Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Fiction - Mission 3: Getting back to Basics [Yep, Mature... again]

[The Traveler]

Her eyes widened... "Can we get two pizzas? one for each of us? And I'll take some shrimp tempura on the side. Ohhh... this is heaven!"

[Hotstreak]

When she returned Daniel placed the order for them and smiled, the poor girl nearly fainted from staring at him while he did so, but recovered and went to put it in. a good number of the patrons were casting looks their way, it was obvious they were metahumans, and this restaurant was clearly not used to having them within its walls.

"I'd say we're already becoming minor celebrities, Yomiko."

[The Traveler]

Yomiko smiled. "Should have seen it when my Mother visited here for a couple months."

Some of the more perceptive folk in the restaurant put The Professor and Yomiko as Mother and Daughter and the whispering began.

Yomiko didn't mind. Food. Now. Is what was processing.

"Then again, with the number of Mutants and Psychics on this planet you'd think people like us wouldn't be so unusual."

Some that remember the news reports of the universe hopper and her rag-tag family knew Yomiko and Daniel were, for all intent and purpose, aliens.

The taste of shrimp tempura took some of the bass out of her voice, though. "Mmm... they improved the recipe."

[Hotstreak]

he smiled as the food was brought, and nodded, beginning to eat happily. "Perhaps. I got used to this back home, so it's nothing new, it's just nice that they're looking at you too, like I am." He nudged her foot with his playfully.

"So after we finish here, where are we going?"

[The Traveler]

"Well, that one... is up to you... I have been sorta tugging you at the nose." She said, enjoying another slice.

She strokes her chin. "The day is still young."

[Hotstreak]

He looked at her and shrugged. "Technically I picked the aquarium, it's your turn now."

[The Traveler]

Yomiko smiled, taking a sip of the soda she ordered. "Actually, I was thinking of taking a visit to Akihabara."

"I don't know why, but right now I am feeling a bit like indulging my inner child a little. I... it's no question that I didn't have a typical childhood. And, I sorta want to indulge my inner geek. There's still some tech stores in the area too, might see if I can get some parts to rebuild Mom's screwdriver... although I might need Rebecca's help to get it fixed. I'm not the technical type. I had Three to help me in that department with the service drones before Rebecca signed on as Chief Engineer, and Tetsuko became a go-fer for all of us."

She smiled leaning foreward. "Come on... you have to have some sort of nerdy obsession."

He did mention Full Metal Alchemist...

[Hotstreak]

"We have limited money right now, so keep that in mind while you window shop."

He smiled. "Once we fix that, well the sky's the limit." he kissed her playfully. "Still it will be fun to go, as I've never been before." He gestured for her to lead the way.

[The Traveler]

Yomko leaned foreward, pulling out her tablet to check their budget. Thing is she had a suprise. "Remember when I told you that I and Mom visited here earlier?"

She smiled. "We... earned a few rewards."

She showed the bank account she had access to. It was quadruple what they started with on their cards.

"My mom thought if we ever came back, and she saw how I was enamored of this place, that we'd need a budget. I just simply forgot about our account until now. We can use this, and keep the cards as an emergency measure."

She smiled. "Aren't you glad when I remember things?"

"And you never answered my question... what do you nerd out for?" She says with a wink. "No wiggling out of the question." She said with a grin.

[Hotstreak]

"Yes, definitely." he looked at her and chuckled. "I always loved giant robot video games and Anime. So me coming here, well, sorta like a muslim going to mecca." he nodded.

"I'll see if there's anything that piques my fancy more than the company." He gave her arm a squeeze. "So are we going to fly there?"

[The Traveler]

Yomiko smiled. "Sure... you can handle it. I'd do it but I don't want to litter our landing point or cause too many people to stare... Paper Airplanes are a novel flight method."

She makes a parachute backpack out of paper in her coat pockets and some napkins. "And if there is trouble, go limp and I'll bring us down safe. Don't mind me riding on your back?"

[Hotstreak]

He smiled, grabbed her, and then took to the skies, flying and following her directions to Akihabara. He set down on the main drag, and he smiled. "lead on."

[The Traveler]

Yomiko loved having someone else do the flying. Although on landing people seeing someone fly in for a landing in the middle of what is the place for Japanese popular culture...

