Closed First Date

[Lora]

Timestamp: 39th Winter 515AV
Lora danced in front of her window, eager anticipation shimmering in her eyes. This was it. This was the day she had been waiting for for so long. The glass reflected a faded image of her trying out a smile. She didn’t have any mirrors so this was the best she could do. Luckily, the window had shutters on the outside, keeping anyone from seeing her.

She swayed again, watching as her new dress fluttered around her knees. It was a dark blue wool dress, which was fairly warm except for the fact that it didn’t go the whole way down her legs or her arms. It was pretty, displaying beaded designs around the ends of the quarter length sleeves and across the bottom but that was all she had really thought about when she had bought the dress. Now, standing in it, even with the warmth of the fire radiating on her back, she was struck with how cold it was.

The window reflected her expression of unease. The snow had been falling over the past few days and now there was a good layer of it covering the ground. Going outside in an outfit like this would be incredibly chilly. Lora glanced at her bed, the clothes she had been wearing before were shrewn across it. They weren’t incredibly warm themselves but they were warmer than what she was wearing.

That was what she had worn to their last meeting. It wasn’t really a meeting so much as an exchange of words. They had met and then Garland had said he had to reschedule. Lora couldn’t help but wonder if it was her fault. Since then, she had spent some time watching other couples, seeing what they did. The thing that stood out to her was that often the women would dress up. With that in mind, Lora had bought this dress.

Her image in the glass reflected a sheepish smile. She looked good. Or at least she hoped she did. Her hair was hanging loosely by her shoulders in formatted waves. noticing a spot that looked just a bit out of place, she reached for the brush that sat on the window sill and ran it through her hair for what seemed like the thousandth time. She wanted to look perfect.

They had arranged to meet at the 10th bell, which should be anytime now. With one more wistful glance at her own reflection, Lora made her way toward her door. Just before grabbing the doorknob she grabbed her cloak off of the table where it sat. There was no way she was going out without that.

She tied it around her neck quickly and then took a deep breath. She hadn’t realized how nervous she was. She fumbled a bit as she put on her boots. With another intentionally slow inhale, she pulled opened her door. She was met with a burst of cold air and the voices of various people walking by.

She walked out on to the street, absently pulling closed the door behind her. Even though the air was clear now, she was met with the scent of freshly fallen snow. She had always thought the snow had a distinct smell but had never been able to identify it. She just knew it when she smelled it. The fresh snow crunched under her feet as she walked to a spot against the wall where she could wait without being in the way of the others walking by.

She kicked around the snow by her feet as she nervously waited for her date.

[Garland]

Garland had to reschedule their date, he was so excited too! But his Patron drove him hard with training, and he had a special gift for Lora that needed a bit of time to create.

There was nothing today that would make him reschedule. There was only one tiny problem. He had no one to watch the kids, Elann is busy at work, and he didn't want to impose on the already busy chaperons in the dormitories.

He had no choice but to bring along the twins. Garland was wearing the vest he had brought with Revy last Fall, he had not found a use for it until now. He was also wearing his leather jacket. The twins were about 6-7 months old now, Garland never did learn when they're birthdays are, so he couldn't rightly guess. The twins were in Garland's cradleboard. They were wearing cute warm clothes, mostly made of fur, and little fuzzy hats.

Phobos and Aneeka liked the warmth of the clothes and the cradleboard, the two of them babbled and gurgled, almost like they were talking in some form of baby language.

The morning had a light snowfall, nothing too cold and the children were very warm in their cradleboards. Garland wondered how Lora would react to these two, he was even considering lying to her that these kids were someone else's. Garland had with him a basket with the milk he had brought and the drinking horn, there was also a few extra clothes and napkins there, and two or three diapers as well.

But Garland never did like to lie to pretty girls, it was quite hard, they're puppy-dog eyes could just pry the truth out. Garland had made it to Lora's home, she had been waiting for a little while, she had a beautiful white flowing dress and Garland couldn't help but melt in the mere sight of her.

The babies' gurgles and babbles brought Garland back to the real world. Garland straightened up, he double-checked if he was looking presentable, without a mirror he couldn't rightly tell. He was hoping he looked good enough though.

He walked over to Lora, even more nervous than before. "Hello, have you been waiting long?" And then Aneeka threw up behind Garland.

