2020-12-29 - Making Plans for New Years

Dahlia had been spending more time at Justin's place with the cooler weather since her last Dream Incident before Thanksgiving that laded her in the hospital again. Declan was still around too of course but even with the colder weather he seemed to always be busy with odd jobs and the like so it was probably unanimously decided she probably just needed some kind of loose supervision to try and mitigate random disappearances while at home. Stupid Veil.

They had set up her old room with a play pen type area for the kittens and Dahlia had been patiently making sure they didn't try and chew through things they shouldn't be able to chew through and try and associate them with Caleb a bit more. Now though, Dahlia had just walked in to Justin's office and was draping her arm around his neck, kissing his temple before looking at the computer screen where surely she had no idea what was happening. "How's your project going?" She asks, resting her chin lightly on his shoulder. She's clad in a pair of warm flannel pants and a black tank top since, even though it's the middle of winner, nearly the New Year even, the mansion is nice and warm.

Caleb seems to get along fine with the strange trio of very toothy kittens. He found them curious and strange at first and spent a lot of time sniffing around them. A claw or two to the nose, and a nip from those very many sharp teeth were met with surprising patience from the big dog. Of course, the kittens themselves were getting pretty large as well. Now, he's apparently decided that they are family and he watches over them, checking in on them like he does his people, sometimes dozing by their play area keeping watch.

Justin's multiple monitors are filled with text editors with code, simulations running pumping out numbers in charts and graphs, and there is one window open to the game world, the MMO that his company runs, where he seems to be just idling watching random chat scroll by every so often without actually playing the game. There's also some test graphics open on another monitor. When she comes in and puts her arm around his neck, Justin grins and turns to kiss her cheek. "Good. I'm almost done testing for today. How are you doing?"

Dahlia was glad that kitties and Caleb were getting along more or less. They were growing and Dahlia was considering letting them have more free range in the room soon but was also very certain that they'd figure out a way to get out of the room if she did that. Besides, she'd have to keep the door closed - so the current set up was just better over all. Dahlia makes a pleased noise at the kiss on the cheek. "Great! I ordered some Thai food, it should be here pretty soon so that's good timing." She straightened up just a bit, keeping her arms around him still. "I'm good, got some things ready to ship out tomorrow, finished off some stuff that I'm going to put up on the store tomorrow too." She'd more or less stopped dancing at Platinum now, only filling in if they were low on girls. Her primary focus was her Etsy store and bartending at Firefly.

"I wanna talk to you about something. It's nothing serious, and it's sorta last minute so I don't even know if it is possible." Dahlia admits with a chuckle. "But we can talk about it over food. I'll go down to get things ready, be there when the food gets here. Come down when you finish? Want me to fix you a drink?"

"Mm, Thai," Justin says and his stomach seems to rumble in time with it as he chuckles, "Guess I forgot to eat this afternoon. So, excellent timing all around." He glances over at the screen as the last of the simulations complete. He squints a bit at the results and scribbles a note down on a pad in front of the computer, and then he turns his attention more fully back to her. "Yeah? How're the sales? Need any help with anything?" He's always been willing to help with anything business related.

He raises his brows a little bit when she says she wants to talk about something, because there's just no telling what that could be all about. "Okay," he says, however, clearly curious, but doesn't press for more for the time being. "Yeah, a drink would be good. I'll save all this and be down in a minute."

"They're good! I mean, I don't think I could pay all the bills if I just did that, but it's going better than I thought it would." Dahlia admits, giving him a grin. "I might reconsider making a full store, outside of Etsy. So if I do then I'll probably bug you about the best way to go about that. " She muses. "But for now, just your support is enough." Playfully tapping him on the nose. She steals a quick kiss and then releases him. "Alright, I'll see you in a few." Then slips out of the room.

She makes a stop at the kitten room to check in and give a few scritches to everyone and then makes her way back downstairs just as the doorbell rings. Thai food is collected and paid for and Dahlia sets everything up in the living room since that's more or less become their dinner spot for the time being. She fixes him an Old Fashioned and then grabs a beer for herself. Settling in on the couch and idly flipping through apps and channels to find something they might be able to watch after they talk.

Justin comes down after a little bit, closing up work for the night and locking up the office before meandering down toward the livingroom and the food. There's a formal dining room on the first floor, but it's never used. Nine times out of ten they eat at the island in the kitchen or in the livingroom. He makes his way over and leans over the back of the couch to steal a kiss from her before he comes all the way around and settles in, taking up his drink and taking a sip before surveying what food is there.

He grabs a bit of this and that, creating a small plate to start, prepared to go back for seconds if he wants some more, and then settles in to take a few bites. "So," he says, after satisfying that initial hunger. "What did you want to talk about?"

