Dates 'n' things. :D

Charlie was so happy to be at the Taffy Carnival, especially with Rowan! A smile was glued to her face, and her arm was wrapped around Rowan's. She didn't care if they were out in public, they would make up some stupid excuse, they had so far. She looked around at all the clio and rides and fun. Mae was flying above them to see everything better.

"Wow," Mae said loud enough for them to hear. "This place is so cool!"

"What rides do you wanna go on, Rowan?" Charlie asked, looking to him happily.

"We can ride whatever you want," Rowan replied, "though personally I'd suggest the roller coaster." He smiled and pulled Charlie closer. Normally this public display of affection wasn't such a good idea, but considering the fact that the secret was sort of out anyway, it didn't seem like as big a deal.

Speaking of which, Rowan needed to talk to Charlie about that. At first he'd been mad at her when he found out that she'd spilled their secret to, of ALL people, his ex-girlfriend. But he was able to talk his way out of the situation so all was good for the time being. Plus, Charlie was just too damn cute to stay mad at.

Right now was time for fun. He'd bring up the incident later. "Or we could play some games. I could win you something."

Charlie liked the sound of the roller coaster. She also liked the fact that so far, Rowan hadn't mentioned her little mishap with Lumi. Maybe Lumi hadn't mentioned anything...or maybe Rowan wasn't mad. Well, as long as he was having fun.

"I think the roller coaster sounds fantastic," she said, thinking that she'd like to ride him...but of course she didn't say that. That'd be a little weird at the moment. She looked over as they started walking in that direction, and she saw the line. Damn.

"I guess we'll have to play the waiting game," she said, looking up at the roller coaster as it rushed down a huge hill and went around a loop. The wait was worth it.

Rowan looked at the looooooong line to the roller coaster. Then he looked at Charlie, who he thought looked a little disappointed at the thought of having to wait so long. Then he looked at the clio who was in charge of letting people onto the roller coaster. Said clio happened to be one from Dian, which gave Rowan an idea.

"Come with me," he said, taking Charlie up to the roller coaster clio. "Excuse me, I was wondering if there was any way to make the line move a little quicker?"

"As a matter of fact, there's not," the roller coaster clio replied monotonously. Then he looked up and saw who he was talking to. "Ah! I mean...of course! Right this way, Mr. Overloridian..." he glanced at Charlie. "And his lady friend."

He took them inside the gate to the ride while the other clio in line voiced their protests.

Alecis' jaw dropped when she saw the pair that sat in the car in front of her.

Rowan and Charlie.

'Too perfect,' she crooned to her dæmon that was sitting next to her.

She poked Rowan on the back of the head then turned to look around as if it wasn't her who had poked him. This was going to be the best ride ever.

Charlie's jaw dropped when she realized what Rowan had done. "Are you allowed to do that?" she whispered, too scared to look back at all the unhappy clio in line. She had giggled when she was referred to as the "lady friend" at Rowan's side, which felt lovely. She was glad they were on a date and not worried about other clio. Why they weren't worried, she wasn't sure. But she was happy. Too bad they couldn't do this all the time.

She turned around as she saw someone poke Rowan and saw it was Alecis. Great, she had to ruin it. Rowan and Charlie couldn't be seen doing lovey-dovey stuff in front of her. Crap.

-In case you were wondering-

Wesley was sitting on a plank, legs over the edge and hands on his knees. He only wore swimming trunks, and at the moment his hair was fairly dry. Someone threw something at a red target, but missed. Wesley shrugged.

"Maybe next time," he said, looking to the other clio in line, all of them waiting to send him into the dunk tank.

Rowan glared back at Alecis, who was acting all nonchalant as if she hadn't been the one who poked him. Was it her life's goal to make him as miserable as clio-ly possible?

Well whatever. He and Charlie were out together. In public. Alecis already suspected about them, and she was friends with Charlie so she probably wouldn't tell anyone else. Also, Rowan had a plan that could get their love life back into secret. So for now...what did they have to lose?

Rowan reached out and put his arm around Charlie's shoulders, pulling her even closer as the ride started. He leaned down and kissed her full on the lips, open-mouthed. He didn't care that Alecis was right behind them (in fact he secretly felt some vindictive pleasure at the thought of her reaction) or that there were probably dozens of other clio who might see.

'This is sooo unlike you,' Nym commented, somewhat embarrassed by her clio's behavior. 'Actually, it's something you might have done, say, four years ago.'

Rowan was too preoccupied to reply.

