damned_institute | Day 58: Lunch

Entry tags:

Day 58: Lunch

Although it had been good to see his mom again, Claude entered the cafeteria with a dark expression on his face. He was glad she felt comfortable enough with him to share her experiences from last night, but that didn't make him any less angry at the military for using her to do their dirty work. Why couldn't those bastards clean up their own messes? Surely they had the resources for it.

Were they really going to have to fight someone else's war now?

His head buzzed with those sorts of questions as he moved through the room. Even so, with the help of his escort, Claude assembled a tray with a rather large hamburger, the appropriate condiments, and a cup of water. The cafeteria was still relatively empty, save for the soldiers on duty, so he took very little time in the line. It was probably just as well. He'd been so engrossed in his conversation with Rita during breakfast that he hadn't eaten much.

After finding an empty seat, Claude gingerly placed his tray and journal onto the table and sat down. As he lifted up his burger with his good hand, Claude couldn't help but think of Ashton for a moment. Where was he? He'd disappeared so long ago, and yet part of him worried the military had used him for something too.

Eyebrows furrowed, he took a bite and tried to focus on getting a decent meal in his stomach.

[For Guy!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That shower had really worked wonders, though Guy made sure to take his time with drying off. He had enjoyed getting clean, but he did have to admit that he'd rather not still feel damp by the time that they went out to lunch. He hadn't lost his love for the water, but he wasn't all that keen on sitting in slightly wet clothes after last night. So he towel-dried his hair as best he could and arranged it neatly before lunch came.

The mention of a soldier who would be actively speaking to patients was intriguing, although Guy didn't know if it was worth his time. Even if he was one of the highest ranked patients around here, chatting with the soldiers would probably just make him feel dirty. He wanted as little to do with them as possible.

Besides, as he walked into the cafeteria he immediately noticed Claude sitting on his own, and Guy figured that speaking to his friend was far more important than tracking down a soldier. With that in mind, he quickly got his food -- burgers today, huh? -- and went to go join his friend.

Claude's hand was wrapped up with a thick layer of bandages; that was the first thing Guy noticed as he took a seat. Chances were that his friend had even more wounds that weren't immediately obvious. He frowned at him for a second, his concern bleeding through. "Hey," he greeted. "How are you holding up?"

When Guy came to join him, Claude looked up from his food, immediately brightening. While the question didn't surprise him, he did catch himself hesitating a brief moment before answering. Should he tell him what happened to Mom? But she'd likely shared all that in confidence, and Claude himself was still reeling from the implications. Maybe he ought to keep all that to himself for the time being.

"I'm okay!" he finally said with a grin. While he wasn't at his best, he didn't want to needlessly worry Guy, either. "I didn't break both hands, so it could be a lot worse." To demonstrate, he took a large bite of the burger clutched in his right one.

After chewing and swallowing, he set the food down, studying Guy for a moment. "What about you, though?" he asked, looking a bit more serious. "Are you okay? You know, after you had to..."

Claude trailed off, unsure of how he ought to finish the sentence. Guy didn't strike him as the overly-sensitive type, but he realized they hadn't really spoken much about his gynophobia since that night he'd told him about his dead family.

While Claude definitely had to be in a lot of pain after what he'd been through the night before, he still managed to send him a smile as he sat down. Guy admired that, seeing how it would have been easy for all of them to quit smiling as the days they spent here stretched out longer and longer. But he, Claude, and Anise were tougher than that, weren't they?

"...I guess that's true," Guy replied when Claude made his point about his hand. He'd be in a seriously bad state if he couldn't use either hand. Guy remembered how inconvenient it had been when his arm was broken, though, so he knew that it had to be tougher than Claude was letting on. "And it isn't your dominant hand either, so that's something."

Guy grabbed for his own burger, taking a neat bite as he appreciated the fact that he was eating with another high-ranked patient. It took a lot of the pressure off when he didn't have to worry about his meal partner being jealous.

As expected, Claude asked after him, prompting Guy to quickly wave him off. "I'm fine, yeah! Like I said, I can work past the fear when it really matters. I can't even imagine how terrible I would have felt if my own hang-ups had led to Anise drowning..." It was something that could have happened far too easily, so he was relieved that his fear wasn't that crippling.

It wasn't pleasant, but Claude always had to remind himself that the situation could be worse. Sometimes it was the only thing that helped him keep going. At least Guy was of a similar mind, so it was nice to see him agree and try to keep positive about things. He took another bite of his burger, enjoying delicious meal while he could.

