Short Story: [Emberfate] Aquarium Date

Hey everyone!

Happy New Year! I'm so sorry for the delay on this short story reward. I know I'm also fairly behind on the short stories for the last couple of months, so there'll be a few of these short stories coming up this month. This one will make up for October's, and then Nov's & Dec's will come later this week or next. Thank you so much for your patience 🥹

Anyway, we're continuing the theme of IRL dates for this series of short stories. As with before, this was drafted by Anna 'Lavinnia' Kończak and then rewritten by me. I hope you enjoy it!

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"Ahhhh..." You hear a deep, frustrated sigh come from your girlfriend's office as you walk by the room, giving you pause. You glance at the door left ajar, and after a moment of hesitation, you change your course and lift your hand to knock. "Khanyisa? Are you all right? Can I come in?"

"Oh, yes, of course. And I'm fine, don't worry." Her slightly frazzled voice answers you, but when you enter the room to the sight of Khanyisa's frown and exhaustion underneath her eyes, you have to disagree.

"I do apologize, was I being too loud? Did I wake you?" She offers you a sheepish smile when you draw closer, her hand naturally reaching for yours. As you intertwine your fingers together, you lean down to press a quick kiss to the corner of her lips. "No, of course not. I was just getting up to get some water. Still working on that big case of yours?"

"Yes..." She sighs again with a shake of her head. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to leave you in bed alone on the night you're staying over, but this is unfortunately quite urgent... But at least this case should finally get wrapped up soon. By the end of this week, if I'm lucky."

"Oh? That's great news!" You give her a bright smile, which she returns with much less fervor. "You know what? I think that calls for a celebration."

"A celebration?"

"Yup, and I have the perfect idea. Let's go for a date at the aquarium this weekend!"

"Aquarium?" She arches an eyebrow, a small chuckle of surprise escaping her lips. "That's unexpected."

"A new one opened in town last month, don't you remember?"

"Ah, you're right. Now that you mention it, I vaguely recall seeing something about it before..." She purses her mouth, looking thoughtful. "Now, I'd be happy to go anywhere with you, but I must admit, I'm not very knowledgeable about marine life and the ocean..."

"Who says you have to be to enjoy the aquarium?" You laugh, wrapping your arms around her. "Hey, don't overthink it. All you need to do is get dressed up nicely — well, there's no need to wear anything too fancy — and be ready on Saturday at... say, nine thirty? Sounds good?"

Khanyisa pauses before finally breaking out into a smile that takes your breath away.

"It's a date."

--

Before you know it, the weekend has arrived. Clutching the tickets you've pre-ordered in your hand and holding her hand in the other, you enter the building behind a group of loud excited children accompanied by their parents.

Khanyisa eyes the giggling kids with a smile and turns to whisper in your ear. "You know, I'm starting to feel like we might be too old for this place. The only adults I see here are parents bringing their kids along."

"What? Impossible! Aquariums are perfect for all ages, and especially for dates. I guarantee you, there are other couples here too. We'll run into them soon enough." You flash your girlfriend a grin, which she returns briefly before something else catches her attention instead — the huge fish tank behind you.

"Wow. That's pretty," Khanyisa breathes out in wonder as she steps past you to get closer to the glass and take a better look at the school of red and blue fish swimming by that you can't name. You take the opportunity of her being so preoccupied with admiring the fish to glance around, searching for the information panel that should contain the name of the fish so you can impress your girlfriend with your knowledge.

You finally locate the sign, and you speak at the same time Khanyisa does. "That's the squareback anthias—" "It reminds me of the outfit that dropped for my character last raid!"

You stop short. For a moment, you think you must have misheard her, but she repeats it again, pointing to the fish with a sparkle in her eyes.

You blink. Unless your eyes are playing tricks on you, the fish is mostly red with some pink markings and blue fins. Other than the color palette, there really isn't much resemblance to the outfit she's referring to, though you do remember how happy she was when it dropped. She said it was so pretty she wouldn’t even need to change it with the dyes from the cash shop.

"Oh, those fish to the left! The blue and yellow goes so nicely together. This is giving me new ideas for how to dye that robe that dropped from our farming session on the Eternal Plains recently. The brown one, remember? It’s such a sight for sore eyes in its original colors.”

“Right... I think I can see it.” You can't really, but you nod along, hiding your bewilderment by this unexpected turn of events.

This is... quite an unconventional way to enjoy the aquarium, but seeing the animated expression on her face, you decide it doesn't matter.

As long as Khanyisa is enjoying herself and able to relax after her rough month at work, then your goal is accomplished.

Either way, this is definitely a date that you'll never forget.