You're taking me where? (Atten: Xeph)
It was slightly perplexing and Nikhila really had no idea what to make of the situation. On the one hand she was quite happy to be spending non-Academy, non-Pack time with Xeph. There was only so far a relationship could go when students and the mystery lab project were the principle topics of conversation, but on the other hand he was taking her where?
Granted neither of them had been terribly specific about when and where they wanted to go out but apparently, she was going to have ideas next time. Because once the idea had come up some one, who would remain nameless, wouldn't let it go.
"You know they'll make you wear shoes. They have to cover themselves in case you drop something heavy on your foot."Â?
To make a suggestive joke about dropping balls was not Nikhila's style and that was as close as she would get.
She hesitated a bit outside looking up and the extremely large building, this was very much not her style. However, she made up her mind to enjoy herself and simply followed Xeph upstairs. At least the bowling alley area wasn't crowded, that was encouraging.
She half giggled at the racks of shoes behind the attendant. Certainly she wasn't keen on wearing rented shoes but...
"I'm not certain I've ever been bowling. You'd think I'd remember something like that."Â?
There were memories of course, faint, fuzzy, and she honestly couldn't say if they were hers or someone who came before. Either way they weren't that distinct so Nikhila suspected that bowling was not central to anything important.
"Oh, splits are undoubtedly bad, but 'bad' is a pretty relative term. I mean, if I've got a split I must have knocked down the pins in between, right? So obviously I didn't bowl a gutterball." She was pretty pleased with her own logic there.
She congratulated Kem with a kiss when he returned from his own round, saying to Aidan, "If I'd known he was going to show us up this badly I'd have sent him off to your seminar."
The idea that Kem would cheat wasn't even a remote possibility, much as he might joke. Aishe couldn't imagine for a second that Kem would use any of his abilities in that way. Well... as a joke, sure, but this wasn't the sort of crowd he was used to joking around in. Now, a bowling match between Pak and Kem... the balls would be pointless.
Before taking her turn she looked around the group, at Bastian who seemed to have gotten over whatever had made him unhappy, and sent back to Kem, [Empathy aside? No... I don't see anything odd. Just a funny series of coincidences that we all seem to kind of know each other, one way or another. I'll keep my eyes and ears open though.]
She grabbed her own ball again, took her turn, and beamed at her not-so-hot 6 point total in two tries. Hopping down the one small step from the lanes to the seating area she heard Reign's suggestion and said, "I like your idea. Much more efficient."
Bastian seemed all right now, and whatever it was that had momentarily worried him was obviously not worth fussing over until later. He was curious, but it could wait.
By now, though, everyone had done a sufficient enough job of pointing out his score that he was focused on the task at hand. Concentrating on the lane, he rolled the heavy ball for a third time. With a wince he watched it go straight for the gutter. Dumb luck gave it enough momentum to just tip over one pin before it died.
"Aww. Well luck was bound to run out sometime," he said to the group as he retrieved the ball and rolled it down the lane again. This time was marginally more successful, netting him a total of 6 pins to match Aishe's.
Rejoining everyone, he lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'll take a stick, too."
Xeph shook his head at Kem. "If you're not on the pro circuit, or whatever they call it, it's still beginner's luck," he decided. "The day you bowl yourself a perfect 300 is the day it ceases to be lucky."
Bastian had managed to get himself out of his funk (was that funk Xeph's fault?) and was cheering for Reign. For his part, Xeph happily downed a few swallows of beer, clapped for Nikhila's spare, and threw one of his own.
"There you go, brute force," he said as he returned to her. "If you keep being sassy I might have to drag you back to my cave by your hair."
He grinned at her wolfishly, imagining what exactly would happen once they reached his cave.
Bastian chuckled, then gave Aishe a mock stern look of disapproval when she agreed with Reign's new method for bowling. After seeing how Aishe bowled, he felt a bit relaxed knowing Reign wasn't the only random bowler on the team. He was also again relieved to see no one seemed to be taking the game too seriously. Had that been the case he was sure it would have made for a less relaxing evening.
