King of Fools 008: The Woods


[Leslie has her insanely large purse stuffed with very unusual things, directions on her phone. …and Jade no where to be seen. Apparently she really was that pissed off.] -11:51 Aug 11
[Damion aviced in a black sedan, driving himself to her place. He has no idea where they’re going but he hes a picknic basket in the back.] -11:53 Aug 11
Leslie: Leslie hated having fights with Jade. The woman tended to stomp around slamming doors, and it seemed Damion was a big issue for her. It just… wasn’t something Leslie was going to sway on. She could hang out with someone if she wanted to! Especially when that someone had… A very shiny car pulled up, and she almost slapped herself for that stupid instantanous grin. She snatched up her purse and left the house before he was ever to the door, locking up behind her. -11:56 Aug 11
Damion: No face at the window, he didn’t even know what that worried him. "So are you going to give me directions or drive?" he asked "Since I have no idea where we’re going." it was true, he didn’t, and that irked him. He knew it was meant to be fun but it just… grated. -11:59 Aug 11
Leslie: Leslie looked surprised, pausing with a clank of the contents in her purse. "You’re going to let me drive that?" She couldn’t decide if she liked the idea or not. It would be easier to get there without giving him directions… -12:02 Aug 12
Damion: HE looked at the car, then looked at her, then dangled the keys. It hadn’t been a serious sugestion but it would let them talk about things other than directions. "I usually wouldn’t, but I know where you live if you crash her. Just look after her and don’t touch the buttons." -12:06 Aug 12
Leslie: She was already reaching for the keys, and paused with an almost pained expression when he said crash. She finally took the keys and handed him the purse. It was unusually heavy. "Don’t peek inside. I won’t touch your silly buttons." -12:09 Aug 12
Damion: He moved over the the passenger side and got in. "One thing you should know. Fiirst decond and thrird are all on the top row from left tot right, than strait down into fourth and left into sixth. You might find it easier to witch it into automatic because of that." -12:11 Aug 12
Leslie: Leslie slipped in to her seat, pulling on the seatbelt before looking at the steering wheel and all the controls in confusion. …His explination wasn’t helping at all either. "…so it has gears then? That’ll be interesting!" Leslie flashed him a quick grin. She clearly didn’t have a clue what she was doing, because getting the car started took three tries. -12:16 Aug 12
Damion: And now he was mooding worried. "You can drive a car like this right? Hold on. He pressed two buttons and chaned the car into autoratic and then activated the colision detection system. "I should warn you. I’m a nervous passenger." -12:20 Aug 12
Leslie: "I don’t know, I haven’t tried it." HE was a nervous passenger! Leslie was still surprised he gave her the keys at all. Driving in automatic, though, was much much more something she was accostomed to. Leslie was actually able to pull out of the drive and get them going without having the car lurch or die on her. At least she took driving seriously, because she was hyper focused on the road, what was around them with a quick look at the mirrors, and both of her hands clinging to the wheel. "Don’t worry, I can drive just fine." -12:24 Aug 12
Damion: If he was a nervous passenger she looked like a nervous driver. "So where are we going anyway? Some place quiet I hope. I have a basket in the back that should have everything we need. Unless we get stranded in the woods for days and I have to make a fire with our shoes to cook the squirrel we snared with the lases. -12:28 Aug 12
Leslie: There was that enigmatic smile. Something he said must have hit the nail on the head, because it was very difficult for her to surpress her amusement and excitement with it. Still, she didn’t confirm or deny. "Why do you have to keep guessing? I told you, it will ruin the surprise." Leslie was deliberately seeming to avoid the highway or the busy roads. She took the back ones through small neighborhoods, and soon they were on a stretch of road that was heading right out of town. -12:30 Aug 12
Damion: "Because I don’t like being in the dark, figuratively." and literally. "A surprise if just an uncertanty, Its only because I trust you that I’m not applying leverage to get the information." he meaned back in his chair. "I do have a question though. When was the last tiem you had a relationship?" -12:39 Aug 12
