"Le Magical Night" was apparently really hard to get into and required a very exclusive membership to get into, cost a crap ton of money, and many wealthy business men and politicians didn't have enough clout to get a table. Still all Ken and Kate had to do was swap places with some people coming for their meal and...
The room had a bit of chatter as some nicely dressed people were chatting amongst themselves. Ken and Kate had modified their clothing to blend in with the richness, but... Ken couldn't modify himself and there was undoubtedly an age gap among them and the normal clientele. As Ken glanced around... He thought he saw a dressed up Cristoph before the head chief came up and said "Welcome our esteemed guests. Today is a special night, we have a belated birthday with our dear friend Christoph... and We'll be opening a single more table as we are apparently welcoming two new guests into our fold." Ken's face got a little pale as he realized they were being called out, and there were several eyes darting around before settling on them. Christoph gave them a look himself... and a table materialize out of no where as the two dudes they swapped with walked in. The two smirked and gave Ken and Kate a little wave. Ken wanted to just apologize and walk away but the chief said "Do not worry, This happens on rare occasion and our staff is always prepared to make an extra serving or two beyond what we anticipated for this reason. Throughout the day you will be treated to meals you couldn't imagine, and will be able to talk and chat with others around if they are willing." Ken for sure felt like they were being watched like lab experiments... or perhaps they were being poached. "Well let me bring out our appetizer the Atlantis" The staff then started coming out and serving bowls of... a soup with an island in the middle that looked like it had a civilization on top. Ken wasn't entirely sure how he was supposed to eat it, but when he tried some of the soup it was... entirely too salty... and then he noticed the island was... sinking... Atlantis. Ken looked around and everyone else seemed to be eating buildings, the island itself... the people... all with certain amounts of the salty sea broth... but they had all obviously had the appetizer before, and were more interested in Ken and Kate... were they judging how they ate the soup? The broth was rising as the island sank and as people and buildings were drowning...
"Excuse me, is there something wrong with the food?" The head chief asked Ken
"Well... I'm just... unsure... are the people alive? They seem to be panicking and... Is this edible?" Ken pondered
"The people are... simulations. Everything is quite edible, they merely appear to be alive. Try to save them, swallow them whole, mash them up... it doesn't matter in terms of hurting a soul."
Ken took a spoonful of some drowned land, building, and people... a small family all in his spoon. He took a bite and the land mitigated a lot of the saltiness. The building added a nice crunch like a cracker and the people inside... little bursts of a jelly like flavor... Ken thought it tasted great but... "I'm sorry... It is delicious and the mouthful superb but... I'm not that hungry for this."
The chief smiled a bit and said "That is fine, it takes a particular type of person to truly finish this meal." He then took the meal and placed a wrapped mint "As an apology for a lackluster appetizer" He then went to Kate whose bowl was finished... and the chief merely took the bowl without comment.
Kate frowned a bit and said "...Least Penny made these nanobots able to give me some taste receptors of sorts... Still eating is... it feels very different..." the girl wondering how much she lost as her humanity had been stripped. As the appetizer was being finished by more people the Chief came out.
"As this part of the meal has finished, please feel free to walk about and talk among your peers. Change seating arrangements... it doesn't matter much." People were starting to get up. Kate and Ken were still seated as they were watching what everyone else was doing... Christoph just stayed sitting, but everyone else... Seemed to be forming cliques or... heading in their direction. Like sharks sensing fresh blood. There were about half a dozen people vying for new seatmates with the new kids and Ken and Kate ended up separated. Ken was sitting with 3 other individuals. All of which looked like they were either indifferent or didn't particularly like each other, but were civil enough to stand each other's presences. Either because of some mutual trust, not scaring off someone new, or... maybe the Chief was more powerful than the three of them.
To his left a man with a strong build stretched out a hand "I'm Magnus of the peace group"
On Ken's right a lady with grey streaks and wisdom in her eyes "Call me Joanne, Acting master of those studying magic"
and in the middle was a lithe man with... extreme hints of flamboyancy hidden in small bits and pockets of his normally looking bland grey suit "And I'm Sinclair, best for last as I am an Artist in a group who have painted forests, and dusted the tops of mountains with powdery snow." The other two glared at Sinclair as Ken raised his own hand wondering who he would shake hands with first... His right hand was closest to Joanne and... there was something about magic... then again...