(I am putting this up for another user, and writing for him on his behalf so he does not have to put up as much when he returns.

Sorin only, please. This thread takes place after "Gateway to Ruin" and before the scrap and thread "Disturbed Ambience" and "Ghosts of Reach" respectively for Naito, and after "Gateway to Ruin" for Jasmine.)

[i]Tranquil Grotto[/i]

Naito Zivaku looked around the grotto, absently surveying the scene as he had about three times by now. This would be as good a place as any.

So much had happened in so short a time. Jasmine's world had been saved, her creators defeated for the final time. Isaac had accepted her to the Zivakus in some degree, a thought he was scared about, and told her she was not thought as a freak, something she that made her very happy.

And she had kissed him on the cheek. The first kiss from her, though not any true degree.

Did she really like him that way? Was that it? Did she want to be... a couple? He knew his parents would not give him a break in a million years for this one. Not that he really cared, but it was embarrassing to say the least. Still... how could he do it? How could he know any of it? He needed to talk to his father, to let him know about wanting to give his immortality... but first he had to know Jasmine's reaction, what she truly wanted. [i]In... out. In... out. Breathe....[/i]

He thought back to his mother's words.

[i]"If you’re really sure about your feelings for her, then you should just go and tell her."[/i] As these things often went, he didn't want to scare her off. Not to mention he himself was scared out of his mind due to his time issue.

The other half was a little simpler. [i]"Though… a little gift might help sweeten the deal, but nothing too fancy, she might be put off by it or think that she doesn’t deserve it. Just something small that could mean a lot, if only for a short time, like flowers."[/i]

That was why he had taken a few hours off to get some things like potions and such. He did get those things, yes, and they did need a restock after the time against Galactic, though they had recovered more or less from their wounds within reasonable constraints. But he had also gotten a bouquet of flowers there as well. Someone there had told him that a good purple flower (for he did know she liked purple due to... a rather embarrassing moment in a Land of Dragons hot spring) was the purple lilac, and the moonflower had also been chosen to add. The rest they had taken upon themselves, though teasing him the whole way, until he had a mid-sized bouquet that he could give her. It was hidden, not falling apart and held down, behind a nearby wooden crate.

He looked down at his form once more. He was shirtless, as was customary of males in this world, his swords in sheathes around his waist and his flashlight on his hip as well. For a bottom half, he had a tail that was white toward his midsection and fanned out to yellow near the bottom, that of the "magnificent rabbitfish" enlarged. Swimming was easy enough, sort of like flying.

Jasmine's tail was unknown as of yet, of course, though he did look to the shell in anticipation of her arrival. Probably had a purple bikini top...

[i]No, no, don't think about that![/i] It would only make him nervous and blushing. Which he was in a small degree, but that wasn't the point.

(Feel free to have Jasmine tease Naito or start talking or both, Sorin. I doubt this topic will be that long.)