[FIN] For Richer or Poorer

[Kitomyx]

It was already morning when the adolescent ended his graveyard shift at a local store. After waiting on his replacement and closing up his cash register, he realized that he hadn't worked such long hours since a week ago. Usually the sky was just lightening when the young man left, but by now the sun was high in the sky. It must have been around 9 or 10.

Camphoreon was still new to this fellow, since he'd only just moved here about a month ago. He'd mostly been spending that month settling into his new, dingy apartment with his new roommate and getting the hang of his new life. The apartment and his workplace were about the only locations he'd done much exploring with, as he slowly adjusted to the schedule of sleeping all day and working all night.

Having money to pay bills was...gratifying, in its own way, though. Even if he wasn't paying for all of it and his job seemed positively depressing at times, it was an okay life. He certainly wouldn't have gone back to his old one for all the luxuries, money, and comforts in the world.

Now that daylight was shining down on him and the city, it seemed almost like it was inviting him to take the time to enjoy this new place. Weary as he was, he hadn't yet gotten a chance to grab some food, and he doubted the fridge at home was stocked with much more than his roommate's beer. Now was his chance to take a stroll around Camphoreon and see it as a proper newcomer; not wandering around at night in fear of being mugged on his way to work.

Akira smiled at the sunny sky and started to walk.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sera normally was dead to the world until later than this, but on this particular day her parents had both accidentally woken her up with their morning routines. Her father got ready for another long day of sitting at home and stressing over his pitiful stock portfolio that had fallen so far, while her mother got ready and left for the job she'd gotten after they went bankrupt. Unfortunately, Seraphine couldn't fall back asleep, so instead of laying in bed going 'muuhhhhh' and making angry faces at her door/ceiling/wall, she'd gotten up, changed, and went out into the city.

She didn't feel much better when she picked a random direction and started walking, though she was starting to wake up a little more -- mostly because the sun was bright and the air was still chilly. The girl had passed some random store a few minutes ago - coincidentally and unbeknownst to her, it was the same store that Akira worked - but a different store had caught her attention, and so she stood on the sidewalk, hands folded behind her back as she stared idly at the window display on the other side of the glass. It was always so depressing to see so many beautiful shoes and be completely unable to buy even one single pair.  

[Kitomyx]

The brunette hadn't been walking very long before he noticed a pretty girl around his age standing in front of some shoes on display behind glass. His brown eyes widened and he walked a little faster before seeing the girl from a different angle. Oh - it wasn't who he'd thought it was.

After a moment, he realized he had been regarding her a little longer than necessary and that to anyone passing by, he looked for all the world like he was checking her out. That or he was some creepy stalker; or worse, a mugger who planned to rob the poor young lady as soon as he had the chance.

Shoot, why was he still so caught up in his appearence? Surely no one cared what an 'Average Joe' such as himself appeared to be doing. He guessed it was just another old habit dying hard, like the habit he'd used to have of tugging on his bangs when he was upset. Now they were far too short to even hold on to, so he just ended up looking stupid whenever he reached up to grab them.

Another habit he'd maintained since coming here was avoiding others. Well, now was his chance to break that one, at least. He had to stop being so cold to others; after all, it wasn't like anyone was out to get him here, right? No need for to fear the threats of fake facades and false pretenses. No one had a reason to decieve him here.

He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Miss," he spoke, working up the nerve to walk a few steps in her direction and summon a modest smile. "It's really quite early for you to be out here on your own, if you don't mind me saying so," he added, thinking it best to be polite. Even commoners had a little common courtesy, right?

"Would you happen to be accompanied by a boyfriend or other such companion this morning?" He wrung his hands behind his back, nervous as heck and not knowing what else to do with them. Despite the fact that she wasn't who he'd originally thought, she was really quite pretty.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The girl's thoughts were interrupted suddenly by someone speaking - the throat clearing went completely ignored - and she suddenly turned her pale green eyes on the young man nearby. One eyebrow slowly raised, and in her head her emotions warred between impatience and insult to man he was kinda cute. The varying emotions were at an impasse, however, so for the moment she kept her expression neutral until she could decide. He did look kind of cute, even if he was being a dumbass so far. She also didn't like the poignant reminder that, no, she did not have a boyfriend at all, accompanying her or not. "I do mind, actually," she said with a frown. "You're acting like I'm not supposed to be out on my own - I'm not some little kid. Besides, I'm not alone." She crossed her arms over her chest as she turned to face him.

