Iridesca paced nervously on the run way beside the the little plane. She had to admit that this wasn't what she was expecting...I mean it had taken her tons of guts to apply for a blind date but then they ended up at a skydiving location...o what had she gotten herself into.

She shook her head slightly and her long blue hair shook in her ponytail. She glanced around looking for her blind date and then glanced back at the plane. She checked the bag on her back and hoped that it was a magical parachute that was guaranteed to open.

Arriving late, as usual, Ryunosuke tilted his fedora forward a bit to give himself what he considered to be more attractive and patted his pocket where a very special vial of something was tucked away. Just because that one bloke at the fake potions shop wouldn't sell him it didn't mean that he didn't have other means of getting it. Heh.

As he approached the location...his eyes narrowed. Wait...was her hair...blue? Did she know it was blue? Putting a little more of a cocky strut in his walk, Ryunosuke approached the woman and laid on the smolder as it were. "You must be my date," he grinned. If he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek...could he pass it off as it being part of his culture to do so when greeting someone? "I'm Ryunosuke, but you can just call me Ryu." His name was awfully long after all. He then offered his hand for a shake...or kiss depending on how dazzling her smile was.

Iridesca squinted a little bit in the sun as she saw a figure approaching her....was he wearing a hat...and not just a hat but one of those fancy hats...she fought back a little giggle because she had always thought they were a little bit much...she finally quit squinting as the figure finally got close enough for her to see the whole body.

She smiled nicely at him...well he wasn't that bad looking...but looks were everything...she could hear her mom's voice in her head...yes they weren't everything but they were important right?...she shook her head back and forth just a little bit to focus back on the man in front of her.

Did he have a limp...she hoped that wouldn't make jumping out of the plane or even landing hard on him. She kept her pleasant smile on her face as he walked or limped or something towards her.

Finally he spoke and she smiled...what a name...""Well, Ryu," she tried to say it as he had and she hoped she had succeeded, "it's a pleasure to meet you..." she said reaching out for his hand...was she supposed to shake it?...o no...this was going to be the first awkward issue of the date...she kept her smile on and decided instead to grab his hand lightly and lead him closer to the plane.

Ryu raised an eyebrow. Was she...not going to introduce herself? Maybe he should have paid more attention to that piece of parchment telling him to come here because he had no idea what her name was and, at this point in time, he was just going to call her blue because of her hair. "And...what should I call you?"

When she took his hand and began to lead them towards the airplane, his brow furrowed slightly. There when his plan of being suave. "Eager to get up in the air I take it?" he chuckled. He had never been skydiving before, so Ryu was rather curious as to how it all worked - and wanted to ask the pilot if he could fly the plane.

The plane wasn't too large, definitely the smallest he had ever been on. Ryu pushed open the door and took a peek inside, noting all the parachutes and other supplies before leaning his head back out. "Ladies first."

O was she that nervous that she didn't even introduce herself...she stopped in her tracks and turned back towards him, "O sorry, I'm Iridesca..." she paused and then continued with a little wink, "but you can all me Iri..." she said with a final smile and then she turned back around to look at the plane....was she flirting...yes...it was a date afterall...

She glanced over her shoulder making her blue ponytail fling around even more. "O...umm...kind of..." she said stuttering just a little bit which wasn't like her at all, "It's just that I'm nervous and excited all at the same time...have you ever done this before..." she said turning back towards him still holding onto his hand...

She glanced back at the plane, and took the final steps toward the plane...when he said ladies first she shrugged her shoulders and with a little, "Thanks..." she climbed on board....she really hoped the plane wasn't sooo loud that they couldn't talk...

Once she knew her feet were set, she reached her hand out to him, "Want a hand..." she said teasingly....

Sure sure, play the innocent act and bat those long eyelashes while she was at it. Ryu saw right through that. She was being coy with him and simply pretending like she had forgotten to say her name. Really, who forgot to say their name on a first date? Not this former Gryffindor, that's for sure. "Well, since nicknames seem to be a theme we have going, Iri it is," he replied with a wink.

When her blue ponytail flipped around even more, he was soooooo tempted to ask her if she knew that her hair was that color. It really was the dragon in the room after all. People's hair just wasn't naturally that color and IF he had any smarts he would have guessed that she was like his little sister. Instead, he sort of just stared at it and nearly missed what she said next. Durrr...huh? "Me? Nope. Can't say that jumping out of a plane to what could be my doom never crossed my mind." Because, you know, THAT was a good thing to say before boarding a plane to do just that. His eyes were back on her hair now. DID she know it was blue?

Just as he was about to ask just that, she was reaching out for his hand again. Oh? Had she ever let go? His wondering about her blue hair must have been distracting him. "Two if you can spare them," he grinned, grabbing the other one anyway and pulling himself into the plane. "Don't suppose the pilot would let me drive, do you?"

Iridesca couldn't help but laugh at his comment about jumping out of a plane...and without realizing it she let out a sigh of relief..."O same here...I have to admit I was just being brave because I figured this had been your idea and I didn't want you to think I was a wimp..." she said with a nervous laugh at the end...yes this was not her idea of a fun date at all...she had said adventurous but sheesh this was pushing it...

She held onto both of his hands tightly as he crawled on and only let go of one of them...she kept a good hold on one of his hands...mainly as a security blanket...her eyes got huge when he suggested flying the plane...."Ummm...have you done that before?" she asked quickly, "I think maybe you should stay back here and entertain, or distract, me..." did he really want to fly the plane...or was that his idea of a joke...o first time meetings where hard to understand.

Ryu chuckled. His idea? Heh. That was an amusing thought. "How very Gryffindor of you," he nodded. Was she a Gryffindor...with blue hair? Did she know her hair was blue? He really should just ask and get that off his chest. His little sister didn't always know when the changes were taking place, so it was possible that this woman was the same. Unless she had done things the muggle way...or charmed it. Either way, DID she know it was blue? "You a meta, Iri?" he asked off the cuff. Meaning a metamorphagus that is.

Now inside the plane, Ryu let go of her hand and made his way towards towards the cockpit when he heard her ask him a question. "Nope, but I play Quidditch and really, flying is flying no matter how you look at it, right?" Of course it was. You were off the ground and in the air. One plus one equaled two. Yep. He grinned at her somewhat adorable request though. "Alright, alright, I suppose I would be a horrible date if the first trip up I flew the plane and left you back here," he said as he flopped down next to her and put an arm nonchalantly around her shoulders. Ryu was sort of in his element right now. ACTION.

Iridesca cocked one of her eyebrows up at Ryu...did he just call her a Gryffie...o no he didn't..."Actually a proud Ravvie...and you" she asked nicely but a little taken back that he hadn't been able to peg her as a Ravvie...everyone could...I mean blue was her favorite color....she turned to look out the front of plane wondering when they were going to take off...after all the quicker they got up the quicker the could be landing on the ground...she took in a deep breath to make herself breath...

She turned back towards him...a meta...yes he must know someone who was one only metas called it that, she said proudly, "Yes, I am...it kind of runs in my family...my niece is a meta as well..we can both change our eyes and hair at will..." she said and then realized not everyone was impressed by that especially if he knew someone that was a full meta, "Well atleast that is easy to do and sometimes it even happens without control...like if I get embarrassed some pink will sneak in there...but I have pretty good control over it..." or most of the time she did...o no what if her hair was a weird color right now from her being so nervous and there were no mirrors around...she grabbed the end of her blue ponytail and pulled it forward to check...yep still her signature blue...

O a Quidditch player...that means he was probably full of himself...weren't they all...."O Quidditch...what position did you play..." she asked trying to make her words sound excited...she figured he had mentioned it so they could talk about it and he could brag...o yes athletes were the same whether muggle or wizard.

