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Alex had to slip his arm back off of Michi so that he could grab a knife and fork (yes, he did use those on occasion!). He looked at his steak with some amount of suspicion however, eyeing each one over carefully before he began digging in to his own meal as well. He happily carved off large chunks of meat that were probably too big for his mouth but he somehow managed to shove in their anyhow. It really did not take long for him to make a large dent in the plate of food, decimating it within minutes.

"Ya they make pretty good stuff here." He agreed, after swallowing a large mouthful and beginning to carve off another piece. "It's not quite as good as I could get at home, but it's still better then the school's food for sure." he nodded, popping another chunk of steak into his mouth and chewing it up happily before swallowing.

Ah, she was asking about Yin again! But..oh, she wanted to know how they met. He frowned, because really the first time he had met Yin had not been under the best of circumstances. There had been what Alex had thought at the time were students shooting other students with trap guns, and then there was the dissipation by fire that had happened that night as well.

"Well, uhhh..do you read the newspaper at all, Michi?" He waited for a second for her to answer, before continuing "Well, you might have noticed things in the news that have been said about amityville. Strange things that don't really make a lot of sense when you hear about them or read about them. I hadn't really thought much of the stories, until I'd been going to the school for about a week, and something strange happened. There was a large group of students gathered, and I joined them. Yin was there, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him before well..all hell broke loose I guess you could say. There was fighting, and there were students being taken down by netted traps. I uh..I helped Yin escape one net, only to get trapped in one myself not long after." He paused, fairly certain that this story was making absolutely no sense to the ghoul. Jack, it didn't make any sense to Alex, and he had experienced it for himself.

"Anyways, that was the first time we met. The first time we actually talked under normal circumstances was in the library. He needed help getting a book, and then he offered to train me in the gym, get me ready for uh..." He let his voice trail off. "..but I think I may have ruined that now. I don't think he'll ever want me to train with him again." He smiled sadly, then placed another piece of food in his mouth to chew on slowly.

She...she didn't read? He had suspected she wasn't exactly an overachiever, but to not read at all? At least Yin made an effort, even though he had trouble with the words. He frowned, but continued eating his food until there was nothing left on his plate but a puddle of congealing blood.

"We aren't mad at each other, we got things worked out at the festival. You might remember when Xui drug the two of us to the side to talk....well, that's what it was about. I just don't think he'll ever want to train me again is all." He set his knife and fork down on the plate, and pushed it away with a finger, barely noticing that Michi had finished her food until she was cuddling into him again. That heat was really not easy to ignore.

Ok, so thinking about his friend troubles was putting Alex into a bit of a solemn state, so he tried to push that from his mind when Michi mentioned part two of the date. "Well..I uh..think we should pay the bill first and then I'll show you?" He teased. "Unless you want something else of course..dessert or something?" He wasn't so big on the dessert thing himself. He liked candy, but that's about as far as it went.

Their waiter was there suddenly, picking up there plates and also asking if he could get them anything else. If Michi didn't want anything Alex would just ask for the bill.

Alex nodded and slid himself out of the booth when the waiter came back with the bill. He turned it over, studying the amount before grabbing for his backpack and pulling out his skateboard so that he could get to his silver seeds in the bottom. He counted out the right amount, and added a couple extra for the service...then counted out a few more again and kept these ones in his hand while dropping his backpack back down to the floor.

"I'll be right back, keep an eye on that for me, please?" He said, giving Michi a quick smile before shambling towards the entrance of the restaurant, where she might be able to see him speaking quietly to the hostess and handing her something before laughing and rubbing at the back of his head. The hostess was grinning broadly and putting an hand on Alex's shoulder lightly before he began backing away from her with a small wave, backtracking towards Michi again.

"Sorry..I just..she deserves the tip more then the waiter does." He didn't really want to explain why he felt that way, since most of it had to do with the last time he'd been at the restaurant with Yin. "Anyways, this way!" He reached out to grab ahold of her hand, pulling her gently along towards the door that led to the area with all of the lights and sounds coming out.

They hadn't gotten even halfway, however, when a very familiar face (at least, to Alex) ran into them on his way to serving a table. The waiter glared at them, and said "Watch it!" Before his gaze finally seemed to take in Alex, and moved up towards Alex's face. "Oh, it's you again. Did you enjoy your meal? Any better eating it on top of the table then underneath it like some pet?" The waiter snickered and walked around them, while Alex's temper flared and his upper lip curled back from his teeth. He quickly tried to suppress his rage this time though, not wanting another repeat of what happened last time, or of what occurred in the gym with Yin. He was on a date and he wasn't going to let his Jacking a**-hole ruin it for him.

