concoursec | Let's go eat!

Entry tags:

Let's go eat!

Characters: Maria, Mikuru, and Zak
Location: Off to a Balamb restaurant!
Rating: PG?
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Maria wants to spend time with her friends. If at the same time, Mikuru's and Zak's raging mutual attraction should happen to kick into high gear, there's a pleasant bonus.

"At this rate," Maria commented to her two friends as she led the way to the garage to get the car she'd been allowed to commandeer for the night, "we'll be lucky if we can even leave Garden by the time spring comes around. We ought to get out for a meal now before things get any weirder, or worse."

Despite her ominous predictions, Maria was nothing but cheerful at the prospect of dinner with her friends, casually tossing the keys up in the air, then catching them as they fell. She had her weapon ensemble -- gunblades and rifle -- in the case danging from her other hand. Just in case.

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Yeah, it's that "just in case" that had Zak worried. He carried nothing--mostly because he'd been forbidden to take any pipe bombs outside of Garden. Oh well. He had his feet, at least.

"I'm probably lucky I can leave Garden now. Or they trust that you two SeeDs can keep one unruly cadet in line, right?"

He tried to paste a goofy grin on his face, because he was joking. Well. Mostly. But it probably came off as more nervous than anything.

"I don't think I gave you guys adequate congratulations, by the way. I'll have to make it up to you at some point. Or pay for dessert, I don't know."

Mikuru hadn't packed her pistols - they didn't fit in her purse. But she had stuffed a few smaller pieces of her Miracle costume in there; experimentation had showed her that she could pull off enough of a laser to be distracting without much of her costume on. She had her junction device underneath her nice dress, and hey, she'd taken boxing and martial arts for a reason.

"I hope I can keep one unruly cadet in line - I won't make much of an Instructor if I can't..."

After graduating, Mikuru had started studying for her Instructor's license to teach the new, week long ESL class, but since the attack, she'd been quietly considering teaching the younger cadets as well, or maybe instead.

She smiled shyly at the congratulations, though.

"It's alright, honestly! Besides, we make more than you; I don't mind paying for my own dessert."

"We'll be giving you the same too," Maria said, aiming a light punch at Zak's shoulder. "You know, I still don't think it's really sunk in for me? I've been through graduation, I went to the ball, I even went on a mission, and it's still not entirely real!"

She made a beeline for a large truck -- a bit sheepishly. "They didn't give me a ton of options, so I hope you guys weren't wanting to hit the town in style."

"Ha. Not any time soon, since I need to finish my remediation." Well, not that he had serious remediation to take, but he did have to finish up 'all the crap he hadn't passed in Galbadia'. "It'll take time. Which is why I'm behind anyway, you know?"

Zak rolled his eyes. "Teenaged, male, check. I don't need the most expensive restaurant there is. So long as it's not like...I don't know, road kill, I'm good. So long as there's a lot of it."

"I don't need anything fancy either," Mikuru said happily. "Just my friends, behind or graduated."

She glanced between them with a smile, her gaze softening slightly on Zak. As soon as she realized this, she blushed furiously and looked away.

"Sssso y-you're driving, Maria?" she added hastily. Hey, Maria had the keys. "I passed drive 101, but I still don't really like driving..."

"Sure, I'd planned on it." She opened the door swiftly, slid in like she belonged there, and unlocked the other doors -- though she plunked her case down on the passenger seat. Seemingly thoughtless and casual -- secretly the act of a mad genius.

"Did they not have cars where you came from, Mikuru?"

Hey, he'd planned on sitting in the back anyway, to let Mikuru ride shotgun. Once Maria set the case on the passenger seat, however, Zak gave her a dirty look.

An "I know what you're up to, and I don't like it." look.

Not that he said anything, then, just slumped in the seat after belting himself in.

"So where exactly are we going to eat, then?" Keep cool, keep cool. Just make conversation.

Um, okay, if Maria wanted to sit with her gunblades instead of her friend, that was cool. With a sideways glance at the case in question, Mikuru got in at the back and buckled up opposite Zak, her purse between them on the middle seat. These old fashioned cars were safer in the side seats than in the middle, right?

"Our cars aren't as complicated, and I wasn't old enough to drive anyway."

It was hard to believe sometimes that she'd been on this world for two years and was now old enough to get her driver's licence back home. Would driving be easier since she'd had to learn on these older models?

At Zak's question, she leaned forward with interest.

"I haven't eaten out much here..."

Sure, Maria was sitting with her two best friends -- her gunblades! ...Seriously, if it took a little damage to her own rep to make this work, that was a small price to pay. And the two of them would thank her later, she at least hopes.

"Oh, I didn't have any ideas, but I think we could probably get some good seafood. Harbor town and all."

She started the truck, adjusted her mirrors, then reversed it out of its spot with no trouble.

"Sounds good to me. I like fish." Well, so long as it was battered and deep fried and served with a big platter of chips on the side. And Zak could have all the malt vinegar he wanted for both.

"Did you have a place in mind?" Come on Maria, your old buddy was getting a little annoyed at you. He's quickly getting convinced that it's just a set-up.

He's remarkably relaxed about her driving, though.