And then his arm was around her...o Iri just go with it...she smiled up at him, "Wow, you're feeling pretty comfy aren't you..." she said picking on him, "Is this the part that I look dreamily into your eyes and lay a kiss on you?" she asked with one eyebrow cocked and a little smirk on her face.

A Ravenclaw? "Well, that's a relief. If you had been a Snake I would have called the date right now," he said just as the plane's engine kicked in. "I thought it was rather obvious," he grinned from ear to ear. Come on, the confidence, the pride, the ridiculously good looks. There was only one house he could belong to. "I'm a Gryffindor, my entire family is minus my one younger brother who was sorted into Ravenclaw." Takashi would have made a terrible Gryffindor anyway, so there was no shame there. He eyed the blue hair again. So that was why the blue? Ravenclaw pride and all that? Ryu had had a spell where he had red highlights in his hair, but that hadn't lasted too long - mostly due to his mother freaking out about it.

"Pops is one, a meta I mean," he nodded. The trait didn't pass down to him or his brothers, which Ryu somehow found to be a relief considering how hard it already had been growing up. "My little sister too, but we don't talk about it much. She hates it. " And with good reason. Being a ruddy mood ring for the world to see wasn't any way to live your life. Sure, she was getting better at controling it, but recent events had his little sister losing whatever control over it she had. "She is at Hogwarts now, a fifth year," he explained with an obvious pride in his voice.

"I was a Keeper and occasional Beater," he nodded. "Never played after school though. Journalism was more my thing." Which often times surprised people since he didn't look as though he could write his way out of a wet paper bag.

At her next comment, all he could do was smirk. "Comfy...confident, no difference really," he said rather smugly. "You have to be confident to be comfy after all." Or something like that. He had sort of just made that up on the spot. And he continued to laugh when she smirked. "I don't know what sort of Gryffindors you have dated, but I don't kiss on the first date. Granted, there has been an exception, but I'm a bit old fashion in that sense." He was actually being genuine here, surprisingly. Ignore that he currently had a love potion tucked away in his pocket should things start heading south. It wasn't there so he could guarantee himself action. Nope. He wasn't THAT sort of lion. More for his own sense of pride - which was the biggest contradiction ever.

Yes, now that he mentioned it, it was a little bit obvious...he was overly confident in himself...she shrugged her left shoulder and smiled at him and said flirtingly teasingly, "Yes, I think I can see Gryffie written all over your face...let's see...that would make you brave...courageous...over confident and a little reckless..." she said the last word with a little bit of questioning tone to it....she had a feeling that he was a little bit crazy reckless.

He had meta blood in his family...interesting..."How odd for it to be passed to your sister and not to your brother and you..." she said with her eyebrow cocked a little bit..."Too bad it is a fun trait to have...I would love to meet your sister and compare notes...maybe that would help her feel a little bit better about it...I mean I always match no matter what color I'm wearing..." she smiled at him and looked at his shirt, "and I can always match whomever I'm with..." she said as her hair changed to the perfect copy of his shirt....once she knew the transformation was over she winked at him...it was kind of nice to think that someone wouldn't freak out about her changing colors.

"When did you graduate from Hoggy warts?" she asked wondering if they might have passed each other in the halls without knowing it...o she hoped he didn't completely remember her...she was a dork in school...



"I was a Keeper and occasional Beater," he nodded. "Never played after school though. Journalism was more my thing." Which often times surprised people since he didn't look as though he could write his way out of a wet paper bag.

Confident to be comfy...she almost laughed at that comment...wow that was a first..she glanced into his eyes at his comment on kisses on the first date and just simply said, "Well no kissing on the first date...what a shame..." she said nudging him softly in the side...and then the flirting kicked back in...o yes she was good at this part...she was a teaser after all...she believed the same thing about no kissing on a first date but...she had never thought she'd be taking off in an airplane to jump out of it either...so kissing on the first date might be an idea for this adventure... "maybe I'll be another exception..." she said squeezing his hand slightly.

