Vacation shopping

[queen_cordette]

Who: Lilah, Cordelia and Wesley (w. Max)
When: After Wes spontaneously booked a cruise
Where: First at Wes' home then the mall
What: Clothes and supply shopping for a vacation
Status: Incomplete

Comments

[vicious_bmantle]

"Then I'm sure that this place is fantastic," Lilah said, more to placate Wes than anything else. It was sad, and maybe it spoke for something that Lilah had a blase attitude toward most things in life, but most food tasted similar to her, anyway. One quality of food was about as good as another for Lilah. She had her favorite foods and all, but, otherwise, as long as it wasn't rotten, Lilah didn't care for quality. Expensive food tasted the same as cheap food to her.

She watched amused as Max started to play with his little stuffed rabbit, and chuckled when Wes threatened the boy with making the rabbit go back to sleep if he didn't behave. Such tactics never worked on Lilah when she was young. Then again, she'd had her father wrapped around her finger from an early age, and her mother tended to go along with whatever her father wanted. So, Lilah got what Lilah wanted when she was young. Probably didn't help her attitude when she got older, but what could be done about it now?

She looked up from her own menu when she was asked what she would like to eat. "You know...I'll just have the same. If Wes will have it, it's got to be good," she said with a slight smile in Wes's direction. She handed the menu to the waitress, who took the menu and the jar of food for Max to go and heat it up and to put their orders in.

She propped her elbow up on the table and set her chin in her hand as she looked at Wes. "So, what would you like to do on this cruise, anyway? They've got all sorts of things to do. You can gamble, you can watch shows...swimming is out, I know, although I doubt you'd want Max to go into a pool alone, do you?"

[watcher_pryce]

An eyebrow was raised when Lilah ordered the same as he did. The *reason* as to why she did so even got her an amused look. It was a fact that Wesley wasn't well known for his culinary knowledge. One would assume so, but his mother had only taught him the basics. Since, obviously, he was supposed to have become the greatest Watcher in History, so why would he need to know fine wining and dining?

Considering that once upon a time he was using Cordelia's party to get some food since he had no money to buy it himself? Wesley would eat just about anything. If one reminded him of it, it was also well known that once Wesley was deep into his research he'd forget to eat altogether. If someone wouldn't put a sandwich or some such in front of his nose for him to automatically eat, he'd starve and wouldn't even notice.

The waitress was back quickly with Max 'meal in a jar', which Wesley left on the table for a bit to cool off. The boy had noticed it though and two chubby hands were pointing toward it. Wesley knew better then to let the boy try to eat it alone. That was all fine and well at home, just before bath-time... now wasn't the time.

While he stirred the-- whatever was in the jar, he blinked over at Lilah at her question. "Gamble?" he mumbled, trying to imagine a cruise. But other then this show he'd seen with Cordelia once, Love Boat or some such, he couldn't imagine it. He doubted it would be like on this show. God he hoped it wasn't like on that show!

"I-- have no idea," he admitted, spooning the first few bites into Max. "We might need to get one of these floating things for Max. One of these rings?" he suggested while he tried to figure out this cruise.

"I really have no idea what I'd like to do. Other then-- rest, relax, get a bit of sun? What sort of shows do they have? Are they on-board of do we have to get of the boat--ship--whichever?" He gave her a curios look, thinking her the expert on anything cruise like. Damn, he should've read those folders they had gotten.

[vicious_bmantle]

"I think you should have read the pamphlet better," Lilah said with a smirk. Apparently she could have booked him on a cruise to Mars and he wouldn't have noticed at the time, it seemed. That was definitely amusing to her right now. Still, might as well actually explain what they could do while they were on the boat. "Technically, if you want to sit in the sun by the pool the entire day, that's possible, although, after about two days, you'll get bored of that, and probably sunburned." Like the rest of his friends, he was pale as a ghost, due to the late nights.

"They have shows on the boat that you can see. I think they have a magician, which Max will enjoy, they'll have a band that plays music that's danceable to, and they have a singer of some sort, I know." Lilah just didn't remember who it was at the moment. Probably some washed up woman or band from the seventies. That's whom cruises usually got, anyway. "Also, at the stops we go to, there will be places to shop and get souvenirs from." Which, she more than expected him to get for his friends. They would more than likely get on some sort of speaking terms by then, like usual. Might as well just accept it instead of throwing a fit about it, she supposed.

"And I think it's called a ship, not a boat." A boat was more for smaller vessels, after all. Not that it REALLY mattered, but the ship captain, if they got to talk to him, might get huffy if Wes called his 'grand vessel' a boat. Captains were silly, like all men, in that way. They just had a ship instead of a car to throw fits over.

Maybe she should have someone mess with Angel's car while she was away just to annoy him? Nah, she'd rather be around to know his immediate reaction for something like that. It seemed a little on the spiteful side, even for her (it reeked of 'an ex-girlfriend' to her), but damn if it wouldn't be hilarious.

[watcher_pryce]

"Yes well..." Wesley murmured, focusing needlessly on feeding Max rather then the fact that he hadn't read the damn pamphlets. He'd been busy! What with there being two less Watcher but an increasing amount of Slayers that kept coming from god only knew where. At the moment it were really just Giles and Wesley himself who had all the Slayers to take care of. Thank god that Faith and Buffy could train those girls as well. Not to mention Spike, Angel or Gunn.

