What's a Blind Dinosaur? Do-Ya-Think-He-Saurus. [prince]

She was cute, he had to give her that. Now that the lights were brighter and there wasn't any alcohol or loud music clouding his already questionable judgment, he really had to admit that she was a pretty girl-- always a plus, though he was quite sure that she wasn't the kind of girl that slept with guys like him. Nope, she seemed like the committed relationship type of person, which was totally cool in his books. Pity, though, because she really was adorable, though he could totally do the whole actual getting-to-know someone deal. Didn't hurt, right? You won some, you lost some, and he was quite prepared to actually get down to getting to know her one-on-one. Which was why when she suddenly asked him if she knew him, he felt a momentary jolt.

Oh god, talk about awkward.

"Err. Cal. We met at the party at Jules' house. You know, the guy who told you that he was MI6 and asked you whether you could tell me about being a ninja. Right?" She had to be kidding. This was totally her. Unless the light had been playing tricks on him, and he was actually mistaken. In which case, he was going to have to have a lot of explaining to do, especially with that godawful pickup line.

"Please tell me that I don't have the wrong person, because that was embarrassing as hell."

On the contrary, Cal was always looking for something. There was always the potential for friendship or some sort of rapport among him and anyone he encountered, and if he liked them he was going to stick around. So the fact that this girl-- was she even the same girl-- was accusing him of approaching every Asian because they looked the same had kind of jolted him. Welp, he sure as hell hoped that this wasn't going to go back to his supervisors or anything. Holy fuck, if he had the totally wrong person-- was that a surge of shame? Christ, he could have sworn that he wasn't even capable of that any more. The blonde gulped.

"Oh god it's a joke. It was a joke. I greeted her-- you-- with a bad pickup line for the fun of it the last time, so I thought I'd do it again. I swear though, you actually do look like her. Trust me, one of my best friends is Asian." Or well, half-Asian, but technicalities. "I'm so sorry."

Yes, it was shame. Pure unadulterated shame that caused him to want to slink back into a corner and die in a hole. Goodbye friends, he was gone. Bury him in the little shame he had. He felt a flush cross his cheeks, and he gritted his teeth. Shit, he really hoped that he wasn't going to get in trouble on the job for this. His employment was hanging in precarious limbo as it was. What was he going to spend his summer doing now--

Oh.

"My god you scared the shit out of me."

Cal heaved a sigh of relief as he slumped back against the bookshelf. He shot her a lopsided smile. "That was absolutely terrifying. Well played man, well played." Just like his composure had disappeared, it had returned to him-- or well, mostly. She would be able to tell that he had been practically quivering in his feet just a few seconds earlier. He wasn't exactly good at this being shown up thing, though he could appreciate when someone played their cards right.

"Yup. Totally buy it. Told you, you've got to teach me that kind of thing. Score one for the ninjas, zero for MI6. Enjoyed the tour, by the way? I-- I like science. A lot." Okay, maybe he still wasn't completely recovered. He let out a nervous laugh.

"Wow, what was that."

He was human, but it wasn't like he was about to admit that. No, if you asked him, Cal liked to strut the streets pretending he was invincible, acting like he was infallible, to give the impression that little got to him and that he didn't care, when in reality he was just about as vulnerable and anxious as anyone else. He wasn't Superman, he wasn't strong-- in fact, if you asked him a time of vulnerability, he was more dependent than anyone else. And in his moment of weakness, the thoughts flashed past his mind, the little voice in his head calling him stupid and foolish for even caring so much. For fuck's sake, she was just a girl that he met at a party, and now he'd been caught out he couldn't even talk straight. Who was he, and what had he done to the real Callum Snow? Even her talk about the ex-colonizing race complex managed to completely go over his head.

What the fuck was even going on. Breathe, Cal. Breathe. Think happy thoughts. So he pushed all of that to the back of his mind, face lighting up when she asked him what time he got off work. "Actually, that was my last tour for the day." Yeah, talk to the girl, act like that hadn't affected you. Cause nothing affects you. Nothing matters. That'll improve your mood, kid. She doesn't need to know. So he shot her his biggest and brightest smile, one that he mostly reserved for the tour and when he was trying to be charming. Looking effortless really did take quite a lot of effort, even if he would never admit it out loud.

"D- dinner?"

