❀ Shut up and eat! [CLOSED]

[truffulacide]

Who: The Once-ler, Rapunzel, and Audrey
What: Mother's Day shenanigans at 917 Bilko, starring: a chronic whiner, Ms. Most-Certainly-Not-A-Princess, and the girl who loved trees. IN 3D!
When: May 13 (backdated)
Warnings: Nothing!

[waking up strange is not something Once-ler is accustomed to (although he should be considering the type of town he's in), and it's even worse when it's a kind of oddness that doesn't even have a name. the thing it comes closest to being branded as is restlessness; like there's something he ought to be doing right now, something grand and very obviously important, but what that might be is anyone's guess. it nags at him from the moment he wakes up and turns his head, sleepy eyes falling upon the smaller figure that's laying scootched away from him on the furthest end of the bed. that's when the feelings start - the nagging but not wholly bad emotions that tell him to do something, anything, to show that he cares.

- wait, what? what's there to care about? where did this even come from? scratch that, this IS unpleasant. he's not having any of this, thanks very much. quietly, he gets out of bed and tiptoes to the dresser to get some clean clothes because, even if he has to spend the rest of the morning pacing around the yard or, heck, up and down the block, there's no way he's going to dwell on this. distractions are awesome like that.

it's when he takes his first step outside the house that the first although... starts gnawing at his brain. as long as he's out, he might as well swing by the store and pick up more flour and eggs. you can never have enough eggs.

and chocolate. and flowers. and, as he finds out roughly two hours later when he returns home with bags crammed in his arms, stuffed animals. how that teddy bear found its way into his grocery bags is a mystery, but he supposes that's the risk you take when you grab anything that even looks remotely adorable, regardless of price or size. he's pretty sure there's a stuffed duck in here somewhere, too. this got out of control real fast.

by the time either of his two non-droned housemates wake up, Once-ler will already be at the stove cooking. there's already two plates stacked to the top with pancakes on the kitchen table, laying amidst a sea of flowers and boxed chocolates, and he shows no sign of stopping anytime soon if the state of his frying pan is anything to go by.]

Comments

[treefetish]

[Audrey wanders down to the kitchen, sleepy-eyed and still in her pajamas, lured by the siren call of delicious pancakes. It's then that she sees... Well. She's not really sure what to call it. But it looks awesome.]

... Is it someone's birthday?

[truffulacide]

[Once-ler finishes pouring the batter for the next batch of pancakes into the pan, then glances over at her.]

Nope! [he sounds...strangely cheerful. not super in-your-face happy, but definitely in high spirits. better than he was this morning at least.]

[treefetish]

Okay... [She goes over to the table and picks up one of the flowers.] Why all this stuff, then?

[truffulacide]

Why not? Everyone loves flowers. And chocolate. If there was a way to combine the two together, the whole world would be on cloud nine 24/7, I should think.

[he turns away from the stove for a minute to set the bowl aside. he then folds his hands behind his back to watch her.]

Is this the first time you've seen a real flower?

[treefetish]

There were some in the park, but everybody said they were actually weeds.

[The flower she's holding is a yellow rose. She sniffs it experimentally, smiling.] Thank you.

[truffulacide]

[he smiles at that and chuckles.] I hope you can spot the difference now! These are pretty new for me, too.

[his expression darkens a little, but not to the point where he looks angry or even really upset. just thoughtful.]

I haven't seen these kind in a long time.

[treefetish]

They're really beautiful. [She puts the rose next to her plate and sits down, because it is pancake time motherfuckers.] I'd like to grow some. Here, I mean.

[truffulacide]

[yeah, oops. gotta pay more attention to those; he doesn't want them to get burned. he turns back around and starts flipping them.]

Did you garden with, like...plastic ones at home?

[treefetish]

I don't know if it's really considered gardening if you just buy them at the store... They were inflatable. [a pause] I never liked them, anyway. I wanted the real thing.

[truffulacide]

The future sure is complicated. [and depressing. best not to think too much on that; he has all tomorrow and the day after that and the next day to feel awful.] Back in my time, the only plastic plants you'd see are the ones in a dentist's office.

[a pause. then:]

...Um. Are these...enough?

[treefetish]

Enough? [She looks at the covered table, then back to him, then back to the table, then back to him again.] I'm pretty sure we have enough of everything right now.

[truffulacide]

You can never have enough chocolate. [this is a fact, do not dispute it.] But are you sure? I mean, I could get you more. They had this really cool arrangement back at the flower store, it had daisies set around a little statuette of a cat. I didn't know if anyone liked cats, so I didn't get it.

