Mazerine stared rather incredulously at Douken as he responded to the waitress in perfect synchronization with the language the waitress or hostess was speaking. She had remembered Douken mentioning something about growing up not too far from Iria, but the way he had made it sound seemed as though he had been gone for a long time. She had expected him to understand the girl, but not to be able to converse back to her quite so fluently. Mazerine just continued to stare, mouth parted in extreme surprise as the pair spoke back and forth for a few beats, ending with the woman walking away.
In the time that she was gone, retrieving their beverages, Mazerine said nothing - only shook her head at Douken. It was clear that, while she was not really upset, she was a bit annoyed with the fact that he had done such a thing. She was hoping that he had at least taken her tastes to mind when he was ordering, as she had no way of knowing what sort of decisions he had made. “Couldn’t help yourself, could you?” she asked, rolling her eyes slightly. She gave him a playful kick from her foot to his under the table, as though to make sure he was aware that she was not really upset.
When the waitress returned with the two steaming mugs of coffee for them. Mazerine watched as she set the jar of sugar between the two mugs and walked away. “Oh, is this really strong tea?” she said, looking at the black liquid. She leaned down to inhale deeply from the steam that drifted from the steaming liquid, and immediately made a face. “That doesn’t smell like any tea I’ve ever had before,” she said, and spooned a bit of the sugar in, stirring it up. Before Douken could say anything to her, she took a drink and immediately made a face as well as a rather taken aback sound. “What the hell is that?” she asked.
It seemed that her naivete with the beverage amused Douken, as he chuckled at her before explaining to her that it was coffee - something she had never had before. She took another drink, now expecting it, and realized that it wasn’t nearly as bad as she had thought now that she wasn’t taken by surprise. “Who ever decided that this was a good idea to drink?” she muttered to herself before turning her attention the food that had just been served.
Mazerine’s eyes widened at the sight of the food in front of her - never before had she seen anything so… so messy! She watched Douken rather tentatively as he dove into his sandwich, following suit not long after. Upon the first bite, she closed her eyes. Before she could even finish chewing, she couldn’t help herself. “Oh my gosh, that’s so good!” she said, swallowing the bite she had taken. As bits of the sandwich fell onto the fried potato pieces, she picked one up and shoved it in her mouth, chewing it. It was crunch, salty, and covered in the pieces of sandwich that had fallen out.
“I’ve never had anything like this before,” she said, eyes wide. “This is amazing,” she said, before tucking into the sandwich once more. The two went on and finished their food, not speaking much between bites, until nearly every bit was gone. A small pile of fries covered in sandwich fixings still remained on Mazerine’s plate, but she was stuffed. “I can’t eat anymore,” she said, leaning back in her chair and sighing. She sipped on a bit of the coffee, which she was now growing accustomed to.
“So,” she said, turning her attention back towards Douken now that she had finished eating. “Once we get to the inn where our room is, I think we should take the artifact out and look it over again,” she said, turning the topic towards the reason they had come to Iria in the first place. “That reaction it had, with the glowing red and green was… interesting, to say the least,” she said. “I wonder if it really did have to do with what… happened? Or maybe it was coincidental,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “Either way, I want to look it over again before we got to the Mage’s College tomorrow,” she concluded.
“I mean, we could see if it had the same reaction again,” she said, trailing off as though deep in thought, though her face turned bright red as she realized the connotations behind her suggestion. “I mean, not like that, I just wonder if it would do it again,” she said, though she started laughing when she realized that she was scrambling. There was no point in being embarrassed about the things that had happened between the two of them. To lighten the mood a bit, she leaned across the table and planted a quick kiss on Douken’s cheek.
“Sorry I get so flustered sometimes,” she said, with a laugh as she sat back down. “I think it’s just a whole lot of chaos wrapped up into one tiny package. I’m just nervous to find out what this artifact really is,” she admitted. “And, you know, figuring all of… well, this out,” she said, gesturing back and forth between the two of them. “It’s just a lot for me to process,” she said, with a little bit of a laugh.
After a moment and another drink of her coffee, she spoke again. “Well, should we go find the inn?” she asked, unsure if Douken would want to stay at the place longer, or head to their final destination for the evening.