Frost was not a morning pony by any means. Even before the shift from night to day she'd hated waking up early, and the sun lancing into her eyes did not help. This might have contributed to why she did not roll out of bed until almost noon, using a pillow to block the little spear of light that was stabbing her in the brain. Still, when she did wake up she was feeling frisky. She wanted to go on a run. Maybe a circuit around the rim, or perhaps hitting a mountain trail before going for some break--
There was a loud growl, as if a timberwolf had snuck into her apartment. She glared at her traitorous stomach.
Ok. Food first, a walk until everything had settled nicely, and THEN a nice ten mile run to kick off civilian life!
And since the date had not ended with a meal…might as well head back there and apologize for the trouble and get a little something to eat. Something with plenty of those oh so tasty little extras she’d declined the night before. The trot to “Kula Shokuhin”, as the lovely little place was dubbed, didn’t take long and she was quite happy to see that she’d missed most of the lunch rush.
She breezed in and shoved her goggles up, waving to the Pegasus behind the counter. “Hey, Zephyr. What’s shakin?”
The mare fixed her with a knowing little smirk. “Probably your bed from what I’m hearin.” She said with a snicker as she leaned on the counter.
Frost blinked, mouth working a bit. She managed to articulate her confusion rather cleverly: “…huh?”
Zephyr rolled her eyes. “C’mom, Frost. We’ve known each other long enough. Hell, I know your full name.” Zephyr’s smirk grew. “I dunno what you did to that colt, but it must’ve been something pretty nice considering what he was just doing.”
Again, the silvered tongue so many accused thestrals of having showed itself. “…What?”
“You serious?” The pony behind the counter asked. “You don’t know?” Frost could only shake her head. “The colt you were in here with last night, he came back and paid off your tab. I mean, I could guess why you two got out of here so fast, but must’ve—“
She was cut off by Frosts raised hoof. “He paid off my tab?” She asked, the confusion writ on her face. Sure, it wasn’t like it’d been accumulating long—she paid it off every couple of weeks—but still, that was edging pretty close to the fine line between “socially inept” and “creeper”.
“Yeah. Kinda sweet, I guess. You just missed him too. If you’d been, like, five minute earlier you would’ve seen him.”
"Really? Which way did he go?”
Zephyr quirked an eyebrow. “He took a right after he left here. Whats wrong?”
Frost flashed her a grin. “Nothing really. Sorry to bug you!” She stepped outside and took wing then.
It didn’t take very long to find him—just a few minutes and a few blocks later she spotted him coming out of a little shop with a bag hanging in his magic.
She dove down and landed off to one side before calling out. “Hey!”
Reed looked around, eyes going wide when he saw her. Huh. It was odd. She could see the abrupt nervous little lines of tension settle around him. Not nearly as bad as during their failed dinner-date, but still there.
“Hi! Um. How are you doing, Frost?” he asked.
“Ok, I guess. Sooo…” She trailed off, studying him for a moment. “Thanks for paying my tab off at Kula’s.”
He looked down, away from her face, nervously. “Oh. I uh…um. Yeah.” Scratching the back of his neck he glanced back up. “Kind of an apology, I guess? For how the uh. The date went.” He seemed rather contrite about the whole thing.
She let a smile break the neutral expression she’d been sporting. “Well, that puts me in a bit of a bind.” She said nonchalantly as she fell into step beside him.
“It...I uh. Huh?” He articulated himself almost as well as she had.
“I appreciate the gesture, but you paid for more than just our meals from last night.” She flashed him a grin. “To my mind, that puts me in your debt, and I’m not a fan of that.”
He shook his head rapidly. “Oh, that’s not, I mean I kinda screwed your night up, and—“
She held up a hoof and poked his shoulder. “Hey, we talked about that yesterday. Shit happens! Anyway. You paid too much, even to just make up for a lousy date, so I owe you.” She glanced around. “You’re still suspended right? No plans for today?”
Reed stared at her, mouth half open. “…I uh. I bought some new figs to put together, and a new book, but…”
“Awesome! So nothing right now?” Frost grinned at him, though she had no idea how someone put fruit together. Was he making a smoothie? Did figs go in smoothies? Were figs fruit?
“…I suppose?” he said guardedly.
“Awesome. Pizza?” She pointed to the end of the street they were on at a rather large pizzeria.
“You…really, you don’t have to.”
