Welcome to Gaia! ::

Opening his eyes to see Khalla's smiling face hovering just in front of him had been rather delightful; on a scale of one to ten, he'd have given the night a nine and a half. The only reason Rohan couldn't give it a full ten was that he'd woken up several times during the night and he was sure he was going to cramp from being too scared to actually shift positions or move; the girl had clung to him throughout the whole night and he'd just been entirely unwilling to push her away. In a sense, he'd been greedy, because he was finding that not all physical contact was undesireable, and he'd traded her touch for his comfort. In his opinion, it'd been more than a fair trade, at the end of the day.

Of course, he'd later had to take her home, and that process had been horribly awkward; he'd been extremely glad to have been able to escape with only very minor questioning, however, he was sure he wasn't going to be so lucky this time around. As he drove his bike down the street, and slowed it to a halt at the house's driveway, he made a face at it from within the security his helmet provided. After taking in a deep breath and then releasing it in the form a sigh, he dismounted, took off the helmet and pushed the bike the rest of the way so he could park it safely near the porch where it wouldn't be a bother. He braced himself for what he felt was going to inevitably proceed his arrival, offered Khalla a smile, "Ready?" his eyes settled on the basket though and he paused, his arm still curled around his helmet, "Uhm, Khalla... I'm not entirely sure that's going to fly," he obviously meant the basket, but in his defense, he hadn't seen the keys, and even if he had, he probably hadn't made a connection.

His eyes moved nervously towards the door and then the window; for once, he wasn't dressed up in the normal attire he took to school, going with normal jeans and a plain white shirt. He'd have taken a jacket, but even on the motorcycle it seemed to be unbearably hot. All in all though, he thought she looked much better than he did, though at least he was wearing matching socks and he'd had the brilliant idea of tying his hair back so it wouldn't be a mess after he got off the bike. Knowing Rohan, it could've been much, much worse.

Car. Huh. He hadn't really thought of that, but then, he'd never really owned a car before, perfectly content with his bike. At the same time though, a bike wasn't exactly the more efficient of ways to travel when one had a passenger. Granted, his was big enough, and he did have a spare helmet, plus, he had to admit there were perks, like the fact she had to hug herself to him when he drove her anywhere, and he secretly really enjoyed that, finding it very much a guilty pleasure, "Does that mean you're going to drive me there? An intriguing change," he had no idea why, but the thought was mildly entertaining to him; not in a bad way either, for it brought forth a small ghost of a smile.

Just when he thought he was actually going to get away with not having to deal with Khalla's grandmother, the woman opened the door and slowly stepped out onto the porch. Rohan instantly recognized the expression, if only because he wore that same exact expression nine times out of ten when students came into his office. He'd been about ready to answer when Khalla herself came to the rescue, and he closed his mouth, arched a brow, and watched them silently from his place on the first step of the porch. Even there, he still managed to be just slightly taller than the pale haired girl, but the way he stood almost looked like he was trying extremely hard to look harmless and innocent. It was proving to be a particularly difficult task, for some odd reason.

He found himself inexplicably invited to dinner before he could so much as put a word in, and he watched with some strange sense of fear; he'd faced senshi, zodiacs, and won a quite a handful of fights, yet here he was, feeling utterly terrified of a small, elderly woman that could probably not even run. It was only when she was gone and khalla began to direct him towards the car that he turned to her, "You are going to make me come to dinner, aren't you?" a pause, "I don't think she approves of me," then again, he wouldn't have approved of a young man dropping off his granddaughter in the morning, "Not that I blame I her, but that's going to be horribly awkward. Does she even know I'm a TA?" okay, technically 'her' TA, or one of them anyhow, "The woman scares me horribly, which is an accomplishment in itself, really, seeing as how I like to think that I don't scare that easily," he stopped by the car and waited there, though despite his words, he no longer looked all that fussed.

Maybe it would be like getting a weight off his shoulders.

"No, of course not," he arched a brow as she opened the door and did indeed slip into the driver's seat. He took that as his queue to follow her, and thus, opened the passenger's door and began to settle his seat in a more comfortable position, "I just find it... interesting," the way he said the word 'interesting' seemed to voice that he was thinking more along the lines of 'amusing', though in the positive sense of the word, "I'd never seen you drive, Khalla," that, and well, if he was getting down into it, it meant she was, in fact, taking on the dominant role, in a way. More or less. which was a strange thought to be pondering at that precise moment, so Rohan tried his best to shove it to the back of his mind. After a moment or two, he paused and decided to take the picnic basket from her, settling it on his lap as he buckled his seatbelt into place.

