voidseeing | Appointments Post

I haven't had much fish, to be honest. It's a little hard to get fish onto a floating city without it going bad.

[She hums in thought--this question always tends to stump her. Because she's never really had the option to choose what she eats before arriving in Luceti. Whatever she was fed, that was it.]

I like pastas. And, ah, chicken... tomatoes, rice... [She gives Gai a helpless smile.] Not exotic at all, is it?

[Goodness, he's going to have to introduce her to all kinds of things here. Hopefully she won't be like him and end up developing a taste for fast food when she discovers that... he knows it's terrible, but it's just so good.

Then let's order several things and try all of them. Nothing says we have to choose just one.

[They're almost at the door to the restaurant now; once they finally reach it, Gai opens it, then holds it to allow Elizabeth to go through.]

[No Elizabeth hasn't discovered fast food yet, but once she does... french fries. All the french fries.]

[She walks in, clearly used to Booker holding doors for her, and does a quick scan of the restaurant. No sign of Booker and Robert, and she breathes a sigh of relief as she reattaches to Gai's arm.]

Trust me, you should do the ordering. You don't want to experience what passed for 'cuisine' in my tower. [It's getting a little close to those hard, tragic topics, but that's as close as Elizabeth wants to get tonight. She even laughs the comment off.]

[He laughs, holding out his arm for her again once he lets the door close behind them. The coast seems clear, at least, so they should be able to enjoy their dinner without any worries.]

I hope you like surprises, then. And I guarantee you that there's no chance of any of the fish here going bad. Who knows, some of it might even be fresh from the ocean here.

[But he'll be nice and not order anything too crazy... well, maybe some sushi. If she doesn't want to eat it, he will.]

When it comes to food, I think I'll enjoy a bit of surprise.

[Elizabeth spots a little booth in the corner and secures the table easily enough with the host. Must be how they're dressed.]

I think that's been one of the nicest things I've had to get used to. So much fresh food. It's been a nice change from everything coming out of a can.

[They are by far the classiest-looking patrons in the restaurant at the moment, a fact Gai can't deny that he's pleased by. He wanted this to be special, and if Elizabeth feels like everyone is noticing her in a good way, then he's succeeded in that part, at least.

When they reach the booth, he immediately moves to pull Elizabeth's chair out for her so that she can sit down.]

I usually just ate whatever I picked up at the convenience store or a fast food restaurant. Cooking wasn't exactly high priority for any of my men unless someone got especially bored, and in that situation you were as likely to end up with something awful as you were something edible. Boredom sparks creativity, after all.

[The chair thing is new, so it takes Elizabeth a moment to realize Gai wants her to sit there. But once she figures it out she slides into the chair, expertly maneuvering her train to the side.]

Isn't that the truth. [Elizabeth bites her lip, considering the question before asking:] Is a 'convenience store' something like a grocery store, then? ['Fast food restaurant' she can more or less parse out.]

[He waits until she's settled to push the chair back in for her before taking a seat across from her, moving the tails of his own suit out of the way as he does so.

... of course, convenience stores didn't exist in 1912. The two of them are so alike in so many ways that it's easy to forget there's over a hundred years' difference between their eras, choice of clothing aside. To be honest, Gai can't say he knows much about what was happening in most of the world in 1912, either.]

Something like that, although it's more for stocking already-prepared food, hence the name. You can go in and buy an entire ready-made meal in a single container if you don't feel like cooking.

Wow... that does sound very convenient. [And a lot like what she was doing before Booker and Robert arrived. Pre-made meals from this very restaurant, odds and ends from the grocery store... It was rough going sometimes, but Elizabeth still doesn't know very much about cooking meals.]

Is that what you do here? You mentioned you aren't much of a cook.

Most of the time, or I come here. Cooking has never been high on my priority list either.

[Then, with a conspiratorial smile, he leans across the table, and...]

... did you know that hard-boiled eggs explode if you try to reheat them in the microwave?

[Elizabeth's eyes go wide.] They explode? If you reheat them in... a what?