The number of clicks of people taking pictures with smart phones was like being in a field infested with crickets.

"Well... I guess we made a stir. Not a bad thing, I guess for us."

She smiled and waved to a couple schoolkids that took pictures and that only lead... to more photos. "Seesh..." she whispered... "You'd think kids would be in school... summer break isn't for a couple more days."

Those words caused the younger folk to scatter. Schools in Tokyo were notorious for hiring flight capable superhumans to catch students playing hookie from school, take pictures, then report back to their parents and school. Bit draconian but it worked. Reduced truancy 85%.

[Hotstreak]

He looked at her and chuckled. "You would think yes." He didn't mind, in the end he knew these pictures would help him get a job in the long run.

He nodded "There a shop you want to hit up first?"

[The Traveler]

Yomiko smiled. "Well, there is this one shop I wanted to check out more thoroughly... there was different stores at the time that had everything from models to costumes, the whole shebang. This shop specialized in custom orders for superhumans and their clothing needs. Kevlar... synthetic fabrics..."

"Was going to get something to wear under what I wear. Bullets hurt... alot."

"That and if there is anything that grabs your interest, let me..."

She notices that the building she wanted to go to was completely gone. Well, except for a wrecked skeleton still stickign up like a clawed hand.

"What in God's name happened here?"

"There was a brawl between the JMDF and a couple terrorists here. Lost a couple good men and women in the process, as well as 1000 civilians."

Akira was back. He noticed Daniel and Yomiko were headed over so he decided to fill them in. "Happened about 6 months ago."

[Hotstreak]

"Some things don't change, even when they should." He sighed. "Do you happen to know if the buisnesses reopened elsewhere?"

It may seem callous, but he wasn't up for another pitch to help the baselines if they were still this stupid in the face of so many metahumans.

[The Traveler]

"Not in the offhand that I know... alot of the casualties were shopkeepers when the terrorists decided to unload with thier powers against the JMDF team that was trying to safely contain them."

Yomiko sighed. "Unreal..."

She sits at a bench near the site. "Who was the terrorist group?"

"They're defunct now, a group of criminals that called themselves the 5 Dragons of Ryukyu. Two of them died here, the other three were eventually captured or killed."

"I heard of them... my Mother had a tangle with them on her last visit."

Akira grunted. "I know..."

As he walked away, he smiled as he turned to Yomiko. "If it gives any comfort... I took down one of them. I did owe your mother that."

Yomiko just looked at the ground, thinking of her next move... this was a buzzkill.

[Hotstreak]

"Well, there's bound to be other shops. Finding new things we've not seen, that's what exploration's about isn't it, "The Traveler?" He teased lightly pulling her along from there, moving down the street, past other shops now, seeing if anything jumped out at him.

[The Traveler]

"H..Hey!" Yomiko said... being pulled up by Daniel was a bit of a shock.

Was she losing her sense of adventure that stated her off in the first place?

[The Traveler]

One Month Later...

Yomiko had been enjoying her time in this world. Being a detective was rough work at first but she eased into it. While the cases so far haven't been ones that would make her famous or be cases that would be a big deal in the press, she did her part. Then again, they probably were just seeing if she was worth being kept on as a consulting detective.

Daniel had gotten snagged by a modeling firm for a fashion designer in the Roppongi district, and she had been getting alot of attention hiring the off-world hunk of a man that was Daniel. Everything she made, caused a stir when it was displayed on Daniel's body.

After a month's time from their initial arrival, The two finally had some time to meet back up.

Yomiko used the money saved by her Mother to rent a residence in a office building in Jinbocho. She also rented out the top floor that had a shack that had never been used for it's original purpose as storage to use as her bedroom. The lower office floor she used as her lifing room and kitchen, while the first floor she rented to be her office. Yomiko in fact started taking on cases outside of her police work, and has started to make a name for herself as Sherlock Holmes' contemporary. It shocked her more when she discovered in this universe that Sherlock Holmes was an actual person. This... just made her step up her game more.

She kept the middle floor of the office building open for Daniel... perhaps she might just move her bedroom there and they could share... the two had been horribly busy, but perhaps now...

