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Albite owed Jada more than sticks, leaves, mud and grubs. She was classy - a decent girl. Woman? How that get far more applicable to her then most people he dealt with. Like there was a certain level of maturity set bar high that he had to reach.

She’d survived a first encounter with him though, and now it was time to pay it forwards. Not with knife throwing — though there was a bar that let you drink ale and chuck axes — but!!!



And albite was down for elf ears and theme-parks. Maybe during the summer? It’d make a good team trip .



He still couldn’t tick off the traitor box.

Cybele couldn’t have been, she wasn’t meant to be one of them to begin with, and Nembus was just lost and scared, and amsv was too nice and….The whole Lysi thing was entirely other peoples faults so far as he was concerned. If they found her?

He wanted her alive n back.

He wanted — to stop making excuses. To kick the habit of it entirely. Maybe someday he’d scratch out why he was ok-go-for-green with ending Cybs existence and not the others. Figured it all resulted in his need to fight enemies who fought back — and those three?

It’d be like kicking babies, and Albite had rules about fighting old ladies n babies.

She gave him both, and he beamed quietly in the dim blue-screen glow of his cell; it lit the smile she couldn’t see. While he sat crisscross-applesauce atop a flat concrete roof somewhere downtown, his dreads an entangled mess of blanketing cape behind him, fanned and bunched in ropy piles.

He almost giggled as he read and shot rapid replies. He didn’t know Shakespeare, aside from the tried and true tidbits that anyone knew from repetitive shuffling of school stuff - Romeo and hamlet and — something about a guy named Tibalt? Or a shrew? Names but no actual knowledge.

Good info to have though, in case he came across any interesting looking books with dead guys signatures in em —

A stream of shrugs and stars - followed by ramen bowls and rings of sushi.

because he wanted her comfortable as badly as he wanted to take her by the hand, to somewhere with two whole dollar signs - cause Japanese places were always like that. Espescially the ones with the good sushi.



He hovered in place, the edge of indecisiveness about wether or not to go on and pulling up a map tab full of his favorites - the city his oyster now that he could bamph about wherever, and it was never a waste to spend his energy on a girl and a good time.

A deal was a deal...

Albite unwound himself from where he sat, quite literally, and nearly stumbled over the heft of his dreads as he shluffed them out of the way. He eyed the skyline, her pinned location, scrolled open a street view and hunted something that he could cement into his mind as being a 'landable mark'.

Then he stepped off the roof. Touched - air - void - Earth.

Slipped from subspace onto solid ground and into himself with ease won of practice; ceaseless grit cemented with his own willful hubris. His pendant'd been his go-to crutch for so long, and now? It was simply an accessory with bonus youma-time fun, as easily dismissed as his guise.

Giving himself a block or so to stroll up gave him minutes..

To check himself in his phones camera, smooth beaded locks back into something like a messy bun, pluck unfortunate haymitch hairs off of printed jacket sleeves, pop reds, blues, and yellows - shredded blacks for jeans. To call up an uber to the locale -- cause he'd learned the hard way with both Faf and Helio that poofing near someone's place and making 'patterns' lay somewhere between rude and unadvisable on the social etiquette line.

Whatever, he'd throw Em's some courtesy, just in case. Just like he threw her another text as he found what he hoped was her front door.

It was a joy. Being met with such Confidence.

Waru oohed some soft sound for how instantly likable Emmy was. Offered a slick little side smile and let her have her hold. He couldn’t help but openly admire her for that, trace the notable little differences between glamor and gal.

“The one and only Em’s - thos’re cute earrings.”

A sweet little peek of the personality that lay beyond the gold-hearts on sleeves, and daggers behind the eyes image her uniform exemplified.

“I called us up a ride, just in case? I’m terrible at, uhm, ‘agent-etiquette’ for these sorts of things.” A vague half shouldered shrug, then the briefest of pings from his phone before something like a black Dodge Charger pulled up. All engine and rev, clearly someone making a run to pick up extra cash, probably to manage payments on that thing.

