Valentine's Event Round 1

"I draw things, usually just portraits. Sometimes, they get sold, other times, it's just a favor, from one friend to another," she'd say, putting her sketchbook on the table. "Have a look, if you want."

Should her partner have a gender, he's say detailed pencil drawings of various people, including a few drawings of Stella herself, including one with the very same dress.

"Wh- no no! I'm. I'm fine!"
Oh god. She'd made a mess of things. Tofa thought there was something wrong with her. That she was socially inept. This wasn't a date, this was turning into a 'taking care of Rag, there theeeere' scenario. This was the last thing she wanted. Her eyes widened, and the manticore waved her arms in aggressive dismissal.
"It's.. it's the heat! It's. Getting to me. You know? It's whoa. Geez. Lots of people! All sweaty!" why did she even mention sweat, "Hahah! No yeah I'm. Fine. Great actually! To be talking to you! It's pretty great! You're pretty great!" She gave a wide grin. Then it faltered, and her shoulders sagged. Raising a hand, Ragnilde ran a hand through her mane in self-frustration. She exhaled a deep breath, "No yeah. Sorry. I'm just... nervous. 'First impressions count' as they say! I just think I'm. Messing it up."

Back on topic, back on topic! This was still a session of pity-the-rag, she had to fix this! "A-anyway! Hah, that's me being a sorry sod, let's not focus on that!" but now she'd brought attention to it. Her hand ran through her hair again, "So what kind of thing can you do with your-" she leaned over and whispered, "-super secret pyro glove?"

Excitedly, Bast scooped up the sketch book and started flicking through it, giving off small 'ooh's and 'aaah's at the sketches within. "Yo, these are really good!! And you said you do comissions?? Holy shit thats cool as friiiick." he gave her a wide grin, before moving back to thumb through the text.

When he stumbles across the one in the dress she's wearing, he pauses for a moment and peeps over at her again. "Hey, did you seriously design that dress you're wearing? If so, man, you really do have a good artistic eye! And a good tailor! Do you often, like, do designs for clothing, or was it a one off thing??" he gave a small thumbs up, pausing to continue flicking through the sketchbook.

"heat?!!"
Tofa quickly checked under her gloves to see if everything was in order and did a sigh of relief when she found out all was all right.
"Please don't say heat like that that's what my fingers were about to blow."
Tofa looked back at Rag.
"I can do many things with this glove though I can't really do it like the real deal but this is as close as a powerless pika can get.

"Just a one off thing," she'd say. "Not many occassions call for it, but when they do... I think that there's a special, personal touch when you're the one designing. And people tend to appreciate that."

Half-truth.

The way she went about her attire didn't require for the dress or any of her clothes to really exist. All she needed was a drawing of herself wearing it.

"Aaah, fair enough~" he nodded at her response as if he expected it. After a moment he took once last rapid-flick through the sketchbook, before passing it back to her. "Well, I'm sure plenty of people here will appreciate it, soooo... yeah!"

For a brief moment he hesitated as he thought about what to ask. He'd be lying if he wasn't a little miffed about her lack of questions in return, but based on her earlier silence he supposed he should have expected it, and it's not like it was really hurting anyone!

"Soooooooo.. do you do this as like, your full job then? Or do you have something else to help pay the bills?"

Aaron smirked as she drabbled on about being important and making assumptions on his career. He eye'd her nonchalantly as he again met her bravado of retorts with his own.

"My time in the ring was spent well, and I believe I did it for much better reasons than you would have," his voice suddenly got an edge to it as she jabbed at his boxing career. he gave her a passive wave, immediately losing the edge to his voice, "besides, not like I stopped battling. I just do it on my own terms nowadays. I travel and participate in tournaments." He quickly eye'd her as he shot his own bullet, "And sorry to say... Kelina was it?" He shrugged, "But I've been lots of places all over the world and I've never once heard of you. Pretty sure that says something."

He let out a sigh as he straightened up in his chair, "We do have one thing in common though," he as he smacked his fist into the plam of his hand, letting the satisfying 'THUD' reverberate a bit as he paused, "We both like combat. So miss martial artist... teach me something new."

He wasn't letting her get to him. He had plenty of experience dealing with tough opponents and that meant trash talk, he was kinda numb to it at this point. But what did get him is her remark about his reasons for not fight in the boxing ring. He did what he had during that time and he'd do it again if he had to, and he wasn't gonna let someone trash his reasons for it.

"Oh, oh no no, I'm sorry! I meant... humid...? I think? Like. Y'know when you get like. Lots of people together? And it's. Y'know. Yeah. Like a packed elevator. Stuffy. Not literally on fire. Like the gloves," she didn't know why she was suddenly doing a science lesson but here we were. Lots of people makes things stuffy. There we go, folks.

"B-but anyway! Where did you get the gloves from? Are they just... like... work attire?" she asked. She didn't want to stay on this conversation for long. These gloves were interesting, but she was here to know Tofa! Rag was just... struggling to move the conversation along to that. She needed a good segway without appearing rude and dismissive.

Kelina simply began chuckling away to herself, removing her legs from the table in front of them, before leaning her arms down and grinning wickedly at him.