When Guy explained that he was truly okay after what had happened with Anise, Claude blinked and then offered a relieved smile. "Oh. That's good, then." Considering how strong a swimmer Guy was, he'd been the best suited for saving Anise. When he looked back on how narrowly they all made it out of last night's fiasco, he was grateful Guy succeeded.

Claude glanced away a moment, dying to ask questions, but unsure of how forward he could be about it. "So, your fear goes away when someone is in danger," he slowly said in an effort to understand the situation. "At that point, gender doesn't matter anymore. You're more concerned about the fact someone needs help. Is that it?"

It was really no surprise that Claude wanted to know more about his phobia, seeing how Guy had explained it the one time and it hadn't come up since then. It wasn't something he necessarily shied away from talking about, but he also tried to refrain from making a big deal out of it. Seeing how it had factored so heavily into what had gone on last night, though, he understood why Claude was curious.

"Basically, yeah," Guy replied after a pause. "If someone is in possibly fatal danger, then I forget all about that sort of thing and just do what has to be done. Actually, it happened with Anise once before. She almost fell off a cliff." That had been a pretty scary situation too, but at least in that instance she hadn't been in danger of drowning. There had also been the time that he'd carried that girl in his arms down the streets of Grand Chokmah, but he figured one example was enough to get the point across.

"How did you kill that huge monster, anyway?" Guy had seen the aftermath of the fight, the dead serpent and Claude's injuries, but he still didn't know how his friend's hand had actually gotten broken or what sort of trick he'd used to take down something so much bigger than him.

So Guy had already rescued Anise once before? That would explain why he'd felt so confident about diving into the water to save her, and had easily administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when he realized Anise needed it to survive. Not that Claude had been there to witness exactly what had happened, but the situation must have been delicate and tricky. Anise's survival was a testament to Guy's quick-thinking and bravery.

"Wow," Claude responded, impressed. Then, realizing how that sounded, he quickly added, "I mean, not that it's all that surprising. You're the kind of person who'd put others' safety first. From what you've said, it sounds like you have a strong instinct to protect others."

As for his own side of the story, Claude gave a small shrug. "Dumb luck, I guess," he answered before taking a small sip of his water. "It couldn't see straight at first, so it missed while making its initial strike. I knew I couldn't count on that happening twice. That's why I jumped up onto its head and held on for dear life. Eventually, I swung down in front of its throat, and it bit down on this." He held up his bandaged hand for Guy to see.

"It hit me with these poisonous spike things while trying to knock me off," he continued, doing his best to give an account of what happened without going into too many details. "I stuck my sword into it to keep myself from falling down, and I wound up killing it in the process." Because it had happened so fast, his memory was a bit fuzzy, but that was the best summary he could give.

"I guess I managed to find my way to dry ground, and then that must have been around the time I met up with you two," Claude said as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I was really glad to see Anise was okay."

A strong instinct to protect others? Guy considered that for a moment. It was true that once he devoted himself to someone, he was extremely loyal. Still, he couldn't help but think back to his younger days, when all he had cared about was revenge and the only person he'd thought about was himself. He realized that everyone had to do a bit of growing up and leveling out, but he imagined that most people didn't spend their teenage years harboring the kinds of feelings that he had.

Honestly, everything he did now -- watching over his friends the way he did -- felt like he was making up for that.

He chose not to comment on any of that, focusing instead on Claude's description of his fight with the serpent. Guy really hadn't expected to hear that his friend had jumped onto its head and then stabbed it in the throat on his way down. Not that Claude hadn't gotten out of it unscathed; on top of the broken hand, it sounded like he'd been poisoned too. It was good thing that the night ending tended to fix that sort of thing. Still, this was the second time Guy knew of that Claude had been poisoned here. What kind of horrible luck was that?

Of course, the thing that stood out the most was how Claude described it all so casually, as if it wasn't a huge deal and he hadn't almost lost his life in the process. "Man," Guy responded, blinking at his friend a few times. "That's really impressive, Claude. Anise and I owe you for keeping it distracted for so long. And we're really lucky that that poison wasn't the fast moving kind."

They had dodged a lot of bullets last night, which was why Guy was willing to accept the injuries they'd received (or rather, that Claude had received) as getting off easy.

