[Closed] Archery and food, truly the most romantic of dates

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

Who: Nephenee and Takumi 
When: October 8th? Somewhere before the event
Where: Takumi's temple
What: A date involving food and Takumi trying to teach Neph how to not shoot herself in the foot with a bow.

The last time Nephenee had tried to shoot a bow, it'd been roughly six years ago, before she, Brom, Sephiran, and Kieran had been captured by Daein. She'd just signed up for the tiny militia the elders of Ohma had tried to put together to protect the village...and it had been a bit of a disaster, to put it mildly. Not that she was that bad at using a bow, but.,..well, she'd always been a spear-hunting type of girl, not so much of a bow-hunting sort.

...Alright, so she'd nearly shot herself in the foot. But everyone did that at least once...right??

But even with a fighting style much more of a close-and-personal sort, the Sentinel had always thought that being able to attack from that far away was neat, and knew the great advantage properly trained archers could bring to battle.

Now that she had a suitor that was, by all accounts, a fantastic one...well, she'd always wanted to ask, but had just recently gotten up the courage to do so. So now, here she was, with a basket full of goodies and a pretty blue dress, and more than a little nervous.

"Alright...Ah can do this..." It wasn't like they hadn't had dates before. Before she could get even more nervous, she knocked on the door to the temple.

Comments

[tacomeme]

It didn't take long for Takumi to answer- his soulless shinki often answered visitors to his temple, but Takumi knew she was coming, and was too worked up to wait.

"Nephenee-! Uhm, here, I can carry that...?"

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

Despite her anxiety flaring, there was a surge of happiness seeing him, and her own smile was radiant.

"Heya! I-if ya want, sure. Be careful, it's a lil' heavy."

She carefully held out the basket, and wasn't joking about the weight. She'd made quite a bit of food for them both, and even trying to be more, well, ladylike, the aromas coming throw the wicker threatened to make her mouth water.

[tacomeme]

Takumi made a small 'OOF' at the weight, but handled it well enough. Maybe he noticed her eying the food, maybe he was just hungry himself. But:

"Want to put off the tour and head outside? I have a spot cleared off already."

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

"Sure, if you're hungry already." As if she wasn't as well; it really had been hard to not snack on it as she'd cooked everything. "Ah've got plates an' stuff in there, if we need 'em."

Somewhere in there she'd managed to pack some...how, it wasn't precisely clear.

Her cheeks burning a little, Nephenee looked away shyly. "A-Ah'm glad we got to do this. It's been a lil' crazy with the latest influx o'folks...'Specially since Ah got a new Shinki." Kagaho...was a bit of a handful.

[tacomeme]

"A new shinki? They didn't cause you any trouble, right?" Did he sound a bit protective? Maybe. He lead her through the temple, which was honestly rather modest, and back to the yard.

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

"No more than he did at the party." She replied with a bit of a sigh. Yune, that had been embarrassing, but it had raised some stuff that she did want to talk to him about...

"Can't remember how much Ah told ya then, but his name's Kagaho. Gotta chip on his shoulder the size of a barn crossbeam, real grumpy. Reminds me of Soren or Shinon back in Tellius...but Ah'm hopin' it's somethin' Ah can help him with."

Even though she had had several shinki in her times here in the Far Shore, she remembered each of their deaths well. His still gave her nightmares sometimes. The goddess didn't want to lose him to that fate any more than she had wanted to lose the others to theirs.

"Wonder if he an' Dust got in a grumpy contest, who would win." Despite her initial shyness, she flashed Takumi a playful smile, one that had become less rare the more time they spent together and the more time she spent pushing herself to become more social.

[tacomeme]

"Yeah, I know the type." Made him think of Jakob a little. Or Leo when they first met. "I know you'll be able to wear them down eventually."

Once they were outside, the range was in full, well cared for, view. "And Dust never loses at anything."

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

"Ah hope so. Kinda like beatin' my head against metal sometimes." She helpfully rapped her knuckles against her head. "Good for me Ah'm real hard-headed."

As they stepped into the back, she looked around and took in the view. "Ah don't know if Ah've said it, but ya really have a pretty place. Ya take good care of it." It wasn't the gardens around her temple or the same feel, but it was obvious he took pride in it, and she enjoyed it all the same. It was very Takumi, and that was enough for her.

[tacomeme]

He blushed, standing up straighter and puffing his chest a bit in pride. "I-it's nothing very fancy, but I like it that way. U-uhm, I was thinking we could set up over here. It's a little shady under the trees."

