Logs:They Mei (or Mei Not) Smooch At The End: Difference between revisions

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| content-warning=Discussion of body horror, eating unusual foods (for Western palates), being so fucking cute.
| content-warning=Discussion of body horror, eating unusual foods (for Western palates), being so fucking cute.
| cast=[[Mei Lee]] and [[Little Fox]]
| cast=[[Mei Lee]] and [[Little Fox]]
| setting=[[The Firebirds]] penthouse, and then a restaurant
| setting=[[The Firebirds]] penthouse, and then Bao Wow!
| log=It's date night! Mei told Fox that it was going to be a surprise where they were going, and to just meet her on the patio at the penthouse at quarter to six, because they're going to fly there instead of taking a Lyft or public transit or something. That's where Mei is waiting just before the appointed time, sitting on one of the couches on the patio, ignoring the fact that the weather is cold because she knows Forces. She's wearing a skirt, and has her hair down instead of one of her signature styles, as well as a bit more makeup than usual, but she's also still wearing her boots and a leather jacket, so apparently she's not going all in on formality or anything.
| log=It's date night! Mei told Fox that it was going to be a surprise where they were going, and to just meet her on the patio at the penthouse at quarter to six, because they're going to fly there instead of taking a Lyft or public transit or something. That's where Mei is waiting just before the appointed time, sitting on one of the couches on the patio, ignoring the fact that the weather is cold because she knows Forces. She's wearing a skirt, and has her hair down instead of one of her signature styles, as well as a bit more makeup than usual, but she's also still wearing her boots and a leather jacket, so apparently she's not going all in on formality or anything.



Latest revision as of 04:57, 23 February 2021

Content Warning

Discussion of body horror, eating unusual foods (for Western palates), being so fucking cute.

Cast

Mei Lee and Little Fox

Setting

The Firebirds penthouse, and then Bao Wow!

Log

It's date night! Mei told Fox that it was going to be a surprise where they were going, and to just meet her on the patio at the penthouse at quarter to six, because they're going to fly there instead of taking a Lyft or public transit or something. That's where Mei is waiting just before the appointed time, sitting on one of the couches on the patio, ignoring the fact that the weather is cold because she knows Forces. She's wearing a skirt, and has her hair down instead of one of her signature styles, as well as a bit more makeup than usual, but she's also still wearing her boots and a leather jacket, so apparently she's not going all in on formality or anything.

Fox is all scrubbed up, which is how you know a Fox is Dressed Up. She has washed her hair and braided it back and scrubbed her nails. Very fancy, by Orphan standards. Forces heat keeps her warm (and has dried her hair) when she pads out in her skinny jeans (because she's a Millennial, I guess), a t-shirt that reads 'This Is My Fancy T-Shirt' in bold white print, and her peacoat. She bites her lower lip and grins broadly at Mei. "You look pretty," she ventures, skulking over toward her like some sort of fox or something, and nosing at her cheek in greeting. "If we're flying, does that mean I'm shapeshifting us?"

Mei looks up when Fox comes out, then pushes to her to accept the nosing and offer a hug. "So do you. But it's a little weird seeing you all cleaned up!" She glances down at herself after she steps back and admits, "like it's probably a bit strange to see me in a skirt, I suppose? I'm going to ask you to bird us both so we can fly to the restaurant I figured we'd have dinner at, yeah. We can land in the alley behind it. They're expecting me to come around the back door anyway."

"It's a little weird being all cleaned up, but I do that sometimes," laughs Fox, taking hold of her hand for a brief moment, and then stepping back. "It's a little strange," she admits, "but I like that you did. It feels special, and I like that." Fox's directness, A+. "Yes, that sounds fun! Do you have a particular kind of bird you would like to try being? Otherwise I can just make us crows, I like being crows."

"It is a little special," Mei agrees with a smile. "I like wearing skirts, it just feels kind of fussy a lot of the time." She rubs the back of her neck. "There's always an annoying part of my mind that tells me I'm trying too hard to be girly when I wear skirts and dresses, or wear more makeup. And it has my mom's voice. I should really stop listening to it." She shrugs and smiles. "Crows is good. That's the way I usually go for city flying. Most people don't pay much attention to the crows, and the people who do are usually pretty cool. I love how much those people lose their minds if you bring them presents as a crow."

