smash_logs | BLIND DATES GROUP 2

BLIND DATES GROUP 2

What: BLIND DATES!
Who: Anyone who was sent a note with an C# &D# table numbers.
Where: Off-campus restaurant. AND BEYOND!
When: November 19th
Warnings: Who knows depending who is here.

[The second group's restaurant is Asian Fusion Dinning. The rooms looks fancy but down to earth and the menu is very varied. Still expensive, however, but you've been given a 100$ budget for eating each!

The lighting is dim, with flickering, oil candles on every table. The place is decorated in stylish black and browns, with Japanese and Chinese wallscrolls and paintings. The overhead music is traditional yet somehow futuristic Asian music, to fit with the theme. Your servers are all dressed up for the occasion, and speak broken English.

Beside each candle, there's a card. Each card has a different letter-number combination.

Find your table!

OH YEAH AND FEEL FREE TO LEAVE THE RESTAURANT AND GO ANYWHERE ELSE!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"And yet there is always advancement to be made. Another step to take, another detail to learn."

For the first time since arriving, Cyrus glanced at the menu. And then immediately away--how could any place justify charging that much for food? But then he didn't eat most of the things they served either.

"Tell me of your recent endeavors," he asked as he pushed the menu back to the side.

Seeing Cyrus take a look at the menu made him want to do the same with his, but he was quickly distracted by the next question. "Oh. You mean what I've been up to? Not much, I don't think... I am kept pretty busy in my office sometimes. Being the nurse at a school like this... ha ha, you can definitely imagine what kinds of colorful problems I get to see!" He felt a cough rise up in his throat and stayed it with a face of discomfort. How rude would it be, now, if he wound up coughing all over his poor date? Not good.

"I think taking up this job has certainly helped me," he continued, smile returning. "Why, back where I come from, the knowledge on various subjects is so limited compared to the... well, even the school library itself! It fascinates me to learn about topics I never even considered. I swear I learn of a brand new disease every day. And pray to the goddess I never have to catch it!"

"The ills of the world are as varied as its people. To find those from other worlds only expands both." Cyrus noted Rhys's discomfort, but said nothing. "...yet the most toxic ills are those not found under a microscope. Those things that pollute our minds rather than our bodies."

Once more, the brightness in Rhys's face dimmed. "Oh? What sorts of things are you talking about?"

This would be interesting. "Violence in our hearts. Hatred in our souls. Strife, suffering...those are their causes. They have ruined this world, this universe...It sickens me to my very core."

Rhys began to notice one aspect about Cyrus stick out amid all else. He seemed highly attuned to the vices of the world, almost fixated on them, in fact. He wondered what it was that made him so suspicious of others, much like... Soren? No, it wasn't quite the same, but definitely reminiscent. What could have predisposed him to think this way, and so often?

But how could he argue? Hatred was never a good thing, at least in his mind. He never truly knew what it felt like to hate something, but he definitely had first row seats for the strife that the violence of others had produced. He never really grasped what could make people so prompt to spill the blood of their enemies when there were more peaceful ways to settle disputes. It was cruel and heartrending. Perhaps it was simply beyond his understanding.

So he said, "You're right... Violence and hatred are ugly things. But I don't think they've completely soiled the universe." He smiled again, this one softer, like it had been coaxed by the glide of a butterfly's wing. "After all, I could never say such, not when there are plenty of beautiful things in this world to make up for it."

That had been something Cyrus encountered on a regular basis, the insistance that what good existed in the world was enough to make up for the evils that soaked through everything. "It cannot make amends," he countered calmly. "That a flower blooms cannot atone for the crimes that sprout up around it."

"But I'm talking about more than just flowers," he added soulfully. "There is kindness and compassion, even for a stranger who's lost his way. There is always love to overcome bitterness, laughter to dry tears, friends helping friends when it seems all hope is spent. I always find that... when hardship arrives, when strife has thrashed harmony into pieces, the goodness always manages to repair what has been broken by devastation. I think the world is a wonderful place."

"Yet it is only temporary. A haphazardly applied bandage to cover a festering wound. Those things that distract us." He paused slightly to ensure that Rhys was paying attention, and to alter the pace of his speech. "There will always be hardship, there will always be bitterness, there will always be devastation, and it is because we turn our backs to their roots, attention taken by those panaceas, without regard for the future."

