World: Melodrama
Timeline: Twenty-two years ago
Title: It's a Rainy Day Romance, Baby
A word from the Narrator:
"Existence, for most sentient species, is not an exciting series of events. In fact, on average, you will find that approximately 65% of a sapient creature's life is spent in a drudge of daily monotony. Most creatures do their best, knowingly or not, to ignore or alleviate the mundane nature of existence by seeking out things they believe themselves to be missing. For some, this means possessions. For others, it means the siren's call of romance.
The first date is a rite of passage that many species experience. This particular tale takes place some years ago, on the small planet of Betelgeuse."
"Today is the day, Ndrana!" The beige and tan Betelgeusian male straightened his cap as he regarded himself in the mirror. "I'm going for it! I'm going to ask Llanda out!"
The black and white cleaning his glasses at the sink beside the speaker squinted skeptically at his frames. "I don't know about this, Kyndyo. I mean, I get that you like her and I know you've put a lot of thought into planning out this whole thing, but I'm not so sure this is a good idea."
Replacing his spectacles, the tuxedo-patterned male frowned in a thoughtful manner at the primping going on at the mirror beside him. "Llanda is pretty, and she's definitely popular.. but I've been asking around and the rumor from the other guys who've dated her is that she can be a bit of a stuck-up sourpuss and a real stickler for the good ol' 'social standards'. She's kind of willfully ignorant that guys like us exist." Ndranasal crossed his arms, blue and white uniform jacket sleeves presenting a barrier to his cousin's enthusiasm. "Kyn, I don't want to see you get hurt over this. Why don't you let me set you up?"
Kyn snorted at the notion, retrieving a lint brush from his bag and dusting down his own uniform jacket with it. He had to look perfect for this, everything had to BE perfect. This was Llanda Lightwhisker, for crying out loud!
"Ndrana, no offense but you're the last person I'd consider taking relationship advice from. You haven't had any more dates than I have!"
Ndranasal glared sharply at his cousin, but only offered a shrug in reply. "Suit yourself, Kyn. Don't come crying to me when Llanda rips your heart out, plays soccer with it, and then stomps it flat. I've tried to warn you."
Kyndyo grinned at the pessimistic reply. "You'll see. Everything is going to be perfect! It's raining, I have my umbrella and the trees are just beginning to blossom... There is NO way that this setup can fail!"
Ndrana's only reply was to twitch his whiskers as if he smelled trouble in the air as the two exited the boys' restroom and went their separate ways back to their classrooms just before the closing bell. Kyn collected his books and half-ran to the shoe lockers. He had to get there first! He couldn't very well offer to escort the beautiful Miss Lightwhisker home if she left before him.
The tan and beige male shifted his weight in a nervous manner as he reviewed his plan in his head. All around him, the other students were quickly moving to change shoes and make a run for it. As the flood of teens abated, he felt lightheaded. There was no sign of Llanda just yet. Unconsciously, he took a deep, fortifying breath. This would work, it had to. He'd done a lot of research on what girls liked, and his quest to win the attention and affection of the prettiest girl in school was bound to bear fruit. Maybe it was a little cliche, a little too shojo-flavored, but surely that would seem charming to a girl like Llanda? Didn't she like the stereotypical things girls liked? He was almost certain that she did, at least.
Kyndyo blushed, ducking his head reflexively as he caught sight of a group of girls heading to the school exit. He hugged his overstuffed duffel bag tightly, pretending to look for something mislaid in his locker as the trio drew near the exit and exclaimed unhappily at the rain beginning to fall outside. Kyn pulled his outdoor jacket on over his uniform as he watched the trio.
'Go on... you two head out," he thought, almost sighing aloud in relief when two of the girls did indeed dart out into the rainfall in an effort to beat the worst of the precipitation. The third stood staring out the door fretfully at the falling sky-water. Llanda. He was alone with the "queen of the school". He was fairly certain that he was going to explode from pure nervous energy or pass out. Steeling himself with a deep breath, Kyn retrieved the umbrella from his shoe locker and shut the door.
This was it. No going back now.
He could do this, he assured himself as he walked up to the double doors that lead to the school courtyard. She hadn't left yet, so he still had a chance as long as he didn't lose his nerve. The rain was picking up, and Llanda was clearly having second thoughts about trying to wait out the growing deluge. This couldn't be more perfect if he'd engineered things this way, he coached himself as he fumbled with his bag. Just offer to share with her the extra-large umbrella that he'd stored in his locker for just this sort of occasion. Compliment her on her exquisitely-styled mane and her incredible liquid amber eyes. Suggest a small diversion to the early-blossoming stand of cherry trees that grew along the riverbank, to appreciate the color before the rain knocked all the petals from the trees...
