[r] here's the now and then

[vertigo]

J had planned on having hot chocolate for dinner, but he figured he could eat something else.

"yeah," he said, "dinner's fine. i eat rice too."

[admin]

Rice? Okay. She could work with that. Rice was a carbohydrate. It had some questionable amount of nutrients in it.

...Neo wondered if she could persuade him to try leafy greens. That might be too ambitious.

"I spotted a sushi place. How about there?"

[vertigo]

"i don't mind," J said. rice was almost a delicacy to the trainer, considering how rarely he ate something that contained real carbs instead of sugar.

"do you eat raw stuff?"

[admin]

"J, I just tried to eat bitter powder. I will eat raw stuff." And it will taste better than bitter powder. It will, if the restaurant was any good, taste quite good in fact.

Neo took him by the arm--somehow afraid that he'd bolt and run away when they approached an eating establishment that served something besides bitter powder--and exited the gym to the streets, navigating her way to the restaurant. It only took a few seconds before they were seated in a booth by the window.

[vertigo]

J saw the point in her argument and promptly said nothing else as he was taken to the restaurant. he'd somehow missed it on his way to the gym, while neo hadn't.

he shifted into the booth, and proceeded to glance out of the window after taking a quick look at the menu.

he couldn't read half the things on it.

[admin]

He probably missed the restaurant because he doesn't eat. Neo, on the other hand, needs to take note of eating establishments so as to not starve.

...She actually wasn't hungry, on account of having eaten a bowl of stew maybe half an hour ago. Oh, well.

"I forgot to ask, do you eat fish? Might expand your options here."

[vertigo]

did J eat fish?

... he couldn't believe he just asked himself that question. well, he supposed he did, on a rarer occasion than when he chose to eat rice.

"i do, yeah. not very often."

[admin]

As far as Neo had noticed, he didn't eat any food very often.

"You sure you're not anorexic?" she asked without inflection. She may as well have asked for his favorite color.

[vertigo]

"what's that?"

[admin]

"When you don't eat to lose weight."

[vertigo]

J turned his attention to the menu. he actually looked pretty healthy, and the average person unaware of his eating habits probably wouldn't have figured out that he had been surviving on odd foodstuffs. food supplements. something along those lines.

"why would i want to lose weight."

[admin]

...There wasn't any reason for him to lose weight, no. Neo thought he looked fine. She'd never doubted his good health on their travels, not until he'd revealed his bitter powder habit.

"I don't know. I'm just trying to figure out how you haven't dropped dead yet despite eating so rarely. It sounds very cost effective."

[vertigo]

"oh."

to save himself the need for more conversation, J called over a waiter and ordered a set of seafood sushi. he turned to neo.

"do you want anything?"

[admin]

The stew had been a decent sized serving, but Neo ordered a seaweed salad anyway.

With food ordered and on its way soon enough, Neo's objective was complete. Not much more to talk about really.

"Is it Mors next for you?"

[vertigo]

"most likely. bulwark's there."

J watched neo over his cup of green tea. the thought of stealing the earthenware crossed his mind, and he wondered whether anyone would miss a missing cup.

he sipped his drink, still contemplating the idea.