Air pirate AU - TTGL fanfic, part 5
Simon lightly raps on the door to the captain's quarters. "Have you cooled off yet?"
Kamina sits at the desk looking out at the expansive sky in front of them, resting his chin on his balled fists. Simon's presence doesn't seem to alter the thoughtful look on his face. "Yeah."
The younger man has a seat on one of the beds, looking Kamina over. As usual, he remains to be unreadable. "The hull suffered minimal damage. Should we initiate the auto-repair sequence?"
"I like her."
The second does a double-take. "What?"
The captain leans back in his chair. "It's been a while since anyone's ever given me lip. I like it."
"You really are incredible sometimes," he exasperates.
Kamina only smirks. "Pass on the repairs. We'll start them when our reserves are full."
"Understood. ...Are you planning on telling her that the ship had come for her?"
"Do you think she should know?"
Simon shrugs. "The government isn't happy that she's in the sky again. They'll keep tailing her until she's caught or killed."
"I think she knows. It's not like it matters, anyway. It's the same exact people who come after us."
"Either way, I think we should lay low for a while and limit to our raids to a needs-only basis. They can track our progress from the trail of wreckage. We should also refrain from docking for at least a few months, until they decide to fry bigger fish."
Kamina nods in approval, even though his mind was clearly somewhere else. "Sounds good."
...
Yoko joins the world of consciousness late in the afternoon. She swings her legs over the bed and sits up. She doesn't feel like she's had a full night's sleep yet, but she was certainly on her way there. Something else had taken priority: her hunger.
She had been given an extra blanket and clothes as Simon had promised. The blanket had already been thrown over her and the clothes were neatly folded up in a modest pile on the table. It was a little unnerving for her to consider the idea that someone had come into her room and left all this here without waking her up. By the same hand, though, she was appreciative of the very same fact.
The next few minutes are spent going through the selection of clothes. All of them were hand-me-downs, but as long as they managed to fit her curvy frame well enough she didn't care. Once equipped with an aged, but thick and warm jacket, a plain tank, knee-cropped jeans and mid-calf boots, Yoko steps out of her cabin into the hallway. It wasn't exactly the pirate-chic that most of the crew sported, but it made no difference to her.
It wasn't so much a hallway as it was a balcony that stretched across the entire length of the living hall on both sides. A bridge would connect the two balconies every 10 cabins or so. Otherwise, the hall was completely hollow, and one could see all the floors all the way up and down for ten stories--sufficient enough to be an air cruise liner. Yoko knew that the crew of Dai-Gurren wasn't nearly big enough to fill all of these rooms. Better too many than too few, she reasons, and wanders off to find the cafeteria.
About an hour later, and still no luck. By now, Yoko was thoroughly hungry and desperate for anything to eat. Despite the people she'd asked for directions, she was still lost. This entire ship was a labyrinth. She now came across an important-looking door, opened it and stepped inside.
"--if we can manage to run idle every night, we can manage another month at least."
She is temporarily blinded by the late afternoon light that shown through the windows that literally encased the room, as if it were some sort of fish bowl. Her eyes adjust and she can see the entire room's occupants huddled around a table-high, wide podium-like table, though she couldn't see what the table had on it. They all turn to look at Yoko as they realize her presence, but one of them walks up to her and blocks her from taking another step.
"You aren't allowed in here," he says, with a kind of stiff-lipped superiority that she hadn't seen from neither Kamina or Simon.
She did not like it.
"Let her in, Dekoske. She won't get in the way."
Reluctantly, he sidesteps. Yoko walks toward the group. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I was trying to find the cafeteria."
Simon smiles. "We were going to head down there ourselves once we finish up here. You can come with us!"
"Finish up?" Yoko peeks over the table. On its surface is an interactive map of the world, notes drawn and typed onto the surface. They were plotting a course, obviously, but what the course was headed towards was unclear. The path looped and rounded upon itself, purposely avoiding any places that had high concentrations of government ships. "I don't understand--where are we going?"
"Everywhere!" the captain exclaims, with a kind of excitement that was odd, considering that there wasn't anything particularly interesting about "everywhere." "We're making a path so that the government can't keep up with us while they try to track you down."
"I...see."
