From Above

[Leo]

"Pleasure to help," Leo responded, his tone sounded almost distracted, as he places the lid of his screw and instead of storing it back inside his bag, he stuffed it in his side pocket, in case he needs it again later on. According to how many holes he can see within the parameters, he definitely needs it. It might be his limb stuck inside one next.

He turns around to collect the items he had left on the ground and after he's done, Leo took a glance of Kyori, "..What are you so happy about?" His question wasn't really that carefully-thought of, spontaneously, more or less. The artist always finds it amazing that people could shift their emotions so fastly like that.

Leo sort of paused as he gazed at Kyori, almost in astonishment, but then he shook his head lightly and turns his attention forward. "The town's not so far off from here. If we avoid the holes of this terrain, we might get there within half an hour or so."

[Kyori]

Kyori just smiled more as he asked what she's happy about. "Well, for one, I'm happy to not be stuck in that hole anymore." She said, placing a hand at the back of her head and chuckling a bit sheepishly.

As he spoke about the town, she lowered her arm and looked at him again then in the direction they were walking. "Town...?" She quietly muttered to herself. "Oh yeah!" She said with another smile as she recalled why they were walking through this area in the first place. She never really focused on where she was going as for the past while of her life has been about journeying, not so much about where to.

[Leo]

Leo stared at her as he adjusted his arm by the weight of the canvas and its stand for a while, then after a moment, just shrugged his shoulder of her answer. "So short-term happiness matters too..." he muttered to himself, before starting to walk again.

He didn't give much attention to how Kyori responded, he figured that she forgot all about where they're heading to, according to how blank her eyes seemed before. "Your carefree view of life is rather...odd, I must say." With what just happened at the snake hole and how she grins all the time. "Not that 'odd' is bad. ...But I would pick a wild guess that...you grow in a constantly-changing environment?"

[Kyori]

"I would say it's better to be care free than constantly bombarded with countless worries." She said with a bright smile at him, not really wanting to think of where she grew up right now. "Besides, life is an adventure! I just want to live it to the fullest extent possible." She added, facing forward again with her large smile, trying hard still to hide the memories that began creeping back into her mind the more she tried to push them away.

[Leo]

"I thought worry would be a good change of feeling," Leo stated, turning his attention to her as he said so. "If there's no worries, then where's the challenge?" The artist was almost effected by her smile and found himself forming a half-smile too.

"You have a point, though. Keep it that way," he replied much silently than before, breaking eye-contact with her as soon as Kyori looked away. Though it seems as if he's commenting of how she takes in life, what he really meant is about how she handled her past.

Both of them had finally approached a tarred path, out of the shrubs and grasses' way. There are several stalls and house-shops a few walks away, and they're starting to blend in with a few of the locals walking by. "Your pick." He motioned to her, waiting for her to choose one specific eating place so he could repay her with dinner.

[Kyori]

Kyori watched Leo a bit as they walked while he mentioned his thoughts on worry being a good thing sometimes. She looked forward in thought a bit at that. She sometimes brought up her own challenges which could be seen as worries because she constantly is on the run from people because of her stealing but she doesn't worry too much because she's almost never been caught. She looked back at him again with a slight smile when he said she had a point in her view of life.

When they finally entered a town of sorts, Kyori smiled at it. With a hop in her step, she moved forward more as she read the signs that passed them by and tried to get a look in through the window of some stores that caught her eye. When she finally set her eyes on some odd looking place, Kyori smiled at the change. "There!" She said with excitement as she ran up to the dark red door and opened it. Inside looked like a somewhat funky kind of hang out place with booths lined against the windows and some uniquely shaped tables and chairs in the more center area of the room. There was a little bar at the far back area on an elevated platform with the kitchen behind that.

There weren't a lot of people there right now and there was a sign when they walked in instructing customers to seat themselves. Kyori smiled back at Leo at how different this place looked. She then looked around and decided to go sit in one of the corner booths, seating herself snug in the corner to look out across the restaurant. "This place looks so cool!" She said happily, waiting for the waiter to happen by to serve them.

