had_not_lived | ♕ |[57]| she smoothes her hair with automatic hand

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♕ |[57]| she smoothes her hair with automatic hand

[Accidental Video]

[There is a girl on your screen. She's not doing anything particularly interesting. With her chin propped up on a hand, she's reading a book, looking a little bit cross. She's wearing a collared white shirt, too big in some places and too small in others, the wrinkled sleeves rolled up to the elbow. And she's sitting at a counter in a dim space in what's probably a store, judging by the vague shapes of shelves in the background.

Those who frequent it might recognize the shop as a certain second-hand bookstore. Whether that's enough information to work out why the young lady looks so annoyed, though, is a different matter...]

[ooc; backdated to earlier today, replies from

girls_at_welton ♥ open to action in the store, too!]

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[ Mouse knows exactly who it is since he'd seen her at the kitchen table this morning and had had his appropriate freak-out then. Which, of course, only made him guilty after the fact.

So here's Mouse, pushing his way through the bookshop door, with a little paper bag of sorry I was a douche cookies of apology. He stands a little awkwardly in the doorway and lifts a sleeved hand to wave at Neil. ]

[Girl or not Neil manages a little smile for his roommate, leaning sideways against the counter.]

Hey, Mouse.

[ He lifts the bag now, giving its contents a papery little shake before shuffling over and dropping said bounty onto the counter in front of him. ]

Gifts.

[ Mouse tries very hard not to stare and only half manages this successfully. ]

Okay?

[There's something disconcertingly similar in the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles now, even on a different face. They'll probably both be more comfortable if he ignores the half-staring, right? Right.]

You didn't have to do that.

[ The crinkling helps, mkaes it easier for Mouse just to see Neil as opposed to pretty girl with pretty hair wearing Neil's clothes. Mouse folds his hands along the edge of the counter and drops his chin down onto them, looking up at Neil with large, puppyish eyes.

He makes a pfffft sound with his tongue. ]

So did.

[ With two fingers he pushes the bag closer to his roommate. ]

Om nom.

[Obligingly he opens the bag and takes one, then tilts the opening towards Mouse as an offer.]

[ Mouse makes an an attempt at modesty but who is he kidding, he's a teenage boy and there are cookies being offered. He makes a gesture that Neil should dump a cookie out onto the counter for him instead, rather than risk him reaching into the bag.

With a free hand he gestures around the otherwise empty shop. ]

Boring?

I'm actually glad of it, for once.

[Neil looks down, wiggling the bag until a cookie slips out onto the wood.]

The less I have to explain, the better.

[ Mouse goes as so far to make a small squeaking sound when his cooky is deposited onto the counter. With a hop he takes it and manages to get half of it in his mouth.

Chewing loudly, he suggests around his mouthful of cookieness: ] Could close early?

[It's easy to see why Mouse is called Mouse.]

Maybe. Or I can leave Billy to take care of it, but...

[Neil shrugs.]

I didn't really want to be stuck in the house all day, you know?

No house, [ Mouse says, still chewing. ]

No here either. [ There was, of course, a very Mousian logic to all this in his mind. At the bookstore, people who came regularly would ask about Neil or who the pretty lady happened to be. Wandering around, Neil could be more or less anonymous. Or at least, Mouse thought so. ]

You think I should go somewhere else?

[Mouse is perhaps underestimating the powerful draw these old books exert on Neil Perry.]

[ Equally likely is that Mouse is overestimating his own charmly strength. He nods, cheerfully, swallowing down the last of his cookie before pointing at himself with a finger. ]

With me.

[Maybe, but Neil's willing to entertain the notion at least.]

Where did you have in mind?

[ Mouse waggles his head, and his entire body along with it as he considers the question. He pulls the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, as if somehow this will help him think better, before finally chirping up. ]

Zoo?

Maybe a little later on? I don't want to skip out on the whole day.

[And, well, he's not sure passing for a girl is much better than explaining he isn't one, really. Neil's masculinity is a delicate subject.]

[ Mouse deflates somewhat visibly, but he catches himself halfway through the process and dutifully puffs himself back up for Neil's benefit with a small smile, a little hesitant this time. With a finger, he points towards the door behind him, raising his eyebrows high enough that they disappear beneath the shock of whiteblond hair across his forehead.

He doesn't say anything out loud but he's asking Neil silently if he wants to be left alone instead. ]

You can stick around here if you want. Keep me company?

[Neil nods at a chair, pushed up against a table laden with books, the seat stacked with them.]

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♕ |[57]| she smoothes her hair with automatic hand

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