I Can Has Cheezburger?

    "I can has cheezburger?"

    The cashier gives the feline were fang before him, who is doing her best Cute Kitty Eyes face, a confused look. "Are you practicing your Japanese, or something? You want 'One cheeseburger, please'." Her ears and tail droop at the reference fail. She nods and says dully, "One cheeseburger, please."

    After exchanging money for food, she goes to the counter, she unwraps the burger and sets it in front of her. She ducks behind the counter. And then slowly peers over it, tail lifting and twitching as she stalks her prey. She wiggles her butt a little before reaching out with ninja speed, her claws deployed, preventing the burger from escaping!

    And then she sits up and eats it like a normal person, smiling if her ears detect even one sound of mirth from around her. It just would be nice if that made someone's day, you know?

    Blue hair isn't...PARTICULARLY out of place. Not as out of place as a fuzzy, short hairdo on a woman, it seems. Naniko watches the exchange between Mizuki and the man at the counter and smirks. She shakes her head, but decides to up the ante on him. "Fair morrow to you, good sir," she says in her hoitiest, toitiest of accents. "After perusing the selections of your wares, I believe I have come to a conclusion on what I would like to masticate this day. Yes. I can haz cheezburger?" she concludes, somehow making the grammatically incorrect question hoitier and toitier than the rest of her statement.

    Mizuki's ear turns first, and then she looks over and stares.

    The low-contrast dazzle camouflage is just sort of confusing to look at. Why would someone dress like that? She does smile and let out a slight giggle at the accent. She knows that word but any English-speakers who weren't paying attention probably do a double-take. Mizuki grins wide and her tailtip twitches when Naniko tops off the accent with the same words.

    Once Naniko's got her food, Mizuki walks over to her. "I'm glad *someone* got it! Maybe there just weren't a lot of people here today who were on the English-speaking internet right before Pluto's Kiss." She looks over the woman. "Um... I don't know where you even found that, but do you need some clothes? I could lend you a cloak, at least..."

"... I swear, no one can just order food like normal around here," Vertina retorts with tongue-in-cheek tone from the doors where she just happened to walk in on the little exchanges recreating old internet fads, and just gives her head a bemused shake. She runs her own place elsewhere so she's probably heard most of it before.

    Naniko stands and listens to Mizuki, then looks at her outfit. "What's wrong with my clothes?" she asks. "They're perfectly serviceable clothes. They may not be in fashion, but they're comfortable, and they look nice."

    Vertina probably has. Every feline cait sith or were fang either knows the reference or has had someone try to get them to do it at some point, no doubt.

    Mizuki blinks. "Um... comfy, maybe, look nice..." She trails off for almost a second, then charges on bluntly, "not so much. I'm not a fashion expert but that poncho looks like you're wearing a magic eye or something..." She steps back for another look. "Oh hey, moccasins! I got a pair of those for my human form, but..." awkwardness briefly flashes across her face. "I'm... not in it much."

Vertina turns her head a little to see who Mizuki is talking to. Looks her up and down... though with her being tall it's mostly down and farther down. "Each to their own style, Mizukichi. What's the fun in glamour otherwise?" She strolls over, and gives the feline werefang a quick hug around the shoulders with one arm. "They don't need me for MCing for the big finale of the Tournament, so I swung by on the way back to the Tower."

    Naniko furrows her brow and moves away from Mizuki to sit elsewhere to eat.

    Social interaction: Failed! Mizuki looks sad and her ears and tail droop again. "I'm sorry! She's right, maybe I just don't understand fashion!" she calls, but doesn't press further for the moment. She perks right back up when Vertina puts that arm around her, and turns to hug her back with both arms happily. "Good to see you again!" She steps back, still smiling, "I just felt like trying a burger here at the site of their recreation, see if they'd innovated on it at all... They didn't, but it still tastes good! Maybe a good burger isn't something that can be improved on."

Vertina can only shrug. Some people just prefer to eat alone. She's seen that enough times too. "A burger is a burger," she replies as she leans back against the counter. "What matters is what you put on the burger... Don't offer too many versions from the classic up at the Tavern, don't want to step on another establishment's toes."

    "Honestly? It's hard to beat mushrooms on a burger. Not sure anything really *can* improve over that. Well, maybe if you put a bit of bacon and onions on... hmmm..." Mizuki looks hungry just thinking about it.

    "I'm looking for a party to help me with the voyage to the Palace Lands... I want to find out whether that region's players got trapped there when we did..." And more quietly, she adds, "And I heard Jazz went there and..." she looks awkward, "Need to ask her about something."

