you have GOT to be kidding

[kitamarie]

She perused the menu and spotted something familiar that she really enjoyed. "I'll have a seafood melt with mashed potatoes and a caesar salad to start please." She closed her menu and handed the menu over before taking another sip of her drink.

"A walk is always good after eating," she agreed with a warm smile at Bruno. And it was true. You miss a lot while driving... moreso when you're in a cab. She toyed with her napkin, pondering what else to talk about. Now she felt worse about making him nervous. Nobody talks much when they're nervous. Well.... she had to grin. She talked a lot when she got nervous. But that didn't work for everyone.

"Do I make you nervous?" she blirted. Stupid question... it was obvious... but still. Then she felt her own face turn red. "Sorry, it's none of my business. I just couldn't think of anything to talk about."

[Bruno]

Bruno's eyes widened slightly when Kit asked if she made him nervous. Yes, you make me nervous! he wanted to shout. It doesn't make sense, but you make me more nervous than any person I have ever met before!

But Bruno remained silent, trying to hide his actual nervousness. "No, you don't make me nervous," he finally said, lying. "I just... haven't gotten to know you yet. Yeah. I just take a while to warm up to strangers."

Hopefully she would buy his excuse.

[kitamarie]

Kita raised an eyebrow, a small smile playing on her lips. "Since I don't make you nervous, you wouldn't mind me kissing your cheek?" She asked playfully, her eyes glittering in amusement. She knew he was lying, it was hard not to tell. She met his gaze, making him look into her eyes, the smile still there.

She could understand why he wouldn't want to admit it, but she wanted him to be able to admit it to her. She didn't wait for him to answer her first question before asking, "why do I make you nervous?"

[Bruno]

"I- I don't think a kiss would be appropriate," Bruno said, ignoring the question about him being nervous. He was nervous! And apparently she wasn't buying it when he claimed otherwise. But still, he really did mean it when he said he thought it would be inappropriate even if that wasn't his main reason for denying her the kiss. "I think we should keep a... professional, relationship. Since we will be working together and stuff."

Just when Bruno thought his face couldn't get any redder, the waitress came outside with their food. It looked like he was saved by the dinner bell. Jasmine set Kita's food out in front of her first, then set a saucer down in front of Bruno. There was no one word that could describe the emotion Bruno felt when he looked at it.

"What is this?" he asked the waitress, confused.

"It's Sannakji, just like you ordered. Is there a problem?"

"Well, no. I mean. Well, it's still... alive!" There were four whole octopi squirming around on his plate! He liked the taste of octopus, but he had never heard of eating them alive before.

"That's Sannakji," Jasmine assured him. "You can either chew them up or swallow them whole." She say the look of skepticism on his face and asked, "Would you like me to bring you something else?"

"No, no. I ordered them. I just... No, it's fine." Suddenly Bruno wasn't feeling too hungry anymore. He looked up at Kita and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

[kitamarie]

Kita tried to keep a straight face, but as soon as the waitress left, she started laughing so hard she almost fell off her chair, which would only have made her laugh harder... if that was possible. He had gone from red to green almost instantly upon seeing his food.

"I wasn't aware it was christmas," she teased, still giggling. She knew she shouldn't be laughing at his misfortune... but it was hilarious. Granted, she had grown up in "fine dining" and her staff had taught her about the different terms for different foods as long as different languages so she wouldn't go through the experience.

She stood up and walked over behind Bruno, resting her hands on his shoulders for balance as she leaned close and whispered in his ear "we could always get it to go, go someplace private, and you can use a morph to eat it."

She went back to her seat and sat down, beginning to eat her own dinner with great pleasure. Nothing live about her meal. She had considered ordering Scampy with sauteed vegetables and a small bowl of rice. But that was more of an evening meal, and it was still lunch.

[Bruno]

"Haha," Bruno said without even looking up from his plate. "Which morph should I use? The peacock or the flamingo?" Even if one of those morphs could eat the octopi, which he doubted, he didn't think it would make his meal any more appetizing.

While it was way to late to pretend that he wasn't bothered by his food, Bruno wasn't yet ready to admit that he wouldn't eat it anyway.

