"Oh, I see. Parental duties," Chloe said understandingly flashing Kore a quick smile and pulling Conor into a loose hug. Conor wrapped his arms around her quickly; mostly relieved he had got away with his little lie. He saw Jacob out of the corner of his eye, glaring at him. Conor slipped his arms back to their original resting place immediately and Chloe released him from her embrace. Chloe winked slightly as she stood up. "Then I'll just leave the two of you alone." There was a slight edge to her voice. One you could only detect if you were listening closely. But Conor’s senses were on red alert and he noticed it instantly. She waved at him, "Bye Conor," She then turned to Kore and winked again, more obvious this time. "Bye Miss," she said before walking back to her group of friends. She instantly settled on the sofa beside Jacob again and he slipped his arm back round her. His casual, loose position from before had vanished entirely; now replaced with a more possessive air.

Conor felt relief wash over him and his glare in Kore’s direction that he realised was still there, slipped off.

"She's pretty," Kore said. There was no maliciousness or jealousy to the statement. It was usually something a resentful date told her boyfriend when an ex who was just a bit too friendly for their liking sidled up in the middle of dinner together. But Kore sounded totally innocent; the statement said more like a simple, well known fact than a sarcastic comment.

Conor nodded. “She’s just a friend from school. Her name’s Chloe,” he told her. He considered elaborating; explaining a bit about her, what she was like, who the friends were. But instead, he decided against it. “I’m sorry about the whole mother’s friend’s daughter thing. It’s just…” he trailed off.

How was he supposed to explain to her that you couldn’t just tell people that he’d found a strange girl in a park and taken her out for dinner? It sounded crazy. And, he realised, there probably was a very good reason for that. It was crazy. Who did that? But Conor didn’t have much time to toy with ideas as to what to do.

“The Tuscani Meaty Marinara for you Miss,” the waiter’s voice came as he presented Kore with a bowl of steaming pasta. “And, for Sir, a small peperoni pizza,” he said, setting it down in front of Conor. He then placed two glasses of water down for them. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” the waiter asked politely.

“No, that’s great thanks,” Conor smiled warmly.

“Well don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything!” the waiter said, giving Conor just enough time to nod before vanishing off back towards the kitchen.

Chloe, Kore thought. It was nice name, almost - lyrical sounding. She watched the girl as Conor paused in his speech. She had sat down next to a young man, rather handsome, blonde, with attractive green eyes. He slipped an arm around her, and there was something - not quite right - about the whole thing. Chloe didn't look at the guy, and he hardly looked at her. Both instead conversed with other members of the group, staying close, but seemingly not to connect with each other.

Conor's continued speech pulled Kore's attention back to him. He was apologizing. It brought her memory back to her lie, and, though it was still funny, she now looked at the more serious part of it.

Conor had lied.

She looked at him, waiting for him to finish the explanation, but he just trailed off. Kore considered saying something, maybe a little more direct, to force an answer from him, but before she could figure out what, the young man - the waiter - came back to their table. He was pushing a small cart with two plates on it and two glasses of cold water.

He stopped in front of them and placed one of the dishes in front of Kore, saying as he did so, "The Tuscani Meaty Marinara for you, Miss." Kore looked down at her dish. It was very bright, red and yellow, the mix of meat and tomato sauce thoroughly combined with fresh pasta. The smell was incredible, and just taking a breath made Kore feel like she was sitting at a grand table with a large fire at the end, attending a banquet -

She frowned.

A banquet? A banquet for - who? Celebrating - what?

Her eyes closed for a moment as the waiter put Conor's dish in front of him - another salty, savory scent - and then talked to Conor for a moment. She could see smoke in her mind - many different colors, each other lots of different scents. Words - droning mostly or cried in high-pitched, feverish chants. Arms raised towards -

Pain ran through her mind, and Kore gave the task up. It hurt too much - and besides, she had food in front of her. She returned her attention to the dish, a small smile crossing her face - it felt like a novelty almost.

Without bothering to explore the feeling, Kore picked up her fork and poked it into the dish. She scooped a small piece out and popped it into her mouth.

Instantly, her mouth started to burn - the piece had been small but probably fresh prepared and very, very hot.

As a reaction, Kore swallowed as quickly as she could, wincing as the food scalded her throat on the way down. The pain quickly faded, and she could feel places on her tongue where it felt like the taste buds had been singed, but even those were fading quickly - they were healing. She reached for her glass of water and took several quick sips, relieving the rest of the pain caused by the dish. When it was okay again, she looked at the dish and hesitated. It smelled so good...

Kore gave it another try, this time lifting the fork to her mouth slowly, giving it a light blow, and then carefully lowering it into her mouth. She chewed - and swallowed. The taste was a bit salty, but still savory and absolutely delicious to Kore's new taste buds. She took another bite, then looked up at Conor and smiled, her eyes crinkling a bit. "It's really, really good." She paused for a moment and then added, "Thank you!"