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

Nephenee's own cheeks burned brighter seeing Takumi blush like that. It made her feel super warm and fuzzy, and she honestly wasn't sure why. Well, aside from he's so gosh darn cute, jus' wanna smooch h- wait a minute wow. That was a very surprisingly clear thought to come out of nowhere. Most of the time there was some sort of tug she felt at times, but this was the first time it had been that obvious to even her.

"A-Ah like trees! Uh, w-well, ya've s-seen my temple...g-guess that's obvious...M-mean Ah'm...fine sittin' under one. B-but Ah...think it's a g-good match for ya...Ya like stuff functional first, y-ya know? N-not that th-that's all..."

And mentally, Nephenee very much wanted to punch herself in the face for stumbling over her words so badly.

[tacomeme]

Even used to her fumbling some times, this was a bit much. He pauses, tilting his head and looking worried- not about her exactly, but that he might have said or done something to upset her. Clearly, it was his fault, after all.

"...yeah, I... I guess it's not very princely, is it..." Annnd he read her shyness completely wrong, oops.

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

That reaction got her even more flustered. But instead of making more noises and flailing even worse, she very quickly took stock of the situation. Her little derp out had caused him trouble, it seemed...and that made her feel terrible.

And even taking that moment to pause, it was hard to keep the stammer from her voice. "N-no, that ain't it at all! Ah, Ah mean...everyone can enjoy sittin' under a tree."

Wait, that didn't quite make sense, that's not what he meant.

"Ah didn't mean it ain't princely...o'course it's princely. It's still you," She struggled to actually say 'you' instead of 'ya', but it came out, "You're a prince...an' ya make it princely jus' cause it's what ya like. This place is perfect for ya. It don't need to be super fancy to be 'princely'. Heck, Ah'd say it's more princely than some o'the stuff in Melior."

And despite her nerves, she put an arm around his shoulders, the closest to a hug she could manage with him holding the basket, and rested her forehead against his. Her cheeks were burning even as she spoke. "An'...it bein' ya is perfect, an' why Ah like it. Cause Ah like ya."

[tacomeme]

"You like it... because I like it?" He sounded honestly surprised, and suddenly having her head so close to his and her cute face that nice shade of pink... he is dumbstruck. He's never had someone say that something was princely just because he did it- that he didn't have a standard to live up to (and fail, always, to reach). And more so, say that they liked him for something so simple and earnest.

He swallowed heavily, and in a rush leaned up, to the side and slightly awkwardly- and lightly kissed her cheek. It was impulsive, and with the basket in his arms it was also very fumbling. But there was no doubt what it was.

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

"Ah said Ah did, didn't Ah? Not gonna lie 'bout that."

Of course she liked it, it was very him and that was enough. As someone with her own self-esteem issues, Nephenee'd been similarly bewildered at the thought of someone like him liking her in the first place. A prince liking a country girl, and not a very feminine one at that?? It still confused her a little sometimes.

There was no confusion in the peck on the cheek, though. There was a bit of a surprised noise that escaped her, and her face went from that nice pink shade to a very bright red. And even if she was blinking at Takumi in shock for a few seconds, she was grinning like an idiot.

She might have BSOD'd a little, but it was a happy blue screen.

[tacomeme]

Her smile was the only thing keeping him from freaking out at her silence. He freezes, smiling but eyes flicking back and forth, waiting for a response. Even knowing she liked it, his brain was ready to supply how much he had messed up.

"Are you... okay?"

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

"A-Ah'm jus' swell," She stammered, brought out of her reverie by the prince's voice, "'S-specially since...ya kissed me...w-wasn't expectin' it..."

Nephenee's smile turned a little bashful as she rubbed the back of neck. "Sure did like it, though...never been kissed before." Hence the brain break for a few seconds there.

[tacomeme]

"Wait, really? I... but you're such a pretty girl." He sounded shocked by this revelation that he was her first kiss. "I mean... I've never really kissed anyone before either..."

[mylanceisbiggerthanyours]

With that response, Nephenee's cheeks became as red as the ribbon in his hair. Pretty? He really thought that? Well...he had never said otherwise, and Takumi certainly didn't seem the type to lie about this (or much else, he seemed to speak freely enough).

"Well...you're...also the only fella Ah've ever seen, too..." She looked away in her shyness, "...Ah'm the first person ya kissed? An' ya think Ah'm that pretty?" The former was both surprising and somehow not so - he seemed reserved enough, after all.