[GrayGriffin]

It was a strange pair of Lucain strolling through the grass of Terrace Park today. One of them gazed down at the grass as if he expected it to combust beneath his feet, while the other was constantly watching his companion with concern writ large in his eyes.

"You don't have to do this, you know," the gray-and-rainbow one said. The black-and-magma shaded Lucain shook his head.

"Of course I do!" he exclaimed. "I intend to court you properly, and that includes following your traditions of courtship. Is this holiday not one of the ones most suited to such an endeavor?"

[GrayGriffin]

"You could put it that way," said Ray with a sigh. "I've never had much reason to celebrate it, since I've never had a date before."

"Well, now you do!" exclaimed Caldera, pacing ahead to circle around Ray. "So we're going on a walk now, right? The simplest part of the date so far. What other activities should we do?" He was now standing in front of Ray and walking backwards.

"Well...there's getting food together. We'll have to look around a bit more to see if there's any vendors, though."

"Very well then! Let us be off on our search." He spun around in place and started marching forwards. Ray couldn't help but chuckle just a bit. Caldera...really was cute, when he got like that.

[GrayGriffin]

They didn't have to look for too long, at least. It seemed quite a few sellers had decided to take advantage of the various couples coming to the park for their dates. There were quite a few vendors dotted the area, but Ray passed most of them by. Caldera walked up beside him, looking confused as they strolled onwards.

"I thought we were going to purchase food to share?"

"We are," said Ray, "but I'm going to introduce you to the food that's most appropriate for an outing like this. After all, you want to get the full date experience, don't you?"

[GrayGriffin]

"There are appropriate and inappropriate foods for this?" asked Caldera, looking surprised. "Don't people go to all sorts of restaurants for dates, though? I recall quite clearly learning about that."

"You're right about that," admitted Ray. "But still, when we're out on a casual outing like this it's different. Like how it was specifically candy you brought to 'court' me." It still felt awkward to talk about that, but it seemed like a good point of comparison. He finally stopped in front of a vendor who was passing out milkshakes.

"Well, this is our first stop," he said. "You don't mind the cold, do you?"

[GrayGriffin]

Caldera looked as if he was still pondering what Ray had told him about the candy. However, at actually being asked a question, he straightened up and shook his head.

"It does not bother me at all," he confirmed. "Though it is also hard for me to feel the actual sensation. Are you not worried it will simply melt?"

Ray shook his head. "It'll be fine, don't worry," he said. "The flavor's the important part, anyways. Speaking of which, got any flavors you're interested in?"

Caldera leaned forward to get a better look at the menu.

"There's a 'special flavor' named after this holiday," he noted. "Should that not be the one we choose?"

[GrayGriffin]

"Well, we don't have to," said Ray. "But...well, it doesn't look too expensive. I think we can afford to try it out." There was just one person in front of them in line now, getting served a small vanilla milkshake with sprinkles.

"You know there's almost nothing I can't afford. I can bring up plenty of gold from the depths," noted Caldera.

"But did you bring it with you?" asked Ray. There was a pause, before Caldera had to sadly shake his head. "I thought so," he said. "But it's fine. Let me be the one to pay for you, for once."

They had finally made it to the front of the line, the vendor seeming completely disinterested in their conversation. Well, he didn't mind their lack of nosiness here.

"One Valentine's Special, please," he said, passing the Keystones necessary over the counter.

[GrayGriffin]

They were handed a special carrying bag for the pink, heart-candied monstrosity, which allowed them to carefully bring it over to one of the benches. Ray was carrying it, just in case Caldera was right and it would melt from proximity to him.

"They even provided straws for us," he noted, once they set it down. He nudged one in Caldera's direction. "Go ahead, take a sip."

Caldera leaned forwards, and carefully put his teeth around the straw. Ray actually heard a small hiss come from where they touched before the sound of slurping was heard. Caldera pulled back, leaving behind a slightly melted straw, and licked his lips.

"Ah...well, that was not a bad taste at all," he agreed.

[GrayGriffin]

"I'm glad to hear it," said Ray with a smile, leaning forward to take another sip. Despite the warmth radiating from Caldera, the milkshake was still fairly cool, chilling his throat and sweet on his tongue. He closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the taste.

"Squeak!"

Ray blinked and looked up. "Did you say that?" he asked. Caldera shook his head.

"I thought you made that sound."

There was a pause as the two of them just stared at each other.

"Squeak!"

The sound had just happened again. And...it seemed to be coming from under the bench. Blinking, the two of them bent to look under it.

"SQUEAK!"

[GrayGriffin]

Caldera shot upright and attempted to back away, but seeing as they were sitting on a bench he only succeeded in slipping off it and smacking his chin on the wood. It sizzled slightly, leaving a burn mark at the point of impact. Ray blinked.

"What is that?" asked Caldera, wide-eyed and crumpled on the ground.

"It's a Squeaker," noted Ray, leaning his head over so that it was hanging over the bench slightly. "You've never seen one before?"

"No," said Caldera, still looking astonished at the tiny bird watching them. As they watched, it slowly waddled closer to him, still letting out soft squeaking noises.

[GrayGriffin]

Despite the apparent harmlessness of the creature, Caldera found himself backing away anyways. The scramble was somewhat difficult with his limbs still tangled together, and simply resulted in the Squeaker rushing towards him even faster, squeaking even more desperately.

"What does it want from me?" he demanded. Ray shrugged.

"I think he might think you're his new dad," he said. He was still finding this sort of amusing-at least, until the Squeaker finally tripped over its own feet and crashed facefirst to the ground. His squeaking immediately changed to something much more pitiful, as he struggled to get to his feet.

[GrayGriffin]

"I cannot be its father, though," noted Caldera, still staring at the wailing Squeaker. "Not only are we different species, did you not mention you wanted to take much longer until we had children?"

"Well, yeah-" said Ray, hopping off the bench and strolling towards the tiny penguin, "-but that doesn't mean you can't take some sort of fatherly role." He bent down to nudge the Squeaker upright with his nose, and it let out a happier squeak and immediately wrapped its flippers around his snout. He stumbled back and tried to stand up, and found it dangling off there, still squeaking happily.

[GrayGriffin]

"Whoa, there," muttered Ray, pawing slightly at his snout. The Squeaker continued burbling happily, its tiny feet kicking at the air as it struggled to climb further up onto his face. Ray let out a yelp and yanked his head upwards, and the flippers slipped from his fur, sending the Squeaker falling flat onto its back. It wasn't that far a fall, but nonetheless it started wailing once more, kicking more and more at the air as it struggled to get up.

"Oh, oh, no," muttered Ray, lowering his head to nuzzle the creature. "Oh no, I'm so sorry. Come on, it can't hurt that much, can it?"

[GrayGriffin]

This time, it didn't grab on to his face, but it did stop wailing as he nuzzled it.

"There, see? It's not that scary," he commented to Caldera, who still looked skeptical. After a while, the volcano-turned-Lucain approached slowly. He seemed to hesitate, then quickly lowered his head to nuzzle the Squeaker like Ray just had. He reached out a paw, and slowly turned it right-side up. It tottered on its feet for a while more, before waddling forward and reaching out to hug one of his legs. Caldera stiffened for a moment, but relaxed when it became clear no harm was coming to him this way.

[GrayGriffin]

"You know, it's kind of odd how fond he is of you," noted Ray. "They're usually much more used to the cold, and you're pretty warm."

"Really?" asked Caldera, looking down. His expression now appeared somewhat anxious. "I'm...not harming him any way, am I?"

"I don't think so," said Ray affectionately. "He's made it pretty clear whenever he's feeling hurt."

"So, are we bringing him back home then?" asked Caldera. Ray felt a weird flush at the combination of those two words-"we" and "home." It was true that Caldera was staying with them temporarily-they had plenty of guest rooms, after all. Still, it felt different to have him outright say it like that.

[GrayGriffin]

"Well, I suppose it would be a good place to keep him if we can't find his parents," said Ray. "Though first we should probably ask around to get an idea of if anyone else knows where said parents might be."

"Alright," said Caldera, glancing around the park. "Where should we start, then?"

As Ray was about to answer, he was suddenly cut off by a loud "Squawk!" He spun around to get a look at Caldera, and saw that the Squeaker that had been clinging to his leg was no longer there.

In fact, he wasn't even trying to cling to Caldera's leg anymore, instead turning his head away from the two with a scowl and his flippers crossed. It actually looked somewhat comical, if not extremely confusing.