"I know that voice," comes Fox's agreement, and she leans to one side, bumping her shoulder against Mei's in commiseration and comfort. "My mom's sounds similarly. Of course it probably never actually did, but I remember it." A soft, weary laugh there, and then she shakes it off. "You should stop listening, because you look super fucking cute in skirts. Makes me want to chase you around with heart eyes like an old-timey cartoon." A wink, there, and she takes a couple of steps back. "I love that! We should totally do that later." Only with Fox would 'flying around as crows in order to make people freak out with delight at having been given a present by a crow' be a primo date activity. "Hold on to your butt," she laughs, and curves her left hand, with its lovely Perfected ring, in the air.

"We should do that later! But I draw the line at scavenging garbage for dinner on our first date, I want to go to an actual restaurant," Mei answers, before reaching back and grabbing her butt with both hands, waiting for the magic to happen. Where she turns into a crow holding its butt, or whatever.

She laughs aloud at that, and that's the moment where Paradox whacks her in the face. Of course it is. Well, for the first time since Fox set foot in Philadelphia, the work of her hands hurts, and Mei can see the bruise forming on her cheek just before the feathers sprout across it, and she (and Mei) fold in on themselves. Fox chatters in deep annoyance -- though just annoyance, like someone who stubbed the shit out of her toe or something -- and hops around the floor once she shifts into her crow form, shaking her head like she's trying to get water out of her ear.

Oh look, Mei is a crow! She hops over to Fox, tilts her head curiously to one side, and caws a query about whether or not Fox is okay after the sudden blossoming of reality's retaliation against Fox's efforts. Fortunately, it seems like there's no serious injury there, and she gives her feathers a brief ruffle and then settles them before flapping up to perch on the rail around the patio, where she stops to look back at Fox, waiting.

Fox crrrrrk a reassurance, and then shakes her head one last time before hop hop hop merrily after Mei. Yeah, no serious injury, just annoyance. She's a lot smaller right now, so that bruise is a lot more impactful at the moment, but whatever. Once she's up on the railing, she crrrk's her assurance. It's time to go!

With a little hop Mei turns so that she's facing the penthouse, instead of out toward the city, and then makes another hop backwards, right off the railing and the side of the building. Where she just falls for a while, like she forgot how to bird, though of course she didn't. It's just that gravity does help with making it not take quite so long to get to the ground.

Part way down she turns herself around in the air, spreads her wings, and slows herself into a dive, headed out over the city, toward Chinatown.

Hop hop. Fox tucks her wings in neatly against herself and slides down through the air, bombing down toward the street. Diving as a crow is only second to diving as something like a hawk, honestly, and Fox's heart soars just as she does. Her wings open onto the air, and she scoops up after Mei, winging off toward Chinatown.

The flight isn't particularly eventful, but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable. Mei doesn't make it as fast a trip as she can, she just makes her leisurely way toward their destination. Pretty much nobody makes notice of them as the fly on, and it doesn't take too terribly long before Mei is circling down toward an ally in between the shops and restaurants on two parallel streets. There's nobody in the alley, but it's relatively clean. At least as far as alleys go.

She lands on the edge of a dumpster when she arrives, then hops around checking for anyone hanging out in the alley that she might not have noticed, making sure things are clear for them to turn back into their normal selves.

Fox delights in flying, and so she does. She twists happily in the air, swooping up above Mei and then curling down underneath her. Is she showing off? Maybe. Yes. Okay, yes, she's showing off.

She flutters down and lands precisely next to Mei. Hopping back and forth, she checks for people before releasing the spell, unfolding upwards into her normal self. "That was so fun!"

Mei turns back into a human balanced on the edge of the dumpster, but she doesn't seems to be concerned by this, and rightfully so. She's got good balance, not disrupted by the changing of her shape, and doesn't even wobble before she hops down off the dumpster and onto the pavement in the alley. "It was!" she agrees, before she offers Fox her elbow and a crooked smile. "Ready to get some dinner? This place is one of the best in town, especially if you like dumplings."

Hop! Fox alights from the dumpster, landing on her booted feet. "I am ready to get some food! Dumplings sound totally amazing." She straightens her jacket, and shifts her weight from one foot to the other. "As you well know, dumplings are the native food of a Fox." And she sticks her tongue out for a half-second.

