0800PRINCESS - The Hunt Begins

[tenka]

Mavros Kalloni

Mavros stuffed his hands into his pockets and stepped up next to Alexis. He glanced around and realized that he wasn't very familiar with the area. "I don't normally come down this way," he said casually. "I'm going to be hopelessly lost without you." There was a pause. "Without you leading the way! To tea!" Mavros groaned a little at himself and mentally smacked himself. All his years of social inadequacies were really showing now. "Heh, sorry if that was... Awkward. I don't get out much..."

[Minxie]

{ Alexis Caldwell-Blakeney }

Alexis smiled at him, pushing her glasses up her nose with the tip of one finger.

"Do not be concerned," she assured him. "I am most familiar with this area. Indeed, I am here frequently through the week." She silently marvelled at herself; she had not been this open in years!

"Heh, sorry if that was... Awkward. I don't get out much..."

"Not at all," she assured him. "There is much to be said of the virtues of remaining inside in modern society." Alexis gave a small sideways smile, before leading him through the winding streets to a rather tiny tea shop.

"I hope this will be acceptable." She said.

[tenka]

[ Mavros Kalloni ]

"If you hadn't chosen it, it wouldn't be acceptable," Mavros said plainly. "You seem like a refined woman who knows a thing or two about... Things."
You just don't know me. God, I hope I'm right about this. I've got to be right. It's too close!

Mavros stepped forward and opened the door for her. "Ma'am."

[Minxie]

" If you hadn't chosen it, it wouldn't be acceptable,"

Alexis smiled at that, and inclined her head slightly.

"I am glad you think so." She said, her smile growing as he called her "ma'am" and held the door for her.

"Thank you." She led him to the table she usually choose, answering the friendly greeting from the owner with one of her own.

[tenka]

Mavros followed quietly, but once he was sure of their table, he pulled ahead of Alexis and pulled out a chair for her. Holding open a door was common courtesy, but perhaps pulling out the chair was a little old fashioned. Mavros didn't mind, though. Even if he wasn't expecting his princess to remember him at any moment, it felt appropriate for present company.

"You certainly get around this area," Mavros commented. "You had the whole ice rink to yourself, and these folks here know you. You are certainly no stranger."

[Minxie]

Alexis was surprised - but rather charmed - to find Mavros pulling out the chair for her. She smiled gratefully and sat down, crossing one ankle over the other and folding her hands neatly on the tabletop before her.

"You certainly get around this area," Mavros commented. "You had the whole ice rink to yourself, and these folks here know you. You are certainly no stranger."

She flushed, looking a little embarrassed at the comment.

"Well..." She began slowly. "You see... When I arrived, I was a little...well...homesick..." She looked down at the tabletop, wondering why she was admitting this, but feeling a little relieved to get it off her chest. "I began skating as often as I could, as I used to compete back in England... And, well," she gave a little laugh. "The tea... I am quite stereotypical for my nationality..."

[tenka]

Mavros sat across from her, tugging his scarf slightly loose. It was a little too warm in there for his to be so tight. "I know the feeling of homesickness," he admitted. "My parents sort of... forced me over here to the parent company. They were desperate to get me out." A mental slap went off in his head. That last comment made him sound like a momma's boy who lived in their basement.

"So, you used to compete!" Mavros said quickly. "That sounds exciting. I never competed in anything. My parents were afraid that their only child would be hurt, and since they couldn't keep my greatest weakness out of my life, keeping me out of sports of any type had to suffice." He pulled at his scarf a little more. "What was it like, competing on the ice?"

[Minxie]

Alexis canted her head to one side slightly, as she tried to imagine a family where their only child was ushered away - quite a distance away, too! - and could not.

"My Father was most distressed I chose to teach so far away..." she murmured, mostly to herself, then brightened considerably as Mavros asked about her figure skating. She became quite animated as she explained the work that went into it; the early starts, the rigorous training, the constant fear of injury - "I am most fortunate that I never broke a bone!" - and the deep tiredness. But she also told him about the joy of being on the ice, the freedom she felt, like she was flying. Alexis barely noticed the cafe owners had brought her her usual little pot of tea - English, leaf, with a little pot of milk and a strainer to catch the leaves - and continued chatting. She told Mavros about the rare times she had won - with an understandable tone of pride - and of the times she had lost, but above all how much she truly enjoyed it, and the competition had only been secondary.

When she finally realised just how much she had been chatting, Alexis flushed hotly and pushed her glasses up her nose in an embarrassed little gesture.

"Goodness... Please accept my apologies, Mr Kalloni, I have spoken enough for three in these last minutes!" She looked chagrined. "It was most impolite."

