mayfield_rpg | Chapter 16 - We Are Ready To Walk Again

[Action A - 458 Stone Street, Morning]

[This morning's mail had a package in it for Dakki, and she greeted it with the usual enthusiasm that she greeted packages addressed to her.]

I've got something! It's here! I've got something!

[...which is to bring it to the kitchen table, tear off the packaging, and prepare to share it with everyone. Out comes a compressed blue item cube, that then immediately blips away in a flash of blue nano transformer light. And in the next instant there's a visor-like set of goggles upon Dakki's face.]

Oh!

[It's a bit disorienting at first. It's her own pair of goggles from home, but they're still configured for her previous audio and visual sensors. So there's some rapid blinking of her remaining active eye, and a hand comes up to start making some adjustments.]

Well there's something I didn't know I missed until it was gone....

[Action B - Neutron Diner, Lunchtime]

[Why not do something a bit different today? Rather than just fixing herself a sandwich at home, Dakki took it upon herself to have lunch out instead. Just a simple cheeseburger and fries, with a chocolate milkshake to drink... But it felt like a treat. Even if the most she could taste from the food was salty and greasy, the milkshake had a flavor profile more suited for her CAST senses. Sweet, creamy, a sense of vanilla, a sense of chocolate... She seems a bit lost in her own thoughts as she eats, but if she spies anyone that she recognizes? She'll be perking up and waving them over.]

Ah! Hello! Come on over, why don't you have a seat?

[Action C - 458 Stone Street, Afternoon/Early Evening]

[The "novelty" of wearing Mayfield clothing again is starting to wear off, and Dakki would much prefer to have her armor back on... if it weren't so dinged up and scorched and filthy. So that was this afternoon's project. Her armor was laid out in pieces on the front porch, and she was meticulously scrubbing out the dirt and buffing out scratches by hand. Every so often she stops and frowns and looks discouraged, but it's not long before she's back at it again.

Although there are also occasional periods of staring off into nothing and scrubbing very, very slowly. This is a CAST with a lot of things to process, it seems.]

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Great! I'll be sure to! I've got plans for the rest of the day, but sometime soon, alright?

[...and back to her milkshake. She takes a long drink of it, then makes a happy sort of sound.]

Aaah, it's so nice that this place has chocolate, too... there's so much that I miss from home.

Righto.

You're lucky. They ain't got practically anything from back home besides beef here. Guess that's what comes from being in a place that's supposed ta be America, huh?

Aah, the cooking is different from region to region, isn't it? Even on Earth... At least you can recognize some of the ingredients? We don't have "beef", we have koltova meat... but we do have burgers made from it.

[A thought seems to hit her.]

...maybe I'm not so much from another star system as I'm from another dimension, and that's why everything's so... strange.

Yeah. Different styles and different ingredients. We tend ta use more rice and noodles in our cooking, and America seems to have more pure meat.

Maybe? I'm still kinda new to the whole 'other dimensions and universes' thing.

Aah, rice! There are some dishes here that call for it... there's something similar in Neudaiz cuisine. But you're right, it doesn't get used much, here.

[She picks up the remaining bit of her cheeseburger and finishes it off, letting Gentarou talk while she chews and swallows.]

I've had a little experience with it... but I can't even begin to pretend to understand any of it.

Yeah. But, I think I could make some sorta similar dishes using what they've got here. Not sure how it'd taste though. Cookin' ain't my forte.

[He wishes he had a bit of money to spend. That burger looks good.]

Kengo tried to explain it to me, but it went WAY over my head when he started using technical terms.

There are some good cooks here! I'm... not really one of them. I can make sandwiches! And pancakes! And casseroles! And.. that's about it. Maybe you could check around for other people from your part of the world? One of them might be good at cooking.

[There are also fries left on the plate! Although she's not going after any of them right now.]

That sort of thing goes right over my head, too. I'm a combat specialist, not a scientist!

I might be able to talk to Date-sempai to see if he's got a version of Oden made up here or somethin'. That oughta taste good.

Ah, Date! Right! He's a pretty good cook! Though I don't know how his attempts at oden have been coming along... he hasn't offered to share just yet.

I guess he hadta learn how to cook for his doctorin' stuff. Sounds like a good skill to have when you're in his line of work.

I suppose that's a sign that it ain't ready. I'm certain he wouldn't share not-good oden with people.

...why would a doctor need to know how to cook? [She knew Date, but didn't really know Date. There was a lot about himself that he hadn't shared... but then again, she could say the same about herself.]

I hope he's satisfied with his oden while we're all still here, then. He's talked it up a lot! I'd really like to try it!

Well, he travels a lot, I know that much. So, knowin' how ta cook is probably a good thing to have.

You should! And there's lotsa ways ta make it too. It's great in the winter when you're cold.

Ohh. That does make sense, if he's a travelling doctor. Mm... and winter in Mayfield is going to be here before we know it. Maybe he'll have the recipe ready by then?

[She prodded restlessly at the remaining fries on her plate.]

....assuming this place holds together long enough to make it to another winter. And they don't cut the power again and try to freeze us all to death.

Yeah...

[Gen takes a nervous look around the room.]

From some of the stuff I've heard, it does sound like it's pretty broken.

[Her voice softens and she leans in closer. This is a pretty public place. Best to not let the drones hear too much.]

It was never a very nice place. But it's been breaking down in bits and pieces. Maybe that will work to our advantage. I'm hoping that it will.

[He'll lean in too.]

I think it might. That librarian had one heckuva reaction to that photograph me an' Beast Boy found in that portal.

[Her eye goes wide, and she leans even closer still.]

You talked to the librarian? You... you found something? What did she say? What did she do?

Yeah. Apparently it was a picture of her brother. And she's not actually an old lady. Which got real weird when her voice sounded like she was 'round my age, with that body.

She's not... oh. Oh, so some of the Mayfield residents are just avatars for people? [Her astonishment hasn't stopped. It's an interesting revelation, and more proof that she was right all along, believing this to be a VR Space.]

So you snapped her out of... whatever act she was doing? What did she do then?

Yeah...and I don't think she WANTED to be an old lady neither. Like it was forced on her. By this 'him' she kept talkin' about.

She rambled on about the town a bit. How it was supposed to be a safe place for people, and just how control they've got over us. But then...she sorta went back.

So she was droned into thinking she was an old lady... and you even snapped her out of it... [Quite plainly, Dakki looks awed.]

...she went back?

Yeah. After a while, she started stammering and then back to old lady mode. We couldn't get the real one back after that.

So they droned her again, it sounds like... Still. That's something significant. That's something important.

Suupa important.

[He's not exactly sure how that phrase turned out with the translation-thing in place. Likely still sounds like engrish.]

I should've seen if any of the other things were given back to her. That was stupid of me...

Chapter 16 - We Are Ready To Walk Again

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