"Somewhere with Balamb Fish?" Mikuru suggested hopefully. "One of the GFC members told me it's the local delicacy!"

Though she sounded fine, she was clutching the inside door handle. Nothing against Maria's driving! She just didn't like this era's cars very much. (Yet she was perfectly fine with the Ragnarok. It was funny how things worked.)

"We'll check the dock area, then, see if they have any 'catch of the day' specials," Maria said, confident that they'd manage even if they had no specific place in mind.

Maria is a fairly sane driver, outside of a combat or chase scenario, so nothing to worry about there.

Hey, the Ragnarok was bigger. Even if he was used to them, the era's cars were a bit uncomfortably like big tin cans. Not comfortable, regardless of how good a driver Maria was.

"So, you SeeDs have any tips for a poor, dumb guy who might actually be taking his test soon?"

Yeah, that seemed like a good subject for conversation.

Mikuru glanced over at him with a frown.

"You're not dumb."

She'd only had a few classes with him (and mostly non-academic), but he definitely hadn't struck her as dumb in them.

"But, from someone who did it twice... Don't panic. Think about what you'll do before you do it."

She paused. That could be a foreign concept for both Zak and Maria, she knew.

"Keep your hands steady when you need them to be," she added instead. "And if you have the opportunity to show how you can fight, and it wouldn't make more problems, take it."

Maria contemplated his comment, fingers drumming idly on the steering wheel as she thought.

"It helps to know the Garden Code," she said finally, "but you can generally get by all right if you just act in a disciplined fashion. You know, don't talk back and follow orders. Even if the orders are terrible, don't worry -- if you follow them, that's good, and the guy who gave them will get his own evaluation in the end too. Not panicking is also really good advice." Not that Maria had come anywhere close...

"Discipline. Uh. Well. If I keep my mouth shut and do what I'm told...well. Guess I better try practicing that." Though Zak did try to do that sort of thing already. A little bit, at least.

"Did you guys think it was difficult? I'm not worried about fighting. I'll probably be okay then. If I have to do that, I mean." Especially since it wasn't like he hadn't had a lot of practice with martial arts lately, either.

"I did," Mikuru confessed, looking out of the window rather than at either of them. "My first one threw me off so badly I was honestly considering changing my specialization."

Being a firearms specialist fumbling an important shot had been embarrassing, to say the least.

"And the investigation wasn't really my thing either - I mean, I really don't mind talking to people -" she preferred it over shooting them, at least, "but I had trouble putting the clues together."

"It wasn't quite what I expected," Maria said, truthfully. "Then again, maybe I would have been TOO prepared if it had been. Being thrown a little out of my element got me more interested in solving the problem and less in 'doing perfect', so I did all right in the end."

"You, suddenly not worried about doing perfect? Are you feeling okay?" Sadly, Maria, he wasn't really joking...

"I don't know, I guess I want to worry about it. My exam. Not that I really want to worry, but...I guess I sort of built my plans for my life around it, and now that it's almost here, what do I do?"

Zak sighed. Not like he really wanted to go digging around in Deep Feelings or whatever, but who else was he going to vent to? At least he trusted these two.

"At least I know if I mess it up a few times, I have a chance for a do-over."

Mikuru giggled, looking back over at Zak. "She was okay! Maria was great. And you'll be great too, as long as you do your best."

She paused, considering them both. Becoming a SeeD had been such a big part of her friends' lives in a way it hadn't for her.

"What will you do afterwards?" she asked. "Go on missions with Maria, save the world?"

"I understand that much... I mean, here I am, having achieved my life's dream at seventeen. But there's still a lot to do! More to learn, missions to go on, I'm still not anywhere near as strong as some of the best SeeDs..."

She flashed a bright smile over her shoulder. "The world'll need us. All of us."

"I never really thought about it. Mostly because it seemed like a big hurdle, you know? I kind of also thought I'd probably fail out in Galbadia." Zak gave a dry little chuckle at that, full of bitterness.

"I mean, I'm not exactly their favorite person in the world. Not that I haven't tried to put it behind me, but...I haven't done a really good job, so far."

Which is a flat out admission that even though he's trying to be less of a jerk, it isn't always working for him.

"Though if I do graduate, I'll probably try seeing the world at least a little bit. Even if it's reconnaissance stuff on the quiet side. That might be nice to start."

Mikuru returned that smile, though it was a little distant: Maria's words had made her think of that other world that needed her. However, Zak soon distracted her from these thoughts. Unsure of what to say about his not being Garden's favorite person, she reached over the middle seat and awkwardly patted him on the shoulder.

"When you graduate," she corrected him firmly. "That sounds good. You should get to see your world: I think I've seen more of your world in my time here than I ever did of my world."

Time travel totally didn't count. That was the same place, just a different time.

"Right. When you graduate. Because I know you will, Zak. And then maybe we can take some missions that get us out and about! Between the three of us we have enough skill to justify going on a lot of different jobs."

Luckily, Maria kept paying attention to the road, even as her enthusiasm started to mount.

"Maybe in a couple more semesters," Zak said, and grunted. "I've been doing better, and passing classes, but still. I probably forgot something that I have to make up."

He'd never been very good at keeping track of his classes, anyway. Beyond actually attending them.

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Let's go eat!

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