"I used to have it tattooed across my chest too," he said in a very serious tone. Of course, that wasn't true. Ryu hated tattoos and, well, they were a stigma in Japan and something that one associated with the yazkuza - a group of people that he wanted nothing to do with. "Also, you need to remove the little from that statement and then you've got it right." He smirked, again. Reckless wasn't his middle name or anything, but he was known as being the wild one of the Hollingberry boys. Within reason, of course. He had been told that his loyalty would put most Hufflepuffs to shame. "When my family is concerned, I tend to go a little overboard." Like...beating bullies to a pulp sort of thing.

"Recessive gene I suppose," he said with a shrug. "And its brothers, I have two." Oldest of the Hollingberry kids, Ryu always took it upon himself to play protector since their father was busy with work in the Ministry and their mother, well, she turned a blind eye to many things. "Afraid she doesn't see it that way." Nope. Not at all. Their mother made sure of that, not even looking her own daughter in the eye because they were not a natural color. Maybe that would change now, considering what the family was going through. "Just something else to make her feel different from everyone else." Ryu wished that he could admire Iri for her confidence in her ability, but he just couldn't. Not after all the pain he had seen it cause his little sister...so he sort of missed her wink while he was deep in thought. Which was too bad really, her winks were sort of cute.

When did he graduate? Erm...could he count on his fingers for that one? It was 2077 now... "2069," he said without his usual amount of confidence. Arithmancy had never been his best subject. "I didn't hang with many Claws though, kept to Gryffindor and Slytherin really. You may have known my one brother, Takashi. He was a Claw, few years younger than me." And a nerd.

Oh? Shame? Heh. Guess he wouldn't be needing this love potion after all. Save it for another day. "We will just have to wait and see then, won't we," he said, returning her wink. After all, if they were going to fall to their doom, they might as well get one last snog in. Worst case situation, of course. Ryu had no intention of dying today.

The plane's buzzing softened and its flight leveled out. Oh? Ryu leaned forward a bit when he heard the pilot say something, but couldn't hear due to the roar of the engine. Suddenly, the side door opened and he felt his heart pounding in his chest. "Guess that is our cue to jump?" he said confidently as he marched up to the door WITHOUT his parachute on.

She turned her head quickly towards him with her left eyebrow cocked...did he say tatooed on his chest..surely he was joking...right?...she didn't want to sound gullible so instead she played along, "O I bet that's an interesting sight..." but she said it playfully...surely he really didn't that would be mad...and something a Gryffie would do...she shook her head slightly left and right, "O sorry...well then you are overly reckless...maybe some of that will rub off on me...I tend to think I'm adventurous but I'm not at all..." she shrugged her shoulders slightly...

O his family..she listened intently as he explained his family a little more...oldest brother that explained alot..."Well, I understand being a little uneasy about it...it took me until after I graduated from Hoggiewarts before I really learned to own my talent." she said making her hair turn back to the bright blue color. "Plus, I'm an optimist so I always see the good in everything..." she paused wondering if she should share about her family...too soon..maybe...but he had shared about his..."Must be nice to be the oldest, I'm an only child....but I have an awesome cousin that just graduated who is like a mini me and she's a meta so she's more like a lil sis than a cousin. " o how she wished she could see Satine...she hadn't seen her in over a year since the girl had taken an internship in the USA working in some show on the Strip.

Had he said 2069?...was she really that much older than him...o goodness...""O well you don't know what you were missing out on...most Ravvies are pretty fun and spunky like me...but you didn't go to school with me...at all.." she said the last part quickly and kind of silently...she didn't realize she was almost six years older than him...should she lie...or just play it coy...play it coy...haha...

She leaned her head to the left as he winked at her...and then she too heard the engine change it's sound...was it time to go...she watched him glance out and then turn back to her..."O no I think you're going to have to push me ou......" but her words trailed off as she noticed he didn't have his parachute on..."Uu, Ryu...you're missing something...please say you brought it with you..." she glanced around the plane trying to see where it was..soooo not funny....

