[REG] Valentine's Daze (Simon, Charlie, Alba)

[cibarium]

Shufflepuck's, in retrospect, was probably not the best place for Simon to have awkwardly arranged a meeting of the senshi variety, and Simon was probably not the best person to have arranged it. But that part of it was mostly out of necessity -- he was the only one who knew both Charlie and Alba, and as such it more or less depended on him to get the two properly introduced. So, after a short series of incredibly stilted, anxious phone calls (he had a habit of going Hi, it's S-s-s-simon as if it weren't obvious every time), a day and time had been set, and a location chosen.

At least this time there wasn't any announcing of Simon's presence via elbowing down a shelf of seasonal merchandise, but. It was busy. A very specific kind of busy. A very specific kind of busy that was made apparent when Charlie arrived first and they hunted down an empty table, their eyes assaulted by the paper hearts and hole-punched bits of white, pink and red construction paper that had been scattered all over everything. The entire dining area of the store was crowded with two different kinds of patrons: happy couples, and depressed, desperate solitary people.

It was Valentine's Day. Simon had only suggested 'next Sunday' because a weekend day seemed the most convenient, but he had chosen an entirely wrong Sunday to do this on. He kept apologizing for it. Charlie kept gruffly insisting that it was fine, also that Simon needed to work on his apology addiction.

They sat across from each other at their table, drumming their fingers and fidgeting, trying extremely hard to not pay attention to what day it was, what the other customers were doing here, what conclusions could inevitably be drawn about them just because of what day it was and how they were two people sitting alone together at a table. Really, their only saving grace for the situation was the fact they were waiting for a third person to show up and join them.  

[Shazari]

One of Charlie's curses in life was that he was slightly helpless to displays of "traditional" behavior -- he dressed up for every Halloween, wore green on St. Patrick's Day, and on Valentine's day -- date or no date -- he wore red. Conveniently, his Meadowview tracksuit was red and white, so he wore that, even though he seemed to wear it a lot when he ran into Simon. He felt comfortable in his track reds.

He didn't feel comfortable sharing coffee with Simon on Valentine's Day. It was awkward to the nth degree. After a while, he added a sugar packet to his coffee for no reason except to take a stirrer and stir it in. He looked off toward the doorway, studying the people who came through (embarrassingly many of them in cozy pairs). "What does your friend look like again?"  

[surreality]

Bright red boots crunched at the snow beneath their treads as 'the friend' made her way towards the coffee shop. There was a sort of excitement that bubbled to the very surface of Alba's skin, or at least it would had it not been covered with a heavy peacoat to keep her warm from the cold. Much like Halloween, this would be the foreigner's first Valentine's Day to celebrate that did not include her parents, or penpals, or imaginary personas in the form of stuffed animals.

She had worked on hand-crafted valentine cards for weeks, and the smile on her face was not a false indicator that she was pleased with the finished product and couldn't wait to pass them out to her beloved friends, neighbors, or even lonely people on the street who looked like they could use a paper pick-me-up.

A bell rang as she opened the glass door of Shufflepuck's, the smell of coffee and baked goods immediately coursing through her nostrils. She didn't find it at all strange that Simon had penciled their meeting on such a heavy date; it only told her to bring a small bag of chocolate for what she hopes would be a new friend. Also, she hopes this new friend likes chocolate.

Alba expertly weaved between cozy couples that were rooted to the floor and finally spotted that tell-tale mess of brown hair, an echo of her own only shorter. She didn't notice the uncomfortable and awkward atmosphere that enveloped the two and the booth as she quipped a 'hello' while scooting next to Simon. She would also not ever realize how much more uncomfortable it may have gotten when she leaned closer to her shy friend and lightly pecked a kiss on his rather warm cheek.

"Happy Valentines Day!" She exclaimed, and shoved a little box wrapped in pink paper dotted with white and red hearts. With that said, she turned her body to face Charlie (who by now had gone and gotten a few more sugar packets to stir into his coffee) and offered a small, clear bag tied neatly with a red bow, its contents an array of multi-colored and aluminum-foiled chocolate hearts. "Happy Valentines Day to you too!"

Forget introductions. Here, have some chocolate!  

[cibarium]

He was just in the middle of trying to stammer out a basic physical description of Alba, after apologizing for not providing that information right away and Charlie successfully managing to not roll his eyes upon the boy's umpteenth sorry. But, thankfully, Simon was saved from another uncomfortable session of trying to get his voice to work properly when the little bell at the door rang again and Alba walked in, wearing festively-colored boots and a cheerful smile.

