A Meaningful Place (Anna/Markise)

[Markise Sterling]

Markise couldn't help laughing, though he managed to make himself stop before he lost control. "Sorry," he apologized, shaking his head lightly. "I haven't blown a bubble that big in forever," he said. No, he usually just popped them, then blew new ones repetitively. He found it relaxing, though he wasn't about to announce the fact. Still, since it had come up, Markise decided to give it a try. He pushed his hair back from his face, then blew a bubble, watching as it expanded, growing past his usual comfortable size until it exploded, sticking to his face. He chuckled as he started picking it free, glad he was wearing his fingerless gloves today.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle laughed when Markise played along and popped a giant bubble. "Good thing you don't have a goatee, that would be disastrous!" She blew another bubble, stopping when it was hiding most of her face and in danger of popping. She closed her lips, making it stay that size and tilted her head so she could look over the bubble at Markise. Victory shown in her eyes.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's brows rose and his eyes glittered at the challenge. He definitely liked Anna. He chewed his gum for a moment, then worked it around in his mouth, finally beginning a painfully slow bubble. He blew bubbles all the time, so it wasn't a stretch to let it grow, to let it expand as wide as the gum itself would allow. He wasn't looking forward to the result if it popped in his eyebrows or his hair, so he closed his eyes a moment, concentrating, probably taking the game a bit too seriously, but still determined to win. When he felt like another mouthful of air would kill his bubble he stopped and closed it off, then opened his eyes, tilting his head in a mirror of Annabelle's to look over it. It was extremely close, but he considered himself the winner. Markise's pale blue eyes gleamed.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle thought Markise's was bigger, but didn't want to consed to him. She stuck out her finger and popped Markise's bubble, mimicking a move her little sister had done to her more than once. Quickly, before he could retaliate, she sucked her own back into her mouth. "I win!" She laughed, realizing she probably sounded like a 5 year old, but not caring because she was having so much fun.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise pulled the remains of his bubble back into his mouth, eyes wide, but laughing. "You so don't win!" he argued. "My bubble was twice the size of yours, easy." He tipped up his chin smugly, though he fully realized how close it had been. But if Annabelle was playing, then Markise was, too. He had been intending to burst her bubble, and if she'd been two seconds slower, he would have.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Definitely not! You forgot you're a guy, and therefore don't know how to judge size. A guy comes home from fishing and says 'I caught a fish this big but I threw it back.' " She held her arms out as far as she could reach to demonstrate how big the guy said his fish was. "He thought it was this big." She moved her hands in, so the area between them was half the size. "But it was really only this big!" She moved her hands closer together so that there was only about a foot between them, smiling at Markise and hoping he wasn't offended by her joke on his gender.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise couldn't help laughing again, but his eyes glittered at Annabelle's words. He knew exactly what she was saying, and if she hadn't already revealed her surprising musical taste, he'd have been surprised to hear it from her. He couldn't help himself from responding. He reached out and spread Annabelle's hands again, then sat back. "No, it's definitely that big," he said. His lips spread into a grin. She'd opened herself wide up for that one.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"The fish or the bubble?" Anna asked, not able to completely follow him. "Cause your bubble was this big," She put down one of her hands, and held her other with the thumb and pointer finger up a little bit apart. "and I doubt you've ever been fishing a day in your life." Regardless if he was from a pureblood family or not, he didn't look at all like the fishing type.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's brows rose again. She had to be kidding. She listened to Nine Inch Nails and she didn't even get a little joke like this? He needed to set her straight. "No, I don't fish," he started, "and my bubble was way bigger than that, but you're kidding, right? You know what that joke's about, don't you? Cause it's not fish." Not in the least.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"What are you talking about? I'm the one that told you the joke. It's about fi- OH!" Anna stopped mid-word, her eyes widening and a deep blush rising on her cheeks as the innuendo of the joke sunk in. When she'd overheard her parents and their friends telling the joke it had been several years earlier, and she had taken it at face value. She'd never gone back and reevaluated it for the adult content, and was surprised now to find that what she thought was a simple male bashing joke actually said so much more.

[Markise Sterling]

Apparently she'd gotten it this time. Markise wasn't sure what had tipped her up, but he couldn't argue, only try to stifle the laugh that bubbled up at the look on her face. It was priceless. He did a decent enough job not choking on his own spittle when he stopped chuckling. "How many people have you told that joke to?" he asked. Who had she told it to? If there was anyone but him, they must have either not gotten it, or thought it was cute enough to leave Annabelle in the dark.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna heard the real question that he was asking, How many people did you embarrass yourself in front of? She took a moment, racking her brain, but couldn't think of anyone. "No one that I remember, it was just something I'd heard from my parents or one of their friends or something a time ago and for some reason it just popped into my head." She put her hands over her face and shook her head, laughing lightly at herself. "How embarrassing!"

[Markise Sterling]

Markise chuckled too, but reached over to draw one arm around Annabelle's shoulders. "It's fine," he said. "I swear I won't tell anyone. If they ask I'll just tell them that Annabelle listens to Nine Inch Nails and not to mess with her." No one would ask, of course, it was only a tease, hopefully to put things into perspective for her.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle pulled her hands away from her face at his touch. She looked down at the arm wrapped around her, slightly nervous as to it's meaning. She'd decided that he hadn't asked her to the club as in a date, so what was he doing now? His actions were odd and confusing to her and she remained silent. She didn't want to offend him by accusing him of hitting on her and turning him down, but she didn't want to lead him on either if that's what his arm meant.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise hadn't meant a thing by it. He'd only been offering light comfort, and by his standards, an arm around her shoulders was nothing. Still, there was no mistaking Annabelle's reaction, so Markise pulled his arm back, bringing it close to his body and looking awkwardly away. "Sorry," he said under his breath. Heat stole up his neck to his cheeks, and he brought his hands up to rub lightly against them, hopefully disguising his discomfort. "It's chilly out here," he said, as though Annabelle had brought up the weather at all.