He was hungry, and he didn't particularly want to see the basket crash on the floor if Khalla had to use her breaks a bit too harshly. It wasn't that he didn't trust her; he didn't trust the other drivers, but then... this was true for almost everyone. There were very, very few people Rohan actually trusted, "What's wrong with my bike? My bike is a classic, and it works like a charm. It purrs like a kitten," he frowned slightly and had he been able to see the house from his position, he'd have blinked at the window curtains, "Why would anyone dislike it? It's not only much more economic to keep than a car, but it takes much less space, and you can park it anywhere. There's only advantages with it," no, he wasn't really adding two and two here; he didn't really pause to think that apparently motorcycles had a 'bad boy' sort of reputation to them.

When she started the ignition, he watched her out the corner of an eye, then shifted to lean back comfortably against the seat, "The food at least, will make up for the awkwardness. Your company too, though I'm sure you're going to get as many questions as I am, especially once I'm gone. I do pity you so," despite the words though, he didn't sound grim; he still sounded just ever so slightly amused, "I get to retreat at the end of the night, and I very much doubt you're going to be able to leave this house once I'm gone," the fact she hesitated before talking... gave him the answer to his question, even before she opened her mouth. A small sigh escaped his lips, "I hope she doesn't breach that topic then, or that she's an extremely open minded elderly woman, because otherwise... she's not going to think me a gentleman at all," he made a motion with his hand though, as if to wave the topic away, not wanting to be worried over that while they were out on a date, damnit, "We'll cross that bridge when we get there then."

As she looked at him, Rohan tilted his head to one side, "Lead the way," something about the way he said that seemed to imply that she could lead the way to hell and back and he'd still follow her. Not that he was thinking of the picnic as hell, but it was the base thought that counted; he'd probably have followed her to the ends of the earth if she'd said she wanted to go there. The thought was vaguely... intimidating, but Rohan was dealing with it.

He'd arched a brow right back at her, as if expecting her to understand the simple motion as a retort of sorts (then again, seeing how she'd probably spent more time with him than anyone he knew aside blood relations... maybe she did), "I'm hungry, and do not wish to risk our lunch. You might be a good driver, but I'm afraid I don't put as much faith in others as I do on you," he watched as she drove them out on the street and on their way to the park; the way she'd looked behind them, placing her arm around his seat had been amusing, though it'd merely elicited a small smirk of a smile from him, which was gone by the time she answered his earlier question.

After a moment, he frowned, then tilted his head one side before proceeding to doing the same thing to the other side, almost as if no, he actually did not understand where she was coming from. That is, until he finally added two and two and he hissed through his teeth, the breath of air sounding sharp as he lifted a hand and dragged it over his features, "Oh, great. Your grandmother probably thinks I'm some sort of a ruffian then. Oh goooood. This means she's probably going to ask really weird questions," what was worse was that the way to happily dispel them would have been to tell her that yeah, he was actually a TA, and particularly responsible. Except that... he was going out with an almost-former student. He wasn't exactly sure how that was going to fly.

Rohan's eyes were on her for most of the trip (unlike hers, which he did approve of). In a way, it was giving him the opportunity to watch her for a reaction without risking her gaze on him, at least for the most part, "Well, since I'm probably going to handle the brunt of the questioning - how exactly do you wish me to proceed with her? You know her best, and you probably thus know what's the answer least likely to give her a heart attack of some sort," he was obviously referring to what Khalla wanted him to do when the old woman inevitably approached the 'who are you, what do you do for a living' question that was bound to pop up, "Not to put a damper on the outing, but we should probably ponder using part of our time here to prepare ourselves for this," a moment passed and he watched her turn on the blinker, indicating they were nearing their destination, "Or at least prepare me. I'm not good when I go into battle without a plan," he actually meant that literally, and he hoped Khalla would never catch onto that fact.

It was true that he liked preparing himself for the inevitable, but then again... when it came to Khalla, he'd rushed into the situation handicapped and blindfolded (at least as far as he was concerned) and it hadn't turned out all that bad. Case point being the fact that they were currently sitting in her car, out on a date; that proved that while not the best option, being unprepared wasn't always a sure fire way to doom yourself. Still, Rohan did not like the idea of being faced with the old woman without having some sort of answer prepared, "You know she's going to ask me what I do. I mean..." a pause as he shifted in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest, "If I were in her place, and my grandaughter were going out with someone I did not approve of, I'd probably ask," but then again, he was probably more paranoid than most people, so he wasn't sure if his case applied.