"Listen here sweetie, I don't need the clarification of a quitter to make me feel accepted mmkay~?" She said, staring him down. Her stance not shifting at all.

She then heard his question, her eyes rolling slightly as she took in a deep breath.

"I bet you wish I could teach you something new, lord knows you probably need it. But however, I don't think that would be very appropriate in such a quaint little space...especially considering my methods~" She said, her smooth tone turning to a coo at the end of her sentence.

And so, stumbling rather un-elegantly towards the table where the poor Ember was sitting awkwardly for a little while - was an orange cat.

"A-ah, five, table five, right! Sorry I'm late, sorry I'm late!" She loudly exclaimed, before coming to a stop, taking a few breaths, and awkwardly rubbing the back of her head, "A-ahah, I thought it was gonna start a bit later, guess I was wrong. Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

She puffed her cheeks out a bit, before going to take a seat at the table, the pinnacle of awkwardness right about now. It was like she hadn't interacted with anyone in person for a long time. "Right - my name's Ebonia, you're Ember, right?" Ebonia offered a small smile, trying to be a bit more... uh... calm.

Nang would shake her hand.

'Umm.. Hi.. You must be Keandra... I.. I hope your doing well.' The dog was very shy even if that Cowboy Hat, Flight jumpsuit, and Pilot Leather Jacket he was wearing was showing otherwise.

Nang sees the lady and She was indeed pretty which made it even worst. Why his squad leader brought him here he should be at home watching a Aviation documentary or a flim about it. He would place his hands on his lap. ' I'm ... I'm hoping you are having a good evening.. Did you come here yourself or you came with friends?' Nang is hoping this question is okay to ask. He would cover his eyes with his hat feeling embarrass

"Yeah, it's pretty much just this," Stella admitted. "I also paint, but sketches are a bit easier to carry around than canvases."

Truth.

Despite all that she could do with those powers of hers, Stella didn't yet give in to the temptation of using them for exploitation. And why would she? She had a backlog of commissions to do and they were paying well.

"I don't really have work attire I kind of just wear this all the time. I saved up a lot of money to get these gloves. The pay off was worth it though. Dispite how much technology had taken the entertainment industry, there's still a lot of people who paid for life preformences"

Finally, someone stumbled towards table 5. An orange cat, presumably named Ebonia, apologised for her lateness, before taking a seat, clearly out of breath. Ember couldn't help but giggle a little at the awkwardness, but kept her tone reassuring and happy, all the same.

"Yeah! I'm Ember! Nice to meet you, Ebonia!" She said, holding out her hand "Hehe, both of our names start with E! What are the odds?"

"Hm?"

     Cheyzy's gaze perked up at the voice breaking through the crowd, meeting the pale rabbit coming towards him. Snake? He casted a quizzical look down to Ari, who simply shrugged in response. He brought his head back up with a shy grin, chuckling softly beneath his breath.

  "Ah, sorry, Ari's not a snake, though you may pet 'im, if ya wish-"

     He responded, quickly sliding behind Ana to pull her chair out for her. The spirit slid casually off his partner's shoulders, circling up neatly on the table.

  "Ana, was it? My name's Cheyzy, Cheyzy Scythe. A pleasure to meet ya!"

     He hummed as he sat down himself, taking a moment to readjust his glass of water.

  "Don't mind Ari, he may look a little....fiery. But he's completely harmless. Cool to the touch."

     The small spirit agreed with a small squeak of approval, a small crackling purr rising from its body.

Oh wow, okay. This guy was even more nervous than her, that was...
Kinda good actually. Kinda relieving. She hadn't come in today prepared to be the confident one, but she CERTAINLY wasn't gonna complain about not coming across as 'the timid one' herself.

For a moment, she took in the gentleman across from her. Cowboy hat, jumpsuit, pilot jacket. Heh... he almost looked like one of those classic cartoon characters with it all together like that. Only thing he was missing was a pair of goggles!
She managed to avoid giggling to herself, but offered a small smile at least. Bless him, he looked terrified.

"Just me, I'm afraid," she gave a small shrug that reverberated through her form, "Sorta tried to avoid telling most of my friends I'd be here. Not to say they're judgmental sort but... Well, I'll admit to being a little embarassed that I've bought myself to this."
She chuckled for just a second - before trying to withold it. She was really wishing she'd come in her cooling suit now. Every movement was making her increasingly self-concious.
Still... for the time being the poor guy across from her seemed to be too busy staring into his hat to notice her odd motions. Or at least... she hoped so.
Even so, seemed important to perhaps help him open up a bit...

"What about you?" she offered a joking grin, "You fly anyone in with you?"

Ebonia seemed to give a small sigh of relief at the fact that Ember wasn't totally ticked off with her tardiness. The cat huffed to herself, before shrugging, chuckling all the same, "Nice to meet your acquaintance as well, Ember - and uh, I dunno. Probably one in a million, I'm pretty sure we're the only E's on the whole roster, and we got paired up. Chances are pretty slim for sure."

