Dango Nakama [Private with Sera]

[Leonard Uaine]

Lennie loved the early semester season - the street markets were bustling, since new students meant the potential for new customers. This, in turn, meant that there were extra special things on offer from the various food stands in the plazas around the city. Things like dango.

Munching happily on one of several sticks in his hands, Lennie scanned the seating area for a place to sit. Finding an open seat at a table where another Faunus was already seated, he headed over and stood next to the open chair.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked her after swallowing his mouthful of dango.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Serenity was lost in people watching until the warmth of the sun was washed away by a shadow. She realized it was actually a person only a second before the man spoke, the only sign of her surprise was the widening of her orange eyes. A little embarrassed at having been caught staring at people, Sera took a moment to assess the individual while she tried to think of what she should say.
Of course, seeing how horrifically tall he was, naturally her first words to him were; "Uhm, can trees talk now?" Before the sentence had even been completed her whole face was turning red from embarrassment "I'm so sorry!" she began babbling as she stood up, almost ckocking her chair over "I meant yes! I mean no, I dont mind... please, sit!" the last two words were almost pleading, a combination of apologetic and embarrassed. Of course, Sera thought bitterly to herself The first time I get to talk to someone outside my classmates, I stick my tail in my mouth.

[Leonard Uaine]

Could trees talk? Now that he thought about it, there was PROBABLY someone out there with a Semblance that let them.

Then the girl stood up, and Lennie realized she’d meant him, judging by how much he towered over her. I mean, sure, he was tall, but she was short even by normal people standards (at least, she probably was? Lennie was rubbish at height-related things).

Laughing at her embarrassed fumbling, he plopped his armfuls of various foodstuffs on the table before pulling out the chair and sitting down. ”Thanks. This place is hella crowded.” Looking over his collection of edible delights, he noticed a problem: no way in HELL could he eat all of it.

”Could you do me a favor?” he asked, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. ”I may or may not have bought waaay too much food. Help me out a little?” He gestured to the small mountain of food, which contained a little of everything from most of the stalls around the plaza - everything from kebabs and fried foods to individually-wrapped confectionaries and even some frozen desserts.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Fortunately for Serenity, she could feel the heat start to lessen on her ears, neck, and face, her embarrassment fading as he didn't take the opportunity to make fun of her. She eyed the armful of food as it was piled upon the table, and raised an eyebrow at his request to assist in its consumption.

With a smirk, she nodded sagely. "Usually, where I'm from you typically try to learn someones name before you feed them." she announced in a serious manner, "My name is Serenity, and I would absolutely love to help the nameless giant at my table eat the food he brought, alas-" she cut off, throwing a dramatic arm across her forehead "I cannot, for it is unwise to consume food offered to you by tall, handsome strangers."

Despite her teasing, she reached out and snagged a pastery covered in a cinnamon glaze, sniffing it cautiously to make sure it was actually cinnamon, she took a bite out of it before adding, as an afterthought and in a faux serious tone, "I assure you, your contributions to Lizardkind will be greatly rewarded in the afterlife."

[Leonard Uaine]

There really was nothing like food to put someone at ease: he even got some light flirting for his trouble."Where I come from, it is wise to offer food to pretty girls as soon as you see them," he said as he cracked open the wrapper on a random confectionary. "That way you have their attention, should someone better-looking than you make an approach of their own." He shot her a wink.

"I'm Lennie," he introduced himself, "and I look forward to reaping the benefits of my beneficence when I arrive in the afterlife."

His chosen sweet turned out to be some kind of chocolate mousse. Nice. "So why'd you enroll at Beacon?" he asked. He had a vague memory of seeing her distinctive hair color in his periphery during matriculation, so he hoped that he'd guessed correctly.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Already reaching for more food before she'd even crammed the last of her pastry into her mouth, Sera offered a close-mouthed grin that almost scrunched her eyes closed- not risking the loss of even one crumb.
She gulped the sweet down and almost choked when he winked. "Please, flattery gets you nowhere, good sir!" Contrary to her words, a blush threatened to crawl up her neck again.

However, he proceeded to introduce himself- not only that, he responded to her little quip so eloquently... she stared at him, slack-jawed for a moment, unblinking. Lennie... who has eyes bigger than his stomach, shares food, and knows words like beneficence.

The Grimm won't be what kills me.

Then, after it seemed like there was no way he could possibly surprise her more, he demonstrated either very good observation or deduction skills. She didn't remember seeing him at Beacon, however, all tall people looked the same for the most part. "My birth parents were hunters," she said honestly, "Didn't know them, but I want to live up to that. And no one is unaffected by Grimm, I want to do a little good in this life." She winced before she spoke again "Forgive me, but are you a student there as well?"

[Leonard Uaine]

Flattery was clearly getting him somewhere, but he was courteous enough to allow Serenity to remain pink rather than turning her into a tomato.

He grinned at her as she confirmed that she went to Beacon. "I'm not that noble," he admitted. "I came to Beacon because being a Huntsman sounded like fun." He shrugged, selecting a puff pastry. "I'd have come sooner if I knew you'd be here." He popped the pastry into his mouth, then thought about what he'd just said. "Actually, that might not have worked out - you wouldn't have come any earlier even if I did." He frowned, thinking. "How does that line make any sense?" he wondered.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Who chose to begin a career of slaying monsters for fun? The answer to that was apparently a ridiculously tall smooth talker. "I've never heard of anyone doing this for fun. Not to say it has fun aspects, but it can get pretty dreary too, I'm sure."

As Lennie began to ramble, she felt a little better about herself and actually giggled at him as he frowned. "I can't say it does, Len- can I call you Len?- unless you'd rather me lie. I dare say this beautifully warm sunshine and copious amounts of sugar are getting to your head!" Sera paused for a moment then asked "Come to Beacon sooner? Now that you mention it, you do carry yourself a bit differently than a lot of..." she drifted off in thought, tail settling into her lap absently as she selected yet another treat, it looked to be a muffin of some sort.

[Leonard Uaine]

"You can call me whatever you want, as long as you're consistent; if you do, though, I get to do the same to you," he warned mysteriously.

He picked up a skewer of grilled meat as she trailed off. "Please, do finish that sentence," he said with a wry smile. Let's see if she can smoothly recover from this. "I'm ever so curious," he added, resting his head on a bridge of interwoven fingers as he leaned forward.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

"The same to me? What does that even mean?" Sera grumbled to herself before nodding "Oookay. Len it is, then."

She promptly busied herself with eating the muffin, the intent of her focus on the food buying her only a couple seconds as he waited on the completion of her sentence. She did not, however, shrink back. In fact, she was so bold as to lean forward and relieve his skewer of a piece. Retaliation complete, she coughed slightly, clearing her throat. "I simply meant that you are... distinguished... I can tell by the salt- and-pepper in your hair." Certainly not the smoothest save, but calling Len old was certainly better than telling him the self-confidence he carried around himself was almost tangible. She was almost certain he didn't need the ego boost and nodded, as if finalizing her statement, and popped the stolen kabob meat in her mouth.

[Leonard Uaine]

"It means that if you want to call me Len, you can do that," he explained. "But I get to call you anything I like, as long as I'm consistent." He gave her another wink as she stole a piece of meat from his skewer.

"I see," he nodded sagely. "You mean to distinguish me from the other new students of the male persuasion by noting the difference between a boy and a man. Is that what you meant... Ŕeni?" he asked, trilling the 'r' slightly to cement the name he'd chosen for her to mirror her choice of name for him. She'd recovered quite well, he would admit. However, her recovery was not so complete that he couldn't derive from her recovery a way to finish her sentence for her in a way that was likely very close to what she'd been about to say.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

As she chewed her stolen food, she looked anywhere but his face, but her cursed peripheral vision caught the wink anyways. She did, however, successfully contain her embarrassment.

Her success was to be short lived, for then he delivered his opinion on her words with startling accuracy. She always thought the phrase 'die of embarrassment' was pathetic, but at this particular moment, she vowed to never criticize it again. She swallowed her food and then gaped at him, eyes wide. The visible green patches on her skin began to lighten, turning a very pale green, almost white and she could feel the heat creeping back up to show everyone in the world she was embarrassed. Then, and only then, did he introduce her new nickame, and she couldn't decide if she wanted to gutpunch him with her tail because Sera herself couldn't roll her Rs to save her life, or ask him to say it again.

"I-I-" Sera stuttered and cursed herself, "That's not what I said, Len!" she hissed, acutely aware of how redundant denial was in the face of her visible embarrassment. "You're just... you are putting words in my mouth. I just meant that- uhm," loosing track of what she was even going to say, she cleared her throat and finished with a small, almost squeak "Nevermind."

[Leonard Uaine]

Lennie's uncle had told him that his mouth was 'jaw-dropping' before, but he was pretty sure that this wasn't what he'd meant.

Now... to ease up, or press on? "Sounds to me more like I'm pulling them out, don't you think?" Mama didn't raise no coward. Another wink for good measure.

Okay, fine, he'll take pity on her. "New topic: what do you use for weapons?" he asked, leaning back in his chair and biting into what was left of his meat skewer.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Serenity was honestly not sure how to deal with such a... strange individual. Her normally collected facade having been destroyed by just a short conversation with him. And his incessant winking made her wish for sand in his eyes. Alas, they were not in Vacuo.

When he abruptly changed subject, Sera's relief was palpable. The mottled patches of skin beginning to darken once more as her heart rate returned closer to normal. She deliberately didn't answer his first question, and focused on her weapons. "Well," she quipped, with mock severity "I use daggers to get up-close and personal, so I can look them in the eye as they die." To demonstrate her point, she drew a knife from her right side, its leaf shaped blade glinting in the light, and set it on the table. Her threat delivered, she veered into delight at introducing her weapon. "However, that isn't her main form," her enthusiasm in presenting her weapons had convinced her body that it couldn't remain seated, she was only half sitting in her chair as she grabbed it again and a series of clicks resounded before the blade sprang apart to reveal a half moon of sharp steel. "It's easier for me to fight with them like this, but sometimes you just need an extra sharp biscuit cutter." At her words, there was another set of clicks as the outside of the blade shrank in on itself, presenting a solid edge of steel circling her hand. She allowed the weapon to go back to its fan form as she snagged what looked like a fried pickle. Her confidence falsely boosted by the weapon in her hand, she fanned herself and returned his wink.

[Leonard Uaine]

”Warfans?” Lennie asked. ”That’s awesome!” He didn’t need to pretend, the steel blade was truly fascinating. It was, of course, also a fan, which Reni neatly demonstrated by using it for its more high-society purpose as she returned his wink with more confidence than she’d shown so far.

Lennie nodded sagely. ”Straightforward and close-range is my preferred method of interaction as well,” he said lightly as he unwrapped a red bean bun. With a simple flex of his free hand, the Fisticufflet slid out of his sleeve and onto his hand, and he made a fist, showing her the myriad spikes on his knuckles as they glinted in the light. ”Some things just work better if you employ a… personal touch, you know?” Flashing a cheeky grin wasn’t really possible, given his Faunus trait, but his eyes sparkled with wit.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Sera was flattered by his fascination, they didn't typically garner much attention because they weren't... flashy. "Thank you!" With the introduction of Len's weapon, Sera reluctantly set hers on the table and leaned forward to inspect the weapon. "That is remarkable craftsmanship." She said after a moment, then indicated his sleeve. "How far up your arm does it go?"

At his second question, rhetorical she was almost positive, her face went through a rapid-fire set of expressions- none of them lasting long enough to be identified. The end result was, once again, Sera staring at him, slack-jawed. She saw the amusement shining in his eyes- he knew exactly what he was saying. She drew herself up and said, in her best attempt at haughtiness "Len, that goes for most things, not just some." The instant she said it, she wanted to catch the words and unspeak them. She settled for feigned nonchalance, ignoring the traitorous blood that rushed to her face, and focused intently on her weapon as she picked it up, forming a dagger one more, and put it back in its home.

[Leonard Uaine]

It was his turn to receive a compliment about his weapon. "Thank you," he said, turning the fist back and forth to admire the spiked links himself. With a shake of his wrist, the glove slid back into place as the internal cufflink of his jacket. "Just far enough to be out of sight. They're kind of like cuff links when stored," he explained, peeling back the edge of his sleeve far enough reveal that the jacket itself was actually his armor, chain mail sandwiched between the leather exterior and cloth interior. The gloves formed a simple ring around the end of the sleeves, weighing them down enough to make shrugging the jacket on an easy process even with his long arms.

"Oh?" he asked as her own words made her blush. "Perhaps you'll have to show me what all I'm missing sometime." The bun disappeared in two quick bites, and he brushed the remaining paste off his hard upper lip with a napkin before selecting a truffle.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Sera cleared her throat and mumbled "Yeah, yeah, sure, maybe. I can't claim to be a good teacher though." she glanced up and did a double take, a smile growing on her face. Gesturing to the side of her face she said "I think you missed something, there."

Her smile only grew as she redirected her focus to his jacket, the design of which was very clever. Now she just had to poke fun, he deserved it. "So... do you make a habit of making people want to stab you? Is that why you have armor sewn into your clothes?" Sera eyed the ever-shrinking pile of goodies and chose a pack of cookies that had thin wafers with cream filling between them.

[Leonard Uaine]

”Oh?” Lennie asked as she tapped her face. A great idea popped into his head, and he swiped a napkin at the place he’d already wiped. ”I don’t exactly have a lot of nerve endings there. Help a fellow out?” he asked, holding the napkin out for her to grab.

When she asked about his tendency to get into trouble, he laughed. ”Actually, yes. I just can’t seem to stay out of trouble. My uncle says it’s because I’m a little too… snappy.” He shot her a pair of finger guns with an exaggerated expression.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Sera released a snort and took the napkin, rising to her feet so she could reach his face. As a distraction, for herself or for Len she wasn't sure, she started talking. "There was a guy back in Vacuo who had scales on his face, so he carried a little mirror because he couldn't feel if anything was on his face." She wiped the smudge off with a flourish and set the napkin down folded neatly.

His joke was... subpar, but he knew that, which only added to its charm. However, she certainly couldn't give away all her secrets. Instead, as she sat back down and ate a cookie, she asked in a sweet voice "That's amazing. Did you get your award?"

[Leonard Uaine]

That wasn’t a bad idea, actually. ”Not a bad idea. Ooh, what if I got a pink compact?” he asked, miming opening a handheld mirror and holding it up to his face as he chuckled.

This was clearly a trap, but he was curious, so he walked into it. ”Award?” he asked.

Chocolate cupcake time. The pile had finally become manageable, the table again visible from beneath the various foodstuffs.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Sera grinned at the ridiculousness of the mental image of Len having a pink compact, but it was nothing compared to the smile that followed it. When he questioned the award, her face lit up in a massive million-watt smile. "Oh, you didn't?" She asked "I figured you'dget one for that world-class cringy dad joke. You can see it now," As she spoke, she placed a hand on his wrist and made a sweeping gesture with the other, acting as if they had an audience, or was providing evidence of some sort. "The headlines would read 'Beacon Student Saves the Day: Crooks Cry Themselves Laughing and Get Caught.'" As she finished, she brought her hands back to her lap. A glance at the table revealed that the pile of goods was finally starting to thin out.

[Leonard Uaine]

It was definitely one of his better dad jokes, that was true. As Reni swept her hand out to encompass an imaginary award ceremony, he leaned in to 'look' at it.

Then she read an imaginary headline, and Lennie burst out laughing. "Gods, can you imagine?" he asked, still giggling. "Turn to Page 3 to read the patter that led to the arrests," he added, miming a subheading below the made-up headline. "Hahaha, if we're not careful I might cry myself laughing."

[Serenity Sandstalker]

As soon as he took up the joke and kept running with it, Serenity could help herself, she threw her head back and started laughing, the abrupt peals of amusement causing many passerby to give the duo a strange look. "Can- can you imagine?" she gasped, "You'd be oh-so popular... for all the wrong reasons- 'he caught the bad guys' and not 'he has terrible jokes!'" She slumped forward, resting her forehead on her arms as she continued to giggle, whole body shaking from the effort to contain the amusement. "If anyone was to cry themselves laughing, it should definitely be you- my joke waaas much better than yours!"

[Leonard Uaine]

At Reni's inversion of the popularity spectrum, Lennie leaned back in his chair and laughed louder, paying absolutely no attention to the looks they were getting. "You're right," he admitted between peals of laughter. "Yours was better."

Still laughing, he snatched up a kebab. "If I tripped and fell in the Emerald Forest," he pondered, "would I make noise?" A single finger gun was aimed at Reni, ready to fire as soon as she looked up at him.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Sera struggled to contain her laughter and sat back up, a huge smile on her face. At his admission that her joke was much better, she nodded with an air of wisdom. She respondedwith a humble "I know." before laughing again.

As Len retrieved another kabob, Sera decided to get one as well. After all, the little bit she had earlier was pretty good. Food aquired, she watched him and his finger gun with mounting suspicion aa he was clearly seeing up for another terrible joke. "Don't know, but I'd wager you're gone tell me," she said, grinning again- her cheeks were starting to hurt, sheesh. "Would you?"

[Leonard Uaine]

They had put quite a dent in his pile of food already - Reni could certainly put down food with an expediency that was hard to match. That might prove a bit costly in the future, but it was worth it if he kept laughing this much.

”Oh, I have no idea,” he replied. ”I’ve never not been around to know whether falling trees make noise.” He fired the finger gun, cementing the callback to the first thing she’d said to him, and bit into his kebab. ”Aw, nice! I gotta get this sauce recipe,” he noted, making a mental note to do just that before returning to Beacon.

[Serenity Sandstalker]

The amusement faded slightly, eyes widening in shock as Len took a fairly well know joke and twisted it to incorporate her untactful words when they first met- the embarrassment flooded back with a vengeance. The little finger gun quirk not helping. "I- you- th- that was a good joke." she mumbled, stumbling over her words and attempting to force down both her blush and the giggle that threatened to escape. She absently chewed on the kabob, munching the wooden skewer as well as the food. Eager to change the subject as fast as possible to avoid the recognition of such a tasteless joke, she said "This is delicious. If only our school food could compete!"

[Leonard Uaine]

Gottem.

Reni was easily flustered, and Lennie would absolutely be taking advantage of that later.

”Come on, it isn’t that bad,” he said. ”I’ll grant you that a lot of the food you can find in the city is better, but it’s not like the cafeteria serves tasteless slop.” He picked up a single-serving gelato with the wooden spoon. ”I’m still looking for the best place to get a light lunch, though. Beacon’s offerings are too heavy for weekend fare. Wanna try some places with me?”

[Serenity Sandstalker]

Sera gave a tiny shrug, barely perceptible. "It isnt slop, but mass produced food can only be so good. This was made with thought toward the consumer, the food made in Beacon is geared toward health and sustainability."

Despite the kabob that was rapidly disappearing, and the food she had already tucked away, at the mention of lunch her whole being seemed to perk up. "I would never pass up the chance to browse Vale's food scene. Havent really gotten to since I've been here!" As if to punctuate her words, she hastily swallowed the last of the kabob and fished a few more items out of the dwindling pile, intending to make it disappear.