sweetestsurrender | { The AU meme }

Current Music: Hand of Sorrow - Within Temptation

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{ The AU meme }

Ever played out something and then later wondered "What if?" Ever wondered what it'd be like to play your character a different way, but didn't feel like making a full thing dedicated to it? Now's your chance to play it out!

Using RNG you'll roll 1-3 for the level of the change, and 1-6 for the change itself, or if you want, pick your own based on what you wanted to do.

1)  Small Change: The flap of a butterfly's wings can cause tsunami's on the other side of the world.

-1: "A minute too late"- What if you missed something by a minute, or more? You missed the big meeting, the girl, helping that person, all because you were too late, what happens next?
-2: "The nick of time"- Just like the first, only that instead of missing something you got, that if you got something you missed because you were either too late, or just messed up? Congratulations! Let's just hope it's what you really wanted.
-3: "A little too early"- One more, what if you showed up early? It's suppose to be a good thing, is it this time?
-4: "The other choice"- You had two choices, left or right, heads or tails, Coke or Pepsi, now you get to see what would have happened with the other choice.
-5: "Oops!"- You slipped up, and made a mistake. Is it bad, or a blessing in disguise?
-6: Wild card/Pick your own- Thought of a slight change that'd make all the difference, or had one you wanted to play? Here's your chance.

2)  Medium Change: Didn't really see that coming, did you?

-1: Turning point change- That one thing that would have turned things in your favor went against you, and vice versa. How will you handle this critical change?
-2: "A Razor's edge"- That one moment that could have went either way has gone the opposite way of before. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?
-3: Crossroads- You reached a point in your life where you had several choices before you, now's the time to go down another road and see where it leads.
-4: The Road less traveled- "Two roads diverged in the woods, and I took the one less traveled" Will it make all the difference?
-5: Interference- Something blocked you from getting something you were going for. What do you do once the moment is gone?
-6: Wild Card/Pick your own-Thought of a medium change that'd make all the difference, or had one you wanted to play? Here's your chance.

3)  Large Change: Why do all the people here have goatee's?

-1: Good/Evil- Use to be a good guy? Welcome to the dark side, here's your cookie. Former bad guy? Hand over the cookie tray and join the side of good. How will the change of moral compass change you?
-2: A different person- You're now a completely different person, literally. Are you taller? Shorter? A robot? A pony? Powers? No powers? Your call.
-3: The other sex- Rule!63 is in effect. Now how does this effect your relationships with the other?
-4: A change in history- Something that happened in the past now has completely change or is now gone. One domino toppling the rest. Now that you've changed your past, how will it effect your future?
-5: Giving up- You walked away from something important to you? Do you regret it? Are you happy?
-6: Wild Card/Pick your own- Thought of a large change that'd make all the difference, or had one you wanted to play? Here's your chance.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wufei was happy to focus on Duo's tinkering, talking about the truck, the other rides, enjoying the conversation almost enough to forget about what she was so worried about talking over with Duo.

And when they pulled into the parking lot, she looked around as he cut the engine and hummed in agreement, finally pulling her hand away so she could get out. "Absolutely," she agreed, unbothered by the junkers as she dropped out of the truck and closed the door behind her, coming around to meet Duo and extending her hand to him once again. "Just so long as the music here isn't called Jizz." She might have done some catching up on pop culture in the last few years.

Duo took the hand before he burst out laughing. "Nah, no... uhh the music here tends to come from an old jukebox or not at all and the tv's on playing sports or news." And given the time of day it would probably be sports on low for the regulars with maybe hints of music when anyone thought to put coins in the machine.

He was still chucking as he walked hand-in-hand with Wufei up to the door. He pushed it open and they walked in together. After a brief wave and a cheerful hello to the guy tending bar, Duo lead Wufei toward a table, only to be stopped by a young woman who all but threw herself at Duo. She wore a waitress uniform, her long, dark hair was pulled up high in a pony-tail. Big, blue eyes flashed with a strange mix of anger and joy on seeing Duo.

"Maxwell, you bastard! Where've you been?!" After she'd hugged with enough force to near pull him off of his feet, she let go and promptly smacked him upside the head. And then pouted. "You promised!"

