I Saw Him First [Oberon]

[Rose McGovern]

In the back corner of the local coffee shop was a group of intimidating, rowdy women. Almost all of them were flaunting some form of body art, be it tattoo or piercing. Rose McGovern had both, and she wasn’t afraid to show them off.

“Hey. Rose. It’s coffee time, not coloring time.” One of her coworkers reached over in an effort to steal the tattoo design the young woman was working on. Rose glared, hanging onto the paper like her life depended on it. “Bug off, Katie. If you wreck it, you’re so dead.” Katie rolled her eyes. If Rose wasn’t inking someone, she was drawing. But, to her credit, Rose flipped her book closed and wrapped her hands around her warm mug. Today had been a good day. She’d done two tattoos that morning – one for a veteran client, and one for a nervous first timer. Both had turned out, in her opinion, fabulously.

“Hey! Isn’t that the cutie that walks by Thresh all the time?” Katie was sitting up, completely alert now. Rose turned in her seat. Oh yes. It was Cutie. (Dubbed as such by most of the girls that worked at Threshold.) Katie grinned, nudging Rose in the ribs. “I’m gonna go talk to him.” Rose glanced at Katie, a little scowl on her face. “No way. I saw him first. He’s mine.” Katie rolled her eyes again. “I don’t see your name on him.” (For the record, yes, girls do this.) Rose stuck out her tongue. It was childish, but she felt it completely necessary. “You just watch.”

She got up, looking every inch a goth girl that hadn’t bothered growing up. Her (dyed) black hair was held up in two sleek pigtails, she had a thin black collar around her neck, and black boots that nearly reached her knee. Her clothes were, surprise, black too. A mid-thigh, pleated black skirt, and a black tank top. She wasn’t shy as she walked over the long haired man.

“Hi, stranger.” She flashed a coy smile. She’d seen him before. Pilot Ridge wasn’t huge, especially downtown. He’d walked past Threshold more than once. In fact, Rose had caught herself wondering if he’d pass by on any given day. At least she was able to talk to him, now. As long as he talked back, this would be easy.

[Oberon Sparks]

Rose McGovern wasn't usually the kind of girl who came up to Oberon.

Actually, it was very rare that girls approached Oberon. If anyone, that would probably be Ben, or maybe Ron. Of course, most of the time, Oberon was just himself, or at most, himself and one other person. In this case, Ronnie was back at his apartment, working on some paperwork that his boss had said he could take home to work on instead of sticking around at the office. And since he'd been up all night marathoning television shows he'd downloaded, Benny was sprawled out on his couch, catching up on some rest. When he rejoined himself that night, he would have spent the afternoon in town, gotten all of his work done, and yet still managed to catch enough sleep that even if he stayed up until his customary two o'clock, he would be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed come the morning.

As it was, Oberon himself was running on nearly 24 hours without sleep, and had needed some coffee. The April air had enticed him downtown, and so he sat next to an open window at his favorite coffee shop, alone.

Or, he'd been alone, until the aforementioned Rose McGovern sat down across from him. Aformentioned in her arrival, that is. Not her name. At least, Oberon didn't know her name, though that didn't altogether preclude him from having met her before, maybe as Ben?

"I'm sorry....do I know you?" He blushed slightly, not recognizing her, except as that goth girl with the pigtails he sometimes saw around town. If he didn't, why was she talking to him? He obviously didn't run in the same kind of circles; she should be able to tell by his sweatervest and tie combo, of all things.

[Rose McGovern]

Back at Rose’s table, the girls were making playful bets. Namely, how long Cutie would stick around for, once Rose got talking. If he’d stick around at all. One of them had him as simply getting up and leaving. Another was claiming he’d stick around for five minutes, realize Rose was bold, and a talker, and leave. Funnily enough, Katie was betting that he’d actually stay put. Rose could be a little... off putting, at first. The fact she was bold sometimes worked against her. Especially if she went for a guy like Oberon. He looked like the type of guy that might flinch away, or simply be baffled by Rose’s appearance.

Rose couldn’t see why girls wouldn’t approach Oberon. He was cute. Okay, in that slightly dorky way, but he was still cute. She’d seen him around town, and he’d caught her eye more than once. The girls at the Threshold razzed her for it constantly. She was supposed to find some punked out guy, like them. But... maybe she didn’t want some punked out guy. Maybe Oberon was more her type. At the very least, he was cute. For all she knew, he was a complete asshole.

