Going out to lunch...

Riffel leaned restlessly against a sign post, his hair gently blowing into his face from the wind. Man, it felt like a freaking blizzard today! It would have been soo much easier if he had just brought his leather jacket with. Instead, he left it at the goddamn train station! How could he have forgotten it so easily?! All his money was in that jacket, well what little money he had. How much did he have again? One…two…three…three cens today, well zero now that he lost his jacket.

His stomach grumbled restlessly in his body. “Ah…yeah, I really need to find some place to eat…” Riffel poked his abs repeatedly, “Stupid thing making useless noises.” Maybe there would be some stupid passerby by that he could beg a meal from. He was, after all, a poor hungry, blind man with not even a cen to spare, but then again he really hated using his disability as a means to gain sympathy.

“Ugh...” Riffel’s stomach growled even louder. He began to walk, clicking his tongue a few times at the ground. Rocks…damn he wished it was real food instead, even a crumb would be enough to satisfy his hunger right now. If only he had his jacket...

"Oof..." his face hit the pavement. Could this day get any worse...

"Algh..." A gurgle sprouted from below the feet of the blind man. And it came from a body sprawled along the sidewalk. People had been watching it and pointing at it for some time. Clearly this man's pathetic struggle was somehow entertaining to them. No one even questioned the fact that maybe he needed help.

Dull blue eyes gaped at the figure above him. And he gritted his teeth, forcing himself into a sitting position. He regretted it moments later when his head swam and black ate at the edges of his vision. This had to be it, he was going to die here, in the street, having finally became an alchemist, and before achieving the title of State Alchemist. How pathetic.

"Oi! WHAT THE HELL?!" He pulled the man with the sunglasses by his arm down to his level with a violent yank. "Money." He held out his metal hand with an angry look that would have made any yakuza run away crying. The glint in his eyes abated however to a look of surprise when he realized that the idiot wasn't even wearing a coat. "What are you crazy, eh?!" The money situation became hopeless and the idea of getting iron back into his blood was shot down with a loud crash that resounded in his head and made it even hotter. He began muttering: "Great-now-I'm-going-to-die-out-here-in-the-street-with-idiots-watching-me-and-I-won't-be-able-to-get-back-to-rush-valley-or-even-make-it-to-Res-I can't-believe-I-left-my-wallet-on-the-bench-when-I-took-it-out-to-sit-down-and-now-it-has-to-be-gone-but-I-can't-even-know-that-because-I-don't-even-have-the-energy-to-go-there-and--"

“Aaurghh….” Pain spread across his face and he felt blood as it trickled down his forehead. Great, his beautiful face was now ruined what would the world think of him now? What would the ladies think of him now?! His world was ending, splitting into little pieces that would never be put together again. “My face…my beautiful face!”

Riffel slowly recovered to his feet, only to be pulled down by an unknown force once again. He clicked his tongue a few times to see what the hell was making his day even worse. There was a furious looking man there grumbling incoherently. What did that small man want with him anyway? Wasn’t it his entire fault?

Anger coursed through Riffel, blinding him from the real truth, that it was actually his own fault for falling. He took a deep breath, and attempted to regain his composure. “Alright…” Riffel muttered to himself. “You know, if you had just moved out of the way, I probably would not be in so much pain right now. Now, I would be more than thrilled to get a decent meal, and from the looks of things I think you owe me one.”

Xan was walking to a restaurant, having just scored rather big at the casino and wanting to treat himself for his good fortune. He had won enough money to keep himself sustained for as long as it took to earn his State Alchemist certification.....and then some! He could not possibly fathom the amount of luck that it had taken to acquire his wealth, but it did not matter to him. All that mattered was that he use the money wisely...
He was walking from the bank that he had just visited to deposit the rather large amount of money -keeping only a fraction of it in cash- when he saw two men seemingly arguing with each other. One was sitting on the pavement, and had pulled the other man down to speak to him.
With a look of curiosity, Xan walked over to the two men.