"Anyway, I guess we need to decide what to do tonight, huh? Did you want to rest before we took another shot at it?" Guy certainly wouldn't mind taking it easy tonight. Claude was going to have a hard time accomplishing much with his hand broken and he knew that going back there was just going to throw more life or death situations at them. Besides, he could use the night off to work on making a sheath for his sword, so it wasn't like it would be a complete waste.

"N-nah," Claude said with a half laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. His cheeks reddened. "It's no problem. You really don't owe me anything. That's what friends do for each other, right?" It wasn't as though he could have just stood back while that thing attacked Guy and Anise, after all. Idly turning his water cup in his hand, he grew quieter. "I guess we all really were lucky, though."

Last night could have turned out so much worse, and yet they'd managed to pull through together. He hoped that was a testament of their ability to handle whatever the basement threw at them in the future.

Speaking of which....they needed to decide what to do tonight, didn't they? When Guy posed his question, Claude paused, glancing down at his bandages. On one hand, Claude didn't want to think they needed to take a break just because of his injury. On the other, they'd probably be pretty reckless to charge back down there again so soon after nearly losing their lives.

"I've still got my gun, so I can use that to provide backup if you want to give things another go tonight," Claude answered with a serious expression. "Don't feel like you need to slow down on my account." Pausing, he averted his gaze toward his tray. "At least, that's what I want to say, but..."

Would he be placing his friends in unnecessary danger by doing that?

Claude just brushed it all off, but Guy was used to that, at least. He'd said his piece, so that was about as much as he could do. He knew that they all relied on each other, but that didn't mean that he was going to forget to be grateful when it was called for. And he realized that it went both ways, since it wasn't as if Claude hadn't praised him for what he'd pulled off last night.

Anise's words of thanks had been... interesting. He'd realized that he would never hear the end of it after what he'd been forced to do to save the girl's life, but at least he knew that Anise meant it all as a compliment.

While Guy could accept the point that Claude was making about still having a gun to rely on, he already knew that it was only useful in certain situations. It hadn't done all that much against that brainwashed patient that had attacked then on the recreational field, for instance. In his opinion, a sword was much more reliable. Besides, it wasn't just weapon use that was the problem. Claude might need his hand for all sorts of other things, like climbing.

"... Yeah, we might be best off at least giving you a night to heal. And maybe you could even find someone to speed that up." Tear and Natalia were always options, of course. "Though I guess we also need to figure out what to do with those bracelets that the ferryman gave us." It was possible that they were completely useless and the whole thing had been some sort of trick, but Guy hoped that wasn't the case.

It wasn't as though there was anything wrong with gratitude, but Claude didn't think anyone ought to feel indebted to him when last night had been a team effort. Maybe he could have worded himself better, but hopefully Guy understood what he was saying.

Either way, Guy seemed to think it was better if Claude stayed in for the night. While Claude could have been stubborn about it and insisted on going, he knew he wasn't going to do anyone any favors by being unreasonable. But maybe Rita had a point about using his arm for heraldry practice. If he looked at it that way, he wasn't so sure if he wanted to immediately find a trained healer.

But before he could mention that, Guy brought up the bracelets as well. "They'll probably be in at least one of our boxes tonight," Claude said. "We probably won't know what to do with them until we're ready to go back down there."

Since the strange skeleton had given those items to them, he imagined they weren't going to be of much use to them in other portions of the building. Besides, they didn't need to play with them much if they wanted to take it easy tonight, too.

"In other words, if we're going to stay in, let's save figuring out the bracelets for another night," he clarified. "Is that okay with you?"

It seemed that Guy was getting ahead of himself. He liked to be organized, but in this case he had to agree that it was probably best to leave the odd bracelets alone until they were ready to face those caverns once more. They had no idea of what they were capable of, after all.

"That's fine with me," he quickly replied, nodding his head as he ate a few more fries. They were really quite good when dipped in the ketchup.

"I guess we have to run all of this by Anise too, though." It was going to be embarrassing to interact with the girl after the mouth-to-mouth he'd performed last night -- or rather, her reaction to it. Guy's main concern was that she'd take his ability to handle her during that situation as a sign that he was over his phobia completely, when he already knew that that wasn't the case.

That was something he could worry about later, though. "Anyway, if we do end up staying in I guess I'll try and see if I can get working on that sheath. I'm going to at least need a sturdy needle and thread, though..." Would his high rank allow him to take those items back to his room? There was no harm in trying, at least.

Claude was glad to see they were in agreement about what to do. They just needed to consult Anise about it, of course. "Maybe we should write her a note on the board after lunch is over," he suggested. That was probably the best way to go about it since there was no guarantee they'd be able to find her in person next shift, and Claude knew for a fact that Anise frequently checked the bulletin.

