Whoever Said Dates had to be Romantic

There was a reason Ksenia had chosen Kladbishcka instead of the Drunken Ballerina. There were plenty of reasons in fact. And one of them might have been that the other pub was simply too 'boring'. That is what she had said to Caius when they walked past the place ten minutes ago.

Kladbishcka was certainly not the kind of place where young couples went on dates. At least not normal couples. But it wasn't really a date. Caius invited her here to talk and a place like this would open more topics for conversation.

Ksenia looked around the darkness around them. The chance that she was being followed by a guard was very likely, but she didn't pay that any mind. They were not responsible for patrolling who exactly she dated anyway. At least she hoped they didn't.

Cai's gaze went leisurely over his shoulder as they entered Kladbishcha, holding the door until Ksenia was inside. The place was rather dimly lit, not that it bothered Caius at all.

"So," he said conversationally as he followed her to a table of her choosing, "is it usual for you have a stalker, or do I need to beat the crap out of someone for you?"

Ksenia could't help but smirk slightly at his words as she sat down at a table. "Of course it is usual for a beautiful girl like to have a stalker on her tail all the time. They never do tell you the disadvantages of being so attractive," she laughed at that as he sat down as well. She was not sure what it was but there was something about him that made her relax her cool demeanour slightly and just enjoy jis company.

Caius laughed, smile still holding as he gazed at her seriously. "I suppose that would be true," he agreed easily. He fully suspected there was more to the situation than that, however. "I guess someone will be getting acquainted with my fist, then." His tone was perfectly sincere, matter-of-fact, expression backing it up flawlessly.

"Do you know what you would like?" Cai asked. "Or... I don't suppose this place has menus, does it?" He looked around a bit, with no success.

Shooting her a sheepish smile, he motioned towards the bar. "I'll see what I can find."

Ksenia smiled once again at his words. "Please don't. They are just watching over me and I fear that if a fight does start it is going to be very difficult for me to convince anyone to let me spend any time alone with you," she explained with a small smile.

The Slushatel smiled once again at him. "Choose something. It's interesting what a place like this had to offer." The girl rested her chin on her hand as he made his way towards the bar, looking around the place.

"Difficult," Caius teased in an accusing manner. "That was your cue to tell me why the bodyguard. Furthermore, if you're followed everywhere, we're hardly alone, then, are we? Ah, there's the good chap, now, taking a seat, oh, so nonchalantly by the door." He gave her an amused smirk.

He made his way to the bar, conversing with the barkeep and waiting a short bit before returning, easily balancing two glasses and a plate. "I got us some butterbeer, if that's alright," Caius said, putting the items down on the table. "And a plate of... whatever these are." The man plucked one of the ostensibly edible objects from the plate, he frowned at it.

"Isn't that question a little bit too personal for a first date?" Ksenia raised an eyebrow at him, her expression still remaining amused. "Yes I suppose it is like that outside of school. Inside Durmstrang however.....it is a little different. The best thing is to ignore them. I've gotten used to it," she shrugged her shoulders. "The guards do not matter."

"Thank you," she said as she glanced down at the food that he brought them. "These are just pirozhki, small rRussian pies. Did they say what is in them?" she asked as she picked one up from the plate.

"Is it too personal?" Caius returned. "Very well, then. I shan't inquire further."

He retook his seat, frowning thoughtfully at the small bun-like food. "Hm? Oh. Meat and vegetables, he said," Caius answered. He took an experimental bit, chewing slowly. "Not bad."

The smile remained on Ksenia's lips as her eyebrows rose once again. "I'm quite surprised that you haven't asked anything else about this guard."

The Slushatel took a bite of it herself. "It's good. But the food is not the best thing in a place like this," she said as a glint appeared in her eyes. "It's the people that are most amusing," she said as a smirk slipped over her lips.

Caius laughed. "You want me to continue being nosy when you've just told me it was none of my business?" he gave an amused smirk. "I've learned that all pureblood families have their secrets and not to be concern unless they become something I ought be concerned about. If you wish to tell me, tell me. I'm not about to pry.

"Ah, yes," said Cai. "Master people watcher - I haven't forgotten." He gave the pub's occupants a cursory glance, then grinned cockily.

"I could take any of them. Except... maybe that guy," he waved at a man seated near the bar, "but that's only if he possesses any brains." He smiled, clearly putting on a bit of a show for amusement's sake. Under all that, however, he was perfectly seriously.

