"Well, they make pretty great decoration."

"Why, thank you. Too bad you don't have wings of your own or I could say you don't need them for decoration."

"Thanks. Given my druthers I think I really would like one of the kinds that would let me fly, though."

"As far as I know the only way to get that is by asking a daeva-angel or daeva-demon, but it is possible." He speeds up just a bit now that they're high off the ground. The breeze doesn't change.

"Well, maybe I will and maybe I won't. At the very least I shouldn't try to get something that much more life-altering than a tattoo without seriously thinking about it. I'm pretty sure our kind of demon can't do that, or at least not any of the ones I'm comfortable interacting with."

"I wouldn't know about local demons."

Pause. Cue contented sigh. "Earth's stars are beautiful. And there isn't even all that much light pollution, pre-2000."

"You don't have stars where you're from? Well, I suppose you wouldn't, if you live on an infinite plane and not a planet. That seems a shame."

"We have pretty rocks and wildlife to make up for it, you know. And we do get to visit other planets, if we take summons. The view from Europa in my spacefuture is really something else."

"The science side of my brain would like to point out that Europa is not a planet. The rest of my brain is sighing in envy."

"Heh, good point. I can show you pictures. Maybe even virtual reality, if I can rig a headset later..."

They're getting near the coffeeshop by now.

Coffeeshop! It is near some other buildings and it's not obvious from the air what function each of them serves, so Daphne points it out. "Pictures aren't the same. Virtual reality might be, I don't know."

"It's still not quite the same, but a lot closer than pictures or video."

He lands, relatively stealthily, and walks toward the coffeeshop. Hopefully his wings won't attract too much attention.

Oddly enough, for some reason they attract less attention when they notice he's with Daphne. Her predilection for attracting odd things is well-known.

The coffee shop is rich with the scent of roasting beans, and has a luxurious pastry cabinet containing things like chocolate chip cookies as thick as a sandwich. The menu boad lists most normal coffee additives, and a handful of less-normal ones like peanut butter.

Nick has a little money, pressed on him by various professors, but doesn't object if Daphne moves to pay. He orders a 'surprise me' because, what the hell, novelty is fun.

Daphne will totally pay! She has more money than him, for now, and she's arguably his host in this universe; it's only hospitable.

Nick gets something with cinnamon sugar and nutmeg; Daphne orders a white mocha.

It's tasty. "Ahh, precious caffeine, where would we be without you. Except groggy or asleep, presumably."

"Nowhere. Absolutely nowhere."

Heh. "Plants come up with a lot of useful stuff, actually. Medicine and so on. Some make less than useful stuff, I'm looking at you castor beans and nightshade, but still."

"Ooh, best not get me started on that subject, we're taking a break from intense science nerding."

"Right, sorry." He takes a careful sip. "There's something about coffee. Even though it's not tasty by itself. Good stuff."

"Mm, yes. Now, if you could figure out a way to bottle the way coffee smells, you'd make a real fortune."

"I think that exists, actually... No, away nerdy thoughts! What won't send me back to science... Are you a fan of comedy shows? They're about as unscientific as you can get."

"Monty Python is one of the great literary works of the human race," she offers.

"I have acutally seen some of Monty Python's work. It's still a classic a hundred eighty years later. Do you know the hiding spot skit?"

"Nnnot that one, not off the top of my head."