Location: The main room and stuff
Interacting With: Each other
As the bell sounded, David let out yet another sigh; it seemed as if this whole experience would be a bust. Or perhaps he was just setting himself up for disappointment because so far there hadn't been any sort of spark, connection, or anything other than an awkward use of fifteen minutes of time. But he had to endure, had to keep it up, even if nothing came of this. Treat it like a vacation, that would work. But David hoped still that there would be something good at the tail end of this.
With the shuffling of feet, David arrived at the spot for his next fifteen minutes where he hoped wouldn't devolve into awkward silences and looking away to avoid accidentally looking at one another. "Ms. Jones?" David asked, double checking to see if he had gotten the table correct before he sat down and straightened his collar. "I'm David. David Sandoval, pleasure to meet you," He sounded sincere, genuine, polite, all the checkmarks for someone trying their best to make a good, if dull, impression. "So, how about we introduce ourselves, get that out of the way? ...You first, ladies first, after all."
"Mr. Sandoval," Mauriah replied, with a tone of voice that could either be teasing, irritated or some mix of the two. She pursed her lips when David prompted her to go first. He projected an air of doubt, definitely a bad first sign. "I'm Mauriah Jones, I grew up in Texas, but have since moved to the East coast of the US. I've been married once, but divorced years ago. I've got no children, and don't have a large immediate family. Only my brother and mother really. Outside of that I have more cousins and aunts and uncles than I can count. I work as an architect and recently I've been getting back into Destiny's Child after not hearing them since I was a child. That good enough an introduction?"
David had to laugh, though it was more of a chuckle when it came out. It was certainly an introduction and if it was seeped in a hint of sarcasm, it went way over his head. Still, he was more than willing to reply back. "Well, that's definitely an introduction, I'm not sure I'll be able to match, but I can try. Like I mentioned my name's David Sandoval and I was born and raised and currently reside in New Mexico where I work as a doctor. I was married once, she passed away, no children but I have siblings. I've never really been a big fan of Destiny's Child though they have some catchy songs, I'm more of a...seventies and eighties punk rock kinda guy, it helped me avoid the traditional music my grandmother would force us to listen to all the time."
David gave a nod after his introduction, serving as a gesture of self satisfaction over anything else. "So, an architect? Work on any famous buildings?"
"I wish. Most architectural work isn't nearly so glamorous as designing famous buildings that'll be known of a hundred years from now. I do a lot of work on suburban development. So are you a specialist of some kind, or are you just a general medical practioner?" Mauriah wondered if she was going to have to answer the question of "do you work on any famous buildings?" on every date. If this was any indication: probably. But she hoped that wouldn't end up being the case.
"Suburban development? Like housing and such? That actually sounds really cool, kind of altruistic in a way. It may not seem glamorous but if it's putting up houses and such then it's bound to be rewarding," David responded with a clearly impressed tone of voice; he was either good at pretending or he was being honest about his thoughts. "Me, though? I'm certainly a specialist. I'm a veterinarian. I can't imagine there being anything more specialist than that."
"Well, you could specialize in certain animals and then go further by specializing in certain parts of those animals. I'd imagine a guy who only knows how to perform brain surgery on large ungulates would be more specialized than somebody who treats dogs and cats on a day to day basis." Mauriah immediately took his compliment as him being facetious at best or dishonest at worst. She didn't comment about it, but when she replied, she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Ah, but someone who performs brain surgery on ungulates would be just as specialized as the dog and cat doctor. Animal science and biology is a requirement, veterinary school covers a lot of bases, and your average veterinarian doesn't really treat the more exotic animals on a day to day basis, but if you brought a horse in need of a lobotomy or a cow needing someone to deliver a calf...I'd be able to handle both operations." David replied with a small amount of pride as evidenced by his grin. He was having an enjoyable time, though it seemed the same might not be said for his current partner. "Oh god, I sound like an ass right now, don't I? It's not intentional. I'm nervous, you can probably tell."
David took a moment to pause and to calm down slightly, his foot tapping wildly on the floor under the table. "Sorry if I'm boring you. I'm new at this. That's probably no excuse."
"You've got me there," Mauriah said, throwing up her hands. She thought over his question for a bit before answering. "I wouldn't exactly say you sound like a jerk right now. You were correcting me on something I'm ignorant about." What she didn't say is that the nervousness could reflect on him worse than just being a bit of an ass. Then again, some women liked a man who lacked confidence. No accounting for taste after all. "So what's New Mexico like? Going off of popular culture it's a lot of desert, but going by pop culture, Texas consists of desert land and is filled with nothing but cowboys and cattle. 'Steers and queers.' I don't want to make those same kind of assumptions."
"Pop culture also makes New Mexico out to be a haven for crystal meth and drug dealers, but you're not that far off in thinking it's a lot of desert. There's a lot of desert to go around, but north? Up north there's actual green and mountains, but other than that...it's a whole lot of desert." David replied with a simple shrugging of his shoulders; he enjoyed his home state but there wasn't much there to snag attention. "We don't even have a professional sports team; Canada had both baseball AND basketball and we can't even get one." He spoke now with a more humorous tone, laughing, or rather chuckling to himself. "So, do you miss Texas or have you found the East coast more to your liking?"
"Well the thing about Texas is that your experience with it changes a lot depending on where you are. If I remember from school correctly," Mauriah mused as she scratched her chin and looked upward, trying to recall information well over a decade old, "there are like four different geographical and climate types in the one state. I'm from the Dallas area in the North East, so the area's almost temperate at times and has a lot of grassland around. When you go west, the plains turn into desert and when you go South it turns into a lot of valleys. And in places like Galveston it's a sauna full of mosquitoes and oil refineries. Virginia's a lot more stable and humid than most of Texas. Not quite as hot. It's a beautiful place, but I haven't been there nearly long enough to call it my home or anything. Well it was a nice conversation." At this point the bell rang, ending the conversation right there. She waved goodbye as David got up and moved to the next spot.
