Tag Archives: DATE-O START!

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DATE-O START! || akaikujixyaku

akaikujixyaku:

                    “And you trust me enough to, perhaps, be your privy? You really are well-versed in the art of making a girl like me blush, Hakuba-sama, on top of all else.” Her cheeks would be rosy the whole day, no doubt, but at least, by the moment they were entering, she had settled into a very contented comfort in his presence— fluttering heart just calmed enough to better enjoy the whole of their excursion. (If he didn’t think she would notice his paying for both of their respective fees to enter, he was quite mistaken- she would simply take note of it for later and pay him back indirectly— absolutely dreadful at accepting gifts, she was).

“Literary in the fairy tale sense?— Consider my interest thoroughly piqued!”
                     Was he a writer?
                                          It wouldn’t surprise her in the slightest to find out that he was-  he seemed like a man well-lent to poetry and prose, especially the more beautiful crafts of it. He’d probably studied Yates, and Frost; could be quizzed on Poe to more than relative success…

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                     His gesture and cheer brought a grin to pull at her cheeks even as her thoughts meandered. A chuckle hummed past soft, painted lips. "Tragically, the dinosaurs are a branch of the museum I have failed to frequent as of late- I hope you’ll be able to share with me all of your favorite facts, Hakuba-sama.”

To say that she was enjoying this luck-of-the-draw-date would be an incredible understatement.

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Honestly, were it not for detective work and the promise of raising horses in retirement, Hakuba really might have looked more seriously into writing for his career. He did enjoy journalism, as may have been evident by the continued ruse throughout their date, and the company he kept among writers was certainly some of his most cherished. Emi, of course, being included in that.

“Well, to be honest,” he said, flashing another broad grin with teeth, brows lifting in mock humility. “I don’t know nearly as much about dinosaurs as I do about making beautiful ladies blush, but I do think that they rather resemble something else that I am… or at least was… quite knowledgeable in.”

He led her through the hall, past display and diorama of various species; skeletons and paintings all meticulously maintained and positioned to recreate their supposed environments. And, just before the giant t-rex, he swept his arm out in a grand gesture.

“Tyrannosaurus Rex…. one of my personal favorites. They say that they evolved into various species of bird over time, as I’m sure you’re aware, and may have actually had feathers themselves…” Hakuba then pointed over a group of life-sized model raptors. “Such as those. But my personal theory… and bare with me here, Himura-san…" 

Hakuba leaned in close to her, holding a hand up to keep what he whispered next between them. "I believe that at least a small portion of them, perhaps several, evolved into the dragons of the world.”

Then he held his breath, watching her oh-so-closely for her reaction. 

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DATE-O START! || akaikujixyaku

akaikujixyaku:

Well, if he was going to sum it up so eloquently— Emi blushed at the (very thinly) veiled compliments, and let her hair fall back over her cheeks while ducking into her shoulders a bit. She would believe herself loyal, but… courage wasn’t technically her forte. It was a part of her almost completely separate from Emi Himura that displayed all of the courage, as far as she could tell. But he believed it was right, so how could she argue? “Well I hope that we’re both right, then. And thank you, for putting it into words so well.”

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She eased her hand down along the vinyl safety belt which fastened her in her seat, fingers near the release button in preparation. His company had certainly done lengths to ease her discomfort, but it didn’t change her eagerness to have the ‘safety measure’ removed, and be out of the vehicle. Still, it didn’t distract her too much, contemplating his reply, and slanting her head a slight, “You would think yourself heartless, or that you struggle with emotions and matters of the heart, when in fact you’ve got a great capacity to love and show compassion, far beyond your knowledge?

Well I wouldn’t presume to know that as true about you, just yet, but I don’t struggle to believe that you are a kind, and tender person.” A true, and good meaning gentleman down to the marrow in his bones, whether or not he acknowledged the fact regularly.

