Bracelets for the soul

Vale's partially visible face turned red as he saw Alraada in her dress for the first time. He scratched at the back of his head, looking down at the floor. "You uh...you look really nice," He didn't seem bothered by her scars or the slight bit of metal peaking out on her shoulder. He was in fact incredibly relieved. Perhaps they had more in common than he thought. "I...I'm sorry about everything yesterday. With the beds and that asshole harassing you and all that. I know I come across a bit strongly but that's just the entertainer in me! I want every moment to be a memory, an experience, you know?" He realized he was talking more than he had intended and absentmindedly picked up one of the two forks on the table. "Why is this one shorter than the other..." He muttered, comparing the two.  
 

"You...uh...t-thank you..." she said nearly inaudibly, her face turning a bright red."
He's not mentioning it...?
Relief flooded her. She was glad he didn't bombard her with questions about her scars, like pretty much anyone else who saw them.
She listened to him apologize about what happened yesterday and she smiled lightly.
"It's...fine. You don't need to worry about it, trust me." Alraada said with slight happiness tinting her tone.
She sat down next to him, as the table seemed to contain enough for four people, and there were two other spots reserved.
She looked over at him, and snickered a bit.
"Vale, that's a salad fork, see?"
She took her salad fork and put it in her hair.
"See? It's for salad." she said with a small laugh at her own joke.

The butler nodded as he walked off, bringing the two water shortly after his initial departure. "I mean, I have the money to afford coming to a place like this, but I don't see the point. I don't have any friends who'd be interested in this sort of stuffy scene. I'd much rather be hanging out at home, y'know? But hey, so long as we aren't paying, then who cares, right?" Aberdeen shrugged. 

Aberdeen looked around, watching as other guests began taking their seats as well. The butler appeared once more, asking if they were interested in ordering or if they needed more time. "Eh, I'll take a small salad. I'm not that hungry." They stated, handing the butler their menu. "You look very nice, Maicy. Very appropriate for this setting. Unlike me hahah. I look like some stupid college hipster" They chuckled

"Oh...uh..." she looked regretful for a moment.
"I want to go to college but due to the education I had, I can't really get a scholarship...and I can't pay either, since my guardians don't support me anymore...and even if they did, they wouldn't help pay anyway..." she said, looking off to the side.
She quickly tried to change the subject.
"A-and yeah, I haven't done anything like this before either, so you're not alone."

"Touchy subject, I gotcha. We don't have to talk about it." He picked up the two forks. "Wanna see a magic trick?" Without waiting for a response, he flipped the larger fork in the air catching it on the first one and balancing it effortlessly. He then pushed them both into the air and held them on the tip of his pinky finger. "Not really magic, but it's something to do at parties." He laughed, flicking his wrist to the side and catching both forks in his palm. 

A butler came over and asked them about drinks. "Water for me, thank you." He thought it over for a sec. "With a straw, please." He looked over at Alraada. "You?"

    The sudden grating sound of the scientist's voice booming through the intercom startled Cyrus out of his sleep, sending him tumbling ever so gracelessly into last night's gap between the beds. "Mmmmph..." he grunted, scooting himself out of his wedged position before standing up and stretching.

    A fancy meal and a waltz eh? He glanced at his soulmate and yawned, rolling his eyes. Why do I think it's not gonna be that simple. "Dibs on the bathroom first," he called out, grabbing one of his pieces of formalwear from his luggage before walking in and turning on the shower.

    The more the scientist continued to think on the prospect of a first date, the more nervous he became. Last time he was on a "get-to-know-you" type of date... hell he couldn't exactly remember. Most of the 'first dates' he'd ever been on back in college were really only 'dates' in name alone. Escorting people he didn't care to ever see again was a hell of a lot less nerve-wrecking.

    But with his only serious relationship, they'd been roommates. They'd gotten the luxury of skipping all the first date-style interrogations and bullshit. "Oh fuck," he grumbled, eyes widening as it started to dawn on him just how unprepared he really was for a proper 'date'. Even though Alti was... really fucking weird, he did find him attractive and oddly fascinating. The last thing he wanted to do was entirely botch the whole operation, especially after last night's events.

    At least it was dinner and waltzing. Eating and shamelessly attempting to dance. Two things I can do.

    Carefully he began slicking his hair back and out of his face, frowning and staring in the mirror before sliding into his formal wear. It'll be fine. It'll be great. Don't sweat it. Adjusting his jacket and buttoning up his shirt, he smoothed them out once more and stepped out of the bathroom, gesturing to Alti. "All yours, dude."



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    Cyrus internally winced at each word that dropped from Elenara's mouth, almost tempted to visibly grimace just to piss her off more. God he couldn't stand that one in particular. But he simply sighed, looking around the ballroom. "Wonder if the research institute knows how much of their money their 'scientists' are dropping on dates," he hummed, observing the venue. It certainly was rather extravagant, and yet he didn't necessarily feel entirely out of place, although the pressure definitely was on for this to not be a complete disaster.

    "Anyways, let's find our table, eh?" He hesitated before rolling his eyes and offering Alti his arm to escort him over to where they were to be seated. "Don't get used to the gentleman act, Your Highness~" he grinned.

The strong presence suddenly dissipated, alerting Rin of a smaller, weaker one nearby. One of the weakest he has felt in a long time; years. The blond walked into the main room, clutching an object in his pocket. What he saw next he was not prepared for, however.

Laying crumpled on the floor, a familiar white ferret let old haggered uneven breaths.

Rin ran forward, scooping up his pet despite the hiss the ferret gave out when doing so. "Don't worry I can fix this, what happened to you?"

His body physically beaten, Jaeger chose to reply by flashing an image through Rin's mind; a familiar man with long black hair dressed in outlandish attire.

A scowl darkened Rin's face. He looked down the hall, remembering the room which the demonic presence came from. It was all starting to click. "I hate him."


The next day Rin was rushed out of the plane before he could even manage to unpack. With a healed ferret sleeping on his bed (his cage not having been set up yet) Rin hazily made his way to the restaurant, only having enough time to hang a seal from his neck.
Maybe he would actually have some kind of tact today.

Rin looked over towards Andrew and then into the restaurant, a wave of fear crossing him as his eyes met Alti's. He did not feel safe. He noticed all the tables had four chairs, an odd choice considering the group was going on dates. Despite this, with his safety on his mind Rin chose to stick to a group. and what better a group and with one of the strongest people here?

The blond walked over to Maicy and Aberdeen's table, bright red. "Uh... I think they're trying to get us to double date," he said, pointing to the other four seated tables. "I'd rather sit with you guys than someone weird. You mind?"