Metaphorical Butterflies

Participants:

adam_icon.gif zoe_icon.gif

Scene Title Metaphorical Butterflies
Synopsis Adam and Zoe go on a date. Zoe's cat still doesn't trust him. Smart cat.
Date April 28, 2009

Zoe's Apartment


Adam had the time and date set. He sent you the dress, the heels and the stockings. It seems proprietary that he allow you to decide what undergarmets to wear. At any rate, the very minute Adam said he'd arrive, there is a knock on the door. He waits outside the hall with a bouquet of white tulips as you…get ready or answer the door or what have you.

Gosh, gee, undergarments? Thanks, Adam! How he knew her sizes and everything, she can only guess. The only thing she changed were the stockings. Because green tights with a green dress? Oh no, Adam. Fashion Fail. Even Zoe knows that. Sheer black for the win, thanks. As Zoe opens the door, she smiles at Adam, looks at the flowers, and can't help asking impishly, "What are you asking forgiveness for?"

Adam tilts his head a moment, glancing at the tulips. He really hadn't remembered to ask the meanings behind the flowers. He might have known once, twice, perhaps a dozen times, but the brain is only so large and some information falls away. But he looks up at Zoe, his bright eyes open with such a charming light, that he says, "That it's taken me over four hundred years to find you." there, that should blush her up some.

Zoe steps back to let him, and yes, she does blush, but her expression makes it plain that she knows he's buttering her up. "You do know," she says lightly as her color restores, "I'm not some sixteen year old who believes that love is like the first six chapters of Twilight, right?"

Adam steps inside of the door. He moves slowly as he hands her the tulips. He pauses for a moment, "I don't know what Twilight is." he says in response. He's flat for a moment as he rolls it around in his head, but the meaning seems clear enough, "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that while love might not be like that, there are always moments that are."

"Maybe." she says affably, and goes to her kitchen to put the flowers in water. Ragnell's on her favorite shelf, eyeballing Adam with disdain, as usual. "I uh, sort of assumed we were going out, like you said. I hope we are, I didn't cook anything."

Adam chuckles, "We are." he says in response as he looks back at Ragnell. When Zoe's back is turned, he leans in and bares his teeth, almost like he would hiss, but no sound comes out. There's a cat he might like to drown. Or maybe he'd try out this microwave technology on it. They were hardly standard when he got sent in. Do cats explode? But as Zoe turns back around, he looks back at her with an earnest expression, "We are. I just wasn't sure you'd be ready because…" he pauses, "Well….you know…"

"Well," she says cheerfully from the kitchen archway, holding her arms out slightly at her sides. "I'm ready." She does a little turnabout for him.

Adam smiles, "You look beautiful." he says and sounds like he means it. And perhaps he does, you'll never know. At any rate, he adds, "I hope you didn't think me too forward. Part of me just wanted to make sure you had something comfortable and part of me just thought the dress would look beautiful on you." he offers his arm and says, "Shall we?"

"It was very forward actually," she says with a smile. She's actually got her glasses off tonight. With what may be (to him) a surprising amount of elegance, she rests her hand on his arm as a lady should. "We shall."

Adam mms as he walks out the door and waits for her to lock hers. "Well, then I hope it wasn't a forwardness you didn't like." as he leads her out of her building towards a waiting car. It's a towncar with a driver and everything. The door is opened and Adam motions towards her, "After you."

Zoe slips inside, again with an air of being used to such a thing, and well, she is a child of privelege. Once Adam settles in she tells him, "I didn't mind. It's a beautiful dress." She gently smooths it over her knees. "I like the butterflies. They're very um, metaphorical?" She grins at him.

Adam arches a brow as the driver departs for parts apparently already known to him. He reaches out and pulls at the hem of the dress lightly with two fingers as he says, "Metaphorical? I think you're giving me too much credit…how are they metaphorical?"

"Oh, you know. They start off as caterpillars, not the world's most attractive insect, and they go in coccoons and they…turn into…butteflies?" She makes a vague embarrassed gesture. "Um. Yet another shining example of why I don't date. I'll just be quiet now."

Adam chuckles, "Oh…" he pauses, "And you were a caterpillar when I first met you? Or was it a cocoon?" there's a sudden shift in his features, his smile falls as he gets a serious look on his features. He takes her hand and says, "You really do look beautiful in that dress. And I'm glad you liked it."

"Thank you." she says graciously, but seems ill-inclined to dip for further compliments. "Where are we going?"

Adam hmms, "A small restaurant in Brooklyn." he says absently, "Quiet, cozy, candlelit, that sort of thing. A sort of light italian with a garden selection sort of place. I'm sorry, I didn't know your favorite type of food. I assumed this was safest, even if you were a vegetarian."

"Oh, it sounds lovely." she says. "And I'm not. A vegetarian I mean! I like meat." Oh god, that came out wrong.

Adam gives her a smirk, one of those full 'I can take that all the way' smirks, but he lets her comment pass as the car pulls up. The door is opened on the other side and Adam slips out. He holds out his hand, "Join me?"

Zoe accepts his hand, and lets him lead her to the restaurant. "Adam," she says a bit furtively, "I still don't understand why you're doing this." Why is a 400 year old immortal suddenly deciding she's so special? She's nothing. A nobody. A mouse. That's what Zoe tells herself, because it's easier.

