Still Not An Ideal First Date [Private, Riley Stanos]

What in the hell was she doing here? She couldn't tell herself why, much less anyone else, yet here she was standing outside some establishment that she had never seen before and frankly couldn't have cared if she ever saw again. It looked rather homely and worn, like it was always going to be a smaller business of sorts, one that had been here for many a year and would continue to be there for many another year.

Akui sighed: the chicken woman named Riley Stanos had told her to meet her here, and so here she was, waiting for her to show herself. Akui didn't really do the whole dress-up thing, and considering they just took out a slew of Grimm all on their own only an hour or so back, she just decided to head over to the spot chicken woman said to go to.

So here she was, waiting for her, not even sure why...but even through her haze, she felt something in her stomach that she couldn't quite describe...

Contrary to popular belief, Riley occasionally owned shirts. She had gotten to her room somehow, and had gotten a private helicopter ride into the center of bellmuse, and in what equated to blue-jeans and a white t-shirt, she walked her way to the place where she told Akui to wait. She wore sandals for once, and was as jittery as all possible. After all, she was on a first date!

She arrived slightly late, after all, she had went to get ready. Her normal garb was not exactly restaurant appropriate. She small the small being that she had nick-named Pinky. Sure, it wasn't an original name, but whenever was what she did original? She didn't need original, she needed things that worked. That nickname just happened to work.

"So, how's life Pinky?"

This was partly due to ceremony, but partly because for once in her life, she was actually interested in how someone was doing, rather then the things on their chest.

Trying to occupy herself with her surroundings, Akui was distracted by a faint mechanical churning sound, though she paid it no true mind until it got louder. For whatever reason, a helicopter landed in the center of Bellmuse, but just as quickly as it landed it took off. Akui squinted to see who or what they had dropped, but she could only make out that it was a 'who' until they got closer...then she groaned a slight bit.

It was chicken woman, and she was late to her own idea of a meeting place because she went back to her dorm to change. Akui did note that, unlike a lot of women, the whole 't-shirt and jeans, no dresses here' look did work quite well for her.

When she was close by, she greeted her with a nickname based of the color of her hair. Real original, but Akui didn't feel like putting her down for it for some reason. Frankly, she wanted to know what was going on, and why the chicken woman wanted to see her here.

"Wondering why I'm here. You wanted to meet here, and you said something about grabbing a bite to eat, yet I see nothing food related around here...unless you meant grabbing some cheap ass snacks from that convenience store over there." she crossed her arms and gestured towards a store across the way with cheesy neon signs.

"Seriously, what the hell is going on here, Bird Brain?" Akui looked at the chicken woman with a moderately irritated and pouty face, the likes of which probably did little more than excited the woman standing across from her.

OCC:

"I know this building don't look like much, but I'm friends with the owners. They're a nice, old couple. I've known them awhile, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind us popping in and having a bit to eat. They have REALLY good mashed 'taters. They're aboslutely delish."

She rubbed her stomach as it rumbled. Fighting grimm took energy that she had, so she had to fill up again. She wasn’t thinking about much. The thoughts, however limited, revolved around either the small chick next to her, food or punching things. Realistically, the first two were dominating her mind. Even further, it was mainly the first thought. Second thought was still relevant because she absolutely loved food.

More then Pinky? Ehh. That’s debatable. Food has been there forever, but her and Pinky did just fight Grimm together. It was conflicting, but she looked at the brick building and smiled. The old couple would just love to see her, yeah? Maybe. She was not sure how long it had been since she appeared, but had to have been about a month.

She opened the door to the brick building and held out her arm for Akui to walk it.

“Sit in an open seat, and I’ll be there after I say hello to the owners.”

The restraunt itself only had maybe two patrons at the current moment, both enjoying their food. Riley, however, disappeared behind the counter to say hello, and would arrive about three minutes later with the old lady of the two.

She’d sit across from Akui, before simply telling the old lady to give her what she always gets.

