Once Kasey saw that Siena had no problems eating and drinking, he settled down in his own chair. He looked over at Marion with a quizzical look, almost a smile. "We... don't eat here together very often, do we?" It was an absurd statement, since he hardly ever came out to eat - he tended to grab something simple from the refrigerators before heading into the lab, only surfacing to eat when Marion brought food to him. He'd only sat here once or twice over the entire past year.<br/><br/>Waiting for her answer, he started eating, enjoying the greater variety than he normally ate... or even noticed. When he was working in the lab, he barely even noticed what he was eating, much less any fine details or flavors about it. He smiled, and ate more slowly, looking at Siena now and then to make sure that she was enjoying the food.<br/><br/>After several minutes of eating, one of the Skinks came in, holding a small, stylish cake. Kasey saw it coming in, and thought it looked vaguely familiar, but didn't recognize it. After a moment, though, he remembered that it was their anniversary, and realizing that the cake was something for the anniversary, he winced but said nothing. He looked at the Skink a little more closely, trying to figure out if it was Zib or Zab... their names were much, much longer (and nuanced, giving details of their status in Skink society - which had changed when they were hired by Kasey and Marion), but they were fine with humans using a shortened version. He knew that Zib was male and Zab was female... but they looked almost identical to him.<br/><br/>The Skinks were a race of reptile that the humans hadn't even had to conquer - they were a jovial and friendly species, typically around 4 feet tall, who considered disagreements to be a private matter. Being cold-blooded, they loved the idea of working with a race that could easily alter the temperature around them, and often took on menial jobs for more affluent people. They loved heaters, and hated air conditioning, but were more than willing to deal with some colder areas (like what the humans preferred to be in) as long as they got their warmth, and the idea of<em>carrying</em>warmth-generating devices in their clothing was heavenly. For them, heat not only affected their physical energy, but also their brain power. A Skink was barely sapient when in a Winter snow-storm, but could be amazingly insightful and intelligent when the temperature got over 38C. Kasey had once considered the idea of introducing one to 40+ degree temperature and showing them how to do engineering, but had never gotten around to it.<br/><br/>And now, Zab (he thought it was Zab, but wasn't quite sure) was bringing out a cake for their anniversary. Kasey could only imagine how badly Marion was going to react...