The expression on Oberon’s face made Rose break into a little smile. Men were so cute when they blushed. She leaned back slightly in her chair, crossing her ankles beneath her. “Not by name. But I can change that. I’m Rose.” She had to have something to call him, other than “Cutie.” She wasn’t sure he’d appreciate it. Or even respond to it. Though it was tempting to use it, just to see him blush again. “And you are...?” Circles be damned, Oberon was cute, and Rose was talking to him. Anyone that had a problem with that could bite her.

[Oberon Sparks]

Well, that was a bit of a relief. Though he was still surprised that she would want to talk to him--Oberon had long since abandoned hope that he would be considered cool--at least he hadn't met her previously and forgotten her name. Rose, that was pretty. "Oh, it's nice to meet you, Rose. I'm Oberon. Ben. You can call me Ben."

He could hear the table of giggling women across the room. Oberon had noticed them when he'd walked into the coffeeshop, but he hadn't really noticed noticed. He'd been in the middle of his book, and had been eager to finish the story. But now...well, real human interaction with someone who wasn't him or someone he worked with would be nice. And, now that he saw her up close, she didn't look quite so intimidating as she had in the pack of goth women in the corner. Sure, he wouldn't have gone up to her either if she'd been alone, but that wasn't because he was intimidated.

Yeah, Oberon was a little intimidated.

He didn't know what to do when women talked to him out of nowhere. Suddenly, he wished that he'd stayed in the apartment himself and sent Ronnie into town. Granted, Ronnie's behaviour was probably the least like his own natural behavior, but at least she knew how to talk to women. Or Ben, at least, would have been better than being himself right now. "Nice weather we've been having."

[Rose McGovern]

Rose would have remembered talking to Oberon, or one of his duplicates. Granted, it might have been a little strange to run into one of his duplicates, and deal with the fact he didn’t remember her now. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. The goth girl smiled as he introduced himself. “Oberon?” She tilted her head slightly. “Like in A Midsummer Night’s Dream?” She’d read it in high school, but his name had triggered her memory about it. “It’s nice to meet you, Ben.”

She shot a little glance at her friends, dreading what they were actually talking about. Knowing them, it wasn’t good. She’d have to get it out of them later. Or, she could go reclaim her coffee, tell them to shut it, and come back. The only problem with that was leaving Ben’s table. Not going to happen. Not when she was finally talking to him. So far, so good. He hadn’t told her to go away, or got up and moved away, or worse, left. Up close, Ben seemed... well, still cute. While he probably wouldn’t be considered “cool” by any stretch of the word, that didn’t matter. He was nice.

It wasn’t unusual for Rose to approach strangers. She did it a lot, because she was a happy little extrovert, and she genuinely liked people. Ben’s comment about the weather made her smile. Definitely sweet. Cliché, maybe. But sweet. “Yeah.” She propped her elbow up on the table and rested her chin in her palm, looking slightly bemused. “You don’t talk to a lot of women, do you?” That just made him that much more endearing.

[Oberon Sparks]

When he was very little, Oberon had thought that he had an excellent name. After all, his namesake was the King of the fairies. And how cool was that? Not very, as he discovered once he reached middle school. Then he discovered that was very much uncool to be king of the Fairies. On occasion though, it did impress women, though usually more...librariany types. (The sweatervest also helped) "Yes, my mom was a great fan of Shakespeare. But Ben is best." Though he wasn't Ben, at the moment, he imagined that it would be easier if he acted like Ben.

Ben was a lot cooler than him.

Oberon had always been somewhat of a homebody, preferring places and people he knew to new situations. Hell, he could easily spend several consecutive days alone in his apartment. He had himself to talk to, and not in the crazy way.

He was, of course, a little affronted when Rose asked if he talked to women. He did, he just didn't know what to say when one came out of nowhere in the middle of his coffee. "I do, really, but I either know them personally or work with them, and therefore know what acceptable topics are. Lets say for example that you had a cat that passed away recently. If I spoke about my cat, you might get upset. Also, I'd be lying, because I don't have a cat. It was an example." He took another sip of his coffee, hoping he had cleared that up. "Do you have a cat?"

