Owner	Pose
Emiko Queen	The massive upstairs apartment has high ceilings and a largely open floorplan, with the only fully enclosed spaces being the two bedrooms, bathrooms, and the pantry and laundry room behind the kitchen. The general layout from the front door has a nice flow with both bedrooms up at the front, bracketing the foyer, with a wide hall leading past the bedrooms, the bathrooms, and into the living space. The dining area helps to separate living room from kitchen, with no walls to enclose the spaces. Behind the kitchen is a pantry to the left, and a laundry room with an attached bath to the right, bracketing the back door. On the western wall, leading up over the pantry, are a set of stairs that lead up to the rooftop. The floors are all a nice mellow Japanese Elm, with the walls a very pale golden yellow or pale parchment. Light green tatami mats with a darker grey edging have been laid out like rugs here and there to provide a little color and as a breakpoint between spaces. Throughout the space there are slender but sturdy catwalks, platforms, scratching posts, cushions, and spaces set up for pets.     The guest room is a large space, open and airy with plenty of room to move around. The floor is the same Japanese Elm in the rest of the apartment, with small green, grey, and white rag rugs scattered across it. There's a large king-sized bed with a thick memory foam mattress that can be hidden away by folding it into the built-in ash cabinetry along the wall. The bedding is simple, white sheets and pillowcases with pale green covers and a dark grey comforter. A large window takes up a big portion of the street-facing wall, a window seat built in to allow for people-watching. A wall-mounted tv provides entertainment for guests, with a small chaise and lounge chair in ash wood with pale green upholstery in one corner along with a small coffee table. An attached bathroom has a door to the rest of the house as well, providing access from either the guest room or the living room. The flooring is a venetian gold granite, with white walls that have slate accents. The shower is slate and smoked glass, an open walk-in style with a half-wall of slate, the top half glassed in to keep the spray within the confines of the stall. The main showerhead is a waterfall style, with an optional handheld sprayer underneath. The cabinetry is all ash wood with a mellow golden stain, the same venetian gold granite for the countertops, dual sinks, and a large mirror with LED lighting overhead. The toilet is opposite the sinks with a tall laundry cabinet to help keep it from immediate view from the living room.     The living space seems to be split between two areas, the entertainment center and a seating area. There's a big comfortable slate grey leather couch in front of an utterly decadent 146 inch OLED 4K tv hung on the wall. On either side of the tv are shelving units that house the various entertainment and gaming units, shelves stocked with movies and video games, figurines from various IP's. The sound system employs standing and hidden speakers to form a fully immersive surround sound. A couple shoji 4 panel dividers with some built in baffling help to keep the noise down and separates the two sections of the room. The seating area is a simple space with futon style sofa, loveseat, and chair set into a U-shaped configuration around a low regtangular coffee table. The furniture is made from hinoki wood with thick, light grey cushions. The wall behind the sofa holds a trio of tsuzure tapestries depicting a woodland, village, and beach scene respectively.     The dining area is a simple, open space that hold a long rectangular table of a light ash wood, pale blonde in color with light grey and gold streaks running throughout the grain. There is bench seating along one side of the same ash wood but with a light grey cushion added to the top. Along the other side and at either end are simple ash wood chairs to match the dining set, also bearing light grey cushions on the seats. A matching sideboard and china cabinet are set along th
Emiko Queen	It's taken some time, a lot of back and forth, a few meetings... but it's ready! Emiko has sent out invitations for Bart, Conner, and Tim to gather at her newly refurbished apartment for a night of good food and video games! The dining table is laden down with foods from the ONion Maiden, a local pizza place, and various drinks and snacks delivered from the local grocery store. The kittens are running about the catwalks, picking up on the energy put out by Emiko as she bustles around, making sure everything is set and ready, that there's drinks chilled and available, everything has been cleaned to within an inch of it's life, and she herself is back into comfy clothes for the night. Black capri leggings, a black fitted tee under a sleeveless red hoodie with a front pouch. She's also wearing house slippers because that's how she was raised! When everyone arrives, they're ushered in, given the nickel tour to show off the new place. "Okay! So the setup is in the living room, to your left, food is in the dining area... and if anyone brought their own controller, feel free to plug in! I'm open to suggestions on games since I'm the newbie for gaming."
Bart Allen	Bart Allen hugs and kisses Emiko when he arrives. He already has a controller here. He will take a moment to give the kittens a bit of attention as they demand it, but then he is standing next to Emiko talking as the others show up. "I am glad your getting to know them better hon, they are my best friends. Taught me a lot about this time when I got here, honestly not sure what I would have been like without them.
Conner Kent	Conner usually tries to spend the odd weekend evening with whatever Outsiders are in the Roost, but surely he can spare an evening for Bart and his (he assumes) girlfriend. He looks around the apartment, looking impressed, "hey, nice place." Then he looks for Bart. "Well, he is the specialist. I no longer play games much. I'm going to be rusty." But that is okay, he came to spend time with friends. Games are a distant third. Tasty food is the second.
Tim Drake	Getting Tim out of Gotham is sometimes a struggle, and publicly that's just because of his various responsibilities to both Wayne Enterprises and the Wayne Foundation. In reality it's mostly because of the patrol schedule split between the Bats and trying to lead a team of his (predominantly super-powered) peers. But Emiko has the insight of having to manage her portion of the Queen social calendar, so they're able to find a good meeting time that's clear on the Wayne social calendar.     There's a chunk of time blocked off on some digital calendar somewhere with 'Game Night @ Emiko's' tagged to it. Is it any surprise that Tim micromanages his time just as much as he micromanages... just about everything else in his life?     And yes, Tim brought his own controller. And a fancy Le Creuset baking dish, filled with "the family butler's famous browned butter brownies," which he explains as he hands it off to Emiko upon arrival. Maybe not the traditional house warming gift, but they're good enough to make up for that. For real.     "I play a lot of computer games, mostly," he says, echoing Conner's own rustiness. "But I'm sure we'll both pick it back up after a bit."     He tracks the kittens up along the catwalks -- there's definitely a meta joke to be made here about Bats and Cats -- before he looks over to Emiko. "What do you and Bart like to play? Competitive or cooperative?"
Emiko Queen	Emiko offers her hand to Conner with a smile, "Thank you for coming, I know you guys all have super busy schedules. Emiko Queen, Bart's girlfriend, newest scion to Queen Industries... and I'm deeply glad to meet you." Bart gets a hug and return of his kiss before she's smiling after him. Tim's arrival has her taking the dish carefully, "Thank you! I've been warned about Alfred's baking. It's practically a drug." Chuckling, she carries it over to the dining table and makes space for them front and center. "Usually coop, our attempts at competitive have been... interesting. My fault, mostly. I've found that I have a nasty competitive streak." She motions to the tv and the various systems, "Feel free to take a look. I have a growing fondness for FPS and driving games. And Viva Pinata, oddly enough." Crossing the space, she smiles as two yellow eyes peer over the edge of the catwalk, "Huginn and Muninn. Rescues from the local shelter. Huginn is missing his right eye, Muninn his left. Siblings. They're actually what got me started on the big animal rescue project." She moves to the kitchen and puts down some treats for the kittens, staying put as she's used as a springboard when they leap from the catwalks. Each kitten gets a scritch and she leaves them to their food.
Bart Allen	Bart Allen nods, and says "Co-op " He agrees nodding, seems Bart has learned a bit about when playing video games with your girl friend. "Yea, I am the one who plays the most, but then I have a bit more time to do it kinda than they do." He will show the guys the place, as Emiko talks about it "Her place is way neater than mine, I would say it is cause she has more space, but lets be honest, she has good taste, where I am more, hey thats cool." He does have a motorized couch after all.
Conner Kent	Conner shakes Emi's hand and grins, "I am not that busy except during college exams, which are... damn, I am going to be busy soon!" He mock-grumbles. "But anyway, yeah... not playing much since I got to college. But... I used to be Bart's main accomplice!" Many a gaming console died in their hands in the good old times, when they were new to reality and had sub-zero common sense. In truth Conner developing hyper-senses was what made him start playing less. All those pixels and screen refreshing. Ugly.
Tim Drake	"You'll have to meet Damian someday. He's big on animal-based charities." Tim's head tilts to the side. "The littlest Wayne. Though don't tell Damian I called him that. He can be a bit prickly."     The consensus on cooperative gets a belated but agreeable nod. Probably for the best, anyway. Out of the group here, Emiko isn't the only one with a competitive streak, but Tim's less willing to subject his friends to that than he used to be. Instead he crouches down to inspect the game selection.     He absolutely does not get distracted by the figures. Tim does love a good collectible.     "Getting to design your own space is pretty nice. This makes me want to redo the penthouse. It'd be one thing if my mom had cared for function over form, but she had a supernatural ability to buy the most uncomfortable couches in the world." Tim's expression is briefly wistful, though it smooths out after a moment. "So now the place is both basically unlivable and also ten years out of date."
Emiko Queen	"Yeah, we're gearing up for finals too. That's why I wanted to get this done now, before things got completely insane. I figure Bart's birthday will make a good 'celebrate done with the semester' time." Emi turns an easy grin towards Conner and gives a nod. Chuckling, she lifts both brows, "So what types of games did you two play most?" Flashing a grin towards Tim, she responds, "Already done and he's on board with the project. I also got Franklin Richards to put his name on it, as well. Ground's been broken on getting construction underway and I'm hoping we'll be ready for opening before the end of summer." Emiko chuckles and grabs up a tray with some snacks and drinks, bringing it over to the coffee table and setting it there for anyone who wants something. Turning a smile towards Bart, she winks at him, "I like Bart too much to subject him to competitive play anymore, buuuuuuuuuut if you want to take me on sometime, Tim, I'll toss you my tag for all the usual places. We can test our skill." Settling onto the couch, she adds, "There's more games on the hard drive. And yeah, this was a defunct building. Bottom half is zoned commercial, it was a small drug store or something, I think. Top half was residential. But it was on the market for a long time, even the floors and walls still looked straight out of the 70's. Had everything stripped to the studs and built back up fresh. Still not sure what I want to do with the bottom half yet. Mostly storage for now."
Bart Allen	Bart Allen nods and says "Yea we found a neat place where it is going to be an old fort was there, and it has access to the river as well as normal land, so should be able to do alot with it." He does go and grab a bowl of chips, and finds a seat that seems his normal place from the way he sits. He nods a bit and says "Yea, I took her to see Damian, knew he would want to be in on it, still need to get him to introduce her to Goliath." He says.
Conner Kent	Conner was already hunting for snacks. Second to Bart, but when Emi asks about the games, he frowns, going through the memory lane. "I think we played a lot of Borderlands? And Call of Duty? And the one about stealing cars." The last one was probably Rose's favourite. She could get very competitive too! "Anyway, lets see what you got," decides Conner. "Gotta be one we can all play in a single screen, yeah?"
Tim Drake	Hands on his knees, Tim pushes himself back up from his crouch and then pulls out his phone. Wherever they might be, Emiko's various electronics ping with the details to Tim's online gaming accounts. "Grand Theft Auto," he answers, automatically, then grins at Emi. Though he doesn't say it aloud, the "You're on" is clearly there in the intense look he shoots her.     "Pretty sure I'm going to be busy overseeing an intern project this summer, but let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Not including meeting Goliath, for my own personal safety."     He steps out of the way so that Conner can consider the video game library, and instead takes a seat at the end of the couch as he says, "I play a lot of strategy games." Despite how very much he wants to, Tim does not give into the urge to go into detail about his conquests on EVE Online. "XCOM, StarCraft II, Dwarf Fortress. Sometimes I play Soulsborne games when I'm feeling masochistic, but those are harder to pick up for a few minutes here and there. I lose the muscle memory too fast."
Emiko Queen	Emiko flashes a grin, "I'm looking forward to meet any animal named Goliath. Either going to be the most massive pet ever, or the tiniest, mose adorable scrap of fluff. Either way, I'm here for it." She leans in and nudges Bart with one shoulder and smiles, "Bart has been helping me network up a good group of people to help with the project." Looking to Conner, she flashes a grin, "Yeah, local 4 player would be a necessity. I really shoulder get four separate screens but... another time!" Making a mental note, she offers, "Off-hand that means... Overcooke 1 & 2, Diablo 3, Moving Out, Call of Dury anything, any of the Borderlands games, Minecraft, Halo, Just Dance, Portal Knights, Rock Band 4, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes... though I'm told that one has ended friendships soooooo.." She lifts a shrug, "Admittedly, most video games these days are focusing on online co-op rather than local." Her phone dings, and she pulls up an app, her grin sharpening and eyes lifting to meet Tim's. Oh its on. The internet will RING with the echoes of the coming battle! For the moment, she simply adds him in and gives a nod to Tim. "Mmmmmm, sadly, not many local co-op strategy games. But if you guys want to old school and pull out board games, we can do that too." Chuckling, she lifts a shrug, "Perhaps we can set up a board game night at another place on another night. Or just... game night. Cards Against Humanity is supposed to be a lot of fun."
Bart Allen	Bart Allen looks over and says "Maybe do a board game night at the Roost, where we can have a lot of people come in, maybe some tag in and out if we are playing something that takes forever. " He remembers Tim getting him to agree to play Axis and Allies. "Speaking of the roost, think we can get Emiko added to the locks so she can come and go if she is looking for me? Heck if she is there she might even be able to join us on some missions. " He looks over to Emiko, and says "There are some there, who have had pasts somewhat like yours."
Conner Kent	"And Karaoke, of course," points out Conner, grinning. "Ah, and we used to play a role playing game, with Tim as director. In fact we did one last game recently, it was fun." Not exactly board games; poor Tim was stuck with a bunch of hyperactive crazy kids. Now they have more calm members. And yet he has difficulties seeing Laura, Cass or Lonnie playing Risk around a table. Maybe Phoebe would do it. "Hey Bart, pick a game and lets roll," or bake, or run. Whatever. Conner is moving the snacks closer to the controllers. He didn't bring any, since his gaming console didn't survive when his house in Hawaii got mostly blown up.
Tim Drake	Tim's eyebrows go up, and he looks between Bart and Emiko for a long moment, silently. Then he tips his head to the side and pulls his legs up to sit criss-cross applesauce (yes, he removed his shoes at the door).     "Sure," he says, at length. Then he nods, and gestures towards the games in support of Conner shifting the decision-making onto Bart.     Then he cups his chin in his palm. "Have you ever played D&D, Emiko?"
Emiko Queen	Emiko flicks a glance to Bart and lifts a brow, then over to Tim, giving him a considering look. She nods, smiling, "Should be interesting then. I'll be on my best behavior." All information about Emiko prior to her arrival in Starling City at 16 is that she was raised abroad by a now-deceased mother. Oddly.. no pictures, no Facebook, no presence whatsoever outside of a birth certificate and required paperwork. Modern mystery! She glances to Conner with a grin, then over to Bart, "Lets go with Overcooked. It's a nice, light, fun co-op game. Easy to learn, but we can have some fun with it." She lifts both brows towards Conner, "You guys do karaoke?" Looking back to Tim, she shakes her head, "I only moved to the states a few years ago, after my mother passed. I spent most of those years acclimating to the country and it's people. I, uh, don't really make friends as easily."
Bart Allen	Bart Allen nods a bit and says "Overclocked it is, we can talk more while playing it too." He comments on it. He looks over to Tim and the raised brow, and h e cocks his head for a moment, wondering what Tim is thinking but he learned years ago it is never what Bart thinks he is thinking. "It is part of why we are together as a group, yea we fight crime, and go in where needed, but it is good to have others around you who have some of the same issues and happenings as you. Like Tim, had to get both Conner and Me identification paper trail and all that."
Conner Kent	Conner looks a little bemused at the choice of game. Cooking? Well, okay! He finds a spot on the couch and glances at Emi. "Well, we did once together. But I used to do it very often when I lived in Hawaii." He considers for a few seconds, "where are you from, Emi? You don't have a foreign accent I can detect."
Tim Drake	"So you've chosen absolute chaos," is all Tim says about Emiko's choice. He gives a quick flex to his fingers before he settles them around his controller, elbows on his knees as he leans forward.     Competitive, yes, definitely. Even in a cooperative game, it seems.
Emiko Queen	Emi glances over at Bart and smiles faintly, leaning in to murmur, "Few people's parents have actively tried to kill them, Bart... but I will grant you that it's more common in the part of the world I was in." Straightening, she plucks up a controller and gets the game pulled up and loading, "My brother pulled some strings to get me 'legalized'." To Conner, she grins, "Nowhere, technically. But I was mostly raised in Japan. And thank you, I've worked very hard to ensure that." Looking towards Tim, she flashes a grin, "What, you don't thrive in a chaotic environment with strict time limits and an unruly group?" Leaning back into the couch, she nestles in against Bart and smiles.
Conner Kent	"Uh... parents," well, Conner's 'father' was a mad scientist that wanted to keep him frozen for... probably nothing good. Clone problems! "Japan is cool, I have been there a few times. My accent is not great," he comments, trying to pull the conversation away from the bad stuff. "I can't believe you are going to make me play a cooking game," he notes, with a grin. "I warn you I am banned from the kitchen everywhere."
Bart Allen	Bart Allen reaches over to hold her hand a moment, and says "I was thinking more the other part., but Rose may have that in common too." He tells her. He looks over and says "It is more memory and timing than actual cooking." He tells Conner, and gets his controller synced up. "Honestly though hon, half the people at Phoebe's birthday party have some .. interesting... history."
Tim Drake	The drawing in of Tim's eyebrows shows he definitely has been called out, there. Then he blows out a breath and admits a quick, "Yeah, okay, you're not wrong," with an amused huff of breath. And even though Tim isn't really much in the kitchen himself (though he's not at the disaster level of not even being allowed in the room) he looks towards the tv, clearly geared up for the game to commence.     "There's something to say here about the company we keep, or something," he says, voice pointedly light. There's no need for him to get into the sensitive topic of parents, really. Though his aren't nearly as... well, violent.
Emiko Queen	"Ohhhhhh, the... okay, yeah. There's a few people that might have heard of me already then..." Emiko lifts a shrug, apparently unconcerned about it. She smiles as the game gets going, keeping her eyes on the screen even as she continues to chat. "We should probably have someone calling out what's needed, where, and who should do it. Tim? You good for that?" "What... great minds think alike? Or... birds of a feather flock together?" Her grin grows, she's definitely enjoying teasing a bit. "I have to admit, my parents suck. I will be delighted the day Bart finally agrees to take me to the past so I can punch my father in the mouth. But... far as family's go, I could have gotten worse. Ollie has been nothing but amazing."
Bart Allen	Bart Allen looks over and says "It would be an issue, we might not get back to the right time. " He start s the game with his tongue out the corner of his mouth for a moment. "I think you would honestly like most of the folks who are part of the team." He smiles and says "We maybe can find someone who looks like im is bad and you can punch them.
Tim Drake	"I think I was looking for 'we are the company we keep,' but that feels a little dire," Tim says. His eyes are locked on the screen now, because Emiko has handed down a serious responsibility to him and Tim isn't going to ignore it. "Got it. Okay, Bart, do you want to expedite food? Whenever we have a dish ready, get it out to the customers and then bring the dirty dishes back to the sink?"     And even though he's already moving his pudgy little chef around on the screen (he chose the owl) Tim seems perfectly capable of having a regular conversation. While he does virtual dishes. Much easier than actually doing the washing up in real life. "Everyone's chill. Well..." His mind goes to the more suspicious members of the team. "After they make sure you're not an assassin sent to kill us all, everyone's chill. People process trauma in different ways."
Emiko Queen	"Wouldn't be the same. It has to be him, Bart, or it's just going to feel... hollow." Emiko gives a small shake of her head as she starts her girl chef running around at the station opposite Tim's, "You want me to cover this station, you cover that station?" She doesn't look away from the tv, keeping up with the guys just as easily. "Ahhhhhhh aha.. hehehe.. well. I'm not after -them-. I'm not after anyone in particular. But my background is probably not going to help in that regard..." she lifts a small shrug even as she rushes about on the game, prepping ingredients and dropping them off at Tim's counter, then running back to her own and doing a load of dishes before she's off to the next task!
Bart Allen	Bart Allen will pick up the left over jobs, letting Conner take the easier part, and his little guy is running about "See, now here, I could really use my speed in the game." He grins a bit though he is having fun with his favorite people.
Tim Drake	"Yeah, take the sous chef position, I have this," Tim says. He's silent on the other half of the conversation, because he's definitely lacking a whole lot of context there. Instead Tim allows himself to fall into the repeating cycle of fry things, boil things, combine fried things and boiled things together into the final dish.     He calls out the dishes that pop up on screen, then casts the mental equivalent of a side-eye at Bart (because he can't look away from the screen). "Pretty sure that would glitch out the game. I don't think there is any amount of processors that could keep up with you."
