Autumn Meme

[justformemes]

THE AUTUMN MEME

It's that time of year again; Autumn.
Whether it's raking the leaves or running to Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte,

the season is back upon us and it's time to enjoy it before winter comes.
 

Scenarios: 
Look at all the pretty colors - Maybe you just feel like strolling down the street and looking at all the leaves turning colors. Maybe you're shopping for something to fit in with the autumn theme. Or you could be setting up an easel to try to capture how the trees look like they're on fire. Just enjoy the turning shades.

I didn't agree to be in this movie -Yes, it's that time again, fog time. It can be creepy or beautiful or both and guess what? You're trapped in it. Are you alone? Are you at home looking out the windows, or stuck somewhere waiting for it to clear so you can drive? Maybe you're walking home late at night and the fog is as creepy as hell and was that the sound of someone sharpening an axe?

Something to warm the cockles - Coffee house prompt. You want your pumpkin spice latte and you want it now. Or maybe you want extra nutmeg. Or maybe someone made a pumpkin cheesecake and you want the line to move faster before someone gets the last piece. You're in a coffee house and there's coffee. Have fun with that.

I just raked that - Yes, it's lawncare time. You've been ordered to clean up your yard and make nice efficient piles. Or maybe you're strolling down the street and you happen to see a nice pile just begging you to jump in. Or push your friend. Or maybe someone's dog or cat is hiding in one and is ready to jump out and scare the crap out of you. Only one way to find out.

But it's only so many days until Halloween - Oh. You're one of those. The ones that love Halloween and start setting things up as soon as there's a slight briskness to the air. Well, time to go shopping. Or maybe you need to start setting up the decorations in the window. Or the yard. Or buying candy to appease the inevitable hordes. Halloween comes but once a year, so get ready for it while you can.

Wildcard - There are plenty of autumn activities to do. Make some up on your own, be it strolling with a friend or curling up with someone special and enjoying something sweet

Comments

[packing]

[ Mike ....debates. Also, gets very interested in the glitter in that boy way where glitter on, for instance Emily, is weirdly hot because it's such an incongruence, certainly nothing she would deign to smear on her person the rest of the year, but also if any of it ends up on him he will pout for like, hours. Because he'll still be finding it in his hair for months.

Anyway. He puts his hand over hers before she can let go of the button, expression so serious it must be a setup for something. ]

I'd happy to arrange some more....adult activities.

[ 8D? 8D? ...oh, then he makes the song start up again by squeezing her fingers. WAIT wait don't hit him yet-- ]

I mean. Later.

[cannolis]

Michael.

[It's an admonishment, obviously, because that song is grating as hell, and twisting her wrist to hook her fingers briefly through his is also, obviously, an effort to keep him from pressing it again. But she's smiling, a small, private thing that only happens when she's trying very hard not to smile. Like he needs the encouragement.]

You mean not in the dingy little convenience store with the stoner behind the counter for an audience? [She smacks the top of the little skeleton with the palm of her other hand.] Good, because this isn't exactly what I'd call my kind of mood music.

[packing]

Em. Emily.

[ Hand ridiculously over heart, on top of the silly straws. If he's mimicking her tonality it's only half conscious; mostly it's just their group shorthand. Emily's is just a little different to anyone else's, which Mike sort of likes even if it usually means 'you dumbass', because for one thing Emily has a tendency to mean that at least semi-fondly, and for another like. It's just theirs. Not the province of all eight of them, just a Mike-n-Em thing. ]

Are you seriously saying this isn't the most romantic spot you can imagine? I mean.

[ He doesn't have to search around for this at all, because he spotted it when they came in and has just been waiting. 'This' being a giant LED representation of the human heart, as anatomically correct as such things can be. He holds it out to her, very seriously, like if she doesn't accept this precious offering he's just going to bleed out on the floor right here. ]

[cannolis]

Oh my god. [She rolls her eyes (again), but this time it's not enough to save her from the way her smile spreads, wider and unguarded.] Quit it, doofus. We came here for a reason, remember?

[For the record: she does take said ridiculous offering, packages of various other spooky accouterments tucked under her arm so that she can hold it in both hands. The aforementioned reason they came in here pretty much demands that she go through the rest of the aisle to get what she needs, and soon, but— whatever, they were already late anyway. If they're more late, it's just makes them more fashionable.]

Besides, I think there's a few too many plastic spiders around here for it to be a proper romantic getaway. [Beat. She lifts one foot off the ground.] ... And maybe actual spiders.