[Rose McGovern]

Hey, Rose thought Oberon was a pretty cool name. Much better than being named after a wussy flower. … Okay, roses weren’t that wussy. She banked on the fact that roses also had thorns. Granted, most men thought it was pretty and feminine, particularly when she was talking to them over the phone. By the time they met face to face, they were often surprised by the woman they were faced with. But she knew of Oberon’s namesake. She was just nice enough not to bring up that he was the fairy king. “All right. I can live with that. But for the record, I think Oberon is a cool name. Cooler than a flower, anyway.”

But she’d still call him Ben.

Despite her appearance, Rose was much happier at home, with a few good shows on her PVR, or a DVD or two, and her dog on her lap. The club scene in Pilot Ridge, though decent, got boring after a while. And Cricket was good company. … At least he didn’t argue over what movie they were going to watch.

As Ben explained himself, Rose sat with a bemused little smile. He really was cute. Even more so when he was trying to explain something. Once he was done, she had to admit, at least he was respectful. But the question made her laugh softly. “Not a cat, no. A dog, yes. Cricket. He’s a little Papillion, and the love of my life.” She rolled her eyes a little. “Kidding. He’s the closest thing to a man in my life.” She dug into her purse for a moment, before pulling out a tattered photo of her pet. “Here.” She tossed the picture onto the desk and rested her chin on her palm again. “So I know you don’t have a cat. Do you have any pets? Or did they all die, and I should just shut up?” Her voice was teasing, as was the look in her eyes. This could be a lot of fun.

[Oberon Sparks]

"No," Oberon said honestly, as he pulled his pen from his shirt pocket, and began to twirl it between his fingers. It was just something he did out of habit, and rarely noticed that he was doing so. "No, Rose is a pretty name."

Of course, he had no way of knowing anything about what Rose liked to do. She seemed nice enough, but her and her group of friends....well, they were a far cry from the few people other than himself he hung out with. He wasn't big into the club scene either. Yeah, he'd been to the bar parts of resturants, but he rarely went to bars in town, and never to any clubs.

He was really more of a coffee shop kind of guy.

Nodding, he smiled as she presented him with a picture of her dog. Even he was able to pick up on how she was more or less explicitly stating that she wasn't dating anyone, but that she appeared to want to change that. Or maybe he was reading it wrong. Anyway, he shook his head at her question. "There was a point I was going through fish at a ridiculous rate, so I started to name them all Eric, knowing they wouldn't live very long. But I gave that up, and now I have a rabbit named Ellie. I don't carry a picture of her, sorry."

[Rose McGovern]

Rose watched in slight amusement as Oberon pulled out the pen and twirled it. But his comment caught her somewhat off guard. She wasn’t all that used to that coming out of someone’s mouth. Unless it was her parents. “Uh... thanks?”

Speaking of Rose’s friends, they were looking over at their table again. Rose caught the look, but she tried to ignore it. She knew she’d be facing an interrogation later on. So far, there really wasn’t much to tell, other than she knew his name, and he thought hers was pretty. Not exactly front page news.

Honestly, she wasn’t trying to point out the fact she wasn’t dating. Stupid things just tended to slip from her mouth every so often, especially when she was talking about Cricket. Heck, if she was asked if she had a date for a Friday night, her answer was often something along the lines of ‘yeah, me and Cricket are going to watch a movie tonight.’ At least her friends were used to it. She managed to crack a smile at his answer, though. “Nice. Eric’s a good name for a fish. And rabbits are cute.” She pulled the picture back and dropped it back into her purse before looking back across at Oberon. “So. What do you do for a living, Ben?” Judging by his clothes, she’d guess office work. But she could be wrong.

[Oberon Sparks]

"You're welcome." Despite all appearances, he wasn't uncomfortable talking to just one person, once he found he had something to talk about. It also helped that he was trying to mimic Ben. "Though I'm sure you hear that all the time."

The giggling and whispers from the table Rose had abandoned grew a little louder, and he glanced over there again. If the whole group of them had shown up at his table, his brain probably would have short-circuited with embarrassment. His look caused the titters to grow louder still, and he looked away, blushing a little. What the hell was going on?