This conversation was getting pretty sticky and complicated, and no matter what Cyrus insisted, Rhys's rose-colored opinion did not change. It wasn't as though Rhys had ever spared much thought thinking about how bad the world was, so he didn't have much to say about 'roots'. Instead, he took a new interest to heart, one directed at the person in front of him. "I'm curious, Cyrus. I hope you don't think it too forward of me to ask such, but... what was your childhood like?"

That was...unexpected. No one had asked him about his youth before, not his university classmates or his followers or anybody. The closest that had ever happened was being asked for his medical history.

It took him a moment to reply. "...Straightforward."

"Straightforward?" he repeated with a smile, almost wanting to chuckle at how short the explanation was. Instead, the cough threatened to rise again, but it was such a minor feeling that it could be repressed with ease. "How about your family? Did you have a small one? A large one?"

"I am an only child." After a moment, Cyrus added "...I have no other relatives." Another moment and he corrected himself. "...unless my grandfather is still alive. I do not know."

"No parents?" Rhys sounded surprised to hear this. "What happened to them?"

"They died." That was all he said on the subject, flat and emotionless as everything else he said.

Rhys seemed much more upset about this news than Cyrus. His eyes widened and allowed emotion to seep through, and his jaw unhinged slightly. "They... did? I'm so sorry to hear about that..." His eyes fell to the table. "I didn't mean to bring up any touchy subjects... I'm sorry."

For a moment, Cyrus considered taking a drink of that salty water, but decided against it. "Your concern is puzzling. You react with sorrow despite never having met them."

Those eyes returned to Cyrus once again, only with a new emotion mixed in: consternation, for he had been asked why he felt so sympathetic, as though it was a mystery. "Well... I-I think it's just the thought of it. Losing your parents must be a terrible thing to experience, and I... I'm sad that it happened, that's all. You must have been so young..."

"Hardly," Cyrus told him. "Twenty two and twenty four. I had not spoken to either in years." He certainly gave the impression, with a casual toss of his hand, that the subject truly meant nothing to him.

That must be why Cyrus handled it so well, Rhys thought. He hadn't seen his parents in a long, long time. That, and he must be a strong person, capable of dealing with such hardships, because if Rhys received word of his parents' deaths, even if it had been years since he had visited, he would be drowning in grief. Ike hadn't cried a single tear when his father passed! He had braved the ordeal with a strong heart and a clear mind.

"You're very strong to handle such a personal burden with light pain," he commended, smile returning mildly. "So you were raised by your grandfather, then?"

This line of questioning was strange, and for just a moment, Cyrus quirked an eyebrow. "By that time I had already taken the helm of my business. You believe either that I was yet young, despite my stating my ages at those times, or that I was incapable of caring for myself."

"Oh, no no no... I thought you meant that was when THEY died." Suddenly, he realized how awkward that must have sounded and began to chuckle nervously. "It was just a misunderstanding on my part." Oh, he was so silly sometimes. Maybe he should pay more attention, he thought. Idly he scooped up the menu and opened it to any given page, not looking at it just yet, but intending to.

Well, that just confused Cyrus even more. He was used to not being understood because no one around him matched his intellect, but people could follow his sentences, at least. "Take care to not make such simple mistakes in the future," he muttered as he looked at his menu at last.

And that eyebrow went up again.

"...such extravagance. That they charge such disproportionate prices for basic food is disgusting..."

Not exactly the most astute at comparing prices or familiar with matters related to fiscal ones, Rhys took a look at the menu and read some of the entries. He wasn't sure what to make of the food, since they sounded incredibly foreign, but he knew enough to deem that the prices were definitely outrageous. "M-maybe it's... very delicious?" He puzzled at the word 'makizushi' for a moment. Hmm... "At least, it should be expected, if that's what they will charge..."

"Unjustifiable," Cyrus dismissed. "I cannot support such a wasteful thing. Although it is important that we partake of those foods we favor, for our health and prosperity, we must be ethical in our consumption. And to waste such money on a basic meal is deplorable."

His hands curled on the sides of the menu, denting the paper, although his voice remained the same even tone it had been.

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I can't load the menu any more for some reason, so bear with me