Dante found himself wondering what it was like to go through what she had. He had an idea; hell, he'd fought on his sister's behalf countless times growing up. And if he had a reason to, he'd just as quickly do it again. His was very easy to hide, if he so chose, though he wondered how tough of a time Zoe would have with that. Hearing constant chatter from animals had to get weird sometimes.

And then they were talking about a second date? Well, if everything goes well. So far, it wasn't bad at all, he thought. "I'll make sure to play a few then," he said with a shrug.

And then, they were looking at their food. "Well, I hope it's good, but at the same time...." he flashed her a mischievous look. He picked up his fork as well. "Well, either way, let's do this."

Dante shrugged, Zoe smiled. Though she didn’t know when, he was going to be coming over to her apartment, Duke and his guitar with him, she was going to cook something and he was going to play his guitar for her. Zoe couldn’t help but smile at that thought; this could probably be considered a date, one that was going well at that, and they were making plans for a second date. ”I’d like that,” Zoe told him. ”Though it’ll definitely be different cooking while you play for me.”

In terms of the food that was set in front of them, Zoe’s grin matched Dante’s. She did hope that the food was good, that was the reason for choosing someplace like this, to be able to try something new, and different, and good. But at the same time, Dante’s idea for what they, or rather he, could do if the food wasn’t good sounded like it could be fun and entertaining.

And so Zoe dug in. While the food wasn’t bad, it wasn’t as good as she had hoped. Aloo gobi was a little bland in her mind for Indian food, the cauliflower in it almost mush, and the curry sauce on her tikka masala was far thinner than she’d have liked it to be. At least she had some rice to soak that sauce up with. Needless to say, Zoe wasn’t impressed.

Glancing up after a moment, she looked over at Dante. ”How’s yours?”

Oh, it'd be different all right; Dante's musical preferences couldn't be described as serenading. Maybe if he just played without singing, it would come across as sweeter. Otherwise, he was liable to scare her off. Though her fondness of Duke made him...happy? His ex-wife never really liked Duke(hell, he was sure she never really liked him), and Duke never really let other people close enough to try to like him.

He didn't know anything about Indian food, but he didn't think it was supposed to look like that. He took a bite, but was missing that heat that he was told about. "I don't know....is Indian food supposed to taste like ****?" he asked, perhaps not as softly as he should have.

But her look settled it, and he got a more evil grin this time. He took a deep inhale, then exhaled through his nose, one thin stream of black smoke escaping from each nostril. They began to weave, cross over each other in sort of a double helix pattern for a little while, and then merged into one stream, snaking around his head as it spiraled up towards the ceiling and spread into a thin, black blanket hovering over their table.

Zoe frowned when she heard Dante's answer about his butter chicken. Sure, Indian food could sometimes look like… That… But Zoe had never thought it tasted ask that bad.”No, it's not…” she said, then a moment later reached her fork out to grab a small bite of Dante's food.

”No, even my buyer chicken is better than this, and I've only made it twice.”

And though Zoe had been joking, at least mostly, about Dante ‘smoking’ in the restaurant, the grin that he got on his face then told Zoe that Dante hadn't been. Which was confirmed a moment later when she saw tendrils of smoke snaking out of his nose. To spiral into a double helix above their heads.

Ok, now that was cool.

And apparently with the shape that he was creating, Zoe couldn't keep the small smile off her face despite the dark cloud of smoke that was forming above them.

”We're going to get in so much trouble for this…” Zoe whispered even though she couldn't keep her eyes off the smoky double helix. Or keep the small smile off her face.

He let her take a bite of his food, and apparently she thought the same of it. "Well, I think we have our decision, then...." he said with an almost evil smile.

And then there was a cloud of smoke hovering above their heads. He thought about blowing another one, but about that point there were audible gasps coming from tables around them. He leaned back with a smirk, waiting for the scene to unfold as the cloud of smoke began to expand and move slightly, snaking and forming as it drifted higher. But once it was about to the ceiling, he lost control of it, and it just did what smoke tended to do.

"Yeah, probably," he said with a smirk. "You're not afraid of that, are you?" he teased a little.

And apparently because the food was bad, Dante was going to “smoke” in the restaurant.

