Mobian Daylife #7: A Whisper of a Date

 “’…Yo”
Whisper’s voice had been almost inaudible above the clatter and chatter of the restaurant’s patrons this evening. It was a fairly upper-class sort of joint, with marbled floors and tables draped in a velvety cloth of some sort. Walls were pale white stucco, reminiscent of the buildings in Apotos in a lot of ways, but trimmed with gold and candle-like light fixtures between each huge window.
As the building sat along the outskirts of the northern part of Central City, the view from said windows overlooked the mountainous regions and the wildlands that lay between.
Despite the ritzy look and feel of the overall decor, the people eating here this evening hardly looked the part. A few stuffed shirts here and there, maybe a woman or two in an elegant gown, sitting across from a sharp-dressed man. But the larger customer base was just the average Mobian looking for a meal that was a few steps above the fast food joint or the sort of diners that Laik was accustomed to.

“Hi, Whisper.” Play it cool, she tried to kill you once, and you accidentally groped her in the middle of the fight. It’s in the past now, he repeated to himself, attempting to will himself not to make a total idiot out of himself and embarrass the other wolf in the process.
Sitting at the center of the table was a small, three-tiered dish containing a variety of candies and pastries. Several of which had already been eaten, based on the scarcity on the female wolf’s side of the table.
“Sorry I was late. I’m not super familiar with this side of the city. You’re looking…” Careful, Laik, she looks no different than she did earlier in the field, “…the same as earlier, which was nice.” Sheesh.
“S’okay, the appetizers just arrived.” She said, plucking a tiny piece of candy from the top tray. A bonbon with a little orange carrot piped onto the top.
“I gotta admit, you really took me by surprise earlier by springing this date on me.”
Whisper’s eyes shot open. The candy she’d been chewing preemptively sliding down her throat. She pounded her chest a few times to make it go down.
Good job, Laik.
“Not a date.” She silently coughed, somehow. “Sorry, didn’t mean to mislead you. Not a date. I don’t… I don’t date.”
Laik felt both relief and slight disappointment at the statement. “Ah, gotcha. Well, that makes things a lot simpler then.” He smiled. It didn’t, actually. “You okay? Need a drink?”
She held up a gloveless hand, her long, black, claw-like fingernails jutting out of the tips of her fingers like obsidian spires. “Fine. I’m fine.”

The wolves made small talk for several minutes, discussing the state of Mobius, the Restoration’s efforts and whether or not Robotnik was going to be a threat again anytime soon. The waiter eventually showed, offering the two menus to look over.
“Oh wow, not out of my price range but definitely scratching at its backside. What do you recommend, Whisper?” 
The female wolf scanned the multitude of options. She’d usually just get a burger with waffle fries, a menu option that had surprised Laik upon seeing it. Ritzy in appearance, yes, but the menu did not reflect the aesthetics at all.
“The lemon garlic chicken with vegetables.” She finally said. “You?”
They even had pizza on the menu. He’d come back alone for that one of these days, out of sheer curiosity. “I think I’ll get the baked trout and spring vegetables. Haven’t had fish in a while with all that’s been going on lately.” 

The waiter had returned, taken their orders and removed the menus.
“So… Going to be blunt again, I’m sorry—but why did you invite me out tonight? Surely it wasn’t just to show this place off.” He leaned back in his chair, crossing his leg and looked at the female wolf dead-on. She did the same.
“The Caster Wispon.” She finally said. “Thank you for making the idea a reality.”
Laik’s right ear twitched. The destruction that thing caused, even in its prototype stage, was devastating, and she was happy about it?
“Wispons have grown wildly out of control, with little regulation and even less concern for the Wisps inside. Something had to be done to curb the mounting danger. Your idea…”
Whisper speaking in full sentences was a new one for Laik. Her voice, while hushed, was adorable. The trauma was evident in everything the female wolf did, from her jittery, nervous movements to her hushed speaking voice. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl.
“Your Caster Wispon is going to change things, I just know it.”
Laik leaned forward, grabbing a chocolate-coated strawberry from the bottom-most tray. “You think so? It was just a random idea I had. Wasn’t even sure the tech that fueled it would work, but leave it to Tails, I guess.”
Whisper raised in her seat, her voice growing braver. “I know so! I don’t… I don’t like taking my Wisps—my friends—into battle, even if they willingly go themselves. I’d be useless otherwise without them, but even so—“
“Don’t say stuff like that,” Laik said as he swallowed another piece of candy. “I know for a fact that several members of the Restoration wouldn’t be alive today if not for you. With or without your Wisps, you serve a purpose just by existing and working together with everyone.”
The female wolf’s ears dropped, her cheeks flushed red. Embarrassed, angered and flustered all at once. Part of her wanted to leave. To just stand up and walk out like she always did in situations like this… But that was the old Whisper.
She smiled, her upper fangs crossing over her bottom lip, leaving slight indents. “Thank you, Laik.”