"There's plenty of low-profile docking spots in Siberia as well," Simon mentions while Yoko wanders off to let them do their thing, tuning in only enough to pick up on some choice words. She really didn't know geography that well besides the limited places she'd been while in the service, so she decides to literally stay out of the way.
Another perk, she muses, I've always wanted to see the rest of the world.
...
The group of a half-dozen crew members walked together to the cafeteria, their general mood shifting to a more lighthearted one than earlier. Most of them were looking forward to the challenge presented to them and to push the limits of Chouginga's strength...with the exception of the stiff-lipped man, who seemed to enjoy listening to the conversation more than partaking in it.
Yoko could hardly criticize. She wasn't even listening to the conversation. She only watched the passing scenery as she leaned against the rail of the speedwalk. The gunmetal blue interior was supported by a unique structure of trusses--not only were they an interesting design, but they were also inset with the lights that mimicked the current light intensity that one could find outside.
It was clear that this ship was meticulously taken care of. She thinks back to Gurren Lagann with a sense of commitment, wondering if she was also given the duty of maintenance. The neurofluid did feel awfully viscous and probably hadn't been changed in at least a month...
Her train of thought was interrupted when the captain nudged himself over to her with a cocky smirk. Yoko tenses without knowing what to expect.
"You're wearing more clothes," he says, as if surprised.
"Well, yeah. It's cold in here."
His cocky smirk widens. "So if I turn the heat on, you'll go back to what you were wearing earlier?"
Simon punches Kamina in the arm with more force than was usually put into a friendly punch. "You're awful, Kamina." The captain doesn't seem to be swayed from his focus.
Yoko crosses her arms and looks away. "I'm going to wear whatever the hell I want to."
Kamina only chuckles and returns his attention to the rest of the group. Yoko turns to look at the back of his head, arching her brow at his odd behavior. She had expected him to ostracize her, but instead he seems to have either forgotten or not care.
The air is sweetened with the smell of cooked food before they even arrive there. The captain opens the door and the rest of the group follows behind him. Yoko stops at the entrance.
"This isn't a cafeteria..."
In fact, it looked like a bonefide restaurant. The group has a seat at the table, effectively leaving Yoko behind. She looks around awkwardly, then decides to have a seat by her lonesome at a table. The tablecloth gets picked at as she looks around. It was reminiscent of old world diners, with its checkerboard floor and streamlined lights. The walls were decorated with ornamental parts of fallen government ships, presumably put up as conversation pieces.
A thin man comes by after a few seconds. "Why hello there, newbie! What are you in the mood for today?"
Yoko shifts. "You don't have...a menu...or something?"
"No, we just have a gigantic cupboard and refrigerator. So if you tell me what you're in the mood for, we'll cook up something that will suit."
"Oh, I see. Um...something pasta, in that case."
"The works? Meat sauce, cheese?"
"Yes, if you can manage it."
"Absolutely! I'll be back in a few minutes." And then he was off.
Yoko turns to look out the window. The clouds were tinted orange and passing by at a relatively slow speed. She could see a couple of high-altitude birds in the distance, making her smile a little. What she didn't see is the curious glance that Kamina gave her.
He leaves the table that he was currently sitting at, with minimal complaint from his former tablemates, and has a seat at Yoko's table, across from her.
"You still upset?"
Yoko looks at him. There were a variety of things that she was upset about, and things she wasn't so upset about, so she asks: "About what?"
"Killin' people."
"Oh...well," she rubs the back of her neck, "I want to be upset, but I'm not. I think it's because I couldn't see their faces..."
"Or it's 'cause you didn't kill anyone innocent--or does that even matter to you," he smirks, "...Dotoku-chan?"
"Dotoku..." Yoko trails off. "Do you have an obsession with the old languages or something?"
"The collective language is a fabrication of the government. We show our disregard for them by the use of old languages! In other words," his expression turns fierce, "it's rebellious."
"Then why is your catchphrase in the collective language?"
"It wouldn't be a very good catchphrase if no one knew what it meant!" Kamina lets out a bellowing laugh.
"You're incredible," she mutters, her head resting in her hand.
"I get that sometimes," he responds with a kind of pride.
"So you're not angry?"
"About what you did earlier? Nah, not anymore. I don't approve of it, but since none of the crew members got killed or whatever, I can't be that angry about it. Besides, you said the last time you piloted was nine months ago? You ain't rusty at all, babe. I'm impressed."