Akui rolled her eyes and sighed: this stupid faunus had invited her to dinner, at some s***ty restaurant. What was wrong with this chick? Sure, Akui had accidentally kissed her and kinda let herself spiral out of control, AND she totally walked this girl to her class while holding her hand, AND BOTH things were initiated by her and not the chicken woman...but just because she had done things a bit fast didn't mean she wanted to do EVERYTHING fast. She still wasn't sure what she wanted with this weird...'relationship'. Akui shuddered on the inside at even thinking the word.

Still, this seemed to be big for the feathered one, and she didn't exactly NOT want to sit down and eat with her...it went pretty well the first time.

The chicken woman then opened the door for her and held her arm out, an offer to link arms and escort her. "Pssh." was Akui's only response, as she put her hands back into her hoodie pockets and walked right past Riley without waiting for her. She then looked around for a seat for them, and there was many an option...due to the lack of people actually eating here.

Akui sighed and sat down at a booth with a nice view of a local park via the window. She stared out it for a while, seeing little boys and girls playing chase and swinging on swings. She saw one of the boys start pulling on the pigtails of one of the girls, and the girl's mother came to break it up. Akui scoffed, then saw chicken woman settle herself across from her out of her peripheral vision, so she turned to face her and saw an older woman.

"Oh Riley, what a pretty friend you have here! Her hair reminds me of my begonias back home, such a beautiful pink. Can I get you something to drink, for starters?" her voice was so dry and old it was like she came out of the earlier parts of a history book, and yet she sprinkled a certain amount of sweetness into it that for a moment you couldn't notice if she even aged a day.

Akui gave her a side glance then looked at the table. "Got a menu?" she asked, albeit rather crudely.

"Oh, why yes, of course! Here you are, sweetie!" the old woman practically sang as she handed her a menu.

One quick glance over and Akui noticed that this menu not only was faded and dirty, but that they only had ten options for food: two of them breakfast, five lunch, and two for dinner, and only a single dessert...which was apple pie. They also only had three options for drinks: water, lemonade, and tea.

"...the hell is this? What sh**ty excuse of a menu is this? No soda, and only ten choices to pick from..." Akui stopped. She was staring at Riley, who had this look on her face that Akui couldn't quite read. It was somewhere between a panic and a threat, but Akui held her gaze and stared the chicken woman down. The restaurant was dead silent for what felt like half-an-hour, but was roughly only a minute.

Akui was the first to break the gaze, and she offered the menu back to the old lady while looking back at the window. "...you still doing breakfast?"

"Why yes! We offer breakfast all day long, deary! What would you like?" the old woman replied cheerily, acting as if nothing remotely bad or awkward had transpired.

"...four eggs, scrambled. Also the porkchop dinner. Soup, chicken noodle... and gimme a side of your 'famous mashed taters.' Lemonade for the drink." she practically spat out, not looking at the older woman or Riley even once.

"Alrighty then! Four scrambled eggs, a porkchop dinner with chicken noodle soup, lemonade, and a side of our specialty taters for Pink and Pretty! And one of the usual for sweet ol' Riley. Be right back with your drinks!" she sang sweetly, then hurried off behind the counter.

Akui continued to pout with her arms crossed, staring out the window, even though the kids were gone and there was nothing worth looking at.

Riley was not the most pleased woman when Akui just burst out in such a rage, but she knew the menus were rough but this was unwarrented. She would’ve kept that stare going for at least another thirty minutes if needed, but thankfully, Pinky broke the stare first. Good. She wouldn’t have to stare down her lover in the end, but she’d had some words for Akui as soon as that the kind old lady left.

“You really ‘ought to learn to keep it down at least a little bit pink.  Sure, the menus aren’t the greatest, but she’s just a nice old lady!  You don’t have to yell at her like that! It’s not only rude but completely unneeded. She’s a nice lady who treats me right.”

She had to figure Akui had a rough time before coming to the school, but she didn’t know what was wrong to the point where she screamed at a nice old lady for giving her a menu. This was a startling thing to know, but she’d see past it right now. She didn’t care so much that it was the old lady, although that mattered, it was how fast it happened. The tense staring that had happened a few seconds before, the tense was gone from Riley, who was sitting; no actually laying on her chair.

