2024-01-11: Junk Food Rhapsody

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<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    Celadon City is the shopping capital of Energy Nede- and thus a priority target for a certain Wanted Space Criminal who has been stuck on a dusty backwater for far, far too long.

    It would be a good place to get back into the swing of things, honestly. But upon getting there, there was a higher priority on the table-

    An honest to goodness food court. With the smell of real food!

    A couple of casual pickpocketings later and a lot of shopping, one table is loaded up with a variety of food- burgers, nuggets, fries, cakes and sodas. It's... a lot, really.

    And sitting there, looking over her haul, sits a three eyed young woman wondering where to start. Surely she's not planning to eat all of it, is she? 

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.

"You know I never noticed how heavy carrying around all that coin was until they issued us that magic card?"
 
Rena asides to the others, carrying several large reusable grocery bags stuffed to the brim with healthy food, produce, meat, seafood- the works! As the party comes out of a local grocery store.
 
"Like the weight of five thousand - ten thousand gella really adds up! Plus all that time spent counting it out..."
 
Happily she hefts the bags once for effect, "... and the selection! There'll be no problem with us eating well on the road given just the sheer variety that that tiny little market had for sale."
 
As they pass by the food court however, Rena continues to enthuse, "Really with ingredients this cheap and plentiful it's a wonder places like this even exis-"
 
Rena abruptly just, pauses, because she just caught sight of that sheer volume of junk food at the table- "That's, a whole mountain..." Rena says in wonder...
 
... BEFORE catching sight of the familiar three eyed woman. "Oh! Claude! Dias! It's Grace!" She peps up cheerfully, "Let's swing by to greet her." Rena veers towards the table, before greeting her, "Hello Grace." Rena says affably, "It's so good to see you again." Before she notes to her, "Wow, it's really thoughtful for you to order ahead of time for your whole group. Glad we were able to catch you before they showed up."

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude is having a nice time out here, admittedly. He's not able to fully let go of the trouble that brought them here--and he doesn't think he should--but it's nice to see Rena happy and dealing with her mother's home.

"That's true," Claude says. "I've almost forgotten how handy it was just to have a credit card..."

But as Rena passes by, Claude spots Grace, too. "Oh, wow," he says, and laughs a little.

"I'm jealous," Claude admits to Grace. "The healthy stuff's great but I haven't had a spread like that in a long time..."

Fast food. Who'd have thought he'd miss junk on Filgaia? 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    "It is important to know that a credit card is not a blank check to spend as much as you want," Ethius attempts to impart some level of fiscal responsibility with this newfound power of Convenience(tm). Still, based on how much FOL they've had between them, and the food prices here being as kind as they are against it...
 
     He's been somewhat uncomfortable in Celadon since they got here, but much of it is just from being overstimulated by the sounds and the colors of it all. Enough that he's pulled up the hood of a sweatshirt over his head in an attempt to block out as much of it as possible, when--
 
     Rena calls out someone who was previously unaccounted for.
 
     He swings along with the rest to crowd around that table full of food.
 
     "Miss Grace, have you been traveling with anyone else?" Ethius seems to jump out of the blue with that thought, hand on his forehead as he tries to take mental inventory of who was left unaccounted for from Marduk. 

<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.

    A food court... It's not an unheard-of concept to Dias, who has been to food markets before in both small towns and big cities where everyone is trying to sell you something, but like the rest of Nede, it's so sterilized. It doesn't smell *bad*, and there's some things that even smell tempting, but there's also a subtle something that's a little off-putting. He can't put his finger on why.
    
    That's naturally why he's not eating at the food court. He's finished accompanying Rena through the grocery store--and she certainly has a point about money vs. magic cards--and there'll be time to make meals for themselves later. For now, he's carrying a considerable number of bags himself, one arm crooked to balance them, the other making sure they don't fall. It might seem like a strange way of carrying bags until you realize that this way means he can toss them up and draw his sword and catch them on the way down if needed.
    
