Sushi Station- Thursday evening

[lovethatjourney]

Alexis had secured a date! And Julius was completely adorable, picking her up with flowers, which was so sweet. And sure, maybe the location was a little different than Alexis was used to, which was why the silver sparkles she was wearing was maybe a little much, but she was excited for it either way.

"Have you been here at all yet?" she asked when they arrived.


[For he who is with her, but open for your sushi needs!]

Comments

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"No, not yet," Julius said, skipping over the fact that he got most of his meals by scavenging from common rooms and the cafeteria. "I mean, I came here to check it out after you suggested it, but that's all."

And by 'came here to check it out,' he meant 'offer to wash dishes to pay for tonight's date.' Which was how he'd been spending his evenings this past week.

[lovethatjourney]

"You did research?" Alexis said, smiling brightly. "Julius! That's so super cute!"

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius ducked his head and grinned. "That's way nicer than pointing out that it's also really nerdy," he said. "So thanks."

[lovethatjourney]

"It shows that you're thoughtful, and trust me, that's something a lot of guys are lacking," she said.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"Oh, well..." Oh god, he was going to spend the whole evening blushing for one reason or another, wasn't he? "I just--I don't like it when people are rude or thoughtless towards other people for no reason," he said, with surprising firmness. "So I try not to be. That's all."

[lovethatjourney]

"Well, it's a nice change," Alexis told him. "Do you think they seat us here?"

You know, like places with "station" in the name on small islands do.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"Ahhh, no," Julius said, having seen a bit of how the restaurant operated while coming in to wash dishes. "We get to choose our own table. Uh, but I really liked this one."

He escorted Alexis over to a small table to the side, not directly under any of the AC units that were still going and out of the way of the door so their meal wouldn't be interrupted. "We're close to the front," he explained, "so we can get the first pick of everything. And, you know." He gestured to the window. "It's got a nice view of the beach. I bet the sunset is really pretty."

[lovethatjourney]

"You're going to spoil me," she warned. "So right now I'm learning that I love research."

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius laughed, pulling out her chair for her. "Oh good, cause it's the thing I'm really good at." If you don't count video games and he was pretty sure she wouldn't. "Glad I can play to my strengths here."

[lovethatjourney]

"I'm sure you're good at lots of stuff," Alexis told him, confident in this based on nothing but his cuteness.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Oh Alexis. Bless.

"Okay, true, but they're all equally nerdy," Julius said with a laugh. "But if you want to know something about Pop Culture or--" he paused, swapping out 'Accounting' for his other, more interesting degree, "--Art History, I'm your guy. Uh, with the caveat that my Pop Culture knowledge is from about seventy years in the future, so maybe not even that one."

He offered her another smile. "How about you? What are you good at? I mean, besides..." He waved at her, taking in her outfit and hair and makeup in one gesture.

[lovethatjourney]

"I am amazing at knowing celebrity gossip," she said, "which is kind of like pop culture, right? Also modeling, and talking captors into leaving the duct tape off my mouth. So I guess I'm good at like, making connections? Oh, and I know a lot about fashion."

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

ONE OF THOSE THINGS WAS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS, ALEXIS.

"...Captors?"

[lovethatjourney]

"Oh, I travel a lot," Alexis said with a vague wave of her hand, like that explained it.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

IT DID NOT.

"Okay.....?" Julius said, clearly waiting for the rest where she explained how that was involved at all.

[lovethatjourney]

"And I make friends. It's not like people advertise when they're working for drug lords," she explained. "Like even when I first came to Fandom, there was a whole thing with a goat man who kidnapped us and strung us over a lava pit in a volcano, so you know. Things just happen."

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"...I can honestly say that nothing like that have ever happened to me," Julius said. Blinking.

Maybe if you ever left your mountain, Julius, you could have been kidnapped plenty of times!

[lovethatjourney]

"Oh, stick with me, it's never boring," Alexis promised, like somehow that was good?

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"...Because of the kidnappings?"

Alexis, he kind of liked boring! His whole life had been a succession of siblings doing their best to make his life as not-boring as possible, generally through violence!

"Is this why you jump off yachts a lot?"

[lovethatjourney]

"Oh no, that's because it's fun and can make for a really cute picture," Alexis explained.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Okay, well that sounded less...overtly terrifying than getting kidnapped, at least? Not that a human could do much to him, even in this form, but that didn't mean he wanted to experience it.

"Uh, the modeling thing doesn't surprise me," he offered as the conveyor belt rattled up and plates of sushi began to slowly rotate out for them to take their pick of. "Even without all the fashion and stuff."

LOOK. A CONVERSATION NOT ABOUT KIDNAPPING.

[lovethatjourney]

"Aww, thank you," she said, smiling and being very picky as she looked over the selection. "I don't do it a lot, but I think it's really important that you always have some independence, you know?"

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius snorted. "Yeah," he said wryly. "I know. And it can be hard to carve out some of your own. I'm glad you've got yours."

[lovethatjourney]

"So what's your situation there?" Alexis wondered.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"Uh..." Julius's smile went a little pained. "This is pretty much my first trip outside of our mountain," he admitted. "It's kinda like throwing a chick out of the nest to see if it can fly."

Which his mother had done once. Flung him out the highest window in human form and waited to see if he'd shift in time.

Or land.

Bethesda had interesting views on 'responsible parenting.'