Super Steamy Romantic Double Date

    Amy proceeded to inhale, exhale, and then to show a somewhat strained smile at Lantis' comment. No more and no less than a joke, that was how the brunette was supposed to take the Leomon's words, right? She felt an arm wrapping around her, obviously not resisting at the show of affection, and, in fact... calming down somewhat due to it. Yet, another deep breath was needed before she could talk.

    "I mean, you're right. Both of you." Slowly, the expression her face had adopted relaxed, looking less tense, and, to an extent, mirroring Lantis' coyness. "Asher is, indeed a very caring and nice person. The best boyfriend a girl could ask for, in fact. I'm very lucky to have gotten him. Chances are that I would have ended up as a spinster otherwise!"

    Those comments were said in a somewhat matter-of-factly way, at least until the last sentence; that one had delivered in a surprisingly lighthearted note, just like the words that would soon follow. "And to support such a noble cause, I think I'll bite the bullet, look out for others and decide that sharing him might be for the quickest way to increase the percentage of happy women in Japan."

    A philanthropic objective, even if it came at the cost of Amelie's own happiness. Thrilling romance! Poetic justice! Those and many more sappy phrases that seemed just written by the pen of Danielle Steel flew freely through the teenager's mind, just for her to end up giggling at her own words and reciprocating the redhead's previous gesture. "But! I guess that if that won't work, I'll keep him for myself. Absolutely zero complaints here!"

    With any luck, that would drive her point across! In any case, that had improved her mercurial humor considerably; by now, Amy was back to being her usual, cheery self. "But if that is too daring, I could try to help, anyway! I've set up two of my best friends to have a date today, so if you want, I can try to pull the same with Sophie if I came across a fitting suitor! I can already see it!" Oh no, she was using the dreamy tone again. "Somebody who's outwardly stoic and reliable, but actually a nice and affectionate guy behind closed doors. Yup, that's definitely gonna work perfectly!"

    Speaking of that! Open displays of affection were a relative rarity when initiated by Asher, so to say the least, Amelie was going to milk this one for everything it was worth, all while the other couple decided to engage into a relatively intimate moment together, It was then when she would lean into his hear and softly whisper. "Having fun? Hope you're not minding it, but I can always tone it down a bit if I'm making things too awkward." A rather nice and grounded offering, considering the amount of ham her previous words had. Could it be that the brunette actually cared about her recently-christened boyfriend? That seemed like a rather outlandish claim!

    Even if it was essentially true. Alas, the mushiness had to end at some point. And that meant, being promptly terminated by the young adult's lobster-based comments. To say the least, none of those had caught Amy's fancy, even though... one could say they had a charm of their own, maybe?

    No. They definitely had not. "Can you really call me little, though? I think my lobster version would break a Guinness World Record or something; 'The Tallest Lobster Ever', or something. By now, I'm glad none of my spirit forms are an Ebidramon or something, even though I guess you can call me your little... thing maybe?" Yeah, because that was definitely romantic. If it weren't for the fact that the brunette seemed to be deep in thought, one would've believed she was joking! "And I guess I could call you 'care bunny'? Or 'my songbird', maybe? Would any of those work for you?"

    A pensive hum was the natural follow up to those observations. Asher didn't seem like the type who fancied nicknames, but who knew! Maybe he had a hidden soft spot for those or something. With some luck, she would even be able to find out right now? Or maybe, the teenager would just get lost in the natural mushiness that the relationship between Leith and Lantis seemed to naturally irradiate; they were a really cute couple, at least in her eyes! The amount of care and tenderness that the Leomon expressed on his every gesture was adorable, and that might even be an understatement. It was true that there was some friction here and there, but what couple didn't have a good measure of those? Small differences and disagreements were a natural part of everyone's life.

    What mattered was that, as long as they were employed as fuel for mutual growth and a chance to better understand the other half, it was even a refreshing break from the everyday routine. But, by now, Amy was probably digressing pretty hard; the topic at hand had changed drastically, even if it was still somewhat related. Kids could, at least to some, be considered to be the ultimate goal of a relationship, especially to those who held more backwards traditional values, and that was fine. For others, though? For others, the word was closer to stuff from nightmares. A word so vile and repulsive that was better left unsaid.

