Remnants of the Earth
SPACE STATIONS => The Libra => Topic started by: Anonymous on July 31, 2009, 08:45:59 pm
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Vin woke up with a comic book still open on his chest, one hand clamped to the spine. He grimaced and blinked his way awake, blinking a strand of hair out of his eye. His mouth tasted... not exactly bad, but he'd definitely had a little too much beer last night with Tali. Too much beer pong. The problem with beer pong, Vin thought, peeling the comic pages off his chest, was you wound up in bed with your superhero stories instead of, say, a girl.
The ladies didn't tend to like beer pong, not with the intense dedication with which Vin liked beer pong. He got kind of into it.
Maybe they had a point. Drinking dirty beer and shouting at your captain when he didn't get a little ball in a little cup? Probably not the best Friday night...
Nah. Who was he kidding? It had been awesome. He'd just better brush his teeth before he met Aryte at the arcade. Yeah, he did get to meet girls. I don't see you going on any, Beri had said, when Vin had said Well, kid, how will you find a date if you're always cutting class? Kind of underhanded of him to say that, Vin thought, sniffing one of the shirts he'd just laundered. It was probably six years old, but one of his favorites, the superhero t-shirt. Good enough. He squirted it with cologne and left it hanging over the open bathroom door to steam-straighten itself while he showered and performed the rest of his typical morning ablutions. All that done, he set off for the arcade.
He paused outside the door, just a couple of minutes early, and lifted one arm to sniff himself again--doing so had become a bit of a habit over the years, if an unsavory one.
"Hey, Mom." He gave his mother a one-armed hug, surprising her from behind, as she bent over a simulation machine that had needed some repair. Vin wasn't surprised. A lot of people, not content with the minimal Libran gardens, sought out the immersion of a full planetary simulation. People needed nature, he guessed, though the things he got cravings for were always more movement, open spaces; missions helped.
"Morning, darling." She kissed him on the cheek and drew back to brush the wrinkles out of his shirt.
"Aw, Mom." He shook his head. "'Kay if I give my work buddy a preview of that new, uh..." Vin scratched at the base of his braid, trying to recall. He wasn't really a gaming afficionado himself, but his mother and Beri kept him apprised of the newest releases.
"Primeval IX." His mother nodded and dug in her pocket for an electronic key, which she pressed into his palm. "We've installed it on the test machine, just keep it discreet. It has a really good interface, seamless."
"Sounds fun."
He let her get back to work, helping a mother who'd brought her young children in. They'd immediately wrought havoc on one of the simulation machines, tugging wires and jiggling attachments. Vin loitered around the front of the store, covered a yawn with the back of his hand, though it was nearly eleven, and thought about asking Aryte if she'd like to grab a coffee before they hooked in.
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How could he sleep through all that techno?
Aryte's eyes were narrowed as she was hunched over the sleeping form of Will her roommate. She just couldn't believe the nerve! She'd turned it up extra loud too, and there he was sleeping away, maybe even snoring. Aryte had even cranked the volume progressively louder throughout the morning as she was taking her dear sweet time getting ready. Still, he just lays there.
Damn! Stupid Kibble.
Aryte's whole goal was to be able to brag about her maybe date before she left. He would get an earful when she returned. For sure. She walked out of his room with a slight pout and walked back to her room checking her appearance in the wall of mirrors in her room, her computer shoved up against the middle panel. Her hand lingered on it while she looked herself.
Ary had actually taken the time to dress up, do her hair a little differently. She smiled at her reflection. Her hair was up in tow buns with braids spaced randomly throughout her hair. She just hadn't had the time to braid all of it, she thought this looked cooler anyway. A few thin braids hung down near her temples. She'd even put on a little purple eyeshadow. She checked her face nodding to herself. It had taken her forever to find that damn make up. Eyeliner looked nice though.
She'd even worn something other than jeans a very flattering pair of pinstripe pants and a light purple shirt that hugged her form fairly well. Her wings stuck out the back of it, her custom zipper from the hole up to her neck there as always. Checking the time on the clock on her bedside table she grinned. Still a little more time before she had to run.