Yoko was never that fond of blatant flattery. "Please don't call me that."
"What, "babe"?" He grins. "Do you prefer Dotoku-chan?"
"No," she says sharply, then realizes the kind or argument she's about to get into and waves her hand. "No, just--nevermind. Call me whatever you want to. I don't care."
He gives her that prideful smirk again. Yoko shakes her head and groans. What an irritating captain.
"You still got a lot to learn, though. I'm expecting you to do daily training."
Yoko shrugs. "Fine. Not like you're expecting anything else out of me, right?"
Kamina nods.
Yoko doesn't say anything else. Instead, she took a moment to actually observe the captain. He wore a crimson jacket, but since his arms weren't through the sleeves it sat more like a cape, held around him by two heavy, golden chains at the chest. Underneath it was a supple black leather vest with a large silver zipper, though it was unzipped at about his navel, and his arms were sheathed in sleeves, rolled up at the elbows to reveal two navy blue bands of ink on his skin, his fingers adorned with a variety of different rings.
She couldn't see them at the moment, but she had seen before the dark brown pants that sat tight at his thighs and flared out at the bottom, ending just above heavy-duty boots. He has a rapier at his side too, with an exquisitely ornamental hilt, tied at his hip with a belt-like sash. She looks up again. A medium-cyan colored head of hair was capped off with a traditional captain's hat, except any traditional emblems were replaced with Dai-Gurrens fire and flame-skull motif. Something catches her eye--a something that looked an awful lot like bandages underneath his vest. Yoko changes her angle of perspective to try to get a better glance at them, but Kamina moves away as if he had noticed what she was doing.
"What do you think of Chouginga?"
"Eh?" She's pulled out of her concentration. "Oh, the ship...She's beautiful. What was she before you stole her?"
"Just about everything! Most of the innards are from a cruise liner we ganked from some gov'ment richies on a low-altitude cruiser. Then we just kept addin' shit from other passenger ships, other fighter ganmen an' a couple'a coats of paint--we've even got four engines running! Gave the engineers a hell of a time to try'n synchronize 'em, but man did it pay off!"
It was quite clear that Kamina was proud of the work that both he and his crew put into it. It brought a smile to Yoko's face. "The effort shows," she asserts, "she's so fearsome from the outside, but fully functional and comfortable..."
"You ain't seen nothin' yet," he says as he leands back in his seat confidently, "Jus' wait until you see'r in combat. She'll take your breath away."
"I look forward to it." She says it before she even realizes it--she's really not looking forward to large-scale combat.
"You'll be waiting for a while." He sighs. "We're taking a position to avoid as much altercation as we can so we can keep your fat ass away from them."
Yoko ogles at him. "You...wh--I don't have a fat ass!"
"Sure ya do." She swears, if only she could wipe that smug look off of his face. "S'why we gotta go out on a limb to keep it hid. Could see it from the moon, that."
At that moment, two people came by tableside. One placed a plate of loaded pasta in front of Yoko, the other a plate with a huge serving of beef round in front of Kamina. The captain looks over Yoko's selection of food.
"Looks like you've been trainin' your ass to be so fat, ordering things like that."
"I've been eating tasteless gruel for the last nine months!" she shrieks, and grips her knife in one hand, tightly enough to turn her knuckles white. "I'm borderline malnutritioned! How could my ass possibly be fat?!"
Kamina, suddenly remembering Yoko's fabled aim and having experienced it himself, eyes the knife nervously, and noticed that she was eying his eye. "H...hey now," he says, holding his hand out defensively, "let's not get ahead of ourselves here..."
"Then you'll shut the hell up and eat, if you know what's good for you..." She didn't want to back down by taking her food somewhere else--she liked this spot.
Yeah, she knew she was crossing a line. A few lines, actually. That sentence alone would have gotten her immediately kicked off a military ship, but here...Kamina actually chuckles and obliges, surprising Yoko quite a bit.
The rest of the meal was eaten in relative silence. Yoko avoided any eye contact whatsoever, so she missed the furtive glances Kamina would give her between bites. When both of them are finished, Yoko stands up and heads for the door.
"Hey, wait." Kamina reaches out for her.
"What do you want now?" she hisses.
"You still don't know your way around, right? I'll show you back to your cabin."
The members of the other dinner party look at each other with inquisitive glances--then at Simon, who innocently shrugs as if he had no idea what was going on.
