IC Contact

[fiveagainstradley]

You've reached the answerphone of David Allard.
I'm not here right now, so leave a message with your name and number and I'll phone you back as soon as I'm able.

Text|Call|Video|Action

Comments

[infernoandhearth]

[Luke wanders right through the swings, pushing one of them into a creaking sway, and one-handedly climbs a ladder onto a wooden platform with a slide at the other end. He has to push some vines off of it to clear a sitting place. It's all still green here, where they've found themselves. Patting the platform beside himself, Luke starts the business of tearing open the bag and setting containers in a central area.]

This is nice. I wonder if it was made, old, or if it used to be someone's.

[fiveagainstradley]

[ David walks his way up the slide, tossing his bag up top once it becomes too steep for one hand. ] Dunno. It looks old, like it hasn't been used in years. Are there many children in the City to play on it?

[ Once on the platform, he kneels next to Luke and looks at the food in front of them. ] So, what've we got?

[infernoandhearth]

Not all that many, I suppose. [It's getting dark. It's going to be difficult to see in a moment, which is exactly why Luke snaps a sort of will o' the wisp into life, hovering up above their 'table'.]

Shahi murgh korma, tikka masala, butter chicken--those are all chickens--a beef vindaloo, and I got naan bread and rice because I think you'll need both, and there's a decent amount of sauce. You'll want to start with the butter chicken and work your way up to the vindaloo. [He's been opening the lids off of steaming containers as he names them.] I suppose I might have ordered a vegetable but I didn't see the need. Oh, right, and: pakoras.

[He takes those and the forks, spoons and napkins out of the bag and then unfolds paper plates from his jacket pocket. It's probably juuuuuust enough food for them. Luke, naturally, goes straight to heaping vindaloo onto his plate. He's always regretted that Scandinavian cuisine was as comparatively bland as it was. He didn't quite wish to be an Indian god, but he did prefer the spice over the salt.]

[fiveagainstradley]

[ David stares absently at the dishes, then tentatively reaches for the most familiar item-- bread. Er, naan. Ah, who is he kidding, it's bread. He takes some naan and some rice and a bit of the butter chicken, which is... actually quite good. He takes more now that he's confirmed he likes it. ]

This is good! [ He smiles at Luke, liking the way his little light makes his ginger hair glow red. He's doing that thing again where David can't quite tell whether he looks very old or very young, the way he does when he's not concentrating on looking any certain way, David knows. It's a good night, David thinks. Things have been good between them ever since that weekend, when Luke made him feel loved even as a girl. Even through the mess of maybe being engaged or pregnant, there was still-- is still-- Luke and David, the two best mates who care more for each other than the whole wide world. That's what tonight is really about, David thinks; not about introducing David to ethnic food, but about being the two of them just together. ]

[infernoandhearth]

It is, isn't it? [Luke does mean the food, of course, but also just this, this little dinner adventure between the two of them. He doesn't tend to love by halves, he puts all of himself into anyone he finds that he can trust. And David is the very first to have chosen, all by himself, to support Luke, no matter what, not letting a thing anyone else orders get in the way.

Luke hasn't trusted like this since he was very young, and he would never have assumed he'd find such loyalty in a human. Not even that, a young human, fully aware of what Luke had done. David doesn't even properly understand just how much Luke owes him.]

What do you think Mrs Thirsk would have made of Indian? [He grins, highly amused by the concept, and mops up the rest of the sauce on his plate with some naan.]

[fiveagainstradley]

Probably runny orange sauce with chewy, flavorless chicken. That is, if she allowed it anywhere near her kitchen.

[ David moves on to the next dish, and the next, before deciding that the rest is probably too spicy for him. Still, he enjoys what he does eat, and heaps pile upon pile of rice onto his sauce to scoop up with the naan.

Later, when all the food's gone, David lies on his back on the platform, looking up at the moon through the trees. ]

It's a nice night out, tonight.

[infernoandhearth]

I doubt she would at all. Perhaps I ought to have spilled curry powder in a meal while I had the chance.

