"Water. Oh god, water." Zane stumbled about the evening streets of Hargeon, completely worn out as he approached the coastline. The people on this downtown shopping block seemed awfully weirded out by Zane. Bearing a pair of swim trunks and a simple t-shirt it looked as though the man was simply preparing to go for an evening dip in the ocean, but his face told a different story. His face told the story of a man who had just ran at top speed for 7 minutes, changed into swim trunks for 2 minutes and then had been running for another 7 minutes at a speed that was somehow even higher than his initial one. Perhaps the people of Hargeon were a perfect example of the bystander effect. All of them felt as though they should help, but none of them did. They all had a feeling that SOMEONE would give him water. Why give the poor man a drink if someone else was almost definitely going to do it anyways? But nobody did. Zane went through that whole block crying for the sweet embrace of mother H20...

All he had to do was pass through one park to get to the meeting place he had set up for him and Atani: a pier that was right next to a great beach. But Zane had something to worry about before he could begin to think about Atani. He felt like he was going to die. Would he even live to see that pier? Perhaps he'd die the moment he set foot there? And that was when he saw it. Like the glow of Illumin himself the park water fountain glistened in the corner of his eye, its holy juices just waiting to be taken from its metal exterior. Stumbling over to the fountain, Zane's hands gripped it with more intensity than a man who had just found the fountain of youth. Zane was saved.

A few minutes later Zane found himself leaning against the railing of the pier meeting spot, the wind blowing his blonde hair elegantly as he waited for Atani. His face seemed different from earlier. Whereas before he had come off as a beaten man on the verge of death, now he was without a doubt a confident, healthy and amazing young man ready for a date at the beach. A wide smile came upon his lips. "That's the power of H20."

To this day historians never did find out what compelled Zane to say that out loud while nobody was watching. Actually, wait. If nobody was watching then how did historians figure that out anyways?

Zane was startled to think Atani would show up at the just the right time to hear him talking to himself, his body noticeably shifting as he turned her way. "Ah! You heard me say that?" Zane asked, nervously chuckling. At least it didn't seem like she thought of him as crazy - yet, anyways. "By that I mean that H20 has the power to... err... bring us together. Though... travel?" Off to a strong start. Still, Zane could roll with it. Very boldly grabbing onto Atani's left hand, Zane brought himself beside her (though just a bit in front of her) and began leading her to the beach while continuing on with his rant about water. "Not to mention that our bodies are like, 60% water or something. Or was it 70? Or 80? Something around there." Zane smiled down at Atani with a confident grin, almost as though he expected her to be impressed with his extremely elementary understanding of science.

Zane led Atani down a flight of stairs, their feet finally embracing the sand of the beach. Some grains managed to get into Zane's sandals. He couldn't complain about this, honestly. Felt pretty nice on his feet. Slowly making his way up closer to the water, Zane noted that the beach was about as quiet as he expected given both the time of day and the day of the week. To the right there was a tiki bar where most of the people here were spending their time. To the center (and left) there was a huge stretch of beach, most of it unused save for some people that were far off in the distance. The beach was quite wide as well. It would most likely take the pair at least 2 minutes just to get to the water. Zane's hand gripped Atani's just a little bit tighter, his manner seeming rather hasty. "I wanna get to the beach soon, the tide's at just the right level. Not to mention it'll get cold soon. There's also the ulterior motive I have of seeing you without that beach wrap as soon as possible." There was also the ulterior motive Zane had of seeing her without th- wait. Zane's inner monologue had accidentally just poured out. His face turning a bit red, Zane stopped in his tracks, facing towards Atani. He had to think of an excuse. He had to think of a way to save it. "You know what? I'm not gonna make an excuse for that one." He confidently said, hoping his date would just find it charming. Or just forget about it. Definitely the latter. That would be the best outcome.

Having resumed walking, the two finally made their way to the water. Zane slowly stepped up towards the small bit that rested at the sand's edge. "These always were the best beaches in Fiore. Even the ones in Astera don't compete." While this obviously wasn't known to Atani, Zane had spent years exploring nooks and crannies in Fiore. If he said a town was the best place for beaches in Fiore he was most likely objectively right. Zane slipped out of his sandals by way of utilizing only his feet, eventually letting them rest on the sand. Then he took a step into the water, feeling how cool it was. "Ahhh, see? That's the power of H20. So, which one of us is gonna jump in first?" Zane had to admit he hoped he didn't have to do it first. As nice as the water felt on his feet it was quite cold.

"Wait, really?" Zane asked, astounded at the idea that females were made up of slightly less water than males were. He'd imagine it was probably at least a somewhat obscure fact. Maybe Atani was even smarter than he thought she was? He supposed she did read a lot of books. "Hah. I have more water than you." Zane triumphantly said in a somewhat humorous matter, yet also straightening his chest a little as if he was somehow unironically proud of the fact.

Atani seemed to react pretty well to Zane's personality, at least from his point of view. When he so plainly stated his desire to look at her she giggled. When he talked about the different places he had been in Fiore she seemed genuinely impressed. Zane couldn't help but feel an odd sensation in his chest. He had always wanted everyone to admire him and think of him as a super cool guy, but rarely would anyone actually admit it. For some reason or another Zane got the feeling that Atani genuinely thought he was pretty cool. Was this finally it? Did Zane finally land himself an admirer? A fan? His smile grew just a little bit bigger as he imagined it, his mind already getting lost in the rampant delusions of having someone think he was the coolest guy out there. It was pretty common of Zane's imagination to make a mountain of every molehill it was presented with.

"Huh?" Zane asked, seeing Atani tug on his hand a little bit, wanting to go in the water with him. A blush came upon his face as he realized that he would have to have his own date drag him into the water. "Oh, of course! It would be pretty lame of me if I was afraid of a little bit of cold saltwater, haha." Zane remarked with a nervous look on his face, stepping forward to once again be just slightly ahead of Atani. It definitely seemed like he preferred being in the lead here. The seawater eventually went further up Zane's legs as he stepped in, its cold feeling being a bit unsettling at first. The water did eventually get more comfortable as he continued leading the two deeper in, the tide becoming less and less shallow as he went on. It was at his knees now, the water just starting to touch onto his swim trunks.

"Oh, one sec." Zane's hand moved away from Atani's for the first time in a little while, his fingers moving to the bottom of his shirt as he began lifting it off his body. He tossed the shirt backwards once it was completely off, hoping the wind would take it to the dry part of the beach so that it wouldn't get wet - thankfully it did manage to avoid the water, though the shirt definitely drifted further away than Zane would like, only stopping once it had landed on a nearby sandcastle. Looking in Atani's direction once again, Zane hoped to find her ogling him or something of the like. "Alright, I'll let you stare for 10 more seconds." Zane would remark whether she was actually staring or not. Thankfully he had managed to exercise way more recently - if Atani had met Zane back in January she would most likely be looking at a much more flabby chest. Zane could thank Beelzebub for that, the demon having made sure to work Zane out for the purpose of "strength for acquiring everything" or something like that.

"Bzzt! Time's up." It had actually been 12 seconds. Zane wasn't the best at timing seconds. "See you in there." Zane's entire body leaned towards the side, his frame plummeting into the shallow water. He didn't immediately realize that he wouldn't have much space, but his shoulders bumping up against the sand soon showed him that. Thankfully it was enough to cover him from shoulder to shoulder, his arms quickly propelling forward in a stroke to get him to a deeper part of the beach - which thankfully wasn't too far away. Once Zane confirmed it was deep enough so that his feet no longer touched the sand he'd switch to a backfloat, tilting his head a bit to see just where Atani was now.

"Well, what I want to see is already subme-" Zane's comment was brought to a sudden halt as his eyes widened in amazement in what Atani had to show him, their blue color brought out even more by the water they were currently in. A look of wonder went upon his face for the second time that night, Atani having once again brought out that side of him that was usually buried deep in the constant acts he put on. "Woooah!" He excited exclaimed, especially impressed by the little firefly-like lights that Atani had put in the arc. Zane put up one of his fingers to feel the arc, watching the water move around his touch. "You must use water magic then, right? I always wished I ended up learning it. You can do so many cool tricks. With wind the best you can do is use a breeze to flip ski- err, mess up people's hair." Neither one was a particularly nice gesture. Zane couldn't even do that these days unfortunately: Beelzebub's magic required him to transform before doing anything like that and transforming wasn't exactly the most enjoyable of experiences.