It really didn't take long for the tables around them to notice what was going on, though having gasps like these directed in her direction was new for Zoe. As such, she was glancing around a bit to see what kind of attention they were drawing when she heard Dante's voice. ”Well, not afraid,” Zoe admitted, turning her eyes back to Dante. ”But it's not exactly something in used to…”

Then over Dante's shoulder, Zoe saw what must have been the manager or owner approaching their table. ”I think we're busted,” she told him quietly, not realizing that there was a bit of a smile teasing one corner of her mouth.

"Good," he said without losing his signature grin. She was looking around quite a bit, though. "Well, trouble tends to follow me around, so you may want to get used to it," he said with a sly wink.

And then, he saw her looking past him, so he turned to look just in time to see the manager approaching. At that precise moment, alarm bells went off, and sprinklers on the ceiling activated, showering them and everyone in the restaurant in a mist of water. It was then that the manager put his hand on Dante's shoulder. "We have to evacuate the restaurant, as per fire alarm regulations. While we're all standing outside freezing I suggest you leave. And if you ever come back, I'll have you arrested. Both of you." His glance drifted to Zoe. "Get out. Now."

Smirking, Dante stood from his seat, offering Zoe his hand and leading her outside. "That wasn't too wild for you, was it?" he asked with a smirk, and then let out a string of curses as he felt the cold air on his dripping wet skin. "Good thing my apartment's not far...we should head there and get dried off," he suggested. Oh, he could make this work. For both of them.

Dante was still grinning as he told her that trouble seemed to follow him around. And that she would need to get used to that. Zoe’s slight smile grew a bit as she looked across the table at Dante. Things here were working out rather well, it seemed. Well, at least things between her and Dante. The situation in the restaurant, with the manager quickly approaching their table, that certainly was not working out nearly as well.

Zoe had forgotten about the other problem with smoking indoors: fire suppression systems, aka sprinklers. They started going off, and Zoe jumped in surprise as the water started raining down on her. And then the manager was right there, his hand on Dante’s shoulder.

As the man finished speaking, Zoe turned her eyes to Dante, pressing her lips together to keep from smiling, only to see him sitting there smirking. This had certainly not gone how she had thought it would when they walked in. A moment later, Dante was standing, holding his hand out to her.

Standing and grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair, Zoe took Dante’s hand and stepped around the table toward him. ”Well, it wasn’t horrible,” Zoe replied, no longer trying to suppress her grin now that she wasn’t facing the manager.

And then they were outside, soaking wet, and Zoe shivered. Now this part was not fun. Removing her hand from Dante’s briefly, Zoe threw her coat on, then stepped closer to Dante, taking his hand again as she heard him speak. ”That’s probably a good idea,” Zoe agreed. Her place was too far with how wet she was, she’d freeze before she’d get there.

Okay, it was damn cold. Especially while soaking wet. He just hoped neither of them got sick because of this. When she put her jacket back on, he removed her hand from his again, putting it around her waist instead, holding her close. "We'll stay warmer this way," he said as they walked briskly; luckily it was only a few blocks to his apartment.

Though warmth wasn't the only reason he had her this close.

Once they made it to his building, he led her inside, grabbing a towel for each of them before going into his bedroom, and then reemerging mostly dried off, wearing just a pair of jeans and a sleeveless red tee shirt that showed off his tattoos. "Well, I don't really have anything you can wear. Unless you think you could fit something like this," he said with a shrug before pulling out a blanket and setting it on the sofa. "It would be better to get those into the dryer though."

Zoe was a little surprised when Dante pulled his hand away from hers after she put her coat on. But then he wrapped his arm around her waist and she smiled; though his words were true, they likely would stay a bit warmer this way, Zoe had not expected that. It was nice, though surprising to her. At least with how cold the air was on their wet skin, it would hide the bluh she could feel covering her cheeks.

It really didn’t take long to get back to Dante’s apartment, they were walking quite a bit faster this time than on the way to the restaurant, but Zoe was shivering a bit by that point. Once they were inside his apartment, Zoe took the towel Dante offered her with a quiet thanks. As he disappeared into what had to be his bedroom, Zoe took her jacket off, still in the front hallway, before drying her hair and attempting to dry off her clothing. It didn’t work too well.

Only for him to emerge a short time later wearing jeans and a red shirt that showed off quite a number of tattoos on his arms. But it was his words that were most surprising, at least initially, to Zoe. The truth was, whether she went home now, or in an hour, she would freeze if her clothing was still wet. And, unless it went into a dryer, or they did something similar, they would still be wet when she went home. But what was she supposed to wear? That blanket Dante had pulled out?

