Marian, Graham, and Robin arrive at the bar, Kodama Spirits. Robin was allowed to pick the place they were going. Unlike most places that Marian went, Kodama Spirits had very little to offer in decorations and style. It was your typical bar. But, according to Robin, Kodama had cheap beers on tap for a Friday night special. Robin and Marian sit in a booth big enough for four people. Robin sits on one side and Marian is on the other. They watch as Graham grabs three beers and walks back to their booth with them. He sits down next to Robin.

Robin is still mad at Graham for the noob hat, so he is silent. The three of them awkwardly sit in silence for a minute. Graham can sense that the beer will not be enough to smooth things over between him and Robin. He goes back to the bar for more beers and some food. Graham returns to the table with a basket of chicken wings. He places it in front of Robin. The two continue not speaking. Finally Marian asks Robin, "What is so great about this place? I don't think I have ever been here." Marian looks over the bar, which has seen better days. It's only got a few customers tonight and they are spread out. Robin smiles, "it's quiet here. And I never will bump into anyone I know here. I usually don't like tons of people or noise when I go out." Graham smiles, "I can see the appeal. These wings are like 5 dollars a basket. Plus draft PBJs are only 1 dollar each. This place is amazing." 

For some reason, Marian forgot she was with engineers. They are all about getting the best price on things; no need to overpay. They don't buy things unless they need them. Marian's other friends would take one look at this place and  say, 'NEXT.' Marian is convinced that she will probably never come back here either. Something about it made her feel sad. Like, she was missing out on something better by staying here. Marian takes a drink of the beer that Graham bought for her. At least it is cold.

Graham and Robin eat through 3 baskets of chicken wings and 3 rounds of drinks in just a few minutes. Robin has begun to be a little more chatty. Graham licks his fingers, "I think these are the best chicken wings I have ever had." Robin chimes in, "Absolutely. They are the best." Marian looks at the two, "you two are obviously drunk because these wings are basic." Robin looks offended. "You are crazy. These wings are delicious." With this, he hands Marian a wing. She takes a nibble of it and winces. "still ick." 

Graham is looking around. He then grabs his drink and takes a big long dramatic drink. He looks at Robin very seriously, "You are lucky tonight, Robin." Robin looks back, "seriously, why?" Graham starts to smile. "Because I am going to stay loyal to you tonight. I am not going to hit on anyone here tonight and go home with anyone" Robin starts looking around the bar. "you have my permission to go." Graham looks back and Graham starts leaning into Robin a little more, "I am here for your emotional support." The two best friends are slumped together.

Marian starts looking around the bar. Where are the women that Graham thinks are cute? There are maybe 10 people in the bar, including their group. Marian looks around and starts shaking her head. "Graham, what are you even talking about? All I see is that super old lady over there, and those girls who are clearly underage." At this, Marian points to the one other booth with four girls in it. They are all giggling non-stop and checking their phones.  Robin looks over to where Marian is pointing and starts laughing, "Oh man, JAILBAIT." Graham also turns to look at the girls, "How can you tell?!" Marian replies, "Because they are nervous about being here. Hence all the giggling" 

Robin starts laughing even harder. Graham reaches over and gives Robin a side hug. "At least Robin isn't mad at me anymore." The two descend into laughter at this point. Marian starts to regret coming out with them. Robin goes to take another bite of his chicken wing when Marain snatches it out of his hand and throws it down. "We are done with wings. You came here to tell me about your ex. Start talking." Robin looks at the wing and then back to Marian. She's right. They came here to talk about something. The sooner he's done the sooner he can go home. And with that happy thought, he asks, "Alright, what did you want to know about Livi?" Marian smiles, "everything."

Robin's Flashback

I was raised by a single mom. My mom was an engineer, so we did okay, financially, but there were still things we would never be able to do. My mom wanted the best for me and she sent me to a private school for Middle School. I was very different from the majority of the student body. It was hard to make friends. My one friend was Luke Martin. Luke had a little sister named Livia. When I first met her she was just my friends little sister but as she got older, I guess I started to notice her as more than just a little sister.

Graham interrupts Robin: You met her through your friend? I have never tried dating a sister of one of my friends.

Marian: running out of matches on DAPP?

Graham: I don't feel like I am meeting the right type of girl...

Marian: Have you ever considered it's because you aren't the right type of guy?

Robin's face lights up when he says, "That was savage."

Marian looks back at the two and says, "GRAHAM, TONIGHT ISN"T ABOUT YOU."

Graham: Sorry, continue.

Robin: When we got into high school, Livia got dumped right before prom. Her brother and I felt bad for her and Luke offered to go to prom with her. Livia was not interested in going to Prom with her brother. After that, Luke said that I could take her to Prom. Now, this was not something I would ever do. But when your best friend asks for a favor, you can't say no. And at Prom, in our formal wear. That's when I started to first like Livia.

Graham interrupts again. "You saved a lady in distress."

Marian: It did take some prompting...

Robin: I was just surprised.

Marian: most rescues are a surprise. 

Graham: unless you are planning on putting her in danger first.

Marian looks at Graham. She gives him the SHHHHHHHh signal. 

Robin continues

Finally, we started dating. But I kept it secret from Luke. I knew he would never approve of me dating his sister. It was one thing to be my friend and another for his sister to date me. I knew he would hate me. On top of that, her parents were very wealthy. I knew they would have higher expectations for whomever their daughter dated.