"It may be wiggly, but if other people manage to eat it, I should be able to too, right?" Without waiting for an answer, Bruno picked up one of the little mollusks and prepared to put it in his mouth. It started wrapping its tentacles around his fingers and Bruno almost lost it. But he didn't. Still, there was no way he would be able to make himself chew this thing up while it was still alive. He would have to go with the "swallow it whole" method.

Bruno closed his eyes, put it in his mouth, pulled its suction cups off his fingers, then attempted to swallow it. He almost gaged twice before it went down his throat. It wasn't because of the taste, or even the texture. It was because the octopus wouldn't stop wiggling and fastening its suction cups onto the inside of his mouth.

Bruno stared down at his plate and wondered if he could force himself to eat any more. But then he got an idea. "I wonder if that will work..." he mumbled as he picked up a second one.

The second octopus was wiggling wildly just like the first one, but then it relaxed as it went into the acquiring trance. Bruno quickly put it into his mouth and swallowed it before it snapped out of its trance. "Ah ha! It did work," he said to Kita before repeating the process with the last two. "Haha, those things aren't so bad once you know how to eat them," Bruno bragged.

[kitamarie]

Kita hid her head in her arms, her shoulders shaking wildly though she made no sound. She wanted to give him an E for effort, but first she had to deal with the laughter that was erupting inside her and struggling to get release. But she wouldn't, couldn't laugh at him. After all, he was proud of himself. And, she had to admit, she wouldn't have been able to put it in her mouth.

Once she had resumed some form of control, she looked up, though she was sure her eyes were still lit with laughter and her face flushed. But she couldn't let Bruno know how she really felt about it. "Well I'm glad you got it down," she said, trying to hide the laughter in her voice. But then again... 'twas better to laugh at it than get sick and possibly bring back up what he worked so hard to get down.

Kita took a sip from her drink, taking small sips so as not to have a mouthful in case she lost the battle against humor. She wondered where Bruno would take her next...

[Bruno]

"I'm glad too," Bruno replied. "But now I'm finished with my meal and have nothing left to eat." He smiled politely at Kita even though it was obvious that she was holding back her laughs. He couldn't really blame her.

Just then he felt a squirming sensation in his stomach and wasn't sure if it was real or just psychological. But he didn't try to hard to figure it out.

"On second thought, maybe that is for the best. I'm not sure if I lost my appetite or fulfilled my appetite, but either way I don't feel like eating any more." Bruno took a tiny sip of his water, then resolved to wait patiently for Kita to finish her meal.

[kitamarie]

Kita finished her lunch quickly, her eyes still twinkling with good humor. "I just hope they don't climb back out again. You may be hungry again," she said with a giggle. She took another sip from her drink and flashed a smile at Bruno. "You know, this is my first date," she confessed running a hand through her hair, a touch of a blush coloring her cheeks.

Strange how that works. First Bruno was doing all the blushing. Now it's her turn. Fair now she guessed.

[Bruno]

"Date?" Bruno asked, slightly stunned by the word? He sure hoped she meant a normal dinner date sort of date. Or at the very least he hoped she didn't mean a date date. He already told her he wanted to keep a professional relationship.

But before he could ask, the waitress came with the check. By the time he paid for the two of them, he decided it may be best if he just dropped the subject.

Standing up and looking at Kita he asked, "Any preferences on where we go now? I know we talked about going for a walk, but is there anything you would like to see first?"

(OOC: We can either continue with this thread for a while longer, or we can wrap it up and start a new one. I'll leave the choice up to you.)

[kitamarie]

((you mean jump forward a few weeks? Sure, it IS getting a bit tedious... you can only first day it so long...))

Kita thanked the waitress and stood up, smiling at Bruno. "Thanks for lunch, I think I would like to see the library." She looked out over the ocean in silent contemplation. Or did she want to walk the beach. She DID have some thinking to do, but he wanted to show her around, and thinking was best done alone. It turned her anti-social for a short bit. She forced an enthusiastic smile. Well, half forced. She did love libraries but she doubted it had any books that she hadn't read. Her financial supply had kept her well stocked.

She wandered out the door, holding the door for Bruno this time. It wasn't like she needed much to do yet, she still had to organize her room.