As Guy talked about working on his sheath, Claude took another bite of his burger and thought over what he could do for supplies.

"Since you're an S-ranked person, and you don't ever get in trouble with the guards, you might be able to get away with asking someone," he pointed out. "You should have access to the arts and crafts room anytime, so actually finding the stuff shouldn't be any problem, at least."

Not for the first time, he wished he'd had the foresight to buy supplies of his own -- or, at the very least, some kind of backpack to keep things in at night. But he'd been awfully distracted that entire trip, so it was probably no surprise. At least he'd bought some other things. Still, if they got an allowance during their next trip, Claude knew he would need to make a better list of items.

But there wasn't any use in focusing on that, especially when it was still so early in the week. Besides, there was something else on Claude's mind.

"By the way," he slowly said, "I couldn't help but notice Anise's message on the board -- you know, about marriage and all that. Does she...normally talk like that when someone helps her?"

"Sounds good," Guy replied when Claude suggested that they put up a note for Anise. Seeing how the adults and children were being separated during the activity shifts today, that was probably the only way they were going to be able to inform her. "I can go ahead and do that, unless you'd like to." It didn't really matter who put the note up so long as the word got out.

It seemed that Claude was thinking along the same lines as he was when it came to getting the supplies. Guy had never been sedated during his time here. He'd gotten close during his confrontations with Sync, but he was pretty sure he was considered well-behaved by the staff. Maybe after lunch he could head into the Arts and Crafts room and see what he could do. "I'll give it a shot," he agreed with a brief smile.

The question that Claude asked him next was somewhat unexpected, and Guy couldn't stop his cheeks from reddening as he thought back to Anise's message. She'd tried to demand a proposal out of him and probably out of Claude as well, which was -- well, it probably came off as really strange if you weren't used to Anise.

He rubbed at the back of his neck as he tried to explain. "Well, that's kind of just how Anise is. She's always keeping an eye out for potential suitors. If she considers someone a gentleman -- and more than that, if they have a lot of money -- then she'd bound to act that way toward them. It's all in good fun, though." Guy knew that most of it was just an act so he was able to brush it off a lot easier, especially since he'd known the girl for years. It was likely something Claude was going to have to get used to himself, now.

"It doesn't matter to me who does it," Claude said with a small grin. They probably didn't need to assume one of them was definitely going to get the word out, especially with how unpredictable these soldiers could be. "Whoever gets to it first."

Either way, Guy sounded like he was going to give getting those supplies a try. Claude hoped he was successful. Maybe he could use Guy's experiences as a way to determine how to go about making one of his own. "Good luck," he told him. "You'll have to let me know how that goes."

Claude would have offered to accompany him, but Guy didn't necessarily need any help, and he figured it would look more suspicious if he was hanging around anyway.

His question about Anise apparently caught him off guard, if the way Guy's face reddened was anything to go by. Claude never thought he'd see Guy blush. When his friend took the time to explain, though, he carefully listened as he took a sip of his water. He'd already known that Anise was interested in men with money, but he still hadn't expected to see a letter like that posted in plain view!

"O-oh, that's why," he said with a relieved laugh once Guy had finished. "I'd never heard her go on like that, so I wasn't sure what to think at first. She seems kind of young for marriage." Although he'd once mentioned that people like Peony and Luke were more up Anise's alley, Guy was technically a noble serving under Malkuth's Emperor, right? He probably more than met Anise's criteria for a good match.

Pausing, he regarded Guy with a curious expression for a moment. "Um, can I...ask you a personal question?"

Whoever got to it first worked for him. Guy nodded as he took a careful bite of his hamburger (he didn't want to make a mess) and allowed the conversation to move onto something else.

"Of course I'll let you know," he replied with a small smile. Claude was going to know purely by seeing him with a sheath at some point, right? That was only if everything went as planned, of course. Guy wished that he'd figured out a place that he could have gotten some sewing supplies from in town. Maybe Anise would know something about it. It was something he could ask her tonight if they ended up spending time together.

Then again, maybe he wanted to avoid that if her bulletin note had really caused all this awkwardness. Guy hoped that Claude wasn't too bothered by the whole thing. Maybe it would be best if he warned Anise to tone it down a little with Claude, if he wasn't comfortable with it.

