Late night noodles

[Anonymous]

It had been a long night, trying to keep the city together and Harmony was worn out. And he needed some food. Coffee just didn't cut it after a while. So he had called it a night and was strolling through the streets, heading to his favorite noodle stand.

Any place that had "meat surprise" couldn't be all bad.

It was a little hole in the wall place, like every place in Teinar. Filthy, cramped and delicious. Ordering a bowl of the noodles, Harmony took a seat in front of the stand, digging into the food with obvious relish. This was as close as he was ever going to get to the divine.

[Tally]

Crap.

Harmony was only a block away, in the same direction that Temple and Cyrus were heading.  Temple had encountered his mind several minutes ago and had tried to steer them off in another direction, but Cyrus wasn't being especially malleable today.

Harmony was so much more difficult to manipulate than Conrad had been.  Temple had adopted a strategy of avoidance.  Whereas he could have convinced Conrad he was no threat and might have been able to bring the man into perspectives of Temple's choosing, Harmony wasn't worth the risk of it.  He wanted Harmony to forget about him, and had been doing a decent job of ensuring he didn't end up wherever Harmony was.

As they came within sight of the food stand he glanced at Cyrus.  Hopefully neither of them would notice the other.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Don't see why ya always gotta be so damned stubborn," Cyrus was grouching as they headed for the stand. Here he was, trying to do a nice thing like get them a bite to eat and the Pilot goes all weird, trying to redirect them. He didn't know what the kid's problem was, but whatever, he was hungry, they were almost there, and he had his heart set on the delicious food he could smell wafting from the place.

He lead them both to the front and placed his order, then elbowed Temple. "Whatcha want? Personally, I'd suggest the number two."

It was a rather tasty number, noodles in a spicy sauce. With small, colorful beetles in it. That were alive. Cooking them just ruined the flavor, otherwise they tasted kind of like chicken and had a very satisfying crunch with a nice burst of juicy flavor. Delicious.

He was looking around, scouting out a place to sit while Temple ordered when he saw him--Harmony. Smiling, Cyrus gave the man a wave. "Well, hello, stranger!"

[Anonymous]

Harmony looked up and saw Cyrus and gave him a small smile, nodding his head, "Ah. Hello. I see you have good taste in food." He liked the solider, found him useful and reliable. He didn't take much shit and never gave him shit in return. Knew how to follow orders well.

And then his eyes fell on the other man with him, the pretty boy Pilot. Harmony hadn't really decided what he was going to do with him yet. He still might be useful, so he wouldn't get rid of him yet. But he also wasn't sure he wasn't a threat to Teinar.

He studied the man, slurping his broth, his favorite being hot enough to make most people cry and had mystery meat in it. He never asked what it was and they never told.

"I see yer out and about tonight."

[Tally]

Well shit. That had gone exactly as he hoped it wouldn't.  They'd seen each other and now he was going to have to hang out with Harmony for the gods knew how long.  He'd gotten to the point where he could tolerate Cyrus's company, but Harmony was another matter.  He was trying to make the man forget about them. Difficult to do when they'd be dining together.

Temple gave Harmony a simple nod by way of greeting, then let Cyrus take over the man's attention.  He balked at the menu before him.

"Nothing for me, thanks."  Some of this stuff didn't sound genuinely edible.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Yeah, and I'm the lucky sod got stuck playing babysitter," Cyrus said, scooping up his bowl as soon as his order came up. He grabbed a set of chopsticks and stabbed a chunk of beetle meat as he waited on Temple, took a bite, then used some of the condiments up front to season his meal until it was adequately spicy.

He popped the rest in his mouth and crunched down on it with obvious relish. It still had the shell half on and a number of legs still attached, but that's what gave it its tasty texture. "And apparently he's on hunger strike. Whatcha mean, nothing? Ya ain't even eaten yet," he said, spearing another large chunk of meat and trying hard to hide his grin.

Alright, so he hadn't brought princess here out of the goodness of his heart. Aedolians, he'd heard, found the idea of eating insects appalling and he'd been sort of dying to find out if that was really true--much less if a Pilot could really be that precious. So far, Violet had been proving pretty dainty.

He waggled the meat chunk at Temple, and some of the legs that were still attached twitched. "Don't be a fuckin' retard. Shit, I'm offerin' here. Get something. It's good."

[Anonymous]

Harmony ate a bit of his broth, savoring the spicy flavor. His seemed insect free, though there were some hunks he suspected might be just a large insect. It just soaked up all the flavor and squished in his mouth.

He watched Temple, unimpressed, one eyebrow lifting, "Well well. Pilot too good for our food? Fine by me. Don't wanna eat here, don't gotta eat at all then." Kid wanted to starve himself, that was fine by him. Save him some trouble.

[Tally]

Temple suppressed a sigh.  With Harmony here he had to keep quite a bit more control of himself than he bothered with when he was alone with Cyrus.  Harmony needed to forget him after this and that meant—the gods help him—that he was going to have to go along with everything and eat this crap.  Maybe even the twitchy, still-living delicacy that Cyrus was holding up.

He gave the soldier a flat stare before turning back to the menu.  He'd never been so grateful to be a psychic.  Never.  He delved into the mind of the cook and found the least offensive thing he could.  Some of the things they put in there were horrifying.  Mold and insects were not food!

What he got was mostly acceptable to him and heavy on the peppers.  The spiciness was the one thing about Teinari dishes he actually liked.  Make it spicy enough and you barely tasted the awful flavors.  Cyrus was paying for this one; that was the other good thing.

Temple took a seat opposite Harmony.  When he got Cyrus alone, he was going to tell him that he was not dainty.  He was going to tell him that pretty hard. And possibly pin Cyrus to the ceiling for thinking it.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Since Temple didn't want it, Cyrus grinned widely at the Pilot and popped the still-living thing in his mouth, chewing with far more relish than was necessary. Still grinning smugly as Temple turned to the menu, he joined Harmony at the table, sliding into a seat to the man's right.

"Pffft, don't think Violet's got anything left to starve away," he said, looping some noodles around the chopsticks and shoveling them into his mouth. "Some military program Aedolis got. They musta skimped out on the milk and protein. Speaking of protein..."

Temple had joined them at the table and he just couldn't help but notice that he'd gotten one of the only dishes on the menu that didn't have meat in it. Plucking up several of the beetles in his own dish, Cyrus plopped them into Temple's bowl. "There. It'll put hair on your chest an' muscle on your bones."

[Anonymous]

Harmony grinned slightly as he watched the two banter. Taking another bite, he watched Temple get a gift of several beetles, "Mmmm. Must have made a good impression. Those are the best part Princess."

How someone this...frail had managed to make it into the Aedolian military worried Harmony. It meant his mind tricks were obviously dangerous. Kid could handle his spice though, that was good. So many outsiders whined about how hot things were here.

[Tally]

Temple gritted his teeth and forced a smile at Cyrus.  Not a very nice smile. More like an I-hate-you-please-die smile. "Thank you.  I was so afraid I'd get out of here without getting to try one of these."

Oh lovely!  Another nickname, this one even worse than Violet.  Violet he was actually starting to get use to, Cyrus said it so much.  And his eyes were purple.  Where had Harmony got 'Princess' from anyway?  The worst part was he couldn't say a damn thing about it, not to Harmony, not yet.  His situation was still too tenuous.

He poked around at the beetles in his bowl. The still living and crawling beetles.  He'd eat one he just...needed to work himself up to it.  "What do you call these things any—hey!"

He leaned forward to stare right into Cyrus's eyes so he could get a better look.  He'd never noticed their color before, but they were purple!  This?  This was going to make his day.  "Your eyes are violet!"

He sat back and shook with laughter.  "They're even a light violet! They're pastel!"

[Rhi-Rhi]

Cyrus knew he was being a bad, bad man, but he was loving every second of this. With Harmony around, the Pilot was obviously on his best behavior--which meant Cyrus could fuck with him and he couldn't do shit. He returned Temple's tight smile with an annoyingly chipper one and beamed a grin at Harmony.

"Yeah, he made some sorta impression, that's for..."

He trailed off. Temple was staring at him, soul-gazing, in fact, and Cyrus looked back and forth uncomfortably and leaned back in his chair. The hell was he looking at him like that for? Unless it was a literal soul-gaze and he was literally fiddling around in his fucking head right now like he'd told him a million times to leave it well alone.

Just as he was about to ask why he was making creepy doe-eyes at him, all was explained.

"What?"

...Well, shit.

Wasn't like he spent much time in front of a mirror prettying up. Somehow, he realized with dawning horror, he'd forgotten that itty bitty detail.

He reeled back in his seat and made a point of staring down at his food. "Ya shut your mouth, they're not! Fuck, ya needa get your eyes checked too? They're not violet, dipshit, they're gray. They just...it's this lighting."

[Anonymous]

Harmony blinked, not really expecting that turn of events. He had never payed much attention to Cyrus's looks and he leaned forward. The man did have purple eyes. Lips quirking up, Harmony chuckled, "Well well. Looks like the Pilot got you on that one Cyrus."

Watching those two was like watching some play or comedy. Funny as shit, though slightly childish.

[Tally]

Temple pounded a fist on the table.  He could not stop laughing.  Cyrus eyes were such a pretty violet!  Oh gods, how perfect.

"Well," he said as soon as he could talk again, "then that is a really purple shade of gray.  Oh sure.  Yes.  The lighting.  Absolutely.  I know in the right lighting my hair is blonde, so yeah."

He caught up one of the beetles between his chopsticks and held it up to Cyrus.  "Cheers, Violet!"  And he popped it into his mouth.  It was every bit as disgusting as he thought it would be, not so much the taste but just the texture, juicy and gooey and runny with that distinctive crunch of the shell.  He would eat these things all day every day if it shut them up.  He would prefer not to, but this was what passed for respectable in Teinar.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Cyrus groaned and rolled his--very violet--eyes at the both of them. "Stop validatin' him, Harmony!" he grumbled, not at all amused by the spectacle Temple was currently making and annoyed that he could feel his face heating over it.

"Fuck! It ain't that funny!" And when Temple had the gall to call him 'Violet', the only thing that stopped him from slugging him right in his pretty face was Harmony's presence. Didn't want to make a scene.

With a growl, he stared down at his own food and violently speared one of the bugs. "If I weren't so opposed to hittin' girls, you'd be on the fuckin' floor right now."

[Anonymous]

"Sure it is." Harmony took another bite of his noodles, enjoying them when suddenly his radio crackled and a voice spoke from it, "Sir? There is uh...a problem."

"What happened?" Harmony silently swore, setting down his chopsticks.

"I would rather tell you in person Sir."

"Fine. I'll be right there." With a sigh, Harmony stood and nodded to the other two, "Well, enjoy yer meal. Don't cause any trouble, Violet." He made sure to leave it unclear which of the two he was talking to with that comment and headed back to headquarters. It was going to be a very long night.

[Tally]

Temple stopped laughing, and the humor in his eyes took on a dark cast.  He knew full well that he could look convincingly sinister when he wanted.  His face was lent to delicacy, but also to malevolence.

He watched Harmony leave and waited until he was out of hearing range before saying anything to Cyrus.  "Like I said, anytime.  You just find a place where I won't get arrested for beating the crap out of you."

[Rhi-Rhi]

Cyrus glowered at Harmony's back but chose to believe that that was directed at Temple. It made him happier that way.

As soon as Harmony was gone, though, it was cats and dogs all over again. Cyrus jabbed the chopsticks--with the beetle still wriggling at the end--at Temple. He gestured with them to accentuate his words. "I know plenty of places, princess," he said, adopting Harmony's nickname. Less ambiguous! "So ya pick the time and we're there!"

The beetle flew off the chopsticks and into Temple's lap.

[Tally]

The beetle stopped in midair, then floated upward, little legs wiggling.

"As I said, anytime.  Now where should this end up?"  He spun the beetle slowly.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Cyrus's eyes went wide and he jerked backwards, chair skidding across the ground in his haste to get away. "Stop that! Put it down! Now! Put it down!"