Section 4 section 4 section 4...I guess this is it!
Nova clutched her basket tightly to her side as she walked along the street, a little skip in her step, running over it all again in her head. Her life had become an unexpected rollercoaster of emotions lately and while she was trying her best to put on a brave face, Nova was still trying to come to grips with everything that had happened to her since she'd arrived at Edensphere. Not to say that it wasn't wonderful at first! Meeting new people, wondering at the magic of her journal, the marketplace--the city! Without meaning to, she raised her hand to her hairclips, smiling at the memory. And when she met Toushi and Kazahana, getting her memories back seemed like a real possibility, because that was when she knew in her heart that there was something else beyond all this. Alive, and outside.
But then it all seemed to come crashing down around her, first with the strange memory, then Canc--Nova shook her head, Canon's strange goodbye, and then blood splatters and nothing but silence for a long, long time. Not that she wasn't so so glad and relieved that everyone had come back safely! It was just...that they had to come back in the first place! Where did they go? Why did they have to leave...m-maybe they didn't trust her? Nova sighed. She wondered if she would ever really know.
Still--there was pie to make, and...and Nova wasn't about to go back on a promise! After counting out all the ingredients in her basket and making sure everything was there, she finally approached Throne and Argent's front door--only to find someone already there.
Tall, dark, rather pale, rather a bit more fidgety, a young man had just knocked on the door and was now looking like he was going to run far, far away. He looked so apprehensive, that Nova had to laugh. She ran up the few steps, poked him solidly on the back and stood akimbo, basket looped in one arm, head slightly tilted. "YOU," she said pointedly, with a little sparkle she couldn't hide, "must be Want." She laughed. "Finally."
At the sound of the sharp knock, Throne slid himself off of the counter and with a hop, skip, and a jump found himself at the front door. Beyond it was the faintest sound of a voice and laughing, clear and bright like the sound of a bell. He assumed that it was Nova outside, but what he found when he gave the knob a sharp twist was double trouble. Here was Want, standing somewhat awkwardly on his doorstep, shuffling back and forth on his feet dressed in some of Drake's clothes. He had the strangest expression crawling across his face, part surprise and part something else -- not entirely unlike poorly-tempered dread. Behind him stood a pretty young woman, no more than his age, with long brilliant red hair and basket hooked on one arm. He gave her a short smile before quickly turning to Want. "Dude," he said instead of a greeting, "I cannot believe you're still letting him dress you. What are you, like nine?"
Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed a fistful of Want's borrowed shirt and tugged him inside with a small laugh. He then looked at the young woman amusedly as if the two of them were old friends about to share a joke. Rolling his eyes, he gave a sharp nod over his shoulder towards Want and, with an air of thickly put-on exasperation, sighed out: "Boys."
Taking a step out onto the landing, Throne reached out and offered a hand to take the basket. "Nova," he said, his grin softening into a smile. "Welcome to the neighborhood, I'm Throne. Let the full-frontal assault on culinary dullness commence."
Want smiled at the finger in his face and then at Nova beyond. She was basically what he would've have pictured her to be: sparkles and sweetness and improbable gastronomic taste all bundled into one concentrated package. The hair was a bit of a shock but more in the sense that it fit her so well that he couldn't believe he'd ever tried to picture her without it.
He grinned at her, feeling a little more relaxed if only in a no escape now kind of way, and was already to respond with "And you must be Novs" when the door swung open and suddenly Throne was there, being all sarcastic and manhandling-y as per usual. Want allowed himself to be pulled inside before trying to rearrange his clothes into order, managing, in the flurry of tugging and sudden movement, to squish his grin into a more appropriate exasperated expression -- even if the corners of his mouth were still tweaking up.
"Dude," he replied, "I am not going to tempt fate when fate is a ninja."
Still shaking his head and tugging at the hem of his shirt, Want smiled passed Throne's shoulder to Nova and said, "As I was going to say before we were interrupted, Novs, it's great to finally meet you."
