there is always another au

[cagedinflesh]

Comments

[gehennawind]

Any chance to act normally is a chance to normalize the ridiculousness his brother dumped on them. They re-enter like a proper lord and his, uh. Companion.

Hyde cuts a jarring figure in the backdrop of such an elegant restaurant. She kind of envies his careless disregard for convnention. She takes her seat across from him to disallow him further temptation.

"Right!" she pipes up brightly. "Edward, umm, what'll you have to eat?"

[cagedinflesh]

He's moved to be squatting on his chair like some kind of monkey. "I'm thinking steak."

Jekyll feels more at ease with the plan at least and smiles between the two of them. By the time they order, it's probably time to try laying down the law. "We'd like to have some time alone together. I know you don't want to do that, but, if we have dinner together, will you let us spend the rest of the evening alone?"

"What, that's all I get, dinner?"

Jekyll looks to Paloma for help.

[gehennawind]

Paloma, to soothe her nerves, specifically orders a wine she's only seen on television.

Showtime.

She half-turns to Edward, tugging idly at the fabric over her chest. It's designed especially to sidetrack him with her melons, which she's not sure about now that she's done it. "Dinner and a treat," she says. Her legs cross in a power move. "Umm, negotiable."

[cagedinflesh]

"Negotiable...?" His eyes follow to her chest, it's an odd gesture but he's still definitely going to notice those. "What's on the menu...?" His grin says a lot.

Jekyll meanwhile looks very uncomfortable.

[gehennawind]

The only seduction techniques she's even got secondhand familiarity with are read in books, and Paloma's not 100% that seduction is what's called for. He already seems ready to go, like, now.

Shooting Jekyll an apology would ruin everything, but she can stroke his ankle underneath the table. Hyde gets a cautious sidelong peek. "Hard to say unless you're behaving. Wine?"

[cagedinflesh]

He laughs, shaking his head. "As if you could buy me with something like that. What are the possibilities here."

[gehennawind]

He read her wrong and it's wrecked the pitch she sort of planned. She flinches.

"No, I mean..." Paloma picks the bottle up and just pours one out into his glass, deft after a lot of time with a discerning curator. She buys herself time to think up an appeasement. "There."

[cagedinflesh]

"Thanks. But about my reward for being good..." He catches Paloma's hand to punctuate what he'd most like.

"Edward--" Jekyll tries to take that hand back to its own personal space. "Just behave yourself."

"You know that's impossible." Hyde's grin might be just a tad lewd. Fancy that, weird, that he makes a face like that at his brother!

[gehennawind]

Isn't his face just stuck like that?

The two of them with all their similarities could not be less alike. Yet here she is, having dinner with both. What's with this telenovela bullshit? What happened to the Middleton cliche?

Her blood runs hot. "If it's impossible, there's no point negotiating. You can do your damage and we'll go separate ways like nothing happened."

[cagedinflesh]

"Fine, fine, I'll try, but there better be good payout." He grumbles, proving he can indeed make a different expression, when he starts to pout.

Yeah whatever Edward, Henry is so unsympathetic. "So, um, Paloma, what shall we do after? Is there anything you'd like to see or do?" Just to stick it to Hyde, he says it very pointedly.

[gehennawind]

Appalled at the temperamental outburst from herself (nearly sabotaging the plan), his caving at the last second is wondrous good luck. She sips the wine to hide her abject relief, looking through long dark lashes at the brothers.

"When Edward goes home, we can go to a theatre? I haven't seen a movie in half a year."

[cagedinflesh]

"That's so fucking typical, are you guys that vanilla?"

"That sounds lovely." Jekyll smiles, and reaches under the table to punch his brother in the shin.

[gehennawind]

Out of a perverse need to flaunt in his face without Edward ever realizing, Paloma's heeled shoe lifts and stretches out in front. This is important because the tip nudges between Jekyll's thighs and does not stray.

She circles the wine in its glass, angelic, chaste. "Maybe a foreign film. Do you speak Spanish?"

[cagedinflesh]

"I swear to god, Harry, if you think you can start messing with me--"

"A-a little!" Jekyll cuts him off to respond to Paloma. Is she trying to prove she's not vanilla??? Well he is (totally not)! "I took French and Latin mostly."