Shit, he was really failing miserably. Just as he had managed to recover, the sudden question had caught him off-guard. When was the last time someone who he'd just met had initiated contact, rather than it being the other way round? Nope, he'd always been the one to take the initiative to make friends, to be the one reaching out to other people, to be the friend, the buddy, the one who had to bridge that connection for selfish reasons. They'd come running to him later when they wanted someone around, but he was always the initiator. "That- that sounds good." He grinned. "What do you have in mind?"

Oh god someone else had planned something for a first meeting, or a first outing. Was the world ending? Cal felt a ridiculous grin surface on his lips as Allison mentioned the prospect of barbecue, Korean barbecue to be exact. He'd been meaning to go and try that for a while, especially because Asian food in Los Angeles was so famously good, but he'd never gotten around to doing it. Much as the whale did preach about how amazing Korean food was, they somehow always ended up eating bimimbap and Korean hotpot instead of some of those delicious meats. (Lol, delicious meats. Well, he knew why Bailey wasn't into that, but still, spare a thought for Cal, wouldn't he?)

"You need someone who can eat? Course I can eat. Is it one of those buffets that I've heard about, because it's been my life's mission to actually try one of those." And then she continued on about Little Tokyo, and mochi ice-cream. Oh god this girl was a dream. Cal was about ready to pick her up, spin her tiny frame around and declare her the Goddess of Good Food. Well, he'd reserve his judgment. For all he knew the food could turn out to be crap and he'd be sitting on the toilet for the rest of the night. Maybe this was all part of her ninja plan--

And then it hit him that he was being asked out.

One-on-one.

Again the flush crossed his cheeks-- how the hell was she catching him off-guard time and time again? Fuck, there had to be something in science that explained this. But was this a date? Shit, when was the last time he'd been on a date? Freshman year of high school, probably. Oh and then prom, but he'd gone to help a lesbian friend with conservative parents out so that didn't really count. She was talking about sweets now, and he gulped. Yeah, okay. He was probably overreacting. He went to hang out with girls all the time without it being a date. Course he could do another one.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll go get changed and then we'll meet at the entrance. You can park your car at the staff parking lot because it's free there, and then I can drive both of us there. Unless you want to drive? It's totally up to you." Was it him, or had he spoken that just a tad bit faster than usual? Wow.

"Sounds like a plan," Cal grinned as he handed her his employee parking pass. He'd managed to nab a spare from a friend when the guy had quit in a fit of rage, and even though he'd never had a need to use it well, what did you know? Having buddies everywhere did get you places. "Here, take this. Just park in any of the lots on the fourth floor, and stick this on your windshield. They don't check, but you never know. All you need this for is really to swipe in. See you at the entrance in about ten minutes?"

And with that, Cal gave her a salute and a final grin, before walking off to the back room to get changed out of his uniform and into some real clothes. While he would have liked to throw his shirt off right there and then in the souvenir store, as he'd already said, his job was hanging in precarious balance as it was. Instead he went into the backroom and threw on a pair of jeans and a maroon shirt with Iron Man's arc reactor on it, before stepping into the parking lot to fetch his car. It wasn't a terribly flashy one-- he wasn't exactly going to impress anyone with his red baby, but it was a good car nevertheless, a second-hand Toyota Yaris that his father had gotten for him after his freshman year of college. He hopped into the car and drove away, stopping near the entrance where he'd promised to meet the girl.

"Hey there," he smiled. Whoa, was he supposed to say something charming? To do something that would take her off her feet? Was this even a date? Shit, he would have liked some sort of answer, but it seemed awkward to just ask her straight out. He was known for being smooth, though. God fuck dammit. "So tell me and the GPS where to go. I'm Cal, by the way," he suddenly added, it occurring to him that he didn't even know her name. "And you are?"

He hoped that his attempts to get a name weren't going to fail miserably like they had the last time.

"All right, I think I know where that is," Cal muttered as he poked at the GPS. His sense of direction was pretty awful, and he'd be completely lost without it. He was pretty certain that Tomtom had saved his life on more than one occasion. Upon being told that their destination wasn't as far away as he'd thought, he felt his face light up. Yes. Good, very good. It meant that he didn't have to risk not listening to the GPS by accident and ending up in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. It was then when she finally mentioned her name, giving it out as Allison.