Sitting down at the computer she turned the techno music down and cracked her knuckles. She started clicking away at the keys and moving the mouse around a smile growing slowly on her face. She was setting up an alarm for about an hour after she left. Will would pay for ignoring her techno this morning and bursting her bubble. Yes, indeed he would. She grinned and skipped away from her computer and out the door.
She was closing in on the Arcade a little bit later, a sort of skip in her step. She was starting to feel a little bit nervous, and girly. Which she wasn't used to on either count. She pulled at her shirt as she slowed down straightening it and her pants checking the belt. Biting her lip for a moment she nodded regaining her composure and opened the door looking for Vin right off.
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At least he didn't run the risk of overlooking Aryte. She might be on the small side, Vin thought, but she tended to stand out. Probably the wings. And the multicolored hair. And, today, the purple. Lot of purple.
Vin had shamelessly conventional tastes; he liked delicate women and he liked long hair. Beri had tried to tell him he ought to feel guilty about something about stereotypes of beauty or something. Anyway, Aryte fit most of his superficial date requirements, he'd just realized the other day, but he wasn't sure what he thought of the purple makeup. That was maybe a little... like... too much. He'd never seen Aryte with makeup before, had he? Weird.
Anyway, was all good, she met the other requirements, too. Most 77s would. Vin sometimes felt leery of Fleetcest, and rank could be knotty like that, but he hadn't had much luck elsewhere. Besides, even if it didn't go anywhere, he'd have fun hanging out with her.
"Hey, Ary, how are ya? You look, uh, nice." He waved and loped over, greeting her with a quick pat on the shoulder, just above one wing. Then he flicked one of her ears, because her ears were awesome.
"Can't believe you missed '77s beer pong last night. Hey, listen, I'm kind of..." He made an expressive gesture toward a yawn. "... want to get some coffee? Then my mom says we can try out Primeval IX, she got an advance copy."
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Ary smiled when she spotted Vin as he caught her attention with a wave. She raised her hand back in response and watched him as he trotted over to her. She took that small moment to let her eyes look over him. He looked cute, he did a chunk of the time. This was a cute with a bit more effort though. The effort looked good on him. However that made her feel a bit over dressed, like she had over estimated what this was. Oh well, she didn't dress up very often, it evened out. No need to worry now.
She smiled at him as he complimented her.
"Aw, thanks Vi..." She stopped short and twitched slightly as he flicked her ear. She laughed and shook her finger at him. Such a goof, probably one of the reasons she liked him enough to go on a date.
"You better watch out or I might start breathing fire at you." She grinned wife at him. She had missed Beer Pong? Well shucks. Really, she had probably blocked the whole thing from sinking in. Beer pong normally caused her to embarrass herself in some way or another. It normally ended with her talking way too much about video games and exposing that dorky side of her. It was so fun though.
Then he said it.
Primeval IX.
Aryte could feel her fingers twitch just slightly.
Advance copy.
Magical words for Aryte. He certainly knew how to impress her at least. It was something that might not work on most girls. He obviously had noticed how much she absolutely loved video games. Probably one of those beer pong times. Never the less, perfect date idea.
"Beer pong is evil," She nodded solemnly at him. "...and coffee sounds lovely, I suppose I can wait to get my hands on the video game." She stuck her tongue out at him as she snaked her arm through his and started heading away from the arcade.
"So who won Beer pong? Who played? Give me the run down."
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Vin grinned down at Ary. Her tongue darted out and his eyes crossed for a second in surprise, staring at the point of it. He blinked them straight and set off, elbow crooked under her arm, out of the arcade. The low light and carpeting gave way to the Base Block's general metallic silver and bright LEDs.
"It's not evil, y'all just don't like it 'cause the gunnies always win." He nudged her in the side with his captive elbow. She smelled good.
