trans_9 | Shop 'Till You Drop! [SO VERY OPEN]

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Shop 'Till You Drop! [SO VERY OPEN]

It was nice to be out on solid ground, to breathe fresh and salt-tinged air, and to feel the real warmth of the sun on her neck and shoulders, Nanoha thought. She felt a very deep urge welling up within her breast to just take flight, to soar through an actual sky in the first time in months - and she had no doubt that she would.

But there were other things she had to take care of first. Like, for instance, swimsuit shopping with her best friend.

"Ooh, this store looks like it might have some cute ones!" Nanoha tugged on Fate's hand, pulling her towards one of the storefronts that lined this street of the bustling shopping district. Even if it didn't, there were still plenty of others to try, and plenty of cute outfits to convince Fate to try on.

(ooc: It might help to have just one thread for ALL YOUR SHOPPING NEEDS? Feel free to tag in and mingle, if you're shopping for clothes, groceries, games, whatever!)

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Steve smirked a little bit awkwardly, leaning on his elbow. "I just thought of something. Do I sound like I'm speaking Japanese to you?"

"Well, I hadn't really thought about it before. But, yes. You do." It was a little bit off-putting, knowing he was American and speaking perfect Japanese. "Do I sound like I'm speaking English?" Because that would be a heck of a thing.

Her English grades hadn't been perfect, after all.

"Yeah," he laughed, reaching back to scratch the back of his neck a bit awkwardly. "I never really thought of it either. But I did think it was weird you spoke English so well. I mean, not that you couldn't, but. You know."

Boy, then how weird did it sound when he tried and butchered certain Japanese words?

Pretty weird, Steve. Pretty weird. "No, I really can't; my English skills are terrible," Miku admitted cheerfully. "I tried, in high school, you know, to pay better attention to my English. But, it was too hard and I was only a passing student."

She looked down at the menu again, and tapped a dish. It had veggies and meat in it, though they claimed it was a salad. And if she didn't think too hard about it, she might even enjoy it. "Maybe it's just one of those things we take for granted up there. And here, too, I guess."

"I've never spoken a word of Japanese in my life," he replied with a little shrug of his shoulders. "Except 'konnichiwa.' And now 'eatadeckymoss.'"

Steve sipped his drink and leaned on his elbow on the table. "Well, it's a good thing they have a translation engine, huh? Though I'd learn Japanese if I had to to talk to you." That was almost romantic, Steve!

Miku looked up at him and smiled brightly, then reached over and squeezed his hand. "That's sweet." She didn't even correct his pronunciation, this time.

Her cheeks were pink, but that could've easily been explained by the heat. It occurred to Miku that this was probably their first proper date, ever. "We could also take up gesturing wildly at each other, too." Though who knew where that'd lead them?

"Whatever works," he joked, and squeezed her hand back. See, this dating thing wasn't that hard. You just had to accidentally say stupid cute stuff from time to time.

It was a lot easier when there weren't nightmares and stuff going on all around.

"So what are you gonna eat?" he asked. "I'm kind of wary about eating any of the meat. I'd like to know what it is before I eat it..."

"I think this," Miku pointed to the salad. "There's meat in it, but I'm going to try to trust it because it says 'steak'. I'll let you try a bite if it's good." And... even if it wasn't steak steak, there wasn't any harm in being adventurous. "What about you?" Miku leaned over and peeked at his menu.

Steve almost suspiciously examined the item Miku was pointing at. And it looked pretty safe. "Okay," he said. "I think I'll get that too. We can be adventurous together, maybe."

"And if it's terrible, we can just put the meat bits to the side, somewhere," she suggested helpfully. Certainly the rest of it wouldn't be horrible. "Trust the steak, Steve." Miku laughed.

Their waitress came back and took their orders, refilling their glasses before she vanished again.

Steve was quiet for a long minute, tracing patterns on the condensation that gathered on his glass. Finally he looked up at Miku, smiled a little shyly, and smirked.

"This is the best birthday I thought I could have here."

Miku glanced down and hid her face as best she could with her bangs. She motioned for him to lean closer and kissed his cheek briefly. "Happy birthday."

Now she'd really have to find him a good present, something in the back of her mind piped up unhelpfully.

Steve was absolutely crimson as she kissed him, but nothing compared to the crimson he was about to turn. Once she had pulled away, he turned back towards her and kissed her back-- aiming for the lips this time.

"Thanks," he said, feeling rather smooth. And stupid. All at the same time. Turns out being 18 and a dope felt a lot the same as being 17 and a dope.

"Ah." Miku opened her mouth, closed it and looked down at her hands. Her ears burned, and his face was red, and neither of them could blame it on the weather. But she was going to anyway, by god. "You're... you're welcome." She shifted in her seat and drank the juice she'd ordered.

What to say, what to say? "I'm still going to get you a present, though."

"Okay," he said a little blankly, probably distracted by the sensation that his face was catching on fire. He hurriedly turned back to his own side of the table and took a sip from his drink, hoping it might make the color go away.

"I mean... okay. I'm looking forward to seeing what you get," he corrected a moment later. He had his own ideas about presents for certain people's recent birthdays, now that he had the chance to get one. "You're sweet."

Miku tugged on her earlobe, embarrassed. "I hope that you like it." Their awkward silence was broken by the waitress, who put their salads and bowls of chilled soup down before them and bustled away.

The salad didn't look horrible, surprisingly. The meat was seared and cut into pleasing, thin slices that made the most of their slightly pink interior. While Miku couldn't recognize even one of the vegetables, their crispness and bright coloring made her feel at ease. Even if she wasn't sure a salad should have hot pink vegetables in it. "...You first."

Well, that was an interesting color for a salad. He glanced up at Miku-- she liked pink things, didn't she?

Steve examined the plate for a moment and judged everything 'not immediately apparent to be chunks of rodent or human--EDIBLE'. He took a deep breath and then pulled one of the bright pink vegetables out of the salad and took a tiny bite out of the edge.

"It tastes like a tomato," he announced. "Like a... crispy tomato."

Miku wrinkled her nose in reply, but took a curious bite anyway. She couldn't help it if the salad had pink vegetables in it. "It isn't bad." Weird, yes, and the texture was a little bit foreign, but kind of good, too.

She pushed her vegetables around and tried a sliver of the meat, glancing once at Steve. "Here we go." It wasn't horrible. In fact, it tasted an awful lot like good Kobe steak. The surprise registered on her face before she could stop it. "It's good!"

Steve was instantly relieved. "Awesome." And now he could eat without apprehension.

He dug in and tested out a few of the other vegetables before finally settling into eating like it was just a normal salad. "Good choice, Miku. I'll take your advice when we eat on other planets from now on."

"Oh, and what happens if I'm wrong?" Miku smiled brightly, teasing. Her sandaled toe bumped into his shin gently.

"Then we'll just hide it under the table, I guess," he replied. He didn't kick her back because he was genuinely afraid he'd bruise her.

"Feed it to the dog?" Miku suggested cheerfully. It was nice being out to do something as normal (if completely foreign) as a date.

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Shop 'Till You Drop! [SO VERY OPEN]

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