Third Floor Common Room; Late Sunday Afternoon [ 11/14 ].

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

Alexander was just about at his wits' end with the strange way he'd been feeling this week, but he had done well, he felt, with staving it off with a lot of coffee ice cream and handwavy movie nights that resulted in a few close calls and scooting slightly away from the normal proximity. And so it was this afternoon that hewas feeling the need for another coffee ice cream antidote and went into the common room to fetch it.

Only to open the freezer door to a truly disturbing image.

"No!" Alexander muttered, staring for a moment before he started shifting through the contents within. "No, it couldn't possibly...how...How could we have honestly gone through all of that ice cream already?"

He was just going to stare into the freezer in shock and dismay some more.

If anything, it was at least cooling him down.

[[ open common room is open! ]]

Comments

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba raised an eyebrow as she entered the common room.

"Are you missing something?" she asked, having missed him speaking. "A... polar animal or something?"

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

Alexander gave the coffee ice cream-less freezer a weltering frown before heaving a dreadful sigh.

"Hello, Elphaba," he greeted her, looking away from the freezer with great reluctance, as if he'd expected the treats to just manifest before his eyes. "And I am merely disappointed because I could have sworn there was still at least some coffee ice cream left, but it appears as thought Maladicta and I truly did eat through all of it this week."

Perhaps it was for the better, though, he reasoned to himself. He wouldn't want to wind up finding Cassima, only to have her to be repulsed by his new ice cream built spare tire.

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you've been eating ice cream with Maladicta," Elphaba said, reading waaaay too much into that. Deep, meaningful conversations with Karla did not deter Elphaba from jumping to conclusions on days where she was still so... frustrated. "Well, I'm sorry that there is no more. I guess you'll have to settle for something... healthier. Perhaps there are some apples left."

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Well, Maladicta and I always eat ice cream," Alexander said miserably, having no clue that he was setting up for some heck of a euphemism. "It's just that this week, there's been a lot...more than usual. I find it hard to believe we've managed to eat through that much."

Ahem.

"But I suppose you're right," he allowed, hand moving to the freezer but still not quite ready to shut it. "Apples would certainly be a much healthier choice, especially after all that..." Sigh. "Ice cream."

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"I'm often right," Elphaba said. "But I suppose if you prefer ice cream, you could always go out and buy some."

That was not a continuation of the euphemism.

"I prefer apples, myself. Ice cream tends to make my teeth ache. But I suppose I've never had the chance to share it with anyone so amazing as Maladicta."

Oops, subtlety went out the window, there.

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Too sweet?" Alexander wondered. "Or too cold? I could see how both properties could put a person off; I was a little uncertain about ice cream myself, but I've found that, the more I have, the most I seem to enjoy it."

And, since his obliviousness to such matters knew no bounds, especially on a week like this one, he rather misinterpreted Elphaba's last comment in a way that gave him a faint, pleased smile. "Perhaps you should," he offered. "I'd rather think she'd enjoy it..."

There might have even been a suggestive quality to his voice there, too.

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba just sort of stared in return. "She's not even met me. And I doubt you mention me to her as often as you mention her to me. And perhaps I prefer to shared things with people I know and like."

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

That stare, at least, did seem to spark some suspicion in Alexander that maybe he was missing something, yet again.

"But ice cream is a wonderful way to get to know someone," he offered carefully.

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"I suppose I do need to meet her," Elphaba said, even if she was feeling intensely jealous of Maladicta at the moment. "If only to see what you and Faramir find so intensely enticing about her."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Any 'frustration' Scully felt had now been sublimated into outright grumpiness with loud, squalling robot dolls. She was dragging them in a double-wide carrier, and ignoring the whining and grizzling they were doing as she headed to the cabinet, looking for food.

She blinked at Alexander, and stood on tiptoe. "All gone?" she asked.

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba looked over at Scully's twins and gave her a sympathetic smile. "And I thought having one of them was frustrating," she said.

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Mmmmph." Scully sighed, tired more than anything. "They never both sleep at the same time. I've given up trying. Ear plugs are the only way to go." She cracked a yawn, and said, "Who's your partner for this silliness?"

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"Medusalith," Elphaba said. "Though she seemed even less enthused than I was about this whole thing. I think I've managed rather well, so far. I am sorry for your lost sleep, though."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." Scully squinched her eyes shut as Frohike started to whine more loudly, growled, "Excuse me," and picked him up. Holding him upside down.

He started giggling, and she looked very weary.

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"These things make no sense," Elphaba said with a sigh. "No child really enjoys being held like that, do they?"

She'd not spend much time around babies. When Nessa was born, she was still so young herself.

"I'm normally not so opposed to tik-toks, but these just... they make my skin crawl, sometimes."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Apparently these do," Scully said, righting Frohike. "And some might. When they're older." She set her jaw. "And you're not alone in that feeling. They're very clever mechanisms. But they're not real children, random as they are."

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"It's an odd lesson, as well," Elphaba said. "We're not forced to learn how to be real parents, just the responsibility involved if we... well, do the things that create children."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Becoming a real parent takes years." Scully's face might have looked a little more shadowed and less grumpy there. "If you're fortunate. This is just a reminder that babies would be inconvenient." Langly started crying again, and she picked him up, doing the upside-down trick. "And loud. So, use contraception."

Yes, Scully's patience was at an end with this week. As was her tact.

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"All of the coffee ice cream, anyway," said Alexander, though his frown was no longer for the lack of frozen treats as he turned toward Scully.

He didn't even know where to begin, and his expression probably said as much quite clearly.

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Want a doll?" Scully said, deadpan. "I'd offer a hug, but this is the wrong week for that. And I'm not actually a huggy person." She sighed. "Cookies?"

He wasn't the only one who could find sugar a comfort.

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"...those are the oddest looking dolls I believe I have ever seen," Alexander admitted, eying them a bit warily before resolutely deciding to keep his eyes on Scully instead. "Cookies, on the other hand, would probably be far more appealing, thank you."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"They're androids; mechanical dolls intended to mimic human babies." Scully set the carrier down on the counter, and given this perspective, the dolls mimicked looking around curiously. "Professor Skywalker gave them to us on Thursday as a means of torturing us. Or, teaching us that if we have sex this week, we could end up with one permanently. Which I already knew, but he thinks we're hormone-crazed idiots."

To be fair, some of them were. Scully just resented that she didn't get to write a book report on birth control instead.

She went digging through the cabinets until she found a bag of Chips Ahoy, and then a tin of sugar cookies, and opened them both. The dolls looked interested. "No, you don't get any."

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

Alexander's face started to turn terribly red once Scully got past torturing us, and he had to clear his throat and wish he hadn't closed the freezer at the mention of cookies.

I...er, see," he said. "That's a very unique perspective on teaching a lesson, I suppose..."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully handed him a cookie, mouth quirking in a smile at the redness. "Sorry, Alexander. I'm at the end of my rope, and my discretion is out the window." She opened the fridge to look for some milk, and pulled out a pint. "Wednesday was the worst, but getting these on Thursday didn't help my mood much."

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes," said Alexander, frowning a bit as he nibbled on his cookie. "Wednesday was...most unusual, to be sure. Unusual enough to almost make me grateful to Ariel for coming to me with her ridiculous Glee Club idea, if only because it lead me to discover what was going on about telling the truth before I said something I would deeply regret."