tampered | Log; Ongoing

Log; Ongoing

When; Friday, March 14, Afternoon
Rating; PG-13 for Gray's mouth
Characters; Atora Hanashima (

sohappyforyou) and Gray Fullbuster (

noclothesplz)
Summary; The only date of two that really matters to Atora.
Log;

Twelve o'clock sharp.

That's what Atora's watch told her as she stood in front of Café Juliet. Her foot tapped out an unsteady rhythm as she scanned the crowd for that glimmer of a certain gold necklace reflecting the afternoon sun or head full of shaggy dark hair. Neither one was to be found at the moment and Atora, giving up on her search, went back to inspecting her wristwatch.

As much as she had no problem with nudity (his or anybody else's), she sure hoped Gray had enough sense to put some clothes on, if only for a few hours.

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He was late.

There were two reasons for that. One, he had to find something to wear. Luckily, Ran-chan had a clothing line and she didn't mind if he rifled through some of the pieces she kept at the apartment. He found a blue button-down short-sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants that fit...well enough.

Two, he wasn't Atora's only date of the day. And even though he told himself he wouldn't get bent out of shape over it...he was eighteen. This sort of thing bugged him.

But whatever.

As he neared the cafe, he shielded his eyes with one hand and peered about, looking for that tell-tale dark skin (she had great skin), and long, wavy hair.

Gray saw her before she saw him.

A dress. She was wearing a slinky, black dress.

He swallowed.

"Hey, Atora!"

The sound of her name being shouted pulled her attention away from the ticking hands on her wrist and into the crowd before her.

"Hello Gray! she replied, waving her hand in the air as she watched him walk towards her. He was actually wearing clothes. Granted, his pants were a little on the tight side. Okay, a lot on the tight side. But they were pants and he was wearing them. Atora gave credit where credit was due.

"How are you?" Her trademark grin was as bright as the sunshine that rained down on both of them. She was truly glad to see him, even if she had a second date today. She put the one with Gray first for a reason.

Edited 2008-03-14 23:50 (UTC)

Damn pants. Gray practically felt her eyes on them, and he resisted the urge to just rip them off right in the middle of the street. God, he hated clothes. Especially when they were tight. Like his DAMN PANTS.

Luckily, Atora gave him something else to focus on when she smiled. Even if she did have another date, she looked like she wasn't in any hurry to get to it.

"Better than I was yesterday," he said, shooting her a grin of his own. "You look great."

"Thanks. That's very sweet of you," she mused, reaching over to brush a few unruly strands of hair that fell across Gray's eyes. "You look nice yourself, even if I know how much you hate clothes."

Satisfied that his hair was no longer in danger of making her date blind, she patted his cheek and straightened herself up. "Shall we make our appearance for lunch?"

It was times like these that Atora wished she could be a bit meaner and tell Jack that she would have to cancel their date. She wanted to spend more time than she had available with Gray, but the best that she could do now was make the most of it.

Edited 2008-03-15 00:18 (UTC)

The last girl to ever touch his hair like that was Ezra, and she wasn't gentle about it, either. She ripped some of it out. Between the two experiences, Gray definitely preferred this one, even if he had no idea what to do with himself and he had the distinct impression that he was blushing. Not cool.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. And they fit, amazingly enough.

"I...need to go shopping." His roundabout way of "thanks."

And then Atora patted him on the cheek.

If he wasn't blushing before, he was now. He shook his head, as if to clear it.

"Yeah, let's do that. I'm starved."

Was he blushing? He was definitely blushing. It honestly surprised her a bit more than his confession about him being attracted to her. All she did was fix his hair and pat his cheek. She's done that to hundred of people hundreds of times. Maybe it meant something more to him.

It did to her. Even if he was embarrassed enough to downplay her compliment.

Atora watched the entrance to the cafe, waiting for the lunch crowd filing out to leave so they could walk inside. "Me too. I hope the food's good."

A few steps to the left landed her in front of the door, where the sounds of people dining filtered past her as she held the door open with one hand and waved Gray over with the other.

"Are you coming in or will I have to dine alone?"

When he was nervous, Gray's gut instinct was to talk. Or yell. Or swear. He didn't think he should do any of those things presently, but he knew silence wouldn't go over well on a date. He'd just have to suck it up and pray he didn't say something stupid. Hadn't he already done enough of that yesterday?

"I've heard nothing but good stuff about this place," he said. "And it has cake!"

Gray blinked. He'd been too busy brooding to notice that Atora was already at the door, and, worse yet, she was holding it open. Like he was the girl.

His cool-factor was rapidly dwindling.

"Hell no!" Gray strode forward and put his hand on the door, giving it a little shove so that Atora was no longer supporting it. "After you, pretty lady." He winked.

Atora had to grin and roll her eyes in amusement. Men were all the same deep down. She has been around them long enough both in the city and back home to realize when they took a hit to their pride. The way Gray shoved the door confirmed it.

