Spirits of the Earth

Roberto was tired. This was his first trip to serendipity and things weren't going his way exactly. The source of his problem was everything was so muddy. Roberto liked sand, sand was good, it wasn't wet and you could just wipe it off, but not the damn mud stuff.

Another issue he was having was it was cold, it was super cold. Roberto was not one that enjoyed the cold, he had grown up in the desert and he liked it hot and toasty.
He let his hair down because of how cold it was, hoping that his long luscious well groomed hair would help keep him warm, and it did help. Still it was time to get close to a fire and get hot food to get himself back to being his chipper self so he walked into the first tavern he came across in the wet cold town called Cerenis.

He walked in and took the closest seat to the fire. He waved his hand at the barkeep, he was about to get his drink on. Maybe he would meet a nice piece of tail while he was there, his hopes weren't high, but there was hope none the less.

The bar had been open for a few days, but they had barely had any customers. So you would think that Heather would be happy when her first customer of the day walked in, but instead she just sighed. She had always disliked guys with long hair. Especially when his hair was as nice as hers. She saw him wave at her from across the room, but didn't bother waving back.

Gage and her had made a deal when they opened the bar—as long as she actually served the customers, he would do whatever she wanted. So Heather stopped leaning on the bar and instead walked around it, heading over the the man. She was her nice pair of skinny jeans that both Gage and her managed to look good in along with a plaid shirt, unbuttoned enough to give her chest some room and reveal a "little" cleavage. But she had no interest in charming this man with her looks.

Once she was directly across from the man, Heather bluntly said, "I'm Heather. What would you like to order, long-hair? Something to drink or perhaps some food? I can promise you our quality is top notch, seeing as I made the ******* stuff myself."

Roberto looked at the woman for a moment, taking her in, and her outfit that was so last season. He raised his eyebrow at the woman, crossing his arms as he looked up at her.
"Well I would like to start out with a cool ale sugar ****," Roberto said, attitude oozing from his voice.

He was a paying customer so he didn't appreciate being talked uppity to.
"Of course," Roberto started as he looked around the empty bar.
"I could always leave, it seems like I am your only customer, doesn't look like you are doing too well for yourself, and I clearly know your problem," Roberto added, his voice sharp.

Heather smirked as the man replied. He had an attitude and she liked it. But that didn't mean that she was going to be any nicer—in fact, that gave her more of a reason to be rude. With an obviously fake smile, she replied, "Of course, your majesty. I'll get right on it."

Glancing back at the bar and deciding it was too far to walk, she instead used her eyes to levitate a cup underneath the drink he wanted and used it to turn on the tap before quickly holding the drink underneath the freely falling liquid. She then used the cup to turn off the tap and levitated it to her and the man, placing it nicely on the table next to him.

Then, her fake smile gone, she added, "And of course I know what our **** problem is. Gage isn't doing his ******* job right!" She knew this was a lie, but that didn't keep her from saying it. Even Heather knew Gage was a good bartender—the kind that less rowdy customers liked. But the ones that liked smart talk and fights, well, she was the one for them.

Roberto grabbed the Ale, taking a good long sip of it. It was cool, which didn't help the fact that he was freezing his butt off but still, it tasted half decent.
"Gage?" Roberto questioned looking back up at the woman.
"Who the hell is Gage? I think I would much rather talk to him them with you. You are well. To put it rather frankly, an uptight *****," Robert started before sitting down his ale.
"Plus, your outfit sweety? Who taught you to dress like that? Your grandmother?" Roberto started as he brushed his hair over his shoulders so it would fall down his back.
He then looked down at his clothing. He had on a black silk vest that was left open to show his nice torso a silver chain and pendent peaked out from underneath the fine fabric.
Her rubbing his hands over his raven black dragon skin leather pants, which were neither tight nor loose, a silver belt around his waist to make sure they stayed up. His boots were also made of the fine dragon leather, and were clearly meticulously looked after.

Heather glared at the man as she hesitantly replied, "Gage is my brother." It was close enough. Then, squatting down so that she was eye level with him, she added, "And my outfit was picked by only the most ******* stylest in town: me."

Heather eyed him up and down, taking in what he was wearing while thinking of something more to add. "Didn't you know?" she started, "Thinking about your outfit too much isn't cool. And that **** dragon leather? Way last month." It was obvious that he constantly worried about what he looked like. The way he kept touching his hair and how his outfit was organized... well, she hardly knew any straight men like that. But there were always exceptions. Heather still hadn't yet realized what might have been obvious to others from the start.

"So before you make fun of what I wear, how about you adjust your own ******* wardrobe first?" Heather scoffed, still eye level with the man.

Roberto busted out laughing at Heather, the woman was insufferable, he was convinced that because his mother was so much like the woman beside him he liked beings of the male persuasion.
"If you are the most ******* stylist in town I came just in time to save this poor place from skank hell," Roberto said snapping his fingers in a z formation.

"For you information, and clearly you are not up to date on your fashion, Dragon leather is always in season, just like diamonds *****. So bite me. Plus, I want some food, something with a little bit more taste then your wardrobe would be nice,"Roberto added leaning back in his chair.

If the business hadn't been as bad as the man was implying, Heather would have kicked him out right then. But being able to sass with somebody who could actually had good comebacks wasn't a bad deal, anyway. She was tempted to bite him, but that would've been as good as making him leave. So she resisted the temptation and stood up instead.

"What would you like to eat?" Heather asked, somewhat genuinely. Then she added in, "I would offer 'chef's choice' but seeing as how I'm the chef, I think we both know there would be some kind of poison in it. You better have money to back that mouth of yours. I'm not going to let you ******* leave without paying." And as long as he paid, she would actually create good food. Even if the customer service might be lacking when she was working, the quality of the food would never lessen.

"Do you see my clothes? Do you really think money is an issue?" Roberto asked looking up at her and raising an eyebrow. Really, the woman must be blind or something. He could probably buy her bar with the amount of money he spent on his shoes alone.
"What do you have to fix? that would be nice to know if I have to order?" Roberto added before taking another drink of his ale.

Heather merely ignored his comment about money, figuring that meant he had more than enough. But when he asked about what they could make, she sighed. Perhaps Gage was right when he said they should make menus. She'd have to have him do that next time he was free.

"I can fix just about anything not too fancy. So I'm sorry, but not, but I don't have any **** dragon meat to go along with that leather. However, I can make a variety of sandwiches and salads, as well as steak, chicken, fish, ham, lamb, and other meats. If there is something else you have on your ******* mind, I may be able to make it." Heather looked at him impatiently while she said this all.

"Dragon meat isn't a luxury deary, it is tough and at best, good to dry out and use as a last resort. It is even better used for magic," Roberto informed the girl before running his fingers through his soft hair.
"Hmm, well I will have a steak, medium rare, leave out the skank and the skank saliva if you will,"Roberto said taking a deep breath, thinking for a few moments longer.
"I would also like a salad with a lot of fruit and if you have almonds that would be a nice touch," He said looking up at Heather with a rather haughty expression.

Heather, for once, didn't question what he said. She wasn't going to fake her knowledge on dragon meat, for she knew she'd lose. Instead, she flashed him another fake smile and replied, "As you'd like, *******." Then she turned around and headed into the barely touched kitchen.

She started the steak, seasoning it well and cooking it while creating the salad. Then Heather grabbed a large plate and set the perfectly medium rare cooked steak on the side of the plate with the salad on the other side. The salad had chopped apples, grapes, blueberries, and a bunch of other fruits as well as the almonds he wished for. She then drizzled a sweet honey sauce over the steak that added a little sweetness to it. This whole process took a fair amount of time, but not much considering she did it all alone. When she was done, Heather took the plate as well as a knife, fork, and napkin over to the man.

As Soon As Roberto saw the food coming he flashed the lady a dazzling smile, not because he liked the lady, but because the food both smelled and looked amazing. Had his money pouch out before the lady even made it to the table. He didn't like tabs, He liked to pay everything off as he got it.
"So how much for the food and the drink I have?" He asked

Even Heather's spirit lifted a little when she saw Roberto smile at the food. Her food was her pride and joy. It was one of the few things that she could actually do better than Gage, even though they had the same amount of knowledge as to how to make it. Due to this, she didn't make some snarky remark about it costing some ridiculous amount.

Instead, she replied, "A shille should cover everything," while setting the plate on the coffee table in front of him. "But are you going to have more to drink?" She didn't know many people who could go to a bar or tavern and just order one drink—herself included.

Roberto pulled out a shilling and a copper, placing them on the table.
"Yes, I will have more but I like to pay as I go, a little trick I learned from the taverns down from where I am from. If you don't pay as you go the barkeeps can add coppers and such to your bill and you would never know it," He spoke
He took a deep breath before grabbing the knife, cutting into the steak, another smile crossing his face as he saw how perfectly pink it was. It brought a piece of the steak to his mouth, taking a bite and slowly chewing it. Roberto threw down another copper, keeping the two coppers in a different pile than the shilling.

With an inquisitive look on her face, Heather asked, "What are the coppers for? I'm sure even your ****** foolish self knows that only the shilling is needed." And she kind of doubted she was receiving tip, seeing as that she never did. Gage was the tip collector, not her.

