Marc shrugged as he looked at the menu, only recognizing a few things. “Honestly, I'm fine with just a cup of a dark rich roast. What counts as a good strong cup here?” he asked, relenting to trust her judgment on these travels.
Ariella hummed. "See, I'm a sweet, chocolate, blended kinda coffee girl. So I don't think I'm the one to answer that question. But they've got dark roast and creamer." She shuffled up to the front of the line and ordered the most atrocious, sweet, blended Frappuccino that shouldn't be allowed because it completely drowned out the coffee taste.
Marc huffed out a chuckle at her idea of coffee and shook his head. “It's too early in the morning for something that sweet for me.” he started his opinion before ordering a large straight dark roast.
Ariella grinned at him before taking a sip of her drink. "Maybe but I quite like sweet things. I think it helps balance out my crude nature." She winked at him. After paying for it, because they did convert the other money, she stood to the side while Marc waited for his drink. "Do you want to stay here and look around or are you ready to go to the next place?"
Marc was impressed by the swift service but just smirked back as he waited a moment longer before joining Ariella outside with his drink. “Ask me that after the caffeine kicks in.” he chuckled. “But if you want to show me around, I won't stop you.”
Ariella returned his chuckle. She could respect that. "Well then, we can walk while your caffeine kicks in. This place is rather similar to earth so you should feel more comfortable here." She had known their previous realm had not been in his comfort zone whatsoever.
Marc nodded before taking a large drink. “Thank you. I don't know if you can pick where you end up or how you would do that, but I still appreciate this.” he said sincerely, walking with her.
Ariella smiled at him. "I don't get to pick where we end up. It depends on the portal. But it's a little bit of a walk to the one we're going to so it's no problem." She also hadn't allowed herself to just walk and enjoy herself in a long time.
“I see. So, it's a bit of a Russian Roulette then. You either find a portal that takes you where you need to go or take a gamble on another.” he reasoned. “But how did you know there was a portal in the hospital?”
Ariella nodded her head, sipping more of her drink. The weather was relatively nice. Not too hot or cold though there was a slight breeze. "Exactly," she said. "Portals are made of energy. Something about my biology allows me to feel the energy and seek it out. So as long as I'm in the vicinity, I can find any portal. Where it goes, I won't find out until after."
Marc hummed thoughtfully as he enjoyed the weather, adjusting his grip on his uniform under his arm. He was going to near to bring that back to London once this was all over. “And this one we’re going to, is that one you’ve been to before or do you just know where it is?” he wondered.
"Yes," Ariella nodded her head. "I have my usual routes memorized and this is one of them. I try to stick ti them but sometimes when I'm in a bind, I jump through the nearest portal. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't."
“That's good to know.” Marc admitted, looking around. “It's amazing how different some of these places are and how similar this one is. How many portals did you say we would have to go through?”
Ariella just smiled at his amazement. She remembered when she had been young and amazed by such things. Now she had known this life linger than a life without traveling. "To get you back home or to my safe house?"
Marc shrugged at the look she was giving him. He knew he looked and acted like a tourist but there wasn't much he could do about it. If it became necessary he could pretend, but he would still let Ariella take the lead. “Either one.” he admitted. “I am curious about all this but I have a job to get back to and a life.”
Ariella linked her arm with his. "Two more portals to get to our safe house location. As for Earth, it might take a few weeks. There aren't many portals to get to earth. Only to leave it. And I'm still technically a fugitive so I have a feeling we might run into trouble at some point."
Marc hummed as her answer only stirred up more questions about all this. But he decided not to ask them right now since he was probably bothering her enough as it was. “Will we be seeing your mates that were in the car with you?” he chose to ask instead, raising a brow at Ariella calling herself a fugitive.
Ariella knew he had more questions and she would try to answer them as best as she coukd. But there were still somethings that were a mystery to even her. "I hope we find them. And not just because we need to finish the job. I'd like to know they're alright."
“I can understand that.” he nodded. “I doubt a police stakeout sounds similar but if I was on a case with other officers, I would want to check on them too.” Marc admitted, thoughtfully.
"We did prepare for this. We designated a location to meet at in case of emergencies. I'd like to check it out soon and pray they're there." She didn't know what she would do if they weren't.
Marc nodded, understanding. “Well, if it's going to take weeks for me to get back, I don't see why we can't check for them.” he agreed, not minding the possible detour… if that's even what this was.
"I wouldn't want to keep you away from home any longer than necessary." Ariella already felt guilty enough at dragging him here with her. She didn't want to make him stay here with her. Or travel with her she supposed.
Marc shrugged nonchalantly. “Do you think it will add that much time to our travels?” he asked, knowing Ariella had much more experience with this but he didn't think it would take too long. At the very least, it would be interesting.
Ariella thought carefully before speaking. "It depends if we find them or not. And it depends on what condition we find them in. We're technically still on a job and we have a deadline. If it's not completed by a certain date, they hunt us all down."
Marc’s eyes widened at the possibility of Ariella being hunted. “Well, let's go to the safe house, then we can look for your mates.” he suggested, clearly willing to help her. It was part of the reason why he worked so hard to become an officer.