    And one that had managed to make the redhead borderline choke on his cocktail! Or maybe it was the fact that he was secretly allergic to any of the ingredients found inside piña colada and was about to asphyxiate and die. That would certainly be a sad way to go; it better not be true!

    So, Amelie did what any caring girlfriend would do in a situation like this one. After taking some distance from her boyfriend's face, she began to softly palm his back, in an attempt to help him clear his windpipe of any offending liquid that might've been remained there. Now, with Asher hopefully better, she would lean back to him again. "Are you okay? I was scared for a bit. Was the drink too cold? Maybe it wasn't properly blended together..."

    Just to check her theory out, she would try to snatch the drink off the young adult's hand and take some sips of her own. After a hum, the brunette just shook her head. "Nope. Nothing. I wonder what could've happened..."

    Anyway, onto the mysterious and fascinating topic of kids! What were Lantis' and Leith's opinion on it? One didn't seem to be all that sure about it. The other? He seemed to unequivocally and wholeheartedly against it. The only male in the room that seemed to be enticed by the prospect was none other than Asher. Considering that he was her boyfriend, that was probably a good thing!

    "Six, huh?" She muttered, a coy smile already making its way towards her features. "Maybe if we have triplets? That'd make things a lot easier, I think. We can probably find out down the line! Even though... we should probably focus on the one that's liable to arrive at any moment! Pity we don't know if we'll get a boy or a girl. Like that, picking a name can be so hard..."

    Names. That was an interesting topic, actually! And possibly an easy way to break away from the rather tense atmosphere that had been created by Amelie's own doing moments before. Her expression became more casual while her eyes alternated between everyone present. "Ever asked your parents, or tamer, for that regard, why they gave you the name you've got? I like to think there's at least one interesting story behind every given name!" Revealing the origin of her name wasn't that big of a mystery, and her words had the possibility of cooling down the atmosphere, so... "I have mine in honor of a Swedish writer slash poet from the nineteenth century. Back then, the gender gap was even wider than now, and she advocated a more equal treatment between boys and girls, or at least for the two to get an education of the same quality and girls not having to resort to their closest male relative as their 'guardian'. That's more or less it!"

    Would the others have similar stories? Or maybe even more interesting ones? At least on her mind, Asher, Lantis, and Leith were very intriguing names, so hearing the reasoning behind them would be very interesting!

    Amy's next reaction came as a surprise in one way, and then entirely expected in another. Was she joking? He was pretty certain it was a joke. A really seriously-toned joke. The brunette was really good at that kind of thing. Maybe women, in general, were just great at being dramatically mad in convincing ways. They had a tendency to be a little crazy sometimes, after all! Though, he was really hoping that, as Amelie's monologue went on, she wasn't being serious.

    Mostly because it was getting progressively more difficult to keep a straight face through all of this.

    Looking to the side, the redhead tried to stifle a snicker at her comment of being a spinster. Worse yet, Lantis seemed to be a touch sheepish from the girl's words! Asher would only hope that nobody would take offense to any of this! Either from him or Amelie! Or maybe from Lantis misinterpreting the offer!

    After given the option to let Amy 'keep' him, he finally decided to speak up. "I don't think I'm the 'sharing' type," he admitted after a few seconds, "And I have to stop you from 'becoming a spinster,' so I'll have to vote to throw the 'noble cause' out the window." Flashing a half-grin to Lantis, the teen added, "I'm sure Lantis wasn't serious about trying to pull me away for Sophie, anyway. He's good at joking," apologies and Lantis' denseness aside, "right?" With any luck, the lion would know when to agree, and how to do it convincingly! Who knew what Amy would do if the digimon stuttered!

    "Which means," attention turned back to his date, "I guess you're stuck with me." Tragic fate! But, Amy seemed like she'd be pretty happy about it, according to her last sentence!