"Be yourself, sweetie," she gently reminded him. He really didn't need to impress her anymore than he already had. IF he knew what she was beginning to feel for him, it would serve no purpose when the job was already done.

It only took a few minutes of chatting up the hostess and their waitress (with Atora complimenting them as she usually did to everybody) to get them seated with their menus laid out before them. The cafe was nice enough for a first date, and even beyond her expectations. It didn't matter anyway. Deep down, everything made Atora happy.

Sweetie? Oh God. If it were possible to turn himself to ice and melt into the ground--

It was possible, actually. To turn himself to ice, anyway. Hadn't UR taught him that spell?

He was not going to think about his teacher now. That part of his life was over, it was resolved. Live in the moment...wasn't that the best way to do things?

He let his breath out in a whoosh. "Heh, sorry. A guy should still get the door for a woman, though."

They were seated quickly--Atora had charm, and she knew how to use it. A nice little table at a nice little place. Maybe the City wasn't so bad, after all. Parts of it, at least.

Gray looked over the menu, and raised his eyebrows.

"They definitely have cake."

"And ice cream too." She supplied the rest of the statement as she glanced over the menu to him. It had only occurred to her now as she watched him that Gray seemed... young. Like a few years younger than her twenty-four.

It hit Atora as she was reciting her order to the waitress (steak in a mushroom sauce with a side salad because she didn't need the added guilt for skipping straight to dessert) that she really didn't know how old he was. Somehow it had slipped her mind to ask.

The question still bugged her, poking her brain every few seconds until she just had to ask it. "Gray," Atora began, as she handed over her menu to the waitress, "Can I ask you a question?"

Gray ordered a cheeseburger (medium-well...he liked his meat cooked) and fries, and a milkshake. Because when he said he was hungry, he was hungry.

Once he passed his own menu to their waitress, he crossed his arms over the edge of the table--horrible manners, he knew, but...ah, screw manners--and looked at Atora.

She was definitely something.

"Sure."

Edited 2008-03-15 01:55 (UTC)

"How old are you?"

The question had flew out her mouth before she even got a chance to phrase it properly. All Atora could do to save herself from flubbing anymore was to sip at one of the glasses of ice water the waitress had returned to place on their table.

He should've known she'd ask him that sooner or later. He really should've. But...so what if he was younger than her? That didn't bother him. Didn't bother him at all.

"Eighteen," he said casually.

His answer was quite the unexpected one and it caused Atora to sputter into her water glass in a unladylike fashion. "Eighteen?"

Eighteen was only four years older than Sen, Shuu and the rest of the kids back home. Even Gen too, when he was still alive. At this age, Gray really could have been one of the kids that saw her as a older sister.

Eighteen was also six years younger than twenty-four. But it was still legal... right?

"Yep." He tried to suppress a grin at her reaction--and failed. "You thought I was older, huh."

He downed about half of the water in his own cool glass, the grin still tugging at his lips. He didn't know why that made him happy, but it did. He kind of wished Natsu were here, so he could rub it in his stupid face.

"Umm... actually... I kind of thought you were younger but not that much younger," she admitted as she placed her glass back in it's place. "I mean, I don't know what the law here is and all."

Last thing she needed was to be in a strange jail in a strange land with strange laws.

And this is about where Gray would have spat his water back out, if he hadn't chugged it. That cool-factor? Basically gone. Flushed. History. He no longer wished Natsu were here, because if Natsu were here, Gray would never live it down. Ever.

"...damn. And I thought I was a step ahead of most guys my age."

He rested his cheek against his palm and tried not to look sulky. The remark about "the law here"--implying that he was still jailbait--didn't help matters much.

"I'm sorry?" Atora didn't know if she was sorry she hurt his inflated ego or if she was sorry that she didn't ask sooner. And really, him pouting the way he was really didn't help him look at more ahead of a regular boy.

"Would it help if I told you that I still found you attractive?"

She honestly did. Even if he was just eighteen, she was sure it would be okay somewhere and really, who had to know his age?

The unruly hair was back and she absentmindedly reached over and brushed it out his eyes, her fingertips lingering upon his warm skin. He had a lot of body heat for somebody who molded ice.

If he blushed any more, he thought he might seriously die. He wasn't used to this kind of attention, let alone from an older woman. Come to think of it, most of his relationships with women in general were pretty abusive (back home, anyhow). Granted, it was mostly his fault for not wearing clothes.

Unable to think of a decent response, Gray stared at her for a long moment, hyper-aware of her fingers on his burning skin. He was attracted to her, too. Very much so (damn tight pants felt tighter than ever).

"Aw, shit, Atora. Don't know why I'm so awkward, today." He fiddled with his fork. "So let's just move on. Tell me about your beasts. When did you start training them?"