She calls Daniel, smiling. "Moring Daniel! I was thinking today we can figure out how to move you in here... you;ve been so busy that I hadn't gotten things set up for you. Mr. Sumerigawa has been generous on the rent here... he'd been having a hard time getting anyone to rent from his building until I showed up. There is a decent sized floor we can use for a joint bedroom, if you want. I already got the floor rented out. I'm sure you know the place. Just teleport to my office. Just wrapping up a case, here." She says, cheerfully, leaving a message he's sure to answer by appearing.

[Hotstreak]

Daniel nodded even as he answered her, appearing out of a warp gate. "Yes, it would be about time for that."

"As for how, well I really don't have alot. Between you and I we can move it all in an hour through the gates. Any big furniture we can buy. I've been in a hotel the whole time, so none of that is mine." He had made considerable money from the contracts he'd negotiated, and smiled. "I'm actually off the next three days, So now is the Perfect time to Put things back the way they're supposed to be."

He moved beside her to embrace her and kiss her cheek. "And Celebrate."

[The Traveler]

"Not a problem. We can take care of that, then..."

Over the next hour or so, Yomiko and Daniel started organizing the mid-level of the building, getting the bedroom all set. "I'm still thinking what I'll do with the roof shack I remodeled into an actual bedroom of my own... now that we'll be living here, we'll need to think of what we could to with the roof. I could turn it into a dining area for the nice-weather days which are... most of the year."

She smiled. "And see what I can do with converting the room at the top into a kitchen. Our kitchen right now is the top floor."

"What did you have in mind, for tonight?"

[Hotstreak]

He looked at her and smiled. "I don't have any plans of going out." He kissed her cheek softly. "For the next three days I'm totally yours. Whatever you want to do, Yomiko we'll do."

He stroked her back as they got finished organizing they're new bedroom having gotten his things together and brought over. "I need to unpack, but other than that, we can eat in, want a movie or some TV, and then of course, share a bed for the first time in awhile."

[The Traveler]

"I think eating in would be a wonderful idea tonight. I've done most of the usual places to death."

She smiled. "I'll order, my treat... what would you like? I know of a Pizza place and a noodle shop that will deliver. Both really love my business, particularly after a long case or even during one."

[Hotstreak]

"Pizza sounds nice."

He gave her one of his hear melting smiles. "I'm here with you that's what matters really."

"Are you on a case, or are you off too?"

[The Traveler]

Yomiko turns off her smart phone and other things, including her comlink. "Well, since I parked the Hikari Maru upstairs everything is... open. I can take a few days off easily. There's no cases, no nothing."

"I'll order some pizza AND noodles... I like a full approach to my meals. Even if it seems reckless to baseline eyes."

She smiles and sends a internet order to both shops, in return they confirm a 15% discount.

"Well... that was nice..."

She smiled and sat on the bed. "Soon Tama's probably going to start getting us up-to-date on things here, Seems the JMDF has Rebecca going through Basic now. Tetsuko... she's just being herself. I let her fly over and use the Hikari Maru as her home during her downtime or just wanting to relax."

"Suprised that she feels the need to relax..."

[Hotstreak]

chuckled. "Everyone does, after a while. The discount's nice, probably due to the size of the order."

He sat next to her, reaching out to rub her shoulder. "And you, do you feel that same need?"

[The Traveler]

She smiled. "I've started to realize that relaxing is a far more enjoyable passtime than looking for some new trouble."

"I don't know how Mother did it. One minute over here with a crisis, then over there with another."

She scratched her head. "You think I'm like an android?"

She laughs and heads back to the bed. "I've forgotten how tired I get doing stuff."

[Hotstreak]

He smiled and began to massage her shoulders, without the fanfare and tricks he normally did. They still had to eat tonight after all. "I think you forget to enjoy yourself, yes. But a machine?" he smiled. "No, too soft and supple to be a cold unfeeling machine of metal."

[The Traveler]

Yomiko smiled. "I was beginning to worry I enherited my Dad's mechanical form." She said with a giggle. "I'm starting to wonder, with all that I did to this point... if I took the wrong thing from my Mother's diaries and logs."

She sighed. "Perhaps to my detriment."

"I like being here. Perhaps... perhaps I let my craving of adventure in my youth to blind me to how this life of hopping universes to save universes... I was doing wrong."