Nova put a hand to her mouth and stopped a delighted giggle from escaping as she watched Throne literally grab Want and throw him inside his house. Because what Throne had let slip last night in his journal--which apparently, Want hadn't caught--almost made Nova forget about the entirety of last week. Cursing herself for really not seeing this sooner and teasing Throne about Argent first (although Argent had said that he liked caramels too--nevermind)...her gaze took on a more calculating look. Wasn't this lunch going to be interesting...
Nova beamed up at the tall, sandy-haired young man in front of her. "Hello, Throne--you look just like how I pictured you! Tall, handsome, not at all malnutritioned like Want over there" she batted an eyelash at Want, "Isn't that right, Want?"
Turning back to Throne, she refused his offer of help by putting her hand and not the basket firmly into his and shaking it instead. "Thank you, but the basket is a surprise! I'll keep it for now. And no," she sighed dramatically, eyeing Throne, "there are no caramels I'm afraid."
Before he could respond, Nova dimpled and let herself inside. "Well, this is nice!" she said happily, looking around at the homey apartment and the cozy kitchen. Then she turned around and scrunching her nose at the two boys still standing by the door. "SO," she held out her hand expectantly, "who's a ninja and where are your pebbles."
At the mention of caramels Throne gave a small cough, a tiny rush of paranoia running through him as he looked back at Want. But, as far as he could tell, there was no reaction on his face, no weirdness beyond what seemed normal for Want on a daily basis. And so, Throne relaxed, stepping aside as Nova brushed past him. "Oo, surprises, we like surprises," Throne said cheerfully, waggling his fingers greedily in the air as turned towards her, leaning against the door.
"The ninja is this one's temporary boarding buddy," he replied, blindly poking Want once in his side. He pantomimed briefly a few ninja moves as he moved across the living room towards the kitchen, before finally ducking stealthily behind the counter with a tiny 'huff'. Raising his head slowly, he stopped so only his thick mop of hair and his eyes were visible to the both of them. "He's swift like the wind," he whispered, waggling his eyebrows, and then laughed, straightening himself up to lean across the counter. "I'm sure you've seen him around on the journals, Nova, his name's Drake, and he's all over the place. Serious, dark hair dark eyes, white as a sheet. Kind of hard to miss."
As he leaned, Throne dug deep into the pocket of his jeans until finally he pulled out a tiny, round pebble. It was white and smooth and about the size of a dime, which he then tossed once into the air and then caught it. "Apparently Want's wardrobe isn't up to par, so he forces him to dress like a normal human being." He flashed a grin over at Want, giving his head a small shake to push the bangs from his eyes. Carefully, he offered the pebble up to Nova with a small bow of his head, the thing poised on the tips of his outstretched fingers. Throne said, "It's all yours, darlin. I submit myself upon the mercy of the court." A smirk, but beneath it, a general feeling of apology.
"Actually, not so temporary anymore. I am now a permanent resident of 101 Tree-Top Terrace," said Want when he got over gawking at being called malnutritioned again -- it was all muscle, goddammit! and if there was one thing Drake's stupid wardrobe was good for it was that he no longer looked like he was drowning in shirts three sizes too big for him. He followed Throne's little ninjitsu demonstration into the kitchen and bent at the waist so that he could rest his arms on the counter and watch, thinking dork, dork, dork fondly the whole time. "For all the seriousness, he's an awesome guy to hang out with," Want added, for Nova's benefit, before scrunching up his nose and shaking his head sadly at Throne. "We get along so well that it's a little scary."
He produced his own pebble from his pocket and placed it gently on the table and then looked at the others. This seemed to be a joke -- or not -- between the two of them and not for the first time, Want thought that maybe he should make sure to read each and every thing that got written in the journals and take detailed crib-notes to study later. Clearly, he was missing out on important things.
"There ya go, Novs!" he proclaimed anyway. "I've no clue what you plan to do with it, but I'm sure we deserve it." A little less cheerfully, he added, "I'm positive we do, actually. Sorry." It made him feel awful that this made Instance #4036 in which he'd apologized to Nova, but it had to be done. And he swore a silent, mental oath that he would make sure that he never, ever had to do it again.
