Valentine's Event Round 3

The fox nodded. "That's understandable. Jerks are not okay, you shouldn't take what Kelina says to you, but still, you shouldn't..." Her expression started to ponder. "ehm...burn a restaurant down. Also you should know that not every speed date is succesful! I bet somebody thought you were being very cool. I bet someone here wants to talk to you! And I know you think Ragnilde doesn't like you now, but I bet she still does. Don't worry about that. She was just doing....well she was just doing her job, y'know? I could see that she thinks you're a nice person. Don't you dare worrying about that." She pouted, and she clearly felt bad for her. "Just like....get inside I'll get you a drink..."

Stella was looking at him intently. "That's something I'd want to try some day," she'd tell him, moving her fingers across the fable. "I'd never been that high up either."

"I didn't want to burn the restaurant down. I don't even think anyone would be interested in me." Tofa got up. "I guess a drink would be fine...." She didn't sound that excited.

Aaron kinda just starred for a minute, looking her over up and down.

"Meh," Aaron once again leaned back and put his hands behind his head, "Sounds like you got a lot on your plate huh?" Aaron gave a wink, "I wouldn't call that something worth hiding all that much, not trying to disregard it all, but maybe its just all the stuff I've seen while traveling that a lot off things don't really surprise me all that much anymore."

Aaron sat back as he looked at her, "But don't worry, this doesn't change my opinion of you and I still hope to become good friends, maybe even have a little sparring match to see what you can do sometime."

Kelina scoffed, listening to the ‘scolding’ she had been given as she leaned against her chair.

“Ridiculous. You expect me to change who I am for the benefit of some snowflake?” She would say, a roll of her yellow eyes followed.

“I won’t apologise, I won’t provide a chilidsh little fool with any kind of semblance that they were in the right. As a matter of fact, they’re lucky that I wasn’t the one who got to deal with them personally. It probably wouldn’t have went as smooth then~” She said, a gritting grin as she showed her teeth. 

She soon kicked up the chair to her table and sat down, taking a deep breath and shrugging.

“But, like I said, multiple times, I didn’t want to disturb the lovely atmosphere, so I’ll sit nice until the rounds done~” She said, leaning back and relaxing onto her chair.

Luka cheerfully nodded. "Well then! Let's get back inside! And uh...when ya see Kelina, don't uh...smack her. Just try to ignore her if you want to. You could also ehm-Hey! You know you should maybe apologize! That's be just great! After I get you a drink you should most definitely apologize??" She didn't sound too hopeful, but she could try. She stood up and walked inside the restaurant again. "Go to the bar. You can order anything you like. Don't worry about the price." She said as she leaned against one of the empty tables.

"Oh yes, I've h-heard about the guild, but wasn't sure if my services would be necessary for the quests that they entail." Yukiko smiled as she remembered seeing advertisements of the guild recruiting for members to help out here and there. It seemed interesting enough, but the purple female wasn't entirely sure if she would be good  to join the ranks, or even have the general time to go and do something alongside her work and looking after other things. 

Yukikos ears twitched in interest when Dione mentioned Malakai. "Oh yes, I work alongside him at the cafe, and he has mentioned Felicia a few times. I didn't know you k-knew him as well? Small world."

She couldnt help but let a giggle escape when she saw the look of horror of the canines face before she covered herself in embarrassment due to a little bad wording. To be perfectly fair, she would have done the same thing .

It was cute. 

Thinking of the green wolf and the word cute made her face flare up again, and the tips of her ears were tinged slightly pink as well. Oh boy, she was getting more and more embarrassed with her own thoughts. 

Before she knew it, Yukiko had taken one hand away from Diones face and held it gently in her own fingerless gloved ones. "It's alright, I-I know what you meant to say, please do not trouble your mind with mixed words."

The outburst from the next table over made the violet feline break her full attention from Dione to quietly gaze at what was going on just a few feet away. She felt a rush of heat which made her feel slightly confused, before hearing an angry set of voices declare that something was done wrongly. She folded her ears down a little as she watched one of the event goers leaving the room, almost as if she had been defeated.
That made Yukiko feel bad for the female, but she opted not to listen to the conversation in case she ended up getting the wrong idea. She only hoped things would resolve themselves.
Sure enough a familiar cyan fox appeared to talk to the other table member before the Luka followed the sad female outside shortly afterwards. Good, things looked to be getting sorted out quickly. 

