[R] A Matter Of Taste (Ari + Robin)

[kalindara]

Like any teenager, Ari lived for the weekends. Unlike most teenagers, Ari didn't use them to sleep in - she was up early and out the door, spending her free time exploring the city and finding new, interesting places. And maybe, somewhere deep down, she was hoping to come across something that struck her like lightning, a bolt from her past, or even just a hint of deja vu... It had yet to happen. And while Ari thought herself more practical than that, it didn't change the fact that she rarely sought out the same place twice, still searching for that elusive something.

Today, she had wandered from early morning markets over into an asian section. Possibly a Chinatown of some kind. Dozens of cute miscellaneous stores were interspersed with boutiques displaying fascinating fashions, sadly for much shorter, slimmer, more petite girls than Ari. Exotic scents hung in the air, and as midday approached, the number of hawkers trying to tempt people into their restaurants grew. Ari had shaken off several, more interested in the trinket stalls lining the street than in unidentifiable meals. Some of the smells were intriguing, to be sure, and the pictures on pamphlets were pretty, but for all Ari knew, they were advertising tongue of dog, or chicken foot soup.

This wasn't the kind of place you could eat without a guide of some sort.  

[Arrien]

Robin - for all that she claimed to be outrageous and beyond imagination - was actually a fairly predictable girl. All it took was the basest of understandings, and her actions in nearly any situation were anything but surprising.

Take this scene, for example. Robin was walking through a tight little street, surrounded by Chinese (and, occasionally, Korean, but only rarely ever Japanese) characters on all sides. A marathon of old movies the night before had walked her through all the favorites of her youth - Secrets of Nimh and Thumbelina, Never-Ending Story, and, the point of this little venture, Gremlins. She'd gotten to thinking, more and more, whether there might just be something behind the story - not necessarily that there were any mogwai like Gizmo around, of course, but maybe if she looked, she'd be able to find something properly mystical!

But soon enough, just as could be expected from her, she was diverted. The smell of food was everywhere, and Robin was hungry within two minutes of walking down the street. Even more enthralling were the menus here - not that she could read a damn word off of them, of course, but they were interesting, and that was enough for her. She stopped outside of one restaurant, nearly salivating at the pictures of various noodle bowls. Her finger squished against one picture in particular, a lively-looking dish with carrots and cashews and shrimps; "This looks so gooooood," Robin remarked lustily, her belly agreeing with her noisily. She realized that there was another girl near her, looking at the same menus. Her response was to move over a little, inviting the other girl to inspect the pictures, and plaster herself against the window of the restaurant. There was a family of three at the table right on the other side of the glass, obvious local customers that were sharing a large bowl together; the plates that they had in front of them looked so good, Robin wanted to just reach through the window and steal it out from under their noses.

"Look at the servings! The plates are so big!" It's like they were meant to be shared. And then her eyes went back to the girl nearby, speculatively.

As mentioned, Robin was a very predictable sort. And she was the sort that detested the thought of doing something new alone. The way she saw it (and how her mother had explained it to her, once), God had put a whole mess of people on Earth together - why should He expect for them do anything alone?

So Robin turned, smiling, to her fellow food-admirer. "My name's Robin, and I really hate eating alone. Are you hungry? We could split a dish!"  

[kalindara]

Ari had to check twice that the girl next to her was actually addressing Ari and not some other person nearby, so friendly was Robin's tone. For all her so-called confidence, Ari couldn't imagine approaching a random stranger on the street and asking to split a meal, as though they were long lost friends who'd merely lost touch a while back and then spotted each other passing by. Not that Ari was in any way offended - she was impressed and intrigued by Robin, who could so easily do these things that Ari wouldn't attempt. Which explained why she very bemusedly agreed to Robin's proposal.

"Sure, my stomach's been growling for a while now," Ari smiled back. "I just didn't understand the menus. Can you tell what's in the meals? I'd hate to end up ordering something like eel fin or camel hump. Well, that's what always happens in the movies, anyway." A deep red flush washed over Ari's cheeks. It seemed so gauche to be judging things off silly Hollywood movies, which no doubt were very cliche, somewhat demeaning, and often wrong. But when you were trying to catch up to your peers with only three years of memories behind you, tv and movies were the fastest way to absorb a culture.

"I'm Ari," she held out a hand to Robin, "Ari Knight."  

[Arrien]

"Robin Goodfellow." The pink-haired girl took the hand, and her grip was just as forward and confident as Ari might have supposed it would be. "And let me let you in on a secret: The menus are a trap. Place like this, all you gotta say is I want something spicy with chicken, what tastes good? and they'll figure it out for you." Of course, the risk was that they would then recommend whatever was the most expensive on the menu suiting your tastes - but hey, it wasn't like this was a real spendy place anyway. It was worth it to get a palatable meal.

