[PRP] Dinner for Two (Piper/Brenley)

[Smerdle]

He honestly couldn't recall if their spar had involved a bet at all, let alone a free meal for the winner. He remembered losing quite vividly, and how little he had cared as long as beating him had made her smile. He wasn't about to argue that there hadn't been a wager, especially now that he had the money to pay for a decent number of the places in town she might choose. Too bad being flush couldn't calm his nerves.

Brenley resisted the compulsion to text her again, having done so several days ago to see if she even wanted to go in the first place, and then again this afternoon to let her know when he would stop by. He slowly shuffled through the reaper dorm and stood outside her door instead, hand poised to knock for at least the past ten minutes. It was just dinner between friends. If anything he should be angry that he was being forced to pay. He tried to be angry. It didn't work.

His knuckles moved, barely skimming the door. "Piper?" He knocked again, more successfully this time.

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[medigel]

For the past several days, Piper had been set on dyeing her hair. It was an impromptu decision, mostly because of Amrita's suggestion to do something to make her happy—and adding a little something something seemed like an appropriate gift to herself after finishing her exam with Lock.

Even more so with this date.

She didn't beat around the bush about it, not to herself at least. Piper knew it was a date whether they acknowledged it or not, because honestly what else could it be when they could get that awkward on each other? (She blamed Brenley for all of it, but still.) Plus they'd already gone to one dance together. Sort of. That had also been awkward and short lived. Their track record was spotty (totally Brenley's fault still up to when she left Amity), so it was important that their first real reconnection was a strong one.

And one couldn't make a stronger impression than with a new look.

Honestly, Piper had been surprised he would really follow up on that offer despite her insistent joking in the village. Then again, she was kind of surprised someone else hadn't swooped in while she was absent. So she had to make this count. Who knew what had happened in the months she'd been out?

"Coming~" she sang song'd shortly after the knock. There was no usual scrabble of minipets to check out the visitor; Piper had made sure there would be no extra distractions that night.

With an extra puff of jasmine scented perfume, she gave her hair an extra fluff, double checked it again, and then finally opened the door with an eager smile she didn't bother playing off. The usual look had been tamed down to more manageable curls, with tints of purple now accompanying the blue towards the bottom. Star clips kept it from falling in front of her face, gold and white with a little glitter; someone was being adventurous today.

"Sup, B-Ren," she greeted him, not so subtly leaning against the doorframe. "How you like my new look?"

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[Smerdle]

She had the evening sky perched on her head.

It was the first thought that crossed his mind as she opened the door, and he was so pleasantly surprised by it that he chuckled and replied, "It's beautiful," without any hesitation at all. Of course his throat dried up and the tips of his fingers went tingly after that, but he didn't take back his words or try to qualify them with a stuttery 'it's always beautiful' or something similar. He simply let them hang there for a while, ever so briefly entertaining the thought that this might end up being more than just friends catching up.

When he had deemed his voice available for use a couple of swallows later, he teased, "You're ready? No last minute primping?" Bren held out his arm, half covered by the rolled up sleeve of a blue jacket so dark it was almost black. "Where might we be going?"

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[medigel]

Piper opened her mouth and then promptly forgot her sassy retort. Closed her mouth. Waited for Brenley to add something else. But naw, the jackin' idiot just sort of left her hanging with that little line like he was some smooth boil now. But she saw him swallowing...She briefly considered making him swallow her tongue with some smooching, but even that seemed too much, even for someone as dramatic as Piper. (Maybe later then.)

She gave a low whistle as she took Brenley's arm regally as she could and slipped out of her room, gesturing with her other hand a silent spell so that a breeze would close it behind them. "Boil, seriously?" Piper asked with a laugh as they started to make their way down the hall. "On this flawless masterpiece? Uh-uh, no primpin' required." Sass was back, and with it she could smooth over her awkward pause.

"I-D-K where we goin' yet, T-B-H," just glide on past the fact that she'd been back home and away from the sprawl of Halloween Town's more industrial features and therefore could barely remember where the maul was, let alone where good restaurants were, "but I do know wherever we go, we gotta ride in style. You make us some kinda fancy broomstick thing we can use, nerd?" she teased him as she leaned into Brenley's shoulder.