    Thankfully, any tension she may have caused was also settled after this. Though, Lantis may have felt a little too awkward to take the brunette up on her offer to help Sophie find true love. Listening to Amelie's idea of a dream man for Sophie, the spirit user tried to hide a snicker again. "Are you sure that's the perfect fit?" Amy certainly enjoyed playing Cupid, didn't she? What would Sophie have to say on that, if she found out about the offer to hunt her down a man? "I wonder if anyone could part her from her job long enough to have a date, though," he added, as an afterthought. From what Lantis had said, it seemed like Sophie was married to her job. Did she have time for a faux marriage and a significant other? Did Sophie even want a boyfriend? Maybe she liked actually being single! Or, didn't like guys. Some people were kind of hard to read in that aspect, and the young man had to admit that he didn't know her well enough to even begin to get a decent grasp on the thought.

    He debated, briefly, adding a few traits for a potential soulmate for Sophie, but decided against it. Chances were, if they delved into it too long, it might make her partner uncomfortable. After all, it was their double date! Not one with Sophie and a mystery man!

    While Lantis and Leith shared their moment, the teen listened to his date's whispering. "It's fine," he responded, quietly. It was a nice day, after all! There wasn't too much to complain on! Aside from Amelie trying to kill a certain lion on words alone, just moments prior! "You don't need to tone anything down, as long as you're having fun." She had better be, with her 'flare for the dramatic' and everything! Hopefully, none of it was making Leith uncomfortable, though! He certainly seemed more introverted than the duo that he was stuck on a double date with!

    If only Asher had a chance to ask if the other couple had pet names for each other! Maybe he could have gotten someone to side with him on fun nicknames for his girlfriend! Or, Amelie would have gotten more backup on how nicknames were over-the-top and that 'lobster' definitely wasn't a good one. What girl didn't want to be a lobster?

    ...Okay, no girl wanted to be a lobster. But, still!

    "I would like to counter that I think it would be great if you turned into an Ebidramon right now. It would help my argument a lot." Of course it would. Except, Amy would be even more right on being called a tall lobster, at that point! Digimon usually weren't very tiny when it came to any regular animal counterparts, after all! "I think calling you 'my tall lobster would be weirder than calling you little, when you're not. It doesn't sound very pet-name friendly, you know." Was that a valid argument? Now it was. But, it didn't stop him from cringing at Amelie's suggestions! "Care Bunny? That sounds like a children's cartoon," he immediately retorted. It was actually Care Bears, but this was close enough! Also, it was just a gross title. "And, can I really be your songbird if I don't sing for you?"

    Then, a thought. There was a small gesture toward Leith, "Leith can always be Lantis' songbird, though! I think he has that title called." Would anyone protest? Could they protest? Probably! But, it was worth a shot!

    Hopefully, Amy wasn't going to ask him to write her a song now. While Leith might have the skills to do such a thing, Asher strongly lacked in that department! Lyric writing took quite a bit of effort and skill, and the teen just didn't have that specific sort of thing! Though, maybe he could come up with another pet name in the meantime. "Hmm," the young man hummed, glancing at the sky while he thought. "How about m'eudail?" Yellow eyes shifted back to Amy, to see her expression on what would surely sound like gibberish. "I think it sounds like a good pet name for you." Maybe, Amy would start having some complaints about having to 'keep Asher to herself' at this point!

    After all, the redhead was starting to wonder if it was a good thing, once she was trying to make him choke on his drink! He should have known that she'd try to kill him someday! But, he expected it would be further in their relationship than this! After having his drink stolen, while his date feigned innocence, the young man cleared his throat. "No idea. I guess it's a mystery." Was it? Was it really? Surely, Amelie knew the answer to that. As did everyone else. "Maybe someone was trying to poison me. Be careful, they might get you too." Yes, words of caution! Except, Asher probably wouldn't want to try to make Amy choke on her drink again after the wasabi beer incident. That would be how he'd end up being single again in record time!

    First, he was apparently going to be a father of a million kids (and digimon?) though! Given a few seconds to think on it, he also had to wonder if offspring of spirit users would end up having some Digital anomalies in their lives. It seemed pretty likely. For instance, their first 'child' was going to have no way of avoiding such a fate! "Maybe it'll be born with a name it wants already. That would make things easy," he suggested. Thinking about it, that would probably sound odd to anyone that didn't understand the subject of the matter!

    Oh well. Names were hard.

Just like establishing how children would work in a Digi-Human relationship. But, it didn't seem that was a pertinent issue! Considering Leith's reaction, it seemed that Digi-Human babies were a far-off [non]-fantasy! While he resonated very well with Leith's decision to not want to think too hard on hellspawn offspring, a different thought came through his mind. Probably one that wasn't best to share. If Leith wanted to return to a normal life, would Lantis have to hide his own life to be able to still fit into the human's heart? That was an almost depressing thought. But, it wasn't a problem that he'd want to burden this date with, and maybe they had already discussed it. If Whiskers didn't mind feigning a cat, or a random girl nearly constantly, maybe Lantis didn't mind wearing a holosuit and pretending to be a human for the rest of his life? It was better not to ask, or debate too much! After all, it wasn't his relationship, and he wasn't about to risk putting a strain on someone else's with such questions!

    At least, with the topic of name origins, he didn't have too much time to debate bringing up the subject anyway! Instead, he'd get to listen to the lore of people's names! "A Swedish writer?" Asher hummed, "with your news articles, it almost sounds like you're pretty similar to her." Maybe Amy was the reincarnation of this person! Asher wasn't too sure on the history of the namesake, though, so he didn't want to delve too far into that either!

    Meanwhile, Lantis was also Swedish! Weird. He didn't entirely understand what a backwards farmer was, though! Surely, it had to involve crops somehow, right? Maybe not. If only internet worked in the Digital World. He'd just search it on his phone right now! "I think of Atlantis when I hear your name, too. And it sounds more interesting for an origin. The legend of Atlantis is pretty cool, anyway." Would Lantis agree? Did he prefer if Asher and Amy called him Lan? The redhead wasn't really sure!

    As far as his own name, though? "My mom was a fan of religious literature. In Genesis, I think, Asher was promised a blessed life, and founded a tribe in Israel." What was with people and Biblical-type names, anyway? They were everywhere. It was almost like those tales were full of names! "And, she thought that Asher sounded like a 'unique and memorable name for an actor,' if that counts as a reason." This was followed up with a small chuckle and shrug. Asher didn't really care too much on the origin of his name, whatever the full logic was behind it! A person made the name, more than the origin, right? Except maybe in Amy's case, since she also seemed like the namesake!

    But, for now, it was Leith's turn to answer the question! Hopefully, it was something interesting too!

    Initially, a lone eyebrow was quirked at Lantis' apology. It had been a misunderstanding all along...? At least initially, for some reason, that was somewhat hard to believe, even though insisting on that seemed to be fairly pointless; after a small sigh, the girl managed to settle down. Being difficult in a situation like this one wouldn't accomplish a thing, and remembering that the point of this small gathering was to have fun did the trick and getting her out of that bout of meanness.

    It could be that those words weren't quite directed at her, but did that even matter at this point? "Don't worry." Dismissively, the girl waved a hand, even if a smirk was already showing on her face. Could she say that had been the plan all along? Maybe, maybe not. "Besides, you got Asher to say relatively nice things about me and our relationship for a change, so I guess it was an overall positive experience."

    Not exactly a common event, all things considered! A somewhat strange silver lining to the definitely strange situation that had unfolded moments ago, yet one that the brunette had deemed as 'not-that-bad' in the end. Besides, the implications of both hers and Asher's sentences were already enough to make her feel way more than satisfied.

    At least momentarily; it was obvious that the conversation wouldn't stop there. Leith piping in wasn't something she quite expected, but that welcomed nonetheless. A challenge to her statement was something she wasn't afraid to face head-on. In fact, her expression was already showing a fair degree of eagerness. "Full statement ends with 'that a girl could ask for', but if you insist on increasing its scope to just best boyfriend period, I'm not really gonna oppose to that." Identifying that Leith's tone was tinged with skepticism hadn't been hard, yet that only reinforced the conviction of her words.

    "But~" No reason to let go of it just yet! "I kinda can see why others would disagree with that fact. And I understand the reasoning behind that completely." Whether she was being purposefully smug or just teasing, that was up for others to decide. All in all, it seemed that the atmosphere had livened up by quite a bit; about time! Things had felt a bit too stiff initially.

    Funny how the two people who piped in regards to the young woman trying to play cupid had diametrically opposed opinions! "See?" She told Asher, positively excited at the positive answer gotten from Lantis. "I'm sure that anyone wouldn't complain at getting a little spice on their life. Besides~, guys can be so dense regarding how a girl feels at times. You should those matters to the expert!"