"Woah," Alecis said as the ride started to move. "Either get a room, or you better stop. You might chip each other's teeth when we really start moving."

She laughed, then grabbed a hold of the bar that sat in front of her. This was going to be a bumpy ride.

Charlie's eyes widened as Rowan kissed her, but she figured he knew what he was doing, so she just...well, kissed him back. And it felt really good. What about Alecis, or all the other clio around? What about Lumi, hadn't she talked to him?

All the thoughts fluttered away as she wrapped her arms around his neck and they kissed. The ride was going up a hill, so it was a bit slow at first, but she stopped the kiss anyways and just stared into his eyes as they reached the top of the hill, not wanting to hurt him on accident as they went down, as Alecis had said. She turned so they were sitting next to each other again, instead of her being practically on top of him, and held the bar in front of her as they flew down the hill, screaming and laughing all the way. And not just because of the ride, but because of how free she felt with Rowan.

'Wow,' she thought to Mae. 'What a great day!'

Alecis's stomach dropped as the coaster sped down the hill. It tickled, and she laughed. Rheis, however, had his eyes shut and was hanging onto his clio for dear life.

This only made Leci laugh harder. It had been a good idea to come to the carnival. It lifted her spirits, she had been too down lately.

As the ride leveled, and then whipped around a corner she caught Rowan looking at Charlie. Though she didn't understand what Charlie saw in the Dian sitting next to her, and though she hated to admit it, and probably never would aloud, the two made a cute couple. Silly, fun Charlie and serious, mature Rowan.

It made Alecis smile. Maybe Eilemaiden didn't have to hate each other? Maybe it was okay to mix, I mean, Leci was sorta-friends with Charlie, right? And they were different Eilemaiden.

Rheis groaned as the coaster did a loopdiloop and Alecis giggled.

'The only reason you're saying that now, you silly girl, is because you have a thing for that Solas boy. You don't believe what you're saying. I know you don't, because I don't. Stop trying to justify what you're doing.'

Alecis stopped laughing as her dæmon mentally spoke to her.

Maybe it was okay though. Maybe they didn't have to fight. She didn't care what Rheis said. She could believe whatever she wanted. He had no say in it.

Alecis pushed him out of her head and continued to enjoy her ride. Grumpy foxes weren't going to ruin this Carnival trip for her.

The roller coaster ride was a blast, especially being so close to Charlie (who seemed to be having the absolute time of her life) laughing the whole way. Rowan was actually laughing with her once the roller coaster came to a stop, which was something he hardly ever did. It seemed like Charlie was able to bring out his "happy side" that had been repressed for so long.

In fact, he almost forgot about Alecis until everyone was getting off and he happened to catch a glimpse of her. He hoped she didn't plan to follow them around all day or anything.

Oh well. For once, not even she could ruin this day (unless she really, really tried.) He pulled Charlie into a loose hug and kissed her on the cheek. "What do you want to do next? Your choice," he told her.

'I hope she chooses the roller coaster again,' Nym commented, half-jokingly. 'That was AWESOME.'

Charlie smiled and looked around, keeping her arm around his waist. "There are so many things to choose from," she said, seeing the ferris wheel, and all the games. "Oh! I have an idea. We can go visit Wesley and see how he's doing at the dunk tank," she said, turning and smiling at Rowan. Charlie hadn't seen Wesley all day, so she was curious as to how he was doing. "How about that?"

Why was it that whenever Rowan got to see Charlie, he had to see Wesley too? He was really starting to dislike the guy. Wesley got to spend practically every waking moment with Charlie, but Rowan could barley get a few moments alone with her.

'Sommmmmmeone's jealous,' Nym snickered, though she also kind of agreed with Rowan. 'Haha. He's at the dunk tank. You should totally go dunk him.'

Rowan actually considered this. Sure it was immature and all, but it would give him some satisfaction. Another vindictive pleasure. 'That's not actually a bad idea,' he decided.

"Sure, let's go," he said to Charlie, letting her lead the way.

Charlie smiled, leading the way. They came upon the dunk tank, Wesley looking fairly dry, though his hair was a little messed up. He smiled at the two and waved a hand.

"Hey guys," he said. "How's it been going?"

"Good! We just came to visit you, maybe try to dunk you or something," Charlie said, giggling and looking to Rowan. "You wanna give it a shot?"

"Sure, why not," Rowan replied, as if he didn't care one way or the other. He stepped up and, since there was no one else there to try at the moment, the carny clio in charge of the dunk tank handed him a little rubber ball to throw at the target.

