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It as still a bit too warm for a coat tail or heavy vest but he'd gone and dressed up a little for the occasion anyway. It wasn't explicitly implied to be a date, but for what it was worth he wanted to be presentable at all times. Warren knew he could use this opportunity to sink his claws into her just a little further. Psychic types were understandably more difficult to court, which made them all the more worthwhile once he made them his own.

"Oh, don't you look marvelous~" He swung open the door with an appreciative purr, adjusting the cuff of his sleeve. "Come in, let me take those."

Besides! Flowers were pretty and she was pretty. Warren liked to adorn himself with pretty things.

He didn't plan on being here long, but it would be a nice bonus if he could make his smelly roommate jealous. This would be an excellent, effortless way to find out what made the mutt tick and what didn't.

I believe I am under dressed, was Voile's immediate thought when Warren opened the door.

Perhaps it was in surprise, or perhaps she simply hadn't thought about how it would be interpreted, but there was a rather open look that she gave him from head to toe. Had his hair always been so platinum? Had his skin been so fair? (And in hindsight, Voile realised next to him, she was quite the ghost. ~~Ha, ha.~~) Had his eyes been so red? Like a carmine colour? It was something they had in common. Except his were brighter and suddenly in those moments, she found herself staring for a little too long at them.

"Not... really," Voile began as she finally found her words again. But she smiled kindly as he offered to show her in, and even more so as he seemed pleased by the gracideas that she'd brought for him.

Although in hindsight, she wondered if he had any kind of green thumb.

Her footsteps were a little hesitant in the sandals she chose to wear and dusting herself off, she peered around him to get a better look at his room. For Voile was nothing, if not the slightest bit inquisitive, especially when she realised he stayed with someone else.

He pretended as if he hadn't heard her self-depreciation, eagerly scooping the flowers in his hand.

"I need a vase..." He muttered, throat rumbling deeply to pronounce it like 'vahz'. He rummaged ~~all over Blake's side of the room on purpose knowing it wasn't there~~ through his closet, giving the impression that the suit he wore was just one of many, finding no such vase there. The fish nearby in his huge, gaudy fish tank blanched in fear as he approached, cowering to the farthest corner of the tank until he passed.

Across Seth's dresser was a myriad of trinkets and decorations--a hand mirror, brushes and combs, and ah, yes... an empty vase.

"There." He carefully settled the flowers in, popping open a nearby water bottle to fill it with. It would unfortunately be the first and last time the blonde made this effort.

"They're lovely." He would certainly enjoy them for as long as they lived with his uncaring, very un-green thumb.

Everything was fine in his room, she noticed. In fact, she'd noticed it near... immediately. It was hard to ignore it and in a way, Voile felt very out of her element. Although if she'd noticed herself, she might have just conceded to the idea that her natural grace had her fit in well enough.

Without touching anything, for she'd known very well not to touch things that weren't hers, she gave the various pieces of furniture and decor in his room a generous look over. She'd seen the aquarium once before, but not so close, for Warren had only been able to show her so much from the camera for his computer. It was an intriguing piece to be sure.

The vanity was almost elegant in excess. But with the way she eyed it, it was easy to see she was... impressed, if not in utter awe. Slipping her hands behind her back, she turned her attention onto her platinum-haired companion and she found herself with a bit of a shy and modest smile.

"I'm glad you like them," Voile reassured him. "I have a bit of a soft spot for them, I think, but I like all kinds of flowers."

He always did aim to impress, and while she hadn't verbalized it he can see the look of appreciation.

"I have to say I think I rather like the woman who gave them to me more." He purred, taking her hand. As much as he'd love to show off his side of the room and his belongings (every bit as vain as the items he owned), he had some plans.

"Blake! I'm going out." He shouted at his roommate, uncaring if he was heard or if Blake was actually even present. With gentle ushering he lead Voile out of his room.

Who's Blake? After giving it some thought, Voile realised she just couldn't figure out the face the name belonged to.

