Quasar takes Dinky on a date

[Derpy]

In the past year, there's been a war for Dinky's prepubescent affections. Quasar, the bright but socially clumsy school genius, and Solar Eclipse, Dinky's chilling buddy and royal betrothed, have been quietly and not so quietly angling to see where they stand. This date was one of Quasar's high points.

- - - - -


Derpy's Hovel
| * * * HOME SUET HOAM * * * |

Nestled--no, crushed between two hills on the outskirts of Ponyville sits a little home that belongs to the local mailmare and her daughter. Until recently, it was an ill-fitted little three room structure made from plastered walls raised between the hills and covered by a ceiling of wooden planks and shingles. Now, the house is stone and square and the hills themselves are tattered, the stone having been ripped from beneath them. The stone structure sags slightly into the gap between what remains of the hills, and a little space remains visible beneath at their crux.
Inside, the stone house is segmented into four rooms through two perpendicular walls, also made of bedrock. One room, the largest, contains the small house that existed here previously, now even more shambled than before. Its walls are crumbling and crooked with cracks between them and the ceiling, and the furnishings blend in with the floor coverings and walls so seamlessly that one can't be sure of what's a load-bearing bathmat and what's a laundry bookcase. Everywhere are gaudy colors, old patterns, mouldering fabrics and odd smells.
Of the other three stone rooms, one is a kitchen with a crude stone oven. There's not much here, but it smells of muffins. Another, apparently Derpy's workroom, is filled with papers, file boxes, bills, scrolls, stamps, and envelopes, all piled over various pieces of furniture meant for sorting it all and doing a rather shabby job.
The final room is the smallest and sits nearly empty. This is Dinky's bedroom. It contains a mattress, a duffel bag, and a hollow nightstand with books inside. And that's all there is to see.

]
[ Contents: Program ]


Eh. Dinky glances at the hourglass on the nightstand. Mostly out. If she set it right before, that means Quasar's gonna be coming over soon... theoretically. She sighs, sets aside her book, and browses through the pile of clothes and accessories she extracted from the junk room (formerly the junk closet) to look over. Quasar said dates usually involve dressing up somehow, so. She shrugs, finding a piece of grayish blue velvet, and starts the laborious process of tying it on her tail.

Trotting to the home of Derpy and Dinky is Quasar. He is wearing a thinner pair of glasses and a collar with a long black tie dangling in front of his chest. His mane has been brushed to work a few knots out as well. Taking in a deep breath, he reaches out and knocks on the door, then holds out a bouquet of flowers out that he got from the market and put into a vase full of water.

After a few knocks and fumbles inside, Dinky opens the door. She's got the ribbon weakly tied around her tail, a short end and a long end trailing. And a worn necklace of little black pipe cleaner spiders. "Hi Quasar," she says matter-of-factly. "How're you--flowers? You brought flowers?" She shrugs, nostrils flaring. "All right. Should I eat 'em now, or kill 'em later?"

"No, you don't eat or kill them. You put them in your window so they can look pretty." Quasar says with a smile as he looks at the necklace of pipe cleaners, then over to the bow with a grin. "So, are you ready to go?" He asks with a smile as he continues to hold out the flowers for her.

Dinky looks a little irritated as she takes the vase sideways in her teeth. This room does have a window, yes, though the hill rises up quickly in front of it. She puts the vase firmly, even harshly, on the window and turns back. "Yeah, sure. I mean, I could put some stuff on if you think I ought to." She nudges the pile of old clothes with a hoof.

"Why? You look fine. I like the necklace. Real cool." Quasar says as he tilts his head. "Everything alright? Are you thinking maybe you don't want to go? You don't look very happy."
Dinky shakes her head, letting the spiders bob and dance. One falls off at her feet. "Huh? No, we're going. You want to go. Where are we going, anyway? If you said, I forgot."

Quasar plucks the spider up and smiles, then ties it around his tie so that the spider clings to it. "Yes, I do want to go, but do -you- want to go? You look.. um.. nervous?" He tries to look reassuring, despite being nervous himself. "I thought we could get pizza and eat out on the deck behind the pizza shop? It has a nice view."

Dinky may look a little nervous. More, though, she just looks annoyed. Maybe nervous is a diplomatic way of putting it. She steps forward. "Pizza? Oh, shades," she swears. "I had pizza with Rave a few days back, at Canterlot Palace. It was hard enough -there- getting pizza with no cheese, and we had, like, a whole kitchen obsessed with turning out food. We went through about four pizzas before we got one I liked. Maybe we could do something else?"

"Oh." Quasar's mind races for a moment despite the calm look on his face. He starts to systematically break down cafes in the near by area, reduces the number by price point and quality if food. ".. How about the Eco Bistro?" Which is an environmentally friendly salad bar ran by a rather hippy looking pony. Despite the oddity of the owner, it has had good reviews. Not too pricy. Still has outside seating. Weird music involving guitars.

