Why was she half expecting rejection?[break][break]

Ah, because she expects him to be busy - look at her making excuses for him when she doesn't know the response. The pessimism is the source of her surprise when she hears him express the attempt and, with the slightest smile on her lips and spark of life in her eyes, she leans back on the bench. [break][break]

There's an attempt to hide it, but she misses the mark when she perks up and asks "W-wait, really?"[break][break]

When she catches herself, her eyes briefly widen as she slowly settles back into her previous position and posture. "Erm.. I'll let you know." a blue gaze turns back to the litleos, running around, still tackling one another. Then she leans forwards, resting her chin against the base of her hand "... I'm sure the kids would be thrilled if you could come."

Leonidas Stone

☉

"Good." [break][break]

Even if, in the back of her mind, she's calling him a nerd for it. Still, maybe she shouldn't tack on that little bit - unless she wants to be the one under the eye of scrutiny. There's a touch of amusement as she gazes up to the mocked offense, and her response is to lean forwards, slightly, with a soft hum. [break][break]

Though now she hums, softly, as her gaze softens and directs itself to the ground. The sole of her shoe gently grips on the hints of dirt and gravel left on the cobblestone, all while she ponders in thought. [break][break]

It's better to ask than to dwell on it for too long. [break][break]

"I volunteer at the Rustboro Hospital," her lips are pulled on slightly, bracing for what she's about to ask for "so I was wondering if.. you'd be open to joining in for a robotics workshop in the children's hospital part." the smile shrinks, and she tries to return to her neutral expression. [break][break]

Of course, the slight furrow of her brows and slight side glare aren't doing her any favors.[break][break]

"... If you're free, that is."

Leonidas Stone

☉

It’s always jarred her, you know. [break][break]

How genuine he was with his words, and his meanings, and how he was so upfront and honest with himself to others, despite the omittance here and there. Frankly, it’s refreshing, especially in a world where she’s surrounded by villains posing as saints. It gets exhausting, trying to snuff out the evil that plays behind a martyr’s mask. [break][break]

But skeptical as she is, and cynical as she is by nature, she’s starting to get herself accustomed to him and his demeanor - and she’s not sure if that’s a good thing. “Maybe a little” she says with a smile all the same, soft and brief, but it’s there.[break][break]

She breathes in a huff of air, the lingering scent of firewood being burned not so far away filling her lungs. “If you come across an Eevee, may I visit it?” dual colored eyes gaze into the distance, before she turns once again to her side to gaze up at the man who lays, leisurely, beside her.[break][break]

"I used to have a Sylveon," she continues, knees slowly raising again as she curls, slightly, in on herself.[break][break]

"... And I miss her."

Leonidas Stone [break]
a.

☉

“You could say that.” thinking about it will make her eyes narrow, and tongue click from the distaste. Astra was surely minding her business, but she can still see and hear the amusement in her tone when she asks about how this date went. [break][break]

Her eyes glance back up, and she only maintains eye contact for a moment before they lower back to the menu (someone said, somewhere, that you had to make eye contact to acknowledge the person speaking. she just rolls with it). “I was.. actually intending to study most of the day” she admits, her head tilting off to the side, for ashen locks to fall against her shoulder “until someone arranged a dinner for me, and told me last minute..”[break][break]

Despite the irritated tone, she wears a small smile, and she doesn’t realize it’s from amusement yet “... But I guess this isn’t so bad, so far.”

Inigo del Rosario

☉

Does she? [break][break]

“No, I don’t.” there’s such confidence in her voice, so quick to deny it. When she thinks about it, her lips curl into a grimace, and her cold glare gets all the chillier. He may be on alert, and she’s in a position where she should be watching her words, and should be careful - but her words are fueled by her thoughts, the sapling of doubts, and the slightly twisted curiosity of a man’s shifted approach and air. [break][break]

So what does she think, when she looks at humanity with a frosted over lens devoid of what fondness she (rarely) has? Her fingers tapped along the cover of the book as it tilted up towards her, just slightly at an angle from the table. “I think our lives are all equal,” she speaks, though with a slightly flat tone, glazed over with thoughts from a time when she wasn’t herself.[break][break]

“So who dies makes no difference.”