“I know! Gonna anyway. So, pizza now, or pizza later?” She said with a chuckle. She didn’t really know why, but she wanted to try and break this colt out of his shell. A moments thought and she held up a hoof again. “To clarify, not a date. No freak-outs necessary. Me getting to know you over a slice or three, as payback for going overboard in apologizing. Got it?”
The stallion nodded slowly, looking a touch contemplative. “I uh. Sure? I guess. So…lead the way then?”
-|-
Frost sat back with a sigh, licking her lips. “Greasy goodness.” She grinned, patting her now very full stomach. Mareo’s did a hell of a slice, and she had one more to try and tackle. She glanced over, waiting quietly for Reed to finish his second piece. A white mare with a glaring blue mane was sitting across the restaurant, chatting with a mare with green spikes forming a Mohawk. A surprisingly prim and proper looking mare sat next to the two of them, looking increasingly annoyed.
A glance back, and the bags taking up the third seat at their table caught her attention. She eyed them curiously, wondering what he was going to do with figs. Was he a chef? Or on some kinda diet? A critical look at the colt did reveal that he had a softness, almost a pudge, that spoke to a few too many meals in the kind of establishment they were in.
She leaned over the table, making her interest in the bags a bit more obvious as he finished off his slice. “So, what’re you gonna do with those?” she asked.
He tilted his head, horn lighting up as a small box slid out of the bag. “I figured I’d put them together tonight, and start painting tomorrow since I have some free time.” He sounded a lot more at ease than before. Seems like he’d relaxed a bit. Score one for Frost.
Though now she was confused. Paint? Why would you paint a fruit? “What do you mean?”
He turned the box in his magic, showing her a picture of a dragon on the front. It had mechanical wings, spread wide in a dramatic pose while rearing up, lashing out with its fore claws. “I’ve been wanting a Clockwork Drake for a while now, but they’ve got a lot of fiddly bits and hard to paint parts, so I figured now was as good a time as any.” He said cheerfully.
She looked the box over curiously. Huh. So ‘fig’ meant ‘figurine’. She hadn’t seen anything like this bef--oh, wait, actually yes. Not this one, but she’d seen similar little statuettes on Captain Armors desk from time to time. She didn’t realize that he’d painted it. She was half aware of Reed explaining some more about the figurine, talking about the game it was used for.
Yep. Just like Captain Armor.
She flashed him a grin when he wound down, poking the box with a hoof. “Neat! That looks kinda fun. How many’d you buy?” She’d never been a part of that little circle of guards, the ones with the funny dice and weird books, but hey, it got him talking!
“A couple. That’s the most complex, the others are just some player pieces for “Badlands” and “Ogres & Oubliettes.”
She had only the faintest idea of what those were, but, eh, everypony has a weird hobby or two. Everypony but her, come to think of it. She’d never gotten into much beyond trashy pulp fiction novels. She mulled over what he’d been going on about in the back of her mind for a minute or two as she studied the box.
“Think you could show me how to put one together?” She gave him a look of sincere curiosity. Heck, even if it wound up boring she’d tried. And it was another way to get the stallion to open up a bit.
He looked a touch surprised but actually managed a grin in response. “Sure! I think I have a couple of the simpler pieces if you want to practice first. And we can paint’em!”
She smiled, enjoying the little burst of outright enthusiasm from him.
A few minutes and half a slice each later and they’d made plans to meet up the next day so she could try her hoof at it.
-|-
Later that night, dice rattled on a table was laden with snacks, bouncing off the chineighse take-out boxes and settled near an open bag of cheese puffs. “Ok, nine. That puts me…” A piece slid across a game board, and a stallion groaned. “Aww, damnit, seriously? The Black Hole again?”
“THAT’S RIGHT MAGGOT!” Thundered an elderly stallions voice. “YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY IN THE BLAGHOLE, SPOONY—“ A hoof slapped the recording crystal to shut the damn thing off as a disgruntled earth pony settled back in his chair.
“Oh shut the hell up.” Muttered Fresh Dough. He was a speckled sort of tan, with a wheat gold mane. “Guys, can we play something else? I swear that Gatekeeper idiot has it in for me.”
“Normally I’d say you were just being a sore loser, but that’s like, the fifth time this game alone.” The observation came from a sky blue mare with a light pink mane. Rough Hewn was peering with some curiosity at the game’s crystal. “Maybe it’s screwed up?”
“I don’t think so.” A rather soft voice belonged to one Spread Sheet. The unicorn stallion shrugged. “Luck of the draw, really. But I’m not a fan of the voice acting anyway. Wanna switch it up? ‘Settlers’ is always a fun one.”
