"Feel better now?" Aldrec asked as he watched Mericlou finish her cider.
"Oh yes, very much so!" Mericlou heaved a contented sigh and put down the now-empty glass. It was noticeably smaller than Aldrec's, due to androids' smaller food requirements. It surprised her that the elf had not known of this; in fact his ignorance of it a moment ago had almost led to a volatile situation when the waiter had given the smaller glass to her. She managed to quickly explain the meager needs of her fusion cells to Aldrec, and then watched as he turned an amusing shade of crimson and quickly apologized.
"You know," Mericlou said, daintily fingering the edge of the crystal glass, "I think that as good as this stuff is for the power cells; it must be just as good for the heart!"
"I can't argue with you there," Aldrec said. As much as he knew about this world, his knowledge concerning androids was admittedly sparse; the embarrassing near-altercation with the waiter was proof enough of this. In light of the tremendous age of the world, they were newcomers to the stage of history, only recently recognized as a race in their own right. And since Lusea housed fewer androids than in any of the Republic's larger cities, like Nibra, or Sakar, he never had any real reason to discover more about them, although he had intended to. He had never guessed that they could wax philosophical, like Mericlou had just done in her own small way. And now, sitting here, listening to this among many of her conversational nuances, he found her very surprising, and as charming as she was beautiful.
"I told you that it'd help your bad day go away." Aldrec took a big draft from his own glass, halfway emptying it. The pain was finally gone, and he was at last able to enjoy the scenery: the marble pavilions dotting the shores of the river, the walkways lined with rows of trees and hedges in full multicolored bloom, the large meadow on the opposite shore in the distance, and a pretty face just across from him.
"Aldrec?"
"Hmm?" He replied absently.
"Why didn't you answer me?"
"Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly, realizing that he had just been daydreaming. "I was in my own little world for a moment."
"Well, I need a break from this world myself," Mericlou quipped. She flashed him a wry smile. "Can you take me to yours?" She let out a small, playful giggle, the odd resonance of her artificial voice turning the sound almost musical.