[ORP] Speed Dating - Seeking Mr. Right or Lady Love! [CLOSED]

[shortcutt]

What she wanted it to be was something beyond her expectations. She'd been cursed by crushes all her life-- None reciprocated, of course. She was an easy target, BC didn't know how to not feel things for anyone who gave her attention. It was a really undesirable weakness of hers, she had to admit. What she had wanted out of tonight was for maybe to find someone who would make that ugly cycle end for her.

But this was Banana Creme, and this was not her love story.

Deciding against acknowledging the first question, she nuzzled her face in Encore's side before letting her go, slowly standing back up to her full height and looking around the room for the box of pet treats she had made up for Shockstar's animal crew. When Crumble was brought to her attention, she smiled a bit at the thought of her support dog, shaking her head a bit. "He was at home with my moms while I was pulling a long night, but I hadn't expected to be here not working. Oh, um... I'm really sorry about whatever my Mom must've said to you tonight. She's really not into guys, so... --Oh! Here they are!" The box of beautifully decorated pastel treats was resting underneath where Fruit Punch had thrown her hat earlier (she was incredibly happy to be able to put that back on), and on very slightly unsteady legs, she brought them to Shockstar, setting them on the counter next to the phikachu boy.

"They're safe for Encore to eat, so they're safe for you, too. I hope you like them." Wandering back to the fridge, she debated on grabbing another drink for herself but stopped short of another beer, instead bringing out the vodka, Kahlua, and heavy cream to mix herself another small White Russian. Tonight was going to be sleepless, she could already tell, so she might as well enjoy part of it. "I have a feeling you might like the taste of this one, if you were to try it," she hummed, eyes flicking to Shockstar every once in awhile as she made quick work of pouring the drink. "No pressure, though. You're welcome to have a sip of mine, if you're curious. It helps me relax when I'm worked up."

@Fealine

[Yasha]

His eyes darted back as she chugged the chilled water bottle like an absolute pro. He chuckled. The huffy determination on her face was a nice change.

Expired gave a shrug. "Eh, I could start with answering your questions honestly. I really do like ASMR... It's very relaxing to hear soft whispers, tapping and stuff like that. So is that what you do mostly?"

"It seems we are both very guarded. Letting someone in might be nice. We've already said the worst we can possibly say to one another. So I feel like it couldn't possibly get any worse?" He said, gauging her reaction while expecting an empty water bottle to hit him upside the head.

@cursedwanderer

[Nym]

Blind Love was close to leaving, on the edge between embarrassment and shame. She downed one drink, then another, licking back the alcohol once she pulled herself from her glass. Luckily, she wasn't a lightweight -- it just settled the nerves. She could go home -- relinquish the babysitter earlier than anticipated and save a few bucks. Or, maybe, she could try and at least befriend someone, bare minimum. Being lonely was a slow death, and friends were not something she had plenty of. It was better than wallowing, anyway, and made her feel less of a kill-joy.

She swiveled in her seat, eyeballing the phonies wandering. Most were whisked away in conversation or looked like they were searching for someone. She didn't dare get in their way -- love didn't need an obstacle in the form of her! It was during her surveillance when she caught Fatal's glance, Blind's mouth opening into a soft 'o'.

Fatal Attraction had sounded like she was seeking her forever and ever, too, and Blind Love felt bad as she lacked someone to talk to. Commiserating would do the both good, perhaps, and Fatal honestly was a peculiar phony. Blind Love wanted to know more. She slid off her seat, wandering towards the jewel-eyed mare tentatively.

"Did anyone catch your eye?" She questioned, voice soft and gentle. "Fatal Attraction, was it? You have lovely eyes -- did you enjoy tonight?" She had to bite back her desire to ask Fatal what her favorite part was -- this was no time for work talk! She wasn't going to be the depressing filly AND the workaholic that ruined the night!

@cursedwanderer

[Byagane319]

Kit felt so nervous after answering all the questions.  He hoped they liked his answers.  Once everyone was free to roam Kit had taken a seat at an empty table, trying to decide if he wanted to talk to anyone or if he even had the courage.  He'd glanced over at the large sparkly mare but his git-up and go didn't wanna git-up.  He was too nervous.  Though that one brown phony seemed interested in wrastlin so maybe he'd have another friend to cheer with him.  He sighed, thinking maybe this was mistake given how fancy and eloquent the other phonies had been.  Except Cousin Shrill.  Some had some really deep questions while others made you think.  His were mostly about food.  He thought about leaving when one of the merphonies suddenly popped up at his table.  She was a lovely shade of green with gradient purple hair.  He'd not seen hair like hers before and it was kinda neat to see a mer up close.  And she had...wait....vegan fried pickles?