The next question was quite unusual, and Emi thought herself defeated for a good moments time, but still though of an answer to offer in reply. "I will say that, yes, I have had Dip-N-Dots before, as in I have purchased it, and it has been in my possession for some time, but unfortunately, I’ven’t actually eaten any of the peculiarly composed treat.” He’d pulled the car into a stall by then and she unclicked the hold of her belt before continuing, (with a heightened sense of ease), "It was at a baseball game, in America, with my Uncle and his two sons, as well as my brother. I had bought the treat myself, and I was frantic to get back to my seat, as the line had been longer than I thought it would be, and the inning came back into play whilst I was gone. I run back to my row, and I’m easing my way through fans when suddenly-”

She threw up her arms for emphasis, and shook her head like an excited sports goer, painting the picture better, “GRAND SLAM! Everybody around launches up from their seats, throwing up their hands and shouting with glee, which I would have myself, had the great play not been neatly pursued with a man in front of me standing right into the small container of ice-cream-dots, sending the sugary treat all over his wife next to him. They didn’t get upset, only both of them laughed, and apologized, but I just grinned and shrugged it off, before meeting them with my arms tossed up, shouting the same cheer as everyone else, a bit belated, and returning somewhat dejectedly to my seat.

Then I stole my uncle’s churro and felt better.”

The comment about the tin woodsman left color on Hakuba’s cheeks, which he chose not to address, instead allowing her to smoothly transition into her story. He grimaced at the countenance of the climax of her story, but chuckled otherwise, shaking his head. 

"I’m pleased to hear that a churro came to the rescue,” Hakuba remarked, and let himself from the car once it was parked, jogging around to the other side to get her door, which he held for her. “And that you really do seem to have a story for absolutely everything. I’m pleased. Very, very pleased.”

He offered his hand to her.

“And, perhaps shamefully, grateful that they ruined the experience for you. This museum just happens to have Dip-n-Dots here for a limited time as sort of a traveling exhibit with some American ‘technology of tomorrow’ that they’re putting on right now… so you will finally get your chance to experience it. Really, aside from one very important mystery that we need to solve here, Himura-tantei,  ice cream is all this museum has to offer us tonight before we run on to the next course.”

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DATE-O START! || akaikujixyaku

akaikujixyaku:

“Huh? Oh come on… Well I’m afraid I’ll just have to disappoint you now, lest I disappoint you!”  What a conundrum, but an amusing one no less, and quite flattering when she thought about the effort he put into conjuring up a list of such unusual inquiries. There was certain to be one that would stun her, but until then, she was happy to surprise him. "Bright wit, hm? I’m happy that I’ve made such a favorable impression on you, considering how little personal discussion’s been carried on. You do me great credit." 

It seemed that she was finally settling into the flow of this outing, despite a reminiscent nervousness simply due to it’s unfamiliarity. He was… just as charming of company as she might have imagined. Well, as she had imagined, quite honestly. It was a sort of far-off intention to ask him out for coffee sometime, had she ever been able to muster the nerve, but luckily for his meddlesome mother, she didn’t have to. She should probably send a subtle thank you gift Marion’s way, sometime, if she could figure what she’d like best. (Somehow she doubted that a dragon would do the trick as it had, seemingly, for her son).

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Her thoughts, which had briefly derailed, rolled back onto the tracks as he suddenly chirped in, ready to further the quiz, and she shifted her shoulders in readiness, waiting only until he was completely finished to instantly reply.

"The Lion. Hands down, all around, cross my heart, and no doubt about it. I confess that I’ve only seen the original film a few times, and read select parts from each of the books aside from The Wonderful Wizard and the Marvelous Land, but my decision is still quite firm.”

“Mm, so I see. The Cowardly Lion, also known as the one who, despite his crippling self-doubt, continually displayed no shortage of courage and loyalty throughout the entirety of his appearances.”  Hakuba nodded to himself after he spoke, turning down another side road on the way to the museum, which was then in sight.

“Good choice. I can definitely see why you would relate to him.” The grin on the detective’s face was just as confident as ever, if not more so as he stole another glance, amusement unending. “I think that suits you just perfectly. Were I to pick one, I think I’d settle with the Tin Woodsman." 

