First day, first date (07-10-2011) [Keoki & Aemilio]

It was a little while after dinner. Aemilio'd gone up to his room for a moment, when he noticed his stepmother had called 9 times, and his dad once leaving a voicemail. When he listened to his voicemail he found out he'd apparently worried his mother because he hadn't been anwsering his phone. He didn't see why she should have been worried - Axel said he phoned home earlier that day to tell about the trip and their safe and sound arrival. O well...
"Studid secretary," he muttered under his breath before deleting all the messages about missed calls and giving his father a brief ring to explain he didn't have time to call because he'd been busy and couldn't talk to his 'mom' right now because he was going on a date.

O right the date! He passed by the mirror, where he did a short appearance check, made sure he had everything he needed with him and headed for Keoki's door.
Door 22... he knocked.

Keoki had taken to wondering just what she was doing. A date couldn't hurt that much, but she still worried over the idea of attachments. Penrose was only a temporary home, like always, and she never really went on many dates... it didn't seem smart with how often she moved around. But Aemilio seemed nice, and it wouldn't hurt to have fun. And he was cute, which didn't hurt.

She left her hat off for a change, brushing her hair down and straightening out her clothes when she heard a knock at the door. "Hold on," she moved away from her closet and opened the door, spotting Aemilio. "Hey, you didn't forget then," she noted with a grin.

Aemilio couldn't fight back a grin as Keoki said that, but to her it probably would've seemed as if he was just amused by her funny remark.
"How could I forget?" he asked, "I've been looking forward to it ever since I asked you."
His eyes slid over her for a split second and then returned at her eyes. "Now you've caused me a little dillemma here. If I say you look really good now it might sound odd because I've seen you before this entire day already... but it would be a normal thing to say at the start of a date and... you really do look beautiful."
He then took a step backwards, allowing her space to pass through the doorway out of her room into the hallway.

She really couldn't hide the blush that came to her face at that comment, and she turned her head away for a second from her little shy moment, "Thanks... you look good, too," she added after a second, looking back to him and stepping into the hall. "Always a charmer, aren't you?" Keo was trying to get over that little comment, she wasn't exactly used to hearing that within a minute of a date, but she couldn't be shy all night. So she spoke up a bit more this time, looking back at him with a slight smirk, "You have anything planned, since you've been so looking forward to this?"

Aemilio smiled at Keoki's shyness; it looked really cute on her. When she joined him in the hallway he started walking in the direction of the roof terrace.
"Well, it's nothing big," he had to admit, "but yes, I do have something planned. In here, *bella dama," he said holding the door of the terrace open for her.
When she'd go in there wouldn't be much different about it then before. Just that two wooden chairs (the only ones with extra big, soft pillows on them) were positioned opposite each other with a table in the middle, nearby the railing at the side were the sun went down. On the table were a candle in a nicely decorated glass, a small vase with a single rose in it and a small bottle of champagne on ice, and two champagne glasses.


* bella Dama = beautiful lady in Spanish

She followed him over to the terrace curiously, noticing the chairs and decorated table after he opened the door. It looked very sweet, especially for just a first date. Taking a few steps onto the terrace, she looked back in his direction, not directly at him, though a smile was visible on her face, "This looks very nice, thank you." Moving over to one of the chairs, she paused for a second to glance over it again before taking a seat. She was still nervous, but this was a lovely scene, as she looked over at the horizon trying to relax a little more. Aemilio certainly knew what he was doing, anyway.

"I'm glad you like it," Aemilio said with a smile, not mentioning he'd be pretty surprised if she wouldn't have. Then he sat down opposite her and asked: "champagne?" as he pulled the bottle out of the ice, reveiling it was just big enough to fill two glasses.

"Yes, please," she replied picking up her glass. "Heh, you must have been popular with the girls back home," she noted, since he seemed to know what he was doing. Aemilio already had the looks and charm that could get him the girls, Keoki figured that much. But it also wouldn't hurt to see if she could get some conversation going, and she was a little curious to hear how he'd make himself sound.

"Ah well," he said dismissively as he filled the two glasses of champagne and handed her one, "this is not the first date I've ever been on, no. But you know, trying to impress a bellaza by complimenting her in Spanish doesn't have that enchanting mysterious effect if the girl you're saying it to actually is from Spane," he added with a chuckle, "so that was a little downside for my lovelife back home. So, how about you? I'm sure a goodlooking girl as yourself has broken quite a few hearts?"