[packing]

Uh, have you seen your shoes?

[ Mike has, with great appreciation; they make her legs look amazing, and he's already of the opinion they'd look amazing in a nun's habit. The inverse of Emily's secret pleasure that no one else gets to admire Mike in tights is that Mike himself is completely into the idea of Emily looking absolutely killer next to him. Less a possessive thing then sometimes he wonders what the hell she's doing with him at all. She's the only girl he's ever met who can run intellectual rings around him when she wants, and that, aside from the legs, is fucking hot.

....that's neither here nor there. Mike knows when a chink in the armor has appeared, and although he won't really be all that disappointed if there's no convenience store groping, it can't hurt to make the attempt. His point is: ]

If anything creepy or crawly shows up I'm expecting your full protection.

[ He's hugely delighted she actually took the heart, by the way; Mike has one of those smiles that can take over his whole body if he lets it. ]

Maybe we should like, get closer. Y'know, case I get scared and need you to hold me.

[ 8D??? ]

[cannolis]

Oh yeah?

[She has seen her shoes, as a matter of fact, and she's also inclined to think that she looks killer in them. She's delighted that they've gotten a mention, even if it's in the context of murdering insects. She can work with multiple definitions.]

If you think I wanna get spider guts all over these babies, you're wrong. But....

[She enunciates the t cleanly and deliberately, stepping forward into his space again to tap him on the chest again with the other supplies she's collected. If he takes him she'll stay right where she is, fingers of one hand rearranging whatever ruffles or other ridiculousness he's got on the front of his costume.

She hangs on to his (very literal) heart, though. That's important.]

I'll take care of you, tough guy. Don't you worry.

[packing]

[ She is rearranging his neatly draped Candyland banner, which is a ridiculous addition to the costume, but beats ruffles. He'll pretty much let her smooth that out for as long as she wants, since it involves a lot of contact with his chest; he will also, because he is no fool, relieve her of the burden of those supplies, putting them on the shelf directly behind him in a handy little stack. All that without really looking, a feat of coordination he's internally pleased for a second to have managed. ]

Suddenly I feel so much safer.

[ An exaggerated little sag of relief, conveniently leaning him back against the shelves. Like, if anyone, wanted anything to lean on. He chances putting a hand on her waist, a precarious precept for more than just how her costume isn't exactly made for snuggling. Never mind that he's switched tacks mid-cajole from 'this is a romantic spot' to 'it's very scary and I need protection.' ]

That guy is way, way too out of his gourd to be paying any attention to us. Just ...making an observation.

[cannolis]

[She allows the hand on her waist, very much aware of the message allowing it sends. This is a dumb waste of time, a little gross considering where they are, but... she's enjoying herself. She can't really bring herself to care.

She glances back over her shoulder at the front of the store while she closes the last little bit of space between them, her voice shifting quieter.]

You better hope so, seeing as he's not the one you need to thank for protecting you. Come here.

[The added benefit of the banner is that it gives her leverage to drag him around, a fact that's getting exploited for the first time of likely many, many, many times tonight. She tugs on it to drag him a few shuffling steps to the left, enough so that the ratty wing of a large display bat on top of the shelving unit blocks her view of a nearby security camera.

Even in these heels, she has to lean up to kiss him, a small, quick little peck at the corner of his mouth.]

So are you gonna thank me or what?

[packing]

[ Mike has learned not to question, or indeed even to draw attention to, the moments Emily will let her guard down like everything within a twenty mile radius isn't a direct threat, he just enjoys those moments as they arrive. Case in point: he allows himself to be shuffled with sloe-eyed good cheer, stepping in close and putting a hand to the side of her head rather than her face, smart enough to avoid even the most ironclad of makeup. ]

Gosh, Em. It'd just be bad manners not to, wouldn't it?

[ And he was raised to have impeccable ones, thank you. Or at least like, Southern ones. So his returned kiss is like, way less a peck, free hand going to grip the edge of a shelf just above her head, bracketing them carefully together. ]

[cannolis]

[If this is what Southern manners are like, she would like to subscribe to the newsletter, please.

Her lips curve against his in a self-satisfied little smile, fingers of her free hand resting briefly (affectionately) against his jaw before they slide down to grip his collar, holding him in place. She finds a place on the shelf to deposit his silly toy heart, with some small amount of fumbling, and holds that in place with the tips of her fingers, too.]

Now that's more like it. [She leans her weight forward, turning her body into a long, warm line against his.] How long d'you think before pot-for-brains has to come clean up this trash heap?