Blinking stupidly as she looked down to their hands being clasped together, Yukiko swiftly, but gently let it go, face growing ever more red and her large tail swayed lazily as if amused by it's owners reactions. She didn't realise all that time she had held on to Diones hand.

"I'm so sorry... I d-dont know what came o-over me. .."

'Mainly you need a special type of aircraft to make it up there. I know the company I work for is already working on a new passenger aircraft that can travel up there, but without having to wear a suit.'

Nang would then remove his hat revealing his short hair that is the same as his fur color. 'I do hope one day you will be able to see what I saw up there one day.' He now tries to think what else he can ask... oh that could be one...

'So umm.... Are you a self-taught artist or did you go to school for that? Sorry if it's intruding, but I want to know.'

Tofa gave a slight death glare. "I'm not apologizing to that child! She's a fool who doesn't deserve any good word of her actions!" Tofa was waiting for the fox to lead the way to the bar. "What's a bar exactly? "

Ana raised an eyebrow. "A sparring match?" she'd ask. "I'm not so sure about that. Haven't tested the limits of my abilties. Don't want to hurt you."

And it wasn't just her - the alien didn't know the extent of those abilities either. However, unlike Ana, it saw the sparring offer as opportunity to find out.

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

"Self-taught. Ma and pa kept a lot of books around, but they never were fans," Stella would answer him. "Were you ever in a relationship with someone?"

A personal question.

Walking around the bush was getting boring and tiresome by the second. A bit of a gamble, but she wanted to make her intentions clear.

Aaron chuckled, "Oh don't worry, I'm much stronger than you think," to make a point he slammed his fist into his palm which, if he hadn't been holding back, probably would've blown the contents of the table off. A small shockwave could be felt around him when did it, knocking over the cups on the table, "O-oh... uh... oops?" He quickly picked up the mess, his face was slightly red, "anyway its safe to say I'll be a good opponent for you if you wanna test your limits. And like I say, "Power is most dangerous when its not understood" so some experience should be good for you."

A flush of heat and redness went through the wolf's face when the feline across from her grabbed her hand. She.. didn't quite know what to do or think or say or.. well, anything. For a few moments she just sat there, awkwardly, listening to the girl speaking. She then realised that it would be polite to try and give at least some form of verbal response, seeing as staring was.. kind of rude. "I- I- I- I-..." She tried to reply to the girl, but turned into a big stuttery mess. "I uhh.. I, yeah, it's funny, isn't it? Heh.." 

Before she could even say anything else, the couple at the table next to them had started getting really loud, as if they were in a fight. Just a few seconds later one of them had stormed off. It was confusing. What just happened? It was a sad display, seeing as this whole thing was about finding people you would click with, potential partners even, perhaps. Thankfully, two foxes, one cyan and one turquoise made their way over to the scene, trying to resolve things between the two girls. 

The cyan fox was actually someone she knew. It was Boubka, one of her friends. He was one of the people she least expected to be hanging around a valentine's event. He and Luka seemed to be very good at resolving the issue, however, seeing as people had started to calm down again, thankfully. 

Yukiko and Dione both snapped back to reality at the same time, both girls growing equally red. "I- I uh... No it's okay! D- don't worry." What the hell was she even saying anymore. "I mean uhm.." She looked down and started fiddling with her thumbs again. "I meant that it was.. nice?" That was the best way to explain it, totally. Yeah. Perfect. It didn't matter though, since she had made a huge fool of herself already anyways. 

"So uhm... Y- you said you work at the same cafe as Malakai?"

"Oh. If that's the case, I'm really looking forward to it!" Ana would say joyfully. She didn't mind the stuff being blown away on the table. After all, she hadn't ordered anything and accidents happen.

"So, uh, when's your schedule open?"

Nang just blushes hard when she asked that question' welll.. The thing is.... I never had one before... it's why my squadron Leader Dyson brought me here... to find someone...' Nang is trying to hide his blushing face but it's impossible. The other person can clearly see it.

Excellent.

Like an artist presented with an empty canvas, she could let her imagination run wild.

