Our Last Days as Children

[Zach Kaiser]

"Alright, sure, we'll each have a glass. Of...uh..." Eld leaned over to look at the list the waiter was suddenly holding out. Naturally, he didn't have any idea what the difference was between any of them, so he just picked a reasonably well priced one at random. "This one sounds good."

"Good choice, sir," the young waiter said, fortunately well trained enough to keep the irony from his voice. "Here's a few menus for you to look over while I get your drinks."

They'd have a few minutes to look those over before the waiter returned with a porcelain pitcher of sake and a pair of small, matching glasses. "Here you are. Are you ready to order, or would you like a few more minutes?"

[Nayt]

Etsu nodded her head to the both of them when Eld made a decision. She really had no idea what to order either when it game to sake, either. She sort of figured the more expensive the better, though, but Eld was probably watching his costs here. Well, that was fine. She was probably going to be ordering a grand sort of dinner, anyways. Which she began investigating while they waited on the man to come back. She flipped through the menu, checked things like appetizers (which were odd; restaurants back where she came from had no such things), concluded that seared ahi tuna was the best possible idea to ever exist, and had her heart set on that for the entirety of her dinner.

Except that wasn't really an entree, so she was going to have to put in two orders and ask that they both be on the same plate and-- well, the waiter was back, and with their sake, so it did no good to keep repeating the order in her head anymore. Etsu consequently put that order in, and once Eld put in his, too, they'd both be left alone with their rice wine.

"I do not know how this work . . ." she whispered, half afraid that someone around her would hear and judge her harshly, "Do we just . . . pour and drink? Or do we make 'toast?' I have seen peopr-re do that. But I have seen them pour and drink, too. Ano . . ."

Etsu shrugged her shoulders. Eld could dictate the methods here. He was buying, after all. It was only right to give him total say in at least something.

[Zach Kaiser]

For his own dinner, Eld decided to order some sushi. This was all...well, a little more expensive than he would have liked, but it was kind of a special occasion now. He'd just have to put in some extra time at the clinic to make up for it.

And now that Etsu was going to be earning even more of an income, he figured she could pay next time he took her shopping.

As for the sake, he wasn't terribly sure either. He knew he'd seen his father and grandfather drink some before, but he hadn't been paying attention to how. "Well...why don't we make a toast?" he suggested. He wasn't sure it mattered either way, but he had something in mind.

After pouring them each a glass, he raised his. "To your new modeling career." He was a little surprised that rather than teasing her, he actually gave her a genuine smile and meant it. Even if the situation had been a little absurd, it was still a pretty good accomplishment to pull off what Etsu did, he supposed.

[Nayt]

"I . . ." she trailed off, momentarily wide eyed and blushing.

He really meant that and everything! At first she just wanted to assume that Eld was making fun of her and she'd just have do counter with something or the rather, but no, he was seriously proposing a toast to her new modeling career, and the whole notion struck her as crazy . . . and . . . well . . .

Flattering.

"Okay."

Etsu couldn't help herself. She actually smiled a little, even though it was just a twinge at the corners of her her lips. That was sweet of him to say and it actually made her pretty happy, so she lifted her cup and lightly clinked it against Eld's. And then, not exactly knowing how best to drink sake, she proceeded to set the cup to her lips, shut her eyes, lean her head back, and drink it as if it were water--just straight down, all in one gulp. Except this was not water. Some may have claimed that it tasted like water, but those folk were wrong.

This was stronger than any tea Etsu had ever drank in her life. And it was warmer, too. She felt, at first, a warmth travel down from the back of her throat to the very pits of her belly, after which the taste kicked in, and . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

After Eld clinked his glass with hers, he decided to down the sake quickly; he'd had alcohol before, and didn't particularly enjoy the taste of it, so in his experience it was better to drink it quickly rather than deal with it for an hour.

The taste was...definitely different. Not necessarily better, but different. He decided it might be better to take it slower, though; maybe it was just his imagination, but it seemed a bit stronger than he thought it would be.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked, pouring himself a little more. He figured this was probably her first experience with alcohol at all, not just sake.