Well, it probably was either that or freeze while walking home. And she was still shivering slightly from the short walk outside.

”You’re probably right,” Zoe agreed, stepping forward to grab the blanket off the couch. ”Where’s the bathroom?”

Following Dante’s directions, not that it was hard in the small apartment, Zoe disappeared into the bathroom to undress and dry off. A few minutes later, she emerged, body wrapped carefully in the blanket, hair still slightly damp though much drier than she had been.

He sat on the couch, pointing out the bathroom for her to use. And then moments later, she emerged wearing the blanket, and he assumed nothing else. Standing up, he took the clothes from her, then went to toss them in the dryer. They'd be nice and warm in no time. Though it was a nice gesture, it was safe to say Dante had ulterior motives. But he'd still just have to see how that played out, wouldn't he?

"Your clothes should be ready in half an hour to an hour," he said, looking at her with a slight grin. "Sorry I didn't anything else to wear...I don't even have a bathrobe..." he said with a slight shrug before sitting back down on the couch.

"Well, not counting the current situation....not a bad date, eh?" he said with a sly smirk.

As she came out from the bathroom, Dante met her, taking her clothing to put in the dryer. As he did, Zoe made her way over to the couch and sat down, slightly uncomfortable because she was in someone else’s apartment practically naked.

It really didn’t take Dante long to return, and she nodded at his words. it was good that it wouldn’t take very long for her clothing to dry. But she smiled as he asked about their date.

”To be honest, no, it hasn’t been too bad,” Zoe replied, her smile widening as she looked over at Dante beside her on the couch. ”I’ve actually quite enjoyed it.”

He smiled as they sat together on the couch, and he flipped on the smaller than usual television, then handed her the remote. "Might as well keep ourselves entertained while your clothes get done," he said with a small shrug, sliding slightly closer to her. She'd put on a sitcom. Not his first choice, but he really didn't mind. Besides, he wasn't planning on just watching TV. Unless of course for whatever reason she didn't want anything to do with this.

He watched for several minutes, sliding a little closer. Finally, he leaned in, letting his lips meet hers in a kiss, not too forceful, but not super gentle, just sort of a middle-ground. As he did, his hand rested on her side, through the blanket as his hand slid slowly up her side, sneakily copping a feel of her chest as he kissed her.

Inside, he was bracing for a slap, but only time would tell.

Sitting on the couch, Dante turned a small TV on and then handed her the remote. Zoe really wasn’t sure what to put on; normally, she’d change the channel to some sort of nature or science documentary. Or at this time of the evening, she’d be reading or drawing. But based on what Dante had said earlier about his interests in school, she figured that he would not be interested in her normal shows. So Zoe settled on a sitcom, something that she thought would be a fairly safe choice.

And the show was alright, but honestly not all that great. A few minutes into the show, however, Zoe lost all interest in it as she suddenly saw Dante leaning closer to her, his lips pressing against hers. Zoe was surprised, and her eyes widened slightly before they slipped closed as she returned the kiss. Then Zoe felt Dante’s hand on her side, and she brought her own hand up to the side of his neck, leaning into him as she continued the kiss.

Then she felt Dante’s hand slowly moving up, and suddenly it wasn’t on her side anymore. Zoe’s breath caught in her throat as she pulled back, her cheeks flushing. As she moved back, Zoe’s hand dropped, pushing Dante’s hand away from her chest. But she stayed where she was sitting, just staring at Dante as she blushed.

She was kissing him back, which was a good start. The kiss itself was actually quite tender and sweet, especially as he felt her hand on the side of his neck. It sent little chills up and down his spine as he closed his eyes.

But then she was suddenly pulling back and pushing him away; her face about as red as that manager's face had been earlier. Though this wasn't anger. At least, he didn't think so. She had moved back from the kiss, but not away. Honestly the smoke manipulator didn't know what that meant. She was flushed, and his face was just sort of static, not really showing one emotion or another. Though inside he was somewhat confused.

And she never broke eye contact. These were the situations that were pretty hard to read. "Too far?" he asked, scooting back just a little bit, deciding maybe it'd be suitable to share just a little bit of information. Get her to sympathize with him. "Sorry about that. It's somewhat been awhile since...you know, the divorce and all," he said, not breaking eye contact as he spoke, but his expression did falter a little bit.