[Athilea Majiri]

She allowed her gaze to move around the garden, lingering on a flower from time to time. "Well, we are currently doing something I enjoy. I spend most of my time...or spent, in the garden at my parents home." She had to correct herself, she would not likely be living their any longer.

She chewed on her lip some as she mulled that over before she continued, "Aside from that I enjoy reading, and painting. Most of my time is spent somewhere away from crowds and the pomp and ceremony that go with them." Atane blushed when she realized what she had just said to her husband-to-be and ducked her head a little shyly, "I-I am sorry."

[((___jade___))>]

Thayne nodded slightly, allowing himself to get somewhat distracted as he let his eyes wander towards the flowers. At least he had made the right choice in bringing her here. He decided to keep that filed in the back of his mind. Perhaps it would eventually come in handy.

"Hm?" Thayne looked a little confused as he was brought back more fully into reality by her apology. It took him a moment to go back and register what she had said previous to the apology. "O-oh, it's fine..." He smiled slightly, turning his eyes away again and biting his lip gently. His usual habits urged him not to reply to that any further, but he knew what would happen if he said nothing; another silence would come and he would have to come up with another question. He was going to be spending quite a bit of time with her now anyway. Atane would eventually figure out that he shared these views, so he might as well just tell her now.

"Ah, me too, actually..." It occurred to Thayne that it had been a few moments of quiet already and she might not realize what he was talking about. His pointed ears went red and his face flushed ever-so-slightly in embarrassment as he added to it. "A-as I hinted at before, the library is much more agreeable to me than a ballroom full of... frilly-clothed, feather-hatted, poofy-sleeved... whatevers." He stumbled over the sentence, searching for the appropriate wordings to fit the guests that he so disliked.

[Athilea Majiri]

She looked into his eyes, somewhat surprised. That was not something that Atane had expected of him. She could not say that she minded that discovery though. The more common ground they found, the easier this transition for them would be. After a moment she smiled and stopped turning fully towards him. Finally she shifted their hands to a more comfortable position, though she did not release it.

"I suppose that is one thing we have in common that both of our families likely dislike." Now that they were alone and she didn't feel so embarrassed as she had in front of their parents about taking a closer look at him. If they were going to be married they would spend a lot of time seeing each other, but it was still so new to her.

He really was a very handsome elf. She couldn't really think of any that matched him in that regard. When she realized, though, that she had been staring she blushed again and began to release his hand as she turned her head away, "So..." The girl racked her mind for something to ask, "When did you find out that we would be married?" She realized that she had not asked him that herself.

[((___jade___))>]

Trying not to stare back at Atane, Thayne let her shift their hands, letting his be limp for her to do with as she pleased. It now occurred to him that his hand was rather sweaty from being nervous, but hopefully she either did not mind or did not notice.

"Yes, that's nice..." He agreed with a slight smile. That one was somehow more genuine. It just seemed weird to him to be actually smiling in a social situation.

Thayne had hardly noticed her staring at him, despite the fact that he was sort of staring at her too. He could not help but look at the bright side; he was getting a looker. In his mind, it would have been unlikely for someone like him to get someone like her without some sort of arrangement like this. Feeling her hand slip away from his a bit, he grabbed at it instinctively. He was not even sure why he had done that, but he soon put himself in check, snapping his arm quickly back to his side. That seemed awkward, as if he were grabbing her. Considering his many faults, especially in his personality, he refused to add abusive and controlling husband into the mix.
That sounded weird. Husband. Him, a husband... How odd.

Thayne was somehow a little surprised by the question, perhaps just because it had been so many words since he had asked her the same. "Oh, it was... a year ago, I suppose." He said it nonchalantly and in a vague manner despite the fact that he could count to the day when it had been. It was probably all the better that he had found out so early as compared to her though, when he thought about it. From what he had heard, females tended to be far more mature at an earlier age than males. Scientifically, it would take him more time to process and accept it than her.

[Athilea Majiri]

She looked back at him when he grabbed for her hand, surprised but not upset. If she were being completely honest with herself, she kinda wished she had not let go of his hand, but Atane did not take hold of it again.

The Elf couldn't help but notice that he was rather attractive. There was not denying that she could easily swoon over him. Not many women could say that about their husbands. The thought still felt odd though, he was going to marry her. How long would it take before she did become use to that?

Finally, she spoke. "I see. I do not know why my parents waited to tell me." Her gaze lowered for a moment before she looked back up to him, deciding to speak on a topic they both seemed to have in common, "What sort of books do you prefer, Thayne?"

[((___jade___))>]

Feeling particularly awkward at that point, Thayne folded his arms over his chest quickly as he waited for the short silence to pass. He chewed on his lip absently, trying to come up with more conversation material. In the end, he did not need it.

