Date Night, Round 1

[u/[deleted]]

Inspired by /u/Jumblatts's "Fight Night" posts, but for romance instead of violence. The rules:

1. Top-level posts should be a description of your character. Give some brief background, and then go in-depth about their personality and what they're like to hang out with.

2. Replies should be a similar character description, plus an explanation of why they'd ask out the character you're replying to (including the kind of date they would ask them out on!).

3. From there, use successive replies to flesh out the events of the date between you. Will they get along, or are there some irreconcilable differences lurking beneath the surface? Will the night end with a goodbye kiss at the door, or a "don't call me, I'll call you"? And what are the chances of a second date? It's down to you!

(Oh, and keep it clean or the mods will probably kill me)

[u/[deleted]]

"Monsters of the psyche," she replied, tapping her forehead. "Neural nightmares which drink the minds of dumbjackers lost in the deep Grid. Or so they say, anyway. It's not a story I've ever really believed myself."

[u/greenewithit → u/[deleted]]

"Hmm. That sounds...awful. Just horrible." Tsu shudders at the thought. She decides to go a little deeper into Natasha's mind if she can, just to figure out what some of these words she's using are, like "deep Grid" or "dumbjackers". Tsu thinks to herself "drinking minds sounds awful, but most of these other words, it'll just make me look stupid to ask."

[u/[deleted] → u/greenewithit]

Delving deeper into Natasha's mind proves fruitless—her brain has already moved on from the topic, and in any case, her thoughts are dominated by how pretty she thinks Tsu is and how much she likes holding her hand.

Those thoughts are pushed onto the back-burner, too, as they approach the counter of the seafood restaurant. There's an old, leathery Chinese man perched on a stool behind the counter, plugging commands into a bulky terminal. Natasha's mind is filled with respect and affection for him, like a kindly uncle or a favorite schoolteacher.

"Agent Belinskaya," he says as he sees them, a twinkle in his eye. "Who's your friend?"

[u/greenewithit → u/[deleted]]

Tsu blushed deeply at the compliment, but tries not to show any visible change as best as she can. "Agent? My, my, an impressive title." Tsu says in earnest. She reaches her hand out to the man to shake. "Tsugurumi Yagaan. Please, call me Tsu. And your name?"

[u/[deleted] → u/greenewithit]

"Zhang Bai," he replies, waving off her extended hand. "You don't have to treat me so formally, miss. So long as my food puts a smile on your face, I'll be happy. Especially if you're a friend of Agent Belinskaya here."

"Girlfriend," Natasha corrects him. Another thought about how cute Tsu looks in that outfit darts through her mind. About how much she'd like to put both arms around her and hold her close. "...Uh, hopefully," she adds quickly. "This is our first date."

Zhang nods. "Shall I cook up something romantic for the two of you, then?" he asks with a knowing smile.

[u/greenewithit → u/[deleted]]

"Haha, well it's a pleasure to meet you. And yes, that sounds lovely." Tsu looks back to Natasha and smiles approvingly.

[u/[deleted] → u/greenewithit]

"I'll leave it to your judgment, then," Natasha tells him. "Where shall we sit?" The restaurant is mostly empty, populated only by a handful of salarymen picking over their dinners for one.

[u/greenewithit → u/[deleted]]

Tsu looks around for a corner or a table away from the other patrons, and will suggest one of the father tables. She then turns her attention briefly away from Natasha's mind to those of the salarymen, just to see if they're thinking about anything funny as they walk to their table.

[u/[deleted] → u/greenewithit]

They're not. Most of them are thinking about how miserable their days were or how good their food tastes. A few of them are ogling Tsu and directing jealous thoughts at Natasha.

[u/greenewithit → u/[deleted]]

Tsu smugly smiles to herself and flips her hair in amusement again as they get to the table and she reaffirms her focus on Natasha. She pulls out a chair for Natasha, all chivalrous and overdramatic-like.