It looked like she was going to melt. For once, it wasn’t going to be a lady. She was actually tired. Punching grimm, no matter how much, was tiring. Oh, so tiring. Yet; she didn’t mind this. She adored being able to spend time with Pink.

Chicken woman decided that it wasn't enough that she gave in instead of walking out of the restaurant: she decided to lecture her like some sort of parent or guardian. Akui groaned as she started and then did nothing but continue to stare out the window when she was done. However, she was definitely pondering something.

Why? Specifically, why did she care? Why did this chicken woman even give a flying f*** about Akui or what she did or didn't do? Why did she want to kiss her? Why did she want to spent time with her? Why did she MATTER to her?

But the worst question was the one Akui wish she could struggle to answer: why did she herself care so much about what this chicken woman wanted or felt? She could have not showed up at all, and that was probably the better idea, and she had definitely considered it...yet here she was.

What did this women want from her?

"...s****y restaurant, s****y menu, piece of s***...f*** off..." she had muttered a bunch of hateful things, but that stare off with chicken woman and her thought pattern had 'taken the piss out of her' as it were, leaving only the vinegar. She just sat there and stared out the window, trying to deal with things she wasn't suppose to have to, like thoughts and...ugh, feelings.

Riley, as dense as she was, could tell the swearing was less spirited then before. Yes, it was still there, but if you took away the swear she wasn't quite sure it'd still be pink. She liked her pink the way the pink was, just maybe slightly less viscous and mean. She liked the chick, but boy did she swear so much. Momma Stanos would have a field day with this small girl, although, Riley couldn't see that ending well in any way, shape or form. Momma Stanos probably wouldn't approve of current pink, but that was fine with Riley. At least Akui was more mentally durable then Elise, right? Wait. No. Don't compare the two, that's bad. Riley just had Akui on her mind as she sat across from her.

"So. Pink. What's your favorite color?"

Brilliant questions, Riley! IF YOU WERE FIVE. Riley was flustered right away at what she thought was a stupid question. Her hair was pink! WHY WOULDN'T THAT BE HER FAVORITE COLOR? God, Riley was an idiot. She had to keep it cool while they waited for their food. Otherwise it'd be blatantly obvious she sucked at conversation and excelled at the more physical side of things. Experience reigns, especially in Riley's case.

It would seem chicken woman was trying to make conversation...wow, this really was a 'date', huh? Akui wasn't sure how to feel about it: on one hand, she found some of her personality traits and accomplishments appealing...and she wasn't ugly really. Despite how much Akui distrusted faunus, as her entire predicament was pretty much at the fault of one, this particular one was...well, kinda attractive, she supposed. She still was a bit iffy on the whole 'being a girl and pursuing another girl' thing, but much less than she was before.

She wanted to know...her favorite color?

"Black, like my soul, lost in the Kupo of sorrow and nothingness...at least, that's what people expect someone like me to say, right?" Akui did her best to smirk, although it didn't come out right, as she wasn't really good at feeling anything in general...unless it was anger.

"Clearly you would think pink, and I guess that's kinda true now, but when I was younger I loved a certain shade of golden brown. Not really sure why, f***ing weird idiot kid, but that's how it was." she had turned to look at the window again, not used to making such conversation...and honestly, not used to caring so much about making said conversation.

She turned her head back forward, but looked at the table instead of the woman across from her. "So, what about you? Would I be an asshole if I assumed your favorite color was red?" It...was a question...that was good enough, right?

The goofball smile that appeared on the face of Riley, was something that could be told about in legends. It was absolutely full of happiness. The pink had gotten it right! It was red! It was the color of blood, the color of juice, the color of blushing cheeks. All of the good things in life were red, and thereby, her favorite color was red. Well. Is.

Riley's goofball smile died down heavily. She still had a smile, although it was a tired one. Punching a bunch of grimm was tiring as all hell. Hell, punching people was tiring, but punching grimm was even more difficult. Grimm made it a pain in the god damn arse to get a nice picknick, it was like they were Yogi god dang Bear! Couldn't even have a nice food with pink, but she supposed that it was just some bonding time, making it a nice time.