Ryunosuke smirked. Interesting wasn't exactly the way he would have described it, nor was it the first thing that typically came to the ladies' minds whenever they thought about seeing his bare chest, but Iri WAS a Claw and, well, they were different. "You could say that," he winked. "Why? You curious?" As in did she want a peek to see if it was actually true or not? Which it wasn't. Tattoos was horrid things. He leaned back a bit and adjusted his fedora - yes, it was coming with him for this jump. "We all need a little bit of reckless in our lives. Without it, you might as well just live locked in a closet, you know?" That was mostly the Gryffindor in him speaking, but living life on the wild side had always treated him well. His brothers and little sister were much more reserved, but that came from his parents figuring out the warning signs thanks to his adventures. Heh. "I hope some of it does rub off," he said with a wink. Maybe that wouldn't be the only thing? He smirked to himself.

He nodded. From what he gathered, she grew up in an environment where being magical was welcomed and not something that had to be hidden. It was something to be embraced and explored. He and his siblings hadn't had that luxury...not after what their mother had been through. He had hated lying to his little sister all those years, keeping the truth from her and still doing so now to some extent. They only meant to protect her, but they had ended up scarring her in a much deeper manner. He didn't say any more on the matter though, just smiled. "Well, extended family is always nice too."

Wait...WHAT? They weren't in school together at all? He just sort of stared at her and blinked. What was she? In her 40's or something? No, he was jumping to conclusions...probably. "We...didn't?" he asked slowly. Well, this was awkward. About as awkward as a troll in a tutu it was. "How old are you then? You don't look a day over 28 or so." Which was how old he was. then again, Arithmancy was not one of his best subjects. He had received a T on that exam.

"WHAT?" he called over his shoulder when he kind of sort of heard her speak. The roar of the engine was rather loud and all that. The wind sort of made it hard to hear as well. "Ladies first?! Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way." He may have been thick, but he was a gentleman when he wanted to - he opened doors and all that. He did manage to make out her suggesting that he was forgetting something. "Huh? Of course I have my wand." Duh!

Curious about what seeing his chest...well maybe...but not interested in seeing a Gryffie tattoo...it probably just looked like all of the others that those Gryffies always seemed to get, she shook her head left and right slightly, "I think I'll pass on that one..." yes that was the safe answer..."Well recklessness is great as long as you're not too crazy about it...I guess I still like to be safe and think things through...I'm spontaneous but a guarded spontaneous...." she said with laugh realizing that she had just made an oxymoronic statement...she was about having fun but she had met many guys that took it to the dangerous level and that wasn't her.

He could tell there was more to his story about family and decided to just jump over it in case it wasn't a subject he favored....and then he mentioned her age...she looked down at the floor, "Well, I'm not too much older than that...and I'm really bad with math so we might have gone to school together, but I don't think so..." she paused and then answered, "I'll be 32 this year..." o she hoped this didn't make it awkward...I mean there was no where for them to go...they were stuck in this plane together...atleast for now...

Iri cocked her head to the side...his wand...what good would that do for him..."Well I"m not going to scoop down and safe you when you realize that your wand has flown out of your hand..." she said teasingly and then she stood on the edge of the plane and glanced out the window. She turned and smiled at him with a mischievous grin and leaned in really close to him almost close enough for their lips to touch and she leaned towards his ear and whispered, "READY?" and at the same time step out of the plane and started her free fall towards the ground as she blew him a kiss as she fell.

Her loss. He had rather defined features on his chest, if you know what I mean. The whole tattoo thing probably had her confused as it did for many. There were a few that got more excited than he expected over the idea - which they were severely disappointed when he revealed that he had no tattoo at all. He DID have a birthmark on his left peck that resembled the shape of Australia though. Saying that out loud just never sounded very impressive. "So, you are a true Ravenclaw then," he nodded. Made sense really. Her hair WAS blue after all.

