genessia | [action] Well it's a big, big city and the lights are all out

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[action] Well it's a big, big city and the lights are all out

WHO: Graverobber, Faye Valentine
WHAT: Graverobber and Faye go on a date after Graverobber answered Gren's personal ad for her
WHEN: October 9th
WHERE: Jack's Bar

Graverobber hasn't been to Jack's Bar before, so he stands outside the front of it feeling mildly out of place and idly just scrolling through his device while he waits. He's dressed somewhat nicer than usual -- his hair's been brushed and he's wearing non-ratty versions of his normal clothes -- but he's still identifiable himself. Which in this case means a black shirt, long coat, and jeans that haven't been ripped anywhere.

He'd heard of Faye before the personal ad, but only in passing and really just in the context of her working at Fortuna Palace. Apart from that, he doesn't know much, including why she has a friend (?) scouting dates for her. But, hey, a night out can't hurt. Besides, only way to know more about someone was to talk, so some drinks and chatter didn't seem like a bad way to spend time.

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Faye approaches, relieved when she sees that Graverobber is actually there at the agreed place and time and that he hadn't changed his mind. Beneath her coat, Faye wears a figure hugging black dress with a black pair of heels, and her lipstick is a darker shade of red than she usually wears, so she is at least showing some awareness of his aesthetic.

"Hey there." Faye greets him from a small distance with a shy smile - she's never done this dating thing before so isn't sure how to introduce herself. "Here I am."

When Graverobber spots Faye, he pushes himself off of his spot leaning against the wall, smiling hello as she walks up. "Hey there," he says, keeping his tone the right amount of casual and friendly. Though, inwardly, he's a little more enthusiastically pleased. Jesus, Faye's a bombshell. The outfit and the lipstick certainly help that impression, but even without them, damn.

"It's not too crowded inside, from the looks of it. Shall we?" he asks, offering her his arm and gesturing at the door.

It definitely helps that he smiles and says hello - Gren had written her quite the review and she didn't want to disappoint. "Hey." She smiles more easily too given how relaxed he seems about all of this. Definitely a good start. Faye takes his arm quite happily, also surprised at the gentlemanly offer. "Absolutely."

Entering a bar on the arm of a man is quite different to entering on her own it turns out. She still turns heads, of course - especially in that dress - but the looks aren't as predatory and don't linger as long as they usually so. Either way, Faye doesn't particularly notice, busy casting glances at Graverobber as she checks him over.

Graverobber can have his odd gentlemanly flourishes, though, in truth, part of him is still figuring out how exactly to act. He hasn't usually dated before, not in the sense most people do. When you and all of your friends live in the gutter, no one was exactly rolling up with flowers to take you to the club or a fancy restaurant.

Still, he's pleased that she seems pleased, and also that she seems to be giving him a couple of looks-over. As they're walking in, he does catch a few turned heads, which he responds with a raised eyebrow, as if he were saying 'Don't fucking even'.

He finds a small two-seat table near the bar top and walks over there. "This looks all right," he says, guiding Faye over to one of the seats before asking, "What'll you have?"

The question of what to drink was a difficult one - Faye enjoyed many kinds of drinks, but wanted to have some impression of being pretty and sophisticated for her date. Faye glances behind the bar then back to Graverobber with a smile, "A white wine would be great."

Faye then removed her coat and hung it over the back of her chair. She sits up, all good posture, watching the room while her fingers - nails newly painted in crimson - tap at her bare knees. Dates are not in her comfort zone.

"White wine it is," he says with a small grin before walking up to the bar top to order them their drinks. For all his cocktail-mixing on the job, he keeps his own order pretty simple: one beer, and one sauvignon blanc for Faye. He leaves a cash tip on the bar and brings the drinks back as neatly as he can, sipping his glass before settling back into his seat.

"So, should we start with all the normal awkward dating profile banter shit?" he says with a slow, joking grin. "Name your favorite color, band, food, the ten things you'd bring on a deserted island, your typical Monday afternoon at 3pm, that sort of thing?"

Faye takes the glass from him with thanks, nodding her head before taking a sip. It's cold, and really not that bad - ideal for settling any nerves. "Is that what people talk about on these things?" She asks with mock wonder and a smirk. Sure, she hasn't really any experience with dating, but she's not totally clueless. "To think of all the awkward banter I've been missing out on. No wonder Gren was so keen to sign me up for a date..."