Nova set her basket down on the counter, listening to the boys with interest. She definitely did NOT miss Throne's blatant blush at the her mention of caramels, but to her slight exasperation Want didn't bat an eyelash. This might be harder than she first though. No matter. There was time. "Oh!" she looked at Throne, "Drake is a ninja? I don't think I knew that! Huh. I suppose anything's possible here!" She smiled. "We haven't had a chance to meet yet, but he's always been nice to me!"
Opening the basket, Nova reached inside and lifted out her first ingredient and set it on the counter. Two stalks of leek. She inhaled their unique scent happily, put one finger to her chin and continued, "And Want's living with him now! How nice, Want, you can help him with his tomatoes!" Nova giggled. "I still can't believe he ate one even after I told him that it looked like a squished head!"
Her smile faded as she accepted a small white pebble from Throne and her eyes drew down as she slowly picked up the other pebble Want had placed so carefully on the counter a moment before. She twirled them in her fingers a while as the apartment felt silent.
Nova finally looked up and turned to the two boys, looking at each of them in turn. She shook her head, "I..." It was hard to get the words out, but Nova took a deep breath and plunged on. "I'm really really glad you're both all right...you have no idea--"
"--but this," she flicked one tiny pebble at Want's chest, "is for disappearing and only giving Bastet word to tell me you were 'OK' and nothing more!"
"--and this," now Nova flicked the other pebble into Throne, "is for disappearing and not even bothering to give word period!"
Throne scrunched up his face as he took the pebble, feeling it pounce softly against his chest. Part of him secretly wished that it had hurt a little more, in the hopes that it would do something for how guilty he really felt.
Moving past Want, Throne sidled up to Nova somewhat sheepishly and, wrapping strong arm around her shoulders, tugged her towards him until they were pushed up together in a kind of awkward side-hug. He'd done this before, once on the arc with Bastet, a strange kind of halting gesture of affection that, for Nova, also spoke of apology. "Seriously, darlin, I'm really really sorry," he said, ignorant of the fact that he'd opted for the side-to-side to avoid embarrassing chest-squish. "If I had known I was going somewhere, Nova, I'd have told you, I swear. Life sort of ran away from me for a minute. And I kind of dug Want along with me." Sure, it was kind of a half-truth, since Throne was still not completely aware of what had happened; but in his heart, he felt that he meant it, and that was as much as he could have offered.
Welcome to the Earnest Corner! Throne's mind said, imagining a marquis floating above his head, complete with flashing white lights. Pulling away he gave her a small smile, eyes briefly flickering towards Want as he leaned once more against the counter top. His hands, he found, were busy and curious in the wake of him possibly feeling very guilty all over again. Eventually they found one of the leeks and, picking up, he waved it through the air like a toy sword. A few experimental swipes filled the air with a faintly pungent smell and Throne brandished it, challengingly towards Want. "En garde!"
He grinned then, his guilt properly distracted, and then asked, turning the leek over in his hands, "These leek things are kind of like green onions hyped up on steroids. Do they taste the same, Nova? Like, in pie?" He raised a curious eyebrow, which he flashed, rather furtively towards Want.
Want rubbed his chest at about the spot the pebble had hit him, looking properly chastened and apologetic. It didn't hurt -- he hadn't actually felt it at all -- but as a symbol of Nova's frustration, it more than did its job. He reached out to ruffle her hair as Throne pulled her into a hug. "It took us all by surprise," he said, "and we basically couldn't do anything but keep up the momentum, you know? Keep moving or you're gonna get caught. What I had Bastet tell you was the best I could think up at the time." He gave her hair one last ruffle and let go. "So, just so we don't ruin the mood completely, explanations later? Pie now?"
Leaning over the counter, he started to poke around in the basket as well. He made a list of the contents in his mind and then mixed-and-matched, trying to find an ordinary combination somewhere in there. And having no luck at all.
When he looked up, he had a leek pointing at him and, beyond it, Throne, looking amused, with the glint of a dare in his eyes. Want exhaled a surprised laugh and gently pushed the leek to one side, so that it wasn't pointing directly at his chest anymore. "How 'bout we take care of all our other battles before we start in on dueling with our lunch, okay?"