Thayne nodded slightly at her answer. He sort of wondered himself why they had not been told all along, since they were old enough to understand. If they ended up arranging for a child of theirs to have a similar experience, then Thayne would see to it that he knew by the time he came to adolescence.

Now things were getting weird in his head again though. Children? Thayne could not help but cringe a bit at the thought. It had nothing to do with the children themselves, he actually rather liked children, but the thought of him being a father was rather jarring.

Glad for the lighter topic, he quickly focused his mind away from those previous thoughts. "Ah, depends... mostly action, adventure... mystery. All the stuff I wish I could do but know I never will." He smiled slightly, mind drifting ever-so-slightly into his mental library. That was a close enough answer; he tended to stay away from non-fiction unless it was about battles and heroes and unless it was written well. "What about you?" He asked the question back, turning his head a bit so that he could look at Atane a little more directly.

[Athilea Majiri]

She shrugged as she responded, "Some of the same, though I...I have been known to read my share of romances." Her cheeks turn bright red. Apparently she is very embarrassed about this. Really she was amazed that she told him at all. She brushes a stray lock of hair back behind one of her ears.

It was odd, everything felt like it was a dream. She was not completely sure of how she felt about the situation they found themselves in. So far, though, things were going well. At the same time, though Atane knew that he could just be putting on a ruse until after they were already bound in marriage.

The girl took a deep breath before she met her fiances eyes, "I...I know this must be as odd for you as it is for me. We know only what our parents told us, and that makes it difficult to hold a conversation." She bit her lower lip again before she continued, "I just...I hope that we can find enough common ground that this wont be as awkward as it otherwise would be."

[((___jade___))>]

Nodding, Thayne grinned sheepishly. He had dipped his nose into one of two of those himself, though he had not found them so appealing. It was hard for him to relate to the characters in those books.

Again, Thayne nodded. Things seemed to be going fairly well so far, he only hoped it continued to go as such. The less they liked each other, the more miserable the rest of their lives would be. Neither of them wanted that, obviously, and as callused as it was to force your child into a marriage, Thayne guessed that their parents would rather them be happy too.

"Yeah, hopefully..." Thayne sighed, folding his arms over his chest nonchalantly. It occurred to him that their conversation now did not really mean much in the long run; this was just the basic, outer layer stuff. There was still plenty of room for tensions and differences...

After another short silence, Thayne let out a nervous chortle. "I'm sorry, I'm not really a very good conversationalist..."

[Athilea Majiri]

With a soft laugh of her own she waved the apology away before she turned and started to walk deeper into the garden, "In case you had not already guess, I'm not very adept at it myself."

She knew, in a way, that what they talked of right now did not matter. Really, she just thought it would be good to get away from the tension in the room with their parents. Perhaps it would help them be a little more relaxed if they had some time together.

She sighed quietly, "This...this is odd." Atane looked at him, unsure if he was following her or not, "Do...do you feel like we are...like we are in a dream? Like this isn't really happening?" The girl looked down, "I know that's silly, but it's so surreal."

[((___jade___))>]

Thayne laughed weakly along with her, not sure if he should or not. There had been times when his inappropriately-timed laughter had earned him mild slaps and kicks. At least it was something else they had in common though.

Pausing at Atane's question, Thayne took a moment to consider it. Immediately his mind was crying out a loud and resounding "yes", but he decided that it would be best not to blurt that out. That might look weird. "Yes... I suppose so." That was an understatement. "I suppose I've thought about this day so many times in the past year that I had it in my head that it would go differently..." He said with a soft, thoughtful frown. Of course, he had, up until this point, not known how this day would go, but he had gone through a thousand scenarios, some of them better than this and some of them worse. Well, most of them worse...

"A-th-I-I didn't mean that in a bad way though..." Thayne stuttered quickly, holding up his hands in defense as his ears turned bright red again, followed by his cheeks. In his frantic correction, he almost tripped over a root, causing even more blood to rush into his face. In the times he had imagined this over the past year, this had actually been one of the situations he had imagined, though it had been even worse in the day dream.

[Athilea Majiri]

She halted in her walk and turned to him as he almost tripped. Atane took a step closer to him and rested a hand on his shoulder hesitantly, "It's alright, Thayne. Do you think I had not thought of how our first meeting would turn out?" She gave him a small smile.

"Perhaps this is not the best that either of us may have imagined, but it's from the worst either." Her head tilted slightly as she looked up at him, "I suppose that it's hard for anyone to get accustomed to the idea of being wed to someone they did not choose. It was likely just as awkward for our parents."