"You'd be right. My favorite color is red! It's the color of juice, the color of blood and all the good things."

Riley put her hand to her chin and tried to think.

"So. Pink. Outside the academy, what did you do? I think you said about a gang leader during lunch, but I forget."

Ha. Clearly, this chicken woman was such a tough one to figure out, and yet this didn't irritate her. After everything she had dealt with in her life up til now, for someone to be so...well, to not be so complicated and to be so straight forward...it was a bit of a blessing. Sure, she was kind of a cookie cutter, and clearly there wasn't much going on for personality or in that thick head of hers...but was that so much a bad thing?

So she didn't remember that much of their conversation? Not really a surprise, and as much as she wanted to make a joke about her intelligence or memory, it wasn't well warranted: she could only remember her talking about being a pro boxer and beating up dudes. That was probably all there was to it from her end, to be fair, but she hadn't really paid too much attention as she didn't plan on further association.

Akui yawned and slouched some more before responding to her. "Yeah, I'm an ex-gang leader. Ran one in Mistral. We were a pretty big f***ing deal, what with them sending sending the kingdom's finest after us, but they didn't have s*** on me and my crew...well, not really. Not that you would know about it, but it seems only those from Atlas and Mistral really know. Yep, we had a good couple years, but it got canned. With me gone, I can only assume they scattered about or some s***, now doing their own thing." She did her best to look uninterested in what she was talking about, but a trained eye could tell there was some sort of longing look in her eye.

Akui slouched just a bit more, than shot back at the chicken woman. "So, what about you, Chicken Little? Do anything besides be known for being the best at punching s***?" She would have been fine not saying anything at all, but clearly this chick wanted to have a conversation...and Akui didn't feel like causing a problem at the current moment, so why the hell not?

A gang leader was correct, and a leader for a big one? So cool. Absolutely cool. Akui was just getting better and better. Apparently the gang was scattered, which was sad. Sucked. Maybe Akui could get it back? Possibly. Riley would like Akui to be happy, thereby if the gang made Akui happy, it'd probably make Riley happy. Maybe. Was Riley known for anything in particular? Maybe. She was somewhat known for messing up the gender divide in boxing, since she was stubborn and didn't want to break the women, she had fought the men. Or something like that. She wasn't entirely sure.

"I...uhm. I did a thing with the gender stuffs in boxing. Fought a bunch of guys before I should've been able to. They always lost, were weak compared to yours truly. Gave 'em that one-two. That one-two that shattered jaws and broke ribs, but my right hook is one of legends."

Riley spoke, happy even to be talking to the small, pink woman who was absolutely lovely.

Just as she had thought: she punched dudes for a living. That was enough to grab a least a little of Akui's attention, as she was all for beating up dudes, and women weren't really know for...well, honestly, women weren't really known for much when it came to sports. That would mean that this chicken woman was actually rather talented, maybe more so than others, as boxing was more a martial art than a sport really.

Believe it or not, Akui wanted to give a response...or at least say something...but there was nothing. She honestly couldn't think of anything to say or ask. She wasn't really the one to talk to others or care about talking to others, and it was leaving her with this weird feeling in her gut thought she couldn't quite understand or feel completely. After a bit of silence and tension that would have taken diamonds to cut and felt like it lasted WAY too long, the old woman came back and set down their drinks.

"One lemonade for the pink lady, nice and chilly!" the lady's words practically smiled as well as she placed a simple glass in front of her. She then turned to Riley with a look that was bubbly and rather infectious in nature.

"Now Riley, I know you usually like raspberry tea, but you always tell me how much you like coffee and, well...guess what just came in?" the old woman sounded genuinely excited and clapped her hands lightly but rapidly, before placing a steaming hot cup 'a joe in front of the chicken woman. "We finally managed to afford one of those coffee brewers, so we now get to add a new drink on the menu, hmm hmm~!" The old lady was practically beaming, and Riley seemed excited to, but Akui's mouth opened and...

"...new? Really, new? What the hel-" There was that glare again, and yet again Akui held her gaze...and yet again, Akui broke that gaze first. Akui turned her head away again and muttered. "...can I get a straw?"