A devious smile across the cat's face.

She'd lean in. "And would you like to?"

The proverbial anvil had dropped.

It was nice. 

Did she actually hear correctly? She was saying what she was thinking. 
Her hands were not too warm or too cold, and they were soft. But not in the cliche way, they were just looked after nicely. 

Why was she thinking about this girls hands so in depth? What was wrong with her? 

The subject was being changed to her working with Felicia's boyfriend, Malakai. Okay good, that way this spell of awkwardness could be broken. 
"Malakai? O-oh yes, he is such a good person. I remember when he first joined the s-staff. He was extremely clumsy."

Yukiko found herself smiling fondly, thinking back to the grey rabbits first week at the cafe. The amount of dishes he dropped by trying to over do it was quite funny, but she felt so bad for him. He clearly didn't want to give up on the job, so she had taken the liberty of showing him some tricks and tips to be able to carry everything more fluidly with less trips in between. 
"The poor guy... He was a tough cookie though, and worked his behind off to make sure he could do what we did perfectly. I-I think he was about to go on a first date with Felicia as he had a change of clothes with him that night. He w-was so excited to finally have a girl show interest in him."

Looking softly over to Dione, she realised she had rambled a little bit and felt just terrible. "Oh, I apologise. This was a small date and I went on about someone else." She pushed her fingers together and pressed them slightly, annoyed at herself for interrupting time for them to get to know eachother.
"W-what about you? Are you and Felicia close?"

Some raised voices drew Tangerine's gaze over to table 6. It seemed maybe not all of these pairings were ideal. But as Bast continued speaking, she figured she'd at least have the decency to pay attention to him.

"Alright, that makes sense." The dragon gave a nod at the reply to her question. A little grin spread out across her muzzle as she also seemed to have a comment. However, the interruption of someone else in the room jumping up and actually attacking their partner threw her off and she joined many of the others in the room in staring at the scene. The sight of flames in the air made her tense as well and... her hair started to stand up? It wasn't terribly notable, just like a person with fur fluffing up when threatened or maybe like static electricity building up in someone's hair.

Of course, she wasn't about to get involved in someone else's cat fight and, quite fortunately, one of the other participants was very quick to get to their feet and go defuse the situation. Things seemed to settle fairly quickly as one girl retreated out of the restaurant, one of the hosts following after her while another moved over to the table that the conflict had occurred at. It seemed the more interesting bits had passed already and Tangerine exhaled. Her hair was back to normal again and she raised her eyebrows for a moment.

"Phew. Looks like love's not the only thing in the air, huh," the dragon commented.

She shook her head. "Sorry. Uh, you were asking about.. hobbies, right?" Might as well try to get the conversation back on track. "Tell you the truth, I don't do a whole lot. Movies and gaming. Hitting the gym is always good." At least the comment about going to the gym seemed true enough, judging by the muscle structure under her scaly skin.

"How 'bout you? What's your favorite way to spend time?"

So a lot had just happened in a short space of time. An argument, threats of violence, an intervention, a 'thanks' from the hosts, and soon enough... it was all over.
And after it had all resolved, and Rag made her way back to the table, Keandra couldn't help but look at her in a new light. Before she'd seemed so... quiet. So reserved. So nervous. But that- that wasn't Ragnilde at all!
Rag was brave! Rag was bold! Rag was strong! Rag was face down against the table making barely audible groaning sounds!

...
Oh.

"Uuuh... are you okay there Rag?" she leant forward ever so slightly, raising a finger to hesitantly poke the manticore, before thinking better of it. Poking people was generally seen as rude. Even if they were laying face down against the table in the middle of your supposed 'speed date'.
"...Dooo you want another drink? I could get your another drink if it would help...?"
...Okay Rag still had a lot of her drink left to be honest. Another drink probably wasn't gonna help.

So... yes, it seem Rag was brave, bold, and strong. It's just that she was also STILL quiet, reserved, and nervous. Like some sort of complex living metaphor for duality.
...Or at least some sort of living complex.
Looking at Rag now, yeah. Definitely some sort of complex going on there.

"I mean, uh... you did well!" she attempted to encourage the poor reserved figure with a grin, "Like seriously, I wouldn't even DREAM of stepping in there! I'd just sorta stand next to the table and stutter..." she paused for a second, before adding; "And then someone would probably bounce me off the wall."

