schoollifecub | cmo for theairlock shit

[Junpei still can't believe it worked. He barely did anything, really--actually didn't do anything, not yet, or at least not in this history, the history where she's here. He remembers vague flickers of his younger self like strange murmurs from another room, stronger memories of Kanny, six years too young even to have ever heard of a Ganzfeld experiment, and knows that the zombie apocalypse must have done for their six-year-old selves what the Nonary Game did for her--for him, nine years later.

And it worked.

He's been giving Yuuri and Ruu their space, a chance to come back together in the new normal after what both of them must have been through (even though it's lonely, sleeping on his own again--despite Kip's offers to keep him warm at night), but he's curious as hell and there's really no avoiding anyone in the confines of the Temerity.

Still, he's surprised to catch her one morning without Yuuri as he begins his KP shift.]

Oh--Ruu-chan.

[He stalls for a moment, then points a thumb to the breakfast he's about to make.]

Uh, you like French toast?

[ Ruu doesn't like the Temerity as much as she thinks she should. It isn't bad, just different -- but she's spent so long in a world where different is dangerous. Different could get you killed. Even sharing a bed with Rii-nee isn't enough to completely settle her and sometimes she jolts awake from nightmares where the soft ambient buzz of the ship turns into the shuffling and groans of things on the horizon.

Ruu wakes up in tears which frightens Yuuri, which upsets Ruu more... it's a cycle both of them are getting used to breaking and last night had been a particularly long loop. When Ruu wakes up in the morning, she feels worn out like a burned out match. Rii-nee is still sleeping and Ruu doesn't want to wake her.

... but she's thirsty. She wants something to drink. And... the Temerity isn't so big. Ruu's a big girl! She can find the kitchen all by herself.

This plan is, of course, scuppered once she actually gets to kitchen and sees Junpei. She starts a bit, her eyes big and wide before her face settles into that expression of quiet suspicion she's been wearing around him since the word go.

But eventually, she nods. ]

... Mhmm. It's good. [ she loves french toast, actually -- her chatter about it with anyone else would probably be a little more enthusiastic. ] Is that breakfast today?

If I don't mess it up, yeah.

[Which he won't do. There's a reason Junpei's never been one of Season 3's dedicated cooks, but he's not hopeless. Now that he's not a depressed mess of sarcasm, mistrust, and exhaustion, he can put in the minuscule effort something like French toast takes.

He looks at Ruu, measuring her expression, and then moves over a bit, pointing to the mixture he's just finished mixing with the whisk.]

Wanna help me? Just to make sure.

[ Oh! That's enough to make her face brighten again, just a little. At the very least, she stops squinting at him in that vaguely accusatory way. ]

Mm... [ she certainly looks like she does want to help, if the way she's fidgeting with her hands is anything to go by. it's the very same thing her sister does when she wants to be busy, to be doing something. ] Rii-nee always makes it. So I don't know how.

[ ... but maybe, if she made some and then she could take it back to bed... ]

Is it hard?

[Oh, thank god. He's been on his best behavior and still, he's worried she doesn't like him. That's break-up material, he knows. Without the family's approval, he's back out in the cold.]

Nah. If it was hard, they wouldn't let me do it. Here, I'll show you.

[He turns on the stove and puts a little butter in the skillet, making sure it melts evenly over the pan.]

All you have to do is dip the challah in this goopy stuff--'goop' being the scientific term, of course--and then cook it on both sides in the pan. You want to be our designated dipper?

Yeah!

[ A significant increase in peppiness! Surely that's a good sign.

She looks around for a moment -- she's not quite tall enough to be at optimum dipping height so there's going to have to be a bit of assistance. They had a little step back in the clubroom she'd use but that's not much help for her here. ]

Can I get a chair? I wanna see properly!

[ If Junpei wants a little helper then by god is he getting a little helper. ]

Yeah, of course. Uh, do you need help getting it?

[He doesn't really want to leave the pan on the stove if so, but man, she's tiny. Can she manage a whole chair on her own?]

I can do it!

[ She's a big strong girl!! Just you watch, Junpei. She goes hurrying off to do just that -- and yes, the question of whether Ruu can manage a whole chair by herself is probably a valid one to ask.

There's a moment of silence, some clattering that sounds like her getting the chair away from the table aaaaand--

Scccrrraape. Sccccrrrrape. Sccccccrrrraaape.

-- ... what sounds like her dragging the chair along to the kitchen behind her. She's doing her best! ]

[He chuckles--under his breath, so as not to offend the smol--and lowers the heat on the stove a bit so the butter won't burn before she gets back. When it sounds like she's regained the threshold, he looks at her over his shoulder.]

So do you usually like sweet things for breakfast, Ruu-chan? I'm sure I can put a good word in for you with our usual cooks.

Mmhmm! I like-- [ oh wait, give her a second, the back legs of the chair are starting to get a little uncooperative and she has to give the whole thing a sharp tug so she can continue dragging it over. ] -- I like toast and jam! And melonpan. And anpan!

[ Fill this tiny girl with bread.