It would be fine. He could do it. He just had to think of something disarming and charming to say to get her attention.
"It's um... Really coming down out there, huh?"
There was a long silence in the wake of this keen observation that would have allowed for one to hear a pin drop. The object of his affection turned and gave him a disbelieving stare that bordered on a sneer. Kyn mentally kicked himself for addressing the most beautiful, most popular female in the entire school so casually. He anxiously attempted to compensate.
"S-sorry, I just-"
The girl's tail thrashed a bit, and she narrowed her bright eyes at him.
"Is there something I can do for you.. Lower classman?"
This was not going how he'd planned. Wordlessly, and feeling quite stupid that the perfectly planned, supposedly chance and incredibly romantic encounter that he'd spent countless hours preparing for was crashing and burning like it should be on the tv news, Kyn held out the neatly folded umbrella.
The girl snorted in dismissal of him and stalked out into the downpour, not even sparing the offered protection a glance. Apparently being soaked to the skin in the heavy rain was preferable to having anything at all to do with him.
Ouch and ouch again.
Kyn sighed, face burning with embarrassment at the disastrous encounter as he watched her leave. What had made him think that this was a good idea, let alone that it would stand even a slim chance of working? Beyond the doors, Llanda was waving down an acquaintance with a car to give her a ride. She didn't even glance back in his direction before the vehicle sped off. With a frustrated grunt, Kyndyo kicked over the trash can next to the door before grabbing up his heavy bag and running out the high school door. One thing about the rain, at least no one could tell you had been crying. Not that he was crying, he assured himself.
He couldn't go home, he was supposed to be at Screw Industry, learning the family metal working trade with his father. And he couldn't go to work, since he'd begged off for "the first rainy day when the trees are blooming", which had obviously clued his father in on what he'd had in mind. The old man had obviously not been optimistic about the plan, but had said nothing. Not that Kyndyo would have listened. His face burned as he recalled ever-patient Ndranasal's attempts at dissuading him from this supposedly fool-proof plan. The teenager pulled his blue jacket tighter around his shoulders as a large, cold drop of water made it past his collar, sliding down the tan falling star mark that went down the back of his neck.
Kyn wandered, directionless under the torrent beating down from the sky with impossibly wet fury. He dragged the now-hated umbrella behind him through the busy streets. He was going to hear about this forever. All the girls would gossip about it, their mothers would gossip about it, and then everyone in town would know. Had anyone in his family ever been such a loser that the queen of the school couldn't stand to look at them? Maybe it was a good idea to just jump planet and leave?
Space... What was it like out there? Surely it had to be better than high school.
Kyn held up the umbrella, watching as water collected and dripped onto his soaked jacket sleeve from the moisture-repellant surface. It had been a stupid idea, he thought with a sigh. There was no way someone like Llanda would have ever considered giving a loser like him the time of day. He'd made a fool of himself, missed a day of work, and had nothing to show for it but a critically-wounded pride and a sopping wet coat. And, he noted as he looked down, he'd also been wandering the streets in his school shoes instead of his outdoor ones.
Fantastic.
"It works better if you open it!"
Kyn startled, looking around for the source of the voice.
"Over here!"
A blush-colored queen about his age with bright purple streaks in her short dark mane waved to him from under the canopy to a brightly-lit restaurant. Her sun-bright yellow eyes sparkled with amusement as he looked around before replying.
"Who? Me?!"
The girl gave a snort of laughter, as if he'd staged his confusion for her entertainment. "Well you seem to be having trouble with your umbrella. Is it broken?" She crossed her arms over her cream-colored apron as she observed him.
Kyn looked down at the device, then back up at the female addressing him. "Oh. Um, no. I just uh..." he trailed off awkwardly as his brain filled in 'I just realized I am a complete loser and it's made me a bit of an emotional wreck, don't mind me!' He shook his head, glad that his inner voice's comments had gone unsaid. "I just like the rain," he finished with a shrug and an embarrassed grin.
The girl looked puzzled, and Kyn mentally kicked himself once more. What in the hell was wrong with him? Liked the rain? He sounded like a basket case! His internal monologue was interrupted, however, as the girl darted out and seized his sleeve, pulling him under the restaurant canopy. As he stumbled to a stop under the shelter, she turned and gave him a critical stare down that his own mother would have been proud of.
"You know, bad things happen to liars," she accused, crossing her arms again and raising her antennae. Kyn shook his head unhappily, ducking away as she leaned in to examine his soaked appearance.
