duh, she doesn't have a phone [Darrion+Papina]

[Hunter]

Wednesday at five o'clock.  That's what she'd said.  Darrion was almost afraid of missing her and having to try to catch her again next week -- boy, would that have made a bad impression, especially with no other way to contact her -- but with a little (a lot) of reshuffling and bargaining, he was able to swap enough shifts to be free at the right time and get to the flower shop just about as it was closing.

It hadn't been a good week for him, and he was looking forward to seeing a friendly face.  Okay, admittedly, part of it was that he found her pretty damn attractive, but she was also a genuinely pleasant person and, god, he needed a new circle of friends.  Papina, wasn't that what she'd said her name was?  She was extraordinarily open and cheerful and- - probably too much for him to handle, but hey, he'd had extra coffee today.

Dressed not much different than the night she'd met him, aside from a scarf, he was carrying a brown paper bag in the crook of his arm, holding half a loaf of bread from the bakery.  They baked fresh ones each morning and threw out whatever didn't sell at the end of the day, and he remembered her asking about bread, so he figured he might as well offer for her to try some.  He'd put this one in the oven himself, he was pretty sure.  Unfortunately, the warmth from it had long faded.

Even though it was cold outside and getting colder, he'd rather stay out here than wander in and get in the employees' way.  He'd just be taking up space until Papina was free, anyway.  Might as well not make a nuisance of himself if he could help it.  Somehow, he'd even made it there a little early, too.  And so the drake waited outside on the sidewalk, holding the opaque bag close to himself and vaguely hoping that nobody would call the cops on him for hanging around like this.  Loitering was still on the books as a misdemeanor in this town, although the police only enforced it selectively -- against the sort of people who looked like him, most of the time.

[Roo]

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous for tonight. This was in large part made by the fact that she didn't have any other clothes to wear. The only clothes she owned were the ones she wore when she met the Drake earlier. Was it that big of a deal to wear the same clothes twice? Well, for her, it'd be more like wearing the same clothes all winter. She didn't really care, but he may find it kind of gross. Especially because she didn't get around to washing her clothes all that much. After a rough break up with a naiad, washing clothes and bathing has become increasingly difficult.

She thought about asking one of her friends if she could borrow their sweater, which wouldn't be that big of a deal. In the winter they switched sweaters a lot, just for a change of pace for the long, monotonous, winter. But switching as suddenly as she was doing would've been a bit suspicious. Not that she'd mind if her friends knew that she was seeing someone, but her mother was a different story. She was already suspicious after she'd missed dinner the other day, and after telling her she was going out with friends from work she was even more suspicious. It's not that her mother was exactly mean, just strict. Strict in the way she may have been against her daughter being in relations with anyone that wasn't a nymph. Even dating the aforementioned naiad was a hard sell to her. So it'd be best if she kept this a secret, and her friends were known to gossip.

So, she decided to just wear what she wore the other night, hoping he wouldn't notice. Plus, she had the excuse that she couldn't wear much else, which was a valid excuse. Work that day seemed to drag on more than normal, probably a mix of anticipation and that it was a Wednesday. Business was pretty slow on Wednesday. They started closing up the shop and she got set to leave. She debated on taking a flower, but she wasn't sure how he'd feel about it. If it were any other season she could've put a flower or two in her hair, and then give it to him, maybe at the end of the night or something., but her hair was too short right now. She glanced at some of the extra flowers left over from various arrangements. There were a bunch of carnations left over, and they wouldn't miss carnations all that much. Pondering for a bit, she decided to shove a red carnation in her bag just in case, and headed outside.

 Papina saw Darrion waiting outside and waved to him. "I hope you haven't been waiting too long." 

[Hunter]

His eyes lit up when he saw her, but the expression on his face didn't change much, playing it cool; he responded to her question with a half-shrug and a casual, "Nah." Just, you know, maybe fifteen minutes. That wasn't long.

Darrion wasn't attentive enough to details to notice that she was wearing the same clothes as before, but it'd be hard not to notice the way her legs looked in those pants. "Got a thing for leather pants, huh?" It was strange, she didn't really seem like the type, but -- maybe that was an inappropriate thing to say. He tried to brush over it quickly, pushing the paper bag into her hands.

"Here. Brought you some bread from the bakery," he told her. His hands dove back into his pockets the moment that they were free. "We've, uh, been thinking about changing the recipe. Let me know what you think."

[Roo]

She was relieved when he said he hadn't been waiting too long. But that feeling of relief ended when he made a comment about her pants. He had noticed... She thought, horrified. "Not really, it's just hard to find pants made out of other materials I can wear..." She said, trying not to seem as aghast as she actually was. It wasn't the fact that he was focusing on her pants, it was more that he noticed she was wearing the same thing that bothered her.

The awkwardness of the situation ended when he handed her the bread, and her face lightened up. "I love bread!" She said opening the bag and ripping off a chunk. The crust gave a nice crunch as she tore it off, leaving crumbs to fall to the bottom of the bag. She bit the piece, and let the subtle sweetness fill her mouth. She smiled too him, "This is great!"

"Oh, but you must be freezing, we should go somewhere out of the cold!" Papina said, looking up at him. "Where should we go?" This was mostly because she didn't want to be the one to decide where the two would go. So, she pushed the responsibility towards him.

[Hunter]

Right, that nymph sensitivity again -- that must be a real nuisance, trying to find clothes that fit a budget and a narrow range of fabrics.

Her enthusiasm brought a smile to his face as she tore into the bread. "Glad you like it," he replied. The way she reacted to it, you'd think she was a kitten with a ball of string -- or a drake with an electric blanket. Endearing, to say the least.

She'd been so excited over what he'd brought her, Darrion was surprised when she diverted her attention away from it and made a remark about him and the cold, a remark which coaxed a self-conscious half-smile out of him, if only for a moment. He thought about assuring her he was fine -- but being honest with himself, he did like the idea of getting indoors, quite a bit, and he didn't want to discourage her from paying mind to such things. It was a very polite thing for other beings to do with drakes. However much appreciation was showing on his face, it probably wasn't enough. He was still surprised she'd even thought about it.

Darrion wasn't picky as long as the place had a heater, but since she'd left it up to him, he shrugged and stammered, "U-uh, well, Main Street Cafe's just down the road." He jerked his head in that direction and bit his tongue. They hadn't specifically planned to get dinner together -- and if she pointed out as much, he'd tell her they didn't have to get anything; it was just a place to stand inside for the warmth until they got kicked out.