"She doesn't think she's too young, but for the most part you just have to brush off what she says. None of it is that serious." After all, it was Ion who Anise had really cared for in the end, wasn't it? And she'd never treated him quite the same as people like Luke or Peony or even himself.

The sudden request from Claude did take Guy by surprise for a moment or two, but he pushed past that, remembering their promise to each other. He didn't feel all that comfortable being put on the spot like this, but hopefully it would be okay. "Yeah, sure. What is it?"

Claude supposed he could understand why Anise didn't think of herself as too young. She was, after all, a soldier, and apparently held an important position within the Order of Lorelei. Still, marriage wasn't exactly a small matter. There was no reason to jump into a life-long commitment simply for the sake of doing so. Of course, if she ever truly loved someone enough to want to tie the knot, Claude wasn't going to judge, but...well, he was thinking too much on it, obviously. Guy himself had just said she wasn't being serious most of the time, so Claude would have to take that kind of talk with a grain of salt in the future.

"All right, I think I understand now," he said before taking another bite of his burger. Some of the lettuce fell onto the tray as he did so. After chewing some, he swallowed his food and added, "Thanks for clearing that up."

While his other question was quite sudden, Guy was being a good sport about it. This probably wasn't any of his business, but he couldn't help but notice the way Guy had told Anise that Claude would be better-suited for marriage. Besides, this wasn't the first time Claude had thought about it. In the end, he couldn't help himself from asking.

"Uh, well...how should I put this...?" Maybe it would be better to just come out with it. "Has your phobia influenced your thoughts on marriage? I mean, have you ever thought about settling down with someone someday?"

It seemed clear that someone had put way too much thought into something that had really only been meant in good fun. Guy could only imagine what Anise would think if she knew what her playful message had done to Claude. It was almost amusing, except for the fact that it meant that he was now being asked personal questions.

Still, it was clear that his friend was very curious to know for one reason or another -- probably because a phobia like Guy's was so rare. It had caused him all sorts of inconveniences during his life, but for some reason this wasn't one that had come up much. Until now, anyway.

Guy leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms over his chest, and gave it a few seconds' thought. "Well, I guess in my case I always had something else on my mind, from taking care of Luke to working to stop Van. It didn't really leave me a lot of time to think about things like that."

Some of it also had to do with the fact that Guy had never lived normally after his family had died. He'd gone from being a noble who never wanted for anything to working in a manor as a servant and then eventually traveling with his best friend to essentially save the world. There hadn't been much time to think about settling down or anything like that.

"I guess I also realized that it'd probably be impossible, so I never let myself dwell on it too much," he continued. "It doesn't really bother me, though." Guy had always found a way to occupy himself even when he hadn't been opposing Van, so he'd never experienced any feelings of loneliness. It was kind of hard to, considering the friends that he had.

Propping his chin into his uninjured hand, Claude listened to his friend explain his perspective. Come to think of it, Guy once mentioned he'd never had much of a childhood or adolescence. If he'd never allowed himself to dream of the future the same way most young people did, then it made sense that he'd been kept too busy to worry over something like romantic attachments. Not that they weren't important; however, if he didn't feel a need for them, there wasn't any point in forcing it. Everyone wanted something different from life, and Guy certainly didn't seem lonely.

"That makes sense," he said with a nod. "You've always had a lot on your plate. I guess you wouldn't want to make things more complicated than they needed to be, huh..." Bachelorhood was good in its own way, after all.

Still, he found it hard to believe that the issue just never came up at all. "What did the maids in Luke's manor think of you, though?" he asked, unable to help himself. "Some of them must have tried asking you out, right? Did you just turn them all down?"

Claude was really stuck on this whole thing, wasn't he? Guy didn't know why it interested him so much, but they had known each other for long enough and discussed such a wide variety of topics that he wasn't going to dwell on it too much. He didn't mind answering these questions when it was someone he trusted who was asking them.

"Well, yeah, I guess that happened a few times. Actually, Luke used to tease me because he said I would charm women only to turn them down..." He sighed and then laughed somewhat awkwardly. "It's not like I meant to do that! I just think that women should be treated with proper manners, but I guess they get the wrong idea sometimes..."

That didn't quite answer the question, though, did it? Guy realized he might sound kind of cold explaining how he handled all this, but hopefully Claude would be understanding. "But yeah, I even had to turn the maids down. Eventually they just took to teasing me."

When Guy explained it that way, he could easily imagine him having to turn women down time and time again. Considering how desperate some people were for romantic attention, it was kind of ironic that Guy seemed to naturally attract that sort of thing when he'd just said he wasn't interested. Generally, though, people had an easier time stumbling into relationships when they weren't hunting for them. His parents had been that way, come to think of it.

