Internal screaming intensified. It stayed intense for the whole week, and there was one reason. Rhys' mind was practically on fire, as he had been taken aback by Amaryllis. A girl that he had gone close to; after teaching to dance, to swim, and her to tutor him. But what he hadn't expected was her question to her. At least until that point, all he expected was a good friendship. But atop everything he taught her, this took the cake. Because despite his bravado, this was what caused Rhys to freak out.

Teaching Amaryllis how to date.

When she asked him, Rhys' face tinted red, redder than he was used to, as the blackette rubbed the back of his head. No snarky quips, not backsass. Rhys tride to process the question a bit, and taking in a deep breath, while still in front of her, his mouth opened. He spoke cooly, as cooly as he could have managed.

"Cool. Carnival on Friday?"

Then Rhys sealed his fate.



See, thing about Rhys was; despite the charming irresistability, the stupid grinning, and the fliratious behavior, the wannabe playboy was not at all versed in the concept of dating, and had no idea how to do it either, going as far as to read books, books which would take up his study time over other subjects on the subject matter. Being a circus boy up until Aurora Academy happened, he had no real social life, no love in his life. How was he going to act? He spent two years to become somewhat normal, but this? This was beyond him. Truly, this came from left field, and the boy had to teach Amaryllis. He said he would, so he couldn't disappoint her. It was just teaching her how to date! How hard could it be?

Very. Five books later, each with different approaches, Rhys attempted to not freak out, and freaked out more because of it. Though he couldn't find a reason why he was freaking out. Or not one he readily knew. He didn't like the girl in that way. Or at least, he told himself that over and over, because he shouldn't be flustered. Besides, fi she didn't know how to date, she wouldn't know how to dress. And if she didn't know how to dress, she'd look the same as normal. So why, why, why was this causing him to shake in anxiety?

Worst still, he couldn't decide on what to wear. But he settled for a black button-up, a red v-neck under it, and some slacks to go with it. Anything to hide his scars. And then, ti only amplified his anxiety as his scars came into view. His body looked like a filleted fish... what if they actually did more? His face became blue at the thought, but he tucked away his fear. Now wasn't the time for that.

Smacking his face once after combing his hair, he breathed in and out slowly. No visible fear. Stupid grin. Relaxed posture. And thinking of dead puppies. He was getting calmer, and that's when he left.



In a dress on a bench, Amaryllis sat in wait, and Rhys walked up towards her, until he caught a glimpse. His thick-framed glasses sat on his nose, as he took everything in at once. The breeze blew in his direction as he neared her, and in that moment, his cheeks had begun to heat up. Why? He didn't know. But he swallowed it down. He swallowed down his anxiety and walked up next to her.

"Hey..."

First thing about dating from that one book. Tell the girl how nice they look.

"You look... fantastic."

Nailed it, alright. Then there was that thing about holding hands? He held his hand forward to her, and gave his same stupid grin, albeit with something more that he didn't intend to give. It showed his own nervousness. His hand was only slightly shaking, but as he held it out, he realized he hadn't explained it.

With his same grin, he looked to the carnival location, and began to speak. "We uh... we hold hands. If you know, you want to learn this for real." But immediately, Rhys began to calm down. This wasn't a real date. He didn't need to freak out, or be anxious, right? Nothing would come of this in the end, so he felt his heartbeat slowly lowering.

Wait, his heart was racing? When did that happen?!


Amaryllis Coll

It was too late to go back.

His compliment seemed to make her stall for a moment, making the scene a teensy bit more awkward than either of them needed. And it sat there for an elongated minute, as the two just stood there. At some point, Rhys questioned the idea of maybe calling it quits and leaving. Wait, it was too late. Okay, but what about maybe asking to call it off? No, he wasn't weak.