After a moment, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh, "I'll think of something - I just can't promise it'll be much good. I don't ... do well when it comes to improvising. I'm not an improvising sort of guy, Khalla," that was a huge understatement, and he was sure even Khalla knew as much, "This will all be just so much... easier as soon as summer rolls along," he opened his eyes to watch her then, instantly regretting his rather pessimistic take on the whole ordeal - he was used to being realistic about the situations he faced, almost fatalistic, but... he wasn't used to seeing other people react to him in ways that made his insides churn.

Thus so,after a moment, he shrugged, "It will be just fine. You won't be doing any of the lieing, even if it comes down to that - don't open your mouth and let me handle it. In fact, if it comes down to it, you can leave the room - excuse yourself saying you need to fetch something, anything, that way you can claim having no idea what I told her was a lie, if she ever finds out," it was slightly underhanded, but he had no other idea of how to keep Khalla from taking the brunt of the fall, should things go south, "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe we should forget this for now and simply take a break," that said, he undid his seatbelt, got out of the car and actually took the time to walk around the car and open her door, offering her his hand even though he knew she didn't really need help to get out of the car, "Maybe we should just enjoy ourselves for now."

"I'll think of something," he repeated, this time sounding rather confident in what he was saying; he still had no plan, granted, but he figured that she would be able to hold his own against an old lady. He'd had worse fights before, of the more physical kind, and he'd always managed to come out of them alive (even if he had lost some). This would be no different, and the fact he only ran the risk of wounding his pride instead of his body, was a pretty good change, "I love the library, but I actually chose that place because no other student goes to the lower levels, more than anything else. Or almost no one anyhow; you were one of the first," he paused for a moment, blinking as he looked inside the car; no he had not grabbed the basket. He let out a sigh, which was obviously directed at his apparent efficiency, and then returned to the passenger seat to retrieve their food.

He had noticed her stutter, just like he had noticed the fact that Khalla had looked way more stressed than she should have earlier; something told him that she was bothered by more than just their eventual meal with her grandmother, but had decided not to press the issue further. At least for now; he'd meant what he'd said. He wanted to spend one day, just one day where he could let go and simply relax with her, drowning out the rest of the world and his duties.

He closed the car's door and turned around to find her looking almost restlessly about; something told him that despite his obvious inexperience, he was probably going to have to take the lead, or suffer the awkwardness that would likely ensue. After all, this wasn't half as bad taking her to his bed the previous night. Even if that event had been far more innocent than it now sounded in his mind; he made mental note not to talk about that at dinner, "Shall we, then?" that said, he walked to her side and offered her his hand again, apparently deciding it was probably a good idea to take the first step now. It was almost pathetic to note that they could barely even hold hands without making a huge deal out of it, "I know a good spot."

Content to note that despite her initial embarrassment she was happily holding onto his hand (in a way that almost made him think she was treating him like some sort of life line), Rohan gave her arm a small tug and began to walk through the park. amusingly enough, he knew the place well enough to know where the best, most secluded, prettiest places were. Then again, the reason he knew the park so well was because he liked to stalk his prey here; despite how many he'd managed to take down, there was still a surprising amount of couples that were happy to stroll the place after the sun set. He wasn't sure if that was horribly stupid, or slightly romantic. Probably the former.

His eyes gazed over the trees, looking for familiar landmarks, and finally, he found what he was looking for; it was a bench that was seemingly surrounded by bushes. It stood on top of a rather high hill, allowing them to look over a rather nice lake in the near distance; behind the bench was a tree that he'd often used to hide in; he'd always thought that the place was charming, not to mention private, allowing him full view of his surroundings, and the privacy to attack his victims thanks to the innocent looking bushes. Upon arrival, his first action was to look up at the tree, narrowing his eyes in an attempt to look through the foliage. Noting what a strange course of action that was, he turned to Khalla as soon as he was satisfied, "I sat here once, eating a sandwhich. A cat had climbed up the blasted tree and pounced on my head, stealing my sandwhich," it was, in fact, a true story, and where he'd initially gotten the idea to use the tree to begin with, "I figured it was better to be safe than sorry."

Without letting go of her hand, he placed the basket on the bench, and allowed his gaze to slide over to her, "Bench or ground?" he wasn't sure if he was even doing this right, so now that his duties of finding a suitable place were done and over with, he was more than ready to allow Khalla to take up leadership; picnics seemed like more her style than his. If he'd had his way, they'd have probably been holed up inside his apartment, not out here. Where there were other people. And there were... animals, and grass, and no books.

He was willing to make sacrifices for her, however. He'd gotten to read to her in bed the previous night, after all. Turnabout was fair play.