Valentine's Event Round 3

Aaron kicked back his chair and put his boots on the table, "Schedule? What schedule?" Aaron smiled, chuckling a bit, "the only schedule I have Is when I want to do something, so I'm open any time you feel up for it."

The cat was in the proverbial bag.

Stella would look him in the eyes. "Dates, movie nights - anything you want," she'd tell him. "All you need to do is dictate the pace. I don't want you to be blown away."

There was no greater joy than taking an unexperienced boy and turning him into a well-mannered man.

Especially one that could keep up with her.

---------------------------

"I got school during the week days," Ana would tell him. "How does next weekend sound? Should have plenty of time then."

Dione quietly listened to the purple cat speaking. Her voice was soft but slightly more confident than before. Hopefully she didn't feel as awkward anymore, because the wolf herself was slowly to ease down a bit herself as well. It was still slightly embarrassing, having known each other for a while and being paired up at a speed dating event, but it wasn't as bad as she had feared it to be.

The girl chuckled at the story Yukiko told about Malakai. It was kind of an adorable thing, seeing her smiling about the funny memories of her colleague's first few weeks in the cafe. 

Wait. Did she just think that Yuki was adorable? 

Then the feline apologized for talking about Malakai at an event like this. "No no no, don't worry! It's fine!" This time it was Dione's turn to grab the purple girl's hands briefly, as a means to reassure her it was okay to ramble about stuff. She'd have probably done the same herself, rambling on about things or people, so she really didn't blame her for doing so. "I uh.." She carefully let go. "I'm sorry." The wolf grew red again, looking down at her own hands before answering the question Yukiko had asked her. 

"I uhm.. yeah, she's my best friend. We hang out a lot and stuff, and I've seen Malakai like.. two? Or three times, really briefly, when he was leaving her house for example, or when I'm picking her up from his house. We don't.. really know each other but yeah." She paused for a second. "I don't know what I would do without Felicia to be honest..." She found herself smiling absently while she thought back to the occasions where the two of them had had each other's backs in times of need, and when they had laughed together in the better times. Who knows, maybe Yukiko could be someone like that to Dione as well, and Dione to Yukiko too. It would be nice.

"So uhm..." The wolf thought for a second. "I've never really like.. asked you about your hobbies. What do you like to do for fun?" It was a silly question, but a question nonetheless, and Dione was rather proud of herself for not letting the conversation stagnate and become awkward. This was going fairly well.

As she finished up her sudden ramble and apology ,Yukiko watched with surprise and slight amusement as Dione grabbed her hands in return, only to release them in a flustered fashion. 
This whole set up was strange, but also not bad. She felt as if this was where she was supposed to be right at that moment in time. Her pink dusted cheeks had faded down a little bit; well at least in contrast to Diones now bright red face. It made her feel a little bad for making her get so worked up, but it was also very sweet at the same time. 

So many emotions were writhing about inside Yukiko and she didn't know how to respond to any of them properly. 

It really was a small world though. The fact that the green canine had met her work colleague only fleetingly was still enough to make yet another smile appear on her white muzzle. 
Hearing about Diones relationship with Felicia made Yukis heart grow warm. To have such a close friend was a treasure. She hoped they stayed friends for a long time, and if they ever met up again after this event, she would like to possibly meet this girl as well .She sounded like she knew everyone in the best way. 

With both of them just constantly apologizing to eachother, to outsiders looming inti this conversation it would look like the most awkward chat in existence ,but in fact Yukiko was feeling less and less unfomortable by the minute. Was this Diones doing? Was she easing her in? 

"Hobbies?"The violet feline pondered. "Well, uhm, I guess I like to read in my s-spare time. I also like to cook and bake things as as well. It is very therapeutic, especially after a long day at work. What about you? What do you like to do to keep yourself occupied?"

By this point, Yukikos tail had calmed down, almost as if it sensed there was a lot less awkward tension in it's owner.

Well, it should have been a risk-free question.

The moment the question passed from her lips, Bast visibly hesitated, an unnatural stillness spreading through the fidgeting frog, his smile thinning slightly. He’d been expecting the question ever since Keandra asked him about his travels, but was this really the first time it’d come up? It wasn’t a big deal, he’d left it all behind to be better than those who still lived there, but it was hardly something he was proud of.

