Well, this was quite a change of events to say the least. A mutant that was normally quite feared and intimidated quite a few people was not so subtly getting hit on and called beautiful.

Not only this but said mutant was actually getting a little embarrassed by the whole thing. Emerald did have self confidence in her fighting abilities, the fact that she was a great swimmer as well as other feats of her physical and tactical prowess, she wasn't often complimented on her beauty. At least not by someone she had just freaking met.

That and it had been quite a while since she had been hit on by someone she barely knew especially by this a boy that was fairly attractive by her standards. Her last crush had been entirely one sided and that ended with her getting stood up on the night of the big Xavier's dance.

That was a memory she did not particularly want to relive, but it seemed this time, the roles were reversed, judging by how the young man was apparently drawing her.

In these drawings, she did look normal, well as normal as the wolf girl could look but she wouldn't say beautiful, she never really viewed herself as such.

"It's just...I'm not really used to people calling me beautiful. mutt,ruffian and other stuff yeah, but beautiful not so much," Emerald admitted with a sheepish look on her face, that blush deepening ever so slightly. She would attempt to shake it off a little, which worked a little but not by much. "You draw pretty well you know that?

Akshay really found himself at a loss at the moment. He was looking at this very beautiful redhead who looked as if she was going burst into flames at any moment and he could not help but smile. She was simply adorable and the tail-wag was just overly cute. Add that on top of the fact that she was a bombshell and that she had yet to slap him across the cheek just made the situation all the better. But it also made him wonder…was it really possible that she didn’t know she was as attractive as he was saying?

Surely that was impossible. The woman had to know that she was attractive…right? How could she possibly think otherwise when looking in the mirror every day? Maybe it was just a self-confidence issue? If so, then he could definitely help her…

>> "It's just...I'm not really used to people calling me beautiful. Mutt, ruffian and other stuff yeah, but beautiful not so much,"[/i]

He frowned slightly at that response. Which is odd for someone like him who is normally always smiling. To know that this beautiful young woman has never been exposed to such praise before, it was simply criminal! Criminal says he!

That was something that was going to need to change.

>> "You draw pretty well you know that?

He smirked. It was his turn to blush. The one thing that sincerely made him blush, despite a woman liking his company, was praise about his art. He was still in a bit of a loop knowing that his comic book was success but that was his own issue that he needed to work through. He sighed as he reached back, rubbing the back of his neck a little awkwardly as he returned the drawing pad to holding it underneath his arm.

“Thanks,” he said with a small, shy grin. He shrugged though. “Nothing much. You just…um…you remind me of a comic character I draw. You sincerely look just like her and I had to draw you. I…hope you don’t mind…”

The blush that had brightened her face before was subsiding now and she was starting to look like she had a normal skin tone again. She could have sworn that she was going to turn into a brightly colored spotted creature after that blush attack. This was one of those moments where she really hated the fact that she didn't get more compliments like that, at least that way she wouldn't be be blushing like a loon when some attractive boy told her she was pretty.

Now though, it would seem she had the upper hand as the same attractive boy started to blush. Once again the Alpha was in control of the situation which made her a little more comfortable with things. It was easier for her to dominate a playing field that she had the upper hand on. The fact that this boy was being sheepish about it meant that he may or may not know of his own skill and just didn't''t want to brag about it. Ether that or he did know of his own skill and if he bragged about it it would make him seem cocky. Whatever his reasoning, Emerald was not about to let him get away with that blush.

"Ah, ha now whose blushing," She told him coyly, mischief written clearly on that playful expression of hers. That tail of hers began to wag and she could feel that bout of playfulness coming on.

When he mentioned that she looked like his comic book character, she did arch a brow a little at this. "I didn't know werewolf mutants that scared soccer moms were such popular comic characters to draw and no I don't mind. Though, I may be a little scared next time I take my little sister to her favorite comic book story that I might be mobbed by her friends asking if I shoot lasers or something. "

Then again, it was a comic book store, every girl that went into one of those was treated like some sort of mystical creature.

>> "Ah, ha now whose blushing,"

He smirked and blushed again. He silently cursed himself for not reining that in but the exchange still made him laugh. She was quick one to pounce on that. He really did not think that she was going to call him on it as obviously as she did, but he guessed that it was fair that way. After all, she was blushed a significant amount due to himself. If anything he probably owed her for how many times he made this redheaded warrior-woman blush.

Well, he was only too happy to oblige. God, if only his cheeks were not so warm though. He grumbled with a slight grin as he attempted to will them away. When he was finally more comfortable he glanced again to the young woman.

>> "I didn't know werewolf mutants that scared soccer moms were such popular comic characters to draw and no I don't mind. Though, I may be a little scared next time I take my little sister to her favorite comic book story that I might be mobbed by her friends asking if I shoot lasers or something. " [/color]

He laughed again, very heartily. She did have a point that if any of his more regular readers had stumbled across her, they were probably flipping their lids. More than likely they would assume that she was cos-playing as his character or that he had based the character off of her and therefore she must be exactly how the character is in the comic! Surprisingly, when he was watching her practice, he had to admit that she had some pretty fancy fight moves. Things that were totally up Slaagathor’s alley.