Luke punched me in the face when I finally told him about Livia and me. And I haven't talked to him since. Later, Livia decided to go to the same college as me, much to the frustrations of her parents. I wasn't the only reason she picked that college, but I always felt she limited her future to be with me. After they cut her off because she was with me and not talking for a year, they came back to her. When they realized that Luke wasn't taking over the family business they started being nice to Livia again. Her parents are ultimately what will break us up. The end.

Marian looks annoyed, "not the end. You skipped over why the two of you even started dating." Robin takes a sip of his drink. "I guess both of us bonded over feeling like people had low expectations of us. We both felt like outcasts in the community. My peers at school treated me differently because I wasn't some legacy kid with a trust fund. And Livi was frustrated that her parents wanted Luke to take over the family business and not her. When, no offense to Luke, but he sucked at math and Livi was brilliant. Livia was sure her parents didn't care at all what she did with her life."

Marian gest all annoyed at this, "patriarchal bullshit! Of course, they would think their son is the future of the business. I feel bad for Livia a little bit." Robin sighs. They stop to look at Graham who hasn't interrupted because he is passed out on the table. Marian looks at Robin. "Are you ready for my observations?" Robin shrugs, "sure?" Marian thinks for a minute and then says, "I am going to make this as understandable for you as possible. What is Newton's First Law?" Robin like a robot repeats the definition: "An object in motion, stays in motion" Marian smiles, "Yes, Livia sounds like she had already put herself in motion in her life to prove her parents wrong. I don't think anything you could have done would have stopped her in that. I don't think you were ever her end goal, her parents were. So you either could join the fight or give up. Because she was committed to her direction."

Robin looks at Marian. He is speechless. He has never had someone be able to put into words understandable for him about why things ended the way they did with Livia. And he didn't even explain exactly how they ended. But Marian picked up on it right away. He finally asks, "Did you just relate a fundamental law of physics to dating?" Marian smiles, "this is what I am here for." The two look at each other. Robin feels like Marian could be a really good friend for him. He never would have thought, even a month ago, that he would be putting Marian in the category of friend, but here he was, doing it.

Marian checks the clock. It's way later than she expected. "Robin. This took forever. Graham passed out. I think I am starting to understand why you move so slowly. You took forever in your relationship with Livia, but it still went horribly. Maybe instead of slowing down even more you could try something different?" Robin looks at his hands sadly, "I don't know how else to be." Marian pat his back, "Maybe you could meet someone who helps you speed up?" Robin puts his hands up on the booth, "But I am engineer. I must think about all the possibilities before I decide. How can I be thorough and not slow?"

Marian, "Just tell Aurora that you are interested in her. It's not asking her out, but you are giving her something. You are starting somewhere. And it's not like you can get to know Aurora just in your mind. She needs to be there with you for you to learn more about her." Robin starts to catch the drift, 'And it's not a date." Marian smiles, he's getting it. "Exactly. And an experiment goes much better with an actual test subject than a hypothetical one." Robin scrunches his face, "Sto referring to Aurora as a test subject."

Marian puts her hands up. That's about all she is going to get from Robin tonight. She looks at their booth and realizes it's a mess.  She stacks up the empty cups and chicken wing baskets. She gets Graham's phone out of his pocket and orders the Tuber. "Robin, I feel like I got to know you a lot better tonight." She goes to hug Robin and he stops her. They are not ready for hugging yet. Even if he's drunk. "Why do you even want to know anything about me?" Marian smiles and sits back in the booth seat. "I don't know. I think getting to know people is a sign that I care." Robin smiles, "I think it's a sign that you are nosy." Marian looks surprised, "There isn't anything you have ever wanted to know about me?"

Robin sits there in silence. Marian starts to look sad. "I didn't realize that would stump you." Robin stares into Marian's face. He leans in and then goes, "I thought of something. Why do you always wear this necklace?" At this point, he points to this moon necklace. The moon necklace is something Marian wears every day. She has worn it for years. It's a black leather choker with a silver crescent moon charm. Marian instinctively goes to grab it. She smirks, "figures you would pick the one thing about me that never changes."

Robin leans in and touches the necklace for a second. "It probably has something to do with astrology." Robin's face is right next to Marian's face and he smiles. Marian doesn't ever see her office mate up this close. Robin is usually very protective of his personal space. She looks into his dark eyes which are giving this sign that he is still feeling a little feisty and ready to tease Marian. She decides to tease him back. "I just liked it." After she says that she waits. Normally she would go into a big explanation, but she is channeling her inner Robin.  She plans to use Robin against himself by not giving a decent answer to question but just giving the bare minimum.

Robin sits back. He looks confused. "That's it?" Marian gets this huge smirk on her face. She can't hold herself back for much longer. "See, it's annoying when someone asks a question and you don't share much of an answer." Robin fold his arms. He is annoyed. "You think you are so clever" he says. Marian smiles more, "I'm happy to know that after a year in the same room with this on every day you finally noticed it. I feel like I have many phases of just like the moon. Marian the coworker, Marian the friend, Marian the sister," Robin continues on what she's saying, "Marian the girlfriend... so which Marian do I know?" Marian looks at Robin and says, "how about you try and figure it out." Robin folds his arms as he sits back and says, "pass."