Growing Struggles

Growing Struggles
Date of Scene:	04 November 2012
Location:	Fluorgis
Synopsis:	It was morning for the Shard Seekers. Ivo and Reize discuss about the growing feelings that he's having for Shiki, Lily, and Lenn. Meanwhile, tensions rise between Riku and Ivo. ...Hilarity ensues.
Cast of Characters:	Reize Seatlan, Riku, Ivo Galvan

---

Reize Seatlan has posed:
It's a nice day for the Shard Seekers. It looks like that the clan has been successful in getting their own base of operations tidied up. With the flourishing successes that they have had with missions, things are looking up for the group to become an official clan.

In this evening, one individual is staying out to the patio to gaze out at the garden. Both hands rest at the frame and he rests his chin underneath his hands.

He cannot help but admire the look of the garden. Lily did do a good job with tending to the garden.

Furrowing his eyebrows, his mind is wandering somewhere.

Riku has posed:
Riku finds himself visiting the Shard Seeking headquarters again. Maybe on the off chance to be swept off on another daring adventure, as much as he enjoyed the last one.

Well-- more enjoyed the beginning and the middle as the end was somewhat hazy to Riku's memory and the few fragments he can piece together don't make entirely too much sense. Was there an ogre involved?

The world will never know. He has a backpack over his shoulder for once, a relatively new thing bought in Manhattan that is only a little weather beaten and crammed with particles of sand. Riku looks over the grounds as he walks up to them, smiling slightly to himself as he looks around but not noticing anybody just yet.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Ivo groans slightly, a damp towel held to his forehead, squinting against the morning light. He's taken this opportunity, after having scrawled out his helpful tone and pinned it to the board, to nurse his wounds from their recent adventure out on the patio in the garden, shaded by the vine-wreathed trellice.

And by wounds, I mean hangover.

Yes, the result of their quest is foggy indeed...

LAST NIGHT

Ivo, red-faced, laughs uproariously as an ogre lopsidedly wearing a battered crown drinks directly from a barrel of wine as the residents of Costa del Sol gape on in shock. "Aaah ha ha ha! Chug, King Bobo! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug--"

NOW

"...Uurghh."

Maybe he shouldn't go back there for a little while.

"Hm?"

Glancing off to the side, Ivo's eyes open fully, and he manages a weak but sincere smile as he lowers the towel from his forehead, leaving dampened dark locks strewn there.

"Oi, Reize," he playfully mimics, a light note of mirth in his voice as usual. "You look unusually pensive today. Glad to see you've made a full recovery. Not that I'm surprised." He didn't even seem that concerned, really. Well, the girls can do all the freaking out for him.

"Come on, sit with me. What's on your mind?"

Hey, he and Lily worked together on the garden, you know.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
It is not normally like Reize to be in such deep thought. However, here he is, just thinking to himself as he stares into the garden. He hardly notices his friends about. His head lowers a bit, but then...

'Oi, Reize'...

"Eh?!" Reize looks around frantically, then he turns to see that Ivo is greeting him. "Oi, Ivo!" The boy keeps a cheerful smile, then he winces slighly as Ivo notices something different about him. With the awareness out of place, he hardly notices Riku about either.
"...R-right..." Reize is making his way towards the patio, moving to take a seat. "...It's... it's hard to explain." He rubs the back of his head, now feeling rather sheepish. He squints, but at the same time, his cheeks are flushing.

Riku has posed:
Riku squints hard, rubbing at his eyes and the side of his head. He cranes his head over towards the sound of voices and approaches quietly, moving to the patio and stopping. He pauses for a moment, idly rubbing the back of his neck as he looks around for somewhere he can listen without being seen immediately.

He spies Ivo and.. a shard of memory returns. He may or may not exactly be pleased to see him, considering one of those fragments involves.. more than a little less than subtle instigating. Riku leans against the wall, folding his arms and placing the backpack carefully on the ground.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Ivo's smile grows progressively more amused as Reize begins to awkwardly stammer, though the knight maintains his composure, despite his unfortunate straits. As Reize's cheeks begin to flush crimson, Ivo naturally discerns exactly what the issue is. Instead of speaking, he lets the silence hang, arching one eyebrow upon his damp forehead.

"Reize," he murmurs, "don't tell me..."

Pause.

"...you're falling in love with me?"

He maintains his serious expression for about a second and a half before he starts laughing. "Sorry, sorry," he says, waving a hand in amusement. "For a moment, I thought you were coming out of the closet. Though, you know," he then muses aloud, smile fading, "I was thinking about you the other... well, never mind." Yeah, that was odd. Better keep it to himself.

"...It's the girls, isn't it?" he then continues, more seriously, and more gently. His smile has return, slight, his eyes amused but not unkindly. "Worried about their feelings? You shouldn't be, you know. They're tougher than they look. Or maybe," he then adds, more playfully again, "you're just worried about catching cooties again?"

At last, once Riku sets his backpack down, Ivo notices, glances over to the side, and lifts a hand in vague salute. "Oh, Riku. Good to see you again. Thanks for your help with the mission. Last night sure was--"

FLASHBACK

Ivo drunkenly leans over the bar, grinning at what appears to be a cute girl with unusual silver hair. "Heeeey, beautiful. How about I buy you a--"

NOW

Uncharacteristically, Ivo cuts himself off, suddenly looking vaguely uneasy, and averts his eyes, adopting a-- complicated expression.

"--uh... interesting, huh?" he manages.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Well.."