A grin appeared on his lips as he shook his head. Who would have thought he would run into someone who reminded him so much of his own character? Had to be kismet.

Adjusting his drawing pad, Akshay reached into the back pocket of his sweatpants, produced his wallet and quickly flipped through it until he found a stray business card. He needed to remember to print out more of them, especially since the store refused to print them FOR him. How rude was that?

He snerked as he pulled out a business card that SO looked like it was designed by a comic nerd. The large letters at the front spelled out, “One Comic to Rule Them All” followed by an address for the shop as well as a business phone number. But on the back of the card was Akshay’s name as well as his cell phone number.

…

…

…

Yeah…subtle.

He grinned innocently as he handed the card out for her to take.

“You should come by the shop! I can show you the character I’m talking about. I’m usually there most mornings through afternoons and we’re hardly ever busy,” he said with nod. “I can even treat you to lunch! Whatcha say?”

Confident that she had successfully, "taken down" her prey, Emerald had allowed her guard to be down for a while, figuring he would soon be flubbing his words like she was. She wasn't doing this to be mean just so she could have the upper hand and feel a little more confident to where this conversation was going. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to ask her out on a date.

....

She had been wrong before though.

Once that card was given, the she-wolf felt all that color rush to her face once again. Her tail wagging back and forth shyly as she took the card timidly. He was...asking her on a date wasn't he? It had been quite a while since she had heard a proposal like this to her but this was no doubt what this was. In all honesty, she didn't know how to respond to this, her brain was racing far too fast with a mixture of her own past experiences, instincts and thoughts of her little sister yelling. "Go for it!"

She would normally be extremely untrusting of this sort of offer and she was in a way, but not in a way that she thought. Akshay wasn't like the men that surrounded her in the X-men, overconfident do gooders that seemed to love to talk about how awesome they were or womanizing pigs who didn't know when to leave well enough alone.

He also didn't seem like someone who was too much of a pansy ether, he had a certain self-confidence in him that managed to get him to actually talk to her like she was a normal person instead of "the dangerous" Emerald Lupin.

Sure he didn't know a lot about her and he hadn't seen her actually in combat or seen her temper, but the fact he wasn't scared of her when she was punching the air actually meant a lot. While she wasn't quite sure of what this was the start of, part of her really hoped it was something good.

The blush subsided and she resumed her Alpha mode, nodding to him.

"Alright, I'll stop by the Comic Book Store Tomorrow round 1," Emerald told him, smiling softly at him. She stuffed the card in her pocket before she got up from her spot on the bench, stretching a little. "I gotta resume my workout, but I gotta say it was nice talking to someone. Means a lot to find someone who isn't scared of me by first sight. Thanks and I'll see you tomorrow!"

Thus, the werewolf was off, resuming her workout like she said but doing it with a certain spring in her step. There was happiness written clearly on her face, though a little anxiety was there too, when she got back to the mansion she was going to have to do some laps around the pool to clear her head a little. Part of her still not completely sure that this was a good idea.

Then again, she was all about taking chances and maybe this was a chance she needed to take.

For some reason the redheaded beauty seemed completely at a loss for words and looked as if her skin tone was going to match her hair. He really could not believe that she did not know how much of a knock out that she really was but he could not judge her because of that. She simply could have been one of those wallflowery types that did not know their own potential or their own beauty. It was definitely cute and something that he hoped he could convince her of.

But as he stood there, watching as she seemed to look over the card he had handed to her, musing over his invitation, he began to speak just a little self-conscious. Maybe she really thought he was too weird after all. If she had really had been that into him, wouldn’t she have just accepted off the bat? Or was she just trying to make him sweat a bit?

That would be his luck…

>> "Alright, I'll stop by the Comic Book Store Tomorrow round 1,"

Whhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa?! Akshay found himself mentally asking about the situation. Was she…? Did she…? Had she…?

Had been drinking something at the moment it would have made for a perfect spit-take scene. He gasped as he tried to wrack his brain and think about the situation at hand. She really just agreed to meet him at the comic shop? To meet him for lunch? Was she aware that he was asking her out on a date and she had just agreed to do so? Akshay really wished that he could have found something intelligent to say at the moment. A bit of prose or poetry that would have perfectly captured this moment for the both of them.

Instead all he got out was a…

“Heheeee gurslli Kay…”

…

Were those even words? He looked slightly embarrassed but he quickly shunned it away and tried to regain his composure. After all, he needed to at least appear[/b] like he had some control in this situation, right? He cleared his throat and pretended as if his incomprehensible slurry of words back there was simply because he had something caught.

Apparently she did not take head of it and moved on…

>> "I gotta resume my workout, but I gotta say it was nice talking to someone. Means a lot to find someone who isn't scared of me by first sight. Thanks and I'll see you tomorrow!"[/color]

She was blur…and seemingly wanted to duck out of sight as quickly as possible. She pocketed his, gave him that winning smile of her’s, and then dashed away in order to return to her work out. He meekly waved his goodbye, with another silly smile on his face as he watched her jog away. After all, could he really pass up the opportunity?

…

…

Ahem…

He simply just continued to grin like a moron as she disappeared, really not knowing if she had truly intended to keep her promise to meet him. Instead all he could mutter as she vanished like a ghost in the wind was…

“What a woman…”