"...Fine," she snorts.
Kamina sits at the desk looking out at the expansive sky in front of them, resting his chin on his balled fists. Simon's presence doesn't seem to alter the thoughtful look on his face. "Yeah."
The younger man has a seat on one of the beds, looking Kamina over. As usual, he remains to be unreadable. "The hull suffered minimal damage. Should we initiate the auto-repair sequence?"
"I like her."
The second does a double-take. "What?"
The captain leans back in his chair. "It's been a while since anyone's ever given me lip. I like it."
"You really are incredible sometimes," he exasperates.
Kamina only smirks. "Pass on the repairs. We'll start them when our reserves are full."
"Understood. ...Are you planning on telling her that the ship had come for her?"
"Do you think she should know?"
Simon shrugs. "The government isn't happy that she's in the sky again. They'll keep tailing her until she's caught or killed."
"I think she knows. It's not like it matters, anyway. It's the same exact people who come after us."
"Either way, I think we should lay low for a while and limit to our raids to a needs-only basis. They can track our progress from the trail of wreckage. We should also refrain from docking for at least a few months, until they decide to fry bigger fish."
Kamina nods in approval, even though his mind was clearly somewhere else. "Sounds good."
...
Yoko joins the world of consciousness late in the afternoon. She swings her legs over the bed and sits up. She doesn't feel like she's had a full night's sleep yet, but she was certainly on her way there. Something else had taken priority: her hunger.
She had been given an extra blanket and clothes as Simon had promised. The blanket had already been thrown over her and the clothes were neatly folded up in a modest pile on the table. It was a little unnerving for her to consider the idea that someone had come into her room and left all this here without waking her up. By the same hand, though, she was appreciative of the very same fact.
The next few minutes are spent going through the selection of clothes. All of them were hand-me-downs, but as long as they managed to fit her curvy frame well enough she didn't care. Once equipped with an aged, but thick and warm jacket, a plain tank, knee-cropped jeans and mid-calf boots, Yoko steps out of her cabin into the hallway. It wasn't exactly the pirate-chic that most of the crew sported, but it made no difference to her.
It wasn't so much a hallway as it was a balcony that stretched across the entire length of the living hall on both sides. A bridge would connect the two balconies every 10 cabins or so. Otherwise, the hall was completely hollow, and one could see all the floors all the way up and down for ten stories--sufficient enough to be an air cruise liner. Yoko knew that the crew of Dai-Gurren wasn't nearly big enough to fill all of these rooms. Better too many than too few, she reasons, and wanders off to find the cafeteria.
About an hour later, and still no luck. By now, Yoko was thoroughly hungry and desperate for anything to eat. Despite the people she'd asked for directions, she was still lost. This entire ship was a labyrinth. She now came across an important-looking door, opened it and stepped inside.
"--if we can manage to run idle every night, we can manage another month at least."
She is temporarily blinded by the late afternoon light that shown through the windows that literally encased the room, as if it were some sort of fish bowl. Her eyes adjust and she can see the entire room's occupants huddled around a table-high, wide podium-like table, though she couldn't see what the table had on it. They all turn to look at Yoko as they realize her presence, but one of them walks up to her and blocks her from taking another step.
"You aren't allowed in here," he says, with a kind of stiff-lipped superiority that she hadn't seen from neither Kamina or Simon.
She did not like it.
"Let her in, Dekoske. She won't get in the way."
Reluctantly, he sidesteps. Yoko walks toward the group. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I was trying to find the cafeteria."
Simon smiles. "We were going to head down there ourselves once we finish up here. You can come with us!"
"Finish up?" Yoko peeks over the table. On its surface is an interactive map of the world, notes drawn and typed onto the surface. They were plotting a course, obviously, but what the course was headed towards was unclear. The path looped and rounded upon itself, purposely avoiding any places that had high concentrations of government ships. "I don't understand--where are we going?"
"Everywhere!" the captain exclaims, with a kind of excitement that was odd, considering that there wasn't anything particularly interesting about "everywhere." "We're making a path so that the government can't keep up with us while they try to track you down."
"I...see."
"There's plenty of low-profile docking spots in Siberia as well," Simon mentions while Yoko wanders off to let them do their thing, tuning in only enough to pick up on some choice words. She really didn't know geography that well besides the limited places she'd been while in the service, so she decides to literally stay out of the way.