Hello gentlemen! Is everything going well for you two on this....cold day?

...

A moment of silence for the intense amount of emotion that transpired throughout Tsune's small, male body. And...he wanted to punch the sunglasses freak just for the mere sound of that clicking noise. IT DROVE HIM INSANE. The incessant sound of tongue and mouth slapping together felt like the Morse Code conspiring against him. Tsune cracked his knuckles immediately following half the last word that the tan guy uttered. The rest of his reaction was delayed by his thoughts colliding against each other in his head. No, just no. It was so wrong to merely say 'meal' in front of a starving man who had lost his wallet. AFTER WHICH tripping over him. Tsune denied the existence of this possibility...it was so unethical. Who did he even think he was?! No REAL person would dare... He froze when he realized he was trying to crack metal fingers. WONDERFUL.

He shoved himself to his feet, swaying and hitting the brick wall next to him as if he were drunk. Leaning heavily against it, he tried to collect the pieces of himself that were scattered around in his iron-depraved head. Ah, forget the thinking. He clenched his Automail fist and connected it with the abs of the man trying to make a mockery out of his existence. Even Tsune had to have a show of pride on occasion. This just happened to be it. Not to mention he wasn't exactly thinking coherently, or actually thinking at all.

By the time the other man reached them, Tsune had withdrawn his fist and turned to stare at the other innocently. As the tanned one crumpled on the ground, he turned to answer the newcomer as if nothing had transpired at all.

"Very well, thank--" He smelled money. Like an animal whose instincts took over on the throws of death--he knew he was being over dramatic. That much was obvious at least. "--you..." Trailing off, the silver headed alchemist grinned from ear to ear like a child. "Well...actually I lost my wallet at the train station and now I'm stranded here..." He continued to ignore the existence of the man he had just recently wanted to slaughter. His head was still spinning, but he was managing to stay upright and appear perfectly natural.

Pain flooded through his body, and Riffel doubled over from the devastating blow. As if his stomach didn't hurt enough from hunger now it had to be pulverized by a metal fist. He looked up, and quietly clicked his tongue, making out enough images to tell him the silver haired ass was right above him, talking to another person. That little swine, he's trying to swindle money from that man! Rage filled his heart, and jealousy clouded his vision. There was absolutely NO WAY he would let that man get what he wanted. He shifted his body on the ground, and grasped the leg of his silver haired rival.

"YOU BASTARD THAT MONEY IS MINE!" He felt the wind rush by his fist as it collided into his target's ankle with a sickening crunch.

His face broke into a devilish smile, only to be replaced seconds later by a look of agony. His eyes rolled back into his head as his stomach grumbled furiously. It was way worse than being punched by that freak, at least he could recover from that, but this, this was pure torture. He fell to the ground by his rival, writhing in pain. "Food...please...help..."

Xan looked from one man to the other, then back again. They seemed to both be in a rather bad position when it came to money. How fortuitous for them that the Ishbalan happened to be walking along at this time. Xan thought to himself for a moment. Well, he did need some people for an important ‘business’ venture, so why not?

Well gentlemen, you both seem rather worse for wear, if you don’t mind me saying. I imagine that you’re both starving, and perhaps freezing in this cold weather. I was just on my way to a restaurant and I could use some company. Follow me, I’ll get you filled up, then I will most likely give you both some money to sustain yourselves for some time. Do we have a deal?

With that, Xan continued walking, trusting that the two men were following him, and also trusting that neither of the two would try to attack him while his back was turned.

Suddenly, Xan stopped and turned around. Picking up the man with the blindfold on, he lifted him to his feet and put one of the mans' arms around his shoulders, and gestured for the other man to do the same.

I hope that you don't mind this sir, but you look like you're in a worse condition than your friend.

