Date of the Shy Ones (07-13-2011) [Axel & Dominique]

Not only was it nice kissing Dominique, it also granted Axel some peace of mind, and when he pulled away again (just a little, wanting to keep her arms around him for a little bit longer) he smiled calm-, content- and confidently.
"You're sweet," he whispered to her in a warm tone, gently rubbing his nose against hers like with the eskimo kiss they shared on the roof terrace at Meinior.

When Axel pulled away from the kiss Dominique was glad he didn't pull fully away, allowing her to keep her arms around him. "So are you," she smiled, while he gave her an eskimo kiss again, placing a small (normal) kiss on his nose when he was done before pulling away fully. Making sure that her ice cream didn't touch his neck or shirt or his hair doing so, licking at the almost leaking parts before taking his hand again.
"How about we continue exploring Penrose?" she asked, "Unless you want to give 'Jennifer' more of a show?"

Axel laughed, more out of happiness than anything else. "Yeah let's go on," he agreed, taking her hand and leading the way and distancing them from the all-seeing eye of 'Jennifer'.
As they passed a couple of metres he was still smiling happily, cheerfully, barely noticing the icecream streaming over his fingers.
"Maybe we can go see the university next?" Axel suggested, "I've only seen it in real life while passing it by in the cab on the way to Meinior yet."

"Uhm Axel," Dominique started having to hold back a bit of laughter, "your ice cream is uhm... well trying to get away and by the looks of it it's succesfull."
Giving him a little teasefull push with her shouler before nodding and started making her way towards the University, not having explored it yet either. She was happy that he had kissed her and didn't pull his hand back or anything, but she was a little worried/curious if she had said something wrong in the ice cream parlor.
"Axel..." her voice betrayed her nervousness, "did you mind... when I said... in the ice cream parlor..." She hoped that despite the vague unfinished sentences he would understand what she was trying to ask.

"O damn!" Axel exclaimed susprised, finally noticing the sweet sticky goo running over his hand. While walking his started licking off his hand, risking looking like a fool but for once not feeling like one - being to happy with the day now.
Even when Dominique asked her question of a rather... intimite nature, Axel didn't blush and kept smiling, though softer and more subtle than his cheerful grin from before. "I didn't mind," he anwsered, again squeezing her hand lightly, "I... I think I rather liked it."
Ok, now he turned a little red again though, but it was a good kind of bashfulness this time. "Yet," he repeated the key word softly.

Smiling, and blushing, relieved that she hadn't said something stupid Dominique gave his hand a small squeeze again. Passing the past the hospital and over the bridge they reached the abandoned grounds of the University.
"Wow it's really big," she said looking up to the top of the building, "I wander how many students will be here once the summer has ended. Are you curious as well about what our future teachers?"

Axel nodded, sharing Dominique's opinion about the building; "I'm going to get lost on my first day, I just know it," he sighed a little unhappily. And it was true, he was terrible with orientation - one of the reasons he was less than enthusiastic about ever disobeying advice and head into the forest.

"It's probably gonna be a lot more crowded here," Axel said to Dominique's outspoken wonder, still looking over the building. Somehow that was a bit of a shame; he did like how quiet and peaceful it was around Penrose. But on the other hand, that might get boring after a while and he did like to meet new people - which brought him to Dominique's question; "well... not the teacher's as much as the students," he replied. "The teachers too obviously but I've never really had a proffesor or teacher I had any trouble with so... Why?" he then asked with a curious smile, "are you that curious?"

"Yeah me too," Dominique agreed making an ^.^; face as she thought of the confusion she'll be in when this place would be crowded. When he asked if she was that curious about her future teachers she shrugged. "Kinda," she answered, "it's not that I've had trouble with teachers, it's just nice if I can get along with my teachers. Especially if I can't get along with my classmates, all though I hope that won't be the case of course. I wonder what the students from the village are like..."