Simon's expression brightened instantly.

That was a completely and utterly foreign look for him; Simon Ferris was smiling. Granted, it was an extremely passive smile that made him look ready to start apologizing profusely if it turned out it wasn't okay to look happy in this situation, but still. He gave a timid wave over to Alba while she weaved around the crowded store to get to their table, politely reached over to pull out a chair for her when she'd reached them; his smile briefly gave way to an appropriate flash of bashfulness upon recieving a friendly peck on the cheek. He seemed a little awestruck that she'd thought to bring him a gift, but no less glad for it. Simon spent a couple of seconds looking at the gift and then back at Alba, as if parsing that, yes, it was actually intended for him, before gently setting it back down on the table.

"You didn't have to get me anything -- I'm sorry, I d-didn't get you anything, I --" the words were tumbling out of his mouth faster than he could say them properly -- "I mean, I didn't think -- sorry -- I sh-should have gotten you something, I'm sorry. I... I'm glad you th-thought of me, though," he finished, clumsily; he reached across the short distance Alba was sitting away from him and pulled her into a gentle, grateful hug.

"Thank you."

He hadn't even opened it yet.  

[Shazari]

Had there ever been a more uncomfortable situation in the history of the universe? It seemed, to Charlie, that there never had been. Here he was, on Valentine's Day, sitting in a coffee shop with a boy he liked while that boy exchanged Public Displays of Affection with his girlfriend. He felt, peculiarly, like this had never happened to anyone else, like this sort of thing was unique to his own life -- though the honest truth was, this was likely a reality that many single people faced on Valentine's Day, particularly lots of the closeted gay ones. It helped to think they might all be wishing on the same bright star -- but it didn't help much. Charlie flushed a little.

The bag of chocolates did little to set him at ease: it was like being a surprise tag-along guest at someone's house, knowing they'd hastily squeezed in another place setting for you five minutes before the door rang, seeing the Welch's Grape Juice Dinosaucers collector's cup that didn't match the other dinner glasses, the computer chair they'd wheeled in from another room. He accepted it anyway, in the spirit it was offered, and said a gruff 'thank you.'

He waited a few minutes for them to complete their embraces and for Simon to introduce him -- but after the hugging had all ended and Alba had shouldered out of her coat, Charlie finally realized that no introductions were forthcoming. This added a bit of a thickening agent to the already-palpable awkwardness.

"Nice to meet you," he opted finally to just introduce himself, sticking out his hand like this was a job intervew. "Charlie Boyle."

He considered some questions he might ask her to break the ice:

- So, where did you and Simon meet?
- How long have you been dating?
- What's so special about you, anyway?

None of these seemed like good ideas.

"Do you go to school around here?"  

[surreality]

There was a slew of "don't worry about it" and "really, I just wanted to do this for fun" that poured out of Alba as Simon wibbled over the gift. She was touched by such a strong reaction, and would have even been a little embarrassed over the public display were it not for how happy her small gesture had made her friend. In turn, it fed to her already growing emotion of glee; had she been a cat, she'd be purring quite loudly and kneading the table to express the feeling.

In fact, she was so caught up in the moment that Charlie's disgruntlement and overall lack of enthusiasm flew right over the brunette's head. Alba was happy to watch the boy accept her bag of chocolate, a project she had meticulously worked on the night prior with the aide of her trusty crafting table. Many a patterned ribbon met their untimely end to decorate the plastic bag, and while Charlie may have felt it was an extended effort on Alba's part to attach the bicycle a third wheel, it was far from it.

The truth of the matter was any friend of Simon's had to be a decent person at the very least, and so it was with her best intentions that Alba wrapped the chocolate squares with curled ribbons and personalized tags. Even if it was slightly last minute.

Her hand reached out and firmly gripped his handshake. "Alba Gale Delores," she replied with a smile, "Pleasant to meet you!"

"I'm a transfer student at Crystal Academy. I board there, though I feel like I may have to take a part-time job soon to pay for the extra expenses regardless." Forget that most of her expenses this month had involved a massive amount of paper, wonky zig-zag scissors and glitter.

"And you? Judging from your clothes, you're Meadowview, right?" This was a very hesitant guess for Alba, as she hadn't met anyone from Meadowview just yet and wasn't familiar with their school colors. "How'd you meet Simon?"

Hopefully it wasn't through underwear looting.  

[cibarium]

It was an extremely rare person at this point in Simon's life who could make him consistently, genuinely happy -- but with those people it was a remarkably easy feat, and pretty much only required being around him for more than a few seconds. A friendly presence was nice, an activity or conversation wonderful, but a gift, a real gift, no matter what it actually was, was something that struck a deep emotional chord with him for some reason. Needless to say, he was thrilled.