And so the cat took a moment to look over her partner, taking in that appearance a bit, all the while asking, "So uh... what do you do? Like, job or spare time stuff?" Eh, maybe she was being a bit... awkward, even still. The cat just... nervously drummed her fingers on the table, "Sorry, sorry - I'm - not very good at this whole face-to-face thing, it's been a while." She offered a small smile, trying not to blush too hard given the circumstances.

"That's right!" Ragnilde nodded her head in agreement, "It's. SO easy to watch it online, but to witness it. In. PERSON. Is a completely different matter! Nothing beats an actual physical event! It's like... like... uh. Y'know. Being at a concert over listening to a song in your headphones. It's so much more memorable when you're there."

That was a perfect segway into a more personal conversation. She seized the moment as quickly as she could, "Speaking of, uh, what kind of. Music. Do you listen to?" the woman asked, raising her head. She was incredibly curious because, well... Tofa was a dancer. There were so many options there! Did her job shape her music taste? Or was she secretly a heavy metal fan?

Tofa smiled.
"I actually don't like music. I'd rather listen to the sudden noise of the fire passing the air."
Tofa made a hand gesture to simulate fire. She made as close is a person can make as a fire noise.

The rabbit would pet the little... whatever it was, first gently patting its head and then scratching its chin.

"Pleasure to meet you, too!" Anastasia would say. "So, do we just talk or- ? I've never done this before."

Didn't like music? That was an answer that actually caught her of guard - enough to make her eyes widen and lean back a little. But... she was a dancer, right? You couldn't dance without music! Then again, Rag knew very little about dancing. And her taste is music was pretty awful as-is. She didn't want to end up being the pot that called the kettle black. She didn't say anything about this - Ragnilde wasn't here to cause issues or conflicts, after all. And in such a space with a lot of people, if Rag made Tofa angry, everyone would know.

Leaning back in, the manticore laughed; "Hahah! I'm guessing you're. Like. The kind of person who likes to sit next to a bonfire, right?" she asked boldly. It was rude to make assumptions about people but she was going there without even realising it, "And, y'know, watch the flames flicker in the wind! I remember when me and my friends did. That. Monthly. We'd... we'd burn all our useless crap and junk in this big fire pit. Like. At midnight. And we'd catch up. And crack jokes." And then they all abandoned her, but let's not get into that while speed dating.

"heh heh...oh I haven't been to a good bonfire in a while. Though not much people do it in my area since it's mostly forest. Don't want to burn down the whole area, you know."

Nang listens to the girl and lifts his hat up to show his face and eyes ' Well.. I didn't fly in. My Squadron leader had us carpool, but yes I do fly aircraft. Mainly test planes.' Nang will stop though since he rather not divulge company and government secrets to anyone. It would just get him in trouble he will take his hands off his lap and hold both twiddling his thumbs. ' I just really enjoy flying/ Maybe one day I will buy one of those private jet fighters to fly the world. So umm..... '

What to think what to think. The thoughts bear on the dog trying to find a conversation starter, but since he said about his job he will make it a question.

'So ummm... What is your job profession?'

"You should join one in the city sometime!" the manticore suggested with a grin. A grin that was starting to grow in confidence, which was a good sign, "I don't know if it'd be too out of your way, but it's a. Really. Fun way to get rid of junk! You don't even need to throw things away! Hauling crap over from the forest sounds. Like. A PAIN. Just... sit there. And talk! Under the open flame. It's pretty calming. Despite it being. Fire."

The next question she wanted to ask was 'what do you look for in a partner' but that was too forward, wasn't it? They still barely knew about each other, and if Rag asked that to Tofa, they may think that she'd be changing herself, or lying, just to fit with what her ideal partner was. That could just ruin this. Let's try and shift this around a bit. Less on expectations, more on what's already there.
"O-okay uh. Another question!" Ragnilde declared, sitting up straight. She'd given the impression that she wasn't confident. That was true, but she wanted to fix that. Show that she was, you know, competent. This was her second speed-dating rodeo, after all. She should be owning this! "Whaaat do you consider to beee.. your. Best attributes." Okay, plural. Expecting more than one answer, that should keep things flowing.

Keandra had been... somewhat joking about the idea of Nang having 'flown in'. Still, poor guy was nervous. Probably best not to point that out.
Regardless, 'Squadron Leader'? The meant this guy wasn't just super into aviation - sat across the table from Keandra was a full-on man of uniform! She was certain there'd be a lot of people here clamouring for someone like that!
...Uuunfortunately, Keandra wasn't one of those people. A uniform feels a lot less impressive when you're in the business of designing them. Speaking of which...

"Oh, uh, me?" The vixen seemed vaguely flustered for a second. Whilst they definitely held a degree of confidence over Nang, having the ball thrown into her court did somewhat bring back her own nerves. Still, she persevered...
"Well, uh, I design outfits for, uh, Dragon Corp...." That response probably didn't make much sense. Dragon Corp. was a robotics and pharmaceutical company as far as most were aware. Taking a moment to brush a stray hair from her eyes, she tried that one again; "Like, uh, security uniforms, and things like that. So people with wings can have body armour fitted for it and people with fire powers have fireproof- I probably don't have to explain all this." This guy was in the army right? "I imagine you have someone who does similar for your uniforms and such?"