"Oh uh, no ma'am this seat isn't taken," he tipped his hat a bit before looking down at the pickles.  How were they vegan?  And air fried?  "I've fried a lot of food in my time but never done something air.  I need to ask about how that's done.  Cause if it can be fried I can fry it," he smiled a bit with his chest out.  He was quite proud of his fry skills.  "Yer name was uh..," he thought for a moment, "Shimmering Sea right?  Sorry I've meet so many new people tonight names can get kinda jumbled.  But its a pleasure ta meet ya.  I've never really met a merphony before."

@HopelesslyPretty

[Scaramouche Fandango]

While literally everybody in the room looked great, Kaiju Blue really only had eyes for one of them. He'd felt something- there was a real connection there, something that could turn into something much deeper than just a date for the night. And so when Knockout came back, he was quietly thrilled to think that maybe he'd felt something, too.

"Yes. I do." He spoke softly, barely able to be heard above the music. "I really want to continue that conversation." The corners of his mouth twitched into a small smile. "There's a lot going on here. Drama. Heartbreak. Whatever is happening with the, uh. Chicken guy. But you know something? Your questions are the only ones I really remember. Well. Except the chicken guy's. I don't think I'm ever going to forget that conversation. But your question- I think someone who asks a question that interesting is somebody worth getting to know more. I've been running it over in my mind since we last spoke." He drank Knockout in, really looking at him and the mark on his flank. "And judging from the look of things, I think we might be in similar lines of work. Or at least have some interests that overlap." He wasn't going to flex- god, that would be awkward- but if nothing else came out of this, he had a feeling that he may have met a new sparring partner. "So what does being a good phony mean to you?"

[HopelesslyPretty]

@Byagane319

Shimmer smiled, appreciative that Country Kitchen would let her join him. She letting her join him. She made herself comfy in the chair before nodding at her name being said correctly. " Yep-yep, that's me! My friends call me Shimmer - you can be my friend, too. I don't think a lot of merphony live in Phony City but I think we come into town often enough! You can usually find me at the beach but lotsa merphony are over in the lagoon, too." She picked one of the slices of a pickle with a fork, crunching on it with satisfaction. While she personally didn't think she was out to find love tonight (what that might be like, she had no idea!) but she was happy just having other phony to talk to about various things. Kit's questions about food had been memorable to her.

"I don't um, know how an air fryer works exactly, but I can tell you why these are vegan-friendly!" She was a little bit hungrier than she imagined so she ate one more slice before continuing on. "These were made without eggs during the battering process. I guess they might've just used veggie oil to coat them with flour before the air fryer did its magic. Pretty neat, huh? You should try one!" She offered Kit a pickle from her plate, not meaning anything with her harmless gesture. She was just enjoying getting a chance to share something she liked with someone.

[HopelesslyPretty]

@Scaramouche Fandango

Knockout listened as Kaiju Blue recounted some of the other conversations from this evening. He definitely hadn't been expecting King Cock's hen-crazed questions, or even Heavenly Body's inquiry about proximity to corpses... They'd all been interesting but he'd felt the same way too- it felt like there was only one other phony who understood what he'd really meant with his third question. It was strange... feeling so isolated from the other phony he typically encountered during his day or night patrols, but the fighter actually felt some sort of deeper connection here with Kaiju from one single question tonight than he thought he'd felt in a lifetime.

"Being a 'good phony'... is being the same as them - civilian." He gestured with a hoof toward the crowd of other phonies, when here they were, standing in a more dimly lit part of the room that was slightly quieter. "Living life worried about little things like what groceries to buy this week or prepping their own foals for school in the morning. I'm just as alive as they are, but my reality works a bit differently. I grew up on the street, so I'm always thinking about it. The places where junkies might be hiding out trying to find a place to get high or sell their dirty shit to orphaned foals or where the kind of scumbags who hit their partners might be drinking themselves to a stupor until Last Call." He knew the subject was rather grim, but this was his life... if there was even the slightest chance that he might see Kaiju again after tonight at least he would've been honest about who he really was to a phony that might actually understand where he was coming from. You didn't build up muscle like that as just a hobby, he could tell from just a glance that he was speaking with a seasoned fighter.

"There's nothing wrong with being a civilian living a happy little life in a 'bubble'. I didn't get that same chance when I was small. Nobody stood up for me; I protected myself... so I decided I'd become a vigilante and just get the work done myself. I'm not a trained soldier but I fight for what I want to protect in my own way. That's the only thing I've ever known how to do." His tone varied as he spoke, some bitterness evident but the red pegasus clearly didn't hate every last phony in the room. He just had a harder time relating to them.

[Ruriska]

Now that the fireworks were over and the newly formed enemies-to-lovers trope had moved over to their own table and were patching things up, Shrill X set her sights back to the room. There had been a few lovely guys and gals that seemed to party but the one that caught her eye first was currently on the dancefloor.

Shrill finished off her drink like a champ and then hustled her way over to Foxtrot. "Hey! You wanna dance?" She was already moving her butt to the rhythm. "You gave a great shout!" She praised, giving a playful wink.

@Fealine

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Kaiju nodded slowly, turning what Knockout had said over in his head. "You serve a greater good. You might not be nice, you might not play by the rules, but you've got something genuinely good inside of you. I get that. Sometimes the traditional methods of getting things done just aren't... sufficient. They take too long, and innocents suffer. Or they just don't work. Park security isn't going to stop things out in the wider world from getting in, and that's where people like you and I come in. You work on a more intimate scale than I do. I fight monsters. Things from beyond the sea. I stop them from getting close and hurting anyone, because that's the only way I know how to make the world better. Don't get me wrong, we need bakers and bartenders- but that's not all we need." Something tugged at his memory, and for an instant, a softness came over his face. "A vigilante, huh. You know, my kid would adore you. I don't know if she wants to be a professional wrestler, a vigilante, or a social worker- or some combination of the three." It was a risk, mentioning his daughter. He didn't want to give off the impression that he was attached, or that he was looking to cheat on someone- but Imp was really important to him, and if this guy was put off by foals... well, best to get that out of the way first. Even if nothing at all came of this- and he was hoping that wouldn't be the case- he could at least tell her he'd met a real vigilante. "She was the only one from her batch to stay around in Phonyland, and when I did the gene donation thing, I had to sign all these waivers about anonymity and how I was under no obligation to even meet the "products of propagation." Like they didn't even want me to think about it. They take such care to keep up appearances, to file off the rough edges, to make things as non-complicated as possible. But it's so easy to see how the happy little bubble here can be punctured. Someone has to fight to make the world safer- for those who don't know what's out there, and for those who don't even care to know." He tipped his glass towards Knockout in a sardonic toast. "And that's us."

[cursedwanderer]

Hush Money was on an emotional rollercoaster and suddenly she felt so awkward she was worried she might throw up.  The feeling was not all that dissimilar from the nerves when she had first started streaming and Hush found herself sucking in more air than was necessary.

He liked ASMR though?  The alicorn glanced towards him shyly wondering if she should take advantage of her talents.  What would he do, she wondered, if she just leaned over and whispered something in his ear?

"Well, mostly..."  The cream colored mare cleared her throat, shaking that thought out of her head.  "I also do some gaming, though I mostly try to keep the same vibes during that, and I like to have segments on researched topics or things that I feel strongly about.  Like, current world events for example.  Sometimes I have guests on too if I can get them." 

At that she gave a glance towards a certain radio personality.  "I had been hoping to maybe try and work out a deal with Shrill X tonight to have her come on, but-" She raised her hooves to her cheeks to cover how red they were suddenly turning and squished them.  "That's definitely out the window.  She was totally watching us and I doubt she's going to want to work with me after that little scene..."

Hush gave a sigh before turning back to the stallion beside her.  Guarded?  She almost laughed at that.  She was guarded both literally and figuratively.  The only reason she hadn't brought one along tonight was she was worried it would of ruined the atmosphere, though evidently she was very capable of doing that without a bodyguard in tow.

"I'll have you know," she said, waving a hoof accusatorily.  "That I am very good at coming up with insults on the fly and I could certainly come up with more if needed."  She couldn't help but snorting a laugh at her own words.  On the internet the insults didn't even need to make sense, people loved it when they watched someone spew complete and utter nonsense in a video.  She could of called him a walking bird feeder and chat would of eaten it up. 

But, he was being nice now, so...  Hush felt tempted to relax her shoulders just a tiny bit, it was time to play nice after all.  "You said you're a food critic?  We sometimes talk about food on my stream.  It would be interesting to have an expert opinion..."  Maybe they could go out to a nice restaurant together, eat some nice food, then he could tell chat about what they ate from a professional standpoint.  Definitely not a date, purely for work purposes, she thought with a blush.

"What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?"


@Yasha

[cursedwanderer]

All these phony getting together, chatting and having fun.  Fatal's mood had rapidly started to plummet as she watched people pair off while she still stood to the side alone.  She always had been a big fan of watching, but she'd had a little hope that maybe she wouldn't of had to work so hard for once to catch somephony''s attention.  Of course, once she got home she would gobble up whatever info she could find online about her favorites, but...

The brown unicorn scanned the crowd with a small pout, even the ones who were fighting before were having a pleasant conversation now.  Fatal tapped her hoof, lost in thought when movement caught her eye.  The pretty pink pegasus from earlier was heading toward her.

