Chariot

[Ria]

Ria flinched slightly when Duo began to stand with her now on his back. She slightly tensed up as she made sure to hold on so as not to fall off. Ria tried to nod in response to Duo asking if she was ready. Then, in response to his next suggestion, she began to feel a little nervous but still moved out a hand to give him a thumbs up.

When he announced he would start, Ria pulled her hand back in to hold herself onto him so she doesn't fall. Ria silently chuckled at Duo's slow start as if he were beginning a race. When he finally started moving fast, however, Ria's eyes opened wide and her smile fell as shock took over her expression. She immediately tightened her grip around Duo, pulling herself as close as she could and silently hoping that they make it there safely.

It may just be due to her naivety, but she already sort of trusts this person carrying her. He accepted her with her strange abilities with a smile. He also played such a beautiful song before. She thought then how running at insane speeds like this was not something she had witnessed before. So he has a strange ability too. She thought almost happily, glad to meet others who share something similar to her, especially when they are kind and not monsters as people claimed her to be simply for having her abilities.

Ria couldn't make anything out around them due to the intense speed and wondered how he was able to navigate through the area so easily. Incredible. She thought happily as she closed her eyes for a moment to try to imagine what it would be like to move at such fast speeds and still be able to see everything clearly.

The wind whipping at her face hurt and was making her pale skin red where it was exposed to the wind, but she didn't care at the moment. Pain was something she was used to anyway.

Ria noticed after such a short time that Duo was slowing down. Her eyes opened wide when he was finally slow enough for her to see clearly where they were. Her face was in shock as she saw the name of the hotel she was staying at right in front of them.

With Duo being stopped, Ria had begun to loosen her hold on him. When he moved again, she quickly held on again and looked forward to where he was skipping to. When he stopped again and slowly lowered Ria, she climbed off also somewhat slowly. It was then that she noticed pain in her muscles from how tense they were during that run and flinched slightly.

She managed to remain standing despite her legs quivering a bit along with her arms. It was then that she looked down at her arms and saw that they were red due to the fast winds whipping at her before. Her eyes widened slightly at them and she touched her left arm where it was red with her right finger and flinched slightly. She then widened her eyes a bit again and touched her hands to her face. Sure enough, there was a slight sting of pain which meant that her face was probably red.

Blushing a bit at this, Ria quickly turned around away from Duo. Her hands that were covering her face began to glow as she healed the wind burns from her face. When she could feel the effects of her healing, she lowered her hands and took turns healing the red marks from each of her arms.

When she was done, she decided not to take the extra time on her slightly strained muscles from having been tensed so much and instead turned back around and beamed a smile up at Duo. She lifted her right hand into an "OK" symbol right by her smile.

She then used that hand to write in the air again to him. "YOU'RE AMAZING, DUO" She then lowered her hand and clasped her own hands together down in front of herself, smiling happily at him.

[Duo]

Before Duo even got a good look of Ria, she suddenly turned away from him, her back facing him. Confused, Duo tilted his head to the side a bit, and then a thought of her being annoyed being carried so quickly like that entered his mind.

"I... I..!" Just as he was stuttering an apology, the pink-haired girl whipped herself back to facing him and gave him a highly enthusiastic 'OK'. Surprised at this, with his mouth still opened, Duo was pleasantly startled when she wrote out in the air that he's amazing.

His eyes blinked wildly at her positive remark of him and then a smile grows back on his face. "Man... For a second there, I thought you were mad at me or something, hahah." Raising his hand to scratch the back of his head, Duo grinned sheepishly. "Sorry you had to go through that, heh. It's kind of pretty dizzying.."

He still remembers the times when he was still not used to his own speed. He had to stop himself after a few minutes of running just to barf and rests his screaming legs. There were even instances where he was admitted to the hospital due to how his body couldn't take his speed initially.

Now, after much practice and grueling pain, his body had finally adapted itself to his ability. Even his eyes managed to come through in catching sight of the road with his immense speed, but that took a while and a lot of wall-slamming. Duo's actually pretty amazed himself how his body could even do this.

"Thanks.." He said after a while of silence, responding to her compliment of him. "It....took a lot of effort, but yeah. Heh.." Smiling down at her, Duo adjusts back the keyboard casing by pulling it off of him first and then wore it back correctly so it rests behind him this time.

"So! Let's eat!" Enthusiastically, the braided man announced before leading Ria towards the restaurant. Duo's eyes scanned the whole inside of the building excitedly due to its architecture basing a lot from robots and mechanical gadgets.