"Let's see, uh..." He thought back. Last night had become a happy, orangeish, beer-soaked blur, but he did recall trying to police Beri's alcohol consumption... losing to Kai, who had stopped in to say hello... flirting with an ensign just a little. Vin generally believed in honesty, but he didn't need to mention that. No point. "Sorta the usual crowd, Tali, Bree, Caro, Renzo, Mercer kicked everyone's ass, it's a good thing he's not there every weekend." Kai was his former captain, and not everyone knew the grisly details of his discharge, so Vin didn't bring that up. He still liked to spend time with the squad.
"Herded my little brother home before he got in trouble so I missed a couple games, but it wound up really fun." Vin steered them down the Base Block corridor toward Fuel, the coffee shop less likely to serve drinks named in obscure fancy-schmancy Serunan dialects.
They fell in toward the end of the line. "So what were you up to, anything innerestin'?" He wiggled his eyebrows, a trick he had learned at a young age, and squeezed her arm in the crook of his elbow, then let go.
-
She laughed at him crossing his eyes at her.
"Aw man, I missed mini Vin?! Shucks! Sounds like everyone was there." She smiled, sort of wishing she had gone last night. Even if Beer Pong was evil. She bonded pretty often with her Squad, sometimes though she just got distracted, wires crossed sometimes literally and she'd get lost. Aryte could drink her beer though, she didn't like it...that much but after a few she could slam them down. Though the next day she felt all sloshy.
"And Gunnies do not alllllways win...just...a good percentage of the time." She chuckled putting her other hand over his elbow lightly and comfortably. He was so easy to relax and be around. It was nice, different. It felt good to lean on him, she hadn't been on a date in quite awhile now. "I mean, I do pretty good when I get in the groove." She wiggled her hips while they were walking bumping into his just barely.
She spotted the coffee shop he had picked out and was very pleased. This is where she liked to go. Admittedly sometimes she'd go to the fancier places when she got a hankering for some attitude with her coffee. If you could figure out what you ordering at those places it was normally pretty damn tasty.
"This is the place I go most of the time! My favorite." She smiled up at him. Then he asked about her night. She gave a loud theatrical sigh.
"Alright, I'm going to run the risk of sounding horribly boring to you. So do me a favor and imagine me wearing something more revealing while I tell you." She arched an eyebrow back at him appreciating his own eyebrow wiggle. "I had to fight off a hacker." She blushed just slightly. "See, there's this...dude, well I assume dude it could easily be a female...well anyway, we were on this practice Hacker site together when I was younger...and I always beat him out. I was probably more highly caffeinated than he was." she took a breath. "He dug his way into my system, even through the firewall. I had to go through all sorts of codes, tactics. Computer jive basically!" she snapped her finger like she thought of a better way to explain it.
"It's like a tradition now. I had forgotten what day it was yesterday. I got him though." She beamed happily, then realized how long she had gone on. "Um...I did most of it without pants on. That probably makes it more interesting."
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Vin knew a little about computers--all the gunnies learned the ins and outs of the systems that ran their ships while they went through ensign training. But he had no concept of the complex operations of hacking. He nodded at Ary's story. She obviously got competitive pleasure out of the activity, and Vin could understand that. He liked to compete and try hard at beating systems, though he had more of what his father tactfully called 'kinesthetic and kinetic' intelligence than mathematical acuity.
She sounded so cute and embarrassed about being 'geeky.' Like he'd judge her for it. Vin glanced down at his superhero t-shirt.
Seriously.
The without pants comment made him crack up, and he covered his face with one hand for a second, then glanced around. It looked like the people in front of them in the coffee line had heard her.
"Without pants, huh?" He looked her up and down and nodded appreciatively, mouth turned a little down at the corners, as though he were judging her. "Definitely interesting." He nudged her hip with his and they shuffled forward in line, up to order. "Small black coffee, please. You want anything?" he added, turning to Aryte.
Vin dug in his pocket for his credit card, which he lay on the table. Some girls didn't like it when he paid, but he had the habit of offering and it didn't seem so bad to do so. He had invited her out, after all.