Then she spoke. In that moment, Rhys felt his heart beat out of his chest like a drum on a speaker, constantly too loud for the box it was made for. But all the same, Rhys stayed cool, trying not to act nervous, while at the same time sweating now. He was sweating? Ugh, and he even had put cologne on. He hoped it didn't smell. He prayed in his mind it didn't smell. But her compliment to him only worsened it all. Admittedly, he had gotten compliments from girls, but never on a date with someone like her.

It drove him mad. Why?

It was even worse when their hands were held together. Because while Rhys had calmed down, his heart picked it back up. Rhys was sure that in their hands, she could feel his pulse, which made him wonder, could he feel her's? But he couldn't. Not well, anyways. As the two stood there together for a moment, he took a moment though. To feel her warmth... Rhys' eyes moved the other direction, trying not to come in contact with Amaryllis'. He didn't know why though.

Then, she spoke again, and Rhys nodded, agreeing. It was a good idea. Food. Yeah, then they might be able to get their empty stomaches to calm down, and not beat so hard... well, if that was what was beating so hard. As Rhys agreed, he spoke up. "Y-Yeah, right... don't pay for it, I got it covered." He read in a book, at least two of them, tha tit was customary for the man to pay the bill on a dinner date. Did this count? He wasn't sure.

As the two made their way to a curious little food stand, with a Japanese dish being served. The man serving it held out dumpling skewers. It was something that Rhys had before, and they tasted wonderful. And then, butting it's ugly head, Rhys remembered something else, as he pulled out his wallet, and paid for two. As the duo were handed their skewers, the shop owner smiled. "One for the girlfriend. One for the boyfriend. Have a good day, love birds!" This sent a chill up Rhys' back, as he laughed, this laugh much different than his norm. He was nervous; even Amaryllis could tell easily enough. Rhys gave her the same grin; albeit with a bit of fear...? No, that wasn't it.

Rhys gulped a bit, trying not to pull attention on himself. The book he read for this one was a little... much. "It uh... it's normal to feed each other bites of." He stood there, holding Amaryllis' hand tighter than he thought he ever needed to. Holding out her skewer with his free hand, he held his own skewer to her mouth, a slight blush on his face.

It wasn't slight at all.


Amaryllis Coll

Rhys wouldn't let her pay for the food; though that book told him everything he needed to know. He wasn't acting like himself, but he had fair enough reaosn not to; he was holding hands with an attractive girl, and walking down a boardwalk, acting like a couple on a carnival-styled date. His face was red. But it made it worse when after he fed her and she fed him.

His face was a tomato in color as he ate from her dumpling, and she ate from his back and forth. It was an adorable scene with people walking up and down the boardwalk, admiring the two as the lovebirds they seemed to view them as currently, though never outright stating it like that food stand owner did. It was sort of implied the whole time between the two kids.

Know what made it worse? The icing on the cake? Her smile. Rhys found it mesmerizing for some reason, yet he didn't want to throw up or puke his guts out, he just found himself staring. Like seeing the smile made him feel weird, like he wanted to see her smile again. He wasn't used to her smiling to him, so he just kind of assumed she was incapable. But now? Something about it made him crazy.

When Amaryllis asked what else they could do, at the same time as when they threw their skewers away, Rhys had been eying the next thing on the list. A ferris wheel. Old and rickety, but at least there was one here. Rhys pointed with his free hand to the big contraption.

If she were afraid of heights, she would cling to him. That's what the book said, so to make her thrilled, he would hit something like that next. Though... thinking about it, there was little chance of that happening, what with Amaryllis' wind abilities.

So as the duo moved into the ferris wheel, Rhys and Amaryllis didn't have to wait in line for too long. As soon as they got up to the stand, they were to be seated in one seat of the ferris wheel. As the sun was beginning to set, the two continued into the little cart, with only one problem. Rhys had plenty of room, but Amaryllis' side had something sticky on her side, though moving up closer would solve the problem, if she moved closer to Rhys.

Rhys felt the bar reach down lower, until looking to Amaryllis. "This kind of thing happens all the time." He thought about how that were true, in movies anyways. The ones he had seen. And as the ride began to move, Rhys looked to the girl as they made their way up; looking more and more beautiful.