"You know never know when you should be concerned," Ksenia said with a glint in her eyes as she took a sip of her butterbear, still watching him.

"Of course," her smile widened as she nodded her head slightly.

"I do not doubt that you are able to do so. Every man that I have ever associated with seem to be able to take down, if not kill, their adversaries," the Slushatel stated rather calmly for such a topic.

"Oh, I've usually a pretty good sense of when I ought to be concerned," Caius replied calmly, eating another of the Russian pie things. He watched her a moment, a smile pulling at his own lips.

"You have a pretty smile," he remarked. "Lights up your eyes. It really suits you."

His grin broadened. "Is that so? Associated with many of these trained killers, have you?" Caius's expression was genuinely amused, though, there was something in that blue gaze, even if were it very fleeting.

Ksenia only smirked at him in return.

"Thank you," she said genuinely. She looked at him for a few moments and felt a part of her internal walls breaking. The words that he had said were not meant for this Ksenia. They were meant for Kyra, an innocent girl who lived with her parents.

"I don't see why witches are so interested in normal men. They are so boring," Ksennia stated in a matter of fact.

He didn't miss her smirking. Caius never had missed such cues when interacting with others. The man simply decided not to worry about it, just then. Later would prove soon enough to investigate, and investigate he would. He liked to know who or what he was getting involved with.

"Is there something the matter?" Caius asked, noting the melancholy which seemed to touch her gaze.

Cai chuckled. "Do you suppose I'm not a normal man, then?"

"No," Ksenia gave him a small smile. "Everything is very good."

"No, you are not. There is something very abnormal about you. I like to watch people, as I have said before and I have gotten very good at it over the years," she said as she rested her chin on her hand once again, studying him. "You have noticed the guard following us, not everyone would have done so. Your movements are not of an average person either. I haven't quite figured you out yet," she said with a small frown as she looked at him as if he were a puzzle.

Caius gave an amused grin at her response. He leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table.

"Well," he stated, "I noticed the guard because I am highly observant, a trait which goes hand in hand with a keen intelligence. I like to be aware of my surroundings. Furthermore, having a person trailing me, or rather, the person I am accompanying, sets off a good number of alarm bells in my mind. Frankly, I don't like it. Had I not been absolutely convinced that he was following you and that you were perfectly aware of it, he would not be walking right now.

"As for my movements," Caius picked up one of the pirozhki, holding it lightly in the palm of his hand. He looked pointedly at the glass of the man seated near the bar and back at her. His gaze flitted about the room for a couple seconds. Then, facing away from the bar, he wound his hand back and hurled it into the air.

The pirozhki flew across the room where it rebounded off the ceiling before bouncing off a breast plate hung upon the wall. Careening along the top of a lampshade, it landed briefly on the man's shoulder before rolling off to plop dead center into the mug he had just placed back on the counter.

As the now-angered man looked about for the thrower of the pirozhki, Caius turned back to Ksenia. "It just so happens that I'm hyperkinetic. I told you on the ship - I have perfect balance. That just happens to also include flawless aim and greatly enhanced motor skills."

Ksenia nodded her head slightly at those words, a smirk on her lips. "That is exactly what I am talking about. And I must agree with you, the guard is quite a nuisance. But if we wanted to, I am sure that we could convince my....handlers that I do not need a guard when I am with you," she said, her expression turning a bit thoughtful at the end. Would Azazel think it was a good idea for her not to have a guard when she was with Caius? Probably not, it would take a lot to convince the man. The witch was not exactly sure why she proposed the idea, Perhaps it was the weakness she had for men such as Caius that was at work.

She watched the pirozhki fly through the pub with some fascination, another smirk sliding onto her lips as it landed in the man's mug. "Bravo," she said as she clapped her hands slightly. "You certainly know how to entertain a lady don't you?"

"Ah, yes, I do remember you saying that. There must have been a lot of girls who were attracted by your amazing motor skills," she stated with an amused glint in her eyes.

Cai cast a sweeping glance about the pub that was really aimed for the guard in question. "Or we could just evade him," he shrugged, a mischievous smirk flickered across his face and was gone.

"I try," Caius grinned. He wasn't precisely sure why he was showing off, really. Perhaps, it was simply due to the fact that he'd never really had occasion to do so in the past. Whatever the case, he was rather content with the response.

