Afternoon at the Park

Who: Marlowe, Sammy and Geo
Where: The Park
When: Noonish

She hadn't planned on leaving the house for what was left of the day, but the memories had started crashing in around her. She tried handling them for as long as she could, but Marlowe found she couldn't deal with them for any extent of time. So the red head rounded up her boys for a little excursion to the park. At least getting out might offer a bit of a distraction in keeping her thoughts from continuing to be drawn toward Lucius and those vivid memories of the times they had spent together.

Loading the dogs up into the back of the Element, Marlowe walked around to the driver's side of the vehicle to climb in, and with the start of the engine the fire elemental took off down the street toward her intended destination.

Geo and Sammy had actually fled the house fairly early that morning, leaving Fugazi and the reclaimed ducklings in the minivan for awhile while they scouted around Marquette for safehouse locations. It hadn't gone horribly, for the first time in full bird-form in a long time. But now, Geo knew, Fugazi would need walked and played with, which is why they were heading for the park, Fugazi happily chasing the falling leaves.

Marlowe climbed out of the vehicle parked snugly against the curb, walking around to the other side the red head opened the door to the back to let her boys out. The two shepards sprung out, dancing a bit around the red haired young woman. They were anxious to get to running around the park and burn off a bit of energy, but they were too well trained to race off without consent from their owner. "Go on." Marlowe smiled at them before giving a wave of her hand toward the park. Each dog offered a bark in return before bounding one after the other toward the greened area of the park. The dogs for the most part paid little attention to the small scattering of people within the park area, rather they took to chasing each other around the grassy area.

Sammy didn’t recognize the dogs – how could he, he hadn’t ever seen them before – but he did recognize the bright color of their owner’s hair and had to grin when he saw it. Looking to see where Fugazi was, he leaned over to nudge Geo in the arm and get his attention before waving back towards Marlowe. “Want to meet a maybe-friend?” He asked, already planning on dragging his brother back that way even if he didn’t get an answer. Fugazi would follow after them, so it wouldn’t be like they were abandoning the puppy at all, and maybe Fugazi would make a couple of friends as well.

It wasn't until she had reached her romping dogs that Marlowe caught sight of the waving Sammy. A faint smile flickered then in the boy's direction. Marlowe didn't need to call either dog, she knew once she started off toward where Sammy and the boy he was with were they would follow. With a gentle tucking of loose strands of crimson behind her ear, the bandage on the cut on the side of her forehead now more visible, Marlowe headed in the teens general direction.

"Maybe-friend?" Geo looked back at Sammy from watching Fugazi chase his own tail. Were puppies always so easily amused? "Like, who, someone you know from school or something? Sure." He whistled, once - and Fugazi completely ignored it, bounding across their path again. "...ok, so we'll have to work on that," he muttered, chasing after the puppy, the leash trailing behind from his pocket.

People? Rogue and Roarke tended to pay very little attention to the two legged creatures, but the little ball of fluff that just happened to catch their attention. Well that was a whole 'nother thing. The two large dogs were soon bounding across the area, the distance between them and Marlowe widening while the gap between the pup and two boys slowly closed. Once the reached Fugazi, both dogs stopped on either side of the husky pup and began sniffing at him.

“Not school – Mya’s. Met her before things went bad.” Sammy managed to get that signed to Geo before his brother went chasing after Fugazi. Then he turned to watch as Rogue and Roarke stopped and inspected the puppy – it kind of reminded him of how weres reacted to other weres when first meeting, only they were usually a bit more discreet about their sniffing of each other.

Fugazi - Geo noticed, skidding to a stop - seemed confused, tail tucked between his legs but still giving little half-hearted puppy wags, surrounded by the two larger dogs. They didn't seem threatening, though, so Geo let them be, waving at the woman who seemed to be in charge of said dogs. He gave her a small wave and a friendly smile. "They your dogs?" He called out, once she was close enough to hear.

