New to Earth [IC]

[KnightDisciple]

"That's why I said "my treat"; it means I'll pay for your food. Consider it a peace offering. As for the food...Hm. Sounds like we should hit someplace that serves a big variety. Good thing it's a bit outside standard dinner hours."

He thinks for a minute, before nodding.

"I know just the place. Plenty of variety and volume, and I won't need a loan to pay for it. Fly for a bit, and I'll signal when to land."

With that, he floats into the air, waiting for Jeni to grow wings again to follow him. At that point, he'd lead her for a while until they neared a Golden Corral. It looked to have some patrons, but wasn't completely crowded.

"It's not classy, but we should be able to get a corner without a whole lot of trouble. More privacy that way."

[Ecalsneerg]

Jeni again sprouted wings, and followed Gabriel to the restaurant. "So, what's the protocol for Earth restaurants?" she asked.

"Is there anything I should know what to do, or not to do, or what is done but not necessarily, and so on, so forth?" I am utterly clueless of these simians' social mores... it's more than a little embarrassing, frankly. She didn't notice her pun on mores in her mental process, as the Kaironian words for 'mores' and 'more' weren't actually similar.

[KnightDisciple]

"Don't call anyone in there a simian, ape, monkey, mammal, or anything like that. Not out loud. I'm serious. I may have overreacted, and maybe most of those terms technically apply, but if anything, it would go over worse. The average person doesn't spend time contemplating the ins and outs of biology, and so the term would seem an insult."

He lapsed into thoughtful silence for a moment.

"Try to be as polite as possible to the staff. If you do, they'll try to make yoru experience better. And they're working long, hard hours at nigh-thankless jobs.

I'll take care of paying this time, and explain afterward some of the ins and outs.

This is a buffet, which means we'll pay at the front, be assigned a table, and then we're free to go fill a plate with food. Try not to pile it too high, but feel free to try a bunch of stuff. I'll point things out, and tell you what I like. Don't limit yourself on that, though. Everyone has different tastes.

As for table manners, I'm sure you've got the basics, otherwise, just follow my lead on that. Probably a good idea in general. Let's go."

With that, he flew gently down to the ground, landing on the same side of the street as the restaurant, but still a few moments of walking away. He waited for Jeni to follow him before continuing onwards.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Don't call anyone in there a simian, ape, monkey, mammal, or anything like that. Not out loud. I'm serious. I may have overreacted, and maybe most of those terms technically apply, but if anything, it would go over worse. The average person doesn't spend time contemplating the ins and outs of biology, and so the term would seem an insult."

"I never called anyone an ape, any more than I'd call an apple a tangerine. Same general shape, totally different species. There we are, one foodstuff I've tried. Although tangerine skin tasted better than apple skin." She looked off into the distance pensively.

"This is a buffet, which means we'll pay at the front, be assigned a table, and then we're free to go fill a plate with food. Try not to pile it too high, but feel free to try a bunch of stuff. I'll point things out, and tell you what I like. Don't limit yourself on that, though. Everyone has different tastes."

"Wait... you can just pick up what you want? Without having to ration things to make sure they all go around? That's... novel. Although I did read your planet could sustain a lot of agriculture, whereas Kairos was quite populated, and didn't have the necessary soil for widespread growth."

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel gave her an odd look as they walked toward the front door of the Golden Corral.

"I...don't think you're supposed to eat the skin of a tangerine, though it's supposed to be okay with apples. Then again, you said your biology is different."

He shrugs, then smirks at her comment. When he speaks, his voice is lower in volume, so that only she can hear.

"Well. Not all restaurants have the "all you can eat" thing going on; just the places that use the term "buffet". The flip side is that, on average, the quality is a bit less at buffets, since they have to cook things in bulk. This place seems to hit nearly the quality of places where you order a set dish with a set portion size. It's one reason I like it.

As for food levels...well, we're still working on getting things better for everyone, but we do have a lot of land viable for crop raising."