"I definitely imagine foxes making dumplings in their dens!" Mei agrees. She moves over to the back door to a nearby restaurant and knocks a couple of times, then turns to smile at Fox. After a minute the door opens, and the man who opened it takes in Mei and starts speaking to her in Cantonese, then waves for them to both come inside.

Mei responds in English. "Yeah, we're definitely both hungry. Thanks for making an opening for us tonight. Zero, this is Fox. Fox, this is Zero, who owns this place, which is called 'Bao Wow!' Since, you know... no sign in the back." She gestures around the door, where there are, in fact, no signs.

Zero gives Fox a casual wave and then gestures them inside. "Nice to meet you, Fox," says Zero with only a slight accent. "Come on in."

Fox's laughter is a genuine cackle of delight. "Well, now I have to do that sometime," she answers, and tucks her hands into the pockets of her peacoat. "Hi, Zero! Yeah, thanks for making space for us tonight, I really appreciate it." She smiles with her lips closed, but she can't help the fact that her eyes catch the light from inside the restaurant, that inhuman eyeshine. "That... is a delightful name. I will definitely not forget it." One corner of her mouth curls up. "Which is, of course, the point." Her chin tips up. "Nice to meet you, too." And she slips in past Zero and Mei, because she's the guest and knows how this works.

"Hey, thanks! I think everyone either loves it or hates it, but almost nobody hates our food. Fox is a pretty great name too. You'd fit right into modern Hong Kong with a name like that." If Zero notices the eyeshine he doesn't comment on it. Then again, if he's someone that Mei did a favor for in the past, like she had said, it's possible that he knows she was a 'psychic detective', and some supernatural things might not be that big a deal to him. Instead of reacting to the eyes, he leads them onward.

Inside the door is the kitchen, where all the cooking stations are off to one side leaving a largely clear walkway between the back door and the front of the house. It smells absolutely wonderful, and there are people hurrying around, cooking a wide variety of dishes. On one side of that walkway is a wall with a large mirror, and then a door, which is where Zero takes them, and which he then opens.

Mei quietly follows along, smiling occasionally at Fox, acting like none of this is particularly unusual or surprising to her. Just what she expected, and is looking forward to.

Inside the door is a well-appointed room, where the other side of the walkway's mirror is a window, like the two-way glass in an interrogation room, meaning people dining in the room can see the work being done in the kitchen, but have privacy. The rest of the room, including the table big enough to seat eight people, looks quite a bit more fancy than it seems like a hole in the wall would have.

"Thanks, Zero," Mei says as she heads toward the table.

She has to suppress a grin at the compliment to her name, lest those vulpine teeth flash, but the smile and the flash of a blush that come with are clear evidence. "Yeah? That's awesome," Fox agrees. "It's a good name, mine."

She tromps along with Mei, reaching at one point to rest her hand on the small of her back companionably, and peering delightedly at all of the sights and sounds. This is a new adventure, and as we all know, those are Fox's favorite things, new adventures. "Oh, that's so cool!" she bubbles, once she realizes what the one-way mirror is for. She shucks her coat off as she approaches the table, tosses it onto a chair, and then steps to the other to pull it out for Mei. Smoov.

"Yeah, no problem. I'm always glad to not owe someone, and getting out from under that by doing what I'd be doing anyway? Hard to pass up," Zero says, in a friendly bantering tone. "You two sit down, relax, enjoy. Let me know if I can get you anything to drink. If there's anything in particular you want to eat. Otherwise I'll just keep things coming."

Mei moves to the chair that was pulled out for her, shrugs off her jacket and hangs it over the back of another chair, and then takes a seat. "Thanks," she says delightedly, to Fox. Then to Zero, "I'll take a Kingsway. And how about you start bringing us all the things you think someone who isn't familiar with Hongkonger cuisine might not have tried before?" She gives Fox a glance and a wink. "And maybe a menu, so Fox can pick out anything she really wants."(edited)

Fox's eyebrow rises when Zero mentions that he owed Mei a favor, but she doesn't look surprised. Just... amused. And delighted. And the opposite of surprised, really. "Hah!" she noises softly, and scoots the chair in for Mei before rounding the table to sit in her own chair. "A Kingsway sounds good. And some water, please?" Now she forgets and flashes a grin at Mei. "Yeah. I love new things, really, so, like, whatever you bring me, I'll be excited to try. New things are my favorite."

