This isn't crazy (Dylan)

[Dylan Alexander]

When Idalia seemed to shrink into herself, Dylan instantly felt bad and wanted to so badly make her feel better but in the end, she looked cheered up so he blew a sigh of relief and hoped to God he didn't make her feel that way again.

"The kind that has me for an uncle and his dad for a dad." Dylan laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "My cousin is a movie buff and his favourite genre is horror. I think he has a full bookshelf stacked with horror movies right from the 50s till now." Dylan explained, briefly wondering why it was so easy to talk to this one when he failed horribly with every other girl.

"Really?" The shadow manipulator enthused, liking her even more by the second. "We should go to one. During Halloween." He suggested, not even thinking of the fact that this date could go terribly wrong and Idalia would just drop him after the night is over.

When she stopped convincing him to go up, Dylan gave her a grateful smile and continued to listen to the music.

Her stammering brought a curious look on his face but he kept quiet and tacked a smile on. "Um...you can drink if you want. I just...I haven't had a drink in years. I think I just got used to not drinking." He shrugged. "Seriously though, what would you like?" He asked. When he saw her standing, he panicked a little and wondered why. "Uh...w-where are you going?"

[Dylan Alexander]

When Idalia seemed to shrink into herself, Dylan instantly felt bad and wanted to so badly make her feel better but in the end, she looked cheered up so he blew a sigh of relief and hoped to God he didn't make her feel that way again.

"The kind that has me for an uncle and his dad for a dad." Dylan laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "My cousin is a movie buff and his favourite genre is horror. I think he has a full bookshelf stacked with horror movies right from the 50s till now." Dylan explained, briefly wondering why it was so easy to talk to this one when he failed horribly with every other girl.

"Really?" The shadow manipulator enthused, liking her even more by the second. "We should go to one. During Halloween." He suggested, not even thinking of the fact that this date could go terribly wrong and Idalia would just drop him after the night is over.

When she stopped convincing him to go up, Dylan gave her a grateful smile and continued to listen to the music.

Her stammering brought a curious look on his face but he kept quiet and tacked a smile on. "Um...you can drink if you want. I just...I haven't had a drink in years. I think I just got used to not drinking." He shrugged. "Seriously though, what would you like?" He asked. When he saw her standing, he panicked a little and wondered why. "Uh...w-where are you going?"

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia grabbed the reigns of her heart and pulled back sharply, yet it kept charging forward. He was so sweet and awkward and lovely and handsome. A large part of her demanded that she take a step back before she got herself hurt. She was a workaholic, it would probably not be too long before that got old. That was always what happened. She’d stop counting how many times she was accused of being married to the job. Well it wasn’t her fault that her shifts were demanding and her time limited. She had to live and to live without her work, well it was just not an option that Idalia was open to. She pondered for a moment if she should say that upfront but it wasn’t really relevant to the conversation of yet. Nothing had been decided yet.

Idalia laughed torn between pity for the child and adoration that the kid was better at watching horror flicks than she was. She and her sisters had been very sheltered, at least Idalia and the older ones, her younger sisters definitely got exposed to things much earlier than she did, probably due to her and her sisters. “Oh wow, 50s horror? I don’t think I’ve seen too many that far back. Weren’t movies still silent back then?” She joked. Idalia had very little experience with older horror movies, at least not the ones that weren’t well know. She’d seen the Shinning and Jaws, but never Psycho.

Nodding enthusiastically as he walked into her plan. “We should, that would be so much fun.” She grinned. She was finding it hard to think ahead and avoid the terrible things that might happen tonight. Who knew, maybe they would discover they couldn’t stand each other, or maybe they would discover that they worked better as friends. Or maybe, just maybe they’d discover that this would work. Idalia had been single so long she’d learned how to be independent and she had learned who she wanted to be as a person. But it had been so long she was worried she didn’t know how to be in a relationship. Hopefully she wouldn’t ruin this.