Tsune listened as this man talked about them like they were cars that needed gas. Hey, it was true. Except there was a catch--there was always a catch. One of the male caretakers at his orphanage (no longer his home) had taught him that one. His name had been Frank and damn, was he a talker. Tsune had learned a lot from that guy, but how much of it was true he wasn't sure. He figured that eventually he would find out all the answers himself; this was one of them he was sure to benefit from.

He deliberately ignored the sunglasses freak, blocking out his moans of suffering and exclamations of hunger. The word brought acknowledgment back into his mind of how much his own stomach burned. He hadn't eaten since dinner two nights ago when he left Res'. That was depressing. At that sudden moment, he felt a jolt of agony rush up his ankle. Why the HELL was it always this ankle that got stepped on and punched and hurt? Why not the other one!? He recalled the encounter with a girl named Jay and frowned, brushing a hand lightly over the stitches concealed beneath thick bandages under his shirt.

When he managed to gain control over the overload of pain that had briefly consumed him, he realized he should be following after that man who had offered to treat him to lunch. At a restaurant no less. He was intrigued and yet... the prospect of being viewed as a dying stray dog given a hand out seemed pathetic. The truth was though, what he aimed to be was in fact a dog: ...a dog of the military. He guessed it didn't matter after all. Pride was something useless.

"Hah, worse condition," He muttered from behind them. "And there's no way you're going to get me to help hi--" When he caught up in stride with the other two, despite his head spinning like a merry-go-round, he noticed something shocking. It was so shocking that it cut off his intelligent spiel. This man he was--!! "Ishvalan?" He gaped, and then a childish smile struck his face. He had never seen one before; he had only read about them in the Alchemy History book he had read years ago.

His demeanor completely changed and his suspicion vanished. "Douzo yoroshiku!" He grinned, holding out a hand to the man who had to be dumbfounded by his switch of persona. He was genuinely happy and for once, it reached the cold depths of his eyes. "I'm Tsune," He introduced himself, "It's a pleasure to meet you and I accept your offer to lunch," Tsune said as his shook the poor guy's hand profusely.


Note: The reason why I used the Japanese here is because I feel the need to express it in that way. I do this sometimes when there is no real direct translation that is satisfying to the meaning it is supposed to represent. So 'douzo yoroshiku' here is a very polite formal greeting than the normal 'hajimemashite' or plain 'yoroshiku.' Translated simply, it can mean 'nice to meet you' or 'it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.' It sounds dumb in English. XD

Riffel barely heard the words escaping from the mouth of the newcomer. He was too engrossed in his own pain to think, or even move. His whole world was spinning wildly. It felt like someone took his head and spun it like a child spins a top. If he could see, would it still feel like this?

Before he knew what was happening, Riffel was gently lifted up. He felt his arm being put around someone's shoulder. God, he hoped that long haired ass wasn't getting a change of heart. At this point though, it didn't matter anymore, he was far too tired to fight back. This was humiliating though, being carried like a small child, it felt like he was back with his mother. "Ugh...", his head spun twice as hard.

The new guy was still talking, he was speaking about something in a businesslike manner. Well whatever, it's not like it involved him anyway. Then Riffel heard it, the word that was equivalent to heaven at the moment. The word he would do almost anything for, since he was so goddamn hungry. Restaurant. Focusing even harder than he ever thought possible, he caught the words "filled" and "up".

His parched mouth, unable to move from lack of energy, twitched in happiness. Riffel relaxed his body, relieved that he would at last get something to eat, and in doing so, slid off the man holding him up.

He felt the ground meet with his face once again, and his already cracked sunglasses shattered no longer able to retain their shape. He felt a dull, aching pain in his face. Had the plastic pierced his skin? No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, it disappeared, replaced with the thought of a decent meal in his stomach. Riffel warmly smiled while on the ground, and then happily muttered, "thran youle".

Xan was slightly confused about the behavior of the man who held his hand out to him to shake. What did he call himself? Was it Tsune? Yes, that was his name. Xan had heard that name before, being spoken in the halls of one of the Military Headquarters, though he couldn’t remember which one. Xan shook Tsune’s hand, banishing his confusion to the darkest depths of his mind.

