[Freezair]

Rosie paced back and forth, anxiously awaiting Tentan. The air today was cool and soothing; dried leaves crackled along the ground, pushed by the wind. Had something gone wrong? Had she her directions been bad? She'd been going too fast, of course she had... No one could understand her when she got to talking that way.

The Torken behind the register raised an eyebrow at her, but he didn't say much. He was a quiet fellow--rather reminescent of her father, actually--but he was looking at her curiously.

She kept switching between her human and Lucain forms. A few onlookers winced as one body melted into the other. Her red-haired, freckled, frizzy human self bounced along for a few paces until her hands fell forward again, and she became a pastel-colored Lucain again. Oh dear... where could he be? Where O where?

She tried to tell herself to calm down, but it didn't seem to be working. Sigh...

[36]

[Matt]

The male lucain padded along the streets, turning a corner solemnly. It's very windy today.... stupid wind... making me even MORE nervous.... He kept up the same pace, stopping at lights every few miles. Suddenl, he saw a glimmer of hope. The cafe! I see it! He galloped across th street towards it, changing from human 28 year old, to a persian cat based lucain.

Upon getting to the cafe entrance, he turned from human to lucain. Nosing the glass door open, he saw Rosie. "Rosie!" He ran up to her, embracing her in a large bear-hug.

[29]

[Freezair]

Caught off-guard in her Lucain form, Rosie smudged back into a human. "Tentan! Y'all made it! What took ya? Did my directions do more harm than good?" She laughed, and pushed her hair out of her face. "Good t'see ya, Tentan. Ah already bin talkin' ter the Torken 'ere, an' he's ready to give us a table soon as we want it. Y'all wanna sit outside, or in?"

[37]

[Matt]

Letting go of the stylish femme, he grinned. "Hmm... well, I think I got.. lost..." He blushed a bright rose red, then smiled. "Would inside be ok? It's chilly today..." He took off his backpack which he'd had on his top wingblade, and opened it up. Inside was a small and delicate white rose with pink topped petals. "This is for you...." He took it in one paw, and carefully placed it behing her ear as you would wih a pencil. "You look beautiful..."

[30]

[Freezair]

"Beautiful? Li'l ol' me? Awww." Some men were happy with anything, she supposed! She honestly hadn't done much to get ready. She'd changed into a cleaner pair of overalls, and she'd scrubbed the oil off her face, but otherwise she looked much as she always did. She blushed herself.

"A rose? We-all, ain't y'all the charmer!" She took the rose delicately from Tentan. "Ah wish Ah had a vase! O'course, right here 'twouldn't make much sense.

"Wait right here." She went over to the Torken. "Alrigh', we're sittin' inside. Where too?"

"Right this way," the Torken said, and she showed them to a booth by the window.

[38]

[Matt]

The male followed 'Torken' to a small table by the window. He let Rosie have the first seat, then sat across from her. "So... what have you been up to?" He smiled playfully, then picked up a menu. "Mmmm... it all sounds so good.... what do you recomend?" He winked at her playfully.

[31]

[Freezair]

"Their sandwiches are always good," Rosie recommended cheerfully. She looked toward the little yellow-and-orange box sitting on top of the table. It had several rows of orange-lit buttons, and a large, roughly round hole near the top.

"Hey, y'all got any KS to spare for th' stonealodeon?" she said, indicating the machine. "After all, this is a music-themed cafe! We should have music o' some kind!"

Flipping through her menu, Rosie said, "Oh, Ah think Ah'm goin' fer the fettuchini alfredo! Mmm, mmm!"

Then she realized she'd been asked a question. Oh, dear. She chuckled. "As fer what I bin up ter? Well... tryin' ter deal with Peaches, fer one thing. 'Es just givin' us no end o' trouble down at the shop again..."

[Matt]

Tentan chuckled playfully. "Sandwiches, ay? Ok, I'll get one o' them." He then looked at the box that was indicated. "Yah, I think I got some loose ks somewhere in here...." He rumaged around in his backpack pocket, then pulled out a slver coin imprinted with a 5 on it. "Here you go!" He slid the coin into the machine, and selected a Beatles song.