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She grinned as he covered his face laughing at her. He looked too cute when he was amused. Amused by the jokes, always a good sign, she thought anyway. Of course people were looking at her, glancing over their shoulder some of them men with a sort of interest but confusion. She was used to it though, she had perfected her 'I-Don't-Even-Notice-You-Staring-At-Me-Jerkface' look. She was too busy watching Vin anyway, he was much more interesting.
Checking her out? An even better sign! Her grin turned to a full out smile lighting up her face. His hip bumped her and she moved forward walking next to him. She looked up at the board with all the drinks on it. The board was one of the digital ones. They always made her happy. They filled her head with questions of whether they could be hacked into, if she could change the names and prices of things. Like...Pie Latte...but that just sounded...delicious .
Vin pulled her out of her geek brain crack moment and she jumped slightly. He was going to pay for her? She turned looking at him her smile returning again.
"Thanks," she said quieter to him, "One of those Chai latte thingies." She pointed to it on the board. When the barista nodded she bumped Vin's hip. Seemed like this was a tradition already. "A boy hasn't bought me coffee in a long time. I feel fancy."
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Vin let the barista swipe his card and smiled in thanks before turning back to Aryte to reply.
"You look fancy."
He sidled over to the other side of the counter to take their drinks, and handed the chai carefully to Aryte. He eyed his own coffee with some wariness. Vin hated to burn his tongue, but natural impatience meant he did it all the time. Looking at Aryte, he blew a careful ripple across the coffee's surface, then gestured with his shoulder, toward one of the corner tables. Why not sit down and finish, right? They couldn't take coffee into his mother's arcade. She'd hit him.
"Seriously," he said, gesturing for her to sit down, and pulling out his own chair with one hooked ankle. "You got all dressed up for me. Aw." He grinned and sat down, putting his coffee carefully on the table in front of him, and pulled a few napkins from the dispenser in the middle of the table. Vin was no neat freak, but he liked to keep the space around him orderly, and spilled coffee was sticky.
Hm, what to say now? The unfortunately honest part of him wanted to tease her about her eye makeup, but that wouldn't be tactful, even if he didn't mean it in a harsh way. It was sort of endearing that she obviously didn't do makeup often. She was pretty anyway, though it distracted him from some of her clean, animal attractiveness, the part of feminine appearance he found more appealing. She ought to know. He just liked to point these things out.
Anyway.
"So," he added, setting his cup in the center of his short stack of napkins.
So he wasn't a gifted conversationalist. "... tell me about this game. I used to mess around with VI with my brother, but that was years ago, and I don't wanna just roll over and let you kick my ass here."
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Aryte's eyes went open in surprise when he said she looked fancy. She blushed just slightly, sometimes she thought guys forgot she was female. She had tried to look girly, while still looking like her. It was a careful balance. It was nice to know he noticed. She followed him over to the table.
"Thanks Vin, you don't look too bad yourself." She grinned at him, the blush fading. She sat down across from him and settled down. Then he said how nice she looked again and there it was, the damn blushing. She really wished she could avoid that.
"You're going to make me all nervous you gotta stop." She waved her hand at him laughing. Then he asked her about the game. Which for her was much easier to deal with. She didn't feel so nervous anymore, because she knew what to say.
"But if I tell you things then you might beat me." She made a sad face. "You are a gunner after all." She pointed at him winking then took the lid off of her coffee. She blew on the drink as the steam curled up into the air.
"Well just like VI they have their trademark creatures, but this time...it's all about radiation." She waved her hands in the air like she was being spooky. "So they are huge in this one. There's supposed to be a whole new shooting system on this one. I played a very bare bones beta...the system was hot." She looked at him for a second and grinned looking at him. "I think you'll approve."
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"Hey, where's that "I'm an officer and oh-so-edjumacated" ego?" Vin said, cupping one hand over his coffee to gauge the heat. Vapor stung his palm, and he made a face and removed it.
