After giving Vreta the name of the park and it’s nearest transport links, Freyr went to the hall and put on a warm, waterproof coat. She eyed the pistol hanging up on it’s hook for a couple of seconds before electing to leave it. She didn’t want to be [i]that[/i] person who was packing heat the whole time. The street food market was only a few hundred metres from the door of her building, and it was well lit the whole way. Crime was very low in this part of Babylon, but something about this meeting was still making her uneasy. Freyr was blown away by how effectively the pill she’d just taken was working; she wasn’t a ball of tangled emotions anymore. Her fear and grief and anger were still there, but they were cold, manageable objects that she could store at the back of her mind. So that’s what she did, at least while she could.

Freyr left her apartment and went down a lift to the tastefully appointed lobby. “Going somewhere nice, Dr Lang?” Demeter politely asked, inhabiting the concierge droid by the front doors. “Just to the street food market, Dem.” Freyr smiled. “Won’t be long.” The droid bowed slightly, and threw a small orb gentle into the air. It quickly expanded into a thin, wide covering that moved to hover above Freyr’s head. “For the rain, ma’am. Enjoy your walk.” The AI purred. Freyr got a notification from Vreta, informing her of his arrival, so she just nodded and moved past the droid.

She pulled her coat together and stepped out into the rain, the majority of it being deflected by her covering. She crossed the road and entered the familiar lantern-illuminated path to the centre of Boycott Park, where the street food market hid behind an arrangement of manicured bushes. The panoply of delicious smells greeted Freyr as she walked through a leafy archway into the wide cobbled square. One of the store vendors recognised her and called a friendly greeting. She smiled clumsily, aware they were probably curious why she hadn’t shown up for so long when this place was previously a nightly excursion. She’d stopped coming when David & Amy were taken; she couldn’t face all of the memories of them.

Freyr found Vreta standing awkwardly among all the hungry people moving between stalls; she noticed some were giving him funny looks and a wide berth. She approached the tall alien. “Hey. Thanks for coming.” She smiled, trying to be friendly. “Are you hungry? That neo-Viet stall I love is over there.” She pointed to a colourful wooden stand with a laughing couple chopping vegetables and meat into large pans together.