She laughed deeply and kissed him quickly. "Okay, five is the best age. Now I really need to see it." (I wonder how they're going to react to Pops if they meet. She's not very good at being dignified.)
"I disagree. 21 was the best age for me. The only good thing about being five is that you're adorable." (We'll probably find out eventually!)
"Let me rephrase. Five is the best age to spend time with. Five-year-olds are just sweet, y'know? And they're curious and eager. I would have died to see you when you were five."
"Is that so? Well, then I'm curious to see what you look like as a five-year-old. Did you go on little adventures in the woods?" He raised an eyebrow, grinning slightly at her.
She was quiet for a minute, eyeing him suspiciously. "I mean.. yeah. There were quite a lot of adventures. I wasn't allowed to go out without a sibling or Rye, our dog though."
He looked at his feet in thought, tapping his chin. "Huh. Me too. It's actually some of the best times of my childhood, because we would always find little lizards or something."
"Yeah, when we were younger, but I went more by myself as I got older. It was kind of like a stress reliever for me." (Crud, I want to respond to Pirates but the whole thing is so sad and I don't even know what to say at this point D: )
"I see. Well, I'm sure you'll like this place then. We moved in there after..." She trailed off before clearing her throat. "Well, when Papa was looking for a house, he really wanted a place when we could go for walks. It's the hippie in him, I guess." (Did that last simulation make sense? It was difficult to phrase, and I'm worried that it might not have been conveyed the way I wanted it to.)
(Yeah, I understood it perfectly. I can tell there was a lot of thought put into it.) "It's a good thing to look for in a place," he said, his expression turning sympathetic. "I would definitely try to find somewhere like that. Though, it could just be because the house I grew up in had a lot of property."
(Excellent. Thank you for saying that.) "Hm," she murmured. "I think we're both biased." (I just realized that Poppy still doesn't know that Francis knows about everything with her mom. That'll be an interesting conversation.)
"Biased for the same thing, though. Have you ever caught any cave salamanders? They were always my favorite to look for," he said, smiling to himself. (I feel like it might become an argument, or it might just be a sad moment once she finds out.)
(I feel like she'll probably pretty peeved at Phos, at least.) "Cave salamanders?" she inquired. "I'm not sure I would be able to identify them specifically, but I did see quite a few salamanders. What were they like?"
(Yeah, but Francis will probably tell her that he's the one who asked or something. I'm excited to see how it goes.) "Well, they live in caves, is something I remember. It's been awhile, but I think they might be orange? Something like that."
(It'll be a moment, that's for sure.) "Oh? The cave salamanders live in the cave?" She stepped closer to him with a cheeky grin on her face. "Unbelievable."
(Ohh, he'll probably make that moment happen that night after the meeting, that way she knows before he meets the rest of the family.) He rolled his eyes. "It was the only thing I remembered for certain, even though it was obvious." He checked his watch. "We should probably start to get ready for the dinner thing."
(I'm excited.) She gave him a quick kiss and turned to her door. "Okay. We need to wear something formal, yeah? Do you think it'd be okay if I just wore that dress I wore during that other meeting?"
(Haha, me too.) "Yeah, I think that would work," He smiled slightly. "Plus, you look really good in that dress," he added, putting his hands behind his back.
She turned to look at him, a small blush on her face. "Thank you," she said, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "You're sweet." She turned the doorknob of her room and the door swung open with a creak.