"Yeah. Sorry bout that." Marlowe said with a light, apologetic smile to Geo as she grabbed hold of each dogs collar to pull them a slight distance away from the little pup. "The seemed to get all fired curious when the come across another dog, just be glad the pup isn't a duck." Cause yeah, that encounter would not end up in a pretty picture. The two shepards, for some odd reason, seemed to have a huge thing

"Hey Handsome." Marlowe said with a little bit more of a smile when she looked over to Sammy. She remembered the kid from having come into the diner.

Sammy signed back a "Hey, gorgeous," though Marlowe probably couldn't understand it completely, but the meaning could kind of be guessed at from the movements and the teasing look on his face. He leaned forward to run his hands through Fugazi's fur as the puppy bumped into him then pulled his ever-present notebook out of the deep pockets of his pants so that communications would be easier. "Recognize the hair, but don't remember the name. Sorry."

"Marlowe. And I don't believe I caught your name when you stopped at Mya's." Marlowe said with a smile after reading the script on the sheet of paper Sammy had written on. The kid was absolutely adorable, kind of like a teddy bear you wanted to take home and just cuddle with. "And who are your friends here?" She asked with a nod to Geo and Fugazi as she still had a firm grip on her two boys.

"That's my brother Geo," He pointed at the only one who it could be unless his brother was a dog and then pointed at Fugazi with a quick wave of his hand. "And that's his dog, Fugazi. What are those two's names?" He asked, moving forward just a bit so he could get on his knees to pet the two shepherds. They were bigger than Fugazi right now, but Fugazi would probably be around their size when he was full grown.

Geo gave a small wave, pointing at Fugazi. "He's the cuter of the two." He kinda already liked this Marlowe chick - her hair was awesome, and she smelled...nice. Normal. And friendly. "I'm just the royal leash-carrier." He bowed, grinning.

"This one's Roarke." Marlowe told him giving a light tug on the collar of the shepard at her right side, the one that had more black in his coat then the other one at her left. "And this one," tugging gently on the other's collar, "is Rogue." The majority of rogue coloring being tan in color.

"Royal leash-carrier, huh?" Marlowe grinned with a glance toward Geo. "And don't know if the little one is the cuter, but he is definitely the more adorable one. Anyway, it's nice to meet you Geo"

"Nice to meet you too." He waved at Sammy. "I have to admit he hadn't told me about you, or I might've made sure he got back to talk to you quicker..."

"Guess I didn't make all that much of an impression on him." Marlowe sending a playful wink in Sammy's direction.

Sammy was about to squawk in protest to that, but then he picked up on the teasing tone and just stuck his tongue out at Marlowe instead – like anyone couldn’t get a lasting impression of her. They’d have to be blind, and not just because of her hair. From the one meeting she’d seemed like an awesome person, circumstances had just kept him from going back and talking to her again. He said that much in another note, shoving the notepad in her and Geo’s direction as he continued petting Roarke. “Still working at Mya’s?”

"Yeah. Still waiting tables there and serving up the food." She answered with a smile. It wasn't anywhere near a complaint. in actuality Marlowe enjoyed working at the diner, she had friends there, and with her being pretty much a people person. Well, everything just seemed to even out at her place of employment.

"I hope that'll mean I'll be seeing the both of you in there real soon."

"Y'probably will." Geo tucked his hands into his pockets, watching the dogs. "My sister's cooking gets real old, real fast. We've been, uh." He exchanged a look with Sammy before admitting with a grin, "We've kinda been making excuses to eat other places, yanno?"

"I doubt your sister's cooking is in league with mine, that is unless you like your food near burnt to a crisp." Marlowe shared with a soft, gentle laugh. The two boys were proving to be just the distraction had been needing. Her thoughts were no where near where they had been prior to the red head's arrival at the park.

Even though he tried, Sammy couldn't keep the grimace off his face at the idea of eating burnt food; he could practically taste the carbon crumbling on his tongue, left over from the one time Geo had been allowed near a grill. "She doesn't burn it," he admitted, "But she doesn't...none of the food has flavor, either, and that's nearly as bad. Steak doesn't taste good with just steak flavor."

"Eating out then is a good option for you." Marlowe offered with a smile. Though could their sister's cooking really be all that bad if she wasn't actually burning any of it. But then she really had no cause not to take what Sammy had relayed to her at face value.

