Mar 11 05:19:32 108 PA - A Brief Russian Lunch
From Chronicles
Mar 11 05:19:32 108 PA.
YAKOV'S DELI
Yesterday's pleasant heat wave has somehow once more crashed and disappeared. Those with barometers, thermometers, and other interesting weather equipment would probably be completely boggled by what Mother Nature continues to throw at Kingsdale this late in March. The wind's are strong and moist, the skies clear. Thankfully, the moisture is remaining liquid. Not that it helps the temperature, which is nearly ten below. Inside Yakov's Deli, the atmosphere is far more pleasant. Sure, it might be a little early for lunch, but not exceedingly so. Gabriel is seated distantly from the door, a few dishes on his table before him, tucked deep into one of the bench seats, his mouth moving slightly in between bites.
Erica walks into the store all bundled up to protect herself from the weather. She stamps her feet on the mat to get rid of the moisture and to warm her up. Hurrying up to the counter she orders herself a sandwich and a salad to go. As she waits for her order she looks around. Spotting Gabriel she walks over to where he is eating. "Hey Gabriel. How's it going?"
Regardless of where one ends up in the city, it seems familiar places tend to make for temporary refuges from the weather. Whatever has brought Sage out this way hasn't stopped her from being appropriately protected from the weather. She enters a little bit after Erica. After she takes a moment to shed the clothing and move deeper into the place and approach the counter, she orders herself a hearty soup and a drink.
Gabriel looks up quickly as Erica approaches. A good friend, and one looking like her really can't be easily missed. A hand is raised as he finishes off a large spoonful of... something with possibly meat and vegetables. After setting the spoon down and dabbing at his mouth, he stands politely extends a hand in greeting, and smiles. "Doing well! Brings back a little bit of the past, y'know. The past that's better than Happy Burger." He looks to his very open table and gestures, "Please, sit. Can I get you something?"
"Oh yah Happy Burger is pretty nasty. I don't like fast food." Erica says with a little dismissive wave of her hand. "Oh no. I am just getting a sandwich to go. I don't have a whole lot of time." She rocks back and forth on her heels before leaning against a table while speaking to Gabriel. "Been up to anything interesting?" She turns her head to look back to the counter and spots Sage. She gives the other woman a little wave in greeting.
With the wave directed at her, it makes it that much easier for Sage to notice Erica and Gabriel sitting at one of the tables. She smiles faintly before nodding in response as she moves towards the table with her own food in tow. Depending on whether the table is a two or four seat arrangement, she may have to settle for sitting at the next table over. "Hey..." She greets them simply.
Gabriel rises once more as propriety demands - and just being a gentleman. He dips his head of neatly-cut but graying hair and waves toward the table - a long slab of wood with two bench seats running lengthwise on either side. "Hello to you too, Miss Sage. Can I get you something? Food's good!" Then to both of the women, "In for a quick snack, or shelter? Normal winters don't go on this long, or this severely. Or at least, the North American ones didn't used to." He quickly holds up a hand to Sage, but with a smile. "That's *not* living in the past. That's simple dissemination of information."
Erica is leaning back against a nearby table while she chats with Gabriel. She nods her head as Sage approaches and she offers the other woman a welcoming smile. "How are you Sage?" She asks while waiting for her food to come up. She turns back to Gabriel and shrugs her shoulders. "I thought the winters would be a lot better coming down south to Kingsdale, but the weather seems to be pretty crazy for sure. A lot colder then I expected."
So this planet isn’t perpetually wintery? Hard to believe, Valeriya certainly looks skeptical of that rumor as she steps in from the contrary evidence. Not yet noticing the others present she strides up to the counter for something quick and simple. A cold sandwich or one of those excellent meat filled pasties.
With no lack for a place to sit, Sage ends up picking one side of the table to settle down at with her food. "Food I seem to have." She muses simply, "Can't think of much else I need, though." She comments as she sets down her drink as well. She shrugs faintly to the question about snack or shelter, "A little of both... but the winter doesn't bother me too much." She comments before glancing over towards Erica. "I'm doing fairly well and yourself?"
"Doing well, doing well," Gabriel says with a smile though not intruding between Erica and Sage's conversation. As he sits, Valeriya is observed, though as she apparently isn't looking at him, there's nothing further. Taking his place before his large bowl of some kind of soupy looking food, Gabriel states with power, "You should both go order a tall glass of medovukha. You'll love it, I promise." After a brief pause, another spoonful of soup heads for his mouth.
"Eh." Erica says with a quick shrug of her shoulders at Sage's question. "Can't complain I guess. Just waiting on some food, and then running back to the apartment." She looks at Gabriel and raises an eyebrow. "What is medovukha? Some liquor or something?"
Valeriya orders a trio of the aforementioned pasties and they are quickly served given she's fine with them cold. With them she also takes a large mug of the honey mead they offer before turning to find a place to sit. Her search draws her attention to Gabriel, Erica and Sage as well as a moments hesitation. But she does approach, her expression steeled as she looks to Gabriel. "Got your message. Do we have anything more to say at this time?" She asks with a direct gaze.
Sage raises a brow faintly as the man mentions the drink, "I think he's just trying to get people liquored up these days..." She teases lightly with a glance over towards Erica, before nodding to her comment. "Alright, just don't make me come drag you out of there if you seem to spend too much time there." She comments with a faint tease. She takes a moment to take a spoonful of the soup. It's more substance than fluid.
Gabriel looks to Valeriya as he'd always do, and speaks to her equally equitably. "I think there are some things that we *all* need to talk about. What we found, what we didn't find. What we already have with us to fix the problem, what we need to get together to fix the problem for good." He hesitates a moment, then says, "While Erica disagrees, I think that we have some matters of trust to discuss - and I'm not talking about anything between us." He nods and offers a political smile. His glance turns to Sage as he explains, "Medovukha began as common mead from Western Europe. Basically water, with just enough alcohol to kill the bugs. As it went east, the Slavs wanted flavor, and added more and more honey, until it became the medovukha that we know of. Mostly honey, with a touch of brewed alcohol. It's almost more of a dessert than a beverage." Nod nod. "Trust me."
Erica looks at Valeriya as she approaches and she purses her lips together in thought while her lips curl into a slight frown. She turns to Sage and her expression turns to one of bemusement. "Hey I spend some time out and about. I just don't like big crowds most times. Which works out cause not many are interested in talking with me anyhow." She says with a little chuckle and a quick wink. She turns her attention over to the counter as her order is rung up. "Well that's me. I'll leave you all while I go back to my place." She waves her hand to Gabriel and Sage and then turns to get her food. "See ya." She calls out before making an exit.
Valeriya shrugs slightly, reaching to pull up an arrant chair for a temporary seat as she nods to Gabriel. "Trusting one's employer is usually unwise, but there are stipulations. Being that they are employing you to do something they are unable or unwilling to do themselves. Often that gives you plenty of leverage to keep them honest enough." She opines before taking a large bite out of one of her pasties.
Sage's gaze drifts to Valeriya after she's made sure she doesn't have any soup adding decoration to her face as the woman had spoken about the same time as her slipping the spoon into her mouth. she considers the woman with a curious look. "Hey..." She greets when she wont be interrupting the woman before looking towards Erica with a faintly amused look before lifting her hand to offer a parting wave to the other woman. Then she ends up looking to the man once more. "Wait, what exactly are we talking about with this trust thing."
The older man waves as Erica rapidly departs. Then, "Absolutely," Gabriel says to the tall Valeriya. "I've been following Bennet and that James fellow for a while, learned a few things that I won't bother to explain right now, but it's fishy. James, I don't know what to do about. But Bennet? He's living somewhere outside the city, and because of a huge change in behavior, I want to find out what the hell's up with him. I don't want to end up getting buttfucked in Iowa - if that's even where we were." He waves a hand and further explains, "Now, I can follow a man in a city, but outside the walls, not so great." A hesitation. "Erica is too kind to track a possibly innocent man. Can you track him? We work together and find the bastard?" Gabriel ends with a quirked eyebrow, his spoon full, but steady. Back to Sage, "There is something happening up in Tolkeen's direction, or so we've been told. We did a little recon, saw some things. Not much. But I don't trust our employer. He's been rotten from the start, and he's done a complete one-eighty as far as personality ever since we got back. I don't trust people who change like that." He shrugs. "Maybe it's a personal failing of mine."
"Hey Sage." Valeriya returns with a slight nod after washing down her mouth full with the mead. "Maybe I could find out whats up with him. I'm no tracker, but I have other skills to compensate. To what end though? Say he's everything you think he could be. Then what?" She asks Gabriel, fairly light voiced today.
Sage listens to the conversation, but it quickly becomes clear that she doesn't have much knowledge about this area. She purses her lips as she tries to put the pieces together. She begins to turn her attention to the soup as she gives herself a moment to think on things. When the explanation is offered, she looks back to Gabriel. "Ah... I see."
"Then we need to diagnose the real problem. What's his *real* motive? Could be something terrible, or he could just be a guy who returned a different man, everything else normal. Maybe he just had gas, I don't know. But when things change, it's a good idea to look into it. If you go, I'd like to go with you, see for my own eyes, since I'm somewhat in the know as to what to look for." Gabriel shrugs, an indicator of fact, not bragging in any way. "We can talk about James later. You'll be the expert there, obviously. I'd rather know about our employer before we go back into combat. Reasons. Hell, honestly, do any of us know where we were, save for their word, and had no way to get back, save for people who have started to act strange?" The older man shrugs again, asking himself the question as well. He gives Sage a rather meaningful nod, indicating that he has more to speak to her about, but what he finishes with is still directed at the tall warrior woman. "Speaking of combat, I'd like to talk to you, if you would, now that I'm not quite as hyped up as I was a few weeks ago."
Valeriya shrugs slightly. "Wherever we were it looked much like this area does. And whether it's where they said it was wasn’t that much of an issue to me. Rather what they said would be there was. Also lots of folk encountered on that trip, any of them could have given us are whereabouts. So if we weren’t where they said it would have been quite the slip. And what do they have to gain on lying about the location?" Valeriya asks with a somewhat lazy tone as she muddles through Gabriel's logic. "Really this comes down to you being willing to work for him as is. If you're not then don’t. Saves you more trouble than this is really worth."
With the topic continuing along things that doesn't seem to involve her for the time being, Sage merely listens to the conversation as she freely takes spoonfuls of her soup and sips from her drink.
Gabriel holds his hands out to his sides. "Hey, you can't blame a guy for being careful. It's not always the most healthy thing to do to go into combat blindly trusting your marching orders. Doesn't matter who's giving them." There's clearly more to be said, but the man tables it for now. Instead, he turns to Sage, making an attempt to not catch her in mid sip. "Ah... we have a deal, you and I. Tap into my mind any time that you want, if it's necessary. Would you ever - if there seemed to be a good reason of course - tap in without someone's permission, Miss Sage?"
"I don’t blame you. Your instincts have kept you alive this long. You should stick with them." Valeriya advises with a shrug before breaking for another bite of pastie and swallow of mead. "But currently we have no marching orders to be suspicious of or any reason to trust we will get some. So this sounds rather preemptive to me. If he asks you to fight again ask you questions in a way that will get satisfactory answers. If you can't get them don’t take the job." She continues before glancing to Sage. "Does everyone on this planet over complicate everything?"
Sage lifts her gaze to Gabriel with a faintly raised brow, "There are limits to that." She comments, "But, I suppose that may be the only way I'm going to have an inkling of what's going on." She adds before reaching out to touch the man's mind to glimpse his surface thoughts. She doesn't answer the question to glance over towards the other woman with a faint smile and mild amusement. "Seems more than likely." She comments before shrugging then glancing back to the other man. "In some cases, asking permission would seem to be defeat the purpose." She responds simply.
The older man gives a smile, feeling his own mind tickled. It's still an odd sensation to him. But he just nods, saying to both women, "Well, I guess I'm just the suspicious type. Good thing that I had the world's greatest wife whom I trusted implicitly in all facets of life. My girls? Well... the young men who came through on dates had lots of questions to answer." He grins, not knowing if either woman will even understand his society. "Perhaps, Miss Valeriya, you are right, and I should just allow the issue to die. You're right, we haven't even heard from Bennet. Maybe I blew a load of credits on a weapon I didn't need. Still, Miss Valeriya, I want to apologize. My observation stands, but beyond that I was hasty and... ah.. I can't find the word. How about 'arrogant motherfucker?' I'm very sorry for that."
Valeriya says, "An apt description. I also admit I can be a harsh bitch at times. But it keeps me alive in dark places. There is a saying in the society that raised me. 'The weak protect the weak. The strong protect themselves.' Many self righteous bigots scoff at it as selfish but that merely illustrates that they are self righteous bigots. Give it some careful thought, the phrase rings true.""
<< Tsk, tsk. >> Sage mentally comments into the man's mind as she picks up on a particular thought. This sent to the man as she turns her attentions back to finishing off the rest of her lunch. It's easy enough to do with the other two speaking of something she isn't involved in. "Well, Gabriel..." She comments, "If you have something you wish to bring up with me... I won't be here for much longer. Appointments to keep and all that."
The older man smiles at his friend who'd just spoken. "Maybe I'll try to be a more trusting person, and not come calling at your door unless things start to really go wrong." Gabriel ends with a nod and characteristic smile. He's sitting in front of food and drink at a long bench-style table extending from the wall just about as far from the deli's door as one could get. Sage sits across from him, with the large Valeriya on an independent seat at the end. To Valeriya, "Yes, I can understand that. An unfortunate philosophy. Something that I tried to fix in my own time. But... hell... maybe if I hadn't... who knows what *this* world would be like, eh?"
"An unfortunate reality." Valeriya corrects with a brief glance to Gabriel before finishing her first pastry with another swallow of mead. That seemingly settled she nods slightly to Sage. "I think I'll be off as well, if there is nothing else the arrogant bastard wishes to beg of me." She notes with a slight smirk.
"It would seem he doesn't have anything to bring up with me for the time being, at least." Sage comments, more towards Valeriya than the man with a faint bit of humour in her tone. She begins to rise from her seat on the bench opposite of Gabriel. She does glance back towards Gabriel as she begins to move her legs out from into the open space beside the table.
"This arrogant bastard only apologizes once. Not my issue to force an acceptance," Gabriel says, raising his glass shortly off of the table with a shallow smile. His gaze turns to Sage, as he watches her as she starts to go. "Wow. I know that was a little bit of a buzz-kill, but I didn't think it was going to send the two of you running like rats from a sinking ship - the actual 'rat' comparison not part of the analogy, of course." He looks genuinely sad that see the others going or talking about going. Not too surprising, really. Most people know him as a soft spoken, nice fellow, if not a bit off at times. But who isn't. "You know, they can pack that up for you," he says, gesturing to the meals.
Valeriya nods slightly before slamming back the rest of her mead and slipping the remaining pastries into a convenient pocket. "I too have that capability. Though I pose a riddle to you. Are the rats really fleeing the sinking ship or is the ship sinking to flee the rats?" She asks before rising to quickly stride out and she is gone
Sage chuckles faintly to the other woman's riddle before shaking her head gently, "Well, Gabriel, it has nothing to do with you being a buzz-kill." She comments, "I just took your lack of response to my comment about having other things to attend if you didn't have something to talk to me about as a 'you may go'." She flashes a grin as she turns to leave with a teasing little wave. << Could always try to think it fast... >> Her mental tone teasingly adds on her way towards leaving.
Gabriel does what he wants to do, but makes an amusing show of it, scrunching his eyes shut like a little kid being told to close their eyes before the birthday cake comes out. His lips are pursed, hands are in fists, head inclined toward Sage. Thinking. Really, really hard. And obviously for humorous effect, too.
