So BFF-hanging-out-time didn't work out so well last time it was attempted, thanks to a surprise roommate. And so, Ferdinand and Francis have decided to try again! Just… not at A'hali's weyr. Instead, they're checking out a relatively new restaurant on Southern's food scene. It's a little hole-in-the-wall spot, and it's mostly been spreading around by word of mouth. The only sign outside is a small list of specials. Inside, it's totally a "where the cool kids hang" kind of place— dark, sleek, dimly lit. There's a bar serving brightly colored drinks with flare, and there's an easy view into the kitchen which itself is immaculate. The menu boasts a selection of raw fishy delights, from paper-thin sashimi to elaborate rolls. There's also an array of noodle dishes, which seem to be quite popular; there's people all around with huge steaming bowls at their tables full of nuclear red broth. Ferdi and Francis nabbed a quieter table towards the back, trying to get away from the din of hip-young-people-chatter. "…This place is a lot nicer than I thought it'd be. And busier."

Francis is far from hip though her outfit is almost sleek enough for her to pass, but the food sounds good and maybe even spicy? and she's a willing accessory to this outing. Seated primly in her chair the greenrider peruses the menu with a very subtle air of absentmindedness. "The noodles look good," she notes, and then glances at her friend over the top of the menu. "How's life at Hali's place?"

Ferdinand doesn't own any nice clothes at the moment soooo it kinda looks like Francis took pitty on a street urchin and brought him to dinner. "The noodles are the whole reason I wanted to come here," he replies with perhaps the most enthusiasm his voice has ever had. The menu even has little red dots to indicate the heat levels of the dishes, ranging from one to five. "It's… okay, I guess. The new guy just cleans a lot. We don't talk to him, he doesn't talk to us. I'm not even there most of the time anymore. I just go there to sleep. I think it's about the same for A'hali and Sorvani. Still, feels weird knowing he's out there on the couch."

It really does, but Francis doesn't seem to notice or care about their sartorial differences. Her eyebrows tick up a little at Ferdinand's enthuasiam for the noodles, then further and with far less patient amusement as he describes his living situation and the new guy. "Sorvani was afraid of him." She settles the menu by her hand and reaches for the tiny, delicate cup of tea that has been left unobtrusively for her. "I truly thought Hali had more sense than that."

"Nope," in regards to Hali's levels of sense. Sorry, A'hali! "I'm not sure if she's exactly /afraid/ of him anymore. She knows him and she doesn't trust him or like him. But I think he gets that he's outnumbered." Ferdinand sets his own menu aside and takes up his cup of tea. There's a curious sniff, then a sip followed by a pleasantly surprised blink. "I've hidden a knife under my mattress, just in case…" That last part trails off into a whisper as the waiter approaches. Ferdi orders, of course, the hottest damn bowl of noodles on the menu.

Francis' nostrils flare a little, for that ongoing lack of sense, and she murmurs, "He'd better," on the topic of Drex's understanding of his outnumberedness. "That must be fun. Sleeping with a knife because you don't trust the man right outside the door. Is it a good knife? I have a couple that Juice got me if you want to borrow a really solid one." For her part, Francis goes with the four-dot noodles and an order of vegetables fried in a light batter.

"It's oddly like home," Ferdi says with a tiny smirk. "You know there's plenty of unsavory people in Southern Barrier." He takes another sip of tea, a longer one with his eyes closed and he's actually enjoying something what the hell is happening. "I'll take you up on that offer, though. My knife's /okay/ but it wouldn't get the job done as cleanly as I'd like." Ferdinand's eyes open and focus on his dinner companion over the rim of his cup. "How's your brother?"

Fortunately she's in short sleeves or Francis would get the knives in questions out right this second. "Yes, well, back at Barrier I didn't actually have to deal with any of them." Ivory tower and all of that. Maybe no one else at Southern has seen Ferdinand enjoy something; Fran's known him long enough that it's unusual but not earth-shattering. She crinkles up the bridge of her nose. "He's…all right." They are talking about D'ean here, right? "He was in some sort of accident recently and was laid up in the infirmary for a couple of days. He'll be fine though." Fran taps the rim of her teacup idly, then asks, with some concern, "How are you?"