[Nayt]

. . . it felt like she'd been hit in the mouth by a man approximately four times her size. Which was a decent approximation, because unlike most girls her age, she actually knew that pain. Etsu drew the cup away from her lips and stared at it for a long time. Eld spoke, yes. He asked her a genuine question which she probably should have answered, but she didn't for at least a solid thirty seconds. Instead, she continued to stare at the cup, trying to put words to the feeling she was currently experiencing. The pain really wasn't that bad, now that she thought about it . . . Because it wasn't pain. It was like being hit with all that force, but entirely devoid of pain. And then the warmth that filled her body wasn't necessarily bad, either.

The taste was, though.

Etsu set the cup down next to the porcelain pitcher, nodding her head slightly as she did. Eld was free to pour her another cup full.

". . . I think I wour-rd r-rike some tea, too," she added as an afterthought.

Sure, she was going to drink more sake, but the taste was utterly horrible. She was just going to drink it for the warmth and so she didn't exactly waste Eld's money. She wasn't that cruel.

[Zach Kaiser]

Indeed, Eld poured her another cup, and flagged the waiter down to order them each some tea as well. Etsu had a good idea with that; it would offset the taste of the sake a little. He'd often heard his parents describe things like sake as "an acquired taste," which he was beginning to think meant they just kept stubbornly consuming it until it didn't bother them anymore.

Outside, more thunder rumbled, and with a torrential hiss rain began to pour down. "There it goes," Eld observed. This was definitely a better idea than walking home right now; they and everything they bought would have been thoroughly soaked.

Shortly after that, the waiter arrived with their food. "Here you are. Is there anything else I can get you?" he asked.

[Nayt]

The sake was strong enough that Etsu could not justify drinking it in any way other than taking a whole cup down in a single gulp. It was an easy justification. The cups weren't that large, anyways. Tea helped, too. Once they had that, Etsu was able to take a sip of tea after a drink of sake. That made drinking it much easier. However, that came with the drawback of making it easier to drink. In fact, with tea as a chaser, the taste really wasn't too bad. Suffice it to say, Etsu-- at the very least --had a few cups by the time their waiter returned with their food. There really hadn't been much time to wait, either, about five or ten minutes or so . . .

Between the two of them, though, Eld would probably find that by the time their waiter came back, they were almost out of sake. They weren't really given that much, about enough for ten small cups--five for each of them, and they had maybe four cups left, if that.

Etsu was fairly excited about her meal, though. Too excited to notice their dwindling supply of liquor, or the fact that she was progressively having a harder and harder time feeling the tips of her fingers. She seemed all right, though. She could hold chopsticks fine, and though there was a bit of a red tint to her cheeks, she didn't seem to be socially changed by the drink at all.

That, however, was just because of her dish: a whole plate of ahi tuna, garnished with a series of spices all around, seared black on all sides, and cut into thin slices. The outer edges were hot, but the inside? It was as pinkish red as raw tuna, as delicious as tuna in sushi, and equally as safe. This was Etsu's favorite thing in the world. She'd said nothing to their waiter at all, and didn't pay too much attention to what Eld might've said, either. Instead, she quickly said her piece-- "itadakimasu" --picked up a slice with her chopsticks, popped it in her mouth, and smiled wider than Eld had ever seen the girl smile before. Hell, she even giggled a little after she swallowed the bite.

[Zach Kaiser]

While Eld had intended to pace himself a little bit with the drinking, the fact was that he was worried if he didn't hurry up Etsu would have all of it, and that wouldn't be a good thing. So he had another couple glasses quickly, justifying that those were two more glasses Etsu wouldn't have.

"I think we're alright." If Etsu were paying attention, she'd notice Eld's reaction was a little slower and more lethargic, but otherwise he, too, seemed unfazed by the alcohol.

"You really like that, huh?" He gave both of their dishes a critical eye; while all but the most simple sushi was probably beyond his ability to prepare, he might be able to make fish in a way Etsu liked. It would certainly be cheaper than going out if she started craving Cizokian food again. Maybe Grandfather can teach me some dishes. He lived alone, after all, so he had to be able to cook for himself.

[Nayt]

"Hai," she said with a smile, before taking another bite.