The food arrived not five minutes later, in the middle of Whisper’s big exposition drop, much to Laik’s surprise. The other wolf was opening up about her past to him, about the first Diamond Cutters team. They had been a close-knit group of mercenaries working during the war to take some of the pressure off the Resistance Army.
The eventual backstab from Mimic the Octopus, leading to the deaths of all but Whisper herself, and the most recent apprehension and death of Mimic. 
Whisper spoke without hesitation, tears welling in her eyes as she relayed the story over the course of the meal. She sniffed occasionally, wiping her nose on her jacket, which she eventually took off, revealing the plain, simple T-shirt underneath.
Of course, Laik’s first thought was that Whisper isn’t wearing a bra, upon seeing the pressure being placed against the thin fabric, or the dark, circular shade of skin casting a shadow behind the thin, moisture-wicking fabric. She wasn’t as big as Athena or Lanolin, but there was some weight to what hid behind that shirt.
He hadn’t noticed until now that the wolf had gone back to keeping her eyes closed during the monologue. He’d not say anything about that either, as pretty as her eyes were. It was probably a comfort mechanism, and if it made the she-wolf feel better, then no one need to say a word about it.
“I can’t get over the fact that Mimic had not only infiltrated the Restoration, but had Lanolin totally fooled.” The male wolf dove a fork into the roasted fish before him. Driving the fork through the first of three whole rainbow trout, garnished with peppers, onions and small mushrooms. “She can be bull-headed sometimes, but c’mon.” He tore into the fish, savoring the clean white flesh that the trout species was known for.
A light, cafe mix of the Green Hill Zone anthem began to play overhead, lightening the atmosphere just a tad. The dinner rush was just beginning, and the collected body heat combined with the ovens and grills prompted the staff to open the windows, inviting in a crisp, early autumn breeze.

Laik and Whisper shared a brief shiver as the cool air hit them first, given their proximity to the window.
Whisper leaned against the back of her chair, head turned to gaze out at the view as the gentle breeze shuffled about her new short haircut. The chilled breeze was causing more defined impressions beneath her shirt to stiffen.
Laik averted his eyes, resting his elbow beside his plate, now void of all its contents besides the heads and skeletal bodies of the trout. He placed his head in his palm and shared a moment of silence with his once-attempted-assassin, thankful for the awkwardness between them finally having gone away. 
Thankful for the new positive upturn in her own life. Whisper was actually smiling, he noted.
“Laik…” She said, her eyes opening back up as she turned to look at him. “When you were first introduced to us back at the Restoration HQ all those months ago, my Wisps saw something in you that I think you should know.”
The male wolf’s ears flicked, his interest piqued. He made eye contact with the she-wolf, her ocean blue eyes sparkling like little azure planets in the wolf’s face.
“The Phantom Ruby emits a specific sort of energy. Green said that your body emits the same aura, though it’s very faint, but it’s there. I asked around why this could be, and it led me down a rabbit hole.”
Laik was quiet. This was why she really invited him out here tonight. Because of course it was, she was a Diamond Cutter after all. There was business to attend to and—wait, did she really spend time investigating this for him?
“It turns out, there have been similar instances of prolonged usage of leaking Wispons that infuse their wielders with Wisp energy. It combines with their blood somehow… It’s harmless, but Wisps can see it as a sort of aura surrounding the, for lack of better words, infected.”

“Infused.”
Whisper’s ear twitched. “Huh?”
“Infused,” Laik said, “Like tea infused with fruit flavoring. It sounds better than saying I’m infected… At least as far as Wisp energy goes. Phantom Ruby, on the other hand…”
“Right. Sorry. But that’s what I was able to find out. I’m sorry I took so long to get this info to you, but a lot has been going on.”
Laik shook his shaggy head and smiled. “It’s honestly okay, it’s not like I knew about it beforehand, so I wasn’t waiting on you or anything.” He sighed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
“It does make some sense, I guess. Considering everything that has happened since the war has been a result of that stone.”
“Did you ever come in direct contact with it… the ruby, I mean?” Whisper was talking in full, uninterrupted sentences now, eyes wide open. She meant business. So nice to see, Laik thought to himself before tumbling right back to the subject.
“Nope. The only time I ever saw it leave Infinite’s hand was seconds after we knocked him out for good. Robotnik grabbed it immediately thereafter.” 
The wolves sat in silence for several seconds, going over the records in their heads, or in Laik’s case, the events themselves.
Sensing the gloom, Laik decided he’d comb the past later. There was a pretty young she-wolf sitting across from him right now in the midst of forging a new path for herself that wasn’t weighed down by her past, and talking about events of the past was the last thing he wanted to discuss right now.
“Ya know what? I’ll think more on this later when it’s time for rest. We need to celebrate the Now, Whisper.” Laik said as the waiter returned with the check. Whisper snatched it before her company had the chance to see the bill. She quietly counted out the payment and sent it back with the waiter, ensuring no further interruptions.
“What… what do you mean, Laik? Isn’t it important?” She asked, slipping her jacket back on and covering her chest once again.
“Oh, definitely, and I really appreciate you taking time out of your own life to look into it for me. I’ll do some follow-ups with you back at HQ, but since we’re already hanging out, why don’t we go for a jog? The running courses should be fairly empty at this hour, what with it being dinnertime and all. What do you say?” He reached out a hand and smiled, beaming his ruby red eyes at the wolf.
“Laik…” She whispered.
“As friends, Whisper. Just as friends.” He replied, her finally taking his hand.
“Okay…” She whispered like she always had, “I don’t think Lanolin would like it any other way anyhow…“
The chatter and additional noises caused by the flood of new customers for the dinner rush had all but drowned out what the she-wolf had said before it reached Laik’s ears. 
All but the word ‘Lanolin’.