"That's good. I heard around that he'd landed in the infirmary, so… tell him I said hi, I guess. Feel better. That sort of thing." It doesn't take long after the tea is finished off for the cups to be collected and another round set upon the table. The staff are quiet and unobtrusive, dressed in dark colors, and all ridiculously attractive. Ferdinand sits back in his chair, eyeing the kitchen area with the usual impatience that sets in when he goes out to eat. There's the tapping of a foot, but it stops at the question. "Me? I'm… fine? I mean. I have work. And a place to sleep."

"You could tell him yourself," Francis suggests mildly as her tea is silently and efficiently refilled. Her own tendency to fidget is nothing next to Ferdi's, and a faintly wry smile touches her lips when she figures out that he's watching the kitchen like that. His answer is an answer. Not a particularly good one to her mind, so she'll launch right into, "I'm sure you'll Impress at the next hatching."

Leave it to Francis to get right down to it. Ferdi looks surprised, though he knows he shouldn't be. Then his fidgeting becomes less about the wait and more about being called out. "People keep saying that. How many times do I try before I pack up and go home?" And now, with perfect timing, the food arrives amidst this turn in their conversation. The pure heat coming off of their noodles would be enough to make most people gag, but. This is Ferdinand and Franny. They got this. Francis' vegetables look wonderfully light and crispy.

"I'm not people." Francis pops a veggie into her mouth and takes a moment to savor it, plus she can't very well talk with her mouth full now can she. "Faranth, they got the fry on that just right." Fran and Ferdi, foodies. "It's up to you. But." Another pause for another piece of tempura. "Oriecorth said you're 'barely tolerable' so I have to think that must mean something." Remembering that he probably has zero understanding of how her dragon's mind works, she adds, "That's a compliment."

It's a good thing she explained that because there was definitely some eyebrow raising there. "Oh, that's… good." Ferdinand still sounds a little unsure. He uses his noodles as a distraction, settling into the comfortable silence of enjoying food, breaking it only to announce happily, "This is /really/ hot." Because mouth-blistering, face-melting heat was just what he was craving, apparently. It doesn't seem to bother him, anyway, aside from flushed skin and slightly watery eyes. Perhaps this food-break was used as time to think, time to decide if it's a good moment for soul-baring. He'll give it a shot. "… I guess I just feel sort of useless?"

"She usually doesn't bother saying much of anything about anyone." She'll eat when Ferdi does, coloring up in a similar manner for all she just got the four-alarm fire noodles, and there's a nod of agreement at his pronouncement. "Finally they get something in here that isn't just klah and sandwiches." Francis takes a tea break to cleanse her palette and tilts her head at Ferdinand. "How so?"

Ferdinand sits back again, having pretty well demolished those poor noodles. And he's still alive to tell the tale. And drink more tea. Drinking instead of talking. This has never been an easy thing for him to do, even with Francis. But if not her, then no one. "I'm just… not doing anything. Not /really./ I took a second job mostly so I could feel busy. But I don't. And I got a letter-" He falters here, has to pause to take another sip and think. "I sent money to my mom for medicine, and she sent it back. Boris was helping for awhile, and now one of my brothers is taking care of it. They don't need my help anymore. I have no… no direction. No purpose." That last part is especially hard to drag out of his mouth.

Francis is still battling her noodle bowl and trails her friend by a significant margin, especially since she gives it up entirely at this point to focus on the conversation. She points at Ferdinand with her fork. "You and me both, always trying to take care of everybody." She mulls the issue itself over, gnawing on her lower lip a little before answering, "But they do still need you. Just not the same way as before. As for purpose…I guess you'll have to find something else. We don't always end up doing what we thought we were made to do."

"Being a rider was /supposed/ to be my new purpose. I'm still going to try, but…" Totally gonna steal one of Franny's tempura veggies. When he's finished, "This inbetween time is killing me. But hey, I can still look after you, right?" Ferdinand says it light-heartedly enough, a rare tone of voice for him. And the moment doesn't last long. He looks off to the side at some other patrons, taps his fingers a few times on the table top, and finally announces, "So, um, I met Leevi."