Thirty-two? Really? She didn't look it - not that he knew what someone who was that age should look like really. "Well, seeing as we are both terrible with numbers, how about we just forget them?" Age was just a number after all and, well, he didn't get math and she didn't get math, so clearly they should just forget them before they both got stressed out over trying to understand numbers and he completely lost his mojo. See? Problem solved. No more talk about bad numbers.

WHAT? Ryu couldn't hear what she was saying to him because of the noise caused by the wind and the engine. Scoop? This was no time to be talking about ice cream, was it? Maybe she had said that she wanted ice cream when they were done? "Me too!" he grinned back. He liked ice cream. And then she was close, really close. Was she ignoring his rule about no kissing on the first date? How very Gryffindor of her. Breaking rules that is. But then she was whispering in his ear. Ready? Merlin, he was born ready.

And there she went. AWESOME! He was just about to jump out of the plane when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see the pilot glaring at him. What? Oh. Right. Parachute.

Frowning a bit because of the Buzz Kill Pilot Dude, Ryu strapped himself up quickly and then performed a rather elaborate swan dive out of the plane.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

She smiled at his idea of forgetting their ages...yes that was the perfect idea...age wasn't that important once you got past your twenties anyways...and maybe he would be interested in an older and more distinguished and experienced woman. This thought almost made her laugh but she too focused on the jumping part coming up.

Before jumping everything became a blur of noise and adrenaline and then she was falling...quickly...

As she fell she heard a loud scream from above. She truly hoped it was a good scream and she had to admire his swan dive. And she was even more excited to see that he was now wearing a parachute...thank goodness she was not in the mood to be his knight in shining armor. She was loving this feeling...who would've thought it...she could feel the adrenaline rushing through her body. She glanced back up at Ryu with a smile and then pulled her parachute chord.

She coasted to the ground and did an okay landing...She stumbled a little bit but didn't fall on her butt like she thought she was going to. As soon as she got her footing, she started grabbing up the chords of her parachute and folding them up. She stepped out of the way waiting for Ryu to land...She was standing with a huge smile on her face hopping slightly up and down slowly from the excitement...she couldn't wait for him to land...this adrenaline thing was amazing and she was afraid that it would make her not be able to control herself...but who cared...right...

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

This.Was.AWESOME! Better than flying, which was saying something because Ryu had been quite the Quidditch fanatic in his day - although he did miss the feeling of the wind rushing through his hair. Hadn't had that feeling for years now since he gone with the shaved head look. It wasn't a look that many could pull of but...he liked to think that he could. Heh.

Almost forgetting to release his parachute, Ryu hovered in the air still several hundred...thousand? feet above the ground and just let his senses take everything in. Okay okay, so flying really had nothing on this. Grinning from ear to ear as he touched down, Ryu sort of stumbled over his parachute and landed right in the middle of it in a tangled mess. So uncool... As he tried to get himself out of the bloody thing, he found himself in an even bigger mess. Maybe he could pass it off as he was pretending to wrap himself up as a parachute burrito?

Clearing his throat as he kicked his feet in attempt to removed some of the rope from around his legs, he attempted to smirk up at Iri. "So...next time I drive?"

Iridesca laughed as Ryu landed and became wrapped up in his parachute. It was almost like a straight jacket wrapped around him. Once she was sure that he was settled on the ground she hurried over to him and plopped down beside him to help him get untangled.

In the process of this task, she found herself very close to Ryu face and with the adrenaline pumping through her she leaned in very close to his lips and with a mischievous smile she leaned in for a little peck.

Or not.

Apparently she wanted to be in the driver's seat, and Ryu was usually always along for the ride but he had been trying to turn over a new leaf and looking for Miss Right and not Miss Right Now. So when she leaned forward, he cupped her face in his hands, one on each side of her face, and leaned in closer to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"I thought I told you that I don't kiss on the first date," he smirked.