"Of course, sweetie. Here you are!" Akui moved her hand to accept what she expected to be a straw in plastic, but instead the old woman placed a plastic straw that was a translucent pink and all curly close to the top right into her glass for her. Akui rolled her eyes a bit at the look of the straw, but she said nothing. "Be back soon with your grub!" the woman smiled again, and took off yet again behind the counter.

Akui didn't even bother to glance at the chicken woman again, instead going straight for the straw in her lemonade...and she was caught off guard. The lemonade was perfectly chilled, yet there was no ice in the cup, just filled to the brim with lemonade: it was the glass itself that was chilled. Akui was slightly impressed that a business didn't use ice to fill part of the glass, but rather giving the customer as much drink as possible. She then took a sip through the straw, and her glazed eyes lit up ever so slightly.

The lemonade was not only just cold enough, but also had a perfectly balanced taste. It wasn't too sweet or too sour, it was literally in the perfect space between the two...and it had very little pulp. A lot of care had gone into it, but there was no way this could have been hand-squeezed...

"...mhm..." escaped Akui's throat involuntarily as she continued to sip her lemonade, her gaze flickering among the many things in the store, only glancing briefly at Riley now and again.

It was then that a woman walked into the eatery, Eager to grab some grub. She was taken to a table in the very back where she saw something that she desperately wished she hadn't seen. The dead body of a man dressed in a snazzy suit, appropriate for an establishment such as this. Judging by the two puncture wounds to his chest and the bright red of the blood, This was not a natural death and the deed was done fairly recently. How no one else had noticed This poor man up until now was some sort of sick miracle. There was no clue as to know this man was and who could have killed him none except a White Chocolate chip macadamia nut cookie perfectly placed upon his lifeless forehead. The woman who had discovered this wanted to scream, but was so petrified that no sound came out. It took all of her willpower to run away as fast as she could, wishing to forget everything.

-exit-

Riley was far too busy looking at Akui and her looks to notice the woman who, in all her disgruntledness, was not on Riley's radar. That noise. Oh. Oh. That noise. Absolutely adorable. Great, glorious. Adorable. She looked at the coffee that was given to her by granny.

"Thanks Granny"

She went back to gazing at Pink, who was just so adorable and lovely and great. Absolutely great. Fantastic.

You get the point? We'd hope so.

Riley was effectively a woman in teen love all over again. That just meant that, above everything else, Riley was enjoying the time with Pink. Pink was the light currently, and she liked being in the light. Wait, phrasing. She liked being around the light. That light was where she got the most attention, and she liked attention. Maybe... maybe the light liked a certain kind of attention? Hah, Riley wished. She really doubted it.

Enjoying the delicious lemonade, Akui's eyes glanced about the very few other customers in the store. There was an old couple, which made sense to Akui, as this place was run by an old couple and thereby probably felt more at home to them. They were sitting at a table in the middle, enjoying each other's company like only two people who have spent most of their years together can do. There was a pang of something, but it was quickly drowned out...

To the left of the old couple, there was a young couple...or at least, Akui assumed it to be so. It was two guys, but the way they looked at each other was far beyond any bromance she had ever seen, plus the giggling and the touching each other's hands really gave it away.

So...it really was just a normal thing, just like teach said. To be honest, that night in her dorm, it felt natural for a bit there as well, but she still felt...odd. Like something about the whole notion was still a bit off.

...Whatever...

She looked back at the chicken woman, who's eyes had been locked onto her for a long while now. Ice Queen was right about one thing: she really had a thing for her body, which Akui wasn't sure how to take. On one hand it didn't really bother her as much as when guys oogled her, although it wasn't like she wasn't at least a bit miffed about it; on the other, Akui always did her best to hide her features. At best, this chick had gotten a good look at her ass when they first met, but that was it. Was that enough? Would she be disappointed if she knew what else Akui was packing?

"...a pic would last longer, ya know." she spat out bluntly, but without menace, just after the straw left her mouth and swirled around once in the cold glass. She looked down at the glass for a moment, then blinked a few times, as if she had spaced out. When she looked back up at the chicken woman, she raised the glass in her hand as she spoke.