Wow fine just fucking ignore him. He leans an elbow on the table and his cheek in his palm, fiddling with his napkin. This isn't entertaining like this, when they're not paying attention to him!!

[gehennawind]

Paloma makes an impressed noise, nodding in a reserved manner as if her heel isn't gently massaging his crotch while Hyde pouts in his chair.

"You could get the gist of a Spanish film even without subtitles," she points out, stifling her budding glee. "Te quiero a ti dentro de mí. I can't repeat that in English while we're in public. Sorry." Her gaze trails toward their unwanted company.

[cagedinflesh]

Hyde certainly perks up at that, especially when he sees how it makes Jekyll blush. The poor weenie turns into a beet, and hurries to look down at the napkin and silverware in front of him. "What? Is ir that juicy?" That's when Hyde plops down onto his butt liek a normal person at a dinner table and whips out his phone to translate his best approximation of what she said.

"-Oh my god." He barks out a laugh, and leans over to hiss in Jekyll's ear, still loud enough for Paloma to hear, as he intends. "Don't be a loser, go take her to the washroom."

[gehennawind]

Her turn to flush. The illusion of a sexy, confident woman shatters and what's left is just Paloma-- mortified, sputtering, disbelieving that he'd actually gone and googled the phrase.

"It was just a phrase! No!" The foot harassing Jekyll vanishes. A swift, unchecked kick lands on Hyde's knee. She puts all of her anger at him into the force behind it.

[cagedinflesh]

"Jesus Christ! You were the one who said it!' He yanks his legs back, and pouts. "You two are so uptight."

"We can't all be like you..." Jekyll mutters, but looks up enough to give Paloma a little smile. "I think a foreign film would be lovely."

[gehennawind]

Lot of action happening under the table. Battles won and lost. Feeling as if she'd punished Jekyll for the sins of the brother, Paloma waits to compose herself, then snakes out for apology footsie.

"Great." As if Hyde isn't even present and with a wine-tinged glow of a smile, all of her attention and every ounce of interest is given to Jekyll. Shame it's not his foot she's caressing.

[cagedinflesh]

That foot sure plays back. Apparently he's more confident when it's out of sight. Which isn't untrue.

With things seeming to go alright for a while though, Edward being good, not interrupting them and actually behaving like a normal person, Jekyll excuses himself to the washroom...And still that foot remains.

[gehennawind]

The lack of interruption and the nice, quiet conversation she and Jekyll get to enjoy as a result are a balm to the instability Hyde brings everywhere he goes. She enjoys the liquor, the romantic lighting, their five star appetizer; the under-the-table play on her bare ankle, bold and curious.

She's smiling as Jekyll gets up to leave. It dies fast as he gets further away, and the action freezes. Her foot roots to the carpet.

"You know that wasn't on purpose, right." She just comes out and says it.

[cagedinflesh]

The disappointment is clear on his face. And it isn't the anger that might be expected, he looks almost hurt, if anything. But it quickly becomes a pout. "...What? I thought you were finally coming around!"

[gehennawind]

His surprise invokes her surprise. He'd really thought it was for him, after the blowout from his appearance?

It fits in with the inflated self-importance he exudes like the funk of a cigarette, but the flicker of emotion she catches in him makes her rethink pinning him with only the worst of mindsets. He's just another boy. Man. Whatever.

Paloma fumbles around with her napkin, using her lashes to shutter the look in her eyes. "No, sorry. I need to know-- would you be happier if I didn't try to get close to your brother?"

[cagedinflesh]

"Hm? No, what's the difference to me, why? Hell, it's good for him to get out and actually see someone." He leans forward to poke at his appetiser.

"I do kind of want him to myself, but..." He shrugs. At least he knows that's unrealistic.

[gehennawind]

Her appetizer has this incredible liquor glaze that keeps her coming back again and again. The knife and fork pause, however, on their way to the plate. Real silver or she'll eat her clutch purse.

"To yourself," she repeats uncertainly. Paloma doesn't see the depth of how he means it, but nonetheless it sits oddly. She wets her lips. "Honestly...? I feel like you're just here for him, not me."