Here Be Dragons

Why did it always have to be so called? Just so damn cold? Southern California experienced winter too. But this wasn't what she knew of it. It was cold, windy, snowy. It was Ontario, Canada is what it was. It was a Cassie winter. Talia wished she hadn't worn a skirt for her Valentine's Day dinner with Charlie. The leggings did nothing to protect her from the frigid winter air. And just a few days before it had seemed like Spring was just around the corner.

But it wasn't. At least not on this night.

Talia squeezed the life out of Charlie's hand just trying to stay warm as they walked down the street towards the restaurant. She was wearing a heavy wool coat, her pink hello kitty earmuffs and even black wedges, something she rarely did. But tonight was special. It was Valentine's Day and she was with the one she loved. Although that didn't stop her from being skeptical about the restaurant. She was curious about the food since all her experiences with Japanese food were street and very casual foods. Not that there was anything wrong with them, but the idea of upscale seemed unnecessary. Not simple noodles, or sushi, or anything you could get on the street, but fancy things. Fancier fishes, fancier seaweeds, fancier whatever.

As they walked in, the restaurant did sort of have a nicer vibe to it. The interior was dimly light, but everything was easily visible. The place was quiet too, despite being full of people. Maybe it was designed that way or something. Nevertheless, Talia couldn't help but notice the conveyor belt swooping around the restaurant. "Still one of these places," she muttered to herself, though not in disgust. The hostess directed them to one of the booths and sat them down. She handed them menus that listed all the specialty things they could order from the kitchen.

But Talia was already eyeing the conveyor belt. "This could be bad," she joked to Charlie as she looked at the delicious looking food as it passed by. "There's nothing stopping me from eating until I explode."

Charlie figured today called for something special. However he had never eaten at a place like this before. He chuckled as Talia talked about the food. "Tal we can't have you exploding..." Charlie said before continuing in his best commander Shepard voice. "I have plans for you in the commanders quarters later. Thats an order."

Charlie smiled at his girlfriend as he pat his pocket. He had a small box containing small silver earrings with small rubies in them. Their shade was almost a perfect match for Talia's hair. At least Charlie thought it was a perfect match. He wanted to give it to her now, but waiting was probably the smarter. "This has to be the best Valentines Day I have ever had."

Talia's face lit up with a grin. "It just started!" she pointed out and reached over to grab his hands with hers. "Is it really already the best Valentine's Day you've ever had?" Although he did have a point. At least in her recent memory, she couldn't recall any other Valentine's Days that had her feeling this happy and joyous. "Because it's mine too," she finished with another warm smile. "This is our first Valentine's Day together, and I'm sure it's the first of many more to come."

At the entrance of the restaurant, though, another party walked into the restaurant. It was two tension wrestlers, just like Talia and Charlie. They were both American too, just like the cute couple as well. But they were very different. One, for example, was a tall broad shouldered man whose outfit seemed to rather skillfully hide his physique. He was wearing a heavy black pea coat, thick gray wool gloves, a black scarf and slacks. No one would've been the wiser on who he was. The other, though, was former tension champion John Mitchel. And he stood out a little bit more even covered in winter clothing.

"Seems nice," Alex said rather plainly while looking at the place. It wasn't necessarily his style but whatever, nice was nice.

“Nice? It’s fish that comes on a belt right to you. What can be better?” John chuckled a little as he heard Alex talk about the place. As he came in, he took his black gloves and wrap-around behind the head earmuffs off and put them into the pockets of his brown bomber style leather jacket. He unzipped it, but left it on, showing the warm long sleeve black shirt he wore beneath it. He shook his head slightly, as if shaking out the cold that had assaulted his face, causing his red hair to shift a bit.

A chance meeting in a gym, a weird awkward fumbling around and asking for Alex’s number, and a few more awkward questions latter…and suddenly they were at a niceish conveyor belt sushi place, out for a date.

In truth, John wasn’t sure where this was going. They had a bit of chemistry, and Alex was very attractive. This date was sort of…scoping it out for both of them.

Conveyor belt sushi was an excellent choice for a date. It was novel, different from what one would find in the states. It also had a local flavor, which even the one or two places in NYC that mimicked the Japanese style couldn’t reproduce. “There was a place like this in China town, where I grew up. It was nice, but the one sin Japan…..” He paused as he watched another couple take a seat. “Huh…think I know that person.” Was that…the back of Talia’s head?

No matter if it was, he didn't want to intrude. "Let's find a booth, nicer than sitting at the bar." The conveyor belt had booths built into it, which the belt ran along side, allowing the diners to grab and pass about plates. Each booth had a color chart built into the table, indicating the price of each colored plate.

Alex shrugged mildly as John talked about how great it was for the fish to come to him. It wasn't like he was against the idea, he just didn't really see the appeal of it. "Yea, there's one of these-well probably more than one-but one I went to in San Diego that was alright. It's convenient, that's for sure." The man took off his gloves and stuffed them into the pockets of his coat. He pulled straight down on the scarf, untangling it from around his neck. He pulled the coat completely off and folded it over one arm with the scarf over it. "I'll admit at least from this distance the sushi already looks better than it did at that place."

He followed John to the booth, not really looking around at the others at the restaurant nor really listening to the mention of knowing somebody. His attention was purely on John, for a wide variety of reasons. "Well, at least we managed to find a place for dinner in this town on this day." In truth it was because the Japanese most important 'Date Night' was Christmas Eve and not February 14th. Alex was willing to take the small victory regardless. He sat down at the booth and dropped his jacket beside him on the seat. He inspected the makeshift menu on the table for a second before looking across at John.