Hakuba pulled them into the parking lot and combed for a good spot as he spoke, attempting to keep the conversation spurred wit his own words until he could get his next question out. He wanted to give her information about himself, certainly, but this was about her, not him, and any questions to elaborate and clarify would detract from his plans. 

"The next question is: have you ever had Dip-N-Dots ice cream, and if so, where did you first experience it?”

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DATE-O START! || akaikujixyaku

akaikujixyaku:

The Detective? Well, it wasn’t too much of a stretch, but she doubted she’d be up to par with his example. Hh-hhm, what a cute game though, she very much liked the idea of it. Meitantei Himura, oooh that sounded cool. “I’ll do my best not to let you down, Hakuba-Jānarisuto." Oh my, her title sounded even nicer with his name. (And what a cute face he had made oh dearest me). As he mentioned clues, her eyes followed his hands, then briefly cased the interior of his vehicle, profiling in silence.

"Bones, but not grave; Flora, but not floral…" She repeated his hints to herself quietly, rolling the words around on her tongue, as they peeled away from her home and started their way. Bones. Bone, bone… china? Flora, not floral, perhaps the petals or pistils, or something flower-like? Flora… The plane but not airport was gone from her, but tying into her idea was the ancient, but not outdated. Especially in both of his influential cultures, as well as her own.

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"When the buddhist monk Eichu returned from China, in the early ninth century, he personally prepared and served sencha, unground Japanese green tea, to Emperor Saga who was on an excursion in Karasaki, well, what is now the Shiga prefecture— the precise year was 815.

I’d say that’s fairly ancient, though I’m curious how the plane ties in, if my suspicion is correct?" 

Hakuba-Jānarisuto. He liked that. 

Hakuba stole a sideways glance at the girl before chuckling, amused and impressed, as he turned back to watch the road.  "No, no… the place we’re going is in Tokyo. I don’t want to keep you out too late, after all…" 

But that wasn’t very helpful, was it? He laughed again.

"I can’t believe… You didn’t even have to pull out your phone to research, yet you came up with an answer that fit, with precise year…” Hakuba shook his head. “No, clearly I’ve made this far too easy because you’re over complicating it. Are you sure that you’re not secretly a detective and that journalism is just your cover?” He pursed his lips curiously at the thought in an exaggerated expression. 

“…clearly, I’m going to have to watch my step with you, Meitantei Himura. You may be far too clever for your own good.”

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DATE-O START! || akaikujixyaku

akaikujixyaku:

Honestly, it put the young journalist on cloud nine to see the little ploy he’d come up with, and he’d even chosen a clear, efficient model. (Hers wasn’t much different in all actuality, she’d just bought extra lenses and a slight upgrade). The manner in which he’d leapt almost jauntily to chauffeur her in to the car only expanded her beaming smile, and earned another spring of light, bell-like laughter.

“And they say that chivalry is dead— thank you, Hakuba-sama. You look rather dashing yourself, to nobody’s genuine surprise." Sure it was easier for someone to have the attention on her, but she was hardly the kind of girl who’d been doted over in the past, so no matter how comfortably she settled into the conversation, it seemed the colour in her cheeks wouldn’t die off easily.

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"I’ll not keep it waiting any longer, good sir." She returned in a half-lofty, half-laughing tone, moving past him with a mock curtsy, before nestling securely into her seat. And a real swell chariot it is, yowzah. She thought admiringly while she awaited his return to the driver’s seat, before turning her smile back his way, "Is destination one to be a surprise, or am I allowed a courtesy hint to puzzle over on the way”

(Unlike most occasions, she hadn’t any discomfort or want to complain about being in a car. Go figure.)

Once her door was closed, quiet and firm, Hakuba moved back to the other side of the car, reaching in to pick up his camera, first. 

“Hmm… Well, if we’re playing role-reversal here, you ought to be the detective, I think.” He took another photo, then lowered the camera to show a broad-grinned lip bite. “Of course, I’ll give you some clues, first." 