He tilted his head in Nova's direction and added, "What is on the menu for today, anyway, Novs?" He held out his hands helplessly. "I don't know if I'm much of a cook, but I'm pretty good at following directions."
Nova blushed as Throne unexpectedly came up and hugged her. It was awkward like he hadn't done it much before, and a little strange coming from the side, but she could literally feel the sorrow and guilt pulsing from his body into hers which made Nova feel quite warm inside and just a little ashamed that she'd been so angry. Because beneath all that careless cavalier banter, she could also feel Throne's lingering uncertainty. Which meant that something really serious must've happened. Something which still needed to be thought about before the air could really be cleared.
She squeaked a little when Want ruffled up her hair, offered a similar and very heart-felt statement of his own, and although she tried to keep her frown just a little longer, Nova's eyes softened and her mouth curved up. "Ohhh...you two are impossible. How can anybody stay mad?" With a quick swipe, she grabbed the giant leek stalk right out from Throne's hand, stepped out in front of them and tapped Throne and Want each on the shoulder once with her leek, as if it were a powerful sceptre. Then she stepped back and finally smiled. "There, you two are officially Forgiven. What's done is done and I'd rather you two stay safe than sorry! Although--I...I think you both need to figure some things out still. On your own." She put her hands to her hips and pouted. "Pretending nothing happened fools no one, you hear?"
"But for now at least--" she continued, showing full dimples as she nearly bounced back to the counter. "it's pie time. A leek IS rather like a large onion, Throne, only much tastier. And now," she flipped open her basket, "here's the rest!"
Nova pulled out each ingredient in turn, announced them, and set each down next to the leeks. "One pie crust, extra leeks, apples, sour cream, cabbage, and" Nova paused dramatically, "some preserved fish jerky and one wild dandelion!" Her smile brimmed with excitement. "It's Nova's Hearty Apple Pie!"
And just when Throne thought Nova couldn't get any sweeter or cuter or more precious -- whoops! -- she did. He bowed his smirking face as she tapped him with her leek-y wand, much like a stately royal bestowing the title of Forgiveness onto one of her courtly knights. Silently, he wished the rest of his return back from -- well, from wherever he'd gotten himself to -- could have gone as simply, but even Nova could resist from getting in at least the smallest of digs. In response to her statement that business as usual never fooled anybody, Throne had the very strong urge to snipe under his breath, "Yeah, tell that to Drake." But, Want and Nova were right. That kind of business was meant to later; for the time being, now-business was pie.
What kind of pie, however, was growing daunting by degrees. Leaning his way over the counter, Throne watched as Nova pulled ingredient after ingredient out of her basket, like it was some strange wicker magicians hat. Only instead of bunnies and an endless chain of scarves, it only produced the cornucopia from hell. He poked at each ingredient curiously, lining them up in a neat row along the counter with his hands. Every so often he looked up at Want with a wary smile that said, Oh sweet god, man, what have we gotten ourselves into?
In the end, it was the fish jerky that got him. Up until then, he could reasonably fathom what the concoction would taste like -- strange but comprehensible, and not entirely weird. But fishy jerky? Oh no, my friend. No man was an island, after all.
Throne coughed, rather awkwardly and just the once, but then, quickly catching himself, preceded to pretend that he was choking on his own spit. Nova was, of course, infamous for her culinary exploits, and Want's reluctance towards it had gotten him in trouble. There was no way Throne would find himself in that same boat, besides, that was the point of today wasn't it? To make amends and bake some pie and do it all in the name of friendship. Pounding at his chest with a fist, Throne allowed his little sputters and wheezes to die off. His fingers crawled along the counter top until it finally found the cracked measuring cup, the one he'd scavenged for just this occasion.
"This," he said with one final cough, nudging Nova with an elbow and offering it. "This is for you. Hokey, I know, but I just couldn't help myself. What can I say, I'm a sucker for pretty girls." He waggled it side to side at her as he spoke. "I know it's not the greatest one in the world, and it kind of leaks everywhere. But if you measure like really really quickly, I figure it'll get the job done." He smiled at her, his cheeks bright pink from all of his coughing.
