Welcome to Gaia! ::

Reply Roleplay Archives 2011-2012
[FIN] D day Goto Page: 1 2 3 4 [>] [»|]

Quick Reply

Enter both words below, separated by a space:

Can't read the text? Click here

Submit

TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor

PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 3:34 pm


Aulus checked his appearance for the umpteenth time, and for the umpteenth time found it lacking. The clothes were... fine. The clothes were good even. Being Hayes' everything was a little bit close, but fortunately it only made it into 'well fitted' territory rather than 'sprayed on' or 'seam-bursting'. Perhaps he should stop teasing his partner about being a stick, he wasn't really all that thin... but that was an issue for another day. Black trousers. Red shirt that actually went pretty nicely with his eyes. His own thick leather belt and buckled boots. Black leather jacket; borrowed from Hayes again not his bike jacket, very stylish indeed.

Right. Fine.

What about the hair? Was that it?... No, no that was alright too he supposed; it was washed and - shockingly - blow-dried so that it was sort of... sort of floofy. Not his usual look, much softer than his spiky scruff, but you were supposed to look a bit different on a date, right? No, it wasn't the hair that was wrong either. He also happened to know that he smelled fine; a long hot shower plus a dash of cologne (Hayes' again, a last minute addition just a few minutes ago) had taken care of that potential worry....

How was Hayes so well equipped for dates compared to him? Hu. Well He supposed he had kind of just ridden onto base with what fitted into his saddlebags but he really ought to have sorted out stuff like this by now. He supposed he hadn't done it because he had been so firmly denying to himself that he wanted to date anyone, let alone that pretty woman who'd recruited him.

At that point Aulus met his own eyes in the mirror and sighed. "You wussy little poofter. You look fine. It's fine. Everything will be fine."

...He couldn't do anything about the scar. Usually he didn't think that much about it unless the weather was bitingly cold and it was prickling and tugging, but tonight... tonight he wanted to look perfect. He always thought about it more around Claire actually; around her and when people actively gawped... which they probably would tonight. You didn't see many ax murderers out on dates after all, especially not axe murderers who had clearly only recently committed another atrocity, in the doing of which they had been injured.

Shaking his head at himself Aulus grabbed his crutch and limped towards the door; least his leg had improved enough that using the wrong hand to support it wasn't as awkward as it had been before.

Down in the garages he met the very last person he wanted to see, that bloody obtuse little creep with the protocol fixation. Least it worked in his favour today; he'd booked his car in advance and it was ready for him when he entered, all he had to do was scribble his signature and climb in. The drive to the city was spent trying not to panic, and a brief stop off on the way was filled with indecision.

After what seemed like an eternity however the car was parked and Aulus was sitting at the bar of the Stonegrill restaurant that was to be the site of either a fantastic evening, or a fantastic c**k up. The urge to knock back a few swift shots was almost overwhelming, but he didn't want to be a stinking babbling idiot when Claire arrived so he made do with a lemonade. On the bar in front of him, currently occupying all of his attention, was a single purple flower of the same kind that had (not so) mysteriously appeared in Claire's room on her birthday. She'd liked the flowers. She would like this flower. She liked him... presumably. She must, or she wouldn't have said yes. She wouldn't think he looked like an idiot (would she?) and he wasn't going to act like a tit. Everything would be fine.
PostPosted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:45 am


However long it had taken Aulus to get ready, it had probably taken Claire twice as long. A long, hot shower had helped soothe her nerves for a little while - at least until they were shot all to hell as she frantically rummaged around to find something suitable to wear. It seemed to be some sort of morbid cycle: Find something nice, think 'that looks good', put it on, stand in front of mirror... Panic, go look for something else, and start the whole process over again. She'd probably changed about a dozen times before she finally settled on an outfit.

The agent sighed in front of the mirror for the umpteenth time, frowning at her reflection as she adjusted the loose lilac blouse. The fact it dipped dangerously low was irrelevant, due to the white tanktop she wore under it that hid anything important from view. Under it, and hidden from view, was her favorite white belt that held several of her pokeballs. As her hands experimented with different styles for her hair, she kept frowning at the jeans she wore. They were nice, of course - but were jeans okay to wear on dates? Was she supposed to wear a pair of nice slacks, or a skirt, or, or... No, no, they were fine. She didn't have time to panic about her outfit more.

Hair. Okay. It looked alright. Instead of straightening it like she usually did, she'd opted to curl it a bit to put more of a wave into it, then pulled it up into a loose, curly bun at the nape of her neck to keep it off her shoulders. A few stray wisps, along with a couple wavy pieces to frame her face, were left down. Although she wasn't one to wear jewelry - anymore, at least - she couldn't help pulling out a necklace her mother had given her before she'd left Sinnoh. It wasn't anything fancy or expensive, but it was nice and she liked it. ...there.

