Drake sat opposite of Lunara in a restaurant, they had just sat down and were about to order. This was their first date after Drake finally asked Lunara out. This was official, they were finally together, he was finally over his fear of her dying to Glitch. He thought about how he didn't have to worry if Lunara was immortal or not, even though he is and she isn't, because she passed all the tests that Shai gave her and was eligible to be part of the Veil of Light.
"So, how's your training going?" Drake had his elbow on the table and his closed fist under his chin.
"It's going fine, after I passed all the tests they kind of let up on me and weren't so… Scrutinizing." She smiled awkwardly and let out a single chuckle.
"Oh, that's good. You seemed really stressed for a while." He smiled back at her.
"Yeah..." Lunara looked down, they both went silent for a second.
"Hey..." Drake felt guilty about pushing her away for so long, he felt he needed to apologize even more after he asked her out and apologized then.
"Yeah?" She looked back up at him.
"Again, I'm sorry that I was pushing you away so much..." He lowered his head.
"It's fine, it was because you were scared I was going to die. You're not as dangerous as you think you are." She put her elbows on the small table and intertwined her fingers, then put her chin in the middle of her fingers.
"I know, I just… I still feel bad." He shook his head.
"Don't feel bad, you were trying to protect me, albeit in the wrong way." She shook her head back.
The waiter walked up to the table, an empty serving tray in his raised hand.
"Hello, what would you like to… Wait a minute, Drake?" The waiter piped up
Drake looked up at the waiter, he had silver hair and purple eyes.
"Asher? Is that you?" Drake smiled at who he thought to be Asher, who, to him, apparently had acquired a human form.
"Yeah, it's me. Zlyena landed this job for me. Oh… Can you tell Glitch thank you for the heart?" Asher looked from side to side.
"Yeah, I see Zlyena told you he lived. He has a heart again now too, but strangely he's much nicer now." Drake nodded.
"Yeah, she did. Anyways, what would you like to order?" Asher got out his notebook and put the empty serving tray under his arm.
"I'll have the burger, plain and dry with just the meat, the bun, and a slice of tomato, and a side of fries." Drake looked at the menu.
"Only tomato? That's kinda strange." Lunara giggled.
"I don't know why but I just don't like anything else on my burger but that and possibly bacon." Drake shrugged.
"Ah, alright. And you, miss?" Asher looked to Lunara.
"I would like the Fettuccine Alfredo." Lunara looked to the menu as well.
"Ah, the new Italian menu, I see. Anything to drink?" Asher looked to them both.
"I'll have a root beer." Drake looked back up at him.
"I'll just have water.." Lunara looked up at Asher as well.
"Very well, one burger nothing on it but tomato, side of fries, Fettuccine Alfredo, a root beer and a water, correct?" Asher started to jot down the order and looked up at them every few seconds.
"Yes." Drake nodded.
"That's right." Lunara nodded as well.
"Alright, thank you for your order. It will be here soon." Asher finished jotting down the order and looked up from his notebook and smiled.
"Okay." Drake nodded again.
Asher took the menus from them, then walked back into the back of the restaurant, leaving Drake and Lunara alone.
"So, what about your dad?" Lunara looked back to Drake.
"What about him?" Drake huffed, his dad had constantly apologized for hiding his mother's true identity and state, but he still had sour feelings about it.
"It's father's day, you should at least tell him happy father's day. I told my father as much." Lunara frowned.
"I… Don't know if I can bring myself to." Drake frowned.
"We'll go see him together, how about that?" Lunara ran her finger in a circle on the table.
"Well, if you're with me, maybe..." He looked down.
Asher brought the drinks and set them on the table.
"One root beer for you, one water for you." Asher smiled again
"Thank you." Drake grabbed the root beer and took a big sip.
"I will be back soon with your order, sit tight." Asher waved and headed back.
"Alright." Drake looked away from Asher and back to Lunara.
"So, how are your fingers doing?" Lunara playfully stirred her water with the straw, the ice made quiet clinking noises against the glass cup.
"They're fine, I had them checked just yesterday. Dad is always afraid they are going to fall off again, even after he literally welded them onto my hands." Drake looked down at his hand.
"I don't think you can weld metal with flesh, can you?" Lunara asked.
"No, he put a special cap onto what was left of my fingers and cauterized them onto the ends. He welded the fingers onto that." He shuddered, the memory of the painful heat came back into his head and disturbed him.
"Did he have to thread the nerves?" She leaned in closer.
"Don't remind me." He put his hands to the sides of his head and tried to make his mind blank, but the painful memories just kept rushing in.
"Sorry... I'll stop talking about it then, I was just wondering how it all worked." Lunara frowned and lowered her head.
"It's fine, I'm alright, I just haven't had to think about it in a while." Drake put his hands back down onto the table and sighed as the memories faded, but the disturbed feeling remained.
"Your order is here." Asher came back with two plates.
Asher put the plates down in front of the both of them. The burger was quite large, seeing as it was gourmet. Lunara smiled again as she looked at the plate of Fettuccine Alfredo.
"Thanks." Drake looked up at Asher and smiled again.
"I'll be back later with your bill." Asher smiled back at him, and walked to the back.
They mostly ate in silence, besides the random bit of small talk here and there. Drake was busy working on his hamburger, and got a third of the way into it before he started to feel full.
"This is a bit too big for me." Drake put the burger down.
"You should have known it was going to be that big, gourmet burgers are always huge." Lunara giggled.
"I have a notoriously small stomach." He pushed the plate away slightly.
"I'm almost done with mine too. They gave me a lot." She wiped the white pasta sauce from her upper lip.
"I guess it was Italian gourmet." He chuckled.
"Good joke." She giggled again.
Drake watched Lunara eat until she was finished. Drake saw Asher walking by and waved him down.
"I'd like my bill, please." Drake pointed to the now empty plate of Fettuccine Alfredo.
"Right away, sir." Asher went up to the register and printed out the bill's receipt.
He went back to the table and handed the receipt to Drake, who placed his card onto the receipt. Asher took the card and ran it through. He came back and handed Drake's card back to him.
"Thank you for your service." Drake took out a twenty dollar bill and slapped it onto the table.
"Thank you, I hope to see you two again very soon." Asher smiled again and took the twenty.
"You know, I could have paid half." Lunara turned to Drake after she got out of her seat.
"Dad gave me his card, it should be fine." Drake shrugged again.
They got their things together and left the restaurant for the hospital. They got inside and Lunara bumped her shoulder into Drake and looked at him.
"Go on, say it." Lunara motioned towards Dr. Gage, who was working on something behind the counter.
"Hey uh… Dad?" Drake piped up.
Dr. Gage looked to Drake with widened eyes.
"Did… Did you just call me Dad? I haven't…. I haven't heard that word from your mouth in years." Tears started to form under the doctor's eyes.
"Ha-Happy Father's Day," Drake said, almost mumbling it as he looked away.
"Thank you." Dr. Gage smiled.
"Hello, Mr. Gage..." Lunara waved.
"Ah, this must be your new girlfriend, yes? I had heard from Nagix that you finally decided to date again." He wiped the wetness from his eyes.
"Yeah. This is Lunara." Drake gestured to Lunara, who waved again.
"It's nice to meet you in different circumstances, and not running away from me into my son's room." Dr. Gage laughed.
"I'm sorry, he wasn't going out of his room and that was the only way I could get into contact with him." Lunara slouched over.
"It's alright, he's out and about now, which is good." Dr. Gage waved his hand.
They talked for a little while longer before leaving. Drake led Lunara to his special place, the old clock tower. He talked about how nobody else went in because of how decrepit it was, but it wasn't rickety, and the floors were very solid. He led her up to the top and looked out from the balcony. Lunara was amazed at the view. Drake smiled at her, and quietly said in his head that he was going to move on from Marissa.
Read the rest of The Light Maiden's Mark here: https://moonquill.com/book/46