(no subject)

[2020sight]

Epimetheus has settled into a table. Feet up on the opposite chair? Check. Whiskey on the table? Check. Guitar in his lap? Check.

A certain un-invitation propped up on the table next to the whiskey, making him snicker every time he glances at it?

Double check.

---

Nita also has a table and a drink, but in her case it's a pot of strong black tea. Her manual is open on the table; it's projecting, in silvery-blue lines, a 3D map of what looks like a series of mountain ranges and canyons. Nita is frowning in concentration -- and a little bemusement -- as the projection slowly pans along a particularly stark set of conical mountains.

---

And last but not least, Carmela has laid claim to a stool at the Bar and ordered a drink that is bright purple, sparkly, and heavily frothed at the top.

She does have a tablet with her that's currently displaying a celebrity gossip website (the text is in no earthly language, but there's something about the formatting that's unmistakably reminiscent of Gawker, and it's just possible that one of the pictures in the article is of a much-loved British actor with great cheekbones). That's just there if she gets bored of people watching, though, and really, what are the odds of that?

[ooc: NaNoWriMo is over! Rejoice with me! Open 'till it scrolls, slowtimes are my favorite thing ever.]

Comments

[i_grenfelz]

"Probably?"

Carmela doesn't judge!

[nepetaleijon]

"Okay!"

And Nepeta doesn't seem to mind.

"What's that purrple thing you're drinking?"

[i_grenfelz]

"It's called kzaoi!l. It's kinda like bubble tea only with more stuff that does interesting things to human brain chemistry."

[nepetaleijon]

"Interesting like fun things?"

Carmela doesn't look like she's under the influence of anything much.

[i_grenfelz]

"Yeah," she says, see-sawing a hand, "roughly comparable to a couple shots of vodka."

[nepetaleijon]

"Oh, like alcohol," she says in understanding. "... So why not just purrchase alcohol?"

[i_grenfelz]

"'Cause this is tastier."

She swirls the glass.

"And it sparkles, I mean, come on."

[nepetaleijon]

"..."

Nepeta is too busy being entranced by the sparkles to answer that right away.

(And you thought it was just the catnip, last time.)

[i_grenfelz]

". . . You okay?"

[nepetaleijon]

"Sure I am! It's just purretty."

A pause, and she gives Carmela a sidelong look.

"What's it taste like?"

[i_grenfelz]

"Hmmm."

Carmela considers this.

"Kinda sweet, but . . . a little bit umami, too?"

[nepetaleijon]

(Somehow or other, umami translates.)

"Oooh. Bar, can I have a small cup of what she's drinking?"

The cup appears, and Nepeta laps at it happily.

[i_grenfelz]

Kinda sweet, kinda savoury, kinda frothy, kinda sparkly.

And with a kick to it.

[nepetaleijon]

... ooooh.

Lap lap lap!

"This is good. What did you say it was called? Kzrawr-something?"

[i_grenfelz]

"Kzaoi!l," she repeats obligingly. There's a click in it. "It's from a planet called P'lik."

[nepetaleijon]

"Do you have any idea what it's made furom?"

[i_grenfelz]

Cheerful: "No idea, but it's digestible."

[nepetaleijon]

"It doesn't quite taste like furuit ... "

Another few laps, and she smacks her lips with a thoughtful expression.

Brightly: "Meowbe it's some animal secretion."

[i_grenfelz]

"Oh, yeah, could be! Might explain the mood-altering effects, too."

Carmela is maybe one of the few humans around who will cheerfully consume something described as a secretion. Because what? Milk is an animal secretion!

[nepetaleijon]

So's honey! And so's bug butter wait wrong canon.

"Karkat says anything in nature that makes you f33l good purrobably just wants to eat you. Or else use you to repurroduce."

Lap lap lap.

[i_grenfelz]

"Not necessarily!"

A beat.

"Well, okay, I might have a tough time arguing the reproduction part. But given that it's an alien drink, if it is a secretion, it could totally be toxic to something in its home environment. Like chocolate's toxic to dogs."

[nepetaleijon]

"It is?" Dismayed. "Poor dogs."

[i_grenfelz]

"I know, right?"

Sadface!

(She misses Poncho sometimes.)

[nepetaleijon]

Nepeta pawses pauses, and looks down at the drink.

"I ... guess it's not toxic to trolls?" she hazards.

[i_grenfelz]

"Which, chocolate?"