And who exactly would want to hang out with the son of a slaver?

So, after a moment his shoulders shifted in the motion of a tiny shrug, his eye flicking down to the table.
“There’s not much to tell, really. I come from a small place south east of here, on the outskirts of Mellion city. I’ve been all over the world, but…  well. No place like home, right? Or near home, in this case. Roots and all, like you said~ And honestly, if you’re looking for recommendations, I’d avoid it; Everything is so much brighter up here! Cleaner and vibrant and just… better on the eyes.”
He paused briefly, his smile twitching back to a shade of its former brightness as he added “I mean, you yourself are a case in point~” which was followed by what was, presumably, a wink! It was kinda hard to tell with the eyepatch, but the slightly exaggerated motion hopefully helped.

“Anyway! What about yourself? You from round here, or are you a wandering soul as well?”

She saw the change in Bastion's demeanor. It seemed the question was more delicate than she'd predicted. A touch of regret showed on her face, but she did her best to just remain neutral as he shrugged just the slightest bit. The reply came shortly after. It wasn't at all surprising that she didn't recognize the name of the city mentioned, but from the way he described it, it sounded almost... uncomfortably familiar.

...Granted, no doubt about it, there was very likely more than two cities on the continent that were dingy and grey and unpleasant.

Tangerine's thoughts were drawn away from the mental images that had resurfaced by an additional comment and... a hard blink? No, no, with the tone of his voice and way he moved his head, that had to have been a wink. She'd expected her coloration to come up sometime during this event, but perhaps not like it just did. Caught just a tad off guard, the dragon gave a little, "Ahaha, yyyeah," and glanced down to her orange-scaled arm resting on the table in front of her. She didn't seem bothered, but maybe the tiniest bit flustered.

The subject shifted back to her right after and the reptile lifted her gaze again. Welp, she should have considered that the question would be turned around on her. Just had to make it sound normal and not... criminally suggestive.

"Nah nah, I'm not from here," the dragon replied, shaking her head, "I've traveled... a bit. Not for too long and not too far, I guess. But my, uh... roommates and me are staying here in town a couple days. They've got the car so I just.. found my way here."

A glimpse of recognition would be visible in the wolf's face as Yukiko listed her own hobbies. A few of those were things she herself enjoyed doing as well, such as reading and baking. She smiled. This was good, they had found a few common interests. That meant conversation topics. 

"It's funny that you mentioned reading and baking, it's things I myself actually like doing as well!" The canine took a small sip of her drink before continuing talking. "Especially the sci-fi and fantasy genres. There's something so cool about the idea of wizards in great battles and dragons terrorizing villages and gathering gold." She stopped herself in her rambling. 

"I- I'm sorry I was rambling, I uh.." She coughed quietly. "What do you like to read?"

Okay. Okay, this was progress! They were... they were getting to know each other! Yeah, they were socialising!
Rag still seemed to be rather uncomfortable opening up. The question of 'Me?' came up at least three times before any actual answer. But still! There was an answer!

Okay, so Ragnilde liked reading. Nice, good start! She was, admittedly, super vague about what she had been reading. Though she said it was to 'train her mind' so like... Maybe a puzzle book of sorts?
...Okay probably not. You didn't really... 'read to the end' of a puzzle book. You tried to figure it out, you tried to solve it. You'd try to finish it off. 'Read' wasn't the right word.
Still... 'training the mind'. Maybe it was some kind of... science book? Did people casually read them?
Okay, admittedly they DID, especially a lot of people at Dragon Corp. But she didn't exactly imagine anything like that as 'light reading before bed'.
...Maybe it was a philosophy book. Maybe Rag was a little philosopher!

...Maybe she should just ask what book-
TOO LATE. Keandra had dilly-dallied too long, and now the spotlight had been shoved back into her face!
"Oh- uh- me?" she echoed Rag's previous reaction to such questions. Well... what DID she do outside of work?

