OOC: Ladon arrives from Another Day, Another Crisis


As Chief Scientist, Ladon had certain privileges not accorded ‘ordinary’ Genii. One of these was access to exclusive markets which were the only places where certain luxury goods could be purchased. Where the non-elite among his people made do with a variety of dried, canned, frozen, or otherwise preserved foods to make up their menus, he could dine on fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat whenever he chose. Not a gourmand himself, he mostly didn’t bother except on the rare occasions he played host.

Tonight was one of those occasions. Leaving the lab precisely on time (in itself a rare event for a man who had been known to sleep on the couch in his office and not go home at all), he shooed the other scientists out before him and locked up behind them. Then, turning right at the end of the hall instead of his usual left, he headed for the lift that would take him to the upper-class shopping district that was informally termed ‘the Heights.’

Several levels and two checkpoints later, Ladon was browsing along the aisles of a small, but well-stocked grocery. This wasn’t Dahlia’s first bout with illness – he suppressed a spike of rage at the thought – and he had a mental shopping list. Foods were brought there directly from the surface, where they had been hunted, harvested, or in the case of some more exotic items, traded for by the Contact Team, and he knew he could find exactly what he needed.

Several large, round sissas fruits went into his basket, joined a few moments later by a rare prize, a woven grass box of tart veev’n berries from Manara. He added roya roots to chop into the planned salad for a little color and crunch, then moved on to the next section. He was almost out of the canna nut butter she liked, and she needed the protein, so he picked up a jar. A swing through the butcher section netted him a greenfish, which he could fillet and grill, while he cooked the scales down into a broth. Signing the draw against his credit account, he moved on to a bakery not far away, where he bought a loaf of fresh-baked herb bread and a box of sweet crisps.

Finally, just as the hour-chime signaled the start of the evening and the impending dimming of the lights toward night, he gathered up his purchases and headed for home.

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