[Fin] Table for Three

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah that's right!" Taavi agreed with Sasha, going from normal to Mega Enthusiasm mode in the space of a breath. "It's, well it's hard to say why it is really but among the rangers I knew in Unova and Hoenn we kind of thought that it's partially because language is kind of innate to them? Like, they can speak from the moment they're born so learning another language is hard right? And so far as we know a wild pokemon that's never seen humans before can understand human speech, buuut there's some evidence that maybe they don't understand a second language they hear? At least not right away but all of this research has a chance to progress so much now that we can actually ask questions and get detailed answers! And intelligence seems to vary a lot, like a whole lot! Some species tend to be smarter, what we'd call smarter, than others are but individual difference is massive! Some pokemon can seem practically human in their thought patterns and motivations but another of the same kind can be completely different. It's pretty amazing!... But I'm going to be quiet and drink some more now!"

Taavi laughed briefly at himself and took a deep drink of his wine, a bit embarrassed at his long ramble but not as worried as he could be because Zevran did look interested in what he was saying! Unless he was faking interest to be polite. Urk. He took another sip of wine, and then some olives to stop himself draining the whole glass.
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Well! It was easy to tell what Taavi liked to talk about! Zevran set his glass down with a soft chuckle. "No need to be quiet, I was enjoying listening Taavi! Heh, and you two certainly know your pokemon!" he exclaimed. He wasn't going to remember even half of this but it was always (nearly always) a pleasure to watch and listen to people talking about things that excited them. Hehe, and they would all get to more excited vocalisations later! Well, that was the plan at least. "Strange that they can be as intelligent as we and yet not be able to grasp such things. Perhaps their brain function is given over to being able to," he waved a hand, "breathe fire, and turn into other things in the space of a few moments. Oh! And look, here comes the rest of our food!"

That had been quick but then a lot of it had either been seafood, which was always quick if done properly, or things they probably cooked somewhat in bulk.

"Help yourselves," Zevran gestured at the ranges of dishes, "it's fine to use your own spoon to serve yourself and do shell the seafood with your fingers, that's why we have these bowls of water, ¿sí? Trying to use cutlery does not work well." To demonstrate Zevran scooped some of the clams onto his plate and pulled the meat out of the shell of one of them. "And we have this empty bowl here for the waste," he added, tossing the shell into it with a nod.  

[Shaddaling]

"Part of it might be the amount of information and simulation a pokemon is exposed to, if a trainer keeps their pokemon constantly in a ball except during battles, they might have a much more wild thought process. Watching t.v., listening to pod casts, reading to them, provides a much more possibility of them picking up pieces of information." Lex finished his glass of wine and poured some more. It was good wine.

"Ooh, this does look good." Lex admitted and slowly started to add food to his plate, humming slightly as he debated on clams and decided against them for tuna. He could go back and try the clams in a bit.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Uh-hu," Taavi refilled his own glass as he nodded and smiled to Sasha before turning back to Zev to impart more Thoughts. "Environment's a huge factor of course, nature vs nurture right?" He nodded again to Sasha. "And it's kinda hard to study ethically really, I mean so you observe a bunch of wild pokemon then catch some and expose them to our culture and then what? You get all, um, My Fair Lady going on right? And different populations and... and... stuff!" He laughed at himself again, a bit more relaxed this time, and gestured with his spoon vaguely before taking some of several of the dishes. "But yeah, you'll get to know your own pokemon. Amigo seems to like you a lot already!... Your ear?" The bug was nibbling Zevran's ear. "You want something else to eat Amigo?"

<>

"He says he wants some of the vegetables please," Taavi passed along with a smile, closely followed by an expression of pleased surprise as he tried the clams. "These are good! I've never had clams before."
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"¡Never had clams?" Zevran exclaimed as he passed a bit of berenjena up to Amigo. "My friend you have been sorely deprived until this day! Good seafood was everywhere where I grew up, it seems to be quite limited here from what I have seen in your stores. Are there markets that sell fresh produce to be found in the city at all?" He did miss the markets of Antiva, the smells and the noise and the life of it all. Of course the drawback of Antiva was all of the death so on balance he preferred to do without the markets, though that didn't stop him from missing them. "Everything here is," Zevran gestured with his glass languidly, "everything is packaged up in plastic, very hygienic I am sure but so clinical! Where is the soul in these huge stores? They all look and smell the same, and they all seem to sell the same things. Very peculiar to my mind. I have to admit however that this land has very fine company to offer." Zevran tilted his glass to the couple opposite him, watched them with hooded eyes and gave a half smile. "I find every places I travel has its own particular charms."  

