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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Jul 11, 2012 13:29:21 GMT -5
It was dark, but then, in Nerezza, it was always dark. The moon sank slowly towards the horizon, signalling the Nerezzan 'evening'. It was moe than enough light to see by for most of the residents of the perpetually-dark country, and Kouichi, though a foreigner, could see as well as he could in broad daylight.
He tugged a little at his clothing. Lady Elexa had provided him with a garment that she assured him was 'dressed up' in Nerezza, not too fancy (because if it were, Lana would never agree to this) and not too casual, either. The equivalent of wearing a button-down shirt and a pair of neatly-pressed slacks.
Of course, he had the feeling the clothing was more expensive than the queen was telling him.
The pants (breeches? whatever the right word was) were a dark leather, soft and comfortable, probably from one of the native animals, and the leather surcoat (was that what it was called) was made of the same material, he imagined. As for the long-sleeved tunic, a deep blue that Elexa assured him matched the color of his eyes and brought out the color in his hair, well, he got the very, very uncomfortable feeling that it was made of a very expensive silk. Elexa had mumbled something about giant spiders when she fetched it for him.
His tail twitched, nervously; shouldn't she be here by now? It was getting later....
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Post by lana on Jul 11, 2012 13:45:33 GMT -5
Oh, Lana was there.
She was there, and hiding behind a tree and watching for the younger man who showed up in apparel that surely wasn't something to make her laugh and walk away but enough to twist her insides a little uncomfortably. Geez, they were going to do this outing thing and people were going to get ridiculous ideas about them...
Lana certainly didn't do much to dress up, she wore her high-heeled boots and the usual black pants--her shirt was what changed, however. A blouse, black, and her reasoning for it was solely because she didn't feel like punching out anyone who stared at her chest tonight, that was it. She had Kouichi to look after, she couldn't be distracted by the pummeling of morons!
Why was she doing this again? Night out? Yeah, that was it. Nothing else, no matter what anyone said!
Taking a deep, confident breath then she marched out from behind the tree to find her 'not-date' for the evening.
"Hey!" she greeted loudly, not at all something fitting of any kind of lady that was for sure.
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Jul 11, 2012 13:52:40 GMT -5
He jumped, startled completely. She was good at sneaking up on him.
Dammit, he was nervous.
This isn't a date, he reminded himself. If it were, we wouldn't be having it.
"Hey, Lana!" he greeted sheepishly. "You, uh. You startled me." His tail resumed it's nervous twitchng back and forth. "So, um.... let's go, right?"
He was terrible at small talk, but he couldn't help but smile just a little bit. She was just the same Lana as ever, and they were going out for a friendly drink at a little-bit-nicer-than-usual restaurant-and-bar.
Which, in his world, meant 'date' when you did it with someone who made you smile like an idiot whenever you looked at them, but obviously, Lana wasn't interested in dating.
Unfortunately....
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Post by lana on Jul 11, 2012 13:59:38 GMT -5
"Yeah, I have that effect on men...I mean..." her eyebrow raised at the boy then, "uh...nice clothes..."
So. This was a little awkward. And with Lana it was actually really awkward. Best to just rush out of here, then!
"So what's new? That brother of yours was doing...stuff, wasn't he?" she immediately leaped into a whole new conversation, anything that came to her mind as she reached her hand over onto Kouichi's shoulder and gave him a gentle push along down the road towards the nice-ish restaurant/bar that she was really only going for because they served awesome rum. Yes...that was it...
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Jul 11, 2012 14:01:41 GMT -5
"He's with the heroes at their new base," he said. "Andy decided to recommission that space station we took from the Ketulunans. Or... something. I'm not really sure. And that guy was helping..." He shrugged. "I don't really understand what his deal was, but I'm also not supposed to talk about it... so... I guess I should... stop talking about it... um.... uh..." Oh, man, this was terrible. "But... um. Yeah. He's doing... stuff. I guess you could call it stuff..."
