The MYT rolled to a slow stop at light at a four way intersection at the base of a hotel, two small coffee shops and what looked like a convenience store. The traffic lights were bright neon and they reflected beautifully off the snow that was now coming down. I could see more than a few expensive looking cars sitting below us along with a few large pickups. The lights from the buildings and cars mixed with the dark sky and the snow making it like one of those pictures you'd find on Goggle.
“This is pretty”, Helix said as she curled by the air vent with her siblings for the heat.
“It is”, I replied, “I wish I had a camera.”
“I wish I was dressed warmer”, Adelind said through chattering teeth, “if I had known it was going to snow I would have brought my coat.”
I smiled and pulled her close to my side, “I believe I can fix your little problem.”
She smiled, “oh you do?”
“I do”, I replied returning her smile.
Adelind kissed my cheek as the truck gave a lurch and started forward again. We passed through an alley formed by several enormous sky scrapers that were set lit up like Christmas trees, nothing but yellow light pouring out of them. There were jets coming in for landings and more that were just leaving the airports. As the truck came to a stop, I turned to Adelind.
“Where are we gonna eat?”, I asked, “do we even know the names of any restaurants?”
Adelind snickered, “I don't, you?”
“Nope”, I replied, “huh, really didn't think this through.”
Adelind laughed.
“Whats so funny?”, I asked.
“What am I gonna do with you?”, Adelind asked.
“Mm, I can think of a few things you can do with me right now”, I replied kissing her.
She smiled and kissed me back. Soon after came Ace's gagging sounds and Dusk even pretended to die of horror.
“Personally I've always found your brother's fake death more amusing”, Adelind said as she flipped Dusk over, who some how managed to act like he was stiff and had been dead for days.
“Hear that dead thing?”, Ace said pawing at his brother, “my death is better.”
Dusk didn't reply.
“Maybe he really is dead”, Tyson said, “we should throw his body over the side of the truck and not say nothing to no one.”
“Where did they learn this stuff?”, Adelind asked leaning against me.
“Sozenn”, I replied, “ well, most of them, I can guess where Tyson picked it up”, I leaned down to them, “if you gotta get rid of the body, make sure you cover your paws first and then burn it to erase all ties back to you.”
“Good idea Dad”, Ace said puffing a bit of smoke.
“Wait I'm still alive!”, Dusk said jumping up.
I laughed, “welcome back to the living son.”
“Stop encouraging them”, Adelind said.
I laughed, “their boys, there gonna do it with our without me. Sozenn, Fireclaw and I used to play like this all the time.”
“There a bad influence on you”, she said laughing.
“Well, Sozenn is”, I replied, “Fireclaw is decent.”
“And without all the dirty jokes”, Adelind laughed.
“Something all of us could do with out”, I smiled.
“Hey Dad?”, Ace asked.
“Yeah Ace?”, I replied.
“Where are we going for dinner?”
“Not sure”, I answered pulling them all close to me, “I think Mnerloth has a place in mind.”
“I hope it's some place with Turkey”, Tyson said, “they fed it to us a lot at the ring and I kept my snout shut about liking it so I could keep getting it.”
“Smart”, Dusk said, “I personally favor pizza.”
“Your both wrong”, Ace said, “while I like both, Chicken is far better.”
“It's all good”, I said.
They shrugged. The truck stopped at a few more stoplights and drove through more traffic before we finally arrived at the restaurant. The Ocarinas was a tall, four story building made of decorative stones with what looked like a screened area up top. Mnerloth parked her Audi near the back the parking lot which was facing a large movie theater. The MYT pulled into a space right next to her and shut off it's engine and we all piled out. The parking lot was iced over and I could feel the cold even through the soles of my boots.
“The ground is freezing”, Kisenth said.
“It is”, Adelind replied, “let's get inside.”
We quickly went inside. The restaurants interior decor was really something. The floor was made of dark brown stone and the walls were darkly stained wood soaked the light in from the dim bulbs that glowed throughout the restaurant. There was a large wine rack that was sparsely populated with dark red bottles and there were two oak barrels underneath it. In front of us the small atrium branched out into the rest of the restaurant which was populated with humans, Anthro's and Ferals, all of who seemed to be enjoying their nights.
“This place is cool”, Ace said.
“It smells good in here”, Kisenth said, “I can smell every thing cooking in the back.”
“I can too”, Mnerloth said, “that's why I don't go out to eat much because the smell drives me crazy.”
Adelind laughed, “try going for six months and only being able to handle one bite in your stomach at a time, then talk to me about crazy.”
Mnerloth gave a smug sigh, “I'd love to oblige you, but I'm not currently in a relationship.”
Adelind shook her head, “you'll see.”
“Evening and welcome to Ocarines”, a human dressed in waiters clothes said as she appeared behind a welcome desk, “how many are with you?”
“Eight”, I said.
“Please follow me.”
The human led us down a small corridor past the wine rack and a bar where there were several people watching a race on a large flat screen and led us back outside. The snow was coming down a little harder now and the blue, purple and red neon from the theater next door were creeping in on the dim influences of the lights mounted in the covered area. Like inside, there was a song playing on an unseen stereo system.
“Unfortunately the only eight person tables are out here”, the waitress said.
“Don't worry about it”, I said, “we have Arctic in us so we should be okay.”
She smiled, “I'll be back with you in a few minutes.”
She turned and left as we all sat down. Adelind, Tyson and Kayel sat next to me while Helix, Dusk, Ace and Kisenth sat next to Mnerloth and started looking at menus. There was a lot of stuff on there that I couldn't even pronounce, so I decided against ordering it. In the end, I settled with Chicken Alfredo.
“It's been a while since I had a night out”, Mnerloth said.
“Last time I had a night out was just before”, I began but then stopped, “just before never really.”
