[closed]

[fortebrezza]

WHO: Vash (amore_e_pace) and Temari (fortebrezza)
WHAT: A make-up dinner date for the one they missed before the fashion show
WHERE: A restaurant, of course!
WHEN: Thursday, June 26th, evening

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[fortebrezza]

And then came the compliments. Those only made Temari feel a little worse, a little stab at where her heart really should have been. But she had lived most of her life learning not to let those things get to her, and her recent transgression was going to be her only transgression. Still she smiled politely, and held out a hand daintily for him to take, as was customary.

“Glad you could make it this time.” And she knew just how to bat her eyelashes and glance up at a man-and here she was, laying it on thick again. She needed to stop this habit before it got worse. “I thought I might be eating dinner alone tonight, and after I came out all this way…”

Inwardly sighing, Temari wondered why she couldn’t even bear to give the poor guy a break and just be nice for once, but she didn’t enjoy acting at all, so long as she didn’t have to. She mentally resolved to be a little bit nicer, because really, the last thing she’d ever wanted to do when volunteering to go to the fashion show was to hurt some poor guy. It had seemed like a wonderful idea: an excuse to go, be on the look out for anything to report to her superiors, and she and the gentleman would part ways at the end of the night.

[amore_e_pace]

Vash was a gentleman. Not complimenting a lady like Temari would be a shame. Vash took her hand in his own, placing a light kiss to it in greeting.

Vash pouted at her statement. He didn't expect this to actually go anywhere. He had stopped really hoping about those kind of things. Love and relationships between people were complicated, but magical. If the right person came to him, the right person would come. He would search, but he wouldn't be desperate. He just felt that he had to make it up to Temari for not being able to go to the show. If it lead to something more, that was up to fate. If it was just casual, well, then that's what it had to be. Vash also had a job that wasn't conducive to connections.

"Why would I make someone like you wait again?" He continued to pout. "You know the last time it was work...it was out of my hands." He knew she was half flirting. He had known enough women over the course of his life to know not to take anything too seriously. Being too serious was no fun and no way to live one's life.

"I'm just making up for not being able to go, that's all~" Vash said, forcing a kind smile on his face. "The least we can do is resolve to enjoy it, even just a little bit~?"

[fortebrezza]

Friends. More than friends. Either way, they were elusive things to Temari. She didn't even dare make friends within the house, much less outside of this, and she was sure that whoever this guy really was, he didn't fall within that range of people she could trust enough to be truly acquainted with. But that didn't mean she was not a compassionate enough person to stop anything in its tracks. Perhaps she was reading too far into things, as he mentioned that he was just trying to make up for things. It was entirely possible, and she did it on purpose. It was better to read too far into things than not far enough and have a bad situation on your hands in the end.

"Speaking of," she started, a sweet little smile on her face just like she'd practiced in the mirror so many times, as she took a few slow steps towards the door, even though her name hadn't been called yet. "What do you do, exactly?"

It wasn't as if she could expect him to give her an honest answer, not in this city, but it was worth asking while the topic had been brought up. At the very least, she hoped to get a creative answer, if anything, that would fit the need to be suddenly called away. Surely if he turned the question back on her, she would use her usual explination, painting the truth in just the right light so as to obscure the unsavory parts and leave just the things that were safe to reveal. And never one for chivalry, as a couple left the building, Temari grabbed for the door, and gestured for him to enter in front of her.

[amore_e_pace]

Vash had many friends. He wanted them. He had an optimistic love for the human race and a faith in their ability to change that the majority of the city had long since forgotten. Vash loved people, and just wanted everyone to live in peace. He wasn't sure how exactly Temari was weaved into the web of death and violence and betrayal and corruption in this city, but he wasn't naïve enough to think she was clean. He believed that there was good in everyone. If she was linked to a family, there was no way that he could have a relationship with her in his job, not unless he pulled something underhanded and tried to use her for information. But his gut told him that Temari was much smarter than that.

"Little old me?" Vash asked, pointing to his face. "Odd jobs. I fix things occasionally, work at parties sometimes...Security...Things like that." He told it all with a smile. "A friend needed his car fixed for an important job and I was the only one who he could get a hold of..." Vash slapped himself inwardly. He had hoped that he wouldn't need to explain himself, but he had figured he couldn't avoid it. He was a detective. There had been a murder. He had needed to drop everything and go to the scene of the crime. There had been no if ands or buts. He didn't expect to trick her. He didn't expect her to believe him. But that was alright.

Vash followed her to the door, holding it open when he got close enough. "No, after you," he insisted. He was one for chivalry even if she was not. "And how about yourself, since we're on the subject?" He asked as he followed her inside.

[fortebrezza]

"Odd that someone would have need for a car at such a late hour," Temari mused, a little disappointed that his story was a little lackluster. She'd been hoping for something good in which she couldn't find the flaws, at least not so easily. But she smiled anyways, because she still enjoyed pointing out when someone fell short. "Perhaps next time you'd do better to just leave it at personal business."

Because honestly, emergency car repair, at that time of night, and there being only one man to do it? That wasn't very likely.

There were only so many pleasantries that Temari could handle, and it wasn't just that she didn't do chivalry-- it sort of offended her. She was just one of those types of women. Whoever got to the door first, so long as it was convenient for them, was the one to do it, but she heard her name called a good ten minutes ahead of schedule and with a slightly annoyed huff, edged her way in to the hostess' stand. It didn't take long until they were seated at a corner booth, a little set apart from the rest but purely on accident, and given menus, which she started perusing as soon as their waitress had gone off to attend to someone else.

