Famous Sichuan, New York City, Late Tuesday Night

[suitably_heroic]

Last week, Lana had insisted on going to one of the 'good restaurants' in Chinatown, and Atton had said no, because it was boiling hot outside and they were in Chelsea and he just needed an AC. This week, Lana had chosen to spend her break crashing at Atton's place and experiencing New York City right.

So it was time for a do-over.

Though not until about three bars into a pub crawl, and these past few weeks really was the most and the most frequent Atton had been drinking in a very long time. There were probably psychological reasons behind that, but Atton's therapist was in another galaxy. He was trying not to analyze that until he was in a better place to decompress.

Anyway, they were three bars in, he'd made Lana a promise, and so they found themselves pushing their way into Famous Sichuan at a stupid late hour for a Tuesday night.

"This place," he announced, "Is good, and it's open until 2 AM, which makes it extra good on a night like this."

Did he mention he hadn't drank this much and this often in a long time?

[[ for lana ]]

Comments

[unusual_sith]

Whereas Lana hadn't had this much to drink in...almost ever, okay? Getting drunk in the middle of a war was a bad idea, and she was pretty much always in the middle of a war.

"Oo, the good food?" Lana grinned and took a deep breath. "It smells wonderful."

[suitably_heroic]

"How are you with spicy, anyway?" Atton said.

At least he was still perfectly capable of walking straight, towards a seat in the corner.

[unusual_sith]

Lana could also walk straight! A little wobbly, but straight.

"I like spicy!" she declared. "Spicy is good."

[suitably_heroic]

"Then we came to the right place." Atton grappled for the menu. "... Right, I'd forgotten they do rice jello noodle," he said. "Gotta snap a picture of that one for Summer."

[unusual_sith]

Lana tried to figure that one out. "Noodles made from jello? Or noodles in jello? Where does the rice come in?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I honestly don't know," Atton admitted freely. "It just feels like something she needs to know about."

[unusual_sith]

"Wait, wait!" Lana declared. "I can do this the Earth way." She pulled out her phone and squinted at it, doing a search. It took a bit longer than normal, with a lot of backspacing, but she managed eventually.

"Noodles made of jello. Sort of? I think." She shrugged and went back to the menu. "Oo, tea smoked duck?" Things with tea were probably good!

[suitably_heroic]

Sorry, while Lana was doing that, Atton was sending off a very important text message.

"They also have hotpot," he said idly. "Usually pretty good too."

[unusual_sith]

"What's hotpot?" Lana asked.

[suitably_heroic]

"They give you a hot pot," Atton said, with dignity, "With very hot soup, and then you buy very thin things, mostly meat, to dip into the soup until they're cooked."

[unusual_sith]

"Oh, that sounds fun!" Lana said. "Let's do that."

Or suggest something else. She'd like that, too.

[suitably_heroic]

"We can always come back tomorrow for other stuff," said Atton, his mind already set on the hotpot.

(They probably wouldn't.)

[unusual_sith]

Lana nodded in agreement. "We can compare the taste drunk and sober, too."

For science!

[suitably_heroic]

Tasty science!

"Great idea," Atton said, pointing at her. "You know I've been drunk more often in the past four weeks than I have been in, uh... five... six? Eight? Eight years? How does time work?"

[unusual_sith]

Lana laughed a little too loudly. "I've been drunk more this week than ever! I think." She leaned in. "You know, if we get attacked by gundarks or something here, it will be entirely your fault."

[suitably_heroic]

"No gundarks!" Atton proclaimed, even as a waiter - looking not confused but bored, and probably used to this kind of thing - came up to them. "I came here to get away from gundarks."

He looked up and tossed out their order to the waiter in somewhat-slurred but still servicable terms. Then he sat forward. "There are no gundarks in New York City, Lana."

[unusual_sith]

"Are you sure?" Lana asked, leaning in again. "Have you been everywhere in New York City?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I think I could sense a gundark anywhere in the--" Atton waved his hand. "--I mean, as far as Boston or Virginia from here."

[unusual_sith]

"What if it was a different kind of gundark? Things change in a few centuries," Lana said gleefully.

[suitably_heroic]

"No," Atton said. "No."

Someone set his Coke down in front of him. He took it and sipped it. Belligerently.

[unusual_sith]

Lana sipped her tea gleefully. "You don't know. There are all kinds of animals on all kinds of worlds now. We have all new stalkers and sleens and makrin on Odessen! The makrin are kind of adorable, honestly."

She cocked her head. "What do you think a New York makrin would look like? Would it pick up cigarettes and bottles?"

[suitably_heroic]

"What, like the creepy stalker things made of-- stuff?" Atton said, squinting. "... probably wind up half covered in trash, neon, and old sofas."