[Leo]

Leo followed Kyori quietly behind her, looking around as he did. It surprises him when she outbursts all of a sudden, turning to see that she's already standing at the door of the restaurant of her choice. "..There??" He darted his eyes at the building as a whole.

Leo then joined her to enter the door and his eyebrows shot up, hitting his hairline. "..Here?" he asked again to make sure. Not that he's picky, Leo can anywhere, it's just that this place is outside of his...likelihood. Before he could say anything else, Kyori had bounded off to the side of the place, settling herself on one of the booths.

The artist then walked over towards her, putting down his bag, canvas and its stand near the chair. He didn't sit though, Leo took his time scanning the place at how unorthodox it looked. "Yes, very...quaint," he finally settles for that word. This place is strange, but interesting and pleasing in a way.

After that, he sat down, noticing a waiter walking towards them, but without any menus present in his hands.

[Duo]

A brown-haired lad with a rather stylish costume, which is actually the attire waiters in this place wears, comes up to the pair with a cheerful smile. He nodded to them as a greeting, but then he got distracted by a friend of his, another waiter at the other side of the restaurant, waving the large amount of tip he got wildly.

With his head turned away, it's apparent to see that the lad sports a very long ponytail behind his back, passing his rear and almost reaching the back of his knees. "Hey, calm down there, Trent. We're still working!" He laughed in an easy-going manner before turning back to the customers.

"Good evening, and welcome to the Rose Anthem! My name is Duo, and I'm gonna be your waiter for the day~!" He greeted in such a courteous and high-spirited manner, it's hard to frown when seeing him. It took him a moment to realize he forgot to bring the menus, and once he does, he said "One sec."

And disappeared from sight.

Though then he reappeared just as quickly, now with menus in hand. "I'm so sorry about that, hahah!" He laughed, handing the menus to the pair. "Please take your time browsing. Just call me when you're done, and I'll be here in a split second."

He beamed a grin, "Literally," before walking off towards the other waiter named Trent.

[Kyori]

Kyori chuckled at Leo's reaction. "It looks interesting! " She said with an excited smile. When Kyori noticed the waiter coming towards them she let out a slight laugh of surprise at his costume which seemed to go well with their surroundings. She maintained a very excited smile when he finally approached them and greeted them.

Kyori's smile continued to beam during his greeting then her eyes widened a bit when he disappeared again. She looked over at Leo and chuckled at the waiter's behaviour. "Such an interesting place."

When they were handed their menus, Kyori thanked Duo with a cheerful smile. She looked down at the menu then at Leo again. "I wonder what's good here." She said happily before opening the menu and starting to read about everything they had, her mouth watering more with each selection.

[Leo]

Interesting place indeed, as long as they serve edible food. Leo was startled for a bit when the strange waiter came over to greet them, and seeming to literally disappeared from sight, but the reappeared again to hand the menus.

Leo forgot to thank the waiter, and just blankly opened the menu in slight surprise and wondered if that's just the trick of the eye by the lighting of this place. Thankfully, the food listed in the menu are decent enough, and not as wacky as the place or the waiter, in exception of the Specialty section.

'Curry with...apples and...condensed milk.. ...What?' The artist didn't bother reading the rest in that section and skimmed through the normal-sounding ones. After he had picked on what he would like, he flipped through the beverages section next.

[Duo]

Duo's laughter echoed loudly inside the restaurant as he joked around with his colleague, but then the senior assistant stepped out from the back room and literally smacked the both of them on the head for being too loud.

At that, Duo trudged across the restaurant back to his customers with a pout and a rub on his head. When he reached their table though, his smile was back on his face. "So~ Lady and gentleman, have you made up your minds? Or do you want to try our curry special?"