The sunset. He meant the sunset. Not the girl. Not her. The sunset. Definitely.


Amaryllis Coll

Rhys hadn't really thought of the girl that passed by asking why her own boyfriend didn't hold her hand like Rhys held onto Amaryllis'. That did something in his mind; he was feeling odd at that too. Did he hold her's wrong? Was it right? He just thought they were holding hands like normal. What made it so special? Was it every finger intertwined together? He didn't know...

Then the ferris wheel came closer and closer, until the duo hopped in, and as they went to sit down, Amaryllis spoke about her side. It was sticky. Which forced her to be directly beside of him. In fact, she and him were basically scrunched together now. Rhys couldn't protest; he had no reason too. But that close in proximity was making hims sweat more than he wanted to. Visibly, even. And for the first bit, he was.

And then the sunset came into view, and Rhys stopped for a moment. His sweat stopped, and he looked at the sunset, and felt something greater than himself. He felt like his breathing steadied tenfold, yet the second Amaryllis spoke, seeing the same sunset, Rhys' eyes moved to see her.

Beautiful didn't begin to describe it. Rhys felt his heart pumping into overdrive. The sunset hit Amaryllis just right. It was breathtaking, looking over to her. His heart was going a mile a second, and he could see her there, just sitting. She did nothing special either. And the way the sunset portrayed her mouth-

Rhys felt his mind become blank. But he gave a simple response. "Yeah. It is."

Then the mood was shattered a bit by a question, to which Rhys, in close proximity of the girl right beside her, began to speak as the ferris wheel slowly spun around. It was a question on his past, and Rhys immediately began to answer. He actually felt more casual now, despite how close they were. Couldn't explain it, but his heart still raced and he acted the same. "Nah. Circuses are a lot more unorthodox than this. They don't get rides, but they do have attractions. Like a bearded lady, or a frog-man." And then the question came to what he himself did.

Rhys froze.

Taking a minute, he looked down to his hands and gave a more sullen expression, but... he didn't exactly stop. In fact, it was a good time to be open about that. As long as she didn't dive further. "Well... eheh. I was an acrobat. Turns out when you can manipulate space, it makes you the perfect candidate for really dangerous stunts. Tightwire over spikes? If I fell, I could just make space between me and the spikes and essentially push myself back up to the tightrope... stuff like that. Figured you could tell by our first meeting." Rhys made a nervous laugh, his thumbs tapping on the metal bar in front of him and her.

Looking to Amaryllis again, as they circled around again, Rhys asked, with the ride getting closer to its finish. "You never talk about yourself either, you know... what about you? Who were you before you came here?" He figured it was only fair. A one for one kind of deal, as he felt his hand rest on her's now, though he didn't think anything of it.


Amaryllis Coll

Continuing the ferris wheel's ride, Rhys was still so... what was the word? He didn't know. He couldn't pur it into words. He really had no idea how to put it into words. Something smelled lovely as the wind blew between the two.

Amaryllis began a barrage of rambling questions, something Rhys didn't exactly expect. His eyes widened a bit, and after her rambling was completed, he began to scratch his cheek, and answer every question in order. "Um... supplements? And looks like a hunched over man with green skin? Can jump like a frog though. There were acrobats, unicyclists, and things you haven't even seen. Not really, they use mostly tricks. It's a giant tent, but pretty close up to be honest. A lot of people attended, until the circus was... disbanded. It was a traveling circus, and it requires... a ringmaster."

After Rhys ended his answers, he hung on the ringmaster for a minute, and began clinching his hand into a fist. Memories flashed in his mind about Calixto, and he bit his lip in the same time, his animosity towards the subject was clearly visible.

With her assumption on his dancing being done from that, the boy nodded, and made a sheepish smile. "I guess you could say that. I've had acrobatics training for a variety of things. Dancing was just picked-up, I guess." His sheepishness turned into a dumb grin, and he gave it like he normally did. "If anything, I've love to teach you more dances."

