The Park, Monday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

When Warren had suggested a picnic in the park (far from any flamingos) for their lunch, Karla had assumed he meant an actual picnic. A basket, a blanket, some sandwiches, a few sodas, and maybe some fruit for dessert. When they finally arrived at the corner of the park where Warren had set up, Karla realized that they were operating under two very different ideas of what a picnic was.

Snowy white linens covered the ground for several yards in every direction. In the center was--quite literally--a feast: two carafes of what smelled like coffee, a plate of various kinds of sandwiches with the crusts removed, at least three different kinds of salad, Quiche Lorraine, and what Karla was willing to bet was a whole roast chicken. And that was what she'd noticed first; there were numerous other handwavy plates and bowls filled with food, all of which smelled heavenly.

"Should I go change?" Karla asked, looking at the spread before them. "I feel like I should be dressed in something much nicer than this." She was only half-joking, really. "Mother Night, Warren, this looks amazing. All this for just some wing-scritches?"

[For the one mentioned! Warren and the picnic modded with permission.]

Comments

[wwiii]

Warren laughed and ducked his head a little, at least having the good grace to look perhaps slightly sheepish at Karla's reaction.

"Well, I figured I ought to make up for missed time," he replied. "After all, I did specify 'lunch forever,' and I've manged to lag a few weeks behind."

Also, he and the concept of 'moderation' were not the best of friends.

[glacial_queen]

Karla was beginning to suspect as much.

"Please at least promise me you didn't cook all this," she said, still looking out at the spread in wonderment. "From the looks of it, you would have had to spend every day of those past few weeks preparing it all."

Her stomach grumbled loudly, reminding her some appreciation was due. "Everything looks and smells delicious," she said. "I should be glad you brought so much. It means that you might actually get something to eat yourself!"

[wwiii]

"You can blame the simplest-looking sandwiches on me," Warren admitted. And then, nodding toward the blanket and making his way over to clear away a place for the both of them to sit, he started pointing at the food that was set out, item by item. "The Perk," he intoned, indicating the coffee first. "Il Pollo, Café Fina, Luke's. And I've been informed by all of them that there's plenty more where this came from, should you happen to be hungry enough to leave me with nothing on my own plate."

He sincerely doubted that she would, but it wasn't as though he'd be terribly upset if she were to go and give him an excuse to go flying, preferably with her in tow, in order to get more.

[glacial_queen]

"It would be rude to leave you with absolutely nothing," Karla said, moving to settle down on the linens. "I could probably spare you at least half a sandwich," she said with a smile. "And maybe one of these bacon-wrapped pineapple pieces."

She popped one of the pieces in her mouth. Oh, it was gooooood. "Okay, maybe not," she admitted, reaching for another.

[wwiii]

And another laugh as Warren demonstrated that he actually had the audacity to make a reach for one of those pineapple pieces, as well. They had looked good, and it was difficult to go wrong when there was bacon involved.

"I think here's where I'm going to have to grab a plate so that I can shovel things onto it before it all disappears, am I right?" He grinned, folding his wings behind himself as he got comfortable, taking a moment to eat his own morsel before continuing. "Not that I'm completely opposed to just watching you eat, I mean."

[glacial_queen]

"I can imagine it's not the most thrilling of pastimes, though," Karla said, laughing while she filled up her plate with some of the other food Warren had brought. Including a few of the sandwiches that Warren had made himself. "Don't think I don't know what this is all really about," she chided. "You're just happy I found you something not embarrassing at Dite's."

[wwiii]

"And you're just happy that I didn't use the paint as an ingredient in these sandwiches," Warren replied, making a reach for... Well, for one of the ones that he'd made, too, mostly to demonstrate that he trusted them fully and completely.

It was really, really difficult to mess up something which had pre-sliced deli meat as a primary ingredient, of course.

"Anyhow, I'm willing to think that the paint has the potential to be just as embarrassing, if only people take the time to stop and think about its practical applications for just a moment."

[glacial_queen]

"Hey! The stuff we tried was good!" Karla protested with a laugh. "Maybe not in a sandwich, but by itself!" She took a bite of the sandwich, and gave Warren a thumb's up. It was good.

"As for it being embarrassing," she said, once she'd swallowed, "well, everything presented is going to be used in that same context. Is the idea of painting on someone really that much more embarrassing that the idea of handcuffs?"

[wwiii]

"It's really not the painting on someone that stands to be embarrassing," Warren pointed out, looking over the food laid out with a thoughtful glint in his eye. "I think it's more the whole... cleaning up afterwards, part. I mean, it's flavored for a reason."

And... well.

That was the whole point of it, wasn't it?