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Post by lana on Jul 11, 2012 14:17:11 GMT -5
"Ah. Yeah, not talking about stuff is...something else..."
She let the conversation drop right then, now trying to find something else to go on about. The few seconds pulled into minutes which felt like hours as she tried to pick up the pace in her walk a little. She couldn't wander off too far too fast though, her steps were easily larger than his, it'd look like she was running away from him or something. And Lana wasn't scared of anything! Even Andy, that big stupid jerk! Geez, just the mention of him really boiled her blood...
Okay wait, chill out. Andy that big dumb ass wasn't here, it was her and the cat boy she felt odd around. They kissed once...err...twice...wait, why was that important? Why was that coming back up right now? Lana wasn't really familiar with how this kind of thing worked but she also didn't know how she was supposed to feel just going for a drink or two with the same guy. She went out with Ludro a lot and the guy was always going home with a broken nose, nothing else between them even before she found out they were related!
No really, why wasn't this the same way?!
"So, are you a fan of rum!?" she blurted out next.
'Please not too much longer now...'
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Jul 11, 2012 14:21:11 GMT -5
"Well... I've never had it.... I... I don't drink much. THough... I did try sake once..."
It had been shortly after coming home. Someone had talked him into it, he couldn't remember who. Actually, he couldn't remember most of that night. He blushed furiously at some of the things he did remember, chuckling a bit. "I, um. I... evidently... I'm a bit of a lightweight... I hope that's not a problem...." He edged himself a little closer to her, almost unconsciously. She was so tall compared to him; the tips of his ears barely cleared her shoulders, but that was okay.
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Post by lana on Jul 11, 2012 14:28:45 GMT -5
"Rum's good for someone who's light-weighted like you, then. Teach you how to hold it better and these guys I know will have good quality stuff," Lana spoke more casually, feeling the slightest bit more relaxed as the conversation kept on her good buddy alcohol for a few moments. She was feeling better enough that as Kouichi got closer she, at first, never even realized exactly what had happened. She felt a bit warmer and as far as she knew that was awesome.
Of course, the natural instinct of having someone that physically close made her go to reach an arm around him but she caught herself in mid-action, immediately cancelling it and trying to smooth it out by looking as though she were rolling her shoulders and arms instead--gotta keep them nice and loose in case she had to fight afterall! A captain was ready at all times!
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Jul 11, 2012 14:49:38 GMT -5
He was relaxed enough that he noted the odly-aborted movement, and his ears drooped just a tad, nothing seriously notceable, though. It was a little difficult, trying to - he stopped, fumbling for words, then decided on, 'go out with' - someone like Lana.
"Well... okay. I guess I'll let you advise me on the drinks." Then he paused. "Actually, I'll... just let you advise me on the food too." He blushed a little more. "I... I don't know practically anything about Nerezzan cuisine besides what I've been eating in the castle for the past month."
He grinned suddenly. "Y'know, I'm actually looking forward to this. I like trying new things..."
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Post by lana on Jul 11, 2012 15:01:22 GMT -5
Come to think of it, Lana really didn't know much about Nerezzan cuisine either. She just kinda ate whatever was served with the booze, usually bread...sometimes....
Her usual diet of alcohol had changed a little in the last year though, she'd eaten this thing called a sandwich that she hadn't had in years, it was kinda neat. That wasn't really impressive for him, though. They were going somewhere nice it was probably a good thing to show off a dish or two that was actually aesthetically appealing to the guy.
'Okay, seriously? Why do I even care? 'Impressive' to him, like I need to impress anyone...' Well, while Lana was having a mental hissy fit with herself again she narrowed her eyes down the street, knowing they had not much farther to go as the streets were starting to seem highly familiar to her...
"Yeah, they've got some kind of..." she paused now that she was trying to think of the 'interesting' menu they were going to be shown, "...a goose of sort. Done up with a local wine glaze or something like that...new stuff and all...right..."
