Road Trip [for losthunter]

[boldygoing]

It's a beautiful spring day in Riverside, Iowa. The skies are clear and the weather is pleasantly mild, and across the endless fields that stretch out into vast distances, automated farm machinery is hard at work planting corn for the season.

There's no such machinery around the Kirk farm, though someone has bothered to zap away some of the weeds threatening to devour the foundation. The old homestead still sits disturbingly empty, all but abandoned if not for a few small signs that someone has been there recently. One of those signs sits just outside the house, leaning up against his motorbike as he waits for another rider to come join him, a set of riding goggles resting against his forehead.

The motorcycle has clearly seen better days, but it's nothing like twenty-first century bikes. There are no spokes in the wheels, for one thing - indeed, the wheels don't even seem attached by anything visible, held in place by some invisible force. It's keeping itself upright without a kickstand, as well, even though the young man in question is leaning most of his weight against it.

Comments

[boldygoing]

"Every country? That's a big deal in your time, right?" Jim has no idea how many countries exist in Hunter's time, but he does know it's more than there are now.

[losthunter]

"If you do it right, and take time to explore each country and their historical places... than yeah... it takes time."

[boldygoing]

"It might be interesting to compare maps sometime," Jim says with a small smile. "See how much has changed."

Which leads him to another train of thought, and he asks curiously, "I know a lot of stuff we have in this century is new to you, but has anything surprised you that it hasn't changed?"

[losthunter]

Hunter thinks for a moment. "The streets still seem to have the same grid-style layout. Makes it easy to find your way..."

[boldygoing]

Jim chuckles a little. "For cities like this, yeah. Some of the old historical cities are still a bit of a mess. You don't wanna drive in Boston unless you've got something cleared to fly over buildings, or you'll never get anywhere."

[losthunter]

"That is weird... you calling Boston an old historical city."

[boldygoing]

The captain shrugs. "It's one of the oldest settlements on the continent that's still inhabited. Founded in sixteen-thirty, if I remember my Continental History right." He's not entirely certain on that, given the gap in his formal education as a teen. "Because it's an important city in the Old USA's history, a lot of the original layout and buildings are still just like they were six hundred years ago. It's a pretty popular tourist spot for historians."

There's a momentary pause in the conversation as the Bajoran waitress returns with their meals. Hunter's ratamba stew is a vivid emerald green, and it smells strongly of exotic alien spices with a hint of peppery heat. The deka tea is similar to a cold chai latte, with an almost flowery aftertaste to it.

Jim takes a bite out of his hasperat, which looks a bit like a tortilla rolled with some kind of sauce and colorful vegetables, its spicy heat immediately making him break out in a sweat, and he sips at the deep purple Kava juice to cool the burn a little.

[losthunter]

Hunter doesn't mind the break in the conversation, especially since their food has now arrived. He wants to fully appreciate the new meal, after all. And he has to chuckle a little seeing Jim break out in a sweat.

"You weren't kidding about it being spicy, were you?"

[boldygoing]

"Nope." Jim grins at him, and takes another bite without flinching. It may be hot, but he's not trying to be macho or impress anybody, either. "Gotta spice things up once in a while to keep things interesting."

[losthunter]

"Why am I not surprise to hear you say something like that?" Hunter chuckles. He is enjoying the fact that his ratamba stew is just spicy enough, without having to deal with the spicy heat. Plus the flowery aftertaste of the latte is very nice.

[boldygoing]

"What can I say, I'm an adventurous guy. I'll try anything at least once."

[losthunter]

"Anything?" Hunter chuckles lightly.

[boldygoing]

"Anything not toxic to humans, sure. Doesn't mean I'll like it, but I'll try it." Jim takes a brief pause from his hasperat to tear the mapa bread roll in half, and he sets one of the halves on Hunter's side of the table. It's a sort of multigrain, full of seeds and other healthy-looking stuff. "Mapa's good for dipping in stew, especially when you get down towards the bottom."

[losthunter]

"Thanks..." Hunter flashes him a bright smile. He takes the mapa bread to do as Jim suggested, starting to dip it into the stew.

[boldygoing]

Jim eats the other half plain, letting the nuttiness temper the lingering heat from the hasperat. He doesn't leave a crumb of either one, and leans back slightly in his chair to sip at his kava juice. "You gonna have room for dessert?"

[losthunter]

"I always save room for dessert." Hunter wiggles his eyebrows slightly. "Always."

[boldygoing]

Jim smiles back at him, and playfully taps the toe of his boot against Hunter's. It's not exactly easy playing footsie in motorcycle boots, but it's the thought that counts. "Awesome. I read good things about the tuwaly pie here. It's kinda like coconut cream."

[losthunter]

"Sounds perfect. Should we each order a slice?"

[boldygoing]

"Sounds good to me," Jim agrees. He's in no rush to finish up and go, enjoying taking the time to appreciate the beautiful weather and the excellent company. It's nice to finally be out of that house for a while, and away from the nagging about his health, no matter how well-intentioned. "Once we're done here, is there anywhere you wanna go?" They passed an awful lot of businesses on their way through town, but if Hunter would rather just hit the road and drive through endless green hills and cornfields, Jim is all right with that too.

[losthunter]

"Maybe their is a craft store, that we could visit?" Hunter enjoys finding new materials for his artistic creations.

[boldygoing]

Jim laughs a little. "Gonna load up on supplies? We can do that."

[losthunter]

"Well, I figure that I would definitely find something new here."

[boldygoing]

"Probably," Jim agrees. "Though if you're after metals, we might want to hit up a hardware repair shop too. You can get all sorts of wire and stuff like that."

[losthunter]

"That would be amazing. I have started exploring with metal art."

[boldygoing]

"Because of the trees?" Jim asks, smiling a little. He knows that Hunter has done jewelry before, obviously, but 'metal art' sounds a lot more specific than wearable items. And he's seen a little bit of the artist's work with the gold wire Jim used as payment for the bracelet.