bakerstreet | Blind Date meme

Blind Date meme

The Blind Date meme. Pretty self-explanatory. No matter how awkward and unexpected they might be, there is always something exciting about them. Who is your company for the evening going to be? Will it be a person of your innermost dreams or someone you absolutely can't stand? And most importantly...

How are you going to handle it?

What do:
1. Post with your character! They're now in the middle of a blind date.
2. Comment to each other! When you do that...
3. Go to Random.org and roll a single die!

1.
First date
-- You've never been out on a date before, so someone's decided to give you a helping hand.
2.
On the rebound
-- You're recovering from a painful breakup, but your friends/family think they found a great person for you anyway.
3.
Not strangers at all
-- Someone thought you didn't know your date. Turns out you know them from somewhere.
4.
Hideously awkward
-- Hey wait, that's your ex/boss/doctor/distant family member! Or, even worse, it's that person you absolutely despise. This will go well!
5.
Existing partner
-- You two are just acting like strangers to spice up your love life.
6.
Future spouse
-- Unfortunately, you have to have an arranged marriage. Fortunately, you get to meet that special someone for a date beforehand. How will the night go?
7. ...or, instead of rolling, come up with your own scenario!

4. Play out the date. This meme can be completely fluffy, smutty, or hilarious. If you don't want smut, you can put that in your subject. It doesn't even have to be romantic.

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Alibi or not, it would still be weird, until one of them successfully made it not weird. Admittedly, that would be a bit of a stretch for him. He could be a gentleman at least, holding his arm out for her to wrap hers around. At least he looked like a moneyed man, and those women that had been embarrassed for her were suddenly impressed or jealous, if their changes of expression were anything to go by.

"Lost track of the time after the arrival of a buyer," he said quietly, putting on a smile for the waiter until they were left alone. "He's offered triple if I can find him the accompanying manuscript and I would rather get both him and it out of my hair sooner rather than later." Shaking his head, Orion ordered a scotch; he had a feeling that he would need more than that to get through this with his dignity intact. "You would, of course, be getting a larger cut for your assistance," he added, dropping his voice as his drink was poured, and he raised it to her in toast.

"I have someone on it." She took a sip of the dry martini at her elbow, then added, "And you're not my employer, Orion. I'll thank you to remember that." But that was enough business. Anyone could be listening, or so her paranoia told her.

Bela leaned back, squaring her shoulders and giving her date a level look. Away from the shop and dressed for dinner, he could pass for a decent human being, and she supposed the same could be said for her. To anyone looking, they appeared to be just another couple. In their line of work, however, forming and maintaining relationships was difficult, if not downright impossible. Bela was fully cognizant of that fact, and yet, she'd still agreed to the date. And a blind date of all things.

It made her curious as to why Orion had accepted. Was he deluded enough to think he could have a normal life? Or was he simply bored, as she was? She posed the question to him that had been plaguing her all day: "So why did you agree to this?"

"No, but consider it professional courtesy. More return for your effort."

With one elbow perched atop the bar, Orion scanned the area, the blue of his eyes darkened by the lighting. Without his glasses, he looked quiet a bit younger, closer Bela's age. A scar running along the bottom of his eye was hidden by the dark circles though, a testament to his lack of a proper sleep schedule. He was tired and it showed, at least close-up.

At the question, he looked back at her, putting his glass back down with his hand wrapped loosely around it.

"Let's call it peer pressure. A better question, though, is why would you?"

Several easy lies sprang to her mind, so she went with the one closest to the truth. "I was just curious to see how it would turn out." In reality, she was mainly wondering if she could still be an average woman, more concerned with the intricacies of attractive eyeshadow application than the creatures lurking in the shadows. It was just her luck that rather than a run-of-the-mill stock broker or a lawyer, her date turned out to be her fence. She should have seen this coming.

She swirled the contents of her glass and took another dainty sip, savoring the almost mouth-puckering dryness and prickly, pine needle-y taste. The place made a mean martini, so the night wasn't a total waste. "Nice choice of restaurant, at least." There, that was a compliment, right? It was at least the best she was willing to offer.

Edited 2015-05-30 20:32 (UTC)

"I prefer not to go out often, but I do have a few favorites in this part of the world at least," Orion replied primly, sliding his glass across the bar for a refill on is scotch. "When food happens, it will be just as good. I would ask whether you would prefer me to be the gentleman or if you would rather go dutch for this, but somehow I doubt it will particularly matter either way."

