a lovely little house in like, wiltshire or something

VAINGLORIES YAY

A mischievous Amanda was tugging Jennifer down the driveway of the house, guiding her around any rocks. Jennifer was glued to a gaming system of her's, which wasn't a rare sight at all. Amanda stopped at the door and knocked, and that is when Jennifer finally looked up, "Mummmmmy...", her voice held much suspiciousness, "Where are we?"

"A...friend's house. You're going to have a play date!"

Jennifer frowned. "You didn't tell me earlier?"

"Shhh. It's only for an hour. This is partially for Mummy and maybe she'll get you something on the way home."

Jennifer, looking just as worried as at first, saved and pushed the system in her pocket.

After a very brief wait, Julia, hair combed and shirt pressed, answered the door. "Amanda!" she exclaimed, giving her guest a warm smile. "Great to see you. I loved that recipe from that last letter you sent. Everyone just gobbled it up!"

Amanda nodded, "It's one of most people's favorites! I'm glad you were able to actually read my handwriting!" She gave a bit of a laugh, trying to make it subtle that she was looking inside the house.

"I'm so glad you could make it. Come in!" Julia turned to the stairs behind her and called, "Eugene! Your little friend's here!"

And sure enough, after one more nag, Eugene came padding down the stairs in rather thick, woolen socks. Once he'd hit the last one, he murmured a small "Hi". Julia led Amanda off to a symmetrical parlor for tea and small talk. All those silly things.

Jennifer examined Eugene, he was either as freaked as she was about this or just didn't care. Either way, it meant this was going to be a very long hour. "Er...Hey." She shifted her weight from one foot to another, feeling quite awkward.

Eugene, being a shy little ginger kid, didn't say anything else. He sort of stood there, arms crossed, scrutinizing this other girl as she was doing to him. He then took his own handheld game thingy out of his pocket as though offering Jennifer to join him in a round or two of virtual go-karts.

Jennifer took note of his silent gesture, and reached into her pocket to pull out her handheld which was decked out with a design-your-own case; it was covered in doodles of all the Nintendo characters. She hit a button on her handheld, and the theme for the go-karts started up.

Eugene grinned and began clicking around on his handheld, taking a seat on a stair behind him. He patted the space beside him, looking at Jen hopefully.

Jennifer shrugged, and sat beside him. "Gotta warn you, I'm near addicted to some of these games!" She cockily chose a superbly evil looking turtle, as if daring him to say she couldn't win with him.

"He's slow," said Eugene softly, selecting an anthropomorphic mushroom in a blue vest.

And so the war began.

Jennifer glared at the screen, pressing so hard on the 'A' button that an indent was forming in her finger. She sent quite the evil looking blue turtle shell at Eugene, quickly flying in front of him as it hit.

wallace was home. brushing his teeth. and playing football with his son. and shaving his face. and being a MAN.

are you happy.

(I am happy. BUT JENNIFER SHOULD BE HANGING OUT WITH THAT EUGENE BRAT.)

Amanda arrived at their door step arm in arm with Trevor, who looked quite green. He still hadn't gotten used to Side-Along-Apparation... Julia Vainglory had invited them over for a pleasant dinner, and figuring since Trevor was blissfully oblivious of Amanda and Wallace's past, it would be quite the lovely evening.

Julia was pacing about the den like a cheetah awaiting its prey, her feet barely scraping the parquet in a manner that only an accomplished dancer could muster. Was her hair alright? Were her clothes spotless? Couldn't Wallace wipe that disgruntled moue off his face? For heaven's sakes, was his necktie laced too tight? Quite the contrary; it looked rather loose around his trunk of a neck. Oh, a knock! "That'll be them," she murmured, scurrying off to the reception hall. Drawing in a breath and shooting off her finest, beaming smile, she opened the door. The hinges creaked slightly, causing her simper to twist into a bit of a cringe. "Amanda!" she exclaimed genially, greeting her girl-friend with a light hug.

Amanda beamed at Julia, happily hugging back. "Thanks so much for inviting us again," She gave a bit of a laugh, and quietly whispered to Julia, "If it weren't for you I'd be eating Trevor's foreign road kill food." She stepped past her friend, and noticed Wallace, "Evening, Wallace." Amanda said, giving him a similar smile as the one his wife received.

Trevor removed his hat -- a navy-blue cricket cap -- and gently smacked Amanda over the top of the head with it. "Heard that," he quipped, hanging the hat on a conveniently-placed rack just by the stairs.

Julia let out a rather shrill giggle at this act of jest, and led the two into the den. Laid out were two couches with a small table on each end, a large hutch that took up the entire west wall, and a long-unused piano on the other. Not a single speck of dust was to be seen by the naked eye; oh no. Julia was meticulous to a fault about cleanliness. Cleanliness was next to Godliness, after all, and the domain of the Vainglories would not be spiritually struck-down by their unfortunate surname nor the demonic nuance that swam about in the blood of the children and their father. "Oh, you're too funny," she said to Trev, indicating the couch opposite where she now sat beside Wallace, who still wore the catlike pout of someone being forced into a social situation they weren't the least bit pleased with.

Amanda whacked Trevor on the arm playfully, "Don't deny the truth, honey!"

Amanda took a seat on the couch parallel to Julia and her husband. "Julia, I honestly don't know how you do this! I can't keep the house clean without magic, and even so it's not this wonderful!" Of course, before any fun/non-awkward conversation settled, the beginning of the night would be filled with hollow compliments, high pitched giggled, and probably several more minutes of Wallace pouting. What did she say after that? She never realized that such an awkward silence could kick in so soon. Maybe this was a bad idea after all?

A sizzling began to sound from the kitchen. With a gasp, and an "I'll be back in a minute!" Julia rushed from the room, leaving Trevor, Amanda, and Wallace with the burden of carrying on the silence.

Amanda gave her husband a nudge on the knee as if to silently tell him to make conversation, hiding this movement as though she was flattening out wrinkles on her dress. She had gone with a soft, darker tone of purple for her dress. It ended five or so inches above her knees, with a bottom tightly clinging to her legs. It had a straight cut along the top and was strapless, but she was wearing a black, very short, cardigan over it. Old habits had died, and she went with a pair of black heels.

Trevor was wearing a simple, brown leather jacket over a navy polo that matched his cap quite well. He shot a look down at Amanda -- being somehow taller than she -- that indicated that he wasn't sure of what to say, and that perhaps she ought to take the lead on this one. Wallace was not making eye contact.

Amanda sighed melodramatically, turning her attention to Wallace. "So what do you do for work now-a-days?"

"Still writing," he answered. "I was bumped up to a primary editor, though. Prophet's a little short-on-hands these days."

"What a coincidence! I've gotten into the writing business myself."