[glacial_queen]

Riiiiiiiiiiight.

Karla flushed a bit, following that thought. "Okay, you might have a point there," she said. "But you don't necessarily have to go into that much detail. Besides, isn't that kind of...expected? I mean, not the paint, exactly. But it doesn't lead anywhere...bizzare? But some of the other things you could have bought kind of do. They're...suggestive in a way that body paint isn't."

Like the whip, the handcuffs, the ball gag...

[wwiii]

Warren probably would have had difficulty coming up with imaginative ideas for the ball gag, actually. Short of choking on it, which didn't seem half as fun as some of the other items probably were.

... Which was a topic he was trying not to think about too thoroughly.

"I'm... Working on not thinking too hard on some of the other things that were for sale, there."

Like the swing.

[glacial_queen]

Hey! Once they'd gotten it together, that swing had been really fun! Even if the straps were a little weird.

"You didn't even look at everything," Karla said with a grin. "Like the pineapple."

[wwiii]

"That's because it's a pineapple," Warren said, pointedly. While picking up one of the bacon-wrapped pineapple pieces and trying to look casual about putting it into his mouth, yes. "What was so special about the pineapple, anyhow?"

[glacial_queen]

"It's one of those things that would have to be seen to be believed, but..." Karla made a face. "It looks spikier than I'm comfortable with, honestly."

Really, Warren, you're better off not knowing.

[wwiii]

Warren didn't need to know. His imagination was filling in the blanks quite well without actually bearing witness to the glory of the pineapple, and that left him opening and closing his mouth, something like a fish, while he tried to formulate words.

Words required brain. This might take a moment.

"See? Paint. The paint was an excellent idea."

[glacial_queen]

"Would I lead you wrong?" Karla asked, trying not to grin at Warren's skillful fish impression. "Your doubt wounds me!"

She clasped at her heart, swaying dramatically.

[wwiii]

This, of course, meant that Warren was going to have to move forward in an equally dramatic gesture in order to catch the swaying maiden, did she realize that?

"I wouldn't doubt you for an instant, Karla. You didn't point me towards the pineapple."

[glacial_queen]

Karla fell over backwards where Warren was poised to catch her (funny how it always worked out like that) and dissolved into giggles. "I'm glad my ability to pick out sex toys remained undiminished in your eyes!"

[wwiii]

And it's entirely possible that Warren wound up holding Karla perhaps a moment longer than he really needed to. But... Well, why not?

"I think from this point onward, you'll be the very first person I go to each and every time I need to make an important sex toy purchase," he promised, solemnly.

[glacial_queen]

If he had, Karla didn't seem to mind. Or possibly even notice.

"That's a pretty important promise," she replied, trying to match his apparent solemnity. And failing. "Though now I feel the need to wonder how often you think that will be."

[wwiii]

"On this island? Honestly?" Warren laughed and shook his head, eventually relenting and-- Actually, no, he didn't want to ease off. If she was comfortable there, then so was he, darn it. "I'm torn between saying 'at least once or twice a semester,' and 'hopefully never again.'"

It was such a difficult call, when going to this school.

[glacial_queen]

"I guess it depends whether you decide to take a class with Dean again," Karla said, sitting up to help herself to some of the salads. She passed back another pineapple chunk to Warren with a smile. "And how much the island decides it would be funny."

[wwiii]

"And the island would decide it's funny, wouldn't it," Warren noted, chuckling a little and reaching to take the offered pineapple chunk. "I think the only way I'm going to be able to convince it otherwise is to find some way to numb myself to the embarrassment."

[glacial_queen]

"We call that alcohol," Karla said dryly. "I'm just glad Dite's wasn't around when there was sex pollen everywhere. We never would have been able to close!"

[wwiii]

Warren's eyes? Were widening a little all over again.

"Sex pollen?"

He suddenly felt very sorry for any poor schmuck with allergies. Oh yes.

[glacial_queen]

"It was like my first month here!" Karla wailed. "And these tiny flowers everywhere that just made the entire island very...uh, excited. What an introduction."

[wwiii]

"No kidding," Warren agreed. "If something like that had hit during my first month here, I probably would have imploded."

Like, a lot. And then some, considering he'd been a virgin with a wingspan that at the time was something he'd been hell-bent on keeping under wraps.

[glacial_queen]

Karla had been a virgin as well (and still was, unlike SOME PEOPLE) and had been barely been capable of trusting those few friends she'd made.

"It was a very interesting form of Hell," Karla said, chuckling. "At least, for those of us who didn't have the, ahh, inclination to act on those feelings. Make it even worse, up until then, I hadn't really had those feelings! It was quite the wake-up call."