She sighed. "I like this... I think with my Mother actually having saved the continuum, that I might not need to hop from universe to universe."

"That's why I'm glad to be here with you. Making a life for ourselves, and not having some sort of disaster to interrupt."

"Finally."

[Hotstreak]

He smiled. "Finally, yes, that would definitely be for the best." He continued his massage working down her back showing great restraint. Soon enough the food was delivered. He paid and tipped well, then sat it on the table. "Get the drinks please. We can eat, and then, well we'll see what we feel like." His smile was teasing and inviting, and the room was permeated with a comfortable cozy warmth.

[The Traveler]

She went to her fridge and got some drinks, grabbing a variety of soft drinks and setting them on the table.

"I really shouldn't have said that. Could have jinxed us."

She sets the two liter drinks on the table with a few plastic glasses. "I haven't had a chance to hit IKEA for any exra furniture or things. The last couple of cases have been quite tiring."

She smiled. "But the payoff was better than any pay I could have got."

[Hotstreak]

He smiled. "Oh? Well as long as you're happy Yomiko, that's what matters. He seated her and set the food for them before sitting across from her, and settling in to eat. "I've run several contracts already, and they've been good work, you should see the results soon." hhe smiled. "Of course only you get a full show."

[The Traveler]

Yomiko quirked an eyebrow as she filled her cup. "I think I caught a few spoilers on a certain beach somewherethat will remain out of mind." She said, smiling as she takes a pizza she special-ordered, opening the box, then opening a box that had her noodles. "What do you like doing though, outside of the modeling work?"

"I've discovered I at the minimum am well liked at the local library when I volunteer to read to schoolchildren." She said, eating a slice. "That is outside of the volunteer work cleaning the nearby Sumida river."

"I've noticed I tend to get bored easily... particularly at night..."

[Hotstreak]

"I didn't give them that much, just enough to make them call 4 different photographers."he smiled. "My nights have been filled with reading and the like, and one day hoping our schedules would mesh for once." He traced a finger on the back of her hand.

"I play video games, and did a couple fire safety PSA's for Tokyo Broadcasting, pro bono of course. A movie script is waiting for me to read it, came in this morning. Lots of things going on."

He looked at her and nodded. "Most importantly, i'm sitting here, eating with you."

[The Traveler]

"The thing that suprises me is that I manage to stay under the press' radar most of the time. Which I like, in particular after one night."

She looks up at the cieling, before looking back down to hold his hand. "You know I can't resist helping people... right?"

She smiled, her hands seemed warm, although compared to the heat Daniel put off she seemed to hav a warmth of her own."I should stop beating around the bush... I've been..."

She sighed. "I've been doing some "heroing" on the side. Stopped a couple shoplifters, saved a few pedistrians from being hit by a truck whose driver had a heart attack... saved him too... basic things."

"I just wanted you to know... something in the back of my head keeps telling me you should know... everything... of what I've been doing when you're not around."

She holds Daniel's hand up to her face. Her cheeks felt a little chilled. "Tonight it is all about us, though. Tokyo has enough champions in the night."

She looked at Daniel and there was a hint of fear.

[Hotstreak]

He smiled. "Then tell me "Everything." " He nodded as he continued to eat. "Tonight is a beginning, we both have several days, and even that will only start this." He rubbed her cheek softly a calming suffusing warmth coming through.

"If you don't wish to discuss "Work", what remains is the future us, and tonight."

[The Traveler]

"Oh... work isn't the issue... or hobbies... I'm just..."

She closed her eyes. "Sorry... I just feel... hesitant."

"Like I'm not sure about things anymore."

[Hotstreak]

He looked at her. "What's really bothering you, Yomiko? You can tell me anything ."

[The Traveler]

"I just feel every time we're happy, things fall apart. When we ended up on that beach, we ended up with what we ran into instead. I was enjoying that island too... now here. A place I have actually grown fond of, a place we're making our lives in, and..."

"On the Hikari Maru I could run, and run far away... now... that's not so easy to do."

"You don't want to run anymore, I can see that...It's just whenever there has been a problem I could just say "nope..." and go somewhere else."

"I... I can't run from here. I got too much invested here... I don't want this universe to be the same as the others."

She grabbed on the tablecloth, gripping it. She gritted her teeth. "I can't just... leave anymore."