Atora thought it was cute when he blushed. She preferred this softer side of him over the side that puffed his chest out. Knocking down a man's ego was much more trouble than it was worth.

"I told you, be yourself," she gently chided him as she leaned back against her chair. "We already bathed together. What's left to try and hide?"

She watched him play with his fork with a small smile on her face as the waitress made her return with their food and placed their plates between them.

"Oh man, years ago. My first beast was a two-legged ball of fur I nicknamed Marshy. Short for marshmallow. He was able to transform into a large eagle but not much else."

She had a point. He wasn't acting like himself at all, and it was about time he snapped the hell out of this...whatever it was.

He blamed the pants.

"Marshy?" The thought of a giant, fuzzy eagle-creature named Marshmallow was really amusing, and Gray laughed before he picked up his cheeseburger in both hands and took a bite. Good shit. "That's so...you."

"So me?" she giggled. "I was sixteen. I had no sense!"

Her own meal was pushed around her plate until Atora decided to take a bite of steak. "Mmmmm..." she moaned in delight. "Delicious."

Edited 2008-03-16 02:23 (UTC)

"Nobody has sense when they're sixteen," Gray replied in between bites. "God knows I still don't."

He grinned while Atora showed her appreciation for her steak. "We'll definitely have to come back here sometime, yeah?"

"You have your moments, I'm sure."

Atora took a few moments to finish another mouthful before answering him. "We? Are you sure you want to be seen with an old hag like me?" she teased.

"I'm more sensible than Natsu, at least."

Never mind they acted a lot alike on occasion (and those occasions occurred more frequently than Gray cared to admit).

He'd been about to take a sip of his milkshake when Atora started up with the "hag" references. Gray's initial reaction was to set the shake back down on the table and roll his eyes. Then he picked up a French fry and waved it at her.

"If you're a hag, I'm a mutant walrus. And I better have an awesome name like Marshy."

"Wally. It would be Wally." Atora gave Gray a sly smile before snatching his potato weapon and stuffing it into her mouth.

"So," she began when she has swallowed, "Is Natsu your friend or brother or something?"

Gray chuckled. "Wally..." He shook his head and reached for the milkshake again, only to pause midway. Maybe he'd wait a little longer on that.

"He's...one of my guild mates. My nakama. Drives me crazy, he's such an idiot."

"I'm sure he's not that bad, Gray." He reminded her of the kids back home when he spoke like that, Gen and Sen especially. They didn't

each other, but they

respected

each other.

"What does a guild do anyway?" she asked, pushing her half-eaten plate towards him. It didn't take much to fill her up.

Gray wasn't about to object to more food. He'd already polished off his cheeseburger, and Atora's steak looked really good.

He knew he was probably going to sound immature, but he didn't care (Atora told him to be himself, right?). When it came to Natsu, he had a lot to say. "Not too bad...yeah. He's loud, and obnoxious, and he doesn't think about things, and he gets motion sickness--so lame!--and he eats fire and Happy is practically attached to his hip, which is irritating, and--"

Gray looked at Atora, and abruptly cut himself off. Different topic, different topic.

"Uh. Guilds. Guilds...they give you jobs? And a sense of camaraderie. And it doesn't happen all the time, but you can usually tell what kind of person someone is depending on which guild they're associated with." He sliced off a piece of steak. "There aren't any guilds where you're from?"

"Is Happy his girlfriend? And yes, you still like him," Atora replied as she leaned her chin on her cupped palm and watched Gray devour her food. It was clear to her that whoever this Natsu was, that he was very important to Gray. The way he complained about him showed her that much.

"We have something like them. Only no mages. More like demon hunters and trainers."

"Do not," Gray mumbled around his fork. Except he did. Sort of. A little bit. Maybe. "And Happy's a cat. A talking cat."

He missed them. Happy, Lucy, Ezra, Mirajane, Loki, Elfman, Kana, Master Makarov...even Natsu, to a certain degree. He hoped they were okay. They were his family, and it sucked being away from them.

But then again, if he hadn't wound up in this crazy city, he wouldn't have met Atora (or Idiot, or Ran-chan, or all the other people he'd come in contact with).

Best to look at the positives.

He finished the last piece of steak, and stacked the plates near the center of the table. Stuffed. He was stuffed.

"Demon hunters and trainers...sounds fun. I take it your world has a demon problem then, huh. Is that what you trained beasts for--to combat them?"

"Yes and now," Atora answered. "In general, we fight demons. Sometimes we take them in if they're harmless or hybrids. Half human, half demon that is."

She wasn't in the mood to go into the history of hybrids. Not because she disliked her job. In fact, she loved it. She lived for it. But remembering the history of hybrids would only bring her back to Gen.

The wounds were still too fresh to keep from not crying.

"Ready to go?" Atora asked, desire to drop this portion of the conversation clear on her face.

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Log; Ongoing

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[sorry for the lateness]

[no problem ♥]

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