Official forgiveness, even if it just meant being tapped on the shoulder with a leek, actually made Want feel a lot better, like the tap drained away all his anxiety from the last few days, like it was some sign from above that things were well and truly over now, and they could get back to... well, as ordinary as ordinary ever got in Edensphere. He grinned at Nova and said, "Yeah, that sounds about right. You're definitely the sensible one here, Novs."
Of course, that proclamation was called into question the very next minute as she started to empty her basket and spread its contents out on the counter. Want had been mentally steeling himself for this moment for a while, so he managed to keep his face mostly composed -- only looking frantic when he was sure Nova was looking away and when Throne looked over at him. But even he couldn't quite hold up against the culinary revelation that was fish jerky. Even on its own, that sounded like something you might feed a cat or maybe use to survive a cold Nordic winter when the only other alternative was eating your own leg to survive. And combined with sour cream and leeks and apples? Want couldn't help it; his nose crinkled at the thought.
But he persevered and managed to say "It sounds hearty" without it coming out sarcastically.
He surveyed the rest of the items on the table, Throne's provided equipment and picked up an almost L-shaped whisk. He held it up to eye-level and peered through the metal wires at Throne, raising an eyebrow. "You've got actual kitchen stuff! I'm impressed. More hidden depths -- will they ever end?" He placed the whisk back on the table and smiled lopsidedly. "We at Chez Drake have not progressed beyond the 'Just add water' stage yet." He nudged Nova with his elbow and stage-whispered, "So tackle me if I try to add baking soda instead of sugar to something, okay?"
Nova grinned at Want. "Yes, it does, doesn't it? And don't worry...baking soda is delicious!" Nova looked on happily, pleased at seeing the majority of the tension flow right out of the two boys when she had announced them forgiven with that stalk of leek. Sure it was playful, perhaps even a little silly, but to Nova there was truth in every joke, and sometimes it was in those jokes that she was most serious. "Hmmph! 'Avoid the food'," she continued, eyeing Want, "Trust me, after today, you'll never even THINK that anymore!"
Nova looked at Throne, eyes softening and becoming positively luminous as he offered her a simple measuring cup. "You're wrong," she said simply, taking the cup gently from him, "it is the greatest measuring cup in the world." She rotated it in her hands, "Besides, that crack just gives it character! What have I any need for a perfect, shiny cup, anyway? To me that's just--just intimidating!" Casting her eye back over the counter, Nova ran a hand across all the kitchen supplies that Throne had so obviously painstakingly set out just for her. Spoons and knifes, bowls and plates. She looked back at him, touched to the heart. "T-thank you, for all this. It's really...just wonderful."
Nova clapped her hands. "OK! Time to get started! Because, Want? It sort of sounds like you've been dying of hunger, but with three people, the pie should be done in no time! Here," she handed the apples to Want. "Peel!"
"And here," she handed the cabbage and leeks to Throne. "Chop! And preheat your oven please?"
Nova herself opening the huge tub of sour cream and poured a nice big portion into her measuring cup. Beaming, she raised it to the boys and shook it a little. "See? No leaks whatsoever."
The strangest expression then crossed Throne's face, just as he was in the middle of dividing appropriate ingredients between him and Want. One hand was outstretched to the boy in front of him, apple in hand, when suddenly the muscles of Throne's face went very tense and pinched, as if trying very hard not to smile or laugh. He did anyway, a small burst of laughter escaping from his lips. "Okay, okay, I know I'm totally horrible, but I just can't help myself," he grinned with a passing sheepishness. "Pun totally intended, right?" He brandished a leek with his free hand, almost poking Nova in the nose. It trembled slightly as he giggled. He then hung his head in fake shame and shook it once, slowly side to side, before peaking up through his bangs at Want, who was shaking his head along with him.