He took her hand and for many moments, she simply watched him, unsure of what he was doing, or why he was doing it. He could have easily just told her to come along with, so the idea that he used actions to speak for him must have meant something. She simply didn't know what, so even after a few more moments of staring, she decided to just let him have his way.

"...Oh?" she asked him. "Did I interrupt something? You could have told me to come at a different time if you were busy, Seth..."

"No, no" He reassured her with another purr in his voice, "You came at precisely the right time, just like I wanted."

Closing the dormitory door behind him, he lead her by the hand down the hall.

"You know, I was thinking that I need to return the favor of the beautiful flowers you had gotten me."

Down the hall and out into the parking lot, there was a limo waiting for them, the mysterious driver hidden behind darkly tinted windows. One of Seth's cronies in a stolen vehicle, no less, but she didn't need to know that.

"I know it's not much, but after you~" His mind was certainly very far from the thought as he got the door for her.

Just like he wanted. She wasn't sure what it was about hearing his voice, but there was something regarding the tone that made the smallest little shiver crawl up the nape of her neck and simply sit there comfortably.

Her gaze was removed from him and onto the limousine that he pointed out before politely ushering her in. Before she did, however, she couldn't resist protesting against his kindnesses and giving a rather scouting look about, as if on some form of guard - which was the smartest thing she'd done around the platinum haired boy.

"Return the favour?" Voile asked curiously. "What a silly thing to say. I wasn't doing anything to get something in return." The concept was lost on her. The point of doing something for someone else was the warm feeling received from it. If the world constantly repaid others for their generosities, she somehow thought it would lose all of the 'warm and fuzzy' sensations.

But then she did get into the limo, even for as slow as she was, and she most certainly took her time in looking around, even as she tried to ensure the skirts of her dress would sit appropriately whenever she took a seat.

"I want to do it." He clarified, shutting the limo door with a heavy, solid thud.

"Buckle up." He'd be more than happy to invade her personal space and do it for her to see if she'd squirm or not, but noted a bit of unease. Wouldn't do any good spooking dinner off so soon, would it?

Speaking of...

"Driver, we're ready. Take us to the restaurant, please."

As much as she wanted to continue arguing in that oh-so-modest form of hers, Voile took no hesitation to do precisely as he'd requested. After all, safety was the name of the game, and if something happened to her, Voile had the suspicion that more than one person wouldn't be entirely pleased with such an outcome. But she also had an inkling that if Warren were anything the way he presented himself, he wasn't going to let anything happen to her easily.

She took a few moments to look over to him, curious, intrigued, and unsure, but she said nothing to spurn him further. Instead, she focused her attention on the front of the limousine where she was sure his driver sat and waited for his command. A few moments after, she turned her gaze back onto the blonde.

"If you take me somewhere too fancy, I am not dressed for it, and I will not be able to compensate. I am most flattered and privileged, but I don't need fancy things, Seth." In other words, she was low maintenance. Or something like it.

Edited 2012-11-05 08:11 (UTC)

"Oh, please, don't be so modest." On the contrary, Seth was of such high maintenance that he could have easily compensated for both of them. One might suspect he'd been pampered since he was a kitten but this was not the case.

He worked hard to pamper himself because no one deserved it more. He worked hard and he played hard; it was his every justification that he should get what he wanted.

"You look marvelous." Perhaps the most frightening aspect about him was that he knew how to do it, too.

"Let me spoil you just for one night, as thanks. Please?"

~~Seth used captivate.~~

~~Ohhhh Mister Seth Ohhhh~~

If he had explained to her his likeness for pampering, Voile might have understood it. Instead, she was left in an oblivious ignorance and there were worse things. He made her feel a little odd, undoubtedly, but ultimately she had to admit that he treated her better than Cyrus had. If anything, he seemed eager to dote upon her, which she didn't know how to interpret.