Geo shot a short, non-malicious glare Sammy-wards at the face - he knew what Sammy was remembering! - before he nodded at her. "We'll probably be in Mya's a lot the next few weeks." Possibly months, but he didn't want to say that right now. It'd be too discouraging. He didn't want to stay there that long. "What times are the best to catch you at?"

"I'm usually there late mornings til evening. Tuesdays through Saturdays." Marlowe told Geo. "But don't let that influence when you go to the diner." Sure it was a nice thought that the brothers would show up during her scheduled shift, but as Mya's had just about the best food in town she didn't think the boys should limit their visits to the diner to only the times she worked.

“Can’t go for lunch, except for on Saturday’s,” Sammy wrote, looking up at her with a grin. “So we might not be plan on it, but we’d probably still wind up there while you’re working.” Marlowe’s second dog – Rogue, was it? – nudged him in the side and he switched his attention from Roarke to Rogue, leaning in close.

"I'll keep an eye out for you two then, make sure you get the best booth when you decide to make a visit." Her smile spreading into almost a full grown grin. And she'd make sure they were seated in her section when they came in.

"Hey, awesome." Geo grinned, though his eyes were on his little brother and the dogs. "See?" He nudged Sammy with his foot and a wider grin. "See? see? Shoulda introduced us earlier, coulda got the best booths every time!" Though, seriously, Mya's didn't have bad booths, period, so. Yeah.

“How was I supposed to know we’d get preferential treatment?” Sammy asked, looking up at the both of them with teasing eyes. “We didn’t talk about that stuff when I saw her last. I think we talked about Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie,” he sat down with a thump, laughing as Roarke nudged him in the chest. “She,” He waved at Marlowe, “Says she wouldn’t stay if she were Jeannie.”

"Now. Who in their right mind would want to live endless lifetimes in a bottle?" Marlowe teased back with a soft laugh at Sammy's bringing up the Bewitched vs Jeannie discussion they had had when he came into Mya's for a carry-out order.

"No one's the obvious answer..." Though he'd always liked Jeannie better, honestly - something about the show's attitude. "Happy Days, though. That show s'better than either of the others." He'd gone trick or treating as The Fonz when he was younger...

Sammy mentioned that with a smirk, doing his best ‘‘eeeeeey’ impression, miming it since he couldn’t actually say Fonzie’s signature line, leaning back slightly and giving two thumbs up. It was a little ridiculous, but anything that made that unhappy scent Marlowe had continue to lessen was good by him. “We couldn’t get the grease out of his hair for so long after that,” He still didn’t know what Geo had used, but he sure knew he was never going to use it in his own hair.

"Fonzie was cool." Marlowe had to give them that. The show probably wouldn't have survived as long as it did had not the character, and the actor who portrayed him, been on the show. "Have to say though I loved Arnold. That little guy cracked me up." A grin swept slowly across her features. Getting out had been the best thing she could have done that afternoon, the distraction Sammy and Geo were providing for her was starting to work wonders on transforming her mood.

“I liked Mr. Cunningham,” Sammy admitted finally managing to get back to kneeling without Roarke, Rogue or Fugazi trying to push him back down into the grass again. Did he have a sign on him that dogs could read that said ‘fun to play with, do so!’ on it? Because it sure seemed like he did. “He always looked and acted so horrified, like he couldn’t believe what his kids or their friends were doing. You had to like him and feel sorry for him!”

"Bah." Geo shot back easily, hands tucked into his pockets. This was an old, familiar argument, comfortable as a pair of sneakers. "Mr. C was boring. The Fonz had a motorcycle. Easy to see who wins there." He took a step forward to scratch behind Roarke's ears, laughing at the way Fugazi came butting over to make sure he got attention too. "Though they made him calm an' borin' by the end of the show..."

"True." Marlowe chimed in. "They stretched the show out far too long, lost it's essence. Instead of trying to bring new people in they should have ended it with a bit of respect. Not turn it into something it wasn't."

