Flights of Fancy

As Estelle sat once again in front of Rosemary and rested her chin on her hand in an almost aloof way, the Swiss couldn't help but chuckle at her friend's previous idea of the chance of Estelle being a victim of a con artist. "So you learnt that I live in an atic and now you want to fool me so you can take it for yourself! Ooooh you evil Rosemary!", Estelle giggled. Just thinking about that woman who was too flustered by Estelle's teasing to the point of blushibg being a master deceiver and con artist was a funny enough thought to make her laugh. On the other hand, Estelle's usual demeanor, much more straightforward and open with her partners in the AFW had been affected by her feelings towards Rosemary and she was also blushing and feeling butterflies in her stomach. It was a weird sensation she thought she would never feel again, but there it was.

Then some inevitable question made its appearance. It was an obvious thing to ask given how Estelle had suddenly disappeared in a flustered state and then came back after some break. The truth was that Estelle suffered some kind of panic attack at the sudden realization that what she was doing now was so similar to a date, and that her interest in Rosemary could develop into more intense feelings. It scared her a little, given how her last relationship abruptly came to an end in tragedy, but the Swiss thought it was time to move on, and maybe her chance had some shiny hair, wonderful eyes and a naval outfit.

In her absence, Estelle had put herself in Rosemary’s hands in terms of the food chosen. It wasn’t a major issue because it was a part of her plans. She just wanted to give control to her friend and reassure her confidence. Now the Swiss needed to take the attention away from her small absence. “Yes, everything alright, sorry for that. I just…” She was struggling with her nerves, openly talking about her insecurities wasn’t easy for her at all, and Rosemary would be more than capable of noticing this as Estelle remained speechless.

Even someone less adept at reading people could see the inquiry had made Estelle uncomfortably. As curious as she was, it hadn't been her goal to try dragging answers out of the other brunette. It could have been any number of things that had spirited her away to the bathroom ranging from a. Upset stomach to something more heavy and personal. Rosemary could see that she seemed to be distraught or at least trying to mask it. So as Estelle struggled to respond, Rosemary gave a small shrug and cut her friend off mid way through her explanation to accept her claim of everything being fine to spare Estelle the need to explain herself. Whatever she was dealing with, it was the Sky Captain's business unless the other girl wanted to share.

"So tell me more about your ninja journey where you, wink-wink, didn't learn any super stealthy ninja moves. I feel I need to know if I should be checking my tea for poison or looking out for some flying kunai." Rosemary chose to take things in a more outlandish direction to lighten the mood. She smiled as the elderly man returned to their table, setting a small cup before each woman and pouring tea. The small pot was left behind on the table to them to serve themselves as needed. Rosemary tested the ceramic cup with a finger, leaning down to blow on the surface of the steaming liquid. "It's hot, careful."

Estelle had to thank her friend for the save. Rosemary noticed how the Swiss was uncomfortable about her momentary breakdown so she took the best course of action possible and drastically changed topics, asking her about her visit to the ninja village. Estelle immediately changed her face to a lighter one once more, her doubts fading as Rosemary was helping her, so sweet of her. “Well, it turned out you were right and it was a shame that I hadn’t visited yet. In some way, you inspired me and then I booked some tour and a hike to Mt. Fuji. In the way I stopped in the Oshino ninja village. It was very interesting even if it was Japan 101. I had a lot of fun, but fear not because I learnt no ninja tricks… and in the eventuality that I would have, would I let you know?”, she asked arching her brow, teasing her rival before giggling, her spirits back to normal.

When the old man arrived with some teapot and two cups Estelle smiled to herself. She always had been more of a coffee woman, but one thing she had learnt when arriving at Japan was to appreciate that country’s love for well made tea. She tested the ceramic cup with one of her fingers before retreating it. “Wow, hot indeed. So, I told you about my ninja secrets, so why don’t you tell me about your con artist methods? Now that you managed to get me here, what is your next step? I could be hiding a shuriken or a kunai, you know...”

