World History Teacher.
Demisexual.
Single.
03/21/1991.
32.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anbai Wang on Jul 20, 2020 19:07:20 GMT -8
Anbai nodded to their sister, muttering in Mandarin, "That is why I'm going along. Plus, it seems the daughter really likes me." They grinned mischievously, "I have a purple dress too, should I match with her?" They asked their sister, only half joking. They did have a purple dress, a cute and informal sun dress, but they weren't sure about wearing it. So far, Adriel had been good about their pronouns and their being genderfluid, but they also showed up presenting in "proper" clothes for their birth gender.
They narrowed their eyes a bit at Adriel inconspicuously, "Actually, I think I will." They added in Mandarin. May as well rip off the bandaid. Anbai returned their attention to the truck and the boxes Anlan was looking at. They tested the weight of the leftover big boxes and was relieved when they found one they could lift. "This one's fine." They said, adjusting it so they could better hold it. Maybe they should start getting back in exercising, at least during the summer when they didn't have work.
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Kindergarten Teacher.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/24/1980.
41.
Monkey (WA)
Authored by Velexa.
Offline.
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Post by Adriel Flowers on Jul 20, 2020 21:21:41 GMT -8
Adriel agreed with Anlan, happy to see Anbai was able to lift one of the boxes. "You two have made this quick and painless, for me at least. Thank you," he said, putting Rochelle down and exchanging her for two more boxes.
Rochelle saw that there was nothing else for her to carry, so instead decided to sidle up next to Anlan. "Why do you guys keep speaking in a different language? Are you talking about us? What are you saying?"
Adriel had to reshift his boxes as he nearly dropped them, "Rochelle," he whispered at her.
Rochelle turned to him and loudly said, "if they're not saying mean things, why would they not say it for us to understand?"
Adriel looked at the twins, "I apologize." He turned to Rochelle and set down his boxes, crouching in front of her, "Just because they're speaking in a different language doesn't mean it's about us, and even if it was about us, if they wanted to tell us, they would. They're our new neighbors, we just met them, for all we know, they regularly slip in and out of Chinese."
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, "it's also just rude, and hurts my feelings."
Adriel closed his eyes and nodded in understanding. "So rather than accusing them of doing something, like talking behind our backs-"
"In front of our backs in a different language," she corrected.
Adriel held up his hands in surrender, "okay, rather than accusing them, why don't we say what's really bothering us? I feel..."
"Sad and left out when you speak to each other in another language." Rochelle finished.
Adriel patted her on the head and picked up the boxes again, "there we go. Good girl."
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Airplane Mechanic.
Bi, strongly leans towards preferring women.
Casual Friends with Benefits (several).
03/21/1991.
31.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Anlan Wang on Jul 20, 2020 21:56:49 GMT -8
Before Rochelle started her complaints, Anlan had responded in Mandarin, "What the hell, I've got a purple dress too, it can be a party. I suspect she'd like that."
Anlan was used to the way that kids could be about things that seemed unfair to them, so she was calm through Rochelle's complaining. Before she picked up her next boxes, she crouched down so that she could talk to Rochelle face to face. She said, "Anbai and I were talking in Mandarin, it's one of the Chinese languages, and it's both of our native language."
She thought about how to phrase this so as not to embarrass her twin and to also make it make sense to the little girl. She said, "Sometimes, I want to check with my twin that they're alright with something, or about something personal or private, or just a thing that's between the two of us, and I'll usually do that in Mandarin."
She hoped that this was making sense, and she glanced over at Adriel, who seemed to be handling it fairly well, before glancing back to Rochelle and saying, "The only bit where we were talking about you was trying to plan a little surprise for you, and I'm not going to tell you what that is yet, or it will ruin the surprise."
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World History Teacher.
Demisexual.
Single.
03/21/1991.