Dinky nods brusquely. "Sure. Sure, that sounds good. I heard they've got, like, live music? Is it an open stage kind of thing, or.. or not?" She scuffs a hoof.

"I think the owners play music." Quasar says with a bright smile on his face. "One taps the drums and the other plays a really long guitar. It's what my mother would call groovy music." His ears perk a bit. "Are you /sure/ you want to go? Are you nervous? .. are you upset? We could always just hang out here and make a sandwich."

Dinky makes a face. "Okay. So I shouldn't bring my guitar, then. That's fine. And why do you keep trying to back out on me, huh?" she demands, moving in and shouting a bit. "You trying to get out of paying, or did you just decide you don't like me? You asked me on a date, so let's date!" She stamps the floor, though it doesn't wind up loud.

"I don't want to back out. I'm really excited. You just don't look happy. I'm worried that something is on your mind that you aren't telling me. Of course I'm paying." Quasar stammers out as his ears wilt back. Lowering his head, he says, "I'm ready when you are." He says as he motions with his hoof gently, trying to put on another smile for her.

Dinky nods slowly and moves for the door. "Let's go." She glances back at the flowers and kicks aside a stray mound of accessories on her way out. "And yeah, stuff's always on my mind. What, I'm supposed to tell you everything I'm ever thinking about?"

Shaking his head, Quasar follows along with her as the two walk through town to head to the bistro. "No, you don't have to, but if you are having reservations about us going on a date I hope that you would be honest with me. I just want you to have fun! I'm nervous. This is my first real date ever and I'm so worried I won't impress you."

Saddle Lake
/\/\/\ SADDLE LAKE /\/\/\
~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just outside of Ponyville, not far off from the direction of Fluttershy's cottage, the area becomes increasingly hilly, with trees and scenic grassy fields. Climbing to the top of the nearest sizable hill, with the sun shining brightly down, you can see both back to the sparse outskirts of Ponyville, and down the other side which reveals a beautiful sprawling pond before you. The area is lush with all manner of flora and fauna. While in one direction the pond wends around a bank and narrows, to the other direction it widens and covers quite a large area. Partly out into the pond a few small rocks outcrop where the water is shallower. Beyond the pond other hills break up the spreading wild landscape. The wind blows warm and pleasantly over you, swaying the cattails and other vegetation.

/\/\/\ /\/\/\
~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Dinky tilts her head a little as they pass through the streets. "Your first time, huh? Well. Mine too, I guess, if none of the stuff with Eclipse counted. Unless... I dunno, I've done stuff with Dynamite Rave now and then. Maybe those were dates? Dates are weird," she concludes. "But you knew so much about it I figured you must've done a dating program for extra credit or something. Figures it's all from books."

"Oh. I haven't ever been on a date, unless you count the times I had dinner with Apple Bloom at my place because my mother wanted to see if we'd be a genetic match." Quasar says as he trots along with her, giving her a half smile. "So, this is our first real date then.. so, we both don't know what to expect."
"Oh yeah," says Dinky. "I remember that. That's a dinner date, right? I mean that counts, doesn't it?" She kicks a pebble along down the street. "So did she decide Bloom was good enough for you?"

"With my mother, I never know. Madame has been very busy working on a new excavation site so I have not spoken with her in awhile." Quasar says as he trots along. "But, I think Apple Bloom is a bit.. ah.. too .. reckless." He rubs his nose with his hoof. As they continue to travel along the dusty roads out of town, the bistro shack is coming upon them. "Are you hungry?"

"Madame," repeats Dinky. "Do you ever call her Mom?" She glances at Quasar's nose. "And yeah, Bloom is insane. If you're genetically comparable or whatever, I feel sorry for you." Oh, there's the Eco place. Yeah, Dinky remembers passing by here before. "Of course I'm hungry. I went home and didn't eat 'cause I was expecting you, not that I would've had much to eat besides grass even so. Few crusty slices of bread left, I think. The rest of the stuff went bad."

"No, I don't call her mom. Well, I do, just not to her face I guess. She prefers Madame. It's.. a title of respect." Quasar says as he trots the door and opens it for her, giving a sweeping bow forward in a dorky matter. "After you m'lady!" He pipes up. "And, um.. you don't have much to eat at home? I can buy you groceries after dinner tonight."


Fluttershy's Cottage
><~><~><~><~><~>< ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY'S COTTAGE ~ ~ ~ ><~><~><~><~><~><

Here, sprouting from a sparsely wooded meadow beside a languid stream, is a charming, expansive cottage with a lush, grass-covered roof. The dwelling's door, windows and overall shape share an enticing domelike motif. Lovingly crafted birdhouses adorn the roof, chinmey, and surrounding trees, and flowers bloom along the winding path.
This is the home of Fluttershy--veterinarian and naturalist. The interior is cozy, featuring a pretty rug, low chairs and tables, and a welcoming loveseat. Little staircases built for tiny creatures lead from the floor to exit on the walls. There is an adjoining kitchen and a bedroom upstairs.
Near the cottage is a chicken yard and coop, and further along the path lies the beginning of the huge, ominous Everfree Forest. This is therefore a house perched on the border between nature's bounty and nature's wrath.