The male lucain flipped through his brightly-colored menu, and finally picked out something. "I'm gonna have.... the pidgeon pease, rice, and mushrooms." He winked at her, then said. "I'm not that big of a meat eater.

[32]

[Freezair]

"Ahhh. We-all, don't look too shocked, but Ah was thinkin' of orderin' some toasted ravioli fer an appetizer. But don' y'all worry; Ah'll get the cheese variety fer ya."

A waitress, covered in an apron bearing a musical staff, walked up to them. Rosie gave her a once-over. Not a human, but not of Pet origins either... She appeared to be an anthropomorphic sea slug. She had a long, flowing "shirt" of purple ribbon fins running down her body, and brilliant yellow hair on her violet head. Rather pretty for a mollusk, really.

"Hello there! Welcome to the Cafe Mezzo Forte. My name is Delilah; I'll be your server today. Can I start you folks off with something to drink?"

"Hot cocoa, please, with whipped cream an' everythin'," Rosie said. While she waited for Tentan to order, she slipped the Keystone inside of the stonelodeon and started flipping through the songs.

[40]

[Matt]

"And I'll have a.... sprite please."

Tentan blushed pink, then admitted "I'm not into drinking anything but milk, water, and sprite...." He smiled shyly, trying not to look ike a complete fool. He watched her closely, observing her radiating beauty. "So... how's our little white girl doing? Ribbon and Urchin are doing fine... or at least, that's what Pima has named them.Do you like those names? Have you given our daughter a name yet?" He blushed again, remebering that his kids were still very young.

[33]

[Freezair]

"Ah like 'em," Rosie said sweetly. "Ribbon shore is cute. As fer th' oldest one? We-all, Ah was hopin' y'all'd give me some insight thar. Ah was leanin' toward maybe... Pearl, or Lily. Mah daddy says 'e likes Snowy. An' Peaches thinks 'is li'l sister oughta be named Bianca. Which of 'em do y'all like?

"An' don't worry 'bout 'er none," Rosie said, reassuring Tentan. "She's havin' the time o' 'er life playin' with Granpaw today."

Rosie selected a song on the stonelodeon and hit "Play." She chose something upbeat and swingy. She bobbed her head as the tune started to play.

"Alright, dears," the waitress said, and she went off to the kitchen to fetch them their drinks.

[41]

[Matt]

"Thanks... and I like Lily. Yes, that's a nice name. I'm glad you like Ribbon and Urchin's names... they seem to like playing with their baby-sitter. She's my neice." He smiled shyly again, then whispered to her quietly. "They seem to miss you."

When she started the song, Tentan began to hum and snap his fingers. "I love this song!"

[34]

[Freezair]

((OOokaaaay... the file link I put in my previous post isn't working. Wonky Tango Foxtrot?))

"Alrigh' then! Lily it'll be! Ah like it. Urchin, Ribbon, Lily. Sounds good to me!"

Rosie leaned across the table. "Ah'll have t'go an' see 'em sometime soon, if'n they miss me. Ah'll bring Lily"--she smiled at the name--"along an' it'll be one great playdate. How does one go abou' gettin' ter yer place, anywho?"

[42]

[Matt]

He smiled lightly at Rosie, then whispered back. "You go on Soc. Lane. Once you see the large tea green sign that says 'You are now entering the estate', just turn right and head down the stone path. Walk about 10 minutes, and you'll come upon a lake. Next the lake is a 3-story tea house, and that's the place."

[35--level 7]

[Freezair]

"Tea house, eh? Y'all serve tea there?"

Appropriately enough, this was when the waitress returned with their drinks. She sat cocoa in front of Rosie and gave Tentan his drinks. Rosie took a straw from the nearby dispenser and began to sip at her cocoa. The ball of whipped cream on top slowly fell.

"So," the waitress said, "do you folks know what you want to order?"

[43]