Inks
Member
Word Count - [2,075]
swaswj - Keydis Lysistrata
inks - Red
swaswj - Keydis Lysistrata
inks - Red
The capitol of the Pelagian Empire was a city of many layers and Aea-Famau was, quite literally, only its surface. The Aea was itself made up of numerous terraces, layering buildings over one another like lilies on a pond. It was crowded and lively, brightly lit and awash with color. The smells of a thousand different foods mingled in the air and ten thousand shops lined the streets with their exotic wares.
Aea-Famau catered to tourists, and many visitors from afar would never even go below the waves. Authentic Pelagian cooking was offered across the street from 'authentic' Borean cuisine, and both shared the markets with a mishmash of bastardized versions of dishes from around the world. True connoisseurs would skip all of the above to find true Pelagian gourmets, who specialized in preparing foods fresh, raw, and chilled.
True connoisseurs and certain ravenous new arrivals to the city, that is.
Straight from the palace, Keydis dragged Red over to one such restaurant. "I've heard about this all my life but never had it!" she explained. The line was thankfully short, and soon enough they reached the smooth wooden counter. The blue- and yellow-scaled woman behind the counter was washing off her knife as she offered a friendly grunt to prompt them to order. "It's seb, sev… there! Ceviche!" Flashing a grin, she called out, "Give me the Famau's Bounty!"
Still checking out the bustling market, eyes roving over the crowds and the stalls alike, Red took a second to realize she was up. She blinked, caught between the cook’s and Keydis’s expectant gazes. “Oh, um, same for me?”
Famau’s Bounty? Ceviche?
Red jammed her hands in her pockets and leaned into Keydis, close enough for their shoulders to touch. “What’s ceviche?” she muttered in the other woman’s ear.
"Something my uncle used to talk about. Said he and my mom used to love it -- dad hated it -- but that you really had to go to Pelagia to get the good stuff. I almost ordered some in Concha Litus but then people started hurling and I thought, might not be the best restaurant for it." Realizing she hadn't actually described it, she shrugged and pointed at the menu. "It's, uh, seafood and veggies and maybe fruit. They don't cook it, just slice it all up, marinate it in lemon juice, spice it, and serve it."
"Lime juice, miss, if you want it authentic!" the chef declared from behind the woman at the counter. The chef was thin and wiry, with pale purple skin and green scales.
"Also, it is cooked, after a fashion," the woman added. She was a velen of a darker blue shade, with striking yellow stripes. "The citrus actually cooks the food without needing fire, if you use the right ingredients and cut them properly. It's a classic Pelagian dish but you'll find it served in most of the oceanside cities in the south."
It didn't take long for their dishes to be delivered, served in ceramic shell-shaped bowls. The woman tapped a sign saying that they'd get some of their money back for returning the bowls. The Famau's Bounty they had ordered had a blend of flounder and red snapper diced into cubes, sliced shrimp, and small scallops, together with diced tomatoes, red onions, avocado slices, and peppers of some kind. Plantain chips were tucked into one side of the bowl along with a wooden fork. A strong smell of cilantro and lime mingled with the briny scent of the fish, and there was even a hint of sweetness like orange.
The chef called over his shoulder for them to enjoy, already working on the next order. "If you want drinks, our neighbor to your left has some of the best beers you can find topside," the woman suggested helpfully.
”Hm.” Red stared at her bowl, somewhat nonplussed, as they moved out of the way to let the next customers order. The food looked gorgeous, it was just that part of her was surprised that Keydis was such a...foodie. Or at least possessed of an adventurous culinary palate. Red, generally speaking, was...not. Red liked meat - savoury, greasy. Fried, roasted, baked, whatever. Raw seafood in a bed of vegetables and fruit was a bit. New.
“Beers,” she said, perhaps a touch too loudly, too enthusiastically. “Yes. Beers sound good.”
Beer, Red knew. She liked beer.
“Sorry,” she said to Keydis, her grin wry. “This just looks like something my dad woulda insisted on having at one of his fancy shindigs. Somethin’ to prove he’s cultured, or whatever. I think I got it ingrained in me to avoid tryin’ new things now out of spite. Bad habit.”
The redhead picked up her fork and speared some of the medley, then paused. She looked up, clearly watching for Keydis to try a bite first.
Keydis laughed and pointed out, "This is street food, woman. Look where we're at!" Once they had their beers, the pair started walking through the market area. There were throngs of people, mostly velen, and the smells of other foods filled the air, bright store-fronts trying to lure shoppers in to buy furniture, souvenirs, clothes, weapons, toys.
Keydis dropped down to sit on a low wall and took a swig from the beer before she finally took a bite of the ceviche. The brunette's face scrunched up uncertainly with that first taste, but as she chewed, her expression brightened. "That's... different." She went in for a second bite, letting the rich flavors of the fish and shrimp and citrus wash over her tongue, bursting with freshness. "It's not bad... could use some crunch."
She ate a little more and then teased, "Hope I'm not getting too fancy for you, out here eating semi-raw fish and chugging beer."
