You lean back from Salil's back and lay your hands on it. "I'm going to make it up to you."
"Huh?" He doesn't look back, but seems a bit surprised.
"Just keep walking." You say, starting to rub his back carefully. His flesh feels dense and stubborn, not really responding to anything you do to it.
"Uhhh... might not work. I'm pretty sturdy. Appreciate the thought, though." He looks around a bit worriedly. "...but we're gonna get looked at, you know."
"How are you so solid?" You pout a bit but don't resign yourself just there, balling your fists and starting to pound his back rhythmically. You put a bit more force into the strikes then you'd be comfortable with, but and your hands already start to throb after a few moments. Salil's shoulders slump, and you feel his tense muscles loosen a bit beneath the blows. "And I don't mind."
He lets out a sigh and shakes his head. The tips of his ears and the nape of his neck, visible beneath his coarse bristle of dark red hair, begin to turn a little red. "That's... fine. Fine."
As he expected, a few people look over. You're just tipsy enough to not care, even if you're sure you'll be embarrassed about it in retrospective, and smile over at a couple gawking at you shuffle towards the beach.
The last intersection before the beach is busy and dense with foot traffic, with rows of bars and restaurants and other touristy places with billboards in an eclectic blend of charming classic neon, sharp holographics and flat displays displaying a scroll of enticingly colored images. The appeal is lost on you, already utterly satiated with your meal earlier, although you almost notice Salil's gaze wander a bit as you cross the street.
There's a last street running along the beach itself but the traffic is a lot more diffuse. The two of you pad onto the beach. Once there, you pat Salil's shoulder to get him to let you down.
"How do you feel?" You ask, stepping alongside him and taking his hand.
"Never got a backrub in public, while giving a girl a piggyback ride before." He admits wryly, and squeezes yours. He's a bit flush, but seems to be steadily getting used to your antics with an almost disappointing quickness.
You giggle and lean into his shoulder. "You make it sound lewd."
"I-I do not."
Grah, that expression again. Now you're starting to understand why he was recruited by AFAMILA. You step towards the marker on your AR heads-up-display and head over to a paved area where a number of stands and food trucks are set up.
The smoothie stand Kanya recommended is a little place run by an older-looking man with thinning grey hair and a deeply tanned face creased with wrinkles, happily making a show out of juicing fruits in some massive blender decorated with strips of LEDs and pearlescent paint in bright green and pink. The deco of his cart is almost as bright as his own outfit, a floral shirt and a sarong of shiny gilded silk, along with rattan slippers.
After he serves a couple of Millieu tourists from the merchant class (who gawk at you liberally), your ticket to be served punches in.
You step over and give a little wave in greeting. "Hi!"
He gives a creased smile in return, wrinkles around his eyes and the dimples of his cheeks deepening. "Hello hello. Another group of tourists? How are you liking Ta-khian?"
"It's wonderful! I love the parks and the shops." You answer, pointing up to Salil. "Although he's from around here."
Salil nods quietly, looming a bit awkwardly again. "Yeah."
"Oh! My mistake, then." He nods vigorously and steps behind his stall. "So what would you like to have, young miss?"
"Two smoothies with pineapple and... what goes with pineapple?"
"Mango, passionfuit, strawberries, oranges, bananas. Everything goes with pineapple."
"Oooh. Bananas, definitely." You smile and finally decide. "Surprise me. Two of... erm." You pause and look over at your date, tapping his shoulder a few times. "Salil, are you fine with that?"
"Yeah, I'm not picky."
"Then two of whatever, as long as you think it's tasty, and make his extra-large or something. Kanya said your stand's good and we trust her." You finally decide, pointing to Salil as you mention him.
The man's smile brightens a bit at the mention of Kanya, and he nods. "Yes yes, of course! Two smoothies, coming right up."
The two of you watch him strip the scaled skin from your fruits of choice and feed them into the blender with a blend of syrup and milk, whirring noisily as it's rendered down into a bright-colored orange-pink slush. What gets pressed out of the container and into a tall plastic glass has a thick consistency, full of fine crystals that must have happened at some point while the machine was blending.
Salil is reaching for his card when you swipe yours and pay for the two drinks, and then hand his to him, smiling. "My treat."
The man at the counter waves the two of you off as you leave, shifting his attention to the next patron.
You take a long sip, avoiding your palette to avoid getting brain-freeze and let out a satisfied sigh as the refreshing flavors of fresh fruit, milk and sugar blend nicely on your tongue and coat the inside of your mouth. It's tangy, sweet and just a bit creamy, with little ice crystals dissolving on your tongue to freshen your mouth with each bite, occasionally giving you something to chew on as little bits of unblended fruit go up the thick red straw. You glance back at your date with a bright grin. "It's good!"
"Yeah." Salil takes a small sip of his and nods his head back and forth, acknowledging that he likes it while maintaining his cool facade or something. "And thanks."
You shake your head and lead him along to a set of benches facing out towards the water. There's an array of pretty multicolored buoys out in the water lighting the lake up, and multicolored fish of all kinds swarming them. "It's fiiine. You paid for dinner and were an utter gentleman so far."
"Hmm. Yeah." He sits by you and drapes an arm over the back of the bench.
"So what do you want to do once we finish this? Since I heard that eating in the water gives you cramps."
"It's actually a myth." He says sort of matter-of-factly.
You promptly run a search on that through your glasses, confirming it to be true. "Oh! Well. What do you want to do now?"
"What do you want to do?" He deflects, eyes out to the water.
[ ] "We did a thing I wanted to do already, and I'm curious about what you want to do."
[ ] "Food trucks? You looked hungry earlier."
[ ] "Could go swimming. Do you swim?"
[ ] "We could do nothing, and that'd be fine."
-[ ] Lean into his shoulder.
-[ ] Kiss him.
[ ] Other, write-in.
