halo 'n horns [klance au]

26. Dinner Date

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Keith

"That's it! I'm done! I'm never going on one of those ever again! Lance, at first, I liked it, I thought it was cool, but I've spent more time in an airplane in one month than anyone should have to in their whole lifetime!"

Lance, deliriously exhausted, nodded and smiled as we walked up the ramp from the plane that we'd just spent a good 12 hours in. 12 hours of absolute hell. 

"Hopefully, that's the last time we should have to fly," Lance replied thoughtfully and I felt a pang in my chest. He was right. This was our last stop. By process of elimination, I knew that this journey would be the 'find a forest' task, which I was actually looking forward to a lot. 

Plants seemed like a common theme on my list, I guess, but it was only because we didn't have many plants down in the Underworld, just some terrariums and aquariums with plants that could use chemosynthesis or depend on the artificial sunlamps we had. But trees and flowering plants were foreign to me, so I wanted to see them up here, in the Midworld. 

As we emerged into the airport, I was shocked to discover familiarity with the environment. Especially with the signs everywhere. Japanese characters? I turned to the angel beside me, who was hefting his bag on his shoulder. I, too, carried a tote with some keepsakes, my dagger from the SAL, and other mementos and such I'd collected, along with some clothes. 

"Are we in Japan?" I asked, squinting around at the giant airport, which was even more crowded than the one in San Jose. 

"Yeah," Lance smiled, "Good Job."

I looked around the airport in admiration. It's giant, cavernous infrastructure was serious and businesslike, and a little intimidating if I had to admit it. I knew Japanese fluently, as well as a multitude of other languages that Father had made me study, but in the books I had read at home, the culture of Japan had always intrigued me. I was glad that Lance had picked this location for our final destination.

"Alright..." Lance said, looking at his phone with concentration. "So we gained 5 hours, which is going to be hell adjusting to, but it's nothing we haven't experienced before. Jet Lag is a bitch but we can sleep it off. Right now it's 6:00 pm and our hotel is about..." he paused, typing something into his phone, "45 minutes away." He looked up at me, cocking his head to the side, "Do you wanna grab something to eat?"

"Oh, hell yeah."

...

"Lance..." I muttered under my breath, "This is a lot fancier than I was expecting."

"That's why we're wearing tuxes," he muttered back, then gave the waitress a brilliant smile as she poured us each a glass of red wine.

"I'll be back in a moment to take your orders, sirs," she said politely, then whisked away, leaving the pricey wine on the table. 

We were seated at a table-for-two in a dimly-lit restaurant, live jazz playing somewhere in the background as elegant patrons in sharp suits and floor-length dresses dined gracefully on the foreign food. 

Lance had been smart to make us change into suitable clothing at the airport, even if I'd groaned a little, I appreciated it now- we probably would have been denied entry if we'd asked for a table in jeans and t-shirts. 

Lance had provided me with a black suit with a red tie and himself with a white suit and blue tie. Now that I thought about it, we kind of matched. 

I looked down at the menu that I held, scanning over words and dishes that I'd never heard of before. Biting my lip, I looked around at the tables around us, surveying the food that others were eating. Mostly sushi, I confirmed. I decided to play it safe with california and spicy tuna rolls while Lance ordered Katsudon.