Faye smirks across the table at him, amused at their treatment of the date situation. Though she did hope that he wasn't actually too intent on her answering these questions because she hopes she hasn't somehow accidentally offended him. She was good at that.

He laughs slightly. "I know it's what they make people fill out on those dating sites. Not sure how well it works, all told. I don't think anyone's ever would up with someone just based on favorite color, but then again, what the fuck do I know?"

Graverobber takes a sip off his drink before speaking again, this time sounding a little bit more deliberate when he talks. "So why was that guy -- your friend, I guess -- putting out your name for dates, anyhow?"

Faye smirks as she picks up her glass of wine and takes another sip. She keeps it in her hand, something to do, thumb running along the stem. "Hmm. Though I'd probably say my favourite colour was gold, if that makes any difference. Since diamond isn't a colour..."

Oh. That question. It was inevitable that it would be asked and she hadn't quite figured out how she would answer that. Faye stares at her glass and shifts uncomfortably - there isn't any way to say this that doesn't make her look like a loser, probably. "Let's just say... I haven't been very active on the dating scene, so he figured he'd set me up..."

"Woman of refined taste, are you?" he says with a small grin. He wonders if she's joking around or not or if she's someone with expensive habits. Then again, he'd mentioned the whole 'formerly homeless' thing in his application, so, maybe he was just overthinking it.

Her hesitance at that second bit surprises him a little because...well, if it's just being single, that was no big thing. Right? Or did he just think that because he hadn't dated like most people? Eh.

"Fair 'nuff," he says, shrugging slightly. "You asked him to write up something or is he just the helpful type that way?"

"Very much so." Faye grins at him then, tilting her head slightly in amusement as enjoys her wine. Expensive tastes, without the money, but that's what gambling is for.

Faye just doesn't want to appear like she's been left on the shelf, like there's something wrong with her and that's why she hasn't had a date in so long. She raises her brows at the question and shakes her head. "Oh, no. That was all him. Anything he wrote about me was all his detail and description." She lowers her eyes again, hoping Gren hadn't said anything too awful. But then... "Guess what he wrote was pretty helpful - you signed up, after all." She looks back up with a teasing smile.

He chuckles at that, though he does file that information away. "Good to know. Now I know to keep a close eye on the tab," he jokes.

Graverobber grins a little at that before letting out a 'you caught me' type shrug. "That it did. I mean, it was a complimentary profile. Lemme try to remember-" He takes a second to recall the exact phrasing, deciding to skip over the part about 'buxom body molded by curves' because he has no idea if that's gonna get him slapped or not. "He definitely used the words 'hot', 'tenacious', 'affectionate', 'forthright'. Seemed like a pretty promising way to describe someone. To me, anyhow."

"Good idea." Faye grins at him over the top of her class, but really she's just teasing. Mostly. If she thought he was rich then she'd definitely take advantage.

Faye blinks at him as he recalls Gren's ad, bemused at the fact that he even remembered any of tgeae details. Evidently he's someone who pays attention, or is at least good at retaining information. "He did..." Although Faye didn't quite understand the 'affectionate' part so much. "So promising. And what you got was me." Faye gestures towards herself, her confident body language not quite matching the self-deprecating words.

"Well, he definitely got the 'hot' part right," Graverobber says with a smile and a tone that he hopes is on the correct side of 'flattering', as opposed to 'creepy'. Really, though, he doesn't get why Fae seems to be down on herself, since she is one hell of a looker.

"I suppose I'll find out if he was right about the rest of it if we keep talking, though so far I feel like 'tenacious' is shaping up to be correct."

Faye smiled right back at him when he said that she was hot; she was hardly the type to try and refute that, so she was happy to give him a sweet and amused smile for his efforts. "Well, thank you."

She smoothes her hands down the sides of her dress, though with the way the material clings to her that really isn't necessary. "I suppose you will." She tilts her head at mention of tenacious - she's amused he thinks so - and quietly finishes the rest of the wine.

"So do you enjoy dating? Or were you just bored when you came across Gren's ad?" She plays with her empty glass, fingers across the rim, clearly just quite curious.