"Allison? Gotcha-- wait." He paused, frowning a little as they drove out of the science centre. "Allison. Is that..." He turned to face her for a second, greys meeting browns in confusion. "Is that actually your name, or are you trying to ninja me again?" These mind games were almost too much for him to handle man. He awaited an answer before picking up pace as they drove onto the highway. One would have thought he might be afraid of driving after what had happened to his brother... And, admittedly, he had been, but he'd forced himself to get over it. Sure, he'd flown into a panic and nearly had a nervous breakdown the first time he'd gotten into a car, and hadn't actually gotten a license until he'd turned eighteen and been forced to get one in Los Angeles, but nobody needed to know that, did they? All that mattered was that he was capable of driving now. Maybe-Allison then mentioned where she went to college, and he frowned once more.

Fuck, she really was being a ninja. She was making this really difficult on him. He seriously needed to brush up on those superspy skills of his.

"Cool, what's your major?" he asked in response. The usual first-few-meetings small talk, nothing special. "I go to UCLA," he volunteered in response. "I major in Biochemistry. As you can tell," he chuckled, "I really do like science." No, he really did. It was probably one of his favourite things in the world. If she got him started any more he'd probably go on for the rest of the date.

... Or well, not-date. You never knew with ninjas.

Man, this was going to be a thing, wasn't it? If this lasted more than just one meeting, at least. Cal rolled his eyes in a rather dramatic manner when Allison mentioned the fake name, heaving an overwrought sigh. "Okay, I concede that your name might indeed be Allison." He couldn't help but wonder why she'd withheld her name the first time round: probably because of her having to suddenly leave, but he brushed the thought aside. If he allowed himself to, he would end up over analysing every action people around him did, and that never ended well especially when it came to relationships with other humans. Nope, if you asked him it was probably better for his sake and everyone else's that he continued on his way, casting any sort of negative thoughts aside.

"Political science, huh? Sounds like the kind of thing I'd probably completely fail at." He liked languages quite a bit; he'd done the IB Diploma program and learned rudimentary Mandarin Chinese from there, and still took classes in high school. However, anything literature or humanities-related bored him to death. The last time he'd read a book he'd been five and Mickey Mouse was teaching him how to tell the time. Politics were interesting in themselves, and he did enjoy at least having some knowledge of what was going on in the world, but he wasn't exactly an expert. He could probably tell you about the current headlines, but nothing more than that. "I've always been into biology and chemistry. Stuff like that. Do you have any idea what you want to do with political science? Go back and become head of your ninja clan?"

Cal grinned a lopsided grin as she mentioned that she didn't really know much about science. "Don't sell yourself short. You probably know more than you think. Everything that's going on around us? That's science. You wake up in the morning and your brain turns on. You might not know what caused it, but you know it happens, and that's science." He pressed the accelerator with his right foot. He was a fairly reckless driver most of the time, probably as a result of his trying to counteract his fears of driving by slapping them in the face. However he decided it was probably best not to go too quickly this once. Didn't want to scare her off just yet.

"And in turn, if you can do politics, you won't fail biochemistry." It was an honest sentiment, one that he'd always found to be quite true. Sure, it might not have come as naturally to her as it might have to him, or to someone else, but everyone had their talents. His just so happened to be blowing shit up and being generally annoying. "There you go. It works both ways. And if it helps," Cal paused. Well, there was the entire ideal he'd had of being a doctor, but lately the thought hadn't been as tantalizing as it had previously been. Perhaps he was turning cynical, in his own way...? Then again, it was arguable that he had always been a cynic, and would probably be for a while.

He jammed the brakes.

"Never mind. Totally lost where that one was going." A lie, but a completely innocent one. Not like Allison would notice, anyway. Besides, they'd moved on to more pressing subjects, such as ninjas. And ninja attacks. He let out a loud guffaw at her mention of handling blades and poison, snickering as they reached a red light. Almost there now. He could smell the Korean barbeque already. "So. Do you have any further plans about your ninja clan then? Some sort of evil overlord to overthrow? I can almost see it. A cross between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Last Samurai. Allison: The First Ninja. Or not the first." Oh crap, had he just revealed the closet geekfest?

Then again, he did work at the science centre, and she'd heard him gush on and on about atoms for a good two hours or so. And he was wearing an Iron Man shirt, though with the latest movies the series was becoming increasingly mainstream. But those two factors combined? He supposed that in her eyes, he really couldn't get any nerdier than that. No shame in it, he supposed, but these weren't facets of his personality that he revealed to most upon their first meeting. Admittedly, he was a lot more comfortable talking about it now than he had been back in high school, so he would wait and see how she reacted.