Tired

[DrStein]

"Eh, little of this, little of that. Worked on a new project." He drawled it all out as if it was really unimportant.

"To tell you the truth, I'm more interested in what you've been up to?" Rex could almost picture her now, lounging somewhere in a nice house or apartment... half-naked... Focus, man, focus!

 

[intriguess]

Mack

"I've managed to get a little work done, you know the joys of working your own hours. Otherwise I've been wrapped up in creating something to fill the empty walls." Her skin felt suddenly warm as if just listening to his voice somehow raised the temperature. It had been a cold rainy day and she slipped off her cardigan and ran her hands up and down her arms. Besides when she heard him say the word up her mind was thinking of him being UP. "I think I demolished what pitiful little I had left in my fridge but didn't feel like buying groceries in the rain."

 

[DrStein]

Rex grinned. She had just given him an opportunity to ask her out. Whether or not it was conscious was irrelevant. "Well, in that case, would you like to join me for lunch? I know this really great place that serves East and South Asian food. Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, the whole nine yards. They also have great bubble tea. Ever had bubble tea?"

For some reason bubble tea had always been a nice little conversation piece.

 

[intriguess]

Yum, food, and tea. She liked food that didn't require a lot of skill to cut or eat even though she had mastered chopsticks, but he had said Asian and she tended to stay away from unfamiliar places as you never knew what you were going to get, but she was feeling adventuresome and he had suggested it.

That's when she realized she looked a wreck, it was Monday after all and she didn't have anything lined up for tonight so she hadn't bothered dressing except to throw on the cardigan to ward off the chill. She was still wearing the t-shirt and pj pants she'd slept in and her hair she had casually pulled back into a ponytail.

For a split second she debated asking him to get something to go and quickly realized that seemed kinda antisocial, too familiar, and besides her appartment didn't have much space for eating. "No I've never had bubble tea, I tend to go for mint," she had about five different types of mint tea in the cupboard but that was an entirely different topic. "Sounds fabulous, give me the address and I can meet you there in say 30 minutes?"

 

[DrStein]

"Sounds good to me." One could practically hear the casual shrug he made in his voice. He gave Mackie the address and quickly raced downstairs to noogie Capone behind the ears again.

"Haha! I've got a date, boy!"

The Great Dane woofed in excitement, seeming to know what his master was getting at. Rex tossed him a smoked pig ear in celebration, which the massive hound snatched out of the air and retreated up to his giant pillow bed in the studio to devour.

Rex got changed into a pair of loose-fitting blue jeans, hiking boots, a black T-shirt with a Misfits fiend skull emblazoned on the front, and his black jacket with the samurai print on the back. He took a second to fix himself up in the mirror before hopping into his car, a red Honda Civic. Like his wardrobe, it had all the trapping of his strange lifestyle. Punisher skull floormats, yin-yang seat covers, dragon print steering wheel cover, and all manner of other unusual decorations.

He drove off to The Oriental Garden, parked in a nearby lot and waited under the awning for Mackie.

 

[intriguess]

She dealt with her hair first, taking it down and running a comb through it. She rarely wore it down in the windy season so with a simple twist she tied it in a knot and clipped it in place. She rarely bothered with make up but opted for her flavoured lip gloss, it was fun to wear. She pulled off her rumpled slept in pajamas and stared at her closet for a while.

"It's only lunch," she said to herself as she put on one of her fancy lacey bras and slipped a faded denim shirt over it. She deliberately left an extra button undone, normally she was quite modest but today she felt like exposing some extra skin. She pulled on her favorite embroidered blue jeans, zipped up her black boots and was ready to go.

Her car was a simple maroon Intrigue, since they didn't make them any more and she loved the car, she also had one in midnight blue, but it was stored at her parents until she had a decent garage.

The restaurant was in a neighborhood she hadn't been in before, but as she drove up it looked clean and neat. She pulled into a spot, took a deep breath, rolled up her windows, turned the key and removed it, and stepped out of her car. She flicked the lock button and swore she could feel him looking at her before she turned to look towards the door.

 

[DrStein]

Rex smiled when he saw Mackie. "Hey there, beautiful. What kept you?" If there was one thing he could never resist, it was teasing people, women in particular. It was a game to him and he never got bored with it.

 

[intriguess]

Mackie

He spoke with such ease that it was easy to remain relaxed, rather than be insulted like many women would have been. So she twisted a stray strand of hair and smiled back, "You know I was behind this guy who refused to go the speed limit. I think he had car performance anxiety."