At the same time, a white and pink Mismageius faded into view. "Missss," the ghost type said, watching this newcomer with curious pink eyes. He didn't appear to be any sort of threat though, which was good.

Sera's expression morphed again into a small smirk, and her hands lowered to her hips. "You must be new around here," she observed as she looked him over again. No, he looked normal enough.. Really though, he must be new -- either she would've seen him before, or he would've seen her before if he wasn't. "Who're you?"  

[Kitomyx]

Whoops. It seemed that commoner girls were no less touchy about being independant than upper-class ones. If this one was even a commoner. Come to think of it, Akira knew he must have almost mistakened this girl for another based on more than just her dark hair. The self-important air about her and her tell-tale fashion sense...surely it couldn't have been coincidence. He was tempted to ask if she was a model, but that would have just sounded like some cheesy pick-up line.

The guy was visibly embarrassed. His complexion reddened slightly and his hand absently went to tug at his bangs - which he quickly realized were no-longer long enough. He tugged at his shirt collar instead. "I beg your pardon," he pleaded, distressed. "I didn't mean to sound...er...condescending. Or presumptious," he added quickly. The appearence of the pokemon caused him to smile fleetingly at it, genuinely glad the girl wasn't, in fact, alone. "Is it that painfully obvious?" the young man asked meekly in response to the girl's deduction.

"I merely asked because I didn't want to...overstep my boundaries." Akira struggled with reducing his usual, formal method of communication to a more casual way of conversation. It was difficult when he wasn't even sure what way this girl was used to being talked to. If she was used to being talked to at all, especially by men. Her strong personality was somewhat daunting, but he liked to think that with three sisters, he'd come to know something about how women worked.

He figured he might as well stick to what he knew for now, which included polite introductions. "Sorry, let me start again. I'm Ro - Akira. Akira Midoriyama." Idiot! It had been too long since he'd made a proper introduction, and he hadn't had near enough practice introducing himself as Akira. He bowed at the waist, as he was used to, but at the moment it was more to hide his increasingly reddening face than anything else. His hair was no longer long enough to serve that purpose, either.

"I wondered if you - ah, and your lovely Mismagius, of course - would...like to join me for breakfast." Arceus, he hoped he didn't sound like a creep. "Now that I know you aren't...accompanying anyone else, that is.." Smooth, real smooth. Well, he hoped it would at least have gotten the message across. He looked up tentatively from his bow. "It's the least I could do to apologize for any offense I caused you."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Extremely obvious," she clarified, having absolutely no qualms about pointing it out. However, she remained silent for the remainder of his rambling sentences, and his request made a smile slowly spread across her face. She hadn't even been out for half an hour and already someone wanted to take her out on a breakfast date. Now this was how every day should start. "I accept your gracious offer," she said with a touch of grandeur she couldn't help, because seriously, this guy. "Did you have anywhere particular in mind?"

Akira, hmm? Briefly she wondered what he'd been about to say originally, but put it to the back of her mind. Either way, neither were names she'd ever heard before, but she didn't mind guys that looked a little effeminate (they usually dressed better anyway), and he seemed nice enough so far. Cute, too.  

[Kitomyx]

"Huh..." The girl's blatant honesty did nothing to help Akira's ruddiness, but he found himself struck by an odd sense of admiration. He hadn't been spoken to that sincerely since...well. It had been a while.

At her embellished reply, he smiled sheepishly, looking away as he realized how he must have sounded to her. It seemed she was not used to this sort of formality after all. Sticking his hands in his coat pockets, he said through a crooked grin, "Unfortunately, miss, as obviously new as I am to this reigon and city, I'm just as unfamiliar with its cusine."

He withdrew a hand from a pocket to gesture down the street. "I thought we might stroll a little first; maybe see what's open. Perhaps I might be able to get to know you along with this place." He extended an arm. "Might you and your charming pokemon possibly be my guides?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I figured you would be," she said with a light shrug, and she took his outstretched arm as an invitation to walk beside him, so walk beside him she did. She did not, however, take his arm in hers. Such a thought didn't even occur to her.