Ragnilde slowly lifted her head, resting her chin in the palm of one hand. Her gaze lingered on the drink before her instead of anything else, watching the bubbles in the coke slowly rise to the top and then pop. She was so glad this wasn't a proper round, otherwise she'd have to come back and be more of a mess. With the awkwardness out of the way with these two, she at least didn't have to worry about being falsely impressive. She let out a tiny sigh.

"I uh. I didn't mean to. Make a scene. And be the center of attention," she mumbled, rubbing her cheek with her spare hand, "Sorry. I didn't- shouldn't h-have... left. Left you here. At this table. I think. Sorry." She said this, but she was secretly proud of herself. One of the hosts had even thanked her! She Keandra and Kelina gave her compliments! It was the right thing to do to step in, she knew this, but outwardly admitting it was difficult. And the idea that everyone had been staring at her without her armour and helmet on was still uncomfortable to her.

Reaching forward and taking another small sip of her drink, she finally raised her head up properly. She couldn't help but giggle a little at the bouncing comment, imagining Keandra bounce off the walls and then kicking someone in the face from the rebound. That would be sweet. She could totally utilise that, "B-but uh. Thanks. S-sorry. About that. Anyway! Anyway. Where... where were we...?" A distraction would be nice. Appreciated, even. She didn't know what Keandra liked, she just knew that she liked clothes. Clothes and... designing clothes. And looking cute in said clothes. Let's stick to clothes.
"A-are yoouuu... designing. Anything. ...Recently?" she asked. Was it too awkward to ask about work things, since they worked at the same place? But it was all she had to go off of, dammit!

"You didn't make a scene," the fox stated bluntly, "A scene was already being made, and you stepped in before things escalated. I'm fine sitting by myself at a table for a few seconds if it means stopping the place from burning down. And besides which..." she sat back, offering a small chuckle as she took a sip from her glass, "...I somehow suspect I'm not exactly gonna be your choice for taking home tonight anyway, am I?"
Well, there was no point beating around the bush. Rag already had their pick, and neither of them were under the illusion that they had plans or desires towards their workmates. More than anything, this was just... a casual meet-up, a chat that just HAPPENED to be occuring in the middle of a group of people speed-dating.

Speaking of work and workmates... well, here were the inevitable work questions. It struck Keandra that they didn't particularly- they didn't particularly know each other beyond that. They were gonna struggle with talking about much else as things were...
"I mean, uh..." she scratched behind an ear, trying to cast her mind back to whatever projects she had going at the time, "We've not had anyone... TOO difficult recently. A lot of people I've been able to give the standard armour - or like, reuse old things. Uuuh..." she paused to think, "...Oh! One of our new staff members is an owl. So like, had to design a special neck guard for... y'know." She swivelled a finger in the air. Was it rude to talk about an owl's head swivelling? The world was filled with strange social fo-pars.

Aaand now it was her turn to ask something. Aaand she was stuck.
After all, what do you ask a security guard? 'Stood in any good hallways recently?' Yeah, maybe not...
Not to say security wasn't important! The fox just wasn't sure... well, enough of what actually HAPPENED in that job to ask about.

...Oh!
Well she didn't know much about Rag outside of work so... Well, mainly you asked questions to find out things you didn't know! It was time to find out who Rag was outside of work! This was the opportunity!
"...So!" she hesitated a second, "What are you planning to do after this? Like, y'know. I mean once you've spoke to your date and got their number and all that. Plans for tonight?"
...Sure. That would do.

Alright.
Alright good, looks like everything over at the other table was under control, with members of staff hurrying about the place as one of the members stomped their way out of the restaurant. That’s gotta be… kinda awkward for the partner, but it’s much better than having the place burn down around them, right?? So with that distraction out of the way, Bast glanced back towards Tangerine, his body relaxing slightly as he eased back into the conversation.

“Well, you know what they say. Love can really inflame the heart.” He gave a small chuckle, shaking his head slightly as he rested his hands against the table, the corner of his lips quirking into a smile as Tangerine moved into listing off her hobbies! All of which sounded perfectly reasonable, if a little… mundane? Not that that was a bad thing! It was nice all things considered, to have someone who was more down to Mobius as his final date!

