Hermits United~ An RP of Pete's world awesomeness!

John's eyes brightened with obvious interest at that.  "Oh?  Well, congratulations!  Who's the lucky fella?" he inquired, wondering if it was someone he would know of, or at least know of his house.  There were no guarantees the man would've even existed back on his Gallifrey, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

"o-oh, well, um," she began, blushing brightly, "I-I'm sure you didn't know him in your old universe," she hedged, making rose quirk an eyebrow in confusion (a habit she had picked up from john). lucian looked a bit surprised at her hedging as well, but she continued. "I'm officially an earth researcher now, so I can spend longer with you here, making observations about 21st century earth, which is nice."

()

John, too, quirked his eyebrow, glancing briefly to Rose, then to Lucian and Theta, wondering what the big secret was, and why Mikra should've been so embarrassed about it.  He wondered if he should press her - Lucian, at least, seemed surprised she was so evasive, as well, so it must not've been too big a deal - but ultimately decided against it.  It probably wasn't his place, anyway, and he didn't want to pry - at least, not too much, even if he was even more curious now.  "Mm... well, that's good," he noted as she continued, apparently moving on to other topics.  "I'm sure that'll keep you busy for a good long while."  It was true - even after centuries spent traveling around Earth, popping in and out frequently in his adventures through time and space, he still found there were things that surprised him.

(Probably gonna poof now - be back in a bit.)

(hehehe)

"oh, yes, I certainly hope so!" she said with a happy smile. "and I passed my TARDIS certifications just recently too, so I'm allowed to fly my own timeship, if I want to!" maggie clapped excitedly and mikra giggled, cleaning the tot up and grabbing her for a hug. "I missed you, little one. you're so cute!"

Lucian and theta didn't quite seem to know what to do with themselves since it wasn't actually their anniversary. "er...shall I help you make tea?" lucian offered, getting up and gathering the plates the Time Lords had used so he could wash them.

(*Is very suspicious*  xD)

"Brilliant!" John said with a smile, watching as Mikra drew Maggie into a hug.  He finished up his own lunch and set down his fork, grabbing a couple napkins and cleaning up the boys before standing and taking the rest of the dishes into the kitchen.  He looked over as Lucian followed him in, smiling slightly once more.  "Sure, why not?" he replied with a slight laugh, rinsing off the dishes as he let Lucian start the tea.

lucian put the kettle on and got out the rest of the items necessary for tea, watching as rose and mikra and theta handled the children and got them back into the living room, starting to chatter away and ignore the two men. "er...John," lucian began in a low tone once he was sure no one is listening, "I need some advice from you..."

John looked over in slight surprise as Lucian asked him for advice - it wasn't a request he typically got from his older brother.  "'Course.  What is it?" he responded, raising one brow inquiringly, walking closer once he'd finished with the dishes.

"well, you see," he began, looking rather nervous, which was an extremely rare face for him. "...there's this...situation...and it's rather delicate, but you've been through it brilliantly, and, well, I was hoping perhaps you'd have some pointers for me..." he was even starting to blush, now. "you and Rose are so happy together, and before I know I've never had any interest in such things, but, well, you know people change? and Time Lords more than most?" he looked like a shy schoolboy at this point, hands in his robe pockets to stop his fidgeting.

(EDIT: gotta go make dinner, poofy)

John stared at him with a look of further surprise as he started to blush, and then to fidget, which was very unusual for him.  He wasn't sure he'd ever seen his brother act so nervous, in fact.  In the back of his mind, his 'human intuition' was starting to tingle, trying to tell him this was a very important inquiry, but he pushed the sensation back for the time being.  "...Yes?  Go on," he prompted Lucian quietly.

"well...you see...there's this...girl," he admitted softly, turning almost painfully red, rivalling his ginger hair. "and she's special. I want...er, well, I've been courting her for about two years now, but I just don't know if it's right to ask...it needs to be perfect, you know."

John's eyebrows rose up slightly as Lucian finally admitted outright what he was asking - or, well, mostly so, at least.  "You, too?" he asked, grinning a little.  "Well... I mean, if you're really serious about it, then I don't see why it shouldn't be the right time.  You should take her out somewhere special - somewhere you'd both enjoy going.  When I proposed to Rose, I cooked dinner for her, and then we walked to the park."  His eyes glimmered a bit dreamily as he thought about that evening, and how beautiful Rose had looked in the sunset...  After a few seconds, he snapped himself out of his trance-like state and turned back to Lucian.  "Both you and Mikra...  Well blimey, everybody's getting married now, aren't they?" he commented with a slight laugh, not quite putting two and two together, being oblivious as he often was.

"a park," he mused softly. "yes, that does sound like a good idea...I think she'd like that." at john's oblivious comment, his blush returned. "er, well, ahem, yes, I suppose it must look that way. late summer and early fall are fairly popular times for it, aren't they?" he hedged, turning away. "why don't we rejoin the others? or is the tea nearly ready?" it was, indeed, almost ready to whistle.

(*Whacks John upside the head*
John:  >O>  "What was that for?!"
.....  ಠ____ಠ
xD)

John shrugged a little at that, noticing Lucian's evasiveness but still not registering why.  "Yeah... I suppose it is," he agreed - well, he'd proposed in summer, too, so perhaps there was something to it.  He turned to the cooker at Lucian's question, noticing the steam beginning to trickle out of the kettle's spout.  "Looks like it," he agreed, heading toward the cupboards to grab a teapot and some cups.

