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 Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 2:33 pm
"Yea...." There wasn't really a lot more to say than 'yea', or at least he couldn't think of anything else. She was dead, and he wasn't. The last person he'd known who'd died had been his Grandpa.... He wasn't going to dwell on it. Maybe it was selfish but he wasn't dead and... and... and he needed to do this before he lost his nerve. She'd understand him trying to forget or ignore her fate for now, wouldn't she? He actually had no idea, he hadn't known her well enough to guess. He hoped she wouldn't have though.
As the lift went 'ding' on arrival at the second floor Aulus smiled again, leaning his weight back on Claire's shoulders. "Hey though, listen, I'm glad you were coming to see me because there's something I wanted to talk to you about. Got a few minutes?" Do not back out. Do. Not. Back. Out. If Aila could die with the dignity they said she had then he could certainly ask an attractive woman out on a date.... Was it flippant of him to think that? He had no idea. Don't think about it just now; good mood!
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Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 2:43 pm
As Aulus leaned on her again she shifted her hand to slid up and hold his arm rather than his wrist. It was just easier that way. "Sure," she said, a small smile twitching back onto her face. "I'm free for a while; I don't work until later, so I have plenty of time 'til then." It didn't take too long to get from the elevator to his room, and she paused while waiting for him to open the door. "What'd you want to talk about..?" Weren't 'talks' serious things? He was still smiling though, so it couldn't be that serious.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 3:15 pm
"Uuhhhh... I'll explain in a minute," Aulus said, knocking on his door with a slightly shifty glance around at the empty corridor. A moment later the door opened from within, and Char bowed his head to the pair of humans before stepping back to allow them inside. He'd left the place in a total tip when he'd set off on the mission but it was now, of course, just about immaculate; thank Arceus for Char.
"Right then," Aulus sighed as he sat down on his bed, and grimaced as he swung his legs up onto it. Once he was settled he was far more comfortable; the pain in his leg and from his burns wasn't half as bad while at rest like this. "Right," he reittered, kicking off his trainers without especially caring where they landed, "so I was going to say something.... Uh.... You want to sit down? Oh, not that it's anything bad - or I don't think it is - just because.... Uh.... Just si'down would you?" Don't get nervous. What was the worst thing she could do?... Reject him in disgust and never speak to him again. Waaaaaaaargh!
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Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 3:23 pm
Claire offered Char a polite smile as she stepped inside with Aulus, helping him over to his bed before a smile slowly spread across her face. "Alright, I'm sitting," she said with a laugh as she flopped down onto his bed. "What is it?" And why did he look so nervous? Surely it wasn't that bad... Oh.. Maybe he was going to tell her he was going on another date with Dani? She seemed to recall they had a first date at some point - or she sort of assumed it had happened, after all - so it seemed a bit obvious they'd go on more. That was probably it, wasn't it..? Well, not like it was any of her business, but then.. why would he tell her? Why would... actually maybe she should just wait for him to say whatever it is he was going to say before making so many assumptions. That was turning into a bad habit.
To cover for her thoughtful silence, she pulled out Artemis's pokeball and released the fluffy Growlithe near Char. When the puppy pokemon saw her now enormous friend, her jaws were agape. big! When did that happen?>
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:31 am
So. Right. How was he going to do this? Aulus looked away from Claire out of the window and scratched his ear distractedly as his brain freewheeled. “Well, uh, see.... You know I’m not going out with Dani. Not again anyway. She’s a nice girl I guess, I like her well enough consider I've just met her, but... well I’m not really interested in her.” He was glad that both Dani herself and – more importantly to him – Hayes had taken it as well as they had. He still felt like a bit of a p***k but it had seemed like a perfectly sensible idea at the time and he had apologised to them both which was quite a gesture coming from him.
Char rumbled in his new bass tones, He was still getting used to his new form but on the whole he felt he preferred it; the extra height and the wings were very useful indeed.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 8:38 am
"Oh, I fi--wait, you're not?" She said, looking at him with a bewildered, vague frown. That was... huh. "You did go on a date with her though," she commented, more to herself than to him, but... He just wasn't going on another date with her. That... huh. So he wanted to talk to her about how he wasn't going to go out with Dani? ...not that that was such a good thing, she reminded herself as she beat back the strange flip-flopping sensations her stomach insisted on making.
Artemis wagged her tail happily as she trotted around the Charizard in a circle, sniffing at him.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:15 am
Great. Now what? "Well... yea... see... uh... well... she is kind of pretty, and fun and... uh... well actually, honestly, there's... well there's somebody else I was - am - actually interested in but I was pretty sure she didn't like me like that so I guess... well I guess I was trying to distract myself but for one it wasn't fair on Dani and for another it didn't work anyway." Okay. Getting there. Kind of.... Damnit man just tell her she was the girl in question! He just needed to... to... he just needed to think a bit more about what exactly to say to her. He needed to think fast!
Char admitted with a shrug as he moved to pick up Aulus' discarded trainers. he added as he tucked the laces inside the shoes and put them neatly away in the closet.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:30 am
the clueless Growlithe admitted with a soft whine, ears and tail drooping.