Oberon shifted in his seat a little, not sure exactly what was happening. Was she attempting to flirt with him? Or was she just trying to be friendly? More importantly, how should he act in response so he wouldn't offend her? He chose what would be the easiest route, for the moment: Just friendly, and keep up with the conversation. That's what Ben would do. "Yeah, they were named after the Erics in that Monty Python sketch, fish license." Oh, dear lord, he was a dork. "And I adopted Ellie after my sister bought her for her daughter, only to find out that she was allergic. So I got her." He smiled again, because really, who could talk about rabbits and not smile? [Ed.-They are much, much better than ducks.] In response to her question, he said, "I account for things." Then he waited a bit, and added, "I'm an accountant. I technically work for a firm in Montpelier, but I really only have one account: the private school outside town." Most people in Pilot Ridge knew that there was a private school nearby, but reports varied as to whether it was a Juvenile Hall, fancy prep, or elite art school.

[Rose McGovern]

Not much made Rose blush. The most dirty, juvenile jokes, she could hear without turning a shade of pink. This, however, brought a tiny tinge of red to her cheeks. “Not unless it’s coming from my parents.” She figured it was because the feminine name didn’t exactly “go” with her looks. But she was used to that.

Ugh. It was times like this Rose wished that she was some kind of cool meta-human. She could shut her friends up without having to go over there and tell them to cut it out. As it was, she couldn’t really do much, and she didn’t want to move. But when Oberon looked over, she sighed. “Looking makes it worse, Ben. They’re probably trying to figure out how long it’s going to be before you bolt on me.” She knew her friends well, and it seemed the mostly likely possibility.

Rose was a friendly person by nature. But trying to figure someone like Oberon out was difficult. He was a little squirmy, but that was probably because a) she’d surprised him, and b) he didn’t know her. She wouldn’t push him. Flirting could wait. If she got the vibe that he was interested. Otherwise, she’d leave it. She cocked her head slightly as he explained where the names had come from. “I’ve seen a couple of their movies. My brother really likes them. But I’ve never seen any of their sketches. Are they as good at the movies?” (Better, in Mad’s opinion, but that’s because she’s a British humor nerd.) Oberon’s smile was cute. Rose decided that right then. “That was really sweet of you.” She had to smile as well, because bunnies were cute. And the circumstances Oberon had found himself her owner just made it better. Most guys she knew couldn’t be bothered much with pets. But his answer to her question made her blink. Account for things...? Oh. Well, she wasn’t surprised. Except for the fact that his one account was the mystery school. ‘That’s not a bad job.” She grinned and leaned slightly closer. “So. Do they have, like, a million dollar budget? They’ve got to. It’s some fancy prep school for the rich kiddos.” Well, she liked to think it was some prep school, but she knew of others that figured it was a juvenile detention center. And others that were still stuck in the Harry Potter fandom theorized it was something along those lines. She was happy to go with the idea that made the most sense.

[Oberon Sparks]

Rose's guess as to what her friends were doing honestly surprised him. He did more than glance, he actually turned at looked at them, perplexed. That made them giggle even more, in a "we know you're talking about us talking about you talking about us, and you know it" kind of way. "Why would I bolt?" Then he turned back to Rose and cocked an amused eyebrow, "Are you going to try to kill me or something?"

Oh, good, she was someone who also knew Monty Python outside of just Holy Grail. "Oh, their old sketch show was amazing. Better than the movies, even. Have you seen Life of Brian?" Her resonse to the story about Ellie made him blush a little. Oberon loved the little rodent, yes but he didn't usually go around telling the story of how he became a rabbit owner. "Yeah...well, someone had to take care of her, and my lease allows it."

Oops. Talking about Hammel was a big no-no. And he'd slipped up, badly. Shit. He nervously took a sip of his coffee while Rose spoke. He was a little relieved, because she didn't ask particularly direct questions. They would be easy to step around. Mimicking her movement, he leaned a bit closer as well, over the table. "I could tell you that..." he dropped his voice to just above a playful whisper, "But I'd have to...serve you with legal papers for not respecting privacy laws." With a smile, Oberon shrugged. "It's work, but I like it well enough. What do you do?"

