How Romantic (Fish)

[SongofWindchimes]

Styx very nearly fell right over at the first lick, but he managed to stop himself. All he could really do was wrap his arms around Eclipse until she stopped and looked at him. He smiled and leaned down give her a lick on the cheek of his own, then a few more, before he nuzzled against her, giving a soft purr.

Trish's arms wrapped around Mason's neck as they kissed. It was so easy to just lose herself here, with him. It would almost be the stuff of romance stories, if not for the ghost, two dark types, gothic Ninetales, and the fact that they were surrounded by graves. Which was why Trish would never write successful romance stories.

Raven, meanwhile, was leading Gabriel on a merry chase through the tombstones, only managing to stay ahead of him due to her abilities to both float and phase through things. Finally, he seemed to have caught up with her, and he lunged...only to catch one of his feet on the tombstone he was jumping over and send himself pitching into the ground. Raven did a rapid about-face and floated back to him.

Trish had just pulled back, eyes glittering in the gloom, when the sound of Gabriel hitting the ground made her suddenly look at him. He was sprawled out, limbs and tails sticking out every which-way, though everything looked uninjured. He pulled his face up out of the dirt and shook it as Trish somewhat reluctantly pulled out of Mason's embrace to go check on him.

Gabriel got to his feet shook very slightly to settle his fur. Trish stroked his head with a sigh. "Gabriel..." she said quietly in that 'what am I going to do with you' voice she took on whenever the usually graceful fox managed to do something like this. The Ninetales seemed to give a sheepish chuckle. "What'd you trip over any...oh." She took a look at the gravestone. It was carved so that it looked like a stone raven was perched on top of it; that would trip him up. It was actually pretty cool-looking, really, and, like the others, it had no writing.

As Gabriel moved away so sit down on a patch of ground and curl his tails around himself, trying to retain some of his dignity, Trish lightly tapped the stone raven with a black fingernail. "But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only that one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing farther then he uttered — not a feather then he fluttered — till I scarcely more than muttered 'Other friends have flown before — On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.' Then the bird said 'Nevermore.'"

Trish realized that she'd spoken the little bit of poetry aloud, and she gave a small chuckle as she turned back to face Mason. "'The Raven' is my favourite poem." Not that she extensively knew either poetry or Edgar Allan Poe's works, but she still liked The Raven.

[KARP KARP!]

Eclipse let out a purr of her own as Styx returned the favor, then nuzzled against her. She felt....oddly giddy; her heart was racing, and there was a smile on her face that couldn't be wiped off. Suddenly she felt a new kind of boldness, and she leaned up and licked his other cheek. <You know, for a tough guy, you're really sweet,> she teased before licking his cheek some more, then she stopped, rubbing her face against his.

Mason's head snapped to the direction of the sound, and blinked at Gabriel. He walked with Trish over to him, and to his relief, the Ninetales was okay. But the tombstone...that was rather cool.

Mason had to smile at the poem. "Really? It's mine too, Ya know, they called me the Raven in high school. Prolly because I was so dark and solitary most of the time. No one dared to mess with me though."

[SongofWindchimes]

Styx found himself stroking one of Eclipse's ears with his paw, like a human may stroke another's hair. "I didn't know a tough guy couldn't be," he replied to the tease with a deep chuckle and gentle smile. Even though this really wasn't typical behaviour for him, Styx wasn't one to let others' expectations affect him.

Trish moved so that she was perched on the tombstone, right next to the stone raven, as Mason spoke. "Heh. In high school, I don't think they could decide if I was a vampire or a witch. I dyed my hair black back then." She shrugged and smirked. "Not many people wanted to find out for themselves." The fact that she'd had a big, black Galvantula as a pet had probably contributed to that. Trish had had a few friends, even joined a sort of band briefly, but the majority of her time had been with books, and that had been fine with her.

Smiling, she added, "I think I have a recording of someone reciting The Raven on my iPod somewhere. I'll have to find it again." That would be something of a feat, given that her iPod had hundreds of different songs and other audio all mixed together with nearly nothing in way of organization. She really needed to fix that one of these days.

[KARP KARP!]

<I should have known,> she said quietly. <After all you kind of remind me of Mason.> She purred at his claws on her ear, and pressed into him. Eclipse couldn't explain it, she just wanted to be close to him. She rubbed her head against his chest, closing her eyes and listening to his heartbeat. "Ummmmm," she said, which would most likely have been translated to 'mmmmm.'

"Heh. Sounds like you were my kind of girl back then, too," he teased slightly, sitting on a gravestone next to her. Mason smiled at Trish, somehow forgetting to feel awkward without having his shades on. But with her, it didn't matter.