Leslie: Her hands tightened on the wheel and she cast him a quick sideglance. "That depends on what sort you are asking about…" This time it was her being vague, which was unusual for her. Her eyes were back on the street again and she was chewing on her lip. "I have a lot of friends…" -12:43 Aug 12
Damion: "Romnatic involvment, sexual or otherwise." he said leaving no room for doubt. He didn’t like beign played coy with. "You know I didn’t mean friends so this is a tender subject for you. You don’t have to answer." -12:47 Aug 12
Leslie: "It’s just not something I talk about very often." Leslie forced herself to relax. They were out of city limits now, and buildings were becoming fewer and farther between. "My last boyfriend was just after the accident. That’s all." -12:49 Aug 12
Damion: He didn’t say a word, he merely eyed her before he looked out the window. "So a while ago, that answers that." that was all he wanted to know. "We’re even now. Ms. Cole." -12:56 Aug 12
Leslie: "…what does that answer, exactly? And what are we even about?" As always, any question answered always inevitably brought on more questions. Leslie decided her doing the driving might have been a bad idea, because now she couldn’t stare him down to decipher his expression. -12:59 Aug 12
Damion: "You thought I was gay, and now I have found out somethign baout you Leslie. Somethign Ms. Sparrow could never understand. Somethign I could possibly relate to." -01:06 Aug 12
Leslie: "For the record _I_ did not actually believe you were gay!" she responded with some exasperation, and maybe a little bit of guilt. "…and that sounds really ominous. What have you found out?" She finally turned down another side street. They were in the forest now, and the sign for the local state park passed them. It seemed the woods had been an accurate guess after all, because she was pulling in to a small parking lot near one of the ranger stations. -01:09 Aug 12
Damion: "That I was right about the woods." he lied before undoing his seatbelt and getting out to open the back door and retrieve the basket, pulling a cap out of it and putting it on his head and offering one to her. "So do we have far to walk?" -01:14 Aug 12
Leslie: "That isn’t what you meant…" Leslie had retrieved her very heavy purse, and was now casting him a suspicious look. She did take the hat and set it on her head. …a little too big, but it worked! "Only a little bit down the trail to the river. You’re not afraid to get a little wet and dirty are you?" There was her mysterious grin again as she rocked on her feet. -01:17 Aug 12
Damion: "Sounds like I’ll have to take off my shoes." he said gripping the basket and holding his hand out for the keys. "Other thn that I’m not afraid of anything. -01:22 Aug 12
Leslie: Keys! Right… now where did she put them. Leslie had to fumble at her pockets before she found them and returned them. Apparently losing her keys was a normal thing. "Oh you’ll definitely have to take off your shoes." Leslie turned to lead the way down the path. It seemingly perfectly natural for her to be out in the forest and walking along the trails. it was easy to hear the rush of the river not too far away. -01:25 Aug 12
Damion: "I don’t know it I like the sounds of this…." it was a low mutter, last time she gets to choose the place, got it. "You come here a lot then?" she looked like she knew the way and he hadn’t seen her look at a map once on their way here. -01:28 Aug 12
Leslie: "I used to. It’s been awhile." Before long the trail opened up to a large clearing right next to the river. It was one of the more calm spots. A short three foot waterfalls, the shallows. Leslie dropped her purse down at what she thought was a good spot. Then she was delicately balancing to take off her shoes. "You said you wanted a friend and confidant, so I thought I would show you that I can trust you, so you can trust me." -01:34 Aug 12
Damion: What came to mind were those inane trust excercises that many torporations made thier workers go through, he hated those. But he set the basket down next to her bag and started pulling his shoes off without complaint. "What if I don’t need to be shown. Or if I can’t show…" -01:41 Aug 12
Leslie: "Then there is nothing to worry about! I am not asking you to trust me!" she grinned again. Sitting down on the ground so she could roll up the legs of her pants, all the way to her knees. There were a few visible marks and her smile faded a bit, but she was back up on her feet again in an instant and walking towards the water. "Have you ever hunted for river muscles before?" -01:44 Aug 12
