Private Finished Lily in the Sky

Kir had glanced over to check on Lily a few times and every time he looked she seemed to be looking straight ahead with no deviation at all. It was very curious, as they could not comprehend not trying to look around at everything. They were starting to get concerned something was wrong but she seemed to be ok when they stopped at the jewelry booth.

Kir smiled when Lily turned to look at him, apparently impressed by the situation. Honestly KirMir were not fluent in the language but they knew simple things like greetings. Which in this case made the stall owner more friendly than he would normally treat a tourist. One of KirMir's classmates, while they had been going to school exclusively on the station, had taught them that trick. Many of the traders greatly appreciated when someone made an attempt to learn some of their language, even though universal translators were fairly common on the station.

"We are here to enjoy the day. We do not mind if you wish to try on some of the jewelry here," Kir replied to Lily and watched with amusement. She was so careful with the item. So gentle and appreciative of how well crafted and beautiful it was. The lights emanating from the bangle shifted and changed a few times before settling on a small array of colored light coming from the various small holes.

The stall keeper looked down with his own interest and laughed. Of the three general colors being displayed he explained the light green as being the equivalent of apprehension or anxiety, and the peach color indicated interest and curiosity. Before he could get to the third color he grinned, showing off rows of teeth. "You turn off the colors with finger touching here," he advised as he gestured to a circle on the bangle. "This color means...," he looked at Kir with his arm protectively around Lily and at Mir standing by right behind them before looking back at Lily, "Is good sign for couple" The final color was a sort of very dark yellow, almost brown actually. An accurate description would have been a mixture of anticipation, joy and trust. Or romantic feelings essentially.

"You want to buy for her?" The stall keeper asked Kir and gestured towards the bangle. "$20 only."

Instead of answering him directly Kir looked over to Lily to see if she even wanted the trinket or not. They were not going be be swayed by any kind of attempt to sell them on something just because it seemed to have indicated that Lily was attracted to them.

"We can afford it if you would like one of these pieces of jewelry Lily, though there are many other curiosities in this market too," Mir offered over her shoulder as she continued to keep watch. Though she had moved back even closer to them. "Also there is a small place that sells noodles nearby if you have regained an appetite."

KirMIr were also a little suspicious. The bangle hadn't revealed anything other than what Lily had mentioned or was fairly readily assumed based on how they were standing. It was of course very possible that it was perfectly accurate and Lily just already knew what she was feeling quite well, but if she wasn't sure she wanted one then the money could be put to better uses

"A meal and a break is a good idea. We think you'll like this place too," Mir answered. The truth was KirMir's bodies required a higher caloric intake than a human so they were ready to eat again too. Kir nodded at the stall keeper and then began leading Lily back out into the bustle of the walkway between the various vendors.

The vendor frowned a little at having not been able to make a sale but said nothing as he waited for Lily to put the bangle down and then took it into his own hands to begin cleaning it. It was fairly common for these stalls to have people not purchase something so he didn't seem overly upset, just a little disappointed. "If you change mind, I am here," he called out after them.

As Mir once more led them through the crowd Kir still accompanied Lily and gave her some advice about the food they were going to eat. If something on the menu was specially marked as spicy or had any one of a number of color warning codes it meant it was not generally designed for human consumption

After a few moments though they found themselves in front of the noodles vendor. Or rather in front of a large vendor's space that had been turned into a semi-permanent small restaurant. The serving staff though were all robots and all the tables were lined with a sort of purple neon underglow that made it seem more suitable for a club than the marketplace. But it was fairly small with a counter in front of the kitchen area and two or three very small booths for additional seating.

Fortunately one of the booths had just recently been vacated and the attendant robot had just cleaned it so KirMir made their way straight for it before anyone else could grab it. Mir came up next to Lily, taking her hand and gesturing at the booth for her to sit down. "We are fortunate, most times we have been here there have been no booths available. Go ahead and relax and Kir will grab menus from the attendant," she said with a comforting squeeze on Lily's hand.

As she was saying this Kir sort of passed Lily to Mir, gently separating from Lily and going a few feet over to get the menus. This time Mir stayed close with Lily and sat with her on one side of the booth, leaving the other bench seat for Kir.

KirMir would not have let Lily order anything that would be dangerous to her, but it was better to teach her than just order for her. That way if she found herself on the station without them she would still be safer. As protective as they were being around Lily, they were not the possessive or controlling type.

Mir watched as Lily looked around the place, very clearly impressed with their choice of restaurant. "This place is well known for simple but delicious food. Many of the other students prefer to stop by places like this when shopping or exploring the markets," Mir explained to Lily as she reached over to grab a menu from Kir to give to pass over to Lily. Mir did not need one since Kir already had one for them to look at.