“Jumped the shark,” Sammy commented as he got to his feet again. Fugazi wandered over again and bumped him behind his knees, pushing his head between them to peer out. “That is where that phrase first popped up from, right? Didn’t Fonzie jump over a shark or something and from that episode on it went downhill?”

"On a jet ski, yeah," Geo sighed, rolling his eyes. When he was younger, he had thought that was awesome. Not so much anymore. Now it was just ridiculous. Seriously. "But, uh, how did we get on this topic again? More importantly, why?"

"Because it was a better conversation piece then talking about Bewitched or Jeannie?" Marlowe herself wasn't all that clear on what possessed Sammy to bring up the comedy, but at least it had them all talking good naturedly about it for a few moments.

Sammy jerked his thumb at Marlowe, tipping his head to the side as he smirked at his brother. “What she said,” It was still talking about a television show, but eventually they’d maybe get past talking about shows they’d watched. “There’s more plot to Happy Days?” Not really, but it was his excuse and he could stick to it if he wanted to, better excuses be damned.

"Guess that's as good a reason as any." It was nice to have a stupidly silly conversation after all of the doom and gloom lately. Geo pulled his hands from his pockets, stretching. "Better'n talkin' about the weather or sports, too." He fell silent, watching Fugazi still bounding around, almost laughing when the puppy leaped at Marlowe, planting his paws on her knees and yapping up at the woman, as if asking her to play. "Fugaaa, leave the nice lady alone!"

"Awww. He's just being friendly." Marlowe smiled to Geo before bending down to lift the pup up. "You just want some attention too, don't you." She cooed to Fugazi while holding the little husky pup near her face, close enough that hee gave a couple good licks to her face before Marlowe pulled him back to just out of reach for any more puppy kisses. Normally Roarke and Rogue would have shown their dispproval of their owner's attention being taken up by another four legger, but the two were two busy enjoying the attention Sammy was bestowing on them.

“Sometimes I think that he thinks humans are there for him to slobber all over,” Sammy put in quickly before dropping to a crouch and putting his arms around Roarke as he butted him in the stomach, then nosed at him. “Not that I know him that well yet, but there’s time. There’s always time.” And hopefully they’d find someplace other than his minivan for Fuga to sleep, Sammy wasn’t all too partial to having his vehicle used as a chew-toy for a growing Husky, and the ducks weren’t all to thrilled with having their “manor” invaded.

"That's not what t-we're for?" Geo caught himself before he could slip up too badly. "Coulda fooled me. Think he's watching too much tv for a puppy." There! Now the two conversations were joined fairly neatly. "Been watching too many kissy shows." He reached out to fuzz Fugazi's back, scratching behind Rogue's ear at the same time. Didn't want one of the dogs to feel left out, right?

Marlowe smiled pleasantly at the interaction between the two brothers. "I think it's just a normal trait most dogs have." Marlowe tossed in. She had been caught in more then one situation where she'd gotten doggy kiss from Rogue or Roarke, and a few occasion having recieved such affections from both at the same time. Lowering down to a crouch, Marlowe set Fugazi on all fours and watched as the puppy scampered off toward Geo's feet and then to find herself being nudged in the arm by Rogue who was now wanting a bit of her attention.

"There ya go." Geo caught the dog, pulling him up to hug him to his chest. "Good boy..." Fuga seemed content with the attention now, yawning in Geo's face. Geo made a face at him in return, shaking his head. "Oh, sure, now you wanna calm down..." He grinned at Marlowe, hand rubbing at the puppy's ears almost unconciously. "Now I know who to ask when he needs puppy-sat."

"Anytime." She returned with a soft laugh. Pushing up to stand from her crouch Marlowe gave Rogue a good scratching behind his ears. "And now I think I should be getting my boys home." She smiled to both Geo and Sammy.

Sammy let go of Roarke and got to his feet as well, giving the dog one last rub, enjoying the soft feel of his fur under his fingers. “It was nice seeing you again. Hope it’s not so long between now and seeing you next.”

"Yeah, we'll have to invade..." Geo grinned, nodding. "an' you take care of your friends in the meantime. An' yourself."