...She played a lot of video games. She was a 29 year old woman who spent her days alone at home playing video games.
She somehow felt Rag was not going to be impressed by this.

"I, uh, work out, a little?" she professed. This in the very least was true - in fact, her gear tonight seemed to suggest it would be suited to such things. Whilst she wouldn't say it was a MAJOR part of her life, it was a relatively consistent one. She wasn't exactly weight-lifting, but she wanted to at least keep herself... y'know, in relatively decent shape.
"Mainly, uh, jogging," she added, "Y'know, just like, in private."

...Why did she say that? Any cool points 'working out' may've given her had probably been immediately taken away by 'jogging in private'. Who DID that?
...Well, who other than her anyway?
...She just didn't want people to see her bouncing around as she attempted to run.

"A-anyway," and Keandra shoved the focus back, "What're you reading?"
Cool, yeah, there was that question. Sorted.

Oh. She worked out. That was... that was good! She kept in shape, good! People who kept active, kept motivated, that was good of them! Respectable, even! Her outfit certainly helped portray that, it was perfect for it, very sporty. And for someone as thin and slender as her, well, that body wasn't gained through sitting around and doing nothing! Rag felt pretty weak and lazy in comparison, because she herself barely worked out. 

Despite this, the manticore nodded her head in agreement. Her head did hesitate a moment at the 'in private' addition of Keandra's confession. Did she... have a treadmill? Was that what she was referring to? Maybe she should invest in one herself - it was doing her a world of good.

As they spoke, Ragnilde snatched a napkin off the table. She began to pat down her fur where the coke had spilled earlier, finally being at ease where she could do that absentmindedly. If she didn't do anything about it, combined with her sweat, her fur would just get sticky and matted and gross.

Regardless of the 'working out' answer, it seems these two were just jumping from question to question, not wanting to linger in fear of being judged. And sadly, Ragnilde was going to keep up this trend because, socially, she was a massive coward. At the mention of 'what're you reading?' she hesitated once more. As per usual, she didn't want to admit her hobbies or reading habits. Rag bit her lip from her nerves, showing those sharp teeth in the process.

"Uh-" Right, time for another little fabrication. It wasn't like Keandra was going to show up at her house and check this. She could afford to be a little loose with this. Going from an earlier conversation with Kelina, she replied: "Oh- I'm... just re-reading Seven Serenities, if you've. Heard. Of it? The big bestseller from. Like... ssssix years ago?" That book was indeed a popular novel from years back, rising in the markets for its fresh take on the action adventure genre. It was the 'next big thing' for about half a year before it eventually died with the legitimately terrible sequel.

Having finished wiping herself off from coke, she scrunched the napkin in her palm and stuffed it into her pocket, "I'm a fan of... going. Back. To things. Like- like when you haven't watched a film in years, then you rewatch it. And you remember the things you forgot, like... like you're sorta... watching it for the first time. It's uh, the same. With books. And games. A-and sometimes old... photos," the manticore gave a tiny laugh, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment, "It's why I kinda... refuse. To sell or throw away my old stuff like that. Cause I think... some days you uh. Want to go back? To things? And there's been times where I've had to, um, re-buy it... and stuff..." Her rambling slowly started to die out at the realisation that this was all pretty stupid to talk about. A lot of people were the same. She didn't need to go on about things Keandra already knew.

Aaand thusly the small talk rolled on. Aaand boy were they good at it. It seemed the both of them were trying to make it into an art form of sorts - a competition to see who could say the least of value at any one time. If it wasn't dodging points or intentional vagueness, iiit was outright lying in the hopes that nothing further would be asked.
Rag had just taken her own turn of 'not really telling an exact truth'. Still, at least what she said was entirely feasible here. Keandra wasn't exactly sure how Seven Serenities expanded the mind, but... well, maybe she was just ignorant?

"Oh, I remember when that came out!" she nodded, "No yeah, like, I don't blame you for going back to it, it was a good one!" She paused for a second to think, "Just, uh, as long as you're planning to stop there. Y'know, before it completely derails..." she gave a small chuckle, "I guess one of the best parts of re-reading the old ones is not having to read the new ones!"
She continued to laugh for a second, before realising she was probably laughing a liii'l too much at her own joke. Thusly she allowed herself to just... taper out. With an awkward cough. Great.

