If Sal looks mysterious enough it will be just as good as answering the question.

"....I'm really sorry," she says, quietly. "That you lost that. I don't know if I can explain or not and if I can I'm not sure I should. But I'm sorry."

"...I'm sleeping poorly. I haven't lost anything." He hasn't, right? Of course he hasn't. "It'll come back. I'm sure of it. It's alright."

Terrence smiles, still confused but encouragingly. He believes in what he's saying.

Yeah, see, the problem is that Inaaya isn't sure she does. "I hope you're right."

Meanwhile--

Jing Yi and Evie are going on a date to picnic in the park!

Probably there is no way to fuck there but, you know, there are dark places full of trees.

The fact that this is the order they are doing things is kind of amusing, but Jing Yi is mostly effervescent about getting to spend time with Evie and going ~*on a date*~ with her.

Evie is a wonderful cook.

Evie is wonderful at everything. But cooking is definitely one of the things she's wonderful at. "This is delicious," he says. "Best I've ever had."

Teasing: "I suppose you go for picnic lunches in the park with all the girls."

"You know me: famous playboy. Goes out with all the eligible bachelorettes."

Evie makes a tch-tch noise with her mouth and a pigeon hops towards her. It eats a piece of bread out of her hand.

The pigeons around here are ridiculously tame, but not usually that tame. He looks on with some awe.

 "They're used to you?" he asks, softly, trying not to accidentally scare it away.

"I've always been good with animals," she says, which is not an answer. "It's easy once you learn how they work."

"It's impressive." He's never had much cause to learn, other than how to tell if a dog is thinking about biting.

"Animals are just like people," she says. "If you speak to them the right way, they love you."

She smiles at a private joke.

"We're really not that different." She's got him in one, there.

The pigeon consents to stay near her hand while she pets its feathers. "Would you like to pet it?"

"I wouldn't scare it off?"

"You won't."

He reaches out to pet it with a finger.

The pigeon gives a happy trill.

Oh my goodness it's so cute and happy and feathery. (Jing Yi definitely does not have a dopey grin while petting the pigeon. Nuh-uh.)

Cute.

"You know," Evie says, "neither of us knows much of anything about the other's-- background."

"I know you work as a designer-- but that isn't really background, I know." It has been a bit of a whirlwind romance, hasn't it?

"I grew up in a small town in the West Country," she says. "My family was quite wealthy. A few good stock investments."