Reize was about to explain the situation. He had gone over considering what happened the past few days since his injuries. Shiki, Lily, and Lenn were all worried about him. Lily became his first kiss, Lenn admitted that she liked him, but she quickly changed the topic. However, Reize had the feeling.

However, Reize blinks towards Ivo's response.

...

"EH?!" He snaps towards Ivo, "What do you mean?!" Then, he lifts a finger up slightly, reflecting back to his time at Halloween Town. That fateful night where he did end up in the situation.

"... Well, I was trapped inside of the closet at Halloween Town, and uhh... I was thinking about you, and I did come out of the closet after I was thinking about you!" The boy scratches his head. "It was odd! I didn't even know that I was stuck in the closet, but I finally came out of it!"

However, the boy's expression becomes a bit serious, "Well... I ..uhh... I am thinking I am feeling something, I umm.." He rubs the bck of his head, "Had kissed Lily and---..." His voice trails off, turning towards Riku. "Ooiiii! Riku! How--..."

For some reason, Reize is looking between Riku and Ivo. His eyes drift towards Riku. And then Ivo. Riku. Ivo. Oh wow, a large stormy cloud between the two. That said storm is likely crackling lightning and thunder.

Sweatdrop.

Why does it feel incredibly tense?

Riku has posed:
"Yeah." Riku has a similarly complicated expression for a moment. The stormcloud breaks as the teenager gives an eerie smile and tries to tally up the free drinks he was able to get out of Ivo before he contributes to the conversation.

"It was...very telling."

He snorts faintly in a poorly concealed attempt not to laugh that he smothers very quickly.

Riku clears his throat, almost starting to laugh again at what Reize was trying to get across. He gives Reize a look, shaking his head as he picks up the backpack again and moves to one of the wire chairs, setting the backpack down on the seat while he puts his hands on the wireframe. He steers the subject onto something safer before they all drive it off a cliff.

"Do you happen to have one of these yet, Reize?" he takes out one of the Xanatos brand interdimensional phones, extending it towards the mightily stammering desert adventurer.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Ivo stares blankly at Reize for a few long moments.

"So... you /are/ out of the closet, then," he says, weakly. "Well... I'm here for you, friend," is all he can say, nodding slowly. At the report of Reize's romantic encounter, though, soon the hungover knight-errant is grinning again, leaning back in his chair. "Lily too, now? What are you going to do with all these girls, Reize? At this rate, we'll have to work on building up your resistance to cooties--"

The sense of building tension causes Ivo's gaze to flicker back to Riku. There's a pained silence as they both offer each other-- complicated expressions. After all, Ivo reflects, while it /was/ his fault for mistaking Riku for a girl, he did keep /pretending/ to be one drink after drink. And, admittedly, while Riku was keeping up the act, he was quite charming company. Why, Ivo had half a mind to-- anyway, why did Riku even play along--

"Yeah," Ivo murmurs, but rather than looking amused, the look he's giving Riku is somehow suspicious, and maybe just a little ambivalent, "very telling."

But what did it say?

Oh, thank goodness, a subject change. "Yeah, I picked one of those up in Manhattan myself, when I was returning those puppies that were liberated to their original owners. Turns out one of them was just a stray, so it may be sticking around, once Lily gives it a name." Ivo's smiling again. "Hey, if you get one, you can send your lady friends 'texts' whenever you want. Offer them sweet nothings."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
As Riku presents out the Xanatos brand interdimensional phone out towards him, Reize extends his hand over towards the strange device. He squints over towards the device and then he grabs it. "...I never had one of those before. Uhh.. what does it do now?" Isn't it like that cellphone that Shiki has?

Then, Reize turns towards Ivo, "...Lenn, Lily, and Shiki, actually..." The cheeks are flushed, but he furrows his eyebrows. "...I would like that, actually. Building a resistance to cooties." He looks at Ivo with determination, "I will need your help in this grand adventure!"

And of course, the exchange between Riku and Ivo earns a quizzed look. After a moment, Reize sweatdrops. Topic change.

The boy looks cheerful, "I'm glad! This will give Lily a bit more responsibility." He pauses, then he cnsiders, "Uhhh... what's 'sweet nothings'...?"

Riku has posed:
Riku has a perfectly flat expression as he offers. "He has an endless supply of those." and digs a second one out of the backpack. He lays it on the patio 'table' and picks up the backpack, zipping it up in a rather brittle and professional manner.

He snorts very quietly, hovering just on the edge of laughter but swallowing it and keeping his dignity-- somewhat-- intact. He idly scratches at his arm and shoulder. "And I'm very sure Ivo will be glad to help you." he snorts faintly again. "Keep yourself out of trouble, eh Reize?" at this he raises his eyebrows pointedly as he swings the backpack onto his shoulder.

Ivo Galvan has posed:
Ivo? Sweet nothings? Perish the thought.

"Don't worry about it," the knight-errant demurs, even as he winces and places the towel back on his forehead. Ugh, social interaction is too much exertion right now. "Grand adventure, huh...?"

Idly, Ivo's gaze wanders over to the outdoor bath's wooden fence, the water now easily heated via its restored copper tubing, courtesy of Reize's quest and Ivo's smelting. The corners of his lips twitch. Then his eyes begin to sparkle.

"I think I have just the plan."

He leans back in his chair, gaze drifting back to Riku.

"Don't worry," he says easily, "there'll be no trouble."

At least, as long as they don't get caught.