"Sweet!!" He squealed, and then he saw a familiar colour of teal hair. "Milly!" Waving towards his friend, Duo made his way to the table where Milly had sat, and then looked behind him to see if Ria's following. He sidled himself to the seat across from Milly and introducing the girls all at the same time.

"Milly, this is Ria, the cute girl I met at the coliseum! Ria, this is Milly, my best friend!" When did he even sees Milly as his best friend is a mystery.

[Ria]

When Duo admitted he thought she was mad at him, Ria's smile fell a bit with the addition of surprise and she quickly shook her head 'no' to confirm that no such feelings occurred. When Duo apologized for having her go through that, Ria smiled and shook her head again, more slowly this time. She lifted her hand in the air to write "IT WAS BREATHTAKING." Sure, she felt the strain in her muscles still from having clung to him so tightly during the trip and the wind whipping at her skin caused it to turn red and sore and she couldn't deny that seeing the world become so blurry was a bit dizzying, but she still considered it, all in all, to be a worthwhile experience.

Ria smiled sweetly up at Duo as he admitted it took a lot of effort, she assumed, to master running at such high speeds. When Duo said they should eat, Ria gave a single enthusiastic nod before following him into the restaurant. Ria was impressed by the unique design of the building's interior as she glanced around upon entering. She smiled at Duo again when he seemed so excited by the design.

Ria followed Duo to the table where his friend, whom he introduced as Milly, was sitting. Ria smiled cheerfully at Milly, blushing slightly by Duo's comment of her being cute, and waved to say hello before taking a seat. Ria glanced at the table for a moment to see if there might be a pen and pad for her to write on to properly greet Milly. Seeing none, however, Ria decided to trust Duo's friend and share the knowledge of her ability with Milly. She smiled a bit sheepishly for a moment at Milly, placed her left hand on her throat hoping to indicate her inability to speak, and raised her right hand in the air to write. "IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU."

[Milly Faye]

As Milly sat, waiting, in the restaurant, she stared at the breadsticks in front of her. Thinking Duo may still take a while, especially if he was bringing someone else, she picked up a breakstick and started to eat it. Milly let out a sigh as she felt a wave of relief for finally having something to eat. The breadsticks were covered in garlic and butter, so they were very tasty on their own, but there was also a small dish of olive oil and herbs for dipping if one chose to do so. Curious about how the dip would effect the taste of the breadstick, Milly dipped it to try. She decided the dip was okay but she preferred it without as she continued the breadstick as is.

When Milly finished the breadstick she had picked up, she then took a sip of water to wash the taste down. As she was putting the glass back on the table, she finally noticed a familiar figure entering the restaurant. She could tell the instant she looked at him that he was excited by the atmosphere of the restaurant as she watched him looking around. She almost blushed at the look of excitement on his face but, instead, forced herself to look away with an irritated scowl.

When Duo finally noticed her and called her name, Milly looked back over at Duo, still looking irritated. When Duo looked back to the girl who was following him, Milly finally noticed the girl and ended up staring at her for a while with that same irritated expression. Milly noted that this girl really was cute and, though she secretly liked cute things and people, that fact somehow caused Milly to feel even a bit more irritated.

Milly stared at Ria with that same irritated expression as Duo introduced her. It was only when Duo exclaimed that Milly was his best friend that she looked back at Duo with a look of irritation mixed with confusion. When she finally noticed Ria was smiling at her, Milly finally looked back at Ria. She was a bit confused by the action of putting her hand to her throat and raising her other hand. When Ria wrote, however, it dawned on Milly that Ria meant to express with those actions that she was mute.

Milly's expression softened considerably at that, barely recognizing what Ria was saying to her through glowing letters in the air. Her eyes were open a bit wider than before as she watched the girl who had a sheepish smile then looked at the letters that glowed then dissipated. Slowly, Milly's expression softened into a very slight smile as she watched Ria. "It's nice to meet you too, Ria." She finally spoke, her voice far more relaxed than it was on the phone earlier with Duo.

As Milly remembered she had a pen and paper in her purse, her expression changed to a more neutral one. She decided to ask Ria what her preference was since there was a chance, Milly thought, that Ria using her abilities too often might tire her over time. "Do you prefer to write in the air like that or do you find it easier to use a pen and paper? I have some in my purse if you'd like." Milly didn't want to make a big deal of Ria's abilities, even though she had never seen such abilities before leaving her home country. Milly was still very new to finding out about new magics and abilities that actually exist in reality, but she took even the very fact that such abilities existed in a very calm manner.