Well Tsune, I am glad to make your acquaintance. My name is Xan. And yes, I am Ishvallan. Technically, I’m only half Ishvallan, but that’s beside the point.

That was when Xan felt the blind man slide off of his back. He looked back and saw that the man was lying facedown on the ground where he had fallen, and that his sunglasses had shattered beneath him.

He heard the man mutter something into the ground that sounded a little bit like “thank you.” With a slight chuckle, Xan picked the man up again and apologized for letting him fall.

"...Oi. Just ditch that guy," Tsune said in a relatively cold voice, though he appeared to be looking for an excuse to help the Ishvallan out with carrying the dead-weight. It seemed now the idiot had fallen and stabbed himself in the face with plastic hard enough to draw blood. He rolled his eyes. Even his youngest siblings couldn't manage that.

He was only thinking this way due to the ravishing hunger that consumed his mind. It also led to him being overly expressive of his emotions, which wasn't exactly natural for him. His white dress shirt blew out in the frigid wind and he clutched the relatively thin fabric to his skin. He would have worn his sweatshirt over it if the poor article hadn't been sliced up by the mercenary the other day. The tank top he had worn beneath it was also ruined. He had no clothes left except white dress shirts and he thought they made him look too flashy. It wasn't long now before he had to buy more clothes...with his non-existent money. He didn't look forward to shopping.

With a huff, Tsune hauled half the idiot's weight onto his shoulders and soon regretted it. Not only did the guy feel as if he weighed two million kilos, he also put too much pressure on Tsune's stitches. He winced outwardly and bit his lip hard enough to leave a mark. He prayed the stitches wouldn't come loose. Luckily, he had experience with this. One time, when he was a kid, his brother Aliaga had pushed him out of a tree and he had broken his arm. Well, the bone had punctured out of his skin and he had to get stitches. But later, when he had insisted on using his arm again, he accidentally caused the stitches to come out and he had to go through it all over again. Never again!

Though he thought this, he didn't make a move other than forward--towards the restaurant where food beckoned him. He didn't realize that his bandage was sticking to his side like glue, nor that a faint tinge of blood could be seen peaking out from beneath the bandages that were underneath his buttoned shirt. Ugh...he felt his feet dragging and his ankle still throbbed. From beneath his boot was a large purple bruise from the previous battle with the mercenary as well as the sunglasses freak's punch. It hurt only slightly at the brush of his sock. That idiot! He had no idea. Still, he felt saved, rescued on Xan's spur-of-the-moment decision. He could only be thankful. So he sucked it up and kept walking.

Wait...he seemed to just register the name he had been told from somewhere. "Ne, Xan, what do you do for a living? ...I feel like I've heard your name before."

Hands reached out to Riffel and grabbed him once more. He felt his weight spread evenly between the two men as they helped him walk forward. Well, not exactly evenly, he felt the weight on his right side was a bit less than his left. The wind blew, and he caught a glimpse of several outlines of stitches on the body of the supporting left man. Riffel's mind started to clear, his head started to settle as well. Had that man really fought him despite the stitches? Perhaps this was the reason why he was laying on the ground...Come to think of it hadn't he muttered something about leaving a wallet somewhere? A wave of guiltiness started to settle over him. Misguided by his hunger he just made someone's day even worse. He shifted his weight towards the man on his right.

With each step he took, his strength returned little by little and before he knew it, he was able to walk on his own without the support of the two. Wiping his hair from the hardened blood on his face, he turned his head to the left, to look at the face of the man with the stitches. Funny, even though he had just fought that guy, his mind showed him a future where the both of them would be laughing over this incident. Actually, he wouldn't mind if this man became his friend after everything was over. In fact, he wished for it. Riffel smiled and turned his head to the right.