“C’mon heart breaker, our chariot awaits.”

Because he could be the gentleman who opened her door and let her slide into the back first — found her stealing all his attention. An all too familiar flutter of eagerness for getting to know someone in their element — for having a good time Emmys way.

“You are just — super cute outside of work, yanno? Now! What kinda sushi are you into? We taking nigiri or — California rolls?” Not that he’d ever been the picky type, the briefest flicker of their little game from the boss’s group meeting. She’d mentioned something about California right? Or had that been the lie…

Whatever, he was sure she’d remind him by time they got to the place.

There was some sweet, deep, thrill to meeting people outside of *work*. He’d always been a person first, an agent second, and he imagined for most? It must’ve been that way - he would’ve assumed, but then he met so many who were entrenched in their day to day grind that it became who they were, inside, out.

Jada - Emmy - she seemed to escape those trappings. The bits of herself that carried over into her civilian etchings, and then the parts that were clearly her and only her. Nerdy, lofty minded, attractive? Her looks obvious at a glance before, but now? Having them highlighted by her personality and the backwash of flitting streetlights beyond tinted windows - her interests made her instantly fascinating. Gave her a glow that no aura could match.

He was endeared by her love of Tolkien, her bemusing interest in avocados - the eggs of the fruit world. He could agree, healthy gains were made of green fatty hass smothered in garlic powder and ranch.

“Lookit you, committing cardinal sins in the name of the avacado, but go on Emmy, convert me to the Church of Brunch with green mash on toast.” light jab as he preened for her pretty tease, ate compliments like wheaties - couldn’t’ve lived a balanced life without them, really, but coming from her? He had a feeling being called handsome actually meant something.

“I do like it though, avacado, waldorf salad, though to be fair I put ranch on both those things. Still counts as healthy protein I think? Maybe.” Cozy in her space, all languid ease while he wondered if he could push her limits on authenticity? Was alive, too much? Poisonous? Blacker than squid ink and eel? Maybe he’d have some fun with that —

Thoughts scattered in a sigh of breath for the appearance of stark red neon lines, flashing steam, over a radish n ramen bowl. The inside bustled as easily as the outside, black, gold, reds designed to tempt the mouth to water; partitions that looked like waterfalls frozen in time, complete with little etchings of fish.

“They do hotspots here too, let you hibachi your own table if you’re feeling like bulgogi n kimchi fried rice….heh..n siracha for those Cali rolls?” and even if she coulda gotten herself out? She took the time to put on cute earrings for him — he could take the time to get her door for her.

Oh-my-god-apun! - unspoken glee and if Waru's eyes widened to catch all the light of neon spray and starshine? He was going to remember that, was going to try it on Faustite sometime and see where it landed, just like every filthy innuendo laid bit of wordplay that missed it's mark when he aimed it at, hell, anyone? Anyone.

It was oh so perfect though!

"Heathen n' hellion for sure -- awwh, but if they give me one of those little spray-bottles of sake and some fire? It could be so fun!" his inner sense of chaos had teeth for that kind of heat, towers of fire around onion rings and seared bits of eel on a hot-plate. Deliciously dangerous by design, probably not something they were gonna let him actually do here, but!

"Whatever, we'll put a hold on hibachi, you'll show me avocado toast done right. It's a date - a second date?" Waru was already making plans for his plans, as they were shuffled inside, led round hanging lanterns, and ginkgo painted ceilings into a silky red booth a little closer to the back. It lent privacy, thin black menus that ran for miles and waters on offer before he could even think to ask - - -

"A continuation -- cause this isn't the last time I'm taking you out Em's. Doesn't all have to be for celebrations only, yeah?" and his eyes lingered less on the menu, more on her - crease of smile round her eyes. Even if the scent of hot teriyaki and miso threatened to drag him away.

"Can just be for fun, sometimes?