Calix Nikolau [break]

☉

She could call him something worse. [break][break]

Could call him a swindler, a cheat, a criminal - other things of the ilk. But she won’t, knowing someone who already does the same, and to that same degree in broad daylight under no guise of occupation. [break][break]

Marisol isn’t good with conversation, but there’s always a degree of gratitude when she sees the carefree, and casual attitude. It makes it a little easier to speak (ironic when you think of how she used to despise these people, and how often she would put herself down for ruining their moods when really, all she was doing was standing there. It was always her fault, thinking her presence was enough to do it). [break][break]

So this is what a blind date was? Talking to someone casually? She thought it’d be something a bit more grand, or more romantic - but she found this to be little more than casual conversation. “I better not hear about your eyesight taking a dip.” she speaks with the slightest, amused smile behind the menu. After all, he wouldn’t be the only person she’ll lightly lecture about eye health. [break][break]

… Now the conversation feels like it’s come to a stop, and now she doesn’t know what to follow up with, or say. So instead she falls to silence for a little while, using the place’s menu as her cover. What does she say? What should she say? What do people normally say when trying to get to know one another, or make impressions? What advice did Astra give to her again?? Fuck. [break][break]

“So why are you here?” too direct, Marisol. She realizes a little bit too late, and she can’t take back her words anymore so, to recover, she gently raises the menu to cover the lower half of her face, as her brows furrow and gaze shifts to the side “A-At a.. blind date, I mean. Did someone arrange this for you?”

Inigo del Rosario

☉

He pulls a seat down next to her, which she doesn’t mind, but it’s a little difficult to ignore the looming shadow he casts with such a large body. Marisol tells herself that she isn’t tiny, in any sense, but when put besides this man? She feels like a rat next to a bear. He looks out of place, someone this brooding seating himself next to a student in the library, having a conversation about books… [break][break]

“And yet,” she starts, turning the page with more unown runes scripted desperately, in an attempt to recreate them, over and over “they’re finding their ways to humanity now, and are actively interacting with the world.” which is odd, when there’s been nearly no mention of them in the past. The events of cyberchase aren’t lost in her, and as she stares solemnly at the pages, her fingers lightly tap against the cover.[break][break]

“I heard something while in cyberspace.” she murmurs, with a colder bite to her gaze “That to save our Hoenn, another must be sacrificed.” that the confirmation of other dimensions do exist, and she wonders how well those other worlds fare. But still, listening to the league speak and preach to be saviors, “and now I’m wondering if it would be better if the meteor landed here.” [break][break]

A dark thought, for sure, but a flimsy resolve doesn’t take a lot to be shaken.

Calix Nikolau [break]

☉

"shame." [break][break]

is all she says in response, humming softly as she turns her eyes towards a few of the other workers. They looked like they were.. struggling? Or maybe they were struggling with the sheer volume of food that they were all trying to prepare before the big meal. It was supposed to be a relatively large event for the workers, anyhow, but it still baffles her to see so much care being put into a casual outing. [break][break]

"what are they...?" she starts, squinting at one of the people in the group who picked up a bottle of.. lotion? Why was he holding it over the m-- "oh god no--" and she immediately picks up the pace, rushing on over to grab the bottle of sunscreen before they realize.. it wasn't some other condiment.

Leonidas Stone[break]
END

☉

Pessimism is met with the stark contrast of optimism, and it’s no surprise that it comes from him. [break][break]

She has to wonder: how does it come so naturally to him? It’s baffling, really, and she can’t tell if it’s foolishness, naivety, or experience that made him this way. Doesn’t it concern him that he’s associating with someone dangerous? Isn’t it concerning to him, who plays the hero under the mantle of a businessman, that one of the people he’s gotten to know would be considered the textbook definition of a villain? When she thinks of it this way, there’s something that nags at her mind and plagues her heart with uncertainty - the kind that’s afraid of staining someone with the ink she’s muddled her way through, neck deep, gasping. [break][break]