"Me too," Axel replied, wondering if there'd be much difference between young people who grew up here in Penrose, a remote, little village and the people he grew up with, in the big crowded capital city that was London.
"Well I do have it on my side medicine students that decide to study in a remote place like this are more likely to be at least a little nerdy like me," he joked. That made him wonder: "what were the students at your old school like? I mean, is there something like a typical stereotype for your study?"

Dominique chuckled at Axel's little joke about medicine students where all a little nerdy and nodded when he asked if there was a stereotype for goldsmiths as well. Eating and swallowing the last of her mystery ice cream before answering him. "Well most of the time it are a bit the creative social outcast types that don't really fit in with the 'normal' crowd," she told him grinning as she thought back to her old classmates and the group she sat with during the breaks, "it's weird but yeah. Of course not all goldsmithing students are like that, but a most of us are."

Axel let out a small chuckle at Dominqiue's story, unable to imagine her classroom as a halloween act now for a moment.
"It does sound nice," Axel replied with a smile, "at least... the way you say it sounds a little like this small, close club of friends, each with their individual strenght... fighting crime. The league of extraordinairy goldsmith or something."
'God I'm a nerd,' he told himself in mind.

"Myself, I'd love to say we're all the well-adapted, brainy supermodels doctors like on TV," Axel replied with a grinned sigh, "but I fear the larger part of us are just House without the limp and the convienent miracules last-minute-save-the-day moment."
That made him think about something. "Ok this might be a little weird," he said (wondering why he said it while knowing it was a little weird), "but speaking of tv made me think... we're all young adults, students, living in a mansion... in a distanced little town surrounded by miles and miles of forest and swamp... which are rumoured to be extremely dangerous.... Am I the only one who's seen a horror movie that started like this?"

Dominique chuckled when Axel called her and her classmates the league of extraordinairy goldsmiths, she really had to tell that to her classmates that she still had contact with. She also laughed a little when Axel said that he and his classmates where just House without the limp and last-minute-save-the-day moments.
"Don't worry about that," giving his hand a squeeze, "just don't get a painkiller addiction okay?"
Looking around a little more at the outside of the University she looked back at him when he asked if he was the only who had seen a horror movie that looked a lot like their current situation.
"Now that you mention it," she said thoughtfully, "you're rigth," she let out a laugh at that thought, "guess we should all just stay out of the forest where the dark mystery monster or something. And then well be fine, for now that is," moving a little closer to him she looked at him with a bit big eyes and a smile, "but you'll keep me safe won't you?"

"Ah damn, you caught me," Axel replied jokingly at Dominique's pain-killer joke. More was to come but then she reacted to his comment on their situation and the ending, him protecting her, made him fall back into a silent blush for a moment. He gave her hand another small squeeze, then used that grip to pull her a little closer to him - careful to have no ice-cream collisions - and placed a small kiss on her hair. "I will."

He then grinned bashfully as he added: "I should warn you, I might scream when I see the monster though."

Blushing a little as well when Axel pulled her closer to him and put a kiss on her hair, liking the small gesture even though it would probably not be needed. Having no idea how spot on she had been with her mystery monster of the forest comment. Giving him a hug and a peck on the cheek when he said that he might scream when he would see the monster.
"No problem," she assured him with a chuckle, "so will I most likely."

Axel couldn't help but laugh at the idea of both him and Dominique screaming at a forest monster, imagining it to be a lot more Scooby Doo-like than it might be in a not too far future.
"Anyway," he went on, his gaze turning to where the forest was nearest, "I don't believe in paranormal things." That made him wonder: "do you?" (granted, he considered religion a very refined form of supersticion, he wasn't disrespectful about people's beliefs easily.)

Leaving one arm around Axel Dominique looked around a little more, seeing what must be the studentcafe and movie theater. She looked back at him though when he started talking about paranormal things and asked if she believed in things like that.
"I like myths and stuff like that," she answered with a shrug, "but I don't really believe in it. The stories of the forest are probably exagurated, people probably just get stuck in the swamps."
She was silent for a few moments before remembering her first evening at the mansion and Aemilio's inhuman reflex. "But there is something that I've seen that could have come right from a movie or something alike on my first evening here..."