[Lora]

Lora’s stared aimlessly into the sky paying absolutely no attention to the people brushing by her on the ground. She watched the clouds in their intricate shapes as they appeared to form images for her mind to interpret. Suddenly, she was pulled out of her wandering thoughts by the voice of the person she had been waiting for. The thoughts of the clouds all but forgotten, Lora’s eyes whipped back toward the ground and settled on the man in front of her. Taking no time to fully comprehend the image before her, her eyes lit up and her features morphed into a smile.

“Hello!” She gave a small wave and rushed over to meet Garland where he stood a short distance from her. “I have only been here a few chimes.” She assured him, which was not necessarily true. She actually had no idea how long she had been standing there as she had been totally lost in thought but she was sure it had been at least ten chimes but that didn’t matter.

Finally taking the time to get a proper look at the man standing before her, Lora’s eyes were met with an unexpected surprise. From over his shoulder Lora could just make out a pair of small children snuggled warmly in a cradleboard. Her smiled widened. They looked adorable, all wrapped up in warm furs. Their little faces looked so content it made Lora happy just watching them. The pair was held up behind Garland’s back as if he were subconsciously trying to hide them from her. She couldn’t imagine why.

One of the children suddenly threw up. “Oh!” Lora exclaimed not in disgust but rather as a exclamation that something had happened. She rushed over to the cradleboard and stared at the child, unsure what to do, but sure she should do something.

“Ah,” Lora announced as an idea entered her mind. “Come on inside, we can get her cleaned up.” Phrasing the proposal like a question Lora let the offer hang in the chilled air as she rushed back toward her doorway.

Her mind reeled with questions. Who were these children? Was Garland just taking care of them? Were these his children? Was he married? Did she have the entirely wrong idea about him? Lora had run this meeting over in her head thousands of times but in none of those imagined scenarios had something like this happened. The unstopping flow of questions yet to be answered flowed through her mind. She tried to breath them away as she smoothly pulled opened the door to her house but they just kept coming.

Fearing that she would be rude, Lora tried her best to mask her concerns but she had never been incredibly talented at masking her emotions so they showed transparently through her attempted half smile. Standing in her opened doorway Lora beckoned to Garland, inviting him in.

[Garland]

Garland could see that Lora was incredibly curious about the two, he had to tell her the truth.

He stepped inside Lora's home, now that he thought about it, this was the first time he was inside her home. The inside looked rather homely. Garland glanced at the few scattered paint brushes and canvasses.

He then remembered that he had a baby covered in barf on his back. He took off the cradleboard and laid Phobos and Aneeka on the table. He took out a piece of cloth from his basket and started wiping away the puke and sick from Aneeka's mouth.

Phobos was staring at Lora, examining the Konti with his young baby eyes. The scales on her neck seemed very grab-able to the baby boy. Phobos reached out his tiny arms, opening and closing his fingers at Lora.

Garland had finished cleaning up Aneeka and held her up. "Ta-da! A fresh baby girl, completely clean." Garland proclaimed and hugged the baby girl. Aneeka giggled and started babbling, as a result drooled on herself.

Garland sighed and wiped off the drool and looked at Lora. "She can't keep herself from getting dirty, I had to clean her twice before coming here before." Aneeka started pulling at Garland's ear now.

Aneeka and Phobos had a few differences between them, despite being twins. Aneeka had April's bright orange hair, while Phobos had gotten Garland's brown hair, though both their eyes were a shade of dark blue, the same as Garland's and April's eyes.

It was obvious from Lora's look that she was really curious about these two. "So... I'm guessing you're wondering about these kids, my kids, Aneeka-" He held up the girl that looked confused as to why she was being held up. "-and Phobos." He pointed to the boy who was too fixated on Lora to notice anything else in the room.

"Well... Let's see... There was this Sverfa girl last fall, she seemed friendly enough we ended up getting really close to each other a bit too quickly, we had one rather awkward romantic evening, and after that... she disappeared. I knew she was still in Syliras because her ship was still in the docks, so I looked around, fearing the worst, slavers or some other ilk. I didn't find anything about her, so I sorta gave up, believing she was long gone, dead or otherwise." Garland paused for a tick or so, thinking about April.