Zane's backfloat was soon enough switched to him wading in the water so that he could better meet eyes with Atani. Looking her way while doing a backfloat was more than possible but certainly required putting the neck in a less than comfortable position. "You must be an excellent swimmer then, right?" Zane assumed that most water mages were probably fond enough of the water itself to know how to swim well, though Zane supposed he was a wind mage and didn't exactly enjoy sky diving. "If so, I have a proposal. See that buoy over there?" Zane turned around and pointed his left hand towards a red buoy that was floating at what was essentially the limits of the swimming zone. It would probably take even the best of swimmers at least a minute to get over there from their distance. "Let's race over there. The loser can get the honor of paying for the drinks at the tiki bar over on the beach. Interested?" Zane asked, turning back to face Atani with a smirk on his face. "I'll most likely win obviously, but I think you might have a small chance. But don't expect me to go easy on you just because this is a date!" Zane actually did intend on going easy on her because it was a date, and that was after his extreme overestimation of his own swimming abilities. He knew how to swim, but not quite as good as he was currently thinking. "What do you say?"

Zane thrusted his arm forward on Atani's count as their race began, his brain and his body still unsure about just how much effort he should be putting into this. On one hand he didn't want to pay for drinks, but on the other hand the idea of being a gentleman and paying for Atani also felt nice - and by felt nice Zane meant it would probably make her like him more. Maybe. As Zane's arms propelled himself forward into the water two small balls of light appeared to him in his mind, his eyes currently closed as not to get any water in his eye. One was black while the other was white. The black ball bore a pair of menacing fangs while a holy halo floated above the white one's. "Zane, be a kind spirit. Let Atani win." The presumably holy ball remarked, Zane finding himself rather convinced thanks to its soothing voice.

"Hah! Don't be such a fool. If you win you won't have to pay for anything and you'll probably still go h-" The evil ball was soon interrupted by Zane. "Excuse me?" Zane asked, unable to understand anything the evil ball was saying. "Can't you hear me?" It asked, the holy ball laughing towards its opposite in a manner that was oddly similar to that of an old rich woman cackling. "Ha! This buffoon forgot to pick a text color that was readable."

"N-no I didn't!" The evil ball stuttered, embarrassed to the point where some shades of red could be seen within its sphere. "I just... was testing you." Zane groaned. Why did all of his crazy person inner monologues have to be so out there? "Look, just give me the closing arguments already. I've wasted enough time as is." The holy ball immediately stepped up to the proverbial plate to offer its take on the matter first. "Zane. Think about Atani's feelings. She's a water mage, is she not? It would not bode well for her self confidence if she lost to you in a race. You'd be saving her wallet a fair bit of grief as well."

Zane figuratively turned to the evil ball, waiting for it to give him its take. "Think about it. Going all out means that you don't have to pay. Not only that, but you also get to impress Atani with your cool, amazing, perfect, brilliant, honed, graceful, intelligent swimming skills - thus making her want you more." Zane immediately felt pretty convinced by the evil ball's little speech, deciding right away he'd go with it. The holy ball attempted to protest as Zane began to leave this odd mind space he had found himself in. "W-Wait! No fair! Evil ball only won because he threw out a bunch of positive adject-"

The balls faded from existence as Zane's speed suddenly tripled, putting in his full effort in the second half of the race. In a way it was somewhat inspiring. Zane didn't even know he could swim this fast, yet the promise of free drinks and leaving a girl impressed somehow managed to break his limits. Kicking his feet as though he would die if he didn't reach their target first, Zane swam and swam before he eventually found his hand landing onto the buoy, grabbing onto its rail and clinging on its side as he caught his breath. He was surprised he managed to win when he opened his eyes to find Atani arriving after him.

Clearly exhausted, Zane gave Atani a tired handshake as he attempted to recuperate himself. "I'll make sure to order juuuust enough to make sure we don't get to the point where you no longer like me as much as you currently do." Zane responded in a humorous tone. The plot twist was that he wasn't joking. His mind was actually already going through intense calculations to figure out exactly what that tipping point was, though they were definitely a lot slower than his usual thoughts thanks to how worn out he felt. "That took a lot out of me." He admitted, letting go of the buoy as he proceeded into a backfloat. "Let's head back to shore. I wanna check out that bar. And your bikini. But mostly the bar. Probably."

Zane had realized by now he wasn't even trying to hold back his less than honorable comments, maybe on account to getting used to Atani's presence. It did feel pretty nice. He felt as though he was funny enough to get away with it too - he was the comic relief character after all. Catching his breath as he relaxed on the backfloat back Zane slowly but surely found himself on the shore once again. Lifting his back off of the shallow water he'd stretch a little bit, getting used to being on solid ground once again: not that he was off it for very long anyways. "You know, I really should've brought a towel." Zane remarked. His hastiness in making his way here most likely led to that mistake. "Oh well, We'll be mostly dry in a minute anyways - I'm sure that bar gets water everywhere all the time. So, ready to go buy me some drinks?" Zane asked, shining a somewhat cocky smile towards Atani. "Lead the way, I'll be right behind you." Zane gestured his hand towards the tiki bar in a way that told Atani to go on ahead, yet something about his face made it seem as though there was some ulterior motive.