Giselle, instead, merely blinked once at this strange boy before she suddenly disappeared from view.

Sera didn't even seem to notice.

It was a little hard for her to tell if he was just talking that way as a form of witty banter with the intention to flirt, or if he was actually being serious. She was beginning to think it was the latter. "Sure, we can walk around and look if you want. There should be a few places open this early, though I dunno how close they are to each other," she explained as she walked. After a few moments, she couldn't help but ask, "Do you always talk like that?"  

[Kitomyx]

Akira tried hard to hide a tell-tale smile when the young woman ignored his arm. Again, he was unsure whether or not she was aware of his intentions and just being defiant or whether his actions were alien to her. Either possibility was just as amusing to him, though he couldn't quite put his finger on the reason why.

When the ghost pokemon disappeared, Akira was surprised, but since the lady didn't seem to mind, he guessed it wasn't an unusual occurance. It was probably somewhere still close by, he supposed, considering how it had seemed to appear out of nowhere when its trainer had first referred to it.

He nodded quietly as his new-found companion spoke, taking in the sights as they walked and returning his hands to their place behind his back. If she didn't want his arm or hand, holding them behind him was less awkward than keeping them in his pockets. "Wonderful. If they're near, then we won't have to tire ourselves out. If they're far...well, then at least I'll get to see more of the city with you."

The brown-haired boy turned to beam at her, only to be caught off-guard by her sudden question. "O-oh...I guess I do, I mean..." He knew how to talk normally...or so he thought. Maybe 'normal' was a whole different meaning for commoners. This young lady had been speaking quite directly with him, but he couldn't imagine doing the same. It was so informal and discourteous and...well, rude. The only people he was comfortable talking like that around were people he disliked, and he hardly even knew this girl.

"Uh, where I'm from, this is pretty much the norm," he tried explaining, thinking it wasn't an exact lie. It was his society more than a place, but, meh. Nuances. "To speak in any other terms would be considered too informal to be anything but rude - at least with aquaintances. Speaking of which...I don't believe I caught your name."

He tilted his head, wondering for the first time if she might have left it out on purpose. No, that was silly...why would she have reason to do that unless her family name was well-known or something? Unless maybe she feared he was a stalker and would track her down. That was a good-enough reason. "Er, if you felt comfortable enough to give it, of course."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The particular words he chose, whether he meant them to or not, sounded suspiciously to her like more direct flirting. Not that she minded, of course. She didn't normally meet many guys who spoke so formally and yet were so direct with their 'do this with you's and the like. "Oh okay, that's cool," she said with a small nod as she continued walking beside him. She cast a brief sidelong glance to study his outfit before adding, "You dress like you're from around here though. I have a friend that acts like he's from here but dresses like he's still back in wherever he's from. Where are you from, exactly?" Certainly not Grand Ile.

"Oh." Whoops. "I'm Seraphine," she offered. She'd completely forgotten to introduce herself earlier, but honestly it was hard to when he just talked so much. Usually that wouldn't be cool, but the way he spoke and his choice of words was different than what she was used to, and also interesting. Like him.  

[Kitomyx]

Glancing down at his clothes, Akira smiled and shrugged. "I left a lot of my old clothes behind. Had to buy some new ones, which happened to be 'from around here'." Laughing lightly at the mention of this friend of hers, the boy wondered how foreign, exactly, this friend was. "Ah, just from Sinnoh. I came here about...a month ago, now, I think."

"Seraphine," he sounded out slowly. "Gorgeous. Your name, I mean, not - well, you are, too, but that's not what I - um...argh..." He was really, really wishing he had his bangs to tug on about now, but as he did not, he had to settle for running a nervous hand through his hair instead. He cleared his throat and took a breath, attempting to recompose himself.

"Miss Seraphine! So, I assume you're from around here yourself, then...?" He looked straight ahead, really not ready to look at her directly when his face felt so warm. He hoped she wasn't one of those people that found it horribly offensive when someone didn't look you in the eye while they were talking to you.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

There, that was better. He was starting to sound more normal by the minute. He fumbled, however, and a small grin spread across her face as the brunette laughed. It was a soft sound, more of a hum than anything. "I usually don't get so many compliments so early in the morning," she said with a coquettish smile as she inclined her head towards him. As they were walking next to each other, she didn't expect him to look at her during the entire conversation (because that would be dumb, he would walk right into stuff), though she couldn't help but note how rigid his gaze was kept straight ahead.

