Gracie and Hake Meet

He looks at Gracie with his stoic expression, stating blankly: "I am taking my time."

"No, you aren't. You're barely even taking the time to taste the food you're eating!" She said, laughing to herself as she shook her head "Listen, try spend at least 1 minute on one. I guarantee that you will enjoy the food far more than you are now." As she took another bite of her food, adding "Makes it last longer too, then maybe you won't eat so much."

Hake shrugs his shoulders slightly. "If I weren't taking my time, I would be downing these in one or two bites. Last time I tried going slow with it it became insufferable and I just resumed eating at my normal pace." He takes a drink of his water, letting out a big sigh after. "This is taking a while, at this rate I'm gonna starve..." He says while he leans over the table slightly, a dark purple gloom being shown on his forehead comedically while he continues to have his unamused expression.

Gracie smirked faintly as he said so, raising an eyebrow at him as she asked "Well... Didn't you kinda just do that now anyway? And yeah, it takes a while to make the burgers. You handled the wait just fine before the first ones came."

Hake looks over at her, sharpening his eyes a little bit for the sake of emphasis. "Once I eat, I usually do not stop. This kind of wait is killing me."

As he spoke, Gracie laughed a little, shaking her head as she murmured "You poor thing. Well, lucky for you, it looks like they're coming with your food" She said, gesturing behind him at the waitress bringing the 5 burgers, and placing them in front of Hake

Hake looks at the plate of burgers with hungry intent, his eyes lighting up a bit as he looks down on them. Bowing at the waitress before saying to the entire table: "Long have I waited for this moment..."

As he did, Gracie quickly swiped 3 of the plates away from him, moving them to the opposite corner of the table as she said "Eat them slowly. I'll give you the others if you take your time, otherwise, they're coming with me in a take home bag."

He droops forward on the table and attempts to grab it before she can swipe it but is too late, he looks slightly upset in a humorous way and says: "Noooooo...." Quietly under his breath in defeat. He eyes her once she starts speaking before replying. "But I have been taking my time...!"

Gracie shakes her head a little, nodding at the 2 burgers in front of him as she said "Not by my standards. And that's what I'm referring to. Start eating, and slowly, else these are staying with me. That's all I'm going to say." She added with a stern voice, with a taunting edge to it

He grumbles under his breath, grabbing the one in front of him and biting down on it, eating half of it already. Would seem he isn't taking his time still...

He just stares at the two with wide eyes, Hake specifically. This is the slowest he's seen him eat. "W-whoa..."

Gracie smirked faintly, shaking her head at him as she said "Not good enough. If you're to become the lieutenant of SCOA, that means you're going to be sitting at the table with people within the highest strata of society. You can't be seen eating in such a... Primal manner. Slower, or as I said, these are coming home with me." She said, once again gesturing to the burgers that she had kept a safe distance away from him

His forehead turns purple in a comedic manner, lowering his eyelids a bit with a stressed groan. He takes another bite, only eating a quarter of the half this time.

His eyes light up a bit, smiling at the two rather widely. "Wow, you two must really be a thing huh? I've never seen Hack act so tamed before!"

Gracie laughed at Maxwell as he said so, shaking her head as she said "Last I heard, the way to a man's heart was by giving him food, not withholding it."

While eating, he stops midbite and darts his head immediately towards Maxwell with an brow raised, looking slightly aggravated. "Excuse me???" He looks back at Gracie after her statement and groans loudly, burying his head between his elbows while he still holds his burger, his forehead on the table. He muffles: "Can I eat peacefully without any mockery, both of you?"

He chuckles quietly under his breath, standing up from the table and stretching. "Well, I've got to head back anyways. My assignment is finished, I'll leave you two lovers be now. I'll see you both again tomorrow!" With that said he turns away and waves at them before leaving the bar.

Gracie grinned at Maxwell as he said so, waving back at him, before leaning across the table to Hake, shaking her head slightly as she said "Better I get you used to this now than you having to suffer for it later. After all, we are going to be colleagues for the rest of our time here"

With Gracie's comment and Maxwell calling them "lovers," he groans once again, his forehead still on the table. He mutters quietly under his breath:

"I don't believe this is something I will ever adapt to..."

Gracie grinned at him as he said so, placing her hand under his chin and tilting it up to face her as she said "Well, I'm planning on becoming your boss soon, so you'd better start trying~"

His expression shifts to that of a more serious one, slanting his lips slightly.

"We shall see, I'm confident in my project."

He still has his chin on her hand, subconsciously resting against it.

Gracie cringed slightly as she heard him say so, removing her hand from his chin to gently pat him on the cheek as she said "Oh honey.... I don't know what to tell you...." She said, almost at war with herself, before she added, speaking in a pained tone "Your plan... Isn't the greatest I've seen..."

Hake raises a brow looking dumbfounded with what he just heard.

"Is not the greatest?" After repeating that, he returns to his stern look. "I believe you may be mistaken, these strategies are forged from my ancestors' ancient records; the many battles and wars they have fought in, including the war from a near century ago."

Gracie groaned quietly as he said so, hanging her head as she said "Well... Yeah, that's kinda a big part of the problem. You really think people would not have come up with countermeasures for strategies used a century ago, as you put it, in the most famous war we've had till date?"