"What?" Throne asked looking slightly offended, now turning the leek towards him. He leaned back, digging into a nearby drawer, his free hand searching. "You were totally thinking it, dude." He gave his head a small indignant toss. "I merely said it outloud. Ta da!" Pulling his hand free again, he tossed a vegetable peeler to Want that was more than just a little worse for wear. One edge of the peeling blade was quite mangled, almost serrated with dozens of deep hatches into the metal. Throne shrugged, brushing past the both of them, leeks and cabbage and beatup butcher's board in his arms. He made a small space for himself on the counter, and -- with the ease of somebody who knew what he was doing, or at least pretending really really hard to appear that way -- began chopping as per Nova's request.
"Eh," he gave Want an apologetic shrug, nodding towards the peeler in this hand. "It kind of ends up eating whatever it peels, but beggars can't be choosers, right? Besides," he added with a smile, "I figure Mr. Insta-food can't tell the difference."
Throne chopped, as well as he could manage, his face slightly screwed up with concentration. Even portions, right? "So, Nova," he eventually asked. "Seems like you've got this stuff figured all out, huh? Honestly, this stuff is practically mystical mumbo jumbo to me. Kind of like magic." He paused, and then offered, "Maybe you were a cook? You know, once upon a time?" He looked up, pausing mid-slice, and gave her a look that seemed to say, You know, before the Sphere.
Want took the peeler with silent, judging eyes. But as he turned away, he grinned, figuring that any pun which he wasn't implicated in was an okay pun. Even the really, really terrible ones. He cleared a space of his own on the counter, grabbed one of the chipped bowls off the counter, and started peeling into it. Or, well, trying to. Throne was right; it was a fight. The peeler would go a third of an inch and then stick, and only twisting and turning and dislodging a big chunk of apple could get it going again. After a minute, though, he managed to get a rhythm going by wiggling the peeler back and forth rather than trying to plow it through the peel straight on.
"Yeah," he chimed in, "maybe you were a chef, Nova. You certainly seem to love doing it. And you know way more about it than anyone else I've met, except maybe Claw." He shot a look at Throne, intended to convey Not that any of this is meant to suggest that there is something wrong with instant food, and also whatever, when did you become a gourmet. Then he grinned back at Nova. "So what do you think? You're pretty good at making sure a kitchen runs smoothly. D'you think you could yell at picky customers and make a hundred meals a night?"
He finished the second apple and plunked it down on the table next to the first. They were dented and still had flecks of skin on them, but he figured it was close enough. It was all going in a pie crust, right? Didn't have to be pretty.
The little bowl was now filled with apple scraps, though, and that needed to be taken care of before he went to work on the third. He picked it up and went to find a trash can or something to dump the scraps into, figuring that it would probably be in the same place as the one in Drake's house. As he passed by Throne, he paused long enough to swipe a sliver of apple peel out of the bowl and flick it at Throne's head, grinning and trying to look innocent all at once.
"What?" he said preemptively. "The color suits you."
Nova blinked, confused. "B-but..." she turned the measuring cup upsidedown and shook it, "it's really not lea--OH!" She let out a light peel of laughter and mock glared at Throne as he laughed himself and almost poked her in the nose. "You're terrible."
Then Nova stuck out her tongue, looked at Want and said, "Now that you two seem to be spending quite a bit of time together," here she blinked at Throne before turning back to the dark-haired boy, "best be careful of that terrible sense of humour!" She put a finger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling. "Since I hear that when people spend time together, they start sounding and looking more and more alike..." she trailed off, grinning impishly at them both.
After basically plonking two measuring cups full of sour cream into the pie crust, Nova picked up the fish jerky, and after pausing a bit uncertainly, shrugged, and plonked it in there too. Nodding in satisfaction, she picked up the dandelion and began dropping petals along the edge. "Well," she said to Throne and Want's question, "I'm...I'm really not sure! I had a picnic in my dream," she ventured quietly, smiling softly at the memory, "and the spread had the most delicious foods...it's from that that I got a lot of my ideas! But--" she finished and wiped her hands on one of Throne's dishcloths. "While my dream told me that I loved to cook, I'm fairly sure I wasn't a chef, since there were other things too--forests, eyes, a giant globe..." Nova gasped. "Maybe an astronaut chef!"