[he says all of this as he flips pancakes, rather elaborately at that. once or twice he contorts his body backwards so he can look at her rather than at them. he doesn't drop a single one.]

What do you think about that?

[treefetish]

I'm okay with cats, they're cool. But... [She watches him catch the pancakes; she's not sure if she should be impressed or a little bit concerned. She opts for a mix of both.] Mr. Bob, are you feeling okay? You're acting kind of weird.

[hairflyingheartpounding]

[The smell of pancakes gets Rapunzel from those last stages of sleep to being groggily awake, and she's too tired to be surprised at first. She just rises from bed and gets dressed, and by the time that's done...]

Huh?

[And off she goes to the kitchen, only to stare once she's there... At first, in delight, but then in confusion. This is nice, but... Unusual. She stands in the entrance way to the kitchen, trying to figure out what's up but coming up blank.]

Um, Once-ler?

[truffulacide]

[huh. maybe this isn't so bad after all. at least he's doing something he likes right now; cooking always puts him at ease. for a while, he even has fun with it, flipping a few pancakes up in the air and catching them with the frying pan in creative positions. he's pretty flexible like that.

- but when he hears Rapunzel's voice behind him, all of that composure melts away. not out of embarrassment, mind you, but surprise. right as he's in the middle of twisting his body backwards to catch two flying pancakes, he gives a little yelp and stumbles a few steps back, dropping the hot frying pan to the floor where it clatters noisily. the pancakes fall to the ground somewhere, too.]

A-Ah...! [oh. it's just her. nothing to be...afraid of.] O-Oh, um. Hi! [cheesiest forced grin ever.] You're up...early.

[11pm is early for him, okay.]

[hairflyingheartpounding]

[She gasps when he drops the pan and then looks up (always up) at him apologetically.]

I'm sorry about that. And am I?

[A beat. Nope, she can't pretend this isn't strange. She looks over at the table.]

You went shopping.

[truffulacide]

[he crouches down and starts peeling the dough off the floor to drop into the pan. he'll dump it into the garbage can when he's done.] About what? You didn't do anything.

...Yeah? Nothing weird about that. I always go shopping.

[hairflyingheartpounding]

I startled you. [But she shakes her head.]

You don't usually get things like this...

[truffulacide]

I said it's fine. Relax, okay?

[oh. oh, that. well, that's going to be a little harder to explain. just what can he say anyway? "I just felt like it"? that's too silly.]

It's...kind of a special day. [there we go, that's his explanation. and it's a good one, too. he only just realized what day it was when he looked at the calender on his way out. and all the familiar, upsetting feelings he is used to followed. if it can be avoided, he'd rather not talk about it; it opens less of a window of opportunity where thinking about her will follow.

looks like he's gonna have to reconsider that.]

...It's Mother's Day.

[hairflyingheartpounding]

...Oh. [And that's really all she can say, because she's remembering how upset Mother would be about this, about how bad she was to leave in the first place. She misses her mother often, and that feels horrible, but sometimes she doesn't miss her, and the feel worse.]

[truffulacide]

Have you celebrated it before?

[she must have. although he doesn't want to say it aloud for fear of offending her, her mother seems like the type of person who would demand some sort of offering for Mother's Day, or at least a show. he remembers all of the presents, all of the unopened boxes of chocolates, the flowers that would wilt long before putting them into a vase was even considered. really, the only presents she would even accept from him were chore coupons. everything else wasn't good enough.]

[hairflyingheartpounding]

No...

[She sighs.]

It was very nice of you to do all this for me, but I'm not even... I mean, Audrey has a mother back home who must miss her so much, and...

[A shake of the head. No, she won't let all of this kindness from him go to waste. That would just discourage him, wouldn't it. She manages a smile.]

Thank you. Very much.

[truffulacide]

[...that's not what she's supposed to say. no, no, that's not how this is supposed to go at all.]

No one's asking you to replace her. If it means anything, I'm doing this for Audrey, too.

[he turns off the stove, and when he looks back at her, there's the beginning of a hesitant, unsure smile on his face.]

We might as well rename it to something like..."Roommate Appreciation Day". I wanna make you guys happy, that's all.

[hairflyingheartpounding]

I'm glad. She's a great kid.

[Her smile become a bit more genuine, and she approaches the gift-laden table.] You do?

[truffulacide]

[he nods.] She's nice. I never thought anyone from my home would actually show up.

...Well, yeah! I wanted to see you smile.