There's Magic In The Air (IC)

[Heritage]

On a warm Saturday night in early May, Lynn fidgeted in front of 'Vatan', a nice little Indian place she'd picked out just off of Meadow. Thankfully Riverside had a lot of Indian places to choose from; she knew Wes wasn't broke but still didn't have a good handle on how much money he actually had, so she tried for the best combination of positive reviews and reasonable prices.

Thank you, Google; as always, I pledge my undying love to you. :bow:

As usual, she put a lot of thought into her look for the night; having an infinite number of options to choose from really allowed a girl to go for just the right effect. Tonight she decided to keep it simple and not overthink it; she knew she liked Wes, but didn't want to either crowd him or force things down any particular path, so she opted for 'pretty' over 'sexy'.

She pulled a box of orange Tic Tacs out of her tiny purse and popped a few; she never could suck on Tic Tacs like some folks, instead going straight for the crunchy goodness.

I hope he looks nice tonight, she thought absently.

[Sandman XI]

I haven't been on a date in a long time, Wesley thinks as he walks toward his destination. I vowed off meat ever since, he shudders as the horrible thoughts running through his head, well, ever since I did what I had to do to save Lynn. I haven't told her about it, just that I'm a vegetarian. Hopefully this place has stuff I can eat. The suit was not his normal wear: black socks and dress shoes, dark grey slacks and white dress shirt covered by a dark grey vest. He wanted to look nice for Lynn. When he finally gets there and sees Lynn, he greets her with a hug. "Hey, sorry I didn't make it here faster. Work ran late, but I wouldn't miss this for the world." Taking a look at how she is dressed, he smiles, "You look nice tonight."

[Heritage]

"Hey, sorry I didn't make it here faster. Work ran late, but I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Hey, it's no problem."

Lynn leans up to give him a friendly peck on the cheek, and then starts fussing with his shirt collar and vest just a bit, smoothing and adjusting.

"Sometime I would like to come by the shop and see you work, though, if I can; I know there might be health issues and stuff, but I'd like to see it, y'know, if that's cool."

"You look nice tonight."

She dimples and does a weird sort of shrug.

"Aw, that's sweet of you! And you, you look great! I love the vest."

She makes one more adjustment to it, then gently takes his hand.

"Okay, so you said you never had Indian food, right? Oh buddy, are you in for a treat!"

The slender girl leads him towards the door, eagerly looking back over her shoulder at Wes.

"It's not tofu burgers where they try to makes veggies taste like meat; these guys have been doing this for thousands of years, and they really know what they're doing. You like spicy? This is good spicy."

In short order, they are seated at a booth not far from the window; the restaurant is gorgeous, with rich warm colors, plants and sculptures. Lynn passes one of the menus to Wes and opens her own.

"Okay, samosas are like spicy balls of heaven; I'm gonna get some, and you can either have some of mine or order your own, or if your brave you can get another appetizer and we can share. I'm gonna order the toor dal, because I love it. Ummm...you might like the batakanu sak, it's almost like a potato stew, and then we get rice and naan, the pan bread, to go with everything. Oh, this is gonna be awesome!"

She practically hops up and down in her chair.

[Sandman XI]

Well, there goes the chair gesture, Wesley thinks as he seats himself. He smiles and nods at Lynn. Not really understanding all that she says, he tries to be polite. "Yeah, this all looks good. I've never been to somewhere this nice," he looks at the menu and then back to Lynn, "so I guess I'll start with something easy. Any suggestions for starters?"

[Heritage]

"Yeah, this all looks good. I've never been to somewhere this nice," he looks at the menu and then back to Lynn, "so I guess I'll start with something easy. Any suggestions for starters?"

Lynn gives Wes a long, penetrating look. "Maybe I'm wrong, but I get the sense your kind of an old-fashioned guy...who does tattooing. That being said, I'm gonna totally spoil this for you and order for both of us, okay?"

She smiles, reaches across the table and gives his hand a little squeeze.