Duo was a little dazed but recovered quickly enough and was able to laugh and reach out with his free hand to lightly take hers. "Debbie. Sweet, Debbie. I've been busy." Then he grinned, he hoped Wufei wouldn't mind, because really he didn't have much of an excuse other than he tended to lose track of time. "I'd like you to meet Wufei. My fiancé."

Debbie had the good grace to blush, eyes widening as she looked from Duo to the pretty girl at his side and then back again... And Duo earned himself another smack upside the head.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? How could you keep her a secret from us?" And then she gave a bright smile. "She's cute. How did you bag this cad, sweetie? Please tell me it had something to do with beating him up until he said yes? He's forever breaking my heart." She said with a dramatic sigh. Duo just rolled his eyes and gave Wufei's hand a gentle tug.

"I'm gonna grab the usual place. Let Cian know I'll be having the usual for two, and two of your finest beers, Debbie!" Once she got talking it was hard to stop her, but easy enough to distract her with her actual job.

Wufei grinned, following him inside and towards the table. It took all her self-control to keep herself from lashing out when Debbie came at Duo, but when she lifted him right off his feet, she couldn't help laughing. She wasn't all that surprised that this was the sort of bar Duo frequented.

When she was introduced, Wufei gave Debbie a shallow bow, and laughed as she smacked Duo again. "You know, I don't think I ever have fought him. I'm sure he could teach me a thing or two about improvisation, but as for how we ended up together... he impressed me with some very big explosions," and she dropped a very suggestive little wink as she followed Duo's tug.

"I like her, Maxwell! You better keep her!" Debbie called over as she went to carry out his order, laughing all the way.

"That's the plan!" Duo called back, but rolled his eyes as he came to the table he normally took when he came to the bar. It was just out of the way of most everything else, a quiet corner, facing the door, and away from the excitement of the tv on the other side of the bar.

There were others there but other than curious looks they hadn't paid much attention to anything that happened and Duo didn't pay them a lick of attention either.

The inside of the bar was as worn and homely as the outside. The bar itself was well stocked. As promised there was a jukebox off in a corner that was, thankfully quiet. In the same corner were two pool tables and on the wall two darts boards. But where Duo had sat it was a bit warmer in terms of comfort levels. The tables and chairs were all wooden, the chairs themselves were comfortable. There were even coasters on the tables. So fancy! Duo didn't come for fancy though. He liked the food, the drink and he liked the people.

When he sat he grinned over at Wufei and apologised.

"Sorry about that. Debbie can be... She's got a heart of gold though. Swear she thinks she's my mom sometimes." And sometimes he'd actually appreciated that. Like right now. He was kind of happy that Wufei had played along with him and had even teased back with Debbie.

Wufei smiled, following Duo to the little corner table and sliding into the seat opposite him. "She seems very fond of you, and you of her, letting her lift you up like that," she smiled easily, leaning onto the table.

"This place seems nice. Unpretentious," a lot like Duo. She understood immediately why he liked it, and she was glad she'd taken Duo's advice on how to dress. She felt like she belonged, too, in the same way she did when she stepped into a dojo.

She offered her hand to his again, smiling easily. "So, why don't we start with some lighter subjects. How did you like my bed? Shall we keep it, or go shopping for a new one?" She knew some people would have thought buying a new bed was a matter of course, but she also knew Duo was probably the least wasteful person she knew.

Duo pulled an unhappy face. The fact Debbie was a few inches shorter than him and was still insisted on pulling him off of his feet like that was maddening. But he could see it was amusing from Wufei's point of view and had to smile. He even reached over when the hand was offered and took hers within his.

"She's a sweetheart. And yeah. This place is...relaxing I guess." he'd felt an affinity to the place since the first time he'd discovered it. He didn't come back as often as he could these days, but he did try.

His brows rose at Wufei's choice of 'lighter subject' matter, but smiled anyway.

"Your beds fine. No need to get rid of it if there's nothing wrong with it." The nap he'd had on it wss comfortable enough. Comfortable to the point he'd slept for longer than he'd actually intended. So he found no fault in the bed at all.

Wufei nodded, letting her gaze wander the place again. "I agree," she said warmly.