Damion: "I don’t even know what those are." he said stepping into the water after her and watching her. "But I can guess. Why are we hunting for them? I brought food." this was sounding a lot like a date and he was unsire of the whole thing. But she’d obviously had it planned since before the kiss… that he didn’t want to think back to. -01:47 Aug 12
Leslie: "Are you kidding? They’re kind of like… um… little clams! They’ll be black. I’ll show you." Leslie waded around, kicking up dirt until she came across a couple of the little shelled things. She held it up. "This. We’ll only need a few. They’ll go with lunch." -01:51 Aug 12
Damion: "Is this legal?" a pertinany question. "We;re not going to have a nature consercation officer coming down on us are we?" he wastched her and still wasn’t joining in, he didn’t even know what to do. -01:53 Aug 12
Leslie: "YES it’s legal! It’s just like fishing!" Although… they probably needed a fishing lisence… but she would keep that to herself. Leslie waded back to him, grabbed his hand to tug him out farther in to the river. "Don’t worry about all the little details. All you do is sift around and grab them. It doesn’t need a plan of action." -01:55 Aug 12
Damion: "Hmmm…" he was unconvince but if dragging his feet over the bottom of a river would get them closer to doing something else he would do it. "So you’re really going to eat something out of a river without any kind of disinfecteting or cooking?" if seemed risky. "I don’t think this is what I had in mind when I thought about celebrating a new deal going through." -01:59 Aug 12
Leslie: "Oh, there will be cooking!" she chimed. After all, she had a purse stuffed with what she needed. When he didn’t look too enthusiastic about the idea, she kicked a foot at him to splash him a bit. "What did you have in mind, then, mister Rubrum?" -02:04 Aug 12
Damion: He looked at his wet shirt and then at her. "Id doesn’t matter, it wasn’t anything specific." this was why he didn’t do anything. Why di didn’t do friendships. "But then what do I know, I don’t go out. Ever." -02:07 Aug 12
Leslie: Leslie paused and visibly wilted. Her arms falling to her sides as she tilted her head at him and frowned. She was really trying here. "You don’t like this then. Being out here." -02:11 Aug 12
Damion: And now he had said the wrong thing. "I do. I just don’t know how any of this words, or why you chose here, or what I’m meant to be doing or anything. The outdoors and I do not get along." Agoraphobia it was called. Agitation in open spaces. -02:17 Aug 12
Leslie: That seemed to draw some confusion from her, before it seemed to click in her head. Leslie was back at his side again, taking his hand and this time not letting go. "I chose here because I like this place. It’s safe and quiet. And I haven’t been here since I was small because I hate having to drive and I don’t like showing skin for wading. SO… we’re going to dig for muscles and I will make you something special while you show me what you brought in the basket?" -02:22 Aug 12
Damion: He wanted to leave, to go back to where he felt safe. He would never be able to here. "It doesn’t feel safe to me." he said. "But what do I need to do to get these things?" -02:28 Aug 12
Leslie: Leslie kept his hand, balancing on one foot to show him how to kick around at the silt. "See? They hide in the dirt or under rocks. They don’t exactly run, either. So you just move the dirt around until you find the bigger ones. It’s simple. No danger involved." -02:31 Aug 12
Damion: He growned at her. "I’m not scared of a few clams." he said feeling like he was boing treated like a child. But at least it have him the tention the frustration needed to kick rocks on the bottom of a river. "There rocks are kicked. Freshwater chelfish seems… wierd." -02:35 Aug 12
Leslie: "Then what are you worried about?" she grinned. Leslie leaned over to brush through the silt. Picking up ones that looked edible and then holding them out for him to see. "Don’t fancy rich people usually eat fancy exotic rich foods? These are pretty normal to eat." -02:38 Aug 12
Damion: "Yes the day I became rich I stopped eating sandwedges and pasta just because I was rich." she didn’t desurve his irritation but. He hated the openess and the way this seemed like a date. "I’m making this difficult arn’t I… I should go and sit on the bank." -02:41 Aug 12
