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Once the girl was gently tucked close to the table, Howl selected his own seat across the way and sat down rather properly. Straight back, shoulders back, and head held straight, all proper pieces to good posture. He set his cup upon the table approximately 12 inches in so if there was a spill, it wouldn't necessarily leak over the edges of the table and onto the floor. It was still a bit too hot for his tastes, so he had not attempted to sip down some. His gifts were thoughtfully littered underneath the table towards his side, so they would not inconvenience any passing mall-goers.

He waited silently, watching the girl as she thought. It was pretty evident she was thinking, and it was pretty evident she was not your ordinary civilian without an ounce of intellect. Not too many people went directly to assuming he was male before he spoke. The cogs in her mind were functioning quite well it would seem, which was an admirable trait. He slipped one of his well maintenanced fingers to his lips as he continued to observe her til she spoke again. She had easily managed to call him out on his plans and deduce he was no senior. He smiled and let out a small sigh.

"Alas, my dear Miss Konstantin. I had been hoping for some quality time with my parents during the break, but it seems once again they are too involved with work to spend time with their only son."

He neglected the mention the fact he legally couldn't see them as well.

Not being one to hide the fact he had her somewhat figured out, he pointed out "You are quite good at solving puzzles through your deductions, Miss Konstantin. I applaud your abilities. I am actually younger than you. I am only sixteen." It was definitely an appropriate moment to pause and finally sip upon his warm cocoa. His brows lofted up slightly for another pleasant expression as he drank a small bit.

"I can see why others would fuss over this being so delightful. It is quite rich."

He set the cup approximately back where it had been resting before, then volleyed a question back towards Tatiana. "Might I ask if you participate any sports?"

As she mentioned her previous sport, the effeminate lad casually looked the girl up and down. It was nothing particularly lecherous, but more for observation purposes. Not hesitating to share what was on his mind, he slipped in a "That seems like an appropriate sport for you, with your body build, Miss Konstantin." He nodded slightly, as if to approve his own observation.

He was about to reply to the volleyed question, but immediately shut his mouth as she began to verbally piece together the puzzle. It was an intriguing process to listen to, and he approved of getting such an opportunity. His head tilted to the left slightly as he drew his right hand's fingers (minus the thumb) towards his cheek. If a casual observer looked at him, they might have thought she was making googly eyes at Tatiana. Yet, such was not the case. She was far from his type, but he was truly interested in what she had to say.

She had managed to narrow down the field quite accurately, which was astounding in itself. It was only when she asked if she was correct that he signaled how accurate she had been by beginning to clap his hands softly together, fingers of the right hand slapping lightly against the palm of the left hand.

Shortly, his hands slowed to a stop and he calmly replied "You have done it again, Miss Konstantin! I have been taking fencing lessons ever since I was young and I have kept to it even in High School." He laughed lightly and pointed out in jest "Soon enough, I will have no secrets to keep from you, for you will have figured out any unanswered questions on your own."

Ah, the faint flushing of the skin. It was always a delightful thing to see upon any ladie's skin. It usually tended to show some sort of vulnerability, though occasionally it could be offset by anger as well. Most people did not get cross with Howl Wickham. Unless you were Elzo Xanis. However, that was a story for another time, and the teal-haired lad tucked the thought away in the back of his mind.

Once again, he picked up his cup of cocoa and took a small sip. Large or overly long sips signaled that you were not very interested in the conversation, and that was far from the case. He once again listened quietly, politely listening to the various deductions as she offered them. When she slowed in her guesses, her politely interjected.

"You got some interests correct, and some incorrect this time," he honestly pointed out. "I am quite the fan of literature, and though I do enjoy writing, it is more for the shaping of elegant script. Mother would only pray that I was musically inclined. Yet, when I was growing up, I showed no talent or sense towards creating music. I suspect my mother mourns this fact everyday."

His mother had always hoped he would take up the piano while growing up, but all lessons seemed to prove fruitless. There were just some things that you could not get a person to understand, and for Howl, music was that one thing.

"You are correct about painting. It is again, another thing I am no good with. I can form elegant letters, but I cannot draw to save my life." Though he could only hope to form decent stick figures, he neglected to mention it, since it seemed insignificant to the conversation for him.

Rather than flat out say her final observation was incorrect, he approached it in a more gentle fashion. "I am sad to admit the fact that I have been unable to garden recently. I do rather enjoy bringing life to beautiful flowers." There was no attention brought to the fact she had been wrong in her prediction. It would be needlessly adding a bit of embarrassment to the conversation, and Howl was far too kind to do something so rude.

With his cup still at hand, he took another sip. Before setting it down on the table again, he asked "I will have to be quite up front and ask you what your interests are? Miss Konstantin, I am not quite so good at making conclusions from small observations." It was a partial lie, but Tatiana did not need to know this.

"You know, nervous habits are not very becoming of a cute girl such as yourself," he casually pointed out as she seemed to try to avoid the subject of herself. Though many would have made the words sound like some sort of scolding, he had managed to make it sound more like a soft spoken fact. It was obvious that she was avoiding talking about herself, which he felt was a bit unfair at this point after he had shared a miniature fortune of information about himself with her. The adorable rose color that had colored her cheeks was hint enough that it was from some sort of nervousness.

He leaned forward so that he could be ever so slightly closer to the girl and placed his hand about his cheek. "I can assure you, Miss Konstantin, that I am quite open minded. And if it is a matter of not sharing this information with any of my friends, I shall keep our conversation completely between us." As if to ensure the secrecy of the conversation, he tossed in a gentle wink of his long lashed right eye. "It will be our secret."

