Who: Dante & Mia What: Date! When: Saturday July 6 at 6PM Where: Kestrel Warnings: Fluff
Mia had been useless today. Except for setting up her patio, she hadn’t gotten much else done. She DID have to go through some of her clothes so she could pick out an outfit. She’d taken a few pictures and sent them Nat’s way to get opinions and approval. In the end she’d decided on a pair of shorts and a blouse. It was drinks at the Kestrel, so nothing too fancy, right? And she looked cute! She’d gone to the patio to paint her nails and used spells to curl her hair.
She was meeting Dante there, and she was getting impatient waiting for it to get closer to 6. Checking on Wizgram had only distracted her for so long. Finally, when she knew she wasn’t going to be… ridiculously early, she left for an apparating point in town, so she could at least walk to the Kestrel to take more time.
She’d arrived before 6, and went inside and took a seat at the bar while she waited for Dante.
Maybe it was just a military thing, or maybe he was just raised to be punctual, but Dante arrived right at 1800 on the dot. He also located Mia within seconds of entering and came to her side, his hand going to the small of her back. Smiling down at her, he spotted a beer bottle spinning lazily past them over the bar. So that was apparently still a thing. The poor redhead—Cate—looked frazzled and no longer amused by the ghost-like shenanigans. "Drink before we go?"
Mia had heard about the strange happenings at the Kestrel, but had been very much in her own head today so she forgot about it until she got there and took a seat. Seeing floating bottles, and making sure her chair wasn’t going to fly out from under her was distraction enough until she’d felt that hand on the small of her back.
Why did a simple touch have to feel so good? Why did Mia have no chill whatsoever when it came to Dante? She was pretty hopeless, but at the moment Mia certainly didn’t care. “Hi!” Her cheeks had more blush when she turned to look at him and gave Dante one of those smiles he complimented her on so much.
“Sure,” she said about getting a drink. It was a little chaotic still in the bar, but they were still open for business. “Where are we going after?” Mia asked because she’d suggested a lot of things but the only detail that got confirmed was meeting here at 6.
A fair number of the seats at the bar were free, so Dante sat down next to her and ordered a drink for himself and then whatever she was having. They were in hand in a few seconds, and Dante both paid and tipped handsomely right upfront. "Well, this should knock out the drinks portion of your plan, and I then I thought I'd take you to this little spot in Wyoming that has some of the most dazzling sunsets where we can enact the second part."
Mia thanked Dante for ordering her drink but held off on joking about paying since she’d asked him out. Dante already had already behaved the gentleman in the past, so she didn’t want to offend him by accident.
She took a sip of her drink and grinned as Dante explained they were going to try to check off all her suggestions. “So drinks, check.” Mia brightened at the suggestion of going to look at the sunset. “That sounds amazing! I’d really like that,” she said agreeing and liking the direction this date was going already.
He smiled at her and angled his leg so that his denim-clad knee brushed with hers. "Saw your wizgram. The place is really coming together. By this time next week, you'll be completely done, I'm sure. Won't need my help at all. More's the pity?"
Mia felt Dante’s leg brush against hers, and she didn’t move an inch for worry that he’d think she didn’t like it. Because she did. She blushed at the mention of her wizgram post as it had been a subtle way of bragging about having a date. “Aw, if you put it that way, I’m going to slack off unpacking even more,” she teased, and her hand moved to rest on his forearm. “I’ll just have to think of other reasons to call you over.”
Leaning in, he dropped his voice to conspiratorial levels. "Let you in on a little classified intel? You don't really need a reason to invite me over. Chances are, I'll come over, regardless of if you need help with house things anyway."
Mia blushed as Dante leaned in closer to whisper to her, especially at the encouragement to invite him over without a reason. “Good to know,” she said and bit her lip. “So you wouldn’t mind being invited over, for no reason? Other than to see me. Because the other reasons I was thinking didn’t have to do with house things…”
Since he was already so close, he nuzzled the little area right in front of her ear with the very tip of his nose. "Pretty sure non-house reasons work just fine by me." Reaching up, he tucked one of her curls behind her ear, and then brushed a kiss against the edge of her jaw before sitting back again. "I know we basically just got here and just got our drinks, but I'm ready to get going to our dinner date if you are?"