"So, let's go in!" Preferably before that hostess at the door had an aneurysm, watching them with unnerving intensity to see if they were customers or loiterers.  

[kalindara]

Ari's eyes widened at the insider knowledge, before she nodded seriously. That was... a really smart way to go about things. Maybe there'd be one or two small surprises in the side ingredients, but nothing like finding out you'd just eaten someone's lost cat.

"Cool, thanks," Ari smiled as they entered. "So do you eat in Chinatown often? Or is that a tip for any and every foreign restaurant?"

Ari gave the hostess a wary sideways glance, stepping carefully around the woman. Not that she need have worried (much), since the hostess now had her happy, customers-yay face on.

"Just two, thanks."

They were obligingly led to a small table close to the windows, giving them a nice view out onto the street. Ari shed her jacket as she sat down, the heat from the kitchen making the restaurant several degrees warmer than outside. "Something smells good," Ari sniffed at the air. Warm spices, with an underlying tinge of garlic, wafted over the scent of various types of meat. Studying the menu the hostess had left, Ari looked up at Robin. "What do you think? Anything jumping out at you?"  

[Arrien]

"You kidding? That's a tip for every restaurant, ever," Robin laughed as they walked. "If you want to know what to avoid, you can't just flip open a menu, y'know?"

The decor inside the restaurant was plain, but not absent; small decorations and tokens, largely in the form of potted plants and Buddhist paintings on the walls. Every waitress at the place (and they were all waitresses) looked almost exactly like one another, and it was not just a case of ethnic blindness, but familial similarities. This was just the sort of place that screamed recent immigrants and authentic cuisine - as though the menus hadn't given that away already.

Ari's question brought Robin's attention back down from the room, though, and she glanced sparingly at the list in front of her before dropping it down. Instead, she turned her head to the side and nodded toward a couple in the back corner; "I think what they're having looks good. I wonder what it is?"  

[kalindara]

"Do you eat out a lot, then?" Ari asked, curiosity peaked. Robin seemed to know a lot about the subject, a veritable voice of experience. The idea seemed very exotic to Ari, a far cry from formal dinners around a table with the same few people every meal.

When Robin indicated a meal in the back corner, Ari obligingly turned to look. She could make out meat, some vegetables, and a very appetising if slightly spicy smelling sauce.

The waitress must have been keeping a close watch on them, because she returned very quickly.

"Ah, we were wondering about that dish," Ari trailed off, nodding to the couple in question.

The quickly rattled off explanation didn't make all that much sense to Ari, not recognising the name of the sauce or cooking styles, but she did catch the very important mention of "beef" as the meat in question.

"That... sounds good?" It was definitely a question, posed to Robin as the expert in these matters.  

[Arrien]

At the question of whether she ate out often, the girl blinked her eyes. "Me? Oh, heck no," and Robin laughed. "On my allowance? Forget about it! But I, you know, my dad has this coworker that did lots of traveling. All through Europe and Asia, right? And she has stories." Stories that contained morals of the sort: And that's why you should never use a public restroom in Thailand, or never bring your laptop along to a mountain temple. Learning how to order food in non-English-speaking restaurants was the tamest of the advice Robin had taken away from conversations with her dad's coworker.

Now the time came to order - and, clearly, Robin's expertise was going to be needed. Her ear skipped over most of the details of the dish as well - she thought she heard something about peppers, but Robin didn't mind a bit of heat with her meal, so she just smiled and nodded. "That's what we want!" she decided for the pair of them, with only a token glance to Ari to make sure the other girl was in agreement. The waitress seemed to shrug slightly as she collected their menus, but Robin took little notice; her attention was back on her partner for the meal.

"So! What brings you down to Chinatown today?"  

[kalindara]

Ari had to grin along when Robin mentioned stories. "Ah. The kind that itch away at you and make you think 'I have to try that'?" She could understand that. Of course, that was just about everything for Ari. Slowly slowing down as she build up a few years of memories, but still so many things she hadn't tried that she felt she should.

When asked what brought her here, Ari shrugged. "Nothing in particular, really. I just like to wander... explore... that sort of thing. I usually end up in a different part of the city every weekend. Hell," she laughed, "I'd do the same thing every day, if I didn't have school or a curfew." As it was, she had both, and gym visits to sneak in besides. So weekends were her only chance to explore the city.

"How about you? Here just for the food?"