Expectations

[chibinanashi†]

"Oh? All right!" Raine was thankful that Ridley came back. When he said that he had something to show her, her curiousity was intrigued by whatever it was. She turned back to his mother and said, "Thank you for having me here." and went to follow Ridley. She wanted to hold his hand but didn't know if he wanted to in front of his mother or not. Instead, she just simply followed him.

I wonder what his room looks like? Is it clean? Messy? Why am I so...nervous?

[KingKamor†]

"No problem, we love to have you here," his mother said as they left for the stairs.

Ridley lead her up the steps and turned right at the landing to see an open door. "Here's my room," he said as he walked through the doorway. It was relatively small, but big enough for a bedroom. The bed was tucked in the far left corner, his dresser positioned below the window to the left of the bed. Across from the window was a desk with a desktop computer perched in the middle of it with a wooden chair in front of it. The sand-colored carpet had numerous pieces of clothing, papers, and game cases strewn all over it, with a large armchair positioned in the center of the room.

"The thing that I wanted to show you was this." He pointed to their immediate left, where a bookshelf sat to the left of the window. It was completely filled to the brim with manga. Some resting on top of the main rows of the shelves, some were stacked in front of older ones, and several monthly manga compilations rested on the very top of the shelf itself.

"So yeah."

[chibinanashi†]

"Wow..." Was all Raine could say. Though she wasn't accustomed to manga, anime or anything from Japan, she did admire that Ridley was dedicated to this hobby. Her eyes scanned the different series and anthologies. There were a couple that seemed to stand out to her that she wanted to read.

"Which of them are your favorite, Ridley?" Rained turned to look at him. "Is there a particular genre or author?"

[KingKamor†]

Ridley could tell that she was impressed, which was his goal from the beginning. "I don't really have a single favorite, but I do have a lot of favorites that I love to reread a lot. Let's see..." He walked up to the shelf and took down a whole series to see the other volumes that it was covering up. "Here we go. The 'Eureka Seven' manga is always a great read. So is..." He filed through some more manga and picked out the first volume of one series. "'Saikano' is a really depressing series, but it's very well done. There are some that I keep up with using online translations so that I'm up-to-date with the Japanese releases, but there are still a lot more that I love."

He picked up the stack of manga that he had taken down earlier and placed it back on the shelf. It was only then that he realized that the series he had taken down was 'Emma.' "Here's another one that's really good. It's a mature romance that takes place in Victorian Age Europe." He wanted to go on, but her didn't want to bore her.

[chibinanashi†]

"Victorian Age Europe? So the art..." Raine looked at the cover and her eyes lit up. "The artist...he or she...the art is very well done! The shading is spot on and the colors adds to the overall mood. It's like a whole new art style." She was very excited about it. Raine didn't know much about the story but she was more intrigued by the art.

"Do...Do they have artbooks for these? Something I can learn from to draw this kind of style?" Her gaze turned to Ridley's, a pleading gaze. If there weren't art books, she'd probably ask for a couple of various manga to learn from.

[KingKamor†]

He didn't think that the art was that much different from the others, but she was right that the shading changed the very mood of the story, and that the art was a step up from others. "There are art books for almost every series out there, actually. You'll have to order them from specific stores or have them imported, though. I got..." He reached up for the top left most book on the shelf and pulled it out. "...This one from a convention. It's the art book for a game called 'Tales of the Abyss.' It was about twenty bucks, but I say that it was a bargain.

He opened it up to a random page, which showed the female archer of the main group, Natalia, and her various outfits, production sketches, and costume details. "I've always loved getting to see production sketches. You know, from when a character was still in the idea phases... I just love this stuff in general." He wasn't sure whether or not she would like any of these things, but she seemed to be taken in by it all.

[chibinanashi†]

"When's the next convention?"

Raine's gaze was again fixed on the art. She was taken in by it all. Hook, line and sinker. Raine's eyes scanned each and every detail before she looked back up at Ridley. "I'd like to go. I want to learn this." She said to him with a small smile. "I like this style very much. I'll pay for anything I need to pay for in order to go. Please, let me know when the next one is though."

"And...when I get really good, I could draw you something you'd like, perhaps."

[KingKamor†]

To say the least, he was surprised by her reaction. "The last one was in the summer, so it won't come around again in at least half a year. Sorry." He was suddenly reminded of Eva's reaction to his collection. While Raine was amazed by the artwork's style, Eva was amazed at how much of it the authors and artists were able to churn out in only a week's time. Ridley was beginning to worry about some of the parellels he was making with Raine and Eva, but shook it off.

"You don't have to draw me anything, but... I didn't know that you liked to draw. When did this happen?" He laughed a little.

[chibinanashi†]

"I'm not in the art class just for a credit. I really do like to draw, sketch anything really involving art." Raine replied with a laugh. "Remember? You modelled for me that time. Even if back there I just crushed on you, I still enjoyed sketching." She breathed a relaxed sigh and looked back at Ridley. She wondered if she was able to catch the laughter in his eyes in her sketch of him. Raine was now second guessing herself with the artpiece. Had she really captured Ridley? The most important thing she was worried about were his eyes and how they seemed to look absolutely gorgeous and bright.

[KingKamor†]

"Ah, I thought that was just a way to get me to go out with you, but it's cool that you like to do it." He smiled. "You might want to just read some of them and see that the artwork isn't their only redeeming quality." He crouched so that he was eye-level with the lowest shelf, and picked one of the books off of it. "This one's called 'XXX holic.' It's a bit awkward to say, so I just call it 'Holic.' It's written and drawn by a group of women who call themselves CLAMP, and the artwork is really good." He handed the first volume to her.

[chibinanashi†]

"Thank you." Raine took the first volume and glanced down at it. She then looked back to Ridley and smiled a little coyly. She had become a little more confident thanks to his influence. "Well...I guess you could say I wanted to sketch you because I love to draw...and it opened an opportunity for me to ask you out. Though, I was such a coward you kind of dragged the question out of me."

"Thank you. If it weren't for that...we wouldn't be standing here like this right now, would we?"

[KingKamor†]

Ridley smiled and put an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, you asked me yourself, didn't you? You don't have to thank me, 'kay?" He rubbed her shoulder and looked up at his shelf. All sorts of different colored bindings jumped out at him like multicolored frogs. "I really do have too many of these things, don't I?" He scratched his head in embarrassment.

[chibinanashi†]

"You do have a lot.." Raine seemed to whisper now, due to the closeness between them. She glanced up at them and then back to Ridley. "It shows though that you're dedicated and loyal to your hobbies and interests. I...I really like that in a guy. It shows that he'll treat me right." Raine admitted, blushing deeply again. "I guess that's one way to put it."

[KingKamor†]

He laughed softly, "That is one way to put it, isn't it?" He tightened his grip on her shoulder and pulled her closer. "Thanks for not being put off by this. Some people would just think I'm weird." He recalled a time when a childhood friend had come over that just gave the still-growing shelf an odd look.

From below, he was able to hear the rumble of the garage door opening. "That'd be my dad. You ready to meet him?" He kept his arm around her and rocked back and forth a little.

[chibinanashi†]

"Mm." Was all Raine said. She pressed against him in the hug and nodded her head a little. Things seemed to have gone all right with his mother and Ridley was happy she didn't think his collection was weird. Slowly but surely, Raine was beginning to feel more and more confident in herself.

"Maybe some time...I'll make dinner for you." Raine said with a little laugh as she broke away from him gently and held his hand. "Ready?"

((Raine Schwarz continued in Earn your self confidence))