<OOC> You say, "This seems like a good place for a hippie bistro."
<OOC> Quasar giggles. "OK."

Dinky looks amused by the gesture. She walks tepidly inside. Huh. Smells funny. So is this.. do we get seated and served or go up the counter and order, or do we get our own stuff?" She perches on a little wooden seat that was cut from a log. "Groceries? Really? That's not part of a date, is it?"

Settling down next to her, Quasar smiles and looks over to her, "It's self serve. It's an open salad bar. We just pay for two plates and all you can eat. And, um... no, it's not apart of the date. I'm just going to do it as a friend because I don't want you to go hungry. But, if it helps me get a second date I guess that's cool."

Dinky raises her eyebrows. She catches the attention of a lanky brown stallion at the counter who looks like he's made of wood. "Yeah. Two for lunch. Or supper, or tea, whatever you call a three-o-clock meal." Weirdly, Dinky glares at Quasar. But then she backs away contritely. "Oh whoops, you were supposed to do that, I guess. Sorry."

The lanky stallion sways side to side almost hypnotically. "Two groovy salads for two groovy foals." He says to the pair. He's wearing a tye dyed head band and has beads in his mane. He puts two empty plates in front of them, and two sweet teas. "Just, serve yourself maaaan." Quasar blinks his eyes a few times, then chuckles as he looks over at her again. "Well, I guess .. we get our food!" He plucks his plate up to head over.

Dinky looks sharply at the swaying beadhead like there's something ticking wrong inside him. She dinks her hoof against the sweet tea. "Huh. Yeah, sure. Huh. Empty plate. Kinda sad. Uh, don't I get a tray or something? How are we supposed to carry the plate -and- the tea?"

"I think this is our table. We just.. sit here and eat once we get the food and come back?" Quasar asks with a laugh as he starts for the bar. Looking at all the salads and fixings, he starts to load his plate up, then fills it with tomatoes, onions, croutons, sunflower seeds, and dressing.

Dinky thinks about that for a moment. She looks down at the wooden thing in front of her. "Oh. Oh, this is it. We eat here. Okay, gotcha. Sorry. not always that dense." She kicks the table's base--carved from a log, it has no legs. Picking up her plate, she joins Quasar. "Mm. This actually looks pretty good. Sunflower seeds, huh? Classy. What're these floppy white things?" She carefully places a few different kinds of greens on the bottom, lining her plate well.

"Floppy white things? I don't know." Quasar says as he fills a bowl of cheesy soup up and puts it next to the plate of salad after he retrieves a tray. "But they do have cheesy potato soup." He pipes up happily before he heads back to the log table and places it down. He waits for her return before he tucks into his own meal. "I like the pipecleaner necklace. Did you make it yourself?"

Dinky snorts at the soup. She takes some large brownish purple pieces of something that turns out to be sliced eggplant, covers them with tomato and onions, adds some seeds and nuts of various kinds, throws up a bunch of croutons and water chestnuts, and finishes up with a little oil and vinegar dressing. "Not bad," she says. "Healthy. I could go for some healthy meals." She brings it back carefully in her mouth and sets the plate down. "Hm? Oh, this? Yeah, when I was, like, seven." Ah, Dinky from three years ago. Who here cares about her?

"Oh, cool. It's real neat. I love spiders." Quasar says as he taps the little pipecleaner spider hanging off his tie. "I wanted to collect them for a research project but Madame got really upset." Ducking his head bashfully, he takes a sip of the soup happily, then munches on the salad. "So, after this do you want to get ice cream?"

Dinky stares at Quasar and his cheesy soup. She sighs almost inaudibly. "I thought I told you. Maybe I didn't. I can't eat dairy. Cheese, milk, ice cream. Does not pass these lips. If it does, I could die." She pushes at her salad listlessly and eventually spears a forkful of eggplant, endive and tomato. Munch, crunch, ooof, that chunk of eggplant is a little too large to easily chew in one bite. Smooth.

"Oh, no, you never told me before." Quasar says with a wilt of his ears. "I'm sorry. Is there any dessert that you are able to enjoy that we can get together after dinner? Pie? Cupcakes? Regular cake maybe?" He asks softly as he takes another bite of his salad, nudging his soup to the side.

Dinky's mouth twists a little under the burden of the too-large bite. She tears savagely at the eggplant with both forehooves, eventually managing to separate it. And sets it down, chewing and swallowing. "Dessert, sure. They have that here? Cake'd be great, if it doesn't have milk in it. Carrot cake, maybe? Or ginger?"

"Carrot cake can work! I love carrot cake. Mister Stalks makes a really nice carrot cake. I should have him make one for my birthday." Quasar says with a smile as he plucks up the menu to scan for the desserts. "Afterwards, what do you want to do? Can work on that puzzle I made for your birthday if you haven't finished it already?"