Until Charlie's flatly-toned question pulled his attention away from his gift.

And drew his attention to the slight change in his expression that complemented the slight change in his tone.

This did well to p***k a puncture in Simon's balloon of cheer and allow all the tension to seep back in, as he tried to parse together why Charlie suddenly seemed upset. This was a senshi introduction. It was supposed to be progress, he thought Charlie would be happy to get some connections established. Or at least as happy as he normally got -- but he wasn't. This was all of a sudden feeling like Simon was forcing him to associate with someone he didn't like -- did he not like Alba? His heart sank at the thought, he couldn't understand why someone would dislike Alba. But the damage had been done; he was already, inexplicably, regretting calling this meeting together in the first place.

And on Valentine's Day, of all days.

There was some odd, foreign extra flavor to the atmosphere that stuck slightly out of place, nagged at him, had probably been there since before Alba had arrived but had since become all the more noticeable. Simon had a feeling he should have known what it was, but he didn't, instead he was simply stuck on whether it would be better to meet Charlie's gaze or avoid it. His eyes kept flickering around, going back to his friend sitting next to him as if looking for some form of reassurance.

"We.. m-m-met at the animal shelter," he offered, busying himself stirring his coffee even though there was nothing he was stirring into it. "Well, the p-park before that, I guess, b-b-but that was only f-for a f-few m-m-minutes."  

[Shazari]

This Alba Gale Delores seemed like a nice girl. She seemed like a vomitously nice girl. Was that just Charlie's imagination?

It was probably his imagination.

"I was there investigating the fire that had been in the news -- we ended up running into some trouble with a Negaverse soldier there after all, so I still think they were behind the arson. There was a battle, but -- we weren't successful." He said this as lightly as he could manage, trying to tilt his voice so it sounded like it wasn't a big deal. A woman had died. They'd done nothing but stagger and wilt and get stabbed. And run away. Not the sort of meeting that would impress the wonderful Alba.

He shuffled his coffee cup back and forth between his hands. "We thought we should meet and . . . share information. Share information. Compare notes."

Charlie didn't have any information to share, he realized. It had been a nice idea in theory, but -- the theory sort of ended there. Maybe Alba had had better luck. "Any news on the princess? Any sightings, rumors?"  

[surreality]

"..Oh." Simon had all but vaguely mentioned the incident to her in the past. It had been worded in such a way that made Alba felt like it wasn't the biggest of deals, or maybe just another kitten rescue. She had heard about the fire, but seeing her friend intact and with little scrapes to show for it she felt it had been just that: another youma encounter, or at its worst, a rookie Negaverse agent nosing around an animal shelter.

While Alba had started her day in an exaggerated amount of confidence and brimming optimism that she usually never cared to carry around in bulk, she was by now turned down a few notches in the saturation scale. Somberness had set in the form of an invisible veil around her face, noted keenly by the loss of a smile. Charlie may have thought that she was the kind of individual with an unmarred history or reputation, but as it was, she knows fully well the feeling of defeat in an unsuccessful mission. The mall worker's face would still haunt her from time to time, as well as the cackling faces of the two lieutenants that caused the person's death.

There was nothing she could do or she was outnumbered and her attack is mostly defensive, and she doesn't know how to properly fight. These are the thoughts that she keeps around her to make the fall a little less steep, though they don't always work.

The reality of the lives that they live in fully settled. Suddenly Valentines gifts felt so frivolous in a time of secretive war.

"I have none to give." Was her admitted failure. "I have not seen or heard anything about her. I patrol most nights with hardly a glimpse of another soldier. Am I not looking hard enough?"  

[cibarium]

Simon noticed the drop in Alba's cheer with no shortage of concern. The alarm bells were starting to ring in his head already, they didn't like each other, they weren't getting on well -- this was also a difficult topic they were trying to talk about, really, but Charlie's expression had flatlined before the started on it and his partner's had quickly followed suit. They didn't like each other.

He redoubled his fidgeting, chewing anxiously on his lip. The present sitting on the table next to his elbow remained unwrapped. He'd had no idea Alcyone had a similar experience, otherwise the situation might have had more breathing to it; unfortunately, witnessing a death was by no means an easy thing to talk about. Simon picked up his coffee cup, cradling it in his hands just so he'd have something to do with them.

"W-what about--" and he paused, swallowing thickly "m-m-more s-senshi? Have you m-met any more?"