"I've been to Sinnoh on vacations and stuff," though she didn't know what part he was from. No one she'd met in any part she'd been to spoke in such a way. "But yeah, I've lived here my whole life."  

[Kitomyx]

"Don't you...?" he asked, chuckling lightly with shy, tentative side-glances. He was pleased to have amused her even a little, but the smile she gave him when he next glanced over almost caused him to stumble. Ohhh, he hadn't even realized how she might have been taking his compliments.

Akira had just assumed she was used to recieving them on a regular basis, similar to Tori and other members of wealthier societies. The fact that he was male and she was female hadn't even occured to him until now, let alone what that and their interaction might have spelled out to anyone with half a mind. Then again, this hadn't been the first time he'd been so oblivious.

"Um, Miss Seraphine...what about this cafe?" he suggested, pausing before a quaint little place. He opened the door to peer in, breathing in the fregrance as it wafted out toward them. "It seems likely they'd offer breakfast. I'm sure they have tea and coffee as well, if you drink either." He himself was craving some caffine...not to mention some time to sit down and think.

"I see," he answered distantly, continuing to hold the door open for the young lady. "I imagine that must feel...confining."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sera was momentarily surprised at his sudden suggestion, but nevertheless, she paused, turned, and studied the exterior for a brief moment. "Yeah, they serve breakfast here," she confirmed as she headed through the door he held open for her, offering him a soft and obligatory "thanks" as she passed.

"Mm, not really," she said with a slight shrug, though she was more focused on the interior of the cafe at this point. The brunette hesitated only for a moment before she walked over to a nearby booth and sat down on one side, fully expecting him to follow and sit across from her. "I've been all over Kodo though," she elaborated as she sat and got comfortable, "and we used to go on cruises and vacations to other regions all the time while I was growing up, so it's not like I've never been anywhere else, or that I can't go anywhere. What about you?" The girl asked suddenly as she set her elbows on the table, laced her fingers together and rested her chin atop her fingers with an interested smile. "You lived in Sinnoh your whole life, or did you go other places too?"  

[Kitomyx]

He dipped his head respectfully in response to her thanks as she passed. However, his mind wandered elsewhere as he followed Sera in, allowing the door to close softly behind them both.

"Hm? Oh..." He watched as she went to a booth and sat, snapping back to the present. He certainly didn't have the nerve to sit right next to her, and across seemed the most appropriate since it was just the two of them, so across from her it was. He sat.

"I see..." he murmured, folding his hands on the table in front of him. So, she was of a family of great wealth, it seemed, if she had been to so many places. And, possibly, high standing. He wondered just what it was her parents did. "Amazing. It sounds like you come from quite a prosperous family," he stated with a polite smile. Somehow this one didn't seem to reach his eyes.

"I just thought that it might be somewhat restricting, seeing as though it sounds like your parents care about you very much. Surely there are some places you aren't allowed to go to or things you aren't allowed to do without them?" His smile tightened. "As their precious, lovely daughter, I'm certain they value your happiness, but wouldn't your safety come first?"

When she looked at him with that smile and asked about his experiences, Akira's throat got tight. He didn't want to lie to her. He had been completely ready to deny his past when he'd bought this identity, but now... Something about this girl just made him want more than anything to be honest with her. Wasn't that why he had chosen this life? To get away from the one built on lies and masks and other forms of false faith?

Well, he didn't have to tell her the whole story, but he didn't have to keep the truth from her, either. "I've been to other places," he confessed. "Not really for pleasure, though, so I can't say I enjoyed it. What would you like to have for breakfast?"

Signalling a waiter over, he ordered a coffee - his usual - without stopping to even consider if they would even make it they way he liked. "I'd like a 13-shot venti soy hazelnut vanilla cinnamon white mocha coffee with extra white mocha and caramel, please." Akira looked expectantly to Sera. "Coffee? Or anything else to drink?"