but he can't help the little chuckle that escapes him. He shakes his head slightly.

"Sorry, I mean Eric, Prince Charming is just... he's a fairytale character? And your story sounds kind of like a fairytale, that's all." he explains, his smile fond.

He leads her over to where the computer is, grabbing another seat for her and dragging it over.

"The computer's pretty smart, so it's going to take a lot of the trouble out of searching, though it might still take a while," he explains as he starts building the search parameters, fingers dancing across the keys.

Dick's expression turns startled at her comment, and he frowns slightly, suspicious. He'd definitely picked up the scent back at the school and it had definitely come from her friends, and while Bruce was obsessed with secrecy the same couldn't be said for all werewolves. Could it be that she...

"Oh yea?" He asks slowly, "Do these crazy things tend to happen to your friends?" He really wants to ask her outright, but he knows that if he's got the wrong end of the stick it's going to go particularly badly for him, having the only person who's been nice to him so far thinking he was insane was not the impression he wanted to make, so he has to dance around it, try and figure her out without saying anything that would sound too weird.

"Another night would be great."

Ah, okay, now we're on the same wavelength, Lydia thinks to herself. "They used to," she says loftily, raising a sporkful of taco salad up. "Not so much these days. Practice makes perfect, after all," she adds before bringing the food to her mouth to start eating.

Of course he's a werewolf, no wonder she was drawn to him. She's like a damn magnet for supernatural creatures, she thinks. Even Jackson had taken the bite.

"So what about you? Do crazy things happen to you on the full moon?" Lydia keeps her voice light because she doesn't want to give him the impression that she's afraid or intimidated when she isn't.

Dick tucks into his own food as she speaks, a little more relaxed than he might otherwise have been with a new person and eating with just a pinch more enthusiasm than was probably polite, though he's at least sensible enough to swallow before he speaks again.

"Not so much, I don't think my dad would let anything crazy happen, and we all kind of grew up with.. family, of one sort or another," he explains delicately, though it's increasingly obvious that they're definitely talking about the same thing, and it's sort of nice to know that if this lunch or their date turns into something more, he isn't going to have to lie to her. "We're all used to it."

At first, Ariel isn't really sure how to take that laughter. It isn't much and he's been kind so far, so she doesn't think he's making fun of her or anything, but...she looks a little uncomfortable all the same.

But then he explains and when he smiles it isn't a smirk or a grin that says he thinks he's smarter than her; it's like he's endeared by her confusion. Ariel's mouth opens in a little silent "ohhh" in response to his explanation and she relaxes.

Letting him lead her around, Ariel settles in the offered seat and watches in awe as he works the thingamabob — computer — like a pro.

How are you doing that? How does it work? Oh! What's that?

The words are excitable and curious bouncing around in their heads as she points to different things happening on the screen, beaming over at Dick like he's performing the most incredible magic she's ever seen. That's probably because that's exactly what he's doing, as far as she's concerned.

He leads her over to where the computer is, grabbing another seat for her and dragging it over.

"Mmm," Lydia hums her understanding as she nods. At least she won't have to keep secrets from him if anything actually comes out of their lunch and subsequent dinner date. That's a relief. Lydia's actually more certain, now that she's thinking about it, that him not understanding the realm of the supernatural would've been more of a deal breaker than anything else. God, her life is weird…

She takes another sip of her tea. "So, if not tonight, then when?" she asks, looking back at him with earnest interest.

"oh, well, I type things here and they go into the computer," he explains patiently "I can explain how it works, sort of, but it might be a bit complicated, I don't know if you want me to talking that much," he laughs "but if you want to know I can explain while the computer's searching?" he enjoys computers and tech so he's actually pretty happy to explain it to her, but he also doesn't want to bore her with it if she was just being polite.

Edited 2016-09-02 18:27 (UTC)

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