"I'm just- it's been a bad day," he confessed, fairly squirming as the female circled him.
"Bad day? You're wandering around looking like you got hit by a spaceship, soaked to the skin, and if you don't mind me saying so, you seem to be a little unresponsive." The female looked up at him again, a sharp glint in her eyes. "Did you get hit by a spaceship?"
Kyn backed a step away, flustered by the girl. "N-no! I'm fine!"
"You're fine?"
"R-really, I'm fine!"
"So you don't need a warm place to dry off or a hot bowl of our ramen?"
"No, I.. Wait, what?"
"Well then you'd better get going then, Mr. I'm Fine. I won't keep you!"
The teenager watched in confusion as the girl turned and walked back into the restaurant, which Kyn belatedly noted as specializing in Sol system cuisine as well as traditional Betelgeusian dishes. It was warm in there, he noted as the curtain over the door fluttered. And it smelled really, really good. And... Had he been invited in?
Well, it would be rude not to accept the invitation, wouldn't it? Wait... He HAD been invited, right? Why were queens so hard to understand? Females just seemed to get a kick out of being incomprehensible!
Cautiously, he approached the doorway, startling back as the girl pulled the curtain open. She beckoned him to enter, smiling warmly at him as though she hadn't dismissed him from her presence mere seconds before.
"Welcome! Can I show you to a seat?"
Kyn nodded dumbly, and blushed when the girl held open the curtain for him to come in. She lead him past the few customers to the back of the shop, finally stopping at a small private booth close to the kitchen. Kyn gratefully pulled off his dripping jacket, soaking in the heat that radiated from the back room.
"This booth shares a wall with the oven, so it's always really warm back here. Let me go hang your coat in the back and it'll be dry in no time!" the girl said with a grin. "I'm Drynyara, by the way."
"I'm Kyndyo."
"Well Kyndyo, what can I get you?"
The boy wistfully eyed the food on a nearby table. That soup smelled incredible. Too bad he'd already spent his allowance this week.
"Uh, well I don't have much on me. Maybe... just some coffee?"
The female straightened with a thoughtful frown, collecting his soggy coat. Kyn ducked his head miserably. Not enough that he'd been giving the evil eye by the most popular girl in school for daring to speak to someone so far above his status out of the blue, now he was getting glares from girls in general for being cheap.
"I'll be right back," Drynyara said, spinning on her heel smartly and disappearing through the kitchen doorway.
Kyn settled into his seat, trying to relax and appreciate the warmth that was gently soothing his chilled body. That girl was odd. Well, that wasn't a nice way to put it. Alien, perhaps? No, she was otherworldly. An angel, he decided. A peculiar, rather passive-aggressive angel, delivering him from the cold, watery hell raging outside the restaurant. Hopefully she wouldn't think too poorly of him for making a soggy mess of the restaurant and ordering a single cup of coffee. He was startled when Drynyara reappeared moments later with a large towel in addition to the coffee he'd requested.
"I'm afraid there was a problem with your order," Drynyara apologized as he gratefully dried his soaked fur. She let him look up at her in confusion before continuing. "It seems that your order got put in wrong or something. These things happen at a restaurant from time to time. People mumble, and sometimes my hearing's not so good... and sometimes Papa doesn't quite catch what I'm saying. Don't worry about it, it's no big deal. But it's such a shame to waste food, so if you don't mind, I'd like to go ahead and serve it anyway. No charge, of course."
Kyn blinked warily at the strange queen, who blushed a little and got very interested in making sure the seasonings on the table were adequately filled.
The gears in his head suddenly gained traction and he found himself shocked at the realization that he was being flirted with. He was being...?! Oh no, wait... What should he do now? He mentally kicked himself, desperate to say something to acknowledge her kindness instead of gaping at her like a freshly-caught carp. This was new. This had never, ever happened before. A nagging voice in the back of his head insisted that it had to be a trick of some kind.
"I'd uh.. That is, I'd be happy to... Um..."
"Great!"
Kyn found himself staring at an empty space where Dyrn had been standing as she disappeared again into the kitchen. For the first time, he noted that someone was watching him. An older male, possibly the girl's father, was observing him from behind the counter with a smirk on his face. Kyndyo straightened self-consciously, and forced himself to nod to the elder. The other nodded back, still obviously amused at the wide-eyed look on Kyn's face.
Drynyara suddenly popped back into being in front of the table, a large bowl of positively heavenly-smelling ramen and a small plate of salmon rolls balanced on the tray she carried.