"Two Kingsways and a water, coming up," Zero answers. "We'll have some food in for you in a jif." He ducks out and closes the door.

Mei didn't miss the eyebrow and explains to Fox, "I'm a private investigator. I do favors for a lot of people. Well, I do work for a lot of people, and sometimes they decide that it's a favor, even though they paid me." She shrugs. "It never hurts to accept favors when people offer to owe you, right? Anyway, have you ever had phoenix claws?"

"Thank you!" Fox offers delightedly, and settles into her seat. She offers a lopsided little smile to Mei, then. "Oh, I figured -- I know who you are and what you do, so... yeah. I mean, as long as they don't use 'favor' to say 'this is why I shouldn't pay you.'" The Thyrsus drops her elbow onto the table and leans her chin on her hand, watching Mei contentedly. Pretty girl. Happy Fox. The question makes her start to answer, then pause, and recalibrate. "... the answer is yes, but possibly also no. What are phoenix claws?"

"I do work for people for free sometimes, if they really can't pay and I think they need help," Mei says with a shrug. "There are some things I just couldn't live with myself if I said no to them over like a couple of hundred dollars, you know?" She leans her chin on her own hand and smiles at Fox. "Phoenix claws are chicken feet. Fried and steamed. People love them in Hong Kong. You'll pay more for chicken feet than chicken breasts, most of the time."

"Well, that's different," agrees Fox. "That's you saying 'I'll do this,' and not someone saying 'lol you did this but I'm not gonna pay you.'" And yes, she literally says 'lawl' out loud. Of course she does, the dork. "Ohhhh! Well. I have had chicken feet in the past. Just, you know. Not properly prepared." She swings one of her feet under her chair. "We should have some! And then take them home to the others and say 'you gotta eat these, because they're Firebird Feet.'" Her green-gold eyes glitter.

"Oh, yeah, I don't generally let people get away with that. Contracts are useful things," Mei says with a laugh. "Not that people don't try to stiff me from time to time." She shrugs. "I'm pretty sure none of my clients have actually say 'lawl' to me, so that's good, right?" She tucks her hair behind her ear on one side. "I'm not at all surprised you probably raided someone's hen house. What self-respecting fox hasn't, right? We'll order some for sure, and bring some home for everyone else. I actually think everyone there is likely to try them, even though in my experience, most white people don't want to."'

Laughter curls up from Fox, then. "No, probably they wouldn't," agrees Fox. "I just like making fun of people who are trying to stiff you, or being ridiculous." She continues to lean her chin on her hand, watching Mei with a truly content expression on her face. "Well. I have done that, but I like to not to. Sometimes I have been so hungry that I did, though. I did go back with some money like Sgt. Angua from Discworld and at least slip some money under the mat. Usually I try to just eat eggs when I raid henhouses. Much more replaceable." Of course Fox has thought about the ethics of stealing from henhouses.

"Really? Why not? It sounds like it would be delicious and crispy, like chewing all the really crispy skin off of buffalo wings."

"Of course you have thought through the ethics of henhouse raiding," Mei laughs. "And why not, you ask? Because they tink it's weird," Mei says. "Coming from people who came up with Jell-o salad and grits. Americans eat some weird stuff too, and...." she stops in thought. "Is there any quintessentially American dumpling?"

"Well... yeah! Of course I have. I don't get to stop being a person just because I'm currently being a fox. Aaron made that very clear the last time I argued about halacha with him," mutters Fox wearily. "I guess I can't eat bacon without at least acknowledging I am breaking the rules, even when I'm a fox." A heavy, put-upon sigh. Clearly exaggerated. "Oh, well, I mean, I guess it's weird, but like, it makes sense to use up all the parts."

She pauses, then, frowning and thinking. "Ummm. So... I mean, there are things that Americans call dumplings, but they're not dumplings in the sense of having a meat or vegetable filling really. They're the drop dumplings that you put in soup or stew?"