Now Idalia was bouncing between two ideas. Just go ahead and start drinking or not. Idalia smiled at Dylan. How did he get through college, or graduate school if he went and not drink? She laughed a little, “Um… How about strawberry mijito?” Idalia’s eyes met his and blinked. Why was he panicking? She felt a sudden defensive surge come over her. If Dylan wanted to know exactly where she was at all moments he was in for a surprise. Ida held back her feminist snip and gestured, “Um… I was gonna come with you,” she paused and settled back into her chair, “I guess I’ll just hold the table.” She wondered if he really was going to be one of those guys. He could be sweet and awkward and wonderful, but if he thought he was the one in charge he had another thing coming. Idalia bit her lip. She needed to calm down, Dylan was just being a gentleman. She should stop being so defensive.

[Dylan Alexander]

"Oh silent horror films are the best though! We should definitely watch some. I'll borrow them from my cousin and we'll a movie night out of it." He rambled on in abandon, not caring that tonight could very well end in disaster. He was making a lot of plans with this girl that probably already had doubts of this lasting the night!

His smile widened when she agreed to his plans for a Halloween haunted house trip. So...she was either a really spontaneous person or, like him, didn't much care for consequences. Either way, he was very glad he met her at the gym. He was really, really glad.

Nodding to her order, his instinctive response that the girl was leaving made the scene pretty awkward. She was just going to follow him to the bar, for goodness sake. Should he explain his stance? That could definitely paint him to be a little sad. It could also make certain the girl knew how inexperienced he was in the dating scene.

"Yeah...please hold the table. Don't...leave. I'll be right back." He nodded and quickly made his purchases before bringing it back to the table where she thankfully still was.

"Oh good you're not gone." Dylan beamed and slid the mojito over to her side and sat down. "I mean...um...actually, what I mean is I'm just really glad you're still here. I...to be honest," the shadow manipulator cleared his throat slightly and avoided eye contact. "I'm sort of new to this whole...dating thing. At least I hope this is a dating thing. This is a dating thing right?" he asked in a rush.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia laughed not even bothered by the future plans, hell even if this didn’t work out as a date she liked Dylan and wouldn’t mind spending more time with him. Well, unless the date was a complete disaster, in which case it might just be a sign. Or it could end in a disaster which lead to a better date, who knew. Maybe Idalia just watched too many romantic comedies. “Sounds good. Though I have to say nothing is scarier than it is in black and white.” She laughed lightly. “You know I had a civic teaching in high school who used to say that color ruined movies.” Sometimes she was inclined to agree but other times she was definitely glad for color. At least it let her know that it was made in this century.

Especially with October right around the corner, it was all the best to run around and get terrified out of their minds. Or rather Idalia would get terrified out of her mind. He seemed to have a much better tolerance of scary things that she did. It was bound to be interesting. So far smooth jazz and joking over shadow creatures, Idalia was still very much resisting getting sucked into a girly fantasy. She was ferociously independent and when the table leaving debacle ensued Idalia was very close to snapping at him. She knew it wasn’t fair, he was probably just a gentleman and not sure what the woman was doing. Well, she would let it slide for today, but Idalia refused to be taken care of and in her mind already decided that that was now it was going to be. A partnership more than anything else. Well, then again she was also jumping way ahead of herself.

“Okay, okay,” Idalia giggled shooing him away. She watched him for a few moments trying to measuring him up. She sometimes hated that she was the kind of person to get defensive when someone wanted to do something like buy her a drink. Or maybe he was just nervous. She was way over thinking this. She knew she was over thinking it and quickly found that she couldn’t stop over thinking it. She’d been there and done this so many times she was content so far in the dating pool, the only rush for marriage that she was getting was from her mother. Who desperately wanted grandbabies. Though she had three other sisters which children now, she didn’t see why it was so important for her.