Adam apparently misunderstands the question as he had opened the door for her. He pauses, "Oh, I'm sorry, is this a women's lib thing? I really didn't live through the whole thing." he closes the door and steps back, "If you'd prefer to open the door…or…should I just go and you'll follow? Or do I follow?" he taps his foot, "Women are so complicated nowadays."

Zoe laughs. "No, I mean. I'm not anyone important. You've been around," a quick look around, and they're in public, "A really long time. I'm sure you've romanced thousands of women who are exceedingly beautiful. I'm nothing to write home about." But she does start to reach for the door. "You don't have to do this if you just want to be able to get access to your past."

Adam lets a half smile touch his lips. Perhaps he is touched by her sentiment. He leans in as she makes for the door, his breath warm against her neck as he whispers gently, "I think you know me well enough to know that if I just wanted my past back, I would steal it." and now that she's opened the door, he steps through. Apparently this is what women's lib was all about.

Zoe seems prepared, and determined not to blush as she follows him in. "Don't stop those Old World manners on my account." she says a touch wryly. "I'm not one of those feminists who think that courtesy is disrespectful. And I don't know that you would, unless you planned something along the lines of Oceans Eleven."

Adam doesn't even need to give his name, the hostess smiles and immediately leads them to a table in a dark corner. He motions for Zoe to sit first, now that she's had her taste of women's lib. In return, he says, "I have vast and mysterious ways."

"Do you?" Zoe says, momentarily mirthful. She lets him seat her, puts her napkin in her lap. Obviously knows which fork to use. Knows her wines. Yes, the girl's got manners. "This must amuse you." she says, indicating the restaurant with a brief gesture. "I mean, you know what real Italian food is like."

Adam spreads his hands wide and says, "And french cuisine and Japanese food and real Chicago style pizza and…" he waves his hand, "What can you do?" he questions, "Once you've experienced something authentic, you just have to accept that most places will not truly be offering such." he pauses, "Surely you've had the same experiences with…some sort of food."

"In France." she concedes. "I studied at the Sorbonne, the food, the wine, it was all just blissful." There's a faint nostalgic sigh. "You can transport the best chefs, ship the wines over, use the same ingredients, and yet somehow it's just not the same."

Adam smiles lightly, "Then perhaps." he says, "I'll have to take you to France sometime, so that you can relive the experience." he leans back as the wine and food is ordered. He doesn't presume to order for the woman and orders himself some sort of pasta dish, "Tell me about your days at the Sorbonne…why did you leave if you loved it so much?"

"It was school." she says with an easy smile. "You can't be a child forever. And Daniel's really the only family I have. It's a pleasure to be able to work for him. Actually, if it wasn't for him I highly doubt I'd even be sane."

Adam tilts his head, "I'm sure that's not so." he says in response, "You're a very level headed woman." he leans forward, "And I find you fascinating, even if you don't seem to believe you are worthy of fascination."

Zoe automatically opens her mouth to say 'I don't see why', and actually…stops. Maybe he's wearing her down! "Oh, I assure you, it's true." she says. "My ability manifested very young. I was maybe nine, and I touched a sculpture that had been at the sight of a Roman battle…some…oh, few thousand years ago?" she shakes her head. "Daniel understood what was happening to me and was able to draw me out of my first trance, deal with the trauma I experienced, and made sure I got the training I needed to live a normal life."

Adam hmms and nods, "Well, then I suppose you have a lot to be thankful to Daniel for." he says. Then he's quiet for some time as the food comes, he doesn't appear to be particularly talkative all of the sudden for whatever reason. He looks up at her and says, "The food is very nice."

"I do." she says softly. "After my parents died, he basically became my father, in every way but blood." She too is quiet for a while, eating heartily but with her expected good manners. "It is." she says. "Are you alright, though?"

Adam mms a bit before taking a sip of wine, "Yes, I'm alright. Sometimes you just end up.." he pauses, "I don't know, I suppose you end up having a sudden thought from your past to sour your mood." he shakes his head for some moments and says, "I'm sorry, I must seem silly, ruining the tone off our date."

"No," she says, as she sips her own wine. "I actually think it would be kind of interesting to hear your thoughts. I mean, it's one thing to access your life, but that doesn't mean I understand who you are." Would she want to, if she really knew?

Adam looks up quietly for a moment, "So you don't actually…" he pauses, "Feel the thoughts or emotions when you read things?" he questions, "You just see the story?"

Zoe takes a breath. "Not so much…individually." she says. "I can feel things in the way…when you stand on a battlefield in the aftermath, and you feel it. You're not necessarily tapping into an individual's emotions or thoughts, but you can feel something. Or like being at a party, when everyone's happy, you can feel it. Does that make sense?"

Adam nods a bit as he considers this, "So…all those times you look in on my past…you just saw the events…and if the event had a certain sort of resonance, then that's also what you felt?"

"Sensed would be more accurate. Though it would be natural to respond to it." Shyly, "Like with Angelica. I watched you hold her hands when she passed. Or when you stood over the battlefield in Atlanta, after the Union held and Hood took all those casualties." She cocks her head. "Why do you ask?"

Adam mms, "I just want to understand you and what you do." he says thoughtfully, his eyes distant a moment and then turns back to you, "It's just something I hadn't known about it is all." he says.


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