Re: The Stones (and maybe any guests they bring along?)
Oh, she had to be kidding. Brandon sat and was planning to just let the "meat" go ignored. He was completely satisfied with the rest of it right now and he was sure that because Kori knew of his aversion to the slimy, fat-ridden, preservative-ridden garbage, she wouldn't be too offended if Brandon continued to ignore it. But Leah called his attention to it, and he turned his head, glaring at her for a half second before turning the glare back down to the "meat" and letting it double.
He was barely able to bite back a comment about it not being meat, but he did. His eyes turned back to Leah, a "you can't be serious" look on his face, but eventually he nodded in spite of himself and gathered one slice—and only one slice—of the fake meat. "Only because I need the protein," he said, staring at it on his plate.
It looked no more appetizing now than it had before the end of the world, and Kori was genuinely lucky that he loved her as much as he did because he wouldn't be touching it otherwise. And he was fairly certain that the grimace on his face when he shoveled the first bite into his mouth said exactly that. "S'okay, Kori. You did the best you could with what you had. S'not your fault this god-awful shit is the best thing you could find."
The talk turned to Lilah, though, and he arched an eyebrow. He wasn't as close to Lilah as he was to Leah and Kori, but the fact that she wasn't there right then was worrisome. "You think I should go look for her?" he asked.