Red took a seat next to Keydis, legs crossed. ”It’s street food in Pelagia,” she objected, face feeling hot. She took a heavy swallow of beer, letting the bitter, malty taste sweep over her. She wiped foam from her lip before adding, “And I said my dumbass dad would think it’s cultural, not that it’s fancy! Don’t act like it’s something every street corner in Prenditus - or even Terminus - would be sellin’. I’ve never even heard of it before today.”
That said, Red glared down at her serving. She took her fork in hand and speared a biteful of food, then jammed it into her mouth. The zing of citrus hit her first, sharply astringent on her tongue; it made her mouth pucker. Then the rest of the ingredients came through - a flavor medley from the fresh vegetables and fruits, with a strong undercurrent of something distinctly fishy. Red chewed. Swallowed.
The pepper sat on her tongue, a pleasant burn that persisted after the rest of the tastes were gone.
“Hm. It’s not bad,” she admitted. “...For semi-raw fish,” she added, nudging Keydis with her shoulder and taking another healthy swig of her drink.
"Ohh, get the poor girl a charred lump of meat," Keydis teased, nudging back and taking a swig from her own bottle. As she ate, the unique flavor was growing on her, and it didn't take long to finish off the Pelagian treat. "Although a steak doesn't sound too bad." The ceviche was good, but left her hungry for something more. She grinned and leaned back, throwing an arm over Red's shoulder and leaning closer to her while nursing the rest of the beer.
On impulse, Keydis remarked, "I'm glad you came with me." She was smirking lightly, looking out across the market and not at Red. "Now that we're out of the desert and someplace warm, you won't have to hibernate so much."
Their ceviche finished, Red set her bowl aside and cradled her beer in both hands instead. The bottle’s chill, the condensation wet on her fingers, was almost comforting in its familiarity. Comfortable. That was the word. Red was...comfortable. She chewed on the edge of her mouth, where a smile was threatening.
”I don’t hibernate,” she said. “I...”
She considered her habit of retreating indoors, cooped up and keeping to herself in the face of both Terminus’s biting cold and Aridus’s blistering heat. While she was honestly used to heat, and it had been more the awkward circumstances in Aridus that had kept her from wandering outside too much, the fact remained.
“...I hibernate,” she muttered. “Still,” she tacked on, perhaps leaning just a little more into Keydis’s shoulder, “I’m not hibernating now. And, uh, yeah. It’s nice. This is nice.”
She cleared her throat, took another long drink of her beer. “...I’m glad I came, too,” she confessed, glancing aside at Keydis’s face in profile.
Keydis fought it, but her smirk turned to a bright smile. She flicked her eyes over at Red, lingering on her for a moment before she looked away and took another long sip of her beer. With a gentle squeeze on Red's shoulder, Keydis pulled her tighter against her side. She struggled to find words but she was too used to speaking in sarcasm and teasing; she didn't want to ruin the moment. It was too comfortable just to sit back, enjoy the light buzz from the alcohol and the warm fluttering in her chest.
If not for the meeting with the emperor looming so soon in the future, she might have asked Red if she wanted to find a proper bar, maybe one with music and a dance floor. If there was anyone worth blowing off an audience with an emperor for, though… Keydis laughed lightly to herself. A more adult side of her offered an alternative. "After this thing with Neptunum, we should see what the nightlife is like around here," she suggested.
Cheeks lightly flushed, Red turned aside to hide her own helpless smile. Her fingers fiddled with the rim of her drink, where the frothy foam clung and quickly dried in the dazzling Pelagian sun. “It’s a deal,” she said. She soaked in the warmth of the other woman at her side, leaning in enough that their temples pressed together.
Red gave Keydis a look from beneath her eyelashes, and her smile softened to something more intimate for just a moment. “A date, even,” she added, with another swig from her bottle.
For a long moment, Keydis just sat there smiling back at Red, simply content in a way she hadn't felt in a long time. The din of the market was so much background noise, another world, leaving the two in their own little bubble, hidden away from the many eyes around them.
Silently, Keydis reached up to Red's hair, taking the one distinctive lock of brunette between her fingers and stroking gently over it with her thumb.
With a gentle clink, Keydis raised her bottle and tapped it against Red's, a light toast. "A date, Ceres," she affirmed in a whisper, with a hearty squeeze around Red's shoulders. Then she tilted the beer back and downed the rest, letting out a satisfied, "Ahh!" Dropping the bottle down next to her ceviche bowl on the low wall, Keydis stood up abruptly.
Red jumped to her feet to follow, only for Keydis to grab her by the hand and swing the redhead around. She pulled Red into her arms, dipping downward with one hand at the small of her back. Her own cheeks flushed lightly, partly from the buzz, partly from the thought that people might be watching. She grinned past it. "Careful I don't sweep you off your feet!"
Red grinned up at her, clinging tight to the back of Keydis’s neck, to the curve of her back. “Oh, please,” she drawled, entirely unable to keep the affection off her face. Her gaze cut to the side for a moment, thinking. Then she pulled the brunette down by the grip on the back of her neck, into a kiss.
Their lips both tasted like raw fish and alcohol. Somehow, that fact had Red smirking against Keydis’s mouth.
As she got her feet back beneath her and straightened, Red pressed her forehead to Keydis’s. “If you’re not careful, I’ll sweep you off yours.”
--