She scanned the man again, trying to figure out where he was from. Something seemed a little different about him... even ignoring the clothes. The clothes which, she had to admit (but only to herself), weren't nearly as bad as she said earlier. Dragon leather was something she always wanted but never bothered saving up to get.

"I would think even a slow ***** like you who is all mouth no brain could figure it out on your own, but since you clearly need help I will tell you. This is your tip. The better the service, the more coins I will put in this pile. The more you piss me off, the more I will take back. Like this," Roberto said as he took one of the coppers away from the pile leaving only one.

Heather raised her eyebrows and responded, "Playing a game, are we? Making me weigh my desire to tease you and my need for money..." After letting this sit in her head for a few seconds, she added, "I think you overestimate my desire for money, *******. Gage can get enough of that **** stuff for me." Gage managed to get a fair amount of tip from everybody. "But if you want to play a game, I'll make you a deal. If you answer three questions for me, I'll get you another drink for free." She was somehow still trying to figure out what was off with him.

Robert tilted his head to the side slightly as he looked at the woman.
"Do you think you are so damn special that this is the first time I have done this? This is how I tip everyone. Get you head out of your ***"Roberto said as he popped his neck and straightened his vest.
He took several bites of his food in silence, almost ignoring her completely for several moments.
"I don't need hand outs, I have plenty of money, I guess it all depends on what questions you have to ask?"

This man was unpredictable... and Heather liked that. She never knew what he was going to do next.

"Fine. I'll ask all three of them right off the bat, then. First off, what's your name? Secondly, why are you here, in Cerenis? And, lastly, what is it about you that seems so **** strange?" She figured she might as well get straight to the point. Looking out the windows, it seemed to her like barely any time had passed. An hour at the most. When Heather opened a tavern, she expected it to be full of excitement. So far, she had been severely disappointed. If only she could make Gage work all the time.

"Well the name is Roberto O'ich, and I am here simply because I wanted to travel and see the rest of the world, what was beyond the boarders of my home. As far as what makes me weird, well I cannot answer that because I don't know what you think is weird, everyone thinks different things are strange," Roberto spoke crossing his arms, leaning heavily back into the chair. He had an idea of what made him strange to her, actually several. For one, he was gay, for two he was from Essyrn.

Roberto had answered two of her three questions, but left out the one Heather was most curious about. With a sigh, she replied, "Okay, Roberto, why don't you tell me what things most people consider strange, then? Otherwise I better get another ******* question to ask. But if you aren't interested in money, like you say, I suppose I'll grant you a freebie question. Not that you want to know anything about a ***** like me." But if there was one thing she hated, it was being in debt to another person.

"Well I don't know what is considered weird here. I guess the fact that I am gay would be considered weird I suppose," Roberto said with a shrug before taking a few more bites of food in silence. The food was good, that was about the only plus that the place had. The fire wasn't that hot so he was still rather cold, the service was rather lacking, but the food, the food almost made it worth coming back to.

When Roberto spoke the word 'gay', Heather's eyes widened. "Oh ****." How could she have not seen it? It was so obvious. The way he dressed, talked, and acted... they all pointed to it. She could already sense the tingly feeling taking over her body, so Heather bowed and said, "I would say it was nice to meet you, but that would be lying." Then smoke enveloped her entire body.

The smoke disappeared as the figure stood back up straight. But instead of Heather, Gage was there.  He was dressed in the same skinny jeans and same plaid shirt that Heather had been, though he was already buttoning the shirt completely up. He had been sleeping the first half of the conversation, but was woken up once Heather started to get excited about Roberto's attitude.

The situation was fairly awkward. Gage was used to odd transformation timing, but not usually in front of good looking gay men. So he just flashed his kindest smile and said, "Hey. Sorry about Heather, I know she's a mean one."

"So I am assuming you are Gage?" Roberto asked leaning back in his chair with his eyebrow cocked.
Roberto then turned his gaze back to his half eaten food. He was hungry so even if there were weird transforming people he was going to eat. So once again he began to eat, with the most proper manners of course.

After giving Roberto a quick look up and down with his own eyes, Gage responded, "You assume correctly, my friend." He was getting goosebumps, and it wasn't because of the man in front of him. Gage turned towards the dying out fire and sighed. Heather never kept good track of it. Walking the few feet it took to get to it, he grabbed a few extra logs and threw them into the fire pit, causing the fire to immediately burst upwards and warm the room a little more. He then turned back towards Roberto and asked "I suppose I owe you a question now?" before throwing a light hearted wink.

"I have one for you, why do you let that woman dress you?" Roberto asked as he crossed his arms.
"She tries, I give her props for that but plaid? Plaid was so last season," He continued to talk as he laid his fork and knife down and turned more towards Gage.
"Oh, and thank you for building up the fire, I am freezing, I come from a much, much, much warmer climate."

Gage paused for a second after Roberto finished talking, then replied, "Anybody in here would be freezing, warmer climate or not. And I let her dress me because if I don't do as she likes... well, let's just say it isn't always good to get on Heather's bad side." She knew what embarrassed him and had no restraint. He didn't want to find himself skinny dipping or wearing drag anymore. "Plus," he added shyly, "I don't actually mind the plaid that much..."

"Well I guess whatever floats your boat, at least you are not going around saying you are a fashioneasta like she is," Roberto responded, placing a copper back on the table, once again making it two coppers. Roberto was pretty sure that Gage was the one that got all the tips, not Heather.
"So Heather is the aggressive one and you are the passive one?" Roberto asked seeming intrigued by Gage

"Passive?" Gage asked, startled. "What do you mean by passive? But Heather is definitely aggressive. She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to get it." He said that with respect and even a tinge of admiration. Not wanting to awkwardly stand there in front of Roberto, Gage sat down next to him. Unlike Heather, he didn't impose want to impose power.

"You seem much more the meeker of the two, that was all I was saying, plus, you seem a bit shy. There is nothing wrong with being passive. We all can't be Fabulous ******* now can we. The world would be filled with cat fights if we were all like that," Roberto said with a bit of a smirk on his face.

Gage laughed at Roberto's comment. "No, I suppose we can't. I've seen enough cat fights as it is. And most of them all started by girls... probably part of the reason I've never had any interest in them. The other part being, you know, I've been living with Heather all my life and have seen more than I'd like." He scrunched his nose as the memories. "Probably the reason she's lesbian, too."

"That must make it very awkward if one of you were doing the grown up and you just happened to change. Not only would that scare the **** out of your partner it would be pretty awkward for the one that was that just showed up," Roberto said with a laugh.
"Plus, since you knew what was going on when you changed that mean you are conscious when you are not changed, that just sounds, well, horrible."

Gage let out an awkward laugh before responding, "I think that's part of the reason neither of us have done it..." Not that either of them really had many chances to. Trying to shift attention away from the fact that he was, indeed, still a virgin (and had barely kissed anybody), Gage added, "But we can usually choose to sleep when we aren't in control." He offered a smile as if he just shared a valuable bit of information.

Roberto shrugged.
"Well it seems that that would make living with that woman non stop less of a hell I suppose," He said before turning back to the last of his meal. The food was good, better than most taverns but still good food was not enough to put up with a woman like that, she was even worse than his mother if that was at all possible. 

"I don't think you understand," Gage said in a calm manner. "Heather is like my sister. Even if she bugs me at times, I do still love her." He stood back up and grabbed Roberto's near empty cup before setting off to the other side of the bar. "Would you like the same thing or something different? I'll pay as apologies for you having to deal with Heather." Even if he had been sleeping when Roberto ordered his drink earlier, Gage could tell what it was just by looking at the remnants.

"I guess if you had to spend enough time with someone anyone would become like your brother or sister," Roberto said with a shrug.
"I'm not judging, just saying, I would probably strangle myself, but if in the same situation I would probably be heather, of course I would be better because I actually know fashion, but yeah," Roberto said with another shrug.

Gage paused after Roberto commented on his sense of fashion before responding, "I do like your dragon leather. I know Heather always wanted some." Oops. She would be mad at him for sharing that. "For me, that is..." he finished off, trying to cover up his blunder (and not very well). He was still standing at the bar, waiting for Roberto to order something.

"Some more ale for now, no never mind, do you have something warm, like, hot chocolate or coffee? I'm freezing my *** off,"
"I'm sure she would just want the dragon leather for you, just like that plaid is just for you right?" Roberto retorted.
"If she wasn't such a witch I could get her some for a half decent price. But no, she doesn't "like" dragon leather, yeah the **** right."

Gage had walked towards the hot chocolate, but immediately turned around and slammed the glass cup on the table at Roberto's last comments. "This is my sister you're talking about," he snapped. She may be a *****, but you're going to far with this. Then he turned around in a huff and started making the hot chocolate, adding whipped cream and some fresh cinnamon on top.

Roberto grew really silent for a moment before busting out into fits of laughter.
"What exactly did I say that was 'too' far? Like really? I didn't call her a not nice name from my very colorful vocabulary, I just said that since she wasn't so nasty, which you admit she is, I would help her get dragon leather even though she claims it is 'last season' or whatever," Robert said seeming greatly amused.