    Yes. Dias absolutely thinks about that sort of thing. All the time.
    
    "For a world that's already been destroyed, they're doing incredibly well for themselves," he remarks. (Even if Ethius warns them the magic cards are not infinite money.) He glances over at Grace as they pass by, and is about to let her and her mountain of food go uncommented upon until Rena notices too and decides they *must* go say hi.
%R Rena's assumption is that Grace ordered for a group. Dias considers the table and the lack of any signs that anyone else has been by and wonders if that's true. It's not his business, though, so he simply gives Grace a curt nod of greeting. Ethius is handling the blunt questions for the moment, anyway.
    
    Claude's comment gets him to furrow his eyebrows at him. "Is this kind of food common on 'developed' worlds?" 

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    It is exactly after Grace decides to take a bite out of her burger- and sauce escapes it to drip onto her shirt- that Rena decides to approach. With Grace's eyes closed in the revery of delicious bad food she hears someone call her name and she blinks open hurriedly, eyes wide, hurriedly swallowing.

    "O-oh, hi. Rena, right?" She was not expecting anyone to, you know, run into her today. She even looks sheepish as Rena talks about ordering for her whole group, her eyes dart to one side. "Yeah, uh, I sure, um..." She lets out a sigh, setting the burger down, still not noticing the stain. "Look it's been a long time since I've been able to eat a proper meal, y'know? I kinda got carried away."

    Claude, at least, understands. "Right? Right? You get it!" As such, she generously offers Claude a grab from the packet of fries. Solidarity...! "I could barely taste the food back on Filgaia, so it's pretty great to get something with flavour!"

    She looks a bit nervous as Ethius makes himself known, but she's not having the full panics she once did. "Uh, well, I was hanging out with Arle for a bit, but I'm here on my own today. I mean, a girl needs some time on her own, right? Plus it's easier to find mar-" She stops briefly. "Er, you know, find things when you're. Looking around on your own. Yeah, that's it."

    Whether or not Claude takes her up on her offer, Grace shoves a small handful into her mouth, as Dias nods to her. There's a mix of cool and intimidating coming off Dias. Like the sort of guy you expect to have a bounty on his head for an act of revenge, like something just but extreme. Still, his astonishment at the food-

    "I mean, yeah? Like this is the sort of stuff I grew up on." She doesn't seem to be bothering to cover things up given, well, the use of developed worlds. "It's good stuff!" 

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.

"Oh of course not! Nall stated that Nede would cover a reasonable amount of our expenses, since you know, we're pitching in to help save them. I don't intend to abuse their trust."
 
Rena always was rather responsible in fiscal matters, indeed, Dias can probably think of a dozen occasions she window shopped for Jewelry and never impulse bought things...
 
... and then came Nede, and Pokemon - the Kakukarrier, for example. There is indeed reason to fear, that she might give in to the allure of consumerism.
 
"They really have." She replies to Dias, "I know it's not all sunshine and rainbows but - gosh, just seeing how the average Nedian kid grows up..."
 
It really is quite the contrast, isn't it?
 
"That's right. Rena Lanford." As Grace indicates she merely got carried away, Rena looks shocked, almost dropping her shopping bags, "This is a little carried away!?"
 
Claude, in contrast to her lauding the merits of a good home cooked meal, blinks as Claude says he misses this kind of food, "Do you really miss it that much?" As she asks, surprised, before echoing Dias' question, "I mean I tried a little when I got here but it was so salty- I'm kinda surprised it caught on so hard elsewhere that Claude is such a fan."
 
Grace however indicates the food on Filgaia, that she could barely taste it, "Could- b-barely taste the food!?" Rena looks almost horrified, "Is- is that what the food on Filgaia tastes like to all off worlders?" Rena asks perhaps to noone in particular, just, shocked.
 
And indeed, she then asks Ethius, "Mister Hesiod, what about you? Do you have a preference?"

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude accepts some fries before Grace can change her mind, and is chewing before he can answer everybody else immediately. But it's fine. After a few moments...