"Her name was April, she was a free-spirit, maybe too free. She may have made enemies one time or another, maybe that's what happened. Anyway, earlier this winter, around the late 30th or early 31st, these two were brought to my dorm room, and I had no idea who brought them there, but they're no mistaking them."

Garland looked at Aneeka and the girl stared back, she then broke the stare and grabbed Garland by the nose, giggling as she did so. "So, I'm a single father. I may have liked April before, but I don't think I can truly love someone that would abandon their children just like that."

[Lora]

“They are adorable!” Lora cooed as she was introduced to the pair of twins. She had always liked children despite the fact it was very rare she actually got the chance to interact with them. Lora tilted her hand into a small wave at the children. They gave no evidence that they had seen it but she didn’t mind. “Hello there.” She smiled gently. The fact that Garland had said they were his children was weighing on the back of Lora’s mind. Her questions about the mother still danced through her thoughts.

As if he could read her mind, Garland began to tell the story about the woman who had had given birth to these two.

Lora stared as Garland recounted his previous relationship. She was unsure of what to say. She had never been in a relationship with anyone but the story made her sad. He had lost someone he cared about, Lora did knew what that was like.

Though he masked it well, Garland seemed upset and that made Lora sad for him. She wanted nothing more than to put her arm around him but given the details of the story he had just told, she stood stationary, providing no comfort other than a sympathetic look.

Lora gave a sheepish smile as Garland assured her that he didn’t love April. She wasn’t sure that the news made her feel better but it was clearly meant to reassure her so she let the relieve expression play on her face. She felt a bit bad for this April girl, whoever she was. The smiled faded without a trace.

“Maybe she had been forced to give up the children against her will.” Lora pondered out loud. She immediately regretted it, worryed she would insult Garland. “Or maybe not.” She added quickly, knowing all too well that if there had been damage done, she had no where near repaired it.

Lora shift on her feet, silent for a few ticks. She was once again at a loss of words. It seemed like there was something she needed to say but the words were just out of reach. She pulled her hair over her shoulders, a nervous tick.

“Um, you can have a seat.” She indicated the smooth wooden chair across from her as she slid into a chair of her own. She ordinarily avoided making eye contact because of her konti gift but in this moment she found herself doing it for other reasons. “If you want...“ She added mousily.

Once again she felt herself surrounded by a silence that she didn’t know how to fill. A sudden drift of warm air from the glowing coals of the fire prompted Lora into speech.

“Are they going to get too warm with those cloths?” She indicated the children. Her tone lightened, the awkwardness of the silence lost in it. “I mean now that we are inside, and the fire is rather warm. Well,” She glanced at the smoldering embers. “It is not really much of a fire any more but it is still warm. Should we take off some of their cloths, like maybe their hats.”

She stood up and leaned over the box, looking down at the baby boy, Phobos was what Garland had called him. He had been staring at her since they had entered the room. She hoped he wasn’t scared of her but his expression wasn’t one of fear more of confusion and interest, a mix of emotions that often adorned Lora’s face. She gazed down at the child, taking note of his sparkling blue eyes but making sure not to look directly into them. She didn’t know if her konti gift would work on such a young child but she didn’t want to risk it. The fascinatingly dark blue eyes reminded Lora of Garland’s.

She began to lean in to pick up the child but quickly stopped herself. “Do you mind if I pick him up?” She glanced the question at Garland. She had learned some people were incredibly protective of their children and it was often best to ask permission first.

[Garland]

Garland simply smiled at Lora. He was happy she was taking this so well, he expected her to cancel the date, get mad or even never talk to him again.

"Of course, go ahead, Phobos loves being picked up." He said with a small smile. He was planning on going out to eat with Lora, he even scouted out a small cozy little restaurant near Traveler's row

"I wanted to have a lunch with you today, I've seen a nice place that looks wonderful. I think you would like the place." He placed down Aneeka on the table, next to the basket while Garland looked around in the basket he brought.

Aneeka joined in and looked inside, she pulled out a napkin and started chewing on it. Garland then pulled out a tiny box tied with a small red ribbon. "Here, I got this for you."

He then pulled the napkin out of Aneeka's mouth and gave her her wooden rattle instead. Aneeka gripped the toy excitedly and started gnawing on the handle of the wooden toy.