"I'll try not to make a habit of it, I promise."

When the waitress comes by, the pretty brunette orders samosa and sev puri for appetizers, the batakanu sak for Wesley and toor dal for herself, and a large order of pulao for both of them. When the naan arrives with the dipping sauce, she tears into it with a vengeance, and very little decorum. The waitress also brings by a pot of tea and ice waters for both guests.

"So what I said about visiting you at the parlor someday, could I do that? Would that be cool? I wanna watch you work." It's a little bit of work to make out her words over all the chomping ;)

[Sandman XI]

Wesley chuckles at the old fashion statement. Maybe he would tell her later. Much later, just not now. He holds on to her and and nods confusedly as the order is taken. He takes mental notes of all the word Lynn says so he can learn what she's saying. If it's good and he can afford it, this could be a regular place for them. "Sure," he nods, "it's a lot of fun once you get past the rough exterior. A lot of people see these guys as bad guys, but they're pretty mellow. One guy owns a antique shop and talks about his family all the time." If there's anything he's learned, about eating out it's not to spoil yourself on the appetizers. Taking one the samosas, he bites down on one cautiously. "Good stuff," he says after swallowing, "spicy is good," he says quickly reaching for his drink.

[Heritage]

"Sure," he nods, "it's a lot of fun once you get past the rough exterior. A lot of people see these guys as bad guys, but they're pretty mellow. One guy owns a antique shop and talks about his family all the time."

Lynn nods. "That's cool. It's just like with bikers; people always assume they're like these horrible people or something, but I met a few who were friends of my dad, and most of them were super-cool and kinda mellow."

She munches on her samosa for a bit, has a sip of tea, then cocks her head to one side as she eyes Wesley.

"So do you think you're gonna crash back at, uh, her place for a while, or do you see yourself movin' out some day? I mean, for me personally, I think it's starting to get to me."

The brunette shakes her head.

"I mean, she's been great and all, but I need to live somewhere a bit more...normal, know what I mean? I give it another month, maybe two tops. How 'bout you?"

[Sandman XI]

"Yeah. That," Wesley says as he looks down at Lynn's hand he's holding, before looking into her eyes, "I really want to do that. That said, I don't work a nine-to-five job. Maybe one day the world will be perfect and I can stop doing what I do." He pauses with a sad grimace, "If this makes me sound like that 'professional house guest' I understand if you hate me for saying it. I hate myself for saying it."

[Heritage]

"If this makes me sound like that 'professional house guest' I understand if you hate me for saying it. I hate myself for saying it."

Lynn's eyes go soft and sad as she tightens her grip on Wesley's hand.

"Hey, no, I didn't mean it that way; you've gotta follow your bliss, dude. You're an artist, and that almost never pays well, unless you're like that spooky Kat Von D chick on cable, with your own show and stuff. If you do what you love and you're happy, that trumps everything else as far as I'm concerned."

She shakes her head firmly.

"Never be ashamed of what you are...unless you're like a serial killer or something, and then pride in your work is just plain wrong."

She takes another big bite of samosa and grins.

"So I can visit you and you can visit me, no worries; I'm mean, it's not like I won't be hanging around 'Fun Zone Central' all the time either way, right? We'll see each other all the time."

Soon the main entrees arrive, and Lynn rubs her hands together with glee as she smiles at the waitress.

"Ooh, yummy yummy yummy, thanks! So standard rules of Asian and Indian food apply here, as far as I'm concerned, so everything is up for grabs; mi plate es su plate, okay?"

She spoons a big mass of rice onto her plate, then covers it in toor dal as she hums merrily in anticipation of spicy delight.

[Heritage]

It was a good night, one they both would remember for some time; Wesley amused by her effervescent giddiness, and Lynn quite taken by his unflappable charm. They would both think back upon it fondly, during times both good and bad, and draw comfort from the warmth they felt that night, a night when young love felt very real and within reach, like a butterly fluttering at your fingertips.

And for a few sweet hours, their hearts danced.