A Cheapskate's Date

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith leaned on the stone walls of the porch, cloaked and booted ready for her walk with Jude.
It was their first date, Ailith supposed, because the horse-riding incident they weren't 'together' until the end really. It wasn't a typical date, fancy dinner, roses and candles and all that, but it wasn't unusual. Neither Ailith nor Jude was keen on the idea of a glitzy meal as Ailith generally just wanted to eat the food and Jude had said something about not being good with fancy restaurants. So an evening walk just to talk and enjoy each others company suited them perfectly.
The air was once again biting cold but 'wrapping up warm' was something Ailith had learned to do well. The sun was low in the clear sky but the clouds were drawing in, threatening rain.
Ailith was barely disappointed though. Whatever the weather she was up for it. She looked back at the corridor to see Jude striding round the corner. Ailith leaned off the wall and smiled as he approached.

[Jude Dorrian]

Coming out of the main doors of the school, Jude was surprised to see that it wasn't snowing. It was certainly goddam cold enough. Regretting his decision be optimistic and wear a light jacket and shirt, Jude was forced to go back inside and wrap himself up properly, grumbling the whole time because he knew it would make him late for Ailith.
This was their first official 'date', he supposed. There'd been Halloween, and the horses and stuff... but now it just felt more... well, business-like was the wrong word. Prof. Gregg really did despair a little with him. The problem was... she was the very reason his vocabulary wasn't expanding. Her enthusiasm for dictionaries was his aversion to it.
She had killed any spirit for English that he had left.
Or at least re-directed it.
And besides- why the hell was he thinking about Prof. Gregg on a date with Ailith?!
Perhaps the apocalypse was coming.
Jude rounded the corner, and found Ailith leaning on the wall; just where they'd planned to meet. The dusk sky was a dull gray- hardly the most romantic atmosphere. And those clouds didn't look promising. Still, Jude and Ailith had several hours before curfew (it was half 9, wasn't it?) officially came into place, even though it was slowly getting dark outside. Now looking at the weather, Jude felt pretty bad about not being able to pay to take her out for a fancy meal or whatever. She'd said she didn't care much about them- and Jude hated them anyway- but still. It would've felt more appropriate.
Still, her smile told him she was up for it.
"Hi, Ailith," he said breathlessly, having full on sprinted down from the Boy's Dorms to make it on time. "Sorry if I'm a bit late. I forgot something..."
Like a present?! Oh, crap- he should've brought her a present! Guys were meant to bring girls presents- right?
Whatever. He'd just kiss her and hope it would make it ok.

[Ailith Rayner]

"Sorry if I'm a bit late. I forgot something..."
Ailith laughed, "No worries, we'll call it even, I made you wait a lot longer at Halloween..."
Jude had leaned down and given her a swift peck on the cheek.
"Shall we go?" Ailith beamed.
Jude held his hand out, open palm facing up and said brightly, "Lead the way."

The walked out into the bitter wind, and listened for a while to the sound of their feet on the gravel, in unison and then out of as Ailith had to move her legs ever so slightly faster.
"Think we'll get many more missions?" Ailith figured that the spies, even though the battle was over, would still have a few more aftermath checks to make. She doubted that Jude or herself would get a look in. They'd had their turn.

[Jude Dorrian]

"We may," Jude considered. "Just not yet. Kira's probably weighing it all up- varying it around, and all that..."
Gosh, their first mission seemed so far away now... How long had they known each other? A month? More? It was hard to say. Jude would quite happily have replied that he'd known Ailith all his life if asked- which of course, didn't make any sense.
They walked in companionable silence for a while- Jude was banking on once they got to the actual countryside, the conversation would strike up. They passed a lot of trees (they were walking down the path through BlueBerg Forest...) and eventually came out on the edge of Cardsdale. Moving towards the estates, Jude took a sharp left, and the two both soon found themselves walking down a muddy country lane.
A few more brief minutes of silence passed between them, until eventually, Jude found something to talk about.
"Hey, look! The sky's properly black now."
... smooth?

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith successfully stopped herself laughing but couldn't hide a smile, what a topic Jude! She looked up at the cloudy sky, which was, as Jude observantly pointed out, quite black. She looked back South West where the sun had last been on the horizon. It had gone.
"Mmm, what time is it?" Ailith liked night, loved it. But she didn't like whenever it took up some day-time.

[Jude Dorrian]

Jude shrugged. "I don't have a watch... but it was around 5.30pm or so just as I was leaving my Dorm... so I'd say it's probably about 6 o' clock. So we have about three hours to kill. Any ideas about what we could do?"
Jude had several, but they mainly involved walking, talking, something about pixies and ghost stories. Them and... kissing her. He hated the fact he hadn't gotten used to it yet. Every time Lee saw Maddox, he just kissed her. They were both really comfortable about it- and they didn't make anyone else feel uncomfortable. After all, Jude had had some past experience of whenever Jack got girlfriends. That was just... well... gawd. He hadn't known tongues could do some of that stuff.
Funny... he actually wanted to try some of it. Some. He wasn't a complete pervert. Ruddy teenage hormones! Why did they give people such a blatant disregard for oral hygiene anyway? If you thought about it enough, it soon became one of the sickest things you could ever think of.
How could something so apparently bad hold that much appeal...?
Hang on... didn't 'oral' just refer to teeth...? Oh- what did he care?! Prof. Gregg sure as hell couldn't teach him the difference!
"Tell you what," he said, wincing away from the thought of Prof. Gregg. "Why don't I take around one of my favorite country routes? I come here all the time because of the horses, so I know plenty of places we can go..."

[Ailith Rayner]

"Sure!" Ailith would have gone anywhere, it wouldn't have mattered much. She looked around where they were now, it was quite dark but she could see the trees in the distance and the school beyond them. On the other side, beyond the rolling fields lay the estate of Cardsdale, all lit up in the orange glow of streetlights. From this distance it looked calm and dull but in some of those houses would be silent in greiving. She was glad she signed up for the SCR, it might make a smidgen of difference.
Ailith turned her head to look at Jude. He was like that all the time. He wasn't everyone's 'shoulder to cry on' so to speak, but people trusted him and he listened. Not only that but he gave some bloody good advice. He was subtle about it as he was generally messing around, but he had his head screwed on. Ailith couldn't help but smile when she thought that he wanted to spend time with her.
"So how's life treatin' you? That English teacher still giving you bother?" Ailith began but wondered if it was right to bring up school topics on a date.

[Jude Dorrian]

Definitely, definitely the apocalypse.
"She's awful," Jude mumbled. "Real awful..."
A funny aspect of his enhanced senses was that sometimes, he could actually feel them working away. His pupils were growing, and the distant orange glow of Cardsdale was like daylight to him. In the fields, he could still see clearly ahead of him, and he could still see Ailith perfectly well, though he knew she was probably staring into blackness. Jude's eyes narrowed as he mentally mapped out where exactly he would take her...
The stream. That could work. It was a little known creek running through a depression in one of the wilder fields the farmer never bothered with- Jude got the feeling it wasn't actually the farmer's field at all. There were lots of rocks and tree stumps there, so there was plenty of room to rest, and it was enclosed by a thick, tall hedge. They'd be completely enclosed.
Like a little haven.
"Any teachers bothering you?" he asked her, as he began to veer off to the left and through another path that led uphill.
"Nah, except the maths teacher won't stop saying 'em' and 'now guys, so,'. Thank God we never have a triple." She pulled a face at that, her nose wrinkling.
His stomach jolted.
"Hate maths," Jude growled. "Stupid teacher hates me because I don't understand her subject. It's okay, though. I've got Macy as a tutor."
"Yeah I like Macy," she replied. "I've never really spoken to her though. She a good teacher?"
"Really good," Jude smiled. "Thank goodness. We've got an exchange going on- I teach her how to do a couple of tricks on a horse, and she teaches me how to do a couple of tricks with a calculator."
"That's a good idea. And are you getting better at the whole maths thing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Slightly," he said humbly. He wasn't about to make any boasts he couldn't back up. Macy definitely was set to improve his skills... but somehow, he doubted that he would ever be really good at the subject.
Finally, the field came into view, its weatherbeaten, thick-set hedge sprawled lazily across its edge. There was a small gap which Jude could just about squeeze through, just a few meters north of here. Jude let go of Ailith's hand, approaching the field thoughtfully.
"Look," he said, running back and guiding her forward. "Or can you? Never mind... feel..."
His hand now came forward with hers, brushing past the thick, twisted branches and roots of the hedge. They stumbled forward slightly as Jude suddenly dropped to the ground, pushing any dead roots aside with his free hand.
"There's a gap," he told her, this time reaching up and placing his hand on the small of her back he could reach, bringing her down so that she was level with him. "See? We can climb through here."

[Ailith Rayner]

"And where exactly does this go Indiana?" Ailith asked, from what she could feel it was pretty small, she couldn’t even see the outline of the hole. She was comfortable with confined spaces and she trusted Jude, but she liked to know where she was going.
Ailith just made out Jude's wink, her eyes where becoming accustomed to the dark. "Haven." He said.
Ailith rolled her eyes and grinned, "OK, it’s a surprise."
Jude laughed. He removed his hand from the small of her back and Ailith took in a deeper breath and held it for a while. She felt Jude move in front of her and get right down on his stomach to arm his way through the tiny hole. She still couldn’t see it properly though.
“Now, all I need to hear is that you don’t have a secret power that enables you to squeeze through tiny holes like a cat or something.” It was a genuine worry; getting stuck in a hole was not her idea of a good date.
"Um... sorry. I can turn invisible though... no? Okay." Jude had caught Ailith’s look.
When Jude was through he turned and slid his hands back through. Ailith lay down and took one of his hands while the other was placed on her head. She fumbled for a while to find out how much space either side she really had. It wasn’t too bad for her but for Jude with his broader shoulders she imagined it would be quite snug. Ailith scrambled up to the gap and when Jude’s hand pushed down on her head to the level of the roof of the hole. Ailith stopped, “You’re kiddin’ me.”
“Nope!” Jude laughed.
Once her head was through Jude lifted his hand and Ailith raised her head and shoulders as she wriggled the rest of her body through. Her hands were placed on the squelchy ground and a handy tree root. As she was pulling her feet through the tree root moved and Ailith’s hand slipped, she fell forward onto the ‘tree root’ which also buckled back to the ground.
Jude and Ailith made a simultaneous ‘oof’ and collapsed in a heap.
They looked at each other in the eyes and Ailith laughed, “Is it just me or are you getting a deja vu?”

[Jude Dorrian]

"Our first date," Jude sighed, the memory of a completely drugged up Ailith falling from the ceiling and very nearly killing him sailing past strangely pleasantly.
Then it hit him.
Ailith and him were lying sprawled across each other in a darkened, wild field. The moon's beams were emerging (albeit temporarily) and shining down on them both, and nearby, Jude could hear the familiar bubbling of a nearby creek. The night air was chilly, and pressing in all around them, but suddenly, Jude felt very hot. Ailith's heart was so close he could actually feel it beating. Was that just his enhanced sense of touch and hearing? Were those just exaggerating the situation?
He could feel her warm breath tickling his neck, and it sent him into shock. He'd never been this close to her before- not his memory. Or at least... not for so long...
He cleared his throat, and moving slightly, sitting up and pushing her off him gently.
"Okay," he said, relieved his sudden nerves weren't showing through his voice. "Here we are."

[Ailith Rayner]

"Where exactly?" Ailith laughed, "It's OK I can see."
She looked about her. There was a long thick hedge lining all the way along the path they had just left, explaining the need to go through the hole. Before her was a very large field which came down in a steep but smooth green dune. The landscape streched on as far as Ailith could see and not very much in front of her was higher. The clouds were thinning across the moon and patches of silver light lit the ground beautifully. On her right, a boulder perfect to sit on jutted out of the ground and closer on her left was the sound of a little stream burbling it's way gently down the hill.
"It's really beautiful." Ailith whispered. "How did you find this?"
Her eyes weren't big enough to take it all in.

[Jude Dorrian]

"I walk too much," Jude replied, looking at her happily. "You like it?"
"I... it's just... perfect," she smiled at him, her eyes wide with... awe? Really?
Gee, he knew the place had been nice, but if he'd known about the kind of effect it had on girls, he would've taken her here a long time ago!
"Okay, fine, tour," Jude laughed, scurrying forwards and taking her hand.
They stood up together, and he began to weave his way through the many twisted roots and ferns as they reached out, snagging his jeans. The little, bubbling creek was very nearby, shimmering in the moonlight prettily. Over there, he could see a small patch of dry rock they could both sit and... throw pebbles at the water? That's all he really did here. Sit and throw pebbles. He made a game out of it to kill the boredom.
His hand left hers and he picked up one of the pebbles, tossing it at the waters surface. There was a satisfying splash, and it whooshed away in a sucking gluggle of water.
Gluggle was a good word.

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith cocked her head as the splash sounded. If she was asked to describe it she'd have to go with an invented onomatopoeia 'kurplunk-shh'.
"Can you skim stones?" She asked as she sat on the rock.
"Just about!"
"Can you do it on that? I could only ever skim them in the sea." She straightened her head.
"It's too... gluggly."
"Gluggly?" Ailith frowned and smiled.
"I told you Prof. Gregg was a bad teacher."
"She really is woeful, but then again I was thinking about the word kurplunk-shh to describe that splash." Ailth squinted and crumpled her nose as she considered the new words.

[Jude Dorrian]

He grinned, and impulsively- after all, he planned to make a habit of it- leaned across and kissed her on the cheek.
A cold breeze rushed around them, and he took another risk.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and hugged her. Still feeling slightly hot, but refusing to let go for his sake, he took another pebble and flicked it at the creek. It cracked against a rock and skidded to a halt on the other side.
He sighed. "My aim needs improving. But I can't help it. Maddox still hasn't let up. I can't get back to Battle Training."
"Yeah. I'm not surprised she blew though. She did ban non-warriors from the field."
Jude decided to ignore her logic. "What have I missed?"

[Ailith Rayner]

"Mmm," Ailith rested her head on Jude's shoulder, "not a lot, she's just going over fencing. So even if you were there you wouldn't be improving aim. There's only two non-warriors there now, Me and Josh."
She felt Jude shift slightly beside her and he asked, "Who's Josh?"
Ailith noticed the shift and she raised her head to look Jude in the face. That's when she noticed how close she was to him and her heart bounced in her chest.
"He's a Carer and I totally smashed him. Mind you, he's not half-bad." She tried her best to hide a smile, "I reckon he might give you some trouble."
Jude removed his arm and dropped his jaw in mock-outrage, "A Carer? No way!"
"I'm telling you he's good. But no, I'm not sure how he would take you. He comes across as being a bit frightened sometimes."
"Frightened? Well... I guess you are pretty scary."
"What? You think I'm scary?" It was Ailith's turn at outrage.
"Maddox teaches us all a valuable lesson," he laughed. "Never underestimate someone short and pretty."
Ailith laughed. Ailith leaned back on him with her head against his shoulder again. He leaned back on the arm that was behind her and his other hand found hers.
She gave a small sigh, closed her eyes and just listened to the water, and felt Jude's heart thud against her shoulder blade and then his breath, deep but a little fast, exactly like hers and in unison. Ailith's mouth turned up into a slow smile and she opened her eyes. Her head was doing that stupid extended vowel thing.
"What's the story with SCR?" She almost whispered it.