The questions earn a thoughtful 'hmm' out of him as he sips off of his beer glass, since, in all truthfulness, neither of them was exactly the case. "I wasn't doing it out of boredom," he says first, figuring that was probably the more important point to address. "I dunno. I don't know a whole ton of people here and most of the women I know are already paired up. And you sounded like the type of woman I usually like spending time around, at least based on the profile."

"Wouldn't say I really loved dating, exactly," he says, hedging a little more as he talks. "Back home, I had relationships, but it wasn't exactly like how dating works for most people. Kind of difficult to take someone out for dinner when you all live in the gutter."

That sounded all fair play to Faye - all the men she knew were paired, hopelessly in love with someone else, or else gay. She did smile again when he said that he liked her profile. That was nice to say, even if she thought Gren had been a bit generous with it.

Faye leaned forward a little as he spoke about home and rested her head on her hand while she listened. She wasn't sure if he meant the gutter literally or not, but she nodded to show she understood, at least to some degree. "Yeah. And it's not exactly top of anyone's agenda, is it, when you're just trying to hustle your next meal?" Then she glanced at her empty glass. "You want another drink?"

He chuckles wryly at that. "Exactly," he says. "Not exactly something people worry about when their wallets and bellies are empty. Or when they're jonesing, as the case may be."

At the offer, he finishes off his beer with a long swig before nodding. "Sure. I wouldn't be opposed to another beer."

"Shit. No. I bet that doesn't leave you feeling too hot." While gambling was her own particular vice, she's seen plenty suffer from other addictions, and she isn't one for judging.

"Alright. Back in a sec." Faye gets up from the table and heads to the bar. She doesn't have to wait long at all to get served, the bar tender finding her pretty quickly. Then she walks back to the table with their drinks, leaning down to put them carefully on the table before taking her seat again. "There we go."

"Thanks," he says with a small smile, clinking his glass against hers before taking another sip. "So what about you, then? You real into dating, or are you just looking to see what's available around here? I mean, I know your friend set up the profile, I'm just curious why you agreed to go along with it."

What to say about herself? It's always more tempting for her to lie, to make up some stories about her situation. But he seems like a decent person, and she is trying to be good... Still, her eyes are more on the table and on his beer because truth telling is hard for her. "Gren figures that there's a distinct lack of...romance in my life. He isn't wrong... So. Why not?"

Faye shakes her head at herself, but finally looks back up at him, "Never know if you don't try. And I figure dating must be the same." She smiles and shrugs as she takes another sip from her wine. Well, if he figures she's a loser for her lack of luck in love or dating then at least she knows she hasn't lied about herself.

Graverobber just sort of watches curiously, catching the embarrassment in her tone and the way she seems to shift from insecurity to boldness. It doesn't bother him, and he responds to her shrug with one of his own to match.

"Sounds fair to me. After all, can't hurt to try, right?" he says with another sip off of his drink. "How many guys did your friend wind up setting you up with, anyway, if that's okay to ask?"

"Three others. They've been in touch, but nothing has been arranged yet." Faye smiles at this, amused as she thinks of those Gren has set her up with, how probably incompatible they are. "I haven't had even the tiniest bit of interest in a date since I arrived, and I'm not expecting to wind up in some kind of love triangle. Or square. Or whatever. But if they've been nice enough to get in touch then who am I to say no." Faye laughs quietly, "But if it means I might get a meal or two out of it then I'm not gonna complain." She grins, but she hopes he can tell that she's teasing about that. Kind of.

He huffs out a small laugh at that. "No judgement on that. Food is food," he says with a small grin, before teasing: "So even if they suck, you can still get dinner out of it. Personally, I saw through your clever ruse for free dinners and just went in for alcohol instead."

Graverobber had done no such thing. He just liked alcohol.

Faye raises her brows archly at that, "Oh really?" Then she narrows her eyes with a smirk as she leans across the table toward him. "It's your round next, and suddenly I feel very much in the mood for the best champagne the bar has to offer..." However expensive, or not, that may turn out to be. Sure, Faye has done that exact very thing several times before, but for the moment...is this flirting?

10/10 for Fratellis

Hee thanks!

^^

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