“You would want the game all about resource management.” A burnt orange pegasus stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled good naturedly. “You guys wanna take a break actually? I need to stretch a bit before we throw more dice.” True to her word, Take Point hopped up and spread her wings, arching her back with a series of pops and clicks as her spine realigned itself to something approaching straight. “Oooh, Celestia’s rump, that’s better.” The mare groaned, flopping down listlessly. She reached up, pawing at the table until she found the cheese puffs and pulled the bag down to munch from her new position. “Oh, hey, you guys busy tomorrow? My cousins are in town, and they’d love to get in on a game or two.”
Fresh smirked and started to open his mouth.
“One’s single, but he’s not into stallions, so Fresh can shut up.” Point added. Fresh scowled but kept quiet.
Reed leaned back in his seat, feeling his own spine protest his bad posture with a few pops itself. “Nng. Ow! Owow—better. Ah, sorry Point, no can do. I got a friend coming over. She wants me to show her how to put some basic models together.”
That got some attention. Namely, a bemused snort from Fresh Dough.
"Dude, you have a mare coming over? Seriously? You?"
Reed’s ears went back a bit at his friends derisive tone, but he couldn’t really argue it. “Yeah. What? She’s a friend.” He said, just a touch defensively. “Besides, she kind of saved my life.”
That got everyone’s attention. Point’s head came back up above table-level, fixing him with a shocked look.
“Dude. What?” asked Point
Reed felt a little tongue tied at the sudden interest, but managed to relate the story of his failed balloon trip without stumbling too much. He even managed to get through the failed date without much more than a blush. His friends knew about his particular issues there. Considering how long they’d been hanging out, they knew quite a lot about one another.
Fresh Dough spoke up again. “So, just so we’re getting this right, a smoking hot bat-guard saves your ass, then talks to your boss for you to save your ass again, asks you out, and doesn’t get mad when you have one of your freak outs. And today she buys you lunch. And tomorrow she’s coming over to build models with you.” He leaned over, staring at Reed. “Despite having never done so before.”
Reed leaned back, looking at him with wide eyes. “…Uh. Yeah, I suppose?”
Fresh stared at him for a long moment before he huffed a breath. “Dude. You are the luckiest son of—OW!” he yelped as something impacted his shin. Point looked remarkably innocent. “What the hell? I’m just say—Damnit!” he hissed. Spread Sheet was examining his hoof for any trimming that might need to be done.
“Hey, Fresh, I just remembered, I need to talk to you for a bit! Outside! Alone!” Point grinned a touch manically and bit the bakers ear, dragging him out the front door.
The protesting stallion managed to free himself a few steps out of the door and fixed the pegasus with a glare. “What the hell?! What was that for?”
Take Point glared, wings bristling. “Dude, can you not go and ram both hooves in your mouth? Why are you trying to ruin this for Reed?” She said testily.
Fresh just looked confused. “What are you talking about? I’m just trying to—“
Point sighed. “You’re trying to make him realize this filly might be interested in him, ‘cause he’s denser than Spread Sheet when it comes to mares? Yeah, I got that.”
“Then why the buck’d you kick my shin?!”
She rubbed a hoof against her temple in exasperation. “Dude, Fresh, you know how he gets if he thinks he’s getting near anything romantic.” She snorted. “Luna’s Teats, he couldn’t look me in the eye for a week after Rough made him think I was interested in him, and he’s somehow gotten worse since then. What do you think he’s gonna be like if he thinks this mare’s trying to be anything more than a friend?”
Fresh worked his mouth for a bit before he settled on a thoughtful expression. “…Shit, you’re right. I wasn’t thinking. Hell, I’m sorry.” He rubbed the back of his head for a moment. “That kick really hurt though.” The ghost of a grin slid across his lips. “Kiss it and make it better?”
Point rolled her eyes. “In your dreams lovercolt.” She said with a grin. “Seriously though. This is probably Reed’s best shot since that bitch screwed him up, so try not to screw it up. If you wreck this for him, I’m gonna burn your next five character sheets.” She threatened. “Now come on! We gotta help him clean.”
"Clean? What? Why?" Fresh seemed confused, and Point was happy to explain.
"Mares tend to prefer stallions who can keep the level of slob low enough that they don't have to wade through old pizza boxes." She said wryly. "So we get to play cupid and make sure this place looks presentable. Besides, we probably doubled the level of geek-funk in the place since he hosted game night. Now come on!"