Rowan hoped he would hit the target, because he would look pretty stupid if he didn't. Luckily the target wasn't too ridiculously small or far away, so he was confident he'd be able to do it on the first try.

He threw the ball. It hit the red target dead center.

'Wooo, that's my clio!' Nym cheered.

Charlie couldn't help but jump with joy as Rowan hit the target, glad that her man was able to get it in one shot. Wesley fell into the water tank, jumping back onto the plank and pushing his hair back with his hand.

"Good hit, but can you do it again?" Wesley asked, noticing that a few clio around were looking at them, half expecting Rowan to do it again, and half wanting to do it themselves.

Charlie looked over at Rowan with a smirk. "You wanna go for it again?"

Rowan looked around and noticed a very small crowd gathering. It seemed like everyone, Charlie and Wesley included, wanted to see him try again. Some of them looked torn between wanting to see him go again and wanting to try it themselves now that they knew it was possible.

He knew that if he did it once he could do it again. All he had to do was exactly what he did the first time. He didn't know why everyone seemed to be under the impression that it would be somehow harder the second time.

"Um, sure," he said indifferently, taking the rubber ball and throwing it just like he did last time.

It hit the red target again.

Charlie jumped up and down again, watching Wesley fall into the tank. He got back up and smiled, being a good sport. He looked around at all the clio wanting to try and looked back to Rowan and Charlie.

"Well guys, I think that's enough," he said with a laugh. "Let the others try, and maybe you can come back a little later. Scream if you need anything, Charlie."

Charlie nodded and wrapped her arms around Rowan, the two stepping aside so others could try to dunk Wesley.

"Well I've chosen two things, now it's your turn," she said. She was so close to him that her face was just inches away. She loved being able to show this in public...why she was allowed to, she wasn't sure, but she liked it. :]

'Didn't you choose the roller coaster, technically?' Nym asked, as if that really mattered.

'I guess, but I'm not going to say that,' Rowan replied indifferently.

"Fair enough," he replied, smiling at Charlie. She just looked so happy it was contagious. "What do you think about the ferris wheel? It'll give us plenty of time to be alone."

Charlie nodded, liking that idea a lot. She liked being alone with Rowan, it made her feel very safe. Screw Lumi and what she said, Rowan would never try to hurt her. It was safe leaving her with Rowan, and Wesley was smart for letting them be together like this.

"Ferris wheel sounds perfect," she said, kissing him on the lips softly and quickly before taking his hand in hers. They started for the ferris wheel, fortunately seeing that there wasn't a long line this time.

While they were in line, Rowan contemplated what to do. He really needed to talk to Charlie about something important, but really wanted to do things that didn't involve much talking, and was pretty sure that Charlie felt the same way. Which should wait?

When they boarded the ferris wheel, Rowan decided to leave it up to Charlie. If she started a conversation they would talk, otherwise they would probably, well, continue where they left off on the roller coaster.

Charlie couldn't help herself. Just in case Rowan was going to mention Lumi, she had to make out with him one last time. Just in case. She knew he knew, Lumi wouldn't keep her mouth shut and Charlie knew that. Rowan would take care of it...but how? She didn't want to talk about it yet, so as they sat down, she slipped her hands around his neck and kissed him deeply. They hadn't even started moving yet, but she needed to do this before any serious changes happened. She knew she wouldn't be let off the hook without any words...and she knew that this would be alright with him. :] Kiss kiss kiss. Damn, he was a good kisser.

Well, Rowan got his answer. Just about the moment they sat down Charlie started to kiss him passionately. Well that was just fine with him. Talking could definitely wait. He was completely caught up in the moment.

~Um...Some amount of time later...~

Suddenly Nym pointed out that they were getting close to the top. Rowan realized it was sort of now or never, so he reluctantly broke off the kissing.

"Charlie...wow..." he said, taking a moment to clear his head. "Charlie, I need to talk to you about something. It's important."

Charlie licked her lips, backing away from him a little bit, so she wasn't...on top of him. She nodded and looked to their feet. She knew that this was coming. She looked back to his eyes and sighed, biting her lip a bit. She was realllllly nervous.

"Yeah, I know," she said softly, wondering what he was thinking. "I kinda...you know. Screwed up."

"A bit of an understatement," Rowan replied. He realized that may have sounded a bit insensitive, so he quickly added, "I mean, I know it was an accident, and Lumi's not the absolute worst person you could have told." Wow, that didn't sound much better. He figured it'd probably be best just to move on. "She was pretty angry with me when she got back that day."