[Shaddaling]

"I am trying to figure out how you could never have clams," Lex mused, looking at Taavi in surprise. He had none on his plate at the moment, because he didn't want to get clam juice anywhere till he was finished. "Seafood is delicious, though I have not had any market fresh." Or made his own, Lex did enjoy ordering it from restaurants occasionally.

Lex gave a smile back, and turned back to his meal. "Summer is coming closer, I am hoping for some small farmer markets, where local produce and crafts are shown off." He was rather found of jewelry and knitted crafts.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ahaha, well I don't know, I guess clams just never came up!" Taavi replied as he took another quick drink of his sangria and flashed a quick smile at Zevran, though his didn't have the ah... the quality of the blond's. It was an attractive smile, very, and the look the tattooed man was giving him err... it had a certain hint of bedroom eyes about it. He could feel heat rising to his cheeks and not for the first time in his life thanked Arceus for his dark skin, it went a long way to hiding flushes. He didn't think the look was what it looked like but still, more wine!

"There are markets sometimes but um, they can be a bit expensive," Taavi added with a laugh and a shrug. "Artisnal and all that right?" He'd sold sculptures at a couple but he'd never dared to put his prices as high as the real artists did, he felt like a fraud at those markets as it was.

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Humm. Zevran continued looking at the couple for a few moments before breaking eye contact to take some more food. "Ah you have to have it fresh; caught in the morning and eaten in the evening," he said as a simple statement of fact, looking back up at Sasha with another smile. "Better still if you can catch the fishermen off the boat and haggle with them for some of the less marketable of their catch. If these summer markets of yours do come around Sasha I shall enjoy visiting them though I think, things like that are a fun way to lose time no? But what about other cities?" Zevran paused to take another sip of his drink. "Do you both live here in Camphoreon, or elsewhere? I hope I have not dragged you too far from your homes to meet me tonight!" If he had then a hotel might be in order, he didn't have enough money left for anything fancy but if there were no other options then he could manage something or perhaps one of them would? Eh, details for later.  

[Shaddaling]

"I don't live in Camphoreon, but my crobat is always good at making sure I get to where I need to be," Lex replied cheerfully and took a bite of food, savoring it before focusing on his plate. Sampling a bit of everything, he turned back to Zevan.

"I'ved lived in Ambergris for a little bit. It is haunted," He said swirling his fork about. "And certainly on the warm side."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ah, haunted?" Zevran's brows rose and he lent forward with interest. "Tell me more!"

And internally, without a sign on the outside, Zevran processed the fact that Sasha dodged the question with a cheerful smile and tried to divert the conversation elsewhere. Humm, how did you lose your eye, friend? Why would anyone avoid such a simple question? Well let them divert, there was no need for them to know he had noticed a thing amiss! Zevran topped up his own glass and the glasses of his companions and sat back comfortably. Now if it were him he would just have made up a lie, why had Sasha not done so?... Ah, wait, did his boyfriend not even know where he lived? How strange!

Zev's amber-brown eyes drifted back to Taavi and he offered the green-eyed man a soft smile; very cute. "And you?"

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"Oh, nope, not far for me!" Taavi replied, returning Zevran's smile with one of his own and fitting in a quick sip of his drink before he continued with; "And yeah Ambergris is pretty full of ghost pokemon right Sasha? Not many people try to live there anymore and um, the old rocket base was north of there in the desert! Until we found it and turned it into a KSO centre that is, heh." Where did Sasha live? He wished he knew. He wished Sasha lived with him.  

[Shaddaling]

"Mmhm, ghost and psychic types, things move and creak and groan and there are more then a fair share of abandoned buildings," Lex replied, lifting a fork full of vegetables. "It has a rather interesting history." He took a bite, chewing slowly.

"Ghost pokemon very much like playing pranks," he said, mild. "Most of them are harmless though."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Is that so?" Zevran asked Sasha with a lift of his brows. "So... pokemon of a certain type often share personality types? Oh," he gestured to the somewhat emptied dishes of food before them, "and had you two thought about where you might like to go next? I am flexible, extremely!"