And nodded again, smiling warmly. "You did seem to sleep rather well in it. But what about where I was napping?" And didn't she just look a little too smug?

Duo blinked at her with momentary confusion before he gave a soft laugh.

"The couch? You coulda joined me, you know?" his lips curved in a warm smile, far less smug than hers.

Her brows jumped, and she let out a laugh. "Well, I didn't want to do it without talking about it first, but I meant do you want to keep the sofa. Or anything in the living room, for that matter."

Duo grinned widely. "It's your bed, Wu. I'm a gentleman, I'd have kept my hands to myself."

"Sofa was fine though. Listen, so long as you're happy with what you have you don't have to change a thing." He hesitated a moment, idly running his thumb across the back of her hand. "I'm guessing this is your way of saying we should stick to the one apartment?"

She chuckled at his reply, and shook her head at the question. "After we're married, certainly, but if you'd like to live separately until then, I don't mind. I'm fishing for a good excuse to just toss the whole room," she admitted with a sheepish grin. "I don't know what I was thinking, hiring an interior designer, and then listening to the idiot's advice."

"Then why the hell're you asking me for?" Duo asked with a laugh. "If it's not broke, don't fix it." other than the place needing a deep clean the last time he was there, he didn't seem much of a problem.

"But if you wanna scrap it and start over... Maybe we could do it together?" living separately was all well and good, but it wouldn't help them in the long run. Not if he wanted to be a good husband.

"Here you are, cuties! Drinks on the house!" Debbie was back, cheerful a chipper with a tray with two large jugs of beer and two empty glasses that she placed on the table in front of the two. Before Duo could protest, she winked at them both and was off again to go and tend to the orders of the guys watching football at the other end of the bar.

She shrugged. "Because I value your opinion, and it's furniture you'll be stuck with, too, if I don't get rid of it." When he suggested starting over together, she nodded eagerly, and leaned back when the beer was provided, both her eyebrows going up.

"I guess she really does like me," Wufei laughed, and poured a first glass of the stuff for herself. "Starting over sounds like a good idea. Do you have much furniture that isn't bolted to decking?" she asked, which was a polite way of asking if he'd even had an apartment or just lived on his ship full-time. She didn't even consider the possibility of him couch-surfing this whole time, but she knew he wasn't the type to stay in one place for too long, and wondered how much that would impact their relationship.

Duo grinned at Debbie's retreating back and then shook his head before turning to pour himself a drink too. "She's good people and has good taste." though the fact he'd never actually brought a friend here before, much less a woman, was probably having an impact.

"I rented a place." Duo answered with a smile. "I've some things put in storage as of a few days ago. Most of my stuff came with the house, so all that's in there is a bed, a sofa and a recliner, some bookshelves, a cupboard or two. Odds and ends." there were other things and several boxes full of items he'd collected over the years, as well as clothes that he'd put away.

Wufei took a long drink from her glass, humming a little as she listened. "Then we'll have to look at them and decide if we want to keep them or get new," she agreed. "And I'm shoving my living room set off on Sally. Except for the TV," not that she'd used it much, herself. She had a feeling Duo would -- and with a reason to be in the living room more, she just might get around to enjoying it, too.

"Though that does beg the question... what are you doing for work, and what does that schedule look like? I'm only really in Brussels about half the year, but there aren't a lot of missions I'm needed for, I could stay closer to home more than I do," if she had a reason to. She'd only picked Brussels to settle down in because that was where headquarters was, anyway.

Again Duo smiled. This was where things might hit a bump, or maybe not. He'd soon find out.

"Technically I don't have a job." He leaned back in his chair and looked to his glass of beer for a moment before lifting it to take a drink. "I do a bit of everything really. Mostly help Howard and the Sweepers. But theres a couple other places I've worked. Anything from bodyguard work to scrap collation. Even helped rebuild some of the places we'd knocked down during the war..." And some of the colonies. He laughed a bit. "It's probably about time I actually pick something to do, huh? I think I just started running after the war. And haven't really stopped."

She shrugged her shoulders. "We could always move up to a colony, if that's closer to the sort of jobs you like taking. I just need to be near a Preventers' outpost, though I'll probably get sent down here a month or two every year to run security on political summits with Heero and Trowa."