"Oh? I guess I can understand that... though it's still rather flattering," she replied on the subject of his Spanish, but as far as it went for her. Hah, breaking hearts was her mentor Anna's hobby. "I can't say much of the same, really. Been on a few dates, but nothing ever came of those."

She paused to take a sip of the champagne, "... It's a little hard to go anywhere when you never stay somewhere longer than a month," she explained with a grin and in an almost challenging way. She didn't want anything casual, but keeping her around would be a task, "Though I do suppose I'll be here for longer than usual, with school and all."

Aemilio smiled: "good, I'd be pretty bummed out if you'd only stay for a month. Why did you move so often in the first place? Doesn't that get pretty lonely?" he wondered.

"Maybe I'm on the run from something," she joked with a wink, though that really was about as closest to the truth as she'd get. "No, actually, I used to travel with a woman named Anna. Left home at 15 because there was some problems going on, and she ended up getting me out of a bad place," that must have made it sound like her parents were horrible or something.

But she couldn't say much else without causing suspicion, "She moved around a lot, so I did too. Eventually, it just stuck with me even after we parted ways. Hah, guess I should shut up before this turns into some life story," she said after she realized she was rambling a bit, shaking her head slightly before she asked, "What about you? Close to your family, or some friends?"

"That's quite a story," Aemilio pointed out a little overcome, not having expected something like this. When she said she was rambling on, he shook his head with a gentle smile: "not at all. And if you want to talk about it I'm here to listen. But if you want to talk about something a little more cheerful, ok."

He didn't immediatly anwser when there came his turn to talk about his family; he covered for this moment though by pretending to take another miniscule zip from his glass.
"My family? Well, it's a long story... My mother left when I was just a baby and my father was very busy so I didn't see him all that often - o but don't get the wrong idea, he was a good father. And then he got remarried to the secretary, can you believe it?"

"Ah, it's nothing much to worry about anymore," she replied with a smile for reassurance. She was, mostly, happy with her lifestyle now, so it wasn't any trouble. But she noticed he seemed a little hesitant to talk about his own family. Still, she was glad he went and explained things.

"So... that's where Axel comes in, I assume?" she also wanted to ask if there was really anything wrong with his father marrying someone he loved, but then, she didn't know the whole story. And it really wouldn't be good to push a potentially touchy subject when they've only just met, "Still, sounds like you have an interesting story, yourself."

"Yeah, as you've correctly guessed, Axel was her son,"Aemilio said, trying his best (and succeeding) to stay cheerful, "my stepbrother. Myeah, it could be worse," he added though he seemed unable to convince himself of that.
"It wasn't all that bad," he went on with a small grin, "the bad part was that his mother desperatly wants Axel and me to get along and then she brainwashed my dad into feeling the same way. And you may not have noticed yet but despite the fact that we're stepbrothers, me and Axel don't have a lot in common. That's why we're here together; they figured we'd get along if we just hang out enough."

"Hm... I never had any siblings, always made me feel kinda lonely, really," but she decided not to press the subject anymore than that. It was obvious there were some problems between the two, but now wasn't the best time to try and fix that, "Guess that's where Anna came in, heh, she's like an older sister. Don't ask for a photo though, she's too much cuter than me," she noted with a fake tone of jealousy in her voice.

"I find that hard to believe, to be honest," Aemilio said in a laugh. Then he turned a little more serious and asked her: "where did you know Anna from anyway? I mean, I'm guessing you two were pretty close if she agreed to help you run away from home and travel along with her. What did she do anyway that you two traveled around a lot?"

That question took her off guard, and it may have shown for a second, but she quickly recollected herself and tried to think up some good story... "I suppose we were close for good reason," she began, piecing together what she could say, "She kind of, well, saved me," she said with a laugh. She shifted so that her left arm was visible and pulled her sleeve up to show a large scar that resembled a nasty bite wound. It look almost too big for a dog, but that's what she would play it off as.

"I got into a fight with my parents and ended up running away on my own. But I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and was found by a dog that had gone rabid. The thing attacked me, and I blacked out after that," she was telling something surprisingly close to the truth here, but the next line was a lie, "Turns out Anna had been the one to find me. She'd heard the commotion and shot the thing, then took me to the hospital. Probably would have just bled out otherwise. After I was released from the hospital, I was sent back home, but Anna and I started talking."

