Ion parked his blue Edison Model S along the side of a ritzy, industrial chic Japanese restaurant. Or rather, he pulled up next to a spot and the vehicle parallel parked itself. Sakura had small outdoor section, but as the owners had gentrified a small warehouse it was a large indoor venue.

When he provided his name to the hostess, Ion was walked to a table with an excellent view of a pair of set of Tesla coils that had been set up in a cleared area of the venue. Ion thanked the hostess and took his seat. One must always be courteous to those who can influence your food. He would wait for his date to arrive to order. In the meantime he checked his phone. Work never quit after all.

A fellow attorney had set Ion up on a blind date. A friend of hers, Zoe, was to meet him there. The friend had set it up, all Ion and Zoe had to do was provide their names to the hostess and they would be sat at the same table. No need for pinned flowers or other accessories.This worked well for Ion, he didn’t want to have to pin something to his suit jacket. A green suit with a striped button up underneath. No tie, this wasn’t an event so formal he needed one.

The friend had let Ion choose the venue, as long as it met her approval. Ion had always been a fan of singing Tesla coils, or Thoramins as they were sometimes called. A display of how beautiful electricity could be. From there the friend made the arrangements.

((Tag @zoeolsen))

Zoe had been forced into yet another blind date. One that she was not particularly happy to be going on, not with how the last one had gone with Dave. But Laura had insisted that this was going to be nothing like that last date had been. Zoe could only hope that she was right; after the miserable date with Dave, Zoe had vented to both Laura and Charlotte about how things had gone, so Laura at least had an idea where Zoe was coming from when she said she didn't want to be subjected to another blind date.

At least that night had ended surprisingly well, though Zoe hadn't mentioned to her friends that she had ended up going home with another guy instead. Mainly because that would have led to so many questions she wasn't sure how to answer at the moment. Nor did she really want to try.

But Laura insisted that this blind date would be much better. He was a lawyer, she insisted, though Zoe wasn't sure how that fact would guarantee a better date. Though, the restaurant that Zoe was told to meet the guy at certainly peeked her interest. Even more so as she walked in and saw the design and decorations. Suddenly, Zoe wasn't sure whether her white dress with light black jacket was fancy enough for the place she had just walked into. Unfortunately, she didn't have much choice but to go with it. The only alternative would be to stand the guy up, and Zoe knew she would never hear the end of that from Laura.

Giving her name to the hostess, Zoe was immediately taken inside to a table from which she could see a couple of Tesla coils. A table that already had a blond man sitting at it. Though he was wearing a suit, it had no tie. And it was green, which Zoe had not been expecting. Maybe the night wouldn't be so bad after all. But at least if it was, she'd still have gotten to eat at a restaurant she otherwise would never have gone to.

"You must be William," Zoe said with a friendly smile, even if it was a little nervous. No matter how many blind dates she had gone on, Zoe was always nervous. "I'm Zoe. I hope I didn't keep you waiting." She said, sitting down as she finished speaking.

Ion didn’t have to wait long before he saw the hostess leading a blonde woman in white and black to the table. Just above average height for women, cute, she appeared to have an average build but the jacket made that difficult to confirm… He stopped himself from evaluating her. Had he continued he’d likely begin to categorize her like he was in voir dire and she was a prospective juror. Not the best way to interact with a date.

When she reached the table she greeted him and introduced herself. Ion smiled politely back at her and once she had sat extended his hand across the table, ”Nice to meet you, Zoe. Laura has told me next to nothing about you.” he stated in the tone people usually used to exclaim that someone had heard ’all about them.’. Humor was always a safe icebreaker.

Seeing that both parties had arrived at the table, the waiter, a man named Miyazaki, came by to take drink orders. Ion gave the drink menu a quick look before asking Zoe, ”Wine?”

Zoe smile and took William's hand when she saw him extending his across the table. Then laughed as she heard the opposite of what was typical at the start of a blind date. "Yeah, she hasn't exactly told me much of anything about you, either," Zoe admitted. Though, this did bode well for the date; a lot of the men she had gone out with over the years either didn't have a sense of humour, or they hid it, neither of which were very enticing to her on a blind date. "Actually, I don't think she's told me anything more than the fact that you're a lawyer." And that was true, the time that Laura would have normally spent telling Zoe about her date, this time had been spent simply convincing Zoe to go on the date in the first place. Her last blind date had been a disaster that she didn't want to repeat. At least it had been a disaster until Jay had ‘rescued' her and they'd gone back to her place.

At that point, Zoe saw William looking down at the menu, so she turned her eyes downward as well. Only to hear his voice again a moment later. So she looked back up across the table with a smile. ”Wine would be nice,” Zoe replied, glancing down at the menu for a second before looking up at William again. ”Were you thinking white or red?” Not that she’d likely be much help deciding. The quick glance at the wine list showed nothing that she was familiar with. When she did spring for wine for herself, she never went with anything this expensive.

