saveourearth | Grandma's less pleasant memorabilia [mingle]

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Grandma's less pleasant memorabilia [mingle]

Date: 24-27th of September
Characters: Everyone!

A few weeks ago, they started building at the very end of the High Street. They're tearing down one of those ugly houses that were built after the war to replace all the buildings that had been destroyed in air raids, which Mossgate, being a coastal town with a significant harbour at the time, saw a lot of.

It's not an exciting rebuild in itself - Premier Inn is building a hotel to have a foot in Mossgate's reviving tourist industry. It is, however, kind of exciting to see new buildings, as there hasn't be much building activity on the High Street since the recession hit.

Or, well, it certainly causes some excitement. Because one of the typical hazards of building foundations in this area strikes: You tend to either hit Roman ruins, in which case you need to let the archaeologists have a go at it before you can continue - highly annoying for the builder. Or you hit a WW2 bomb, which needs to be defused and removed before you can continue - highly annoying for everyone who lives, works or shops nearby.

In other words, around 11am of the 24th, anyone within a certain distance of the bomb will be evacuated indeterminately while the experts come in and have a look at the bomb. So far, so annoying. The constables say that it shouldn't last longer than two days.

Due to the location and size of the bomb, the area of evacuation includes shops, a part of residential suburban Mossgate, a school, a senior residence and the town museum.

People who live nearby have to evacuate their houses and either stay with friends or relatives or bunk up in a hotel or emergency shelter in one of the local school's gyms.

Shops have to shut down and leave their goods in the hands of their security systems and the local police force.

A call for volunteers goes out to help evacuate the residents of the senior residence, as there isn't enough staff to evacuate all of them quickly enough.

Bus lines get rerouted.

Constables are pulled in from other locations and volunteers activated to send people away from the dangerous area, and tape goes up. Interested Bystanders [tm] gather and have to be argued with to make way for evacuees and professionals. Some local press gathers. Car drivers who just need to go through real quick, there's no reason to be like that Constable, don't you know who I am need to be sent away.

The excitement dies down some on the following days, though the evacuation lasts.

On the 25th, the Super announces that according to the experts the bomb should be in a state to defuse it and take it away safely.

On the morning of the 26th, a second announcement follows: No, it seems that the fuse and the bomb is too corroded to be defused, and that a controlled explosion will have to be undertaken.

Straw and other materials are brought in to pad the bomb and thus protect the neighbourhood from the detonation, other precautions are taken and preparations made, and on the 27th a controlled detonation removes the danger. But as detonated explosions go, they are still explosions, and the shock wave damages a wall of the next house, which holds McDonalds, while some of the straw catches on fire and is taken up by the sea breeze to set a roof two houses over on fire, which is the town museum. The fire department is present and quickly takes care of it, but the damage is still done.

After that, everyone is allowed to return to their houses, schools, shops, and so on.

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Sinking a little more heavily against his desk in a half sit, he smiles sheepishly as Sadie gently scolds him. He couldn't stay sitting behind his desk, not when he wants to feel her touch. Voice quieter with vision clouded, he murmurs an apology, "Sorry. I'll be more careful next time..." Lightheadedness thankfully causes no hinderance to the feeling of her hands at his face and the kiss over his mask that only further quickens his already elevated heart rate. He reaches one hand up to lightly touch his fingers at her elbow as she works his mask off, and as his vision begins to clear somewhat, he is met with the stern expression.

Repeating a soft apology, "ごめんね," Benjiro does regret causing her worry if nothing more. Seeking to take her arm, he'll lean on her lightly to move the short distance from the front side of his desk to the edge of the bed to sit down. The low mattress makes it easy for him to sit far back, and with his legs supported to his knees, he won't have to work as much to stay sitting upright even without a back support. Seated once more, his vision trickles back to full clarity and he speaks without a wispy edge, "I missed you too, Sadie," as he gives her hand a soft squeeze.