Following Dominique's gaze to the student place (etc), Axel asked her kindly if she wanted to go there next. He was actually quite curious himself.
Not as much though, as he was when Dominique mentioned her mysterious encouter; "what was that?" he asked, non-suspicioant of how close to home this topic was.

Nodding in agreement at Axel's suggestion off going to the student place (etc) next to check it out Dominique was quiet for a few moments while they where walking after his question. Uncertain of how to put what she had seen without mking it sound like she was either seeing things or making things up. Finding herself uncapable of giving it a twist that would make it sound less weird she bit her lower lip before answering.
"I know that this is going to sound crazy, but bare with me, I know what I saw," she looked at Axel with slightly begging, slightly please-don't-think-I'm-insane eyes as she continued, "during my first evening I went onto the terras after Keoki had left it, thinking that it was okay now for us to go there again. There I found Aemilio and we talked a little whilst he was playing around with a glass on the table. At some point the glass fell off the table and then just before it could hit the floor he had gotten out of his chair, caught the glass, put it back on the table and sat back down in his chair. And all of that within mere seconds! I swear if I would have blinked I would have missed half of it! But when I asked him about it he said I was seeing things and that I shouldn't mind his business so that I wouldn't get onto his bad side..."

As pleased and cheerful as Axel seemed to be a couple of seconds ago, his good mood ebbed away quicked (and probably as predictable) away as the tides.
"I see," he mumbled barely understandable, looking away - in short, clearly less than eager to talk about it.

Seeing Axel's reaction made Dominique regrett she had brought it up, thinking that he now thought that she was insane or something along those lines. Which of course itsn't such a good thing to have on a first date, well unless someone finds you insane in a good way. Her shoulders slumped and the arm that was still around him dropped back to her side, looking down in sad manners afraid that she had now ruined her changes with him. Because after all what else could bring on such a change of moods after such a question then him no longer being interested in her? Or so she thought/feared.

When Dominique seemed to shrink in every direction at the way he replied, Axel felt bad as well. But like any other low self-esteem young adult he automatically assumed it was all his fault and the girl he just had a first date with was upset with him. And as she didn't say anything and pulled back he felt rejected.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked in a hessitant voice, not knowing a better way to find out exactly what had just happened or how to reverse it.

Now Dominique was confused, what possible reason could Axel have to ask her hessitantly if he had said something wrong. After all he was no longer interested in her because he thought that she was insane right, right? Uncertain she looked at him, had she really miss judged his character so much that he was now trying to taunt her with what she had just told him?
"You think I'm insane... don't you...?" she asked, now unsure if she really had come to the right conclusion when she had assumed that he no longer cared for her.

At that Axel smiled, surprised and relieved; "what...? no I don't...! Not at all-" Only after saying that did he realised he'd just confirmed Dominique hadn't said anything weird... meaning he knew what she'd seen... which in all likeliness would mean she'd ask him about it.
"I don't think you're insane," he said as a start of an elaborate plan to get her not to ask any inconvenient questions. Unfortunatly that was the only part of the plan he'd thought out so far.
But then it came to mind... what would be the harm in telling her the truth? She seemed like an openminded and understanding person who could keep a secret when asked to.

At first Dominique smiled in relief, Axel didn't think she was insane so he hadn't stopped caring for her. But wait a sec how could he not think she was insane? Let alone 'not at all' think she was insane. Did he knew more about this? Well it would be logical seeing as Aemilio was his brother, well stepbrother but still.
"You know more about this don't you?" she asked him, uncertain whether she was really going to get an answer or not.

No point in going into denial now...
"I do," Axel sighed a little unhappily, "but is it alright if I not tell you about it now?"

((I'd write more but that was pretty much as simple as it went down =P not blunt just.... simple))