The Nettle Tea Chronicles

Cassandra

When 11:15 rolled around, Cassandra was ready and waiting to finish her last support call before lunch. She had tried her best to time things just right so that the call she took just after 11 should end reasonably close to when she wanted to take her lunch, which would give her reasonable cause to finish a few things on her computer before stepping out instead of taking another call.

Her plan had worked like a charm, and she was spinning in her chair to stand up at 11:28, and had her jacket on and was waiting by the elevators by the time her phone said 11:30.

She didn't wait long before Zoe turned the corner, either. Zoe's entire face lit up when she saw Cassandra waiting by the elevator already, and she gave her a small wave. "Yo."

"Hey. So, where are we going?" Cass stood from the little bench beside the elevators and moved to hit the call button.

Zoe sighed. "I have no idea. I spent almost all morning on a single call. A genuine one, mind you, helping an older man troubleshoot a few issues he was having, and he was very polite. But it was over two hours. My brain is fried and I'm just hungry."

"I see. Just follow me then." Cass slipped into the open elevator and held the door open for Zoe before hitting the button for the ground floor. Thanks to getting out a little early, they were even the only two in the elevator for the moment.

"You saw the chat, I assume?"

"You tagged me for a response, didn't you?" Zoe chuckled. "Admittedly, all I saw was the tail end of it and that we're not raiding tonight. I didn't have time to read the whole thing. I didn't even get my morning break today."

"Yeah, you got the gist of it. No raid. Fiona's son is running a fever so he and his wife are mildly freaking out over the kid's first illness."

"Hey, that seems fair to me."

"Oh, yeah, no judgement here." Cass clarified. "I can only assume I'd be just as freaked out in their position."

"Same."

"Following that, Firo said he'd be half in favor of a break tonight to study for finals, and then Bisky mentioned still feeling exhausted from her murderous weekend. It basically just ended up with a more or less unanimous "Eh, we're good.""

"I have no complaints." Zoe shrugged as they hit the ground floor and moved toward the door. "Given our evenings got freed up, did you have back up plans?"

Cass snorted. "What do you think?"

"Well, I wasn't sure until you snorted. I would guess that means no?"

"I don't really ever make plans after work." Cass said, trying to keep her voice light. "After I moved here, I basically went straight to no-lifing work. Never made friends or anything, so my social life is basically non-existent. To be fair, when I first moved, I needed the overtime to afford rent, though, so I didn't have a lot of say in the matter."

"That sucks." Zoe sounded almost confused. "I'm surprised though. You always seem so outgoing and friendly at work. How did I not know you "have no social life"." She airquoted the last bit.

Cass just offered a noncommittal shrug. "After work commitments just never came up before, I guess?" Cass never felt like she hid her lack of a social life, but she supposed it was possible that they had simply never mentioned it. Most of their interactions had been light and about their hobbies. "We talk a lot about gaming and stuff, and that's usually what I get up to after work."

"I suppose it's been a lot of "Do you have plans after work? No? Then let's play a game.", huh?" Zoe tapped her chin in thought. "I guess it also never came up because I never had any plans either. Nothing to prompt the topic, as it were."

"Could be." That made some sort of sense to Cass. "I suppose it's never really mattered before?"

"I guess not."

"Anyway, why did you ask? Did you have backup plans?" Cass eyed her companion as they made their way down the sidewalk.

Zoe shifted a little awkwardly then said, "Dinner? Maybe?"

Before Cass could even respond, Zoe sighed. "I haven't had any desire to go out drinking or anything with my friends since I started working really. I barely even go out with them on weekends anymore, and I realized when I got home last night that I actually really enjoyed having a nice dinner out. I'd like to go again."

"I could be convinced." Cass shrugged and turned away to hide her smile. "I also had a nice time last night, although I'm not sure we'd want to go to places that nice all the time. The cost would add up pretty quick."

"Fair point. I think I'm fine as long as we avoid, like, loud sports bars or dive bars. I want a place where I can hear myself think and actually relax a little."

"No complaints here. I'm not big on bars either. Restaurants with bars, yeah, absolutely. Places where the bar is the main draw, not so much my thing. Especially loud sports bars. Very much not my thing."

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"Well, glad we're in agreement then. So, dinner tonight?"

Cassandra glanced at Zoe who was looking up at her with enough barely contained excitement that Cass was pretty sure she couldn't have said no even if she had wanted to.

"Sure. But let's get through lunch, first, yeah?"

"Agreed. Where are you taking me, anyway? We don't usually go this way for lunch." Zoe's head was on a bit of a swivel, trying to decode their destination.

"Well, when we manage to eat lunch together, we usually shoot for something easy and quick. I'm aiming for something a little more…homey this time I guess?" Cass shrugged, "Also, I only just found out about this place."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I saw it pop up on the map yesterday when we were looking for a dinner spot. Turns out, they're open for lunches, and even have some lunch deals."