Leslie: "Do you ever relax and just enjoy something for what it is? You did a few days ago." Leslie didn’t mean to bring it up, but he looked ready to run. …about the same way she had felt the first time she met him. Strange how that had changed. Her face was twinging red, and she busied herself with sticking the muscles in her pockets which was just defeating the purpose of her rolling up her pants to stay dry. -02:45 Aug 12
Damion: "The situation was entirely different then." he said. "Here I don’t know what to think, I don’t know what to do… I’m terrible at this." -02:48 Aug 12
Leslie: Her head tilted up to regard him curiously. Was he such a control freak that one unplanned day was completely debilitating? "Don’t think! Just do. I think we have enough, anyway." Leslie took his hand again to pull him along out of the river and back to the bank. -02:51 Aug 12
Damion: "In the past its always seemed somethink not worth thinking through hasn’t been worth doing." he said. "I’m sorry. I’ve ruined your plan." -03:00 Aug 12
Leslie: "Unless you’re about to pass out and I have to somehow drag you back to the car, I don’t think any plans are ruined yet." Leslie was resiliant. Once they were back to their chosen picnic spot, she dropped to her knees to dig in her purse. She had a pot in there and a small single kerosene camping stove. No wonder it was so heavy. "What did you bring in your basket?" -03:04 Aug 12
Damion: He wasn’t convinced. "I could do that, hit my head on a rock, you’d have to call in an airlift. Your friend would get teh scoop and probably congradulate you for thwarting my lecherous advances with a well placed lump of natural mineral applie directly to my forehead. You could spin the story however you wanted, blackmail me out of thousands. Are you sure you don’t want to do that instead?" -03:09 Aug 12
Leslie: Leslie endured the comment with little more than sitting back on her heels and giving him an incredulous expression. "Why would I? I would rather see what you have in your basket. …Or should I be asking crazy questions too. Like if there’s poison in there, or ropes and chains or something." -03:13 Aug 12
Damion: He paused giving her a long look that ended with a slight grin. "No not that, yet, just a bottle of water, a tuggerware of finely sliced watermellon, cheese, bread, butter, salt, perpper, ham slices, pickles, tomato, lettus, mayo, mustard, capers, crackers, cold juice, and olives. Might be foregetting something." As he said that he placed down a bottle of white wine. "You did say you’d have a drink." -03:19 Aug 12
Leslie: "I did." she eyed the bottle with a bit of doubt. But now that he had shaken his mood, Leslie decided it would be worth giving it a try. In fact, she stole the bottle. Once her stove was set up and all the muscles from her pocket were dropped in to the pan, she popped open the bottle and poured a little bit of the wine in, then closed the lid tight. "Perfect! See, it was a meal made to be." -03:23 Aug 12
Damion: "Made to be by you." he pointed out. "And I’ve just decided I’m not telling you how much that bottle cost, wouldn’t want you trying to put it back into the bottle." he pushed a balnket aside in the basket, it was useless as they were now. Two cups followed and he poared the wine into it before bringing out a board and ingredients. "Anything else you want to throw in?" -03:36 Aug 12
Leslie: "Hmm…" She looked at the pot and then at the basket. "No! Not yet." She scooted until she faced him, tapping her hands on her knees before she reached out to take one of the cups and gave the wine an experimental sip. "They’re just going to be the best muscles in the universe then. Do you ever cook?" -03:39 Aug 12
Damion: "No." a simple answer to a simple question. "Wouldn’t know where to start, I usually don’t have time to anyway, bringing paperwork home, staying up until ten doublechecking. I shouldn’t even be here. So they had better be good." he looked at her and pondered. "Why am I here?" -03:47 Aug 12
Leslie: "Because we’re doing something to celebrate your big deal?" she tilted her head, and by smell she knew they were ready. Leslie turned off the little stove and pulled the pot off the heat. Off came the lid, and she was reaching in to try and snatch up one of the now opened up muscles. Mumbling ‘ow’ and dropping it again everytime she did, from the heat of it. -03:51 Aug 12
