A Tavern, Oia, Monday evening

[withoutverona]

After saying goodbye to Mel and finishing his shift at work, Romeo hurried across the causeway onto Santorini. He had late dinner plans he didn't want to miss.

He ordered an ouzo with raspberry syrup and lemonade.

It was good.

He ordered a second, and was about to start on his third as he surveyed the crowd.

[OOC: NFB due to distance.]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

"One of the many reasons I'm takin' a foray into monogamy," Reno smirked, knocking back the last of his drink and motioning for another. Without all the other gratuitous crap mixed into it.

Possibly just to see Romeo make faces at it.

"So, we gonna just drink and then take in the sights, or what? I mean, for a place named after a by-product of bacon, Greece ain't half bad."

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

Dōjima rolled her eyes. "Can we not remind me of the brain-damage that was one of my offspring? Please?"

"I think Greece came before bacon, Red," she mused, sipping her drink. "Not sure, but I bet we could find out. Could we handle mixing education and recreation?"

[withoutverona]

"You must have both been heavily drugged when she was made," Romeo said, wisely ending his comments there as he mused abotu the issue before them.

"Salty pork and ancient civilization? They might be about the same age." He lowered his chin to the table, staring at the liquid in his glass. "I could mix education and recreation, but possibly not tonight."

[raspberryturk]

"Education and recreation." Reno held up his glass- he was going to have to get himself a bottle of this stuff for the road, dammit- and stuck out his tongue again. "Sounds like a little bit of 'Red-ucation' time, to me, yo. If all we learn tonight is when humanity in these parts thought up bacon, I'll consider tonight a night well spent, zoto."

It was like being on a mission. Only with more drinking and less blowing things up.

Possibly.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"They thought up ouzo," Dōjima supplied helpfully, holding up her glass. "And, um, gyros, which are way yummy, and some tasty wines. I think that's all the important stuff."

[withoutverona]

Romeo waved a hand, sloshing his glass a little as he did so. "Mythology! Like the statue we had to chisel at in religions," he told Reno. "An' the Romans stole almost their whole religion."

"But I don't know if they made up bacon," he pouted. "Someone must've..."

Perhaps another drink would clear this up for him; he signaled the waitress.

[raspberryturk]

"No way," Reno said, shaking his head, downing the contents of his glass, and waving for them to just give him the damn bottle to parade around with as he pleased. "Bacon's eternal. Probably older than those statues we had to nip the tips offa in class."

He tilted his head, considering, carefully.

"That was a weird freakin' class. Wonder why it never touched on bacon?"

Aside from the teacher being Jewish and all. Reno wouldn't know the difference anyhow.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"So very glad I didn't have that class," Dōjima said, draining her glass and flirting pouting at the waitress for another. "I had our coolness class, and spying, and driver's ed. We got to drive the awesomest things!"

"Is bacon the same from world to world?" she asked, suddenly curious. "I mean, your bacon doesn't come from those fluffy birds, does it?"

[withoutverona]

"Biff was weird," Romeo declared. "Maybe he didn't want us all to ignore our gods and start worshiping bacon."

He screwed up his face at Yurika's question, then realized it was more likely directed at Reno. "Bacon should not come from birds," he decided anyhow. "Turkey bacon is Wrong."

"... and I'm off to see if I can figure out the Greek for men's room." He slithered off his stool and away.

[raspberryturk]

Reno glanced at Romeo as he made his way to the bathroom. Right, then.

"Chocobo bacon," he mused, tapping the mouth of the bottle to his lips thoughtfully. "That'd be somethin', wouldn't it? I don't think that's where it comes from. I dunno. I ain't a farmer or whatever. Some kinda dead thing, right?"

He glanced at Dōjima curiously. "Why? Where's your bacon come from?"

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Pigs!" Dōjima said cheerfully, taking her new drink as she glanced after the retreating Romeo. "How much earlier than us did he start? I didn't think he was that much of a lightweight."

Shaking her head, she grinned and turned her attention back to Reno. "I'm no farmer, Red, and I know the basics of where my food comes from. Steak is from cows, bacon is from pigs, and chicken is from chicken. Other stuff is probably from grow-y crap or something. Plants."

[raspberryturk]

"Growy crap." Reno chewed on that one for a moment, and then shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. Never really gave a crap where my food came from. Sheep? Boundfats?"

Actually, no, he'd rather bacon not come from boundfats. They were pretty freaking gross.

"So long as I could get my hands on it, it was all good. Don't think it comes from chocobos, anyhow. Pigs? Yeah?"

This revelation called for more drinking.

"I'm swearin' off bacon, I think."