Another perk, she muses, I've always wanted to see the rest of the world.
...
The group of a half-dozen crew members walked together to the cafeteria, their general mood shifting to a more lighthearted one than earlier. Most of them were looking forward to the challenge presented to them and to push the limits of Chouginga's strength...with the exception of the stiff-lipped man, who seemed to enjoy listening to the conversation more than partaking in it.
Yoko could hardly criticize. She wasn't even listening to the conversation. She only watched the passing scenery as she leaned against the rail of the speedwalk. The gunmetal blue interior was supported by a unique structure of trusses--not only were they an interesting design, but they were also inset with the lights that mimicked the current light intensity that one could find outside.
It was clear that this ship was meticulously taken care of. She thinks back to Gurren Lagann with a sense of commitment, wondering if she was also given the duty of maintenance. The neurofluid did feel awfully viscous and probably hadn't been changed in at least a month...
Her train of thought was interrupted when the captain nudged himself over to her with a cocky smirk. Yoko tenses without knowing what to expect.
"You're wearing more clothes," he says, as if surprised.
"Well, yeah. It's cold in here."
His cocky smirk widens. "So if I turn the heat on, you'll go back to what you were wearing earlier?"
Simon punches Kamina in the arm with more force than was usually put into a friendly punch. "You're awful, Kamina." The captain doesn't seem to be swayed from his focus.
Yoko crosses her arms and looks away. "I'm going to wear whatever the hell I want to."
Kamina only chuckles and returns his attention to the rest of the group. Yoko turns to look at the back of his head, arching her brow at his odd behavior. She had expected him to ostracize her, but instead he seems to have either forgotten or not care.
The air is sweetened with the smell of cooked food before they even arrive there. The captain opens the door and the rest of the group follows behind him. Yoko stops at the entrance.
"This isn't a cafeteria..."
In fact, it looked like a bonefide restaurant. The group has a seat at the table, effectively leaving Yoko behind. She looks around awkwardly, then decides to have a seat by her lonesome at a table. The tablecloth gets picked at as she looks around. It was reminiscent of old world diners, with its checkerboard floor and streamlined lights. The walls were decorated with ornamental parts of fallen government ships, presumably put up as conversation pieces.
A thin man comes by after a few seconds. "Why hello there, newbie! What are you in the mood for today?"
Yoko shifts. "You don't have...a menu...or something?"
"No, we just have a gigantic cupboard and refrigerator. So if you tell me what you're in the mood for, we'll cook up something that will suit."
"Oh, I see. Um...something pasta, in that case."
"The works? Meat sauce, cheese?"
"Yes, if you can manage it."
"Absolutely! I'll be back in a few minutes." And then he was off.
Yoko turns to look out the window. The clouds were tinted orange and passing by at a relatively slow speed. She could see a couple of high-altitude birds in the distance, making her smile a little. What she didn't see is the curious glance that Kamina gave her.
He leaves the table that he was currently sitting at, with minimal complaint from his former tablemates, and has a seat at Yoko's table, across from her.
"You still upset?"
Yoko looks at him. There were a variety of things that she was upset about, and things she wasn't so upset about, so she asks: "About what?"
"Killin' people."
"Oh...well," she rubs the back of her neck, "I want to be upset, but I'm not. I think it's because I couldn't see their faces..."
"Or it's 'cause you didn't kill anyone innocent--or does that even matter to you," he smirks, "...Dotoku-chan?"
"Dotoku..." Yoko trails off. "Do you have an obsession with the old languages or something?"
"The collective language is a fabrication of the government. We show our disregard for them by the use of old languages! In other words," his expression turns fierce, "it's rebellious."
"Then why is your catchphrase in the collective language?"
"It wouldn't be a very good catchphrase if no one knew what it meant!" Kamina lets out a bellowing laugh.
"You're incredible," she mutters, her head resting in her hand.
"I get that sometimes," he responds with a kind of pride.
"So you're not angry?"
"About what you did earlier? Nah, not anymore. I don't approve of it, but since none of the crew members got killed or whatever, I can't be that angry about it. Besides, you said the last time you piloted was nine months ago? You ain't rusty at all, babe. I'm impressed."
Yoko was never that fond of blatant flattery. "Please don't call me that."
