Yet another Face at the bar.

[Tiny]

Tiny appreciates the touch, and bumps the foot with his knee. Uratha just liked to be touched, it was something about the wolf side.

"It takes a real man to refuse a challenge he can't win. I like that, perhaps you are more human than I was led to beleive." Tiny laughs, a high, nasally laugh of true mirth. "If you insist on splitting the bill I won't refuse you, but know that if the bill appears and you are in the bathroom, I cannot be held responsible for my actions." Partly it was his pride, but more important was that he didn't want to show a lack of interest. Splitting the bill sent a signal, and one Tiny didn't want to accept.

He's surprised when Chris doesn't press further, perhaps the answer, true as it was, bored the man?
Hmm, he'll have to be a little more eloquent then.


Listening to Chris' response Tiny nods along to Chris' perspective on the world. For someone as pretty as him, who even acknowledges that he knows he's pretty, to want to change those standards speaks of maturity, which Tiny can cetainly appreciate. But it was the why that really surprised Tiny. many bemoaned the superficiality of culture, but few disapproved because of its inherent unfairness.
"That's a really good answer. I like how you target it to fairness and civility. My work occasionally dabbles in that, trying to bring fairness to the wrongfully accused, or just those who can't catch a break. But I think you go deeper than that, the question is going to be how deep, but i'll ask that later." A wink, and then more drinks. Tiny raises his glass in cheers, and drinks more.


"That is a good question. Hmm." Tiny takes another drink of beer. "The superficial answer, literally, would be having some hair back on my head, but I have ways of not minding that." While he had never actually mirror-checked himself in urhan form, he was sure someone would have mentioned the bald spot. "And besides, it is as you say, something people are mean to each other, and to themselves about. No, the thing that I would actually change if I could would be to be stronger, both physically but more importantly in non-physical ways. I care deeply about many people in my life, and I want to protect them, not just from physical dangers." Anshega claws, hunter silver, spirit fuckery, "But from all kinds of harm. I seek power to protect those close to me, and I recognize that to keep them safe, I need to become stronger in many ways.
Very good question."

"So lets go with something harder then. Aside from wingmaning, what do you do for fun?"
Because this was a date, and needs some levity besides the drinks.

[Crystal]

It was really great to have someone so unapologetically into a date as Tiny seemed to be - while still maintaining a respectable sense of self esteem. Then again, the 6 months was nagging at the back of Crystal's mind. Wouldn't it be ironic to kind of fall for a guy who wasn't into long term relationships? And fuck, why was he even thinking about that?

"I'd say it takes a real man to be so assured of himself that he'll call this competition unwinnable for others." He let the 'human' remark slide again: he didn't know what else was out there, so how was he to know where Awakened fell on the 'humanity-scale'? "Also trust me: I never hold anyone accountable for anything that happens in bathrooms. Ugh no, that came out wrong. You know what I mean." Yeah, wine on a pretty empty stomach made him blur the line between witty and tasteless sometimes.

"It's good to hear that you've picked up the profession to help people out instead of just to fill your pockets." Not that he considered himself a stalwart defender of the beaten and the poor. Or maybe he just wasn't thinking about it that much. Maybe it just boiled down to the golden rule laid out in the Bible: do onto others as you would have them do unto you. Kaze would be so proud! The announcement to dig deeper almost felt like a playful threat. He drowned the realization of only having one pass left with a sip of wine.

Tiny's answer struck a chord with Crystal. No, he wasn't being mushy and he certainly didn't have the daddy-complex gay men digging more mature partners had to defend themselves against. He just felt the conviction behind the words and it reminded him a bit of his Obrimos-buddy. A whisky-drowned memory resurfaced: 'Try to be a good person, there's plenty of opportunity and not a lot of competition.' Maybe there's something in the water in Sacramento.
Anyway. He got up from his place and moved across the table if Tiny was nice enough to scoot a bit. "You know, until the food arrives I'd rather sit here if you don't mind." Enjoying his company's warmth and the slight tingles the occasional touch sent through his body. "You know, either we are just trying to impress each other by answers worthy of a Miss America pageant or we are actually really swell people." Which a few dozen people would disagree on. "Seriously, I like and I respect that." Being closer to each other also made it easier to whisper in each other's ear. "So I take it your 'business' also makes you live quite dangerously?" A risky question, especially since it was not technically his turn. Oh well.

The lawyers idea about his questions' difficulty was curious. An existential nightmare to begin with and to "increase the difficulty" he asked what he did for fun? Okay, to be fair he couldn't very well talk about his.. recreational medication or his abundant flirting. Those topics usually didn't fly on dates. He decided to go with a sorta-truth. "I like to go out, enjoy the night life. You know: dancing, socializing." That sounded shallow, doubly so when considering his heartfelt plea for the recognition of inner beauty and fairness. "Also, I have been picking up cooking recently. I have been sort of struck by inspiration." He gave his date a meaningful look and a smirk. His cooking was nothing to write home about so far, but he actually enjoyed experimenting with flavours and recipes.

"What about you?" A softball, partly because he felt like his follow-up question earlier could count as his turn already. But also because he was interested to learn more about Matthew.

[Tiny]

Tiny bows his head in acknowledgement of the compliment, thank you. "And yes, I know what you mean. Faces is right across the street." He says with deep sincerity, before breaking into a smile.

"Law is a great way to make good money. Not great money, but enough to be comfortable and happy." He scoots over allowing Chris just enough space to squeeze in, but not so much space that they could avoid touching. "Speaking of comfortable and happy" Luna's tits was he being cheesy. "you don't have to run away when food shows up. I have a habit of chasing fleeing things I want."

"I plan on spending my prize money on helping ebola victims in russian orphanages." Tiny hoists an imaginary tiara on himself, "And why is it not both? I won't get too deep down the philosophy rabbit hole, but we are both highlighting our positives and obscuring our negatives. Because if you don't like me at my best, how will you tolerate me at my worst?" A memory strikes Tiny, seeing his mother shaking, blood thick on her hands and face, screaming that no one look at her.

Tiny shivers at the tickle of breath on his ears. He finds that he likes Chris whispering to him. "Short answer, yes." He whispers back. "And you?"

"I am not surprised about the dancing and socializing. I met other Chris doing both. But I am delighted to hear about the cooking. As much as I like food, i'm only so-so at making things delicious. Filling I can do in a heartbeat, but to make it taste good well, I look forward to seeing you work." Very few things looked as good as a man with a skillet. And Tiny couldn't help imagine a domestic scene of CHris cooking and him eating. It was very nice.

"For me? I hunt. Nothing beats the thrill of the chase and the success from taking down your dinner. Especially with the more primitive weapons." Commonly that meant bow and arrow, but nothing was more primitive than teeth. "So." He pauses, as several plates of food appear, "Thank you." Tiny says to the waiter, and starts chowing down. The look of pleasure on his face as the greasy deliciousness of the fries and the burning hot pretzel go down is thorough in his face. "So, as I was saying before I was so gratefully interrupted, Miss America, what would you do with the $50,000 grand prize?" He holds his brat like a microphone to Chris.

[Crystal]

Crystal chuckled at Tiny's remark. He pitied the jerks that underestimated mature men - old dogs could learn new tricks and more importantly: they knew plenty of old tricks.

"You, stop it." Crystal really meant to roll his eyes at Matthew, but he couldn't help but smile and his objecting really sounded more like 'keep going'. "All right, let's see how long I can stay over here - from what I've heard I think I have to take care not to lose my food once you get started.. or a finger."

Another chuckle, this one even more heartfelt. He acknowledged Tiny's crowning with a silent, posh round of applause. Apart from a few uncomfortable questions the Awakened seemed to be really enjoying himself. "Good point. Although, it kind of depends on how bad your worst is, doesn't it?" Crystal's smile faltered for a moment - blink and you missed it - but two glasses of wine were not enough to let those particular demons out of their solidary confinement.

Matthew whispering back had pretty much the same effect on the Warlock. Considering the rather grim topic he just hoped that this didn't awaken some sort of kink in him. "Yes." He really wished he could give a longer answer, to have a meaningful reason to stay as close but unfortunately the long answer was too complicated. He had been surprisingly sheltered for Awakened standards - hell, according to some Guardians he had been the danger in other people's life himself. Talk about tolerating his worst.

"Whoops, should not have said that then. I'm afraid I haven't quite reached the levels of 'delicious' yet." Besides, this was a second date. Gay or not, this almost sounded like they were talking long term plans. Crystal didn't do that. Tiny didn't seem to do that.

The lawyer apparently liked to hunt. It might have to do with the way the conversation has been going before that, but the Mage's mind immediately took hunting as a metaphor for sleeping around. It took him several beats after the 'primitive weapons' to catch up. Still, trying to imagine Matthew with a bow or a stone-knife the image didn't really make sense. A shiver went down his spine as a flashback of the Nexus came and went - that blue haired punk changing into-
That train of thought fortunately got interrupted by their food arriving. He regarded the waiter with a polite smile and a nod before he caught himself again. "Thanks." Yeah, that didn't sound rattled anymore. Plus, Tiny was probably distracted by all the deliciousness in front of him.

It took a wurst to the face for the Mastigos to fully come back from that evening to this really so much more enjoyable one. He burst out laughing and gave his interviewer an amused side eye. "Careful with that, I think we're already on our waiter's watch-list." Nevertheless he straightened his posture some more, adjusted an invisible sash and took the wrist holding the microphone in both of his hands. He put on the almost teary-eyed happy face of a girl whose dreams all came true at once. "First of all I'd like to thank God and this great Nation, America! I would like to invest my prize money into beauty schools all over the country, so that every girl can feel as beautiful as I am!"
He let go of the hand and shook his head. "Now, let's just eat before it gets cold." He needed a few minutes. No questions, only the warmth of his date and the food for now. Plus, it did look delicious.

[Tiny]

Tiny's smile falters as Chris mentions the biting finger. He does his best to hide it, but it caught him by surprise. Some taboos just hit harder than others. "Your fingers have little to fear from my teeth. They are so nice in their current form." And he leaves it at that.

Tiny shrugs, conceding the point. His worst was pretty bad after all, and it would't be fair to Chris, inhuman or not, to burden with the weight of the wolf in Rage. Tiny finishes off his fries.

Tiny nods at the whisper. There is no point to saying more here. Perhaps if they find each other nice enough in their human masks, they might be willing to bring the masks down.

"I'll be the judge of that. And I look forward to judging your cooking with a true Gourmand's tongue." He is kind enough to leave a good chunk of pretzel for his date to try.

Tiny listens as Chris gives his miss america acceptance speach. He is tempted to call him out on not giving an honest answer, but then again, he hadn't asked an honest question. He enjoys the wurst, and orders another beer along with the two vegan sausages and the daily special sausage- a Kielbasa. His approach to food is joyful and excited. Each bite he savors, and yet moves right on to the next. He never stuffs his face, and a quick swallow allows him to answer, but Tiny loves food, and its clear to anyone with eyes.

He lets the silence linger and sees how it feels. With some people, silence is oppressive, aggravating. With Chris, it is like lakewater. Placid, yet not without life. Not fully relaxing, but more peaceful. Tiny can feel the rage ebb for just a little while. It is...nice.

"So." He bites into the wurst, chews, swallows. All proper behavior. "You haven't asked a question, but i'll provide an answer. I find it pleasing. The group I'm with is good fun, if a little intense, and I find myself well insulated from the vagaries of an indifferent world. The food is delicious, and the people are very friendly. I find it similar to home actually. But much warmer, and the palm trees definetly threw me for a while."

[Crystal]

Crystal almost forgot his own food, so fascinating was watching all that food disappear. All in all it was tasty and somewhere in between the dining and the occasional small exchanges of chit-chat he realized something: this was probably the first time a date saw him eat. Not that he had any problem with eating or was self-conscious about this matter - it's just not something he associated with closeness, with an conscious and deliberate act of spending time together.

Eating alone for most of his life (if you didn't count the maid) would do that to you. He just ordered some more wine as Tiny went for seconds - he started to feel a bit tipsy, but the fatty food was a great counterweight to the beverages. Maybe he should pace himself, lest he got confrontational or too handsy.

It took the Mage a beat to realize that they've entered the Jeopardy portion of the evening. He put down his fork - he just finished his plate - leaned back and smiled at the lawyer. "I guess I got dealt 'First impressions' for 400. I'm going with 'how do you like the city so far?', Alex. Where are you from originally?" It didn't feel right to have elaborate conversations while one of them was still eating, but Crystal had a feeling that they would have to sit silently for a hot minute if they waited for Tiny to finish. Plus, Matthew didn't seem to mind. "Me, I'm from San Francisco - so not really a huge transition."

He sipped at his wine and pondered for a bit. Keep asking questions or go along with the unprompted answers? He decided to go for both. "This one is from 'uncomfortable truths' and is worth 800 dollars: 5 weeks, and that's only because of semantics. He thought seeing each other for more than three times constituted a relationship." The Mastigos shrugged, but for anyone watching him it was pretty obvious that he is neither proud nor particularly amused by the fact. "I guess I get bored easily." Or scared.
He let that sink in for a moment, took another drink. "What about you? What happened after your 6 month vacation with the other team?"

[Tiny]

"Correct, you have the board Chris." His date was certainly good at picking up what Tiny put down.


"I'm from Cleveland. The mistake on the lake as it is still called, though now with some pride. It's trying to return from near death, and seems to be doing better. They have one guy doing barbecue with eastern european spices. Imagine a pastrami pulled pork." He starts in on his first sausage.


He nods at Chris' short timeframe, and doesn't point out that most people would agree that more than three dates was relationship. But as much as Chris was more than a pretty face on a prettier body, he fulfilled the gay stereotypes too, in his own way.
"I've learned is that treat each moment as important, and you find more of your goals get met that way." He looks again at the mystical man, focusing on his very pretty eyes, "The trick is to know what you want."
Tiny isn't intimidated or scared off by Chris' flippancy and boredom. It wouldn't be the first he's heard of that, not by a long shot. He polishes off the beer, and orders another.


"Well, if we are speaking of semantics and technicalities, she was my farewell kiss from the mainland, and I have been sailing these waters since. Since then, its much the same as you, short dates, one night in paris, occasionally a weekend trip or a brief month of a whirlwind. Fun, yes, but its like these fries." He gestures to the nearly empty bag. "Wonderful for a time, but eventually you want to try something new. At least, that's my old man opinion." He wants to ask, but knows that asking would be too aggressive. And while he wants something different than fries, they are so easy.

[Crystal]

"Oh my, that must have been hell for an insatiable gourmet like yourself. So why Sacramento? I mean, clearly it's just about as far away from Cleveland as possible but that can't be the only reason." A memory of the night at the museum resurfaced on Crystal's tipsy mind: how Matthew was about to suffocate in his mother's shadow. Just how big a shadow did this woman cast?

Fuck, Tiny didn't sell himself short: that man could really eat a lot. It wasn't gross or sloppy though, he could probably watch this spectacle for another hour without getting bored - but the conversation probably played a huge part in that assessment. "That puts a lot of responsibility on people. Seizing each important moment, where does that leave all the leisurely wasted moments?" He grinned broadly. It was coquetry, since he had no shortage of wasted nights and days. Then Matthew met his eyes and before he knew it he went on more soberly. "And what do you want?"

Matthew's story gave room for so many follow-up questions. Were they still playing their game, taking turns in getting to know each other? To hell with it - he wasn't a sucker for rules at his best and this was his fourth? fifth? glass of wine. If the lawyer didn't want to get interrogated he'd have to object. "So how long since you saw the light? I mean, how much time did you have to try these waters?"
He emptied this glass and ordered another. Their waiter really had his work cut out for him - Crystal made a mental note about giving him a generous tip. With that out of the way he asked the other pressing question on his mind. "Also: Paris? Like, literally Paris?!"

[Tiny]

"Haven't you heard about the food here? Its one of the best restaurant cities in the country. But the other reason I regrettably have to use a professional pass on. Short answer, there was a need." How do you describe an opportunity to push back against the Pure, a millenia old civil war that your side was losing, to help build a new place for your People? To someone who, while not Herd, still couldn't understand. Well, maybe later, in small doses.

Tiny polishes off the last of the food, looks at the menu, before shaking his head, "I'm no longer hungry. Its a new diet, I stop eating when i'm not hungry, and don't push myself to being full except for special occasions. Hard to burn calories taking depositions. Though if you'll let me, i'd like to treat you to dessert."

"The moment where you lay together underneath a tall tree and enjoy the light breeze staring at the sky is a leisurely spent moment, and its not wasted. Wasted moments are a conceptualization, to find that your time is value, but that you are not spending it correctly. So either you change what you are doing, or change what you want. If you want to go drinking, then that relaxing afternoon is wasted. If you want to eat something new and different, then going back to an old restaurant is wasted. But if you reconceptualize your life, well, i'm sure you can see where i'm going." No need to explain every little detail, even Tiny got tired of hearing his voice after a while.

"So what do I want? That changes. Ultimately? I want tranquility, yet change. I want to push society and myself forward, but not all the time, and to allow for regression of both. to be even more specific, I want to Live. To feel that my life burned with intensity and warmed those around me." Tiny speaks gently, with a subdued passion.

"I've known I was gay for about 15 years. I've been out publically for about half of that, though I dont really advertise it. Its not my business what people do, and I like to think it goes both ways. And no, not actual Paris." He'd be dead before he got out of the airport if the rumors were true. "Not on my bucket list. The phrase was something I heard from such a date. You show up, have a lovely few drinks, and then retire for the evening. In the morning you have a lovely breakfast, promise to see each other again, and never speak again. Or perhaps thats an Ohio thing, do they do that in San Fransisco?"

[Crystal]

Huh, so there it was: the first pass down. Crystal noted how Matthew specifically called it a 'professional' pass - so it was either a big lawyer trade secret or it had to do with the reason his date had access to the Nexus. "Fair enough. The bottom line is that you're here, so here's to that." He raised his glass and sipped. He started to dislike the taste of the dry wine more and more - maybe there was something to Matthew's theory.

Tiny's finish was awarded with a slow and silent applause. "I'm sure you didn't mean to brag just now, but if that's what it took for you not to feel hungry anymore I am very glad that I passed on that challenge. As for dessert:" He inched a bit closer again. "That would depend on the kind of dessert you're talking about. I vividly remember enjoying last time's nightcap thoroughly." With the offer extended it was up to the lawyer how the evening would end. For now they still had some drinks to drink and some questions to ask.

It probably had to do with his level of intoxication, but once again the Awakened noticed how artful his date was with words. He considered for a moment to play dumb in order to listen to more of that profound wisdom, but he decided against it. Him not getting it was surely way too unbelievable and that thought brought a giggle out of Chris. Ironically, while his tipsy mind busied itself with the superficial aspects of what Tiny was saying, the meaning was lost on him. "I like your way of thinking. I hope you actually live your life like that - seems like you could be a whole lot happier if you did."

Even what Matthew wanted sounded mature and sincere. Crystal was about to categorize the answer under 'Miss America acceptance speeches' when something Kaze had once said popped back into his conscious memory. About being a good person, about making a difference. The first reaction to that was defiance but the next moment he felt bad for ridiculing Tiny's wish. Fuck, why did alcohol always bring out the cynic in him? "Well, you've warmed me. I guess this is all about baby-steps." Yeah, he was trying not to spoil the mood with his wine-induced world-weariness. And his voice most definitely sounded positive and appreciative.

While listening to Matthew's recap of his dating life the Mastigos' mood darkened even further. All of that sounded very familiar - he had been on both ends of the joy that was gay-dating in the age of apps. It was just so easy to hit up the next best thing, to not get suckered into responsibilities and vulnerabilities. Fuck, he didn't write the rules - he was just good at playing the game, you couldn't blame him for that.
And this one? Which of the two men would be the one to pull the plug? Suddenly the taste in Crystal's mouth was way too bitter. He put down his glass and shoved it a bit further away from him. "Oh no, it's definitely a national specialty - if not international." The smile on his face didn't betray what was going on behind the pretty eyes, years of practice made basically sure of that. Besides, he really didn't want to burn that particular bridge tonight. "I guess the key is to keep trying. So, how about that dessert?" When faced with the Abyss you sometimes have to grab the bull by the horns and save yourself into any welcome distraction. Why should tonight be different?

5 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-05-13 16:07:45	Crystal rolls 9 to make a believable happy face (Man 4 + Subter 2) (10 Again, WillPower)	5, 10, 4, 6, 9, 9, 4, 1, 10, 4, 9	5 successes