QUESTA
"Yeah, th' skyâ€"ack, no, not like that, Khona! I meant that as a figure o' speach, y'know?" Questa corrected herself hastily, suddenly aware that Khona had taken that statement literally. Hoo boy...she'd really have to watch her tongue around him. The world above water must look really alien and foreign to him...the language probably seemed just as foreign.
"Where do I go? Hrm...I wasn't able ta go many places lately, 'cause I was robbed..." She snorted in amusement. Heh. She...an ex-pirate...robbed. Very ironic. "But, pretty much I go wherever I want. Heh, I'll show ya around, then...hell, even I needa look around; I'm not all too familiar with this place, myself. C'mon! Oh! Hey, Khona, ya hungry at all?" A grin flickered across her face. "Ya've never had land-food before, have ya? Chocolate? Ale?"
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KHONA
Robbed? Someone had taken things from her? How Khona knew the meaning of the word was beyond his knowledge, but could have been explained by his elders--had he not been foolish and was left behind. Merpeople--at least where he came from--could adapt quickly to nearly any situation. They picked up dialect like they'd known it their entire lives, which was why they could voyage anywhere in the oceans and be on good terms with the creatures there. It was something Khona would never realize or understand, but he wanted to belong now. He had no where else to belong to... Except an empty city under the sea.
"Hungry?" He asked her. "Yes, I am." He answered. He wondered what kinds of food they ate. It must be fish, for the abundance they took from the sea. Most did it without giving thanks for the creatures they were taking, and killing. That angered the merpeople. It angered the sea. But nothing could be done without jeopardizing more lives, so merpeople had to act covertly. That was probably one of the many sightings Questa's crew had witnessed. Merpeople checked boats, trying to see if they were there to catch fish or just to sail.
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QUESTA
"Well, in that case...let's go get some grub! Er...food. I mean food!" she corrected quickly. Oh man...the last thing she needed was for Khona to think they ate insects. "Grub...it's, ah, another word for food. We don't eat insects. It's just slang, y'know?"
Hopefullt he caught on and understood. He seemed able to pick things up really quickly, for he had certainly answered her question firmly enough. His sentence hadn't been so broken. He was quick...she didn't think she would be able to pick up another language as quickly as he was now.
Amazing, really...
"Heh! Okay, follow me! I dunno a lot of places 'round here, but I do know this one place...an' it's really good! Prob'ly really different from what yer used ta...but I dunno whatcha eat, anyway, so...ah, we'll see! They've got really good sweets, though! You'll get hooked on that, fer sure, at least! C'mon!"
And, with that said, she took Khona by the wrist and lead him along, until they finally came to what appeared to be a hole-in-the-wall sort of building. Grinning, she lead him inside, and they were instructed by a server there to seat themselves.
"Go on, Khona. Find us a place ta sit, your choice!" she told him.
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KHONA
Khona just listened to Questa. She spoke a lot. And quickly. He was trying to catch everything she said and associate it with what they were going to be doing and talking about. He hadn't even known a grub was an insect anyways! So her explanation barley made sense to him! He'd never heard anything be called a grub before!
Yaro would have been amazed. For so long Khona had spoken about meeting humans and Yaro had playfully agreed and patiently listened to Khona's ramblings... And now? Khona was in a human village, with a human friend, about to eat the food that humans ate. Yet... At such a high cost. His nonsense had cost him everything. It had cost Yaro even more.
Khona's eyes had flickered for a moment from interest and amazement to sorrow. He couldn't forget about Yaro and the rest of his kin.
He snapped out of his depressing whirlpool just in time before more depressing and horrible thoughts filled his head. He walk along with Questa, looking at all the sights as she lead them to the restaurant. He saw some dogs, and horses and even a cat among the people walking about. The colour weren't as vibrant as int he sea, but they had their own unique charm about them.. The entire village did.
"Anywhere?" He asked, unsure if he could sit anywhere. Why did someone greet them at the door, anyways? Things were strange.
He slowly found a place to sit, after getting impolitely inquisitive about a couple and what they had ordered--and a waiter directing him to a table. The smell about the room was interesting as well. So new and different!