"Yeah, it's pretty common--the big advantage is that it's fast and you don't have to make it yourself." A laugh at Rena, "Not so much that I'm hurting for it, but it is kind of a taste of home. It's like that."

But barely tasting? "No, no," Claude says, "Filgaian food can be great! Especially when you make it."

he doesn't comment on fiscal responsibility...

"They are, aren't they?" Claude notes Dias's statement. And following others, well...

"I'm glad to see you're doing OK in any case. It's nice to know..." He shakes his head. "Just, it's good. I feel like you get some of what it's like." 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Just Miss Arle, then, Ethius internalizes. That's still way more food than two could eat, but, Grace doesn't have a reason to hide anyone else from him despite everything that transpired between them prior.
 
     "It appears they've only had tens of thousands of years to refine and master their civil engineering," he concurs with Dias, but the concept of it remains a thing of enormity even to Ethius here. They've existed for longer than the Pangalactic Feeration, far longer - and longer than the recorded history of the human species, at that.
 
     "...I wouldn't begrudge that," he says to Grace as she hasn't been able to eat a 'proper meal,' as Claude shares in on the stuff.
 
     Rena inquires about his presence. He straightens out some at the question.
 
     "...Back during the times where I was not on field work, I rather did enjoy eel." He says. It's been many years since he's had any. There are eels on Filgaia and Lunar that might - might! - match the taste profile of the specific species he enjoys, but... "I need to be exceptionally careful about what I eat. Food-borne illness and issues related are the #1 killer of my line of work."
 
     Hence all the 'cooking.'
 
     Claude explains the appeal of fast food, which Ethius nods about.
 
     "Even I've enjoyed the convenience from time to time, especially when studying." Especially. When studying. The all-nighters. (All-weekers.)
 
     (It's a thing.)
 
     "...I confess, even with Nede's medical technologies, I am... gun shy about partaking." 

<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.

    "'Only'?" Dias says dryly to Ethius.
    
    Thirty thousand years is a hell of a long time--and that's before one considers that Nede was already more advanced than any of their system neighbors by the time the planet was reduced to a continent. But Ethius knows that, probably better than Dias does.
    
    To Rena, he nods. "It's like night and day." Not that 'day' is perfectly idyllic, as Rena also points out. After talking to Joy, it's been made clear to him that Nede has been peaceful for so long that the normal societal response to a crisis like the Ten Wise Men is 'let someone else handle it.'
    
    This is a separate matter from the local food, though. Or from Rena's fiscal responsibility or concerning wane thereof.
    
    "I doubt Ethius has functioning taste buds," Dias says dryly. A little unfair, since Ethius does have extremely legitimate reason to over-cook anything he makes. Still, the thought of how Ethius might prepare an eel is just as legitimately horrifying.
    
    He frowns as Grace compares the flavor of Filgaian cuisine with Nedian. "Hmm. This is what you consider flavorful, huh. I guess that's not wrong." Like Rena, though, what he's had before tastes too salty to him. Obviously, you need to season your food, but it goes a step too far in his opinion--and as a man whose hobbies are 'eating' and 'sleeping,' he does take his food pretty seriously, and his taste profile leans towards simple, wholesome flavors. ...for savory meals, anyway. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but he has quite a sweet tooth.
    
    That said, when Grace and Claude both explain they grew up on food like this, it starts to make more sense to Dias that other food might be bland to them by comparison. (It makes sense that for a pair a long, long way from home, the flavor would be deeply comforting. Dias watches them both as Claude says Grace must understand how it feels.) Claude serves a smooth line to Rena about her cooking, though, and Dias suppresses a smile.
    
    There's a mention of an Arle, but Dias doesn't know who that is, and who Grace's companions are aren't his concern. 

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    "Uh, y-yeah?" Grace responds, with the clear nerves of someone who knows it's more than a little carried away but is in denial. "Look, it's been a few years!" The possibility that her tastebuds had been ruined by years of fast food is not one that occurs to her. "Besides, we didn't exactly have a kitchen when I was growing up so it was this or instant meals. Not that you have those either..."

    Claude goes to the defense of Filgaian food- and she raises her middle eyebrow- before narrowing her eyes with a smirk. "Oh so *that's* what's going on between you two, huh? Iiiiinteresting."

    But Claude changes to topics a touch more serious. "...Getting grounded, you mean?" She says, a little quietly. "Yeah... It's weird, momma seemed almost happy, but... I don't get how she could just go back to being a miner like that. Just losing the whole galaxy like that..."

    Grace whistles at Ethius' estimation of the civilizations age. "That old, huh... That's crazy. They'd probably be on the galactic stage if it wasn't for... whatever those weirdos did." She's still not fully across the Ten Wise Men deal.

    Grace blinks at the comment of eel, though. "...What, the weird wriggly things that can zap you? I thought MegaTetra made those up..."

    "I mean... it's not one for one, you know, but it's close enough? There's just all sorts of flavours out there you guys on Filgaia just don't have. And there's not a good soda to save your lives, sorry."

    Finally, she takes a second. "Soooo, what are you all doing here, anyway? Shopping trip? This place seems cool for that." She reaches for a bottle of orange soda, and opens it almost reverently, taking a sip while waiting for her answer. 

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.

There's a profound sense of relief when Claude indicates that Filgaian food can be great, especially when she makes it. "Aw. Well I'm glad you do." She's not sure what she'd do if he'd preferred fast food. Before she startles at Grace's implication that something is going on between the two of them, "What- nothing's going on between us-!"
 
She does give Grace a sympathetic look as she speaks of losing the whole Galaxy, going back to being a miner, as she draws some of her own conclusions. "I don't- maybe one day there will be a way to get your feelings across to her."
 
After all, Rena does want to go back home to her Mother one day...
 
Claude however, speaks of the merits of fast food, "So it's... a time saver, primarily?" Is Rena's question, "I mean..." She can see the merits in it, it's just a struggle, for someone who enjoys cooking so much to give up the idea that a home cooked meal is better for all involved. "... I suppose, it just - when I tried it, it didn't taste... right."
 
Ethius however answers, and Rena nods, "Eel-! I see. How exotic! I never had any on Filgaia until we went to Aquvy." However...
 
... Foodborne Illnesses??? "Huh?" Before she looks sideways at Claude, "Claude is that true? Do I- do I need to worry? I have spells for common ailments but- if it's claiming so many in the Federation..." Then he looks towards Ethius, "Wait is that why all your food becomes that - that... stuff!? Because you're... worried about..."
 
Dias quips about his taste buds, Rena decides to ignore that one. Because she's still not certain how serious this conversation is! Ethius throws off her ability to discern these things.
 
Grace eventually asks what they're doing here, and... "Well... We're shopping for an extended trip. Nall and Professor Oak need us to face certain trials and... grow stronger, so we can beat the Ten Wise Men."
 
Rena indicates to her, without giving more specifics about the journey yet, "Since we're heading out soon, I thought I'd stock up. We can't usually buy these kind of perishables for a trip like this but..."
 
Rena looks sideways to Dias in wonder, "But me and Dias found out there are handy things on the food packaging here called 'expiration dates!' and they're really far off." As she smiles, seeming enthusiastic in how she's looking forward to meal prep, "So, we'll be eating well the whole way!"

<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.

Claude smiles at Rena--and when Grace implies something he glances to the side. "I just mean... Her cooking is really good!"

But he's quick to say for her sake, "Not the Federation as a whole, just--his work. You don't have anything to worry about there, OK?"

But he would have to admit, if he thought about it...

"I see... When you put it that way, it's definitely hard," Claude says to Grace. "Above and beyond. But part of what I wanted out of the Federation was to see the galaxy, and this is... definitely in the galaxy!"

It is strange that she'd just take up a job and not worry about leaving. Why is that? Grace might catch Claude looking thoughtful about it.

"Apparently they used to be," he says of Nede and the galactic stage. "Long ago."

He cosniders. The food, and the soda, and the...

"Heh," he says to Dias, and then considers. "Hey, Grace," Claude decides. "You can't ever make it back to the galaxy out there if we don't do something about the Ten Wise Men, right? Since they want to take over the whole universe."

"Why don't you come with us to stop them? You'd be a big help, and it'd mean you were doing something towards your goal, instead of just waiting around. I know that would drive me crazy, just waiting." 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    "Hm." Ethius cracks something like a smile at Dias' comment about his taste buds. He's taken these jabs in stride in the past. (It is very strange to watch the man cook. He understands how everything works, and is supposed to work, and how you clean and maintain the tools. It is the actual act of cooking where the quotation mark magic end quotation mark happens.)
 
     He sees Rena growing alarmed at talk about this, and Ethius sharply turns in the closest give of panic - a moment where the emotive sweat beads would appear overhead.
 
     "It's... it's quite all right, Miss Rena." He clears his throat. "Mister Claude here has more or less been proof positive that Filgaia's environment and ecosystem... probably, would not cause me long term problems." It's hard to act against six to seven years of evidence showing Claude can eat food from Filgaia and Lunar just fine! Ethius puts a hand to his forehead. "It's a comfort thing for me, and... important I don't lower my guard there, just in case."
 
     If you asked him whether he'd choose to live in comfort from all this with a good career in football and almost all the prepared eel he could eat, versus a difficult and dangerous field that serves to protect underdeveloped planets from exploitation like befell him in his childhood... he'd pick what he's doing right now.
 
     He looks to Grace shortly after she speaks about how her mother seemed 'almost happy' to 'just go back to being a miner.'
 
     "If I may, Miss Grace," Ethius steps forward. "My own parents and grandparents, by my understanding, were once large players in... the kind of life you might imagine, by my name." It's tough to talk about this to someone he most definitely tried to kill maybe two years back in stopping her bank robbery by pretending to be a hired ruffian for it.
 
     "They fled to an underdeveloped planet and had me. They never spoke a word of this to me for the years I got to live with them. Knowing what I do as an adult," he slows down, hands behind his back, "it is a life of constant danger, tension, and uncertainty. It... is perhaps moreso, when you have a dependent you have to care for and protect from these dangerous, tense, uncertain elements."
 
     "Especially when those elements were - or are - keen to catch up to you, as... happened, in my case." One of the worst parts of remembering the context of his memories was re-living and understanding everything that drove him down his current life path.
 
     "I can't speak for your mother, but were I that deeply embroiled, but had a chance to escape from that so someone I was raising could live without any of that hanging over their head... I might have done the same." 

<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.

    Is that almost a smile, Ethius? Dias recognizes that. Maybe they'll come to be something like friends in their own way in time.
    
    Meanwhile, Grace continues to paint a colorful portrait of her past--from a lack of a kitchen and thus food options, to a mother who 'went back' to being a miner and 'losing the whole galaxy' to do it. She also lacks confidence--she's fidgety, shifty, and a little defensive. Someone who's lost a great deal already and is terrified of losing even more.
    
    Ethius clearly knows even more about it by launching into a story about his parents and upbringing, apparently empathizing with Grace's mother in this scenario. Dias watches and listens to them both in silence, any faint semblance of humor gone. Not even Grace teasing Rena and Claude about the nature of their relationship brings it back.
%R Rena fields the explicit question of what they're doing here; Claude, the implicit one about Nede's past. Dias can only shrug a bit as Rena brings up food expiration dates. "Some of them seem random, though, so they seem more like a guideline than a hard value. But it *is* a useful guideline."
    
    And an interesting insight into Nedian food culture. Dias considers himself a cautious man, but Ethius's paranoia about foodborne illnesses seems above and beyond--even if Claude reassures Rena and them that it's not as bad as it sounds.
    
    But then Claude outright makes an offer to Grace to have her come with them. Dias gives him another assessing stare, but doesn't pitch in. He's not personally crazy about the idea, but this is Claude and Rena's journey; he himself is just an invitee.
    
    He does turn a long gaze Grace's way, though, as if he might discern the true nature of her soul if he just stares hard enough. It probably does little to dispel her impression of him as cold and intimidating. 

<Pose Tracker> Grace Harvey has posed.

    "Reeeally...?" She asks, not completely buying Rena and Claude's denials. "Suuuure you do." Okay, now she's just making them squirm for funsies.

    Grace also seems surprised buy the mention of foodborne illnesses. "...Are you sure it's nnot because you're just going around in really gross places?" She nods confirmation with Claude. "Food safety regs are strict. Except, I guess, wherever this guy hangs."

    "...Yeah, maybe." Grace says, a little glumly. Honestly though she's gonna be mad at me for sure, She didn't even want me using those teleporter things."

    She blinks at the talk of an extended trip. "Well, that sure sounds like a lot." Grace leans her seat onto it's back legs. "I mean, yeah, but apart from, well, where I was born, I've never stayed in the same place for more than a couple of months, tops. Being here for four years is... I don't like it. This place is some novelty, but..."

    And then Ethius talks about his own childhood... and that sort of life. "Hm. Maybe. But we set out on this stuff when I was a kid. It was just us and the Hightailer for, like, years. It wasn't a problem before, and I'd been helping her with, uh, work since I was like... twelve? You'd think it'd nbe easier with me as an adult, y'know?"

    And then Claude asks if she wants to join, and Grace's careful balance on the chair gives way and she falls falls backwards enitrely, well, gracelessly.

    "Wh-huh-wha?" She babbles, as he gets up to her feet. "You want me for fighting those... weird guys? Really?" She looks a touch bamboozled.. "I mean, look, I've only really run with Momma so far, and Arle. The big group thing isn't really my style. I mean. Well. I guess it's not my style. I've never really tried." Still... in four years she's made no real progress on getting away. Trying to work on her own has only set her back.

    Her train of thought is derailed by the cool and intimidating man staring at her. She steps back a little, involuntarily.

    "B-but, you know, I do want to get back into space and all and if there's no going back without going through those guys then yeah I can lend a hand sure no worries definitely."

    My word she's speaking fast. She must be very eager. 

<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.

Claude... then Ethius backs up that Filgaian food is PROBABLY not going to cause Claude problems, despite Ethius' fastidiousness, "That's a relief, I'd be really worried if the risk of you getting sick was that high every time you ate my food." She tells Claude so earnestly, still on Cloud Nine a little over him saying her cooking is really good. Before she looks upon Ethius and... "Well, if it's a comfort measure for you, if you let me know how you prefer your food to be cooked - I can do my best to see if I can meet your standards."
 
And not overcook things into Gooey stuff? Look, she just really wants the people around her to enjoy a good meal.
 
Rena actually sports a faint smile as Claude says he wanted to get out and see the Galaxy, of which, this is part of it. It does a lot, knowing how much Claude loves this journey to think he might not just - just go back once it's over.
 
And Ethius... speaks of his family, his own experiences in trying to empathize with her, "... Mister Hesiod..." She murmurs quietly, before turning to Grace and saying, "Sometimes it's difficult to speak about certain things to your Mother, even as an adult. There's something... I've always had difficulty broaching with my Mother."
 
But then-! Claude... offers for them to join, "Claude?" Rena's blue eyes blink, but then she smiles as she thinks on it, following his lead, "Well, I can't say I'd disagree, and it'd be great having another girl along." After all, right now, it's her and three guys.
 
At first Grace seems like she's going to politely turn them down. BUT- she notices Grace get, flustered from Dias staring, as Rena, taps him lightly with an elbow, murmuring, "Dias, you're scaring her."
 
Grace does however say - offer a sorta light commitment, and Rena peps up, "Oh hey! I mean - yeah, even if you could escape, if it just meant that they'd rule the universe you lived in after? Then... so it'd be great to have you. More hands makes for lighter work."

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