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Esa primera fecha *Tempy*
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Post by Tempest on Jun 22, 2008 16:10:43 GMT -5
"No te creo. I... think... you have... muchos talentos... pero... no buscabas... You not find them yet... Como dancing. You very good when not... giving attention to the feet." He smiled through his frustration at not getting what he was trying to say to sound right.
A waiter arrived at their table presently and Emilio was very surprised to see that it was Leo himself. The man was probably in his fifties, judging by the silver in his wild orange-amber-blonde hair. He had a mildly tamer beard of the same lionesque colors. His eyes, however, were a moderate brown color- they were only striking when the light hit them right. They glinted gold.
"Whaddaya like?" he asked, his voice deep and gruff. He was all the lion his nickname suggested... but when Emilio had commented haltingly on that as well, he'd shaken it off and had ignored the statement completely.
Emilio glanced at Amorina and said, "Quiero... I would like... the chicken cordon bleu... cabernet sauvignon, and water, please." He was sure he'd said what he wanted... it was hard, sometimes, when reading menus in English. He'd wanted to order something light, something that wouldn't settle heavily in his stomach or weigh him down when he wanted to dance.
Truth be told, he was too excited to be too hungry. This would be his first date since Miami and he didn't want to mess it up.
Leo jotted down his order and turned to Amorina. "And you? If you like, I can getcha a vase for your flowers."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2008 17:26:10 GMT -5
"It's hard not to watch my feet. I don't want to trip ot make a fool of myself." Usually, that was all she did anyway. She didn't have the dancing feet of her cousin, or the proportioned body of her mother. She was too top heavy and lacking in other places. Most people thought it a gift; Amorina found it to be an exquisite nuissance.
Fixing her hair so it settled behind her shoulders, she smiled at Leo and said, "The filet mignon, please, medium rare, and water as well." At the suggestion of the vase, Amorina let her smile grow and nodded. "That would help tremendously, thank you."
Her stomach gave a twirl at the thought of bloody steak; while her parents had always told staff to ignore their daughter and give her well done, Amy had always given the "sad face" and, when the food came out and her parents saw the bloodied steak and wanted to send it back, Amorina had insisted on not being rude. Usually, her parents tried to change her mind, but she would stand firm, always making sure to slip a few extra dollars as a "Thank You" for a tip.
"What about you, what are you interests?"
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Post by Tempest on Jun 22, 2008 17:53:25 GMT -5
Leo left as suddenly as he'd come and Emilio returned his attention to Amorina. He wouldn't say anything else about her ability to dance until he found her in his arms again. He'd learned in the past not to argue too much with a modest woman or else risk making an issue of it.
Instead, he focused on answering her question in better English than he usually used. "I like to dance... play futbol... as you Americans call it... soccer." He paused here since Leo came back with a crystal vase filled halfway with water. The roses were taken care of and Emilio started again. "Ummm... hay otros... but I cannot think of them... not right now..." He turned slightly red. "I forget... what I want to say..."
"Que tipos... what kind pictures... you take?"
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2008 18:07:22 GMT -5
Amorina thanked Leo as he placed her flowers in the vase and listened to Emilio talk. "I tried soccer once,"she admitted. "Idea mala." She had to laugh at the memory of her falling and flailing in middle school, trying her best to be good at one sport. The best she had ever done was ballet when she as about seven.
Noticing his blush, she smiled and shook her head. "You were doing very good. Muy bien." His question made her think for a few minutes. "Anything, really. Las flores, los animales, las personas, el paisaje, anything I think is hermoso,"was her vague answer. "I never sell them, though." She let her eyes wander, taking in the beauty around her. They landed on Emilio and she flashed a smile, glad to actually be on a date.
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Post by Tempest on Jun 22, 2008 18:33:27 GMT -5
Emilio's face usually mirrored the expressions on her own, and he ended up smiling when she did. Before he could say anything, Leo came in with their drinks- two waters and a bottle of white wine. Despite the fact that Emilio was the only person who'd asked for it, he'd brought two glasses anyways. Then he'd left before Emilio could say anything.