He saw another group of people taking their seats and saw a man pull out chairs for two women and waited for them to be seated, so Khona decided it must be customary to do so. He pulled out a chair for Questa and waited for her to sit down before he went over and took the other chair at the table. He sat rather clumsily on the chair and was too unsure of its structure to lean back on the back of the chair!
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QUESTA
Questa nearly fell over laughing when Khona got a little too friendly with the poor, unsuspecting couple at another table. Man...she knew she shouldn't be laughing, but his naivete and ignorance of what to him was a new world was highly amusing, to say the very least.
Of course...she imagined if she was in his...she'd be just like him.
Nonetheless, it was great entertainment.
And then, Khona went ahead and pulled her chair out for her...and she chuckled again, though she tried hard to refrain. Well, if that wasn't cute...
And if that wasn't the first time in her life someone had pulled out a chair for her! Hah! After all, all her life, she'd just been "one of the guys", and in all actuality, she rather likes it that way. She imagined with amusement that if it had been any other man but Khona that had done that for her, she might have whacked him one. She was no fragile flower; she could manage seating herself. Khona, however, could be forgiven that transgression.
"Heh! Ya don't haveta do that, Khona," she told him, grinning in amusement as she took her seat. "Ah well! Here's the menu, anyway; it lists all the foodstuffs and whatnot. Ah...ya prob'ly won't understand anythin' anyway, though, so...how 'bout I order for us, eh? Or what kinda stuff didja normally eat where ya came from?" she asked, glancing over her own menu, pausing over the drinks section. Drinks... "Hey, Khona...I don't imagine ya drank much under th' sea, right?" she asked, arching an eyebrow slightly.
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KHONA
Khona saw the smile on Questa's face, and her laughing made him think she was happy. He didn't understand all the types of laughter with humans--that some were cold hearted. So he perceived her laugher as happiness.
"You're happy?" He asked with a smile.
"Drink?" He asked, thinking. "No..." He said slowly. In the ocean, in his true form of a merman, he had gills on his torso so the water filtered through them and it was how he breathed. He never had a need to drink. He didn't know what it was to be thirsty!
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QUESTA
She grinned back. Aww...but his smile was so cute! So innocent... "Yep, Khona. I'm very happy. How about ya?"
The server came, and Questa ordered their drinksâ€"plain water, first. He was a merman...and now he was a human. He'd have to grow accustomed to drinking liquids while in this body!
Soon, the server returned, setting two glasses of clear water on the table. Questa smiled. "This here'd just water, Khona; not the salty kind yer used to, though. Yer a human now, so you'll needa drink it, or you'll get sick. Try some. Like this." She demonstrated, raising her glass and drinking from it. "There're a lotta different flavored 'waters' that we have here and that ya can drink. You'll get to try 'em! But first...regular water..."
"So, Khona...whatcha normally eat?"
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KHONA
Khona followed Questa's example and tried to drink the water. Old habits died hard and Khona choked up the water, having expected it to just slide through him and filter through his gills--the gills he no longer had on his sides (near his ribs) to filter out the water.
Choking hurt so much for him, he was gasping for a breath--something he couldn't remember doing since entering this body!--and coughing up any water that had gotten caught in his throat.
"Easy for you," he said finally, a smile returning to his face. How could he not smile? This was all so new and exciting!
He took another drink, this time much smaller and let the water run to the back of his throat before he swallowed properly.
He cleared his throat and looked over at Questa. Eat? That was a no-brainer. "Fish and..." He stopped. There were so many kinds of vegetation in the ocean he didn't know how to generalize it! "Fish." He said, easier to just say the word he knew than to say one that might be wrong!
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QUESTA
Questa grimaced as, suddenly, he was taken by a bout of choking, and it was an effort not to palm herself in the forehead as realization suddenly dawned. Ah...right. Human though he now was...he was still a fish at heart. He'd probably tried to breathe the water as opposed to swallow it. Well...this was certainly a lesson for her. She'd have to be terribly specific when instructing him from now on...lest he accidentally drown himself.
That would not be too good for her conscience. Not that she really had one when it came to most things, but she liked the kid, what could she say?
Grinning at his comment when he finally recovered, she had to nod in agreement. Yeah...he had proved that for a fact. Amazing how such simple, everyday things she never gave any thought to at all, like the ordinary act of drinking, were so foreign and...difficult...for him!
