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When Howl made appointments, he was always the type to be early, no matter the hour. Today, he had arrived to the mall at about 4 o'clock, toting a gym bag with him. Since Franz was not about during this break, it meant that Howl had to bring his change of clothing with him, his uniform for Hillworth hiding beneath his fencing protective gear. The most he could do with such a burden with him this afternoon was window shop and purchase food. The mall was not one of those places where the dainty lad would buy food though, solely because mall-food had an awful reputation for being greasy. If there was one way to make his stomach ill, it was to feed him anything greasy.

After many years of dealing with this dilemma in his hometown, he was fortunately prepared when he felt mildly peckish at about 4:30. One of the basic hamburger joints found across the country fortunately began selling fruit salads after that push for fast food places to start serving "healthy" alternatives to greasy sandwiches. He managed to find his way to the mall's burger joint, ordered his snack "to go," then headed back towards Apollo's. By the time Miss Tatiana Konstantin arrived, Howl was standing near the stand with a gym bag and a paper bag from McBurger Town. He had arrived ten minutes early, but he remained standing there looking as calm and regal as usual. He was glad he didn't have to wear his school uniform, and instead wore a shirt with a necktie, a sweater over that, and dress slacks. As as was his usual, he was decorated in his beautiful hair and ear jewelry.

When he managed to catch sight of the girl, he offered the usual polite greeting of "It is nice to see you again, Miss Konstantin." He smiled and nodded his head in her direction.

This was a strange way to catch the girl he had so much respect for. It was a rather improper manner to sit, but rather than scold her about it, he chuckled politely. "Oh, Miss Konstantin, you are quite the card!" Howl was not the sort to assume much, so rather than sit down in the booth, he asked politely "Might I sit here as well, Miss?"

Before she answered, he began to analyze the situation carefully. Tatiana seemed unusually dressed up, and he easily noted that his present to her was resting within her locks of hair. Girls were very unusual creatures, but if you looked at basic clues such as this, you could figure out things about them. Unless her workplace had told her to dress up nicer today (which was a possibility, and he was not about to rule that out), it would come across as if she was trying to make a good impression. The attention to personalized details, such as gifted barrettes, usually meant an aim towards sentiments such as "love," as the term was used loosely. He silently wondered if she was also wearing the necklace he bought for her as well. All he knew was that this little "appointment" seemed to be much more than a simple get together for Tatiana.

He hoped it was just a work related mandate over the latter idea.

"Thank you, my dear!" he replied to the compliment before adding on "I am glad you enjoyed your gift. They look quite handsome on you." As she offered the gift bag, he politely took it up in a single elegant motion. Once again, he offered a simple "Thank you, would you like me to open this now?" Of course, it would be nice to sit down so he could tuck his gym bag under the table to get it out of the way. He didn't utter a word about his concerns though as he waited for the invitation to sit.

Now having full permission to sit down, the feminine lad tucked himself up into the booth, setting his paper and gift bags onto the table before swiftly tugging his gym bag under the table. He nodded at the girl's comment about her family's party, feeling as if some sort of burden had just been lifted off his shoulders. He never wanted to be the cause of some girl's heart breaking.

"Oh, that sounds quite pleasant!" in reply to the mentions of the party. "Is it a large family get together, or more of a business sort of party?" He once again seemed fully interested, and to be quite honest, he was. The whole ordeal reminded him of how things were back home with his parents.

Casually, he reached into his own bag and pulled out a cheap plastic container that was filled with various slices of fruit. He pulled out a plastic fork, and set it very precisely on the top of the container. He did not start eating yet, but looked to the girl with a smile. "Would you mind terribly if I ate this? I could not resist getting myself a small snack." Again, living up to his manners, he did not even attempt to touch his food until he received permission.

Momentarily, he turned his attention to the blue gift bag. With his fingers, he gently moved the bag so he could look the bag itself over. "I think I will open it after eating, my dear."

With the permission obtained, Howl moved his utensil before daintily managing to pop the plastic top off the container so it didn't even make a sound. His head nodded enough to cause his earrings to do a small swaying dance, signaling it was okay that the girl eat as well. His fingers then lightly grasped onto the utensil before he gently stabbed into a small slice of melon. Even when he ate, he still maintained good eye contact with the person he was conversing with, taking reasonable bites of his food, and swallowing his food before he attempted to speak. He signaled to the girl that he was listening by nodding his head when his mouth was full. When he found it appropriate to speak, he commented on something he had merely observed in the conversation: "You most certainly have some interesting pet names for your family, Miss Konstantin."

