I approached Diana's inn a few minutes before the designated time. I climbed to the second floor with a bouquet of flowers in my hand, stood by the door and waited those few measly minutes out before knocking. Step one - complete.
Diana opened the door. She looked even more charming than ever - her chestnut hair was braided, she wore a simple, yet elegant white, summer dress topped with a red, wide scarf covering her shoulders. "Good morning, Isaac… How do I look?"
Step two - compliment her appearance from the very start. "Even more beautiful than usual." I handed her the flowers. The compliment shouldn't be generic. "Your hair looks amazing, but…"
"But what?"
"This." I took one of the red roses, plucked the blossom from the stalk and placed it over her ear. "This will compliment your attire. Besides, red looks good on you.
She blushed. "T-thank you. You look quite dashing yourself. I really like it." I was wearing black pants, a white, expensive looking shirt and a reddish-brown, leather vest.
It seems that Sara is good not just at leading the party, she's also a mastermind manipulator. We spent the whole night discussing the date plan. I was told what Diana likes and dislikes, her favorite color - red. Even before I saw Diana today, I already knew what she would be wearing and the flowers - they were also picked out by Sara. Hell, even the super cheesy thing with the flower that I just did was pre planned by Sara, she made sure to match Diana's outfit so that it would work as well. My outfit was also tailored to what Diana likes in a man. That girl is scary precise.
"Well then, Diana, Shall we go?" I extended my hand to her.
"Yes, but where are we going?" She took my hand.
"You'll see."
According to Sara, Diana's wish is to be treated like a princess by her chosen one - not be glamored or worshiped but to always be taken care of and made to feel secure and at ease. She would also like to be papered sometimes, so our date destination is the upper parts of 'The great labyrinth city of Urs'. It's, essentially, the place that all nobles and influential people live. You can find high end bakeries, high class clothing stores and even cafes there.
When we entered the upper city, Diana seemed worried. "I haven't ever been to these parts, are we even allowed here?"
"No need to worry, I checked beforehand and we're all good." I lied with every word that I spoke. This seemed to put my partner at ease.
Diana likes nice dresses, but she has none, so the first destination for our date is a clothing shop. When we entered, we were immediately greeted by well dressed and mannered staff, making Diana jump out of surprise. "Isaac, what are we doing here?"
"You should go look around, a little bird has informed me that you like this kind of stuff." I gently said.
"Won't you be bored here? Besides, these dresses are way out of my budget a-and I wouldn't have any opportunities to wear something like this anyway."
"You will, do you think that this is the last date that I'm taking you on?" She blushed. "And as for the price, you shouldn't worry about it, I sold some scales, so I'll cover it."
"Well. okay, if you insist."
I approached the counter and slammed a leather pouch on it. "Hey, proprietress, I'm spending no less than 20 gold today, so be a dear and find something that suits her for me."
This surprised the workers, and shocked Diana. "Wait, that's too much. Do you even know how much you can get for that amount of money?"
"I'm hoping for three dresses."
"Are you even listening to me? That amount of money could change a normal person's life, Don't waste it on me! One dress is already more than enough."
I patted Diana's head. "It's not wasted if I spend it on you and if I need more money I can just sell more scales, so you shouldn't worry about it."
She was about to say something else, but was hastily dragged to the fitting rooms by the proprietress.
We spent a few hours in the store. Diana would check in on me sometimes to see if I was okay and I always reassured her that I was fine and that she could take her time, while in reality I was going mad with boredom, but I couldn't show it since she likes patient men.
I did, however, have the chance to see her in some of these dresses. Some looked dignified, others, in my opinion, looked straight up silly. But my worst fear was yet to come. As expected, I was forced to help her decide on the dresses that she'd take. It was obvious that she wanted my opinion and that she would take it seriously, but for a guy with no fashion sense this was an impossible task.
I was completely at a loss while Diana talked about the dresses. The proprietress saw this and, as a true professional, began helping me. First when Diana would ask whether or not I liked the dress, the proprietress that stood behind her would nod or shake her head. If she nodded, I would say that the dress looked nice.
Then came the hard part - Why did I like the dress? If it was color, the proprietress would point at things of the same color, if it was shape, she would draw with her hands in the space and so on.
After an exhausting amount of charades, we were able to pick out three dresses - a long, light blue dress with fur at the neck, a shorter red dress and a long, white dress. Coincidentally the dresses that were picked out were the more expensive ones. I guess the proprietress really knew how to do her job. The last one was the one that Diana wore for the rest of the date.
Our next destination was a famous cafe that served exquisite pastries and cakes. While there, I ate with restraint and focused on conversation. My mission was to make Diana feel that I'm interested in what she was saying. I asked her many questions about her, about her goals, dreams and aspirations, purposely avoiding any difficult subjects like her family. It was exhausting for me, but Diana seemed like she was having fun.
After filling our bellies we went for a nice relaxing stroll through the city. On the way we saw a group of noble looking kids bullying some other, less fancy looking, kid. Diana's ideal other side is someone strong, certain, forgiving, reliable, someone that looks noble, but is kind to all with no exceptions. This is the role that I'll have to adopt from now on, that means no more senseless violence.
I approached the kids and with a soft, yet noble sounding voice asked what was up. The slightly frightened kids retorted that the one being bullied was supposed to bring snacks today, but the snacks that he brought were rubbish. "We have an agreement that everyday, in order, we bring snacks when we come to play and Kelvin's snacks are always the worst! We just got fed up with it."
God, I hate kids. Are these really the only problems on your poor, feeble minds? Stay calm, it's fine, I have to look good in this situation. I looked at Diana, who was looking at the situation intently. Show time. "Listen, kids, it's not nice to pick on someone just because they are poorer than you. What would you do if you were in poor Condor's place?"
"Who's Condor?"
"Never mind, tell you what, I'll give you guys five gold coins to go buy snacks, what do you think about that?" The kids looked excited. "But in return, I want you all to get along and stop bullying poor Carmaicle. Does that sound fair to you?" The kids excitedly agreed to my proposal and took the money and I returned to Diana.
"I never took you for a piece maker, Isaac. Or were you just trying to splurge? I thought, for sure, that you would either ignore them or beat them up. I'm impressed.
"What can I say, I'm a strong, certain, forgiving, reliable gentleman."
Diana smiled. "No you're not." Her face turned gloomy. "This whole date, it was orchestrated by my sister, wasn't it? Did anything that you did today was something that you wanted to do?"
"What do you mean? I like spending time with you."
"This personality, this face that you put on today, it was created by my sister wasn't it. It's my ideal, but it isn't you. I like the real you - the lazy, clueless, violent, totally hopeless you, that's who I fell in love with, that's who I want to be with."
"But… What about your ideals?"
"They changed when I met you… Now then, let's break your plan for a bit. I told you what I like about you, it's your turn."
"I… Well I like…" Damn it Sara hasn't taught me what to say in a situation like this.
"I knew it." She looked disappointed. "We'll talk when you figure out something for yourself. Then you can ask me out on a real date!" She started going away.
"Wait, Diana, hold on!" I started following.
She looked at me with teary eyes. "Get away from me! I want to be alone…" She left to the first alley on the left. I was left standing alone. Fuck… What the hell am I doing?
_________________________________________________________________________
Diana Bladeheart
Honestly, I didn't expect much from him but this is just… Sad. All he did was memorize what Sara told him, he just played the part, he didn't try at all! Infuriating. I kept walking through the narrow back streets without a goal in mind ready to cry, then reached a dead end. "Aaaagggghhh!" This is so infuriating! Why did I even like a guy like that? For what reason did I think that he'd be a good match for me. All he has is strength.
Right now that bastard is probably spending his time in some filthy brothel, enjoying everything that he wants. I wonder whether he'd pay any attention to me if I was one of those… Girls.
"Hello there, Beautiful. You lost? Three people approached me. All well dressed, male, in their 20s or 30. "We heard a scream, so we thought that we'd check it out and help."
I'm so done with this. "I'm fine, so you can go now."
"Oh, don't be like that, why don't we get to know each other first." The ring leader said, putting his arm around my shoulders. "I haven't seen you here before, so I guess that you're not nobility, right?"
"And what's it to you if I'm not."
"This place - the upper city is for the nobility, your kind doesn't belong here. You could get into serious trouble if caught here, you know…" He gave me a creepy smile. "I know, If you spend some quality time with me and my friends here, we'll let it go. We might even pay you for it." They all started laughing. So that damn 'Dragon' even lied that we can be here. At this point I'm not even surprised… "What do you say lady? It's either this or trouble."
Because of him, I'm in a real bind. Normally I'd fight, but these guys seem like nobility. If I mess with them it will cost both me and my party. I… really don't want to do this, not with them! But there's no escaping it.
"I-I…"
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, assholes?" This startled me. I looked at the entrance of the alley to see Isaac there. "You think that I would just let you put your grubby little hands on my Diana and escape alive?" His voice carried so much fury.