"Unless," Mei says, holding a finger up. "You 'find' a pig that meets the criteria for being kosher." She grins. "I'm not sure where you might possibly find something like that, though." She laughs. "I always kind of thought bacon was mostly just alright," she admits. "Sweet and sour pork, though? That I miss a lot more than bacon. But I also never went out of my way to eat dairy, so I guess that in a lot of ways, I had it easier going kosher."

She hmms about the dumplings and says, "I guess in soup and stuff, that's true. That counts, I guess. America can't even come up with good stuffed dumplings, though? What terrible cuisine!"

As if on cue, Zero comes in with a tray that has two glasses, some plates, steaming baskets for dumplings, and really just plenty of food for two people. Quite quickly. He starts putting things down in front of the two, explaining what everything is as he goes. Sure enough there are phoenix claws, and bao (of course, given the name of the restaurant), and crispy roast goose, and a few other things.

"I mean I could make pork out of nothing, I think, probably. Hmm. No, I'd have to make an animal out of nothing, unless... " Fox frowns thoughtfully. "You know," she leans forward conspiratorially, lowering her voice to a whisper, "I could make beef that tasted like pork, but was still beef, and I think that would fit the bill. It just has to last long enough for us to eat it!" Her green-gold eyes glitter in delight.

"I grew up not eating meat and milk together, but it was really hard to eat kosher when I moved to Russia, so I sort of gave up for a while. I'll still have a cheeseburger, but usually only if I dig it out of the garbage on a fox night." She keeps her voice low, and goes quiet when Zero comes up, but only because her eyes are now the size of dinner plates. "Oh wow. This.... this smells so good."

Mei is about to reply when Zero come sin with that tray of food, and she claps her hands together and gives them a rub in eager excitement instead. "Damn, it's nice getting the royal treatment around here for a night," she says with a grin at the other Hongkonger. "I should do favors for you more often."

Zero laughs at what Mei's words but replies to Fox first, as he's putting things out on the table between them. "It is good, Foxy," he says, in a way that's more like an old friend being familiar than like he's teasing her at all. "You all enjoy, and I'll have some more coming along soon. You can always make up a doggy bag with whatever you don't eat, but I expect you all not to finish everything." He flashes a grin back at Mei. "Yeah, well, it's not all the time I can be sure this room is free, so don't get too used to it."

"It is absolutely fabulous to be spoiled, and I am delighted to have you to thank," offers Fox to Mei with a sidelong glance and sly smile. "It's nice to have someone else's favor repaid in my... favor?" She ends that on a question when she realizes she can't think of a better word than just repeating the word 'favor' again. "To my benefit, perhaps." And then a nod as she verbally revises her clunky sentence. "Yes, that's it." Okay, Fox.

Zero's response gets him a lips-closed smile: she starts to grin, but then stops herself. It's so awkward being around Sleepers, it really is. And it's only going to get worse. "Oh, trust, I will not let any of this food go to waste. I love new food and I love... food... so... " Fox expends so much energy every day that Mei already knows she basically eats constantly and never gains weight. "If we got used to it, maybe we'd value it less!"

Zero doesn't seem to notice that Fox is trying to hide anything, he just continues to be the friendly host. "I can point you at a few other restaurants around here that have other things you might not have had. There's a lot of variety in Chinese cuisine. Eight Great Traditions, and all that."

Mei laughs as Zero starts trying to point Fox at other restaurants nearby. "Thanks, Zero. I'm pretty sure that you're not supposed to try to convince your customers to eat somewhere else, are you? You might have to fire yourself." She turns back to Fox, picks up chopsticks from the table, and offers Fox a pair. "You don't need a fork, do you?" she asks, with a sudden squinty look, like if Fox can't use chopsticks she might have to rethink this whole date.

"I will happily admit I don't know what that means, but I can guess in context and utilize Google later," laughs Fox. "I love learning new things." This comes as close to a statement of purpose for Fox's whole life as one might easily find. "Your suggestions for other meals I might like to try are happily accepted." She follows with her squinty-eyed ^W^ face of extreme delight.

A snicker at Mei's teasing of Zero, but then Mei is squinting at her, and Fox sticks out her tongue. "As long as I have hands, I can use chopsticks, sheesh. I'm not a total animal." Har har har.