His first words made her turn pink and lifting a hand, she motioned at her hair, adjusting it just enough to hide beneath it. Well, more than what one half of her face was already. Marvelous. He thought she looked marvelous... Really? She thought she looked rather plain...

"If... it's not too much trouble," she replied to him kindly as her hand lowered and joined her other upon her lap. "Thank you for your generosity."

He wasn't about to open up and be honest about how blatantly selfish he really was, but perhaps in due time she'd figure it out. Preferably when it was much too late.

"No trouble at all." He lied, raising her hand slowly to his lips; very slowly, very politely so not to startle her. Arranging this was a bit of trouble, but not necessarily on his end. He had cronies and lackeys and stage shedinjas for that sort of thing. All he had to do was convince them it of what it was worth, and that was about as difficult for him as it was convincing her to show up at his doorstep for a night out on the town.

"I was wondering actually if going to this place might help stir my imagination a little for Host Club. Sometimes it is so challenging thinking up of nice themes without seeming boring." Partially a lie. He'd rehash the same shit over and over because it worked (and was profitable) it he weren't so fussy about his own ideas of perfect presentation.

Indeed, the limo was coming closer to the restaurant, waiting only at the next traffic light to turn in.

Admittedly, there was a very... odd flutter that seemed to be born from the moment his lips met her hand. It traveled over her wrist, up along her forearm, and finally settled at her shoulder where she likened the feeling to a sort of numbness. Unsure of why the sensation even presented itself, Voile had a nigh impossible time drawing her gaze off of the fluid motion made on his end. But not once did she make the effort to withdraw and she didn't quite understand that either.

Finally her gaze found his face again and she nodded slowly as she listened. Her mind played catch up and quickly repeated what he'd offered her. "I really know nothing of host clubs," Voile seemed to have no trouble confessing. "From observance alone, however, I'd say you've had no issues running the one at the academy in the least. You get a good turnout of guests and you have plenty of people - students and faculty, I imagine - even participating."

She eyed a window of the limousine and squinted as she tried to make out the becoming lights in the not-so-far-off distance. "If you are looking for a theme, however... Why not something a little sweet? Flowers, perhaps. They have their own language and you can create quite the ambiance with them - as sentimental as that sounds."

"Flowers!" He exclaimed with a slow-building excitement. "I've always utilized them before as accents and decorations, but never really made them such a central theme."

He'd further contemplate aloud this all the way from getting out of the limo to getting seated at their reserved table--Seth getting doors and pulling out chairs politely the entire way.

"You're more familiar though--with the cooler weather coming up, what kinds of flowers would be more appropriate to the season? Something that flourishes even in the coldest of winters."

He treated her as if she were more than a simple, mere girl. It was true that Sonny had held doors open for her, pulled out her chair for her, so on and so forth. She'd enjoyed it, but... It had been a while before and even she could easily fall out of practise with it. It was hard not to be a little flustered by the attention, but perhaps that was what he was going for.

Sometime boys said they thought girls were prettier when they were bashful. But what kind of guy was Seth? Voile had no way of knowing.

As she sat and settled her hands upon her lap, she wondered if she sat too straight. And when she began to look around, once more she contemplated the idea that she simply didn't fit in. After a few moments longer, she placed her red eyes back onto his face and she smiled a very small, almost inconspicuous smile.

"Amaryllis flowers, for one. The stems bloom into clusters of flowers and come in a few different colours. Passionate colours, like red and pink. White, too. Jasmine plants and some types of lilies as well. There aren't a lot, but they certainly exist. As to how convenient it would be to have them, I don't know. I imagine other people here might know more on that." Like Bulba or Vinnie, she thought about saying, but unsure if Seth knew them, she thought it better not to bring them up yet.

"Simply marvelous." He noted her suggestions with varying interest, equally apt to disregard and go with his own selfish endeavors as he would take it in earnest. He supposed he'd let time decide that one out.

"Oh, I could ask Bulba." He did think better, for a good reason. "He was my former roommate. Very good with plants."