[tenka]

"No apologies are necessary," Mavros said. Indeed, he had spent her speaking time watching her with interest, hanging on each word. "As one who had never the chance to compete in anything, you have given me great insight. Of course, you speak with such passion... Such inspiration!" He smiled genuinely. "You are a pleasure to listen to."

He sighed and glanced aside. "All of my life, I have had no real passion," he lamented. "I have had no great inspiration. My misery in social settings has left me with a hollow heart." He looked to Alexis again. "To know that there are such passionate people out there, like you, is such a great relief. It reminds me that the world is not dead." Unlike our first world...

[Minxie]

Alexis flushed slightly as Mavros assured her she had no need to apologise, and that indeed she was a pleasure to listen to. Nonetheless, she still felt as though she must have bored him with all her rambling about figure-skating. His genuine smile, though, had raised an answering one on her own lips. There was something about this young man that seemed so familiar to her...

She canted her head to the side, eyes puzzled behind her glasses. No passion? no great inspiration? How was it possible to have lived that way? She pursed her lips ever-so-slightly as she thought, but she could simply not imagine it.

"Perhaps," she spoke thoughtfully. "It is simply that you have not yet found what it is that will inspire you to passion. I believe that there is the potential in all of us," she smiled slightly. "I am sure that in time you will find what it is you can become inspired by and passionate about." She curled her fingers around the handle of the teapot. "Would you care for tea?"

[tenka]

"Ah, yes please." Mavros slid his cup closer to Alexis. "I am sure there is something passion-inspiring for me out there. Something, or somewhere, or someone out there." He sat back a moment and tucked his hair behind his ears. Being in Alexis' presence, in her presence, made him feel a little under-dressed. The state of his shaggy hair suddenly made him feel like getting over his phobia of scissors.

Almost.

"I've been looking all over," he said as he glanced aside. "For inspiration, I mean. I've been spending a substantial amount of time on it lately. That is what led to the fateful encounter earlier today. I'm trying to leave no stone un-turned, so to speak."

[Minxie]

Alexis nodded in understanding as she carefully dealt with pouring tea. She gently pushed the cup across the table to Mavros and gave a little smile as she curled her fingers around the handle of her cup.

"I admire your fortitude, Mr Kalloni," she told him. "I can only imagine how difficult it must be. I, personally, have known what I wish to do with my life for many years. It must be much harder to go out into the world and search for that."

[tenka]

"It has been difficult," Mavros admitted. He put his hand around the cup, not quite touching it, but close enough to feel the heat. "The most difficult thing has been moving out of my comfort zone on a daily basis. I've done it so much, though, that it's almost no problem to detach myself from me and become someone else." That last part was a nod toward Maia. Of everything he had been doing, turning into Maia with the flip of a switch was no contest.

Mavros grasped the handle and brought it to his lips. He blew a little, then took a sip. He could feel eyes on him as he did this, and as he set the cup down, he glanced over his shoulder. Someone somewhere behind him quickly looked away. "Hmp." Mavros put his focus back on Alexis. "I don't know anything about fortitude," he said. "Desperation, maybe." Switch the topic, switch the topic... Alarm bells were going off in Mavros' head. They had been talking too much about him. He wanted, needed to know more about her.

"So you say you used to compete. What do you do now if you do not captivate on the ice? Did I hear you say that you teach?"

[Minxie]

Alexis shot a withering glare in the direction of the person behind Mavros as they turned to stare once more. It was the glare that had quelled more than one potential student uprising in class, over the rims of her glasses. She waited until they had turned away again, looking most embarrassed, before she returned her attention to Mavros, the glare disappearing. She wanted to continue speaking about him, finding out about why he felt so moved to step away from his comfort zone, but he had asked her a question and Alexis was loathe to be so rude as to dismiss it.

"You heard correctly, Mr Kalloni." She smiled, pausing to take a small sip of her tea, giving a little sigh of happiness as she did so. "Currently I am employed as a teaching aide, though I often run classes myself." She smiled. "That is my dream, you see, Mr Kalloni. Teaching is what has brought me here from the shores of England."

[tenka]

Alexis' attention was momentarily not on him. He looked at a clock out of the corner of his eye, one that he had seen on his way in. Quarter after six, where had the time gone? "You seem very much like a teacher," Mavros said, intending to make use of every moment. He took a sip of his own tea. "You seem very knowledgeable and very capable. You certainly speak with a well-educated manner." He took another sip, thinking of the past. Princess Mercury had been so intelligent. She couldn't have taught all of the people of the kingdoms a thing or two about science. She could have made a good teacher back then, if she had been a little more personable. Then again, he would have had to share her more than he already had.

"What drove you to teach?" he then asked, trying to keep the conversation on her.