[Luke easily finishes off everything David doesn't eat, and burns the garbage after them in a sort of easy cleanup. He watches David in the moonlight a moment, once David lies down, and then smiles, and lies down beside him, taking his hand easily.]

It is, even if Xanadu is cheating the seasons a little. Not that I mind in the least.

[fiveagainstradley]

[ David laughs at the thought of spilled curry powder in Mrs. Thirsk's cooking. He rubs his thumb along the inside of Luke's palm and smiles. ]

I don't mind the cheating either. We couldn't do this if it were cold.

[infernoandhearth]

Oh, I don't know, I think we'd find a way. [He rolls into his side, moving their grasped hands up between them to better mould himself to David's side.] I'm a fire god, remember. I've all sorts of ways for keeping people warm.

[fiveagainstradley]

Yes you do at that. [ David smiles into Luke's hair, kissing the top of his head. ]

[infernoandhearth]

[Luke is calm, and sweet, and settled a moment longer before he looks up at David, his smile almost wicked.]

How do you feel, David, about trying a new way out?

[fiveagainstradley]

Hm? What's that?

[infernoandhearth]

Well, first off, it probably requires Chloe. And secondly, I imagine we might want to leave this rather public area. [He smiles somewhat coaxingly.] What do you think?

[fiveagainstradley]

[ What would require Chloe and a less public pl-- ] Oh.

Uh, yes. I think that sounds wonderful.

[infernoandhearth]

Oh good. So did I. [He tilts his face up and tilts David's down with a hand and kisses him, turning into Chloe as he does so. It feels a little strange, almost burning without injury, sort of flickering under Luke's skin.] Mm, I mean, we could just stay here, for a while. I'm not sure I'm all that patient, though.

[fiveagainstradley]

[ David loves that feeling. It's another reminder that Luke isn't, and never will be, just another anybody. He stands, laughing, and pulls Chloe up with him.]

No. Here is nice, but home is better. Let's go now.

[infernoandhearth]

[Luke jumps up, and then goes down the slide. Because. There's a slide. Then she waits with her hand out for David to join her again.]

[fiveagainstradley]

[ David follows, laughing, and takes her hand at the bottom. ]

[infernoandhearth]

[Which can only mean it's RUNNING TIME. Luke sets them off, charging back through the hedges and trees. She does her best to take the shortest path, but Xanadu is complicated.]

[fiveagainstradley]

[ And David runs too, not caring that he's tripping over roots and branches and his own feet.

Soon enough they're back on the street, but David doesn't stop running there, ignoring the strange looks they get 'til they're back at the flat. ]

[infernoandhearth]

[Luke kisses David right through the doorway and kicks the door closed behind her with her heel. She loops her arms around David's neck, pulling him down to her.]

Do you know, David? [She's gasping a little at this point, out of breath from running and laughing and the kisses, of course.] Do you know, there's really no one else I'd rather more than you. Rather anything .

[fiveagainstradley]

Mmm. [ David is too busy working the buttons on Chloe's sweater to answer at first. ] The same. For what it's worth, coming from me.

[ Finally accepting the fact that his hands are shaking uncontrollably and that really there are better ways of doing this, he gives up and just orders, ] Clothes. Off. ...Please.

[infernoandhearth]

[Giggling breathlessly, Luke just. Strips herself, instantly, pulling all of the fire of her clothing back into herself.]

Mmmmf. Any other orders, David? [She licks her lips and gets her hands under the hem of everything David is wearing on top to just. Pull it up and struggle it off him.]

[fiveagainstradley]

[ David lets himself be stripped, then as soon as his head is free, lays kisses along Chloe's bare neck. ]

Just, to bed. [ He leads the way, kicking off his shoes and undoing the fly of his trousers, and making sure Chew is shut out of the bedroom behind them, his whining and scratching be damned. There are more important things at hand, like Chloe's naked breasts which David can now touch as much and as sweetly as he likes. ]

[infernoandhearth]

[Luke is just a whirlwind of smiles and laughter and attempting to stroke and kiss as much of David as she can manage with David doing the same.]

Mind the quilt. [She obviously doesn't mean it all that much, though, because she's kind of shoving David down onto the foot of the bed anyway. She wants to pull off his trousers.]