Francis makes a pretend-stab at Ferdinand's fingers. She totally doesn't mean it. Just go right ahead and steal those delicious veggies, she doesn't care at all. "I get that. Maybe decide to do a few more clutches and then take a break? Stick around here, see if there's something that suits you better than being a lumberjack? Unless you like that, then by all means stick with that." She leans back in her chair a little at his next words, eyebrows raised in mild surprise and then furrowing. "Really? I thought…huh."

Ferdinand is an EXCELLENT lumberjack, just fyi. He looks great in flannel. The waiters come by to carefully remove Ferdi's empty dishes and to check on Francis. Once they've moved along, Ferdi clears his throat a bit and asks, "You thought what?"

HER noodles. Do not take these. "I guess I thought you'd already met? Though I don't know when…I'm sorry, I get so busy sometimes, everything gets mixed up and I forget not everyone knows eachother already." Now Francis feels weird being the only one at the table with food, so she quickly tucks in a few more bites.

Ferdinand is totally going to /watch you eat/, Francis. Not weird at all. "You've never even mentioned him. He said you've never mentioned me to him, either." He does at least still have tea, so he'll drink that slowly. While watching Franny eat. "I think we were both assuming there was a reason."

At least she's used to that? The watching from Ferdi, from back at Barrier? She sets her fork down and her bowl is immediately whisked away whether she wants that or not. From the slight glare Francis darts after the waiter, she wasn't done yet. "It's not like we hang out a lot, Ferdi. And when we do, I'd much rather talk about things you don't disapprove of; it just makes everything easier."

"That /really/ narrows down the list of topics," he replies with a good-natured eye roll. "I kind of figured that's why you didn't say anything. Because you knew I wouldn't approve, which I don't, and that I'd worry about you and make vague threats, which I did." At least Ferdinand is honest, right? "I mean, Franny, he thought it would be hot if you /smelled like him./" His expression makes it quite clear that he thinks that is very very weird.

Francis pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. "Well join the club then. Because clearly I am tiny and helpless and need to be protected from everything, and especially myself." Even despite the expression of growing weary resignation she manages a little laugh at Ferdinand's reveal. "I love him, Ferdi, so please watch your tone." Ooh, dessert menus? Yes please.

"Because clearly a lot of people care about you and your wellbeing," Ferdinand corrects. With a raised finger and everything! He'll totally check out the dessert menu too, though. "He just seems so-" As much as Ferdi wants to cling to The Way Things Were, he knows well enough now not to take this new version of Francis quite so lightly. And so, the tone is watched. "-he's very. Interesting? And different from you. And not what I was expecting. How'd it happen?"

*he's very hot. there, I fixed it

YEah dawg, you know it.

With Ferdinand soooort of going with the flow, Francis says, "Red bean paste? I'll try that," before steepling her fingers primly on the tabletop. "I first saw him when he streaked through my junior weyrling graduation ceremony wearing a barrel, but I didn't get to know him until a little later. We ended up getting together during the Firehead plague." Broad, broad strokes there. "What exactly were you expecting?"

For Francis, he's trying. He's really trying. Just ignore the cringey faces he's making. "Uh…" Ferdinand rubs awkwardly at the back of his head and shrrrruuuuugs. "Someone more responsible? More grounded? Mature? Someone who… doesn't streak through graduation ceremonies?" He ends up picking out mochi, or whatever the Pernese equivalent might be, and the waiter scurries away to fulfill the request. Though not before giving them MORE TEA.

Is 'he was drunk that time' a good defense? No? Francis lets out a long sigh and scuffles one hand through her hair. "Look, I know what people think of him. It doesn't change anything. Not for me. So you can think whatever you want, but I don't care." After all this tea, this place better have some kind of facilities.

They do, and the facilities are lovely and clean and there's a person who offers moist warm towels. "I know you're going to do whatever you want-" Such is the way of this version of Francis. "-and I can't change your mind. But just know that all I want is for you to be happy. /And/ safe." Ferdinand gives one of those rare smiles, but it's only for a moment as a waitress butts in with their desserts.

AW SHIT WARM TOWELS why are they even still sitting here. Oh right, sweets. Ferdinand gives in too easily, Francis is suspicious but offers a smile of her own. "He makes me very happy." With that stated the desserts arrive and are consumed in silence. Francis seems mired in her own thoughts, and after the meal is finished and paid for, wanders off after a few parting pleasantries.