But when it came to the theory, the demon know-how or anything book related? It was just he and Giles, with the addition of Dawn and that twit Andrew. They were both in training however and couldn't tip to decades of demon knowledge. Wesley was going to be very glad when Willow and her girlfriend Tara would be back from their vacation any day now. It would take some pressure off Giles and he. Them returning was also the only reason he'd been able to even *get* a vacation. Though, he personally thought Giles definitely could do with one as well. A vacation that was.

He listened to Lilah as she listed the things one could do on such a cruise. Half of which Wesley was clueless about, some which he would never participate with and some of which left him wondering. And while he hated surprises - considering surprises might end up killing in their world - he thought it might be a good idea to just-- go with the flow during this vacation. Mostly, that was. Being the control 'freak' Wesley was he needed some of that control to keep him sane.

"A ship?" he asked as the waitress returned and put their orders down with a pleasant, polite smile. "Thank you," he said to her, returning the smile with a polite one of his own before returning his focus on Lilah again.

"Because there was this show Cordelia made us watch late at night, old show I think, and that was called 'Love Boat'. That was a rather large cruise-ship and really hope things don't do as they went there." Romance around every corner? God now, Wesley had his fill of romance and love and -- He'd had it within his grasp three times, and three times it had been yanked brutally out of the way. Twice with Fred and once with-- Lilah. Wesley had become very weary of getting burned again.

[vicious_bmantle]

Lilah laughed a little when Wes mentioned the show 'The Love Boat.' It wasn't exactly known for it's accuracy about things like cruises, after all. She wasn't sure, but that show might have been about a single's cruise? Maybe, anyway. She didn't know the show personally, other than jokes she had heard from others. Romance around every corner. "Well, television shows aren't known for getting their facts straight," she pointed out to Wes.

Would romance be such a bad thing for either of them? They still worked for different sides, although now her's was incredibly hampered by what Angel and the others had done, and, truthfully, she wanted out, but just didn't know how to accomplish that. Wes might know. They had gotten out of their contracts, if they actually had been made to sign them. She wasn't sure about that.

Thinking about actual romance needed to be put aside for now, though. Right now she just wanted to enjoy a vacation with her friend. Wow, she had a real friend. Who would have guessed? Strange how lives tend to develop after a while. After working with Wolfram & Hart for so long, she hadn't really expected to have friends. Acquaintances, sure. People she could stand to be around for extended periods of time, maybe. But a friend? You have to trust a friend.

And damn her if she didn't trust Wes. Who would have thought that she would trust one of Angel's cronies? Might as well not think about it for too long, though. "I'm sure that we'll find you something to do on the cruise that will suit you. Besides, you can always just lay in the sun and read the whole time. Plenty of other people do just that."

[watcher_pryce]

"Oh now that sounds like my sort of vacation." Sitting around and catching up on all of his novels? Not work related novels? That did sound like heaven. Of course it wouldn't be much fun for Max or Lilah so it was unlike to happen. But he might squeeze some reading time in there, it wasn't as if he was going anywhere without books. That would be sacrilege.

While he ate his light meal, he tended to Max as well, making certain the boy wasn't making a full mess of things. Once they were done he excused himself and took Max to the toilets to change and indeed clean the boy. By the time he came back, Lilah had finished her meal as well. They spend some time just sitting there, enjoying a very rare leisurely time. Until Max became agitated and wanted to 'walkies' again.

"I guess that's our cue," Wesley muttered, signalling the waitress and paying. With Max behind the buggy, being steered out into the Mall again, they soon found themselves once more in the crowd of other shoppers. Wesley was already feeling antsy. Much like Angel he really didn't fancy crowds very much. Unlike Gunn and mostly Cordelia who seemed very used to it. But then, Gunn grew up here and Cordy was Cordy.

"Alright, off to the other stores then I suppose," Wesley announced, steering Max's chubby legs toward the not so expensive stores where he would feel less award and as breathing in the air there would cost him a 100 dollars alone. "And we're going to look for Max," Wesley added, just to make certain. He didn't need any clothes, surely he had something in his closet he could use.

[vicious_bmantle]

"Then do it. It is *your* vacation, Wes," she pointed out to him. Of course, she wouldn't let him read the entire time, and Max certainly wouldn't, but she wouldn't begrudge him a novel or two. Or twelve, knowing him. Still, he wanted to read, she was going to let him read and not bother him too much about it. She certainly hoped to spend a good bit of time just laying in the sun and doing nothing, so him reading wouldn't put too much of a damper in her plans.

She actually did sort of watch Wes with Max while she was eating. She hated that she would probably never experience this with anyone. Raising a child with a boyfriend or even husband. Even if she somehow or another got away from a job that kind of liked the idea of you pledging at least your first born to the company, if not all of them. One of her former bosses had done just that, given all of his children to the firm. Of course, she had him beheaded. So much for it doing him any good.

She smirked when he said that they were only looking for clothes for Max once they were getting ready to go shopping again. "Like I can't figure out your size and go buy you stuff when you're not around," she pointed out to him. She was definitely at least picking him up a swimsuit to have there. He couldn't get in the kiddie pool with Max in his pants and shirt, after all.

"I think the Baby Gap is actually just around the corner from the food court," she said as she got up. She knew that, while Max wanted to walk, he probably wouldn't make it very far without tiring himself out. So, the Baby Gap being around the corner was a good thing for him.