Day 42, Noon: The Twin Pine Restaurant

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

Yuffie took the long way around, practically making it a tour of the entire town. She collared--not literally, since the nurses would've thrown fits--a few random citizens along the way, asked as many inconspicuous sounding questions as possible, and then moved on. Wash, rinse, repeat. Sneaking a few covert glimpses into stores and windows confirmed what she'd been talking about with Sam earlier; no dates, no explicitly mentioned locations outside of the town itself… how weird was that? Even the most insular of towns back on Gaia would've coughed up some kind of connection with the outside world.

It was almost like a living ghost town.

Well, maybe she was just thinking too hard. Maybe she was throwing shuriken too hard at the wrong target. Back home, she had a concrete frame of reference. Here, she couldn't take anything for granted; she had no local or international knowledge whatsoever. All she could try to do was get a profile of the immediate area and build it up and out from there. Theories were already budding, popping up like weeds hit by Quadra-Haste, but without facts to back them up, theories were like sand in a desert.

Not that she didn't want to share those theories, sand or not. She did. A lot.

Once she'd developed a viable mental map of the place (as viable as she was gonna get given the time constraints), Yuffie swung back around and jogged back to North Street. From there, she took the alley; a quick right turn; slow to a trot, and there. Her cheeks were tinged pink from the cold winter air, and they stung as she poked her head in through the door.

Okay, so maybe she was a little early after all. That was cool. Very cool. She had some time to set things up, to pretend that she wasn't hideously under prepared for this lunch date. Stepping into the warmth, Yuffie surreptitiously cased the place out as she headed to a table. Homey, in a way that almost reminded her of some of the up-and-coming rural towns. Automatically seeking out one of the more strategic seats--one with a good view of the rest of the restaurant, and one that didn't leave her totally vulnerable to mutant chairs or murderous sandwiches--she made herself comfortable, whipped out a few crumpled pieces of paper and a pen, and began to jot down her findings.

[Closed to Edgeworth.]

Comments

[screwthegods]

"Somehow, I think you'll still find a way to shock me. You have a talent for it." Homura grinned around a bite of fish. For the moment, he simply kept the tubes next to his plate, wanting to see what Okita would do next more than he wanted shoot the wrappers across the table. While Homura had a playful streak of sorts, it arguably lacked the imagination of Okita's--and certainly the innocence.

Besides, Okita was eating, and that was more important than any games they might play. Homura was willing to let the man have some fun, but he wasn't naive enough to let Okita distract him so he wouldn't have to eat. Thankfully, it seemed the first bite met with his approval. "You seem to like it, yes? That's good; I'd rather not have to force feed you, my friend."

[notachick.livejournal.com]

Okita never liked to use the same trick twice in too short of a time. He knew that Homura was on guard now, and that meant he had to wait until he was no longer suspecting anything to try another shot. Thankfully, with his sling, he'd be able to stuff the straws away for later - and he highly doubted his nurse would care if he was stealing straws. They'd probably just think his insanity had taken a turn for the weird. Er. Weirder.

"I'll be sure to find something new and exciting just for you," the swordsman teased, finishing a bit more of the salad before pushing it away to test the soup. It tasted like milk and corn and while Okita didn't mind the corn, the milk was a little heavy for his tastes. He set the spoon down and was about to turn back to his salad when Homura had to go and be a mom again. Honestly, did everyone think he was starving to death? He really wasn't. He ate! He ate a lot! Considering that the food didn't agree with him yet and he didn't like the taste, he ate more than enough of it. He was just thinning because... well, he likely wasn't sleeping enough and he never did really finish a meal. But that wasn't his fault. The food was so heavy sometimes, he thought he might use it as a weapon.

Sometimes those slabs of meat they served were so big he thought he could bludgeon someone to death with them. America was huge. Ungodly huge - from the land to the people to the...unhealthy portion sizes. Okita looked over at the soup again and then up to Homura, sticking his tongue out. "You're all such worryworts. I eat just fine, thank you very much."

And just to prove his point, he stuck a forkful of chicken in his mouth.