Catching just the last of Kem's turn, Bastian shook his head and spouted...
"I think you might want to go back to not concentrating so hard...it might serve you and the team better."
For it became apparent that initially neither Kem nor Bastian had been paying much attention to what was going on down the lane, more concerned with the activities around them. As it was, it was still difficult for Bastian to keep his eyes and ears off Aidan, and Nikhila. Sure it was probably his imagination, Bastian kept feeling Aidan's eyes on him, in a rather sideways glance now and then. But imagination or not, it didn't help Bastian's resolve to ignore the other werewolf.
His turn began somewhat like Kem's, with a ball to the gutter, undoubtedly due to too much concentration. Switching gears, and trying to hear the voices behind him, Bastian picked up the ball a second time and took all ten pins down again, giving himself a spare. As if suddenly aware of an inside joke, Bastian turned toward his seat, stopped in front of Kem, and gave him an 'I told you so' grin.
"Think about finding an undiscovered tomb in a field nearby...something that will provide you with months or years of challenging study, or..."
He winked at Aishe before continuing.
"Or think of Aishe..."
And now he winked at Kem, and returned to Reign's side.
"You might try that too...not concentrating so much."
Another shrug just to establish that he really had no clue what he was talking about, but since it seemed to be working for him, perhaps it would work for the others as well.
Later he would explain the theory a bit more completely.
“But would you have any fun if he was off some where stuffy?”
Nikhila felt rather bad that Kem’s streak of luck had ended badly. Perhaps if they hadn’t called such attention to it. Oh well what was done was done.
She might have paid more attention to Bastian’s suggestion but she was being flirted with. So while she was happy he seemed to be back to being more a part of things she was rather distracted.
A slight flush rose up Nikhila’s neck, not a full on blush mind you but just enough color to make it quite obvious she didn’t mind that suggestion at all. Yes, she’d continue being sassy if it got her mauled latter. Shamelessly flirting with Xeph, she reached behind her head and removed the claw like clip that held her long dark hair into an efficient French twist. Her hair obligingly fell in a thick, neat, semi (and temporarily) curly mass, which Nikhila casually shook out right in front of Xeph. Yes, she was pushing her luck but it was fun.
Standing she lazily, almost absently started to put her tresses back up.
“Is it your cave tonight? I thought it was mine.”
It was hard to keep her usual calm cool polite demeanor but she managed, outwardly. Her bowling, however, suffered and allowed Xeph to pull further ahead as she only knocked down seven pins over two tries before very primly sitting down next to him.
Aishe’s comments made Reign cringe visibly. She could still taste the salt water and there was still sand in the Magnum, she really had to get that taken care of.
“I’m –not- going swimming tonight so you just tend to your bowling.”
Good, that was her wolf, much better. Reign grinned as he tried to council Kem. Although what Bastian knew about bowling, she had no idea. Sure they’d gone once or twice in college, it was cheapish, but neither of them was an expert. Still the whole thing made her smile.
“It is not my fault it looks like a rack!”
Reign was rather looking at the situation like a pool table and it wasn’t working well. She pouted at being denied her stick but took Aishe’s support to heart.
“That’s the spirit, sticks all around!”
She cheered before again poking Bas in the ribs for teasing/tormenting poor Kem.
She laughed at Aidan's comments about luck. "I guess we don't have to ask if you believe in it yourself, then," she said. Her next frame netted her a spare as she somehow managed to knock over four pins on one side and then the remaining six on the other.
To Reign she offered an innocent smile and fluttered her eyelashes a little. "Alas, there is no pool here. Not even a little puddle. Otherwise I'd take you up on that challenge."
As Bastian made his observation about Kem's concentration, Aishe realized what he was saying was pretty accurate. It was very "Kem" too... when he focused on something, he overthought it and tensed up. When he was distracted, he was relaxed and that made a difference.