[Rose McGovern]

How, exactly, did Rose’s guess surprise Oberon? He didn’t look like the kind of guy to stick around, after he was accosted by a gothic looking woman. If she knew him better, she might have grabbed his arm in an attempt to keep him from looking. As it was, she didn’t, and he looked. God. She was going to kill Katie and the gang, especially when they started giggling louder. But Oberon took it remarkably well. So much so that Rose looked up, surprise clear in her eyes. “Not today. You’re a little too cute to kill, and I’m in a good mood.” Okay, she was lying. Oberon was a lot too cute to kill.

Yes, Rose knew Monty Python. Thanks to her brother, Ian, the dork. She smiled and reached up to twist one of her pigtails around her fingers. “Wow. And here I thought the movies were pretty good. Um… that was the one that was a Jesus spoof, right? I liked that one.” The one about life, that one was a little… yikes. But Life of Brian had been good, yes. And oh, Oberon was blushing again. That made Rose smile. He really was cute when he blushed. “Doesn’t matter. It’s sweet.” Oh, come on Ben. Girls are suckers for animals. Men with animals are even better.

Like most of the residents of Pilot Ridge, Rose knew very little about Hammel. And that was probably what Hammel wanted. She wasn’t horribly nosy, she wouldn’t ask a lot. Besides, she was under the impression it was no more than a preppy, expensive prep school. The fact that Oberon leaned closer to her as well made her friends erupt into giggles, but Rose ignored them, focusing on what he was saying. Her heart gave a tiny, predictable flutter when he lowered his voice, and trailed off. She could have filled in the blank so easily. Legal papers… weren’t on that list. But it made her smile all the same. “Aw, and here I thought you were going to tell me.” Yeah, right. But the topic of conversation was easily shifted. She smiled and leaned back in her chair again. “I’m a tattoo artist. I work over at Threshold.” It let her be creative, and it paid the bills. And she loved every minute of it.

[Oberon Sparks]

You know how, in the claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Raindeer, Clarice kisses Rudolph on the nose and says that she thinks he's cute? And then Rudoph blushes and starts leaping about and kicks ass at the raindeer games, while shouting "I'm cuuuuuuuute! She thinks I'm cuuuuuuute!"

Yeah, that's pretty much how Oberon felt just then. "Well, thank you. For the not killing me thing." Did he sound as much like an idiot as he felt just then? He winced inwardly at the thought. Why couldn't he be cool, like Ben?

But it was helpful that Rose liked Monty Python. That was always a failsafe if he found himself without anything to say. "Yeah, that one was the Jesus spoof. Though it was really more of a spoof on irrational behavior and conformity..." And he was back into nerd zone. He'd always been the brainy one. "And, you know, it was just funny."

Luckily, Rose let him steer the conversation away from his job. He worked at a top-secret facility, and he couldn't casually reveal anything about it to some woman he only just met. No matter how pretty her eyes were. Plus, even though he worked alongside meta-humans, he was still just an accountant. Boring, by all accounts. "Really? That's a cool job. How'd you get into it?"

[Rose McGovern]

… That was the cutest analogy in the history of analogies. I am now picturing Oberon leaping around yelling about being cute. And I need something to cheer me up, so… yeah. That worked fantastically. Thanks for that. Rose does indeed think Oberon is cute. And given half a chance, she’d probably kiss his cheek.

Rose smiled at his reaction. Him being cute had sort of slipped out, but she wasn’t regretting it. Because he was cute. “I have a policy against killing cute guys.” Nice, Rose. Just make him blush more. … Oh, wait. That was her goal.

She did, in fact, like Monty Python. Ian had come over tons of times, armed with junk food and silly British movies. The fact that she was right, it was the Jesus spoof, made her smile. Good. She cocked her head, slightly. “Wow. I just thought it was hilarious. Then again, anything that spoofs irrational behavior is pretty awesome. … Or Jesus.” She’s going to let Oberon get away with being nerdy, because, well… it’s Oberon. He’s not not going to be nerdy.

At his question, Rose shrugged a little. It wasn’t that interesting, how she’d gotten into it. “I don’t know. It just seemed logical. I was one of those kids that was always coloring on whatever was handy. You know, parents’ paperwork, walls… but I always liked designing, and art. I got a tattoo when I graduated high school, and after that, I was in love.” She smiled brightly. “I started working at Threshold right out of school, working reception. But they taught me how to tattoo, and now I’m the sadistic one at the end of the needle.” She sounded far, far too happy about that fact.