Claire just nodded a bit as he went on about Dani - and then went on about somebody else - and just... Wow, why did he seem so nervous? A small smile twitched onto her face at his behavior, and she offered a half-shrug. "If you like someone, you should probably just tell them." What, did he meet some other girl at the party besides Dani? Well, it made sense. He was fun to hang around with, charismatic, sweet when he wasn't being so prickly or stubborn, he--
A cold, wet nose was suddenly shoved into Claire's hands, and the agent smiled down at the puppy before reaching up to scratch behind her ears. "What do you want?" She murmured with a half-smile, to which Artemis replied with an eager 'awrr!'
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:45 am
Damnit this was not the time for adorable puppies!
Aulus fidgeted with a loose thread on his t-shirt as he tried to work out how to get Claire's attention back. "Well... yea. I've been trying to get the courage to tell her," he said slowly, "you know the whole nearly dying thing kind of...." He shrugged and frowned, trying to find the right words for a feeling he hadn't even managed to entirely pin down. "Carpe diem," he said eventually, "I feel like... you never know how long you have, do you, so you shouldn't leave stuff unsaid or undone."
Char said, turning his head slowly as he began to pick up on what the humans were talking about. Was his master trying to...? He was. He definitely was. the Charizard suggested slowly. He still didn't understand why it was so very difficult for Aulus to say, but then there were a lot of things about humans he didn't understand.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:09 am
"Awrrrrrrrr--" <--huh?> Artemis reluctantly lifted her head from the glorious head-scritches to peer up at Char. With that, she pulled away to plop her rear down a few feet from the bed to watch Aulus intently.
Claire watched her Growlithe move with a bemused expression before leaning back to look at Aulus again. "Yeah, that mission really... put things into perspective, I guess," she said with a slight frown. Poor Aila...
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:22 am
"Umm.... Yea.... So.... So...." The words were sticking in his throat. He'd faced powerful pokemon and a collapsing building, he'd been afraid then too but not paralysed by it. Maybe because this was a social kind of fear where acting wasn't necessary for survival. Aulus cleared his throat and looked back up at Claire. She was fantastic. If he didn't ask her out somebody else would soon and that would be unbearable, doubly so if he'd never even tried. She was too good to pass up, probably too good for him - spiky stupid b*****d that he was - but he still had to try.
"Claire... would you like to go to dinner with me sometime?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:44 am
While Aulus sidestepped the thoughts of death and their mortality, Claire did not. Aila had died so young, but she could have accomplished so much more... She'd be devastated if anything like that eve--dinner..? It wasn't anywhere near time for dinner yet, and she wasn't even hung--.... oh.
The gears in her head screeched to a halt.
Oh.
Her cheeks abruptly turned an extremely noticeable shade of pink as she reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. "You mean like... a date?"
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:53 am
He could feel himself beginning to flush with embarrassment but through a great effort of will Aulus managed to keep eye contact. "Umm. Yea. I.... Yea. Exactly like a date. Actually a date in fact. I.... Yea. I mean... I don't want to spoil our friendship but... but I couldn't not ask so... so you can say no and we can try to forget I ever said anything if you want but I had to ask."
She was flushed too.
Was that because she was embarrassed for him, and was about to kindly turn him down? Was it because she was kind of flattered, but still not interested? Was it...? Could it be that...? Maybe? Might she? His stomach was in knots. s**t. Maybe this hadn't been the time to ask, maybe he should have worked on some lines and given a little space between everything that had happened and asking her on a date? Well it was too late now, wasn't it, and he'd just bloody well gone and blown up the machine designed to reset the world!
Char, being a polite sort, quietly withdrew to see if anything in the bathroom needed cleaning.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 11:02 am
He was blushing too. Oh sweet Arceus, he was asking her on a date. This fact only served to darken the tinge on her cheeks, although it suddenly got hard to maintain eye contact. "Really? I, umm.. Well I just.. I never..." Wait - back up. Respond to offer before tumbling into anything else.
The agent took in a deep breath before forcing her purple gaze back to Aulus. "Yes," she said after another moment, fidgeting with her hands and an uncertain smile twitching onto her face, "I-I'd like that." Arceus, with how much she was blushing she felt for sure she'd be on fire or something. But why?
Deep down, though, she already knew exactly why - and the thought made her stomach do a very creative and complex acrobatic act.
Artemis watched the pair of humans with an increasingly bewildered look. Was that it..? Was that what was going to happen that was so important...? Both humans would just turn red? That didn't seem important or interesting at all. With a huff, she turned to follow Char to the bathroom to see if there was anything of interest in there.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 11:11 am
"Uh. Buh. Really?" She'd said yes. She'd actually said yes. The knots in his stomach turned into flips, and a slightly hesitant grin spread across Aulus' face. "So, uh, when are you free?... Should probably give it a few days so I can actually get around a bit better... if that's alright? Umm...." He had no idea what to say. His mind was a total blank, or actually to be more accurate it was too filled with stunned, relieved elation to supply him with coherent thoughts or words. Why hadn't he asked her sooner? He could have asked her months... well not months ago, but certainly not long after the mission to the mines when he'd figured out how he felt....
Did she actually like him too or was she just...?
No. Stoppit Aulus, idiot, stop thinking so negatively! She'd said yes, and they'd just talked about the fact that it wasn't bright to go out with somebody just for the sake of it. She liked him. She was bright red, and he probably was too. "Uh... you know you're pretty when you blush. Some girls go all... blotchy... and to be clear you're not one of them." Whelp, his foot had made its way back into his mouth, normality restored! He couldn't manage to be more than slightly embarrassed at the stupid phrasing for some reason though, whyever could that be!
She'd said yes!
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