It kinda put things in perspective.
Watching him take another, smaller sip of the water, her grin broadened and she nodded in approval as, this time, he actually swallowed it. And, at that moment, it seemed a big accomplishment! Really odd, too, considering he was simply swallowing, but...ah well. "There, ya got it! Ya swallow liquids like ya swallow food." She should have told him that to begin with! Oh well...live and learn. He'd figured it out on his own, anyway.
As he spoke about what he ate, she couldn't help but bark a laugh, which she quickly covered up. Fish and fish. Ahaha...he was too cute. Questa never said that about anyone, but she could honestly say he was! Hah...she should've known. But, hey, you never knew. There could have been something else... "Heh heh...well, in that case...we have fish here, too; we get it from yer sea, o' course. But this town's more a huntin' town, and I'm sure you've had enough fish, eh? Hmm...but I dunno what to start ya with. So many choices...hrm. Hey! Why don'tcha just point to somethin' on the menu. Anything. And we'll order that fer ya. I'll read it."
As if on cue, their server came to them.
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KHONA
Khona looked at the menu with wide eyes. So much writing! For all he knew, he could end up pointing at the title that says "drinks"! Well, it seemed that Questa was a good sport about it anyways, and she wouldn't let them bring Khona something completely unnatural, right?
He threw caution to the wind and closed his eyes--which made no difference because he didn't know what he was pointing at regardless of whether he could see it--and pointed to one of the lines, thankfully, under the meals.
"What's that?" Khona asked Questa, and the waiter gave funny look, rather puzzled why he either didn't know what such a simple word was or that an illiterate man would come out to eat and allow himself to be embarassed.
"Is it good? Will you have it too?" Khona asked. He then looked at the waiter, rather puzzled. In the ocean, they didn't have people to serve them--that would be just silly!--so seeing the man wait to hear their orders was completely new.
"Hello!" Khona greeted the man cheerfully.
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QUESTA
Questa watched Khona with unchecked amusement, head resting on her hands, as he closed his eyesâ€"closed his eyes, as though he could actually read that menu!â€"and pointed at random. Chuckling quietly, she reached over to take the menu from him, and scanned over what he had pointed to with her oddly crimson eyes.
"Heh...not bad, Khona. That there's beef stew...comes with bread and cheese, too. Well, that'll certainly be somethin' new fer ya to try. And, yep! It's good stuff. I like it a lot. But, hmm...I'll prob'ly get somethin' different. That way, ya can try more new stuff. We can split our stuff..."
Looking over the menu thoughtfully and sipping from her water, she had almost decided upon something when Khona suddenly greeted their server cheerily. And she almost choked with laughter, just barely refraining from spewing her drink across the table. Could the kid get any more random!? Oh man...yes, yes, she loved him. His happiness at the simplest of things, his complete...well...cluelessness...it was just too great. And always so...unexpected.
Once again, she could honestly say he was adorable.
Wiping her chin with the back of her hand, she grinned sheepishly up at the server, who was looking at them both oddly now. "Eh heh...ah...anyway...I think we're ready ta order..." she told him, clearing her throat. "He'll get the beef stew, I'll get...mm...the lamb." Then, looking thoughful a moment, added, "Ah! And a tankard of ale, if ya don't mind."
Nodding, the server was off.
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KHONA
Tankard? That either sounded like a little bit or a whole lot of.. whatever she'd said. What was it again? Ale?
"What is that?" Khona asked slowly. He was so inquisitive, but thought maybe he should know what it was. He noticed Questa's amusement, but felt no shame or fear. She laughed and smiled out of happiness, there was nothing for him to worry about!
Khona then watched the waiters bring other people their food and leaned over to see what the table next to them had gotten but snapped back to sit flat on his chair when he got shouted at by a man at the table. Khona was too eager to see what the waiter was going to bring him... besides! Everyone else's food looked so interesting!
___________
QUESTA
"Mm? Ale? Well, Khona, it's...kinda like water. It's a drink! Though, I gotta admit, it takes some gettin' used to. But it's good once ya get over the initial taste, an' it really...ah...loosens ya up. That's why y' shouldn't drink too much! Otherwise..." She gave a discreet cough, averting her eyes shiftily. "...y' may do somethin' stupid that ya won't even remember, but everyone else will. But, ah, anyway, that's beside the point! It's good stuff, an' ya can try some, o' course! All th' blokes 'round here drink it."
Despite her nonchalant air, she was blushing as she sipped more water, having rambled a bit more than she would have liked. Not that he'd know about that, anyway! Argh...as much as she loved and missed her old crewmates, damn if there weren't times when she'd have liked to murder them! She was pretty evil herself, but she'd never let anyone get so wasted they somehow managed to string their smallclothes over every available high surface.
Or...maybe she would...
Ahem! But, in any case, she was just fortunate her crewmates, if crude, were deep down respectful of each other. After all, underneath it all, she did have a woman's body.
Luckily, that was just never an issue. She was just one of the guys.
She'd been very lucky...damn, she missed those bastards...
Shaking her head to rid herself of the sadness and nostalgia that momentarilly dimmed her odd eyes, she grinned as, once again, Khona returned to his antics. Laughing as he was shouted atâ€"moreso at his reaction, of seeing him suddenly sober up so quickly!â€"Questa grinned at him. "Heh, don' worry, Khona. People are stiffs, don't let it get to ya. Oh, hey, it's our food!"
Sure enough, the server had returned, and set their meals on the table before them. The tankard of ale included.
"Well, there ya are! Eat up!"
___________
KHONA
Khona looked at the food set before him. It smelt like... nothing he'd ever smelled before in his life and it looked, well, odd. He took the knife on the side and poked one of the pieces of meat at the top of his stew and watched what it did.
"It is good... right?" He asked slowly. He didn't think Questa would give him something that was awful--she wouldn't! They were friends, right?
He put his finger int he stew just enough to get some of the sauce, and then licked it. It was... odd. He'd never tasted anything like it and it was very warm--not burning hot, but hot enough. He didn't mind the taste either... it was just new to him.
From watching others around him, he picked up a spoon and put it in the stew and lifted soft out of the bowl. After looking at it for at least a minute or two, he put the spoon in his mouth and chewed and swallowed quickly, having just successfully nearly burnt his tongue! Picking a spoonful from the center of the bowl hadn't been the best choice, but once the sensation left his tongue and he could reflect on the taste, he smiled. It was good!
He looked at the ale and made a face. It certainly did not look healthy... Water was supposed to be clear, or blue, but not... that colour! He'd stick with his water.
___________
QUESTA
It suddenly occurred to Questa, as Khona was poking his food with a knife, that perhaps she should have given him instructions on how to go about eating it. After all, the merman had nearly drowned himself drinking water! Who knew what self harm he could inflict with a hot piece of beef and a knife!
Then again, she had given him instructions as to how to drink water, and that had been when he nearly choked to death. Mayhap it would be better, this time, if he was let alone to figure things out for himself. It didn't seem she was a very good teacher in this area.
"Yeah, it's really good. I like it a lot, at least," she told him as she watched him stick his finger in the stew before licking off the liquid. Hmm...perhaps she should tell him about the art of spoons? She considered that idea for a moment...then passed on it. Naw. She'd never seen anyone attempt to eat stew with their hands before, and she couldn't help but wonder how successful one could be at that. It should be interesting, nonetheless...
But, soon enough, Khona had figured it out, and Questa grinned proudly. He sure was bright, adapting quickly to new situations. She supposed you had to be if you were suddenly emersed in a foreign land...ack! She should have probably warned him about hot food...but, it looked like he'd already discovered that...
Man. There were just so many simple, ordinary little things she just never gave any thought to that were so completely new to Khona. It was pretty crazy.
Suddenly realizing she was neglecting her own cooling meal as she watched Khona raptly, she picked up her own fork and began loading some of the vegetables that were scattered around the serving on lamb onto the utensil. But just as soon as she took a bite, Khona was back to being his weird self, and the expression on his face as he peered over at the ale was priceless. Again.
Swallowing quickly before she chokedâ€"againâ€"she was able to laugh freely. "Heh, want some, Khona?" she asked, nodding to the tankard and smirking. "It'll make ya forget about yer burnt tongue real quick!"
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KHONA
Khona shook his head and made a face, again. "I don't think anyone should drink that." He said, tapping the pitcher and watching the ale ripple at the top then settle once more. "Water shouldn't be that colour... You should get a new one." He added, referring to the pitcher of ale.
He grabbed his glass of water, grabbing it like it would fall or shatter if he didn't hold it right, and slowly took a sip. The chilled water on his tongue felt good and he slowly swallowed the water once it had warmed in his mouth.
He continued eating his stew--very slowly so as not to burn himself again--then, once he was nearly half way done he look at what Questa was eating. "Is yours any good?" He asked slowly, poking his stew-covered spoon at her lamb quickly. He must have looked like an animal or child reaching over the table and getting stew on Questa's meal but.. Well he hadn't thought of it, or that people might be watching.
___________
QUESTA
Laughter, once again, burst abruptly from Questa, and she quickly made to contain, or at least control, it, which resulted, much to her dismay, in a small peel of giggles. Giggles? Oh geez, she didn't think she'd ever giggled since she was a child, and even then she tried not to giggle like those fancy, air-headed maidens she saw parading around the streets with their lovers. Pressing her lips together, she smirked at Khona instead, afraid that if she opened her mouth again that same sound would bubble forth.
Gods, she didn't think she'd laughed this much since before the ship-wreck, when Vincent was still around. Damn, she missed him...
"Eh heh...Khona...it's supposed ta be that color. It ain't dirty or anythin'. It's..." She thought a moment, trying to think of how best to describe it. How would she explain to a merman, who lived under the waves, that different drinks could be made from the juices of various plants? Khona wouldn't know about that process. Under the water, there was no point in trying to make different beverages.
She'd just describe it in the simplest, vaguest of terms. No use in confusing him with a description of the drawn out process of making alcohol from fermented barley. "It's made from a plant, actually. Up here, we can drink lotsa different things aside from water, see? We can take different plants and squeeze the juice from 'em and drink it. It's good! This is made from a plant, too. It's a lot different from other plant-based drinks, though. It's really strong. But it ain't dirty, it's clean; it just ain't completely water."
As he poked at her own meal, which had hardly been touchedâ€"Questa was to busy talking, and whenever she did manage to take a bite, she usually ended up chokingâ€"and nodded. "Yeah, here, I'll let ya judge fer yerself." Picking up her knife and fork, she divided the meal by half, then, remembering Khona's unfamiliarity with utensils, cut one half of the meal up into individual, bite-size pieces. That done, she pushed the plate so it was in between them. "Take some, as much as ya want," she offered.
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KHONA
Khona slowly brought his face to look like he wasn't disturbed by the look of the ale but... It just didn't seem right to him. He knew this world out of water would be different, but this was just too much. He'd have preferred knowing that water was always ingested as a clear or blue liquid... Not that colour!
Khona took his spoon and, rather slowly and with difficultly, got the piece of lamb on it then took a bite. It tasted different, but the texture itself was a lot like the beef in his stew. It didn't taste bad, though.
"Its almost the same." He said, not referring to the taste but rather the texture.
"Are you not hungry?" He asked, noticing Questa had barely eaten anything from her plate.
___________
QUESTA
"Really?" She didn't really know what to make of that comment. Hmm...guess that meant he liked it, since he had certainly eaten a lot of his stew. "So, ya like it?" she ventured, leaning lightly on the table. This was easier than she thought. And here she'd been half worried that he'd hate the food up here. Food down below must be really salty...going from very salty food to food with a lower salt count must be quite the change. Hell, she knew that to be true, herself, having lived on sea rations while aboard ship for an extended period of time. Everything had to be dried and salted to be preserved, and, though you got used to it after a while, nothing was more heavenly than a homestyle meal after months of the stuff.
She doubted the same feeling would be felt among merpeople, though. A homestyle meal to them was probably of the saltier variety.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, I am! Heh! I've just been gabbing away at ya. Doesn't leave much room to stuff my face," she told him with a grin, and began to eat her portion of the meal. Talking to him, she had almost forgotten she was hungry. But, truly, she really was.
[MOVE COMPLETE! Continue posting!]