He wanted to ask her about the club, but he held off on asking such at the moment, since he wanted to see if he could encourage the girl out of her figurative shell.

He could have straightened his body up while the girl spoke of her "boring" hobbies. However, it would have severed that vague sense of intimacy between the two. He did not expect Tatiana to be shouting her interests across the table if she had been so shy to share it earlier. So as he listened attentively, he remained leaned in towards the brunette, cheek resting upon his hand.

It might have come as a surprise to the girl, but the beautiful lad seemed to gain a bit more interest at the mention of video games. Of course, he was polite enough to wait for the girl to finish her quick explanation, but then he honestly confessed "I would beg to differ. I could not find a single boring activity mentioned." Both of his eyes blinked shut as he smiled.

Many people would have had problems admitting to such a problem, but Howl was that rare exception that knew he was a bit behind in the times. "See, I am not very familiar with video games. It was not a common place activity for me as I was growing up. I think the most I have ever done when dealing with video games is merely watch." About here, he straightened his head slightly so that instead of leaning a cheek against his hand, he was now resting his chin upon the palm of his hand. "I find it to be quite an admirable hobby, in all honesty. Nothing boring about it."

Thoughtfully, he glanced to his cup, as if debating taking another sip, but decided he could wait for another sip. His eyes fell back to the girl once more. "I suppose you can say I compete in fencing tournaments, but it is not anything too exciting to watch." Wickham was no shining star of fencing, and he was quite aware of this. He lost nearly as many times as he won.

Not wanting to idle the conversation too long on such a subject as his failing attempts at fencing, he chimed in a new question of his own. "You mentioned you ran a club at school? I have always wanted to run a club of my own. I am still undecided as to specifically what sort of club, since there are so many possibilities. I would like to know what sort of club it is you run. It might help me narrow down the field slightly." He was uncertain as to whether or not that "moment" of theirs was over, but he decided remaining close like this could not harm anybody for now.

With a chuckle, he pointed out "So says the video game expert, my dear." Since the conversation seemed to have moved onward successfully without too much lingering shyness, he sat himself upright and swept up his cup between his fingers. He was about to take another sip of his beverage, but he had to curiously pause.

"'Annie May'?" he repeated curiously before taking that sip. His eyes had widened a bit, signaling that he sincerely was not familiar with such a club. He did not ask anything beyond his initial failed attempt at repeating the foreign word. If Miss Konstantin felt like explaining it further, she would.

Her confession of not liking people was a bit of a shock to him, but that was simply because he had been enjoying this conversation quite thoroughly. Normally a person who didn't like being around people would not supply such a varied or entertaining conversation, tending to try and find any excuse to abandon the dialogue. As he set his cup down, he drew his fingers to his mouth, covering his bottom lip slightly. "I suppose I should consider myself honored then, Miss Konstantin, to have kept you company like this." His voice held no sarcasm and yet another charmingly genuine smile curled upon his lips.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he suddenly remembered that he did have a curfew thanks to Hillworth's strict rules. Hoping to not make a giant fuss of it, he casually pulled down his sleeve slightly on his left hand and looked to his watch that had been hiding there. Though he didn't make any motions to leave yet, it was getting to be about that time. Teavanna would have to wait for a return trip.

His first instinct was the stare at the girl as if she had sprouted two new heads. Of course, he didn't act on such a notion, but she really did seem to be speaking a whole different language. Oh, those silly Japanese people! Instead, he smiled politely and requested "The next time we meet, Miss Konstantin, I will insist you explain the Japanese Animation to me."

The pleasant curl to his lips did not usually falter, but the mention of gentlemen who were acting in such a vulgar fashion did manage to bring a frown to his lips momentarily. "I cannot possibly understand how any lad can be so disrespectful to such an enchantingly pleasant girl as yourself." He nodded his head gently to his statement, as if to emphasize its meaning before giving Tatiana a mildly sheepish smile.

"I should have known you would have caught that, my dear." Not being one to let embarrassment linger too long, he fixed up his smile so it was once more his usual pleasant one. "It would seem it is time I should get going though. I do not want to miss my strict curfew." Pushing his chair out just enough so that he could get out of his seat, he began to move the gift bags from the floor to the chair he had been in. As he prepared himself for his departure, he pointed out "I have no plans on getting reprimanded for such a trivial thing as curfew." Once the bags were haphazardly stacked in the chair, he turned to the girl.

"It has been a pleasure, Miss Konstantin. I do hope we cross paths in the future." He offered his hand as if for a handshake. If the bait was taken, he would quickly turn it into a polite kiss on her hand, approximately around her pointer finger's knuckle. It was the only proper greeting or farewell for a gentleman like Howl.

He smiled as he stood himself back up, then promptly began to load his arms up with gift bags. His turquoise eyes gently glanced back to the girl once more before he pushed his chair back in. With a light step, he gradually melded back into the crowd. There was much to do before heading back to the school. He needed to meet back up with his "city companion" as well as dress back into his school uniform before attempting to return to Hillworth. Howl wasn't even certain if the school would be permissive of him bringing in the gifts without ripping through the gift wrapping. That would be a disappointment, but hopefully the faculty would see that he did not have anything remotely hazardous to bring onto campus.

Even if it did not work out, at least there was one saving grace for the day's outing. He had a decent conversation, and that was one thing which Howl Wickham could always fully appreciate.

[FIN]