Twisted stars beneath my feet, I cruise the crowd

[designed2kill]

[[Feel free to treat Luka's post as a party thread, even if you were not invited by her.  Additionally, feel free to threadhop with each other or all pile into one thread.  I'm cool with anything.]]

It's 5:45 pm on Saturday, and Luka has just arrived at the Athena restaurant in Greektown. She's invited J and some of her other friends out to

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[allmydiredreams]

Babel is at the Athena. Or, more accurately, she's just spent about ten minutes outside of it, staring up at the building itself and seeing if she can feel everyone in the restaurant without losing a bit of herself. It didn't work out so well, hence the standing and staring blankly at the building for ten minutes thing.

But she's here (more or less) and bopping into the restaurant now. She gives Luka a little wave and her usual huge smile when she sees her tiny friend. "Hallo!" she calls, then darts over, ignoring the waitress and plopping down next to Luka. "Long time, no visuals, just journals and the network can't hold up completely all the time, can it? Not sure."

...she might be a little more out of it and nonsensical than usual, Luka. The narration apologizes for this.

[designed2kill]

Luka breaks out into a grin as well as Babel comes in. She waves at Babel to come over to her table.

"Hi Babel!" she says happily. "You're the first one here." She cocks her head slightly while she tries to make sense of what Babel is saying. After a moment she thinks she gets it. Or at least close enough. "It has been a long time. I've been absorbed by work. I should remember to see my friends more often."

[allmydiredreams]

"Work like a sponge," Babel murmurs, but does her best to bring herself back to the present, to reality, as soon as she can. It's not always good to fall into a fugue around people she doesn't know very well; she's ended up in more than one psych ward on more than one planet in more than one universe because of it. And none of them are ever fun in the long run.

So she plops down at the table, shaking herself out of her sweatshirt and draping it over the chair behind her. "Friends are things you have to keep close," she says, and her voice doesn't even falter as she does, "or else they disappear on you too soon. Before you notice."

[designed2kill]

Luka doesn't quite understand what "Work like a sponge" means, but she's learned that Babel doesn't always make sense. It's best to just go with it. She's sure the meaning will come to her in time. Or not, as the case may be.

"I'll remember that," Luka says. "I haven't had friends before, so I'm still learning how it works. I try to remember all of the explanations people give me, but I need to practice more to get it right." Only Luka would think that friendship is something that you need to practice at. The narration thinks it's cute, though.

[allmydiredreams]

Babel smiles at the practice line too. She's not one to fault other people in how to have friends, especially since half the friends she's had in her life wouldn't go so far as to describe her as one of theirs.

"Practice makes perfect!" she says in a singsongy voice. She also knows that Luka's bodybeat is only haltingly stepping toward confidence in what she is. So if she wants to practice, it can only be good, right? "Your steps are getting stronger," she observes. "Keep going on this path and you'll be a real girl!" Not that Babel doesn't think she's a real girl already. But whatever.

And then she's picking up the menu and poking at it, looking through it quickly and then peering over the edge at Luka. "Do you know what you're getting?" she asks.

[designed2kill]

Well, Luka's part of the half that would describe Babel as one of their friends. The only reason why Luka didn't describe Babel as a friend from the first time she met her was because she thought friendship was something she was not allowed to have, not because Babel's oddness put her off.

Luka feels a bit uncomfortable when Babel mentions becoming a "real girl." That's not something she should want to be, is it? Real girls weren't assassins, so she couldn't be a real girl. Being Arlin's assassin was more important than that. But she can't tell that to Babel, so she's going to nod and not think about it any longer. Instead she's going to think about what kind of food she's going to get.

"I think I'm going to have the gyros and steak kabob combo with a salad and then get an extra cup of soup," Luka says. She hasn't got a clue what it will taste like, but she chose that particular combo because she could try man different things in one meal. It would be a shame if she came here and only tried one thing!