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[Smerdle]

"Ah, yes. I don't know what I was thinking," he said, chuckling. Surely she woke up looking just like this every day, and birds picked her clothes and did her ha—

Well, to be fair, birds might have actually helped with her hair now that he thought about it.

Abandoning that mental image before it sparked a nervous titter and questions he couldn't answer without seeming mentally unstable, Bren slowly led her farther down the hall.

"That's okay. We can, uh, wing it." Brenley was not good at winging things. Nor was he used to ghouls leaning comfortably into any part of his person. He swallowed again, telling himself that it was only Piper, which made the situation both better and worse. Unfortunately, transportation hadn't been on his list of things to plan back before this had maybe-sort-of-possibly turned into a date, but it wouldn't have been particularly stylish if he'd given it any thought anyway. Better to come up with something on the spot, despite the whole 'winging it' issue. "I did not," he admitted. "I do have that wyvern that followed me home, but it's just as likely to stand around screeching as it is to be cooperative." Unless...

He brushed her hand with his fingers, his busy mind distracting away any awkward response that would have normally followed such an action. "Pick something to sit on. Common room sofa, rug, table, anything that isn't nailed down." She might have been joking, but now he had a mission.

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[medigel]

Piper's brows raised with curiosity, and she took care to linger even as she peeled off of him, fingers from fingers, arms from arms, shoulders from shoulders, making every second of contact seem to last longer than necessary. (Which was absolutely necessary to maintain her atmosphere.) She'd been eager to reveal that she'd manage to snag a mount as well, and one much better sounding than the creature Brenley had been unfortunately saddled with--and he did always seem to get the weird ones, what with that one dromiowhatsit she had to take care of--but his initiative held much better promise than even her showing off. And that was saying something.

"Well, you know me." She tapped her chin and considered the common room for a few moments before, with a grin, plopping down on one of the assorted squishy seats by the fireplace, bright blue and only just comfortable for two people to sit. "I like wingin it~"

She pat the space in front of her most innocently.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He felt his mistake before he realized he had made one, the side of his body that she had occupied going cold as Piper moved away. Bren wanted to pull her back, to declare his idea a stupid one and return to whatever that had been, because in hindsight it had been very nice. Comfortable. He paused, letting his disappointment sink in and a teach him a lesson, then followed her off course, only to have that disappointment turned on its ear. The minuscule part of him that had paid attention to his mother's dogeared romance novels whispered yeees, very good. Most of the rest of him went tingly with nerves again.

She wanted him to join her on the tiniest couch. Chair. Whatever.

Brenley slid forward, squeezing in next to her before his brain incapacitated him further. "Yes, I know," he said, softly smirking. He watched her as he flattened his palm against the cushion's side, passing his FEAR into it and encouraging fabric, padding, and stitching toward weightlessness. More than weightlessness. Their seat rose slowly, stopping a respectable distance off of the ground.

"I had thought we might... hover into town, I suppose. Though it's hardly stylish, now that I think about it. Nor do I have it in my power to... move us." He had hoped to tether the item of furniture she chose to one of the mounts, but he now saw that his plan involved stealing a sofa from the school.

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[medigel]

Had she been more impatient she would have just forced Brenley to sit in front of her and then secure herself from behind like it was a motorcycle or something, but he looked like he needed the concentration. It couldn't stop her, though, from clapping a few times like a little scareling as their ride started to rise.

"You can't what now?" Piper giggled. She reached over to pat his cheek. "Aww, Bren, you're just adorable. Well, we got two options. One," she raised her index finger, "you make this thing float and I'll just ferry us around with like some wind or something. Two," she raised another finger, eyes twinkling, "we hop a ride on my jackin' awesome new mount."

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[Smerdle]

"Yes," Bren said in almost immediate response to her suggestions. He hopped off of their seat and offered her a hand down. "The second one, please." This had been a stunning little diversion, and her response had done a great deal for his ego in the span of a few seconds, but now wasn't the time for creative tinkering, at least not the sort that left them hovering in the middle of the common room instead of making progress.

He held out his arm again, hoping she might take it as she had before. "Lead on. Show me this awesome mount." If the creature seemed anything like his, he would be the first to suggest they abandon all stylish rides and walk.

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[medigel]

All too happy to take his arm once more, Piper helped herself up and smoothed her skirt out. "Rajah's super awesome," she assured Brenley as she led them out of the dorms, not so much leaning on him as before as she was tugging him forward. They were going to need a bit of space to manage this safely.