Zane frowned a little bit as Atani led on, following her down the beach in the direction of the tiki bar with a somewhat childish disappointed tone in his voice. "Aww, did you really have to put it back on?" He asked, grabbing his shirt from the sandcastle it had been stuck on while the two were on the way back. Sliding it onto his chest as he walked, Zane brushed off some sand from its fabric as the two entered into the tiki bar. The place was quiet, a detail Zane could appreciate while on a date with another person. Usually he'd complain about such a thing if it was just him and the evil demonic soul inside of his head, but when he already had someone he wanted the company of he could settle for the very modest number of patrons who were currently here. Zane's trunks were still somewhat wet, but thankfully they were good enough to not drip water everywhere. Zane had a feeling that a tiki bar was probably used to having water on the stools anyways. "Now I really wish I had a towel." Zane remarked as Atani placed hers on the stool, taking a seat on the one directly to the right of her as he looked in her direction. "Impressive, by the way."

Zane was looking at their selection himself as she listed off the options, not seeming nearly as surprised as Atani was - he supposed she wasn't quite as used to the stuff served in Fiore, especially in an admittedly tacky place like Hargeon. "Guess they're really going for that tropical theming." Zane was never the biggest fan of it himself, especially considering his hometown of Baska was about as far away from stereotypically tropical as one could get. "Hmm... how many jewels do you think I'm handsome enough to get away with?" Zane asked regarding the matter of Atani paying. To be entirely fair she was already giving him a pretty large sum of jewels already - he could show at least a LITTLE restraint when it came to further maiming her wallet. It looked as though the bartender was slightly preoccupied with another customer at the moment so the two would have more than enough time to think about what they wanted.

"I gotta admit, being here in Hargeon is definitely a nice change of pace." Zane placed his jaw in his hand as he leaned against the counter of the bar. "I was in Oak for a long while and lemme tell you, that place is definitely a hellhole. And the worst part is that somehow I always end up visiting there!" Zane felt as though this was probably the most opportune time to take a drink in the middle of his rant - shame the bartender was busy. "Trust me, go to like.. Astera instead. Or Baska. Even Worth Woodsea would be a more pleasant experience than that place..." Zane sighed a little to himself. He really did go to Oak way more than any regular person would. Was it some kind of syndrome? "Now that I think about it though, you seemed pretty impressed earlier with how many places in Fiore I've been. Have you been anywhere else besides Hargeon, Atani?"

"Awww... and here I was hoping I could get the 400k option. Bummer." Zane joked, his eyes glancing the menu over once more as he tried his best to think about what it was he was actually going to order. Unable to properly pick in a reasonable time, his eyes frantically looked it up and down as he spoke internally. "Eenie meanie miney mo, catch a tiger by his toe..." Zane continued on with the rest of the saying that he definitely 100% remembers word for word at the time of this post's writing, eventually stopping on a selection. Perfect. That was settled then.

"I see... you're definitely pretty new to Fiore then, huh?" Zane responded, his mind instantly thinking up the top 25 coolest travel stories he could use to impress Atani. "I know pretty much everything about this country at this point, so you could really ask me anything. Like uhhh, worst sewers? Crocus, easily. Didn't like those ones." Zane put his hand on his chin as he attempted to think of other bizarre categories, the realization that his date might not be into things like sewers not having struck him yet. "Best sidewalks? Astera. Bustiest guild? Definitely Blue Pegasus - good job on helping them out with that by the way. Largest number of run down inns? That wo-" Zane was interrupted by the bartender, an annoyed look on his face after having been interrupted in such a fashion twice within 1 evening. Trying his best to remember what his eenie meanie had picked earlier, Zane soon managed to grab a hold of the memory. "Two Zombie cocktails please." Zane replied, the bartender nodding in response.

As the bartender began to mix their drinks, Zane turned back in Atani's direction. "Anyways, you get the idea. You could probably ask me just about anything and I'd have an answer." That was definitely a lie - not even Zane was that delusional! He could definitely answer at least 90% of anything though. Or 80. 70 was more reasonable, actually. The bartender placed Atani's drink down first, Zane's being on the way. "So, go ahead. You must have at least a few questions you wanna ask, right? Go on, hit me with all you got - it can be about me, about Fiore, about math - anything." Zane admittedly hoped she didn't pick that last one - he sorta flunked all of his math classes back in school.