The Seaside Getaway

It's that time again!
A new pairing for the Seaside Getaway!
I wonder what it could be...?
Go ahead and tell us, Mia!
With pleasure... it's... Ivan/Feizhi!

"You'll like her a lot," Hama had said. That was all she had really said on the matter, as she cruelly forced her little brother on a date. "I assure you, I'm telling the truth."

Ivan had only met Feizhi once. All he really knew about her was that she could see the future and she was rather protective of some guy named Hsu. He knew nothing more than that, but now, all of a sudden, Hama had come up with some evil plan involving him and Feizhi.

It probably wasn't that evil. Ivan was just a little scared after all. He wasn't used to dates at all, and here he was, standing in the middle of Xian like an idiot. What should he do now? Go into the dojo and hope that guy, Feh or whatever, didn't beat him up for dating his daughter?

Ivan swallowed nervously and approached the building, knowing he needed to do this, otherwise Hama would probably show him just what Chi was all about. He entered the building, seeing random people take out their anger on inanimate objects, and looked around warily.

"Oh, Ivan! You're here!" Feizhi had suddenly popped up in front of him, smiling happily. "You sure kept me waiting!"

Ivan almost had a heart attack, mostly because she'd appeared so suddenly with no warning. "Oh... hi, Feizhi."

"Come on, let's get out of here before my dad comes and lectures us," Feizhi said, grabbing his arm. "It's not going to be much of a date if he's yelling at you and threatening you, is it?"

"He seriously does stuff like that?" Ivan asked, as he walked with Feizhi out of the dojo.

"Well, he's kind of protective and such." Feizhi rolled her eyes. "But it's no big deal. I don't listen to him most of the time."

"Is he going to chase me down and kung fu me?" Ivan asked nervously

"You're paranoid, aren't you?" Feizhi smiled. "Heh... relax. He won't bother coming down to the inn... at least, I hope."

"So we're going to stay at the inn?" Ivan asked.

"Yeah. You don't mind? You can enjoy Xian's exotic cuisine. There's nothing like it anywhere else in Weyard," Feizhi said.

"No, it's alright," Ivan replied quickly. "I'm sure it's going to be great."

The two of them quickly hurried to the inn and booked a room. The innkeeper was rather surprised to see Feizhi booking a room, but didn't complain. In the meantime, since it wouldn't be time for meals for a while, the two hung around Xian, doing random stuff.

"This is the mulberry orchard," Feizhi said, gesturing at the many bushes gathered together in a certain area of the town. "Have you had mulberries before?"

"Not really," Ivan said. "Do they taste nice?"

"Oh, certainly," Feizhi replied, walking toward a bush. "This is the season in which they grow well, so you should be able to enjoy these." She gathered a handful and walked back, presenting them to him. "Here, try some."

Ivan picked up the mulberries and ate them, savouring the taste of the sweet, delicious berries. "Hey, these are pretty good."

"I thought you'd like them." Feizhi ate some as well. "They are good for selling too, so Xian does pretty well. We also have cuisine like nobody else, so this town would be pretty popular if it wasn't so out of the way. At least, travelers haven't come so often since that prairie became a forest."

"Yeah, Mogall Forest isn't easy to get through," Ivan commented. "The other option is Lamakan Desert, but going through it can't be so fun. It's so hot."

"Indeed. I guess we've kind of ended up in the middle of nowhere because few people can get to us now," Feizhi said. "But we'll pull through anyway. Xian is still worth coming all this way for."

"Yeah, it is," Ivan agreed. "It's a nice little town. Anyway, where else can we learn all about Chi?"

Now that they were done looking at the orchard, the two went to sit by the pond and watched the frogs hopping around on the lilypads, while talking to each other. Soon enough, the sun was beginning to set, signalling that it was time to return to the inn before it got dark.

"Well, we can enjoy one of Xian's finest meals now," Feizhi said as the two walked back into the inn. "I'll treat you."

"Huh? Shouldn't I be doing that?" Ivan asked in a sudden act of chivalry.

"No, it's okay," Feizhi replied. "Come on, let's go and eat. I'm hungry already."

The two sat down to eat, enjoying their meals of sesame prawn toast, dumplings, fried rice, spare ribs and sweet and sour chicken. After the meal, both of them were feeling quite full from the delicious food.

"How was it?" Feizhi asked, munching slowly on a prawn cracker.

"It was great," Ivan replied. "I should come here more often."

"I'd like that," Feizhi said. She then blushed. "But... you know, you don't have to come here because of me or anything."
"I'll probably come for you." Ivan smiled.

"Okay... well, why don't we go see our room now?" Feizhi asked. "Make sure the innkeeper gave us the right one."

"Yeah, hopefully," Ivan replied.

The two quickly went to check and were relieved to see that in fact they had got a room with two single beds. Of course, they were hardly ready for sharing a bed.

"It was a nice date," Ivan commented. "Thanks for showing me around your town."

"I liked it too," Feizhi said, smiling at him. "Perhaps we should do it again."

"I wouldn't mind," Ivan responded, smiling back.
 

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