"Something like that," she said nodding. "Evidently I haven't learn from my mistakes though." The waiter returned with their drinks. Poppy closed her fingers around her tea, leeching the warmth. "Alright. What can I get for you?"
"I probably should have thought about this before. I'll just have a croissant," he said, taking a sip of his coffee.
"I'm good for now," Poppy said. "Thank you though." The waiter scribbled the order and nodded. "Alright. I'll be back."
"As a medic or ever," he said. He didn't normally like small talk, but there was something different about this.
She rested her head on her hand, frowning thoughtfully. "A man once came into the lab demanding for us to find a way to turn his dog into a cat," she said. "That was pretty strange. He was drugged out of his mind, as you might expect, but he held this little chihuahua under his arm, and he kept holding it in our faces. The poor thing's eyes were just bugging out of its skull." She shook her head and took a sip of her tea. "What about you?"
He laughed lightly, tapping his chin. "Hmm. Well I don't know if amounts to changing a dog into a cat, but one time they were supposed to send me on a mission to some town in the middle of nowhere, but for some reason they dropped me in the center of a desert. A desert. I had no sense of where I was, and the helicopter pilot left no instruction before leaving. I ended up wandering around for at least two days before finding a town, where I was actually able to contact people. They ended up saying there was no mission involving some random place, and the pilot that had flown me never existed in the files." He sighed. "They gave me a raise after that. It was really strange."
Her expression was a mixture of sympathy and annoyance. "They'd better have," she said with a raised eyebrow. "Poor you. Were you frightened?"
He shook his head. "Not really. I was mostly hot, and a confused, then I got mad when I found the town. It was a long time ago."
(My response game is probably going to be really crappy today. I'm sorry! I just got back from work and I need to go play at a wedding. ) "Still," she said, shaking her head. "That's really dangerous." The waiter returned with the warmed croissant on a porcelain plate. "Here you are, sir," he said smoothly, placing the plate down in front of him.
(It's all good! I'm at a beach, so I should be able to occupy my time!) "Ah, thank you," he said, before turning back to Poppy. "I know. I was half-prepared, though, because I had already packed for the mission."
(Oh, great!) "Did they ever find out what happened? With the pilot and everything?" Poppy asked, taking a tentative sip of her tea.
"I don't know. The way they spoke about it made it seem like they erased it all from existence. I've never bothered to make any theories."
"Ah," she said, nodding sagely with an amused twinkle in her eye. "So you didn't get a raise. You got a bribe."
"I'd say it was both, but I get more money in the end, so it's okay with me. It's not like it really mattered anyways. It was just a mission," he said, a sly grin appearing on his face.
She raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her tea. "Oh, dear," she murmured, resting her head on her hand. "I've fallen in love with an accessory to a government cover-up." The whole car shuddered as the train took off, and Poppy placed her hand over her tea to avoid any spillage instinctively, and cursed when the hot liquid splashed her fingers.
He leaned forward, gently setting his glass down on the table. "Are you alright?" he asked, his expression slightly concerned.
"Ach, yeah," she muttered, shaking her hand in midair. "Sorry. That was stupid of me." She used her napkin to carefully wipe the tea off her fingers, and her eyes flickered to his with a sheepish grin. "As least we know we're moving."
He took her hand once had finished drying it, and distractedly inspected her fingers in thought. "Yeah. Just one step closer to a real vacation."