Inside was a small quartz necklace with a silver chain and wrapped with a floral case going down to the middle. He had got the gem he had gotten a long time ago cut just for Lora, since she had forgotten the handkerchief he had given her when they were kids, it only seemed right for him to give something else for her to remember him by.

necklace :

Phobos smiled and giggled when he was picked up by Lora. He grabbed Lora's hair and pulled lightly on it. Phobos had wanted Lora's attention from the start by the looks of it.

Garland picked up Aneeka, who was still busy gnawing on her toy to pay attention. "Do you want to hold him while we walk? The cradleboard's great and all, but they get fidgety while I walk." He said with a small smile. "Phobos likes to hold things and pull them. So I think you shouldn't wear that necklace I gave you just yet."

[Lora]

Now that she had permission, Lora reached down and carefully lifted up the small wriggling child. She held him at arm's length, suddenly unsure of how to properly carry a baby. She had seen it done plenty of times but she had never done it herself. Trying to copy how she had seen babies held in the past, she pulled the small body closer to her frame.

As the little boy came closer to her chest he started pulling on her hair. She smiled. It was cute but as he began to pull a bit harder, she pushed the hair over her shoulder and out of reach.

“Yes I am a bit hungry. I would love to go to lunch with you!” Lora excitedly accepted the offer for lunch. She rarely get a chance to go out to any restaurants but she knew there were plenty of good ones around the city that she wanted to try going to. The fact that she would be going with Garland made the offer all the more intriguing.

As Garland began sorting through his basket, Lora returned her attention to the child in her arms. She shifted his weight over to only one of her arms and used the other one to push some his hair out of his face. His tiny hands grabbed at her fingers and she giggled.
When she looked back up, Garland was offering a small but decorative box wrapped in a ribbon to her. She accepted it with a smile and, somewhat awkwardly because of the child in her arms, pulled it opened to reveal a gorgeous quartz necklace.

She gasped through a smiled. “This is beautiful!” She studied it, the shining metal and the rock glimmered in the sunlight streaming through the window. Picking her eyes up off of the sparkling stone and settling them on Garland she frowned. “I’m so sorry! I did not get you anything. I should have. I was going to but it just slipped my mind. Sorry.” She rambled, flustered.

Calming down a bit, she looked back at the necklace. “It really is beautiful, though. Thank you so much.”

She started to pulled the necklace out of the box to put it on but then she felt a small tug on her hair. Phobos was pulling on a strand of her hair that had fallen back over her shoulder. She set the box and the necklace in it onto the table so she could push the hair back over her shoulder.

“You are right, I will put it on later.” Lora responded to Garland saying she should not put it on yet. “Hmm, I wish I could put it on, it is so pretty. I know, I can take it to the restaurant and then put it on for our meal, once it is out of the reach of this little one.” She glanced at Phobos.

Putting the lid back on the box, Lora slid it into the pocket of her cloak, which she had never taken off. Only now that she realized it was still on, did she begin to feel a bit warm from the heat of the fire.

“Shall we go?” She asked, shifting Phobos so it would be easier for her to carry him while walking and began toward the door.

Pulling it opened, she was once again assaulted by a breeze of cold air. She shivered but ignored it and continued outside.

Walking out to center of the street, she realized she didn’t know where she was going. Spinning on her heels, she turned to Garland and said “I don’t know where it is.” She laughed nervously and continued, “Will you lead the way?”

[Garland]

She seemed eager and it looked like she really wanted to wear that necklace he gave her.

It would look wonderful on her. He thought and seemed to enjoy her company. He scooped up the basket along with Aneeka and walked outside. Aneeka felt the cold and clung tightly to Garland's warm body.

"It's rather close to the Traveler's Row, near the gates. Most of the people that don't have time to cook or don't know how go there to eat. They're very profitable I'd say." He said and watched Aneeka look around.

Aneeka was curious about something, but he couldn't tell what. Instead he just focused on the road lest he hits a wall... again. "Oh, I think I forgot to mention, but... Did I tell you how stunning you look right now?"

He gave a tiny smile and blush, trying to avert his eyes from her. He mentally berated himself for saying something so awkward and stupid.

This is your first REAL date, don't petch this up. That one time with April wasn't a date, you just went out to lunch because why not. You've been planing for this, hopefully everything's gonna be alright.