(lol, I think he's been oblivious enough )

he helped put everything together, grabbing some biscuits out of the tin on the counter and putting them on a plate on a tray for the teapot. he poured the water into the teapot and added the tea, letting it steep for a moment. "hmm...it just occurred to me that I'm not a terribly good cook," he noted. "and I'm only familiar with lungbarrow house recipes. what would someone from oakdown even like? maybe I should ask theta that...oof, I should really ask his help talking with the future in-laws...after all, they are friends..." he was pretty much just talking to himself at this point, loud enough for john to hear.

(Yeeeaaah... I think he'd get it with that... xD)

John, once everything was on the tray, headed over to pick it up, listening idly to Lucian ramble to himself.  He had lifted the tray and taken a couple of steps toward the other room when the meaning of Lucian's words finally hit him.  The sudden realization made him halt mid-stride, nearly dropping the tray.  He turned back around, his eyes bugging out, and exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly, "Whot?!  You're not...  You're courting Mikra?!  But... why didn't you tell me!?"  He stared at his brother wth wide eyes for a moment longer before bursting into a broad, excited grin.  "This is brilliant!!  You and Mikra...!!"

"hsh!" he scolded, blushing again as everyone in the front room turned to look at the excited spiky-haired man. rose turned to mikra with a wide grin of her own and the young time lady turned beet red. theta just laughed at both of them. "I did wonder why you were being so secretive, lucian!" he said, beaming. "I knew you'd settle down one day!"

"no you didn't," he scoffed with a cautious smile for his younger brother. "you were always first in line to tell anyone who'd listen how married to my work I was."

("Excited spiky-haired man"... XD)

John had the grace to appear momentarily sheepish as he turned to look and realized that everyone in the other room was now looking their direction, but it was replaced by excitement once more less than two seconds later as Theta laughed.  "You didn't even know about this?!" he exclaimed in shock, laughing a bit himself.  "How in the world did you two manage to keep it a secret for two years?"

(Welp, I should probably start getting ready for bed.  x_x  G'night!)

"well, to be fair, I am a bit oblivious, as I'm sure you can attest," Theta laughed. "not to mention the Lord President is quite a busy man, and they didn't exactly flaunt the relationship." mikra had started to giggle nervously and lucian sat beside her on the couch, offering his hand for her to take. "I will ask for your hand, but I want to do it properly, and memorably, you understand," he told the young time lady, who nodded quickly. the boys had already gone back to ignoring the adults.

"Well..." John shrugged innocently, giggling a little.  He set the tray on the table and poured tea in all the cups, then, after offering a cup to Rose, sat on the arm of her chair, draping his arm over her shoulders and smirking happily at the other couple in the room.

Matthew suddenly babbled a loud bit of nonsense at David, and John looked over at the two of them, giving a snort of amusement.

after the other four adults also turned with various degrees of surprise, concern, and amusement to the twins, theta looked back at his older brother and rubbed his hands together. "so," he began eagerly, "so much to plan! who do you want for your witnesses? who should present the ribbons? what will the guest list look like? oh, and I suppose you have to speak with koschei, of course--"

"brother, please, calm down!" lucian said, holding up a hand and turning a bit pink around the ears again. Rose was hiding behind her cup of tea, trying desperately not to laugh at the embarrassed new couple. maggie wandered over and offered theta a wooden muffin from her play set.

(I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mikra was surprised, Lucian was concerned, and Theta and Rose were amused.  x'D)

John listened to Theta eagerly prattle on in silence, an amused smile on his face as he, too, tried not to laugh at his other self's enthusiasm and Lucian and Mikra's embarrassment.  He glanced over to Rose, noting with additional amusement that she seemed to be feeling the same, before turning again as Maggie wandered over to Theta, presenting him with a wooden muffin.  He gave another soft snort of laughter.  "Well, if you need us for anything - whether it be any sort of participation or just advice - you know we're always available," he offered, looking to Mikra and his older brother with glimmering eyes.

(yeah, more or less XD. I gotta go cook again, but this time no long poof for groceries as far as I know. I should be back around seven)

"oh, I should expect we will need you for something, at least," theta hummed thoughtfully, taking the wooden muffin and thanking maggie for it. she smiled and wandered off again, bringing one to Lucian after a moment. he offered a bemused smile and complimented her baking skills. Rose couldn't help but notice the slight wistful fright in his eyes, looking at maggie. he was probably anticipating having children of his own with no small amount of apprehension...

(Okie dokie~  Playing Zoo Tycoon 2 so I'll probably be poofy anyway lol)

John gave a thoughtful hum in return, nodding and turning his attention back to Maggie as she brought Lucian another muffin.  He grinned amusedly, glancing up to his brother and also noticing the wistful apprehension in his eyes, though he didn't say anything, not wanting to frighten him further - he knew the subject was a delicate one for the stoic Time Lord.

Mikra started to chat with rose when maggie came up to her, offering the third muffin, then holding up the final one, unsure who to give it to. mummy, or daddy? mummy...or daddy? rose noticed her confusion and held her hand out. "we'll share, darling," she offered, but maggie shook her head and then handed the muffin to john. Mikra gave a happy noise as one of the boys crawled over and started tugging on her skirt, cooing happily.

John gave Maggie a small smile as she held out the muffin to him.  "Thanks, sweetie," he murmured, taking the muffin and giving Rose a slightly sheepish look.  "You want a bite?" he offered to her, glancing over briefly as David started tugging on Mikra's skirt, much to the Time Lady's pleasure.  It was clear Mikra was very fond of children, and would undoubtedly like to have some of her own, though John was unsure how willing Lucian would be to partake in such things.  It was clear he had never been a natural with kids, though John rather thought that he had the potential to make a good father if he could get past his awkwardness around them.

Apparently, Matthew thought so, too, because a moment later, he crawled over to the ginger man, attaching himself to his leg and using it to pull himself upright, giving him a broad, open-mouthed grin.  John barely stifled a snork of laughter.