It took 3 bites to get through the piece of melon, and once it was gone, he picked at a small slice of mandarin orange. It was small enough to be consumed in one bite. When it had disappeared, he paused again to offer to the conversation. "So your family then does the business parties revolving around the New Year rather than Christmas, yes? Is it a tactical attempt to remain religion-neutral?"

The mention of the holidays and him did seem to cause him to grow slightly quiet. His eyes glanced down to his food, and as he set his utensil down in the middle of the colorful fruits, it became a bit more obvious he was thinking about how to explain the holiday that had just passed. He placed a finger to his lip, and it took a good two minutes before he finally decided the way to phrase it.

"It was quiet, and the only thing that really lifted my spirits was when I finally managed to get in contact with my parents." He could have mentioned he had been acting like an a**, as he now realized in retrospect, or he could have mentioned he had basically been sulking for the past 5 or so days. These were things best left unmentioned. With his confession, the mood seemed to droop slightly.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Miss Konstantin," he offered with a half smile, which was a rarity in itself. He was not one who relied on half smiles usually, but his lips just did not want to cooperate at the moment. Not wanting to dwell on such emotions for too long, he then returned the focus of the conversation back to other comments Tatiana had made.

"I suspect that unless your grandmother breathes fire, has scales, and leathery wings, then she is not a dragon. Controlling, perhaps. Certainly not a dragon though." He picked up his fork and poked it into a grape before popping it in his mouth.

It had been interesting that the Konstantin family celebrated the 12 days, but he found it to be a bit indulgent at best. When he finished chewing on the current piece of fruit, he offered "You will need to show me some of your portfolio in the future. I insist, Miss Konstantin."

Howl was never the gambling type, so all he offered to her argument over Grandmother Konstantin being able to breathe fire was a polite laugh. His laughter was cut short when the girl rather pointedly requested she be called by her first name.

"Oh, I apologize. I did not know it was your preference to be called by your first name!" He was truly apologetic and once again set his fork down in his bowl so he could pay full attention to the girl. "My parents raised me to speak quite formally, though it was mainly for speaking with any of their peers and business partners. I suppose it has carried over to my normal manner of speaking, Miss... um, Tatiana." At least he had tried, though the attempt was a bit feeble this time around. He smiled, but his cheeks for a moment went from a neutral tone to a mildly flushed one. Yes, Howl was a human, despite how polite and untouchable he seemed at times.

His cheeks had yet to finish cooling off yet, but in an attempt to move onto the next topic, he replied "Miss Tatiana, you make it sound as if I could not handle living in my own home without my parents." His current home at Hillworth was devoid of his parents, so he was technically correct, but at the same time he was somewhat dodging the question. He was hoping she'd assume that this meant he was home alone while his parents were "out of town," rather than push the subject much further.

He picked up his fork and poked up another piece of melon. In a blatant mock-sad tone, he teasingly sulked "I would have thought you would have more faith in me, Miss Tatiana." He took a small bite into the fruit and kept his eye on the girl, his eyes still seeming quite calm, if not slightly playful.

The teal haired lad wished he could say he was surprised that Tatiana had caught him in the act. He really wished he could. However, there was that sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind that knew if anyone could easily figure it out, it would be Miss Tatiana Konstantin. It was a bit curious as to why she was looking through the student registry of all things, but he didn't comment on it. In fact, he was quite silent at the moment as he seemed to think the issue over.

At least he had the excuse of having food in his mouth. Before swallowing, he set his fork in his bowl again and looked to the girl's dark eyes in an apologetic fashion. Once the food had vanished from his mouth, he then finally spoke in a low tone.

"I am not proud of this fact." It was a sort of confession. Though he felt ashamed and he wanted to hide his face out of disgust over his own issue, he kept his eyes politely on the girl's. With the exception of his eyes, his whole body seemed calm. It was never really polite to focus on your own emotions, nor to try and fish for some sort of pity. And so, the beautiful man just sat there, not saying a word as he kept his posture as perfect as possible.