An easy offer - before little lines of black text stole his attention for a moment, and he supposed eel was necessary? And of course those little calamari rings, because chewy hunks of squid were de-freaking-vine.

"The Unagi Rolls and Calamari Rings," and he was fine with water for right then, preferred it even, especially since he liked it when places served real, authentic, wasabi with their dishes instead of that chickpea mashed looking thing. Real wasabi didn't come in big glops - s**t was too spicy by his reckoning for that.

N as the server swept away, Waru's divided attention scattered back to what Emmy'd actually asked him. He blinked morse confusion over the concept of boss -- who's boss? Technically he'd be her 'boss' soon, but the only bosse's he could think of were the likes of Lilith, who remained above him regardless of rank, though Jada was technically that too as far as he was concerned. There was Faustite? Axinite? No -- wait -- did he have a boyfriend? "I -- ohshit, yeah! My good news, I mean - so - One? Imma go to our boss's boss for a promotion! N two - I don't technically have a boyfriend, but I do definitely have a fiancé! Isn't that cool? I gave him a ring and he said yes and --" he stumbled to a halt over how 'not her question' it all was, swallowed air and made himself pause so he could get to the details in some manner of comprehendible slow.

"You mean, if Firebrand n me are gonna be good with the whole -- umh, having other people thing? N also ********, fiancé sounds so cool to say, right? But! But-but-but--the answer is hell yes, s'good, all these things. Promise. No professional boundaries crossed, or - ah - personal ones, either. I mean, hell, could you imagine him being tied down to just me n me alone?" Waru clearly couldn't, paled at the idea of severing Faustite from any of the tenuous humanity he'd managed to clutch onto with both hands.

It was an unthinkable cruelty, he didn't mean for the ring to be an ownership kind of thing. Just a device to express, visually, Waru's idea of love. He didn't know what else to use, and even realizing that led to him blushing furiously. He glowed with it, and suddenly found a reason to play with the napkin wrapping his silverware. Especially because he'd never thought about having to explain this to other people. He was a regular car crash of a thing on any given day, his love a fire speeding down a highway going one-twenty - but there was a world full of people out there which maybe needed some clear lines. Some definition other than 'love big, me happy, squishy things'.

Yeah, sentences and sense making words. He'd have to work on his delivery.....

Maybe if he started with pictures? Yeah, ring pictures were the smart way to go about things! He'd make a list and run that as a very tentative 'step one', when telling people things.

"Thank you! N' I mean - you'd be surprised - but the amount of people I take home doesn't equate to the amount of people I take 'to bed', that is, those are -- the numbers are different? I mean, the numbers don't matter, but - uhm..." he thought maybe it was that same thing for Faustite, except he knew his boy had a bevy of 'likes' who were definitely 'more than friends'. People he'd spent time, and years, and ********> - some that he was super close too. No one Waru could've ever asked him to give up, not in a million lifetimes.

He didn't know where he was going with the conversation even, felt back footed and stupefied that she was, really, seriously, truly -- oh -- she liked him? Sometimes he was a brick wall that needed wrecking ball force and step by step pictures for instructions.

Em's was happy to be wrong, which meant she was interested, which meant - n she'd called him *handsome* in such a way that maybe meant Waru should have all the more reason to beam like some love-struck thing, ten times more the reason, probably. "...thank you. Heh, would you be shocked to believe I hadn't even considered you being into me? I love it though. That you think I'm interesting enough to like, or handsome? I will, absolutely take handsome." he was too vain not to take it, happily, willingly, to pull out his phone and flip through it until he'd found pictures of the ring he'd had custom made in good shop lights. His friend had done such a good job with his ridiculous demands, and he just had to show it off.

"We're equally possessive, probably, but like? Not in that way...though I'm sure there's lines, but we're pretty good at drawing 'em in more n' just sand." and he was sliding the device across the table with barely contained glee. "It's not diamonds -- but -- I was thinking of him and then the team? S'pretty...right?"

stari_maga