The fluorescent lighting and sterile linoleum of the fast food restaurant was neutral ground. They were a chain store, up and down the strip. Five hundred miles dotted liberally with the squat, square buildings selling sugar and fat and two hundred million people eager to stuff it down their throats. With replacement organs cheaper every day people were still fat, stupid and lazy, but it was harder and harder to die from those things and fast food was big business. Such big business that they had the best security of any public place, hence the neutral ground.

The fake vinyl seat was sticky as Falling Blossom slid into the booth. She was late; not late enough, it seemed, for she was still alone. The food in front of her nauseated her slightly, placing her squarely in a clear minority, but she busied herself with making a show of eating anyway, conscious of the domed cameras dotting the ceiling and not wanting to be forcefully ejected before her business here was done. She was so engrossed in her act for the cameras she did not notice the man walk in until she looked up from her color-a-dinosaur paper placemat. He saw her at the same moment, caught the grimace on her face, and adopted a haughty scowl as he sat down opposite her.

“You got some kind of a problem?” he growled.
“Only that I wanted to get through this without any problems and you show up here dressed like that.”
“Are you disrespecting my tribe?”
She slowly looked him up and down before answering, trying to decide whether there was any point in being tactful. In the end, she figured there wasn’t. “Pirate isn’t a tribe you fucking moron, learn some history. You couldn’t at least leave the parrot at home? Or the eyepatch?”
“I don’t have to listen to this.” He thumped his hands on the table and slid out of the booth. “You’re lucky there’s no way to get weapons into these places.”
“Actually,” she said, pushing the tray away and leaning back in the seat, her hands clearly visible, “you’re wrong. Across the board. I have three weapons on me right now and could cut you down before you take a step. More importantly, you do have to listen to this. Now sit the hell down.”