Author note: Well this is the point where the stuff i've already written is posted. uploads will likely slow way down from here on. Wish i could write as soon as I'm done posting this, but I have to go run electrical wire. (I'm not joking, and I'm also not an electrician. At least not a licensed one.)

Megan practically grinned when she saw Alex picking out a table, that urge vaporized the moment she realized that she didn't recognize the Tel'ani girl with him. Short and fat; she had a single streak of blonde in her black hair. Her jacket was bright pink. Her honey colored eyes flicked everywhere as if taking in everything from the gun on Alex's hip to the deer mounted on the wood planked walls and finding it all horrifying. The girl didn't really yell "out-of-towner". Instead she was screaming "I'm from the city!" At the top of her lungs.

"Would you like a menu?" Megan asked solely because the girl looked so out of place and a menu seemed like a tangible object she could ground herself with.

"Yes please." The girl said, instantly grasping for the lifeline. "Do we just sit anywhere?"

Alex had already taken a seat, draping his coat over the back of the chair. Megan took note that he didn't pull the chair out for his companion.

"Anywhere that isn't already taken. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Cherry Soda please." Said Alex.

"Um, do you have Express Chai Lattes?"

"No. I'll admit that I don't even know what that is. Drinks are on the back of the menu. I can get you a coffee if you'd like."

"Oh ah, I'll just, have what he is having."

Megan gave the poor girl a smile and said. "One minute."

Alex browsed his menu with the causal eye of someone who already knew what they wanted, but might get something different next time. Yari scanned every item from the chicken nuggets on the kids menu to the stout lager on the adults only section. There were absolutely zero nutrition facts and things like, local fish fritter, just left her with more questions.

"What are you having?" Yari asked.

"Double bacon cheeseburger and fries."

"Where do you see that?"

"I don't know." Alex replied, now flipping to the burger section to see if it was actually listed. It was.

"Here's your drinks." Megan readied her pad. "Alex?"

There was a slight squinting of the eyes that said he caught the fact that she used his name though he had never given it to her. "Double bacon cheeseburger with fries please."

"And the girl from Alexandroupolis. Sorry, I didn't know your name."

"It's Yari."

"Yari. What can I get you?"

"I'll have the chicken and fried rice, thank you."

Megan gave the girl a slightly questioning look, but said nothing as she collected the menus.

"I'll get that going."

"I don't like her." Yari said glaring at the woman's back. "How did she know I was from Alexandroupolis?"

"You look like you walked into a horror movie."

"What?"

"Why do you keep staring at my gun?" Alex asked.

"Because you have a gun! Are we in danger? As far as I know, you aren't a cop."

"I was carrying the gun yesterday, you didn't notice?"

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"You?.. No."

Alex shrugged. "I keep a gun on me. My dad kept a gun on him."

"That still doesn't explain why she knew where I was from."

Alex leaned in closer as if to put emphasis on his next words. "You look like you landed on an alien planet. Does that make sense? You seem scared, lost, confused maybe."

"I am scared, lost, and confused. I was supposed to be hanging out in your apartment which was in a town."

"I did tell you I moved."

"Yes, but I thought that meant you moved into a different apartment in a different part of town."

"Like someone from the city would?"

"Ye… yeah. Ok that's my fault isn't it?"

"I could have given you more details."

"Yeah, you could have!"

Yari hoped she hadn't put too much venom into that last statement, Alex hadn't replied, but then again he was Alex. He sat nearly motionless watching the news on the lone TV across the room. The hosts were discussing the SRSA's decision to allow an Anorian onto their astronaut team. One of the talking heads didn't seem too pleased about the decision, mirroring the sentiment of the other patrons in the room, at least those that were paying attention to the story and not giving Yari sideways looks.

"Good to see the Federation playing nice with the Anorians." Yari said, mostly in an attempt to end the silence as well as change the subject.

"Mmm." Alex agreed. "I'm all for avoiding magically enhanced thermonuclear war."

"Well, at least you live out in the middle of nowhere."

"Yeah. Better odds."

Yari grimaced and failed to come up with something else to talk about. She was saved a few minutes later by dinner. The sound and smell of sizzling hot chicken on a bed of rice made her stomach rejoice. Then she noticed Alex and the Tel'ani waitress staring.

"What?"

"It's a lot of rice." Said Alex.

"I love fried rice." Yari gave the waitress a glare. The girl gave her a sheepish grin and took off toward the other patrons, her tail tailing behind like a streamer in the wind.

Alex shrugged. "Doesn't give you a stomachache?"

"No."

"Alright."

Yari paused momentarily with her fork full of fried goodness. Considering her current headache, would she even notice a stomachache?

"Umm, Alex?" Megan said before he could leave. She'd prefer to speak to him without the city slicker, but it didn't really matter. Fortunately for her, the girl waited by the door in her stupid puffy pink jacket.

"Yeah?"

She held a hand out to shake. "I'm Megan."

"Alex took her hand and gave her a warm smile. "Alex."

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"My cousin."

"Cousin?" That was the last answer Megan would have suspected, well maybe sister would be the last. She still couldn't help from saying, "well she can't actually be your cousin."

"By marriage. Was there something you wanted?"

"Right, well, I'm the matriarch of the local Matiraire and…"

"Not interested."

"O…kay."

Alex gave her a friendly smile. "I get it. Thanks for asking. I'm just not into it. Could you keep the others off me?"

"As a unit, yes. As individuals, no."

"Fair enough. Take care."

"Yeah you too." Megan watched the two leave. The guy had a really nice smile.

"What did she want?"

"Wanted to know if I was interested in servicing her Matriarie." Alex replied as he climbed into his truck.

"Wow. Wow! Is that a thing here?"

"Yeah. Don't you have them in the city?"

"Not that I'm aware of. I thought we stopped doing those a century ago."

"Huh? There's at least one in every town I've ever lived in."

"I didn't realize you were that short on men, good thing I'm not here looking."

"Tel'ani are always short on men."

"Wait. So it's a racist thing?" Yari asked. "The waitress not willing to settle for a hornless?"

"I don't know. Are you into invaders?"

Yari froze like a deer caught in the headlights. “You, you can’t say that.”

“Say what?”

“Um, well, we’re not supposed to call you invaders anymore. It’s racist.”

“Okay. I guess that makes sense, but you can still say hornless?”

“That’s a physical difference.”

Alex shook his head and put the truck in first. “I think you’re going to find people out here are a little less politically correct.”

“Well, you are not an invader. It’s wrong to call you that just because your ancestors were.”

“Yeah I get that. Just try not to get upset when someone makes a joke about female Tel’ani eating their masters while their men eat each other.”

“That’s fucked up!”

Alex said nothing. Yari sat back in her seat with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Whether it was the conversation or the fried rice she wasn’t sure. Then again, maybe it was the cell tower that sat equidistant between Alex’s shack and the village of River’s Bend where they had just eaten. Small in comparison to anything back home in Alexandroupolis, but here it was a towering monolith of concrete and steel that rose so far above the landscape that Yari could imagine it gouging furrows in the bellies of innocent clouds.