"Finally! I was getting hungry out here!" snapped Lina as the young, dark-eyed waitress set down plate after plate in front of her. As soon as the first plate hit the table, the sorceress whipped out her fork, speared an entire steak, and lifted it up, gnawing on it.
"You sure you haven't eaten enough already?" muttered Zelgadis, watching this newest round of food rapidly disappearing into Lina.
"'Course not!" she said around a mouthful of steak. "'N hands OFF, Gourry!" She waved her knife threateningly at the blond swordsman, who was reaching a little too close to one of her steaks for comfort.
Zelgadis poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot the waitress had brung, and sipped it. Tastes a little funny, he noted with disinterest, but I'm not hungry anymore, and anything's better than just sitting here watching Lina eat, watching Gourry try to steal her food, and watching Amelia watching me.... The stone-skinned chimaera sighed, studiously ignoring the young princess of Saillune and her big puppy-dog eyes as he took another sip of his bitter drink. "Could you hurry up, Lina?"
"Can't rush a good meal!" she said, as another entire steak disappeared whole into her mouth.
"It's incredibly late," said Zelgadis tiredly. "The staff probably want us to leave so they can finally get some sleep. We're the last people left in this restaurant. Even that skinny brown-haired guy who sat in the shadows watching us is long gone." He finished off the cup, and poured himself another.
"Well, I'm not full yet so... Gourry! Give that back! Leggo!"
"Why, Lina?" the swordsman mumbled, mouth full of steak. "YOU weren't eating it...."
"YET!"
Zel just sighed again and continued drinking his coffee.
Finally, the last mouthful was swallowed, the last morsel of food consumed, the last plate cleaned of crumbs. Half a pot of coffee still remained, though. Since Zelgadis was the only one who'd drank any, however, that wasn't really surprising.
"Ahh! Those steak dinners really did the trick," announced a very satisfied Lina.
"You're not hungry anymore?" asked Zelgadis, putting down his empty coffee cup, disbelief evident in his voice.
"Couldn't eat another bite!' she said happily, patting her distended stomach. For some reason, Zelgadis thought he could hear faint cheering from the direction of the kitchen, but put it out of his mind.
Lina yawned. "I'm ready to get a good long night's sleep. So where's that place we're staying at, again?"
"Just a few blocks to the north," put in Amelia. "I remember the way."
Zelgadis glanced over at the pot which was still half full of reasonably good coffee. Since no one else seemed likely to want any, he supposed it would just go to waste. Can't be helped, he thought.
The four travelling companions rose from their table, made their way outside, and set off to find the rooms they'd rented for the night.