[amore_e_pace]

"He needed to go somewhere the next day," Vash said, innocently. He knew it wasn't a good story. This was all definitely going to fall apart sooner rather than later. He would just have to keep himself in one piece until the night ended, he guessed. "Aw, come on. I bet you've helped out a desperate friend before?" he said, still smiling, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. It just had to turn so sour so soon, didn't it? So much for a dinner with no strings attached.

Vash had no idea, but he got the picture as soon as he saw her face and let go of the door, following in after her, hanging back a little. Jeez, this girl was certainly something! What in the world had be gotten himself into this time around? He certainly knew how to pick rather dangerous situations, didn't he? Or at the very least ones that would lead to disaster. Aw, man! he thought, pouting to himself.

He sat down and opened the menu, searching it with his bright eyes. "And if we're going to be nitty picky," he began. "You didn't answer my question about what you did or why you weren't able to make the party."

[fortebrezza]

"Well I was able to make the party," Temari replied calmly, deciding on a dish whose title also came with a rather delectable looking picture. Setting the menu down, but not at the edge of the table yet to signal the waitress, her eyes flicked up again and she grinned a little. "But who wants to go to something like that alone? It's not very entertaining by itself."

She did her best not to seem miffed about missing it, although in all actuality, she probably hadn't lost out on much. At least from what she'd heard, nothing all that interesting had happened in the long run, so it was probably for the best that she hadn't wasted her time and had spent the night at home.

"But that's moot now. So, what kind of car is it?"

If it had to go like this, though...she was still intent on having a little fun with it, after all. She wouldn't make him squirm as much as she possible could, of course...only just a little. It was her idea of being playful, anyway, and it was a better option than being cold and quietly pensive.

[amore_e_pace]

"That doesn't answer my question, you know..." Vash said, pouting. She could be in any line of work and still make the party. Making the party could even be part of her job! At least Vash had tried to explain a little bit, even if it was a lie. "I still would have liked to go.." Vash replied, the pout staying on his face. "All the pretty models and the pretty clothes, and all the people coming to see dressed in their best...Would certainly be more flashy than this city normally is."

Vash decided on something as well, and set down his menu, but in front of him. Temari's would do the signaling.

"Moot? You're the one who keeps asking!" Vash said, a little annoyed, but the statement still came out rather teasing regardless. He wasn't the sort of man who showed what he was feeling unless it was serious. Life was too much fun for that, and there was too much at sake. Too much to hide these days. Vash went on to ramble about the the make of the car, and exactly what was wrong with it in great detail. He had fixed a car earlier the day of the fashion show, but it wasn't the reason that he hadn't been there.

[fortebrezza]

Well of course Temari would skirt the topic of her employment as much as she possibly could. Maybe it made her seem suspicious, but with two or three topics running at once, she could easily feign innocence. She tried to be interested in whatever he had to say about that car. It wasn't that he had no clue what he was talking about; growing up with three men, you picked up at least enough to understand, even if you couldn't repeat it later. A well placed nod here, a smile there.

"Well, next time you have a date, make sure to tell your friend not to break his car, hmm?"

Temari was somewhere on the verge of believing the story, which was just about as good as it was going to get with no one trustworthy to back him up. It wasn't him specifically, just everyone she met in this city. But her suspicions had been knocked down a peg from "threat" to "just trying to cover his ass".

[amore_e_pace]

Vash knew that she wasn't that interested in the car, but it was important that he got her to believe him. It was a game now that he wanted to win. Vash couldn't stand it if she thought he was lying, either. When people didn't trust him it made him want to cry.

"Will do, ma'am!" Vash said, jokingly, taking on a joking serious face and saluting Temari. "It was never my intent to upset you, ma'am," he added while still in that position before letting it drop, a smile on his face, a laugh at the tip of his tongue.

"You still haven't answered my question, you know~" At the very least he wanted an entertaining story. He had given her that much.

[fortebrezza]

Dang it. Well, here she went again.

"What's there to say? I work for my father," she responded rather indifferently, as if it was nothing special at all. Lately, it wasn't as true as it had been when she'd first come to Italy, but it wasn't a lie yet, either. "He conducts a lot of international business, he's in the arms trade-- the legal arms trade, of course," she added with a little chuckle. You really never knew in this city. At least she could say the one semi-honest thing about her father was his business. "So you can see why he'd send me here. He's got a lot of business contacts, so it's easier to have an ambassador."

A fairly standard story that she was practiced at telling and wasn't really even a lie. It was keeping a straight face that was key, and she liked to think she was pretty good at it now, after so many years of having to tell it and similar stories.

[amore_e_pace]

"Daddy's girl?" Vash teased, not at all mocking or unkindly. Vash himself did not have parents, and had always wondered what it would have been like if he and his brother had had a mother and father. He smiled at Temari with a smile that would brush away any thoughts that he meant it as anything but a good thing. "That sounds exciting~" Vash said, putting his hands together and grinning from ear to ear. "I would be afraid to even be around a gun~" He said, and pouted. Temari's story backed up Vash's thoughts that Temari was a strong and capable woman who would be a bad person to cross. He liked it.

"Well, I hope you stay safe," Vash said, and went back to his serene and warm smile.