Forums » General Roleplay » A List of Things-To-Do [1x1]

Allie had stood stiff as scanned PeeCee's face and waited for her reaction. When the other girl flashed her a smile, she let go of the breath she was holding in the form of a sigh of relief. To be honest, she didn't think PeeCee would so easily shrug off what Allie just said but she was glad she did.

"It'll be...quite a challenge!" Allie said back with a laugh, returning to her normal cheery self. Allie didn't feel like PeeCee can win this but there was a small hope that maybe there is some sort of loophole. Not that she could be too happy or sad about it either way; Allie chose this path out of her own volition after all. Complaining about it would mean regretting it, and she didn't regret it.

"Yeah, let's go!" Allie replied, bracing her bags and practically frolicking over to the intersection.
"So PeeCee, tell me about yourself! Family? Friends? Interests? Was it hard to get into King/Drew? What are you studying?"

PeeCee strode after Allie, quite preferring that the other girl lead the way, the situation being what it was. This way she could keep Allie in her sights easier.

"Wow, what's this, an interrogation?" she teased, but obliged. "Umm, I live with my dad, and I have one sibling. I'm the younger one." She scratched her cheek in thought. "I'd say it's harder studying at King/Drew than it was getting in. They have high expectations. I don't really have a ton of time to hang out with friends..." She watched Allie as she spoke, noting the stars hanging on the girl's ponytail holders. "Hey, Ellie, are you interested in astronomy or do you just happen to like stars?"

"Wait, you're the younger sister? No way, you have this....older sister feel to you. That mature, 'I know what I'm doing' feeling." Allie said as she turned back to study PeeCee in a new light. She recognized the irony in her statement; Allie was an 'older sister' and never knew what she was doing, not really, but she felt like she had an idea of what an older sister should be.

"OH, I love astronomy! I mean I like stars too...aesthetically." Allie shook her head with a smile to make the dangling stars on her hair band shake. She had turned and started to walk backwards in order to face PeeCee and talk to her at the same time. "But my dad's a guide at the Griffith Observatory and he said my first word was 'telescope'. The second word, 'gamma-ray'. I spent every other summer day up in the Observatory. And I-"

Allie wanted to go on and tell PeeCee that her father use to replace all the lyrics of bedtime lullabies with astronomy terms or that she and her sister sacrificed two years of birthday presents in order to afford a telescope for their room or that her favorite thing about the stars is that the whole world is ever-changing but if you look at the sky in the same place, at the same time, the same stars will be there, year after year.
Allie didn't want to lose PeeCee in her talk though, not when the other was trying so hard to keep up. She turned back around to walk normally.

"And I--I don't really have a lot of time to hang with friends either. But...that's ok." She finished and then quickly added, "And it's Allie! It's short for Alouette." Allie realized that PeeCee got her name wrong the moment she said it but she didn't have enough conviction to correct her till now. In a normal situation, she would have let that minor error slide but she had long past any sense of normal.

S

"People always think I'm the older sibling!" PeeCee laughed. "Not so much because of personality, but because I'm taller than Bailey. Or our dad, for that matter."

PeeCee grinned brightly. "That's so cool! I think my first word was..." She made a sign for 'hungry'. "One of my dad's friends signs so when he heard about teaching babies to sign they taught me." This friend had been the one to help her dad around the most when she had been little, which was good since her dads had already been long separated at that point. Tadase had sort of recently told her that her beginnings had basically been a case of 'ran into each other at a party, one thing led to another...' Thanks for the info, Tadad. Well, she had asked.

PeeCee nodded at Allie's words about hanging out with friends. She also nodded at the correction. "Damn, sorry. Alouette, that's French?"

Allie watched as PeeCee signed in confusion before the other girl explained. "Your first word was in sign language?" She asked with wide eyes and then broke into a smile. "Ok, so that means you were born smart, I'm pretty sure. They should have just handed you your high school diploma, right then and there I feel. Would have saved you some time! Or at least middle school diploma." Allie said in an exaggerated serious voice.