"Alright, alright. I believe you," Mei replies with a laugh. She picks up a pair of chopsticks of her own and starts taking a little bit of various things and putting them on her plate. "One of the things I love about Hong Kong cuisine, and Cantonese cuisine generally, is how great it is for sharing. A lot of things are served like this," she gestures around with her left hand, where everything is pretty much bite sized.

Zero offers the two a small bow and makes his exit, only offering, "let me know if you need anything else."

"Thank you, Zero!" Fox chirrups happily, swinging her feet underneath her chair, for truly, Fox is tiny.

She looks for the chicken feet first, and that shouldn't surprise anyone, really. After that, she parcels up little bites of each thing onto her plate, carefully stuffing small examples of each dish onto her plate. "So," she offers as she does this, "I did want to talk to you about something kinda serious, like, right up front. Not... bad. Just serious?"

Mei watches Fox with curiosity, enjoying the fact that she gets to help Fox experience new things. Meanwhile, she slowly takes bites of food, not in any hurry to finish eating and get out of here. Her mouth is full when Fox says there's something serious to talk about, so her brows go up a little in curiosity, but once she has finished chewing she asks, "what's on your mind?"

She absently pokes at her plate for a minute, and then begins by asking, "Have you met Weaver?" This gets followed by a bite of refried chicken foot, which makes her eyes go wide with delight.

"A few times, often with you," Mei confirms with a smile. "Weaver's pretty delightful. But I've never been scared of spiders, and I don't find body horror all that horrible, so I guess I'm not necessarily of the same mind as everyone else on that. Why do you ask?" She picks up a slice of the goose and takes a bite.

"I couldn't remember, so I thought I'd make sure before I launched into The Thing," Fox explains, shifting in her seat. She eats another bite of something, and it's apparently spicy, because she exclaims, "Oooh, hothothot!" But this, apparently, delights her, as she shivers in place, enjoying the capsacin attack on her mouth. "So... that's actually the thing. Because this?" she gestures toward her face, tapping the side of her mouth and then slightly pulling down on her lower eyelid, "Is going to get ... more... not less. I could make it be less, but that would require me to stop... being me. No being a fox for a while, no... talking to animals... no... " and her voice trails off. "No fast healing," she completes, eventually. "Though I don't know if there's even a way to turn that off. The point is... if that's going to make you want to not smooch, that's fine, but we should talk about that now."

"Oh!" Mei laughs. "Yeah, I think I knew that already," she continues like it's nothing, really. It might be important, but it's not a factor in her decision making process. "I mean, all of us continue to change with time, right? We get older. Our personalities change, we want new things. I didn't expect you to remain exactly who you are now forever, and I don't really see that as being any different. In fact, I like the things that make you different. Unique. Special. Beautiful."

Relief washes through Fox palpably, and she lets out a long, puffed-cheeks sigh. "Well, you may have known about it, but now we've talked about it, you know? Vasha and Zoya have known me for a decade, and Leta has been in my brain, and I talked about it with Lux -- I just started dating Lux, by the way, which has been delightful so far -- so... I just ... want people to not be surprised. The eyeshine is only about a year old, and I have no idea what might happen next."

"All of what you say is true, but it's really nice to hear you say it." And then she gets to the end, and Fox blushes brightly, ducking her head forward; normally this would hide her face behind her hair like tucking her tail over her nose, but she braided her hair tonight! Oh no!

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt to bring it up! I can understand you wanting to be sure, rather than finding out later that someone had entirely different ideas," Mei agrees in between bites of her food. "You're dating Lux, though? Huh. Gotta say I'm just a little bit jealous. Not of Lux, for getting to date you too, but for you, getting to date Lux." She laughs. "Not that I ever really made a move, or planned to. But damn, Lux is both hot and was really good to me when they didn't know me and didn't have a reason. That kinda thing is pretty attractive." She laughs. "Which is to say, I suppose, that I can't blame you, and I definitely don't have a problem with it."

Mei leans across the table, reaches out, and boops Fox on that unprotected nose. "You're cute when you blush. I love that you still blush about compliments, even as confident and wonderfully you as you are."

"You should be jealous!" Fox moves along with that. "Or ask Lux out yourself. They are a delightful ... delight." She takes another spicy bite and wriggles in her seat with delight at the continued capsacin attack. "This is all true. Lux is a very good individual. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say 'person' or not." She makes this face pretty much exactly:

"Anyway, they're good, and yeah. It took us nearly a year for smooching." Big shrug. Sometimes slow burns happen. At least it wasn't eleven years.

