Wrong Turns and Right Answers

"Would you rather the green apple flavor?"

Walt smiled and shook his head. "No, no. Lime is just fine. Thank you, Ms Shidare. I think they changed the stores layout a bit. Do you know the fastest way towards the childrens nursery department?"

Hotaru nodded smiling. "Of course!" She pointed durectly through the "Adult toys" section. "Go all the way down the end and take a right. You can't miss it!"

Walt forced himself to smile. "Of course it is... Thank you very much!"

"You're very welcome," she told him before turning to Glynda. "Congratulations! I hope your baby will be a happy, healthy eater to grow as big as his father!"

Glynda's jaw dropped as she's speechless and Walt hooks his arm around her. "Thank you! Let's go "dear"!" And starts hurrying Glynda away before she can meltdown.

Glynda starts finally spitting and sputtering. "B-But... she- you... I-I-"

"She simply made a mistake and a good natured one at that," Walt said. "Nothing worth getting upset about or over..." he looked askance at several Darknesses on sale trying to get his attention and pointing out depravities they'd like to be tortured, or at least threatened with, if he did take one of them. He tried not to make eye contact. That would just make it worse. They were already making assumptions seeing him with a fellow blonde and her riding crop like pointer/focus/weapon Disciplinarian. "I do wish she'd sent us a different direction though... oh well..."

"You look like a rough customer!" One Darkness said excitedly. "Maybe you'd like to tie me up cowboy!"

"I see you like blonds and she looks like the authoritarian type!" Said another panting. "Would you like to watch her use that whip on me? I bet you would! I can take all kinds of punishment!"

"I see you looking away!" Another said shivering. "Abandonment play! How delicious!"

Glynda shook her head. "What is wrong with them?!"

walt smiled. "Actually... nothing. That's just how she is. Generally speaking Darknesses love Prime. They're very eager to be "owned" and surprisingly easy to "capture". Infact it's not unusual for RealDreams collection teams going for other Characters from her instances finding Darkness sneaking into the containment units when they aren't looking or trying hard to get "captured" willingly. It actually makes her a bit of a nuisance."

Glynda shakes her head ignoring the Darknesses protests. "I see. This another one of those things that you "have no interest in", I take it?" She asked remembering their previous conversation.

Walt pauses a moment and gives her a smirk and wink that the protesting Darknesses can't see. "I wouldn't say that entirely accurate... She's an extremely beautiful and fetching young lady. Despite her somewhat perverse attitude she also possess a beautiful and caring heart full of compassion for others coupled with a noble bearing and sense of dury her companions lack. With those wonderful traits a little bit of being troublesome actually adds to the charm of Lalatina Ford Dustiness also known as "Darkness"."

"W-W-Wha-What did you say?" One of the Darknesses managed to quietly ask as the rest are all stunned.

Glynda catches on quick and struggles to mask her smile... but Walt doesn't and turns his head to look back at the Darknesses. "I said I think you're a good person and your troublesome nature actually makes you rather cute, Lalatina."

He turns away pushing their cart as the Darknesses blush and cringe in happy but confused embaressment. He whispers to Glynda. "They can't handle that well and usually go to pieces... which actually makes them a bit cuter." He chuckles softly.

Glynda smiled. "Well that did the trick! They're writhing in genuine embaressment... and I take it you meant what you said?"

Walt nodded. "Yes... she's a bit of a pain, and has that perverse side that wants to be treated that way, but she actually has a noble spirit and a caring heart. Much more so than her companions generally who are quite self-serving. I spent some time in their setting as a chaperone for the Gardner kids. I wasn't fond of it like the kids were but that's fine. As long as they had a good time. But I tried hard to see the good qualities... especially in the main quartet. Darkness has those I previously mentioned. Megumin is in her own way a devoted researcher if only for her one subject she's passionate about. I quite liked the side characters a lot and Wiz and I struck up a very, deep and abiding friendship that continues to this day as not just colleagues but... well... that's a different matter."

Glynda smiled seeing him blush a bit and wanted to pry but realized- "Wait. You said Quartet but only mentioned two. Does that mean...?"

Walt sighed and nodded. "Yeah... I honestly couldn't find anything redeeming in the other two. The best I could come up with is Kazuma was a half subverted gag "fail" character and nearly a complete waste of a human being on top of being a complete scumbag and the "Goddess"... well she's even worse. A total fail gag character with no real redeaming qualities at all. Lazy, whinging, completely self-serving, self-centered, self-delusioned, selfish and nearly completely useless except for how she attracts monsters and acts as bait and preforms party tricks. Add a bad attitude on top and she just edges out Kazuma's unlikablity for me." He shakes his head and smiles though. "But she does have a fan base for some reason. Different strokes for different folks."

"So," she arched her eyebrow teasingly as she asked, "you do like blondes?"

Walt winked at her and gently tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear. "Depends on the blonde... I like some of them."

Glynda blushed that had nothing to do with the rows of sextoys, bdsm equipment or kinky accessories as he ran his fingertips gently down her jawline. His hand slowly pulled away and she quickly grabbed it her heart racing.

Their eyes met. They both swallowed at what they saw there as they held hands and-

"Get a room you two," A Scorpius from Farscape said as he contemplated leather hoods.

Walt shook his head. The half Scarran/Sebacean was right that this was hardly the proper time or place. But maybe...

"Glynda," Walt said holding her hand and looking into her eyes. "Feel free to say "no" if you like but... could I ask you out for a drink and maybe some dancing sometime? I really enjoyed dancing with you at the wedding and I want to do that again with you."

Glynda could hardly believe her ears but that sounded like "a date"... no, that was definitely him asking her out on a date! He'd left the decision up to her and admitted that he enjoyed her company and wanted more of that while holding her hand and making proper eye contact and-

Glynda let go of his hand and adjusted her glasses turning away. "*Ahem* "Sometime" is a very weak time frame. I understand that your "schedule" is a bit hectic but one should do better when asking for a date. 95 points Mr Stark..."

"I know and I'm sor- wait, what?" Walt asked no longer worried that he had messed up. "A score of 95... out of a 100? Is that a "yes", Glynda?" He shook his head watching her strut away. She couldn't come right out and say what it was she wanted... or at least not yet. She was troublesome in her own way too. It was just how she was... and he liked that. He hurried to catch up with her pushing their cart. As much as he appreciated the view if watching her walk away He knew "teacher" usually had a secret bonus question or two. Letting her get away was "wrong". He took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Glynda?"

Glynda kept her blushing face turned away but she squeezed his hand back. "100 points, Mr Stark," she whispered happily. "That's a "yes"."

They both finished up their shopping together with smiles... though looking at the fluggegecheimen they decided to get out of the sextoy area asap.

[Walter Stark Penny Polendina F.R.I.D.A.Y Neopolitan Pyrrha Nikos Nora Valkyrie Yang Xiao Long Blake Belladonna Kali Belladonna Sienna Khan Willow Schnee Glynda Goodwitch Zwei Ahnassi Lifts-Her-Tail Senko Sayoko Shinozaki Roberta Cisneros Haruna Sasha Blouse Ilulu Rachel "Raven" Roth Manami "La Brava" Aiba Tsuyu "Froppy" Asui Haruhime Sanjouno Anastasia "The Baroness" Cisarovna/DeCobray Demona Mystique Pirotess Lydia Aela the Huntress Serana Mission Vao Curie Ada PAM KL-E-O Merida Gwen "Gwenom" Stacy Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee and Jennifer "She-Hulk" Walters

Will Return In

TBD

Coming Soon]