Plus, she clearly knew what she was doing in terms of gym work. It wasn’t often he ran into someone who worked out purely for looks, so he gave a small, appreciative nod at comment.


“That all sounds pretty great! Movies are always kinda cool, especially at the end of a busy day~ As for me, I uh… well, I spend most of my time traveling! And reading! And meditating and training, and just… yeah! But it’s mostly traveling!”

“.. Was. It was mostly traveling. I’m actually planning on sticking around for a fair while, though! Figured I’d done enough traveling over the last few years, wanna see what it’s like living in one place, you know?” Which he felt was an important addition, considering the fears and thoughts of his previous two dates.

He didn’t want her thinking he was just gonna up sticks and bail, after all!

Nang's face will get very red in his cheeks seeing someone asking him ' welll. uhhh... If you want. We can do some dates and such... Would be much better than this speed dating stuff' in the back of his mind it keeps screaming seal the deal seal the deal ' YES... YES OF COURSE...'

Sweetie's grin widened and the expression on her face darkened as Ember went on to question the vampire's existence. "Well, I wonder..." Her voice trailed off, leaving an unsettling feeling. She soon laughed which brought the mood up a little bit, but who knows if that was even possible for her.

She then brushed away the whole vampire topic like it didn't even exist to begin with. "So, you 'used to' do adventure-like stuff? Why'd you stop? Got tired of going on dangerous missions? Or were you injured in such a way that you couldn't do stuff like that anymore? Like an arrow to the knee?"

She began to grow a little excited, wanting to hear amazing tales about Ember's adventures, or whatever she was doing before. "Got any stories to share? I'd like to hear about how much of a hero you are~"

The pun drew forth an amused smile from Tangerine, but she made no further comment on it. Instead, she listened as he told her of his own preferred pasttimes. It all sounded about right for what she might have predicted from the tree frog.

"That does sound pretty good, all in all," the reptile agreed, "Traveling's great, but it is really nice to have roots, too." She paused for a moment, a little furrow in her eyebrows indicating that perhaps she was unsure of if the question she had in mind was at all appropriate. Whether the query she made was the one she had in mind or not, it was hard to tell. She didn't mull it over for long.

"Where'd you come from originally?" asked the dragon, "It sounds like you've come pretty far if you've been travelin' a few years, right?"

That didn't seem to be such a risky question, buuut it is what she apparently went with.

'I'm not exactly gonna be your choice for taking home tonight anyway, am I?'
No, no she most certainly wasn't. Ragnilde agreed entirely with this, but once again she couldn't help feel guilt. Rag could be going home with someone, and from the sounds of things, Keandra here was going away empty-handed. She reminded herself that it could have been someone else sitting here in her spot. She winced a little, "I... yeah..." was all she could get out, giving a small shrug of her shoulders.

And then there came the work questions that Rag herself started up. The manticore slowly leaned forward as Keandra explained her recent design process. She was glad that the armour concepts were in good hands, because honestly Rag was just imagining one of those vet-cones to go around the neck. But you couldn't say it couldn't theoretically work! She gave a tiny chuckle, leaning back.

And then the question turned onto her. But it wasn't about work, it was about her. And it wasn't just about her, but it was about what she was going to do. Which was the worst question to ask, because she didn't know, and what idea she had she didn't want to share. "H-haah...!" the woman stammered, raising her head to tap her fingers together, "M-me? Me? Um..." Honesty would be saying 'I'm just going to go home and try to sleep this night away' or 'I'm going to go on the internet and watch stupid videos' but she couldn't say that! She had to do what she always did in this scenario - give a tiny white lie and hope she never got caught in it.

"Uh, me?" she repeated for a third time, "Probably... finish a book I'm reading and- and then uh... sleep. B-because I have a morning shift in the... morning... and I don't want to be up all night. Reading. This book." She started fidgeting with her hands again, "Need to uh, train my mind! With books." Nailed it. Taking words out of Kelina's mouth, nice. No-one will notice.
"Anyway! What... what about you, Keandra?" she asked quickly, trying to brush away her own stupid answer with someone far greater than her, "As in... what do you do out. Of work? Hahah..."