Kir glanced over the menu to see any new dishes or changes on it before setting the menu back down. "We don't know the proper pronunciation either. It appears to be a newer dish. It should be safe to eat though," Kir said after glancing at the menu to see what she had selected. Kir and Mir had tried maybe a dozen or so different variations on the noodles from this type of shop over the years but menus here changed frequently with trade prices and general supplies shifting and changing- especially alien ones.

"We are going to order this one here, with the red noodles and meat equivalent to that of a chicken and a mildly spicy broth, and also this one, with a beef substitute and a broth that we would describe as similar to teriyaki flavor but more muted," Mir pointed to the two dishes on Lily's menu. The spicy one was marked as such but with the explanation KirMir had given it was identifiable as something that wouldn't be harmful for a human but might cause issues for species extra sensitive to spices.

"We can also share some of ours if you would like to sample the food," Mir offered right as a robot stepped up and greeted them, asking for their drink and food orders. Mir and Kir each ordered their food and a drink with an alien sounding name. They knew it to be a carbonated beverage that tasted sort of like watermelon mixed with cucumber.

As Kir returned the menus to the robot Mir put her arm around Lily. So far the date was going very well. There had been no issues and they apparently hadn't made any major missteps. It was difficult operating without experience but it seemed like many of their instincts had been correct.

KirMir didn't mind helping Lily learn whatever she wanted to. Had they been the newcomer they would have been doing the exact same thing. It was part of the reason they had been pointing the dishes out on the menu anyway.

"That sounds reasonable. We taste some of yours and you taste some of ours so that we are able to experience several options. It is in some ways like how we eat," Kir replied happily and gestured at himself and Mir. "When we want to try things we frequently choose different options so we can taste more than one at once." And of course it was a sort of protection fro poisoning too if they ordered two different things. Habits and instincts were hard to break, and survival lessons had been drilled into them for years.

Mir gave a small but comfortable smile as Lily scooted a little closer and leaned in. She didn't try to pull her in tight though, preferring to just enjoying the casual closeness at the moment. Kir started to lean forward and reach his hand for Lily's but stopped halfway there as she asked about their home. Mir's smile too faded as they thought about it.

Old, mostly forgotten memories of armed corporate soldiers taking them away. Massive cities with every inch packed with skyscrapers that reached up and up. Then just various labs and holding areas. testing chambers and education processing units. Pain, anguish, countless rebirths, and a hint of camaraderie that was crushed out in the pursuit of efficiency and advancements.

KirMir didn't break down into tears or freak out at Lily. Instead their faces went neutral as they quickly decided what they could and could not share at the moment.

"We lived on our homeworld for less than a month before we were forcibly relocated to a series of space stations. However we do know our world is ruled by corporations that control everything. Most of the population is either on space stations or concentrated in large city states. Technologically speaking it is similar or more advanced than much of the equipment here on the station," Mir explained finally after the pause, with no breaks for Lily to reply until she finished. Kir resumed reaching forward and placed his hand in Lily's.

That was probably enough to give her a decent idea of it without telling too much. It would put her at risk if they gave her enough information to actually start trying to search for their homeworld. Trian megacorp would no doubt still have them listed as an asset needing to be recovered.

Before KirMir could even respond the robot returned with their various drinks and placed them on the table, being careful not to disturb their hand holding. It mentioned their food should be ready shortly and then left them to their conversation.

The thing about KirMir's homeworld, or perhaps more accurately their species in general, was that what had happened to KirMir wasn't considered wrong there at all. The progression of their technology and other scientific discoveries as a species overruled everything else. Still, it wasn't a pleasant thing and KirMir definitely did not want to go into any of the details with her in public. They weren't sure if even in private they really wanted to go too deeply into it.

Mir had been explaining things because, well, she was already embracing Lily and she could keep things relatively private by speaking quietly. So she continued in the conversation, very glad for Lily's presence. In fact she unconsciously pulled Lily just a tiny bit closer. Kir of course allowed her to take his hand.

Clearly she had inferred something more about their past than just their words alone conveyed. It didn't really surprise them, Lily had been fairly good at being empathetic so far. "There was no reason for you to have known much about our past. Asking a person about their home world is a completely normal thing. What we experienced there was unpleasant, but we are not there any longer. We are here, we are relatively safe, and we are in comfortable company," Mir stated and punctuated the final part with a small smile and resting her head against Lily's for a moment. They had come to terms with their past. In time they might share more with Lily if she wanted to know more but just sharing as much as they had was a pretty good indicator that they trusted Lily a fair bit.

Kir took a sip of their drink as Mir talked and then turned his attention from looking around to focus on Lily again. "We hope your past wasn't as... complicated. You mentioned living in the dorms because your family left the island. Do you get to visit with them sometimes?" Kir asked because it was a slight change in subject but more importantly they were curious about her life too. Parents were not a perfect subject for them to ask about, having been separated from theirs so long ago, but oh well.