O brave new world that has such people in it
Samus has been many places and seen many things in her lifetime. She's experienced a great deal of surprising events, indeed some of them on her own ship before. Surprise attacks, surprise visitors, strange transmissions and calls for help. She's never held the delusion that her ship's a complete sanctuary, only that it's as close to one as she was
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Samus examines the man - Jeremy, he said - for another moment. He looks reasonably human, and she knows from history lessons with the Chozo that humans, her people, originally came from Earth before they decided to branch out, so it's a fair assumption in this time and place. But she also knows looks can be deceiving. She wishes she had her Power Suit to confirm this suspicion, but shakes that thought away. She doesn't have it, and the chances of getting it back, from what this man said, are slim to none. Best to grasp that fact and move on, unsettling and appealing as the idea is to her.
"I'm Samus Aran," she says at last. Not wanting to leave it at that, to lose her chance to grasp the situation more in depth and form a plan of action, she considers the questions she has, trying to find one that won't betray more about her than she wants known while she's still uncertain of this person, but would still yield an informative answer. "You say this happens a lot?" Or she can settle on the stupid, already answered one. She really wishes she'd had that opportunity to sleep.
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"You like pie?" He's a bit more capricious than usual. That'll change real quick if she doesn't look like she'd be a challenge. But in the meantime, breakfast, and a wanderer kid who might be more than five minutes' challenge in a fight.
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"I suppose I could eat," she says. She considers the rest of his statement. "I've...never heard of pie." She hopes this isn't some sort of major Earth faux pas, and finds her hand inching up her thigh, toward her blaster, in case it is.
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Besides, she has to admit to having a vague curiosity about what this "pie" thing was. And whether the coffee here is as foul as the Federation's.
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There's a little 24-hour diner not far from the park, and he leads on, senses alert to anything unusual from the girl following him. And once they're there, he's just going to get them a booth, order them both some pie...
"Fruity? Creamy? Chocolate? Preferences? Do you have any of these things where you're from?"
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Samus is aware that she's out of the park now, on the street where the buildings she saw looming in the distance are now towering over her, and she can see the primitive wheeled transports on the roads that she had heard before. It's much more crowded than anything she's used to, and she's once again seized with the feeling of utter vulnerability, and another, deeper longing that makes her wish her Suit were here with her. She quickly pulls herself together, mentally scolds herself for feeling this way. She'll get through this. She'll adapt and survive as she always has, and maybe, eventually, she'll get back home.
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Yeah, he's a badass demon who hates people, but he likes pie. And if he ends up killing her, she'll have died knowing what pie is, and that's always a good thing as far as he's concerned.
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With the exception of "chocolate", she's encountered all of these fruits before. Sampled them fresh, not so much. The Chozo fed her real food, but their fruits weren't the same sort that humans grew. "I'm familiar with most of those," she adds, if just not to sound hopelessly rude, going mute and distracting herself while someone is ostensibly being nice to her.
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Hey, he's got an Archangel in his sights, life is good. "So, you're from the future, sounds like, and, judging from how you've been looking around, it's pretty weird around these parts. Am I right?"
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So far, Samus could see that this world had a strange sort of intimacy. Humans were so scattered in her time, colonies and cities being comparatively small. Even just sitting in this almost-empty diner, looking out the window at the vehicles passing by with their captains visible through the glass on the sides, and the pedestrians on the street, she gets the feeling this is more people than she's ever seen gathered in one place in her life. It's fairly daunting.
"It'll take...time to adjust," she confesses. "I'm not used to encountering such large populations of humans in one place."
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And oh, look, there's a waitress! He'll order them some pie... Okay, in his case, maybe blueberry pie and some eggs and sausage. A couple of pancakes. He's hungry.
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Once the waitress has stepped away, Samus leans on elbow, smiling just a little. She can tell from his tone that he's probably not interested in being her ally, although his agenda with his apparent kindness is beyond her. Until she knows, she's not letting her guard down at all. "Do you make it a habit to treat 'wanderers' to breakfast, Mr. Jeremy?" she asks him. "Or am I the rare exception?" She almost asks him "or just the women?", but she knows she wouldn't be able to conceal her annoyance if she had. Tread lightly, be diplomatic.
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His gaze sharpens a little as he looks her over, just for a moment, "You were ready to pull a weapon on me back there, I know that much. Military, police, special-ops... You're something. I was curious. The pie thing kinda cinched it." And suddenly, the speculative look's gone, and he's just relaxed and smiling again. She's seen a hint of what's under the surface, but just a hint.
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"I was a little of all three, once upon a time," she confesses, hoping this counts for something. Not that she's proud of her time in the Federation, knowing what she does now about them. "Now I'm a bounty hunter. A special sort of bounty hunter." Well, she was. If she ever gets back to where she came from, she will be again. But here...she's nothing yet. Just a stranger in a strange, potentially hostile world.
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He takes in the shift in posture and grins. "Don't worry. I don't feel like causing a scene here. We shoot the place up, where am I gonna get good pie at all hours?"
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