He let himself into the car, buckled his seat belt, and put the lens cap back on the camera, safely stowing it in a compartment just under the gear shifts. "The clues I’ll give you are as follows: bones, but not grave; flora, but not floral; plane, but not airport, and… ancient, but not outdated." 

Hakuba started the car, which revved with a delicious purr, and pulled away from the curb, en route to their first stop.

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DATE-O START! || akaikujixyaku

akaikujixyaku:

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Now Emi wasn’t, by any means, a high-maintenance sort of person. Minimal makeup, consignment and antique clothing preferred, and almost no sense of vanity. Usually she rolled out of bed, washed her face, took a shower, threw together an outfit from whatever three pieces she could grab from her closet first (that looked cohesive) and ran out to embrace the day. This day would be very different.

Now the young Himura had been to a few parties with friends, and occasionally went out to town for the evening with a couple of girls, but this would be her first event formally categorized as a date. 

Terrified is a fairly accurate word to describe the first emotion she experienced after waking up (fairly late in the morning, around ten).

Of course, it was in company with excitement and overjoy, since… well, c’mon. It’s not a secret to anyone (by now) how much she admired the young man who was going to be arriving later that day. If anyone was going to make a first date memorable and worthy of that honour, there was a good chance Hakuba would do wonderfully.

So the morning began with an intense hygenic runthrough, (almost thirty minutes just perfecting her teeth), and then transitioned into an hour of different hair stylings. Too formal? Not formal enough? Pull it up? Leave it down? Maybe straighten it- oh bother. Eventually, she decided on pulling all of her bangs away into a neatly tucked side-bun, leaving the rest down. Finally, she could organize her apparel. And if her previous preparations had been compared to hurdles, this was a whole obstacle course.

I won’t bore you with the details, but by the end of it, there were eight dresses, six pairs of shoes, five skirts, four blouses, two jewelry boxes and one pantsuit which had all been considered, and discarded. But hey, (even if she wasn’t sure), the result was lovely enough to make up for all of the effort put into it. (She was careful to select a dress which just completely covered her tattoo. If the tips of some feathers showed when she sat, it wasn’t a big deal). And by the time all of that was sorted, and she’d put the finishing touches on (mascara, lipgloss, eyeliner) she had only a half hour to wait.

As the minutes closed in, and she grabbed her purse by the door, she looked at the compartment where she stored her camera, (reversible) jacket and (collapsible) red helmet. There was no reason why she would need them, right?.. Just in case. They nestled in the bottom of her bag (save the small camera), neatly, before she drew in a huge breath, exhaled, locked her door and made (ran) her way down the three flights of stairs, stalling at the bottom, and ogling for a moment the front door of her building. “No time like the present." She murmured, before checking the time on her phone. Perfect. The minute turned almost exactly when she reached the door. (She remembered something about him having a time niche).

And there she found herself opening the front door to her apartment complex, face-to-face with-

A camera.

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"Eeeh?" She immediately blinked in surprise, before smiling in a baffled sort of way, "A press ambush! Now that’s hardly fair at all!" She avoided folding her arms, but nervously pulled some hair behind her left ear while making her way closer to his car, "Already turning my tricks back on me, Kameraman-kun! I only wish I was more photogenic.”

While Hakuba’s camera was, no doubt, of less caliber than Emi’s, it was still an expensive digital SLR. Which meant that the detective was able to take a lot of photos very quickly. As she got closer, though, he set it down in lieu of letting himself out of the car so that he could jog around and get her door.

"Nonsense, Himura-san! You’re quite lovely.” She really was. Hakuba made sure to give her a quick once-over, just barely obvious enough for her to notice if she were watching. Then, he smiled with ease, already much more relaxed with the whole affair. After all, his attention was now on her instead of himself, which helped things considerably. 

The detective reached for her hand with one of his own, and the car door with the other, swinging it open with a bow of his head. 

“Come along, my lady- your chariot awaits."