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[laserhawk]

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[likemybooks]

[His gait slows.]

You mean, go on a picnic? I've done that with friends before. [He says in the hopes that will satisfy Dolph's curiosity and they can move on.]

[laserhawk]

[ hmmm. ]

I meant go on a date with a man.

[likemybooks]

[Taryon thinks of how to best answer it. Picnic dates? No. Talking to men? Yes. Dating is a vague concept compared to those things.]

Define "date".

[laserhawk]

[ buddy. ]

So, no then?

[likemybooks]

[His arms lock in place.] I'm not romantically inexperienced! It's just...we were friends first, and it doesn't count as dating if you're not going out somewhere together.

[laserhawk]

I didn't say you were.

[ guess he's worried about it. dolph can understand that. he remembers how stressed out he was. trying to figure out being gay, living as a gay person, having a relationship.

of course, he had alex for all of that. he puts that thought aside. ]

I haven't gone on a lot of dates either. This is my first picnic, for sure.

[likemybooks]

Well. So that makes two of us. [His arms loosen up, and Taryon brushes a few locks of hair that he feared fell out of place. It feels better knowing that Dolph isn't judging him, or that his love life is leagues above Tary's, but he had his own journey in figuring out he was gay and simply interacting with the wider world.]

There weren't a lot of opportunities for me when I was younger.

[laserhawk]

[ he hums. ]

It was the same for me. They didn't want me to . . . show it. In fact, I didn't know you could be gay until much later.

[ the closeted little queer. dolph hates that he still remembers that. ]

[likemybooks]

...Your parents, right? [Exandria in general was accepting of all sexualities and gender identities, but that didn't mean everyone wanted their child to deviate from their expectations.] I...well. I knew that men could like men, but I thought I'd be just like my father, or the characters I read about, and I thought, of course I had to like women.

[He winces. How could he have ever thought that was true?]

So...I get it. A bit. Being sheltered didn't do me a lot of good.

[laserhawk]

[ ah. hm. ]

I wasn't raised by my parents. I was raised by the military as their pet soldier.

[ and "raised" is putting it kindly. far too kindly. ]

They had a certain image with the public. A family friendly image. They didn't want me jeopardizing that.

[likemybooks]

...Oh.

...You know, I'm getting the sense that you grew up in a pretty shitty place. [So the military raised a kid and then put robotics in him?] Like, they thought it would make them look bad? So they could use you to prop themselves up? And that all their plans would go wrong if the wrong people found out you're gay, but they still expected you to follow their commands like you had no right to speak up for yourself?

[His thoughts stray from Dolph's situation and to his own family fiasco.] And then what? You're supposed to be miserable because it will keep the family in good social standing, but it's fine, because...

[He shakes his head.]

Sorry. I'm a bit sensitive.

[laserhawk]

[ dolph manages a dry chuckle. ]

You're close. Shitty doesn't begin to cover it. But that's kind of depressing. We don't have to deal with it.

My point was I get where you're coming from. There's no real right or wrong way. Just . . . be yourself, trite as that sounds.

[likemybooks]

You won't believe how much better my life became after I decided just to be myself. [Hooray for a key character theme that aligned with his embracing his sexuality.] Even if it gets hard. If you ever need to stand up to someone, make sure you have a group of friends that are pretty good at killing things to back you up.

[laserhawk]

Easier said than done. But I'll keep it in mind.

[ not really. dolph's never had a friend or person who didn't stab him in the back. this is the first place he's ever had . . . anything. having a group of friends doesn't feel like a luxury, but a miracle to possess.

it's fine. he's not much of a people person. ]

[likemybooks]

Yeah...you got that right.

[It was a struggle with many near-death moments for Taryon, but he eventually found friends.]

...Let's talk about something lighter. It's a date. We should get to actually know each other.

[laserhawk]

[ hmm. ]

Why don't you start us off?

[likemybooks]

[He goes through a list of things to as a potential romantic partner.]

What are your hobbies? I like to read, fiction and non-fiction, but I have a soft spot for adventure novels. And I come up with stories of my own based on those characters. But other times, I build things in my workshop.

[There. Engineering will counter his nerd hobby. At least he didn't mention his LARPing.]

[laserhawk]

[ hm. this is tricky. dolph runs through the things he's picked up here. ]

I guess I like cooking. Bartending's nice too. And I enjoy a dance now and then, with music.

Hobbies are still a new thing for me.

[likemybooks]

See, those are good ones! I wish I could love cooking enough to do it myself every day.

[A pause.]

What kind of dancing? Not ballroom, I assume?

[laserhawk]

No, just club dancing.

It happens at Club Quartz pretty often.

[likemybooks]

[Taryon feels like this is a stupid question, but:] How does one dance at a club?

[laserhawk]

[ dolph at least doesn't treat it as one. it's a common question he gets here. ]

It's less structured. You move with the flow of the music than having dance steps.

[likemybooks]

Ah. So it's a...moving and grooving with the beat sort of thing? [He does an awkward shuffle that's an approximation of what a shut-in rich boy thinks popular dancing looks like.]

[laserhawk]

[ he smiles faintly. ]

Close to that, yeah.

[likemybooks]

Well, then. A visit to your club during a dance is in order. After whatever is going on goes away.

[They reach a clearing, no longer full of aggressive wildlife or plants.]

This is the spot. [He runs to the middle of the grassy patch and sets the basket down.]