Gage sighed as the man laughed. He knew Roberto was right, but it still didn't feel right. "I'm sorry, like I said, she's my sister. I get protective over her." He was being completely sincere. He felt that he could tease her, and was okay if others rightfully poked a little fun at her for a short amount of time, but Roberto had been dragging it on and on and it was bugging Gage. He sighed again before quickly levitating the cup of delicious hot chocolate over to Roberto. Then Gage started walking back towards him.

"So both of you can levitate things?" Roberto half asked half stated. He found it both odd and interesting. It could be a very useful power depending on its limits.
"I can understand that I suppose, if I had a sister I suppose I would be protective over her as well, fortunately the gods were wise when they made me and only child." Roberto spoke with another laugh as he picked up the glass and took a big drink of the hot liquid.

Gage laughed as Roberto spoke, but widened his eyes when he started to drink the hot chocolate. While Gage was always not to make the hot drinks scalding hot unless asked for, a drink that big would be likely to burn the inside of his mouth. Thinking quickly, Gage closed his eyes and remembered where the ice cubes were, then made one come over to where he was standing (which was now back in front of Roberto). It was levitating in front of his chest, where Roberto could easily grab it if he needed to cool down his mouth a little.

Roberto didn't need the ice cube, he had eaten peppers hotter than the hot chocolate before so his mouth was well accustomed to the heat.
Roberto did grab the ice cube out of the air and placed it on the table, it was a little weird to just sit there and watch something levitate in front of you for a long period of time.
"Thanks but no thanks my friend, when I ask for something hot I mean hot, I don't mean warm," He spoke with a nod and a playful wink.

Gage was planning on tossing the ice cube into the fire if Roberto didn't want it, but he didn't do anything when Roberto put it on the table instead. He laughed and responded, "Well it's always better to be safe than sorry. Don't want anybody burning themselves, after all." Especially not the attractive man in front of him. Gage had always had a thing for guys with long hair.

"Well if someone has a sensitive mouth they should check the temperature before blindly pouring something down their throats, it seems only logical to me," Roberto replied with a nod of his head. He more discreetly checked Gage out, something that Roberto had down near perfected into an art form.
"So is this bar new? Or does Heather scare off all the costumers?"

"You'd be surprised by the type of customers we've gotten," Gage mumbled. Plus, he didn't want people tossing scalding hot chocolate at each other if they got in a fight. Completely unaware that Roberto was checking him out, he continued in a clearer voice, saying, "We opened three days ago. And, luckily, I've been in control most of this time." The people that went to bars typically weren't the type to be scared off by a girl, anyway. Even if that girl was Heather.

Roberto had a feeling that Heather would have made the hot chocolate better, there was something about women, they could almost always cook better.
"You mean those guys who put up a front of toughness but deep down want to be pretty pretty princesses? I think Heather could probably take them," Roberto said with a bit of a chuckle before taking a big swig of the hot chocolate.

Gage nodded and replied, "If they start yelling at me, she'll come out. But I'm sure you know that only makes it worse." He still liked that she got riled up enough to take his place and protect him, however. If only she could do it without making the costumers swearing to never come back again...

"Would you like anything else?" Gage politely asked, seeing that Roberto had finished his food off. "Heather might be a better cook than me, but that doesn't mean I'm not good!"

Roberto shrugged, "Maybe you don't attract the right type of customer?" Roberto said with a bit of a sigh. "I have never run a tavern but if the keep is going to make a fuss you are going to attract though who also like to make a fuss," Roberto said leaning back in his seat comfortably. Roberto checked out Gage again, being more obvious this time.
'I don't know, what something good you can fix?"

Gage was just about to respond to Roberto's first comment before he noticed Roberto was looking up and down him. With a slight blush (he wasn't used to this happening), he responded, "B-bloody Marys. Or anything else alcoholic. I'm more of the bartender while Heather is the cook." His gaze travelled to the floor.

Roberto laughed at the blush on Gages face, it was cute.
"Well what good beverage can you fix? Perhaps something a bit spicy, or another hot drink maybe? I'm basically asking you  what you think you fix the best," Roberto spoke as he winked at the man

Gage glanced up just in time to see the wink, making his face redder. "I can make you a spicy hot chocolate if you'd like..." he mumbled. Then he started walking back towards the bar. If Roberto kept pushing him past his emotional stability, Heather might come back out. And Gage wanted to avoid that—for Roberto's sake as well as his own.

Roberto sighed deeply. He could tell that the guy was getting a bit uncomfortable, and he was cute so he didn't want to scare him off or anything.
"Spicy hot chocolate sounds amazing," He said simply with a soft smile. When Roberto had the urge to check out the man he did so discreetly as to not upset the man any further, he had a feeling that emotions had a part of when the two changed.

Gage smiled as he started to make the drink. Even though he wasn't looking at Roberto, it sounded as if he was backing up. Which was sort of bittersweet—he didn't necessarily dislike Roberto's flirting, it just threw him off a little.

For the drink, he used a recipe he had created when he was younger. Some hot milk (hotter than last time), unsweetened cocoa powder, curry powder, salt, sugar, and even a little crush cardamom were all mixed together. Like he did before, he topped it with whipped cream. But this time he sprinkled a little of the curry powder on top and added a cinnamon stick on the side.

Smiling at his creation, Gage walked back towards Roberto. In terms of non-alcoholic drinks, this was his favorite to make. Hopefully Roberto would like it as well.

Roberto stirred the drink with the Cinnamon stick that was in the cup. It smelled divine as the aroma of the all the spices seeped into the air. It reminded him of home, it reminded him of happier times.
Slowly he moved the drink to his lips, letting the hot liquid spilling through his lips and into his mouth. A broad smile spread across his face.
"This tastes amazing. You could probably make some money off this drink if you marketed it around, especially for the little ones," Roberto said with a warm smile.

He still planned on flirting with the man he would just have to go about it in a different way. He couldn't be so forward, which he usually was because he was fabulous, but he could also be sensitive. If he was into ladies, he could have totally been a ladies man.

A wide grin spread across Gage's face as Roberto complimented his drink. He hadn't really thought of marketing the drink, it was more of something he made for himself and, on occasion, Heather. Scratching the back of his head in modesty, Gage replied, "Thanks... it's great for the winter time. Or by a campfire. Which, I suppose, we kind of are by." He motioned to the fireplace in the wall and laughed a little. "So where are you from, anyway?"

"I am from Essyrni, so it feels like winter time for me, so this is pretty amazing," Roberto spoke with a bit of a smile.
"You should market this, you will get more people in here, more people that won't work on your nerve enough to get Heather out," Roberto continued after taking another long sip of the hot chocolate.

"Those people don't get on my nerves, they get on Heather's nerves," Gage explained. "If they start teasing me, Heather gets mad at them... and often will come out. Strong emotions can change us whether or not we're in control. But Essyrni, that's awesome. Never met somebody from there before." Gage paused before shyly adding, "But if you're so cold, maybe you should buy warmer clothes? I could show you around town before work tomorrow..." He doubted Roberto would take him up on that offer, but he couldn't help but hope that he would get to know him better.

"I don't know if your town will really have the clothes that I am interested in, but sure I will go on a shopping spree, maybe I can invest in some clothes for you two," Roberto said as he flashed a rather dazzling smile.

Gage turned bright red when Roberto smiled that smile at him. It was just so... perfect. "Th-th-that would be g-good." Then after thinking about it for another second and fully processing what Roberto had said, he added, "Ah! But our money, of course." Heather shouldn't mind him shopping with Roberto. After all, even she would have to admit the man had taste in clothes (though probably not publicly).

"No, I insist it be on me, I have more money than I really know what to do with. Plus, one like yourself she be taken out and spoiled every now and then, and I am sure that Heather will enjoy a couple of pieces for herself, a peace offering so to speak I suppose. No reason to linger on our marcher beginnings," Roberto said as he leaned back in his chair suavely.

It seemed like it would be a... date. Gage inwardly laughed that thought away, but it still stayed in his head. He would argue Roberto's demands of paying tomorrow, when it mattered more. But for now he just offered a kind smile and responded, "Tomorrow it is, then. What time?" Even if Heather was in control, Gage was fairly certain she wouldn't throw a fit. She always loved new clothes. And chances were, Gage's emotions would override her control and he knew it.

"Well depending on how long it takes me to find a bed to stay in tonight, how about an hour after sunrise?" Roberto asked as he stood, adding a gold piece down with the other money he had already placed on the table.
"Now for me to find an inn."

Gage quickly looked at the gold before returning his gaze to Roberto. He knew better than to reject tips, no matter how generous they were. More often than not, it made the customer angry. As if their judgement had been questioned. Even still... a gold piece wasn't a light matter. He would have to repay it in some other way somehow.

"There's a nice inn across the street and three stores to the right. It isn't the fanciest place, but it's comfy and a decent price." Not like the price mattered much. "Whether or not you stay there is completely up to you, of course. Oh, but where do you want to meet up tomorrow?"

