[Speed Dating, Round Two]

[callofkaren]

With the first round done without any hiccups, Karen spent half an hour straightening things up, checking names off as the second group of half uncomfortable, half vaguely excited looking potential daters showed up, and soon it was much like the first. The spiel was the same, drinks were handed out, and luckily getting everyone in order came easily

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[broken_brushes]

I was trying to be a team player.

At least, that was what I kept telling myself about the entire speed dating experience. Truth told, I didn't want to date anyone, speedily or otherwise, but after my mishap down in Rapture, I'd become very much aware that a change in my attitude was in order. I couldn't keep acting like I was open to everyone while being anything but in actuality.

So. Team player. Speed dating. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

I settled myself at a table, put on my best Councilwoman smile and steeled myself for the onslaught of masculinity.

[weary_head]

Dean sinks into the chair across from Shari with a wide eyed, tightlipped expression that's bordering on hysteria. Three dates in, and his game is really not improving, nor would it be a good time for it to start. He touches his lips to his glass and does not think of the time they kissed under the mistletoe.

"My toes are red," he says. "That's how hard I'm blushing, now does that in any way fill you with enough pity to get us through this."

[broken_brushes]

"I'm a little concerned about why you're blushing," I warily replied as I eyed Dean's frantic posture and expression. "I mean, I can objectively concede that you're a good looking guy, but I'm not going to launch myself over the table in a fit of lust or anything."

[weary_head]

"Still weird," Dean grumbles. It's sort of like sitting across the table from his own brother, but he's not suicidal enough to say so. "I didn't expect to see you here," he adds, brightening all at once. "Hey, is this 'cause you're taking my advice? Giving the whole not alone thing another try?"

[broken_brushes]

"Sort of," I replied with a wrinkle of my nose. Dean's advice had been sound, but 'not alone' implied a level of intimacy I was still far from prepared for. "You know how it goes. Near death experience, you decide you need to be more open to all the glories of humanity. I'm easing my way in."

[cool_coolcool]

"You're a lot prettier than the girl from my world, who looks like you," Abed said, by way of greeting, as he slid into the empty seat across from her, "She's really let herself go."

He didn't mean it as an insult, and certainly not as a pick-up line. He'd read it in a magazine, somewhere, about Mischa Barton's poor fashion choices, fluctuating weight and precarious sobriety, and he knew it was something the media seemed to be fixated on. They were details that he noticed, and the comment was meant merely as an observation.

[broken_brushes]

Naturally, my mind went immediately to Marissa, and after a moment's consideration, I had to admit it wasn't exactly an unexpected turn of events for her. The girl had passed out drunk in the snow once, I had heard.

"Thanks," I slowly replied with a slightly wary smile. There was a compliment for in me in there somewhere, I just had to dig through the knock to my clone. "I'm Shari."

[cool_coolcool]

"Hi, Shari. I'm Abed," he said, completely oblivious to her wariness. "You work at the bakery. I had a piece of pie there, last week. Coconut. I'd been eating at the school cafeteria a lot, lately, so I think my tongue had forgotten what real pie tasted like."

[broken_brushes]

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, Abed." There was the distinct possibility I hadn't made the pie, but I'd take the compliment. It seemed genuinely enough given.

"You're fairly new to the island, aren't you?"

[patration]

I had seen her around the island plenty of times, although I had never before tried attaching a name to her face. She seemed the busy sort, always moving, never standing still, though she had the time to offer a smile to anyone who needed it. It was a little surprising to see her at one of these events, if only because I was sure that had her true aim been to find a companion, she wouldn't have needed the help or exposure. There was something about her smile, too.

Too bright, and a distraction.

But her reasons for being present that evening didn't matter. They were her own, and it wasn't in my place to question them. Merely my personal goal to make sure that she was comfortable, that she would gain something from the conversation. With a smile, I sat smoothly down into the seat, holding out a few blossoms I'd picked, stems long enough for a vase, if she wanted them to last a bit longer.

"If you do not want to smile for me, that is okay," I confided in her, softly, with a grin. "But I hope you like flowers."

[broken_brushes]

The flower thing was sweet, I can't deny it, but I wasn't a total chump, either. Dude was a player; he'd brought flowers for everyone.

"It's very pretty, thank you," I replied as I accepted the blossom and instinctively lifted it to my nose. "Definitely worth a smile, I think. I'm Shari, nice to meet you."

[patration]

"I am Liang," I reply with a small nod. The reaction to a flower seems to vary among the women, in ways that I once had to look very carefully for. In a world where people are forced to comply with strict cultural standards, accepting a gift almost becomes its own ritual, demanding the right words, the right expression. Only those who are fortunate enough to be gifted with the ability to read another's eyes (and I must confess, I am not sure that I am one such person) can manage to pull an individual's emotion out of the exchange at all.

But here, by comparison, all the women wear their hearts outside their chests. She doesn't seem surprised; that suggests more than I feel comfortable exploring in full.

"I have see you around many place on the island," I decide to continue, trying for a more conversational tone, finding myself more curious than anything else. "But I am surprised to find you here. Is... for stranger to meet each other, yes?"

[broken_brushes]

I let out a quiet huff of laughter at that and inclined my head, sheepish. I felt a little like I'd been caught with my hand in the cookie jar; not really worried that I'd been found out, but embarrassed just the same.

"It is, yeah," I replied with a nod. "I guess I just thought it would be fun. I'm not expecting much. How about you?"

[patration]

I can't stop myself from smiling; she is a charming woman, to be sure, and no matter what the reason is for her lowered expectations, she doesn't seem to be letting them get in the way of a pleasant conversation. That seems to be the whole point and purpose of the five minutes. Just enough to form any type of impression at all, beyond one's physical appearance.

"I am expecting... very much," I say at last, nodding lightly, trying to highlight the sentiment. "To meet more people on island and make friends. I know that this can happen at all party, but not many party give time to talk, one person to one person. I like how this is arranged."

[broken_brushes]

"That's a good point," I replied, and resisted the urge to point out that I meant romantic expectations. "Someone should totally do something like this just for people to meet potential friends. Completely do away with the weird date part of it." Maybe there weren't that many people who needed help with making friends, but here sat two of them, so it couldn't be such a bad idea, right?

[patration]

As simple as the idea seems to be, it's not an exercise employed often. The only times I can remember contacts quickly being made between a group of pepole, with the intention of forging positive relationships, was during my first days in court, sitting in class after class with others similarly rough, untrained, coming in from the countryside. But even then, the sharp sense of competition drove most people apart. Few formed friendships that rested on complete trust.

Even I was caught there, myself.

"Yes," I nod, with surfacing enthusiasm. "Quick time for one person to meet one person, it would be very different than to meet a group. Many people might be nervous to stand in front of a big group, but talking like this, it is more comfortable. Other part, close friendship or close love, it can come later."