"You're hustling me." His face moved from disgust to a scrunchy, delighted smile, trying to make her relax a little. Nervous? He'd just been teasing a little, obliquely referencing the makeup. But he'd also been simply straightforward: he appreciated the effort she had made. And who didn't like to hear they looked good? He liked hearing she thought he did. Vin made an effort to stay in shape and smell good, when he remembered.
He leaned forward again, watching her. For awhile now, he'd perceived her as simply one of the many attractive 77s, and attractiveness generally wasn't what he focused on at work. It took enough effort and grueling concentration to do the job. Now, though, he could make out more endearing particularities about her face, and he enjoyed the chance to do it. Despite the distracting eye makeup. One finger twitched, impelled by the vague desire to do something about it.
It was probably a little strange that he found her ears so fascinating, but everyone had a thing. Maybe it was the Dragon Lady from his comics. Kinks instilled in youth. Shee, maybe he shouldn't let Beri borrow those things.
Ah, okay, she did better after the compliments. Beta version. Of course she would.
"Ayeh, totally," he said, though he didn't actually quite get the innuendo, if it had been one. He'd think it was hot? Hm. She seemed a little awkward with the flirting, somewhat unsure. "I heard 'shooting system,' that's good enough for me." Tali ribbed him with what, can't get enough at work, but, well... no shit. "But when you say hot..." He took a sip of coffee.
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"Ego?! Well I'm offended. Me? Well I never." She smiled back when he gave that bright smile. That just looked good on him. So full of well...happy. It gave his face a sort of glow she hadn't really...picked up on before. She always saw him sort of laughing about a prank or joke, but it wasn't like that, it was...warmer. She watched him watching her, and she felt the supreme difference of people staring because they thought you looked different and someone watching you because they thought you were interesting.
It felt so much better.
"Oh hot like, you'll like it. You might find it sexy?" She laughed at herself. Sometimes her words didn't string together so other people could understand it perfectly. "When I get really excited about it I normally call it hot, or sexy, like man that TOPZ craft is sexy? Kinda like that?" She never really did mind it when she had to explain herself language wise, for some reason she was always a little bit off, maybe it was the smidge of alien in her.
"It might just be me, sometimes I don't talk like other people." She chuckled taking another sip of her coffee, and finding it somewhat cooler took a longer sip and could actually taste how good it was.
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"Nah, I just forgot my brain back in my flight suit." Vin held up a hand to pause the conversation while he took a burning swig of coffee. That done, he set his cup down and blinked against the heat.
"Ah. Oh. Okay." He considered the matter, leaning back against his chair, wiggling his shoulders into comfortability. "Hm," he said finally, after mulling it over as thoroughly as he thought necessary. "You've always sounded pretty normal to me. Give your gunny a lot of shit, though, I always kinda wondered what that was about. And with the livin' together. Is it like a brother thing, or what? 'Cause to be honest the whole sibling rivalry deal is a lot less fuh-blugg-ed if you're the same sex, you know?"
He eyed her over another sip of coffee. Okay, so the dynamic between TOPZ pairs was, generally speaking, their own business. He might've felt a little disconcerted had someone asked how he and Tali got on. But Will and Aryte were always very visibly at odds, enough that it interested him.
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Aryte snorted right after taking a drink of coffee. She covered her face waiting for the inevitable burning in her nose. Luckily, this time it didn't come. She grabbed her napkin wiping her mouth. She pointed at Vin with the cup in her hand still.
"You. Almost made me snort coffee out of my nose, fuh-blugg-ed? Really? what does that even mean?" She laughed again and shook her head at him trying to regain her composure.
"Maybe I was wrong about me being the only one with an odd vocabulary?" She shook her head at him again the smile still on her face. She was thinking about his question. She and Will had known each other long before they were partners in the sky. It had never been anything more than a brother sister thing. They hadn't even had those odd sort of moments. They just were.