Dinky sighs. All these questions. "The puzzle, right. No, I tried to start but I only got two pieces together. It's in the... the long room. Um. Sure." She takes another bite, greens and onion. "Spiders, huh? Did you... did you take that one from my necklace? I don't think I like real spiders, they were just... a symbol or something."

"It's the one that fell on the ground when you answered the door. I put it on my tie to show support." Quasar says with a small smile on his face. "Real spiders are alright though. Even the ones who have the poison and can kill you with a single bite. They all serve a purpose. If it wasn't for spiders, we'd have an over populace of bugs that bother us, like flies or gnats. But some of them are real neat. I've seen some that can glow in the dark."

Dinky grins, then lets it drop. "Oh. Cool Showing support for spiders." She smiles wryly as she crunches a water chestnut and then a crouton. "Even the worst spiders serve a purpose, huh? Getting rid of ponies the world doesn't need?"

"Showing support for your choice in accessories for our first date." Quasar says with a smile as he pops in another bite of salad. "But, I don't know if spiders intentionally get rid of ponies. I do believe they're more scared of us than them and it is a nervous defensive reaction. I do know of a strand of arachnid that attacks ducks."

Dinky nods slowly. "Ducks. Ducks did something to deserve that?" She munches oily dark greens. "This is good stuff," she says, and then turns to the hippies behind the counter to include them. "Nice salad bar," she calls to them. Back to Quasar, Dinky baps one of her spiders and it spins. "What were you gonna research about them?"

"I don't know if they did something to deserve it." Quasar says with a rub of his nose with his hoof. "I wanted to research the genetic path of some of the more common brown recluse spiders, see what species branches off from them, size, mating habits, living conditions, durability." He says with a tiny smile on his face. "but Madame said it would be a waste of time and instructed me to focus on calculus instead for that summer."

Dinky frowns. "Calculus? Miss Cheerilee told me she got up to calculus in math class. Said it was about measuring tiny little changes..." She plonks down a little hoof heavily. "So what's so great about little changes that you couldn't learn from studying the brown recluses spiders?"

"Nothing is great about it. I just had an exam in it for a summer program in Fillydelphia she wanted me to be apart of. Science and Engineering to study how bridges are made. They required a certain level of math." Quasar says as he shrugs his shoulders upwards. "But, um, that's probably boring to talk about."

Dinky shrugs. "Math is a mystery. It's like... there's so much to it, and it can be fun even, but what's it all for? Big question. Nothing real there, just made up ideas. Spiders and ducks are real... 's why I asked. I guess bridges are real too, but..." Again, she shrugs, her shoulders like dull knives. She eats her last tomato slice.

"Well, math is the genetic makeup of pretty much all ideas and the technology behind it. Everything from this table to a bridge is made with math. Precise calculations. Weight. Height. Density." Quasar says with a chuckle. "I don't think math is a mystery. It's all formulas. Once you understand the flow of each formula, you can do any math problem. Math really has one way from beginning to end." He says as he taps his fork against his empty plate now that he finished his salad. "There is no mystery behind it, no surprise. No real challenge actually. It's just repetitive practice."

Dinky scowls and peers at the table. Which is, once again, carved from a log. "This table. Really." She knocks on it twice. "Genetic make-up. You're telling me numbers have genes? I will believe it when I see it, Quasar. Care to give me a math lesson? Or I mean, we can do th puzzle instead if you want."

Derpy shouts "For shimmering soul in shimmering world, must always present best side, even if uncountable facet. Beauty can be hairy! Is why comb not only with tine, but also patience. Welcome to newest character, Citrine!!" (Public-shout)
Fluttershy shouts "(woohoo)" (Public-shout)
Match_Maker shouts "Can I eat her?" (Public-shout)

"You don't want to really do math, do you? Is that even good date material?" Quasar asks as he taps his hooves gently together. "I um.. well, what would you like to do? I want you to have fun too. Math would probably be more fun for me.. so would the puzzle."

"Eh. Search me, I'm no dating expert. I mean, I guess we could go to a club, but it's not even dark yet, and you're not really the club type, are you?" She eats and chews for a long time. "SO," she continues, mouth half full, "we could do a crossword. Or work on your present for me. Or you could prove to me that math's no mystery." Her nostrils open a little--this may be a challenge of sorts.

"Oh, um.. I can.. try a club if you want. I just want you to be happy." Quasar says with a hopeful smile on his face. "And I do like crossword puzzles as well. We could do that if you don't want to do a club. I suppose I should try something new, even if mother may not approve of it. I'm out on a date os .. mother's rules shouldn't apply."

Dinky grins. "Now you're talking." She waves to the staff. "Hey--you guys got a foal's menu or anything? Like, with puzzles, connet the dots, something like that? We're probably gonna get dessert, so we want something to do."