It was beyond delicious. It was divine, a true reminder to her of what it was like to be home. And it really kind of made her miss home. But . . . that was only a temporary thought, one she washed away as she washed down a bite of ahi tuna with a cup full of sake.

Which incidentally tasted pretty good. This surprised the ever living hell out of Etsu. The harshness of the drink was all but gone for her, now, and some of the taste was dulled a bit. Or maybe it just genuinely went well with tuna. She didn't know, and she didn't start making guesses, either.

Etsu picked up a slice and reached her arm across the table-- which was easy enough, it was a small table --placing a sliver of tuna close enough to Eld's face that he could just lean in and tug it off of her chopsticks with his mouth alone.

"Korede," she said, "Taste."

[Zach Kaiser]

"H-Huh?" Eld was a little surprised to suddenly find a piece of fish in front of his face. Normally he would have been rather embarrassed by this kind of display, but for some reason right now it didn't bother him. Leaning forward, he clumsily ate the ahi tuna.

"W-Wow, that is good." Deciding to wash it down with something, he drank the rest of the sake in his glass, not realizing it was full and he was failing in his determination to pace himself. He poured the rest of the pitcher out, filling his and Etsu's glasses one last time.

"Here...try some sushi. It's delicious." Returning the favor, he stuck a bite of his own food out for her to try.

[Nayt]

At first she looked about as confused as Eld when Eld returned the favor with a piece of sushi, but she happily leaned forward and plucked away the piece of sushi from Eld's chopsticks with her lips. She leaned back and savored it. Sushi was another one of her favorite things . . .

"Mmm," she hummed with a slight falsetto, smiling all the while.

She suppressed the urge to giggle again. For some reason, she was feeling exceptionally happy. It was probably the food. She hadn't had good food from the fatherland in a long time.

After another bite of ahi tuna, Etsu leaned in to take her cup again, washing down her food with another drink of sake. She was unaware that there was no more left, so she bothered to set her cup against the porcelain pitcher again, her usual sign that it was all right to pour her some more. That said and done, though, she gathered up about half of her plate, setting it aside, then motioned Eld towards this.

"Trade?" Why not get best of both dishes?

[Zach Kaiser]

This was by far the happiest he'd ever seen Etsu. It was nice; even when she wasn't exactly moody, after their camping trip she'd always been distant. He didn't get to see her smile too often, and he was fairly sure he'd never seen her smile this brightly.

He couldn't help but smile himself. "Sure!" He rationed out about half of his sushi and also set it aside. The ahi tuna had been really good, so it was worth it to part with some of his sushi. After all, he didn't get to have either of these dishes often. Or at all, really.

It was kind of a shame there was no more sake left, but it was probably for the best. It didn't seem to be doing much, but better safe than sorry. And he didn't really want to pay for another pitcher.

At least the tea was good, though.

[Nayt]

Happy with the trade, Etsu began to take bites from one side then the other, but despite the numb feeling in her cheeks and fingers, she didn't stuff her face or eat too quickly. She was fortunately taught better than that.

She'd actually started to get used to the sake, and was a bit surprised when a minute--and a quarter of her total plate--later, Eld hadn't poured anymore sake into her cup. She leaned in a bit, a quarter of the way across the table (unusually ignorant to the effect of gravity on her tank-top), so she could better see the contents of the pitcher when she pulled it down a bit to see inside. What she found was nothing but blank porcelain.

"Ware-ware . . . shinkuu desu ka?" she asked, and almost sounded a little disappointed.

It was pretty tasty when she used it to wash down a bite of tuna or sushi, after all. Etsu leaned back and sat down in her chair again, though not quite as gracefully as she would were she . . . well, sober. She was a pretty small girl, but she didn't seem all that mindful of her weight by this point.

[Zach Kaiser]

It was fortunate that he was already flushed from the sake, or because if he hadn't been he surely would have brushed when Etsu leaned over none too gracefully. He coughed in surprise, and counted himself lucky that he hadn't been in the middle of eating just then.

"Y-Yeah," he responded a little slowly. "It's all gone."

"We'll just have to have tea." He punctuated this by sipping his tea. It was kind of a shame that the sake was gone, as it had been starting to grow on him, but it was probably for the best that there wasn't any more.