It only took a few steps to reach him under the awning and she was a little surprised at how she did not feel nervous. She considered it a good sign.

 

[DrStein]

Rex took Mackie's hand and canted his head toward the door. "Come on. Let's get in out of the rain."

The interior of the restaurant had walls painted in pastel shades with the silhouettes of Asian scenery at the middle of the panels. There were nine tables in all, only two of which were occupied. The smell of exotic cooking wafted out of the kitchen at the opposite end of the restaurant, and the air was warm and inviting.

A diminutive Asian woman came up with two menus under her arm and smiled in greeting. "Hello! Table for two?"

"Yes, please," Rex answered, and the two of them were led to a table.

"I'll be back in one moment to get your drinks," the woman said before darting off to the kitchen.

Rex took up his menu and smiled at Mackie. "Try the bubble tea, trust me. Do you prefer stuff that's very light, or something sweeter?"

 

[intriguess]

"I add sugar when I feel like it, sometimes I like it straight and sometimes I like it sweetened." Okay so she knew the conversation about tea was lame, but it was far better than talking about the weather or her life so she ran with it. "I guess I'm a sweet and salty person, that's probably why I love sweet and sour sauce." Oh boy she just admitted to loving food, she felt as if she sounded fat, of course having been a chubby joker in her teens it was normal for her to subconsciously pick at her thoughts on food. She quickly realized that as a man he probably was paying more attention to how her breasts moved under her shirt than anything she said about eating.

 

[DrStein]

Rex chuckled. "This is different from normal tea. It's green tea mixed with milk and fruit juice. It's iced and the bubble are marble-sized tapioca beads. If you want something sweet, my personal pick would be passion fruit. For a lighter taste, go with green apple."

It was interesting how people admired a knowledge of food. But then again, one of Rex's heroes, Robert Rodriguez, once said, "You're going to be eating for the rest of your life. Treat yourself right."

 

[intriguess]

"someday it's going to take a college degree to decipher menus," she joked as he explained the creation of bubble tea, and since she preferred her apple pie very sweet, and passion fruit sounded really good that's what she ordered. She wished she had snacked on something in the car because it was never a good idea to eat out when hungry, especially on a date. Then again it wasn't like she was a proffesional dater, probably closer to amateur status.

"Passion fruit, a friend used to say that what you ordered on a date indicated what kind of date it would be."

 

[DrStein]

One of Rex's brows went up and he smirked. "Five minutes and you're already dropping hints that you want me," he teased. "New record." He embellished it with a joking wink and a light chuckle.

 

[intriguess]

She smiled, "All dates should be so lucky as to be labeled passionate. I'm glad you feel up to the challenge." She felt relaxed, able to joke about sex, heck she hadn't gotten any in a long time and even her joy toys had not gotten used since the move. One way or another she was getting off tonight. "I actually think this is the first time I've been first to imply a passionate night." She wondered if he was one of those guys who prefered a woman who made the first move.

She was glad that her nipples took a while to harden as she was oddly enough modest in public, and even though she could feel her tits rubbing against her bra, she knew that it would take direct stimulation to get them to pop out.

 

[DrStein]

Rex chuckled lightly and let a brief, comfortable silence set in. He decided to shift the conversation, keep her guessing. As casually as possible, he started, "Read any good books lately? I just started on Good Omens by Neil Gaiman. Great author."

If there was one thing Rex took pride in, it was his spontaneity. Time with him was never boring as he enjoyed being impulsive and difficult to predict. He figured this little move would keep Mackie guessing. He clearly was comfortable talking about sex, so why did he shift the conversation from something like that?

OOC: I might be a little slow ovre the next few days. I felt the symptoms of a depressive episode setting in over the last week, and I need to take some time to sharpen the saw and get my mind back on track.

 

[intriguess]

Mackie

It was nice to be with a guy who didn't hone in on a potentially sexual topic. He certainly did not have a one track mind, and she oddly enough figured it probably helped him get laid more often. Intellectual stimulation was refreshing and they talked a little bit about everything. For a while it seemed like they were baiting each other to see who would make a more blatant comment. Then again she was finding the banter and innuendo amazing. It reminded her of talking to a college professeor without all the sexual harassment and naivety lurking around every corner.