Edited 2018-10-07 15:59 (UTC)

Sadie huffs, exasperated but smiling nonetheless, she's watched enough anime and spent enough time with Ben to know an apology when she hears one.

"Dont apologise, just take good care of yourself until you're all better and I'll be more than happy." She gently chides him as she starts to gently manouver them both onto the bed. Once on the bed, Sadie sits right next to him, providing Ben with the dual benefits of being close enough to hug and for him to lean on her if his torso starts to hurt.

Sadie squeezes his hand back and does what she has been wanting to do all day, kiss Ben without the mask in the way. The angle was a little awkward as Sadie tried to make sure that Ben remains as stationary as possible but even so, the feeling of Ben's firm lips moving against hers is just as wonderful and thrilling as every other kiss that they have shared. And just like always the feeling kickstarts her purring, quiet for now but sure to get louder as she continues to remain with Ben.

Pulling back from the kiss, mindful that even though the door is closed that they are still in Ben's aunts' house and kissing not being the most conductive to a good conversation, she answers Ben's earlier question.

"School was boring and annoying, I had to work with Chris in Chemistry. He's hopeless!"

Naturally, Sadie sitting so close only encourages him to lean as the mattress bows to center between them, and of course, simply because he can feel her so tantalizingly near. Hand given a squeeze back, he shuffles his grasp on her hand to intertwine their fingers as she closes the distance between them. Unable to comfortably twist through his torso, he does turn his head fully to the side with a tilt to aid in accommodating the position for a kiss. His eyes close as his breath slips at that touch of her warm lips, and the contact between them sends a pleasant shiver through his nerves. Noses brushing as they do part, he tucks his chin down to tilt his head in close to her instead.

Smile etched into his expression, he listens to her answer, and inwardly cringes at her report. With an apologetic edge, he speaks with voice quieted for being so near, "Chris was probably thrilled to have you as his partner to pick up his slack...but I'm not entirely certain why he even decided to take the class."

After a moment, he gives her hand a soft squeeze again as he asks, "I know I wasn't there Friday either but...no one's bothered you, have they? Over what happened?" He has worried about the repercussions she might be facing given their status as a couple.

Sadie has always been a person who craves physically affection from those she knows, and she knows that Ben wasn't like that. It was why she feels such delight by the fact that Ben seems to enjoy physical touch with her as much as he does. As such, she can't help but give him one more little peck as they settle back and he keeps his face near to hers.

"I heard Miss talking to one of the English teachers, you know the one who always wears corduroy? And apparently he's in Chemistry because it was the only class not full for that part of his timetable. But you didn't hear that from me." She gossips before she starts rubbing her thumb over the back of Ben's hand at his concern.

" Noone would dare say anything around Professor Petty, and James spent nearly all day playing guard dog so I was fine." She wasn't going to mention the confrontation outside of Chemistry, the boy wouldn't be bothering her again, not if he wanted his ego to remain intact.

"How'd it go with your parents?" She asks tentatively

That extra little kiss punctuates the reunion nicely as he sinks subtly towards her warmth to talk with her. Benjiro has always lacked confidence in initiating physical contact with his loved ones when so averse to the touch of a stranger. Yet Sadie has slowly drawn him out of his shell when it comes to touch shared with her, and he savors each moment they are closer. He trusts her completely.

He huffs softly at the gossip, “That would make sense.” His exclusion lasts four more days, and it cannot end soon enough.

Her thumb rubbing at his hand is soothing as Benjiro listens to her address his worry. There is no sense of surprise regarding Professor Petty, the man always having commanded a certain level of respect that now is likely heightened thanks to his Echo. The use of the word ‘fine’ is suspect in itself, but her twin remaining with her limits the serverity of potential difficulties that Sadie may have faced thanks to the whole mess. So, it’s sufficient. He sighs with obvious relief, closing his eyes briefly, “Good... I’ll have to tell James thank you later.”