"Want anything to drink? I haven't sampled the local brews since I've come here. It usually gets in the way of training. Fortunately I think I'm passing on a workout tomorrow since I don't plan on getting to sleep early enough tonight." The man added a grin to his flirt before something noticed his eye. Two booths away behind John's red hair was even more. He tilted his head to the side and squinted his eyes. "Oh wait...is that who you were talking about?" he asked while nodding once in John's direction.

“Forget the convenience, it’s the novelty of the thing. It’s a change from the normal way one dines. Plus it just has a fun factor.” John clarified as they sat down. “It’s a more social way of dining, too. Good for special occasions.” The implication, deliberately, was that this first date may be a special occasion.

John let a slight smirk spread on his lips as he sat down at the booth. “Heh, well maybe we can see about getting some exercise latter to make up for it since you’ll be up anyway.” John said, escalating the flirt slightly. The attention from this back and forth, though, was cut off by the other person.

John craned his head slightly to look over to the other booth. Talia was still facing away from them, but he recognized her. And chuckled a bit “Heh, yeah I think that’s the back of Talia’s head from Tension. I don’t wana bother her to turn around and be sure though.”

Alex continued to stare at the back of Talia's head when John confirmed his suspicion. It had been a full year since he'd gotten to Japan. He had managed to avoid her the entire time though it was mostly because she wasn't wrestling anymore. He was curious if she was even still in town, but this answered that question. And even though John seemed willing to just let her be, Alex wasn't...for a variety of reasons as well.

"How do you know her?" Alex asked as his eyes slowly drifted back to John. He more or less knew from his other sister, Aurora, that Talia hadn't had the greatest experience with tension wrestlers. It was actually one of the reasons he had come to Japan in the first place. A small reason, yes, but a contributing one nonetheless. He was curious what John's relationship with her was. Or at the very least, what John's side of it was.

Then he noticed there was someone else with Talia. A man no less. Well, more a boy than a man. He squinted his eyes trying to make out his face. "Do you know who that guy with him is?" he asked while nodding his head once more in their direction. "I've never seen him before."

John’s flirt must not have been as good as his, since Alex now seemed totally interested in Talia. Then again, John was pretty sure why. “Leme guess, you know her from watching Friction, right?” He asked, pretty sure that wad the interest. “Oh, met her in a park while she was healing up. She’s one of ours now, tension. I’ve talked with her a few times, worked out with her, trained with her a bit. She’s a good egg.” John said, nodding a bit. “Actually that was the friend I was waiting for that day we bumped into each other.” John was rather casual about it. Nothing he was saying was particularly sensitive, her problems in Friction were common knowledge, his appraisal of her general and not revealing.

He wasn’t going to stare, but he had to get a look at the gentleman Alex was talking about to answer. He turned his head slightly then turned it back. “Another one of ours. I know nothing of him…hey, man, you’re staring.” John said with a chuckle.

Alex was indeed staring. But he did manage to stop when John pointed it out. "Yea...that was quite a run she had." Alex spoke as if it was admirable. In a way, it really was to him. But that was a story for another time. "It's shame she can't wrestle in Friction anymore. I thought she had a shot at being big in there." And it also would've kept her out of tension. Now that he knew she really was back at wrestling, it changed what he had been expecting. He'd have to tread a little more lightly than before. At least John didn't seem to have any problems with her. He hadn't expected it, but the carnage Talia brought on had pissed off plenty of decent people. But not this one.

"Well if you say she's a good person, I'll trust ya on that," he added with a smile. "I'll have to look up who this guy is then." He paused, then looked back to John. "You know...as a precaution in case I ever have to fight either of them." Even though he was both joking and acting, that thought made him grin. Wrestling his sister. And her date as well. He shook his head to shake off the grin and image in his head. "Well back to us then. Now, convince me this is somehow better than a kind, agreeable, and accommodating cute waiter meeting our every needs." He picked up a single plate of sushi and put it down in front of him. In hindsight, he should have grabbed the salmon instead of the squid, but he thought his point was clear. "I mean, I suppose I could tip our waiter-" who as he just discovered was going to be a girl, "-the same amount but why would I since she isn't going to be earning it as much?"

Alex muted his voice as a young waitress walked up to the table and introduced herself to the two and asking for drink orders. The man looked from the waitress to John. "Want to split a warm sake?" he asked. And before he even waited for the answer he looked to the waitress. "We'll have a bottle of sake. Anything else?" he then asked John, this time giving him a chance to answer.


Talia was facing away and couldn't see the people two booths down. And even if she could, she probably wouldn't have even looked. She was too preoccupied gazing at Charlie to bother looking at other people. They weren't worth the effort. She looked to the sushi conveyor and thought deeply about the decision before her. "Do you like salmon?" she asked as she pulled a plate with two salmon nigiri on it. "I think its one of my favorites." The orange of the salmon practically matched her hair. No wonder she enjoyed it so. "There's a place like this back home in San Diego I use to go with my brother. He took me back...back when I was just a kid. I thought it was the greatest thing ever at the time."

She grabbed the soy sauce but then noticed the sushi, like all real sushi in japan, was already decorate with a little wasabi and soy sauce. She picked it up with her chopsticks, something that only foreigners did, and picked up one of the salmon. She then looked across at Charlie, smiled, and reached over to hover it in from of him. The redhead grinned as she waited for him to eat it.

Charlie grinned as Talia mesmerized him. "I would like to meet your brother sometime, he sounds like a great guy. Also I love seafood babe, and salmon is always a welcome sight." Charlie leaned forward and ate the offering, not caring at how people around them were probably rolling their eyes. Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white box. "Tell me how much you like this?" Charlie said, holding out the box containing earrings. Charlie loved Talia to death, and knew the next piece of jewelry he bought may very well be a very fancy engagement ring....

"Tal, you are too good to me and I just wanted you to know that you are the center of my wacky little universe." Charlie continued, oblivious that anyone was watching them.