"Here we are," the girl gushed, arranging the items on the table and placing a fresh shaker of dried fish flakes on the table. The befuddled teenager gaped at all the food. Surely she didn't intend to give him all of this! He couldn't accept such an abundance in good conscience! It would be unseemly!
"W-Wow, I can't! I mean, this is too.." Catching sight of the sharp glint in the girl's eye, Kyn quickly amended his statement. He could and would accept, and he would be very, very grateful for the opportunity to do so. "Amazing! It just smells too amazing! Thank you, Miss Drynyara! You're far too generous." The girl preened her streaked hair a bit at the praise and smiled, the sharpness in her gaze dissipating only a little. It did not leave until he had tried the ramen and lightly seasoned it with the barest touch of fish flakes. At that, she nodded in satisfaction.
"Can't send a person off into this downpour without something to energize them and warm them up," she stated with an almost dismissive wave. "Not in good conscience, that is. Not if they're sensible enough to know they're going to catch their death."
Kyn did his best not to slurp his noodles as his hostess spoke, even though he couldn't quite suppress the involuntary sigh he gave at the flavor of the broth. Dryn giggled softly, hiding her grin behind a copy of the menu.
"I trust everything is to your liking?"
Kyndyo blushed and stammered, embarrassed. "S-Sorry.. It's in poor form to say this, but well... This is fantastic. The best I've ever had, hands down!"
Drynyara grinned, straightening the items on the nearby serving station. "You'd better be careful, your mother won't be happy if she hears you say that!" Kyn laughed, a little too loud and a little too long. "She wouldn't!" He agreed. "She'd have to admit I was right if she tried it, though!"
A brief silence fell over the two as Kyn willed the image of his dear mother and her probable reaction to discovering that no one in the family was really a fan of her cooking from his mind. At last he looked back up, just in time to see his hostess moving to see to another guest.
Somehow, he just couldn't let her go. Not yet. Not when all he knew was a name and a profession. "M-Miss Drynyara? Are you a student?"
Dryn paused, glancing back in his direction with an easy smile. "University. First year, but I'm getting the hang of it. You're in high school?"
Kyn wasn't sure why he felt embarrassed by the question at first. Llanda's disapproving glare and the distasteful taunt of "Lower classman" popped up in his mind as he wondered about it. Wilting a little, he commented, somewhat plaintively on her appearance.
"But.. You seem so.. Well, that is you're not.."
"I had to drop out of school for a couple of years when I was younger," the girl replied, chuckling a little at his distress. "I worked my tail off in cram school trying to make up for it and actually managed to get skipped a grade ahead."
A customer beckoned from another table, drawing her attention. "Sorry, I need to see to Miss Sabletail. Back in a flash!" She grinned at him before she turned and walked off to check on the other customer. Kyn watched her go, questions simmering in his mind like a soup stock. Almost by reflex, he grabbed up the shaker of fish flakes again.
Golden gaze on his meal, he hesitated. Hadn't he already seasoned it once under Dryn's studious gaze? Setting the shaker aside, he experimentally tried another sample of the noodles. The broth, already rich and complex in flavor, had incorporated the earlier touch of seasoning to boost the whole to a giddy new precipice of incredible flavor. To add more at this juncture would be overkill. Decisively, Kyn pushed the shaker aside and picked up another bite.
"I'm impressed, not everyone tries their food before they start putting stuff on it."
Kyn looked up at the unfamiliar voice, to see Dryn's father regarding him again. A friendly grin was spreading across the older male's face.
"I beg your pardon, sir?"
The chef cast a smile at the confused teen. "Getting to know your food, realizing what it needs instead of diving in based on how you want to think it is. There's something to be said for that. Especially to a chef. It's nearly insulting for someone to presume to try and change what they're offered before they have even known what it is. They over-season, or let it get cold. Then they complain when it's not to their liking."
Kyn found himself blushing once again. The older man.. how long had he been watching? Kyndyo had a feeling that they weren't just talking about food. Dryn winked at him as she went to check on another table, and then he was certain of it. He felt color rising in his face again as he sipped the delicately-seasoned broth. Llanda was pretty.. but his attempt at getting her interested in him had left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Drynyara, on the other hand? She'd teased him out of his bad mood and decided that there was something interesting about him. Her combination of warmth and sarcasm was strange, but somehow very intriguing. His mind was still buzzing with conversations he wanted to have with her, and he was almost sure that even if they talked for the rest of their lives, he'd never find out everything that there was to know about her. But he wanted to try. Oh, how he wanted to try.
The day had taken a very promising turn.
Kyn grinned to himself and reached for one of the salmon rolls. Maybe he did like the rain, after all. It had brought him to the most fascinating, maddening, intriguing person he had ever met.