Asked about his parents, he opens his eyes to look at her. A shadow of anxiety passes through his expression, mortified by the memory, “It uh...could have been worse. I talked with them as soon as my aunts got me settled on the couch Thursday once we got in from the school. They were furious, but they started calming down after about an hour.” A long hour of yelling and fussing mostly from his mother with Benjiro apologizing repeatedly. “Finally said I can stay so long as I don’t cause any more trouble and my grades stay up. Mostly because Aunt Agatha got impatient and took the tablet to make them talk to her... After that, they hung up and that was it.” His parents haven’t called since.

“My sister has been emailing me, and my great aunts have been really supportive. They said they were disappointed I hurt Blaize so badly, but when his parents showed up Saturday, Aunt Rosemary got upset and Aunt Agatha forced them to apologize.” It was really spectacular.

Sadie is hardly going to tell Ben that her and James tracked down the boys from the incident and that she put the fear of God in them, but he'll certainly find himself unbothered by any of them come his return to school.

She tucks herself fully against Ben's side as he goes into what happened after he had been removed from Professor Petty's office.

"I was so worried that they'd make you leave." She admits quietly. "I don't know what I'd do if you forgot..."

Edited 2018-10-17 19:07 (UTC)

When that time comes, there will be confusion over the lack of hostility, but with nothing said, he may very well attribute it to the threat from his Aunt Agatha to pursue charges for hate crimes – which would more deeply stain their records for the rest of their lives.

Benjiro welcomes her closer with a subtle shift to help accommodate the position, that closeness giving him an unconscious cue to slow his breathing and relax the tension from his shoulders. The intensity of his parents is enough to put him on guard even from memory. As he settles more, he leans his head over to rest against her own.

“So was I,” he confesses. Bringing his other hand over to lay over their joined hands, he addresses the fear directly, “Ever since they found out about that memory loss, it’s been on my mind. I’ve been considering possible plans to attenuate the effects, and before anything else happens, it might be worth pursuing in an attempt. Nothing too complicated with careful wording.”

“It’s hard to deny ourselves, and if we were to record a message together at the train station just before departure, we could ride to a nearby city and back for a day trip. That would take us out of the zone, and if I calculate the timing of when that would occur, I can set a reminder on my phone to look into my videos and watch it with you once we’ve lost our memory. If we give ourselves tickets to go somewhere together, or a map marked for a location with an itinerary, it might be enough to have a date together outside the barrier. Of course the first time we might need to consider travelling individually so that we can call each other on the train to talk after we watch such a video message.”

“Hearing you here first hand in a phone call should be convincing… Especially for me since I had already had a crush on you for a while before the aurora.”

There was plenty Sadie admired about Ben, his calm personality, his obvious love for his little sister, how patient he is, and his ability to plan. It was times like this, as he outlines his idea for the invisible barrier that was trapping them all in Mossgate as long as they wanted to remember, that she's left in awe of it. Her mind had just been a spiral of worry since the thought had entered her head but Ben had worked through it and come up with a solid, practical plan. Sadie wasn't sure if he realised just how reassuring it was to her.

"That's a brilliant idea!" She thinks for a moment, "We could go to London, that way if it doesn't pan out we can still have an enjoyable time." She thinks for a minute and quickly checks her phone. "We could go to the Natural History Museum. The Science Museum is right next door and they have an ice rink outside at this time of year which would be good fun to do together if the plan works."

She blushes at Ben's admittance, "...I was really bloody dense, wasn't I? I had no idea you had a crush on me...When did you realise?" She has to ask him, far too curious to not.

Date or not, they had been close friends prior to the Numbers taking a fierce hold on their lives. Benjiro is confident his amnesic self would not pass up the opportunity to spend a day in London with Sadie even if he disregarded the careful message he has been working to craft.

As Sadie moves to look up potential destinations on her phone, he lifts his head with a light kiss snuck to her hairline. Benjiro looks down to her phone screen as she pulls up the map. Having been a Londoner herself, she knew exactly where to find selections that would tempt any real nerd into attending. The ice rink offers another sort of delight, but that might well be what edges the visit into a date rather than an outing between friends. “Sounds like a perfect first day out. We can make arrangements for a weekend once I can move around better.”

Her blush makes him smile, and he gives her hand a little squeeze as he glances away shyly, “Not so much… I tried to hide it.” In retrospect, he was not always successful. “Roughly speaking, about five weeks before the aurora I’d say. I don’t remember the day exactly, but you had been so tired studying you actually leaned against me and dozed off for a few minutes at the library when we were there together. I couldn’t read passed a single line the whole time and felt like my heart was going to seize up it was beating so fast.”

Sadie is certain that Not-Mossgate her would treasure the time out and about with Ben. The trip would be perfect and Sadie wouldn't be able to deny a message from the two of them, it would be a shock but Sadie was confident that she'd get over it.

Sadie grins as she continues pulling up tabs on her phone as she feels Ben's gentle kiss, and tucks herself closer to him. The museums would be fun but that still left dinner...Sadie immediately started typing in another website address. She knew exactly where they could go for dinner. "How about here for dinner? The view is amazing."

Sadie frowns as she thinks back, "...I think I remember that. We were revising for a physics exam? That was a while ago." Sadie looks at him wide-eyed, before making her own admission. "I found you attractive straight away but, well, I tend to shove that to the back of my head and then I just really wanted to be friends with you so I kind of buried and forgot about it." She shrugs, embarrassed.

Nearness so immediately renewed, Benjiro eases a hint of his weight over against her to affirm the contact between them. He watches curiously as she so quickly identifies a location for dinner, having assumed they could walk around the area for food between activities. Her suggestion is much better. Brows lifting with a growing smile, he watches the slideshow of images meant to allure patrons, "Looks fancy... Does it have a dress code? I have my outfit from the ball if it's more formal." He could go without the vest until dinner time to dress down after all.

Gaze returning to Sadie, his sharp smile widens all the more as she recalls the instance, "We were." Then when she confesses her earlier attraction to him, a tinge of a blush appears across his unbruised cheek with his smile softening with humbled affection, "...lucky for me it came back."

"It's smart for sure, especially if we go into the restaurant and not just the pub. I love it, and in the evening you get the most amazing view of the sun setting on the Thames and St. Paul's Cathedral lit on the other side of the river." Sadie recounts wistfully. "It would be a really lovely place to have my Eighteenth Birthday meal with you."

"Lucky for both of us. I'm glad that we moved to Mossgate."

So that’s a yes to the outfit.

Her praise heightens the appeal of the restaurant already granted by her suggesting it in the first place, and a verbalized desire to go for her birthday makes it the inevitable choice. Considering the time it should take him to heal, they should be able to go around her birthday at the end of the month, “Then we will. Whichever weekend it won’t interfere with plans you and James have with your family.” A moment of thought given, and he asks, “How soon do I need to make our reservation?”

Softly chortling as she matches his sentiment, he closes his eyes to rest and simply enjoy the closeness with Sadie. His parents sending him to Mossgate is probably the best thing they have ever done for him.

That is indeed a yes to the outfit.

Sadie thinks for a moment. "We could go on the 3rd November? The weekend before is going to be family stuff and that'll give you time to get better and time for us to plan too. As long as we book in the next week it should be fine."

She sighs happily as they remain tucked together, "I could fall asleep right here."

May as well recreate part of the conditions that helped lead to her act of courage.

Not rushing to answer, he thinks carefully through what he knows of the future schedule in the household then nods softly, "Yeah, I think that should work well." With a date set, he can easily make arrangements during his time in external exclusion and plan the details while he continues to work on the project for Walter's birthday.

"Heh, if I were to lie down I would be out in a minute flat," he says with a tired edge in his voice.

"You probably should," Sadie tells him, voice hushed. "Healing is tiring and you've still got a bit to go."

She twists slightly and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "Schoolwork can hold till tomorrow. Do you want me to stay till you've gone to sleep, or would you like me to leave?"

To answer her encouragement to sleep, he sighs softly and murmurs softly, "Yeah..." His bruises may be less tender than they were but his rib has barely improved in the last four days.

Benjiro smiles to her at the kiss on his cheek, then glances to the folder laying near on the bed. Aware of his computer still running as well, he feels like he should get a little more done before giving into the urge to rest. The choices she offers are met with a small pout and he reaches up to touch her hair, "You just got here... But, if you insist I sleep, I'd like it if you could stay until I doze off."

A quick nap would probably do him some good, then perhaps he can return to work with a clearer head.

"The more you sleep now, the quicker you'll feel better and the more time I'll be able to spend with you this weekend." She tells Ben, giggling at his pout and purring happily as he touches her hair.

"I will happily stay until you've dozed off. We should probably get into a more comfortable position first though." Sadie carefully untucks herself from Ben's side, standing up and placing the folder on Ben's desk, turning the monitor off at the same time.

"Are you okay to lay down?"

Less time with Sadie now in favor of more time with her later when he has more energy and strength recovered does sound like a worthwhile trade. That, and her purr is rather convincing.

Hand lowering down as Sadie eases herself away, he uses both hands on the bed to support himself sitting upright alone as he feels the fatigue more acutely with the promise of sleep. Watching as she takes away the temptation for work, he nods at her question, “Yeah, I can.”

Scooting along the edge of the bed to center himself closer to the head of the bed, he turns his one hip to bring a single foot up on the edge as he eases himself down to his side with the other following midway down. An accompany grimace shows briefly, but once he has his shoulder down, he rolls easily to his back with a push of his legs and a hand. One at a time, he slides his heels down to lay entirely flat on the top of his bed with space on either side open for Sadie to join him, if with more to the far side of the bed.

Sadie watches Ben closely as he settles himself down and, satisfied that he's managing, walks over to the door to turn the main light off and leave only the bedside table light on. Sitting herself down on the edge of the bed, she lays back and turns on her side so that she can face Ben. Pulling the duvet up and over them she smiles as she turns off the bedside light.

"Much better." She scootches closer to Ben and takes one of his hands, "If I'm not careful, I'll also drift off."

His head lifts briefly to watch as Sadie returns to the bed with the main light now off, then relaxes back as she shifts to settle down next to him. The light weight of the duvet over them is comforting, and he urges himself to keep his eyes open in the diim light from behind the curtains and blinds of the windows so as not to succumb too quickly. Tilting his head closer to her, his fingers close to hold her hand in return and he smiles at her, "I certainly won't complain if you do..."

Sadie sticks her tongue out at Ben, "It is very tempting, with you being so nice to cuddle but I do need to go home and walk the cats at some point so I must remain strong against your wicked wiles."

Grinning she shifts her legs, hope you like cold feet touching you Ben because Sadie is out to steal your body heat.

Edited 2018-11-04 17:58 (UTC)

So much for being drowsy.

Before Benjiro can come up with a proper retort, he is subjected to a rather unpleasant sensation of ice being pressed to his legs. He immediately shivers with a cringe in his legs with a shrill noise squeaking out of him before he recovers enough to use words, “Brrrr! Note to self, look into electric blankets.”

For that, Benjiro tries to tug Sadie closer to share what warmth she does possess when he himself cannot move well on his back for the time being.

Sadie giggles at Ben's reaction, "That's what the cats are for."

She happily scooches closer to Ben at his tug, and closes her eyes. "...This is nice...Just being able to cuddle like this."

"Afraid I don't have one of those," he reminds, knowing full well his ability to have any sort of pet is limited. "I could always get you a pair of those extra thick socks." That should keep those feet warm.

Once Sadie comes closer, Benjiro curls in to snuggle up with her as well as he can without turning from his back, one arm draped across her while the other holds her hand. He smiles at her comment, not yet allowing his eyes to close for fear they won't open again any time soon, "...perhaps we should indulge more often then."

Grandma's less pleasant memorabilia [mingle]

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