Stoke or Slake

Posted on Fri 7th Jun, 2019 @ 11:54pm by Anne da Silva

1,011 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Shake 'n' Slake, Tivoli Gardens
Timeline: MD 4, 17:00

They were girls, on the cusp of being women. The one on the right was Human, with cinnamon colored hair and chocolate brown eyes. The one on the left was a Lamian, humanoid from the hips up, but with the lower body of a snake. Her scales were a delicate color of green which was almost matched by the dreadlocked hair growing from her scalp. Both girls were wearing pleated tartan skirts with white lawn shirts and blue blazers. The lapels of the blazers showed the same tartan as their skirts, and there was a patch on the left side of the chest which showed a crowned sword between two fleurs-de-lis.

There was a tension between them. The way they didn't quite meet each others' eyes, the carefully calculated distance they stood apart from each other, a thousand other little clues of posture and action told of the strain. "What does 'slake' mean, anyway?" the Lamian girl asked.

The Human girl opened the door of the restaurant. "It's a thing that happens to fires, I think. Like, if you want the fire to consume more, you stoke it, but if you want it to consume less, you slake it." She held the door for her companion with her left hand; the thumb of her right hand fiddled with a ring on her middle finger.

The Lamian made a thoughtful noise and went in, pausing at the "please wait to be seated" sign, and her Human friend caught up with her. "Listen, Yucholl," the Human girl said, but was interrupted by the arrival of the hostess.

"Hello, girls," a human woman said to them. She had dark red hair and eyeglasses, which seemed as archaic as the restaurant's retro theme. "Welcome to Shake and Slake. I'm Anne. May I help you find seats?"

The Human girl frowned slightly at the interruption. "Aiko," she said, automatically responding to Anne's self introduction, "And Yucholl." Her brown eyes cased the room, noting the beginnings of a dinner rush crowd. "First available, please."

"Glad to meet you, Aiko and Yucholl," Anne said with a smile. She looked at Yucholl. "Hm. Which type of seating in here is going to be the most comfortable for you, dear? Even the best meal is no fun if you aren't comfortable. If there's a particular type of seating you prefer, I can replicate that or get it out of storage."

"Oh, don't worry," Yucholl assured her. "I can adapt to anything Humans use; my tail is quite flexible." She lifted the last meter of it from the floor and tied it in a square knot, as if by way of illustration. After a moment, her tail flexed again, and the knot traveled down and out of her body.

Anne's eyes widened. "You must do yoga," she said. "I have two spaces at the bar that just opened up, if that's okay with you."

"Please and thank you," Aiko said. What she really wanted to say was something more along the lines of "fine, whatever, just move it along!" She had, however, been raised in the traditions and standards of one of the most polite cultures in the Federation, so she smiled and sold the gratitude.

As they trailed along behind Anne, Yucholl nudged Aiko with her elbow, and mouthed the word "Yoga?"

Aiko shook her head. "Later," she mouthed back.

The girls took the indicated places at the bar. Yucholl settled her hips on the stool, and her tail coiled around the post upon which it was mounted.

"Here are your menus," Anne said and handed one to each girl. They were old-fashioned paper menus in clear plastic page protectors. "All menu items are available all day, and you're welcome to mix and match as you like."

"I'll just have a nothing sundae," Aiko said, setting aside the menu without even looking at it.

"A what, now?" Yucholl asked, her eyes skimming over the menu. "I don't see that?"

"It's like a banana split," Aiko tried to explain.

"Banana is that flexible?" Yucholl joked, remembering that Aiko had told her she'd ended up quitting ballet classes because she couldn't do the splits. Legs were fascinating and a little unnatural.

"No, a banana is... never mind; there isn't one in a nothing sundae. But you use the same glass... bowl... thing, and you leave out the banana, and you leave out the ice cream, and you leave out the..." Aiko moved her hand around, as if dispensing a syrupy concoction.

"You just want a bowl of whipped cream, with a sprinkling of chopped nuts and a cherry on top?" Anne asked.

Aiko grinned. "Yup. Oh... hold the nuts, please and thank you."

Yucholl shook her head slightly and looked back at the menu. Meatloaf she knew, and what a Hamburger was... but the rest might as well have been written in Tamarian ideoglyphs. "I do not think I would like a bowl of grit," she reflected.

"What? No, not grit, grits; it's a sort of... grain porridge." Aiko looked frustrated. She took a breath and reminded herself that most of Yucholl's exposure to Humans was through school, and through Aiko herself. The couple of times she'd come to dinner at the house, Dad had made haggis yakisoba, which, while delicious, was not really an introduction to North American Classical Cuisine.

"What do you recommend?" Yucholl said, setting aside the menu and looking at Anne.

"That's going to depend on what sorts of human foods you can safely eat," Anne said. "My personal favorites are the grilled cheese sandwich, fried okra, and tomato salad. We also make a luscious chocolate milkshake--thick and very chocolately. We use dark chocolate syrup to make it."

"Then please bring me one of each," Yucholl announced grandly.

"All right. And a Nothing Sundae for you," Anne said to Aido. "Coming right up. You lovely ladies just sit and enjoy yourselves." Anne tapped their orders into her PADD and then excused herself to greet another customer.

 

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