[color=a187be]Itzal Albescu Fuji[/color]|NPCs

                                  Collab between: [@Shadow007] and [@Shoryu Magami]

        British Themed Café | April 14, 2012

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-OzzbfV70M][sub]♫ 10.000 Bullets (Tsukiyo ni Saraba) OST - Joni Scott Club[/sub][/url]

During the meal, Itzal was rather quiet, not actually going into conversation with Paula as he wanted to focus on the different flavors and textures of what he was eating, considering he had never eaten this dish before. When he had finished, he wiped his mouth with a napkin and regarded Paula once again, [color=a187be]“Sorry about that… Not much of a conversationalist when there’s food about.”[/color] He apologized with a small, quiet laugh.

"Oh, that's fine!" Paula replied, her usual friendly smile present.

Honestly, Paula had no problem with Itzal wanting to focus on his meal without talking, since she had her tea and pancakes to enjoy while he was doing that. She finished her pancakes before he was done with his meal, and she had been taking periodic sips from her tea throughout most of the time they had been seated together, so she had pulled her cell phone out of her purse while Itzal was having breakfast. She had checked the time, just to make sure she was not abysmally late or anything.

Itzal nodded, slightly wondering why Paula was checking her phone when something dawned on him, he pulled out his own phone to check what the time was, [color=a187be]“Ah! I wasn’t thinking about the time!”[/color] He admitted, starting to look nervous again. After all this time deciding whether or not he should even go to this gathering, it looked like he might miss the deadline. He sighed slightly, that was pretty typical… Forgetting deadlines like this… He really wanted to go to this gathering though.

[color=a187be]“Paula?”[/color] He suddenly asked. [color=a187be]“Can… I ask you something?”[/color]

Wondering what suddenly got Itzal so concerned, Paula quickly guessed it was about the time. Really, Itzal seemed like he felt lost a lot, or at least that was the vibe she got from him. He often had this nervous atmosphere like he had no idea where he was going or what he wanted to do. She might have just been reading into things too much, since how shy he seemed to be might have just been making him seem indecisive, but it was true that their interaction more or less came as a result of him asking Paula for advice. Even so, she was hardly complaining, because she enjoyed talking with him. Itzal seemed honest and friendly -- Paula could definitely get behind those things.

"Yep, go for it." Paula replied with her usual smile.

[color=a187be]“It’s just… I was thinking about how I was actually going to get to the mansion and the deadline.”[/color] Itzal admitted, fidgeting slightly. [color=a187be]“I’m sort of bad when it comes to actually sensing how much time I have to actually spare. I was wondering if maybe we could travel to the mansion together, since we’re both already heading in that direction.”[/color] He looked embarrassed again, feeling that he was being a bother to the person who had been so nice and polite to him.

Paula really could not help but smile as Itzal explained what was going on in his mind. It was actually sort of interesting how one moment he was nervous and could hardly speak, and then he managed to actually say quite a lot. The things he said were given quite a lot of thought for someone who seemed potentially as scatterbrained as she was. Perhaps being a chef meant he had to work well under pressure. Honestly, Paula had been tempted to ask him to go there with her before he said anything, if only because Itzal was fun to talk to and it seemed like he was lost.

Still, it was a bit weird for him to worry about the deadline, since the escort was not going to pick people for several more hours, and it was not like the guests would be denied entry if they arrived later than the escort did. Still, he was clearly worried about time, perhaps because he had so much to think about or something. Whatever the reason was, Paula thought it would be a great idea to travel there with him.

"You took the words out of my mouth." Paula said with her usual friendly expression, "I was thinking about asking if you wanted to come with me. It'd be a lot more fun if I had someone to talk to on my way there."

The owner of the café simply smiled, minding his own business for the most part.

Itzal’s expression brightened, [color=a187be]“Really? You’re okay with that?”[/color] He asked, sounding the most cheerful that Paula had ever heard. He even looked like a different person with that smile on his face, like he was absolutely glowing. [color=a187be]“Thank you so much.”[/color] He said, bowing as deep as he could despite the fact he was sitting down at a table, his Japanese heritage was still ingrained in him after all these years. [color=a187be]“It’s been awhile since I’ve actually had someone to talk with.”[/color] He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. [color=a187be]“So, I’m certain this will be fun for the both of us.”[/color]

Paula reacted with her usual smile, taking a moment to drink the rest of her tea at this point, apparently in a rush to finish it now that she knew she had someone to travel with. With no good reason to stick around the café now that she knew the person she was spending her time with wanted to go with her, it was time to head off before she left herself get more late than she already was. Well, [i]sort of[/i] was -- it was not like she needed to get there early today, since the guests had not even arrived yet, but she said she would come early to get into the routine. This was a big job opportunity, after all.

Suddenly, Paula's cell phone made a noise. Putting down her empty cup of tea, Paula flipped her phone open again and looked at it.

"I'm guessing you slept in again, right? I told you not to stress out about today, didn't I?" Paula said to herself out loud, seemingly reading the message on her phone, but she was speaking in English. Whether or not Itzal could understand it probably depended on how good his knowledge of English actually was.

Itzal tilted his head slightly, trying to make out what Paula was talking about, he could pick up a few words in English, but not many and didn’t feel that he should ask her what she was talking about. Even if they were friendly now, he still barely knew Paula, he supposed it was best to just ignore what she could have possibly said and what the message could possibly be. [color=a187be]“Shall… We be heading off soon?”[/color] He asked her, hoping to change the subject.

The expression on Paula's face as she was looking at the message had been, for the most part, similar to the facial expression she had whenever 'Boss' gave her a hard time. Basically, she looked as though someone was teasing her, but Itzal might not have been able to recognize that. Nevertheless, it was only when he spoke that Paula realized she had spoken the message out loud, and she blushed slightly for a moment, feeling a bit embarrassed herself now.

"Oh, sorry about that!" Paula said with a silly expression on her face, "I sometimes read text messages out loud to myself. I don't even notice I'm doing it half the time, I swear." she continued, smiling.

[color=a187be]“It’s quite all right.”[/color] Itzal assured her with a smile of his own. [color=a187be]“Sometimes when I see a dish I know how to make… I start listing out the ingredients without thinking.”[/color] He said with a laugh. [color=a187be]“So, I definitely understand. It’s just… My English isn’t as great as I want it to be.”[/color]

"I guess we're both kinda weird, huh?" Paula replied once Itzal had explained himself, grinning for a moment about how he had seemingly tried to make her feel less silly. It had been the statement after his assurance - specifically, the point about his English being bad - which made it clear to Paula that Itzal had likely been unable to work out what she was saying when she repeated the text message. Considering it was actually on topic, she figured she might as well bring it up. "Do you remember that Simon guy I mentioned earlier? He's the one who just texted me."

[color=a187be]“Simon.”[/color] Itzal said with a nod, remembering how Paula spoke about him before they had breakfast. [color=a187be]“The bartender working at the mansion, right?”[/color] He asked, making sure he had it correct. [color=a187be]“I suppose the two of you are rather close friends then.”[/color] Of course he couldn’t believe he was saying this outloud, but a part of him had to know about their relationship. [color=a187be]“Sorry... “[/color] He apologized automatically, realizing that he had gotten too out of bounds with that statement.

Paula thought to herself about how close it would be accurate to say she and Simon were, even if they were definitely on friendly terms, but she was a bit confused when Itzal apologized. Was it really that rude where he came from to imply you were a close friend with someone? Then it dawned on her, perhaps because he was apologizing, but also because of the look in Itzal's eyes, that he meant more than what he had actually said.

"Oh! [i]Oh[/i]!" Paula suddenly exclaimed, "No, no, he's not my boyfriend or anything. He is really handsome though." she said as she waved her hands back and forth a bit, blushing slightly and sort of thinking she might have made the situation worse by pointing out the honest fact that Simon was attractive. "I'm single." she explained, hoping that would make things clearer, "We’re just co-workers. It's just that we became friends because he's nice, and he helped me get used to the place. That's all."

Itzal couldn’t help but to laugh a bit, Paula was certainly cute when she had gotten flustered. [color=a187be]“I understand.”[/color] He said with a gentle, but almost sad smile. [color=a187be]“I know how that sort of thing works. I’m glad that you are friends with such a nice man like him.”[/color] He sighed as he slipped out of the booth. [color=a187be]“Would you like me to pay for the meal?”[/color] He asked her, still smiling.

Admittedly, Paula had gotten a slightly more serious look in her eyes when she picked up on the hint of sadness coming from Itzal, but when he seemingly perked back up again she decided to let it go. As long as he was okay now, there was no point making him think about something which might have upset him.

"No, no, it's okay!" Paula replied, "I did say it was my treat, after all." she said after she got up as well, smiling back at him. As Paula walked over to the main register, she put down some money which had been pulled out from her purse. "Thanks for breakfast, Boss." she said with a cheerful smile.

"You two have fun, alright?" the café owner replied, "Oh, and don't be late tomorrow." he smirked.

Sticking her tongue out at him as she made a funny face, Paula turned back around to Itzal, "Okay, shall we?" she said.

Itzal gave her another gentle smile, [color=a187be]“Ready when you are.”[/color] He said, opening the door for her. [color=a187be]“Hopefully I’ll see you again.”[/color] He told the cafe owner. [color=a187be]“Your chefs are amazing and I’d like to talk to them one day.”[/color]

"Too bad the owner's a jerk though." Paula replied, smirking at 'Boss', who just laughed her off.

"It was nice meeting you, Itzal. Take care of yourself." the café owner replied.

As Paula turned back around and headed out the door, she smiled at Itzal, "Thanks." she said. After that, she held out her cell phone as if she was about to check the time, but since the screen was still sitting on the text message from earlier she suddenly had a realization dawn on her. "Oh, wait a moment!" she said, getting a bit excited for a moment, "I said I'd put in a good word for you, but I don't need to wait until we're there!" she explained, hitting her head for a moment gently as if to emphasize what a moron she was.

Itzal tilted his head, [color=a187be]“Oh, that’s right. You mentioned that you were going to talk to the head chef at the mansion about me. I forgot about that myself until you brought it up.”[/color] He admitted before turning back and saying his farewells to the cafe owner. [color=a187be]“Thank you for doing that by the way, I’m very honored.”[/color] He told Paula, once again turning his attention to her.

"No problem!" Paula replied, smiling as she started typing up a text message. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Please don't make a big deal out of it, okay?" Paula said in English to herself, not inherently speaking loudly but she was nevertheless clearly saying what she was typing, "So anyway, I've got someone I want to introduce when I get there. He's one of the guests. I need a favour."

After her text was finished, she turned to Itzal. "We'll catch a cab now." Paula explained.

Itzal nodded, grunting as he adjusted his bag of luggage on his shoulder, once again intrigued by what Paula might be saying in English, however as always, he decided it was best not to question it. He wasn’t even sure if Paula considered him a friend and he wanted to respect the boundaries that were set in place. [color=a187be]“Is the mansion far off from here?”[/color] He asked her.

"Sort of, but not [i]too[/i] far." Paula said, "I wouldn't go there on foot though." she added, and she started leading the way to where they could catch a cab.