He stopped himself from voicing the thought that no matter how they chose to go about this, he would likely still be leaving alone. Usually it was his own fault for being cold. It was already out of the ordinary for him to agree to something like this, but it was even rarer to have second dates or even simpler, tawdry affairs.

Bela fully expected Orion to foot the bill for dinner, especially after he'd brought it up. She found the subject of payment vulgar unless she was was the one being paid. Her face made her distaste clear, so she didn't bother to answer.

At that moment, their supper was ready, and the waiter escorted them back to their table. Bela was relieved - as soon as they were through eating, she intended to split. She might still make it to one the clubs before the patrons got too sloshy and obnoxious and net some brainless beefcake to share the rest of the evening with. Or perhaps she'd just amuse herself picking pockets. Normal was overrated, anyway.

She tasted the rare beef on her plate. It was so tender and flavorful, she had to restrain herself from cooing with pleasure. Orion had been correct; the food was divine, so she told him as much.

Orion raised his forkful of salad at the comment, his mouth already full by the time she spoke up. He was still mentally rolling his eyes at the face she made at him, but he wasn't going to argue it. He had more than enough to pay for both of them no matter how much they splurged, he was certain of that.

At least with the distraction of food, there was no obligation toward small talk, aside from the occasional comment on the quality of the meal, and the wine that had been brought out on Orion's request. Might as well go whole-hog, he figured. He would take the remainder of the bottle home with him at the end of the night when Bela would undoubtedly go on her own way.

Whenever he found the person that had set this up, he would smack them soundly in the mouth.

The wine pairing Orion had chosen was also spectacular. She was wondering if she had misjudged her business associate. Most of the fences she used were slimy no-accounts, but clearly Orion had some touch of class.

She shifted in her chair, the realization he was more her peer than she'd given him credit for making her suddenly uneasy. It was much easier to work with the sketchy figures populating the underworld when she considered them beneath her.

"Do you come here often, then?" she asked, making a small effort to be more polite.

There was a lot that accounted for that, but he tended to downplay most things, aside from the dangers of handling some of those things that he sold to the less educated of his customers. He was swirling the first glass of wine gently, letting it breathe a moment before taking a small sip. He had just put it aside when she spoke up.

"Not really," he replied quietly. "It's been several months since I last came. Being out in the general public isn't exactly my favorite thing in the world."

That bit of information wasn't exactly surprising. The man owned and operated a bookstore, a profession that was one step closer to the light than hermit or librarian in Bela's opinion. The idea was foreign to her, though. One day soon, she'd be taken from the bright, bustling world, so she clung to it while she could.

In the interest of sustaining conversation, however mundane, for the remainder of the meal, she asked, "Do you cook for yourself, then, or do you just have your meals brought in?"

Edited 2015-05-31 19:41 (UTC)

"A bit of both, depending upon wants versus what I have in my pantry. You'd be surprised how hard it is to get a good minestrone in this city, for example, without going to a place like this for it, and even then it doesn't quite compare to being able to savor while wearing pajamas."

Whether or not that was a joke remained to be seen, as his tone barely wavered from its usual seriousness.

"Pajamas?" she blurted, unable to contain her surprise. Orion didn't seem like a pajamas kind of guy to her. She'd never really imagined him anywhere other than the booksellers, actually, so the mental image of Mr. Stoic wearing striped jammies and nursing a bowl of soup tickled her.

"Next you'll tell me you raise Yorkies and watch ASBO Teen to Beauty Queen." She was teasing, of course, evidenced by her rather stupid grin. Once she realized she'd let her cool demeanor slip, though, she straightened up and sat back. Bela wanted to reach for her wine to distract from her gaiety, but thought perhaps she should refrain from drinking for a few minutes, so she took a bite of braised parsnip instead.

She was laughing at him. She was laughing at him and it made her face light up and by gods there was the smallest curl of his lips, the corners coming up in a tiny smile.

"What, do you expect me to wear a suit to bed?" He snorted. "Please, I am not some old-world vampire. I put my jammies on one leg at a time like anyone else, and occasionally get them stolen for falling asleep at a stranger's house." He dug into his own steak primly after that non sequitur, chasing it with another sip of his wine.

Bela was busy preparing a clever retort vis-à-vis him sleeping in a sarcophagus, but her train of thought was derailed by the "stranger's house" comment. She took another small bite of beef, chewing thoughtfully.