The big glass of beer turned in her hands as she thought it over. "Though for obvious reasons I'd prefer to avoid L5. L3 isn't exactly my idea of a resort town, either," her gaze stayed on the liquid as she forced a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Even all these years later, it was hard to think about what had happened to her people, her colony. What had almost happened to another, because of her. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, if you're not comfortable with your feet strapped to the ground, there's no reason for you to do it. Our place can just be the base we return to between jobs," or missions, in her case.

"Wufei..." His tone was gentle and amused. He'd been quiet and let her say what she wanted, but by the end he was trying not to laugh.

"You completely didn't hear me, did you? It's okay. What I was trying to say is that no, I've not been tied down to one place. So nothings stopping me from sticking around here full time." Then he grinned all the wider. "Don't suppose the Preventers are looking for a mechanic with...just a little bit of experience?"

She blinked at him, and flushed darkly as she returned his grin. "Well, as long as being tied down isn't annoying," she replied lightly. "I'm sure she'll push to have you do field work, but getting you in the door at all? She'd jump at the chance," and they all knew Duo would be available for anything that really required his skill set. That's how they'd ended up in this situation to begin with, after all.

"I'm sorry. This whole... negotiation thing isn't something I've a great deal of experience with," but they were both trying, meeting each other half way, and it was good enough.

He didn't know about that, but he wouldn't straight up say no. Duo would, however, say no to being an agent like Wufei and Heero. That wasn't what he wanted. That really would tie him down to one place. But the big problem... "Limited field work... Never could stand all the paperwork you guys had to deal with. I'd be happy being a grease monkey." He laughed. "And occasionally helpin out Howard. But relax, Wu. You're doing great. You've just gotta remember I'm the wander here, so it might seem like I'm doing a lot of what you want, but at the end of the day it's what I want too."

At least in terms of having a more stable home and life. He wanted to do this right. And if things didn't work out, it wouldn't be too much trouble to fall back into his old ways.

"The good news is, Heero likes to automate things, so when you do get stuck with paperwork, it's about a tenth of what everyone else does manually," but Heero had made a program to take a single standard report and export it out into all the bits and pieces they really needed, then it was just a matter of printing a stack of papers and signing them all. Though it did require being able to think in a way similar to Heero Yuy, which was why most people thought they were doing it the hard way.

She relaxed a little when he reminded her that he was essentially trying to settle down a little, and nodded. "Then I just have to remember that I trust you to tell me what you want?" she teased.

"I'll keep that in mind." Duo took another drink of his beer but still didn't feel comfortable at all with an agents work. At least not in a permanent capacity. If he were to actually do that, he wondered just how long they'd be able to survive as a couple if they barely saw each other?

"I don't have many wants, Wu." He grinned and took another drink before putting the glass back down. "But right now I guess my biggest want is to make this work."

Wufei nodded, tilting her head a little and sizing Duo up for a few moments. "Alright," she agreed softly, smiling softly at him. "I think we can do that. So do you have any terrible habits that I haven't already found out about?" she asked, teasing him a little as she took another sip from her drink, giving herself a little foam mustache.

Duo raised a brow, not sure what that look was for. It was hard working out what was going on in her head. He'd always had a hard time working out what Wufei was thinking. But he didn't push, figuring she'd tell him when she was ready.

He considered the question and slowly shook his head. "Nothing I can think of? I like music. I like to cook. I think the worst thing you'll have to deal with is me comin home dirty." Duo laughed. "Working on vehicles isn't the cleanest work and I..." He stopped, looking at Wufei with barely contained laughter he pointed at his own face. "... You, uh, have a little something."

She lifted a brow at the laughter, smiling a little as she reached up to wipe away the foam. "Ah, the only way I was ever going to get facial hair," she flashed a sheepish little grin. "And the solution to that is the washer and dryer being in the hall near the door. You can dump all the dirty clothes right into the washing machine," and contain the mess, for the most part. "My worst habit is probably concealing injuries. We had to do it for so long, and being stuck on desk duty feels an awful lot like punishment," but she knew she wouldn't get away with it on Duo's watch. "Speaking of, how are yours?"

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