32.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Anbai Wang on Jul 25, 2020 10:33:29 GMT -8
Anbai frowned a bit as Rochelle complained about their speaking Chinese, and they let out a sigh. "I remember classmates doing that to me, where they'd be staring at me for a long time, and then speak Spanish, or whatever their native language was, and I was always convinced they were talking about me." Anbai looked Rochelle in the eye and gave her a smile, "I'm sorry we made you think that, but what my sister said was true. We don't like to talk about people behind their backs, and doing it in front of them in another language is just rude. So I promise you, our intentions were not to make you upset." They glanced up to Adriel, saying in a way they hoped the man would understand without cluing in his daughter, "I sure hope you can find your dress for dinner, though. If it's your favorite, it must be pretty."
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Kindergarten Teacher.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/24/1980.
41.
Monkey (WA)
Authored by Velexa.
Offline.
|
Post by Adriel Flowers on Jul 25, 2020 10:47:44 GMT -8
Adriel smiled, happy the twins were treating Rochelle like a miniature human rather than a child. As a kindergarten teacher, he knew he taught children, but most of the time, the kids just wanted to be respected as people, then reason and logic could actually be applied.
In his experience, most adults would dismiss kids and their outbursts like this as temper tantrums, but he was glad to see their new neighbors didn't fall into that category.
"Her dress...?" he was confused for a second, then started putting the pieces together, the surprise must have to do with her dress. Now he wondered if he owned anything purple, otherwise he'd be the odd one out. "Yeah, we'll make sure to find it."
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Airplane Mechanic.
Bi, strongly leans towards preferring women.
Casual Friends with Benefits (several).
03/21/1991.
31.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Anlan Wang on Jul 25, 2020 12:10:33 GMT -8
Anlan grabbed the box that she'd put down and said, "Alright then, lets get this last load of boxes up there so that we can all clean up and go get dinner."
She gave Adriel a little smile, glad that this seemed to have resolved relatively painlessly. She double checked that there was actually nothing else in the back of the van, and once she was sure, she led the way towards their apartments.
She was pleased that they seemed to have such friendly new neighbors though. Hopefully that continued to be the case, and dinner went well, with Anbai planning to wear a dress.
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World History Teacher.
Demisexual.
Single.
03/21/1991.
32.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Anbai Wang on Jul 27, 2020 21:07:23 GMT -8
Anbai followed close behind their twin after giving her a nod. They were still nervous about how Adriel would react to their wearing a dress, but based off what Anbai had observed so far, their new neighbor was at least a little educated about gender and sexuality, and so possibly there was nothing to worry about. But they still worried, as there was always the chance they had read him wrong.
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Kindergarten Teacher.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/24/1980.
41.
Monkey (WA)
Authored by Velexa.
Offline.
|
Post by Adriel Flowers on Jul 27, 2020 22:01:31 GMT -8
Adriel opened the door one last time so everyone could drop off their final boxes. "Thank you both for your help. We couldn't have done it without you. Please let dinner be my treat."
Rochelle ran off immediately to find her dress, determined they wouldn't go to dinner unless she was wearing it.
"Did you want to meet up in about thirty minutes? I know I need to get cleaned up and I only have a faint idea where that dress is. I can knock on your door when we're ready," he offered.
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Airplane Mechanic.
Bi, strongly leans towards preferring women.
Casual Friends with Benefits (several).
03/21/1991.
31.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Anlan Wang on Jul 27, 2020 22:55:36 GMT -8
Anlan said, "I was going to offer to treat you as a welcome to Cedar Beach, but I guess I can accept that if you'll let us treat you to dinner some other time."
Her tone was light and teasing, but she wasn't against the idea.
She nodded at the timing and said, "Thirty minutes should give me plenty of time to become less covered in airplane and find something a bit nicer to wear. See you soon!"
She headed back into the apartment and headed straight for her room and a shower. She was glad that her room was the one with the en-suite bath and the closet through the bathroom because it meant that she could shed her work dirtied clothes en route to the shower and not worry about making a mess for Anbai.
