sticksandbones | 01 ❆ netbook

[ The little guy has been summoned. He is very nonthreatening. He is armed with a pillow and a pout.

"Don't be mean" he says, bapping Akaza with the pillow. He had to be pointed at him because he didn't know what he looked like. Nice first meeting, ig. ]

[the way his face is just :D when he gets hit, standing over a pot of boiling water with rice and whole, unwashed or chopped sweet potatoes and eyeball lemon.]

C'mon, you can hit harder than that!

[ Oh Akaza you're gonna be so disappointed, he is very weak. Probaly cute that his aura thing flared a little about this mess. Dont be mean to his friends ass interaction.

He gently tugs him away from the abomination on the stove (which gets a Concerned look in itself)

And then he baps him harder! It is not even close to painful. ]

[akaza is not beating the "needs someone to cook For him" allegations.

his brows turn up in -- pity?? -- but his fanged grin is still wide as hell.]

You know, I should teach you how to strike a real blow sometime!

Uh... well I'm not really a fighter. Pretty much everyone makes a point of calling me fragile.

[ His stamina is so bad he wears out from dance practice. He's not built for fighting physically.

He's... going to change the subject. ]

Did you need help cooking..? I noticed the potatoes were just kind of in there and the lemon wasn't peeled or chopped up...

It might do you some good to learn, so long as you're stuck in this godsawful place!

[smiles blankly at the Cursed Pot™.]

Oh, I'm not eating that! Hahaha! It's for the loud one! [that doesn't narrow it down at All.]

Are you trying to kill him?

[ He's not completely serious, but like the look on his face reads pretty serious. He personally would never eat this. ]

What? No! [killing him is SO last year, aira, you wouldn't understand.]

... What would you make? I'm still giving him this, because I'm not going to waste food, even if I can't eat it.

[ He looks at this. Travesty. and he thinks. ]

Well you said fast so peeling the sweet potatoes would probably take too long, but you should definitely wash them off first, and then chop them up so it takes less time for them to cook through... and the rice is like, only half cooked so you probably need to add more water. Lemons are best used for their juice, and putting it in there without cutting it means that it won't really do anything but get warm. I'd have probably squeezed it while the rest was cooking and put it on after. Then the sourness from the lemon would be able to compliment the sweetness from the sweet potato.

[akaza stares at the monstrosity once more... tilts his head.

sticks his whole hand in the boiling water to just. squeeze the lemon until it bursts. voila, lemon juice! he's leaving it in there, though. his hand is, of course, burned when he pulls it out, but there is literally nothing on his face to denote whether or not he's in any pain.]

Kyojuro said he likes dirt. [shaking the excess water off his hand. away from aira, because he knows hot water will burn a human.]

[ Aira sees him just shove his hand in this boiling water and burst the fucking lemon, and he yelps. Akaza startled him- just harming himself like that, and when he flicks off the water Aira's quick to drop the pillow and start fussing to treat the burn. ]

Liking dirt doesn't mean he eats dirt! there's a lot of stuff in dirt that can make a human sick...

Don't worry about it. It'll heal in a few minutes.

[he isn't going to whip his hand away, or anything, but he doesn't see what all the fuss is about...]

Kyojuro isn't like other humans.

I'm sure he's not, but even so, "tastes like dirt" is a negative expression for a reason.

[ And he is also entirely certain Kyojuro is not immune to having tummy trouble from eating things not meant to be eaten.

... He's also still fussing. He doesnt care if it'll heal soon, its in pain now, so he's running it under cold water and drying it and wrapping it up-- ]

[well... congratulations to aira on breaking akaza's brain. not about washing root vegetables before he serves them, please be realistic, but in actually... treating him like he's fragile?? he is fully compliant with the kid dragging him to the sink and wherever else to be doctored, and just staring blankly at him the whole time.]

... Why are you doing all this?