...Still, something Ragnilde had said caught the vixen's attention. Something that caught her interest. Something that would allow her to dig them both out of this.
"...So you, uh..." she offered up a slight grin, "Yooouuu... play games then?"

At her words, Bast cocked his head to one side. So, she had no real plans to stick around the area then! In which case, there was a pretty good chance she hadn’t come in here expecting anything serious or long lasting, or maybe she was expecting any potential partner to go with her? He wasn’t entirely sure he was fond of the idea, though – it was one thing to travel with people you knew or trusted, but they’d only just met. Trusting people like that was how serious incidents occurred, after all!!
But, deep down, he was certain that wasn’t her intent with the point. It seemed more like a warning, a suggestion to avoid getting too close because she’d be off soon. It was worth keeping in mind, but then he hadn’t really intended on getting too close to her. After all, he’d only really planned on coming here to meet new people!

He paused for a moment, though.

For one unease moment, he realised this is how he must have seemed to Keandra, quietly implying that he might one day up and leave and force her to choose between travel and home. At least he’d learnt from that experience to stress that he was staying in the area for a while.
 
He shook his head a little to snap himself out of those thoughts, deciding it better to focus on there here and now instead of his previous date. Deciding he was on a good footing with asking her about her life and travels, he decided he’d push the conversation in that direction a little more!
Honestly, he’d be lying if he didn’t admit he was excited to hear more about someone elses travels of a change.
“Aaaah, that’s fair! You lot off heading somewhere exciting, then? Or are you just seeing where the road takes you?”

"Alright, its a plan then," Aaron smiled, he was glad to help train someone new and get to experience a new challenge. Something he hadn't experienced since he trained Gear, "So until then... what can we do to pass the time?"

Aaron didn't have much else to talk about

' Well let's go-slow first and if it's going well we can add more.... I want to make sure we go at a speed both of us are good with.' Nang would tell Stella as he is excited yet worried about this first girlfriend thing.

That sparkle that appeared Iin Diones blue eyes as she spoke fondly of books tugged at her emotions. Was it even physically possible to be so darn adorable when talking about a genuine interest? Yukiko had never felt so drawn to a person before like this. 

"I actually really enjoy Sci-fi as well. Being able to just find yourself in the middle of a fantasy world where your dreams can come true is so empowering. It's like you are really there, feeling what the characters are feeling..."

She realised she did it again. Why was she so bad at rambling? She normally never spoke so freely to someone else that she didn't know very well. Was Dione like a spellcaster, just like one she read about? 

"I'm going to be honest here, but I never thought I'd be having such a nice time talking to people. Y-you make me feel at ease, if that m-makes any sense?"

Ember looked away, towards the hosts. It looked like her and Sweetie’s time was nearly up. “Hmm... I’ll tell you what, maybe we can discuss thins further over coffee, sometime? Of course, I only mean as friends.” 

The hedgehog was interested in her. Why did she have such a... intimidating aura about her? Why was she so interested in vampires an adventures? She had to know! She looked around for a napkin, before reaching into a pocket and taking out a pen. She scribbled her phone number onto it “here’s my number. Feel free to think it over, yeah?” She asked, sliding it over to her.

The fact that Yukiko was interested in sci-fi and fantasy as well, was more exciting to Dione than it would be to probably anyone else in the whole room. She had mostly always gotten funny looks when she shared her love of books with the world, so hearing someone else actually having the same passion for the books she liked was amazing to her. 

Yukiko then fell silent, so they both sat there for a few moments, just looking at each other. It wasn't awkward or anything, just a nice silence in the midst of the buzzing event. A small smile grew on the wolf's lips before she looked down again and grabbed a sweet from the bowl in the middle. Not too long after that, the feline spoke again. This time about how Dione made her feel at ease.

"I uh.." she didn't quite know how to react. It was one of the sweetest things someone had said to her. "Im.. thanks. You're so lovely to talk to as well, it's as if we've known each other for so long while we actually barely know each other.."