[Kyori]

As she finished reading all the selections, she heard the voice of their waiter as he returned to ask for their orders. She smiled brightly at him, excited to try anything this place had to offer. Her ears perked slightly at him questioning if she wanted to try the curry special and she decided then that that's what she would try.

"I'll try one of those curry specials!" She said excitedly, with a smile. "I'll also have a glass of water and one of those soda bubble tea things here." She added, pointing to the menu where it showed a cold desert milkshake like drink with little black orbs at the bottom that created bubbles in the drink.

[Leo]

As Leo was taking his time browsing the menu, he found himself visibling blanching at the strange food being prepared here. His stomach is inbelievably weak since small and he's afraid to try something new in fear of a week in bed. Almost none of them looks familiar, and there's always a strange adding or topping on the ones that he's able familiarized.

So, once Kyori ordered the curry special, the artist turns to look at her incredulously. "It has apples," he said to her, "inside the curry." There has never been fruit inside any good curry. Returning his attention back to the menu, Leo browsed once again to find something that he had at least heard of.

Or he could ask the hyperactive waiter here, to make life easier.

"Any recommendations to someone who prefers something mild?"

[Duo]

"One curry special~" Duo flipped up a small notebook from his suit pocket that has a built-in tiny pen inside, which he uses to write the orders. "It's a meal set, there's a bowl of rice served with it along with some small selections of flavours in this tiny kit so you could try and experiment your curry. We give you total control of what your taste buds wishes."

Duo recited with such ease, it's impossible he's remembering all these, more so like he's the one cooking it. The lad has been working as a waiter far enough times, even in his first school, that he would turn into an entirely different man when he's in his shift, provided he has customers to serve.

"A bubble tea, wonderful selection. What kind of flavour do you prefer? We serve a variety of choices of fruits, some ice-cream related flavours and you can even ask to mix two or three flavors~" He showed in ta particular section of the menu where there's a list of flavours along with some possible combinations of the flavours.

"You can even ask for extra pearls or none of them in your tea. They're tapioca starch, quite chewy and goes well to balance the taste if your drink happens to be too sweet. Heavenly things they are, like healthy swallow-able chewing gums minus the sugar." Given that Duo himself hates tapioca starch, his years as a waiter had made him say the most wonderful or informative things about food even though he has a secret dislike towards them.

After he's done explaining to the lady, Duo turned to the man with a smile. "Ahh, of course! We have different selections if you're a vegetarian, we also provide a special selection for those who are allergic to some flavourings." He leaned in near to the pair to take a hold of one of the menus, and did a little trick to it.

Using two of his fingers, Duo hits it sharply at a particular corner of the menu and it actually opens up in half, revealing the contents of what Duo had said earlier. "The manager doesn't know the existence of these special selections, so hush hush. It's just that our chef has a soft spot for anyone with a...delicate appetite."

Smiling to the both of them he had told the secret, Duo pulled back and stood straight again, ready with his notebook. "Any added requests?" He then looked at Kyori and gave a wink to her, "Would you like a bowl of ice-cream pudding for desserts? Free for cute customers." And probably because they're Duo's last customers, so ending his shift with a flirt good deed to a lady is probably his calling.

[Kyori]

Kyori smiled at Leo as he looked at her incredulously and commented on there being apples in the curry. She let out a slight chuckle. "So what? It's fun to try new things, especially in new places!" She exclaimed with a bright smile.

Kyori's smile turned back to Duo as he responded to her order and asked her what flavour of bubble tea she would like. She glanced over in the menu where he pointed out and thought for a moment as she decided. "Umm... I think perhaps I'll try... mango and vanilla!" She slowly then exclaimed, happy about her choice as soon as it left her lips.

Kyori was a little bit surprised that Duo offered her a free ice cream pudding for desert but smiled back at him and accepted. "That sounds delicious! Thanks!" She didn't put much thought into the fact that he had flirted with her, not really one to think of herself as very girlish or worth flirting with. Something free, however, was never to be turned down.