So this was an Ishvallan huh? Weird, he hadn't heard much about them during the time he spent with Flux. There was no way his parents would have told him either...seeing as they had never told him anything about the outside world. The truth was, this was the first time meeting an Ishvallan. He didn't see what all the fuss was about or why they were exiled. He couldn't even see the red eyes that Flux had mentioned, since he was blind and could only see outlines. Plus this Ishvallan seemed nice enough, actually he was probably the nicest person he had met since Flux.

He put his hand towards his face, man it was getting hot....sunglasses? His jaw dropped. Shittt, well, maybe they wouldn't notice the ridiculous raccoon eyes he had on his face. Flux had always made fun of him for it and although he couldn't see it, he hated when people pointed out his imperfections. Dropping his head, he continued to walk towards the restaurant. God, now he looked like a depressed bum...

Xan had been thinking to himself about an upcoming….assignment of his, when he heard Tsune ask him what he did for a living. Looking at him, Xan replied that he did many things, but that what he mainly did for a living was serving in the Amestris military.

If you are also in the military, then you have probably heard my name given as Sergeant Major Xanthus Icarus. Hmm…I do not suppose that you are also in the military Tsune?

While they were speaking, they were getting close to their destination. One could faintly smell the many fine dishes being served in the restaurant; even before the building itself could be seen. The place served all kinds of food, from virtually every country in the world, even though the majority of countries were either at war with, or were close to being at war with Amestris.

Hmm…we’re getting close to food…

Tsune sped up unconsciously, barely watching where he was going, and making eye contact with Xan all the while. "Really?! You're a sergeant major too? Damn, they really need to post all our names somewhere so we can recognize each other." He smiled, noticing the annoying weight lifted from him. The only issue with this was that he lost the momentum from being connected to Xan and now had to use more of his own power to walk. He felt like he was dying, like one more step and he would fall, but he pressed on towards the restaurant. The food beckoned him on despite the growing red beneath his concealed bandages.

"I'm glad we met today, Xan. Not only are you saving me from starvation, but you seem like a great person." Tsune turned nervously to the door of the restaurant and pulled it open for them, wincing discreetly.

"I agree with Tsune, Xan you are indeed a great person for helping out guys down on their luck", Riffel said meekly. "When you said 'Do we have a deal?' though Xan, it sounded to me as if this free food comes with a catch. Not that it matters, I'm willing to do almost anything to repay you. I'm in your debt."

As he continued to slowly walk with Tsune and Xan towards the restaurant, Riffel started to smell something scrumptious in the air. It was a delicious smell, and before he knew it the doors of the restaurant were looming right in front of him like two giant gates of heaven. He turned his head over towards Tsune, "I guess our fighting brought us good fortune, eh?" he said as he cracked a smile.

"Yo Xan, are you sure it's alright for us to eat here? It's looks pretty damn expensive."

"Oioioi," Tsune said in a low voice, his cold steel eyes alighted with irritation. "Down on our luck, eh!?" Tsune dropped the door and caught it with his foot, turning towards the repulsive man. "OUR luck?" He hissed, shooting Xan a quick glance to gauge his reaction to Tsune's anger. Seeing no real cause to cease, he continued. "Our fighting?" He asked, "And who caused our fighting, hm?" Tsune frowned, the flame going out. "You tripped over someone and didn't even have the decency to apologize." He pushed the door open further, about to go inside. "You have no idea how much it hurts when you kick someone in the stitches whether by accident or not." With that, he motioned for Xan to go ahead and followed behind him into the restaurant. The lady noted Tsune holding up three fingers and led them to their table. "I really appreciate this, Xan," Tsune said with sincerity.


[I'm posting out of turn for good reason I swear <3 Trust me, Tsune would react before anyone could do anything]

Xan dismissed the thanks of Tsune and Riffel with a slight chuckle and a wave of his hand. It was amazing what could be accomplished with the mere mention of food. The two men had gone from fighting each other to getting along like old friends in a matter of minutes. He found Riffel’s comment to be absolutely hilarious.