Contacts... She reached a hand out and pulled the small container over to her from across the bathroom counter, then started to twist off one side of it before she frowned at it and stopped. She'd never thought to wear them before joining Team Rocket, but since then it had become almost second-nature to always put her contacts in before she went anywhere (not including the pool, anyway). Hazel eyes slid up to her reflection again, the frown still present on her face as her gaze slid further up to her hair. While the black with purple looked nice, it still wasn't her. It was a fairly frequent thought, she realized, or more of a desire. She missed her brown hair. She missed not having to wear contacts all the time, missed her family - her mother especially - missed her name...

No, enough of that. With a decisive flick of her hand she slid the container for her contacts back towards where it usually rested - or close enough, at any rate - grabbed her jacket and left. The ride there was spent mostly worrying and nervously fidgeting with anything and everything, making sure her hair was perfect and just everything. Most of all though, she was just glad - and incredibly grateful - that Lucas was driving. It felt like they'd arrived much too soon when he parked the car, but either way she gave her chauffeur and friend a hug and a 'thank you Lucas' before she hopped out of the car and headed in. It didn't take long to find her date - especially with a little help - and she halted off to the side. The lone purple flower caught her gaze and caused a small, shy smile to bloom on her face. Her cheeks were also tinged a noticeable shade of pink, though whether that was from the cold or the current situation was anyone's guess. "Aulus?"

BlackFireKitsune
Vice Captain

Tiny Lunatic


TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:59 am


She was here. Stomach in knots Aulus slid awkwardly off his bar stool and turned around. Crutch in his left hand, flower in his burned and bandaged right hand he felt like a bit of a tit. She looked fantastic. The shirt, the jeans, the shoes. Her hair in soft curls. Hazel eyes. She had a necklace on. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen her with jewellery on before.

“Uh... Claire. I ah.... Hi! Uh.... You look great!” When had his tongue turned into a floppy useless thing only partially under his control? “Umm... this is for you,” he held out the flower then, cheeks flushing somewhat. He felt like a giddy awkward teen, possibly on their first date ever. He’d never been nervous like this on a date before; that wasn’t to say he’d always been supremely confident, just that he hadn’t been this jittery. Maybe it was because he was already invested in the relationship they had as friends. Maybe it was because he’d got past the point of ‘she’s pretty I’ll ask her out’ and into ‘she’s fantastic dear Arceus do not let me screw this up’. Maybe it was both. Maybe they were kind of related anyway.

“Uh.... Ahaha. If you take the flower I can offer to take your coat.” Dork. Too bad he hadn’t been able to borrow Hayes’ relaxed approach to bloody everything life threw at him along with his wardrobe.
PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 11:58 am


He still had his crutch, she just noticed - or one of them, anyway - but why wouldn't he? The mission was only a few days ago. On second thought, she should've been more surprised if he didn't have one. ...but then again, he was stubborn and proud half the time anyway, so she could see him trying to avoid using them if at all possible.

Her cheeks flushed a bit more when he started speaking, but it also helped ease her nerves a bit. At least she wasn't the only one who was nervous. "Oh, um, thank you," she said shyly, "you look really nice too.." He hadn't brought nice clothes with him when he joined, did he? She was pretty sure she recalled him saying he only had what he could fit on his bike... Maybe he bought some since then. It didn't matter anyway. "Oh--" flower, "--okay. Um.." She had reached out one hand a bit to take the flower before realizing she was still wearing her jacket. Her cheeks flushed more as she retracted it and fumbled with the jacket, pulling it off before she took the flower from him in one hand, and offering her jacket with the other. Her gaze drifted down to the purple flower, then around the restaurant. It was certainly somewhere she'd never been to before... It looked nice, hopefully not too expensive... Were they sitting there at the bar? Was he just sitting there until she arrived? ...maybe she should just calm down and wait for his lead. That sounded like a good idea.

BlackFireKitsune
Vice Captain

Tiny Lunatic


TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor

PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:13 pm


At least he wasn't the only one fumbling around like an idiot; if either of them got much redder or more awkward the restaurant would probably turn into an embarrassment singularity or something. "Our table's over there," Aulus nodded over at a quiet corner, unable to gesture as he now had one hand full of crutch and the other full of jacket. "Shall we go and sit, or would you like a drink first? They've got lots of nice stuff to drink like the fresh lemonade I was having, and these... uh... sort of cocktail smoothy things with or without alcohol I've seen going past, those look good too... or wine? Uh. Up to you."

He'd never seen her drinking alcohol, but he didn't know if that meant she didn't drink or just that she only drank on occasion. Either way she was probably a total lightweight, and would get all cute and giggly over half a glass of wine. She'd go even pinker too, and might get snuggly... and that was a bad place for his brain to start going. Sure he'd kissed girls on first dates before, and made out, and had sex but those had been the first dates he wasn't nervous on because he didn't care that much about whether or not he ever saw the girl again. There had been one exception to that rule but he was not going to think about her tonight. Tonight was going to be fun... once he got over the acute embarrassment anyway.
PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 12:15 am


"Okay," she replied as she lowered the flower slightly, holding it with both hands. The shy smile was still present, but the blushing was starting to lessen somewhat. At being given two options, however, she was momentarily at a loss. Arceus, she hoped this wasn't a trick question or anything... She twirled the flower in her fingers a bit - she'd need to put it down or something soon before she ruined it out of nervous fidgeting - and her brows furrowed slightly. "Um.." Well, she was thirsty, and it'd take longer for a waiter to bring her a drink than it would for her to order one now... But she really wanted to sit down - and not at the bar, just standing there was making her more nervous.. "I'll get one really quick and then we can sit down, okay?" That was a thing she could do, right? Just order one and take it to the table..? She didn't have to stay there and drink it, right?

Thankfully she didn't. It didn't take too long to get the bartender's attention to order a drink - one of the fruity ones that she very specifically asked for without alcohol, thank you very much - so just a few moments later, with a flower in one hand and a glass in the other, she was walking next to Aulus (making sure to match his pace, of course, since she wasn't sure how his leg was) towards their table. "So.. How did you find out about this place? It looks very nice," which was apparently the only complimentary thing her nervous mind could think to say at the moment.

BlackFireKitsune
Vice Captain

Tiny Lunatic


TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor

PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 7:46 am


He kind of wanted another drink too, but as he had no way to carry one he resolved to just order one when he ordered food and there was a water jug on the table anyway so he was hardly going to expire. "Internet search," Aulus said with a smile to Claire's question. This was in fact entirely true; it had been an internet search, just not his internet search. "Caught my attention because they bring dishes out with a slab of four hundred degree volcanic stone so you can finish off the cooking to taste." The smell of cooking meat of various kinds wafted through the air as he limped slowly towards their table, and not for the first time Aulus wished he wasn't vegetarian.

When they finally reached the table Aulus lent his crutch in the corner and hung up first Claire's and then his own jacket on a pair of pegs. Leaning on the back of the closest chair and then on the table for support he then moved awkwardly around to pull the second chair out for Claire. He looked stupid, she was quite capable of doing it for herself, but it was the sort of thing you did on a date and so he did it, the colour that rose to his cheeks again indicating that he knew exactly how idiotic he looked.

"Umm, this seat alright for you?"
PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 4:16 pm


The description of the restaurant's serving style made her eyes widen a bit. "Really?" That sounded awesome. Though wouldn't that damage the table..? No, they probably had something to put it on to avoid tha--oh, chair. "Ah -- it's perfect, thank you," she said as another slight blush crept into her cheeks. She carefully set her glass down and used her free hand to hold the chair as she sat down - she didn't trust herself not to fall into it or something when she was this nervous - and her curious gaze swept the table. It fell on a small, empty vase, so she carefully placed the flower into it so it wouldn't just be resting on the table or in her hands where she'd inadvertently maim it.

As she waited for him to sit as well, she carefully picked up her glass and took a sip. It was very good. "So," she started as she set her glass down, her hand hovering over it with a few fingers still holding it around the rim, "how are you feeling? Better than a few days ago?" Hopefully he was. It would take a blind person to not notice how slow he was walking, but at least he could just walk with one crutch and didn't need help. Maybe they should've waited another couple of days...

BlackFireKitsune
Vice Captain

Tiny Lunatic


TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor

PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 10:32 am


"Yea, better," Aulus nodded as he hobbled around to his own chair, "But as you can see, not exactly on perfect form again yet. Still, I know how my leg heals so that's not something I have to worry about and apparently the burns should heal up without much scarring even so I guess I can't complain.... Well," he gave a lopsided grin, "I can complain, it'd just make me a whiny git is all." He'd run out of things to say on that score. His brain wasn't providing him with anything else to say. What he really needed was an earpiece through which Hayes could suggest witty one liners about current affairs and so on. Sadly he hadn't thought of that back at base and even if he had he liked to think that he wouldn't have been pathetic enough to ask his partner to hold his hand through the entire bloody date.