The kiss is easily allowed to be stolen and she grins again, letting him get his food together. She's made herself a plate but so far has only nibbled on her egg roll. "Well." After he asks what she wants to talk about. Shifting so she can pick her own plate back up. "New Years is literally right around the corner. I've been thinking...I'd like to get out of town for a while. Hopefully with the three of us but at least us." She motions between them before taking a bite of food. Swallow, resume, "I think it's a bit last minute to be going over seas with the holiday, but maybe we could just take a trip up to your family cabin in Canada? Get out of the Harbor. Ring in the New Year with limited chance of disaster? Stay a few extra days to start things off on a positive note?"

Justin takes a bite out of his food and studies her, waiting to see what it is that she wants to talk about. When she mentions New Year's, he nods, acknowledging that it is close, and then again when she mentions wanting to get out of town. When he finishes his bite he says, "We can go anywhere you want to go, Dahl. If you want to go to Europe, we can go to Europe. If you want to go to Canada, we can go to Canada. I can take all three of us literally anywhere that we want to go. I have a jet." It's in L.A., but he has it. They just have to get to L.A. to use it. "Though considering what happened the last time we decided to celebrate on the water, I'm thinking something a little more landlocked might be in order.."

"Definitely no getting water celebrations any time soon." Dahlia agreed. Pool, okay. Hot tub, perfectly fun. Open ocean? Not a chance. Still too soon. "I know it shouldn't feel weird to ask to go far off places, especially by now. But it does." She said a bit sheepishly. "But this time mostly because it's sort of out of the blue. I mean. The actual asking part." A few more bites of food are take before she sets them aside. "The where isn't as important as just getting out of here for a bit. Away from the snow and the cold and-" She paused, blinking a bit. As if a thought want dawning on her that hadn't before.

She leans in a closer to Justin and with a very serious and straight face asks, "Can we go to the Bahamas?"

Justin shifts a little closer and slips an arm around Dahlia's shoulders, balancing his plate on his knee and eating with the other hand, drawing her in against his side. "It should not feel weird, definitely not by now, and definitely not for either of you. I'd take you both anywhere you wanted to go." He raises both brows when she pauses and waits to see what comes next. Then he laughs when she asks so very seriously. "Yeah, we can go to the Bahamas if you want. I told you, anywhere you want to go."

Dahlia grinned as he laughed and snuggled in next to him, careful though to make sure he can still eat easily. "I knowwww. Consider this a first step towards getting more comfortable with it then. I want to spend New Years in the Bahamas. Though...we'd have to leave tomorrow...or super early on the 31st." She falters a little as she thinks over the logistics but then seems to resolve herself to it. "But that's what I'd like to do. If you think we can swing it with such little notice." She kisses his cheek. "But I'll settle for New Years week as a back up too."

"We can leave tomorrow," Justin says, "Though you'll need to see if we can steal Declan away from whatever job he's working. We can fly out tomorrow, spend New Year's Eve, and we can fly back New Year's day so we're only gone for a couple of days. Maybe we can find someone to check in on the kittens and make sure they're fed while we're gone. Your friend Aiden could maybe do that, right? Just once each day to make sure they haven't eaten a hole through the house. I'm pretty sure Caleb can watch over them, too. But he's not real good with texting if there's a problem."

"Perfect. I'll talk to him and see. I'm sure he can manage a couple of days." Dahlia nodded, pressing him into a kiss. "Thank you." She murmured as their lips parted. "I'll text him after dinner. And Aiden too. I'm sure he wouldn't mind checking on the kitties and Caleb if he's available." She retrieved her plate before snuggling up against him again, "Because you're right. I'm not sure we can train Caleb to text in such a short time." The imagery making her giggle again. "The sunshine and sand would be good for all of us. And we can work on planning a longer getaway later in the year."

Justin leans in to the kiss, his lips brushing against hers before it breaks. "Not that there aren't cameras in the house. We can always check the security system, but there's none in the bedrooms, so we'd only see if they got out, not what they're doing in there." He chuckles at the idea of teaching Caleb how to text. "I definitely wouldn't mind some warm sun and a sandy beach and not being out on the water." He smiles and takes another bite. "So, let's do it. I'll make a few calls after dinner and make the arrangements."

"True. Yeah, safer to have someone check and make sure they haven't managed to chew up anything...or right out of the house." Dahlia shook her head. "I'm just thankful nothing really crazy has happened with them." Aside the occasionally misplaced items or floating can of tuna. "Ooh I even know what bikini I'm going to pack." Because sure, no going out on or into the open water, but she was still going to find time to lay out on the beach for a bit. "Sounds like a plan." Dahlia agreed when Justin said he was going to make the arrangements. "I'll call Declan and Aiden and make sure everything's packed and ready to go."

Floating tuna is a thing that happens at times. The fact that the kittens can actually eat through the can is perhaps a little disturbing, but it is what it is. Thus far, they haven't been destructive to people, Caleb, or the house, and so a little oddness here and there goes largely unmentioned. "We'll stay somewhere with a really nice pool and hot tub," Justin assures her, "And a beach that you can lay out on and get warm." Then he nods and says, "Sounds good. Teamwork," he chuckles and leans in to steal another kiss from her, letting it linger a bit before he settles back in to eat his dinner.