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Jul 11, 2012 15:05:57 GMT -5
"Sounds like we're both new to fancy foods and stuff," he said, chuckling a little, slipping even closer to her. "Maybe we'll order a small plate of everything and try it all?" he asked, teasing, though it sounded interesting to him. "I've heard there's a lot of really strange stuff that's not made anywhere else in the world..."
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Post by lana on Jul 11, 2012 15:15:34 GMT -5
"If you're going to be doing any kind of drinking, that's probably the best way to go," Lana said, thinking about the whole plan now as the front doors came in sight. Sure, order a little of everything, teach him how to drink a little. She didn't even think about how it was going to look if they ordered one of everything and shared it, it was something that wasn't going to come to her mind until it was too late.
Now Kouichi moving in closer yet on the other hand Lana caught, again, moments before she did something silly. Again she went to reach out for him but instead raised both arms high into the air and stretched them behind her head. Was he cold or something? He looked like he was warm, so what was up? He wasn't getting any funny thoughts out of this, was he?! She wasn't going to stand for it! Nope!
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Jul 11, 2012 15:22:37 GMT -5
And... then they were there. It was kind of noisy, not like a really fancy restaurant back home where nobody spoke above a whisper. It had kind of a comforting, relaxing air, a come-in-and-feel-at-home kind of air. It was lit by copious amounts torchlight, making it much brighter than outside even in the 'daylight' hours, and Kouichi blinked a bit to get his eyes back used to real light again. They were seated by a waitress who looked just a little harried - it was kind of a busy night - and he looked over the menu advertising exotic (at least to him) foods like 'Degrin stew' and 'roast Bengi'.
This must be what it's like for American tourists walking into a restaurant back home, he thought to himself, chuckling.
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Post by lana on Jul 11, 2012 15:43:32 GMT -5
As they were seated Lana fidgeted oddly, wondering how many people were looking at them when they walked in the door, how many could see them sitting there alone at a table together. In actuality the majority of the guests there probably didn't even care in the least but Lana somehow felt as though they were being heavily watched.
She needed a drink, it was time for a drink! As the server came by the table to check on them for beverages Lana nervously jumped in her seat.
"Was there anything I could get you--"
"T-th-wine!" she blurted at the woman, "the best one! Whole bottle, right away!"
The woman gave her quite the odd stare at first, an eyebrow raising as she answered Lana quietly, "Uh...our best is a couple hundred gold pieces, are you sure..."
Lana waved her hand dismissively at the woman with a grin that was supposed to look pleasant but instead struck fear in the young server as she hissed, "Yes, that one! Captain Princel, it's job-related, just send the bill to Captain Gamblington." Well, now that names were dropped the young server didn't seem so much scared anymore as she was pleasantly impressed, probably with the rough night she was having she could get a nice tip out of this!
Away she went as Lana folded her hands in front of her and stared at Kouichi across the table, he was so...intrigued with everything. Damn innocence gushing out of him, it was making him look...she couldn't even think the word without feeling like something was wrong. [cute]
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Jul 11, 2012 15:52:30 GMT -5
"Wine?" he asked, surprised. "I didn't really take you for a wine person, Lana," he said, resisting the urge to purr, even a little bit. Damn cat instincts.
He looked down at the menu, smiling, tail swishing happily as he looked over them. "I'm definitely tempted to just... order one of everything. They seem busy tonight, though... I don't want to overwork the staff..." His ears drooped, and he looked worriedly at his menu.
He didn't even seem to notice Lana's flusteredness, other than his first comment, or the stares he was attracting from a few of the wait staff - as he suspected, he was indeed dressed rather expensively, despite the halfway-nature of the style of his clothing.
In actuality, he did notice, but was ignoring it; he was used to it. He had cat ears and a tail; it never occurred to him that people might be interested in what he was wearing, now that he was actually here.
"What do you think, Lana?" he asked.
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