It took a while to get the grease out from under her fingernails, but she still had plenty of time to pick out a shimery purple knee length dress that had a high neck in the front and a leather jacket with purple accents that covered up the fact that it was not high in the back. She figured that she didn't want to set a bad model for Rochelle in her dad's eyes, but her selection of dresses ran more towards what she'd wear to clubs than anything else.
She ducked out into the living room to see if Anbai was ready and if the door had been knocked on yet, figuring that they would have gotten ready sooner than she did.
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World History Teacher.
Demisexual.
Single.
03/21/1991.
32.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Anbai Wang on Aug 1, 2020 12:00:42 GMT -8
Anbai followed their sister back to their apartment after a small wave and a "see you soon" directed towards Adriel and Rochelle. They required much less cleaning up than their twin, but still freshened up and did their hair properly before searching for their purple sundress. They found it and put it on, adding some lavender-colored shorts underneath. They went to the living room and waited on the couch for either Anlan to be ready or for there to be a knock on the door, hoping it would be the prior before the latter, watching for their twin between social medias.
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Kindergarten Teacher.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/24/1980.
41.
Monkey (WA)
Authored by Velexa.
Offline.
|
Post by Adriel Flowers on Aug 1, 2020 15:32:18 GMT -8
Adriel waved as his new neighbors left and shut the door to his new apartment. "I need you to find a hairbrush, young lady."
"But dad, my dress!" Rochelle whined.
"I will find your dress, you can find a way to tame that hair," he told her, opening one of Rochelle's clothing boxes. He moved a few things around, searching, but didn't remember placing it in this box. He remembered putting it in with her nightclothes because she'd wear it to sleep sometimes.
Rochelle peaked over his shoulder, "did you find it yet?"
"Did you find your hairbrush?" he asked her.
She huffed and sat down with her arms crossed over her chest, "I don't know where it is, daddy," she whined.
"I know it's been a long day and you're tired. If you want to throw a tantrum, that's fine, but it means we're staying in and unpacking for the rest of the night. If you'd like to go to dinner with Anbai and Anlan then you'll find your hairbrush and brush your hair. The choice is yours," he said stopping his search and looking at her.
She pouted her lips and sniffled, but seeing it wasn't working on her father, she glared at him instead. When he just kept looking at her calmly she sighed and stood up, going to the box with the bathroom things, like her hairbrush.
"Thank you," Adriel said, moving on to another box. He found the right one and was able to find the dress, "who's your favorite dad?"
"My dress?!" Rochelle asked excited.
"Your dress is your favorite dad? That hurts," he said, handing over the dress. "Can I trust you to make yourself suitable for dinner while I shower?" He waited for Rochelle to nod her agreement before going to some of his boxes.
He grabbed a nice pair of slacks, a belt and a purple dress shirt. He'd debate the tie after his shower. He stopped by the box of shower things to gather supplies before hopping in the shower.
Showers always lead to shower thoughts for Adriel, so he'd made sure to set an alarm for himself to make sure he didn't take too long. He was both relieved and nervous about the new apartment. It was the first time he really felt like he was parenting Rochelle alone. Lia hadn't been a great mother, but she was at least there, if only physically. And his own mother was always over to help out. Moving so far from his mother, it was going to take some time to adjust.
He managed to pull himself out of his thoughts and finish showering. He dried off and started to get dressed. He debated if he should shave, but he was already too dressed for that. He stepped out of the bathroom and looked around for his daughter, "Rochelle?"
Rochelle peeked her head out of the other bathroom, bright red lipstick spread too wide on her mouth and black eye shadow on one eye. "Nope, I don't think so. If you want to wear makeup, I will help you put it on."
He left one bathroom and went into the other. He helped Rochelle wash her face and helped her put on a lighter coat as well as lighter colors. "Glitter?" he asked, holding it up.