"I didn't know you two roomed together," she replied almost immediately. "Bulba is a good friend of mine. He knows a lot about plants and flowers. I'm positive he could tell you more about ones to plant in winter, Seth."

Voile smiled kindly and took an opportunity to look around the restaurant he'd taken her to. Still too fancy for her tastes. Then she returned her attention back onto him and idly fiddled with a lock of green that curled over her collarbone. "What kinds of things do you like?"

He was sure he could.

"Personally?" Seth chirped, amused she would cautiously pry, even with something so tentative and vague. Curiosity did terrible things, as he knew. He sat back in his seat, looking oh so comfortable with himself as he smiled at her, humming quietly and mulling over an answer.

"I think I enjoy aesthetics and balance in many things--and not by any means the shallow kind." Except it was absolutely shallow on the former, and anything but on the latter.

"I like seeing the beauty in things that are opposite yet not, both sides of the coin. Light and dark, hot and cold, flowers and dirt and all of it. One can't exist without the other, so therefore if one side is deemed beautiful and glorious, the other side must as well. Maybe not everyone looks at it that way--with contests and labels and stigmas--but that's how I like to look at things."

She nodded very slowly as she listened to him, thinking his words almost too good to be true. It sounded like something she would say, which was what made it 'too good.' People weren't naturally so kindhearted. She doubted many could see the beauty in dirt or darkness. And hearing Seth claim to do precisely that...

Well. It certainly stirred something in her. Except she wasn't sure if it was her at all. The joys of being am empath.

"I think that is the most beautiful thing I have heard someone say since I started attending this academy." It was true that Cyrus said beautiful things, but they seemed so empty and hollow when he said them. To convey the proper feelings, one had to be able to pour their heart into it. From what she could interpret, Seth at least seemed to be speaking from the heart.

"I really respect that outlook. I wish other people felt the same way."

There was a twinkle in his crimson eye, as if he'd caught that, even somehow shared that resonance with her for a brief, fleeting moment. ~~Oh the joys of being an empath, indeed.~~ It was enough to know that was tug on his fishing line, the tug of his barbed hook sinking deep inside her.

He tried to not look to pleased with himself, and humbly sipped at his glass of water. He was actually speaking from his heart--albeit in a twisty way. He was a very passionate individual deep down, driven and ambitious with his lofty goals and ideas. Ambitious, but patient... and corrupted with the bitter reality of this world and of his Rocket-influenced raising. The world was an ugly, ugly place.

Beautiful in its ugliness, when he would be done with it.

"I hope you don't mind if I return that question. You've gotten me awfully curious too--what kinds of things do you like, Voile?"

Edited 2012-12-20 07:08 (UTC)

She would have been fine with keeping the conversation on him. In fact, that was usually the plan of action. It was a lot easier to focus on others than it was herself and she blamed that mostly on the empathy as well. Eventually Voile got to a point where she couldn't figure out if her feelings were truly hers or if she had relied so much on the sentiments of others that she'd forgotten how to honestly reflect upon herself.

So when Seth suddenly asked about her, even admitted that he was curious, little by little, pink spread over her cheeks. She lifted a hand and slipped her fingertips over her lips with some thought.

What kinds of... things do I like? What does he hope to accomplish by learning anything of me? And try as she might, even with how she turned over the thoughts in her head, she couldn't... seem to figure out an answer to any of that. She looked aside momentarily, playing with the temptation to divert his attention, but if anything, he'd proven he was very observant. Something so simple likely wouldn't have worked on him.

She answered him simply. "Flowers. Nature. The ocean. Simple things. Nothing... extravagant or terribly exciting, I'm afraid..."

He didn't seem too satisfied with that response, though he gave little to no hint about that spare his lack of immediate reply--he leaned back in his chair and fixed her with a little smile, as if analyzing and reanalyzing her answer.

"And beautiful--what kinds of things do you find beautiful?"

"Beautiful?" she asked.