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"Aha, are you Zev? Um. But. Yeah, there are stereotypes? And sometimes they're more true than others but a lot of ghosts seem to be... um... where do you want to go Sasha?" Taavi turned to smile at his boyfriend and lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "I guess I'm flexible too!" A bar? A club?  

[Shaddaling]

"Ghost stereotyping tends to be mostly true but how much of it is them learning about their environment and using their protective ability to sink out of view is up to debate." Lex shrugged and finished his plate. "Perhaps the park? It should be quiet around this time."  

[TawnyAngel]

The park? Late in the evening? Kinky! Zevran chuckled and raised his glass in acknowledgement. "Certainly! Shall we perhaps pick up some more drinks on our way?" He had no doubt there would be somewhere on the way selling alcohol, that was reliable no matter where you went in the world.

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"Oh, the park?" Taavi looked a little surprised but not at all displeased. "Sure! It's nice out, why not enjoy the night right? Um, and with some more drinks sounds nice! Annnd, yeah, ghosts!!! If you could go invisible what would you do right? Ehehe, I'm sure I'd be tempted to pull some pranks."  

[Shaddaling]

"I could go for another round of drinks." He admitted and stood carefully and if a tad wobbly, well it had been very good Sangria. "Mmh have I told you that Nickle has developed a fondness for those hard rubber bouncy balls you get in vending machines? She collecting a hoard of them."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Haha, you alright?" Taavi asked, reaching out to touch Sasha's arm as he stood up too. He didn't wobble though! "And no you didn't, does she chase them around or just hoard them?" he asked with a grin as they headed for the exit.

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Zevran paid for the meal in cash, leaving a fair tip too before heading after his companions in a thoughtful frame of mind. So much he did not know about this place, or this pair he followed! He could very well imagine Sasha leading him into a trap of some kind, though not his excitable partner so much. Ha! Perhaps he was about to find that sweet Taavi was actually a calculated mastermind with intent on his life? He hoped not, this had been such a nice evening so far!

Catching up to the pair Zevran fell into step with them on Sasha's other side, the one with the false eye. "And Nickle is?" he added curiously with a small smile.  

[Shaddaling]

"A tad bit drunk, that was the first meal I had since breakfast," Lex admitted thinking about it. He should have grabbed lunch but he had been distracted. And he had snacked but well, that wasn't a full meal. "Both, she likes the ones with glitter the best at the moment. The sparklier the better."

"Nickle is my ghost, she a very pretty misdreavus. They are usually a purple grey in color but she's this lovely cream with pink delicate markings." And why was Zevran on his bad side. Lex dropped back a few steps in order to get Zevran in his sight."sorry... just having people in my blind spot makes me paranoid I'm going to squash or trip over you."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Maybe we should pick up some soft drinks too then," Taavi suggested, feeling a little tipsy himself but as though somebody ought to be the sensible one. He did not want this night to end with anyone throwing up in a bush.

"Mischievous Misdreavus," he added helpfully with a grin. "I'll have to get her a couple next time I see them." If he had any change in his pocket that didn't already have an assigned purpose soooo probably not soon. Oh well, it was the thought that counted right?

As Sasha adjusted which side of him Zev was on Taavi shot his partner a brief smile and then gestured to Zevran to walk on the other side of him. "Here, you can walk beside me and add to me feeling tall." He was of pretty average height but his company was not, so!
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"Ah, my apologies Sasha," Zevran inclined his head slightly and moved around as Taavi suggested. He gave the taller, skinnier man a light nudge with his elbow and tilted his chin up slightly to smirk at him. "Tall dark and handsome yes? We can be your pretty blond entourage, and all three of us shall be the envy of everyone who lays eyes upon us. I think between us we can cover most tastes." He could cover most (masculine) tastes all by himself if given a few minutes to gage what they might be but there was no call to brag.

"There," Zevran gestured to a shop up ahead of them, "that looks like a place that would sell drinks don't you think? I shall see what I can acquire, and I will be sure to get something non alcoholic too Taavi." It was probably a sensible idea, though he would not have bothered himself. "I shall be back momentarily, don't go running off on me!" Zevran grinned and winked to the couple before disappearing into the store.