"What, "babe"?" He grins. "Do you prefer Dotoku-chan?"
"No," she says sharply, then realizes the kind or argument she's about to get into and waves her hand. "No, just--nevermind. Call me whatever you want to. I don't care."
He gives her that prideful smirk again. Yoko shakes her head and groans. What an irritating captain.
"You still got a lot to learn, though. I'm expecting you to do daily training."
Yoko shrugs. "Fine. Not like you're expecting anything else out of me, right?"
Kamina nods.
Yoko doesn't say anything else. Instead, she took a moment to actually observe the captain. He wore a crimson jacket, but since his arms weren't through the sleeves it sat more like a cape, held around him by two heavy, golden chains at the chest. Underneath it was a supple black leather vest with a large silver zipper, though it was unzipped at about his navel, and his arms were sheathed in sleeves, rolled up at the elbows to reveal two navy blue bands of ink on his skin, his fingers adorned with a variety of different rings.
She couldn't see them at the moment, but she had seen before the dark brown pants that sat tight at his thighs and flared out at the bottom, ending just above heavy-duty boots. He has a rapier at his side too, with an exquisitely ornamental hilt, tied at his hip with a belt-like sash. She looks up again. A medium-cyan colored head of hair was capped off with a traditional captain's hat, except any traditional emblems were replaced with Dai-Gurrens fire and flame-skull motif. Something catches her eye--a something that looked an awful lot like bandages underneath his vest. Yoko changes her angle of perspective to try to get a better glance at them, but Kamina moves away as if he had noticed what she was doing.
"What do you think of Chouginga?"
"Eh?" She's pulled out of her concentration. "Oh, the ship...She's beautiful. What was she before you stole her?"
"Just about everything! Most of the innards are from a cruise liner we ganked from some gov'ment richies on a low-altitude cruiser. Then we just kept addin' shit from other passenger ships, other fighter ganmen an' a couple'a coats of paint--we've even got four engines running! Gave the engineers a hell of a time to try'n synchronize 'em, but man did it pay off!"
It was quite clear that Kamina was proud of the work that both he and his crew put into it. It brought a smile to Yoko's face. "The effort shows," she asserts, "she's so fearsome from the outside, but fully functional and comfortable..."
"You ain't seen nothin' yet," he says as he leands back in his seat confidently, "Jus' wait until you see'r in combat. She'll take your breath away."
"I look forward to it." She says it before she even realizes it--she's really not looking forward to large-scale combat.
"You'll be waiting for a while." He sighs. "We're taking a position to avoid as much altercation as we can so we can keep your fat ass away from them."
Yoko ogles at him. "You...wh--I don't have a fat ass!"
"Sure ya do." She swears, if only she could wipe that smug look off of his face. "S'why we gotta go out on a limb to keep it hid. Could see it from the moon, that."
At that moment, two people came by tableside. One placed a plate of loaded pasta in front of Yoko, the other a plate with a huge serving of beef round in front of Kamina. The captain looks over Yoko's selection of food.
"Looks like you've been trainin' your ass to be so fat, ordering things like that."
"I've been eating tasteless gruel for the last nine months!" she shrieks, and grips her knife in one hand, tightly enough to turn her knuckles white. "I'm borderline malnutritioned! How could my ass possibly be fat?!"
Kamina, suddenly remembering Yoko's fabled aim and having experienced it himself, eyes the knife nervously, and noticed that she was eying his eye. "H...hey now," he says, holding his hand out defensively, "let's not get ahead of ourselves here..."
"Then you'll shut the hell up and eat, if you know what's good for you..." She didn't want to back down by taking her food somewhere else--she liked this spot.
Yeah, she knew she was crossing a line. A few lines, actually. That sentence alone would have gotten her immediately kicked off a military ship, but here...Kamina actually chuckles and obliges, surprising Yoko quite a bit.
The rest of the meal was eaten in relative silence. Yoko avoided any eye contact whatsoever, so she missed the furtive glances Kamina would give her between bites. When both of them are finished, Yoko stands up and heads for the door.
"Hey, wait." Kamina reaches out for her.
"What do you want now?" she hisses.
"You still don't know your way around, right? I'll show you back to your cabin."
The members of the other dinner party look at each other with inquisitive glances--then at Simon, who innocently shrugs as if he had no idea what was going on.
"...Fine," she snorts.