"We sort of adopted each other in a way." Her voice caught in a strange way, which was mostly covered, it was obvious some sort of odd memory was connected to this. "We've known each other a long time, and it isn't so much sibling rivalry as just family love." She chuckled thinking of random pranks she played on him.
"And he does try to do his own jokes too, they just aren't as good." She smiled wide, feeling proud of herself. She thought about how they looked from the outside. "It probably is odd to see us from the outside."
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"Eh, fuh-blugg-ed, it means like fucked but it sounds better, screwed up." Vin took a sip of coffee and kicked back in his chair, watching the quirk of her mouth as she spoke. He sometimes forgot that not everyone knew all the little turns of phrase he got from his family, from the Coraite-cultural side.
"Adopted each other?"
Vin didn't really like to prod people into sob stories. On the Libra just about everyone had one anyway, whether it was a friend or family member who'd fallen afoul of Eddies or bugs, or just the standard refugee spiel. But he ought to know Ary's deal, and he realized he'd never really asked. Of course he hadn't asked. Vin wasn't of the opinion that the past was all that important. Still, good to know, right? If she got all emotional he had napkins.
He hoped she wouldn't get all emotional.
"What's the deal there? And insulting, forget about it, you should see me and my little brother, man, don't need to tell me a whack onna head means love." He cranked out a half a grin.
-
She liked the way he easily asked her about Will, not putting too much of a lean on it like it was super important. Still though he was curious, which was always flattering. She liked the way he talked too. She would probably end up saying Fuh-blugg-ed. If she could get the word our properly. She made a mental note to go home and practice in front of the mirror.
She looked away for a second trying to think of how to explain her and Will. She was more confusing than Will was in all actuality. Well at least she found it confusing. Maybe Vin would just shrug and understand it, like he seemed to.
"Well," She took a deep breath. "See, I was left here as a little scaly child." She held her hand out flat a few feet from the ground. "When I was about this big. My ears were big, I looked like a weird kitten or something. I have pictures, you will never see them." She grinned at him out of the corner of her eye as she held her hand out facing it like she could see herself.
"I don't remember my family really. Not in a sad way, I promise I won't cry." She put the hand she was holding to represent her younger self out to him with a smile. "I used to try and think hard to see if I could figure out who they were. that never seemed to work. So now I just let it go. Anyway, I got distracted."
She took another breath.
"Will's Mom found me." A upturn of her lips followed. "His family took me in. He and I were around the same age so we bonded, that sort of thing." She smiled wider. "And here we are now, moved into together. We just look after each other. We're both kind of protective with each other."
-
It took a certain kind of girl to describe herself as a 'scaly little child.' The description might be accurate, but it wasn't flattering.
Vin liked that.
He'd propped his chin up on one hand while listening to her, and when she'd finished he sat back in his chair and nodded once.
"Huh," he said, since she didn't seem to expect much else. He liked that, too. Too many people were needy talkers; they leaned toward the person they were talking to for approval or disapproval. Instead of replying at length, he paused to think about her story and take another sip of coffee. He felt a little more awake, which was good. Nodding off during a serious talk would have been very bad.
"I've always been so... close with my family," he said at last, setting down his coffee and resting his forearms on the side of the table. "Like, I get that." Maybe because his parents were both refugees, they'd poured a lot of energy into making Vin and Beri feel loved and taken care of. And then he'd always followed his uncle around, too. Would it have been different if they weren't his birth parents? Probably not.
"So how'd you decide on Flight School?"
-
Aryte watched him process the story. He looked like he was just thinking about it. Which was odd...most people quickly said 'Oh I'm so sorry,' or 'It must be so hard,'. They acted like they understood right off without taking the time to think about it. They always blew it our of proportion. It was probably sad but really she hadn't know another way of life so how would she view it as sad? She enjoyed her life.
When he spoke though it was a sort of relief, like she had been waiting to breathe. She smiled when he talked about his family. She had met his little brother a couple times at random parties for the 77s and such. She liked him, he was pretty fun.