“Well, even if it’s standard tourist fare, I can’t say I’ve ever been to either.” Rosemary’s eyes drifted up and to the side as she took a moment to recollect where she had been since coming to Japan. She wasn’t much for tourism as she was people watching, as a result most of her discoveries had been more localized and happenstance compared to Estelle's actual trips. After a moment she turned her attention back to the other woman with a nod.

“I’m more of an urban explorer myself, to be honest. I haven’t seen much of Japan’s culture first hand outside of wandering into a small Shinto shrine, mostly by mistake. When I first got here I would just pick a direction and jog out for a bit, then try to find my way back home. Familiarize myself with the lay of the land a bit.” She occasionally lifted her teacup delicately by the handle, giving the steaming liquid a light blow to cool off its surface. She was patient, mindful not to try taking a sip.

“Hrm. I don’t suppose you would tell me if you learned some manner of subterfuge. Though, I warn you, I’ve a good eye for detail and if you try some sort of shady ninja business, I’d have to stop you.” The Sky Captain flashed Estelle a small smirk paired with a wink.

“Well, were I a con artist, which I’m not, I would surely not confess it to you. Buuuut…” She gestured, circling her hand in the air. “If I were, I managed to get you to come to a place of my choosing, at a time of my choosing, alone… and I didn’t even have to trick you into do it. You volunteered. It sounds as if I’m rather good at what I do… if I did… con artist things.”

“Which I don’t.” She coughed softly, taking a testing sip of her tea. Still hot, but not enough that she couldn’t manage with small sips. "Urm. Well, my next steps was to get to know you a bit more. We've only talked once in person... texted a few times. I don't feel I know much about you though. You're like a mystery wrapped up in a cute dress." She remarked with a pleasant smile before seemingly reviewing what she just said in her mind. Her posture straightened up slightly stiff and a blush took her cheeks as she went quiet.

Estelle nodded and listened to Rosemary’s explanation of how the woman liked to explore the city instead of the more touristic spots. It was a fair argument, and she also had a good method so the Swiss had to concede. “Well, I have to say that it is an original and interesting way to get to know a city. If I did that, I would get lost really quickly. You have to understand this poor Swiss woman just needed to be close to the mountains again, so Mt. Fuji was an obvious destination.”, she giggled.

The topic of conversation then shifted, and Estelle carefully took note of each one of Rosemary’s non verbal signs. First the woman gave her a playful wink, one of those winks that actually were Estelle’s trademark. She smiled to her friend as the British was apparently coming out of her shell and actually starting to actively become even more playful by the second. Estelle really liked where that was going, and even if Rosemary still found a way to make herself stutter around the con artist topic, the Swiss found all that so charming and attractive coming from her. Yes, she definitely liked that woman.

And it was that liking Estelle was getting for Rosemary the thing that didn’t make her shoo away when she was asked about her. The Swiss was always shy concerning her backstory, not sharing many details since she wasn’t really happy with how her past in Switzerland occurred, but somehow she was feeling safe enough around Rosemary to open a little, and even more if she asked like she did. “Hehe, it is a fine dress…” Estelle breathed deep before she started her story. “Well, as you suppose now I was born and raised in Switzerland. My relationship with my father wasn’t… the best. He tried to mold me to his image, making me take over the family business even if that wasn’t what I expected. In the end we struck a deal: I would work for him for some time after college and then I would be free to do whatever I pleased, so after some time taking care of business I was released. I was always curious about Japan, so here I am sitting with quite a mysterious lady herself. That’s it, mystery solved in less than 100 words.”

"It is… yeah." Rosemary brought a hand up, obscuring her face as she brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear, trying to hide a faint blush. She was thankful Estelle hadn't taken offense to her small slip there or read too much into it. It wasn't like the Sky Captain to be so forward… but when was the last time someone had taken an interest in her, friend or otherwise? She still wasn't sure where the two of them fell still, since they were just acquaintances more or less, but she was really hoping to loosen up a bit and give this thing they had some breathing room. Rosemary was happy to let the other brunette talk and enjoy her tea all the while, nodding along.

