It was Ko’s turn to choose the setting for their next date.
“So, they did stream movies, back on Olden Earth,” they said, as if it had been minutes since their last conversation. “You paid for the name of the stream you liked, like ‘Netflix’ or ‘Hulu.’ So I still don’t know why they had to be in little boxes.”
Af laughed. “Hello to you, too!”
They was in a chair, a cramped, hard, low, thing.. Ko was next to them in a similar chair, one of thousands in a vast oval arena, most of them filled with NPCs. Many of shirts the NPCS wore matched: blue, with plum accents, or white and scarlet. Below them was a startlingly, unnaturally green expanse of ground, with bare earth in a sort of megaphone shape, with a circle in its center.
It took Af a few seconds to work it out. They arched an eyebrow at Ko. “Have you taken me out to a ballgame?”
As if in answer, figures down below streamed on to the field from either side. They stretched and preened like peacocks as the crowd roared its approval.
Af grinned in surprised delight. They’d been feeling a little glum; this absurd spectacle was a perfect tonic. “These are prime seats you scored us.”
They smiled back.
As the game started, Ko signaled to a man trotting up the aisle, and Af found themselves holding a paper carton with extremely weird food: a sort of meat tube nestled in a grilled bun; a thicket of squarish yellow sticks that looked vaguely vegetal. And, amazingly, it had an aroma. It smelled good, actually.
“Ko, did you get me a olfactory boost?”
They shrugged, smiled sheepishly. “Guilty.”
There were little vac packets with the food. Ko showed Af: yellow and green globs of mustard and relish for the dog, red ketchup for the fries. It was very colorful. “You can put mayo on the fries,” Ko said, “but I don’t really recommend it.” They gently nudged another packet aside. “I don’t know why they gave you tartar sauce, that goes with the fish and chips.”
Af took a bite. Back in the creche on their ship, the neurostims went into overload: salt and sweet, acid tartness and umami swirled through their senses. The texture was – well, it was weird, but not exactly bad.
Af leaned their head on Ko’s shoulder. It was a pretty great date.
phrases: mustard, blue, tartar, mayo, glum, green, plum, down, netflix, scarlet, peacock, relish, low, prime, hulu, ketchup