Lunch.
The communal ritual that replicates society down to the most atomized level.
The grand stage of social engineering.
In other words, an information gold mine.
As Fiona gets in line, I make an excuse about heading to the bathroom, which I proceed to do, before returning and getting in the back of the line. As I shift around in the queue, I take note of who's sitting with whom.
The gem squad swiftly claims their own table. Fiona and the PR girls join them, and my sister waves at me while I pretend not to see her. Blaze, Basil, Makoto, and William form a male solidarity club. Given the 3 to 1 ratio, I can't really blame them. Then Liyu and Mel join them, and I notice a bit of a three-way standoff between the pirate-lover, non-ja, and wannabe-cowgirl.
Yeah, I'm not getting into that argument. But maybe I could set it off one of these days...
Tala joins Mel a minute later.
Old friends. No surprise there.
Xavi and Olivia seem to be in their own worlds on opposite sides of a table, and there's no sign of Winona anywhere. Meanwhile, Quill is right between them, doing something horribly complicated to a lunchbox full of coffee beans.
Tala has one of the smaller tables to herself. Mostly because she has two trays of food and is proceeding to consume from them both at an impressive rate.
For the most part, Class A seems quite enamored of their new school and shared space.
But now for the important part.
One little indulgence...
"I'll have the Gong Bao chicken on white rice with extra chili oil and spring onions, please. Oh, and a slice of cake."
I'm a sucker for good Chinese food. There was this excellent little restaurant called Earth Dragon Paradise just outside and three stories up from my main lair. Food of the gods, I swear. That's why I intentionally drilled a vent near it so I could tell what day of the week it was by the smell of their specials alone.
The school menu is ridiculously varied, but somehow I get my meal by the time I'm at the end of the line. Quite possibly because everyone in the kitchen seems to have some sort of cooking-related Talent. It looks like a very cleaned-up version of that restaurant I like.
Now. Where to sit?
Since Class-A is broken up into three groups at the moment, I decided to mentally sort them out.
Group 1 has my sister and is basically the money and fame crowd. On the one hand, I like fame. And money too sometimes. On the other hand, there can be only one at the top of this amateur pile, and that's gonna be me. On the other-other hand, Fiona's there. At least I know she's sane, if naive.
Group 2 seems highly oriented towards people with more kinetic styles of combat. And Mel. I'm not above a good punch-up... when I have kinetic enhancement gauntlets, power and/or nanite armor, and a backpack full of tricks. I have none of those right now, so... probably not best to sit at a table where people punch each other as a form of endearment. (Even with a Rank 3 durability factor, I bruise easily!)
Group 3 has a psychic. I'm not about to risk sitting near her without at least an hour of resistance meditation, and she's also relatively close to group 2, so there's another risk. I may have the mind of an adult but... well... Let's just say I have a lot of mixed feelings about psychics after a certain incident...
Eliminating two of my three seating scenarios puts me in a bit of a quandary. On the one hand, I could probably endure the inane chatter of Fiona's chosen group. But I didn't want to.
Tala was my safest bet. My Group 4. But I had a bad reputation to maintain. I didn't want to drag her down with me.
New Plan: Stay outside of the social food chain until I am on top of it. Eat outside! It's a beautiful day-
As soon as I opened the door, I saw it was pouring rain.
When did this happen?!
At first I was a bit hypnotized. What a waste of a perfect backdrop to an aerial punchout... But then I realized that, having taken the side door, there was no actual way for me to get back inside as soon as the heavy steel thing clicked shut behind me, pushed by the wind.
Stupid lake-effect...
Undaunted, I turn and immediately start skirting the edge of the school to keep out of the rain until I find an awning big enough to host me. Which I do find, in a bike shed near the back entrance, that smells like someone was smoking. Without bikes in it, there's nowhere to sit, so I set my tray down and started on my bowl with a pair of chopsticks.
The taste is refined and elegant. The heat of the peppers perfectly matched with the chicken and just the right amount of hypoallergenic synthetic peanut crunch... The onions are even slightly caramelized...
It's heavenly.
But it's not what I wanted.
I sigh to the memory of late nights streaming while I worked on my latest tech. Of hearing my name in the news. Of being able to walk into The Grey Bar and instantly have its dark denizens turn away in fear... or at least buy me a drink first.
I should check in with Mrs. Cake...
But speaking of cake...
I lift a glorious confection designed by the peak of human engineering to destroy my new teenage metabolism by kicking it into overdrive.
The chocolate buttercream looks soft. There are shavings of white chocolate and speckles of cherry sauce. A cherry, a real, deep, dark Rainier cherry, and not some clown-nose facsimile, crowns a peak of coffee foam. But the truth of this slice of heaven is something I must witness with my own eyes, for the menu claimed it was lava cake...
"Smart move, going out in the rain."
I jump, and my precious falls to the ground, bursting inside its plastic container, it's rich lifeblood soaking the sponge and mixing into the buttercream...
Nooooo!
Winona appears out of nowhere. "Even I wouldn't challenge a lightning Talent in these conditions."
"You... you ruined it!" Sparks fly from my eyes. "Have you been stalking me?!" I demand.
"Uh, no. I was here first. You're the one who called out the whole school and Crusader. So if you've gotta hide because of it, that's on you. I'm just here to watch the rain for an hour."
As I snatch up my precious, I notice the pack inside her school jacket. "Uh huh."
It's easy enough for her to follow my eyes.
"Dammit, fine. You got me." She draws a cigarette. "Got a light?"