Wait!  The pretty pink pegasus from earlier was heading toward her?!

Fatal was practically vibrating from sheer giddiness.  Ohh she would definitely have to look into this one, find out where she lived, where she worked, who she'd dated before...

And the pegasus was talking and she wasn't telling her to go away!

"You certainly stood out from the crowd," she purred.  She knew at least not to mention that she'd been interested in multiple phony tonight, especially not to her potential one true love.  "Now that you're talking to me I think I can say it's gone exceedingly well for me."  Her eyes glittered in the half light as she looked the other mare over. 

"So, where do you-" Fatal bit her tongue, it was far too early to ask her where she lived (plus she could just find that out on her own anyway). "Work?  I don't think I caught that earlier."

@Nym

[Fealine]

Shockstar listened to her explanation about Crumble and about her mom and did his best to hide a frown. It wasn't a very good attempt however. "She kept calling me Punkachu." he snorted, his longer ears fell flat a bit before he sighed and managed a soft smile. "It's kinda funny now though...." he chuckled softly a bit. Was that... Lemon Lime was it? Was she afraid he was going to do something to Creme? Was that how all mothers were to their kids? It wasn't something he knew persay...

When BC put the box on the counter, Encore jumped up and began purring loudly. Smiling, he went over and opened the box, eyeing the assortment of treats. His eyes about sparkled form sheer joy. "Thank you!!!" he squealed softly, a bit like a foal in a candy shop. He took one out and gave it to Encore after her incessant pawing at the box, watching her scarf it down quickly and happily. He then took one for himself and gulped it down, seeming lost in the decadent flavors of it. "Omgsogood." he said with a mouth packed of half chewed bits.

When Creme went over to grab another drink however, mentioning that she thinks he'd like this one too, a strange thought crossed his mind. Without even asking, he wandered over, set the bottles down that were in her hooves and simply wrapped his around her in a hug. "I'm sorry you're having a hard night." he said, lingering a second in the hug before quickly pulling back embarrassed. Oh goodness what had he just done?? Was she going to hate him now?? Had he over stepped?

Panicking, he back stepped, glanced down at the floor and began stuttering. "I...um.. I.. i-i- uh... t-t-think I'll t-t-try a...uh..a-a-a d-drink..."

@shortcutt

[Fealine]

Foxtrot had almost been lost in her own dance when a loud voice called out to her.

Glancing up at the mare, larger than herself, the tiny pink mare couldn't help but laugh. "I would LOVE a dance!" Foxtrot smiled, moving closer to dance with the other mare. Shrill X, she recalled. "Mighty kind of ya, you have quite the lovely voice yourself." she winked back, sliding a bit closer, mostly to try to avoid some large hooves around her. "What keeps a pretty lady such as yourself busy most nights, hmm?" she inquired.

@Ruriska

[Gl!tch~]

He hadn't jumped into the mingling crowd with any amount of gusto, despite his intentions to do so. He wasn't even in the crowd at all; King was off to the side, taking a breather. His stomach kept knotting up, and he wasn't sure if the bar was spinning. Was it hot in here or was that just him?

There were phonies he had wanted to chat up more, plenty, even, but some were more...well, male than he anticipated. And there were some utterly odd characters about. The baguette arm haunted him so.

He was still kind of reeling when he heard someone call out to him.

Oh, sweet Jesus, one of the cute mares was chatting him up. Keep it cool, King.

"Uh...yeah. I mean- wait- no. I'm okay, I'm okay."

Ouch, his pride, someone thinking he was hurt.

Then someone else yelled his name during a spat, and he just chuckled. Cool. Meant he was memorable. More points for Roostro.

"You don't have to fight anyone, cat...girl." The only suspect was the cider, and he couldn't imagine that going anywhere. "Nice of you to offer, though."

He could definitely appreciate another phony not much taller than himself being so scrappy. Something to connect over, maybe.

"You play knight in shining armor often, sugarloaf?"

@cursedwanderer

[Syrcaid]

"That's fascinating," he nodded, truly interested.  "Do you handle the embalming all by yourself?  Do you cremate?  How are bodies outside Phonyland allowed in?  I imagine there's all sorts of legal hoops to jump through."

He set down the tea light.  "Oh, I handle the other sorts of materials people need carried away," he joked.  "All except road kill and plant matter, that's handled by some of my cousins.  They make compost, fertilizers, and some adhesives from organic matter.  I work at a recycling center, I don't own it.  I just gather and sort.  Some of it, if it's salvageable, gets cleaned and restored for resale back into the community.  Tourists seem to really love kitsch and thrift store items around here, particularly as you get closer to the busier part of the city."

Regrind realized he was starting to ramble and tried to put the tea light back where it was, fumbling a few times.

@cursedwanderer