[Duo]

From the second Duo entered the uniquely-designed restaurant, his balled hands could not stop shaking in excitement. Even after he had sat, he's bouncing in his seat like a child. His head is turning left and right, smiling wider and wider at every little thing he noticed. The robot waiters, the architectural walls, the interior design, the technologies used everywhere. Duo wanted to scream.

"Italy Future is AWESOME, oh my gosh, GREAT choice, Milly! I love you!" And scream he did. Fortunately, his outburst happened after Ria and Milly had conversed a bit. In his wave of excitement, Duo stood from his seat and reached over to loosely hug Milly from the other side of the table.

"Eeeeee! I'm gonna go look around after we order~!" He pulled himself back and sat restlessly on his seat, obviously impatient to start walking around.

[Ria]

When Milly responded saying it was nice to meet Ria also, Ria smiled cheerfully at her and lowered her hands to her lap. Ria looked at Milly as she asked Ria what her writing preference was. Ria didn't mind too much, though she did sometimes find it easier to use a pen if she wanted to write a lot. There is only so much air space to write in after all. Ria nodded once happily to say yes to Milly's offer of the pen and pad she had for writing.

Ria turned towards Duo in surprise as he suddenly had an outburst of excitement. She smiled brightly and giggled silently a bit at his excitement. Ria did think the restaurant was impressive and curious, but Duo's excitement well surpassed hers. She was happy to see him so excited. Ria rather liked seeing cheerful people enjoying the things that they like.

[Milly Faye]

Ria's cheerful smile was very disarming and Milly fell right into it. Such a cute and small girl with such a cute cheerful smile just reminded Milly of all the cute things she loved. She briefly had a thought, wondering what Ria would look like with an adorable pair of light pink bunny ears. Pushing away the thought as fiercely as possible to avoid her face from slipping further out of her control, Milly smiled slightly at Ria's nod then moved to grab her purse and pull it onto her lap.

As Milly was searching through her purse for the pad and pen for Ria, she suddenly heard Duo's loud outburst. Milly's faint smile dropped and her eyes widened as she looked up at Duo just in time to see his arms wrap around her to hug her. The sudden action caused Milly to blush with her eyes open in shock. Coming back to her senses, Milly did her best to push away the blush as she started to bring an irritated expression to her face. She was about to lift her hands from her purse to push Duo away but he was already letting go of her and sitting back in his seat excitedly.

He looked like an excited little boy and, once more, Milly blushed faintly despite herself and her irritated glare because she thought it was cute. She quickly looked back down into her purse to continue searching for the pad and pen, muttering "baka" under her breath while also attempting to hide her blush by looking down. She slowly managed to get her expression more under control as she searched for the pen and pad.

When she found the pen and pad, she pulled them out and handed them towards Ria. "Here you go," she said, trying to soften herself a bit again for Ria.

[NPC: Male]

A human waiter approaches their table, seeming tired out of his mind and looking like he really wanted his long shift to end. "Welcome to Italy Future, where mozzarella is our preferred vegetable," he monotonously stated their slogan without a hint of care.

After that, he unclips a card or something from his belt and waves it on the middle of the table. Immediately, a holographic menu pops up from the table, facing both sides of the customer seats. "Our menu is entirely digital, please feel free to order it from there. You may browse it using your finger. Payment is immediate, we have a discount for Gradian citizenship, you can wave your card here. Your order will be sent to the kitchen after you paid, and will be served to your table shortly. Despite looking tremendously fatigued, the waiter managed to supply the relevant information clearly and concisely.

"I'll be around the counter if you need any human help." After that, he slinks away to his station wordlessly.

[Duo]

It took Duo's everything not to burst out and yell how cool the menu is right at the tired waiter's face. He works in customer service as well, he knows full well what this waiter is feeling. By that alone, he chooses not to bother this man and kept himself calm through his explanation.

Once the waiter is gone, Duo went full gremlin.

"ARE YOU GUYS SEEING THIS?!" Immediately, he starts using his finger to scroll the menu quickly, "The latency looks good! Wow!" Duo then tries to push his finger through his side of the menu until the tip of his finger is at Milly's menu, then attempted to scroll her menu using that finger. It did not work. "Uwah! Amazing! So it has secured itself from other sides!"

He starts clapping like a happy seal, too excited to even order. Since Ria is sitting next to him, he offers for her to order first. The menu seems to have a variety of Italian dishes, and Duo is hungry enough to eat two main courses if his money permits.