[ It's Aira's turn to tilt his head ]

Because... even if it'll heal, you're still hurt now. Even if you're tolerant of the pain or numb to it, that doesn't make it okay.

[ He gives a little smile and a shrug, looking a little embarrassed he has to lay it out like this. ]

And because I care about you too.

[ He cares about everyone in the Grove. He cares immensely for the people around him as a rule. Always has. ]

[wounds inflicted by something mundane like boiling water hurt far less than those from nichirin blades or other demons. still, most humans he encounters just assume -- as he wants them to -- that he doesn't feel pain at all.

when akaza scrunches his nose up, it's in confusion, not disgust or anything. maybe he would have balked at the sentiment not too long ago, but...]

Why? You don't even know me, or the sort of person I am.

Do I need to? Even people who've done bad things... I've noticed most of the time it's because of pain. Though not always physical.

[ Kindness can heal a lot of things. Not everything, of course, but... Aira has resolved himself to at least try. There were a couple people who helped him before that had done truly heinous things ]

I give people a chance. Maybe it's naive, but... people pushed me away for dumb reasons before, I'm not going to do that to others.

[... how do literal children keep showing him up with their moral fortitude?

akaza stares at the bandages for a little bit longer. they won't even be necessary given another minute or two, but... he's probably going to leave them on for a while.]

... That takes courage.

[and immediately moving on so he doesn't have to dwell on also saying something nice --] It's been a few hundred years since I had to cook anything. Would you teach me? [-- that, and he's pretty sure it makes people feel good to be able to share their knowledge. at least all of the teachers in his lives have seemed pleased with it.]

[ Courage... He guesses he can see that. He's never seen himself as the courageous sort though. He brushes past the few hundred years thing because. well, he has eyes, he can tell this guy isn't human. ]

Yeah of course! I'm pretty good at cooking. I helped my mama in the kitchen a lot.

[ He is so happy... friend. ]

[friend, indeed... where akaza has been very reserved, his curiosity gets the better of him now. he doesn't shy his gaze away.]

Is that so? What did you like to make together?

Plenty of stuff- curry rice, riceballs, omurice, different kinds of soba and udon, miso soup, gyoza, oyakodon... but we'd also make sweets like dango or macarons sometimes. Macarons are super finicky though. Maybe I could make some for everyone sometime...

[ funny how much he picked up from simply watching. But it was coming in handy now at least. ]

Most things do smell though... maybe opening a window and venting it out will help?

[he's familiar enough with most of that, but a few of them make him tilt his head. he suspects a few of his old... coworkers would find the term "oyakodon" hilarious, but he doubts it's quite so literal.]

Macarons are a kind of dessert? [it doesn't sound japanese.] I've never heard of "omurice" either.

[to the attempted helpful suggestion, akaza just shrugs. he's more interested in what else aira has to say than in his own comfort, it seems.]

Ah... yeah, they're...

[ God, how to explain macarons... ]

They're very finicky meringue based cookies that are paired with buttercream or ganache to make like... a sandwich cookie of sorts.

[ A really, really fancy oreo, but he doesn't think Akaza knows what that is. ]

Omurice is a pretty common household dish. It literally is just the word "omelette" and "rice" shoved together. It's a thin, soft-cooked omelette stretched around ketchup or chicken rice, usually with cooked vegetables mixed in. It's quick and easy once you get it down. The hardest part is probably not overcooking the omelette.

[ah. more words that make no sense to him. he just smiles and nods. nothing going on in those eyes. and yeah, good call on the oreos thing.]

Just eggs and rice, huh? [he ponders... eggs have a really strong smell, but...]

I need to get the water to rice ratio down again, but once I do, I'd like to learn that.

I'm really good at it, since it was one of my unitmates' favorite food. I can definitely help you!

[ Its fine that he doesn't understand, a beginner would not be able to make macarons right anyway. Aira will just make some for them. Maybe he can ask Luca to use the Watchtower's kitchen really politely. ]

Would you want to try it sometime?

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