Once she was sure they had a place, she put her fingers to her mouth and whistled shrilly. It was a little different than summoning her own birds--namely it wasn't instantaneous nor completely in her power to get the mount over--but after a few seconds, a portal yawned open in the ground. Out of it shot out a serpent who himself also needed a few seconds to clear the portal before he curled up and landed. Rajah surveyed them with large amber eyes, tongue flicking out as he eyed Brenley in particular.

"Down here, you!" Piper grinned as she braced herself against the mount's head and stroked it. "Rajah, Bren. Bren, Rajah. He's no bird, but hey, he can fly us wherever!"

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[Smerdle]

His first reaction was to take a step back, chuckling nervously as the very large snake burst out of the ground, or rather out of a portal, and stared him down like it had just found dinner. Or at least that's how Brenley chose to interpret things, with the lip licking and all. Not that serpents had lips. The boil moistened his own, swallowing to help regain his composure. Rajah was definitely super awesome, and he didn't seem at all inclined to screech or buck like an angry boar. He was just rather startling, that was all.

"Nice to meet you, Rajah," Bren said, making eye contact with the mount and regaining his pleased smile. "You're rather impressive, aren't you?" And then, since it seemed fitting, he inclined his head to the creature in a polite bow. "Now... how do we get on?" Rajah might have already seemed smarter than his own Nameless Wonder, but the snake was also no sofa.

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[medigel]

Piper snorted at the polite display and pat his back. "We climb on here, duh," she replied as she patted Rajah's head down. The giant snake obliged and laid flat, uncoiling enough to allow them to reach the saddle further along its spine. Using its many spines like stairs, Piper eventually threw a leg over and managed to get situated.

"It's easy once you get used to it. Just gotta watch that you don't cut yourself!" The ghoul reached out a hand to help Brenley up. "And don't startle him; Rajah's sensitive, the big baby."

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[Smerdle]

"Of course." Bren sounded almost natural as he added a muffled 'duh' of his own while reaching for her hand. He carefully climbed the creature's scales and settled into place quickly enough, stalling a bit by removing his scarf and tying it around his waist for safekeeping.

At first he gave Piper's back a thumbs up when he was good to go, but then he leaned forward slightly and brought it around her side to where she could actually see it. "Ready for dissipation." Realizing how that sounded, he added, "Kidding. I promise."

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[medigel]

"Wow, lovin' the confidence," Piper noted with a affectionate roll of her eyes regardless. "You get scared of heights, just, y'know, grab on." Where? He knew where. Taking the reigns, she called, "Alright, Raj, up we go!" and gave them a small tug.

With a sound of sliding scales, the giant serpent slithered into the sky, first with a little turbulence (he wasn't used to carrying two people, and other students were about in the sky as well) but smoothing out the more they left the ground. There thankfully wasn't much winding action to whatever was allowing him to fly other than small humps up and down to adjust to various changes of pressure and wind.

To be honest, Piper hadn't actually flown away from campus before. She'd been too busy fixing herself up and then again after the field trip, and--funny thing--classes and homework were so time consuming. So she couldn't help but be dazzled herself as she looked out over Halloween Town below.

A little too dazzled to notice that wind plus giant hair equaled a face cushion for Brenley.

"Whoa...Okay I take it back, that Miasma place wasn't so bad."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Bren had yet to actually fly around on his own screeching beast with any success. Still, he knew enough to anticipate unpleasant things upon takeoff. He gripped the saddle beneath them when Rajah rose into the air, but as Piper had suggested, it wasn't enough. He bounced once, and before he could do so a second time, he had leaned forward and clasped his arms around the ghoul's waist. It was hardly a romantic gesture, but even if he had intended it as one, the addition of her hair would have made his scramble desperate anyway.

Thankfully, it took him all of ten seconds to recover, and as he gently shifted her hair away from his face and got a view of the landscape below, he had to admit this was all rather impressive. Brenley had already classified Miasma Village as more intriguing than annoying in hindsight, though he supposed he could now add helpful and... beauty-inducing to his list of adjectives.

"No, it wasn't." He finally loosened his grip on her rather deliberately now that things were calmer, but kept his arms where they were, looped around Piper's waist. "Minus the sand sharks and the basilisks it actually turned out all right."

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