"What kind of food are we talking here?" Zoe suddenly sounded very hungry.

Cass moved toward a door that led into a building's ground floor. The interior was set up like a rather nice atrium, with a number of smaller shops set up around the first floor. She pointed over to one particular restaurant in the corner.

"Ramen."

"Oh." Zoe seemed suitably impressed as she started speed walking toward the door, walking right past Cass in her haste.

Cass chuckled and hustled to keep up with Zoe as they stepped inside the restaurant.

Like she had seen in the images on the internet, the inside of the place was cozy and welcoming. Warm natural light was prominent, and the walls and furniture were predominantly nicely crafted wood with Japanese-styled designs. It was exactly what she was looking for.

"Two, please." Zoe greeted the hostess while Cass looked around, and they found themselves led to an empty table immediately. The restaurant wasn't too busy which was nice, and Cass figured it was due to them squeezing in right before the lunch rush.

Once they were seated, Cass picked up one of the menus to look it over, despite knowing full well that she would be getting a fair standard tonkotsu ramen. The rich bone broth was always her go-to in ramen places.

"Don't suppose you'd have any recommendations if it's your first time here?" Zoe asked.

"Can't say I do. You've had ramen before, though, right?"

"Duh." Zoe laughed. "Think I'm between shoyu and miso."

"All strong choices. I prefer tonkotsu myself."

"I usually do too, but it also tends to leave me overstuffed. Don't want that feeling going back to work." Zoe said, still perusing the menu. "Oh, they have karaage, too."

"We can get some. Prices here are nice, too, damn."

"No complaints here. Other than the fact that we only just found out that this place exists. It doesn't look new, either." Zoe said, noting the worn look and feel of the interior.

"I don't know how old it is, but it did seem like it's at least a few years old. Ramen places weren't exactly common before, were they?"

Zoe put her menu down to consider that. "I'm not sure. I definitely remember some good ones popping up in the early 2010s I think? Which is more than ten years ago now, holy crap."

Cass slumped forward in her chair to lean on the table. "Ugh, don't remind me. I feel like every time I turn around things that feel like they were new last year are suddenly five years old. And things that feel five years old are more like ten or fifteen."

"I feel you. The PS3 will be twenty years old next year." Zoe said with a devious grin.

"Good lord." Cass let out a breath and fought against sprawling out on the still empty table. She was glad she didn't when the waitress showed up with glasses and a pitcher of water. She took their orders - karaage to share, miso ramen for Zoe, and tonkotsu ramen for Cassandra - and bustled off again.

"I could do worse." Zoe teased once she left.

"I'm sure you could. The internet gets me often enough with that stuff, though. I saw a checklist the other night that listed things that make you old and I scored a nearly perfect score on it for being old."

"Oh yeah? Like what stuff?" Zoe poured them both cups of water before leaning forward on the table to prop her chin on her hands.

"Sending a fax. Or using a rotary phone. I'm trying to remember what else there was, now."

"Well, I've done both of those, so…" Zoe shrugged.

"Really? Sending a fax is one thing, but a rotary phone?"

"Remember I grew up around New York, Cass. This place is old as shit. One of my aunts has an old rotary phone at her house, and it's still actually her landline."

"Damn. Basically the same here, though it was my grandmother's. How about recording a song to a cassette from the radio?"

"Hmm. I'm not sure I did that one. I've definitely made mix tapes on cassettes before, but I think they were all from other cassettes or CDs through a boombox." Zoe took a sip of water then grinned. "Mixtapes were fun."

"We hardly need them anymore with music playlists, sadly." Cass said. "But even then, there was nothing quite like waiting next to the radio for the song you wanted to hear so you could press the record button. I honestly think I just barely made the age cutoff on that one, though."

"At 27, I'm actually kinda shocked you did."

"Eh, blame my parents and growing up in the Midwest, I guess?" Cass shrugged. "There were a few others on the list that I think were pretty common. Use a walkman or a boombox - which you already said you've done. Or rent a video from a certain defunct blue and yellow video rental store."

"Ah, yes, we've all been there. I actually stole a video case from them before the store went under. I think it's in my computer stand somewhere."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep. I think it got tossed in with a bunch of stuff when I moved out of my parents' house. They still have a lot of my stuff there though, because I just don't have room for furniture like a bookcase."

"I can understand that. Space costs a premium in the city, or even just around it. It's probably a couple hundred dollars more a month just for the space for a single bookcase." Cass laughed.

"No kidding. I basically have a small kitchen, a bathroom, and then my bedroom is my bed, my desk, and my chair with, like, 3 square feet of actual floor space."

"Mine too. I've got like six square feet of floor space though, because I live out in the Bronx. Could just barely afford it."

"Lucky."