Her left hand at the very tip of her nose, he had her caught once more. "From a purely aesthetic viewpoint - and admittedly shallow perhaps - I like dresses. Otherwise, people are beautiful. Humans are beautiful. Pokémon are beautiful. Our differing ideals, beliefs, freedoms, and individual selves. The entire world is filled with beauty. It's just that many people are blind to it."

Voile lifted her eyebrows as she looked over to Seth, wondering if answers like that seemed to meet his approval, not that his reaction had any bearing on their existence.

They did. The world was so blind.

I want to make them see it. He wanted to whisper, his heart filled with such a grand notion he thought it would burst. It was grand, and he was devoted to it.

I want to make the world see it no matter the cost.

Seth's eyes seemed especially bright as she spoke. "I don't think that's shallow at all. The world can be wonderful."

There was a pause, as if just the manner in which that rolled off his tongue reminded him of lyrics. "What a wonderful world..." He started. Yes. Perhaps he would continue for the sake of her reaction. His voice lowered into a rumbling purr, pleasant in tenor and sound.

"I see trees of green, red roses too~"

Yes. He was singing. Singing a cheesy song, at that. And he insisted on not taking his eyes off her the entire time.

"I see them bloom... for me and for you. And I think to myself..."

He closed his eyes and reared back in his seat, voice raising slightly in volume as he belted it out. "What a wonderful world~!"

Edited (was not wad) 2012-12-27 20:34 (UTC)

He could have left it at that. The world could be wonderful. There wasn't much more that needed to be added. It encompassed the entire ideal, was simple, and effective. But Seth had other plans and at first, Voile didn't understand at all.

She didn't recognise the song. That was the first thought that crossed her mind. The second was to actually listen to the lyrics. Around the point of '...for me and for you...' it dawned on her that he was singing. In public. To her, it seemed. Petrifying, pleasant, and entirely unexpected if she was going to be truthful about it.

You are causing a spectacle, but you don't seem to care, she thought as she looked around the restaurant. Eyes and glances, for Seth was certainly not at all shy about the motion.

Once more she felt an odd flutter in what seemed to be somewhere deep inside. Like Seth had the key to a door that was located in a black hallway, which most eyes overlooked easily. As she eyed him, his confidence, his persona that seemed so different from hers, Voile was stained by intrigue. And something else that she couldn't identify.

"Do you mean to bring all eyes onto us?" she asked him very quietly, once more hiding beneath her hair as her head inclined so she might place her gaze onto their table. She didn't sound upset or venomous in the least. Just... incredibly bashful.

His smile was terribly pleased--pleased with himself and pleased with her reaction. Seth swivels around the restaurant, taking note of perhaps all of about two or three individuals' attention he had caught, eyes lingering on their table until they realized the singing man was looking back. They immediately looked away.

"Who?" Seth brought his attention back to Voile, the pretty little thing he'd rather look at. "Look around, no one cares."

Not for an incident of such a tiny caliber, easily dismissible.

"People don't care unless it personally affects them."

LIKE MURDERS. Like murders. Another fine example of the shallowness of humanity--and the animals in between. Loss of life wasn't even attention grabbing enough unless it mattered to someone personally.

"I must say though, you have quite the affect on me~ I don't often sing like that and not for any reason other than to impress."

And he did aim to impress. Always.

"I imagine my voice isn't as lovely as yours, though."

When he suggested her to look around, she did. And sure enough, no one was looking at them. So perhaps it was only her need for some form of polite etiquette. She never would have dreamed of doing such a thing. But then if it wasn't for a contest, Voile preferred to shy away from attention.

"I don't..." Is that really true? "...Not everyone is like that. Even if it doesn't personally involve them, people stare and interfere with some things often." At least she did, so perhaps Seth's words were meant to be more like a gentle jab.

As he continued, she felt herself zero in on his words. She had 'quite' the affect on him? "M-me?" Voile asked. Her left hand lifted and she motioned to herself. "Er... Well... You don't need to impress me..."