Emiko Queen	Snorting softly, Emiko lets out a small laugh, "To say nothing of the controller. No way it could keep up with him." She grins even as she bustles about chopping lettuce, tomatoes, arranging plates and bringing them to Tim's owl to plate up the dishes. "I wonder what would break first, though..." she seems happy to leave off the more 'personal' conversation, just playing through the round with a smile and lightly ribbing on Bart and Tim, expecting to get ribbed in return.
Bart Allen	Bart Allen looks over and says "Oh Tim made me a controller that will hold up if I get over excited, it has a cap of how many actions it can take and then set to ignore the rest. It was one of the first things we had to figure out or would have filled the old base with broken controllers."
Tim Drake	Tim's owl chef puts together hamburgers like a machine. "Yeah, but it's not friction proof. You'd still risk melting the plastic casing. Though if I used the--." Nope, no time to start doing design thought experiments. Even Tim can't maintain that level of multitasking.     Also something on-screen is on fire. "I have it!" Tim says, already bustling over to get the fire extinguisher. "Pretty sure Conner has done this for real." Because it's a pot of water that's on fire. The jokes just write themselves!     Especially when the player isn't here to defend themselves.
Emiko Queen	"I was gonna say... must be some crazy kind of composite that it neither melts nor overheats to the point of burning your hands." Emiko chuckles lightly, still chopping and plating... and then there's fire. Tim's on fire control, so Emi hurries over to get another pot of water started and make sure his burgers are flipped and pulled off the stove. "Babe, you want to bring over the ready plates for me? Right above the chopping station, should be three plates, ready to go." She moves away so Tim can get the fire out and plates up the food, then scoots out of the way so Tim and Bart can expo and cook.
Bart Allen	Bart Allen looks over and follows the lead, he says "You know the worst part of cooking is waiting, I mean the rest of it is just following directions. " He takes the plates where they should be his little chef waddling along. "Would be a lot easier with VR, but VR these days is weird."
Tim Drake	"Cooking has enough flexibility that you don't necessarily have to follow the directions and that's always where I fail," Tim says as he sorts out the emergency situation on-screen and returns to his regular tasking. "We got this, we're already past the three-star mark." Not that Tim stops flipping patties.     And while he's continuing on with the food prep, he finally does risk a quick glance to the side, where Emiko and Bart are sitting next to him. "So, I don't know if I've ever heard the full story of how you two met." And then in the game he dashes right into a hole in the ground with a fully assembled hamburger in his hands.     As the timer for his rezzing pops up on screen, Tim frowns. "That wasn't intentional," he mutters.
Emiko Queen	"Yeah, I was going to say, baking is more about following the receipe precisely. Cooking is more... use how much you think should be in it. Ask any elder with a favored recipe, the reason they won't pass the recipe along is because it's never the same recipe. They use measurements that they think are correct, not actually measured out. That's how you get 'a pinch of salt' or 'a dash of paprika' or 'add the milk until you think you've added enough, then add another few seconds worth'." Emiko smiles, having clearly had this conversation with more than one 'elder'. She flicks a glance towards Tim and grins before looking back, "I saw him sitting alone in the quad when I went to enroll for classes, so I pretended to be lost so I could go hit on him. We hit it off well enough he agreed to come look at this place with me since I'd said I was looking at buying a place. And then I managed to get him to agree to dinner at the Australian place around the corner." She rushes her figure over to the cooking station and murmurs, "Bart can you cover prep til Tim's back in the game? We'll alternate dishes."
Bart Allen	Bart Allen nods, and moves to take over the duty and adds "Thats how Bart and Emiko met, then the next day I go to check on things at Titan's tower, and guess who is showing up with an invitation to join the team from Nightwing." He thumbs towards her. "With them confirming that the invite was legit, and I trusted her, I let her know it was me under the mask, so Red Arrow and Impulse met the very next day."
Tim Drake	"God, imagine a relationship where you just hit on each other and that's what starts it all," Tim says with a shake of his head. He's still out of the game for a couple more seconds, and visibly leans forward as his owl chef returns to the screen. "Okay, we have twenty-five seconds left, we can do this!"     'This' being getting orders out so they don't lose their combo. "Huh. So you know Nightwing, then? I'd ask, but that guy gets around."     And Tim's staring straight-faced ahead, but the corners of his mouth pull inwards as he struggles not to smile. "Well, congrats. I'm a little envious that things went so smoothly for you both."