[Have fun with that one, Gai.]

A microwave. It's like a small oven, but it's designed to heat food quickly. You can make lots of things explode in it if you aren't careful about how long you heat them.

[... clearly he should give a demonstration someday.]

...and I thought regular ovens were complicated. At least from what I hear I can't make anything explode in one of those.

[She looks off to the side and slowly smiles.] Will you show me tomorrow?

Actually, you can make potatoes explode in an oven, but that's beside the point. Consider it a deal.

[But for now, flagging down a waiter so they can get some food instead of just sitting here talking about blowing it up.]

Any last requests, or should I go ahead and do as I please?

[She groans and drops her cheek into her hand.] And I was happy thinking I couldn't possibly blow anything up in an oven. How could you do this to me, Gai?

[As the waiter approaches, Elizabeth smirks and raises an eyebrow at Gai.] That sounds like an ominous question.

It won't really be ominous for an hour or so yet. I did promise to behave myself until after dinner.

[Doesn't mean he can't grin about it, though.]

Ah, I see. Well then. [Elizabeth fishes for a moment with her toe, finally bumping Gai's calf. She read about this during her brush with The Most Awful Writing Ever.]

Do as you please. [She grins and retracts her foot.] I would like a glass of wine, though.

[... hello there. If it weren't for the very suspicious timing of that little move, he would assume that it was an accident. Given the look on her face, though... his eyebrows might go up just a little bit, and that grin might get just a little bit wider.]

Of course. Red or white?

[He's already listing off a few dishes to the waiter with a note to keep them small, since this is going to be a sort of sampler set.]

Mm... red. [Of course when it comes to alcohol, Elizabeth really doesn't know what she's doing. But she didn't have wine at the bar, so she's trying it now. Also she's realizing that she may need a bit of liquid courage if she's going to keep up with Gai's innuendo.]

[Fortunately for her, Gai plans to keep a firm control on the alcohol supply this evening. A little bit to loosen things up, sure, but more than that would spell disaster, which he'd rather avoid. He wants them both to remember this evening.]

... and two glasses of red wine.

[There. The order now given, they can relax and wait for their food and talk about something OTHER than detonating various food items in the microwave.]

Now, I think somewhere along the line we managed to skip most of the basic "getting to know you" parts of an introduction. I'm not complaining, but I am curious to know more about the things the two of us don't have in common.

[The implication there is obvious: depressing topics are off-limits for the evening.]

[That's... absolutely true, isn't it. It's a little sad that the two of them had bonded over shared hardship, but it did get the harder topics out of the way. Now it was just hard to find something else to talk about.]

Well, I'm fairly certain you don't come from a flying city. I think I've got that one covered. Columbia is a collection of structures suspended in a... grouping, I suppose. They stay above the clouds due to the 'Lutece Field' generated by machine. Mr. Lutece's sister developed the technology.

The entire city is suspended in the air?

[He sounds duly impressed by this. His world may have the technology for things like Endlaves and spaceships and all of that advanced stuff, but he's pretty sure they haven't figured out a way to create a flying city just yet.]

... I hate to think what would happen to anyone who was unfortunate enough to be afraid of heights. Or does the city have walls?

...well, houses have walls. The rest of it you just have to be careful where you step. [Little bit of gallows humor there.] Honestly I have no idea how the city supports so many people, but it happens. Somehow everyone lives there without falling off the edge every three seconds. Or having a nervous breakdown over how high up the city is.

The people of your world must like testing fate.

[He grins.]

Sounds pretty exciting to me. Everyone in my world is still stuck living on the ground. The best I can offer to compare would be Endlaves-- think a giant mechanical suit of armor that's controlled by the pilot's brain waves. Because of that, they don't even have to be in the suit to control it.

[Elizabeth's turn to look impressed. She's imagining a giant Handyman without the man inside--piloted by brain waves.]

So are there... nodes inside the pilot's skull that direct how the limbs of the suit should move? And isn't there some kind of danger of the signal getting interrupted if the pilot isn't inside? Like a... fuzzy radio signal.

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