melodiesoflife | The Final Date

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The Final Date

WHO: Graham Specter, Rukia Kuchiki
WHAT: Rukia meets up with Graham to treat him on the last of the auction dates. Shenanigans will definitely ensue.
WHEN: November 11th
WHERE: Aqures Ixen - Cafe, Marketplace

The cafe seemed like a good spot for a first (and last) date with Graham. Now that she'd been on two dates, she felt confident about running the show on the third, and had asked him to meet her here for lunch. Later they could do a little shopping and walking around. When he was sane, he was fairly pleasant, so she wasn't all that worried about how the date would go. Perhaps she'd get to understand the way his mind worked a little better.

Knowing that he wasn't the formal type, she'd picked out a black blouse with voluminous sleeves matched with an amethyst pendant, comfortable gray breeches, and her black boots she normally wore when she wasn't sporting one of her job's customary outfits. ...Which was almost always the case, truth be told, and she'd fallen asleep in the Ghostbuster jumpsuit on more than one occasion, finding it to be very comfortable despite its lack of style.

Perched in a chair with a cup of coffee at her elbow, Rukia was presently engaged in a very serious matter. Her Cockatrice Tamagotchi was beeping at her incessantly. It refused food. It refused to play. In fact, it refused to do anything but beep at her.

Beep!

She had known this day would come.

"Tch... So it has come to this. It grieves me, but I cannot allow this to continue any longer." Her head bowed forward, locks of dark hair veiling her face as she grit her teeth. When she lifted her chin, it was with an imperious and regal air as she peered down at the small toy sitting on the table.

Beep!

"You have left me with no alternatives. Therefore...!" Rukia raised her hand up high, index finger extended. Dramatically her finger descended to hit the right button squarely and intensely.

"DISCIPLINE!"

It stopped beeping.

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As wrapped up as she is in the sad fate of disciplining her virtual pet, she might not have noticed Graham's head right away, which has popped up over Rukia's shoulder to see what she's up to. Graham, as usual, has no regard for anyone's personal pace. He's also not really sure what he's looking at, or why Rukia was yelling at it.

"Huh? What are you making such a racket over? Discipline what?"

"Oh, there you are." Rukia tipped her head back slightly. She was probably one of the rare few in Crystallis who really didn't mind having her personal space invaded. She did it herself sometimes, since she'd never had a fear of closeness. In the winter season, it had been imperative to survival when she was growing up. So she allowed him to remain right where he was, holding up her Tamagotchi so he could see the pixelated monster that was currently sulking before it curled up and went to sleep.

"My roommate got this for me," she explained with a proud smile. "It's a digital pet. You can feed it, play games with it, and care for its needs. But sometimes you must use the discipline button if it beeps at you and doesn't actually want anything." She sighed heavily. "I dislike resorting to such measures, but it's a necessary part of its growth."

Since it was sleeping, she put it away in her pocket and gestured to the other chair with a smile. "Have a seat. Let's begin our date formally."

it's a good thing Rukia put the toy away. A few more moments in Graham's presence, and it would be dismantled in no time. He flopped into his seat, wrench laid out across his lap. Going on a date didn't mean he was going without it. From beneath his thick hair, he shot her a raised eyebrow.

"Formally? Is this date really that formal? If so, I'm not prepared at all! Was I supposed to wear a suit or something? Or pick you up? Or ask permission from your family?! Dating is complicated, and the difference in culture between this world and my own only complicates it further! There always seems to be so many rules, and yet no one ever writes them down."

He tapped his fingers rhythmically off his wrench as he spoke. Ever since the auction, this topic has been on his mind a lot.

"Not that kind of formal. Relax." She dropped a cube of sugar into her coffee, stirring it idly with a small spoon. "You're with me, after all, you should know I don't expect you to go out of your way to impress me."

She was wearing casual clothing herself, if only because she kind of expected he'd show up in his jumpsuit. She eyed the wrench, then Graham. Really? He couldn't leave it at home for a few hours? He didn't bring that with him on his date with Zelda, she hoped.

"I've learned a little about dating," she informed him. "You can ask me questions if you like, but it's not all that complicated as you might think." She learned that, too. "It's much like spending time with a friend, but you exercise more courtesy and thoughtfulness for the other person. You can use this as practice, if you like, but I only planned for us to spend time together with a meal and an activity. I'm not expecting more than that," Rukia reassured with a smile.

"But there's obviously a romantic intonation to dating! Otherwise it wouldn't be called a date. It's just... hanging around! And we could have done that without getting auctions involved."

He shrugs, unimpressed by this whole auction set-up deal. Setting his wrench down next to him against the chair, Graham pulls his legs up on the chair and rests his arms on his knees.

"Activity... what sort of activity? I've been thinking a lot about how easy it would be to knock over a store here. We should do that sometime!"

He seemed pretty excited by this idea, and didn't seem to care about how loudly he was proclaiming this idea. What else would friends do besides plot some crime together?

"Romantic? Ordinarily," she shrugged. "But as you and I aren't attracted to one another, I don't think that really applies. Think of it as a rehearsal, if that's easier."

She passed him a menu. Her 'date' wasn't about to go hungry.

And he also wasn't going to behave like a common criminal. Rukia's expression went flat at his suggestion.

"That's not very heroic. It's actually the opposite." Honestly, what was he thinking? "No, I'd thought we could do some shopping and browse the marketplace. What kind of stores would interest you?"

"Right! I go for older women, anyway!", he states with conviction. Not that Graham has any idea how old Rukia is anyway, but she certainly doesn't look older than him. Also, an exception might be forming in the case of Zelda, that Graham's not even aware of yet.

His sleepy eyes peered at Rukia indifferently from over the top of his menu. "I've lost interest in being a Hero. It's boring. I does absolutely nothing for me! I don't really do much shopping, so I suppose I could say they're not of interest of me at all. Or they're all of interest to me. I have no way of knowing!"

"..." She could have told him just how old she really was, but it seemed like clarifying would wind up being more trouble than it was worth. How old did he think she was, anyway? Just because she was short didn't mean she was childish. Her voice alone should have been more than enough to indicate her maturity.

"It's not about doing things for you, it's about saving our homeworlds from being destroyed by mass crystallization. Robbing merchants of their livelihood won't help anyone," she replied, giving him a flat and disapproving stare. "We're given more than enough funds to take care of our needs. Don't let greed rule you."

She ordered a bacon sandwich and a cup of soup, with a glass of lemonade before surrendering her menu to the waiter and waiting for Graham to do the same.

"Who said anything about help? I just want something to do!"

In Graham's case, it was more boredom than greed. A dangerous mind like his, left to its own devices, was not a good thing. And without a gang to lead, or a crime family to do work for, Graham felt listless. Going to hos job everyday was a decent distraction, but it wouldn't hold him over forever.

He'd barely looked at the menu, so Graham ordered some pasta and a vanilla milkshake without much thought.

"Fighting giant moogle monsters or searching haunted houses are fine in the moment, but then it's over! This town is so dull in between when things are going to hell. Who can live like this!?" Graham flopped sideways in his chair, or as much as he could, anyway.

"What about the quest board?" Rukia suggested. "The plains beyond are riddled with monsters as well, making travel dangerous at times, particularly at night. While I wouldn't advise going it alone, there should be plenty of unnatural fiends wandering about that should relieve your boredom."

She couldn't even imagine feeling bored in this place. If anything she never seemed to have enough time to do all the things she wished she could. There were so many places to travel, new lands and creatures she'd never even laid eyes on before.

"If you'd rather go attack some monsters instead of shop, I could change our plans easily enough," Rukia shrugged. It didn't seem very date-like, but she didn't remember seeing any rules about not fighting slavering abominations. It would serve well enough as a bonding activity, even if there wasn't anything inherently romantic about it.

Graham was still going through a bit of homesickness, still unsure of how he fit into this place. Mostly he's decided that he doesn't fit, and so won't bother to try. His priorities aren't always great.

Fighting monsters wasn't as satisfying or as fun as fighting people, but Rukia was right about there being a lot of them out there. He thinks about it from his flopped over position, before suddenly sitting up.

"Monsters, huh. Not quite the same as knocking over a shop." Maybe he'd have to do that himself later. "But I guess it could be interesting! At the very least, they're hard to predict. There's nothing like them where I'm from, so they're all new foes, with all new skills to counter." He slaps his wrench off of his hand rhythmically as he considers this.

"And we can really go out and make money this way? Is there a demand for it?"

"Always," she smiled with greater confidence, glad to have found some sort of common ground. He was a difficult man to work with, speak to, and understand, but at least they could battle monsters with one mind. "They pose a threat to villages and those who travel between them. The more we eradicate or capture, the better. The man who runs the Monster Arena often pays for the transfer of beasts to his care, but as many of them are quite large, I'm not sure how it would be possible to transport any of them alive."

Unless it was something small, like a hamster (NO) or a Touch Me.

"I've heard it said that oft times a monster will drop a treasure as well. It depends on the rarity of the monster in question and how difficult it is to defeat it."

Leaning back in her chair, Rukia crossed her arms. "However, if you see a floating cat that asks for money, I would not advise attacking it. Like the cactuar that wished for water, fulfilling its request allows us access to more skills for our Jobs. If we are fortunate, we may meet this cat while we move about the plains."

"A floating cat that asks for money. Right." It's hard to tell whether or not he believes her on that one. But Rukia was right, they did run into a cactuar that talked and asked for water. Was a talking cat that much more far fetched?

"Then what are we waiting for? This sounds like a good deal to me. Money to be made, monsters to be defeated, the adoration of the fearful public to be lavished upon us for a job well done." Well, maybe not so much that last one. Which is fine, since he's not really interested in that part anyway.

When their waiter appears to deliver their food, he perks up. "Ah, that's what we're waiting for."

"I was just about to say," Rukia chuckled, and tucked in.

When they had finished eating and Rukia had paid for the meal, she rose from her seat and left the diner with Graham. It didn't take long to summon Chappopo, who was sulking uneasily nearby and wishing Rukia had bid on Yuri after all instead of someone who was completely lacking in romance. Reluctantly she changed Rukia's street clothes into her ninja garb, and as usual, Rukia pulled down the hood and mask to expose her face.

"This way," she said, and nodded toward the town gates. "Do you have everything you need?"

It would take a little longer for Kuprono to show up to give Graham his Job change, but Graham would have gone without it anyway. The shy moogle would shoot a glance to Rukia, wondering whether he should feel bad for her being stuck hanging out with Graham, or worried for her sanity in choosing to do so. Graham would have been ready to go even without anything else, considering his Assassin's outfit didn't give him a lot in the way of armor. Even most of the knives that would normally be sheathed on the outfit had been replaced by various small tools.

He tossed his wrench into the air in a neat arc, catching it with the other hand with ease.

"I'm always carrying all I need. One needs to know how to survive on his wits as much as anything else, or else he could starve in a world full of food!" Befuddling, but true?

"I suppose I can't argue with that," she chuckled. Of course, she wasn't really sure how much the words of wisdom really applied to the situation, but she didn't see any reason to pick it apart. Maybe she was just too practical to properly grasp the abstract. "Come. Let us see what we can find."

With only a brief stop at the Item Shop to pick up a few potions and antidotes, given that both of them lacked any healing magic with their current jobs, it wasn't long before they were on their way and out the town gates.

As they walked, and Rukia's tabi got wet and cold from moving through the damp, freezing grass, she began to wonder about the wisdom of choosing a warmer job, or at least one that permitted her to wear warmer clothing. Perhaps she should have requested the Ghostbuster uniform, since the jumpsuit turned out to be exceptionally comfortable despite her early reservations about how plain and unexciting it looked.

"Stay sharp," she cautioned. "We do not want to be here after dark. That's when the hamsters come out."

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The Final Date

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