Expensive? This place was very expensive, as every establishment of its caliber should be. However, Xan did not mind that one bit. He could use this as an opportunity to make some new friends. These two seemed like they would be really good friends; and Xan knew that he would need friends later on with the kinds of plans he came up with.

The lady said that she would return to take their orders shortly and walked away. After she left, Xan took a look at one of the menus left on the table. Reading for a while, Xan decided that he would simply pick a dish at random and set the menu down.

So, what will you two be dining on today? Remember, everything’s on me, and I say that you can both order as much food as you please.

The sounds of the restaurant danced around Riffel as he entered into the large spacious room. He felt people everywhere and immediately started to click his tongue trying to avoid all the waiters rushing to and fro. Gah, so many people, they're probably all staring at his weird tan around his eyes! Well, there was no need to think about that now, his mind was too scrambled by what Tsune had said. Sure, it was his fault but why did he have to be so brash. Ugh, well it didn't matter he was still sorry, if Tsune didn't forgive him then that was the path he decided to take. They finally reached a comfy seat after following the hostess around the maze-like tables. As Riffel sat onto the cloud like cushion he began to wonder just what kind of food this place served. Ah! It didn't matter at this point any food would be a joy to eat! All the bad vibes that Tsune had caused immediately vanished as he thought of the oncoming meal.

As if reading his mind, Xan asked what they would be dining on. He looked down at his menu...oh...right...he couldn't read it. He stared blankly at the outline of the menu wondering why his blindness cursed him with illiteracy. "Yo Tsune, uhm do you think you could help me out here? What's it say here? You see, I can't really read since I'm blind," Riffel said. His mouth tensed up at the last word, how he hated asking for help because of it.

"Hmph." Tsune crossed his arms and looked the other way, plopping into his own chair. "You haven't even apologized." And with that, he turned to his own menu, completely ignoring the idiotic blind man once more. He hated ignorant people and especially those who didn't even respond to what he was trying to get across to them. How frustrating! Rude, pathetic, cruel, mean...what else did the sunglasses freak possess?

"So what are you getting, Xan?" He asked quietly, trying to read all the strange words on the expensive menu. Tsune tried to avoid looking at the prices in order to save his conscience. He felt guilty enough as it was... But unfortunately his eyes swayed just as he was thinking that and brushed over the numbers, thus reading them. HO' SHIT. He gnawed on his lip uncomfortably and tried to distract himself with the fancy titles. "Hah! Roasted Maitake Consommé with toasted almond sauce... what the hell is that supposed to be?" He gave a sideways look at the blue-haired guy and then went straight back to trying to pick from the assortment of foods, any of which would probably be gone before it touched the table.

Xan assumed that neither of them would be able to choose any one dish (or any three dishes) from the enormous menu of the restaurant, so he called a waitress and gave her an interesting command.

My friends and I are having a bit of trouble deciding on a particular dish to order. So, what I propose is that you bring out a generous sample of all of your main dishes and set them out buffet style across however many tables required doing such a thing.

The young waitress gawked at Xan, then marked a few words into her notepad with a shaking hand. She then nodded, and walked away, shaking her head. It probably wasn’t often that someone just marched in and ordered virtually everything on the menu at the same time.

Seeing her expression and behavior, Xan let out a small chuckle, and then turned to look at the menu again.

I hope that neither of you mind what I just did.

And yes, Xan was still chuckling as he said that.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to be so rude to you, I just get so quick tempered when I'm hungry and I wasn't thinking straight" he said it as sincerely as he could. He really was sorry for hurting this man's feelings and being an ass before. He thought that they could be friends at least since the fight was over, clearly Riffel was mistaken.

Riffel turned his head in the direction of Xan, was this man really doing what he thought he was doing. Were they really going to get everything on the menu to sample from? This was great! He felt his mouth start to water from the thought of all the food but then another thought hit him. It was probably going to be very expensive for Xan. Just how much dough did that man make? "Yo Xan, did you just hit the lottery or something? You seem like you have a lot of money to spend on just us."