The line was thankfully short, requiring perhaps 2 minutes of waiting. It seemed the interior was fairly sparsely populated, as well. They were seated without a wait, after Gabriel showed Jeni how to work the drink machine.

There were stations all over with all sorts of food!

"I can explain what's what if you like. Just follow my lead on the first go-round, and you'll get a better idea of things."

[Ecalsneerg]

"Hmmm," said Jeni, peering at the container of fizzing brown liquid in her hands. "Why is it..." she said to Gabriel under her voice. "Bubbling? Isn't water meant to be... inert?"

She took an experimental sip, and then grinned broadly. "But... wow! The taste! This is... phenomenal!" She took another, larger sip. "What did you say it was... Cola?" She frowned. "What kinds of foods do you have, then? Do you have strange, fizzing solids too?"

[KnightDisciple]

"It's a combination of water, some sugar, caffeine, various other flavor ingredients, and carbonation; that's what makes it fizz. And we don't really have "fizzing solids" per se. Closest thing would be a steak sizzling on the grill, but that's not really the same thing."

Gabriel himself had gotten water. He glanced around at the various food stations, ignoring the handful of stares he got (perhaps tourists not used to the city's glut of heroes?), before guiding the two of them to the side of the room with Italian, Chinese, and American "home cooking" stations.

"Pretty much any of this is good."

He started loading his own plate up, walking past various points, carefully choosing choice bits of food.

[Ecalsneerg]

Jeni's eyes widened at all the foodstuffs laid out across the tables. "<Wooooah>," she said in a low voice in a strange alien tongue, the word drawn out despite seemingly being only one short syllable. "And you just... take what you want?"

She followed Gabriel's lead, and picked up some of the foods, following his lead for some items of food, and in other cases deciding to take something that looked a funny colour, or had an odd texture, or was covered in sauce. "Is that enough to not stand out?" The plate, while not overflowing, looked decidedly full especially considering Jeni's stature.

[KnightDisciple]

Jeni's eyes widened at all the foodstuffs laid out across the tables. "<Wooooah>," she said in a low voice in a strange alien tongue, the word drawn out despite seemingly being only one short syllable. "And you just... take what you want?"

"That's the idea. Whatever strikes your fancy, really. Some combos might get you odd looks, but in this city, who knows. Courtesy would generally say not to take everything that's out of any one thing, assuming there's more than one piece or whatnot."

She followed Gabriel's lead, and picked up some of the foods, following his lead for some items of food, and in other cases deciding to take something that looked a funny colour, or had an odd texture, or was covered in sauce. "Is that enough to not stand out?" The plate, while not overflowing, looked decidedly full especially considering Jeni's stature.

Gabriel glanced back at her plate size, one that had just a bit more than his own.

"That looks fine. Probably no more on any one trip; your build doesn't look like a "big eater" type or anything. Besides, this way you can take your time and try stuff out more."

[Ecalsneerg]

"That's the idea. Whatever strikes your fancy, really. Some combos might get you odd looks, but in this city, who knows. Courtesy would generally say not to take everything that's out of any one thing, assuming there's more than one piece or whatnot."

"Makes sense," nodded Jeni. "I just can't get over the fact that there's all this choice, though."

"That looks fine. Probably no more on any one trip; your build doesn't look like a "big eater" type or anything. Besides, this way you can take your time and try stuff out more."

"But how could anyone possibly try all of it?" she asked, sitting down at the table with Gabriel. "Although I do generally have to eat a lot, because believe me, changing form takes a lot of energy. It gets really difficult when I'm tired or hungry." She speared a bit of bacon with a fork and chewed on it pensively.

[KnightDisciple]

"Like I said, the whole idea behind places like this is "choice". It's what brings in the business."

He sat down, slowly working at his plate as he chatted with the alien woman.

"You come here multiple times. Seriously, that's likely the intended goal: present so many choices you have to make multiple visits just to try them all.

I have to eat more than normal, too. My body has to generate all that extra energy for my sonic powers; I have the same trouble doing as much when I'm low on energy and sleep."