    Those sentences had a never seen before volume of ironic remarks. Were they all intended? That was a question Asher had to answer on his own! At least for now; soon enough, each couple found itself having a small, yet private moment. At times like that, the brunette appreciated being supported, even though it wasn't precisely for a just cause! Or, was it?

    "Oh, yeah. I'm having fun." Was her truthful response. It wasn't every day that conversations like the last one happened! "What about you? Are you enjoying teasing me nonstop?" Even if that comment wasn't very nice, it was true, nonetheless!

    Speaking of which... despite the impossibility of one of Amy's evolutions to be an Ebidramon, the redhead's insistence managed to make her smile a bit. He was a bit endearing in his own way. Or maybe not, but this was their dynamic by now. "Being called lobster is already weird enough. Adding an adjective on top of that isn't gonna transform an irredeemably bad nickname into a good one, you know?"

    And, at the very least, she had the courage to admit that her nicknames weren't very good either! "Well," If irony could kill people, the two humans would be dead on the floor by now. "And your nickname isn't cartoony? It really takes some boldness to say that, if you ask me!"

    Before a retort to the fact that Asher being a songbird was more accurate to Amy being a lobster could be issued, Leith had decided to take the nickname as is own. An interesting development, that she didn't oppose in the slightest; the girl's smile was directed at him for a second, before returning to Asher. "I guess at least one person appreciates my taste for nicknames. Maybe you could learn a thing or two from Leith."

    Interestingly enough, before they moved onto the next topic, the redhead had one last comment that, if it hadn't been obvious, prompted the young woman to stare at him, dumbfounded. How was even that word supposed to be pronounced? "I, uh..." Yup, for those seconds, she was completely out of words. "I guess I forgot my dictionary. You know, the one that translates whatever-tongue-you-were-speaking to one I can understand. I like its sound, but knowing you, it's probably Swahili for lobster or something."

    No way for her to get her hopes up! Instead, she just turned towards Leith to answer his question. "Oh no. Not yet." The brunette said, shaking her head. "But we've been raising together an egg that we found abandoned at a cave. It hasn't quite hatched yet but we're pretty much their parents, don't you think? At least, I'll make sure to treat them like they were my kid. And Asher will as well, right?" Some peer pressure right there, even though it was probably unneeded. Mostly because Amelie had already been a bit too harsh with the guy already. One murder attempt was enough for a day, at least on her books. "But, who knows. Maybe the little one will really come with a name on his own and all the thinking I've been done will be for naught. I don't know if I'll feel disappointed or relieved, to be honest!"

    Not to mention that, unlike her boyfriend, Amy's desire to roast Asher was rather limited; five times per day at most? That's why, at first, she limited herself to placidly smile at him and his subtle accusations of poisoning. Was she really going to say anything regarding the matter? Well... "Wonder who could've been. I don't know why, but I have the feeling they're a good person and dispensed some kind of poetic justice. Don't you think the same?"

    After that response, everyone would begin to tell the tales behind their names. Her first impressions? They were all super interesting! From the legend of Atlantis to the Holy Bible to Ireland and musicians. Her own story seemed a bit bland in comparison, even! It took her a bit to take in the redhead's question, but eventually shrugged before answering. "Do you think so? I guess we might've been pretty similar, if it weren't for the fact that she really did try to change the world for the better with her writing, and I'm just... on a double date, trying to poison my boyfriend through his drink. Guess that our methods to topple the patriarchal society are quite different, aren't they?"

    Once they were done talking, Leith proposed the best possible idea for anyone currently visiting the beach; getting into the sea, of course! The fact that sunscreen had been recently applied to her body seemed like a small detail at the moment. Having some fun by the sea would surely justify being subjected to being a 'lobster' for a day or two.

    Smiling brightly, and taking Asher's hand right afterward, she began to lead him towards the sea! After everyone had gotten to know each other, Amy thought that interacting by the sea would be way smoother and relaxing that the atmosphere at the tent. It's true that their last moments there had been somewhat distended, but there had also been some dicey exchanges! Mostly due to her and the fact that sometimes, she went overboard with the drama.

    But, ultimately, she thought that was okay. It had gotten her two more friendly acquaintances, at least!

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