She sighed and looked down, "I have to say, though, that I have enjoyed talking with you, as much as we have." Atane pressed her lips together when she raised her eyes to him again, "Even if the conversation has been filled with the sorts of pleasantness that one might expect at a ball." The girls smile was a little playful.

[((___jade___))>]

Thayne laughed nervously, trying to let his posture communicate that he was okay with her touching him. In the past year, he had avoided physical touch with women of any sort besides his mother and sister, though it was a little extreme. He would have to get used to it being okay; Atane was the whole reason he had done it anyway. Sometimes it was hard to remember that since they were getting along so well.

"Yes, that's about right..." He nodded, laughing softly, though slightly more comfortably now. "A year is enough time for countless imaginings... The actual thing has been better than most of them so far." He added. "So far" were key words though; some of his possible scenarios had gone fine until the wedding day. Even someone willingly marrying someone they loved would have nightmares about that though, from what he had heard.

Thayne nodded, still smiling at her. "Yes, I agree... I'm not sure I could have expected much better though, at least. This is our first time meeting anyway; it would be unfair to both of us if we skipped the pleasantries." They would probably be miserable if they skipped all of that and went straight for the meat. All of the skeletons would be tumbling out of the closets at a fast enough rate to cause some problems. There was another one of the possible scenarios that he had thought about...

[Athilea Majiri]

She looked up at him, again unable to deny that he was a very handsome elf. "I have enjoyed talking to you, Thayne, a great deal." A smile touched her lips as she met his eyes.

"We..uh...we should probably be getting back now." Her voice was little more then a whisper. So many times this meeting had played itself in her mind. It was not bad, but she was nervous. It was, however, obvious that she did not relish the idea of returning to their parents.

(Bleh, hate making short posts.))

[((___jade___))>]

Nodding a bit, Thayne continued to smile back. "I'm glad then..." He murmured. This had been, to his pleasant surprise, rather smooth so far. Hopefully, such things would continue. It would be incredibly mortifying if he spelled the downfall of his family in some way through this marriage.

"Uh yeah, I guess so..." Thayne glanced back at the door with a look of distaste. He, too, was not looking forward to returning into the presence of his elders. They would have to eventually though...

"We can walk really slowly." Thayne suggested, catching the feeling that Atane was not exactly looking forward to it either. The "walking slowly" trick was one of his favorites. He used it rather often.

{{~*Me neither... xC It's okay though; we all get a little stuck sometimes. :c
Oh and I'll be gone all this weekend btw. ^ ^;*~}}

[Athilea Majiri]

She could not help but smile at his suggestion and slowly she nodded, "Yes, I think that would be nice, delay it a little longer." After a moment she laced her fingers through his so that their hands were hanging comfortably between them. "Are you as nervous as I am? I feel as though there are butterflies in my stomach?"

She took the first slow, lingering step back towards the building where their parents were currently discussing what kind of wedding they would have. It was odd to think that they would have no had in their own ceremony other then to be there. The choice of agreeing had even been taken from them. They would say yes as their parents wished. It didn't matter if they got along or not. They would learn to live with one another, if not love one another.

Her blue eyes caught his from the corner of her eyes and she blushed before she spoke, "I must say that I am lucky that I will have such a handsome husband. I can scarcely thing of anyone that meets you as far as how attractive you are, Thayne."

((Aww, alright. I hope you have fun. -hugs-))

[((___jade___))>]

When Atane took his hand again, Thayne was a little surprised. His hand felt sort of weird and clammy against hers, but he hoped she either did not mind or did not notice. Holding people's hands was something he was certainly not used to. "Ah, perhaps not quite as nervous as you but... still rather nervous." He agreed with a slight nod of his head.

Thayne could feel his face getting red at her words, though he wished that there was some way that he could control that. Despite all of his spoiled-ness, that was one thing he did not have going against him; he actually didn't believe that he was very good-looking. His parents, realizing how spoiled he was going to be at a young age, tried to discourage such talk around him just for that purpose. Thus, whenever it was mentioned, he hardly knew how to react, he would get so flattered.

"W-well thank you." He said, slightly flustered. "I could say nearly the same for you though. And I should know something of it; I can't tell you how many of my father's guests, clueless of my engagement, have tried to set me up with their daughters. I was starting to think that it was impossible for one to possess both wealth and beauty..." Thayne chuckled a little, feeling more comfortable with these words. "Not to mention, with this craze of corsets and being thin, hardly any of them have a body left beyond the bare essentials." Being a male, he could not help but notice the fact that her chest and hips were far fuller than most. It was starting to put bad images into his head, though he supposed it hardly mattered. She was going to be his wife anyway. They would have to get to such things at some point.