Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 117

Chapter 117 - Day’s End

Wandering around the studio grounds for a day had been surprisingly fun. Though Eventus rather suspected Xiaoyi was regretting her shoe choice given the near silent groan of relief she had given when they had finally sat down at the lake pavilion for dinner.

Smiling apologetically at her for his part in that, he held up his hands and wiggled his fingers playfully. “You know, I give absolutely magical massages?”

Xiaoyi began to giggle only to catch herself. “You really need to work on your lines. Because I'm pretty sure that one has been around longer than you have.”

“I can't really argue with that.” Eventus confessed, since it absolutely was. “Though I feel the need to point out that when I say my massages are magical I mean that literally.” He held up his hands again. “Healing hands, can relieve bruising, chafing, muscle aches, even leave you feeling ten years younger if I really go for it.”

That last would wipe him out nearly as much as bringing someone back from the dead, but he could absolutely pull it off.

For a moment Xiaoyi said nothing, seeming to just study his face before finally shaking her head and letting out a sharp breath. “You know, you are absolutely unfair to every other man on this planet.”

“I'll take that as a compliment.” Eventus said as the corner of his lips twitched in amusement. “Though I'm sorry to say, by my people's standards I wasn't particularly impressive.”

Nobody who joined the maintenance corps really had been, unless you counted their unusual drive to throw themselves into danger trying to make the universe a safer place.

“Now I want to know what kind of standards your people actually had.” Xiaoyi muttered under her breath.

He was saved from having to answer that by a trio of servers approaching their table whose arms were laden with plates, tea, and a pair of very fancy looking ceramic bottles that the Lantean suspected contained some type of alcohol. 

Eventus eyed the bottle in interest as Xiaoyi poured herself a cup of clear liquid. “What is it?”

“Mijiu.” She answered, taking a sip before giving the bottle an appreciative look. “It's a type of rice wine, and this tastes like a moderately high end bottle.”

“Would you be surprised to learn that my people engineered the precursor to rice?” Eventus inquired idly as he reached over to pour himself a cup. “Also potatoes.”

Taking a sip of the drink he considered the taste for a few seconds before giving an appreciative hum. “They were part of a handful of different agriculture plants we liked to seed on worlds to provide the growing populations with sufficient access to food.”

“I would have guessed Bamboo.” Xiaoyi mused. 

All things considered, Eventus supposed that was an understandable guess given the speed the plant grew and the sheer breadth of uses he knew the humans had for its materials. 

“It’s too generally useful to be one of ours.” He admitted apologetically. “While technologically speaking we could have bioengineered a do everything plant like that. The design never would have gotten through all the regulations around such things because it would have made life too easy for whichever civilization was set to develop on the planet we introduced it on.”

And history had shown them that if you made life too easy for an early civilization they wouldn’t progress.

“So, what am I looking at?” He inquired as he looked over the extraordinarily tasty looking dishes arrayed in front of them.

Grabbing a pair of chopsticks, Xiaoyi began pointing out each of the dishes in turn. “Wonton noodles, dim sum, twice cooked pork, and barbecued fish.”

She paused mid movement to stare at her chopsticks before a light blush of embarrassment colored her cheeks. “I forgot to ask whether you know how to use chopsticks.”

Raising a single eyebrow, Eventus grabbed his own pair and copied the way she was holding perfectly. “There are only so many ways to make eating utensils. And the populations descended from a few of our city-ships used to use similar.” 

Each of the city-ships, and the populations descended from them, had been possessed of their own somewhat distinct cultures. The three that had launched from Earth itself had been the closest, all roughly analogous to what the humans thought his people had been like. The rest however had run the gamut of various current Earth cultures. Which he assumed could be laid at the feet of existing human cultures adopting certain things from his people upon their return from the Pegasus galaxy.

They interspersed the meal with bits of small talk about the food itself, something that led to Eventus learning that Xiaoyi fully believed her skills in the kitchen didn’t extend far beyond the realm of various noodle dishes. Something he had reassured the Chinese woman still put her leagues above most of his own people’s abilities on that front.

Just as they were winding down with their meal a loud crack filled the air, drawing Eventus's attention to the now darkened sky above the lake where the fading remains of a firework was falling towards the earth.

“They're doing a skyshow.” He muttered in happy surprise. “I haven't seen one of those since…”

Twin thumps echoed out across the lake as he trailed off, and moments later two more colorful explosions lit up the night sky.

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?” Xiaoyi finished for him when he didn't continue.

Eventus choked mid breath, not having expected a joke like that from her of all people. “Really?”

Xiaoyi gave an innocent seeming shrug. “I can't let you have all the fun.” She let out a light laugh as another firework went off. “And it is one of the few references I know you'll get.”

Grabbing the latest of the five bottles of rice wine they had already gone through to pour himself another cup, he let out a sigh at the way the bottle's lack of weight detonated its very obvious empty status. 

“Out already?” Xiaoyi asked in surprise upon catching his look.

“Seems that way.” Eventus nodded, taking a considering look at the slight way Xiaoyi was wavering in her seat before deciding it was probably for the best if he didn’t chance another bottle lest she feel obligated to share it with him like she had the others. “Downside of my particular brand of phenomenal cosmic powers, it's a very fine line between slight fuzzy drunkenness and subconsciously feeling like I’ve been poisoned and my abilities acting on it to clear the alcohol out of my system.”

He considered Xiaoyi for a minute. “Want me to sober you up too?”

“I’m fine.” She shook her head. “A decade of dealing with diplomats and politicians has given me a more than respectable tolerance for alcoholic drinks.”

“All right then.” Eventus said, turning back to enjoy the fireworks with a smile.

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Author’s Notes: Xiaoyi figured she could use that extra bit of liquid courage for the late night portion of her assignment. Though sadly she’s having to proceed without Eventus himself being anything more than slightly buzzed.