Conor watched Kore pick up a small piece of pasta on her fork, coated in tomato sauce. She popped it in her mouth with a small smile. He glanced away quickly, back at Chloe and their friends. If he had any sense he would’ve been with them too. He had even been told by Chloe that very lunchtime that they were going and asked if he would like to go. He shrugged it off, saying he had other things to do. He’d completely forgotten the offer since, and, when he’d suggested to Kore they come here he’d only been thinking of where was nearest; Chloe’s offer had been a million miles away in his mind.

Conor turned back to Kore, she was sipping from the glass of water. He caught a flicker of something in her eyes, perhaps discomfort, but he wasn’t sure. He brushed it off and picked up the first piece of his pizza, taking a bite from the end. It was nice, nicer than he was expecting. He felt an incredibly soft wisp of breath on his cheek and he glanced back up at Kore, who was blowing lightly on her second piece of steaming pasta.

After another bite she offered him a smile before saying, "It's really, really good." She paused, as if thinking, "Thank you!"

Conor reciprocated her smile, “Don’t mention it, you’re welcome.”

He was still inquisitive as to what exactly it was Kore could ‘do’. He felt he had finally been getting somewhere just before Chloe had come, instead of the slightly confused jumble of questions he had originally faced the girl with. But, now Chloe had interrupted their previous conversation, he didn’t feel he could just jump back into it like nothing had ever happened. Instead, he decided to go for a different angle.

He took a sip of watcher and another bite, swallowing before asking her inquisitively, “So what was it you were doing, sitting there alone on that park bench?”

Kore let her eyes linger on Conor's for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the smile, before returning to her food. It really was tasty, and there was an almost...new taste about it all, though by the heat coming from the pasta, that wasn't surprising. It had probably, along with Conor's food, just been prepared. Still though, even knowing that, Kore's feeling of 'newness' didn't fade. In fact, it remained as strong as ever, almost like... Her eating slowed down as the thought bubbled to the surface.

It was almost like she had never eaten before.

But that wasn't possible. Judging by how casual Conor and the rest of the people in the little diner were about it, they probably ate all the time - she probably ate all the time.

So why does it feel like the first time? Kore wondered.

Before she could delve deeper into the absence of the memory and the pain in her head that accompanied it, the sound of Conor's voice drew her out of her mind. He'd asked her a question. Her brain scrambled as it tried to remember what he had said. She took a bite of her pasta absently as she thought hard.

“So what was it you were doing, sitting there alone on that park bench?”

The park bench... Kore had almost forgotten about it in the time it had taken to make it to the diner and order their food. Her eyebrows wrinkled as she thought back.

She had moved to the bench because it wasn't often frequented by humans, and she didn't want to deal with their noise and trouble. But something about the question, about the way that Conor had framed it, and about the way that he looked at her - something about that made Kore shake her head slightly. That wasn't what he was asking about. Not 'why was she sitting there' on the park bench, but more 'what was she doing there' in the park.

A question that Kore wasn't quite sure about.

"A few days ago," Kore began hesitantly. "A few days ago... I woke up. On the black road." She glanced out a window at the people milling about and the cards stuck in the seemingly eternal traffic. "I was covered in open skin wounds and bruises. And my leg hurt." Without really thinking about it, she touched her left leg. "Whenever I moved... it -" She paused, wondering if there was a better word for what she was saying. Nothing came to mind. "Hurt," She finished unceremoniously.

An image flashed in her mind: the first sight at waking up, black stone - was it stone? - pressed closely together, but not so closely that there weren't still sharp fragments to tear her skin more as she tried to move.

With a shudder, she went on, "I got up. I moved to the white road on the side. Everyone walked around me. No one ever looked at me." Kore touched her stomach, her voice still even despite the pain creeping onto her face. "I was hungry, so I... I went into a little building - and there was colorful cakes behind glass. I took one, and -" The pause lasted only a moment. "- And then, the man behind the counter came after me. I ran, and he - I think it was him - he called someone, and I got chased."

A dark blue shirt with a white logo on one side.

Kore's eyes closed momentarily, in an almost pained expression, but she continued, her voice still calm, but now with a bit of an edge, "It hurt to run. My leg - it hurt. But I ran until I hit a circling of trees - lots of trees, more than I could count." And now her eyes really closed. "I stopped there. The man had disappeared." She breathed out, her voice calming again. "I think I feel asleep. And when I woke up, my wounds were gone, and I could move without pain. For a while, I just walked around, and then, when the sun was almost setting, people came - swarms of people. They were noisy. They were..." She shook her head, her eyelids flickering to half-mast. "I moved away from them. I found a place where they didn't go. That first day, I ordered the plants around me to close so that I couldn't be found. But after that..." Kore lifted her eyes to Conor, catching his. "After that, it grew to be too much trouble, so I just sat there."

She held the gaze for a moment, and then took another bite of her food.