"Dammmnnn~~~" Tsune uttered, staring at Xan with wide, blue eyes. He was happy beyond words. He turned to the-blind-idiot with a scowl. "It seems I don't need to read it for you after all so your apology was wasted." He tossed his menu away and watched the waitress scurry off with their unethical order. He noted that she forgot to ask what they wanted to drink and also she hadn't remembered to collect their menus. He laughed quietly to himself, ignoring sunglasses-freak's dumb question. Of course he had won the lottery! Duh, how else could he acquire... ah, well he wasn't counting--a shit load of money??

"So!" Tsune declared as he slammed his elbows not too hard onto the table and faced Xan directly. "What's the catch...?"

Xan nearly laughed out loud at Tsune’s question. People were always so suspicious of generosity and of good deeds in general that it made Xan wonder about the state of the world itself. How corrupt can people be so that every generous act is looked upon as though it had some major sacrifice that needed to be made?

Although, in Tsune’s defence, Xan did want something from both men. In Xan’s defense however, it wasn’t anything that they couldn’t give. At least, so Xan hoped.

Well, if it pleases you to know the catch early, then I’ll tell you what it is. What I desire from this act of generosity isn’t anything that’s substantial, unless you look at it in the right kind of light. I don’t want money, or any sort of possessions. I don’t want you two to swear eternal fealty to me or anything as cliché as that. No, what I want is friendship, pure and simple. Let’s be friends, gentlemen.

When Xan finished speaking, more than a dozen waiters, each carrying trays laden with food, appeared as if on cue.

They set the food in a buffet style across a dozen tables, and left with much bowing.

And now, let’s eat!

Riffel stared in disbelief at Xan hardly believing what he was hearing, it seemed this man wanted exactly what he wanted after all! He turned his head towards Xan and a huge smile split across his face. "Haha, I'd love to be your friend!" he said with enthusiasm. He looked over at Tsune, he would probably become Xan's friend but he thought it was doubtful that Tsune would ever become his friend. Definitely not after what just happened between them and plus Tsune looked really angry. He quickly looked away, he felt that he was just going to annoy him further which is definitely what Riffel didn't want to do. Well, it doesn't matter, he'll come around...hopefully.

The waitress finally came back to ask them what they wanted to drink. She seemed pretty flustered, poor girl, Riffel wondered how it went when she told the chefs what Xan had ordered for them. "Oh..I'll just have some water," he just couldn't ask for anything more from his new friend. He definitely wasn't going to ask for an expensive drink.

Tsune stared at Xan suspiciously for a moment before picking up his fork and shoving the nearest piece of food into his mouth. He appeared to swallow it without chewing and somehow managed not to choke. Just friendship--that was all he wanted for all this? Interesting... "Normally people don't choose others off the street to be their friends--so I can't help but wonder what makes you so desperate as to do so?" Tsune asked, watching Xan's every movement carefully with calculating steel blue eyes. He didn't see anything threatening at least or anything that indicated he was lying. Tsune shrugged. Now, he was being too paranoid. He could never find the right middle ground. He sighed. "Regardless of your reason," Tsune began with a very calm and friendly voice, "I would be happy to be a friend especially since you are intriguing."

"Aa." Tsune looked up at the waitress who seemed deathly afraid of Xan, veering to their side of the table. Tsune moved away, uncomfortable by her strange closeness and aversion to Xan. "Strawberry-mango smoothie," He declared, picking up the menu he had tossed away and thrusting it towards her. It would clear up space so he could pile plates in front of him and it was her job anyway. The smoothie had been the only thing he had decided on. Plus, he was sure he needed the vitamin C to go along with his extreme need for iron. His head wasn't just spinning, it was reeling now that there was food in front of him. Once her attention was off of him, Tsune began feasting.