They had to run out of there, laughing so hard Garnet had tears in her eyes. The fact that he said it with such a straight face only made it better.
They stopped for food afterwards. Garnet got a salad that somehow tasted exactly like beef. Like, cooked without spices, juicy, fatty steak. The sheer difference between the crunchy, pale-yellow leaves and the flavor drove her a bit crazy. Goldie ordered what she thought was fish but turned out to be a bird that was called a fish – it dove underwater frequently, earning the name. It was pretty good, but it tasted weirdly like grapes. Tanin ordered a bowl of super spicy noodles that were bright blue and burned her face terribly but tasted really good.
Garnet and Goldie tried everything; Tanin shared his food without complaint. Not that there was much to complain about since they both had about half a noddle before the sheer spice level made them cry, fanning their mouths, desperately drinking some kind of juice that was thick and rich, more like nectar than juice.
It was a lot of fun. The food was much better than the stuff produced by the synthesizer, even if everything was so odd and different.
They reached the end of the path to the right and began making their way back – stopping for one more piece of sugar glass art as they did so. There was a bar and dance club just past the docks, both of them still closed since it was early. All the space stations in Coalition space kept to Standard time, set to Holotulle’s time. Holotulle was the capital of the Coalition, and Standard time was based off of them. Planets would either use a modified Standard time or keep to their own, traditional time keeping system, but the stations matched Holotulle’s time so that they were all synced, regardless of how separated they were.
It was kind of cool, in a way. The stations were all separated by multiple light years, by entire galaxies in some cases. But it was morning on all of them now. There were an uncountable number of people all doing their morning shopping at this moment. It connected them, even despite the distance.
Past the bar and club, there were more stores. Some sold jewelry, others sold clothes, one sold sex – in a way that was subtle, but still clear. The sight surprised Garnet slightly, but that was only because she was used to brothels being illegal on Earth. She wouldn’t call it a trashy place either. It was nice and bright, like a tea parlor welcoming people of both genders, to be serviced by professionals of both genders as well.
As she passed, she saw Trove inside, laughing and tossing back drinks with three different females all lingering around him.
But they didn’t stop there. They kept moving on, window shopping everywhere, but only being drawn into a few of the buildings. They bought a couple more things – some clothes, a tool kit for Garnet, a pretty impressive first aid kit for Goldie, lots of snack foods so they didn’t have to rely solely on the synthesizer – before they found a place that sold cotton candy. Like legit cotton candy. It came in some interesting flavors, but the basic one was just plain old spun sugar. It was like a taste of home. Garnet couldn’t say that she missed Earth, not really. But it was nice that something so simple and familiar had a place even all the way out here.
As she pushed pieces of the treat past her lips, she looked over to Goldie who was eating hers – yellow, flavored after a berry neither of them recognized – with all apparent enjoyment. Her wolf-ish stuffie under one arm, a pretty ribbon in her hair, wearing a bright blue alien style dress that fit loosely around her form.
Goldie caught her eye and smiled at her. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“It hasn’t… like, hit you yet?” She grimaced. “I mean, leaving Earth? Your career…”
“My student loans?” Goldie laughed, nudging her playfully. “Are you still feeling bad about asking me to stay out here? Garnet, I’m having agreattime. Do you know how much I’ve learned just moving around that medbay? The others in my class wouldkillto be where I am. Stop worrying so much. This is the best decision for us. Trust me. Would I lie to you?”
“You absolutely would if you thought it would spare my feelings.”
Goldie laughed. “Okay. Fair. I would. But I’m not this time. What about you? Areyouregretting your decision yet?”
Garnet searched her sister’s face for a moment longer, assuring herself that she wasn’t lying, before breaking out in a wide smile. “I’m definitelynot. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun or was this stress free. Is it weird for me to say that I think being kidnapped was the absolute best thing that has ever happened to us?”
Goldie threw back her head, laughing. “The ultimate silver lining.”
“Lining? The whole damn cloud is shiny, sterling silver! I haven’t seen a single downside to this.”
“Right! And everyone is so nice.”
“The nicest!” Garnet couldn’t help but look back at Tanin. She half expected him to be rolling his eyes at their instance that everyone was sweet, but he was just staring back at her. His expression totally closed off. She shivered, enjoying it. Somehow, it was like he was stroking his hands over her skin without touching her at all.
“Wow. Look at that.”
Garnet turned forward, following Goldie’s finger. Ahead of them, standing out starkly against the blue-collar mall backdrop of the other stores, was a large, three-story building with four massive columns out front keeping up a large, marble stone roof. It was like a fancy bank had suddenly dropped into the middle of a small city shopping center. It was leagues more expensive and luxurious, with wide open doors, warm light pouring out from inside. It was totally out of place.
Even as they watched, Rok emerged from the main doors. His four arms were empty, and he had a small smile on his face as he took the long stairs down. Garnet realized that this was where the rich guy lived or worked. The one that had hired them to deliver the package.
He really wasn’t trying to hide it either.
Rok caught sight of them and abruptly changed directions to catch up. He smiled happily, though his shoulders remained hunched in as he approached slowly. Cautiously. Like he was afraid of moving too fast lest he scare them.
Rok was sweet. Though he was easily the biggest guy on the crew, he moved so carefully. He had to be stupid strong, considering his biceps were bigger than her head – all four of them – and as a result, he treated the world like it was made of glass.
To him, it probably was.
In the light, Garnet thought his black and teal scales were beautiful. The teal color really seemed to pop, his yellow eyes glinting joyfully. He was pretty handsome, but she didn’t think it would be proper to tell him that, so she just smiled brightly as he got close.