“I feel bro”, Mnerloth said, “I feel.”
After a few more minutes of talking, the waitress came back with what smelled like fresh baked bread and a kind of oil that when put together was amazing.
“So is everyone ready to order?”, she asked.
“We are”, I said, “I'll have Chicken Alfredo with Red Pepper flakes.”
“I'll take Tortellini alla zucca with White Pepper Flakes and Grated Cheese”, Adelind said.
“Get me Bistecca Fiorentina”, Mnerloth said.
“With or without tomato sauce?”, the waitress asked.
“Without please”, Mnerloth said.
She now turned to the Helix and Kisenth, “and what would you young ladies like?”
Helix looked down at the menu, “spicy popcorn chicken please.”
“Regular popcorn chicken”, Kisenth said.
“And what would you all like?”, she asked turning to the boys
“Four cheese pizza”, Dusk said.
“Small, medium or large?”, the waitress asked.
Dusk looked at me, I shrugged my reply.
“Just medium”, Dusk said
The waitress scribbled it down and looked at Tyson.
“Turkey legs please with black pepper flakes and tomato sauce”, he said.
“I want the same thing as my Dad”, Ace said.
The waitress smiled and scribbled it all down, “do you want a bottle of wine with your order?”
“Do we?”, Mnerloth asked.
I shrugged, “It's fine with me. Adelind?”
She shrugged, “I don't see why not.”
“Sure”, I said, “get us....Passito Di Pantelleria.”
She scribbled on her note pad again, “I'll be back with your orders as soon as I can.”
She turned and went back inside.
“I've never had wine before”, I said, “what is it, exactly?”
“It's alcohol”, Mnerloth said, “my Dad drinks the stuff all the time to keep his fire going. Other than lighting your fire up higher than it should if you drink too much, it shouldn't have any ill effects, though I wouldn't let your cubs have any...and I'd be on guard for the taste.”
“Why the taste?”, Adelind asked.
“Some of it can taste horrible”, Mnerloth said, “one time my Dad bought this hyper expensive bottle that was almost four grand...for reasons I'd rather not say, and it tasted like toilet water, or how I imagine toilet water tastes like.”
I couldn't help but snicker and the boys with me, “that's disgusting.”
Mnerloth laughed, “made a great Molotov Cocktail. Dad busted it on an old shed he'd been meaning to tear down. Best Founding Day ever. I remember after the shed practically exploded my Dad was like, “so worth 4k.”
I laughed, “Hunter got ripped off. Four thousand dollars for a bottle of wine he couldn't even drink.”
Mnerloth just laughed. It was a few more minutes of watching the snow and the talking before the waitress came back with two other guys. They were carrying three large trays with steaming and sizzling food on them. The second the smell hit the tip of my nose I'm pretty sure I was drooling because Mnerloth gave me a funny look.
“Spicy Popcorn Chicken”, she said as Helix reached out.
“Regular Popcorn Chicken”, she said handing it to Kisenth.
“Bistecca Fiorentina without tomato sauce”, The waitress said handing the plate to Mnerloth.
“Tortellini alla zucca with White Pepper Flakes and Grated Cheese”, the waiter said. Adelind reached out and took it.
“Two orders of Chicken Alfredo”, The waitress handed Ace and I the plates.
“Medium four cheese and turkey legs in tomato sauce”, Dusk and Tyson reached for their plates.
“And finally a bottle of Passito Di Pantelleria” The waitress said handing me the bottle, “will you be needing anything else?”
“No I think were good for now”, I said.
Out waitress smiled and left as we began eating. The noddles were just hard enough and the Alfredo sauce was thick and flavorful while the chicken was tender and juicy while the pepper really made it pop. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves too.
“This pizza is really good”, Dusk said chewing on it, using his dominant left paw to hold it down.
“So is this chicken”, Helix said, “I love the spicy.”
“Who doesn't love spicy food?”, Mnerloth asked.
“Freaks”, Ace said.
“I don't like spicy food”, Tyson said.
“Then your a freak and must register with us as such”, Ace said.
“Make me”, Tyson said.
“I have your death warrant drafted tonight”, Ace said.
“And I'm hiring a Bounty Hunter to bring me your head”, Tyson said, “I have a special spot in my trophy cabinet all picked out.”
“You don't have a trophy cabinet”, I said.
“Then I should probably get one”, Tyson replied, “and money for a Bounty Hunter.”
Mnerloth laughed, “I have a friend who hunts bounties, she may be available.”
Ace gave Mnerloth a stare, “I SIGN your death warrant tonight.”
“Your not signing anyone's death warrant Ace”, I said, “because I'm finding every pen and pencil in the barracks and putting them on a high shelf.”
Ace muttered something and then went back to his food. The food was good and so was the wine. It had a string yet sweet flavor too it and personally, I would have gotten another bottle if I wasn't already worried that prices were climbing into the triple digits. All in all, our trip to Ocarines lasted for two and a half hours. Once dinner was done, we boxed up our leftovers, Dusk's half-eaten pizza and a large order of Alfredo that we bought to take advantage of a sale the restaurant was having and two of the fresh loaves of bread. All together, dinner came to 67$, far below what I was afraid the price would be.
Once everything was said and done, we returned to the MYT and went back to the base. Once we were there. We said goodnight to Mnerloth, who left base. Adelind and I put the kids into bed, showered and then climbed into bed ourselves.
“I enjoyed that”, Adelind said, “I'm going to have dreams about that Tortellini.”
I smiled and kissed her, “It was good.”
I looked over at the kids. They were piled on top of each other and sound asleep. I turned my attention back to my mate.
“I love you”, I said.
“I love you too”, Adelind said kissing me.
We lay our heads down and let sleep take us.