"C'mon." He muttered, beginning to move again, though casting angry glances behind him at the waiter as they went.


Soon enough they reached their destination, and Alex spoke, his voice not betraying the anger he still felt."I'm...uh..not really sure why they have one of these here, in a place like this, but it's kind of neat." He pushed through the door, leading her into a fairly large sized Scarecade.

"Play whatever games you want, my treat." He said, finally managing a smile as he looked around at all of the different machines with their musical sounds, flashing lights, and large colorful screens.He then looked down at Michi to see what her reaction was.

He hoped that it was a good one and that he hadn't completely misread her.

Alex grinned down at the ghoul happily, proud of himself for managing to figure out what she might like to do. And on his first date, ever! He was just giving himself a mental congratulations when she intertwined her fingers in his and asked him what games he liked.

He pretty much liked any game, of any type, but what he really liked most of all were..."Fighting games like FEAR caliber and Immortal Kombat." He supplied. Possibly because while he wasn't the most physically active boil around, and pretty much failed at any form of battle type exercise, he could at least kick a** in the video games, and enjoyed doing so. "OH! Also I'd never tried it until fairly recently, but Dance Dance Deadolution is also pretty fun!" His smile grew as he spotted the dancing machine sitting in a corner with a couple of people stomping away on it. He would definitely be going on that! But probably not until the end, as it would likely wear him out completely.

And so they began, sometimes with her dragging him to a game, sometimes with him weedling her towards another. Alex was pleasantly surprised at how well Michi played video games. She pretty much kicked his a** at first person shooter games like Left 4 Live or Werewolfenstein, though he put up a good effort. In the fighting games though, Alex proved to be the better button masher and beat her more far more often then not. In racing games like Scareo Kart or Fast and Feariuos they were fairly evenly matched.

They made their way through the Scarecade, playing nearly every game once and some more then once or even several times, rematch after rematch. Alex's supply of silver seeds seemed more then enough to cover it, however, so they just kept going. He was having a great time, and he thought that Michi was too, even if she wasn't too thrilled any time he beat her at something.

There was mini casketball and scare hockey as well, which he wanted to try out, having never bothered with either before. but either Michi had played them before or she was just naturally a much better athlete then Alex (really, who wasn't?) because she slaughtered him in both. Didn't seem to even matter that Alex had the height advantage in the mini casketball..she was able to throw more balls then he was in much quicker succession.

Never mind the losing though, it was still fun to the zomboil, and he laughed at how terrible he was when he lost and praised Michi anytime she won. Alex was never a sore loser, even if he was losing to a ghoul.

It might have been hours later, who knew? Time always went by so quickly in a scarecade. Finally Alex pulled Michi over to the DDD machine, laughing as he clumsily stumbled his way on to the foot pads. He could see it in her eyes, the amusement that said 'this is going to be a disaster.' Never mind that, he began to run through the music choices, and found an appropriate selection called "Dance til your Dead' and stomped on the pad to bring the song to life on the screen.

It was just like before, suddenly he wasn't just some clumsy, slow, and graceless zombie. He was moving, his feet were moving, faster then they ever did when he was just shambling across the ground. He was able to keep up to the music, to hit almost all the beats correctly to the cheers of the virtual crowd. People were actually stopping to watch, and Alex just grinned through it all, finally stopping when the dance came to an end and all but falling back off of the machine, exhausted.

"I...really like...that game." He smiled down at Michi. "Did you want to have a turn?"

He was having a great time, and it showed on his face as he smiled down at the ghoul when she grabbed his hand, giving hers a light squeeze before nodding towards the exit that led out into the maul.

"Now I just have one place else to take you." He pulled on her hand gently towards the door, leading them out into the hall and the bustling activity of the maul itself. He knew which way to go, since he had gone the same way with Yin when they had come to the same place (minus the scarecade).

As they walked along he mused over the evenings events. It felt good to be out, away from the school. He needed the distraction from everything that had happened between him and his best friend in the last week or so. He liked Michi, she was sweet and fun..though a little flighty and he had a feeling probably not in it for the long haul, which was somewhat disappointing, but he could live with that. Even if this was the only date they ever had, at least it had been a good one and he had shown her a good time.