Idalia blinked at him before she crumpled into giggles. He was nervous. Of course she was over thinking things. He was adorable. Idalia shrugged off the circular motion that her thoughts were taking and took a sip of the drink with a pleasant smile. Delicious. Idalia placed the drink down her eyes going wide for a moment. He was more than nervous. Her mind ran back through the events that just transpired and she suddenly felt very ashamed. She’d automatically assumed that he was just as experienced as she was and now she found the gestures very sweet. Idalia smiled and reached out a hand to touch his arm. “This is a dating thing,” she affirmed with a nod of her head. She allowed her hand to linger for just a while longer before drawing back.

[Dylan Alexander]

"I wouldn't use the word ruined but it did take out the mystery of black and white movies. But...with the special effects now, I dunno...colour is pretty amazing too." Dylan nodded with a smile.

He wasn't sure why Idalia suddenly burst out laughing but he figured it was probably because she thought he was a bit of a loser for panicking and showing such relief at her not bailing on him. He probably wasn't painting a pretty picture of himself right then but what else could he do? He wasn't good at this!

But somehow, his nerves were quelled when she reached her hand out to him and with a wide smile, he accepted her answer and sighed in relief. "Great. You had me worried there. Um...I'm glad. You're a really nice person." He ducked his head a little, disappointed by his sudden lack of decent vocabulary. Nice person? He might as well have been a seventy-three year old grandfather with five cats.

He squeezed her hand gently and didn't let go until she pulled back. "How's your drink?" He asked, his nerves finally not getting the better of him.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia shook her head, “Oh yeah, sometimes it’s a little too real. Like… Paranormal activity. Seriously, I had to sleep with my light on.” Idalia said not even afraid to admit it. That was one thing she really could have done without that movie being realistic. And that had been before she had Ike, at least with Ike the big dog could protect her. But she did remember how noisy her neighbors were immediately after that movie and more than once she had to keep her crazy brain from freaking her out by making up imaginary things. It was a problem with an overactive imagination when it came to horror movies and Idalia’s own inability to separate herself from the movie. It was why she couldn’t even think of seeing a slasher film.

He was beyond adorable and his nerves made him all the more endearing. Idalia couldn’t believe that she let her work side come through. There were so many times that she had to stand up for her work against men who ruled the field. She was so used to people trying to take care of her. She hated men who thought that woman couldn’t handle themselves. Perhaps Idalia had just been single too long, or maybe she’d been looking for the wrong kind of man. But her workaholism tended to ruin a lot of her relationships and it was because of the work she had taken to get to this point that she refused to let anyone take her work away from her. Her mother liked to think that it was Idalia’s terror of getting close to someone and settling down. But then what did her mother know anyways.

Idalia looked at him for a moment and became highly confused. He wanted it to be a date, but she was a ‘nice person’. Well, then. Idalia didn’t know what to say back to that so instead she smiled and squeezed his hand back. “You’re a really nice person too.” She felt like she was in high school fumbling around with someone trying to figure out their feelings. She took another sip of her drink, she might need a few more of these. “Delicious,” she grinned, “Do you wanna try some?” She then paused and wondered if he was a recovering alcoholic or something. Oh dear, and she just offered him alcohol. She was a terrible person. Her mind ran away with her then and she looked at him curiously before letting her eyes drop to the candle on their table. Idalia squinted at it and smelled lightning.

Oh no. She took a breath and closed her eyes. She felt warmth on her skin and opened her eyes to a clear day. She checked her watch, tomorrow. The sky was clear and the wind light. It was a little warmer than it had been but not by much. She waited for something interesting to happen but apparently it was just entirely important that she know that it was going to be sunny tomorrow. She blinked again and she was back at the table. She blinked a few times her eyes having to adjust again to the lighting and gave Dylan a smile. “It’s gonna be a nice day tomorrow,” she said brightly.

[Dylan Alexander]

Dylan's smile widened when Idalia revealed that she had been afraid of Paranormal Activity. The movie was pretty good in Dylan's opinion but he hadn't been all that bugged about it.

Idalia's response to his blunder made him smile weakly. He so did not have game. At all. She even looked confused. The poor thing was wasting her time with him, really.

When offered the drink, Dylan politely declined. "Oh no thank you. I'm not much of a drinker." He shook his head with a wide unassuming smile.

All of a sudden, she looked a little lost and Dylan frowned slightly. Was it something he said?

But almost immediately she looked back up, dazzling him with that smile of hers and he melted a little inside. "Y-yeah?" He stammered a little. "That's awesome. I mean...I'm probably not gonna go outside...I'm...I like the indoors." He chuckled nervously. "I'm a little...sensitive?" He answered by way of explaining.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

“Okay,” Idalia said and pulled back the drink. She took a long drink from it. It was setting up to be a long night. Idalia sat in silence for a moment. What happened to that initial spark? She glanced at him and his heart skipped with his smile, no that spark was still there? Was she just getting in her own way again? Was she making up reasons because she was afraid of being hurt again? No, that couldn’t possibly be it. She was very open. Maybe the misunderstanding put the feminist in her on edge. No, Idalia, you’re not going to get in your own way this time, she told herself in a silent pep talk, You are not going to let yourself talk yourself out of this! Look at him, he’s hot! And totally sweet. Not a combination we get very often! Idalia paused a moment, did she just refer to herself and her consciousness as ‘we’?

Well, she was drinking in her version of a morning, it was bound to happen. Thinking to oneself or even on occasion talking aloud was a symptom of a scientist. She was the queen of absentminded thinking and has been known to on occasion have verbal conversations with herself about the things she had to do. When the vision hit her she was glad that it was quick and relatively benign. She didn’t feel the need to check the radar on her phone or call into work. That would not have been first date behavior at all.

Idalia almost had a stupid moment and asked why, then recalled his power, of course he would have side effects. It only made logical sense that shadows don’t like light. Idalia wondered if he had every thought of becoming nocturnal. He would be the favorite person at the station if he was willing to take night shifts for people. She shook her head, why was she always thinking about work. “Do you like winter a lot?” Idalia asked curious, for most people Vermont and other northern cities were hard and cold because of the chill. But then again she knew people who had been lucky enough to spend a tour in Alaska and Antarctica. She was wickedly jealous but she was pretty sure she’d get rather depressed without the sun half the year.

Idalia placed her elbows on the table and nursed her drink. “How did you get into Jazz?” she asked looking into his beautiful eyes. She could just lose herself in them. She found herself getting giddy as a school girl.

[Dylan Alexander]

Idalia's question got Dylan thinking as he sipped on his soda. "Mmm...a little. I mean, I think I like what winter brings more than the weather itself." He chuckled. "Spending time at home under blankets, drinking hot cocoa, turning the heater on at full blast. Good memories." Looking at Idalia, he grinned widely.

Watching Idalia lean forward, Dylan subconsciously mirrored her movement, pulling his chair closer to the table but kept a distance between them so as not to drive the woman away. His eyes lit up at the subject at hand. "Oh...well, my dad introduced me to music when I was ten. He has an extensive collection of some pretty great rhythm and blues, bluegrass, jazz, swing...like I said, extensive." He explained, animated when questioned about something he was personally passionate about.

"I took up the saxophone first even before I took piano or violin lessons. I wasn't any good at it, apparently." He chuckled good-naturedly. "But the music stuck to me and now I'm just glad I'm living in a place where jazz is available." He added with a big smile. He cleared his throat and gave out a nervous chuckle when he realised he had rambled a little. "Uh...how about you? Did you um...get into weather report because of your abilities?"

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia cocked her head interested by his opening statement. Her smile grew and she nodded knowingly. The wonderful feeling of a warm cup of cocoa in hand and a fire crackling. The closeness of family that the holidays brought and the wonderful feeling of love warming the heart as well as blankets. “It is perfect indoor weather, soup and being lazy all day,” she added and smiled, “I’m gonna be a geek now, but I love watching the winter storms move in and preparing for all of the days stuck at home.” Though in reality she was technically ‘essential personnel’ which meant she was one of those people that had to go to work come hell or high water to make sure that people were safe. She didn’t mind, really, she thrived on being needed. Though it would be nice to skip out every once in a while on a day she wasn’t deathly ill.

Watching him and the way his demeanor went from being hesitant and unsure to glowing was a beautiful thing to watch. His gorgeous eyes were hard to see in the lighting but they caught in the flicker of the candle and took Idalia’s breath away. He really seemed to come alive when she’d asked that question. She resisted the urge to groan at the idea of bluegrass. One of her roommates in college had loved bluegrass and that was just one genre that made her feel like sandpaper was being rubbed over his brain. Idalia opened her mouth to ask if he’d ever played an instrument but he went on without her prompting so she took a sip of her drink and nodded along. Idalia laughed as well, she’d tried that too, she’d been alright but she had friends who went on to do music in college. There was no way that was Idalia’s path.

“I used to play the clarinet,” Idalia admitted, “I switched to the sax later cause I thought it was cooler, and I was alright at it.” But that was many moons ago. Idalia laughed at the awkward phrasing. “Yes and no,” Idalia said as she considered the question. “I got really into science when I was little and when I found I couldn’t really stand the sight of blood I figured I should go to something like this. When I got my power it just kinda fell into place after that. The more my power did things the more I wanted to know why and I guess that was really a driver for me through college. But I love it so much, I couldn’t imagine doing anything different.” Well, maybe teaching and research, she thought. Idalia was rambling as well, however unlike Dylan she didn’t have a good handle on when she was rambling until she was too far in to stop without it seeing strange. “I guess I wanted to be a lot of things when I was little. You know I had this grand backup plan, that if meteorology didn’t work out I was going to learn to ride horses and move to Canada to be a Mountie.”

[Dylan Alexander]

When Idalia summed up his feelings about winter, he nodded and grinned at her 'geeking out'. It was adorable, to say the least. And it wasn't at all 'geeking out' to him.

Not aware of how she saw him, with all the glowing, Dylan continued his ranting, not really stopping for anything. He was pretty sure he was boring her with all the things that came out of his mouth and by the end of his rant, if Idalia ran out, he wouldn't fault her for it.

But she didn't. She even offered a piece of her own history, to which Dylan's eyes widened at. "Really? Do you still play?" He asked, leaning forward in all his excitement.

As Idalia explained to him her career choice, Dylan listened intently, curious as to how she came about her decision. Her alternative made him laugh.

"Really? That's amazing!" He chuckled earnestly. "But...that would definitely be a problem though. I mean...people would commit crimes just so they could have a pretty Mountie like you arrest them. That's...that will be difficult."

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia was really glad he didn’t sigh or something like that. She’d run into that many times before, she was so into meteorology that she tended to get caught up in always talking about it and often times people saw the weather as small talk, well, weather was a career to her, not a matter for small talk. A question as simple as, ‘is it going to rain’, could turn into Ida going on for hours and hours about the dynamics or times when her power steered her wrong or her power didn’t tell her anything and there had been rain. Every meteorologist had their weather stories and things that really made them excited. While most people probably didn’t think that radar was very exciting Ida had a friend who could go on and on about radar.

Ida laughed a little and waved a hand dismissively. “Oh no, not anymore. God it’s been years. How about you?” The conversation was getting easier, she was really glad she didn’t storm out in a rage about something he probably didn’t even realize was an error. And it was probably not even fair to call it an error so much as Idalia was used to getting very defensive very quickly. She sipped at her drink, she didn’t mind someone picking up the tab once in a while though. She smiled absently, at least she had all day left to sleep off a hangover, or rather, when the normal people went to sleep she had ample chance to roam and get caught up on her reading.

That was another reason her relationships didn’t last, it was very strange for some people that for two weeks off and on texting or calling between the hours of 5am and 5pm was strickly prohibited under penalty of a very bitchy bear. Her mind quickly snapped back to Dylan, leaving her wondering why she was even thinking about anything in the past. Her whole being thrived on the future, but she kept getting hung up on the past. She arched a brow at him initially as if to tell him to tread carefully should he wish to continue that thought. Did he not think she’d be a good police officer?

She smiled, pleasantly surprised that he’d done it to flatter her. Idalia giggled like a school girl and hid behind her drink as her cheeks turned crimson. “Oh stop,” she said coyly, clearly an indication that he should absolutely continue in this direction. What girl didn’t like to be told she was pretty, and on top of that a badass Mountie. She looked at him with hooded eyes, “Would you commit a crime?” She flirted dangerously close to the edge but she was starting to accept the idea that she might be falling. Along with the flirting came a sting of excitement and the shutter of fear that she might lose her independence.

[Dylan Alexander]

Dylan looked a little bummed out but he supposed it was understandable. Music is just the type of thing you were either passionate about or it was something you just listened to. "I changed from that to guitar, and piano. And a little violin but not as good as the other two." He explained.

When Idalia seemed pleased with what he said, Dylan had to bite his lower lip from grinning wider at how she just seemed to light up. How could anybody really be so darn beautiful, Dylan didn't know but boy was he glad he bumped into her.

He didn't entirely detect that Idalia was flirting but he did blush because the answer was most definitely a yes. "M...maybe." He chuckled nervously, running his hand through his hair. "But I'm not a criminal, I promise." Both his hands shot upwards as he shook it.

"Um, anyway." He laughed in a clipped fashion. "I think there will be another set left and then we can finish up here?" Dylan cleared his throat. "What would you like to do?"

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia’s eyes brightened and she bit her tongue, it had always been a secret fantasy of her’s to be serenaded. Like they did in the movies and in musicals. “How long have you been playing guitar? Are you a rock and roll kinda guy?” She asked interested. She’s grown up with her father’s love for rock and overtime it had shifted to a mix of alternative and techno. She was a strange music listener. She was already day dreaming by the time the conversation had moved on. She was too giddy for her own good. She hadn’t been on a date with a really nice guy in such a long time that she was really starting to fall hard. He was so sweet, but she needed to be careful and make sure that the guitar playing hero there to sweep her off her feet in her mind was not just wearing Dylan’s face.

“Maybe?” Idalia repeated coyly and took another sip of her drink looking over the rim at him. It gave Ida an immense amount of pleasure to know that she could still have this kind of power. Dylan was adorable and she loved the way his skin lit up. She grinned mischievously and gave him a wink. “Too bad.” She bit her lip to keep from laughing aloud. She hadn’t just said that out loud did she?! Oh shit! She covered her mouth with her hand in half shame and embarrassment but also high on the adrenaline that it had taken to get that that out of her mouth.

Idalia shrugged unsure then just the right amount of alcohol hit her. “Do you like dancing?” She asked. She was all about some white girl dancing. She was definitely loving this date, this was quite possibly the most fun she’d had in a very long time. “Or we could see if there’s anything going on downtown.” She wondered if he was like a normal person and needed to go to sleep eventually. “I should warn you though,” she checked her phone for a moment, “I’m on nights so I got up like four hours ago so if you are sleepy you have to let me know.” Her tongue became quite lose after just a little bit to drink and she wasn’t planning on leaving without at least another one of these and as the bottom of her glass appeared before her eyes. She rose to her feet and smoothed down her dress.

She walked past him pausing to whisper that she would be right back and she excused herself to the restroom where she reapplied her lipstick and fixed a few stray strands of hair. She hadn’t preened herself this much in a long time and now as she checked herself in the mirror to make sure nothing was out of place she gave herself a little wink, her own version of a pep talk. She made her way back to the table and sat as gracefully as she could. “Sorry, so what are you drinking, we should get another round.”