Generation 1, Part 9

Catchup: Halloween had just finished for bridgeport and Martin found himself cleaning the bathroom after a 'surprise' visit from Demetria, after that he went to the gym for a fairly unsuccessful workout.

Since halloween, a lot of things had been happening in Martin's life, he got a house expansion, his director had started working on a film for Martin t help him on and started having really regular dates with Demetria.

With every date Dem and Martin got closer and closer, they got on really well and the more they talked the more similar they were to each other with many of their characteristics, recently after she laughed at one of his many fart jokes he found out she was also quite childish, nobody had laughed at one of his infamous fart jokes since Brad did when he was 11. Martin thought it was finally time to make their relationship official and thought the best time to do it would be at tonight's date. Where was tonight's date? The premiere of Gpod: The Galactic Fall!

Okay, not the real premiere (the red carpet was reserved for bigger stars), but the staff premiere. The staff premiere was something fairly unique to Plumbob Pictures as the teams were much smaller so you could manage to fit them all in a cinema together with seats to spare. Martin had managed to persuade the higher ups to let him bring a +1 with him and, as there was seats to spare, accepted.

He readied his suit, had some cereal and headed out for the cinema (though he was several hours early).

 The winter was truly beginning to ramp up as everyday seemed to get colder than the last, but that never stopped Martin from riding his bike wherever he needed to go, whenever he needed to do it.

 As soon as they met up in the center of town he jumped off of his bike they exchanged the usual friendly greetings before sharing a hug to warm themselves from the cold they'd been exposed to.

 Once that was done with they shared a quick kiss before Martin readied his small, unimpressive speech he had memorized for this occasion.

"Dem," he started, already trembling with his lines while blaming it on the cold,

"Yes," she asked "What is it?"

It didn't take long for him to lose the small speech inside his head amongst all the unrealistic rejection scenarios which had cluttered his mind. He needed to say something quick, so he dealt with the situation in the only way he could think.

With over exaggerated confidence Martin forced an uncomfortable smile while shuffling closer and staring her directly in the eyes, the best strategy he could come up with during the moment. He strung together a few words and asked the question
"Dem, we've been going out for a while and I was thinking th..."
"Wait, Mart, before you continue. Can you stop the smiling?" she asked half jokingly "I can't concentrate while your smiling like that!" she stated, holding back a laugh because she knew he was obviously nervous and serious.

Martin slid his teeth back into his mouth, coughed and started again with "Dem, we've been going out for a while now and I was thinking that maybe, you know, we should make it official."
"Of course, It's a yes, you didn't have to get so worked up about that! Now, for the important question; where's the nearest place for grub?" She asked cheerfully, clapping her hands together as she did so.

 Martin took her to the old bar he abandoned long ago, he knew the food was alright if not a little dirty but it was still close to where the staff premiere was being held.

 It didn't seem to have changed one bit with age, everything had stayed exactly the same, well, except for one thing...

 ...The barkeeper, the same one from all that time ago, but gone was his 'smooth' look and solid confidence filled 'charm' and all that seemed to have remained was this strange looking old man, time had not been working in his favour.
Martin asked for 2 drinks and a plate of wings, the barman nodded his headed and started serving the drinks, all he did was pour together several different substances glumly, the skill, enthusiasm and effort he had put into barkeeping disappeared and was replaced with a much lazier approach, and he couldn't even do that right; He dropped a glass onto the already ruined floor and yelled under his breath while stomping his foot to the freshly broken glass. He sharply turned towards the drinks cabinet and let loose a big sigh in the mirror that seemed to signify that he had given up all hope long ago.

 Through a reflection he could see Dem in the back, entertaining herself using hands as puppets, which was quite normal for her.
He turned back and asked Martin "She yours?"
"Yes," Martin nervously replied
He snickered and followed up with "Young isn't she..." Before pausing for a moment to stare around the place with his sagging eyes. "Can I give you some advice? Take her out this place and leave it to the whiney old men like me. I have no time have fun like I used to anymore 'cause there's no reason to. You've got to take all the advantages of being young while you still have the chance." It seemed like he had thought about his predicament a lot and knew the answers rather well.
"You're not senile yet you know." Martin said in a comforting voice, trying to spring up a more natural and possibly less depressing conversation, and failing.

"Ha! You think? I've got all the symptoms; Weak bones, tiredness, fading looks... all I do is pour drinks for saps with wasted lives..."

Maybe if only Martin could get him to think he was still the same as he ever was, so he started in a soft voice "Come on now, I'm sure there's still time for you to meet have fun! See that woman over there? go ask her for a dance and I bet she says yes, and if she does, will you promise me you will dance and try to have a good night." This was becoming a challenge to Martin. The bartender could see that Martin felt worried about him and while he was unsure he knew he had to agree to make him happy and leave, so he forced out a small "Ok."

Martin smiled faintly added a quick "Don't forget to smile, smiling will make you look ten years younger!" before hopping off over to Dem.

 Forcing himself to be happy after the depressing conversation topic, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bouquet of flowers, yellow, her favourite colour! She loved them and thanked Martin for the gift, tough it really wasn't much.

 The bartender looked at their happiness and it seemed to drain him even more, he had already told himself that he had reached his peak in life but managed to drag himself over to the girl and ask her for a dance, while forcing a big, joy-filled smile.

 Once Martin saw he was happily dancing along he felt a little proud and made his escape to the cinema.

 The bartender knew this lifestyle was not for him anymore and once they had left he muttered under his breath "It's not that easy, kid!"

They were nearly too late as it was just about to start on screen 6. All the guys who worked on the film were here except for them two. Everyone from extras to sound guys showed. These staff premieres were rare and unnecessary but Plumbob Pictures liked going the extra mile, too bad nobody wanted to fork out an extra buck for them.

the movie was cheesy and cheap but surprisingly good in Martin's overly biased opinion, he was proud to be part of it; he was smiling from the first scene he featured till he had long left, but no amount of editing could make that suit look good.

Once they got out of the taxi they sprinted inside to try and escape the cold, with the challenge "Last one in's a rotten egg!"

as a small present for Martin, Dem gave him a winter themed bear called Snowy which she said had been "sitting in my collection for a while now." Mart and Dem were fun to be around with their constant games and immature behaviour which had only been amplified with having someone around to share their fun with. A 'regular person' would have called them crazy but they didn't care, they were having a blast. After they got home... well...

...let's just say the date didn't end when the movie did.

Quick, Bonella! Snowy! Look away! Save your innocence!

~~~

Dem and Mart were spending so much time together that it got to the point where she practically lived at his, so it only seemed normal to move in with each other at Martin's place, seeing Dem lived in a cramped apartment at the other side of town which Martin had never visited; they were certainly both excited! While she was packing all her things into her friend's borrowed van, Martin had a lot of time to kill, so he wandered around the house searching for things to do. He decided to continue reading the GPod book, it may have been expensive but it definately has lasted.

After his encounter with the barkeep, Martin was constantly worrying about his age. "What if I lose the ability to do the things I love? What if I lose my looks? What if Dem stops Caring for me?" All the thoughts were a bit too rational but he still knew they were all possibilities. He wasn't getting any younger and it was a constant background panic in his head about how he'll age and what will happen; either way he decided that no matter what he is going to grow old some day, though he will still have a child like mind. Every time he looked in the mirror it calmed him down as everyday he's getting older but he still looks so young, so his transition must not be too bad... Right? Right!?

He continued looking in the mirror a while afterwards applauding his new haircut before leaving again in search for something else.

He was still pacing around the place, trying to think of ways to pass the time when he noticed his old certificate from business school. He absolutely hated it there but his parents couldn't be persuaded to let him leave. He hated the books, he hated the outcome, he hated the studying! Just looking at a simple certificate filled him with so many memories that made him bubble with so much rage. He thought back to one of his old teachers, Mr. Wright, the worst one; always walking around with his face down looking up at his students trying to intimidate them, the way he swung his hips and hands while he walked was so fresh on Martin's mind for being so hilariously dumb that he started to imitate his old teacher.

It scared him how good the imitation was.

He continued for a while until he heard Dem shout from outside and quickly snapped out of it while looking quite embarrassed in himself. He then stepped outside to help her carry things in.

Martin quickly showed shock, wonderment and awe in his face as he looked in front of him, she really did have a collection! "You like?" she asked.

Martin nodded as he looked at the boxes obviously filled with mostly toys and other child like things that would seem nearly useless to any other adult except them. "I've got the coolest toys around!" She boasted excitedly. Martin agreed and replied "This is going to be Awesome!"