(no subject)

[motiv8]

WHO: Rean Schwarzer, totally not Crow Armbrust hiding some distance away and anyone who wants to date this loser
WHERE: Various eating establishments around Recollé
WHEN: Anywhere between 2/6 - 2/13
WHAT: Who wants to date Rean Schwarzer? It's not going anywhere, but at least you can get a free meal out of it?

[Welp. Rean can't say he ever saw most of the events of the past few months coming, but actually standing around waiting for more or less a blind date? That's honestly even stranger to him than some of the key missions have been.

Crow basically put out an ad for him, and people actually said yes? What kind of bizarre alternate reality had he entered?

Regardless, here he is, sitting on a bench outside whatever establishment was agreed to meet upon. He's used to the cold, sitting out here in a winter jacket isn't much of a problem for him. If nothing else, it allows him to disguise the slight blush that's settled into his features with the redness brought out by the chilly wind.

He checks his phone nervously every few minutes until whoever he's waiting for shows up. Rean's boring, he just uses a picture of his own face on the app, so whoever's been chatting with him to plan things shouldn't have too hard of a time finding him.

Once he sees someone approaching him, he raises his hand in a short wave and pushes himself to standing with an awkward little smile.]

Hey. Glad you could make it.

Comments

[sleepingknight]

Hiiiii!

[Yuuki waves cheerfully as she approaches, a bounce in her step - pretty much the usual for her, really. She's similarly dressed in a warm winter coat, though there's still a bright white headband over her hair to contrast with the darker plum purple of her coat.]

How long have you been waiting here? I didn't think I was that late!

[motiv8]

Haha, not that long... just a couple of minutes. Don't worry about it. Figured it was better form for me to be early than to risk keeping you waiting.

[His smile settles into something brighter, more natural. It's hard not to get sucked in by her enthusiasm!]

Ready?

[sleepingknight]

[The good news is, that bright attitude isn't going anywhere for now.]

Yup! It's just down the street over there.

[And she nods helpfully, even though it's probably not necessary. There's a reason they met here of all places.]

[motiv8]

[It is very good news!]

Well, all right, then. Let's go.

[Off they go, to hot pot! Rean gets them a table for two, and soon enough they're sitting across from each other.]

Interesting choice of place. You go for this kind of thing often?

[sleepingknight]

Mmm, not all the time, but I go with my friends sometimes! Especially when it's cold out.

[It's well-geared towards group meals, after all - although it hadn't really been necessary last month.]

What kind of ingredients do you want to get? This place lets you choose.

[motiv8]

Heh, makes enough sense. Seems like a fun place to bring a group, yeah.

[Which he is just going to make a note of for the future!]

And I'm really not picky. I'll eat just about anything, so... why don't you pick your favorites?

[sleepingknight]

[Next time he can bring Crow.]

Oh, okay! Then we should get from here to here.

[She just traces a line down the most expensive options. Waits a beat for Rean to take a look himself. And then:]

Kidding.

[But absolutely watching his reaction. This is what happens when you go on a date with a gremlin.]

Is the beef and pork okay for meat? Aaaand we should probably get some veggies...

[motiv8]

[He has more friends than that! Like... two, but come on, now!

Rean glances down at her choices, then back up at her smiling face with a dead-eyed stare.]

Mm, yeah. About that. I want you to have a good time and all, but I ought to remind you that I'm a college student and not a millionaire.

[Rean shakes his head a little. He knows she's kidding even before she says as much, but he has to snark back. It's in his blood.]

Those sound fine. For vegetables...

[Rean motions to a couple of options. and this is the point where kay doesn't even pretend to know what options are available because she only eats the broccoli off of her hot pot place's veggie tray]

These okay?

[sleepingknight]

[MAKE IT A DATE, REAN.]

Sounds good to me!

[And order in!]

Kiiiinda miss the warm weather if I'm being honest, but at least food like this helps!

[motiv8]

[Why would he do that???]

Haha... I'll grant you I miss warmer weather, but if it never gets as hot as last month again I think I'll be okay. I mean, it was kind of so hot things were lighting on fire.

[sleepingknight]

[BECAUSE HE WANTS TO SMOOCH YOU]

Okay, but we could totally have warm weather without fires. Or glitches. Or clones. ...Or the ground opening up beneath us.

[...]

It's still hard to believe sometimes.

[motiv8]

[...???]