Damion: "Tip them ont a plate" he said handing one to her "I should be prepairing for the next stage once teh budget projections come through and drafting future deals. These guys really don’t like dealling with me and will exploit any loophole they can to get out of it. -03:54 Aug 12
Leslie: Leslie took the plate and poured them on to it. Waving her hand over them a moment to cool them, and then looking at her fingers with a frown. "I’m not all that surprised, you’re pretty scary in your office." -03:59 Aug 12
Damion: He shot her a glare. "Its because they’re worried I’ll take over thier company. And they should be worried because I very easily could." he took a sip of his wine and looked at the fried up muscles. "Do they have shells?" -04:06 Aug 12
Leslie: She reached over him to get the salt to get a fork, then picked up one of them to show him, now that they were cool enough. It looked like a little oyster and for a moment she open and closed the shell like it was talking as she spoke. "Yes, put you just scoop it out and eat it." She used the fork to do so and ate the first. "….see, not dead yet." -04:10 Aug 12
Damion: "Even after all that cooking they’re still alive? Well that is something." he said dryly. "You should put another out of it’s missery." he took another sip of wine and then leaned back to lean against his hand on the ground. He was still feeling unsettled, not at home… frightened? :I’m not really hungry at the moment." -04:15 Aug 12
Leslie: "No! I mean I am still alive!" All of a sudden she was laughing. That was just one absurb thing too many, and she just couldn’t help herself. "They’re better when they’re hot." Leslie picked up another, grinning wide now. Scooped it out of the shell and scooted over to him on her knees. She held the fork near his mouth. "Try it." -04:20 Aug 12
Damion: He looked at the thing dubiously then at her coldly. "I’m really not hungry." he insisted. How could he be. There was an unwelcome feeling in his gut and he wanted desperaty to be somewhere else, anywhere else. -04:28 Aug 12
[Leslie enters.] -04:53 Aug 12
[(Timeout) Leslie was sacrificed to the roleplay gods by a tribe of wild newbies.] -04:57 Aug 12
Leslie: He had switched moods on her again, which always seemed to leave her floundering and unbalanced. She ate it herself, sitting back again with her legs curled under her. "Not hungry or just afraid to try something new?" -04:57 Aug 12
Damion: That made him look at her again. "Not hungry. Why do you keep saying I’m afraid?" he placed his cup down and glasped his hands on his knee and eyed her. -05:04 Aug 12
Leslie: "Because you have to be in control of everything. And I don’t believe you’re like that because you’re an asshole?" She said it like she wasn’t -entirely- sure and was testing the words to see how he responded. -05:10 Aug 12
Damion: He narrowed his gaze. "So I need to be in control because I’m afraid?" he asked his tone neutral. "Afraid of what exactly? That the moment things slip between my fingers a yetti is going to come through that bush." he pointed. "And tear me apart…" he paused his eyes avoiding her for a millionth of a second. "I’m on top of the world, what do I have to be afraid of?" -05:13 Aug 12
Leslie: "Well, for one… yeti are mythical creatures. If you were going to be afraid of something out here, he should be bears, snakes and wildcats." She finally just gave a shrug of her shoulder. "…I guess I have no room to talk about being afraid though. I have elevator issues." -05:21 Aug 12
Damion: "I wasn’t being serious." he said. "And your fears are justified." he stopped talking then looked away. "And I shouldn’t know the reason for them… its only fair if you know mine. But I won’t tell you here, you’ll have to meet me in my office, or home. That is the condition I have to set if you want to know. Any time after tomorow." -05:28 Aug 12
Leslie: "It’s not like it’s a secret of mine. It’s just something that happened." But he was offering to tell her more! That was… Leslie wasn’t sure how she felt, other than really curious. She considered it carefully, though… "I’d like to see your home. So if you want to share with me, that would be a good place." she leaned, plucking up another of the muscles from the plate. "…now can I tempt you to trying one?" -05:35 Aug 12
Damion: He frowned at her. "You skin me on a deal then try and set conditions?" he toot he thing in his fingers and popped it into his mouth. "Its not a classic house like yours. Call be with a date." -05:38 Aug 12

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