Less Then Nothing(AU, Private)

After a few minutes, Reizo would notice a familiar woman walking over, smiling softly as she came over. "I think this is the third day in a row that you've stopped by, Reizo. You must really like this cafe." She waved her order pad in her hand, grinning. "So how can I help you today?"

In his earlier days, Reizo often got tongue tied trying to talk to women, but exposure to all the female friends he had as well as getting older made this less of an issue. He wouldn't say he was some type of smooth talker or anything, though now he could now have a conversation with them. The only time he got slightly nervous is if he was interested in them and wanted to pursue them.

"What can I say? I just can't find any place that matches the quality here." Partly true, not the whole thing. "I'll have this mystery flavor special you're having since its on sale and I might like it. Has the cafe been busy all day Taffy?"

Monica would probably like this place if she came, Flower too..though some of the stuff she'd have to stay away from or she'd be bouncing off the falls.

Taffy jotted down his order, smiling. "Not too busy, no. It's been rather peaceful, honestly. And how has your day been?"

"It's been kinda hectic, actually." Reizo started. "I'm just really glad school is over for the day, but to be honest I think I might be putting too much pressure onto myself. Some of my friends have been moving on with their own thing, while two years later I'm still not sure what I want to do. I know its a bit silly to think that though."

Taffy shook her head. "I don't think it's silly. I know full well what it's like to not really know what you want to do with your life. But it will come to you, Reizo." She smiled, then walked off to get his order started and take care of some other customers for the moment.

Reizo was a bit relieved Tomoya wasn't here to give him a hard time, though now that he thought about it he wouldn't be surprised if they or someone else popped up. That all being said, he couldn't just sit and expect things to happen he had to actually do something. He was a functional, healthy young man so of course he noticed things but he hadn't put it on a pedestal.

So for better or worse, he was going to ask Taffy if they wanted to hang out after work some time. Not necessarily on a date but just getting to know them and seeing where things went.

After awhile, Taffy finally returned, setting Reizo's order down in front of him. "Here you go, Reizo! I think you'll like it. I have a pretty good idea of your tastes now, I think." She smiled brightly. "All the other customers have been taken care of, so if there was something you wanted to talk about, now is the time I think. Did you want to discuss your thoughts about what to do after school?"

"Thank you Taffy." He sincerely meant that, being attracted to them aside he always felt a lot better after coming to and then talking to them whenever he had a chance to, anyway. "As for school, I really don't know just yet. It's something I think about but I don't have a clue, not yet right now but it is something I need to do."

After a moment, he decided to stop playing around and get his wits about them. "So..uh..I was wondering if you'd like to hang out outside of work some time? I really like talking to you but we never really done it outside of the work setting."

Taffy blinked a bit, surprised by the question. "Oh... well, I don't see why not. We get along well enough, we are already friends practically. I guess it just never occurred to me."

Reizo was pretty happy to hear that, of course he wouldn't assume anything more then that except hanging out and going from there organically but he was fine with it. "Really? That's cool. So how about today after work if you're not doing anything and its not too late? If not, then I guess we can go from some other time its really no big deal."

"Hm... no, I'm off in about two hours, actually, so we can do something after that. Have anything in mind?" She brushed her hair from her face, smiling down at him sweetly.

Reizo's brain had partially stopped working when Taffy smiled at him, though it did strongly remind him that standing there like a moron was not going to do him any favors in the long run. So with that sorted out it decided to pity him and give him fully functional motor skills soon enough.

"Uh..we'll, I was thinking just for a walk. I know there are some trails around here, but I didn't really have anything specific in mind."

Taffy seemed to mull it over, nodding a bit. "That works. Going on walks is good for the body anyway! Alright, sounds like a plan, Reizo. Like I said, I should be off in two hours, so you can meet me outside then or wait around here, I suppose. So long as you don't distract me from my work, I'm sure my boss won't mind." She giggled softly.

To Reizo's relief and credit his brain didn't hit a record skip this time around though he reasoned Taffy being Taffy was going to be a slight problem for him from here on out. He get used to it, he reasoned, but it wasn't in the bad way. He smiled back at them. "Don't worry I'll try not to keep you too distracted while I'm here. If you have to get to a few things right now won't hold you from it."

