"Well, I mean... yes," said Levi.  "I always have."

"I'd recommend the West Lake vinegar fish, the oyster omelet or braised abalone," Lois said.

"They all sound great," said Levi.  Her tastes in seafood had matured considerably from when she was a child.

For example, she now ate fish that had been cooked.  With utensils.  And sometimes, she hadn't even just caught them herself.

Distracting herself from that sense-memory, she looked around the restaurant while she considered her choices before settling on the oysters.

The walls were covered with various dragon themed decorations, but there were also several large aquariums around. The table you were sitting at was a few feet from one, several tropical fish swam about in them.

Well, that was nice!  Surely a place like this could manage to make their fish comfortable, and regardless of anything else, Levi knew full well just how tiny the actual brains of fish were.

"So what are you having?" she asked Lois.

"I'm thinking about the baozi," Lois said.

"Interesting," said Levi.  "What kind of filling?"

"The barbequed pork ones are amazing," Lois said.

"Nice!" said Levi.  "What do you think to drink?"

It was a delicate question, the more so since alcohol simply didn't do anything to Levi.  She was too big, and her metabolism didn't put up with that sort of nonsense.

"We might as well go for something authentic like baijiu," Lois said.

"Sounds good," said Levi.  She ordered the food.

"...so I feel like I was kind of taking a big chance, asking you out," she said.  "It's really nice that you said yes."

"That takes me back to high school," Lois said with a chuckle.

"I guess?" said Levi.  "I don't get to date much.  Lots of people find my size intimidating, and I like girls, which is a problem with all the straight girls out there."

"I'm not sure why I'd say know. You're smart, attractive and a good person," Lois said.

"Thanks," said Levi, "but I know that I have points against me with a lot of people, between my size, the way I was socialized, and even my passions.  And, well... you used to date a guy, so I knew I was taking a chance."

She took a sip of wine.

"But I guess that worked out... so how did you get into journalism?"

"It probably goes back to my parents. My father's still in the military and was clearly disappointed he got daughters instead of sons. Certainly an annoying attitude in this day and age, but my mother had been a reporter for her high school and college paper before she met my father and would tell us lots of stories about her time as one," Lois said. "It certainly sounded interesting to me and so I majored in in university."

"That's cool," said Levi.  "...I went into science because my mother left me with a real interest in it.  Um.  Do you know about my mother?"

"I know everything that's publicly known," Lois said. "Though it's obvious some things have been held back."

"Well, yeah," said Levi.  "I'm not even sure what's well-known.  I don't know if they formally charged her with what she did, but the intelligence agencies of every nation that boarders on the Pacific have been looking for her for years now."

"There's a lot of supervillains that could probably go in that category as well, but superhumans seem to be a very American phenomenon," Lois said.

"Are they?" said Levi, surprised.  "I'm very sure that metahumanity is a worldwide phenomenon.  Oh, but the cultural aspect!  That's an interesting question... I wonder if the prevalence of American media in the world stage will affect that?

"...also, it's a fair question about whether my mother is a supervillain.  It really depends on what you mean by that word."

"There's been some rumblings out of China and Russia, but not to the level America has," Lois said. "And given that your mom is some kind of crazy environmentalist that wants to kill all humans, I'd say it's safe to include her."

Levi nodded.

"It's not much of a stretch, but she's not very public about it.  She generally didn't brag too much about it, except kind of to me.  And she didn't actually tell me.  Just kind of... hinted."

"I did read that bit from a report dad left sitting out," Lois said. "He really should be more careful."

"Unfortunately, it's true," sighed Levi.  "I'm working against her, but her plans are actually more subtle than you might think.  They're very long-term."