The two hippie ponies look at each other, then back over to Dinky. "Foal menus? No way, maaaaan. That's not groovy. We treat everyone like, totally equals here!" Flax Seed runs a hoof through his tangled dredlocks. "But, we have this really cool coloring book full of animals if you want." Pipes up the other pony, Wheat Grass. Quasar squints his eyes for a moment, chuckling. "How about just two pieces of carrot cake?"

Dinky gives Flax Seed and Wheat Grass a funny look. "We're all equals, huh? Well that's... good, I guess. Weird, but I got no complaints." She munches another water chestnut. "And yeah, two carrot cakes. While we're waiting, let's see that coloring book." She looks back to Quasar and nods. "You ever do art at home?"

Quasar gives a shake of his head. "No art for me. My mother used to paint but she told me that I would not be coordinated enough with my magic to hold a paint brush proper and that it is not a craft I will excel in." He says as he looks at the coloring book dropped in front of him, as well as the box of crayons. He opens it up to look at the black and white fill in the blanks. "You?"

Dinky starts to shake her head, and then tosses her mane. It isn't very impressive; her mane doesn't go very far. "I never did much of anything. But I thought about art sometimes. You know, sometimes I feel like demolition can be art. Just going into a room and destroying stuff? That can be self-expression. And that's what art's about." She flips the book to a picture of some toucans and crocodiles in the jungle and starts hammering that crocodile with a yellow crayon.

[Derpy]

[They went back to Dinky's place after that to clean up and unwind. This was a separate session.]

Derpy's Hovel
| * * * HOME SUET HOAM * * * |

Nestled--no, crushed between two hills on the outskirts of Ponyville sits a little home that belongs to the local mailmare and her daughter. Until recently, it was an ill-fitted little three room structure made from plastered walls raised between the hills and covered by a ceiling of wooden planks and shingles. Now, the house is stone and square and the hills themselves are tattered, the stone having been ripped from beneath them. The stone structure sags slightly into the gap between what remains of the hills, and a little space remains visible beneath at their crux.
Inside, the stone house is segmented into four rooms through two perpendicular walls, also made of bedrock. One room, the largest, contains the small house that existed here previously, now even more shambled than before. Its walls are crumbling and crooked with cracks between them and the ceiling, and the furnishings blend in with the floor coverings and walls so seamlessly that one can't be sure of what's a load-bearing bathmat and what's a laundry bookcase. Everywhere are gaudy colors, old patterns, mouldering fabrics and odd smells.
Of the other three stone rooms, one is a kitchen with a crude stone oven. There's not much here, but it smells of muffins. Another, apparently Derpy's workroom, is filled with papers, file boxes, bills, scrolls, stamps, and envelopes, all piled over various pieces of furniture meant for sorting it all and doing a rather shabby job.
The final room is the smallest and sits nearly empty. This is Dinky's bedroom. It contains a mattress, a duffel bag, and a hollow nightstand with books inside. And that's all there is to see.

[ Sleepers: Derpy ]
[ Contents: Program ]


Now they're back. And yeah, the place is about as messy as before. Derpy's still out, probably still delivering mail and such. She likes to take long shifts these days, with plenty of distractions, and that suits Dinky fine. Her room is spare, so she leads Quasar through the edge of the kitchen and on into the ju--the long room. Which is filled with stuff. In piles and heaps with way too much potential energy. "Yeah, it was pretty good, as carrot cake goes. Probably should've had a pudding, though. So, yeah. The puzzle's in here, along with most of the other birthday gifts. And... everything else."

As he trots along with her, Quasar sweeps his gaze from left to right to look at all the random piles of junk that is settled along the floor. "How about.. maybe we start cleaning up one room and work our way to another? We can isolate what is junk and what is salvageable." Giving her a small smile, he says, "Maybe we can make a lot more room and then we can start putting it together kinda like what a real home would look like. I don't mind putting in a few hours of organization if you want."

Dinky turns to give Quasar an odd look. "Uhhh... did I hear that right? Are you offering to help clean up my house? On a date? What, math lessons aren't date material, but hard labor is fine?" She peers into the piles of junk, her thoughts opaque.

Smiling at Dinky, Quasar leans in to bump her shoulder against his. "Yes, I'm offering to help clean the house, and I did say I would buy groceries too." Grinning at her, he starts over to a pile of junk. "Do you have garbage bags so we can begin sorting?"

Dinky's mouth sits agape for a few seconds. "You tricked me," she says. But after another brief pause she turns around and heads for the kitchen. "Yeah, mom's got a whole collection of paper bags. And you know, we can stop once we get all the gifts out. No need to go crazy, here." She pulls out a bag of bags that fall heavily.

"How did I trick you? This was a spur of the moment idea. A team building exercise in compatibility." Quasar says with a grin as he uses his magic to sparkle a few times at his horn to float the paper bags over in a clumsy manner, then starts to open them up. "So, did you at least have fun during lunch? I don't know what most first dates are supposed to be like."