Dante was really trying to just make her melt into a puddle on the floor, she was sure. Mia held her breath as Dante nuzzled at her ear, and what he said hadn’t even registered right away. His hand was touching her hair, and she felt his lips… there were a lot of distractions! “Great…” Also, that was future Mia’s concern. Present Mia had Dante with her right now.
Before Mia could even mention not caring about her drink… she realized that her glass was gone as it floated up and away. “Um… I think that just answered your question,” she admitted with a chuckle. “Please, lead on. Let’s get out of here.”
Catching sight of the flash of annoyance on Cate's face, Dante leveled a retrieving spell at the runaway glass and then set a minor sticking charm on both Mia's glass and his own. "That should hold it until she can collect them, I hope." He slipped his hand into hers and stood again. "Let's get gone before this place decides to go from Casper to Native American burial ground desecration revenge."
Leading her outside and to the apparating spot, Dante wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I'm really hoping you like the outdoors."
And with that, they turned out of existence—only to arrive on the plateau of Devils Tower where the sun was tracking steadily toward the horizon, but had a couple of hours left.
Mia chuckled at the joke about the state of the Kestrel. She did feel bad when she saw how annoyed Cate was, but Mia was definitely not going to let anything worry or dampen her mood tonight.
She gave Dante’s hand a squeeze as he took it, and she followed him to the apparating point. However, being pulled closer was better. Her hands really only had one place to go, and that was on his chest.
Even when Dante hoped she liked the outdoors, Mia didn’t get a chance to reply before they apparated out of there. She felt the pull as they departed, and reappeared. Mia had leaned into Dante to steady herself when their feet were firmly on the ground again. “Literally swept me off my feet,” she said with a soft laugh as she looked up at Dante before looking at the surroundings. “Wow! Where are we in Wyoming exactly?”
From the spot where they'd appeared, the land spread out for miles around them in rolling hills and small, scrubby trees. "The effect is better from the ground, but the view of the sunset is best from up here. We'll apparate to ground level before it gets too dark. We're actually not that far from Snowcap as the thunderbird flies. It's called Devils Tower, and we're currently standing in about the northeast corner of the state. Ever seen the nomaj movie 'Close Encounters'?"
Good thing Mia wasn’t afraid of heights (not that she would admit to it if she was), or there might be some objections. However, Mia appreciated the view from the summit of the tower. “Sunset first, and then I’ll be amazed about where we were. Well.. I’m already amazed,” she explained with a laugh and reached for Dante’s hand. “I haven’t seen it, but it’s about aliens, right?” Mia asked about the movie.
Smiling, he curved his fingers around hers and gave her hand a squeeze before releasing it again. "Essentially, yes." They were alone up there, and Dante retrieved something from his pocket that he lost no time in expanding to normal size. It turned out to contain a blanket and containers of dinner as well as a bottle of wine, which he laid out as he continued, "This is the spot that the aliens used as a landing-slash-staging area, so it's really popular with no-majs. It's after hours, however, so we've got the place to ourselves. It might be a Federal crime, in fact, but I'm willing to risk it."
Mia watched as Dante pulled out and expanded the blanket and containers of food for their dinner. Oh and the wine! She was blushing and well… she was already taking the mental tally of details for the effort going into this date. It was appreciated.
“Excellent,” she said about them having the place to themselves. She did laugh though about it being a Federal crime. “Well… I’m no stranger to getting in trouble with the law. I’m willing if you are,” she said with a wink. She went to sit on the blanket (glad she wore shorts!) and waited for Dante to join her. “And what are we having?”
Chuckling low, Dante continued to unpackage the food along with plates and silverware before he sat next to her. With a nod to the wine so that she could do the honors, he pointed out each dish in turn. "Caprese skewers with a balsamic reduction; peppers, cucumbers, and carrot slices with avocado hummus; apricot and prosciutto focaccia; chocolate covered strawberries; and little mini versions of my mama's caramel apple pie."
Looking at all that food, Dante had the decency to appear at least a little embarrassed. "I might have gone overboard."
Mia took the bottle of wine and found the glasses Dante had brought as well and went ahead to pouring some for both of them. She listened and was quite impressed by the layout of food. She was grinning and blushing because when she’d asked for them to go out for dinner, this was so much better. Mia hoped she was worth the effort…
“Did you make this all yourself??” Mia said when she’d heard the last part that the pie was his Mom’s recipe. She was touched. Setting the wine aside for the moment, she scooted over on the blanket so she could lean in to kiss Dante’s cheek… to thank him, and really was holding back from wanting to do more. “Thank you. This is amazing, really. I feel guilty now because I asked you out and you’re the one impressing me.”
The warm lips on his cheeks were almost thanks enough, but he waved the rest away. "No feeling guilty. It's not often anymore that I get to make food for people I like." Dante chuckled. "I had to bribe some of my bunkhouse mates with pies of their own just so I could take over the kitchen for the afternoon."
Dante was just so charming and apparently multi-talented… Mia was very figuratively swept off her feet. Technically she’d been physically swept off her feet to get here to Devil’s Tower anyway. She smiled when he told her to not feel guilty.
“Well, let’s eat so all your hard work doesn’t go to waste,” Mia said looking from Dante to the opened containers. Everything looked good. She took a skewer and a piece of focaccia first even though she’d been tempted to go for one of the chocolate covered strawberries. That would just lead to more flirting.
“Did your Mom teach you?” Mia asked about Dante’s talent for making food, especially since he’d mentioned the pie recipe was hers.
Putting a few things onto his own plate, Dante smiled a little as a few memories went through his head. "She was pretty busy with work when I was growing up, but we'd spend weekends cooking and baking for during the week. She wanted us to be really active in the community, so we were always making things for our neighbors. I tried to do the same for my brothers and sisters in the Corp when I could. Sometimes I wonder if I only kept it up to try to balance the scales."
Mia nodded and smiled, liking the sound of the good memory when Dante explained spending time with his Mom. Mia was also filling her plate with the hummus and the veggies for dipping. “She raised you right, it sounds like. To take care of yourself and other people,” she pointed out.
The food was good and the noises she made did speak to it. Mia did blush though and cover her mouth. “It’s delicious.” That was probably more polite. To say it.
He smiled at her obvious appreciation, and moved slowly in close enough to lean his shoulder against hers. "Thanks. She tried. I can't say I made it easy on her, but I have a feeling that that's what kids are supposed to do: make life more complicated."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Dante remembered what they'd talked about that first day they'd met. How she'd just recently seen her parents after a long absence and a jail sentence. He felt kind of like an asshole in that moment. "But I'm sure it’s what any parent would expect, if they give it any kind of consideration for more than two seconds."
Mia felt Dante move closer to her, and she leaned in against his shoulder as well. It was a silent invitation, right? She smiled at the idea of Dante being a young and wild teenager. “Your poor Mom. Giving her a hard time,” Mia teased. She didn’t dare ask about his dad, or lack there of.
She did frown at the idea about making her own family’s life more complicated. Mia had been selfish and had never considered for a moment the possible consequences on their life for what she did. They were good people and Mia could have ruined their lives. “True. Sometimes as the kids we only give them two seconds of consideration too,” she countered but there was no real judgement there. “My sister gives my parents far less trouble.”
The fact is that Mia didn't know half of what he'd put his mother through when he was growing up. It was a mixed blessing that his mom didn't even know an eighth of what he'd done in his professional career. There were times when he wondered if she would be as forgiving and accepting and loving if she did. But that wasn't a problem he had, nor one that Dante was about to share on a first date. That was never date material. "What's your sister like? Probably not nearly as exciting as you."
Mia was sure there was a lot she didn’t know, and really that just added to Dante’s mystery. She took a sip of her wine and chuckled at her sister. “Not nearly exciting is right. We used to fight a lot growing up. Too close in age,” Mia explained. “She’s a potion maker, and works in an apothecary back at home. She’s not very adventurous,” she said. “Crystal didn’t seem very happy with my parents forgiving me when I went to visit.”
"It's not really up to us who forgives who, though, is it." Dante was past even thinking about asking for his own or anything in the way of absolution, but that didn't mean he didn't understand the desire. He knew which way his soul was headed if there was an afterlife, not that he really believed in anything like that.
In an all too obvious ploy to change the subject, he turned to Mia and smiled. "Well, you've been to Devils Tower. What's the most memorable place you've ever been? You said you were a curse breaker. Surely that means you've been all over?"
“True,” Mia said and went to eat some more of the carrots and hummus so she couldn’t avoid that subject. And thankfully Dante did come up with a much better subject change. “Devils Tower is an excellent tick off of my destination list,” she said chuckling as she thought about where she’d been.
“The most memorable… that’s a hard one. I’ve seen a lot of pyramids, temples, tombs and castles,” she said as she thought to narrow it down. “Angkor Wat. Definitely the most memorable. But Machu PIcchu in Peru and Chichén Itzá in Mexico would be close seconds,” she explained. But then she had another thought. “Actually… Pompeii was up there too. For different reasons.”
He looked at her with interest. "Oh, yeah? And what reasons are those?"
“Well, the other three are purely from an architecture point of view. And were very fun to break the curses on those,” Mia said grinning. Some people might accuse curse breakers as grave robbers… sometimes they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. “Pompeii was a bit more… ominous. It’s one of the few ancient sites that you can still feel the humanity.”
Nodding thoughtfully, Dante looked over at her again. "I'm not making a joke here, even though it'll probably come across as facetious, but I'm surprised that place isn't haunted. Even by no-maj standards. Is it true you can still see human figures lying in buildings there?"
“If it’s not haunted by ghost standards, it definitely is with memory,” Mia definitely agreed. She looked at Dante, and realized she’d brought up a bit of a downer topic for a first date. At least it was interesting too? “Yes. So many of them because they were buried in pumice and ash. They are like these life casts of their last moments.” Mia blushed as she looked to Dante. “I’m sorry, this is very depressing.”
"On the contrary, I find it fascinating, truly. I was in Europe a few times, but hardly ever for sightseeing." Dante offered her one of the strawberries with a grin. "Please believe me when I tell you that there's almost nothing you can throw at me that's going to bring me down anymore that the things that already exist in my head."
Mia blushed at the offered strawberry. This was exactly the idea she’d had in mind earlier. Mia did feel better about Dante’s reassurances that she wouldn't bring him down. She grinned and leaned over to take a bite of the chocolate covered strawberry that Dante held out. “It is fascinating. And as long as you don’t mind then… you can ask me anything,” she explained while picking up another strawberry and offered it to Dante next.
Rather than take the bite she offered, he chuckled and reached up, attention well and truly caught on the bit of chocolate that had caught on the corner of her mouth. He wiped it away and then sucked it off his own thumb before taking the sweet treat from her. "Anything can be an awful lot. You sure you want to authorize me for that level of clearance?"
She didn’t know what Dante was doing at first, but she blushed (actually did she ever stop?) when his thumb brushed at her mouth and licked the chocolate that had been there from his thumb. Well, that deserved another drink of wine to cover up any embarrassing noises she wanted to make. “Well… I did mean about cursebreaking and the places I’ve been, but I suppose I can authorize you with a wider range of questions.”
"Dangerous. You sure that's a box you wanna open?" He laughed and smiled at her, watching the sinking rays of sunlight do dazzling things across her glowing skin. Feeling a bit compulsive, Dante leaned in and kissed her, and his hand moved into her gorgeous and soft hair.
“I might be willing to let you peek,” Mia teased. And well, it just seemed like she was a rambling talker who spilled all her secrets to Dante anyway. She’d practically given him her whole tale of woe the first day they’d met.
But apparently she didn’t have to at the moment as she watched Dante move in close. She had been holding her breath in anticipation but didn’t dare to move. A pleased sigh caught in her throat at Dante’s lips meeting hers. She’d of course been thinking about their time in the garden practically every day since. Her own hand reached for Dante’s shoulder and her hand smoothed down to the front of his chest.
For as many questions as he did have, Dante was more than happy to put them off in favor of more pleasurable pursuits. After all, what more could a guy ask for? A big, beautiful sky as clear and open as anything, delicious food (if he did say so himself), being able to sit atop a national monument, and the company of an amazing woman—it was as close to perfect as he could get.