Dan took the bump to his side cheerily and smiled at her silly face.  He tightened his grip on her shoulder a bit and gave it a little rub.<br/><br/><strong>"Nah, I've been out here a few times.  I'm from rural Cascadia though.  Just rode out a few times with conveys like this one.  Well..."</strong>he looked down at the menu as Moira collected them and doled out drinks.<strong>"Most don't go like this one, but you know what I mean.  The road or the destination.  This is a long layover, and we normally hit up the street food.  Had some nice Phu last time."</strong>A certain sadness suffused Dan, his warm smile belied by his pensive eyes.<br/><br/><strong>"How do you know it was nice?  You didn't know what Phu was!"</strong>the soldier next to him laughed with a nudge.  Dan chuckled weakly and rubbed the back of his head.<br/><br/><strong>"Guess I'm not as cultured eh?  It was good soup though."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"Sounds like a fun guy this Slab."</strong>one of the others voiced.  It was a woman with short blonde hair, Beth they'd called her.<strong>"I'll definitely pick something up when we're there."</strong>Beth was the one who'd cracked the "Dan the Lady's Man" joke earlier.<br/><br/><strong>"Sounds like a plan,"</strong>Dan chimed in, leaning a bit back and letting his fingers slide over Bunny's shoulder and down along her side gently, coming to rest a half-hand over her hip.<strong>"We should sample some of his brews once we're back on base."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"Don't get too cocky,"</strong>a gruffer squad-mate threw in.  "Sand," Bunny thought she'd heard them call her.  She had a gravely voice with hair grey beyond her years.<strong>"We're not back on base yet, and we don't know how many hands we're down yet.  If bandits have stepped up activity we don't know there won't be more.  Bunny took out a mech, for sure, but that just leaves a power vacuum in the ruin's bandit ecology."</strong>She scarfed down half her blueberry crumble, then added:<br/><br/><strong>"nature abhors a vacuum."</strong><br/><br/>She was joined by every squad mate at the table, Dan included, who had apparently heard this phrase one too many times to be surprised by it.  Dan's hand seemed to probe a bit further down towards Bunny's hip, giving her a quizzical sidelong glance.