He laughed. "Oh, yes. My little sister was always a big fan." Cai shook his head, a smile pulling at his lips. "Honestly, there weren't really that many girls around. Mostly my mother, and Flora, occasionally a tutor or hired staff. The Raskes live a simple, largely secluded life, you know." It was certainly no secret, in any case, all part of the Raske facade.

"We can try doing that. Do you have the skills to do that as well?" Ksenia's eyes sparkled in amusement as she smiled at him, feeling at ease.

She laughed slightly at that and leaned back in the chair, her eyes still studying him.

"Wasn't it boring living like that?" her eyebrows rose slightly in question before she took another sip of her drink. She remembered how she had spent the past few years and decided that the terms boring could be applied to them as well, but at this point there was a level of dissatisfaction that came with that word.

Cai just continued to smirk, bringing his mug to his lips and taking a long sip.

"I had lots of things to do," Caius said seriously. "I studied and trained, sometimes I helped with work. Though, I suppose when I put it like that, it may sound boring to some. I simply know any better."

He gave her a long, considering glance. "You know, you're the first girl to have ever kissed me. It was..." A faint flush rose to his cheeks and his hand, in turn, rose to rub the back of his neck. "... not unpleasant."

"You are right about that," Ksenia nodded her head slightly in reply to his words. "Studies do take up a lot of time," she said as her mind wandered off to her first three years in Durmstrang for a few momenets.

"I am?" Ksenia asked, her eyebrows rising, genuinely surprised at that statement. A blush spread over her cheeks at hearing his words. She was not sure why that happened. The faces of the other two boys that she had kissed in the past three months flashed in her mind's eye for a second and she knew that neither of those boys had made her blush or ever would. She met his eyes and a part of her knew that she should say something in return, but no words came to her mind. She was completely lost.

"Who else would I be kissing?" Caius teased, though his cheeks were still a bit flushed. "The Raskes aren't really into pureblood parties and the like. Boring existence, remember?

"Why..." he began, then paused. He took a swallow of his butterbeer, then tried again. "Why did you kiss me, anyway? Was it really because I loaned you my shirt?" His expression was genuinely perplexed. Intelligent though Cai was, he was really having a bit of trouble understanding.

Ksenia stared at him wide eyed as the realization finally came to the girl's mind. Horror flashed across the Slushatel's face. She shouldn't have been here. Her want for rebellion has shut down part of her rational thinking. Sitting here with a man who she knew almost nothing about and who clearly was so different, almost too innocent, then the other males that she knew felt completely wrong.

"I..." Ksenia started saying as she rose from her seat. Her cheeks became redder then they were before as she tried to formulate a coherent statement of some sort in her mind. "I'm sorry." There, she said something. That was good enough in a way. She turned, and without glancing back at him ran out of the pub, completely unaware that she had forgotten her wand on the table. Why? Why did she kiss him? That was certainly not a question that she knew how to or wanted to answer right now.

Cai sat staring after her in utter bemusement for but a moment before jumping to his own feet. Snatching her wand from the table, he darted after her, shoving her 'guard' back into his chair as he passed.

"Ksenia." With his long strides, it didn't take long for him to catch up to her. Grabbing her arm, Cai pulled her about to face him. "And what's that about, then? Running off without so much as a good bye. Rather poor etiquette, isn't it?" His eyes fixed on hers, earnestly searching her gaze. He continued to hold onto her arm, having no intention of letting her go.

Ksenia didn't even pay attention to where she was going as she ran out of the pub, her emotions being too strong to process coherent thoughts. A hand wrapped around her arm and she was being turned around. A sharp gasp left the Slushatel's lips as she came face to face with her date. "Let go of me!" the words came out as a snarl as her anger rose with immense speed. The witch didn't even register what he said as panic started to overtake her once again. She yanked her arm from him so hard that she was sure that her shoulder would have been dislocated if she was able to apply any more strength. "You will not touch me in that manner if you do not want your insides to be blown apart," she snarled at him, nothing but anger shining in her eyes, the thought of the kiss that they have shared a few days ago completely gone from her mind at the moment.

Her expression turned completely dark as registered the full restraint that he had put onto her. The witch's mind flashed with memories and before she knew it her palm was flying through the air to connect with his face. The feeling of satisfaction that immersed her was greater then it should have been as she saw his head turn. After all she never had the chance to do something like this to those who held her captive. Ksenia turned once again, and without looking back moved swiftly towards the school, the feeling of confusion becoming heavier and heavier as she came closer to the castle.