I scream. You scream.

[wickedone]

Who: Albel and Sheena
What: Mogdelina sets up the heroes for their official "date"
Where: Cuppa Kupo
When: November 8


It took a lot of wheedling and pressure and convincing from Mogdelina (toward both parties), but Albel was here -- thoroughly convinced that Sheena wanted him to be. It didn't mean he really wanted to be here. But Mogdelina had a point; Sheena had bid, and she had won, and Albel was honor-bound to respond to that. He supposed he should give Sheena some credit. Even though they fought, and the woman was often infuriating, Sheena was... strong. A decent warrior, to be sure.

She still reminded him of Nel -- for better or for worse. And it was mainly for that reason that, in the end, he decided to humor this ridiculous scenario.

It was just one date -- and it didn't mean anything. Just two people, spending time together, having lunch. He would have had lunch anyway, right?

Comments

[ninjainviolet]

It had taken some convincing on what she had believed to be Albel's part to get Sheena to agree to this date, but here she was. Luckily for the one who orchestrated it, Sheena's own sense of honor had kicked in--even after she had made the offer to turn the date over to the woman he had wanted to win.

And it was that honor that had brought her here today--even though she would much rather be someplace else. Albel had truly hurt her after the auction, making her feel like the worst thing on the face of the planet, but she had been made to feel that way before and had gotten through it.

She just needed to remind herself of that once in a while.

Dressed in a simple shirt and slacks, she arrived at the cafe and immediately looked for him. Spotting him, she approached, her smile a bit wan.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting."

[wickedone]

"Ah -- no!" Albel's voice was gruff but surprised as he hastily rose from his seat. Still ever more comfortable in his native garb, Mogdelina had at least convinced him to have more of said clothes created. Today he wore a black tunic and pants with silver and red accents. It almost resembled a "proper" military uniform.

Mogdelina had convinced him of a lot of things today. Like coming at all.

Albel was amazed that Sheena was interested in this, still interested in this after his outburst at the auction. But he couldn't imagine that it could be at all fun. What did he ever do with this woman but argue?

"You look..." He struggled a bit as he eyed her outfit. It was simple, there was no armor to be seen anywhere, so it was potentially useless in a fight. But otherwise, why would a woman wear such bland pants?

"... nice," he finished, trying to heed Mogdelina's advice. It felt awkward.

[ninjainviolet]

Still wary of him, Sheena stepped back when he rose out of reflex. Like him, Sheena was more comfortable in her regular attire, but she had come here to fulfill a promise, not fight, so had opted for something that seemed to fit that bill better.

Although, don't let the pants fool you, Albel. She still has plenty of movement in those things for kicking and anything else she might have to do. And he'd see that she didn't particularly need armor anyway. It slowed a ninja down.

She caught that moment of hesitation in his compliment and nearly exploded, but reminding herself why she was here, she took it with a smile.

"Thanks. So do you." And she meant it, too.

Hey, even jerks could look nice, you know?

imagining like Beast fumbling on his first dinner with Belle

[wickedone]

Albel paused, noticeably surprised at the compliment. It wasn't that he hadn't been trying to look nice -- or rather, that Mogdelina had managed to convince him it was important. He just hadn't expected it to be outwardly noticed or deserve a compliment. Men complimented women; and of course women could compliment men, but it wasn't expected.

There were a lot of social mores to navigate and Albel was hardly the most experienced with them.

He swallowed and came back to his senses. "Uh, thank you." He moved belatedly to pull out her chair for her.

Awww. She'll drink from a bowl to make Albel feel at ease. :P

[ninjainviolet]

One eyebrow shot up in light of his visible reaction. Yes, she was known to do the unexpected--especially with him, but had no one ever complimented him before? She was actually surprised herself. She had seen him in action while fighting--he was good. And honestly?

He really wasn't bad-looking and did look very nice. Now she wished she had dressed up a little more.

Don't worry, Albel, Sheena was just as awkward socially as you were. You should see her around the nobility--absolutely no social graces; she called them as she saw them.

"You're welcome," she said. She was reaching for it when he beat her to it, and for a moment she was about to protest--then remembered. Oh yeah. Men sometimes pulled chairs out for women. Not something she expected Albel to do--not that he wasn't capable. She just wasn't used to it being done. Taking her seat, she looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you."

Let the awkwardness continue.

[wickedone]

"Sorry, was that -- okay..." Should he not have done that? Was that wrong on her world? But she'd accepted it, so... things were still good.

"Um. Right." He quickly moved to his own seat across from Sheena.

Right on cue, a moogle fluttered up with a small pad of paper. "Welcome to Cuppa Kupo, kupo! What can I get for you today?"

[ninjainviolet]

"That was fine," she reassured him. Her cheeks warming, she admitted, "I'm not used to it being done for me. It was nice." She felt her cheeks growing hotter and wondered where a hole to fall into when you needed it most was when the Moogle appeared, saving her (?) with his presence.

"Ummm. I'm not sure. What do you recommend, Albel?" That was proper, right?

[wickedone]

Oh Apris, she was asking him? As if he came to this place regularly? It was just somewhere Mogdelina thought was nice, it had "good Kupo nuts -- oh, and other good food for you, too."

He thought her recommendation was biased.

"U-Uh...." He wavered, clueless, trying to take a quick glance at the thin menu in front of him. The moogle rescued him again.

"Our specials today are a dark Kupo nut roast, a green salad with almonds and Kupo nut garnish, roasted turkey sandwich with cranberry, and red velvet cake with a cream cheese icing."

"I'll have a rose hibiscus tea," Albel muttered, having at least looked over that part of the menu and ignoring the rest of what the moogle had said. He glanced up at Sheena for her opinion.

[ninjainviolet]

That was what people who were on a date did, right? Sheena was just as much out of her depth as he was his. Dating just wasn't something she had done and didn't have the knack of.

Good thing there were books about this sort of stuff.

She had only been here once before and that had been for coffee, so she really had no idea about the food. Although, when she had told Corrine where they were going, his response had been almost identical to Mogdelina's--with a request to bring some kupo nuts back to him. So subtle.

Looking at her own menu, Sheena took his hesitation in answering as a sign that he was trying to decide what to tell her--not that he had no clue. Glancing up at the moogle as he started to speak, the ninja's eyes lit up when the cake was mentioned. She was definitely going to get that!

"That sounds delicious," she told the moogle, glancing over at Albel, "and so does the tea." She turned to their server. "Make that two teas, please."