Welcome to Gaia! ::

He paused, his hand on the door handle as she spoke. It lingered there a moment, and then dropped away as he looked at her with an unplaceable expression as he mulled over what she'd said.

She was right. And while he didn't much like the idea of traipsing into territory that might make her cry, there was a lot he didn't know and wanted to ask about. The same was likely true for her.

And maybe dinner in a restaurant wasn't exactly the best place to let emotions run high.

His eyes flicked between the front door and Tinania before he slipped his arms around her giving her another hug.

"All right." he said. "You wanna put dinner on ice for a little while and find someplace to talk then?"

A swell of relief passed through him as she declined the offer and he moved to place his hand on the opened door above hers in a half-hearted attempt to hold it for her.

Start out small, he could deal with that. And they had the whole evening to talk.

"Wouldn't dream of it." he told her, following her inside where the smiling hostess greeted them and led them to a table in the back, clearly trying to give the sparse gathering of customers already there their respective privacy by spacing the tables out as far as possible.

"Your server will be right with you." she told them both, leaving them with menus and glasses of ice water.

And each other.

Zhane drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking across the table at Nani with a smile he hoped looked steady as he wondered where would be a good place to start.

"So, guess I know your name is Tinania, but....don't think I ever asked your full name." he ventured at last, blushing faintly. It was the very tip of the iceberg, but they had to start someplace. And it was as good as any.

He blinked, realizing the name was, indeed, a mouthful....and he hoped he would eventually be able to remember it. "Its a very pretty name." he told her. "But I'll probably stick to Nani until I'm sure I won't get it wrong."

His grin was teasing as he offered her a hand to shake as if they were meeting for the first time. "I'm Zhane Alexander Breslin, nice to meet you."

"Uhh...biologically, yes." he told her, letting his hand rest on the tabletop as his other folded over it. "I guess I was sort of a surprise....and my mom had a really hard time having me, so they told her it probably wouldn't be a good idea to have any more kids. So she and dad adopted my sister, Phaerna."

He smiled a bit. "You'll probably meet her eventually, she's just really, really shy. How about you? Any brothers or sisters?"

His fins perked a bit at the mention of her having a Fa'e for a sibling, as it was common ground between them which he treaded on eagerly. "My sorta-cousin is a Fa'e too." he told her. "We grew up around each other, but nobody's heard from him in awhile. Dunno if you've met Arkie or not....he kind of gets around from what I hear."

He watched the ice drift lazily in his own glass of water before realizing he really ought to be picking out something for dinner before their server came to tend to them and fumbled open his menu.

He'd just decided the fish fillet and rice sounded worth a try when she asked her question, making him look up from the menu.

"Eighteen and some change." he told her, giving her a likewise-appraising look. He'd told those who had asked that she was only a couple years older than him because that's all she looked....truthfully, she probably could have been AS old as him, but considering she had an adopted son and her own place, he doubted it.

"And you?"

If her age bothered him, he didn't show it. No arched brow, no flinching, nothing. He only steadily returned her gaze as she asked her next question and found he had to think about it a moment as his eyes wandered ceilingward.

"A dream I hope will come true..." he repeated, chewing on the words. He could go the cheesy route and tell her he hoped things worked out between them, and that was true...

...but they were trying for serious answers from one another.

"I want to find out what I am." he told her simply. "That's something I've always wanted to know. My mom and my dad....they have no idea what they are, or why they are, or where they came from. And they don't really care."

His fingertips drummed the tabletop a bit. "....I do, though."

His eyes returned to hers before he could get to putting any real thought into it which would get him to brooding over it again, and he countered her question with one of his own. "So aside from chasing Seiji and the occasional internet, what do you like to do?"