Well, yeah. But those days are coming, right? Recolle's more temperate than where I grew up... at least, so far as my normal memories go... so spring ought to be right around the corner.

[But that is a point.]

Yeah, you're not wrong there. Every time I think I'm starting to desensitize to it a little, there's always another curveball that gets thrown. I don't really want things to go back to how they were before, but a break would be nice.

[sleepingknight]

Is it? This is my first year here.

[She only has her brother's word to go off of, and let's be real, Kokichi tends to spout whatever he finds most amusing at any given moment.]

And in this case... what counts as "how they were before?"

[invocate]

[At first, Li-Na had thought she'd just go on the date and have some fun. But now, now she has a mission. It's clear to her that Crow has some sort of feelings for Rean. The question is does Rean feel the same way? First though, she needs to meet Rean and get to know him. You can't just drop a question like Do you have romantic feelings for your friend? on someone.

She arrives a couple minutes early, her coat buttoned up and a fluffy scarf tucked down the front. She spots Rean easily enough, and she'll be recognizable since she's boring too and just uses a selfie for her pic on the app as well.]

Brrrr, you did not have to wait outside.

[motiv8]

[Rean just laughs at that, softly.]

Haha... don't worry, I grew up with way colder than this. I really haven't even noticed.

Li-Na, right? I don't think we've actually met before now.

[invocate]

Yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you in person, Rean.

[She gives him a warm smile. ]

But you seriously have lived somewhere colder than this?!

[Li-Na shudders. She can't imagine living somewhere even colder than Recolle in the winter, nor would she ever want to. Her island girl soul would freeze permanently.]

[motiv8]

Same to you.

[And a smile in return!]

Yeah, I grew up just south of the Canadian border. When you spend a good deal of the year struggling to break into double digits, you get pretty used to it.

[Good, Li-Na. Don't imagine the wintry hellscape. It can only bring pain.]

So, any place you have in mind?

[invocate]

Oh my gosh, I can't imagine at all. I grew up in Hong Kong. I didn't even own a winter coat until I came to Recolle.

[On the upside, winter accessories are cute as hell.]

Hmmmmm~ There's a new Laotian restaurant that I heard about the other day. It's called Sticky Rice Cafe. Want to try it?

[motiv8]

Oh, yeah. That would be one big adjustment to have to make.

[True facts, though.]

Sounds interesting. Well, lead the way and let's get you out of the cold, yeah?

[invocate]

Oh, yes. I think I might turn into a statue if we are out here much longer. It is just this way.

[She leads the way to the restaurant, which is about half a block away. It's small and cozy and smells absolutely delicious to her. They are quickly seated and provided menus.]

[motiv8]

[Rean follows close by, and as soon as they're inside Rean finds that it smells absolutely delicious to him, as well. Then again, Rean is especially weak to any sort of Asian food, so this is not particularly surprising.]

Ha... if it tastes half as wonderful as it smells in here, you may have just sold me on a new favorite.

[He flips open the menu to glance through, as well.]

It certainly looks promising.

[invocate]

Right? It smells like home to me, but at the same time, different.

[Li-Na flips through the menu, looking at the pictures and descriptions]

Hmmmmm, I think I'm going to go with the laap gai. I like the mix of ingredients.

[They're all ingredients she knows, but she's curious how all the different flavors will mix together.]

[motiv8]

Hm? [Rean flips forward himself, looking over her choice.] Ah... that does look interesting! But I think the fried rice is calling to me.

[With that decision made, he turns his attention back to Li-Na.]

You know, I don't really know a lot about Hong Kong. What was it like growing up there?

[invocate]

Busy, I guess? It is as if Hong Kong never sleeps. But that was kind of a good thing. If you want to have noodles at 3AM in the morning, you'll be able to find it.

[she's definitely done the 3AM noodle thing]

I lived on Ap Lei Chau with my brother. It's a smaller island tucked along the coast of Hong Kong Island. It'st mostly residential.

[more like VERY residential, considering it's the 2nd most densely populated island in the world]

They finally extended the subway to the island in 2016, which was great. I could get to Victoria Harbor in about 20 minutes instead of the hour it would take previously by bus.

[motiv8]

Haha... noodles at 3am? Sounds like the college student dream. Except, you know, I imagine those are higher quality than the cup ramen I've got in my dorm.

Wow, though. Sounds like a pretty far cry from what I grew up with... not that that's surprising, though, given there's a whole world's distance between the two.