Vertina mmhmms, nodding her head. Though every so often she does glance in the poncho'ed girl's direction just to make sure she isn't too upset or anything. "Well, I haven't gone there yet either, so give me a chimlink ring when you do. I... wouldn't mind seeing if they have any alcohol variations I could use."

    Mizuki nods. "I mean, there's people in the Scales who've been already, you can ask on the alliance chimlink if anyone's seen new alchohol..."

Vertina pfffs, rolling her eyes. "I mean sure, I could, but other than Setsuna's drinking habits I wouldn't really expect many of them to actually -know- the different." She cusps a hand to her chin. "Well except maybe the Doc, if he looked at it alchemically." Then gives it a dismissive wave. "But that would take the whole excitement out of the challenge of looking for myself. Besides, I've got more than enough hired staff to handle the tavern if I take a couple of weeks to go see the new region for myself."

    Mizuki nods at the reasoning. Then oohs, "We could go together! If we can just find a few more people to brave the dangers... I wonder if Wis has been yet..."

"I did just tell you to ring me when you want to go didn't I?" Vertina laughs. "Not everyone rushed over there, and some have come back since for the Tournament or what not. Might be able to catch a trip when they're heading back again, too."

    Mizuki's ears flick. "...Oh! I thought you meant, ring you when I get there..." she smiles. "Yeah, that'd be nice. To make the trip with a bunch of friends."

"Yeah." Vertina bobs her head. "Emceeing was fun and it was profitable vendoring drinks and snacks during the fight to the crowds.... but I miss getting out and actually adventuring already."

    Mizuki nods. "A break's nice once in awhile, though..." She sits down on one of the stools. "Who'd have thought one day I'd need a break from adventuring in a magical fantasy world? This is a dream come true, but I can't wake up..." She wraps her arms around herself, and more quietly adds, "Although... I'm not sure my life out there was all that great. Everything I played the game for is still here. I'm still a hero who gets to help people and get involved in dramatic events... And... I still..." She looks at her hands.

Vertina looks down herself, though in her case it's at her legs. Idly lifts one in a little kicking motion. "And I can do all the physical activities I missed out on due to the accident. And then some. All the crazy wuxia kung-fu tricks you'd only see in movies, or games like this." Then she huffs softly. "But there are people that want to go back. Or have importance they need to go back for. Those are the people we're trying to help home, even if we don't really care to go back ourselves." She glances over to Mizuki. "Right?"

    Mizuki follows Vertina's gaze. The accident? Oh. Realization flickers across her face.

    The catgirl nods. "Yeah..." Although, it looks like there's something on her mind, that she struggles with for a long moment. She lowers her voice, and continues, "...I can't stay. I-I'm a boy, and... I've heard that something bad happens to crossplayers who've been in the game too long. Most of them within months. So I don't know how long I have before I have to deal with it, too..." She looks sadly down at her hands.

Vertina rubs the side of her head with one hand. "Ooooo, right. I forget that." Well, and she never really bothered with trying to know who was or wasn't crossplaying which gender, that's confusing and more private than she needs to worry about. "You do make a cute catgirl, so easy to overlook." Which.. probably isn't helping, she realizes after she says it. But there really isn't even a filter between her mouth and speaking what's on her mind, so nothing new there either.

She shakes her head a little, and puts her hand on Mizuki's shoulder reassuringly. "But that doesn't really matter, until we actually know how to go back. So for now, just worry about being Mizuki and an awesome adventurer and friend. Worry too much about things you have little control over right now, and you won't be able to enjoy the time you do have."

    Despite Vertina's thought, Mizuki positively beams at the compliment, tailtip twitching. "I know right??" She nods at the shoulderpat. "Yeah... that's what I've been doing. I'm gonna enjoy every day I can!" She smiles, this one a bit forced, and then leans forward to hug Vertina again, which seems to make the smile more genuine. "Thanks for your concern."

Vertina shifts her arm to hug back. "If you ever need someone to talk to, you know where to find me."

    Mizuki smiles a bit more. "Thanks! You too, I'm happy to talk anytime!"

Vertina turns her head to call over her shoulder to a staffer. "Hey, can I get a burger meal to go?" Then pulls out her money to count out payment. "I'm going to head up to Tolbana. I need to double-check what's stocked in my alchemy workstation in the brewery. I'm learning a new formula from another alchemist and need to be sure I'm aptly prepared to reproduce it." She drops the money on the counter, and nods to Mizuki. "Lemme know when you get a trip to sea lined up though."

    Mizuki holds the hug a bit long, then realizes she is and lets go. She nods, "I'll see you around! Was good talking to you again, don't be a stranger." She turns back to her burger to take another bite of it.