Soon enough they made it to the restaurant. The sign said 'The Working Bee', they specialized with food that uses honey. He paused outside and looked over to Lora.

"I remember that you were allergic to something when we were kids, but I don't remember what it was. Please tell me it wasn't honey, of course there are options that don't use honey I think."

He had forgotten about that tiny detail! Lora was allergic to something, was it honey? Was it milk? Maybe.

Why am I such a scatter brain! Planning is not my strong suit! Hopefully I can recover from this if she is allergic!

[Lora]

A freezing sensation came over Lora as Garland commented on her being stunning. The feeling had nothing to do with the cold weather. She immediately stopped in her track, overwhelmed with emotions. It took all of her willpower to keep from squealing and she had to be careful to hold not squeeze the child wrapped in her arms to tightly. She could feel heat rising into her cheeks and she knew they were bright red. Regaining control of her legs, she jogged the distance that had developed between her and Garland.

“Thank you.” Her voice squeaked at the end. “Um, you too.” She said so quietly it would have been surprising if he had been able to hear it over the noises around them.

They continued walking in an awkward silence with only the sounds of the people around them and the occasional babble from one of the babies. When they reached their destination, Garland stopped and asked what it was she was allergic to.

“Peanuts. And a little bit of milk but I am getting less allergic to that. Pretty soon I will be able to drink milk with no side effects if it keeps going like this.” Lora smiled. “I really do like honey!”

Lora walked to the door and then spun around back towards Garland. “Shall we enter?” She said in a lighthearted tone. She shifted the Phobos so that he was resting on only one of her arms and the other was free and then without waiting for his reply, Lora pulled opened the door and entered the building. She was rather excited to see this place.

Immediately struck by how warm it was, she held the door opened so that Garland could enter but then closed it quickly, allowing cold of outside to fade to where it was only a memory.

The store felt very homely, a large first burning in the corner and the constant murmur of voices added to the effect. Lora was immediately attracted to the place.

She quickly made her way to the nearest empty table, which was actually rather difficult as the place was relatively filled and the tables were very close together. She weaved between the people and chairs, careful to keep from bumping the baby that was still wrapped in her arms.

“This place is amazing!” Lora grinned, eyes wide taking everything in.

As if to prove the places amazingness, a grinning waitress approached their table surprisingly quickly because they had just arrived. “Hello, what can I get for you?”

Lora looked up at her, suddenly at a loss. She had no idea what this place even sold. She looked over at Garland. “What is do you think good here?”

[Garland]

Garland simply smiled and looked at the waitress. The atmosphere of the room was calm and homely, the fire warmed the restaurant up.

The smell of honey filled the room, it was as sweet as Lora's face when she smiles. Garland might not acknowledge it, but he can be romantic at times. This was one of the few times he had planned anything romantic.

"How about... some Honey Yeast Rolls and... What was it? Grilled Peach." Garland couldn't remember what serve here, he had only been here a few times, and that was years ago, he was glad to see that the place was still booming and in fact growing.

"Grilled Peach-and-Mozzarella Salad, sir. Would there be anything else?" The waitress smiled softly and looked over to the kids. The two of them seemed to be staring at the newcomer.

"Yes, maybe some oats and milk for the kids, with a touch of honey too. I wonder if they'll like it." Garland held Aneeka and the little girl gripped on Garland's ear, he didn't seem to mind, but she was yanking it quite hard. "And two high chairs as well."

"Right away, sir. Would there be anything else, ma'am?" She said, directing her question at Lora. "We have a few salads and meats if you're interested."

After Lora dismissed the waitress, she bowed and left, getting their order to the cook as quickly as possible. After a little while, someone else came along and placed two tall wooden chairs by their table.

"Thank you." Garland said to the man that brought them the chairs, the man nodded in response and ran off to take care of more of his duties.

Garland then placed Aneeka on one of the chairs. Maybe she was hungry too? She was chewing on her own hand after all. Garland sighed and took out a napkin and wiped off the drool and spit on her hand, and gave her the rattle inside the basket.

He then turned his attention to Lora. "You're pretty good with children, the only time I've seen Phobos this quiet is with Elann, she takes care of them when I'm not around. Oh! Right, the necklace, you should put it on now that it's out of Phobos' reach."