It seemed that Laura had been tight lipped to both Ion and Zoe. Which was fair enough, it forced the pair to engage each other instead of just falling on Laura’s brief. ”There are days it seems that is all I am.” Ion said. Being a lawyer could at times be so demanding on your time there wasn’t a moment for anything else. ”All she told me was that you work for a zoo.”

Wine was agreeable, she just asked whether they wanted red or white. ”That depends on what you would like to eat. A white would go better with the seafood and a red best with red meat.” Ion explained, ”Sakura is known for their seafood.” Ion then turned to the waiter and ordered a bottle of a very expensive bottle of white wine. One that he knew paired exceedingly well with fugu.

The waiter turned to Zoe to see if she would like anything else before bowing and leaving. ”Tell me about yourself, Zoe.”

She had heard stories from Laura about how many late nights she had had to work on cases, and Zoe remembered how little free time her friend had not had while in school. ”I can only imagine. There’s a reason I didn’t go to law school,” Zoe said with a slight shake of her head, though she had a small smile on her face as well. Though in truth there were many other reasons why she didn’t go to law school, but those didn’t need to be gotten into so soon after meeting William. ”I hope I’m not keeping you from anything too important tonight, though.”

And then William went on to order a whole bottle of wine after explaining that white would be the better choice because the restaurant was known for its seafood. Zoe just nodded slightly. ”That sounds good,” she responded softly. But a whole bottle at those prices? Wow.

At least the waiter left the table at that point to go get the bottle of wine, though Zoe was left with a question that she let remain unspoken: was William trying to impress her, or would he have ordered wine that was that expensive on his own?

And now it was time for the ‘tell me about yourself’ portion of the night. Not that they could really avoid that, what with this being not only a first date, but a blind date at that. ”Yeah, I work at the zoo,” she answered after a moment. ”With the zebras specifically. They still call the position a ‘trainer’, but I help take care of them day to day and try to keep them as engaged with their habitat as they can be.” Zoe shrugged slightly. Most people weren’t very interested in what her job actually was, more just what they envisioned it would be like. ”But outside of work, I draw and cook a fair bit. I like to try making new dishes regularly.

“What about you? What do you do when you’re not having to be all lawyery?”

Keeping him from something important? There was always something important Ion could be doing. A case that he could be working on or something less above board. He was the counselor in the Syndicate afterall. An attorney who truly believed it isn’t what the truth was, it was what the police could prove. ”Not going to law school sounds like a wise decision. There is always something important to be doing, but breaks to have fun and destress are more important.”

As for what she did, Zoe was a zebra trainer. A job that seemed a bit of a misnomer based on her description. ”So… You are more of a zebra wrangler.” The title had the benefit of evoking an image of a cowboy or vaquero breaking, riding, and otherwise working with an animal.As for outside of work, Zoe listed activities that would largely be done at home. Ion idly wondered if Zoe was more of a homebody than a social butterfly. There wasn’t enough information to form a fact-pattern.

Ion stopped himself. He didn’t need to analyze the woman like this was voir dire.

”Quite the creative type.” Ion gave her a smile.

What did he do when he wasn’t lawyering? ”Not much lately. Lawyering has all but consumed my time. Back in law school I hustled pool… It was good for beer money.” Ion thought for a moment before adding, ”I have been playing the grand piano in the lobby at work though. It is an excellent way to clear your head.”

The waiter returned with the wine. Ion thanked him and took the bottle before removing a cork and pouring two glasses.

“Are you ready to order?” Asked the waiter.

”I’ll have the fugu,.” Ion siad to the waiter before turning to Zoe and adding, ”It pairs well with the wine.”

The waiter then turned to Zoe.

Zoe smiled slightly when William told her that breaks to have fun and destress were important. Not that she really had to worry about that as much herself anymore, but Zoe could remember that being the case back in school. And she remembered forcing Laura to do that very thing during law school a couple times.

Then William gave his idea of what her job titles should be, and Zoe couldn’t help but laugh. ”I guess that is one way to term it,” Zoe said, the laughter still evident in her voice. ”Though I would never have thought of calling it that myself.”

As William went on to tell her what he did when he wasn’t working, Zoe idly wondered where he was from. ‘Wrangling’ wasn’t exactly a common word to use up in this part of the country. But he did seem interesting, at least, and Zoe listened attentively as William explained how he’d hustled pool. And played the grand piano at work. Talk about different worlds, Zoe didn’t think she’d even been up close to a grand piano before. ”That’s kind of like drawing for me,” she explained. ”It’s a great way to just relax and stop worrying.”

Then the waiter returned with the wine, and William poured them each a glass as the waiter asked if they were ready to order. Zoe dropped her eyes back down to the menu, she was far from making a decision, to be honest. But her eyes snapped back to William as she heard him order fugu. That was…

That was something she had no chance of being able to make for herself, not without risking killing herself. ”It pairs well with the wine.” Zoe nodded as she glanced down at the menu for another second. Really, when was she going to get another chance to try fugu? ”I’ll have the fugu, too,” she replied after a few moments.

After waiting for the waiter to take the menus, Zoe took a sip of wine. It really was pretty good. ”So where are you from?”