What with Amaryllis' modesty on her story, Rhys decided to let it end there, not wanting to push into it since it seemed like she weren't interested in continuing. As the ferris wheel came to an end, Rhys decided to drop it, as he got up, albeit a bit awkwardly. The duo left the ferris wheel in that moment.

* * *

The fake date continued, as Rhys began to talk about more circus-related things, staying away from Calixto as much as humanly possible, until the duo mad eit to a fortune reading stand. "Come read your fortunes here! See your compability, lovebirds! Let us see how well you two work together!" The fortune teller lady grinned, holding a deck of cards.

Rhys looked to Amaryllis, and shrugged. "How about it?"


Amaryllis Coll

With Amaryllis wanting to learn dancing, that made Rhys feel happy. He could teach her so much with dancing; and to be fair, while she's not the best, she would get better. That was assured. Admittedly, Rhys liked the bit of modesty, though he liked the spunk more. But it didn't matter. He was just happy to teach Amaryllis. Though it was clear it wasn't just for teaching Amaryllis. No, no. There was more he wanted.

But that was beating a dead horse in the obvious and overly stated. "Sure. I'll teach as long as you want to learn."

Of course, when they made it to the fortune teller, Rhys was admittedly wary of fortunes, due to one being from his circus he was at before; though he supposed it couldn't hurt if Amaryllis wanted it that bad. Turning to the girl, he wondered if she did, though as soon as she spoke the words for sure, Rhys was in.

"Uh, sure ma'am... how much?" Rhys responded to the fortune teller, holding Amaryllis' hand neatly in his own; as if it belonged there in fact.

The fortune teller shuffled her own deck, and held out a grouping of cards forth. Nine cards in total, and as Rhys and Amaryllis watched, she spoke about the price. "Fortune is free, my child. That's why it's a fortune!" she chimed back, with the cards spinning around her hands with wicked dexterity. Rhys was impressed, though admittedly taken aback by her nasily voice every time she spoke. "Pick one, and both of you must put your hands on it!"

Rhys rose a brow, turned to Amaryllis, before shrugging, and holding his hand out, waiting for her to pick the same. Rhys waited for her to pick one of the nine cards in her hand before he placed his hand on the same one.


Amaryllis Coll

When the fortune teller looked at the card they picked for a moment, she almost looked nervous, though Rhys continued with it anyways. As the duo pulled the card upwards, Rhys pulling at the same time with Amaryllis, his hand grasped tighter onto her own, his heart beating hard. All things considered, he wanted the compatability to work out. Something thought of a high number. 70, 80. Something strong. But as both of them pulled out the card, in order to look, the fortune teller snatched it up, and flipped it over on the booth stand.

It had a 10, with a heartbreak symbol on it. Rhys felt his heart in his throat. There wasn't really words for it, and he felt his hand slowly loosen around Amaryllis'. Not that he believed in fortunes, but he felt something in him shift a bit. Uneasiness? Something in the universe saying 'No'? Maybe it was one of the two, or perhaps it was neither. The lump in his throat made his heart's racing come to an abrupt halt.

"I'm sorry, kids. Fortune is rarely wrong. Or in this case, misfortune!" the fortune teller gave a sullen expression, waving them off, and looking at the cards, as she began to count the rest of the cards, though doing it away from view.

Of course. He shouldn't have been surprised! Him? With her? As if that would ever happen. He didn't even like her... that much. But then a thought entered his mind. Maybe he did a bit? It was plaguing him, and he had to think about it. Maybe he did like her? Then why would getting a big middle finger by the universe matter?

Rhys and Amaryllis would just have to continue on, and Rhys decided to test the water. "I mean, could you believe it? This is... a fake date anyways. It was no surprise, right?" he finally spoke, though admittedly his sheepish smile told a bit more than he wanted it to. He was actually rather depressed about it, all things considered.


Amaryllis Coll