For the first time in two years, Linus actually landed on Gran Canaria rather than simply having the cargo shuttled to his orbiting transport. Besides the simple fact that it'd been ages since he'd visited what'd become the de facto Zoner homeworld if Zoners could be said to have such a thing he'd heard Sophie had taken over her bakery again. That, and the fact that he hadn't come in a transport or warship; instead, he'd flown to Omega-49 in his new Eagle.
Fighter perched on the landing pad and cat on his shoulder, it didn't take the Discordian long to find the place. As they got closer, Kali's eyes got wider as her little nose went into overdrive. Been way too long since I spent a bit 'o time planetside anywhere, Linus silently lamented. Not like I've got anything pressing to do, either...Dahlia's visiting some pals on Islay, Mathias is takin' probably the first leave he's ever taken to do I-don't-know-what, and there's no major crisis that I know of.
He took a seat in the outdoor portion of the cafe, leaning back and watching the fighters and freighters coming and going. Kali, however, was considerably less relaxed. She hopped off his shoulder, and ran to the door leading into the cafe in a hunting crouch, ears back and tail puffed. The black cat took the most tentative of peeks into the cafe, ears still back, tail a-twitching, and nose still going nuts.
Linus shrugged, figuring she'd just found another cat or something. Kali had become rather cautious when confronting strange animals ever since the two years they'd spent marooned on Gaia's surface. For that matter, Linus still kept the crude knife he'd fashioned from a piece of his old gunboat's armor plating...but that was neither here nor there. Paying no particular attention to his cat's antics at the moment, he picked up the menu that'd been sitting on the table and waited to be noticed.
Norman was quick in action that morning, but slow in memory. What can I get for you, Mr...
Linus is fine. Don'tcha remember me?
Umm...
He snickered. Just givin' ya a hard time. It's been awhile, wouldn't expect ya to remember me, really. As for what you can get me... Linus grinned, slapped the menu shut, and handed it to Norman. Just get me somethin'. I'm sure anything here's good, so just pick somethin' you think I might like. Or ask Sophie she might know. For that matter, I wouldn't mind talkin' with her Globeliness some, if she's not too busy.
Eyebrows furrowed, brain tickled but unable to be scratched into quite remembering the specifics of yet another enigmatic Zoner, Norman went back into the cafe, menu in hand.
Meanwhile, Kali came to some sort of silent kitty decision and returned to Linus. But instead of returning to his shoulder, she hopped up on the table right in front of him, ensuring that anything he might've considered doing in the space directly in front of him would be interrupted. He wasn't doing anything, though, so she simply nuzzled his face.
Whadja find, girl? An old friend? Enemy? In response, the cat bit his hand and sneezed. Intriguing. Of course, Linus had absolutely no idea what, if anything, his cat was trying to tell him...but it amused him to no end to observe the reactions of passers-by when he acted like he was communicating with Kali. And he thought maybe it amused her, too. That is, if kitty laughing consisted of laying down and going to sleep right in the spot that was to be occupied by Linus' plate.
He absently stroked her, still watching the comings and goings from the nearby spaceport, and waiting to see if Sophie was available for a chat.