It was hard not to pry about what Estelle's family business actually was. This was mostly because when putting herself in the other girls shoes, Rosemary would have likely enjoyed going into business. While not filled with the thrill seeking theatric is wrestling, she oftentimes buried herself in research, study, and busy work that came off very similar to having a business type of side job herself. Organization and execution were a huge part of how she operated, mostly out of habit. She could see though how the quiet loving Estelle wouldn't want to be locked into a busy big business lifestyle though. It didn't really seem to fit the free spirited air that circled around her. On a personal level, she also couldn't relate to parental issues. While neither of her folks knew what Rosemary was really doing these days, they had always been very supportive of her following her heart and reaching for the sky… she may have taken it a bit literally when it came to becoming the Sky Captain.

"Mmm. I don't know if that really solves the mystery. It shed some light on it though. I think there is a bit more to you." Rosemary set her cup back down, making sure it sat centered in front of her. She regarded Estee for a quiet moment with another hum, knowing full well it was her turn to offer up something about herself. Still, while they were chatting about Estelle, she was more than happy to keep the spotlight trained on her. There was a small worry that the topic of professions would come up and direct itself to her if they kept trading back and forth. What would Estelle think of her if she knew she dressed up like this for the sake of professional wrestling? The profession wasn't exactly the most well respected one out there, and Rosemary's own take on it was notably extreme with how she handled herself as a living character. Could she really put into words how and why she was playing pretend full time?

"On all the places in the world, you settle on Japan." The cogs in her mind were turning, powering her detective like insights and fueling her curiosity. "But you hadn't taken the time to do much sightseeing. So presumably you came here for a reason other than to just take in the culture. So you must have come here for a reason." Rosemary canted her head slightly, giving the other woman a small smile as she let the unspoken question of why Estelle had come here float in the air without directly asking. "I've done a fair bit of traveling myself, mostly throughout Europe though. I didn't get to really stay anyplace as long as I would have liked outside of the United Kingdoms, so I have been taking my time now that I have landed in Japan. Really spread my wings a bit and take it in."

Estelle finished her speech and then had a long sniff and then a sip at her coffee. She had to admit that even if she liked coffee better there was much appeal to Japanese homemade tea. The Swiss took mental note to keep experiencing that kind of flavor in the future in different places. It looked like the only thing she wouldn’t want to change would be the company. She could feel herself growing more attached to Rosemary, and the British looked happy around the Swiss, throwing her some signals that hinted how comfortable they were around each other.

Even if Rosemary wasn’t completely wrong when she said that Estelle hadn’t unveiled the mystery she was, the Swiss could only tell some parts of her story in one session. Estelle’s personal background wasn’t devoid of some drama and unpleasant experiences. Her relationship with her father had been complicated to say the least and sharing that with someone was an ordeal and also a mood breaker. Estelle just went over her story in a quick explanation and turned a page on it. Rosemary wanted to know more though, and that was both interesting and terrifying. The woman wanting to know more about Estelle showed that she had interest, but the Swiss wasn’t sure about being ready to share her full story.

“Well, you wouldn’t expect to unveil my full mystery on the first date, wouldn’t you?” Estelle giggled as she hoped topic would change. There was another thing bothering her, and it was her job. Estelle was proud of her craft as a hentai wrestler, but at that moment, in which she was starting to feel strange things about someone, suddenly admitting to have sex with other women as a job would completely ruin the night.

Thankfully Rosemary went with some backstory for herself, the woman openly talking about her travels. “So you are a travelling soul! But now you are here, do you expect yourself to move somewhere else in the future or have you settled in Japan?”