"It seems like you are, I'm interested to meet your mother." She smiled carefully not showing any teeth. Then he asked her about flight school.
"Well, your first question kind of ties in with your second." She looked down like she was a little embarrassed of what her answer was.
"I wanted to see more of the world. World meaning like...universe. I didn't want to be stuck on the Libra all the time. Space sort of...calls to me sometimes. Not really in the mystic 'Oh the space calls to me and it tells me it's secrets'," she put on an older woman's voice with a sort of odd accent as she spoke. Then she returned to normal. "Just like a I enjoy it. I feel like I belong out there when I'm in the ship." She grinned a little.
"Plus it's damn fun, and I needed to find something to do. Playing video games wasn't really helping the family." she paused for a moment.
"What about you?" She took another sip of her Tea. She closed her eyes as she did so. She just loved tea and coffee so much. All flavors. She could never drink it black though. It was probably that sugar freak in her.
-
Vin nudged Aryte's foot gently under the table when he saw her close her eyes. She'd looked pretty with her eyes shut. He leaned over the table toward her.
"I know whatcha mean," he said, absent-mindedly stirring his coffee with one finger. He realized what he was doing and pulled it out with a sheepish smile, wiping his hand on a paper napkin. "... you can't really take me out in public... anyway, no, yeah. I like space too. More than planet sims, sometimes, maybe because it's more real or maybe because I know what I'm doing out there."
He paused to sip his coffee and tipped his head back to think. "... I became a gunny 'cause I was like it's a job I can do, right? I had good reflexes for it. And I think it's important. Plus, fuck, I get to blow up bad guys, I mean, I've dreamed of being all superhero-like since I was a kid."
Vin sat back, shrugged, smiled easily, and took another sip of his coffee. "There are not enough superhero video games," he added, motioning emphatically toward Aryte, as though it were her fault.
-
A red tint cut across Aryte's cheeks as his foot nudged hers. She pulled her foot back at first then saw him lean closer to her. She settled her body letting one of her feet rest near his. Vin was so...fun, nice, and just Vin. She kept a slight smile on her lips as she watched him stir the coffee with his finger then apologize. She was going to make a comment but he kept talking.
She nodded to him, letting her foot drift over to hit his ankle just gently as he spoke. He was engaging. Of course, this was something they both understood. It would be nice to have a guy that just...got her. It was so rare. Will after all was barely a guy! He was a brother thing, those probably didn't even have private parts, obviously. Her nose crinkled in amusement when he cursed. She didn't know why exactly but she found it attractive. He wasn't really cursing for effect. It was just the way he spoke.
Then she acted taken aback her hand to her collarbone.
"Well, I know! It's all my fault." She grinned. "They keep pitching them to me, I tell them more tights, more glitter, more sexual innuendo but alas, they do not listen." She shook her head at him. "It's a sad age we live in."
-
"Maybe not more glitter," Vin said, leaning forward over his coffee and raising one eyebrow at her. That eye makeup, man. He was just going to say something. "You look prettier without it, I was thinkin.'" He watched her eyes beneath the purple shadow curiously.
It wasn't exactly an insult, since whenever you told a girl she'd look prettier without makeup it tended to be a good thing. It also tended to imply you wanted to see her naked, Vin thought. Once he had grown out his hair he'd even gotten the same thing about that sometimes. 'Oh, it's so long, I want to take it out of that braid...' Unfortunately the one who'd said that had been a guy, and Kai had spent the next thirty-six hours calling Vin's braid gay. But it was the principle of the thing.
Still, he hoped Aryte didn't get the wrong idea, so he brought up one hand to touch the side of her face, thumb tracing the purple makeup over her eye.
-
Aryte tilted her head at him as he made a comment about the glitter. She arched a brow then he complimented her. She felt a warmth hit her, hard. He thought she looked pretty. She felt even dorkier than normal now. She wiggled a little in her seat and blushed just slightly. She was trying to remember the last time someone had paid her a fully thought out compliment, she couldn't remember.
