fandomhigh | Romance 101, Wednesday, Period 4 -- Class 2

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Romance 101, Wednesday, Period 4 -- Class 2

"All right, today we're going to talk about" -- Drake snapped his fingers and there was the appropriate sound effect -- "the First Date. Yeah, they can be terrifying. And exciting. The key is just to relax and be yourself. And if it doesn't work out" -- cue another sound effect -- "at least you tried.

"If you're already known the person for awhile, you've got an advantage in knowing what they like to do. If you don't, try to get an idea from their friends. If you're completely in the dark, go for something like dinner and a movie, but make sure you have a back-up plan in case your date doesn't eat the kind of food at your first restaurant of choice. Try a hike and a picnic, or spend some time at the beach or at a zoo, or maybe a museum or art gallery. Creativity is a plus, but don't go too overboard, or you'll have a tough act to follow for the second date.

"Two things are the most important to remember: be yourself. Don't work too hard to impress your date. You want them to like you for you, not someone you're pretending to be. And have a sense of humor. Something is probably going to go wrong -- you'll spill a drink, you'll lose your tickets, you'll set your date on fire -- but if you can laugh it off, you'll be able to relax and have a good time.

"Now, I want you to grab a partner and pretend you're going out on a first date. Decide where you're going to go, then act like you're really there." Drake grinned, and added, "Try to pair up with someone you don't know already so you really get that awkward effect."

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Karla glanced up at Christian with a smile. "I wouldn't argue against flowers," she said, "but I'll happily 'date' you without. I'm Karla. Kiss kiss." She chuckled. "For a first date, that's definitely just a greeting."

He smiled, nerves fading away a bit now that he knew he wouldn't be rejected outright. "Christian," he said. "Which is a name, not a greeting."

He widened his eyes at Karla curiously. "So, er, what should we do on this 'date'? At home I'd say a picnic, or a walk through a park."

"I like picnics," Karla said. Really, she just liked activities that could be combined with eating. "On the beach is nice," she added. "Because then we can swim as well."

Plus, Karla was avoiding the park right now. But not admitting that to anyone.

"Picnic on the beach sound okay?"

"It sounds wonderful," Christian said, and bent over toward the floor to pretend to pick something up. "Look -- I have a blanket and a basket full of all kinds of things to eat, right here."

He offered Karla his other arm. "Shall we?"

Karla slid out from behind her chair to link arms with Christian. "I can't think of anything I'd like better," she said, smiling. "And look." She pointed over to a corner of the room. "There's the beach. I'm glad it's so close. I'm hungry!"

That part wasn't pretend.

"It'll be a nice brisk walk to work up our appetites," Christian said as they strolled toward the 'beach.' "I hope you like variety. I packed a little bit of everything."

It was easier to do that when things were invisible and imaginary.

Edited 2010-05-19 17:19 (UTC)

"I'm absolutely delighted by variety," Karla assured him. "I'm still discovering all the foods this world has to offer. So if you've managed to pack something new, then so much the better. This is a good spot, don't you think?" she asked, looking around. "A lovely view. What do you say we set up our picnic here? I'll spread out the blanket?"

"And it's far enough from the water that we won't get wet," Christian said approvingly. "You have good taste in picnic spots."

He handed her a folded ... well, nothing, really. "You aren't from this world? I'm still getting used to that."

"I'm from Kaeleer," Karla said cheerfully, shaking the 'blanket' out and the dropping down to sit. She probably could have called in a real blanket so as to not look like an idiot, waving her arms about like that, but she was having a fun time playing pretend. "Came last year for the first summer semester. If they have another Multicultural Weekend again, you can stop by my booth. I set up a tangled web so people can experience a little bit of my world."

She grinned up at Christian and patted the blanket near where she was sitting. "It's still pretty weird for me, too. My world is so different from this one. But I'm pretty sure that's true for everyone. I don't know anyone who doesn't have a huge adjustment when they show up here. You too?"

Christian sat down near her on the imaginary blanket and opened the imaginary picnic basket, pretending to pull out a sandwich for himself. He, too, was relishing playing pretend.

"I'm from a hundred and fifteen years ago," Christian said. "The fashion and technology in this time is just ridiculous, compared to what I know. I don't even know what a tangled web" -- which he imagined to be like the television -- "is."

"But it's not a bad place," he hastened to add. "Just -- very different."

