Adorable Awkwardness Guaranteed!
The Black Gull Tavern, with Ink and Rorgan, both sea otters! The first few poses were lost, but it was mostly just the opening of the scene (muddy tavern, open door to catch the nice spring breeze), and Ink and Rorgan being excited to see each other (although very awkward about it. XD).
The otter shrugs as he sits in the offered chair. "I've been quite well honestly. I've had some interestin' adventures, but otherwise, life's been about the same." He chuckles softly. "An' how about you, miss?"
"Oh? That's good. I'm alright. Been here and there. Doing buisness, visiting friends, and whatnot." Ink shrugs, wiping wood shavings from the table onto the floor. "Any adventures worth sharing? I'm always up for a good story." She stuff the wood in her bag and the knife gets sheathed in her belt.
( Rorgan simply shrugs. "I s'pose I had one a day or so ago, an' I nearly died, but I s'pose that comes around a lot in my line of work." He didn't want to be awkward or anything, but he continuously found himself staring at the other black otter for several seconds at a time before wrenching his eyes away, which made him feel rather awkward, yet embarrassed as well. )
Ink takes a sip of her drink to avoid looking at Rorgan, staring studiously at the grain of the wood on the table once she puts the mug down. She's oddly worried about this story. "Well, I'm... ah... I'm glad you didn't die." Man, that sounds lame. "I mean, well, you know." She coughs awkwardly. Where was she going with that again? "What were you doing?" Better stick with the safe questions.
The otter chuckles. "I uh...I was contracted t' steal a chest an' a crown, but so was an entire tavern...so..." His voice trails off as he figured Ink could figure out the rest. Instead of continuing, he forces himself to look at the table, though this confused him. He had never felt this awkward around anybeast before, so why was it happening now?
"Ah." Ink nods understandingly. "Well, I'm glad you got out of it ok. Did you get the chest and the crown?" She chances a glance at him, watching him watch the table. Copycat. She lifts her mug again, and then grumbles. Dammit, she's finished it already. She motions to a passing ferret to get her another. "You want anything to drink, Rorgan?"
( Rorgan shakes his head, trying hard not to make himself look like an absolute idiot. "Uh, no..I'm fine without a drink. As fer the objectives, aye, I got them, but I took a hook t' me shoulder and had t' fight through a good amount of foes, but it was anything too bad." )
Ink shrugs, and the ferret leaves. Ink leans forward in her chair, eyes flickering over his face, strangely concerned again. "Is your shoulder alright now, though? That's a bit of a painful wound to get..." Realizing she's been looking at him a bit too long, she blushes and goes back to watching the table again.
Rorgan nods, trying hard to be as natural as he can, but this is becoming more and more difficult for him with each second spent with Ink. "A-Aye...my shoulder's fine now. It just..hurts..a little..." Jeez, what in the stars is wrong with him? This isn't natural for him to be acting like this.
Ink scratches "idly" at a discolored dent in the table with a claw. Though it's not really idly, as it's just something to keep her attention off of Rorgan. That doesn't make sense though... why cant she look at Rorgan? Her head starts to come up, but goes right back down for her to stare at the dent in the table. Nope. Not happening. "Well." Her voice, in her desparation to say /something/, is a bit abrupt. She winces internally. "That's good..." her voice drifts a bit. "Yeah." She clears her throat. "Glad to hear it."
Rorgan nods slowly, looking straight at a point just above Ink while he tries to think of something to say. "Aye..I s'pose so..." He gives a nervous chuckle, effectively out of things to say by this point.
Ink's saved from the terribly awkward silence by the waiter she flagged down earlier. He gives her her mug, and wanders off to help some other patrons. "You, uh, sure you don't want anything?" Ink asks again, mostly just for the sake of saying something. When she talks, she hesitatingly looks at him, trying to forestall the inevitable action of staring at the table again. Really, she could probably draw a detailed map of every line and stain on this table.
Rorgan shakes his head, not wanting to be more of a bother than he already felt as though he was being. "N-No, it's fine," He stammers, feeling his face grow slightly warm even as his heart begins to pick up its pace. "I ate afore I got here..." As soon as he says this, he inwardly slaps himself, realizing that Ink had been offering a drink, not food, but it was too late to change his words without being awkward.
Oh." Ink's practically frozen at this point, even though her head keeps screaming, look away! Look away! Maybe there's a new line on the table you haven't seen yet! "Well, that's, uh. That's fine. " She's still looking at him.... her face feels like it's on fire at this point. "If you want anything, you know, later... just... just say. I don't even know how long you're staying, if you're going to be around to want a drink later, but you know, if you.. if you are..." She needs to stop talking. So she shuts her mouth, gulps in horror at the long, illogical stream of words that just came out of her mouth, and takes a big mouthful of her drink to cover up her embarrassment.
Rorgan chuckles softly, now looking at Ink for the moment. "That was quite the sentence there," He teases, his cheeks beginning to turn a dark red from the strength of his blush. By now, there is really no hiding his embarrassment, but neither is there any hope of hiding his affections towards this otter, which even he has only just thought about.
"I, uh, yeah." Unexpectedly, Ink laughs. (Lots of shiny white sharp teeth!) "Yeah, it was quite a sentence." She puts her mug down, looks at Rorgan. Some of her blush shows along her silvery scars. The teasing opened her up a bit, though, even if it is still very awkward. She grins. "So you ate, but you're really still sure you don't want a drink?"
Rorgan hesitates, then he gets up, moving around the table to now come to sit next to Ink, smiling warmly. "Now that I think of it, a drink sounds rather nice at the moment, and when I'm with a pretty lass like you, how can I refuse?" Oh boy, this just makes his blush ever darker, but there was no stopping his words, so he figured he would rather deal with any reprocussions.
Oh. Ok. That was unexpected. Ink's mouth opens to reply, closes, then opens again. "Oh, I, uh. Thank you..." She takes another sip of her drink, giving herself time to get her thoughts together. "I wasn't planning on staying long, but I can't possibly leave now." She grins playfully, waving over the ferret waiter again. She nudges Rorgan with her elbow. "I don't know what you like to drink, you'll have to tell him yourself."
Rorgan chuckles, saying to the ferret, "An ale would be fantastic!" With that, he looks back at Ink, looking much more comfortable and more like his normal safe; playful and sweet. "Well I'd be heartbroken if you left now," He says playfully right back.
"Well now, we can't possibly have that." Ink finishes off her drink and raises herself up just a bit to place the mug on the ferret's platter. "And a refill for me would be nice." She waves him off, and he leaves as she sits back down. "A heartbroken Mr. Rorgan would be absolutely dreadful. We must do everything we can to avoid such a tragedy." She leans back in her chair again, one eyebrow raised at him, quirking a sideways smile.
"Well now, we can't possibly have that." Ink finishes off her drink and raises herself up just a bit to place the mug on the ferret's platter. "And a refill for me would be nice." She waves him off, and he leaves as she sits back down. "A heartbroken Mr. Rorgan would be absolutely dreadful. We must do everything we can to avoid such a tragedy." She leans back in her chair again, one eyebrow raised at him, quirking a sideways smile.
Rorgan chuckles, shaking his head. "No we wouldn't, but I think I'd understand if it was broken by a pretty lass like you."
Ack! Ink doesn't know what to say again. So many compliments! "Well, isn't getting your heart broken by anyone all the same?" Clearly, she doesn't know what she's talking about. "Doesn't matter if it's a pretty lass or not, does it?"
Rorgan shrugs. "I s'pose so, but if I got my heart broken, it would always be by a pretty lass." He laughs then. "I have standards y'know!"
Ink's head tips back as she laughs, too. "I'm sure you do have standards! Don't we all." She grins. "I hope this time you're spending with me means I've passed those standards?" Oooh my goodness, that wasn't supposed to be said out loud. The return of the ferret saves her momentarily. He gives them each their respective drinks before turning away. Ink's face feels like someone just threw a torch at her.
Despite his ever wide smile, Rorgan's face feels as though it's on fire as well, and he quickly takes a rather large swig of his ale. After several silent moments, he sets his drink down and nods slowly, his cheeks a brightening shade of dark red.
"Oh." Ink's quiet for a moment, just staring down at her mug. "Well. I'm, uh, glad." That smile couldn't be more honest and, well, incredibly awkward. Very. very. awkward. But happy. And a little hopeful. She takes a large swig of her ale and looks at him over the top of her glass.
Rorgan's eyes, which had been staring at the table, rise right as Ink looks over the glass at him, and that's when he locks his startling ice blue eyes with the other otter. Nothing had ever made him feel this awkward or really anything along the lines of what he was feeling now, but it felt so natural to him that he had to wonder where it had been all this time.
Ink's eyes are pretty much glued in position. There's no way she could possibly look anywhere else but Rorgan's eyes... man, are his eyes bright. She has no idea what she's doing. She's stared at the freaking table so long she practically doesn't remember what it's like to stare at something actually pretty. And she certainly doesn't know what to say when you're caught doing it. So she sort of just... keeps looking at him.
For better or worse, Rorgan really isn't presented with much ability to do anything else. "I uh...." He mumbles, which is mostly his failed attempt to break the silence. He'd seen plenty of female otters in his life, but for some reason, Ink stood out to him. To him, this otter seemed to have an air of...something around her. He isn't quite sure what it is, but he can't help but be infatuated by it.
This is all Ink's fault. She shifts awkwardly in her chair, feeling like she is totally responsible, and hoping hoping hoping that Rorgan isn't quiet because he's waiting for the opportunity to leave. "I, uh, yeah. Sorry." She mutters, dipping her head into her drink again. Maybe tonight is the perfect night to get hopelessly drunk so she won't remember this in the morning. When she puts her mug back down, she goes right back to staring down the table, with the image of Rorgan's eyes burned into her mind. Sheesh, can he just say something, already?
Without a word, Rorgan's paw reaches out to softly cup Ink's cheek, and he gives a warm smile, moving his head to try and meet the otter's eyes again, feeling as though he needed to see the enchanting sight again as though it gave him sustenance.
Ink freezes as he touches her, staying frozen for a moment, and then raises her head slowly, meeting his eyes. She's completely forgotten how to breathe, and has forgotten what she was going to say, too. This couldn't possibly get worse.
Evidently, this could most certainly get worse for her, as in Rorgan's head slowly moves forward until their lips connect softly as his eyes close. He is hardly able to believe that he had done this, but there really wasn't any going back. Besides, even if he could go back, it's not like he would want to anyway.
Worse it does get, indeed! Ink's, well, startled, to say the least. This is a total first for her. But she's not mad. Not at all. She follows suit and, after a moment, closes her eyes, too, and leans forward into him just a bit.
By this point, Rorgan can't quite stop himself, but all traces of a blush have disappeared in the moment. Everything fades from his senses save for the feeling of Ink against him. His free paw comes up and settles on the other otter's shoulder gently as his head tilts slightly.
Ink's heart is racing and she still doesn't remember really what breathing is, but that's ok because- wait, it's not ok. She withdraws slightly, opening her eyes slowly. The little bit of space allows her to breathe. Minimally, but hey, oxygen is oxygen.
Rorgan's eyes slowly open as the feeling against his lips disappears, the blush returning to his cheeks with a vengeance. "S-Sorry..." He mumbles, withdrawing his arms rather quickly, very acutely aware of many other patrons watching them.
Ink takes a second to become aware of the other patrons, but she can't be bothered. "No! No-I mean, yeah, I mean no. Don't be sorry. I... I enjoyed it." She whispers. "I just needed to breathe for a minute." She grins weakly. "But please don't be sorry."
Rorgan looks rather shocked at the confession. "Oh th-thank the stars..." He chuckles softly, resting his head on Ink's shoulder with relief, breathing hard. "I'm not sure wot came over me..."
Ink tilts her head to the side just a bit, leaning her head on his just a bit, pretty much just for the sake of contact. "I don't care what it was." She's got her breathing back under control now. "It was nice." She's in the perfect position to glare at the other patrons, and does so. Most of them shrug and look away, content not to care.
Rorgan sighs happily, relieved more than anything that he hadn't just done something that would jeopardize his current relationship with Ink. "Aye...I would agree with that..." He says softly, but with a happy smile.
To be continued! :D
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