The Cuban only sighed after the Lion of Leo's left. "Lo siento... if you no want, I no pour eso para ti." He took a long drink of water, trying to smooth over his frustrations with the ice-cold liquid. Her reassurances helped, but didn't erase the fact that he'd been in the United states long enough to have picked up better grammar than this.
"I would like... to see them... in time, yes?"
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2008 19:18:10 GMT -5
She eyed the bottle and wine and shrugged. "I'll take some. Considering I've only been able to drink for about a year, I haven't tried much. It'll be...an experience." Amorina took a small sip of water, crossing her legs under the table and admiring her flowers. They really were beautiful..
"My pictures?" She hadn't shown many people her pictures but she wasn't shy of them. Amorina nodded. "Sure. I have to warn you, though; there are a lot." About four albums full, by now. Some were of her, her and an ex, many of them were of landscapes, some of her pets, her family, everything you could think of. Mostly.
Amorina thought for a minute. "What made you move to America?"
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Post by Tempest on Jun 22, 2008 19:49:49 GMT -5
Emilio smiled as he poured wine into the two glasses and offered one to Amorina. "Tengo tiempo," he said simply in regards to her saying that she had a lot of pictures. And it was true. He knew next to nothing about teaching Spanish so he planned on winging it at the last minute and saving himself some trouble with preparing worksheets and all that stuff. He had a feeling that the best way to learn the language was to immerse oneself in the culture... so he was just going to jump right in and see what happened.
His smile disappeared when she asked that question out of the blue. It wasn't like it was one with a sad answer... but it was complicated. When he started talking, it was slow and halting, but clear. "I came... for opportunity. There is much... poor in Cuba. Is wonderful for a time... but hard. I need opportunity to... to get better job, better home... freedom..." He paused, a strange look coming onto his face. "I came to find my mother. She... ran away con... con un gringo... cuando estaba nino..."
Obviously, that was still a little painful for him to talk about because he didn't meet her eyes. Yes, he'd forgiven his mother for running away... but it still hurt. He'd known it was partially his father's fault, and partially because of the circumstances they lived in... still.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2008 20:07:04 GMT -5
Taking the glass, she took a small sip and smiled. It wasn't that bad, in all honesty. Amorina would only take small sips, though; she didn't know how she would react to it. She didn't want to get hammered tonight and do something she would regret. And yes, she would definitely regret anything done with him.
She listened to him talk and felt horrible for asking the moment every word exited his mouth. "I'm very sorry. I didn't know...If there's ever a question you don't want to answer, don't. I don't want you to tell me something if you aren't comfortable telling me." Amorina played around with her ring a little, a tad scared to look at him. She felt like she had just messed up; she would never be perfect. Maybe that was a good thing, though.
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Post by Tempest on Jun 22, 2008 20:22:49 GMT -5
Emilio looked up, surprise on his face. "N-no! Es bien, yes! There is good end for esa cuenta... this story. I found my mother... and I have a job. Is all good!" He turned red. Dammit, he'd managed to screw up already. "You no say sorry... for... gyah, no puedo decir nada en Ingles!" He sighed and forced himself to slow down. "No say sorry for questions... okay? Is okay to have curious... yes?"
Luckily, he was forestalled from making himself into more of a fool by Leo. If only the man had come with their food three minutes before. Then maybe Emilio would have thought more carefully about his answer.
The man gave him an odd look as he set down Amorina's filet mignon and Emilio's cordon bleu. Something in it said to the Cuban "stick with lighter topics, idiota" and Emilio charged himself to do just that. It was a first date, not a therapy session!
"How long... you work in Foresta?"
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2008 20:36:10 GMT -5
Amorina watched him with an odd sort of amused look on her face. "Emilio,"she coaxed, "Calm down. It's okay. A lot of people have some things they don't want to talk about. It's okay too." Smiling at Leo, she thanked him again and felt her stomach turn into a tiger, ready to roar and pounce on her steak. She kept calm, though, slowly cutting her steak into small pieces and eating them one at a time, taking larger sips of the campagne to help the steak go down smoother.
"Not long,"she answered after swallowing. "A month or so, I'd say. I've already had a near-death experience. I don't think we get paid enough for that." Amorina gave a soft, nervous laugh. Maybe she should have left that out... Well, no. That could lead to finding out what he could do; why he was able to work here. She doubted normal humans could work here, with all these kids trying to keep control of themselves.
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Post by Tempest on Jun 22, 2008 20:47:41 GMT -5
Emilio nodded when she told him that it was okay for him to have things he didn't want to talk about, his expression serious. It wasn't like that, but it was nice to know that she wasn't a clingy type of woman that would pry into personal business.
He raised his eyebrows as he drank deeply from his wine glass, wondering what she meant by "near death experience". Was it really that bad in this area? He leaned forward in interest and asked, "Que paso? What happened? I knew nothing of... of peligro cuando ... signed up for the job...." Not that it would matter to him too much- he'd been on the streets for a few years before getting into Dance... so he'd had his share of sketchy situations... but at a school?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2008 20:56:18 GMT -5
She gave a soft giggle (possibly wine induced) and shook her head. "No, nothing really bad. One of the teachers has a really bad problem controlling himself,"she explained. "And I found him while the other half of him was going insane. He tried to kill me but I can turn powers off. If you get to close to me and I don't feel comfortable, you won't be able to use your power. So I could have died. But it w-wasn't that bad." Okay, switch to the water before you become a hiccupping idiot. Amorina took a small sip of water and shrugged. "It really wasn't, I was fine. Him, on the other hand...It took a lot to get him sane again."
With a song stuck in her head, she slowly began to move her shoulders in the best dance she could do at a table. She really wasn't that good of a dancer unless she had somebody else to follow but, when she really wanted to, she could follow a blind man into a fire and come out alive. Amorina wasn't that bad with direction, she was just modest.
It wasn't long before her steak was almost finished; she wasn't a woman to order a salad and finish half of it. If she ordered it, she was going to eat it and still have room for dessert. Then, she remembered what she wanted to ask. "What can you do? Your power or gift or whatever you call it?"
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Post by Tempest on Jun 22, 2008 21:20:33 GMT -5
He'd sort of started glowing again when she told her story. So the school was THAT kind of school. He'd had his suspicions, but now that it was confirmed, he was actually really excited. This place was a lot more interesting than he'd originally thought. Also, this made him wonder about Caroline. She hadn't mentioned powers or anything, but it might have been uncomfortable for her or something. As she spoke, he took a few bites of the food and chewed pensively.
He grinned at her question and said, "Is... like... los gitanos... tienen... personas que divine el futuro... Fortune-teller? Some... times, yo puedo ver el futuro. Is not... always, most random."
He watched her move in her chair and his expression grew delighted. "Would you like to dance? We... take it slow... at first. No get sick."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2008 21:27:47 GMT -5
She nodded, listening and trying to pick out the words she knew. "Oh, I get it. That must not be very fun, it being random,"she muttered mostly to herself, taking another sip of water. She was beginning to feel normal again; one reason she didn't drink was because it didn't take much to get her giggly.
Amorina looked at the dance floor and smiled. "You know I'm not that good at dancing, but... As long as you help me?" She remembered the last time they had danced and felt a small surge of energy build in her. That had been an experience, all right. Getting all worked up only to be left with nothing. Maybe tonight would be differ- NO. The sane part of her argued. Don't do anything with him. Not yet.
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Post by Tempest on Jun 22, 2008 21:48:56 GMT -5
Emilio shrugged. "I can... focus it... un piquito... but it works not all tiempo. Tengo que practicarlo..." It was hard to explain. There were times when he could focus on a specific thing and see what would happen relating it... but not over long stretches of time or if there was some important decision to come beforehand. On rare occasion, he could see the branches of the choice, but nothing could ever be set in stone.
Then there were the dreams. He didn't talk about those to anybody, though. Never.
He stood up and held out a hand for hers. "Por supuesto." As if on cue, the band began to pick up more Spanish rhythms... and Emilio's grin took on a knowing look. Leo had kept true to his word.
"Bailamos!"
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