"Do you even have to ask?" Rochelle said, closing her eyes and waiting to be bedazzled. Adriel laughed but complied, brushing some on her cheek bones. "You too daddy," she said reaching for the brush.
"Let's do it together," he said, helping her so he didn't end up with the entire container of body glitter on his face. "Tie or no tie?" he asked Rochelle.
"Tie!" she replied. He grabbed a gray tie and put it on. Together they were purple and sparkly. "Ready?" he asked, heading out of their apartment and to the twins' door. He knocked on the door, smiling down at Rochelle who was positively vibrating with energy.
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Airplane Mechanic.
Bi, strongly leans towards preferring women.
Casual Friends with Benefits (several).
03/21/1991.
31.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Anlan Wang on Aug 1, 2020 16:14:29 GMT -8
Anlan laughed a little bit at how stylistically different her and Anbai's choices had been. She said, "You know, I think that it suits us both, says something about our personalities."
She'd not been out long when their new neighbors knocked on the door, though she'd had enough time to lace on her tall black stompy leather boots with purple accents that matched the jacket. She headed for it, expecting her twin to follow behind. She knew that she made a completely different impression in the shimmery dress with her hair down, earrings in and some light makeup, iridescent eye shadow and dark purple eyeliner, than she had coming home from work.
She looked her neighbors over and said, mostly directed at Rochelle, but with a little smile for Adriel, "Nice outfit choices. I love the glitter."
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World History Teacher.
Demisexual.
Single.
03/21/1991.
32.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Anbai Wang on Aug 10, 2020 10:27:32 GMT -8
Anbai looked over Anlan's clothing choice and then considered their own, and let out a small chuckle, "I guess it really does. But also, in general, in terms of dresses and skirts, I've always preferred cutesy over sexy or," they motioned at Anlan's outfit generically, "club-y. That, and, you're a lot more of a social butterfly than I've ever been. So you actually go to places that require things like club clothes."
Anbai felt their breath hitch in their throat as there was a knock on the door. They clenched their fists as their twin opened the door, waiting to see Adriel's reaction to their outfit choice, and also curious what Rochelle's reaction would be. "Aw, I should've gone for glitter..." They murmured, pouting slightly.
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Kindergarten Teacher.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/24/1980.
41.
Monkey (WA)
Authored by Velexa.
Offline.
|
Post by Adriel Flowers on Aug 11, 2020 22:21:53 GMT -8
Adriel smiled and waved at Anlan and Anbai. He was glad they'd dropped the hint to him about the purple, not only had it helped him make sure he and Rochelle would match them, but it gave him a heads up about how Anbai might be dressing. "You both look great."
"Ahh!!!!" Rochelle exclaimed with joy and ran to Anbai, grabbing their dress and swishing the fabric, "You look so pretty! I love this dress!" She turned to her father, "Daddy, can we let him use some of our glitter?"
Adriel nodded, "yes, they can use some of our glitter if they want." He put slight emphasis on the word "they" to gently correct her.
"Oh!" She covered her mouth, "I'm sorry. I meant them!"
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Airplane Mechanic.
Bi, strongly leans towards preferring women.
Casual Friends with Benefits (several).
03/21/1991.
31.
Sheep (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Anlan Wang on Aug 17, 2020 17:28:07 GMT -8
Anlan held her breath, at least somewhat subtly she hoped, through the initial interaction with Rochelle and Adriel seeing Anbai in their more femme presentation. She breathed out a sigh of relief and gave Adriel a little approving nod as he handled the situation well, clearly working on teaching Rochelle how to use pronouns by example. She hoped that her twin would be alright with the mess up on the little girl's part, especially since she had so easily gone along with the correction and her dad had done well with it.
She smiled at both of them, looping her arm through her twin's as a form of support and reassurance, and said, "So who's ready to go get something to eat? There's a great little restaurant right around the corner, and I, for one, am famished. If we need to though, we can wait for emergency glitter application."
She winked at her twin and Rochelle as she added the last part.
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