recolle | closed | holiday company

[ The restaurant Elizabeth's picked out for them is a quaint little number, all dolled up for Christmas— nothing too fancy, and specializing in a variety of dishes that can only be called "comfort food." Or they would be, if there was taste... Still, the warmth and gentle atmosphere should be good enough for any date. They have a table reserved on the outside patio, where there's still heat but the lights are dim and the view romantic, being able to watch the snowfall from their seats.

There's a note waiting for them in Elizabeth's neat script mentioning that dinner (and dessert, should they desire it) is already paid for and not to worry about it, as well as wishing them Happy Holidays and hoping that their date goes well. ]

[ For this date, even if it's arguably a little too chilly to wear it at this point, Elda decides to put on the dress and collar that she's pretty sure Retrospec gave her, given that it called to her. She needs to wear a jacket over it, of course (and it's worth noting that unlike the image her nails aren't that freakishly long (though they are red) and her hair is only about shoulder length (and done up a little)) but she wants to look impressive. This one is with the woman, right? That's about as much as he knew from Elizabeth going in.

And so the petite woman (5', very slender, not many curves at all) just goes to the appointed place and time, thankful for that fact that as this is night she doesn't need to wear sunglasses. She still has them in her bag just in case, but her red eyes can be exposed to the open air and she can see just who wanted to be with her via the dating profile. She's... still not looked. Maybe she should have, but she's not.

... There is some irony to being at a restaurant after taste is gone, she confesses. But the view should be nice. ]

[Mariko arrives fashionably late in red leather in a black boot, a matching brace for her ankle and a black cane.She's not terribly tall compared to a lot of women, 5'6" and no heels to add to her long legs but her walk is smooth enough that her injury isn't immediately apparent.

She's mulling over what to eat with no sense of taste, wondering if she should follow the lead of her company for the evening. It's about this time that Mariko realizes that she never got the name of her date or any kind of description. Some P.I. she is...]

Edited 2017-12-07 06:14 (UTC)

[ to be fair... neither did Elda. All the much shorter woman knows is that tonight, it's a woman, and in two days its a man. So when she sees a distantly lost looking woman there, she looks sheepish, hesitating only a moment before she ... no this woman looks slightly familiar and more to the point, from her little table here, Elda's going to - ]

Excuse me, could you be here for a date?

[Mariko perks up, focusing in on the woman who's called over to her. With a smile, she approaches and moves to sit in the seat across from the woman.]

I would be, in fact. Sorry for being late.

No, you're not late at all. Here, let me help you with the chair.

[ Should she not do that? Is it too forward?

... No, the other woman is hobbling some, it's not unfair to pull out a chair for her, she decides. ]

[ For Wesker and Elda— well, they already know each other, even if they don't know that yet. She's picked out something a little less romantic, given one of them's already mentioned not looking for relationships right now, but it's no less beautiful: it's a two-story restaurant specializing in an interesting variety of food. Dressy casual type of thing. Their reserved table is on the second floor, beside a window with a good view of the streets and lights; the second floor is also notably dimmer than the first, primarily because of the fact it's lit up entirely by Christmas decorations for this time of year.

It's one of those things. There's similarly a note for them in Elizabeth's neat script mentioning that dinner (and dessert, should they desire it) is already paid for and not to worry about it, as well as wishing them Happy Holidays and hoping that their date goes well. ]

[ And then the man's date a day or two later. If anything, while less outside the box, this one makes the woman feel more self-conscious just because this one might be a little more traditional to her expectations...? Or maybe it's just that the last man she had dated was now a dear friend of hers and happy in some other capacity. Either way, the end result is some combination of minor jitters and a kneejerk desire not to repeat outfits sees her not reusing that dress Retrospec gave her, instead opting for a more classic winter dress she knew looked nice on her but had a somewhat more muted palette.

Well, let's see where this one takes her. Two blind dates in a period of a few days... it's so strange, really. It's been a long, long time since she had a real date with someone not named Albert Wesker (and she knew in the back of mind, that was never going to go anywhere serious) and... well. No, she's more than old enough she just should try to have fun with it. ]

[...There's something slightly odd about attending a date with someone else while you're currently, you know, actually seeing someone; Jaeger is entirely aware that this isn't going anywhere, however, it's literally just to humor Elizabeth and whomever she's set him up with, and perhaps the company will be acceptable enough to pursue some sort of continued contact that's halfway pleasant, who knows.

So. Making his way up to the second floor it is; he's dressed well (as he always is), all in black as usual, and when the table falls within his line of sight there's someone at it, and the recognition does not take long and he rather suddenly understands why he had been told by the one setting up the date in the first place that she was certain they would get along.

God dammit, Elizabeth.

But you know what, this is hardly going to stop him; he'll approach the table easily, though he isn't going to move to join her properly just yet, and...]

I'm not certain who owes you the bigger apology for the night, but I suppose I'll start on Elizabeth's behalf.

[It's said easily enough, though there's...a mild sense of "why" behind it; our lives are some sort of cosmic joke, Elda, god help us.]