"Yeah, right," says Dinky. "Team exercise. Sure. So what sort of warning flags are we looking for, in terms of compatibility?" She ducks the bags and lets Quasar open them. "I guess I enjoyed it. Did I have fun? Well, the coloring was kind of nice. I mean, that was a team exercise, right? Or doesn't it count because it was silly?"

"It definitely counted. I like how you made the alligator yellow." Quasar says with a smile as he opens up a few bags, then starts to work some empty pizza and chinese boxes into them. He may as well start with obvious trash first. "We could probably do a few recycling bags also. My mother makes us recycle all the cans and cardboard because they give you bits in return based upon weight. So we can take all the cardboard and flattten them, then take all the soda cans and other cans and squish 'em down. It will give us more room to compact them in the bags and transport them to the recycling shop. It's free money for you."

Dinky's smile is twisted and lasts only a moment--enjoy it! "Yeah? That was like, the first thing I did. I liked the way you did the birds' breasts. It was like you couldn't leave my coloring alone. So then I did another layer and it turned out okay, I thought." At the suggestion of recycling, she sighs hard. "Fiine. Does Ponyville even recycle? Are we gonna have to drag all this to Canterlot?" There aren't many cans, since Mom rarely buys canned food. Dinky starts pulling out scraps of cloth, often with holes too big to be useful anyway. "Can you recycle cloth?"

"Maybe if Rarity takes them, or Dreamweaver." Quasar says with a smile as he reflects for a few moments back to their coloring adventure. He was so obsessive about filling in the lines where she went crazy at it with the crayon. He used perfectly blended shades where she dug as hard as she can with the crayon. Complete opposites, yet, he had a great time. Dating must not be too hard then. "There is a recycling center. Mister Stalks takes our bags of recycling. Ponyville has something for everything it seems. But, it's good for the environment." He chuckles as he fills a bag full of torn newspapers, squishes it down as best he can, then starts to shove more into it.

Dinky shrugs and helps out with the newspapers, picking them from here and there in the pile. She starts another bag for non-recyclables. Broken eraser caps, glue-soaked scraps, a busted zipper, some crumpled stamps and the like go in there. "Be careful what you toss, if it's got writing on it. Mom is crazy sentimental about some old papers and stuff." Her tail swishes more and more as they get deeper. "Oh hey, this is from your puzzle." She trots back into her room and places it there.

"Maybe we can get your mom a journal during grocery shopping so she has something to write in that's more efficient." Quasar says as he looks around the mess. "Is all of this mostly her or do you both share the mess" He asks curiously as he starts to sort through more piles of trash. Empty cans of food that he does find gets squished and compacted with his hoof and lobbed into another bag.

Dinky twitches her head a little. "Huh. Actually, I've got a spare blank book. I mean, I got two for my birthday and I don't really need two." She falls silent and processes, as if the idea of giving something to her mother is utterly alien. "I... guess she could... like, use one if she wanted." A little nervous shake follows. "Huh? Why would you share a mess? I mean, most of everything here is hers. I don't own much. But yeah, after my birthday I kind of had a bad day and crammed my new stuff back in here. I'll try and sort it out." She pulls out a few more puzzle pieces.

"I was just curious to where the source of the mess is. Perhaps your mother just needs direction and consistency. Like.. a schedule of sorts. It may help her out. Perhaps the mess doesn't go away because she feels comfortable with it, like.. a hoarder." Quasar says, "Those are ponies who have trouble letting anything go and has difficulties reacting to change. So, they keep everything they every own, even if it's a mess, because of the emotional ties they have to it. Usually they do such things because they are unable to draw love or attachment from something else and so they use the mess to fill the void."

Dinky keeps working while Quasar talks, apparently only half listening, or at least half processing. "Yeah, I dunno about all that hoarder biz. I think my mom's just messy. Like, really, epically messy. If you gave her a schedule it'd probably just stress her out." She pauses, wondering whether it might be worth just for that. But goes back to working instead.

"Oh. I see." Quasar says as he clears out a corner of one room, looking proud for a moment before moving over to Dinky's pile. He gives her a small smile, then leans in to bump against her. "I would have you come over to my place to clean but Mister Stalks has everything spotless. It's pretty boring at my place."
Dinky seems to be busy enough with this chore. And chores make her sullen, if not grumpy. But she sighs in a not altogether unhappy way at the bump. "Yeah, that sounds great. Good for him, I guess. Too bad I don't get to come over and clean for you. Is your place big, like Eclipse's?"

"Torchlight Manor is.. well.. it's a nice place." Quasar says softly as he pushes a couple more bags of trash to the side with his head. "How about we just get this room done and then call it a day? Tomorrow we can do another room?" He says as he lets out a tired breath. He isn't used to physical labor but he is sure trying his best to prove himself to Dinky. Stallions have to be strong, right?

"Tomorrow?" asks Dinky skeptically. She pauses in her sorting. "So... does that mean this date is gonna last two days? Or is that a whole different date? Or isn't it a date at all?" She sits down, perplexed at his angle.