It's more the other way around..

Taffy just smiled, and went about her business. True to her word, it only took about two hours, and she made sure to check on him every so often to see if she could get him anything. When she was finally done, she approached his table, smiling brightly with a bit of a bounce to her step. "Ready to go, Reizo!"

Reizo was happy to have them come along, even if nothing came from it he really did enjoy Taffy's company from the times he spent at the cafe. Now wouldn't be so different save it was going to be outside of a work environment so he supposed in some ways that changed the dynamic of some things then it did before.

"You know, I'm surprised I never asked but are you from Japan originally? Taffy isn't exactly Japanese, though to be fair I know some friends who have different non Japanese names that were born here." She could be from Acor originally for all he knew, or born somewhere on earth.

Taffy chuckled a bit. "Well... to be honest, my name isn't really Taffy. It's the name I go by, and the name I want people to call me, but it's not the one I was born with. My real name is Ria. Ria Rudiger. I'm not sure where I was born. My earliest memories was me growing up in the United States though, in a home we had just moved to. I moved here to Japan after I graduated High School."

So her name wasn't Taffy? That was a bit surprising to Reizo but as much since it wasn't like it was the first time he heard someone going by a different name then their birth name. Sometimes it was simple as not liking their birth name, and other times it was far more touchy then that.

"Your from America?" He asked a bit curious. "I kind of want to visit, but not sure. I mean, I never really been anywhere outside of Japan. Alus too. I'm a Alusarian, not sure I mentioned it so I always wanted to see a bit of what it was like. Anyway, how do you like things here compared to where in the States you came from?"

Taffy hummed to herself a bit. "I prefer it here. I liked a lot of things back home, but... hm, I didn't really get to just enjoy the sights and the like. It's not better here, just different, in a way that I like."

"Yeah, every place probably has its own charm to it. There's a lot of different places I want to travel on earth too, much less off world." Reizo could think of a few on the top of his head, same with going to other worlds if he ever got the chance. "Is there any places you want to visit one day here or off world?"

Taffy just smiled. "Acor. It's my homeworld, after all. I don't know if I was born there or here, but I have no memories of it, so I would like to one day see the place my ancestors called home. Other than that... Eldar, I think. I think it would be fascinating."

"I wouldn't mind visiting those places. I mean, I think it be pretty cool as I heard a lot of interesting things about Acor and Eldar. If I remember right the two plants are really close after Eldar helped them but I don't really remember the details.." Reizo wished he remembered, he was usually good at that sort of thing though to be fair it was a bit ago. "Do you know about a woman named Chloe? Her last name escapes me right now but I know she came from Acor and is making a name for herself here as a bussisness woman."

She was also extremely attractive but that was a small point. It did seem since finding about them though he did have a thing for Acorian women, which his friends affectionately teased him about. Then again he was pretty easy to tease in general when it came to these sorts of things.

"...Sinclaire, I think. Chloe Sinclaire. I don't know much, but from what I've heard, she is practically a genius when it comes to investing. She funds a lot of tech companies and the like, I believe. Why do you ask?" Taffy shifted, brushing her hair out of her face a bit as she moved over a bit to make room for someone else walking by.

"Just starting conversation. Plus I think its kind of cool you have people from Acor coming all the way here making inroads. It just makes it feels like things are growing..or I don't know. Maybe that doesn't make as much sense but its basically what's on my mind right now when you asked." Reizo said scratching the back of his head. "Did that make any sense?"

Taffy smiled softly. "It does. I'm sad that Acorians are not as accepted on Earth as they should be, but I understand. Other races on Earth are either from Earth, or have a long history here. Acorians are... very new to Earth. It's a shock, to suddenly have a race of people you've never seen before, living among you. Particularly when they look so different... I mean, the various races on Earth all look fairly similar, no? Horns, wings, tails, and various skin tones are differences, but they still look like 'humans' with interesting traits. Acorians, however... we look like Earth animals that have taken a humanoid shape. It's understandable that we'd be hard to... accept, at first."