(That was Zoya.)

"Oh no, I have got a boop!" And there's that raucuous, unfiltered laughter of hers. "I am definitely... me. I excel at that!"

"I honestly hadn't been thinking about dating since I realized what was really going on in the world." When she Awakened, she means. Mei pops a bite into her mouth and chews quickly, so she can continue shortly. "I've been so busy with my studies, and court cases, and getting my career going again. And I had a crush on someone else at the time that I was last even thinking about Lux. I don't think I've seen them since then." She tilts her head. "Why wouldn't they be a person, though? And why did it take so long for you and Zoya to get your heads out of your asses, anyway?"(edited)

She smiles lopsidedly at all that. "Honestly, not dating right after big life changes is probably one of the smartest things you could do. I mean, yes, maintain existing relationships is good, but." Big shrug! Fox continues to nosh while talking, exclaiming softly over the different flavors, and generally just enjoying the absolute fuck out of all of these New Experiences. "Who did you have a crush on?" queries Fox, swinging one of her feet absently.

"I just don't know if that's right or not. I don't know if they wholly consider themselves people. I never thought to ask." A vaguer, smaller shrug.

"Oh... I just... thought... Zoya was like... completely out of my league. It just never crossed my mind that she might be interested in me. The minute I found out she was, it was like .... woah." And like the mockingbird she sometimes is, that's a near-perfect imitation of Keanu's Matrix 'woah.'

"My ex, Jane," Mei answers with a shrug. "It stopped being just a crush shortly after that, if I'm keeping my timeline straight. Jane and I split up, amicably, not too long before those major life changes. That might have ended up being for the best in a lot of way?" She winces. "They knew about my abilities before that, and we linked our minds up more than once. If I suddenly couldn't do that any more, it would be odd. And I'm honestly really glad that I wasn't trying to sort out my own head with the transition I went through while dating someone who didn't remember it."

She laughs, then. A little teasingly, definitely amused. "You thought Zoya was out of your league? Yeah, I'm pretty sure she never thought that at all."

A big wince, and Fox doesn't beat that dead horse, but just says, "Wow. Yeah, that sounds -- really, really like it was probably for the best, though I'm sure the whole process didn't feel like it at the time."

"Okay but have you SEEN Zoya??" Fox splutters, reaching for his water. "I mean. Like. She's like... unspeakably gorgeous. And so smart. And rich? And like... her Instagram feed is full of people just falling all over themselves to get her to pay attention to them, like this weird parasocial thing but like... ugh, like the whole world wants Zoya's attention. Which is a pretty genius way to hide in plain sight. Be like... the visible one of the group of ambush predators. Again, filed under 'she's so smart.'" Fox sticks her tongue out. "This is why I am not afraid of asking anybody out anymore," she mumbles, blushing again. "If Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya thinks I'm cute, anyone who doesn't just doesn't know what they're missing."

"It was a serious bummer at the time, but it was amicable," Mei notes again, with a little shrug. "And it ended up being for the best, I suppose. I can't really know for sure, especially since that's not where my talents lie. I just hope they're doing well. I haven't heard from them in a while."

She laughs. "Believe it or not, I have seen Zoya. Every once in a while our paths to cross in that absurd penthouse of hers, and I lay eyes on her. She's definitely a good looking woman, and way more talented when it comes to tech stuff than I'll ever be. I think one of the most remarkable things about her is how even when the whole world wants her attention, she can manage to make you feel like you're the most important person in the world when she's talking to you. It's like a big part of her whole shtik, and it usually feels fake when people do it, but not her. I can definitely see having a crush, and feeling like she's unobtainable." She smiles. "But I'm pretty sure it was never quite the same for you."

"I don't think I've ever met Jane," frowns Fox thoughtfully. "I'm sure they were delightful to be around." A vague shrug. "If they weren't, you wouldn't have dated them!"

She scrunches up her face. "Yes, that's exactly what she's like. And I've been like... ridiculously in love with her for ages and ages." Art imitates life, and all that. "But I thought like... just no way. And more than anything, I didn't want to ruin our friendship or our ability to relate to each other within our various spheres, you know?" Which is to say: in the cadre.