Island in the Sun (closed to Ray)

[Rayleigh]

"We have time," she countered, flashing the man a dazzling smile. "You should tell me more."

Vincent cocked his head. "About Tex-Mex?"

Snorting a laugh, she replied, "I meant Earth. But I guess that covers Tex-Mex as well." Rayleigh planted her elbows atop the table, and balanced her chin on her hands, gazing back at the boy with a sort of childish wonder. "Story time."

The boy stared back at her for a moment, his big eyes the color of the cloudless sky. Then, raking long fingers through his blonde hair, Vincent spoke. "Why do you always want to know about Earth?"

The surprise cooled some of the wonder from Ray's expression. She did not frown, but a shallow line creased across her freckled forehead as her brows knit together. "What do you mean?"

"I dunno." He regretted saying anything at all. "You're just always asking. I don't mind it, but I also don't get it. It's just Earth."

"And this is just Althanas." She used one hand to motion to their surroundings. Her voice was bereft of venom, as the day was too nice for such things. It was confusion, more than anything else, that plagued her. "We have dragons, and demons, and everything else you mentioned. But you could travel across across Earth in a day? That's incredible. That's magic."

He opened his mouth to argue, then thought better of it. There was no magic on Earth, but to someone fascinated by technology already hundreds of years old in America, perhaps that was close enough. Just as he thought that he could use some alcohol, a waiter appeared with their drinks.

"Ale," he announced, plopping the drink before Vincent. "And for the lady, the lemon lime and mango passion power mojito." With a flourish, the tanned waiter slid the frosty glass toward Rayleigh. It was a vibrant pink color, and a fruit skewer floated among the sugar-coated ice cubes. A paper umbrella the colors of the morning sky finished off the ensemble.

Only after the man had walked away did Vincent narrow his eyes across the table. "Don't say anything," he hissed, reaching over and pulling his drink closer.

Rayleigh bit down hard on the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, retrieving her own glass. "I won't," she assured him, though her green eyes danced with it. And when Vince pulled a small, plastic sword from a strawberry, and waggled it at her, she lost the battle. Her rich laugh mingled with the trumpets and guitars.

"Well," the brunette began when her giggling finally tapered off. "If you won't tell me abut Earth, will you at least tell me more about this mission?"

[Cards of Fate]

It suddenly dawned on Vincent that he was playing a dangerous game. There was a fine line being walked at this moment, any misstep could spell potential disaster, setting Rayleigh off in a foul mood and spoiling the whole trip. He felt torn, after all he also was a horrendously sloppy eater, but the two “needed” to keep a low profile. He had to play his part perfectly in order for Ray not to suspect a thing, but he also needed to stray on the side of caution not to over play his hand and make her mad. In short, he was stuck in the same dilemma every man found themselves when courting a woman.

‘I’m not courting her.’ He thought to himself. ‘I’m just trying to help her unwind…she deserves it after all of her hard work.’ Looking up after a moment of silence, he simply shot his companion a toothy grin and rested his chin on his upturned palms.

“Really Sweetheart? Thanks!” He fluttered his eyes in mock fashion and feigned swooning slightly. “You sure do know how to flatter a man.” He continued gracefully forking a bite of food into his mouth. He chewed quickly before swallowing and smacked his lips slightly…

“Needs a bit of cilantro.” He mused shaking his head.

“Cillantro?” Ray asked looking up from her plate, now a victim of at least two hundred stab wounds made by an absent hand. “What’s that?”

“It’s an herb from earth. Vince replied looking up. “Do they not have it here on Althanas?”

“As far as I know you can only really get your hands on what’s local Vince. Alerar doesn’t have it, that much I know…” her green eyes left his gaze as she forked a bit of meat into her mouth. “Did this herb grow locally…you know in…” she paused for a moment and then grinned. “Doolas right? That’s where you’re from. Doolas Tecas?”

“Dallas.” Vincent replied grinning. “Dallas, Texas. A lot closer than anyone else can seem to remember.”

“Yeah, and it’s a state or something? You explained something about some sort of unification, I pay attention.” Ray replied, suddenly reinterested now that she had gotten him back to talking about the magical word he was from. “So did this Sea Lantro grow near your home?”

“I don’t think it was native.” Vince furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin. “I think it was native to a certain part of Europe…”

“Where’s Europe? You’ve never mentioned it before.” Ray asked, her eyes lighting up.

“It was another continent, across the ocean from us.” Vince replied after taking a sip of his drink. “Geographically speaking it would be as far away as Dheathain give or take.”

“And you regularly consumed it?” Rayleigh asked shocked. “How? Spices are incredibly expensive, were you also rich on earth?”

“That’s a long story.” Vince replied shaking his head. “Why don’t we get to the hotel and I’ll tell you more?” Ray looked down at her butchered plate and tutted slightly.

“Sure, but you owe me Catos. Preferably one’s I don’t have to eat with a fork.”

“That’s fair enough.”

…
“So…” Ray mused staring at the ceiling, her shoes long discarded at the foot of the bed. “You’re telling me that the engine takes in fuel and air, compresses it, and then combusts it in almost one fluid motion?”

“Yup.” Vincent responded, laying on his back on a plush couch some several feet away from the bed. The room was rather spacious, filled with lush carpeting, plush furniture, and just about any possible amenity one could imagine.

“Then the spark plug ignites the fuel, causing a small explosion forcing the piston down…” The concept wasn’t particularly new, but this type of piston system was something she hadn’t really ever heard of before. “In the down position it vents the residual gas and then begins intake again.”

“Mhmmm.” Vincent grunted, his eyes closed.

“And you’re telling me that your…cars…can have upwards of eight of these pistons…and they do this cycle almost a hundred times in a minute…”

“Correct.” Vincent let out a small yawn. They’d arrived at their hotel room hours ago, and Ray hadn’t relented on the Earth talk. She dug in for every scrap of detail she could. What was Europe? How many countries did it have? How many continents did earth have? Why did no one live on Antartica? Why do you keep referring to Australia as the land down under…

The list went on and on.

However, as Vince went on to describe the worlds geography, all made perfectly clear by his recently unlocked Eidetic memory, Ray began to veer to more detailed topics. How did they travel the world so quickly? What was a “plane?” How did non balloon based flight work? The whole notion that machines could make a world so big seem so small appealed to her. The idea that one day someone could hop in a machine from Raiaera and arrive on Keberias in less than a month fascinated her. The fact that oneday people would be able to do so in a matter of hours via flight only added to that rush.

“So tell me about Berny again.”

“Bernoulli?” Vince asked as he stretched.

“Yeah, the one with the foil?”

“Airofoil, yeah.” Vincent replied. “What about him.”

“How does it work? How does it create lift?”

“I’m not one hundred percent sure.” Vince replied yawning. “Something about forcing the air back down at the back of the foil creates an equal and opposite reaction on the foil, causing lift. We’re not too sure on the specifics back at home.”

“You keep mentioning that.” Ray mused, yawning as well. “What does that meant.” Vince let out a small chuckle and sat up, eyeing the moon through the window.

“That’s a whole ‘nother can of worms Ray, and if we keep this up it’ll be dawn before we know it.” He let out another chuckle. “Tell ya what though. Let’s get some sleep, and tomorrow we’re going to go to the beach. We’re going to catch some sun, swim a little bit, and try to isolate another one of those statues and see if we can’t get a closer look at it. Every night we can do another round of Earth Q and A. You can ask whatever you want, about anything.”

“Anything?” Ray asked perking up.

“Anything.” Vince promised. “I’ll try to tell you about languages, culture, history, anything that I’ve got locked up in this noggin of mine about earth.”


“Deal.”