"Did someone actually remove your pajamas? Or were they just demanded once you'd woken?" Either way, the situation sounded odd to Bela. If it was a stranger's home, why was he wearing pajamas? Had the interlude been planned ahead of time? Or did Orion tote his jammies around, just in case?

"I woke up the morning after a gallery opening held by ah...an old friend, and found that someone had apparently made off with my overnight belongings when it was suggested that we retire to an estate with enough open space to accommodate those who had traveled. Nobody has been forthcoming about it, but I suspect many of them were too drunk for that." He rolled his eyes, then gave her a look similar to that that she was giving him. "You can't tell me that you haven't taken advantage of someone's kindness before."

She laughed, envisioning a serious, sleep-rumpled Orion, interrogating a hungover group of potential pajama thieves. Then she rose to the challenge his question posed, offering up a similar tale.

"When I was a girl, I went away to school. The other girls in the dormitory had a sort of..." Bela trailed off there, hesitant to use the word "hazing." Instead she just twirled her fork about in the air and continued along with, "...ritual. The first girl to fall asleep on the night before classes each quarter had all of her underthings soaked in water and stored in the freezer overnight."

She dared to take a sip of wine. If she was already reliving secondary school memories, she was too far gone to stop now. "I was the lucky one on my first quarter, I'm afraid."

Orion actually looked on the verge of laughter about that one. "Both cruel and amusing. I'll have to remember that for the next time my daughter decides she needs some new way to torment an enemy. Better harmless freezing of underthings than leaving boobytraps."

Boobytraps? How apt. But there were more interesting matters at hand than punning.

"You have a daughter?" It was another surprise, though she supposed it was more common for people her age and older to have children than not. She was rapidly becoming a minority. "How old is she?"

If he'd been thinking about it more closely he might not have made the unintentional pun. At least commenting on it was derailed by the question. This one...well, it would have to be handled carefully. Some things weren't exactly good for full disclosure.

"She is in college right now," he offered, before taking a longer swallow of his wine.

"Oh, wow." The girl wasn't much younger than Bela. She felt every inch a bimbo for about three seconds, but then shook it off. She was just a woman on a blind date, not some gold-digging future trophy wife, after all.

She took a fortifying sip of wine, nodding to the waiter when he offered her another pour. "So are you two close?"

"Not particularly," Orion sighed and returned to his meal for a few moments. "Our relationship has always been...complicated. Grace is very smart, but very willful, and she kind of can't stand me. I'm told that it's normal, but I rather doubt it.

"But what about you," he continued, looking back up at her with his fork in hand, turning it over in his fingers. "Surely you must have family somewhere."

She wouldn't know from normal when it came to parents. Hers had died when she was fourteen, and no one had come forward to lay claim to her or their sizable estate. She'd been lonely, but the trust fund hadn't really been cold comfort. At least not once she'd been able to access it.

"No. I've been playing the orphan angle since I was a kid. I've gotten lots of sympathy cookies. And I never have to worry about being a disappointment." Bela smiled, blithely taking her final bit of parsnip. She was used to having to assure people their death wasn't a subject that upset her, and she hoped to skip the whole 'I'm-so-sorry' scene if possible, so she turned the questions back to him.

"How about your parents?"

The 'sympathy cookies' comment amused Orion, and he shook his head. "No such luck, where the sympathy comes in. I lost my parents when I was very young." He stabbed his fork into the last bite of his steak, swiping it through the last of the sauce on his plate. "It was all very...tidy, and it did allow me to pick up on his work, as well as giving me access to his accounts to set myself up with the finest education I could get."

Now that things were settling into something resembling comfortable between them, Orion was actually debating on ordering dessert. Of course, it depended on whether Bela would be staying a while longer, or leaving him alone to pay the check.

Both had been orphaned and presently occupied similar niches in life, but Bela assumed their individual paths hadn't been very alike at all. He'd referred to his parents as lost to him, after all, where Bela had wished for hers to die.

"Where did you go to school?" The particular school didn't interest her in the least, but such questions were polite and kept the conversation flowing. Additionally Bela was finding herself more and more curious about Orion the more she knew. She found him quite genuine, a quality many people lacked - especially on the first impression.

There was a brief hiss of breath between Orion's teeth at the question.

"You likely wouldn't believe me if I told you," he replied somewhat apologetically. More accurately, it was even more likely that she would never have heard of it. "Suffice to say I learned everything from the proper manners of a man out and about among the elite of society to how to play any number of selections on a grand piano, as well as the composition of the human body and the rise of the Omnian Empire."

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