His comfort in talking about anything made her wonder if that carried over into being comfortable in his own skin. She knew the artistic type tended to be expressive and relaxed and that it translated over into their intimate relationships. She could easily recall the best sex she'd ever had, a sculpting student with amazingly talented hands. Such thoughts were not helping her maintain a friendly distance.

OOC no prob, working on a nice headcold myself (itchy eyes, stuffy nose, sneezing, headache, scratchy throat) just when the headache subsides, the rest kick in. I've been out of town and on the way back put my mind back on track to responses to my threads so was able to type on luckily without a sneeze. So do whatever you need to, I know the gloom and doom seems to last forever, and the energetic bursts are never long enough.

 

[DrStein]

Rex decided to shift the topic of conversation a little more after their food arrived. He'd done enough talking, now it was her turn. "So, do you have any big plans or projects you're working on right now?"

 

[intriguess]

"Well we're always hiring new people, and we have these great awards things every month. That's coming up in a few weeks, but right now I'm involved in some retirement rollovers and setting up investment accounts. Getting my securities liscense was the smartest thing I ever did. It's really fun to play with other people's money especially when you have the numbers to back you up." She took a drink and continued, "Seeing the relief on peoples faces that they are not going to have to work until their 72 and then pinch pennies is worth the smidge of math I end up doing."

 

[DrStein]

"The world needs more people like you," Rex mused.

He stretched out as the check was brought out and casually deposited only enough cash to pay for his end of the meal and the tip. The look on his face said without words that he saw no real reason why one of them should have to pick up the entire check.

"It's still early. Feel like catching a movie? I've been looking forward to seeing Howl's Moving Castle."

 

[intriguess]

She knew money was tight for him without him saying it, and while she could have easily picked up the check she was not the type to try and emasculate a guy either. Her success could easily have intimidated him, which is why she didn't reach for the check first, "That's why the company is growing. Our motto is doing the right thing for people, when the industry is screwing them over." She glanced at ticket to see if he split it or had microsplit it as she had ordered something slightly more expensive than his. She decided not to read a whole lot into that as she put down enough for her half, glad for once she was carrying around some small bills and change and didn't have to break a twenty.

"Howl's Moving Castle? I know I don't get out much but I've never heard of it."

 

[DrStein]

Rex's eyes slowly widened. "Holy shit, you've never heard of Howl's Moving Castle? You don't know of Hayao Miyazaki?" He slouched down into his seat with a mixture of amusement, surprise, and exasperation.

"Oh, that tears it. When we're done, I'm dragging you back to my place and forcing you to watch at least two Miyazaki films." With his cocky voice, it was nearly impossible to tell if he was being serious.

 

[intriguess]

She wasn't quite sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she had not seen what was obviously a favorite of his. She was suddenly reminded of other fanatical movie types, but figured it was probably part of the whole graphic design background as she recalled quite a few who were rather enarmored with Japanese film and anime.

"Is there subtitles or really bad dub overs?"

 

[DrStein]

"The dub work for Miyazaki films is actually well-done... Well, with the exception of Gillian Anderson in Princess Mononoke. I'm not one of those elitist purists who insists it must be in Japanese to remain pure or whatever the hell they think it is." Rex laughed lightly at that and stood up with a quick stretch.

"If you prefer subtitles, though, that's in the DVD menu. And I've also got subtitled DVD of the Beat Takeshi remake of Zatoichi: the Blind Swordsman." Rex made no attempt to hide his love of Far Eastern art. As much as he prided himself on a knowledge of modern art in the western world, his first love was always the Far East and the late 19th/early 20th century.

He glanced at his watch to check the time. "If we move quick, we can still make the 2:45 show. Let's take my car."

 

[intriguess]

"Sounds like fun," seeing his passion was infectious and before she knew it she was asking all sorts of inane questions about his interests in their culture and so on. From binding feet, to geishas, calligraphy, print work, swords, and more thier conversation ranged to everything but sushi it seemed as he drove to the theatre.

 

[DrStein]

Rex enjoyed explaining all his research and knowledge into Far Eastern culture, but kept himself from dominating the conversation.

"Basically, the whole reason so many Japanese cartoons, movies, and video games have such abundant sex and violence is because the belief there is that catharsis is the proper way to deal with dark thoughts. America is built on Puritan ideals that say you have to supress and deny those thoughts. The Japanese on the other hand believe in creating a conduit for those urges, a healthy outlet."

The house lights in the theater died down and the movie began. The previews went through, followed by the opening credits. Rex slowly slid his hand into Mackie's, keeping his eyes on the screen the whole time.