As Kem took his next turn, looking like he was concentrating very hard on not concentrating, Aishe decided to slink along the edge of seats, sticking to the darkened area. When Kem swung his right arm back and began to step forward, she stepped into the light, went up on tiptoe, and blew gently into his ear.
The effect was comical. Kem's forward motion couldn't be stopped, but he turned to look at her, an expression of complete surprise on his face. Aishe grinned and waved her fingertips at him as his arm swung forward and released the ball in a graceful arc out to the rim of the lane, then in to hit the forward pin just off-center for another strike.
He stood there for a moment, staring at her, then turned to look at his empty hand. He scratched his head, looked back at her, and then back at the end of the lane.
"I ought to get points for that," Aishe said as she laughed. "That's just not fair!"
Brow knitting, he did his best to listen to the group behind him, preparing to give this theory a shot. Just as he committed himself to his course of action, Aishe appeared out of nowhere and he felt her breath against his neck and ear. He was lucky not to have fallen over and as he turned he realized, mortified, that the ball had flown out of his hand. It was probably halfway across the bowling alley.
...but no, it had gone where it was supposed to. And there were no pins left standing. He felt his face grow very red. Ignoring it, he reached out and tweaked Aishe on the tip of her nose, then turned to Bastian.
"I guess you were right. Think that'll work every time?"
He wasn't opposed to experimenting with assorted Aishe-related distractions. Not opposed at all.
With a wicked smile he took his turn, engaging in some brute force and knocking down nine pins, then almost daintily picking off the last one for a spare.
Returning to his seat he had time to answer Aishe. "Well, if I have nothing else to rely on at the time, then luck will do." It was done in an agreeable tone of voice. Xeph wasn't sure how much he believed in luck, in all actuality. "I believe in coincidence, to be sure. But luck? It'll serve just as well."
He watched with amusement as events unfolded and Aishe, in a remarkably stealthy manner, slid along the seats to the edge of the bowling lanes. Her movements were surprisingly smooth as she stepped froward and rose on tiptoe, and did or said something to Kem (he couldn't really tell at his angle) just as he took his turn.
Xeph missed the look on Kem's face, since the man was turned away from him to look at Aishe, but he noted the nice form as the ball spun out of Kem's hand and scored a commendable strike. He laughed then, as Kem finally turned, looking both embarrassed and pleased.
"That was definitely not luck," he said. "That was genius."
The double personality he was portraying was starting to take its toll on Bastian. He was having a decent time, being out with Reign, and their new friends, while semi acting as if he enjoyed bowling. Not that he disliked bowling, it just had never become anything more than a way to pass some time...like golfing, though golfing did have the perk of taking place outside. No, if Bastian could do what he most liked, he would have been on his horse, enjoying the theater, or running.
Or making love to Reign.
He looked at her then, and grinned somewhat devilishly, but said nothing.
It was the pretense that he was ignoring the couple next to them that had him battling himself for a semblance of sanity. Instead he was missing a lot of what Kem, Aishe, and even Reign was saying, afraid he'd miss something Aidan or Nikhila said. As it was with the distance between them, he was only catching about thirty percent of their conversation.
He had to talk to Kem before his tenuous hold on his temper broke loose.
He took his turn, catching nine pins the first throw, and missing the tenth on the pick up. It was then he approached Kem, with his back to Aidan, blocking Kem from the man's view as well.
"What say we go get the beers this time?"
He kept his tone light, but gave Kem the same head jerk as he had earlier, this time motioning toward the bar.
"Orders?"
It hit him then that they had runners employed to serve the players, and wondered why they hadn't thought of them earlier. Of course because his purpose was to leave for some privacy, he didn't bring up that thought just then.
(Bastian temporarily out)
“Oh I agree! You get at least half of the total score. Talk about team work.”
She immediately turned on Bastian though.
“And you will –so- not be trying this method. My score is just fine thank you very much.”
Look at that her beer was empty. Oh well a refill was in order, she was more than fine with that.
“More of the same please Lupo? Pretty please?”