Giving Dinky a smile, Quasar ducks his head some and blushes, scuffing his hoof. "Well, it can be a second date if you feel that our time together warrants another. Usually it is up to the filly to determine if the first date was considered to be successful and she is interested in seeing him again."

"Oh. Huh. Well, I mean, we're gonna keep -seeing- each other. We're in the same class and we're friends. So, that's kinda N/A, isn't it?" She pulls out a creepily labeled enbalming kit. "Huh. -This- thing. Who exactly does Nettleglum expect me to be enbalming?"

"Well, yes, but it's different. Hanging out as friends is different than dating." Quasar says with a smile on his face. "So, um.. Dinky, will you go on a second date with me?" He asks as he chews his bottom lip.

Dinky sighs. "If you say so. I still feel like you're working me somehow. But eh, I can't turn down free cleaning and meals. Sure, why not?" She slides the Junior Tartarus Scout Enbalming Kit into her room. Something in the pile is glowing.
Quasar wilts her ears back. "What do you mean working you somehow?" He asks with confusion in his voice. "You don't think I actually like you and want to date you?"

"Well..." Dinky scratches her haunch. "Um. Hold on. What's the right answer? Of course you like me, and obviously you want to date me. But it's all silly, right? I mean, I'm...." She shuts her mouth, not wanting to say it again. "I feel like you've got some reason for wanting to date me, is all. Not that I don't appreciate everything." She pulls out a strip of carved wood--it stops glowing as soon as she's holding it.

Tilting his head at the glowing object, Quasar trots over to peek down at it. "Of course I have a reason. It's because I think you're really cool and smart and .. I like you. That's not.. a good enough reason? I don't think I'm capable of manipulation or deceit." He rubs the back of his neck, then reaches out to put a hoof over hers.

The wooden mobius strip only glows when you're not paying it much attention, weirdly. Dinky finds a metal-trimmed wooden box and opens it. "That goes in here. Um..." She watches, still, as Quasar touches her leg. "Are you... getting romantic? This is just... just weird. We're not old enough for this kind of thing, Quasar. I mean, if you want to go on dates with me, that's fine, but I'm telling Eclipse. Not keeping secrets just so we can do this."

Quasar jerks his hoof back, looking a both crushed and embarrassed, he says, "I'm not trying to get romantic!" He sputters out. "..and.. you're telling Eclipse? But, you said that you and him aren't dating." He rubs the back of his neck nervously.

Dinky stares coolly at her companion. "Well, you were touching me, for whatever reason. And you know I'm betrothed to Solar Eclipse. If I'm dating someone else I've got to tell him. Right?"

".. I was trying to be assuring for you." Quasar says as he drops his eyes down to the ground, tracing slow circles about the ground. "If you tell him, is he going to be mad? Is he going to be mad at me? Is going to put me on the moon?"

"Uh... he can't put you on the moon. Anyway, you know him. He doesn't really get mad any more than you do. He'll just..." Dinky has to think. "I don't know what he'll do. Maybe he'll be hurt... like you're being." She reaches out and nudges his leg with her own. "But he'll just have to deal, and so will you."

"I'm not hurt, just.. scared for my life and confused. I don't know what I'm doing." Quasar says as he starts to push a bit more trash with his hooves, stuffing them into bags. Glancing up at the nudge, his face is full of worry and concern.

Dinky's face goes through a lot of stages. She ends up with a mixture of perplexity and disgust. "Would you rather I told Luna?" she asks, straddling the line between concern and jest.

"No! Please don't tell Luna!" Quasar flails, nearly falling backwards. "I just.. maybe this was just a bad idea." He says softly as he taps a can with a hoof, then starts to slink away from her. "I'm sorry for wasting your time." He whispers.

Dinky continues to stare, though not harshly. "You weren't wasting my time. This was nice, and you're totally being nice to me. Why does it have to be a secret?" She kicks the can away behind her. "Eclipse won't do anything to you--I won't let him. And we're sorting out your puzzle--don't you want to put some of it together with me?" Something doesn't add up here.

"I don't know. I just.. it's because I'm Eclipse's friend.. and.. and now I feel guilty and terrible because what if likes you? What if his feelings get hurt? What if he hates me? What if I lose a friend in him? He's so popular and has all of these important friends and then .. and then.. they'll hate me too and then.. " Quasar takes in a deep breath, trying to stop the incoming panic attack. He bites his lip, flattens his ears back, then falls back upon his haunches.

Dinky is thinking things over too, but when Quasar falls back, she steps forward with some authority and pulls him back up. "Enough. Let's have some water. You're starting to freak out, and if your future's gonna be in mature adult stuff you're gonna have to learn not to do that. What say we scrap the 'd' word, huh?" She leads the way into the kitchen and starts working the pump. "That's the whole source of the problem, isn't it? We're just hanging out today, all right? It's not a date after all. It was never a date 'cause we're just kids. All right?" Water starts to trickle out and fill a little tin pitcher.

