Who am I? Who are you? Are you me? Do you Like Me?[closed]

"Uhh-err-uh....heh?"

Rory's ears stood straight and her tail was stiff. She was trying to figure out if Lao Tzu really was just an outlandish individual who was trying to figure out the things of the western world...or if he was just messing with her...or if he was, perhaps just insane.

'I-I think you're misreading that..." Rory said laughing nervously and snatching the book out of his hands. "Dates are....err...well....let's not call it that, shall we? An...outing would be more appropriate. Also the dates you are referring to are separate from the fruit...so...everyone has the option of liking dates or not...the fruit I mean...gaaaah."

Rory's hands came to the side of her head as she turned around and shook it.

"I don't even know what I'm saying anymore..."

She then turned back to Lao Tzu, her face almost a stronger tone of red than her hair.

"If you really insist...then I guess it would be nice to eat dinner..."

"I see..." Lao Tzu murmured, placing a hand to his chin in thought. "Well then, where would you like to go?"

Rory scratched her head in thought.

"Really anywhere is fine...it doesn't even have to be that fancy..." she said. "Heck, I'd even settle for a steak stand...It's totally up to you. I literally can eat anything...well humanely anything."

"Well in that case..." Lao Tzu trailed off, looking around until his eyes rested on a nearby restaurant. The big letters read IHOM: International House of Meat. "That place looks nice..."

Lao Tzu turns back to Rory and gives her a chivalrous bow while offering her his hand. "Let us dine..."

~~~~

The two find themselves seated at a booth facing each other. Lao Tzu was staring intently at the menu as if it was written in code.

"I have no idea what any of these are," he deadpanned.

Rory leaned over to see whatever it was he was reading on the menu.

"Are you having trouble reading it or you just don't know what the dishes are?" she asked gently. Looking at the menu, she ended up reading out some items that had caught her interest. "Well, most of these are meat cuts and are just seasoned differently and have different sides. Filet mignons are basically beef tenderloin...meat from the back rather than the limbs, so it's really soft. And we have prime ribs here...I'm sure you know what cow ribs are, right? Oh and we have the popular Vale City Strips...they're loin parts that are usually seared in butter..well, whatever you choose they're all pretty good, really. If you're in for something savory, rustic and hearty like me, I'd go for the Cowboy Steak. But if you want something lighter but still full on flavor, you could try the London Broil which is marinated in garlic wine and vinegar...there's a lot to choose from, actually."

She sat back down in her chair.

"Well, thoughts?"

Shen remained silent for a while, squinting his eyes as he looked over the menu as if his glasses needed to be replaced. Then his eyes lit up and his head nodded as if he was confirming with himself. "I'll have this item called 'Sirloin Steak cooked with creamy mushroom sauce'. Now, what would you like? Feel free to pick whatever you like."

Lao Tzu quickly flipped to the front page of the menu. "This seem to be the most expensive items... Strangely though, the special is a whole Honey Roasted Ham with seven links of Cajun sausages filled with cheese cooked to preference. Seems like a rather filling meal..."

Rory's ears twitched at the word "ham". She had been full, really, but the word made her stomach suddenly pang with hunger. Her tail began to wag and she could even smell the sweet, cured meat in her head. Rory liked to keep control of herself. She knew what it meant to keep up appearances because it was what she had to do in her many jobs. A cosplay maid, a saleslady, an event organizer and promoter, a matchmaker...niceties were everything. What Rory should have done was politely say she wanted something cheap, the cowboy steak or a peppered Vale City Strip but instead Rory's eyes got wide like an animal suddenly seeing its pray for the first time. She stood from her chair and slammed her hands on the table, her fangs baring themselves as she opened her mouth to speak.

"I'LL TAKE IT!" she burst out. She looked at Lao Tzu for a reply, her mind no longer really in it's right place and her stomach set on delicious ham. Sweet, delicious, savory ham.

Lao Tzu stared at Rory for a while. Then he turned his head to the side and his cheeks inflated for a moment as if trying to trap in a burst of laughter.

"Well then," Shen said cooly, waving over for a waitress to come over. "We'll order two of this honey roasted ham special... and one steak with mushrooms."

"And how would you like that prepared?"

"I want rare. As Rare as possible. If you can make it raw while keeping its flavor intact, then raw it is," Rory said at the waitress, her eyes in a fixed trance-like state. She didn't move from her spot and just sort of gawked at the woman, her mouth already slightly salivating and her tail swishing left and right smoothly.

The waitress gave Rory an awkward smile and slowly walked away.

"So I see you like this dish called ham," Lao Tzu commented. It was a rather awkward question. It seemed the foreigner is trying to create conversation but doesn't know how to.

Rory watched the waitress walk away in a stalking manner before sitting down in her seat and smiling as if back to normal at Lao Tzu. Her mouth curved in a pleased, puppy-like manner.

"Yes I do," Rory said brightly. She let out a small, dreamy sigh with a hand over cheek. "It's meat prepared in the most perfect way~"

She hummed for a while before realizing what she was doing and then smiling sheepishly.

"Ham's great, really," she said. "You must have a favorite food, right?"

"Mushrooms and tea," Lau Tzu stated simply. "The poisonous ones have the best flavor."

"P-poisonous?" Rory said with wide eyes. "Do you remove the poisonous part or something? You don't eat the...the poisoned part do you? How would you do that? Wouldn't that, like, kill you?"

Lao Tzu shrugged as he pulled out the pipe to his hookah. "If you take small amounts of poison and steadily increase the dosage, your body eventually builds up a resistance."

Lao Tzu placed the hookah between his lips and took a calming, relaxed inhale.

"Tell me Rory," Lao Tzu murmured, a faint whisp of minty smelling smoke wafting from his mouth, "Do you like fortune telling?"

Rory was looking at the hookah as she listened to his question. She nodded and smiled.

"It's fun to hear my fortune being told every now and then," Rory said. "And there are so many methods. I myself like tarot readings...but I've heard of tea leaves and such..."

Lao Tzu breathed into the hookah pipe for a while before finally removing his lips from it and blowing it all out at once. The cloud of smoke wafted and waved in the air randomly before dispersing.

"I see I great happiness in your future," Lao Tzu stated, staring at the empty space where the smoke was. "Someone close to you... a family member... will face a great ordeal... and I see... an animal... a frowning cat... They seem to be in love... And engaged?"

Lao Tzu bit his lower lip before looking back down at Rory. "Well congratulations. I don't know who this girl is... but she appears to have a happy... proposal coming up. And this cat who frowns seems to love her dearly... and will stay by her side for as long as his life will allow him..."

Rory's expression went from curious to shocked. Her ears were tilting at an awkward angle and her mouth had dropped a bit. She looked at Lao Tzu a while, not sure what to say.

"P-p-proposal?" Rory said, her voice squeaking. And then standing up and slamming her hands down on the table again. "Cheshire's going to propose to Lise!? Are you sure!? Isn't it a bit too soon for that!? I mean, when would it happen? How??"

"The future is unclear. All I can say for certain is this." Then Lao Tzu breathed out small puffs of smoke, each one taking on its own shape. The first two looked like round circles floating next to each other. The next appeared to be a crescent moon lying on its side. All three went to the smoke cloud and looked like a wide, smiling face, before disappearing.

"They are happy," Lao Tzu said simply.

Rory eased down in her seat and smiled, a bit calmer now.

"Well, if they're happy, then I'm happy for them, too," Rory said. "If they really are Cheshire and Lise, then I couldn't imagine a couple more suited for one another. They're terribly in love and they've pushed so many limits to just be together."

Rory looked to the side and sighed a bit, her ears drooping all of a sudden.

"I wish I could find a love like that..."

Lau Tzu stared blankly at Rory for a while. Placing the hookah to his lips again, he was silent for a moment as he smoked the foreign device. Then he let out another puff of smoke, this this the mass slowly growing in the shape of a heart and five letters puffed out of his lips one by one as R-O-R-Y.

"A cheerful, energetic, and cute girl like you will surely find love one day," Lao Tzu stated. "That was not a fortune by the way."

Lao Tzu smoked his hookah idly for awhile, his eyes closed as if deep in thought. Then he opened them and looked at Rory.

"We may not have known each other that long or that well," Lao Tzu said, "But I can already tell what kind of person you are. Determined and stubborn with a strong will. You're willing to go out of your way to help others and although you get emotional easily, in a way that is another charming point... Others rely on you for support... and when you have set your mind to do something, you have the resolve to gradually break down a brick wall with your head."

Shen placed the hookah to his mouth and nodded his head as if confirming with himself. "But, although you put up a strong front, you get shy and nervous easily. At the same time, you have moments where you are so bold... it touches the hearts of others greatly."

Lao Tzu leaned back on his chair and breathed into his hookah once more.

"You are a very charming girl," Lao Tzu said, breathing out another breath of smoke, staring into the cloud and the shapes it shifted to before dissolving. "In fact... you happen to be my type."

Suddenly Lao Tzu's eyes lowered and he stared off to the side with a saddened look on his face. "Yeah... you're the kind of person a man could have had hopeless feelings for..."

Rory's ears had been listening intently though she couldn't bring herself to lifting her face to look at Lao Tzu. Her tail swished left and right and she was playing with the fabric of her skirt. It was hard to tell what she was feeling with her face shaded by the bright red hair that fell over it.

"...Thanks," she said quietly. "Though I would honestly have a hard time believing you."

She sighed as she turned to look at the ground to her left.

"If anyone has hopeless feelings for someone, that would be me..." she muttered. She then lifted her head and forced a smile, waving her hand once again dismissively. "Well, look where our topic drifted off, he he...kind of awkward, huh?"

She laughed sheepishly as she scratched her head, but she soon leaned over and looked at Lao Tzu intently.

"So, you said you were a foreigner, right?' she asked. "What are you doing in a place as busy as Vale? Also, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask where you come from, exactly."

Lau Tzu placed the hookah to his mouth and smoked idly for a while, staring into space, his eyes cast downward in thought. Finally he removed the hookah and blew out a large puff of smoke into the empty space next to their table. The smoke had taken a strange form and it was rather unclear but if one looked hard enough, they'd realize that it had taken the shape of Beacon Academy.

"I'm here to attend Beacon and become a hunter," Lao Tzu stated simply. "I heard of it during my travels. They say those who attend Beacon will gain new beginnings and redemption... I'm hoping the headmaster will allow me to attend despite how late it is in the year. I will try to meet with him tomorrow."

"Beacon?" Rory's ears perked up and her face lit. "Well, hey! I happen to have just started there, too!"

Rory smiled brightly as she titled her head.

"I guess that means will be schoolmates," she said. "I actually started late, too, but hey, I'm sure with fighting skills like those, you'd topple me in classes and fighting any day."

"Now now, you give me too much credit," Lao Tzu stated humbly, crossing his arms under his sleeves.

It was then that the waitress came back, carrying two whole hams, each one surrounded by greasy sausage links like garnish and placed in front of Rory, cooked to a rare so pink it was almost unrecognizable as ham.

A steak covered in mushroom sauce was placed in front of Lao Tzu and the waitress left.

"Eat as much as you like," Lao Tzu said as he picked up his fork and knife.

Rory's expression immediately went from happy to ecstatic.

"Ohmygoshitlookssocutei'mgonnatakeithomewithme!" she exclaimed in rapid fire. She gawked at the ham, her eyes big and wide and dazzled and her gently poking the ham before shrieking in delight. "Hau~it looks so tender!"

She began humming merrily, not really having heard anything Lao Tzu had said. But she looked at him with sparkling eyes and bright red cheeks and smiled with her head titled. She had already grabbed her fork and knife eagerly.

"Thank you very much!" she said in a childish manner. "This is the best thing I've ever been treated to ever!"

Lao Tzu was looking off to the side, his fist raised over his mouth like he was coughing into it. His shoulders were shaking and his eyebrow twitched. One can only imagine how hard it is for him to hold that laughter within himself.

"Enjoy it as you like," he finally managed to muster saying, "and afterwards I'll have another two ordered to go for you to take home."

Rory was tempted to burst out into a giant "YES!" but she didn't and her ears flattened against her head sheepishly as she grinned.

"No, trust me, this is totally enough!" Rory said. "You've done so much already...and all.."

She laughed nervously again.

"So, did you just arrive in Vale? You don't seem that familiar with everything yet, but just wanted to ask."

She was slicing her ham eagerly into fast strips before stabbing it on her fork like a kebab and slipping it into her mouth.