[Ria]

Ria smiled at Milly as she accepted the pen and small pad of paper from her. She quickly then wrote 'thank you' on the pad and showed it to Milly with a beaming smile.

When a waiter suddenly showed up, Ria smiled him while he explained everything. She was very much surprised with something glowing, almost like her light letters, appeared in the center of her table. A breath caught for a moment in her throat as she looked at it in surprise before smiling again. She had no idea how they managed to do all the things they did for this restaurant.

Ria smiled at Duo, almost giggling silently for a moment in response to his loud excitement. She watched what he was doing, hoping to learn what she would have to do from watching him play around with the menu.

When he offered to let her order first, Ria's eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise and a bit of confusion as she looked back at the menu. Even though she could read what was in front of her, she wasn't really familiar with different fancy dishes or their names.

Still holding the pad and pen, clutching them slightly for a moment, she looked down at them and wrote in the pad again. When she finished writing, she showed the pad to Duo with a slightly embarassed smile. It read 'I'm not really sure what to do with this menu or what the items on the menu are.'

[Milly Faye]

Milly said "you're welcome" to Ria when she thanked her for the pad and pen. A waiter then appeared and activated the menu in front of them and her eyes widened a bit. Milly then looked directly at Duo through the menu screens blocking him. Despite the hologram's distortion, she could still easily tell how excited Duo was. A small smile threatened to break on her lips as she forced it down while thanking the waiter as he left.

She continued to watch Duo, holding back her potential smile and satisfaction at choosing something that would make him this ridiculously happy. She forced herself to appear mostly stoic as she watched him play around with the menu. "Yes, we both see it, Duo." Milly said matter-of-factly as she then looked over at Ria to see her reaction.

When Ria began to write in response to Duo, Milly finally looked directly at the menu facing her and reached her finger out to begin scrolling through it to find something she would want.

[Duo]

Duo looks over at Milly's notepad Ria showed him and reads her writing. "Ahh~ Well, I'm a waiter myself, so I can explain what's here for you~" The braided man then starts going through the menu for her and excitedly describe what each dish generally is, with a little bit of his own flair of course.

"And this! Is bolognese spaghetti! It's like carbonara that I showed earlier, but instead of mushrooms and cream, it has meatballs and tomato sauce! It has a distinct flavor, there's a lil bit of richness in it and some sweetness. Like Milly!" One can really tell which dish is his favorite by how he describes things.

Duo went off to describe the rest of the menu to her with the same amount of energy, looking completely happy to talk like this. After he's done, he looks at Ria with a wide smile, "So what do you feel like eating? I'll throw in a dessert for you too!" Treating a lady dessert is the best first impression he could give, thus he looks over at Ria, trying to scrutinize what sort of dessert she would probably like.

While waiting for Ria to decide her dinner, Duo scrolls the holographic page over to the desserts section and looked over the menu. A dessert that would suit Ria would probably be cotton candy by how soft and pink she looks, but restaurants like this don't usually offer such a thing. He did caught sight of strawberry cupcake in the menu and taps on the quantity to 3 before ordering it. Might as well get one for each of them.

He scrolls back the menu over to the main dishes so Ria can see the food listed to make it easier for her to pick.

[Ria]

Ria listened intently to Duo's explanation of the menu and various available foods. The options almost felt overwhelming and everything sounded like it would be good. She wondered for a moment how people are able to easily choose from so many options. When he compared what sounded like a food he especially liked to Milly, Ria giggled silently. She wondered for a moment if their relationship was something more than just 'best friends' as Duo had put it.

When Duo asked which of the items she felt like, Ria truly felt a little overwhelmed with all of the options. She thought for a moment, then began writing on the pad Milly let her borrow. When she finished writing, she showed it to Duo. 'Everything sounds delicious. How does anyone choose? I would be happy to try any of them.' She smiled a bit sheepishly, almost feeling bad for being so indecisive.

[Milly Faye]

While Duo explained the various food options to Ria, Milly scrolled her own menu to decide what she wanted. She glanced up at Duo with a slight, unserious glare at how he compared her to a meal, then returned her attention to the menu.

She eventually settled on and selected the carbonara for herself. She glanced back at the other two while Duo was finally finishing his explanations of all the foods to Ria. He certainly seemed to enjoy talking about things. Milly almost smiled to herself at the thought of how free and childish he seemed when he ranted on happily.