"I will meet you here Gage, just be dressed and ready to go, don't even worry about cooking. I will stop and get us a piece of a sweet pie, maybe even a piece for Heather for when she gets her chance as the body," Roberto said before walking to the door, waving a goodbye before he walked out.

Gage waved weakly back at Roberto as he walked out. He had actually managed to score an unofficial date with a hot guy who could deal with Heather and wasn't freaked out by the whole double person thing. At this point, he didn't even care what happened the rest of the day. He took a second of remembering everything that had just happened and convincing himself it was, in fact, real. Then Gage started putting away Roberto's cup and plate, humming as he cleaned.

Roberto walked to the inn with a big grin on his face. He ordered the best room they had though he doubted he would be doing much sleeping.

Gage managed the bar for the rest of the night, waiting for the morning to come. He got more customers when it got late enough but decided to close up around four in the morning. Seeing as he slept most the afternoon, he knew he wouldn't be getting tired anytime soon. He walked the half hour long walk back to his and Heather's cute little house and immediately started rummaging through the closet for a nice outfit.

After picking something out, he walked to his mirror. Looking at his reflection, Gage realized (as he often did) that he really needed to shave. Somehow it seemed that his stubble grew even when Heather was in control. He shaved whenever he got the chance, but that wasn't often. So he took out his pocket knife from the drawer and got rid of his stubble. Then he tousled hair a little bit, in a messy but styled way. He looked back at his chosen outfit and decided to change it. Then he washed his face with water. And then he changed his outfit again, but this time put it on. After looking out his window, he grabbed some money, stuffed it in his pocket, and left.

Gage made his way back to the shop, another half an hour walk. Heather and him decided to put the shop so far away because walking was a good way to pass time, something they had lots of. He spent this time mostly debating whether or not Roberto would approve of his outfit. He was wearing black leather pants (but not dragon leather, of course) with nice black boots and an admittedly tight fitting v-neck white t-shirt. He wasn't a fan of the v-neck shirts, but they were all Heather bought. She liked to show off her womanly assets.

However, the v-neck part was actually covered by a loose fitting dark blue scarf that circled a couple times around his neck before making its way down. He left the lip and ear piercings in as well as the necklace on (though that was covered), only because Heather would get mad at him if he did any different. Even when he reached the store ten minutes early, Gage was still questioning whether or not his outfit was a good choice.

Roberto laid in the bed for most of the night. He couldn't sleep so he thought about his two acquaintances, and the next day and how it would play out.
He rose out of the bed long before the sun would rise, he washed up, shaving his face, and applying just a hint of a fragrant oil.
He didn't want to be early and he literally only had to walk across the street so he worked on calming the nerves he had managed to work up. He went to a mirror taking a deep breath. He knew he looked fabulous, he always looked fabulous. Still he stood in front of the mirror primping and adjusting his appearance until he saw the sun start to rise. Finally he walked over to the bar, hoping that either Heather or Gage would be there.

Gage had been keeping his eyes on the inn door, his hopes raising every time somebody walked out. Those hopes got crashed every time as well, with the exception of the third time when Roberto walked out. Even across the street, Gage could see his perfectly coordinated outfit and hair. How somebody managed to look that great at all times was outside of his comprehension.

When Roberto started walking against the street, Gage pretended as if he was looking somewhere else. Then he turned his head towards Roberto and, pretending he just noticed him, waved with a wide grin on his face. "Hey! How was the rest of your night yesterday?"

Roberto smiled warmly at Gage.
"It was good enough," Roberto said simply before pushing his hair over his shoulder so it would all fall down his back.
"Shall we start our little adventure?"

"I'm glad," Gage simply replied. How Roberto's hair behaved so nicely made no sense to him. Heather was always complaining about her long hair. "And we shall! Where exactly would you like to go? Or shall I be the tour guide, seeing as I live here?" But Gage had the feeling that the cheap stores he went to weren't the kind Roberto would like.

"Well you know the town, I do not, so you will have to show me around," Roberto said with a smile.
"Now, lead the way, and remember, price is not an issue because I'm footing the bill," He added with another dazzling smile.

Gage shyly looked at Roberto and his amazing smile while replying, "I still don't see why you want to pay..." Even if Roberto had money, Gage didn't understand why he would just toss it around like that. For somebody like him, who the man had only met the day before. Nonetheless, he started walking towards the nicest store he had shopped at before, figuring it was about ten minutes away.

"Well I couldn't think of several reasons why I would want to pay," Roberto said with a bit of a smirk pulling on the side of his mouth.
"So come on, lets go shopping and I will give you a taste of how fun being fabulous is!" He added, practically skipping along side Gage because of how excited he was.

Gage laughed in response to Roberto's words. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to be 'fabulous' for a day. But he wanted to hear Roberto's reasons for wanting to pay.

"Test me," Gage said. "For every reason you want to pay, I'll think of a reason why you shouldn't. If you can think of more valid reasons to pay than I can not to, I'll submit. Otherwise, I pay for everything. Deal?" He smiled at Roberto's skipping self.

Roberto smiled, his eyes sparkly slightly, he loved a challenge.
"Well I fine looking man like yourself deserves to be taken out and shown the fine life," Roberto said as his first reason, placing his hands on his hips.

Gage had experienced some of Roberto's flirting the night before and had prepared himself better, but it still caught him off guard. His pace slowed down for a couple of seconds while he refocused his thoughts, then he sped back up.

With a playful smile on his lips, Gage responded, "I fail to see why you would have to pay for me just because I have to be shown the fine life. Surely spending time with you, a fine looking man yourself, would be enough of gift?"

Roberto slowed his steps to match Gage, never getting ahead of him.
A playful smirk played at the corners of his mother at Gages reply, he could tell Gage wasn't used to being flirted with.
"A gentleman always pay for his date, it is only proper."

It was too much for Gage. His mind was still prepared enough to keep Heather from coming out, but not enough to keep him walking. So Gage stopped in the middle of the road, glanced over at Roberto with a bright red face, and mumbled, "Date?"

"Well I didn't think you could handle me calling it that yesterday, but yes, if you are opposed to it, of course it doesn't have to be," Roberto spoke suavely as he stopped with Gage, turning to face him. He started to chew the inside of his cheek slightly, the only sigh at all that he might be nervous.

Gage's face reddened more as Roberto continued speaking. His eye contact was everywhere except on the man. But then he shyly looked up and responded, "Uh... I suppose... I guess... it can be..." If the subject didn't change soon, Gage was starting to doubt if he would be able to stay in control.

"Okay, lets go then! So many stores so little time!" Roberto said as he grabbed Gage's hand and started to pull him towards that closest man's store.
"We have got to get you some guy pants, I am not complaining about how your ass looks in those, trust me, but pants cut for a man will make sure you have circulation in your.... umm... Undercarriage... so to speak."

Gage could already feel the tingling start when Roberto grabbed his hand, but it spread much faster after his comments about Gage's parts. He didn't even have time to say anything before smoke covered his body and Heather came out.

Even if Roberto didn't notice the smoke, he would definitely notice the change from Gage's big and soft hands to Heather's tiny and rough hands. "Aw, ****," Heather simply said, completely knowing what was going on.

Roberto stopped and turned as he felt the change in the hands. He placed his hand on his popped hip with a sigh.
"Welp change in plans, I guess we will go shopping for you first," Roberto said looking at her with his eyebrow raised.
"Unless you are too good for my money and fashion sense?"

Heather laughed at Roberto's casualness of the change. He adapted faster than anyone she had ever met—outside of her own family, that is.

"You'd be **** stupid if you think I wouldn't take your money," Heather replied, smirking. She liked this man more than most people. Plus, she figured that if he and Gage were already making googly eyes at each other, she might have to get used to him.

So she turned back towards where Gage was heading before and started walking. She knew where he had wanted to go and had no desire to change that location.

"You never know with the crazy women like you," Roberto said as he followed Heather to whatever store she was leading them to. He really hoped it was a half decent store and not like a discount  shop with everything out of season and pit stains.
"Are we close?"

"But you're paying for this ******* crazy lady's clothes!" Heather replied back to Roberto's first comment. "And it should be another five minutes or so. Why, your **** feet getting sore?"

She looked around as she walked, hoping to spot some commotion. To her disappointment, there was none.

"I can see someone is PMSing," Roberto said with a snap of his fingers. He flipped some of his hair over his shoulder dramatically as they made their way closer to the shop. The town didn't seem as big as it was when he had first arived.

His **** hair is too perfect, thought Heather. That, however, was something she'd never say out loud.

"Trust me boy, if I was PMSing, you would know," she replied somewhat seriously. It was the one week in a month she had almost total control and about the only time she didn't want that control. While it barely made her any *****ier, it sure did make her stomach hurt.

"You got any ******** than you already are, you would sprout horns and cloven hooves," Roberto said with a bit of a chuckle.
"Okay, we should be close," He said as he looked around at the shops.

"But I would still look gorgeous," Heather replied airily. Knowing exactly where she was going, she walked up to a store. It had a nice storefront—not too fancy, but definitely not poor. She opened the door, swung her arm to the side, and said, "Ladies first!" Then she put on that fake smile of hers.

"Well babe, I might be fabulous but I am no lady. I mean, if you don't believe me I could prove it. I am sure that that would shut you up for a while," Roberto spoke, gesturing for her to walk into the store before him with his arm.

Heather scoffed before responding, "Prove it all you like. I've seen my brother's jimmy enough times that I don't even care anymore." She grew up with that awkwardness.

Nonetheless, Heather took up his offer and walked into the store anyway. It was full of clothes of all different styles and quality. Some were hideous, some were beautiful. But it was all fun to try on.

"That is what you say now doll," Roberto said as he walked into the store. He was instantly attracted to the dragon leather. There weren't too many options, there were definitely more where he was from, but it was doable.
"Okay, lets see here," He said as he picked through the different sizes and colors.
"See anything that you like here?" He asked. He would take her opinion, but he was making the final choice because he was buying.

Heather rummaged though some clothes for a few seconds before seeing an outrageously hideous poofy dress. Picking it up, she turned towards Roberto and teased, "This would look ******* great on you 'doll'!" Then she put it down and actually looked where she was supposed to.

"Huh, I suppose this isn't too ******* bad," Heather stated while holding up a black turtle neck. "It would make my boobs look even bigger."

Roberto looked and it and without even another though rejected it.
"No, First off, it's just, eww, second off, you change in that it will be no count, your brother's shoulders would break the seams. Dragon leather doesn't stretch," Roberto said as he brought up a pair of pants. Down both legs ran laces that could be adjusted and depending on the way the light hit the leather made it look like a different color.
"Here, go try this on,"  He said tossing the pair of pants at her.

Heather glared at Roberto as he spoke but put the shirt down nonetheless. He had a point, even if she wouldn't admit it.

She caught the pants and went back into a changing room. The pants were a hassle to get on but once she succeeded, Heather spent a good twenty seconds checking herself out. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Gage and Roberto started dating—the man had a good sense of fashion.

Stepping out from behind the curtain and walking towards Roberto, Heather asked, "Good enough for your **** self?"

"I love your sense of appreciation," Roberto said crossing his arms as he turned from her, going to look for more clothing.

He left her to go change back into her clothing and come join him went she felt like it, he honestly didn't care. He had seen both of them enough to know what cuts and sizes would look good on them. Plus he wanted to get some things that were slightly masculine for gage to wear.

"Awww, thanks *******!" Heather replied in a sweet voice. Then she returned to go change back into her normal clothes.

After she finished, Heather slung the pants over her shoulder and saw that Roberto had occupied himself. So she quietly walked over to him before slapping his ***. "What are you doing, sweetie?" she asked afterwards.

Roberto didn't have to see or hear Heather coming up behind him to know she was coming up behind him. So he was ready for the smack oh his ***, so when it happened, he didn't even jump. Having sensitivities came in handy sometimes, he didn't always have to have a palm to read the future.
"I'm looking for clothing, what are you doing?"

"Getting annoyed by your **** hair," Heather replied. Every time she looked at it, it was just perfect. It bugged her.

"Seeing as you don't care about what I pick out, I figured I'd let you pick my ******* clothes for me." If he was paying, she wasn't planning on arguing this fact. He'd probably have a better sense on clothes for Gage, anyway.

________
(OOC: I realized I never told you this, but you can write out swearwords. I just don't swear myself. But idc about reading them. Just figured I'd let you know in case you cared.)

OOC: I don't really care either way. I just know that some people don' t like them written out, you starred yours out so I just did the same.  It doesn't really matter to me though, what ever makes the other person more comfortable XD

---

"Why is my hair getting on your nerves? Are you jealous that a boy has better hair than you?"Roberto asked, amusement clear in his voice.
Then Roberto pulled a tunic up, looking it over. He knew that both would be able to wear it with no problem so he put it over his growing stack of clothes on his arm.

Heather scoffed as if the idea was impossible. "I hate your hair because it's so ******* long." It was partially true. Long hair on guys did bug her, whether it was perfect or not.

Looking at Roberto's arm, she added, "Is your lady arm going to be strong enough to hold all of those clothes?"

"As I told you before, I might enjoy fucking guys, but I am no girl. I have muscle for one, plenty of it, I'm sure if me and your brother get serious you will get to see all of my muscles," Roberto said laughing.
He then turned to the front of the shop, "Okay, I'm done here, lets go pay and off to the next shop sugar tits."

"Oh, yes," Heather started with a wide grin. "Keep talking like that and you're never going to get Gage back. He'll just stay hiding in my head, embarrassed as ****."

Then she scrunched her eyebrows together and her smile went away after a moment of thought. "But I am NOT going to be staying awake if something like that happens," she mumbled, following Roberto. Eyeing the clothes on his arm, her smile returned. Free clothes would make her happy any day, any time.

"If he hears something enough it will stop embarrassing him, have you ever thought that is what I was trying to do? I don't want to be in an intimate moment and you pop out," Roberto said before walking up to the cashier. He payed for the clothes not seeming to even pay attention to heather at all. Then he turned to leave, looking at her as he held the door open.
"Lead the way to the next shop," He said raising his eyebrows.
"I don't think you can sleep forever," Roberto added softly with a chuckle.

Heather eyed Roberto suspiciously. Then a tone matching her expression came out as she said, "Either you're serious about Gage or you're a manwhore." She exited the shop and continued walking down the street, same direction as before.

In a more threatening voice, Heather added, "If it's the first one... well, whatever. But if it's the second one and you hurt him in any way, I'm going to break every **** bone in your ******* gay body."

"I am not afraid of you sugar tits, even if I was meaning to hurt Gage," Roberto said as he followed the woman down the street.
"Oh and by the way, I prefer ******* flamboyantly fabulous body, bitch."

"In your dreams," Heather scoffed. Then she stopped walking and turned towards Roberto. "Shall we stop by my house first? Then you can drop off those clothes. Not that I care that you're carrying them. I just don't want them to get ******* stolen."

She didn't worry about backing up her threat. If he did something to Gage, she would deal with it then. And Roberto would not get away happy.

"Is your house close? I don't want to have to walk another mile to just set down bags. I am honestly not worries about getting robbed, I might be flamboyant but honey I can handle myself," Roberto said, his voice full of attitude and his head bobbing slightly as he snapped his fingers.

"It's twenty **** minutes away," Heather replied, starting to walk again. The next shop she was going to was on the way to their house, anyway. So there wasn't any harm in going that direction.

With a wicked smile on her face, Heather added, "Think about it this way. Spend twenty minutes with my ******* amazing self, and you'll be in a nice, private house with a good sized bed. If you can get Gage to come out, he's got to stay out for a while. It's one of the **** rules of our transformation." She laughed.  Gage would be so embarrassed at what she was implying, and she didn't give a ****.

While she didn't actually care that much about stopping by her house, she was more curios if saying that would get Roberto to go. Plus, she loved to tease Gage in her spare time.

"I'm not to worried about getting Gage in the sack this soon you wench, you see, I am a gentleman and that is something you just don't do on the first date, I am not sure if you would understand that concept," Roberto spoke, his words quiet, but harsh.

After Roberto stopped talking, Heather burst out laughing. "I like you!" she exclaimed. She was right the day before when she decided he was unpredictable. Here he was, talking about how he wanted to get 'intimate' with her brother one second, and then saying that it would be ungentlemanly to do so the next second.

"Well, it will be good if you like me, it will make courting your brother a much more pleasant experience for all of us won't it," Roberto said with a smile as they made their way to the next shop, hopefully a shop for Mens clothing.

---

Intamancy and doing the grown up is two different things XD

Oh yes they are, but not in Heather's little dirty mind!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Heather laughed at Roberto. "I'm not sure 'pleasant' is the right **** word." Now she could tease him whenever she wanted. "But as long as you keep ******* buying me clothes, I promise I won't make you miserable."

"Bitch, I don't think you could make me miserable even if you tried. Now sugar tits, lets hurry up, we have a lot of clothes to buy and not a lot of time to buy them!" Roberto exclaimed with a dramatic hand gesture as he picked up the pace towards the next shop.

Heather actually listened to Roberto and picked up her pace. After all, she did have to make it back in time to the bar to open it.

"I could make your and Gage's relationship miserable... whether or not that makes you miserable is unknown, I guess," she responded. Heather knew so many ways to ruin Gage's life. Luckily for him, she usually avoided using them.

"If I am here all the time do you think I would let you make Gage miserable?" Roberto asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Plus, I will repo your clothing if you are mean to Gage," Roberto added as he turned to the next store, not even waiting for Heather as he entered and automatically started shopping.

He had her there, but Heather wouldn't admit it. "Oh, I have my ways. And my places to hide clothes," she replied, matter of factly.

She followed him into the store and found a chair to sit on, watching as he shopped. Why do the work when he would do it for her?

Roberto laughed at her reply. She was funny, he was gay, we knew every place she could or would hide clothes because he himself had probably done it at one point, especially because of how fashionably fabulous he was.
He also didn't care that she was riding the bench in the shopping spree, he was mainly shopping for Gage at that store anyway.

With a sigh, Heather rested her chin on her hand. She was getting really bored. After all, there was no shopping to be done and Roberto had stopped talking. With her eyes wide, she realized she would have to change that. If she was bored, then Gage would return. Which meant no more shopping for her.

"So..." Heather started. "Why are you in this **** town, anyway?"

"Why not?" Roberto said as he pulled out a pair of slacks, looking at them for a long time before shaking his head and putting them back.
"I am here but I wanted to see all that I could before I got too old that I couldn't," H added, still not seeming very interested in his as he picked through clothes.

"Ugh," Heather groaned. "Don't you have any interesting stories?" She looked around the store. It was almost empty and nothing exciting was happening. Even the shopkeeper looked bored out of her mind. And she wasn't pretty enough to keep Heather distracted.

Roberto smiled, he knew what he was doing. If the girl got bored Gage could come out, and that is what he wanted. He wanted to spend time with the man he was interested in. Plus he wanted Gage to try on a few of the pants that he had picked out.

And now he was ignoring her. Great.

Heather didn't even want to be in control anymore. She'd let Gage do what he wanted until something interesting finally happened. Sighing again, she knew he would come out any second. Her emotions were at rock bottom and his had to be at least somewhat high up, considering his interest in Roberto.

Feeling the tingling sensation on her toes and fingers, Heather bluntly stated, "See you later, deary." Smoke covered her body and when it was gone Gage was back in control. He had slept most of the time that Heather was in control—after all, he stayed up all night—so he didn't catch most of the conversations that had happened between them.

Not knowing what else to do, Gage lamely said, "Hey." He was happy to be able to spend real time with Roberto again, so a smile grew on his face.

Roberto looked up, a dazzling smile on his face.
"Well hello there handsome, welcome back," He said before walking to him.
"Okay. I have some pants for you to try on. Here, I will wait outside," He said, handing the clothes to Gage with a bright smile.

Gage smiled even more when Roberto called him handsome, and managed to keep his blushing to the minimum.

Standing up, Gage accepted the pants and went to go change. After trying on the first pair, he knew that Roberto had a lot more comfortability sense than Heather did. And the pants still looked nice.

Walking out of the changing booth, Gage shyly asked, "How do these look?" In his opinion, they looked quite nice. But he still wanted another opinion... especially Roberto's.

Roberto looked him over and smiled, seemingly pleased with his work.
"Yep, that is definitely the cut for your body shape, and they will look good enough on Heather as well if you happen to change into her while you are wearing these," He said, winking at Gage. He placed his hands on his hips smirking.
"I think they make you ass look fabulous with out being so tight they cut off circulation."

"Th-thanks," Gage murmured before quickly turning around and going back into the changing room. How Roberto could say things like that and not be embarrassed was a complete mystery to him.

Gage started to change his pants, Roberto's words still echoing in his head. And that wink of his... that wink was just so great. While Gage might be used to girls flirting with him all the time, he didn't care about that at all. He would just smile respectfully at them and sometimes laugh. It never ruined his focus like Roberto's flirting did.

With a deep breath, Gage exited the changing area again dressed in the second pair of pants. This time he didn't even bother with saying anything. He knew Roberto would comment anyway.

Roberto crossed his arms as he saw the next part of pants.
"Hrmmm, well, you still look good in them but they can't be comfortable, the crotch of the pants are way too high," He said with a gentle smile. He didn't want to insult Gage, that was the last thing on his mind, but the pants didn't fit right.
"Okay, try on the next pair."

Looking down to the area at question, Gage merely shrugged and went back in. It was still more comfortable than half the things Heather had him wear.

The next pair of pants he tried on, however, were incredibly comfortable. It felt like it fit well and the fabric was nice and soft. So he exited the changing area again.

Roberto clapped excitedly.
"Those are definitely your pants, it looks like they were made for your body!" He spoke, his voice going up a partial octive in excitement.
"Now try these shirts on, I want to know what fabrics and cut and colors you like," Roberto said as he handed Gage a rather large stack of different tops, ranging from different leathers and partial armored shirts to silk vests and loose cloth shrits.

Gage smiled shyly as Roberto responded so positively to the pants. Accepting the large pile of shirts, he wondered if they'd get back to open the shop in time. Well, it wasn't like any customers came in so early anyway.

He carefully walked back into the changing room, making sure he didn't drop anything on the floor. After changing back into his own pants, Gage rummaged through the pile of shirts to find one that was more his style... and that Heather wouldn't hate.

The first one he tried on was a forest green silk vest covering a long sleeve cloth shirt. He headed towards Roberto and asked, "How's this?"

"Well, I am sure you would look better with out the shirt underneath, but I understand you must think of Heather when you pick out clothes, of course I am sure she could pull off just a vest as well, I am sure you would get more customers as well," Roberto said with a warm laughter, his eyes squinting slightly.

"It looks good though. You can pick through the closes, you don't have to show me all of them that you like, I trust your fashion opinion enough to pick out shirts from that pile for yourself," Roberto added with a wink.

The more Roberto spoke, the more Gage's blush spread against his face. It was just a light pinkness, but it was there. That being said, he did wonder if it would be better to be without the white shirt. It wasn't as if he was necessarily bad looking (in fact, he had quite a bit of muscle) and Heather wouldn't mind it at all. The days in which he could go into public shirtless to embarrass Heather no longer existed... plus, she used to go out in dresses to counter that tactic. He was starting to wonder if he should just do drag.

Gage simply smiled at Roberto before returning back into the changing room to try on more clothes. He did so for a little while before picking out his favorites (which included the vest). Then he left the changing room, put the clothes he didn't want on a pile forming of other random clothes, and went straight to the counter to pay. He did this all without saying a thing to Roberto, believing that the man would pay for him if he did.

Roberto was already at the counter waiting for Gage.
"I had a feeling you would sneak your way over here," Roberto said with a bright warm smile.

---

Sorry for the long delay.

"And apparently I did a bad job," replied Gage, returning the smile. "But seeing as these are clothes for me, I do believe it is my duty to pay." He reached and grabbed some money, before realizing that he didn't actually know how much the clothes were.

___________________________
OOC: S'all good! :)

"And I said that I was going to pay yesterday, and if I am anything, I am a man of my word," Roberto said with a gentle smile. He looked at the pile of clothes, doing a bit of mental math before handing the shop owner a few coins out of his coin purse.
"There, that should cover it," He said, flashing one of his dazzling heart throb smiles at the woman.

Roberto managed to pay before Gage had even figured out the math. He debated giving Roberto the money anyway, but realized chances were slim to none that he wouldn't accept it. So he'd have to repay him a different way.

"Do you want to do more shopping, or would you like to go out for breakfast?" asked Gage, kindly but hesitantly. He didn't want to overstep his boundaries... then again, Roberto had called it a date. His face grew a little pink, remembering that he was on a date with this ridiculously attractive man.

"Which would you prefer?" Roberto asked as he grabbed the bags from the woman whom he had paid.
"I am not much on breakfast, but if you are getting hungry I wouldn't mind a some porridge" He added as he turned to face Gage.

"If you're not hungry, then lets just shop more! I'll just eat when I return to work," explained Gage. In truth, he was getting a little hungry. He hadn't eaten the night before out of excitement, but he wasn't going to tell Roberto that.

"How about you choose the next place, though. I know you've never been here before, but maybe it'll be fun to walk around and give you a sense of the town." Gage knew he liked walking more than most people but was hoping Roberto would be up for some casual wandering. Not only would that make his companion spend less money, but it would also give them more time to talk.

Roberto smiled as he lead the way out of the shop. Then the pain hit him, a lurching in his chest like someone was pulling on his heart. He dropped the bags as he lurched forward, grabbing at his chest. He felt a chill run up his spine then a burning sensation run down his arms.
He looked up at Gage, but only for a moment as he felt the crunching and burning of the curse run through his body.

Gage gasped as his date collapsed. It looked like he was... well, he didn't know. But it looked painful. And Gage couldn't think. He didn't know what to do, but he wanted to help. His mind was frantic and frantic and frantic and then it was calm.

Or, rather, he was no longer in control.

Heather glanced down at the withering figure of Roberto and immediately took action. She might pretend to not like the man, but she'd even help someone she hated. Well, maybe.

Her first instinct was to give him some compressions. After all, he looked like he was having a heart attack. But he was obviously still conscious... and breathing. So she did the next thing that came to her mind.

She located the nearest water source (which happened to be a nearby water pump) and pulled the water towards her. And then she dropped its cold substance onto Roberto. Hopefully it would do something. After all, how could she make fun of him if he died?

Roberto looked up when the water hit him, his eyes now different, as if he was changing. Changing into what was the question. His teeth were changing, turning more jagged. He looked like he was changing into some beast.

His eyes though, while still different gave a clear message, one of fear, and one of sorrow.
He had no choice. He turned and fled away from the scene, not knowing what he would end up doing once the change was complete.

He was changing.

Heather wasn't sure into what, but he was definitely changing.

And then he was running.

With a wide smile despite the pain that Roberto seemed to be in (or perhaps because of it), Heather chased after him. This was the most exciting thing that had happened to her in a while. Actually, he was the most exciting thing that had happened to her in a while. It had been quite some time since Gage had crushed on someone. And that someone was some sort of transformer? Yeah, no way she was letting him get away.

So she ran. And she ran fast. Heather and Gage both somehow managed to stay quite fit. Gage, from working out alone at night. Heather, from fighting with customers. Either way, it worked. She was able to keep up with him... or at least follow him closely enough to not loose track of where he was heading.

Roberto turned on his heels once in the woods, facing Heather, starting to look much more beastly than before. The shape of his head was changing and his form and posture were changing as well. Bones seemed to be growing, retracting, moving and morphing beneath his skin.

"Run you idiot, I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to hurt Gage, just run, please," Roberto started to plead as his teeth and mouth began to look more canine than human.

Heather scrunched up her nose at Roberto's changing figure as she critiqued, "I hate to break it to you honey, but that ain't pretty." She made sure to keep her distance as she slowed to a stop. "And let's be honest—I doubt you care much about hurting me. Gage? Maybe. Me? Nah."

She smiled wickedly and added, "You can't hurt me, anyway. Don't doubt my powers." Heather's smile became softer and even a little gentle as she continued, "However, I get the feeling that neither Gage nor I will want to watch whatever happens next. Nor do you want us to witness it. So being the lovely ***** that I am, I will leave you be. But you have to promise me two things: one, don't murder anyone; two, come back for dinner or, if you're still transformed tonight, breakfast. Deal?"

"No promises for the first one, and for the second one, whenever this ends I'll be back" He screamed in pain. He turned his back on them as the transformation continued. The longer it took the uglier it got until he was con=mpletey transformed into a hideous beast.

Heather looked at him unimpressed and sighed. "For the love of the devil, now I can't leave. Couldn't you have just ******* lied and said that no one would die? Then at least I could have a clean conscious if something did happen."

She sighed again in frustration and asked, "Can you at least understand me? Or speak?" His figure was so distorted that she doubted he could do either. But asking never hurt.

The beast turned to Heather, appearing to be some mix of a bear and a wolf. Roberto was no where in the beast's eyes, it was all animal. It leaned down, its muscles tight, ready to lunge at Heather. A low deep growl started to rumble from its chest as it watched Heather.

"I shall take that as a no," she replied indignantly while watching him with careful eyes. If it wasn't for her magic, Heather would be long gone. Or at least up a tree or with some sort of giant branch to defend herself with. But if he lunged at her, she planned on simply levitating.

Well, simply wasn't the right word. Using her magic for small things was simple enough—but something with as much force and energy like a beast would take a lot of power. Even still, Heather wasn't mean enough to let an uncontrollable monster feast on the flesh of the other villagers. So she stood her ground and glared at the creature straight into his eyes.

The beast lunged at Heather, teeth and claws showing, ready to dig into her

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OOC: Sorry for the short postie

OOC: No worries!

IC:

Heather cursed under her breath as she maintained eye contact with the beast lunging towards her. He made it about half the distance before suddenly jerking to a stop and dangling in the air. Her cursing continued as she raised her hands up towards him, giving her magic more focus and strength.

The beast struggled in the air, swishing, clawing, nipping and biting the air. A dark smoke like fog began to slowly roll from him, falling to the ground and towards Heather. 

Heather took one glance at the smoke and then muttered, "Well I'm sure as **** that isn't good." She quickly tossed a stick through the smoke with her mind, but it came out unscathed and alive. At least it wasn't mystical fog that burned things into ashes.

But that didn't mean it was safe. Heather started walking backwards as quickly as she could which, with most of her focus was on the beast, wasn't very fast. She knew that she'd soon have to decide whether the fog or the changed Roberto was more dangerous, but she was trying to delay that decision for as long as possible.

The smoke continued to spread and the beast continued to claw bite and growl, eyes locked on Heather like she was a giant T-bone steak.

Heather glanced back down at the smoke, weighing her options. Either she could let it touch her and see what happened, or she could let the beast free—potentially still with the smoke wandering loose—and be mauled by the creature. Even Heather, who had full confidence in her strength, wasn't sure how long she'd be able to grapple with a beast like that.

So she took the risk and kept the beast in the air as she smoke started to touch her.

As the smoke slowly wandered about, spreading from its source, the beast it grew darker, thicker. When it touched Heather she would see an odd sight indeed. The smoke would feel cold, cold as ice, and if she had any feel for her magic, she would feel it start to drain, like someone pulling the plug in a bathtub.

The cold grip of the smoke did little to surprise Heather compared to the shock she had at the magic draining properties of it. It felt as if her very life was being sapped away which, by some properties, it was. She immediately knew that she had chosen the wrong option—that she should have ran away, and as fast as she could at that.

Just holding up the quickly strengthening beast was enough of a magical strain, but the smoke was diminishing her powers at a rapid rate. She let go of her mental grasp of the creature, using all the strength she could muster to push it away from her. Then she turned to run from the smoke, the beast, and the unknown, but it was already too late.

She only made it a few steps before her legs gave away and she collapsed.

The moment her grip on the beast dissipated so did the smoke. It didn't matter though because within moments the beast was upon Heather. Just before taking a big bite out of her it stopped. Flashes of Roberto crossed the beast's features. He was fighting it, struggling with it. Keeping it from eating Heather, at least in that moment.

As Roberto was fighting his inner beast, Heather was busy, well, trying to stay Heather. With most of her magic drained, a phenomenon occurred: she kept rapidly changing between herself and Gage. Their magic was running rampant, making the area around their body all smoky.

While they were both struggling (and failing) to get away from Roberto, they both were also trying to supress something deep inside of them that was yearning to come out and play.

The beast would start to lunge then pull itself back, making it look odd as it quickly rocked back and forth. One second wanting to kill the twins the next pulling back trying to go the other way.

Gage, temporarily in control, took a few deep breaths as he leaned against a nearby tree. Trying to run would be pointless and, he realized, would only worsen their situation. He had to remain as calm as possible.

Heather then resumed control and, also knowing that she had to remain as calm as possible, started letting out a string of vulgar words. Deep breaths just didn't cut it for her and she needed something to vent all of her emotion into.

With Gage and Heather out of the way the beast was free to do what it willed, plus, since Roberto only had the connect with Gage and Heather, it was the only ones he would save.
He slowly made his way to town, planing to have a human feast.

"Get back here you ******* monster!" Heather screamed at the top of her lungs. "******* get back here so I can beat the **** out of you! **** **** ******* ******!" She paused and bit her lip, trying to stay focused. "If you destroy my ******* shop that I just ******* opened, I promise you that you shall never see the light of the **** day again. Or my ******* brother!"

Her words didn't seem to matter to the beast as it made its way to the town with some haste, its chance to cause havoc wouldn't last forever.

Heather swore under her breath and started to run as quickly as she could towards the beast. With her drained energy and still hazy feel, she knew she would be able to make it to him quickly enough. She fell to her knees and lifted up her hand, trying to use the last of her power to somehow trap him in a tree or something. Anything.

But she barely had enough power to lift him off the ground and once she did that, her power vanished alongside the rest of her willpower. The rapid fire transformations started happening again, but this time much more quickly.

The white fog that surrounded the transformations started turning into a dark, charcoal black and grew thick and heavy in feel. Walking through it would feel like walking through a marsh. A figure—neither Gage nor Heather—laid in the middle of the fog, just starting to wake up.

The beast stopped, a pained look starting to spread across its face as it started to look more and more like Roberto again.
Slowly the beast turned into Roberto, the pain of the turn leaving him in a heap on the ground. He was trying to get up but his body was refusing, he had to know that Heather and Gage were okay.

An androgynous figure rose from the with a wicked laugh. "Lovely!" it screamed with madman eyes. "Simply lovely!" The person had had black hair that was shaved on one side and grown layered to about its shoulders. Red eyes pierced through its near white complexion and looked directly at the struggling Roberto.

It took a few scattered breaths and started walking towards Roberto before cooly asking, "What shall we do with you, handsome? Kill you? Rip that beautiful hair off of your head before prying those eyes out?" Its eyes looked straight up at the sky before they fluttered down. "Oooooo you're special." He kept walking closer, but started to slow down. "Special youuuu... Roberto is it? What to do... what to do... ooooo this is going to be such a thrill."

Roberto managed to prop himself up on one elbow, looking at the thing.
"Wh... What are you," he struggled to ask, still pained from the transition.

"What am I?" it repeated with a hallow laugh. "Is it not obvious, my friend? Come on, have at it! Take a wild guess. I'll only kill you if you're wrong." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "No no no no no NO! Fine. Fine fine fine." He opened his eyes. "I'll give you three chances. But no more, got it?"

"You are the beast that Heather and Gage hold inside, like I have the beast that I hold inside," Roberto spoke looking up at the thing.

It laughed again and all the black mist blew into the sky, disappearing. Leaning forward, it said, "Nope. Rather, they're what I hold inside. But that doesn't tell you what I am. Guess two?"

"You give me no hints, so your question would be like me asking you to guess what's in my pocket," Roberto replied.

"No hints? Look at me! Isn't that hint enough? It's not like I'm a ******* angel or anything." It paused and then started walking towards Roberto again. It reached behind its back and into the black cloak only to pull out a long, thin sword with strange, glowing symbols written up the side. "Fine, here is another hint."

Roberto slowly stood, crossing his arms.
"How am I suppose to know, I don't know them well enough to know their dark secret, what are you trying to say? You are the devil or something, I am sorry, I have seen someone who is much more intimidating then yourself," Roberto replied, not backing down.

It cocked one eyebrow and responded, "The devil? Hardly. Think the opposite of that... though, actually, devil isn't horribly far off in the big picture." Its gloved hand reached out the sword for Roberto to take, now that they were close enough. "Dare to touch it? It might burn you."

"So you are saying you are a god or angel of sorts?" Roberto asked as he reached out to touch the sword, not fearing. He found, that your belief in an object is what gave something its power, or your fear in something.

"Oh for the death of me, I already said I wasn't an angel. You're brave, but foolish. No wonder those petties like you," it scoffed before letting go of the sword. "But you're lucky they like you. They're putting up quite the fight—both of them, too. I'll overlook that guess, then. The sword isn't hurting you, anyway. Pity. I could have used an excuse to kill you."

"Why would the sword have hurt me?" Roberto asked as he looked closely at the sword.

"Never know what foul blood taints people," it responded, not wanting to give away anything new. "But you're just delaying now. Probably hoping I'll slip up. What's your last guess, fool?"

Roberto smiled, closing his eyes, thinking maybe a peek into this things future would give him a little peek at what he was.
"You are a slayer of some sorts, your sword, its holy isn't it, so you probably kill demons," Roberto said with a smirk as he opened his eyes.
"Though, you are not so holy yourself are you?" Roberto asked.

"I'm about as holy as your friends are real!" it replied with an overbearing laugh that didn't end for a solid minute. Then it put its face up close to Roberto's, poked him in the chest, and said, "But you don't get to know what that means. A deal is a deal, though. You get to live. And now I'm bored—but I guess I'll give you a little toy present. Goodbye!"

Black smoke (though it gradually lightened to white) enveloped its body. The demon slayer vanished, leaving Gage's limp body in its place. He quickly collapsed to the ground, completely knocked out.

Roberto found it very weird to see Gage asleep, so limp, so helpless.
He leaned down, picking Gage up. He was still weak, it took effort, but he carried Gage to the bar, not knowing where Gage lived. He closed the door, lit a few candles so it wasn't so dark and waited for Gage to wake up.

Gage woke up with a start, quickly sitting up before the blood rushed to his head. He fell down and hit his head on the ground with a moan. "What happened?" he asked inquisitively the second he spotted Roberto. "For both of us? Did anyone die? Get hurt? He didn't kill you, so that's good. But how about others? Do we need to run from this town?"

"Nothing happened, no one saw either of use, you're fine, I'm fine, you are in the bar," Roberto replied as h walked behind the bar pouring himself a strong drink.

Gage shook his head slowly. "No... that can't be right. Someone always gets hurt." He paused, "Well, almost always. That guy... that demon... he's very temperamental. Unpredictable. Impossible to control—for both Heather and I. Please, won't you tell me exactly what happened?" Gage looked at Roberto with pleading eyes while he sat up carefully.

"He poofed out, he gave me a bit of a riddle, I touched his sword, it didn't hurt me, that is about it," Roberto replied with a bit of a shrug.

Gage looked at Roberto with disbelief. "That's it? Wow, you must have really entertained him... well, at least I know you're not a demon now. The sword is holy and burns the skin demons. That's why he has to wear that glove." He paused before curiously asking, "What was the riddle?"

"He asked me what he was," Roberto replied simply.
"Unfortunetly for him I am pretty good at riddles, especially when so personal," He added with a laugh as he started to take a swig of a strong liquor.

Gage laughed alongside Roberto and responded, "Give me some of that liquor, will you?" He paused. "Wait, that's my liquor anyway. Nice. Well, I guess you deserve it, having dealt with that lovely guy. How'd you guess it, anyway?"

Roberto put the top on the bottle and tossed it to Gage.
"Lets just say I have a bit of a knack  for it," Roberto replied, not too eager to share all with Gage just yet. He tended to keep that part of himself secret unless he was in reading booths or desperate for money, something he rarely was.

Gage caught the bottle, removed the top, and took a sip. He was tempted to push and figure out Roberto's real reason, since he knew it had to be more than a 'knack'. "How much did you figure out?" he finally asked after a few moments of silence.

"Enough so I didn't have to fight him, and that is all that I care about. What I want to know is how you and Heather are connected to him," Roberto said sitting down, leaning heavily back in the chair.
"If I am going to be around you I deserve to know."

Gage smiled at Roberto. "You're annoying Heather, you know. I promise you that much. Hmm... I can even guess what she wants to say. 'If you're going to be around our bleeping selves, we deserve to bleeping know what you know about that bleeping bleeping bleeping demon.' Sometimes I think she hates him more than I do. Or it, if I'm really going to be accurate."

"Well It is my life at risk if I am around you, not yours considering you go poof when he is around," Roberto replied as he reached back to his own neck, rubbing it gently.
"I really hope you changing doesn't feel anything like me changing," He said frowning for a second.

"Hey now," Gage said while raising his hands in mock defense. "I'm not Heather." He was tempted to point out that his and Heather's life were in danger first due to Roberto's own transformation, but resisted the urge in fear it might make him mad. Having a beast you couldn't control was a scary thing.

"And I doubt it does. You looked like you were in more pain than someone who was having hot lava poured all over their body... transforming into him doesn't hurt in the least, it's just frightening."

"I have never had hot lava poured over me, but yes, it is extremely painful," Roberto spoke softly looking down.
"Tell me more about this demon, and how you are connect with him other than sharing a body?"

Gage looked at Roberto with sad eyes. "You really want to know, don't you?" he asked solemnly before sighing and taking another sip from the beer. "Heather is going to be so mad that I told you... well, she's probably still asleep right now. That transformation seems to take more out of her than it does out of me."

He paused and took a deep breath. "Well, since I don't know what you know, I guess I'll just say what's important. That guy—well, might as well start there. He isn't really a guy or a girl. He's just a being... but it's easier to refer to him as a guy. He's a demon hunter. And, as you probably guessed, also a demon."

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OOC: I'll write this story in small chunks so Roberto can cut in if he wants to. :3 But let me know if you want me to add more at any point!

"The whole glove thing when holding that sword, seems a bit hypocritical to me but continue," Roberto replied with a sigh.

Gage chuckled and shook his head, "Well, that's where it gets complicated. I mean, obviously he needs that glove to keep his own demonic self safe. But he wasn't always a demon. Just a hunter. One of the demons got the best of him, though... slowly started poisoning and placing itself into him. Eventually he realized that he wouldn't be able to escape from it.

"He used the last of his magic to create Heather and I. We're made to be the buffer... the thing that keeps his demon from coming out. The unpredictable demon. Even now, Heather and I like to believe that the original man is still somewhere in us. But we don't know. And we probably never will."

"I am sure he is, the demon checked me to make sure I wasn't a demon, maybe it was the mans way of keeping you two safe?" Roberto spoke, half question, half statement. He then went to get him more alcohol. The more he thought about his little wolf, beast transformation, them more he wanted to get drunk.

Gage shook his head slowly. "I don't think so... he still claims to be a demon hunter. I don't know why. And he still kills the demons... but over time, I guess I've started to think that it's just his instinct. That it's something that was so deeply ingrained into the man's being that it transferred over to this demon. That, or he just likes the attention and confusion he gets from being both a demon and a demon hunter."

Taking another sip from the bottle, he continued, "He likes to be entertained. More than anything else. Killing, unfortunately, seems to be his primary form of entertainment. That's why I assumed someone must have died. I still think it's a miracle that you didn't."

"I don't know, a persons spirit is a hard thing to squish. Especially someone as strong willed as he had to be. I wouldn't be surprised if he is somewhere down there, even having some influence when the demon is out in the open.

Then Roberto laughed.
"You clearly haven't been around me long enough to realize I am have a way of some how managing to make it out of situations that should probably kill me."

Gage smiled weakly back at Roberto. He wasn't so quick to believe the whole spirit thing... years of the curse had worn down his own belief. But the conversation seemed to be moving on, and Gage had no plans on stopping that.

"So do I get to know about you, then? I'm pretty sure that situation was fairly deadly for myself, as well."

Roberto looked down with a sigh. He wasn't exactly pleased with himself.
"I am sorry, I should have told you but, I didn't think that it would come out and I," Roberto sighed again.
"Well I didn't know how to tell you," He added slowly before peeking through his thick dark lashes,

Gage stared at Roberto, suddenly wanting to be completely done with the topic altogether. They probably did need to speak about it, but he wasn't in the right spirit. And Roberto just looked so... sad.

Shaking his head, he replied, "You know what, let's just forget about this for now. You know what sounds good? Getting drunk." And with that, he got both of them some strong ale.