[unusual_sith]

Lana giggled. "Oh, I'm just picturing someone sitting on an old sofa and it grows legs and starts moving! That would be hysterical. Should I bring you a makrin? They don't breed like gizka or anything, they'd be easy to keep."

[suitably_heroic]

"No," Atton said. Pointing. Literally. "You're not springing a pet on me right as I've finally found someone to live with who hates pets as much as I do."

Sip.

[unusual_sith]

"It wouldn't be a pet!" Lana protested. "It would be a scientific experiment."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton pulled a face. "I am a lot of extremely competent things but I am not a scientist, Lana," he said. "And I'm very happy not to be! Most of those people are creeps!"

[unusual_sith]

Lana grinned. "Have I ever shown you our chief scientist?"

He was something.

[suitably_heroic]

"Are they a creep?" Atton asked.

[unusual_sith]

"A little bit," Lana admitted. "But he's a Hutt."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton looked scandalized. "You have a Hutt."

[unusual_sith]

"We have a Hutt scientist!" Lana said gleefully. "Did you know most of them can speak Basic just fine, they just think it's beneath them?" Kind of like the French. "But he says science is his art, and he's really very good at it!"

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah?" Atton demanded, belligerently. "What kind of science, huh? Is it creepy science? It's got to be creepy science. He's a Hutt."

[unusual_sith]

"It's creepy science and not-creepy science!" Lana insisted. "He's really good with computers and droids and biology and physics and...lots of stuff. And he's got a dancing droid. And he helped us rebuild HK-55!"

Dwell on that, Atton.

[suitably_heroic]

"Rebuilding a HK droid should probably not be on your list of non-creepy things anyone could do," Atton retorted. "In fact, it's--"

Whatever it was, it was thankfully muffled by the arrival of the guy with the hot pot broth, depositing the pan on their table.

[unusual_sith]

"He's a very good droid!" Lana protested. "He's programmed for bodyguarding, not assassination. And the Commander set his parameters, even though he insisted sometimes cute things are deadly, which is a good point, but anyway, no collateral damage or unnecessary killing of 'meatbags' is permitted."

[suitably_heroic]

"It's an HK unit," Atton retorted. "All your arguments are invalid."

Broth guy dropped a large tray of very thinly sliced meat in front of Lana. Loudly.

[unusual_sith]

Lana gave the broth guy a winning smile. "Thank you!"

She turned back to Atton. "None of us are destined from birth to be only one thing. Why should a droid? They're even more changeable than people, with the right programming. I bet we could make him a protocol droid if we needed another one, but that just seems mean."

[suitably_heroic]

"I've seen what happens when you reprogram an HK droid," Atton retorted, blindly stabbing a few slices of meat to drop into the boiling broth. "It's almost more disturbing than just letting them be their creepy little selves. Pass."

[unusual_sith]

"Oo, what did you program yours to do?" Lana asked, dropping some more meat in the broth. "What's this?" She sniffed the broth. "Oh, very nice."

[suitably_heroic]

"Be nice," Atton said, with a voice that sounded like it came from the grave. "Let's just eat. I don't even wanna think about it."

[unusual_sith]

"I am being nice! What did you program it to do?" Lana asked.

This is what happens when you got her drunk, Atton!

[suitably_heroic]

"To be nice! Space, you're like a--"

Atton searched for an appropriate proverb from their galaxy and... couldn't actually find it.

"--dog with a bone!"

[unusual_sith]

Lana frowned, then lit up. "Oh! Okay. Well, nobody likes to be forced to be nice. Ugh, diplomacy is the worst. That's why I drafted someone else to be in charge," she added smugly.

[suitably_heroic]

"Oh, you drafted someone, huh?" Atton said, leaning back.

[unusual_sith]

Lana nodded. "The Commander is perfect. He's a good leader and he still listens. And he makes a wonderful figurehead. And he can do the diplomacy."

Occasionally with lightsabers, but not always!

[suitably_heroic]

"Oh, so you set up a puppet regime," Atton said. "Very Sithly."

[unusual_sith]

"No, no." Lana shook her head emphatically. "He's still in charge! But I get to advise him. He listens a lot but not always. Sometimes he listens to other people. But I don't have to do the diplomacy. And I," she added smugly, "get to go on vacation."

[suitably_heroic]

"Until we find out he actually turns into a little baby without you around and starts calling you," Atton said, and speared some meat out of the soup. "I had to fake my death to get out of that, remember."

[unusual_sith]

Lana scrunched her nose. "It's not that bad." It really was. "He's the one who insisted I go to Fandom to take a break!"

But you were still reachable then, Lana.

[suitably_heroic]

"Are you still using your comlink while you're there?" Atton asked.

[unusual_sith]

"Of course," Lana said, nibbling on a bit of meat. "Why?"