[closed] how to score a date the Ilda way

[ilda]

Characters: Ilda and Zephyr
Date: backdated to the night of the onset of the visions
Location: Dreaming Bridge common area
Situation: Ilda's spooked by the visions but a cute guy offers to have tea... how could she say no?
Warnings/Rating: None yet, will add if anything comes up.

Ilda asked for ten minutes, but she was down in five. She didn't do fashionably late; aside from not knowing that it was actually a thing to some, she'd also learned the hard way that the early bird did catch the worm. There was a time, several Apodeian goddess festivals ago, when she'd been hit by a bout of laziness and she didn't get up before sunrise... that didn't end well, because she lost her spot and most of the day's profits along with it. So she swore — never again.

Besides, a cute guy had offered the hot drink! She wasn't about to make him wait. Granted, the chance of other people being awake at this hour was slim, but if they also had visions and were as spooked as she was... nope, she wasn't going to lose to the competition, as imaginary as it might be.

She washed her face and changed into a cute summer dress and combed her hair and brushed her teeth in record time.

She had to smile as she arrived downstairs and caught sight of Zephyr. Well, the tea was ready, but she was drawn to the way he looked, all cool and seemingly unfazed by everything that's going on.

"Hi," she greeted, suddenly a little shy. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Comments

[spiralpatterns]

Zephyr hadn't been expecting-- well, this.

Last he'd seen Ilda, she'd looked reasonably distraught, and he was pretty sure she hadn't been wearing a dress. Not that he would necessarily have noticed, when there were problems like visions and people crying to worry about, but... pretty sure.

"No sweat," he said, shrugging it off, and gestured to the wealth of available chairs. The teapot was still warm, and the one cup he'd poured steaming; he leaned forward, lifted the pot and poured another cup for her. "You look like you're doing better."

[ilda]

Despite the fact that chairs were plentiful, she of course chose to sit across him. Best view of the house, plus it wasn't as forward as sitting beside him. They could do that in the next date. (She almost giggled out loud at that thought.)

The tea looked inviting, even if she wasn't really a fan of the stuff. She thanked him, putting her hands around the cup to have some of the warmth. Mmmmm.

At his comment, she actually felt her face flush, so she ducked her head, pretending to look at her cup of tea as if it was suddenly the most interesting object in the world. "Accidentally sending that message to the network was actually a good thing, this time," she said, with a smile she can't quite contain. "I'm continuously surprised by the kindness of the people here."

[spiralpatterns]

There was something about Ilda's behavior that was ringing familiar bells, but Zephyr honestly couldn't put a finger on it. And it wasn't bad, so he figured it could be figured out later. Whatever.

He tapped the side of his own tea, found it still a little too hot, and settled down to wait. Lippy would be ashamed of his temperature balance, probably. "A lot of people are pretty fundamentally decent, I think. Just most of the time don't know how to help, or don't see where there's need. You asked, so." A shrug which was a little bit uncomfortable. "Glad you're okay."

[ilda]

“Thank you.” Ilda was unusually shy in Zephyr’s presence, although it could be easily mistaken as an effect of the troubling vision.

She suddenly didn’t know what else to say, which was quite a feat considering how much of a chatterbox she usually was. She decided to check her yimo instead, if only to have something to do in the midst of the awkward silence — just in time to see Rutile’s response to her latest text. She nearly chokes at their joke about her Talent, but it was the last bit that really caught her attention.

I would like to see him, though.
A photo would be sufficient.

Well. In that case...

“Hey, Zephyr,” she called out with a grin, raising her yimo. “Do you mind? Just... just a keepsake. Or if you want to be famous, I can post it on my Xa Xa account!” Ah, nothing like a selfie to excite her.

[spiralpatterns]

"A keepsake?" This was... not something Zephyr knew how to make sense of. He set his tea down, scratched his head. "I mean, I guess, but I can't see why you'd want a keepsake of Horrible Dream Night." He sure hadn't made difference enough to warrant anything, really. "But sure, if it makes you feel better, whatever."

A pause, hesitating, then he felt compelled to add: "I really don't need to be famous, though."

[ilda]

She laughed as she scrambled to find a valid excuse for wanting a picture with him, her expression sheepish. Just because she thought the guy was cute didn't mean she was going to tell him. "Well... you know me!" No, he didn't, Ilda. "I look at the bright side of things. Sure, the visions were creepy, but at least I made a new friend on Horrible Dream Night!"

Huh, that was actually pretty clever. #HorribleDreamNight -- nice hashtag!

"Okay, I won't post it on Xa Xa." She quickly got up and scooted over to him, maybe even a little too closely. She held out her yimo at arm's length. "Smile!"

[spiralpatterns]

"Not yet I don't," Zephyr responded obligingly, in that pause between her sentences. He did not at all know her. Great way to make friends, though, this was. "But I'm learning you're an optimist, apparently."

Who knew.

And then oh wow she was very close. Zephyr tried not to twitch, tried not to put his right hand -- anywhere at all -- and managed a smile that was thin and at least half grimace, but something better than nothing. "Better?" he asked when Ilda was done, a bit bemused.

[ilda]

It's easy to be optimistic and inspired in the presence of a cute guy -- but she wasn't about to tell him that, either!

She took a moment to check out their photos (of course she'd set it in burst mode, Zephyr) and giggled. He really was adorable. Just look at that grin. "Nice! But we can make it even better."

Somehow the universe seemed to be on Ilda's side that night -- at least post-nightmare -- because there was someone else awake in the Dreaming Bridge at that hour and was conveniently making his way through the common room. "Hey, Mister! Excuse me!" she called out, waving her yimo up in the air. "Can you please, pretty please, take our photo? The front cam's not working very well in this low light." Conan did tell her to put an effort in taking photos. Plus, a grainy selfie's not going to make a very pretty wallpaper.

The stranger's expression turned somewhat dazed for a moment, then he nodded slowly. "Sure."

Ilda let out a victorious squeal and handed her yimo over to the guy, before scooting back to Zephyr and putting an arm around his shoulders. "To new friendships on Horrible Dream Night! Smile!"

[spiralpatterns]

Mostly, Zephyr would like to know how this started happening.

Ilda was something of a whirlwind, he was realizing; one who would probably get along very well with Sara and Kana, but was perhaps a little overwhelming in the moment.

But he smiled when told to, even if it was not precisely the happiest smile in the world, because it didn't cost him anything and it really had been a bad night for both of them, so what was a little extra effort to make her happier? He even tried to stop himself tensing up when she draped an arm over him, and mostly succeeded.

"Gonna take this to mean you're doing more than a bit better, then." This was wry, but not especially sharp; more a friendly teasing.