"So, uh, do you want to look at the starters or just go onto the mains? Oh, there's a board up there with specials on it too," Aulus gestured, "I thought the jalapeños stuffed with cheese sounded quite good...."
PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 2:09 am


His last comment made her giggle a bit, but she smoothed it down to a smile so she could have another sip of her drink. "That's good," she said earnestly after she'd set her glass down again, "I'm glad you're better." ...though she still couldn't help but wonder if maybe they should've put this off a couple days until he could at least walk with less trouble.. Well, it was too late for that anyway, so she pushed it to the back of her mind.

Appetizers. Oh dear. "Oh, uhm," well, appetizers were yummy, but did he mean like... they would each get one, or they'd share one between the two of them, or what.. There was no way she'd be able to eat one on her own and still have room after, unless the portions were small... But appetizers hardly were, because didn't people usually share? Well crap, which was it? "Well," she started after a couple brief moments of nervous deliberation, "I think an appetizer would be nice, but I wouldn't be able to finish one by myself and still have enough room for dinner.." ...so in other words - want to share one?

BlackFireKitsune
Vice Captain

Tiny Lunatic


TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor

PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:19 am


“Oh.” He did want a starter. For some moments this was a dilemma of biblical proportions, but eventually his brain woke up enough to whisper a solution into his ear before vanishing back inside the pinkish cloud of panicky embarrassment. “Umm, would you like to share one, if there’s one we both like the sound of? I mean, I like pretty much everything on the menu, just not anything with meat in it of course.” He hoped she hadn't wanted a starter with meat in it, he didn't want to deprive her just because of his hangups.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:19 pm


Oh, right, he was a vegetarian - she'd almost forgotten. "I'd like that. Sharing one, I mean," she clarified hastily, scanning the menu a bit. All of the appetizers sounded delicious... Well, all the ones that didn't have meat did. She wasn't a fan of beef anyway. "They all sound really good.." Her brow furrowed slightly while she thought a bit more. "Um.. You can choose one if you want, I'm not picky. I don't like brussels sprouts though," she added after a short pause, her cheeks tinged pink again.

BlackFireKitsune
Vice Captain

Tiny Lunatic


TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor

PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 4:32 am


Decision? Decision? Oh no. s**t. When had he become so totally incapable of doing anything but think ‘ummmmmmmm’? Even reading the menu seemed like a mammoth task. After a few moments of floundering however, Aulus finally discovered the ability to speak again. “Well umm... those cheese peppers sounded good?... Or panfried garlic mushrooms, do you like mushrooms?... So uh... yea, either of those would be fine by me.” Right. Calm down. Everything was going fine. He was nervous, she was nervous, there was general nervousness going around but it was okay. Food would help... and a drink probably would, but she wasn’t drinking so he sort of felt like he shouldn’t either.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:05 am


Oh crap, now she did have to choose. Alright, fine, that was okay - only two options to pick from, that shouldn't be too hard. Calm down, there was no reason at all to be so nervous. Her eyes scanned the menu a moment before pinpointing the two items, and her gaze flicked between the two briefly. "I think.. The peppers sound good. How about those?" She half-asked, half-suggested as she looked back up at him.

BlackFireKitsune
Vice Captain

Tiny Lunatic


TawnyAngel

Predestined Inquisitor

PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:13 am


Phew. "Sounds great," Aulus replied with a mildly relieved grin, flagging down a waiter to place the order along with another lemonade for himself; he had considered asking Claire if she minded him having a drink but in the end it felt too awkward, and anyway he had to drive back to base later.

As they sat back to wait for their food, Aulus cleared his throat. "I, uh, I like what you did with your hair tonight. It suits you curly you know... you look really pretty." He was allowed to compliment her like that now, right? This was a date after all, and you did that kind of thing on a date. He always had before without an issue, a bit of nervousness with her but that had been a kind of intoxicated giddiness rather than genuine terror that he was somehow going to eff up and end then night with her drink in his face, no second date, and sans one friend. He couldn't afford to mess this up. He couldn't afford to lose this relationship, even if it eventually drifted back to friendship. He was trapped here now, he had to make his social circle at base and... and... she was Claire. He didn't want to mess this up.
Reply
Roleplay Archives 2011-2012

Goto Page: 1 2 3 4 [>] [»|]
 
Manage Your Items
Other Stuff
Get GCash
Offers
Get Items
More Items
Where Everyone Hangs Out
Other Community Areas
Virtual Spaces
Fun Stuff
Gaia's Games
Mini-Games
Play with GCash
Play with Platinum