"As for the rest, I don't really want to explain so soon... Don't take it the wrong way, but I haven't exactly known you for too long," she didn't care if that made it sound like she was hiding something, because, she was. And she really wasn't even sure why she'd decided to even partially answer that question... she just took another sip of her drink instead of focusing on that before she ended up regretting it.

Aemilio listened to her story fascinated, quietly nodding every now as his only reaction. Despite of how interested he seemed in the history of Anna and Keoki, he didn't give her a hard time when she stopped telling; "ah of course, it's personal. I understand," he calmly said with a friendly smile at her, "I'm flattered already you told me this much."

He took another miniscule zip from his glass before continuing: "how about we move on to lighter topics? Like uhr... I know you're into photography so... what kindof other things do you like to do in your spare time?"

"Heh, I guess I just feel like I can trust you with that much of the story," she replied, glad he didn't ask anymore questions on it. The hobbies question was a much nicer subject indeed.

"I mostly just record things, if I see something interesting going on. I haven't worked on any actual film projects yet, but when classes start I most likely will," she explained, considering she was a film major. "Other than that, I mess around with freerunning. It's kind of like stunt work, but doesn't have to be as dare-devilish. Most people think it's too boyish, but it's still fun, so I just ignore that. What about you?"

"Freerunning...?" Aemilio repeated with a thinking frown, "o wait, I know that. You really do that?" he asked with an impressed expression, "waow...! I considered trying that out a while back but after about a week I quit and never really tried again."


When Keoki said some people thought it was boyish he made a dismissing waving gesture with his hand and rolled his eyes; "why would you not do something you like just because of your gender? Besides, you seem like someone with enough spice for something like freerunning. At least - of course I don't know you all that well yet - but as far as I can tell you can be pretty tough if you need to be, right?"

Then came his turn to name things he liked doing; "well, I like shopping... and with that I run into the same thing you do - people think shopping is girly so they think it's weird I like it. And uhm, I also like sports - especially soccer - and hanging out and going out with friends... o but I also like meeting new people."

"Oh? That's a shame, I really enjoy it. Opens some fun options for getting around," she answered with a smile. It was nice to see someone impressed by that instead of just skeptical of her skill, "And yes, I do like to think I'm capable of handling myself. More than some boys would like, I suppose," Keo mentioned.

She nodded when he said he liked shopping, despite it being considered girly, "Hey, nothing wrong with enjoying new stuff as long as you have the money for it. And sports huh? Have to admit, I never got into organized sports as much, so I don't even know the rules for most games." Soccer included, since she preferred an activity she wouldn't have to rely on others for.

"And so your a socialite too, huh? Guess that explains the charm." A social life was never really something she wanted to build up, just another part of her paranoia over the werewolf secret.

At that Aemilio got an idea: "hey, maybe we can go freerunning together sometime?" he suggested with an enthusiastic smile, "you could help me pick it up again and you'll have someone to freerun with. O uhm...!" he suddenly remembered he hadn't even asked her if she'd like company during her freerunning; "only if you'd like to do that together of course? If you'd rather do by yourself that's ok with me too."
He really hoped she'd like the idea but as she didn't seem to like group sports, he could understand she'd rather not have him there, freerunning next to her at a lower level.

Then they got to him being a socialite, something he had to admit himself to be. But then she said something he thought was funny; "the charm?" he asked in an entertained laugh, "what do you mean?"

He really seemed interested in joining her, and even though she would have normally declined, maybe some company would be nice for a change. Or at least some kind of change, "Well, I don't see it being too hard for you to pick up. I imagine you'd be in good shape," though she grinned, certainly not minding that thought.

"And what I mean is that you're a charming guy, it's rather straightforward. Or maybe it's just the Spanish that got me," she teased as she looked back over to him, "The looks don't hurt either, of course."

"I told you, it's the Spanish that does the trick," he laughed, "it has nothing to do with me at all. Haha uhm- thank you," Aemilio replied at the compliments about his charm and appearance, "but I'll be honest with you, I'm don't act this charming for everyone... I just really wanted to impress you so I kicked it up a notch." He let out a short chuckle; "it's nice to hear it works though."

"Hey I just remember!" he started, raising his glass, "we haven't even toasted to anything yet. Do you have anything you'd like to toast on?" he asked with a cheeky grin, "or shall I make the toast?"