"This s***...ain't half bad." she then took another long sip, there being little less than a fifth of it's original volume when the old lady sat the glass down. Akui set the glass back down, then looked at the chicken woman again.

"...so...that old battle-ax? How did you meet her?" Frankly, Akui didn't REALLY care, but the tension between them was sickeningly thick and the silence was painful. This old woman seemed important to this chick, so maybe it would get her rev'd up and going for awhile, so Akui could just sip away and listen.

Riley absorbed the words Pink spoke. She was truly enjoying herself. She couldn't normally say that well, yeah, she couldn't. Sure, she enjoyed herself, but not to such an extent usually. She was truly enjoying this. When she asked where she met the 'old battle-axe,' Riley assumed she meant the old lady who runs this store.

"She supported me during the first fights of my boxing time. She decided that I was worth her time, and I'm grateful."

She proceeded to stare at Pink, as was her habit. Sure, sure, a picture would last longer. But... it wasn't the real thing. That's the thing about pictures. They weren't the real thing. That was a fact she had come to know quite well. She had many... outgoing instances in her life. That merely meant she understood that if you took a picture, it wasn't the real thing.

"Sure a picture lasts longer, but it's not as great as the real things."

The line came out way more romantic than anticipated, which made Riley turn away from Akui with a red face.

So, the old bag was the one who really got her into beating up dudes for a profession, or rather, was the first one to actually think she could do it and showed her support. Fair enough. Akui never had true support outside of Gale and her crew...they were her only family after...

They were her only family.

Honestly thinking, she had supported them more than her, so in reality the only one who had supported her was Gale. She couldn't really keep in touch with her like she used to, but she was still her Right-Hand Woman, and nothing in the world would change.

"...Ah, right. Makes sense I guess..."

It was then that the chicken woman made this response.

"Sure a picture lasts longer, but it's not as great as the real things."

She then turned away blushing, as if embarrassed. See, that s*** right there is what she just couldn't wrap her head around: a chick who trained her whole life to to punch guys in the face was so awkward around her. It made no sense, and it kinda pissed her off, as her cool attitude vibe literally fell off the face of Remnant every time she did that.

"Pfft, really? 'Things,' eh? Right..."

Akui took the time to suck down what was left of her lemonade before setting down the mug a but loudly and demanding of attention. She then narrowed her eyes and looked right into the eyes of the woman in front of her.

"Okay, enough games. What do you want from me? I get the basic idea, but I want you to tell me exactly what the f*** you want from me. Also, why in the f***ing hell is it me? You could probably get any guy you wanted off your fame alone, but you pick a chick, and the ex-leader of the Pink Death at that?" At the mentioned of her gang's name, the young couple looked over their way just briefly before calling for the old woman to get them a to-go box for their meals, then making their best attempt to leave the restaurant quickly.

Akui may not have been angry, but she managed to find the piss again and mix it back with the vinegar: not only had this chick just showed up and wanted things from her, but trying to assume authority over her?

Ha, no way in hell would that fly.

"First, guys f*cking suck honestly. They always want to fight and that got boring. Plus, I'm a chick... so I figure that birds of a block should go together right? Look, Akui. I don't give a sh*t about fame. It's not something I care about. Some dude punched my in the nose when I was ten, and I've been punching guys and gals ever since."

She started, pretending not to die inside from the adorable turn away that Akui had done mere seconds ago. It was so adorable and nice. So great. Wonderful. Fantastic. Everything about it was great.

"I don't care about your gang past or anything. You're cute, and you actually have independence. You aren't this pretty girl that goes 'oh no, I'm helpless.' You threaten and follow up on your threats. You're just... awesome."

She hadn't actually gotten to her main point yet. She was trying to say that she loved her, that it was love at first sight, but for some reason, she felt nervous when it was on the tip of her tongue. That wasn't what she wanted on the tip of her tongue. She wanted a certain someone else's tongue at the end of hers. She wanted a pink-haired woman at the end of her tongue. She wanted more then what she wanted.

"I guess... i guess...uhm."

Come on Riley! You can do it! The entirety of your brain says yes, and for once, it agrees with your body. What's holding you back? Fear?