"How many more frames in this game?"Â?
Aishe's antics amused her a great deal. If Xeph thought she was being forward, she was nothing to this. It, however, seemed to have the desired effect as Kem managed to throw another strike.
She'd totally forgotten it was her turn and didn't move from her spot by Xeph. She very much was looking forward to the mauling, apparently she'd out smarted herself with this game.
The offer to get refills perplexed her as she hadn't touched her wine. It really wasn't terribly good. She'd taken one sip and nudged it aside. She'd been right to be suspicious of wine in plastic cups, but no one could say she hadn't tried.
It was Reign's turn still, so Aishe sat and leaned back against her seat. Turning to her neighbor she said, "Thanks for the support. We've got to stick together. Although I really think it'd be fun if Bastian tried it on you. Much better than me, anyway."
She was only blowing in one person's ear, that much was certain.
As Bastian offered to drag Kem off to get another round of drinks, Aishe watched their interaction. Bastian seemed eager to speak with Kem alone, and apparently didn't want to wait after all. Slowly, quietly, her head turned and hidden a bit by her hair, she raised her glass and quickly finished off her soda.
"Another of the same would be great. They made it just right." She smiled up at Kem and Bas, holding out a glass full of melting ice.
[You'd better do the same,] she warned Kem. Bastian was standing conveniently in the way of anyone really getting a good look at her boyfriend, which, conveniently, concealed the half-empty beer bottle he held.
Aishe's sending came none too soon. Glancing down, Kem winced and tossed back the remainder of his own drink. He couldn't very well go get round two when he hadn't finished round one.
As the night had worn on, the arcade and alley had both filled up a good deal more. Most of the lanes were now being used, and the bar was seeing constant traffic. It would take them at least ten minutes, by the look of things, which Kem hoped would be enough time for Bas to say whatever it is he had to say.
Double-checking everyone's orders to make sure he had them right Kem said, "All right then. We'll be right back."
((ooc: temporarily out))
At Nikhila's question he snuggled her a little closer with one arm around her and looked up at the screen. "We've two frames to go yet. We're not exactly breaking any bowling speed records."
Indeed they weren't... not sitting here on their rears. But Xeph wasn't about to kick Nikhila away. When Kem and Bastian offered to do the next round of drinks, Xeph just nodded and agreed to it. He was fine with sharing that task around. Holding up the bottle he'd recently finished, he got a nod from Kem and returned a smile of thanks.
Turning back to Nikhila he said, "You know, though, we can't exactly leave until our game is done."
It was a little fun, watching her squirm now. "You did insist we finish."
Reign said earnestly before turning to bat her baby blues at Bastian just before he left to get more drinks. She wasn't really kidding either, it wouldn't be deliberately or anything it was just how she tended to react.
"Course if he tried it with you... well he'd get much the same reaction."Â?
She continued to muse. Huh, she was a bit on the violent side. Oh well it had worked so far. Reign shrugged mentally and let it go.
It wasn't lost on Reign that Bas had gone through his beer rather quick and did seem to want to talk to Kem about something. About what she had no idea, probably what ever was bothering him earlier. But he'd also said he'd tell her later so she just stay put and let them talk.
"My turn again?"Â?
It was, the scoreboard said so. It turned out that bowling while trying to spy while not looking like you were trying to spy was very hard. That and distraction didn't work nearly so well for Reign as it did for Kem. She threw a classic seven ten split and swore. That sucked. Her next attempted sailed right between the two pins. She raised her arms in triumph.
"Field goal! That's worth three points right? So... total of... eleven for the frame?"Â?
Not at all possible in bowling but she has not problems bending the rules, if only she could get the computer to agree with her.
As small pleased sound made its way up her throat and rumbled there briefly as he pulled her closer as she bit the inside of her cheek to help remind herself to be a lady. He had a way of making her forget that from time to time, and this was shaping up to be one of those times.
She didn't say anything as Kem and Bastian went to get more drinks. It seemed rude to ask for something more when she hadn't finished what she had. Besides, she wasn't dying of thirst.