She tapped her fingertips together, unable to really concentrate on much past the idea that she evidently had some form of effect on him. What did that even me? Why would he say it? She didn't have an effect on anyone. And if she did, clearly they had the sense to not tell her.

So modest, so cute.

"Don't be shy." He lowered his voice and tried to soothe her over, not wanting to push too much. Just to the very precipice of her threshold and then back of before she broke. There would be plenty of time for breaking later.

"If not your voice then you're positively pretty enough for the stage. Have you ever considered anything like that?"

Shy wasn't the word she would have used for it. Modest, yes. Shy, not so much. At least not normally. Seth certainly had a way of making her that way, though, and she couldn't exactly pinpoint that. She was going to guess it had a lot to do with the idea that he was a bit 'out of her league' and yet he was paying some awfully special attention to her.

Made her feel special, it did. And she couldn't remember really feeling like that since Delian. There was an obvious bias present.

"I was in contests," she clarified for him. "In Lilycove. I've seen more than a few stages, sang more than a few songs, and danced more than a few dances." And was as pampered as a contest pokemon should have been in pretty dresses and pretty ribbons. "But those times and days are over. I don't do any of that any longer."

"Contests..." He parroted, resting a palm in his chin with rapt interest. "You mean like Pokemon contests...?"

She nodded, "Well, yes. I was groomed for contests and my move set is really primarily for that. I wouldn't be much of a formidable opponent in the world of gyms and badges. I've never really experienced that lifestyle either."

"That being said, however, I've not been in a contest for quite some time. I intend to open a contest hall here at the academy. I hope it'll get good reception. I want it to be something that humans and pokemon can bond over." A pause and Voile tapped at her chin, "Do you think that sounds silly? I know some people don't agree with that concept..."

Seth looked positively starstruck. Like this was a brilliant idea. Brilliant, cute, and possibly quite lucrative.

"I think it's marvelous. I could endorse you--sponsor you through Host Club. It would be positively received, I'm sure of it. Especially at a place like the academy where humans and Pokemon and all kinds of creatures coincide together."

He gestured as he spoke, clearly excited and happy for her. "All the costumes for Host Club could be used in the contests, and vice versa. I'd be more than happy to lend a hand."

She said nothing for many moments, mostly because his offer was so generous that she was overwhelmed by it. Drawing up her left hand, she brushed her fingertips over her cheek with some thought. Seth's host club would be a good form of advertisement. And she was thrilled to give him a little something in return as well.

"I... do tailoring as well," she admitted quietly. "I'm not perfect, but I know how to make a good outfit and a good number of my dresses were sewn by my own hand. I... believe we could be of some mutual benefit to one another Seth."

She sat a little straighter, feeling her professionalism would be best instead of how her heart kept doing some pitter patter here and there. "I'm still developing the contest hall, but I can help design costumes for the host club and use them to promote your occasional events in return for your advertising. Is... this something you would genuinely be interested in?"

"You are a woman of many talents." He purred. He liked the way she thought, business-wise. It would be mutually profitable; he had resources and she had skill and forethought to exemplify said resources.

"Of course I would. Let's make it happen--together, Voile."

It wasn't what he said that caught her attention. It was how he said it. It was like an immense strip of cold traveled up her back and rather than fading away, it eventually numbed her. Her fingertips moved, as if to test if they could still even move and she gave to him a smile.

"This sounds perfect," in a completely non-perfect way, considering perfection didn't exist. "I look forward to it. Should we shake on it, do you think? Or are you so trusting that you'll take me at my word?"

"Let's shake on it. Make it official." He said, and held his hand out over the dinner to commensurate.

"To us."

Them. 'Us,' he said. What a concept. She never imagined at any point in time that the man she helped once would be sitting with her at a nice dinner, in a fancy restaurant, and dressed to the nines. She reached over to take his hand and gave it a good, firm shake.

"To us, Seth."

And she looked more than a little pleased with the very concept.

And then they made out, the end.