They had been playing around it for some time now. While suspicion of this being a date hung in the air since the first texts about it, Rosemary had still been being extremely cautious about treating it as such. Estelle finally addressed the elephant in the room by calling their dinner together what it was and the effects were immediate. A fresh hot flush of scarlet across Rosemary's cheeks. Those crisp blue eyes of hers darting off to the side. She even raised her cup to take another loooooong sip to try and hide her features from view behind it. She suddenly felt so much more pressure even though nothing had actually changed. The Sky Captain found herself questioning her choice of restaurant, topics of conversation, and even if she did the right thing by agreeing to this. Rosemary didn't really do relationships and here she was with someone like Estelle who had this natural glow of charisma about her. Surely this woman could have had anyone she wanted… why her then?

"I...uh… well no, of course not… I was ju-" Rosemary stumbled over her words, sheepishly peering back at Estelle in a failed attempt to respond to the Swiss woman's own playful comments. Thankfully she was saved by the elderly man returning to their table with a wide smile and two large steaming bowls on a platter.

"暑いです." He explained, while handling roaring the bowls by hand seemingly without issue. One bowl set before Estelle the other in front of Rosemary in white ceramic bowls with a simple blue line that circled it's base with a squared sit zag pattern. Both women were let a pair of chopsticks in a paper bag before he excused himself without any fuss.

Rosemary say quietly for a moment, staring down into the thick broth of her bowl. The savory scent was mouthwatering. It seemed to be some manner of house special noodle bowl comprised thin hand made noodles, several thin sliced pieces of meat canned out along the edge of the bowl, mushrooms, thin vegetable stalks, and a brightly colored halved egg, soft bowled on top. All the items were distinct and presented with small narutomaki garnishment in a picture worthy presentation, awaiting for them to mix it together themselves to eat as they liked. She hadn't even come here hungry, but as soon as she had gotten a good shift of what was before her it made her stomach growl hungrily. It didn't help her embarrassment in the moment though, hoping the sizzle of meats on the hibachi table and the quiet conversations of nearby patrons was enough to drown it out. She found herself nervously fumbling with her chopsticks, trying to work them out of the paper wrapping.

"I'll be staying here for a bit l imagine. I look after someone these days, so I can't stay too far or two long otherwise they tend to get into trouble… ah, they are a friend though, just a friend." She felt the need to clarify, not wanting Estelle to get the wrong impression that she was some sort of a playgirl. Everything she wanted to say just felt awkward now, all falling back to the undeniable fact this was actually a date. She was second-guessing every word and finding double meaning where they weren't, just to avoid causing miscommunication. She was trying too hard to be a good date but inadvertently just making things more awkward.

"Of course I have other things going on that… isn't them, my friend I mean. I just… heh… sorry it's a bit hot in here all of a sudden. Must be the noodle bowls." Her voice croaked a bit at the end, blushing again in embarrassment as she punctuated it all with finally tearing the end off of her chopsticks loudly. It must have been true what they said about the Captain sinking with the ship because Rosemary was practically drowning at this point.

For the length of that date both women had been giving slight but never explicit signs to the other. Yes, the general tone of the conversation was playful and even sultry at times, but none of the participants had ever addressed the point that they were in an actual date. Estelle said the word in an almost casual way, but the effect it caused in Rosemary was immediate and not very positive. The Swiss could notice her partner instantly blushing, red taking over her face as her eyes darted to the side avoiding eye contact with Estelle. Had the Swiss’ straightforwardness and playful tone made her friend uncomfortable? It definitely looked like it, because Rosemary was suddenly stumbling on her own words, stuttering here and there unable to form a sentence without stopping in the middle of it.

Saved by the bell. As if the patron had noticed Rosemary’s predicament, the food arrived just in time to cut her complicated moment short. In front of each of them lay a delicious looking bowl full of what it looked like hand made and slow cooked ingredients. Estelle was one used to light meals, and the bowl of soup looked like the complete opposite of that, but it was true that not every day she went out with someone as Rosemary, so she could always make an exception for her. Every small detail in the bowl looked appetizing and inviting, from the well-cooked meat to the eggs or the mushrooms. Estelle loved mushrooms.

When both women stopped admiring the food they returned to their conversation. Estelle nodded and listened carefully as Rosemary explained not without some difficulty that she had someone she needed to take care of. Estelle’s first thought about that was that she had some kind of sick relative, but being from the United Kingdom that was highly unlikely. The British immediately corrected her own words to make clear it is some kind of friend of hers the one in need. Estelle was touched by the woman’s kindness, being there for some good friend in need, and wondered if she was a good enough friend to do that.

But Rosemary wasn’t having a good time. The woman was clearly in distress as if she needed to double check every sentence or word she was going to say, even to the point that forming a complete statement took her several tries. Her body language was also affected, the poor woman unable to get the chopsticks out of their paper wrapping, all shaky. Estelle had enjoyed Rosemary’s previous lightly flustered state, it was cute, sweet and added to the playful atmosphere. But at that point Rosemary was clearly struggling and suffering, and that wasn’t what Estelle was there for.

Resolved to put an end to that, Estelle decided to take the bull by the horns. With a sudden fluid motion she took Rosemary’s chopstick battling hands within hers. Looking at her partner directly in the eyes she would start talking. “Rosemary, look. I really feel some kind of connection with you. I find you an interesting and fun person to be with, I really do. I enjoy our times together or our chats and that is why I’m here. Of course we don’t know each other really well and there would be some things that would be much more complicated to share with each other, but you don’t have to if you don’t feel alright with it. We can go as far with… this as we want for as long as we feel interested, but I don’t like seeing you distressed like that. So why don’t we take things as slow or fast as you feel like? Let’s get some time to enjoy each other’s company and get to know us well and then we shall see, alright?” There was no smirk on Estelle’s face, nor any wink or playful voice tone, just plain, warm honesty.

It didn't take a genius to see Rosemary was in crisis. She had never been in a relationship before, not any meaningful one. Especially not with another woman. It hadn't been until joining AFW and having one of her first matches that she even discovered she might be attracted to other women. Then someone like Estelle walked into her life. She didn't seem real. The way she moved, the way she spoke, the way she looked. People like her didn't have interest in people like Rosemary. She had to have been misreading things… but she hadn't. This was a date… and she was blowing it.

She felt hands on her's. Soft, warm hands. Blinking, she looked up and met Estelle's gaze. She was blushing still, but that frantic energy seemed to have dispersed, leaving her quiet. The brunette helped remind her to take a moment and just… breath. So she did. Her crystalline eyes drifted down to their hands, quietly turning her own over to take Estelle's in her own. She gently ran a thumb over the back of the other girl's hand, in contemplative thought. The Swiss woman was being so patient with Rosemary, so understanding… so genuine. It was actually very moving, so much so a faint smile returned to her lips. The Sky Captain gave the other woman's hands a gentle squeeze. She really just liked the feel of being hand in hand with her even despite the current situation.

"Sorry. I'm just…" It was hard to put into words when your fears manifested in such a childish way that made rejection seem like the end of the world. What did Rosemary really have to tear her one way or the other? If things had gone poorly on their date, it wasn't like she ever really needed to see Estelle again unless she had wanted to. They could just go great… and they could have another, perhaps more after that. "...being really silly. Let's just start over." Rosemary drew in a deep breath, composing herself again.

"Ms. Arnault, would you do me the honor of being my date tonight? I would very much like to spend more time with you. Perhaps over dinner? I know a lovely little noodle house where the two of us could enjoy one another's company over some fine local cuisine." Her bright blue eyes hadn't left Estelle's gaze as Rosemary sweetly pretended to invite the Swiss girl out tonight to the very date they were already taking part of. Not over a text where it was vague, but in the open where she could make it clear this was what she had chosen. With a small dip of her head, she brought one of Estelle's hands to her lips where she could give the back of it the gentlest of kisses in a gentlemanly fashion. "Please say yes?"