As they approached the shop he wanted to take her too next, he veered in that direction, tugging her along with him, then stopping outside the doors as he peered inside with narrowed eyes. The stores name was "Out of the Closet" and it was quite obviously, a pet shop. Balls of fluff were running around in cages, but Alex tried not to look at them. They'd only make him hungry again, like last time, and get himself in more trouble. Instead, he looked to see who was working, and then turned towards Michi, fingers still twined in hers.

"Look, this is going to sound weird, but I need you to go in there, grab that worker." He pointed towards the one wandering the aisles and asking people if they needed help. "And tell him that you want to buy a pet. Any pet Michi, any one you want, and I'll pay for it, ok?" He gave her a warm smile, but was casting quick and somewhat nervous glances back in the store. "The only thing is..I need to go in too, but I was kicked out the last time I was in there, and I don't think they wanted me to come back. If you can keep his attention off of the entrance long enough for me to slip in..." He gave her a pleading look. He hoped she didn't notice that he was basically bribing her with a fluffy ball of cuteness to do what he needed her to for his own ulterior motives.

Michi seemed much more enthusiastic about the entire idea then Alex could have ever hoped. He watched as she went in and immediately grabbed a hold of the worker, dragging him over towards the little puffballs that she had decided to look at, keeping the workers attention far away from the door.

Perfect~

Alex went in once he could see that the worker was completely distracted and the cashier too busy with customers to notice that he was walking in. He frowned, trying to remember exactly where to go. Yin had drug him to every corner of the store, it had seemed, before realizing that he was still holding on to Alex's hand and finally letting him go. Alex moved along as quickly as his shambling gait would allow, and found himself passing different aisles of assorted things....

...and then standing in front of a lot of pink pet toys, items, and accessories. He smiled to himself, eyes grazing the shelf. He knew Yin didn't have the money to buy the things for his pet that he wanted, and that he would never accept any money from Alex for him to go and buy it. But if it was a gift? Surely he would accept it then.

Leaning down, he peered at a set of bowls in a stand. The bowls were both pink, heart shaped, the rims of each lined with rhinestones. To top it all off, the inside of each bowl was emblazoned with a darker pink crown and the word 'Princess' in fancy scrpt. The stand itself was black, and rather fancy, and also had a heart shape set with rhinestones on the front. It literally hurt Alex's eyes to even look at, and he hesitated briefly before picking it up. It was so incredibly tacky and pink and possibly the ghoulieish thing he'd ever touched in his life.

Why did he have as strange feeling it was perfect?

Now all he had to do was somehow buy the item without getting kicked out. He made his way back out of the aisle, feeling somewhat ridiculous carrying bright and sparkly bowl set, and made his way back towards where Michi was. When he got to the last set of shelves, he paused, waiting for her to make her selection and finally look up so he could try and wave her over towards him.

It was a long, loooong wait.

(( http://www.catsplay.com/heartbowl.jpg -reference for ridiculous bowls. only difference is both bowls are pink))

If Alex could have fallen asleep, he would have. Instead he was forced to stand idly by, half hidden by a set of shelves as he waited for Michi to make her decision. Every time he thought she'd picked up the one that she was going to choose, she would put it down only to have another one squished against her two seconds later. This would have been fine if Alex had been out to spend the entire rest of his evening shopping for mini pet merchandise, but he had finished what he'd set out to do long ago and was now just plain bored out of his mind.

But she looked so happy, and that at least brought a smile to his face.

Finally, she appeared to have made her selection, and she came prancing over to him as he ducked behind the shelving so as not to be seen by the now undistracted store worker. She was already shoving the delicious smelling ball of fluff in his face and his stomach clenched in hunger even as his mouth began to water.

Jack-damnit, not again! He fought back the urge to reach out and take the fur ball off of Michi and make it into his midnight snack, and opted not to breathe for the remaining duration of the date. If he didn't breathe, he wouldn't smell it's delicious scent. Problem solved.

"It's..uh..lovely?" he supplied, "Very..del---lightful looking." he shook his head, trying to clear away the mental imagery of tearing the cute little fluff apart in his hands that he was currently dealing with. Tearing his eyes away from the puff-ball helped, and his eyes rested on the dazzling pink and sparkly bowls still held in his hands.

"So, uh, since I can't exactly go up and pay without getting thrown out, do you mind if I just give you some money and you can go and pay for it? Oh, and this too." He held out the dish set, not offering any explanation other then "It's for a friend."

He didn't need Michi thinking that it was for himself.

As long as she was willing to do so, he would then hand her the dishes and grab some silver seeds out of his back pack for her to go and make the purchases with.