Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Nephew!" Came the loud cry from the somewhat short lanky man with the long thin mustache and lightly tanned olive toned skin.

It was a common cry heard throughout the rather large red airship with its pagoda inspired design. The people inside the long pagoda like building on the airship let out a collective soft chuckle and shook their heads as the ethnic man began shouting in his native language. It was clear to the customers that the shouting bothered the young hostess and wait staff member more than it did them. They saw it as quirky and funny. She saw it as dishonorable and embarrassing. They saw it as reason to come back. She saw it as reason to leave and was amazed when they didn't.

"I apologize for my father's behavior" the young woman said to the airship patrons.

Lin Fong, daughter of Li Fong, always felt the need to apologize when her father yelled at her cousin Chon Wang. Her dearly departed mother had always told Lin that the key to a successful diner was keeping the customers happy and wanting to come back. Her father did it with his food and her mother always put on a good face with perfect manners for the customers. If the food was good but the service was bad there was still the chance the customers would leave. It was a philosophy Lin carried on after her mother's death.

That's how life was at the bottom of Denia for Fong, Lin, and Chon. It was getting customers and keeping customers. People came to the noodle palace because the food was indeed good and Lin's service was impeccable but they kept coming back because of Li Fong's colorful nature. Fong was like that wherever he went on Denia. People recognized him as The Noodle Man or that guy who starts yelling in the middle of the Town Meeting. It was Fong that was the draw to the diner and the residents of Denia wouldn't have it any other way.

In fact, Fong's reputation reached far beyond Denia. People packed his booths because they heard of his good food and his short temper. They knew at any point during their meal Fong would chew out Chon in their native tongue so loud the whole diner would hear it. And then, there were the times when Fong would slip into the ancient wisdom of his culture. If it wasn't the free show or Lin's friendly smiling face that drew them to Fong's it was Fong's words of ancient wisdom.

Yes, the bottom of Denia was certainly an interesting place to run an airship diner from. A place made all the more interesting by those who came to it.

He didn’t need to be told twice and promptly jumped onto the dock. “Alright, I’ll save us a table.”

The first thing he heard as he walked into the restaurant was a shout of “Nephew!” and other seemingly obscenities in a language he didn’t understand. Sinsario stood at the doorway baffled as the owner of the cries; a thin and lanky man with a comical mustache, yelled at what seemed to be one of his employees.
He just shrugged his shoulders and laughed silently at the spectacle then looked around the restaurant for another employee, alas; at that moment the only three he caught sight of were busy with the angry man. He laughed again and moved slightly away from the door frame, sure he’s hungry, but the scene is worth the wait.

After a few stops after visiting the Cove, Meushi had flown to a few stops to drop off some goods she knew people of Denia would like. However hunger had taken it's place in the pit of Meushi's belly...or at least one of them. She was never sure if she had more than one or not. So moving on rather quickly she headed to the one spot that ALWAYS made her tummy happy. "MR. FONG'S NOOOOOOOOOOODLES!!" She busted through the door and gave a cheeky beak grin to the people who looked up. Not paying any attention she ran to one of the empty tables and quickly took a seat. She gigged with glee at the thought she would be having some of the best noodles every. "Maybe I get some beef with them this time! Or chicken! WOO Or have him make me something new! Or beef AND chicken and something new!!" She looked up. "Lin! LIIIIIN!!" She called out and then waited for the pretty waitress, while trying to make her large eyes even puppy dog larger.

(Response to both Meushi and Sinsario here)

Upon hearing the request of the strange blue man Lin went to the hostess stand and picked up a second menu. Turning back to the man she motioned for him to follow her to a nearby booth.

"Right this way sir," Lin motioned before heading to the booth to place the menus down.

As she walked away to deal with a customer who called out for her specifically, Lin called for her newly engaged co-worker, "Amy, two at booth six!"

Lin then went over to the small table and noticed a certain alien giving the room large puppy dog eyes. There was only one person or being that came in looking all innocent and cute each time she sat down, Meushi the Gaian living Zurg.

"Meushi, it's good to see you again. What can I do for you today," Lin said in greeting to one of the diner's regular customers.

“Hmmm? Huh? Wh-how did I end up here?” he questioned as he realized that he somehow went from the doorway to a table; not recalling his moment of a sort of insanity and clarity. First he noticed the two menus placed in front of him, then he noticed Penn “Oh hey, did you find a good parking spot? Uhm…I guess we’re sitting here!” He sat up straight and crossed his hands contently; smiled goofily at Penn, then picked up a menu looking for anything interesting to eat.

“Just thinking about my type of food!” he laughed. “Did you see the lanky guy with the employee and the fighting? They found a finger in the cabbage and the lankier one threatened to cut the finger of the other guy. I was just thinking that if he really did do it, he’d cut up the rest of him!” he laughed again with a maniacal tone. He knows that he probably shouldn’t make it obvious that he’s got a love of killing; in a restaurant full of people, so he just cleared his throat and muttered an apology.

“So! Nothing in this menu matters to me, I might as well point to a random item, ah let’s see…” He closed his eyes and pointed at a random spot “Squid in Casserole, sure…hmm fried rice…yeah I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask about pfeh- long pork. They’d probably just toss the finger at me, oh woe is I.”Placing the menu down he asked “Sooo, just for conversations sake, what are you getting?”

“I wasn’t lying when I said I had a crew of kittens. Nothing special, just adorable; I didn’t want to find a real crew, mainly because the whole airship thing was supposed to be a vacation. I uh, usually travel by water and have a real crew.” he just picked at his fingers hoping he didn’t have to mention what his “day job” is.

He added quickly to the rest “And surprisingly, no, it’s not hard to find a crew. Most of my crew usually involves actual other zombies, like the ones that expire and have no free will; when I have humans on ship with them I have to change them to not eat my humans.” He just shrugged and continued “Yeah…when I have humans it’s because they are outcasts or adventure seekers who will happily take on danger with their own mates. Sometimes other creatures join in; it’s nice to be a diverse crew.”

“Speaking of which, why is your ship only big enough to hold a few people?”

"An actual crew of kittens! Haha, must be fabulous to live so carefree, not bound to any responsibilities or duties. So you're a classic captain, then, interesting. They're almost going 'out of style' due to the advent of airships."

Penn twiddled her fingers and then gave a quick tug to her left ear. She did this when in deep thought. "Well... my boat was made to travel light and I usually travel alone. Plus... have you heard of Charon? The boat I have was modeled after his, and I always liked taking a boat ride over the Styx..."

Penn sighed, half out of nostalgia, half out of hunger, and then finished: "On top of that, Dis only allows a certain number of living people inside due to the Alighieri incident. If I recall, that would be... two living humans at a time who are not in a contract with us or with the president."