[ Elda's reaction is... expected? Unexpected? It probably depends a lot on how you see her as a woman. Because she does stand quickly as he hears steps coming towards her, turns around... and then she's blushing, wide-eyed a little to see -

Wesker there.

Elizabeth... ]

[ . . . She deflates and then... ]

Oh don't you apologize for that girl, that's on her to do.

[ But then, Elizabeth didn't know. Basically none of them did - even if they must've known that Jaeger and Wesker are a couple. She... Sighs. She sighs and tries to release her tension.

There's no point in it anymore, right? ]

[Well. Good to see the evening is off to a good start already - ]

Either way, it isn't as though there's a point in wasting the evening, and I can hardly complain about the company besides.

[Come on, Elda, let's sit, at least.]

Oh no, of course not. I can think of few people I'd be more comfortable to have seen walk up.

[ She's ordering bottle service here. Fucking anything else, even if she can't taste it, she can still get a little drunk on the wine, right? Hell, that just means she can order the cheap stuff. ... ... the moderately cheap stuff she can't present an image of being trashy. Either way, she's going to go and do that with Wesker and then take a cab home and then... snuggle with her cats in bed? Yeah, she's more or less the cat lady anyway so.

Fuck it.

That said, she's not showing most of that despair in her seat, instead just wryly if tiredly smiling. ]

It's odd to be at dinner when it's all tasteless.

Slightly, yes.

[More than slightly. Though it's not particularly as though he eats for pleasure most of the time anyway, that doesn't mean he doesn't care about actually experiencing it.

...Thankfully texture doesn't tend to bother him, because that would not be pleasant nowadays.

He'll join her, at least; if he's troubled at all by this entire setup, it isn't apparent in the least. He's...understated, a bit, but that's just how he tends to be.]

It's good to be out tonight, however; it's a bit cold, perhaps, but I've been appreciating the city a bit more during the evenings lately.

[ But does he have his sunglasses on...

But no okay, she grins, and perhaps to highlight that she does not have hers on, she bats her eyes a few times. Though she doesn't realize it, after the third bat her eyes turn briefly cat-like, though they correct almost immediately. Leaning back in her chair, she glances over at everything and... ]

Mmm. The word looks so vibrant at night to me now. I almost feel like I should feel guilty.

[...HE DOES NOT, he is at least pretending to have some decorum here.

That said, though, dear lord the eye thing is interesting? That's interesting, and it takes him a moment to shift his own gaze to the window after the fact.]

I can imagine; I almost envy it a little sometimes.

I'm not sure how worth it the trade off is. [ the headaches, the migraines, seeing the day world through sunglasses all the time... but then, for him, that wouldn't really be that abnormal. For her part, she looks out the window as well, grinning and focusing on so many different points on the limited vantage they have ]

But the results are spectacular.

[That gets a soft, assenting noise out of him; this...well, it really is pretty, isn't it.]

Even without it, the city has been beautiful lately. I never particularly appreciated it until recently, admittedly, but then I've also lived here for most of my life.

Mmm. I'm glad you think so, though. I've lived here my whole life and biased as it is, I've always thought so. If anything, the recent changes to the skyline threw me off, but...

[ Well, shrug. ]

Come to think of it, I don't think I know when you moved here.

I was...

[...How old was he? He doesn't remember much of his life before- ]

I believe I was ten or so; that seems right.

[ Oh good, the wine's here. That makes what she wants to ask next a little easier. Because that suggestion from Jaeger is lingering in her mind. To just ask. She could ask about some other things, how his experiments or dogs are going, what if anything he's doing for the holidays... or about her own matters, in trying to get adoption papers in order.

But...

She nods and, ]

Albert... I've been curious for a while but hesitant to ask - can you tell me why you're Noah Isaacs on the app?

[Oh.

The wine arriving draws his attention over, and the question holds it; he doesn't seem troubled by it, per se, though he doesn't seem to have expected it any, either - any hesitance in answering is more through just trying to work out how he wants to phrase it, because it's sort of...]

I was removed from an unfortunate situation as a child, and adopted some time later. 'Albert Wesker' was the name given to me by the authorities, since I wasn't capable of giving them my name at the time and no records of me existed stateside.

'Noah Isaacs' is presumably the name I was originally given. It wasn't something I'd thought about in a long time, until Retrospec felt the need to list it on the app.

[ Like Silver, is her first thought.

She ended up focused on the Mask Man thing at the time, but to think there's that sort of parallel? She tilts her head, but ultimately she just nods, looking down at the glass as she gently spins it. No records stateside, been here since he was ten. An unfortunate childhood.

... God, it really had been too much for him this whole time, hadn't it? ]

It really is an odd choice on their part, when you think of it. Both for yourself and for Silver.

Do you think so...?

[He knows about Silver, to some extent; not...all the details, but a fair amount. Enough to know it's similar, at the very least.]

Absolutely. After all, dregging up some old name that doesn't apply doesn't seem... it just seems strange. For him, it's not even that the boy whose soul he apparently has was named Gintaro, that one was named Silver in the first place.

[ Or so he'd said. ]

Elda & Mariko, 12/05

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Elda & Wesker, 12/07

no subject

no subject

1/2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject