Blaze Gamma
Knight 7Mali Anson
Location: Diamond District
Skills:N/A
"No need to worry about that. It should be fine." Although Mali couldn't say she was the biggest fan of quiche although a big part of that was that she'd never actually had it. It always came off as something that would be at fancy 19th Century banquets, or served to a gaggle of gossiping aristocratic housewives during afternoon tea. She knew that the dish itself was like, eggs plus filling in a pie(?) crust so it'd probably taste fine, but it was just another one of those class mismatches that didn't quite sit right with her. For similar reasons, she wasn't going to request something else, so as not to burden the kitchen with unnecessary work and added wait time to eat. Idly as she followed behind Genny she took in the inner workings of the spa and was impressed by how much more to the place there was, especially in such a crowded city district.
Genny lead Mali through various hallways until things started getting darker. The lighting changed and it looked less like a spa and more like romantic restaurant. As they rounded a corner they hit a door that Genny had to open before they could enter. Inside it brightened up considerably and Genny shielded her eyes. "Sorry, should have warned you this is outdoor dining," she said before stepping out of the way. There in a small garden space surrounded on three sides of monitors. They were all playing what looked to be a video of some country location. Rolling hills, trees, a brook. The top was open fully to the sky above and the ground was done as a garden with a gazebo in the center. There was set up a rather southern looking brunch with a not southern Zoie smiling over at them. Lowering her glass she waved.
Mali waved back as she shielded her eyes from the burning California sun. She wasn't exactly sure what the purpose of the monitors was, maybe an attempt to make the little enclosure feel like it had a view where there was none, but the attempt at atmosphere was appreciated, even if she thought the dining area would be better suited to being indoors rather than out.
"So do you get through this quicker when you're a semi-regular customer?" Mali asked as she approached the table and took a seat opposite of Zoie. Now that she thought about it and after seeing Zoie's brunch, maybe she was looking forward to that quiche more than she'd initially thought. Sure she enjoyed soul food every now and then, this was the third time in three meals that she'd seen her eat the cuisine. At least a quiche was something different.
Zoie chuckle a bit and shook her head as she set her glass of mimosa down. "Not really. Actually think the longer you come here the longer it takes. Either catching up with people you have met and haven't talked to since the last time you visited or just relaxing a bit more. Though not every time do I do everything, so that does make the overall time less," Zoie admitted as she crossed her legs.
She had let her accent fade away. Seemed she was trying to get into character for the evening that was rapidly approaching. Only thing it seemed left for her was make-up and then to get her dress on. "Enjoying it so far? Or not your thing? Find most people either love it or just don't want to bother. Doesn't seem to be a middle ground."
"Everyone here's been great and I've had a lot of fun." Well fun might not have been the most accurate word, but certainly this was the first time in a bit that she'd been able to really relax, which certainly did wonders for the state of one's sanity. And at a minimum, at least she had the chance to meet new people that she mostly didn't have to worry about betraying her.
"I don't know if I'd want to come here all the time, but I certainly wouldn't be against coming here again if we had the chance." As enjoyable as the whole spa experience had been, it was very much time consuming, and being able to regularly justify using such a large time slot towards the purpose of looking good wasn't something she could see herself doing. Appearances were also her primary motivation for bodybuilding, but at least with that she could rationalize that it came with a myriad of other tangible benefits.
Zoie found herself laughing a bit and nodding in agreement. "Oh I get what you are saying. Personally rather spend my time out skinny dipping at the pond on my farm but getting a treatment every so often is fun. Let someone else do all the work and for just a moment not worry about anything," Zoie said before motioning towards the food. "I wasn't sure if quiche was your thing but saw how much protein you grabbed this morning and how few carbs I figured I would at least have them make one without piece crust. This one is ham, swiss and, onions. This is mushroom and spinach. And this is my favorite... Chicken with asparagus with a hollandaise drizzle over it. So pick and eat up."
"Aw, that was really thoughtful of you, thank you so much." Her reaction was played up a tad, to help get in character of being Zoie's... something. But she was genuinely surprised and grateful at the thought that was put into the quick meal. Now presented with a plethora of different quiches to eat, Mali's brain automatically shifted to nutritional analysis mode. Chicken was naturally more lean and higher in protein than ham, but the hollandaise would consist mostly of fat. However, the swiss in the ham quiche would also introduce a not insignificant influx of carbs and fat. Mushroom, spinach and asparagus were all roughly equal in terms of nutrition, so in total, the vegetarian quiche was the leanest and well rounded, and the other two were roughly equal from a macronutrient perspective, with the chicken edging it out when it came to overall nutrition. So clearly she should go for the meatless dish.
The problem with that was that Mali didn't like mushrooms at all. Back when she first had them as a child while attending a family friend's wedding, she almost ended up hurling up her stomach's contents. Ever since Mali avoided mushrooms whenever possible. She knew that tastes changed over time, and she likely wouldn't have such a violent reaction, but the echoes of a retch resounded in her throat when she thought about eating that one. So she picked out a slice of Zoie's favorite and dug in. Well "dig in" was the wrong turn of phrase. She was cognizant that she was at a high-class establishment, so it was more well paced dining than a voracious feast.
"Well of course darling, anything for you," Zoie said with a bit of a wink. She was playing it up as well but she was genuinely enjoying having Mali around. Taking a slice of her self professed favorite she placed it on her plate, along with a slice of honeydew. Looking at her plate with the bright egg based quiche there and the nearly neon light green of the melon she couldn't help but think if she just threw in something pale pink on the plate it would be just the right colors for Easter. Why that thought crossed her mind she had no idea.
Taking another sip of her drink to wet her whistle, she then began to eat. She took it slow and delicately. She was out in public even if they were in a private late lunch with no one else seemingly around. Plus she wanted to savor the meal. She had no idea when they would get to eat again. Sure they were going to an event and it would have plenty of little finger foods but she would be there to do a job and probably wouldn't be able to partake. Plus, if she was caught, this could very well be her last meal. She hoped not. She would have added Red Velvet to the menu if that were the case.
Part of Mali wanted to chide Zoie for the wink. It was too on the nose for her taste, and things like that could come off as a bit weird to others at best and a giveaway at worse. But the other parts of her that weren't so paranoid or would rather avoid unnecessary confrontation had her let it slide. An objection to the wink would certainly raise more alarm than otherwise whilst likely getting little of value accomplished. So she continued to eat in relative silence.
While just eating was fine, it didn't quite sit right with her in this context, but she also couldn't really think of anything to talk about. Back in her University days when she was dating Hannah, these kinds of things came easily. She could complain about classes, or Hannah would start going on about some new book she'd found or weird story she'd found on the internet and manage to keep it up for the next three days. The stark contrast in familiarity really struck her at that moment. It was then, looking down at her current forkful of quiche that something sprang to mind once more.
"Do you think Daniel would want to see the new Star Wars movie when it comes out December?" It was weird referring to Relic as "Daniel," but she figured it would come off as more natural to those around her than using a screen-name and better give the impression that they knew each other better than they actually did. It also occurred to her that maybe Zoie wouldn't want to talk about her kid brother in public, but Mali figured the topic was innocuous enough that it wouldn't cause much issue.
Zoie had lifted her fork to take a bite and froze mid movement. Glancing over at Mali. That she hadn't expected. The woman seemed full of surprises. Not only that but she seemed to be falling into this roll of pretense rather well. "You know, I think he would. He's a big fan. Careful though, he might have you camping out for tickets if you aren't careful." Zoie let herself chuckle a bit. Sad fact of the matter was, she wasn't far off with that. Daniel had camped out for several movie releases.
"It just popped in my head earlier that he might want to see it," Mali explained sheepishly. It wasn't often that a simple question made the person you were talking to freeze mid-action. "But I wasn't sure if he was more of a Star Trek kind of guy, and I didn't want to risk offense by up and asking him."
Relic wasn't exactly the type to get angry, but she knew well enough how easy it could be to set off the nerdy types by saying the wrong thing about the wrong franchise. She was pretty sure that the majority of animosity between Trekkies and Star Wars fans had died out years ago, but she didn't really pay too much attention to either. So for all she knew, above even the Juno stuff there was an even greater shadow war going on between the two fanbases for ultimate control. Concerns of accidentally pressing one of Relic's buttons alleviated, Mali finished up her plate and set aside the dishes to be taken up by the staff. Or whatever they did here.
"Ready to finish up here, Zoie?"