They passed by a few stores closing their fronts for the night, rolling down the gates, locking their doors, turning over the 'open' sign to 'closed'. Some of the streetlights overhead started to flicker on while drivers turn on their headlights. There was a slight chill in the summer's night air but that didn't put a damper on Allie's mood.

"Yeah- Alouette is French! My mom named me after...you know that French children's song? Alouette, gentille alouette..." Allie sang the first few lines. "Ittt'sss... about slowly plucking lark. To death or to be eaten, I assume. I always thought the whole song was kinda cruel...so I like just Allie better." She shrugged with an awkward smile on her face. "But my mom calls me Alouette anyways. Use to call me."

Allie wasn't so much walking as she was meandering through the sidewalk at this point. This whole thing really reminded her of previous summer nights- walking through the empty streets with her friends and sister with convenience store popsicles in hand, talking about silly things, complaining about teachers or school. This was all bittersweet.
"Wait, you didn't tell me what your first word in sign language means!" Allie realized, shaking herself out of her own thoughts.

PeeCee giggled at Allie's theatrics. "It's all very utilitarian, it's meant to foster communication. That the baby can tell their needs by other means than just bawling!"

PeeCee shook her head when Allie asked if she was familiar with the song. Her eyes widened as Allie explained the source of her name. "Oh, wow. That is quite macabre. I get why you wouldn't like it", she said, then added, a little absent-mindedly: "I was actually named after a type of alcohol originally."

She looked at Allie in mild confusion as the girl pointed out she hadn't told her what her first word had meant. She repeated the sign, frowning, then snapped her fingers, brightening. "'Hungry'. They were all like that, 'more', 'hug', 'dad', 'all done'", she said, signing the corresponding sign while saying its meaning. She stroked her cheek twice with her fingertips with her hand forming the letter C, a bit like drawing whiskers. "Um, my dad's friend's name sign. The one I gave him. The one he gave me pretty much means 'bitey'." She laughed, a little sadly.

"A type of alcohol?" Allie resisted the urge to guess which type, knowing that would be too annoying even for her. "Is it a classy kind of alcohol at least? Or is it like Tequila?" She couldn't resist a small tease tho. "Did your parents have naming regrets?" She asked, assuming that her parents changed it. Allie thought there was some dry, ironic, humor about having an alcoholic name and then regrets about it.

Allie watched as PeeCee signed a few words for her and tried to clumsy copy them with her own hands though she didn't quite have the other girl's speed. There was something sweet about the words that she signed though, there was an innocent to them that called back to childhood days. She dropped her hands slowly once she heard the hint of melancholy in PeeCee's voice.
"You were close to him right? Did something happen to him?" Allie asked, the question came out before she can stop herself. "I mean you don't have to tell me!" She added, putting her hands up and backpedaling with a nervous smile. "I understand if you don't, it's a personal question I'm sure."

PeeCee grinned. "Brandy. I think it was a joke, because my older sib is called Bailey, like Bailey's." She narrowed her eyes. "Preeetty sure Bailey wasn't actually named after Bailey's, though."

She snickered at the thought of being named 'Tequila'. "I think I'd have killed my dad in his sleep if he'd named me something like 'Tequila'. I mean, not really, but way to torture your poor child, right? Other kids can be nasty. But, nah. I'd gone by PeeCee for a few years by the time dad let me change my name. I guess he wouldn't have waited so long if I had picked something more conventional."

PeeCee was silent for a moment after Allie asked her about the family friend. She wanted to brood, but it was hard to brood when you had to concentrate on not forgetting your conversational partner. "No worries", she sighed. "He... Passed away." The circumlocution was an ill fit in her mouth. "It was sudden." She blinked rapidly, fighting to keep at bay the tears that threatened to well up, took a fortifying breath. "He was an important family friend and I miss him", she said firmly, with a note of finality. She nodded to herself for good measure. She wouldn't burden this... Random girl she met on the street, who she... wouldn't even remember afterwards(?!?), with her problems. At least not any more than she already had.

With no situational awareness whatsoever, PeeCee's stomach growled loudly.

"Oh....Brandy and Bailey...." Allie looked away as she tried to keep the smile on her face from spreading. She could imagine it right now- PeeCee's parents introducing her and her brother to other parents as a perfect set. A younger PeeCee and her faceless brother standing stiff and awkward next to each other, as kids do when they first meet a stranger. Maybe even in matching outfits. Allie's imagination ran away from her. Her sister and she both had bird-themed names and she remembered both of them being forced into bird costumes during Halloween and into feather-patterned pajamas by her mom. Did PeeCee and her brother had alcoholic-themed clothing as children?

"That would have been...so cute though..." She said through a hand after reeling back her runaway smile. She sobered up from her giddiness on the topic change. Allie's smile faded as she put her hand down and looked at the other girl attentively.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." She said softly. She opened her mouth, not picking up on the finality of PeeCee's words and was about to say more words of reassurance before being interrupted by PeeCee's stomach.
A soft smile came back into Allie's face. "Hungry?" She asked with a small tilt of her head. Her tone was not a teasing one, more of a sister asking her sibling if they were ready for dinner.
"I know this kabab place nearby that's still open!" She offered. "It's not the ritziest of places but it's good still!"

PeeCee shook her head, quite amused, definitely noticing Allie hiding a smile. It hadn't even been too bad, really, PeeCee just liked to tease her dad about it. Sometimes Bailey joined in as well. Poor dad. Not!

The whole first signs discussion went to hell since it reminded PeeCee of Casimir's death not so long ago. She was almost thankful to her rude stomach, as it interrupted the awkward situation.

PeeCee put her hand on her forehead, sort of amused, sort of mortified, sort of relieved. She laughed, not enturely naturally, but getting there. "Yyyyeah, I may have neglected to eat while giving out those fliers." She nodded enthusiastically at Allie's suggestion. "Sounds great! I'm not even that big on ritzy anyway, believe it or not." She tossed her hair with feigned flair, as if it really was so hard to believe.

Allie, too, was glad for the change in topic. It was not because she shied away from topics of death or that it made her uncomfortable, it was because she had a habit of being far too intrusive and optimistic. Sometimes people just wanted despair to be left alone, never brought up so that they can one day forget. Allie, on the other hand, embraced all emotions, including sadness. Most people found her solution to sadness off-putting, she felt.

With a small smile establishing itself back on Allie's face, the girl took a few steps ahead and pointed over two blocks down to a red, neon, flickering 'Open' sign nailed down to a brick building. A thought flickered in his mind, she quickly peeked at her phone down in her bag. Yep, it was past curfew and she would normally be home cooking dinner at this point. She hoped Intan wouldn't notice or was away for a job when she comes back. A little longer wouldn't hurt right?

Nested next to a closed gift shop and open liquor market was the very definition of a 'hole-in-the-wall' restaurant. It had a small window with a faded sign on the front of it advertising its daily specials. A cafe table and two tarnished metal chairs sat in front of the window, with some more seating inside. The only thing that didn't seem run down about the establishment was its wooden door, painted bright red with intricate Turkish designs engraved on it.
Above, a handpainted wooden sign declared the restaurant's name- 'ABRA-KEBAB-RA'- and below it a subline- 'Magic kababs that will make our tastebuds dance!'.

Allie turned to PeeCee with a sheepish smile. "Not all pun-related restaurants are bad, trust me." She said.

PeeCee looked to where Allie was pointing and smiled in delight. It really wasn't too far, that was nice. PeeCee didn't have a set curfew, so she didn't need to worry about informing her dad that she was staying late. Well, she probably should text him, but it was not a huge deal. She'd just wait for him to call or text if he started to wonder where she was.

PeeCee grinned as they approached. "It's kind of adorable. Abrakebabra. I love that." She hadn't had kebab in a while, so she certainly wasn't complaining about this development.

Allie giggled as she opened the red door for the both of them. "To be honest, I feel like the pun name makes the food taste better. I know others that disagree. Ok I know a lot of others that disagree." She admitted as she stepped through the restaurant's threshold on to the yellow titles of the interior.

A little bell above the door rang as Allie walked in. The place was completely empty save for 3 people behind the counter. A teenaged-boy, around Allie and PeeCee's age, manned the cash register with a bored look on his face and a hand on his check. Behind him was his mother, wiping down the countertops with a rag. She spoke something in Farsi to the boy which the teenager replied back in English with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's fine, promise, I'll take care of it." He said with a grimace. The father's head popped out of the window cutout that opened to the kitchen behind the both of them and he gave his opinion too, in Farsi.
"I said it's fine, I'm gonna ask for extra credit, it's fine!" the boy said with a roll of his eyes.

As this conversation was going, Allie had already walked up to the counter and was looking at the backlit menu above their heads. No one behind the counter had even noticed the girl even with her close proximity. It wasn't till PeeCee walked in that the family straightened up and looked, startled, at Allie as if she had appeared out of thin air.
"Trouble with history again? It's not that hard, just need to keep awake right?" Allie joked and smiled at the boy's confused expression.

"Oh...you should order first," Allie said, looking over at PeeCee. This is a situation that she already knew the end of. Though she visited the place enough to be a regular and know the names of the father, mother, and their son (Mohammed, Saya, and Armin), they will never remember her or her order, at least not the first time around.
"I recommend the Abra-kabab-ra Alakazam Fireball combo with a side of...hummus-culus." She said with a small laugh, reading off the menu.

"Pfft, puns are pfunny", PeeCee joked as she followed Allie through the door. She experienced a second of confusion before spotting Allie at the counter.

She could have commented on the history thing -- find someone who doesn't make you fall asleep to actually learn stuff from, bunch of Youtubers out there, even the occasional historian, although of course that wouldn't help if the teacher required participation in class, but at least the tests might go a little better. It felt a bit too familiar, though, especially since she had no clue about the specifics of the situation.

As such, PeeCee simply walked up behind Allie and looked up at the menu. She glanced down at Allie's words. "O-oh! Okay." She read the menu again. Nothing really 'jumped out'. "Okay, yeah, I'll take that. Abra-kabab-ra Alakazam... Fire..." She had to stop and find the spot on the menu. "...Fireball combo and hummus-culus." She laughed a little. "These puns are adorkable", she told the boy manning the register, taking off her small backpack to take out her wallet.

The boy gave PeeCee a grimace and a winch as she complimented the puns. Almost on cue, his father's head popped up on the kitchen window once again to give a hearty laugh and a few loud claps.
"You see, Armin! The customer likes the puns! It is a good use of English!" The father said loudly, his own English heavily accented.
"No....dad...it's not..." The boy mumbled, obviously embarrassed by his family good use of English. He tapped in PeeCee's order with a frown while behind him, his father crossed his arms and looked at PeeCee.
"Adorkable." The man repeated and the boy sighed again, knowing where the conversation was going. "Adorkable, is that a pun?" The man asked innocently.
"It's not, dad. That will be 8.75. Please don't encourage him." Armin said as he quickly ripped the receipt off of the cash register and handed it to PeeCee.

Besides PeeCee, Allie was leaning by the counter, cracking up with laughter. But oddly enough, no one had looked at her besides the first moment she came in. Not even a glance, it was as if PeeCee was the only customer in the room.

"Whaat, puns are one of the highest forms of humour!", PeeCee said with a wide smile. "Well, I know not everyone would agree", she conceded.

