[Packets successfully located and he doesn't have that particular sort of forethought, so it's good that she does. He tests a couple of them and then regards the rest seriously. He shakes them up a bit and then adds another packet of each and tries again.] Well they're a bit dry but actually not bad. Want one?

[That's more easiness seeping back into things.] Oh, the best.

[The easiness is nice. Sure, now that it's out there, she doesn't want him to completely forget the pictures but she'd rather have total forgetfulness than lose the easiness between them. She grins at him, reaches over and grabs one of his chips, eating it thoughtfully.]

S'not bad but you're right. Bit dry. [She shoves her batch of chips toward the middle of the table.] Wanna try some of mine?

[Oh, he's not going to forget them. Those are not mental images easily forgotten. Likely not even easily relegated to the subconscious for at least days.]

Absolutely yes. [He was reaching over as she started putting them in the middle. He'll go ahead and put his there as well.] Oh, wow, okay, vinegar after sugar, odd combination.

[Then the easiness is a very, very good development.]

Yeah? [Well now she has to taste this odd for herself. She picks up one of the vinegar chips, eats it and wrinkles her nose.] Oi. Yeah. Odd. Not...bad, I don't think. Just odd.

[Naturally the oddness means he has to try it again. And then possibly one of each simultaneously. Somehow that goes down better, so he keeps doing that one.] Actually that balances out the dryness. Hits all the major taste receptors too; vinegar for bitter and sour, sugar for sweet, and salt for... salt. Well, most of them. Most of yours anyway. There's another one, but it tends to hit the G-protein receptors; registers as a kind of... savoury, cheesy thing. [Drink! Enjoy the biology lesson.] Now, if we had chili-cheese chips as well, it would be a party.

I'll go order some. [She hops up to do exactly this, waiting while the chips come up and watching him over her shoulder. She comes back a couple of minutes later with a basket of chili cheese chips.]

You said most of mine. You've got extras that I don't?

[He drops a chip in his lap while he's waiting. Just because I can. He's very annoyed when the vinegar makes a spot. And naturally pretends nothing happened, taking one of each of the three chips when she gets back and proceeding to answer her question almost immediately afterward.]

A few. A couple of combination-specific and another couple for entirely different bits on the spectrum. This is much better - you should try it. At best they'd sort of compare to your somatosensory receptors, only on a... wider scale. Humans have got a lot more senses than they usually give themselves credit for anyway though - you lot lump them all under the same five headings but there's a whole mess of smaller ones most of you don't recognise.

[She's following along. Well not really. She's trying to follow along. He loses her around somatosensory. She does try the combination of the three chips while she's listening to him though, nodding her approval.]

That's brilliant. We have to do them like this all the time now. So that means you can taste things I can't. What sorts of things?

We really are going to have to do some running if we sit down to three servings of chips every time we have chips.

[He's got to work out how to explain that. There will be gestures involved.] It's... hard to explain. Like explaining colours to someone who can't see colours. Or ultra-violet light to about 68% of sentient life. There's your savoury, sweet, bitter, and sour, like I've mentioned, and then - well, no, you've also got that other one. Twenty-first century, I think you're still calling it unami. But beyond that... [...How do you explain tastes.] Calcium-y things. Calci-yummy. There's a flavour they like to use on Shan Shen that's sort of a cross between fish and mustard and chocolate; not a specific taste but just an example. Really it just comes down to narrowing in on things better.

Definitely goin' to have to do more explorin' and find things to run from. [Because why else do you run? She likes the gestures though and she thinks she understands. Maybe.]

All right. Definitely brushin' my teeth more now. [because kissing and tasting more means more tooth brushing.]

Hopefully the City will oblige and give us some interesting curses here soon.

[That's met with eyebrow waggling. And then random factoids.] Apples are s'posed to taste better after you brush your teeth.

Oooh yeah. Heard sometimes they do. Just haven't seen it yet.

[Oh waggling eyebrows are good.] Yeah? Now we need apples for later between brushin' teeth and goin' to bed.

Well I found being seven recently - for the third time, mind - to be very interesting.

[Well now that he's feeling playful, even if he doesn't quite get it out with a straight face.] You know what goes great with apples? Peanut butter.

You were a very cute seven year old.

[That gets a laugh and a slight blush out of her.] And chocolate syrup.

Thank you very much. I like to think it carried over a bit.

[Yeah, there's a bit of red on him as well by now.] And Chocolate syrup. [He eats some more of the .... chip concoction (because if this is the plan this evening then they need to finish eating and go shopping and get to it at some point) and thinks a bit.] Honey. A-and apples; old but traditional. Dunno 'bout the toothpaste.

Just a bit.

[And there's some lip biting and more red because he's red and there's honey being mentioned.] Nothin' wrong with old. I like honey. We'll brush our teeth later. After the--all of it, yeah?

[He's just going to nod, because talking like this about that is really difficult, and also sort of to keep himself from talking he ate another chip. But finally he gets out:] Yeah. Yeah, a-after.

[And much more calmly as only pretend-indignation can provide:] Better not be anything wrong with 'old'.

[She decides to follow his example with the chips but his pretend-indignation makes her laugh a bit.]

I'd rather have old. [She did not exactly think through all the implications of her words which means really she's never going to not be red if things continue.]

[He grins and gives her a fairly smug little:] Good.

Have you got any more bubblydrink? I've had all mine.

[I have no idea how long it takes to eat three servings of chips but I'm betting they're fair on their way to being done-ish? idk]

[Oh she likes the smug. Cocky, smug Doctor is one of her favorite things.]

Little bit. [She slides her drink over to him and starts collecting the chip baskets to throw them away.]

[Doneish works for me!]

[If she's collecting the chip baskets, he's going to finish off his drink and toss it in the bin and then stand up with hers and drink a bit of it and wait for her to be ready to leave the chippy.] So, are we... Going to the market now, or...

[Right. The market. Which makes her a bit pink again but she nods.] Yeah. If you wanted to. 'Less you've changed your mind. [She may be trying to gauge how far he can be pushed today or she may be letting him do some pushing. She hasn't really decided yet.]

[He considers that, fully aware of the choice she's giving him and loving her all the more for it. After a couple of moments he nods and then looks down at her.] We haven't any fruit in the flat. I'd like some fruit. Fruit's at the market, I believe. After you?

[All of this, the couple thing, the everything isn't worth much if it's not something he chose so choices are good. She dips her head in a bit of a nod then heads outside, reaching back for his hand as she does because hands always help.] Fruit sounds good.

[He nods then. Right, okay, They're doing this. Okay, that's fine. He can do this. He sniffs. He can do this. They're just getting some fruit. And associated accoutrements. No big deal. He instinctively goes for her hand as well, seeing hers for his out of the corner of his eye.] Luckily they're not too far away.

[I have no idea what we're doing with this. Actually playing through the shopping, skipping to walking home with it, skipping to playing with it, skipping to... something else? I don't care, I'm just unsure.]