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"What? No way. You can't swear off bacon, that's practically a sin!" Dōjima protested, still grinning. "Going out to an all-night diner and getting eggs and bacon at three a.m. is the best thing ever. You can't just abandon the bacon because it comes from a piggie!"

If she really had ruined bacon for him, this called for her buying him another drink.

Dōjima was many things, but not completely cruel.

"I think gyros are made from baby sheeps, but I have no idea what a boundfat is, or if any food comes from it. It does not sound cute."

[raspberryturk]

"I don't think anyone'd want to eat anything offa a boundfat anyhow," Reno said with an oh-so-very-expressive wave of his hand. "They're all... fat. Kinda jiggly. They bounce around an' shit."

He paused for further consideration.

"Though if that fatty bacon came offa one of those, I wouldn't be surprised, either, yo. Why, you figure it's gotta be cute to be edible?"

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"If it's completely repulsive looking, would anyone be brave enough to eat it and see if it was safe?" she asked. "I read somewhere once that the most brightly colored things in nature are poisonous, and so are lots of spiky things."

No, she's not looking at his hair. That would be mean.

[raspberryturk]

Reno had to consider that one for a bit.

"Boundfats are bright green and got spikes down their backs. Not for eating, zoto."

No, he totally hadn't caught the reference to his hair. Initially.

"And certain other spiked brightly-colored livin' things ain't that repulsive, are they?"

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Nope!" Dōjima beamed, taking a moment to order another drink. "Spikes aren't always bad. Hedgehogs are very cute, yo."

Yes. Evil. And?

[raspberryturk]

Reno raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"That's funny," he mused. "Boundfats got weaker cousins called Hedgehog Pies. They're the same thing, but red."

Somehow, the parallel was more amusing while drunk on ouzo.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

Dōjima giggled helplessly. What? It was funny!

"Our hedgehogs are wee," she explained, cupping her hands to show the size. "With wee little spikies, and noses, and button eyes. Seriously cute. I think some species can be kinda red-ish?"

The parallel was getting more and more amusing by the moment, really.

[raspberryturk]

"Hedgehog Pies are less cute, more... bounce around and light shit on fire, yoto."

So much for that parallel?

"What other stuff you got in this world, anyhow? I'm s'posed to be lookin' into this sorta thing. I think. Or somethin', yo."

Probably not looking into bacon and boundfats, but drunken research was always easier to delve into than the serious stuff.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

Dōjima stared at him for a moment. "I have never, ever, heard of animals manifesting Craft. Your world is strange, Red."

"I'm not from here," she said, shrugging. "My reality is very very similar, but just a half step to the side. Lots of things are the same, though, like history and animals and stuff."

"There's, um," she paused, searching her brain for something that would entertain Reno, and by extension annoy his boss. "Penguins! Aquatic birds that dress like Turks!"

Hey, they looked like they were wearing suits!

[raspberryturk]

"Birds? That dress like Turks?" Reno stared at Dojima for a moment, somewhat befuddled.

And then he grinned.

"I gotta get my hands on one of 'em. Maybe name it Rude or somethin' and teach it to wear shades. It'd be kickass. And drive Rude up a freakin' wall."

Wouldn't Rude love that?

"What's 'Craft' supposed to mean, anyhow? Like the boundfats with the fire? Lots of monsters use magic, yo. Ain't much of a stretch."

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Most penguins like snowy spots, so you'll have go out on a glacier to find one," she teased, gesturing wildly. "Better take your winter suit!"

Explaining Craft. Okay. She had managed to explain it to Rikku, this shouldn't be too hard.

"Sometimes, in my world, people have power," Dōjima said slowly. "It's a rare talent passed down genetically, and we call it the Craft. Pyrokineisis, telekinesis, psychometry, all sorts of talents. People who use it for good are Craft users, and those who use it for evil are called Witches. There's never been an animal that could do any of that, though."

[raspberryturk]

"Oh." Reno raised an eyebrow at at that. "So, people can just... use this stuff? On their own, without any help from anything else?"

Crazy.

"Where I'm from, there've only ever been a couple of people who didn't need some kinda outside item powerin' their magic, yo. For all I swear by my lightning-spells, I can't just wave my arms around and zap things, or whatever."

He lifted his shoulder and took another swig. Mmm. Licorice. "So, who decides the line between good and evil, there?"

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"If your powers manifest? Then yeah. You can just use it, although you run the risk of having your powers go out of control, or having it drive you insane or something cheerful like that." Dōjima shuddered slightly.

"The majority of the population is human, without powers of any kind. Even those with the right genetic combo can't just summon up magic, you have to Awaken, and there's no way to control that sort of thing," she said, tapping her finger against her glass. She needed more booze, damnit.

"As to the good and evil part, well, that's SOLOMON's job. They decide the line, and dispatch their Hunters to clean up the mess."