"But.. but.. no, we can't.. back out of it. You're right, I have to learn not to freak out." Quasar says as he follows after her with a sigh. "I asked you out on a date and we should commit to it. I asked you on a second one as well. I do like you, Dinky. I like you a lot and I think you're cool. Just because we're young doesn't mean we can't date. We're not.. that young. We're going to be teens real soon." His nose twitches as he takes the water, sipping at it with a sigh. ".. We'll just take it slow."

"Speak for yourself," says Dinky cryptically. She offers the pitcher, sliding it over. Then she waits until he's done drinking to help herself. "Okay, slow it is, then." She gestures to the other room and its sprawling mess. "This isn't really slow, is it?"

"It's cleaning your house. It's not .. romance material." Quasar says as he sheepishly paws at the ground. "I just wanted the excuse to hang out with you. Show that I'm committed. It's what a stallion should do. Prove his worth."

Dinky nods brusquely. "All right. I think you've proven your worth. You're worth something. That's cool. I like that." She finishes drinking and goes back into the other room, knocking a hoof at the bags. "We may as well at least finish these bags off."

Nodding his head, Quasar gives her a smile, then leans over to pull her into a quick hug, then trots off to start pushing at the bags with his forehooves while using his back ones to propel him. "I'll have somepony pick up the bags for the recycles so you can get paid for them. It won't be much, maybe a couple of bits."
Dinky doesn't hug back. She breathes slowly. "All right. Here, let's fill the paper one up first." She goes back to the task of sorting out usable from unusable goods. "Can you recycle this glossy paper? I think there used to be stamps stuck to it."

"I don't know, we'll let the paper ponies sort that out later." Quasar says as he continues to stuff unusable trash once sorted into more and more bags. "I don't see why not. It all gets broken down the same for the most part."

Dinky sighs and glances at where the enbalming kit was. "Okay, sure." She keeps pulling out pieces of the elaborate puzzle. "Oh. Hey. The schoolhouse."

Chuckling, Quasar asks, "Did you just dump my puzzle out all over the place and just stuck the pieces wherever?" He asks as his ears perk upwards. "Did you ever plan on doing it?"

Dinky's turn to look embarrassed. She doesn't meet his eyes. "Like I said, I tried it once. Got two pieces together.
Then..." She goes momentarily silent. "I had a bad night. I threw everything I had in here. Cleared out my room again, like I sometimes do." A tiny shrug hits her left shoulder. "I like emptiness sometimes," she confesses.

"I can relate to that sometimes." Quasar says softly as he starts to gather the piece of the puzzle together, those of which he finds and starts dumping them in the box he made for her. "Sometimes I wish that I could just float about on a star in the middle of space and just be alone to myself for a few days."

Dinky snorts. "How come? Pressure? All that stuff you have to do?" She tosses the wooden pieces out from the heap as she finds them, letting Quasar take care of the boxing. Oh, and here's a stuffed Ursa Major.

"It can be a bit suffocating.." Quasar admits. "With my mother, and my tutors, and my studies and all the books and yes, the pressure. Sometimes I just want to scream as loud as I can but I can't." He organizes the pieces as they come flying his way. ".. and the teasing at school is hard to deal with too."

Dinky finishes scraping out a corner and finds gunky stuff back there. "Ew." She comes back and heads for the pump again. "Sorry about the suffocating. So is this... right now, this work we're doing, is this actually like -time off- for you? Does this feel better, like the rest you need?" She pauses. "'Cause if not, maybe we should do something that really does feel relaxing for you. We could even go out walking by the lake or something."

You page, "Good! Because even if I were RPing, it wouldn't be like a -date- or anything. That's just weird." to Solar_Eclipse.

"This is normal for me. I like to clean and to organize. I'm glad to do it with you. I just need a break sometimes that doesn't involve stuffing my nose in a book and being forced to memorize huge equations. If you want to go for a walk, we can do that too. That sounds nice and it's fresh air." Quasar says with a smile. "We should take at least the full bags to the trash can and put them to the curb before we go."

"Sheesh, Quasar, your standards are low." Dinky throws a few more metal scraps into the metal bag and shoves it toward the door. "In case you didn't notice, we don't have a curb out here. Kinda out in the boonies. Maybe we could put the bags in a wagon and haul them to Maple Street or something, though." The air out there is indeed fresh, at least.

"Sure, we can do that." Quasar says as he starts pushing the bags out the front door with his hooves. "Do you have a wagon we can stick these in?" He calls over his shoulder to her, trying to get the glasses back on to his nose proper as they become crooked.

Dinky nods and ducks back into the last room, the largest one with the remains of the old house in it. She emerges some time later pulling the creakiest, bumpiest old unpainted tin wagon you ever laid eyes on. The handle is broken but at least it exists. "This should get us there. So when did you get glasses to begin with, anyway?"

[At this point, Quasar had to leave due to RL issues. But we can assume the date ended smoothly.]