Talk It Over At The Table

Rambone opened the door for Luca and both entered back into Ganodo's place. The door closed behind them as Ganodo used the armrests to get up from his seat.

He moved his legs a bit over to behind the counter and ripped out a page on his notepad.

"Oh, what's the uhh... the thing you got there for?" Rambone asked. He whisked around a hand trying to recall what a notepad is called: a notepad.

"Oh, this?" He waved the piece of paper up in the air.

"Yeah... what'd you rip off a page on your notepad for?"

"It's a list of places we can go out to."

"We're gonna probably need you to pay for your own meal," Luca said. "I only managed to snag about 12 Styela."

"Wow, for a match like the one you had that's real surprising."

"How big are we talking? I noticed I generated some buzz."

"Guess you weren't noticing it enough. It generated more than some buzz. You're getting some hype. A bunch of people are saying that if you continue shaping yourself up, you got the potential to become a real star."

"No one noticed me after my match, though. Seems like you're spouting crap out your mouth."

"Thing is, arena members actually don't give a shit about who you are unless you're up to bout with them or you're right near them in rankings. For first-time fighters, neither side knows who you're going up against until match time, so I doubt he really cared about you and who you were." He pointed to her.

"And bouncing off that, its press that's in charge of hyping up the new contenders to the ring. They see a potential new big money-making figure?" He mimicked the motion of one hand getting swallowed by the other. "They're gonna jump all over that and slowly swallow you whole."

"Oh ok, wow. So we're talking like ads and things like that?"

"Not really. The arena makes most of its money from broadcasting rights to showcase matches here and other places across the world like it. If you go big... people... will... eat... you... up."

Luca and Rambone smiled at the thought of getting famous.

"I'm gonna get famous than you!" Rambone poked at her shoulder.

"I already got a head start, let's see you try and beat that."

"I will. Just 'cuz you got a head start doesn't mean shit."

"Guys, guys, guys. We still need to decide on what place to go to for dinner. Don't wanna be snacking on damn food court food for the fiftieth time, do we?" He smacked his hands together and then snapped his fingers.

"I kinda forgot about that," Rambone said.

"Yeah no shit, sherlock."

"What's the list of options we got then?" Luca's stomach grumbled.

Ganodo then ran off the list of options he had: Burgers, chicken, spaghetti and pizza, taco and burritos, and noodles.

"Not many options, huh," Rambone sighed. "At least we won't get into debt over it."

"Yeah. They're all super cheap," Luca cut in. "No need to complain Rambone."

"I'm notttt."

"Yeah, you are," They both said.

"Ughh... really. Not gonna bother."

"Take your pick you two."

"Hmm... Can't go wrong with some chicken."

"I'll take noodles any day of the week over those options, what are you kidding me?"

"I'm not. Guess I'll break the tie... withhh... noodles," He shrugged.

"Man... I wanted some damn chicken."

"You're complaining again," She nudged him in his shoulder.

Ganodo went over to grab his keys and gestured them out the door with him. He would point and steer them in the right direction to a local unnamed noodle shop about 10 minutes away.

They checked in quickly and were guided over to their table by the waiter, who additionally took their orders before walking away into the kitchen. Only a handful of other groups and families were present at the restaurant while calm music played over the speakers quietly.

Rambone quickly glanced all over the place. "Damn, this is a nice place."

"Nah, I just think you like dark oak-paneled restaurants." Luca laughed and did a small shake of her head with it resting in her hand.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing's wrong with it. I just don't think you realize just how common it is."

"Eh. I can see it. I don't have basic taste, at least I don't think I do."

"You don't," They both responded.

"Also, you know what I wanna talk about something here," Ganodo spoke up.

"What's up?" Luca leaned in with an ear in his direction.

"The whole missing Cara case thing."

"Oh, that? I'm not too worried about it." Rambone shrugged it off.

"Yep, she'll be fine. This is Cara we're talking about. She's super strong."

"I know you have her jacket... but do you have any other leads on the case?"

"No... why so curious?"

"I think we can crack this case for sure," He enunciated himself and tapped a finger on the table while leaning back in his chair a bit. "Might be a tough nut to crack, not doubting that."

"We'reee... kind of at a dead-end at the moment," Luca interjected.

"You had her jacket on you, right? I'm pretty sure you told me that when I met you."

She nodded her head.

"Good. Aaand... you think she was around that area?"

Again, she gave him a nod.

"Speaking of which, Rambone, did I ever tell what that stain on the jacket was?"

"No, you didn't."

"It was blood."

"Yeesh. We think she got to beat the fuck up too then?"

"Yeah," Ganodo said. "My theory right now is that she's farther than we think she is. Probably like outskirts of town."

"What makes you think THAT? There's no evidence at all to prove that," She said. "And more than just that jacket, there was someone we talked to about it who was saying that they saw these dudes running out of the arena with a chair and table."

"Can't they just have one guy carry the chair, another the table, and two hang around and then every so often they switch?"

She was taken off guard by the theory.

"That sounds actually pretty smart."

"Mhm. These people certainly know what they're doing."

"What's their goal though?" Rambone piped up. "Can we just stop fuckin' around tryin' to figure out what their motivations or just even their goals with her are?"

"Nah, we can't figure that out as of right now," Ganodo replied.

"That all we drum up?" She asked.

There was a brief moment of silence among them.

"Huh. Guess not," Rambone said.

The waiter then came out of the kitchen with their orders in hand, placing them on the table.

Ganodo fiddled around with his napkin before plopping it back onto the table. "We'll drum something later. For now, I'd say we just have to suck it up and focus on Rambone's match tomorrow before we can get back into it."

"I'm ready to dig in already!" Luca exclaimed. "Finally! I was starving."

"I was about to say that myself!" He responded.

"Me three." Rambone chimed in.