Chapter Fifty-Five - Endearingly Complex

Ivil pulled out the seat across from Twenty-Six and sat herself down. This felt like it was important, at least to the younger woman. "Did you want to order first, or talk first?" Ivil asked.

Twenty-Six blinked at the question. "Um... this isn't a fast food place, so I imagine it'll take a while for things to arrive, right? Like I said, I've never really been to a place like this."

"It's not too long, but yes, someone has to cook the food," Ivil said.

"Okay, in that case, um...." Twenty-Six squirmed on the spot. Making choices like this wasn't her forte, Ivil could tell, but Ivil still wanted to see Twenty-Six put her foot down... or tap her foot down gently, as the case may be. "Let's order first, then?"

"That sounds good," Ivil said. There was a single menu on the table already, as well as a cup of wine and some glasses of water. Fortunately the maitre'd came in and cleaned the space up before she had time to complain. He left a pair of fresh menus out before bowing and leaving the room.

Ivil perused the menu for a while, picking something relatively simple to eat. When she was done, she noticed Twenty-Six sweating a little as she stared at her own.

"Is something the matter?" Ivil asked.

"I... I was going to order red," Twenty-Six said. "What's an aperitif?" She did not pronounce that correctly.

"That's alcohol that you take before you start your meal. Think of it as a liquid entrée."

"What's an entrée?" Twenty-Six asked while trying to disguise a cringe.

Ivil smiled, then stood up, carried her chair around, and sat on the other end of the table, right next to Twenty-Six. "Here, let's go over the menu together," she said as she leaned to the side. She was aware of her chest pressing into Twenty-Six's shoulder and of Twenty-Six stiffening right up at the contact.

"I-I can figure it out, I'm sure," Twenty-Six said. "It's just a menu, it can't be more complicated than a tech manual!"

"Oh, it's not, but a lot of old traditions were kept alive through culinary practices," Ivil explained. "You're not unintelligent for not being aware of some cultural cues, you're just uninformed. Here, these are the starters. They're small, easy to eat... snacks of a sort."

"Okay," Twenty-Six said with a nod.

"These are the mains, and these are the deserts for after. Three courses should be plenty, I think. Is there anything that jumps out to you? We could ask for something else."

"Something not on the menu?" Twenty-Six asked. "Like a secret menu item?"

"I don't know what that is," Ivil said as she leaned a little away from Twenty-Six to better see her eyes.

"Oh... my favourite fast food place has a secret item that's not on the menu. It's called Red Three. It's just three red meals together, but the dessert portion's taken from cyan... it's better?"

"I see," Ivil said. "Well, in a place like this, we can bully the chef into doing whatever we want, and seeing as how they're likely professionals, they'll jump to it. But for now, how about you pick what sounds good?"

Twenty-Six nodded. "Titan wagyu over Saturn Rings? What's a wagyu?"

"It's a kind of beef. Wagyu is just the term for the quality. Considering the price it might come from a real cow as well."

"But there are no prices written on here," Twenty-Six said.

Ivil smiled. "Don't worry about that," she said. Twenty-Six had a few more questions, but she settled on Venusian mushroom tartare, then the Titanian wagyu, and they both decided to see if they'd have room for dessert before ordering any. Ivil reluctantly stood back up and returned to her side of the table. Twenty-Six seemed serious about what she had to say, and that meant giving it some level of decorum. "So, what did you want to talk about?" Ivil asked as soon as the waiter was gone with their orders.

"Um," Twenty-Six said. She shifted in her seat, then visibly stopped herself from fidgeting. "Evelyn... do you... love me?"

Ivil blinked. "That's a hard question. I don't think I love you, not that way."

"Oh, okay," Twenty-Six said as she exhaled hard.

"I would like to, however," Ivil continued.

That had Twenty-Six tensing up a little more. "What do you mean?"

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"Hmm, what do you think I meant when I said I was searching for love?" Ivil asked.

"I don't know?" Twenty-Six said uncertainly. "I guess you're looking for a, ah, significant other?"

Ivil smiled a little. "Yes, that's accurate, but I have the feeling you don't know what that means, exactly. Twenty-Six, I have only known you for a week and a few days. That's enough to know that I like you. I think that love takes a little longer than that to develop, and ideally it requires that both parties want it to happen. One-sided love is not something I will engage in."

Twenty-Six's mouth formed a little 'oh' of understanding, then she flushed. "So-so where does that leave us?"

"At the dating stage, I think," Ivil replied. "Which mostly involves spending time together, getting to know each other, meeting each other's friends and such. If there's a spark, then there's a spark." And if there was a spark, Ivil would turn it into a blaze that would blind the entire galaxy in its fervour, but Twenty-Six was maybe not ready for that.

"Okay," Twenty-Six said. "I talked to the captain about it. She's... well, old enough to be my mom you know, and she's been divorced three times."

"I... see."

"Anyway, she said that it's complicated and wasn't very helpful," Twenty-Six admitted. "But! Uh, I think that... you're very pretty."

Ivil blinked, then giggled into her hand. That set Twenty-Six's face aflame. "No, no, I'm not laughing at you," Ivil said to calm the young woman down. Her fidgeting had returned with a vengeance. "I wasn't expecting it, is all. You're very pretty too."

"I'm not," Twenty-Six said with confidence.

"You are," Ivil replied with the certainty of god overlooking all that was made and declaring it good. "I like it when you gush about mechanics and the things you're passionate about, even if I know nothing about them, and I like how quick you are to learn."

"Those aren't physical things," Twenty-Six pointed out.

Ivil shrugged. "You have very cute freckles. I like how tall and sort of... awkwardly gangly you are, like a baby horse, and your breasts look very squeezable."

Twenty-Six choked, and Ivil decided to stop there because she was worried that the younger woman might run out of blood, so much of hers had relocated to her face.

"I, I meant! I meant that you like non-appearance stuff about me," Twenty-Six said. "But all I know about you is that you're strong, and nice, and know stuff that I don't. I mean, I know a little about you but it's like...."

She waved her hands around ineffectually.

"It's like walking into a ship you've never seen before to service it, but you don't know where anything is. All you've gotten is a look at the outside, and sure you might recognize the make and model, but that doesn't mean you know where to pump the oil and how to check the filters!"

Ivil had never been compared to a ship before. She had been propositioned before, but the offers had never sounded like an oil change. She wasn't sure what to make of it.

"I think I see what you mean. You like the look of me, and my power I suppose, but you don't know if you'd like the real me beyond just my appearance and strength?"

"Yeah," Twenty-Six agreed with a firm nod. She was still blushing a little, but it was under... some amount of control now. "You can read the spec sheets all you want, but you don't know until you know."

"I like that," Ivil said. "Would it help if I told you more about myself?"

Twenty-Six eyed her for a good long time. "No?"

"No?" Ivil asked, surprised by the answer.

"I mean, yes, I guess, but you can't just trust a ship's diagnostics system. You need to observe the ship, test it, see how it handles stress."

"You are aware that I'm not a ship. And if I were a ship, I'd be a warship the likes of which no single mechanic could ever hope to understand all on her own."

Twenty-Six sat up straighter at that, and her eyes narrowed. "Was that a challenge, Evelyn? Because it sounded like one! Just you watch, I'll know so much about you that there won't be a rattle or clang that I couldn't identify in my sleep."

Ivil stared while working hard not to smile.

"Was... was that embarrassing?" Twenty-Six asked.

"I'd rather choose to think it was endearing," she replied.

***