"Ya know....I can't remember the last time a date went like this. I'm really enjoying it," the man mused. "Maybe later, or next time, we should head to my place; just so you can meet everyone; I have a handful of Pokemon that don't leave the house--or yard, depending on size--much."

[SongofWindchimes]

Styx smiled, one of his arms around Eclipse and holding her close as the he kept up the stroking with his free paw. His gaze momentarily flicked to the two humans sitting on the gravestones. "Thank you." he said softly, the smile showing no sign of leaving his face; from someone who clearly cared for her trainer, that was a compliment. "He...seems like a good human to be compared to." Looking at things through a slightly different perspective than at the start of the night, Mason's presence might be good for Trish. Of course, Styx would still be there if he was needed; that would never change.

However, this was a rare moment where he found himself preferring to think about things other than his trainer. "I'm...sure you hear this often..." Styx looked down at Eclipse gently. "But you're beautiful." That...sounded a lot better in his head, really, but it was the truth.

Trish gave a soft laugh at the tease. "Yeah, I guess I haven't changed much." To be truthful, her style had still been evolving at the time, thus the black hair, and she'd had a bit of a shorter temper at the time. Meaning that something actually got under her skin more than once in a blue moon. Still, at the core she'd been the same; Trish found herself wondering for a moment what it would have been like if they'd met back then. With an amused smirk, she added, "If you're curious, if anyone actually asked, I said witch." She made a horrible vampire, after all.

The offer to meet his pokemon made her smile. "I'd like that." She was thinking more for next time, mostly because of the giddy feeling that rushed through her behind her calm smile at the confirmation that there would be a next time. Trish tapped her fingernails on the stone raven, idly, not noticing at first that she was recreating the drumbeat from 'Out of Darkness.' The thought of introducing Mason to her own pokemon crossed her mind but...well...she really needed to have a heart-to-heart with Apocalypse before he came anywhere near anyone.

"I...can't remember the last time I had a date like this, either," she admitted, letting her eyes briefly sweep over the tombstones and trees before looking back at Mason. She chuckled and smirked. "Most men tend to say something like 'wait, you want to go where?', for one thing." There was much more than that to it, but she couldn't help but poke just a little fun at normal people; so many had the look, but not the interests to match.

[KARP KARP!]

Eclipse smiled at the comments, and calling her beautiful earned Styx another flurry of Umbreon kisses. Afterwards, she leaned in a bit, resting her head on his chest and snuggling into him. <No one's ever told me that before. I mean, I think I'm beautiful, but it feels good to hear that from you.

"I really haven't either," Mason answered, leaning up against another gravestone, chuckling at the witch comment. The bounty hunter looked around, noticing it was getting late. But...that really didn't matter, did it?

"Most girls would freak out. In fact, I'm surprised you got Holly to stay around as long as she did." Chuckling lightly, a thought hit him. Sliding up from his position, he moved so he was behind her, putting an arm around her. "So, anything special you wanna do tonight?"

[SongofWindchimes]

Styx was both relieved and extremely happy when he not only didn't get laughed at, but was kissed again. Eclipse's words, however, genuinely surprised him. "You must be spending time around a lot of blind males," he said. Again, it sounded better in his head, but, honestly, how had no one ever told her she was beautiful? He wasn't even thinking purely of her physical beauty. She was strong, loyal, and observant, traits he couldn't help but admire.

Trish smiled at the comment on Holly. "I'm a little surprised too. I think the only reason she didn't completely freak out was because we were on the outskirts and nothing jumped out to scare her." With an affectionate tone creeping into her voice usually reserved for speaking to Holly, she added quietly, "She's a good friend."

Trish couldn't quite hold back the small shiver when Mason put his arm around her from behind. His question momentarily summoned a very Holly-like thought that she beat up and shoved in a corner of her mind before it could fully form, thankful that Mason wouldn't be able to see her blush from where he was standing. Bad Trish. She should not be thinking like that on a first date.

Recovering quickly, she smirked and chuckled. "I might be able to think of something..." Asking her something like that was fairly dangerous, because 'special' tended to translate into 'random and crazy.' Like trying to see if one of these old trees could take her climbing on them. Or seeing if reciting The Raven in its entirety while sitting on this gravestone would make something supernatural happen. Really, Trish hadn't been thinking too far past 'go to the graveyard,' half because she'd still had a lingering doubt they'd make it this far, and half because she'd thought that maybe ghosts would start popping up. "Why?" she asked, turning her head slightly to look at him, "Did you have something in mind?"

[KARP KARP!]

<Most guys don't get to see this side of me,> she replied, trying to get comfortable. In the end, she lay on the ground, with her head and front paws resting in his lap. Slowly, her yellow eyes began to close.

Mason nodded, not that Trish could see that, thanks to his positioning. "Yeah, she is. A little..wild, sometimes, but she's got a good heart."

Mason thought a minute when the question was turned back to him, and the same Holly-esque thought crossed his mind. But it didn't last too long there, either. Careful about where he kept his hand, it rested idly on her side right now. Affectionate, but not too touchy-feely. Well, in Mason's case, pretty much any contact was usually too much. But this was different.

"I don't know." Was all he finally said.

[SongofWindchimes]

Styx smiled, leaning back against the tree and starting to close his eyes. "Then...thank you for showing it to me..."

"She does," Trish agreed quietly. But she's not only girl who can be a little 'wild,' she added silently. Her Haunter tattoo and frequency in the darker clubs in Era certainly attested to that. She was hardly the party girl her best friend was, of course, but there were times when Trish could seem more the darker counterpart to Holly than the opposite of her.

Trish found one of her hands resting lightly on Mason's. She was a little more comfortable with physical contact than Styx had given her credit for back on the path, in the right context. And given the way they'd been kissing earlier, this fit the description of 'right context.' Mason's reply earned a small smirk. We are so boring, Trish thought to herself. In a graveyard in a haunted forest and they couldn't think of anything to do. Other than that Holly-like thought that she was not going to bring to forefront of her mind again tonight if she could help it.

Trish tilted her head back to look upward for a couple of seconds before she broke the silence with a chuckle. She raised her free hand to point at the night sky. "I've always thought that cluster of stars looked like a Woobat," she said quietly, moving her hand as if tracing the stars in an attempt to show the shape. Okay, it was kind of silly, but part of her was curious if Mason saw it too; most people seemed to think it looked more like a Swablu, if they saw it at all. Not that she'd showed it to much of anyone in the first place, really.

[KARP KARP!]

Eclipse said nothing, she just smiled and relaxed into Styx. Those yellow eyes rolled closed, and she eventually drifted into a deep sleep.

Mason smiled, looking up at the stars; this had to have been the longest he'd gone without his shades. "I actually see that," he murmured, pulling her closer.

All in all, Mason Marxx was enjoying himself. And for now, that Holly-thought had left his mind. Though, he knew if that thought was anything like his sister, it would definitely be back. And would not be settled until acted upon. Eh, maybe our next date...

[SongofWindchimes]

Styx didn't take long to join Eclipse in the realm of sleep, the little contented smile on his face not fading entirely as he drifted off.

Trish smiled when Mason pulled her closer. "I end up looking at the stars a lot, so I just sorta start finding pokemon in them. Heh..." Maybe the whole thing could seem a little childish, but Trish had always loved the night sky, especially given that she'd grown up in Nimbasa City. She'd never understand why people felt the need to shoo the darkness away with bright lights that just made it harder to see the stars.

Briefly scanning the sky, she added, "There's an Umbreon over there." Again, Trish traced the shape with her hand to try to make it clearer what she saw. "It's jumping." She quietly admitted to herself that this particular Umbreon probably had too long a tail, but oh well.

Trish wouldn't admit to herself that she was a little bit tired. She'd tried taking an afternoon nap to help herself stay awake tonight, but she was still starting to feel the effects of the late hour despite her best efforts. She leaned back a little against Mason without thinking about it.

[KARP KARP!]

Mason nodded, smiling. "It does, kinda." The man looked at the sky, then at his watch. It was getting late.

"Well, it's getting late, but it's a Friday night. Maybe we could just go hang out some, watch a movie or something? I don't want to end so soon." Yes, that Holly thought had come back, but he forced that to the back of his mind and stabbed it to death. He just wanted to hang out, after all.

[SongofWindchimes]

Trish smiled at the suggestion. "A movie sounds good." She liked movies...well, she liked horror flicks, at least, and some of the darker action movies. She had a ton of them...back...at her place...Trish blushed suddenly and thoroughly thrashed that thought before the vivid imagination that made her able to find pokemon in the stars decided to attach itself to it. He probably meant his place anyway...That didn't help her imagination.

Gabriel blinked from where he was lounging amongst the tombstones, and the Abundistic Ninetales slowly rose to his paws and gave a small shake to dislodge the dirt and grass from his fur. They were going then? Raven floated over and hovered above Gabriel's head, staring at the two humans.

Trish found her eyes flicking to where she'd last seen their dark types, and she couldn't help but chuckle. "Though...that does mean waking up those two." She gestured a little at Eclipse and Styx snuggled up together. She wasn't sure how much of a chance there was of whoever made the attempt getting attacked by half of the pair...which made them cuddled together like that even cuter, really.