She gives the chair one final push until it's up against the counter and then hops up. Give her a second to wash her hands and tuck her hair into the neck of her pajama top (no hairtie, so it'll have to do. Now she's ready! ]

Oh, man. I can't remember the last time I had anpan. What I wouldn't do for some good old convenience store anpan...

[Okay, burner back up to medium. He makes sure the sliced bread and the mixing bowl are within her reach, then points to the first piece.]

All right, dip that nice and evenly, both sides, and then give it to me.

[Lots of kids are afraid of stoves. He won't make her throw that directly into the skillet.]

[ Clearly, they need to find a Space FamiMart and load up on the good bread. That's the only solution here. ]

Rii-nee can make anpan! ... I think...

[ She thinks because the Rii-nee she remembers -- the one with the pale face, the side bun and the tattered school uniform -- had made it for them once, a surprise scraped together from scavenged supplies, a treat she'd said they all deserved. The Rii-nee here, with her braid and ribbon, her warm smile and bright, alive eyes had never made that batch of anpan. Ruu wonders if it might taste different if she did.

She's concentrating half on that train of thought and half on the dipping job she's been given. She fumbles a bit at first -- she doesn't want to stick her hand right into what people are going to be eating -- but after a few moments, she lifts up a slightly unevenly dipped slice of challah that's saturated with the so-called goop. ]

Here! [ she holds it out for him to take. it's uh, dripping everywhere. ] How's this? Is that enough egg?

Yup! Looks great!

[The great thing about easily washable robot hands is that eggy goop doesn't feel gross on your easily washable robot skin. He takes the bread gingerly from Ruu and tosses it onto the skillet where it sizzles in a satisfying way and starts to cook.

Anyway, if their first attempts come out a little uneven, it's fine, he'll just eat those himself or offer them to people who don't care about presentation.]

Why don't you move a little closer so we're not dripping goop all over the place? Or lay some paper towels down between me and the bowl. That way there's less cleaning later.

[ As is usual for when she sets eyes on it, Ruu's gaze follows his hand with the bread to the skillet, wide with what's clearly curiosity. She's old enough to know that asking prying questions is rude but. That hand. ]

Yeah! I'll move.

[ She hops down for a moment so she can push her chair in a little closer (though she's pretty transparently keeping a healthy distance from the stove) and when she clambers back up, she pulls the bowl and the bread over a little too.

... she's still staring at his hand. ]

Where's all the food from, anyway? [ They don't exactly do a lot of stopping off at space supermarkets and Ruu knows that supplies can be in short order when you're always on the move. Not so much on the Temerity. ] Does somebody deliver?

[Junpei grins a little to himself as he cooks, but leans Ruu's way, lowering his voice.]

Well, I could tell you. But first: Do you believe in magic, Ruu-chan?

[One thing at a time. Letting her in on the secret of their Dad of Holding is much less frightening than explaining how he lost his arm would be. If she ever gets the courage to ask.]

[ Almost immediately, Ruu's eyes start sparkling. The combination of magic along with that almost conspiratorial tone has her imagination thoroughly caught and she leans in too. Her brow furrows a touch and her expression is one of almost comical seriousness. ]

Yeah, yeah! Of course!

[ She'd understood just enough about how she'd been sent here to know that was science and not exactly magic. But the way she'd occasionally seen the Junpei and Akane she'd known perk up with an seemingly random epiphany or seen them do things, eerily of one mind... she can't imagine that being anything other than magic. ]

It's magic food? [ And then, the suspicious squint is back: ] This isn't a trick, is it?

No, no no. No trick. And the food itself isn't magic. It's just food. ...Uh. Probably.

[Look, Junpei doesn't know shit about magic, he just takes the things Ardyn and Arianna and co. tell him on faith. He waves his hand over everything--the food, the pan, the utensils they're making use of.]

What I meant is, all of this? Oyaji stores it magically where no one can see. You know, like in a video game. And it doesn't go bad. [He flips the piece of toast over.] So that's why we haven't had to make a big grocery run yet, even though there's so many of us here. Because he's got a whole mansion's worth of food at his fingertips.

[ Somehow it's even better than magic food. There's stars in her eyes and everything. ]

So Jii-san... he can just carry all this around?

[ Isn't it heavy? is her first thought but she finds herself dismissing it as probably silly. If he could store it with magic, there'd no need for him to carry the weight around as well and it'd be impossible besides. ]

Can he carry anything? Not just food? How much can he carry?

[ She's bouncing lightly in the chair and there's the beginnings of a wonder-filled smile on her face. ]

Well, I don't know all the details. I'm not magic like he is.

[He leaves the stove for just a moment so he can track down some maple syrup and scoots right back into place. No leaving a child unattended around a heat source!]

But I think the biggest single thing I've seen him grab was a whole mattress. And it looks like he can carry as many things as he wants. But not, like, animals, or people. He handled the flowers Yuuri planted okay, though.

[He grins at her.]

Maybe you should see how much he can carry. What the absolute biggest thing might be. It'll be like a science project.

cmo for theairlock shit

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject