"Oh no, I get it. I just was a little worried I was using the wrong one...is there one you prefer I call you?" He gives her as earnest a look as he can, truly putting the decision in her hands.

When that was settled, he looks over the shorts getting a little lost in the sauce of all the shapes a moment. "Whoa...this is so cool. Look at how dense the pattern is." He traces some of the patterns with a finger to show them to Cirice like she didn't notice this first.

"Matching huh? That would be cool, the color would probably look really nice on you too." He grins, of course the biggest goofy dork goes for that idea.

“You want me to choose?” Cirice asks, genuinely touched, “I-I like it when you call me Rice…” She tucks some of her hair behind her ear bashfully, “I haven’t really told anyone else I’ve met on my travels my traditional name, if you want to call me that I wouldn’t mind. Either way I’ll be happy.”

“You want to match?” She blinks at him, “I mean yeah I love the pattern and the color… And I didn’t bring a suit with me… Sure, let’s get matching suits.” She starts looking around to find the match in her size. “I’m glad you like the pattern. Its very cute.”

“We’ll take these ma’am, how much is it?”

“Its on the house today. You came and cleared up my husband’s broken arm first thing when you got home, the least I can do is give you and your boyfriend something.” The shopkeeper's eyes twinkle with amusement as she waves her hand dismissively.

“B-b-boyfriend???” Cirice stutters, officially blowing a gasket and blushing so hard she might faint.

"Young love is so precious. I wish you both all the best. Mother Moon bless your union."

"Then Rice it is." He grins, the brightness intensifying as they find a matching set.

Gerhart also blushes a bit as she drops the b-word on them. He manages to stammer out a thank you and a bow before leading Cirice out so they can both go and melt somewhere else rather than in the middle of this nice woman's shop. When they finally get out and some distance, he stops giving a bright laugh.

"I'm sorry I didn't think people would think that, should've thought about how it looked buying matching stuff together. I didn't embarass you too much did I?" Gerhart's face holds a sheepish smile, truly worried he might have put Cirice through a bit much.

“Wh-what? N-no! You’re fine! Wonderful!” Cirice stammers, “I-I-I was just caught off guard. I mean I can see why she’d think that I mean we are relatively close in age and w-we were buying matching clothes and it's nearly Hearth’s Day and you’re very cute and everyone teases me for not ever having had a relationship and-and…” She rambles nervously, not wanting to outright deny what the shopkeeper had said, “She embarrassed me, not you!”



She tucks the new bathing suit under her arm and rubs her face with her hands, trying to disperse the furious blush that hasn’t really left her face since she saw Gerhart. She looks up at him with a small smile, “I’m okay, really.” She puts the bathing suit in her bag and offers him her hand again, this time a little unsurely. “Shall we go get those sweets now, we can make a picnic of them on the beach.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He takes her hand with a smile, letting the embarrassment pass. As cute as she looked flustered he knew enough that pressing on that now wasn’t the best option. Gerhart led them by the nose, literally, to a few different shops and bakeries.

The amount spent on food and treats bordered on reckless, but this was a fun day out on the town. He could be a little indulgent. Plus there were two people so obviously they would need more food. A completely fair and reasonable deduction in his mind. “Is there anything you want? First time home in a bit, I image there has to be tons of different things you want to try again. I’ll cover it all don’t worry.”

“I can’t have you cover everything, you’re my guest! You came to my home, I can’t have you pay for everything!” Cirice protests, “Besides, wagashi can be expensive and you deserve to try all the best ones.”

She points out a few to the shopkeeper, fruits covered in mochi and cut in half, little chewy balls of colorful dango on sticks, and little rock candy stars in a bag. She picks them up and offers Gerhart a bite of the tri-colored dango. “Try this, its one of my favorites.” She holds it up to his lips with a smile.

"You went out of your way to get me a gift and are showing me your home. This is the least I can do." Gerhart gives a gentle laugh as she protests, something incredibly adorable about her expression when she does.

He raises a little eyebrow to the dango, not used to seeing food with so much color. Growing up when he did get a meal it was usually just some grey meat or dull-colored potato, even after Arkmir picked him up they were often traveling. The food was never this vibrant. He smiled as he dipped his head to take a bite of the dango as Cirice holds it.

"Thif if way chewier than I fhought it would be." The ranger swallows the bite with a satisfied sigh. "And way more filling too, that's really good!"

Cirice giggles as he mumbles around the chewy texture. “Oh yeah, they’re really good. The pink one is sakura flavored, the green is green tea and the white is slightly coconut. The pink part is my favorite. I don’t know if sakura trees grow in the rest of the world like they do here, but there is nothing more beautiful than the blossoms in the spring. We have a whole festival to enjoy just looking at them!” She eats the pink ball of dango off the stick and smiles at him joyfully. Its wonderful to be home and enjoying such a lovely time with someone she cares so much about. She can see why people go on dates now.

Wait…

“Gerhart…. Is this… Are we on a date?”

"I didn't know you could make tea you could chew." He gives a doofy smile as he laughs, thoroughly enjoying the little snack. Gerhart swallows a bit abruptly at the question, caught just a tiny bit off-guard.

"I....I think so, seems like it huh?" The blush returns to his cheeks as he looks to Cirice. "I mean if you're OK calling it that, I am certainly. I haven't done this a bunch so I'm not sure what the like....rules are for dates and stuff."

“I-I’ve never been on a date before…” Cirice’s cheeks mirror his, “I don’t know what the rules are either or… Really much of anything. But um… I like the idea of having my first ever date with you.”


She looks up at him with an earnest, anxious expression. “You’re the best person I could imagine going on a date with.”

"Sounds like we can make up the rules are ourselves then." He smiles down to Cirice. "I can't be the best person when clearly it's you."

He gives another dumb little laugh as he leads her back to a waiting Halcyon, "Shall we head back to the beach then? Get away from all the apparently prying eyes." Gerhart chuckles as he offers to help Cirice back into the saddle before climbing on.

This return flight is much calmer, no big dives, rolls, or fancy manuevers. Just a nice and easy flight back to the beach, wind in their hair and love in their hearts.

“Our rules. And my first rule is don’t put yourself down.” She reaches up and boops his nose gently before following him to his steed. She gratefully accepts his help into the saddle ad settles in against him once more, more comfortably this time. “Yeah let’s go swimming!”

The flight back is lovely and relaxing, its like some small anxiety was lifted from both of them and they can just relax and enjoy each other’s company. When they land Cirice slides off Halcyon’s back and looks around for the perfect place for their picnic, just outside of the reach of the waves. She pulls out a blanket from her bag and lays it down for them to lounge on.

“I’m going to change, no peeking, okay?” She winks at him, stepping away a little and surrounding herself with a wall of violet light for modesty as she changes into the bathing suit¹. The wall isn’t perfectly opaque, just mostly, but she trusts Gerhart to be enough of a gentleman to respect her privacy. He’s always shown himself to be a perfect gentleman and she loves that about him. Once she’s changed out of her dress and in her cute bathing suit she drops the wall, having tied a cute sarong around her hips. She’s feeling a little exposed and self-conscious, not usually this underdressed. Her arms being bare for some reason really bothers her, the strange symbols on her skin in white body paint very visible and on display.

“How do I l-look?” She asks shyly.

---

1 Wall of Light

"It's not fair if you make the first rule impossible." One last little laugh and joke before they take off.

Honestly, he can't remember the last time he'd had so few worries. He always tried to stay on the positives, but there was usually something he doing on top of that. This was the first time in awhile there were no worries. When they land and dismount, he gives a laugh to Cirice and covers his eyes. For good measure, Halcyon throws a wing between them as well.

"Well aren't you a diligent guard bird." Gerhart smiles and gets changed himself. The man is too simple to any concerns about how on display his body is, really the only thing he ever had a slight worry about were the scars on his cheek, but he couldn't really do much to cover those.

When he catches a look of Cirice his face goes bright red and words struggle to form in his mouth for once. "Y-ou, you look great! Really, uhm, really cute. The uh the swim suit was a um good choice."

Cirice’s cheeks are a deep purple hue but she smiles at him and tries not to gawk, “You look really great too! It suits you so well!” His exposed chest is quite the feast for the eyes. “I’m glad we went with matching ones, I think it adds to the cuteness. Let’s eat a little before we swim so we don’t get sand in the wagashi!” She plops down on the blanket and pats the seat next to her.

“Have you ever built a sandcastle? Beaches are really fun because there’s so much to do!” She gets out the treats and offers him some starberry mochi. “Here try this one. Starberry is the best flavor. I love just about anything starberry flavored.”

"I think just about everything we do today is going to be a first for me." He grins as he takes a seat, gently lowering himself to not kick up a bunch of sand. Gerhart leans back, propping himself up with his hands.



"Starberry? Do you mean strawberry?" The ranger leans forward to take a bite of the mochi as Cirice holds onto it. "Oh nope, no dafs definitely not strawberry." Once again he talks while chewing, mulling over the flavor in his head. It's sweeter and more citrusy than he imagined, but very bright which was fitting for the name.