"Alright, alright. I won't", PeeCee agreed to the boy, still smiling to herself as she paid and took the receipt. "Thank you", she said to the boy, smiling apologetically at the man and giving a one-shouldered shrug.

PeeCee's resolution to remember Allie had been slipping. She had a feeling like she had left the stove on at home as she stood there, and whoever was next to her was the one she had come in with, right? That was important, wasn't it? And this, too, was to be expected. A snippet of a tune that made her think of French and little birds... (dead)names... A vague feeling of someone you missed at the end of a dream that left you crying when you slipped into wakefulness -- had she been thinking of Casimir? She stepped to the side so the laughing girl next to her could order, absent-mindedly shoving the receipt in her wallet and the wallet in her backpack. "Now, where should I go sit?" she murmured, half to herself, as she gazed around in the restaurant, trying to draw something solid out of the ghosts of recent memory. She had still remembered when stepping in through the door, she felt, so all she had to do was remember remembering.

"They're so cute." Allie said as she turned back to PeeCee. But PeeCee's eyes brushed past her as if they didn't walk in together, as if they never introduced themselves to each other just a moment ago. Allie's smile faltered.
The 'doorway effect', Allie thought with a fixed smile on her face. There are times that Allie walked into a new room and forgot why she was there, it's a common occurrence for a lot of people. But with Allie's condition stacked on top, she didn't stand a chance.

She glanced at the family behind the counter and found that they were back to the last conversation, the boy frowning at his parents, the parents chiding him. As far as they were concerned, PeeCee was the only customer here.
It's ok, Allie thought, her optimism shoving away the growing feeling of disappointment. For a moment, she considered just leaving. It was past curfew anyways and no one will remember her, what's the use? She shook the thought out of her head. What did PeeCee say? She said she liked a challenge. Well, I do too!

"I'LL HAVE WHAT SHE'S HAVING." She yelled, feeling both vindicated and embarrassed by her decision. The family jumped and looked at Allie, startled. The boy stared at her with wide eyes, looking to the door and then back to her, wondering how in the world she managed to get all the way to the register without anyone seeing her.
Allie smiled at PeeCee wondering if that did anything, helped at all or if she had to go through the 'hiimallieihavethisthing...' speech again. Allie would happily go through it again actually until she had to say goodbye to the girl on her doorstep. She wasn't expecting PeeCee to remember her past that point, but she wanted to know that at the very least she tried.

PeeCee jumped at Allie's sudden exclamation, whirling to look at the other. A broad grin slowly spread on her face and she laughed. Okay, that confirmed it. And the girl's voice was oddly familiar. PeeCee leaned her back on the counter, watching Allie. Noting the tidiness of her clothes gave a déjà vu, while the stars were something the girl liked, that was a guess, but Peecee was pretty sure it was right. They'd talked about that too.

She was pretty sure the other girl had told her what to order. She had no memory of picking the food from the menu, only finding of it on the menu because she forgot what the entire punny name was...

Allie smiled awkwardly upon hearing PeeCee laugh. She was relieved, she was expecting the familiar 'do-I-know-you' stare.
The boy at the register was now looking back and forth at PeeCee and Allie, not understanding the context. This must be an in-joke that he was missing.
"That'll be ei-" The boy started to give Allie the total but she had already had the exact change out and shoved over to the register side before he could even finish. "Oh, umm ok." The boy said as he handed Allie the receipt.

"Did you forget?" She asked with a more easy smile as she started to walk towards the other girl and one of the free tables.
"It's ok if you did! It happens a lot. I mean, I don't mind anymore, but I thought I should try harder since you are trying hard too. And I really like talking to you and I don't want it to end! I know it's a bit selfish and really it's past curfew for me and you probably have better things to do....but actually the kebabs here are pretty good still-" Allie had to stop to take a breath and slow down. She had said this all very fast as if she was trying to apologize for her last outburst.

"Sorry I'm embarrassing." She sighed and gave a nervous smile along with a sidelong look.