(no subject)

[ownerless]

Steven's arrival has given Pearl's mission to investigate the doors as deeply as possible an extra urgency. And the Bar really is a remarkable resource- any tool or device she can think of, human or gem, she seems able to provide.

She cannot, however, be disabused of the notion that Pearl requires sustenance as well. Nor has Pearl discovered how to persuade her to stop presenting her tool requests with an accompanying dish of food. She has amassed several at this point: a cup of yogurt, some curry with rice, a corndog, and a salad, among other things. It seems untidy to just leave them on the Bar, so she has brought them over to a table, where she surveys them with a mixture of confusion and faint disgust.

Comments

[foolyoutwice]

Steven's arrival has also made Loki even more interested in these gem people. And their potential wormhole science. (...more interested in the wormhole science than the people, if we're being strictly honest. He's just not that much of a people person.)

So when he steps into the bar and sees Pearl, he approaches, in a wandering indirect sort of a way, and smiles at her look of disgust. "...Not fond of the local cuisine?"

[ownerless]

"Oh... no." If gem culture has expectations about hospitality, 'pretending to like whatever your host gives you' evidently isn't one of them. "Would you like it? Your species eats, doesn't it?"

[foolyoutwice]

"Yes..." Yes, his species eats. But now that he's refueled from his first arrival--eh. Does any of that look very appealing? Well, there's a ring-shaped bread, dressed with some thick white spread and a thin sliver of--fish?

Sure, fine. It's a pretext to sit and talk.

"...thank you. So why all the food, if you don't eat?"

[ownerless]

"The Bar keeps giving it to me!" Pearl cries. "I've told her that my physical form is just a conscious manifestation of light and doesn't derive energy from good, but I don't think she was listening." (Or Bar finds it amusing to ignore her.)

[foolyoutwice]

A very informative conscious manifestation of light! Loki takes a bite of his round bread and chews, nodding. "--Have you always been a conscious manifestation of light? Or do you take other forms?"

[ownerless]

"Well, our only real physical form are our gems." You know, the big one in her forehead. "The rest is-- flexible."

[foolyoutwice]

Loki has always liked flexible. "Did you choose the..." He waves a hand: the whole skinny pale fluttery whatever look.

[ownerless]

"Oh, well, certain features are dictated by things beyond our control-- our gem and its cut and things like that," Pearl says briskly as the mun silently hopes this extrapolation from canon is never explicitly contradicted. "But the rest, I chose." And sounds proud of it!

[foolyoutwice]

"I'm sure it's very you," he says in tones of earnest compliment.

Loki tilts his head and studies her, with a faint smile. "But what is a nice gem like you doing on a place like Earth?"

[ownerless]

Pearl laughs. "Oh, it's a long story! We tried to make a colony, there was a war..." You know how these things go.

[wings_of_a_swan]

As coincidence would have it, Combeferre is reading an article about crystals fusing.

And it's been several waking hours without coffee, so it's about time to replenish. As he turns away from the bar with a heavy mug decorated with a smiley-face (Bar has kindly provided cream and sugar without Combeferre specifically asking for it), he sees a pearlescent woman who must be the gem Prouvaire told him about.

It would be fascinating to talk to her, but he doesn't want to interrupt, especially since she seems to have amassed a feast for herself. So he bows, politely, in her direction, before settling at a table, within easy talking distance but also easy ignoring distance.

[ownerless]

"Excuse me," Pearl says eagerly when he bows. "You, human-- do you-- want any of this?" She gestures uncertainly at her spread.

[wings_of_a_swan]

"I--well, no, madame, I'm just here for coffee," says Combeferre. And Bar didn't even give him food unasked for, either! "Did Bar give you more than you asked for? She sometimes does that, in a motherly spirit."

[ownerless]

"I didn't ask for anything," she says. "But I didn't want to just... leave it there."

[wings_of_a_swan]

"Oh, I see." Bar's feeling more mischievous than usual, apparently. "Well, if you did leave it there, I suppose someone who wanted it would take it. Or perhaps Bar, er, feels you need it?"

[ownerless]

"I've tried to tell her," Pearl says with an impatient sigh. "I don't require food."

[wings_of_a_swan]

"You don't need sustenance? Of any kind?"

Now that's interesting, if so. Even computers need to be plugged into electricity sometimes.

[ownerless]

"Nooo," Pearl says. "So really, you're welcome to any of... this." Whatever it all is.

[wings_of_a_swan]

"But how can that be?" Combeferre catches himself, remembering that it's rude to interrogate random strangers on their energy sources. "I beg your pardon, it simply comes as a surprise--all beings I know of require energy from some external source."

(He says, while ignoring the food Pearl has just offered him.)

[ownerless]

"Oh, well, I'm not from Earth!" So! That explains everything, right?

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

"Is someone giving out free food again?"

Juliet's advice is always 'if it's free and you got it from Milliways, don't eat it.'

[ownerless]

"Free?" No one has mentioned to Pearl that you have to pay for anything here yet. Actually, the concept of payment for goods and services in general is one she only has a shaky grasp on.

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

Juliet nods. "Only your first drink's on the house - everything else goes on a tab that the bar keeps running for you." She pauses to consider the amount of food set out before Pearl. "I don't know if she charges you if you refuse it, though."

[ownerless]

"Oh." Huh. "--well, I don't eat or drink."

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

Juliet nods just once, sharply, "definitely see if she'll take it back, then - unless you know of anyone who does eat that you'd like to share your food with?"