"Two frames, so four turns, so eight times to throw the ball down the lane."Â?
It wasn't a question, just math. Turning to kiss his cheek lightly she asked as she stood up to take her turn,
"Then do I get removed from the premises?"Â?
Again, not quite a question, but if he was going to trap her in a web of her own not so innocent making Nikhila had every intention of taking Xeph down with her.
Forcing herself to pay attention to the game and not flirt Nikhila took slow and careful aim. Between that and a bit of luck she threw another strike. It was a bit of a surprised, but a good one.
"Six now."Â?
She cheered Reign on for her field goal and said, "Hey wait, they have field goals in bowling? I ought to have more points then."
As she walked up to take her own turn, Aishe could feel Kem's emotions quite clearly through the bond they shared. They were grating, jangling like bells on a bouncing wire. Whatever he and Bastian were talking about was bothering him. Not so much angering him, but he was clearly frustrated and more than a little worried. Over what, she couldn't possibly know, but it didn't require much patience on her part. Kem would tell her what was going on as soon as they had occasion to be alone.
Lining up her next shot, she concentrated, reached back, and bowled her very first strike. It wasn't exactly the smashing success that Kem's had been, but the last two pins wobbled and then fell over half-heartedly, giving her the score.
With a bounce, she punched her fist into the air. "Look at that!" She turned, pleased, to the folks left in the seating area and bowed with a flourish. "She can be taught! Sort of!"
"I'm not exactly sure how I can possibly follow that up."
As he passed Nikhila he dipped his head close to her ear and said, "If you're lucky you'll be removed... one way or another."
Her flirtations were pleasantly distracting, but even that couldn't make him wonder what the other two men were discussing over at the bar. Once again, Bastian was blocking his view of Kem and Xeph was starting to believe it wasn't coincidental. Whatever he was saying, he wanted to shield Xeph from seeing the other man's response.
Why? He was certain that Bastian was the wolf who'd been around Reign's house, the one who just couldn't back down. That sort of stubbornness could be dangerous for all involved. Xeph's hair was practically standing on edge. Did he and Nikhila have to worry about being jumped in the parking lot on their way out?
He narrowed his eyes, lost in thought, and rolled his own bowling ball down the lane. It knocked a few pins down and he took his second turn, picking up a spare, wheels in his head still turning.
Reign urged quick to agree with Aishe. Anything to get a few more points. She wasn’t winning and that bothered her, well at least a little.
As she cheered Aishe’s strike Reign also realized it was the guys’ turns and they weren’t back yet. It was taking a bit of time to get a new round of drinks. Of course the bar did look a bit crowded, maybe that was it. Although when she looked at her wolf she saw they had been given the drinks and were wrapped up in conversation. What ever was bothering Bas was obviously eating at him good. And if he didn’t want to talk to her about it right now that probably meant he was worried about her, maybe not directly but the odds were he didn’t want her to do something rash. And given that his mood had changed when they ran into the doc and his date she suspected they had something to do with it.
But what? The doc was a nice guy and his date seemed pleasant enough, if a bit reserved. Yeah he was pretty much huge and could probably do some damage if he wanted too but he’d –never- not in all the time she’d known him given off a vibe like that. If anything he was extremely caring. He must be or he couldn’t take such good care of the mutt.
The only thing that she was aware was still bothering Bastian as far as she was concerned was the break in and the wolf. So maybe he suspected the doc and/or his date of either breaking in or of being a werewolf. Reign pondered this. Maybe. Unlikely but maybe.
Sighing Reign didn’t over analyze it. She just waited for them to come back.
“What else did your folks consider naming you? If it hadn’t been for my mother I could have wound up in a world of hurt myself.”
She questioned Aishe. Not like she knew anything about Egyptian names but as most of her father’s choices had been classical inspirations she had a feeling she could give Aishe a run for her money in the ‘oh thank god you didn’t name me that’ game.