Who said playing let's pretend was just for kids?

"A tangled web is something from my world, so don't worry about that," Karla said, smiling and having him a pretend drink. "It's kind of like the Danger Shop--have you had a class in there yet?" She rooted through the basket for a pretend piece of cake and then relaxed against the wall--er, a sand dune.

"So, what's this world like a hundred and fifteen years ago, then?" she asked. "What's makes the technology and fashion so ridiculous?" In Kaeleer, neither had changed particularly much over the space of a few hundred years.

Christian sipped the pretend drink as he listened. "My pirate class was in there," he confirmed. "Oh, and the one on Monday. We played tag!"

He picked a fake grape off the fake bunch as he thought about how to answer her question. "The dresses are much shorter than I'm used to," he said. "And your computers. I'm still afraid to touch them. At home typewriters are fairly new. Why, what is Kaeleer like?"

"The dresses here are scandalously short," Karla said, nodding a bit. "Back home, my cousin Morton would bite off his tongue if I showed that much leg."

Bosoms, on the other hand, were a different story entirely. Not that Karla had much of that to show off.

"He doesn't mind me wearing pants so much, and Uncle--" she darted a quick look at Christian and decided not to go with names, "my uncle just sighs and allows them, though he requires everyone to dress for dinner. I'm pretty sure he's convinced it's the only way he'll ever see the coven in a dress."

"Coven?" Christian echoed, genuinely surprised. "At home that word would mean you're a witch."

He knew there was magic in Fandom; his head just wasn't all the way around it yet.

"I am a witch," Karla answered immediately. "All Blood females are. It's a term of pride in Kaeleer."

Well, not entirely. It would be like saying 'human' was a term of pride on Earth. It's just what Blood females were.

"Oh." Christian was tentative as he continued. "What kind of -- magic -- do you do?"

"Craft," Karla said, just to be completely unhelpful.

Beat.

"That's how my people refer to magic," she said, dimpling. "We call it Craft. There's basic Craft that let's me do all sorts of things." She called in the blanket she'd been thinking of earlier and then floated it over to Christian's side. "I also belong to special castes back home that let me do additional kinds of Craft. As a Healer, I can heal injuries and illnesses of the body, as a Black Widow, I can do the same for the minds, as well as spinning illusions and having visions, and as a Queen, I can Heal the land."

Thinking of other times the same misapprehension had occurred to people she added, "Even though we're on a date, you don't have to worry about the Black Widow thing. We don't murder our males. I promise." She dimpled at him again.

"That's quite reassuring," Christian said, a bit overwhelmed by the list of powers. "Its all very impressive, Karla."

He was self-conscious as he said, "I'm, er, a poet. I write poems. And songs." Just by way of comparing abilities.

Karla smiled at him. "Do you? I can play the piano and I've had singing lessons and all, but I can't just...come up with stuff like that. Off the top of my head and all. Can I hear one of your poems now?"

"I don't have anything prepared," Christian ~~lied~~ said, a bit anxious even though he'd been practically begging for her to ask. "Would you forgive me if it's a little rough?"

"Considering your rough is still probably better than my most polished? Absolutely," Karla said, laughing a bit.

"Consider yourself warned," Christian laughed. "All right. This is -- a kind of nature poem."

He read the words from his notebook, glancing occasionally up at Karla as he talked.

"You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep

'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance

"... and that's as far as I've gotten," he finished.

[OOC: "Fireflies" is by Owl City, whom I am not.]

Karla smiled at him when he finished, clapping softly so she didn't disturb her classmates and their dates. "This sounds silly," she said, "But I liked the imagery. Just the idea of a a place filled with ten million tiny fireflies, winking on and off, you know? I just kind of imagine two people running through the woods while it's raining, with lightning bugs lighting their way. Umm...I hope that didn't sound stupid."

"Not stupid at all, that is exactly what I was trying to get across," Christian said enthusiastically. "The feeling of, of a summer evening in the country, surrounded by little flying specks of light. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!"

"I've spent my fair share of summer evenings chasing fireflies when I was a little girl," Karla admitted, smiling. "There's a loch, not too far from the estate. It was deep, but so, so clear. It would reflect the fireflies so well, it was like swimming through hundreds of tiny stars. Your poem reminded of those warm summer evenings some."

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Romance 101, Wednesday, Period 4 -- Class 2

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