"Well, I can understand what women would see in you," Claude remarked with small smile. "You're just being yourself, and it's not like you can agree to go out with someone just to spare their feelings." In the end, that was pretty insulting in of itself, wasn't it?

While it was kind of sad that Guy had become the butt of other people's jokes, especially considering the reason behind the gynophobia, Claude realized that most people back at the manor probably hadn't known of his fear's origins. They'd likely thought they were just having a little fun (albeit at his expense).

There was something else Claude wondered, though. It probably wasn't a good idea to ask, but they were already on the topic, and he thought he knew Guy well enough to trust that he wouldn't get overly upset with him. (Besides, if it caused a problem, he could just play the silly spaceman card and move onto something else.) After a brief pause, he tried to look at Guy with the most unassuming expression possible. "So, um...do...men ever date other men on Auldrant?"

Claude brought up a good point about how it would be wrong to be with someone simply to avoid hurting their feelings. The one aspect that Guy hadn't really considered was if he would have been more interested in pursuing a relationship like that if he hadn't been burdened with his phobia. It was hard to know for sure when he'd had it for most of his life, but it was still an interesting thought. In the end, though, he knew it was better to not dwell on it. His friends meant the world to him and they were more than enough to make him happy.

He had figured that the line of questioning would end there, but Claude ended up coming out with one more. It was delivered with some trepidation, which meant that Claude realized that it might sound kind of weird.

Still, Guy could see why he was asking. If he didn't have any chance of being intimate with a woman, then that was the only other option, right? "Well, I wouldn't call it common," he said after a pause. If he just looked at this as another explanation about where he came from, then the question wasn't that difficult to answer. "At the same time, it's not like it never happens. I think that the Score generally predicts relationships between men and women, but it's possible that it's paired someone with his or her own gender before."

It wasn't something he'd heard of specifically, but with how many people structured their lives around the Score, Guy wouldn't be surprised if a match-up came about that way. "On the other hand, there are plenty of people on Auldrant who don't listen to the Score and make their own choices. With that in mind, it only makes sense that two men might end up together sometime." And it was admirable, in a way; people following their hearts rather than listening to words read off a tablet.

As Claude listened to Guy's explanation, he polished off the rest of his burger and tried his best to follow along. But with the way he went on about this Score thing and how it made certain predictions, it almost felt like he was speaking another language. Furrowing his eyebrows a little, he did his best to understand. Regardless of what the "Score" did, he was able to glean the gist of his answer.

"I...see," he answered after a brief pause. "So, not all that common, but not unheard of, either." Claude looked thoughtful for a moment as he considered his own home. "Where I'm from, it happens, but no one really considers it such a big deal," he added with a small shrug. Several centuries prior it was a bit more taboo, but the Earthlings of SD 366 just didn't care about those kinds of things anymore. Of course, not all planets in the Federation were alike, and attitudes could vary among races.

Still, he couldn't quite let that other stuff pass without comment. "But, Guy, when you said 'Score', what--?"

At that moment, the intercom sounded, and Claude could see some of the soldiers begin to escort their charges from the cafeteria. They'd have to continue their conversation another time. Wearing a sheepish expression, Claude turned to look back at Guy. "Oops, looks I spent most of lunch asking you a bunch of strange questions. Thanks for taking the time to answer them. Since I've never been to your planet before, you and your friends are the only way I can learn about your culture."

It was hard to say whether or not people considered it a "big deal" back on Auldrant. It wasn't common enough for the majority of people to have opinions about it, though he hadn't seen any blatant prejudices being made either. It certainly got attention when it happened because it wasn't the norm, though Guy wouldn't say that the feelings about it were overly positive or negative. It likely differed from person to person.

He didn't see what the problem with it was, anyway. He could see how it might cause issues if it was in a royal family where an heir would be needed, but other than that...

Before he could think further on that, though, Claude spoke up again. It seemed like he was about to ask another question, but was then interrupted by the intercom signaling the end of the shift. Guy took one last quick bite of his hamburger and then shook his head in response to his friend's comment. "Don't worry about it, Claude. I know you're really curious about how things are on Auldrant, and I don't mind answering."

Other than that, they'd mainly covered everything that they could about the coming night. "I'll see you later, probably," he continued as he stood from his chair. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your day."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 58: Lunch

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject