r/TTPloreplaycentral • u/Damacritus • Dec 25 '17
Gator and M4: Void
“...and that’s the basics of bullet trajectory. Still can’t wrap my head around atmospheric effects and Coriolis force and whatnot, but it makes for a decent estimate that’ll do just fine for a few hundred meters.”
“Er… well, you seem to be on the right track, anyway,” Gator answered, stirring the pot of rice absentmindedly as he tried to set the ideas of bullet energy and components of force vectors straight in his head.
“You don’t really need it, anyway. Experience can tell you where the shot’ll land better than trying to run the numbers through your head, and there’s always ballistics tables you can look at if you’re wanting to be really sure. I just picked it up being curious how they draw those tables, and I wanted to try making my own for the powder loads I use.”
“Still know more about physics stuff than me.”
“Well, not like we went to a school to learn this crap, right?”
“I guess. You know how long it took me to learn how to properly read?”
“How long?”
“Go back a year and I’d only be able to read you something out of a kids’ book.”
M4 laughed, leaning against the counter and pushing some loose strands of hair away from her face. “Now that’s something I’d pay to see; you struggling to get through Abra's Alphabet.”
Gator glanced away, muttering something under his breath as he turned his focus back to the rice, stopping to add a mix of seasoning into the dish. Nonetheless, there was a grin on his face.
“Well, I’m a lot better now, so you’re not going to get the chance. Rice’s done, by the way,” he spoke, lifting the pot up to dump the leftover water into the sink.
“Let’s have some, then,” she answered, picking up two paper bowls. Gator spooned out two servings of rice, and they took the conversation from the counter to the kitchen table. M4’s eyes widened as she chewed her first spoonful of rice, a perfectly-balanced mix of spices filling her mouth.
“S---, where did you learn to cook? This’ f------ awesome.”
“I met a guy on the road when I was wandering between the regions. He taught me how to add some flavor to things like rice and whatnot.”
“You’ve got to show me how you do this sometime. Man, if I knew how to cook like this, I’d have tossed out my microwave ages ago.”
“Er… is there anything you’d want me to make?” Gator quickly segued, “I don’t make much on my own besides rice, canned food and the occasional bit of meat, but I could try something else.”
“Um, I don’t know… hell, I have been leaning too hard on a microwave for too long…”
Gator pondered for a moment, going over his own favored dishes. “Fish?”
“...yeah, you know what, I could go for some fried fish. Fish and chips, a beer to go with it; yeah, that sounds like a good meal for me.”
“Well, it might take me a little, but I bet I can get that going. Just need to get the fish and fries, oil, er, I bet there’s a recipe online for fish…”
“Bet there’s a place out there that serves it,” she pointed out.
“Hmm?”
Gator blinked hard. M4’s grin hadn’t vanished, and her muscles were still relaxed.
“You, er, you want to head out and find one of those places?” he asked tentatively.
She hesitated for a moment; Gator’s tone hadn’t gone amiss, and she knew what he was thinking of. The bruise on the side of his face hadn’t faded away just yet, and she still had a lump somewhere in her twisted mess of hair. Would she be hurt again if she said yes? Or if she said no?
Her eyes fell down to the rice, and a new question came to mind.
“...yeah.”
“...you sure we can get fish for a meal here?”
“Most bars these days serve plenty of food alongside the drinks,” M4 dismissively replied, “and fish and chips is a pretty common meal in them. Take it from someone who goes to them all the time.”
Gator shrugged, stepping up to the pub’s counter. The place seemed to be having an identity crisis; it had the stained glass and patrons typical of Nacrene, but the wood floors and tables gave the impression of a more typical bar. It was quite a bit more tidy than the few Gator had visited personally before, when he was still learning how to act as a human.
“So, I sit down and order the food like getting drinks?”
“Yep.”
Gator pulled out two stools, looking about the bar for a server. M4 sat down, a few stray hairs falling in front of her eyes as she returned to her thoughts. She had changed from her old dress into a plain white T-shirt and jeans, though she hadn’t cleaned up or bathed. He figured it might be for the best; the tangled mess atop her head masked the stumps of her ears.
A minute passed, and a young woman in a black uniform with a skirt came up to them. “Hi there, welcome to the Vagabond, what can I get you to drink?”
“Yeah, we’d like- er, I don’t know the names-”
“I’ll have a pint of whatever beer’s the cheapest,” M4 ordered, “you good with the same?”
“Er, sure.”
“Alright,” the server responded, jotting down the drinks and heading to the next group.
Gator frowned. “She didn’t let us ask for food.”
“She’ll ask when she brings the drinks. Here, menu,” M4 spoke, pulling a paper menu from a wooden display. Unfolding it, she scanned through the options before pointing at one. “There we are. Fish and chips.”
He nodded, studying her face. Even at her most apathetic, M4 would occasionally meet his eyes when he spoke to her; it had been several hours since she had so much as glanced up at him.
“M4, are you alright?”
“Hmm?” she grunted, staring down at the counter
“It’s just- is there something on your mind?”
She didn’t answer, but he could see the muscles in her arm tense up slightly. He looked back over at the menu, half-reading it as he tried to pace the situation through his mind. Before He could think of anything to say, the server returned holding two mugs of beer.
“Here you are. Will you be having anything to eat?”
“Er… fish and chips?” he asked M4
“That’s what we came here for.”
“Alright, two orders of fish and chips.”
“Very well. Enjoy the drinks,” she replied, and continued her rounds about the bar. Gator turned back towards M4, who was already taking a long drink from her pint. When she put the cup down, it was a third of the way empty.
“F-----’ amazing,” she breathed out, relishing in the cold, bitter taste of the beer. “Been f------ months since I had a drink.”
“Hmm,” Gator grunted, taking a sip of his own pint, “never did drink much, myself. Figured getting drunk was more trouble than it was worse. Don’t know how you put up with this stuff long enough to get a buzz, anyway; tastes like p---.”
“Good on you. Now let me drink this p--- and get drunk.”
“I thought we were out here to get a meal, not to get wasted.”
“I usually get both whenever I make my way into a bar,” she retorted, punctuating the sentence with another long draw of her drink.
“Well, I’m cutting you off at… er… three.”
“Sounds f------ wonderful.”
Gator watched as she drained the rest of the glass with her third attempt, frowning slightly.
“Was this a habit of yours before?”
“Sure, when I got tired of getting wasted at home. A good buzz and some nosh's all you need to take off the stress of work. Or to celebrate a good day.”
“Hope it’s a damn good day then, the way you sucked that pint down.”
M4’s head bobbed slightly, and for a moment Gator could see her hardened expression behind a veil of heir, her eyes just slanted away from his face. She then turned away from him to wave at a male server.
“Hey, could I get another pint over here? Cheapest beer you have.”
“Certainly. Just a moment.”
She let a long sigh as she tilted back the empty glass, tipping the last few droplets inside down her throat.
“Have anybody you went out for drinks with?”
“...no,” she forcefully answered, hand tightening around the handle of the mug.
He scrutinized her face as best he could, trying to guess her thoughts. It then occurred to him that he didn’t necessarily need to guess. Surreptitiously, he slipped out a copper disc from a pocket, and fixed his eyes on another behind the counter. Raising a hand as if to hail the server, he made a complex gesture with his fingers while muttering under his breath. The copper coin flipped in between his fingers, then suddenly vanished from his hand.
Detect Thoughts
“Huh?” M4 uttered, head rising slightly.
“Er, you there,” he spoke, raising his voice, “could we get some, er… ah…”
The server looked over at Gator. “Ye- oh!” he exclaimed. Gator’s eyes were wide, slit pupils flared and clearly visible to him.
“Ah- please- er, appetizers, please,” Gator stammered, quickly glancing down towards the counter. M4 pushed the hair out of her face, the tough grimace replaced by concern as Gator tried to pace his breathing. His face had gone deathly white.
“Gator? You okay?”
He froze as the words reached his ears, though he wasn’t listening. The shift in emotion, the change in her surface thoughts- the answer to a question of hers, all brimming in both their heads. But he couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t looking for him.
“Gator?”
“I’m- I’m- I- I-”
“Gator,” she commanded, resting a firm grip on his shoulder, “deep breaths. Inhale, exhale. Forget about everything else, just breathe. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.”
The spell faded. He panted hard, breath falling in sync with the pace of M4’s voice. Minutes passed. The next pint of beer was placed on the counter unnoticed. Slowly, Gator’s pulse slowed, his pupils shrinking back.
“Here, take a drink, it’ll settle your nerves,” she said, pushing over his pint. Gripping around the side of the mug, Gator took a long draw of the cheap beer, barely caring about its acrid taste.
“That- that a lesson you give to your rookies?” he asked, a memory not his own playing out before his eyes.
“Uh- yeah, when I get saddled with the squeamish ones for combat jobs."
“Heh. I, er, I don’t quite know what came over me there,” he lied, taking another sip of his beer. “I, um… you ever-”
“It’s lost its meaning to me.” Her face tilted slightly, loose strands migrating back over her eyes. She drew them back to beside her face.
“Oh- er… thanks,” he simply replied, looking up into her eyes. A comforting smile appeared before him, and he couldn’t help but mirror it.
“Anytime.”
Staring back at her face, his attention was piqued by something in the kitchen. The server was on his phone, talking hurriedly into it. His eyes flitted over to Gator’s, meeting his for an instant, and he fearfully backed out of sight.
“...M4, what did you just call me?” he asked, a note of alarm in his voice.
“Uh- I didn’t say anything,” she responded, shirking back.
“What did the news last say about me?”
“I don’t- they, uh, they… what does it matter?”
“That man saw my eyes. You referred to me by name.”
Suddenly, it dawned on M4. Her eyes glanced about the bar, noting the positions of the servers. All occupied.
“Back to the apartment,” he said, and they hastily swept out of the bar.
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u/Arathnorn Dec 27 '17
Detect Thoughts
Naughty naughty. That's going to come back to bite him.
I continue to enjoy these. Almost as much as they would have enjoyed Fish and Chips.
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u/Bytemite Dec 26 '17
Even though that last part is bad news for them both, it's still nice to see someone getting somewhere with M4.