Then out of nowhere he was touching her. His hand felt good there, right. She smiled at him then blushed even more as she realized she hadn't said anything. He was probably checking to see if she was still conscious.
"Oh! I...wow. Thanks Vin." She paused for a second sort of nervous trying to find her train of thought again. Oh there it was! Lost somewhere around pretty, boy, and make-up. A place her mind had never previously thought interesting.
"I'll keep that in mind next time. I just wasn't quite sure what to do with myself." She pointed towards her face then put a hand on his for just a second a finger running down his before grabbing her drink. She wasn't sure what exactly to do with herself now. It was that odd sort of flirting where you like the other person and it's comfy...but nerve wrecking.
-
She seemed so flattered. Vin felt himself smiling back. It was damned nice to meet a girl who'd just say thanks instead of making some smart comment. Not that he didn't like smart comments, but all too often--embarrassingly often, really--he didn't quite grasp what game he was supposed to play. This one was much easier.
He withdrew his hand, though, because they were only about a half hour into a coffee date. Damn, he really shouldn't be this horny. Maybe it had been a little too long.
Nothing wrong with innuendo, though. Hell, they were 77s, it was SOP.
"Well, I can think of a couple things you could could do with me," he said, smiling over the rim of his coffee cup, which he'd lifted again to have something to do. Hm. He wondered how that would fly. Better make sure she knew he was kidding.
"Uh, like Primeval IX, just for a start." His smile turned wider. "...If you know what I mean." He slathered all the cheesiness he could into the last statement. Ideally she had a fourteen-year-old sense of humor and would find that funny. Really, that was all Vin could ask of anyone.
-
Aryte bet her face would hurt from all the grinning after this date. She was damn positive. That was good though. She could get used to that. She bit her lip a little when he made the comment about things she could do to him, unaware she was doing it. She shook her head with a laugh when he brought up the video game. She had almost forgotten what they were supposed to do on this date in the first place. Vin had been distracting with all the compliments and touchings and yummy coffee.
"I almost forgot about the video game!" Her lips made surprised 'o'. "Not many people can distract me from a video game. Especially a sneak preview one!" She smiled at him and stood up.
"We should head that way, don't want your Mum to think I kidnapped you...or seduced you over coffee." She smirked and stretched putting her hands over her head and making a small noise. She felt some of the muscles move and it felt nice. She put her hands back down, adjusted her shirt and grabbed her coffee.
"I can only be distracted for so long."
-
Vin stood, too, and watched her stretch. Was that movement supposed to be about the showing-off of boobs or was it a wonderful coincidence? Like the gentleman he wasn't, he moved his eyes up. The tracery of scales at the sides of her neck glittered a little. Her hair looked soft. She looked happy. Always a plus, datewise.
"We-ell," he said at last. He stuffed his used napkins into his coffee cup, then turned and tossed the whole thing overhand, with a neat flick of the wrist, into a trash barrel. That made him feel stupidly proud. "I dunno. I am pretty uh-mazing." He stretched it out and grinned at her sideways, offering her the crook of his left arm as they wound their way out of the shop. "But if you like, it can be your turn to distract me. It'd be a good game-winnin' strategy."
-
She watched him toss the cup into the trash can over his shoulder and she laughed at him as he said amazing. She really did like the way he talked, she also had a feeling that he was one of those people that if she spent a lot of time with him she would pick up his random speech patterns. She always did that when people had accents too.
"Distract you?" She had an odd look on her face as she thought of various ways to distract Vin, they weren't really publicly appropriate. Well...some of them were more appropriate than others. She shook her head and looked back at him instead of the images in her head and slid her hand into his arm as he offered it.
"I think I might have a few interesting...ideas ." She lifted her eyebrows at him as she said 'ideas' and let him lead her out of the coffee shop.
"It's not just a good strategy either! It's also fun." She let her fingers wrap around the crook of his elbow, perhaps slightly more intimate than a simple arm in arm. She let him lead her out into the streets of the Libra, if they could be called streets.