Though if she told him this, he would likely repeat what he said, and hold his stance. So instead, she sighs, body turning onto her back to gaze up towards the sky. Her fingers brush her forehead, pushing the ashen locks from dual-colored eyes. “... Not who I am..? Maybe you’re right.” she’ll admit that much, knowing that he isn’t speaking from a place of ignorance. It’d be cruel of her to brush off his words now, after he’s spent so much time tonight listening, trying to understand her. When she takes it to heart, she takes in another deep breath of air, and if you look carefully, you could wear that the gaze has softened.[break][break]

“Thank you.”[break][break]

Two words she used to have trouble saying, and still feels awkward saying now, come out more naturally after just the right amount of thought. “... For listening, and saying that.” but it isn’t her if it’s not a little bit clumsy, as her tone clammors to follow up. "I'm.. still trying to accept the fact, and believe it." her eyes narrow, and she finds it difficult to say, altogether, without stuttering "B-But.. Thank you, for having faith in.. me.." her tone trails, quietly, as though she's lost the words she wanted to say.[break][break]

She can take baby steps - she’s already made a few with the new pokemon she surrounds herself with. Though when she thinks about the pokemon from back then, the lighter air around her lowers again - it’s just not as heavy this time. [break][break]

“... Erm.. actually,” she clears her throat, softly, and slowly raises up on her elbows as her gaze falls back onto him. Her brows lower as her shoulders raise, and she shifts her weight to let one hand press its knuckles against her lower lip “I have a request.”

Leonidas Stone [break]
don't mind the long post oops

☉

Ah, yes. Vulgar and unfiltered to a fault. [break][break]

She has to wonder why she’s associated with this person. She’s crude in her speech and carefree to a fault, and puts herself out there a little bit too much. She looks so self assured, and so confident, and she has to wonder where all this energy comes from when not caused by her surroundings. Maybe Marisol will never know, but that doesn’t stop her from responding and still, very rarely, calling her out when she’s in need of help for a job. [break][break]

… Lately, she’s been wondering if she hated having small talk and casual conversation. [break]
Though if you asked her now, she wouldn’t have an answer. [break][break]

Marisol sighs in response to a woman’s grin, though gives a slight smile in response. “I guess.” she’ll brush it off with vague agreement. “To each their own.” she sits back in her seat to watch, although seeing her enjoy herself, she narrows her eyes back towards the large plane of mirror. [break][break]

“... When it’s not during a job,” she starts, leaning her arm against the surface of the table next to her, and leaning her cheek against that hand “and if you’re free, teach me how to dance, sometime.” because she has a point and, as embarrassing as it will be for her, there are things she’d like to try– preferably behind closed doors.

Astra Faustino[break]
we can end on your next post

☉

A work in progress, coming from the workaholic. [break][break]

Marisol is well acquainted with those words, and can’t help but to smile, slightly, at the irony of it. He’s thinking so intently about what he does in his spare time, and honestly, she can relate to that. After all, if you asked her, she’ll respond with studying, working, or more studying and working to get to a place she feels that she wants. Surely, it’s no different for him. [break][break]

Color her surprised when he admits that his spare time was.. also a work in progress. Maybe she should be the last one to be surprised, seeing as how busy she is when she doesn’t have to be, but she’d think that, surely, he’d have some time for himself as well. What about the things to do between projects? Or, does he overwork himself by jumping immediately into the next one? [break][break]

Though she doesn’t comment on it, until she hears him make the comment on robotics. “... You know,” she starts, humming softly “... That suits you.” and the image of him working with a small robot he creates himself, as a hobby morelike, is enough to make her chuckle for a brief moment. “I think you can add small talk and passing conversation to the list, too.”[break][break]

His response still lingers, and though it’s slight, there’s a glint in her eyes as she ponders her thoughts. It causes her to sit up a bit more straight, leaning forwards in her seat a tad as she glances back to give the attention. “Actually.. I think I have an idea.”

Leonidas Stone

☉