It was at this time Riley remembered what her Momma once said. 'Never be afraid of love, hun.'

She shouldn't be afraid! That's right! Momma told her that love was a good thing, so she had to say it.

"It's cause I love you, Akui. I love you."

Her declaration of love was said more quiet then the rest of her words. Not because of shame, no. She had none of that. No, it was because Akui deserved the quiet, more determined side of Riley in those words. The side that has caused ruin to many a men in her day.

Well, one thing was for sure: both Akui herself and this chicken woman hated men, and that was something she could get behind. Seriously, most of them were greedy and sex-crazed bastards, and even the nice ones were just suppressing themselves. The endless bravado that the faunus brought up was also something Akui heavily despised, evident by the scowl on her face as she mentioned it. It was depressing to think that the human race needed them in order to survive and continue on, but Akui herself could easily do without them...and apparently so could chicken woman. That's a plus in her book.

"Tch..." was all that Akui felt like managing to utter when she mentioned she didn't care about fame and that after one incident in which she couldn't defend herself from a man, she learned to fight back. She was definitely jealous of that, wishing she had found the strength to fight back earlier, but honestly who's to know if it would have helped? Akui looked off to the kitchen behind the counter in an effort to forget, which irritated her, as she shouldn't be remembering anything in the first place. What was the point of the drugs if they didn't do their job?

The same response also fit her not caring about her gang experience. While she admired the fact that she didn't let something that sinister stop her from pursuing her goals, Akui also felt like not taking it into account could be a bit...well, stupid. She could easily have enemies at the academy and way WAY abroad. Plus, she could never go back to Mistral ever again...well, not really, anyway: when you take over one of the bigger cities in Mistral, plus a few surrounding ones, and cause the leader of Mistral to send his finest men after you...yeah, you kinda aren't really welcome after that.

While she wasn't used to compliments, flattery wouldn't do much for this chicken woman...but she wasn't wrong, sadly. No other girl she had met seemed like they could handle themselves when it came to matters outside hunting or duels, and some of them couldn't even handle that. Even when all the power was already with them, they would all gladly throw it away when some dumbass boy winks at them. Buncha stupid f***ing broads!

When the words "I love you" came out of her mouth, that was when Akui was at a loss. Wh...what? H-how? How could she just easily say that word? How could she be so sure she felt that way? Jesus Christ, this chick barely new anything about her past or who she was, yet she was so sure about how she felt? Something wasn't right here...

Akui was about to blow this chick out of the water when it came to her idea of love, but the old lady either overheard them or just had impeccable timing, because she had just whisked herself over to their table and was about to lay down some food.

"Here we are~! Four scrambled eggs, and our Peppered Porkchop Dinner with home-brewed Chicken Noodle Soup." The old lady was literally the embodiment of some sort of bliss as she laid down the plated of food in front of Akui, then proceeded to lay down a plate with at least eight strips of bacon and what had to be a total of eight scrambled eggs in front of the faunus chick.

"And a Riley Usual, as usual, hmm hmm~!" Akui now noticed that the woman was...laughing? It was a rather contained one, a rather content one. This old bag...what the f-

"Now it'll be a minute for our Specialty Taters: Pops is a bit slow today, but they will be right in front of you before you know it!" she smiled sweetly, then she was behind the counter again.

"...'Pops?'" was all that Akui said before she picked up her knife and cut a slice of the porkchop, then stuck the knife into the slice and stuffed it into her mouth. She was about to swallow and then dig into this chick about her love habits, but after chewing the porkchop twice she just...stopped. She stayed there for a few seconds, then swallowed, and after a few more seconds of just sitting there and spaced out she went to town on that there porkchop.

Riley nodded to Grams. Pops was going to be fine, anyway. Slow or not, his 'tatters were the greatest in the world next to Momma Stanos's. It's not Riley's fault that her mother is a great cook... maybe Pink was a great cook. Perhaps? If she was, it'd cover for Riley's lack of experience in cooking. The girl hadn't needed to cook a day in her life, since Momma took care of all that for her. She hadn't really had much troubles in life. It probably didn't help her case that she was as dense as a cube of dense metal. This denseness might make for a good fighter; it did not make for a good lover.

Not to say that Riley couldn't cook. She could. She just couldn't make advanced food. What she thought was advanced food, however, was not what a lot of people considered advanced food. She didn't mean cuisine that took hours to prepare. She meant basic spaghetti. That stuff was hard for her to make. However, she could make sandwiches all day. She could also solve basic math all day.

Unless that basic math was this relationship. Then that means she's terrible at it.

"Don't get me wrong! I know that we shouldn't rush into it. There's just...flutters in my heart when I look at you. There's just feelings that I need to get out."

Riley made a motion over her heart, and fake-swooned. She did the real swooning alone in her room.

Akui couldn't put enough of this pork chop into her mouth, this amazing pork chop! It was perfectly cooked throughout, yet it wasn't dry. She couldn't recount the last time she had a pork chop that wasn't dry, but this one was juicy and soft, easy to cut through yet it didn't fall apart or off her fork when she lifted it to take another bite. Her teeth suck into this next piece just as easily, the juices filling her mouth, and if her eyes could have had a spark it would have been there.

After swallowing and downing three more bites of the chop, she tried one of the fries...and she was blown away again. This bird chick thinks she's in love? F*** that, this french fry was love: it was almost the size of a steak fry, but just slightly smaller to warrant more of them on the plate and have them still be finger food; it was perfectly salted, and she could tell it was some form of sea salt from the sharp taste, but it wasn't overwhelming nor too subtle; they were also just slightly crispy, one of the negative Akui had of normal stake fries was that they were chewy, but these...

After about five more fries, she decided to try the soup...which was also excellent. It had taken a bit longer than most for them to get their food, but Akui could swear that the slight crunchiness in the vegetables hinted at...them being prepared fresh and added to the mix instead of being canned or otherwise. So much care put into something to be consumed...

She lifted the bowl, which looked as if it was part of an old china set, and guzzled down the rest of the soup...crunchy crispy vegetables and all, and chewed for a bit in paradise before swallowing the last of what was amazing soup.

She dug back into her chops when chicken chick tried being a hopeless romantic, and Akui left out a false snicker. She chewed and swallowed most of what she had put in her mouth before she opened it. "...really? I'm trying to eat here..." she said in...a bit of a teasing manner. What was with her and this chick?

She turned her focus back to the amazing fries and chops, digging in even harder than before.

Riley, surprisingly, didn't feel rejected from the lack of response on Akui's half. She was eating. That was fine.  Riley started devouring her own food, at the normal Riley rate. Of a lot of it at once. Riley had no need to wait and sit around and eat slowly. This food was good. Thereby, you ate it. She was through her eggs by the time that Akui spoke. Was that... a teasing tone? Oho. Ohohoho. This was good. That, intentionally or not, had felt Riley ample motivation to go full flirt. At least, what she considered to be a flirt.

"I could be eating you."

There we go. Full Riley. Riley, the crafter of words. Riley, the crafter of phrases. Riley the idiot. Riley had gone too fast. That was not what she should have said. It's certainly what she wanted to say, but she had an odd feeling that it wasn't what she should have said. Not at all what she should have said.

She had JUST said something about going too fast.

Yet. She said that.

Riley had no red face or anything. It was as plain as day, except for the large shit-eating grin on her face. Riley was back to... being Riley. She had gotten comfortable with the ex-gang leader. Not that it mattered in the long run. Riley figured that she'd lose Akui to some other girl. or some guy. It always happened. Riley was always too shallow or just not enough. Riley was also just a sideshow attraction. Sure, she was tall and strong. That's all she was to most people. That's what she showed off.

She was shallow. However, she was shallow in a way most people weren't. What you saw was what you got. It wasn't like others who hid behind layers. Riley was just...there. Riley was everything that she wanted to be and nothing that she didn't want to be. That's what mattered to her. Is that She was she and that anyone else didn't matter. But...for some reason. For some reason... it felt like it mattered when it was with Akui.

Gah! Darn you feelings!  Why must you exist in such a way?