Nova clutched her basket tightly to her side as she walked along the street, a little skip in her step, running over it all again in her head. Her life had become an unexpected rollercoaster of emotions lately and while she was trying her best to put on a brave face, Nova was still trying to come to grips with everything that had happened to her since she'd arrived at Edensphere. Not to say that it wasn't wonderful at first! Meeting new people, wondering at the magic of her journal, the marketplace--the city! Without meaning to, she raised her hand to her hairclips, smiling at the memory. And when she met Toushi and Kazahana, getting her memories back seemed like a real possibility, because that was when she knew in her heart that there was something else beyond all this. Alive, and outside.
But then it all seemed to come crashing down around her, first with the strange memory, then Canc--Nova shook her head, Canon's strange goodbye, and then blood splatters and nothing but silence for a long, long time. Not that she wasn't so so glad and relieved that everyone had come back safely! It was just...that they had to come back in the first place! Where did they go? Why did they have to leave...m-maybe they didn't trust her? Nova sighed. She wondered if she would ever really know.
Still--there was pie to make, and...and Nova wasn't about to go back on a promise! After counting out all the ingredients in her basket and making sure everything was there, she finally approached Throne and Argent's front door--only to find someone already there.
Tall, dark, rather pale, rather a bit more fidgety, a young man had just knocked on the door and was now looking like he was going to run far, far away. He looked so apprehensive, that Nova had to laugh. She ran up the few steps, poked him solidly on the back and stood akimbo, basket looped in one arm, head slightly tilted. "YOU," she said pointedly, with a little sparkle she couldn't hide, "must be Want." She laughed. "Finally."
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Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed a fistful of Want's borrowed shirt and tugged him inside with a small laugh. He then looked at the young woman amusedly as if the two of them were old friends about to share a joke. Rolling his eyes, he gave a sharp nod over his shoulder towards Want and, with an air of thickly put-on exasperation, sighed out: "Boys."
Taking a step out onto the landing, Throne reached out and offered a hand to take the basket. "Nova," he said, his grin softening into a smile. "Welcome to the neighborhood, I'm Throne. Let the full-frontal assault on culinary dullness commence."
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He grinned at her, feeling a little more relaxed if only in a no escape now kind of way, and was already to respond with "And you must be Novs" when the door swung open and suddenly Throne was there, being all sarcastic and manhandling-y as per usual. Want allowed himself to be pulled inside before trying to rearrange his clothes into order, managing, in the flurry of tugging and sudden movement, to squish his grin into a more appropriate exasperated expression -- even if the corners of his mouth were still tweaking up.
"Dude," he replied, "I am not going to tempt fate when fate is a ninja."
Still shaking his head and tugging at the hem of his shirt, Want smiled passed Throne's shoulder to Nova and said, "As I was going to say before we were interrupted, Novs, it's great to finally meet you."
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Nova beamed up at the tall, sandy-haired young man in front of her. "Hello, Throne--you look just like how I pictured you! Tall, handsome, not at all malnutritioned like Want over there" she batted an eyelash at Want, "Isn't that right, Want?"
Turning back to Throne, she refused his offer of help by putting her hand and not the basket firmly into his and shaking it instead. "Thank you, but the basket is a surprise! I'll keep it for now. And no," she sighed dramatically, eyeing Throne, "there are no caramels I'm afraid."
Before he could respond, Nova dimpled and let herself inside. "Well, this is nice!" she said happily, looking around at the homey apartment and the cozy kitchen. Then she turned around and scrunching her nose at the two boys still standing by the door. "SO," she held out her hand expectantly, "who's a ninja and where are your pebbles."
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"The ninja is this one's temporary boarding buddy," he replied, blindly poking Want once in his side. He pantomimed briefly a few ninja moves as he moved across the living room towards the kitchen, before finally ducking stealthily behind the counter with a tiny 'huff'. Raising his head slowly, he stopped so only his thick mop of hair and his eyes were visible to the both of them. "He's swift like the wind," he whispered, waggling his eyebrows, and then laughed, straightening himself up to lean across the counter. "I'm sure you've seen him around on the journals, Nova, his name's Drake, and he's all over the place. Serious, dark hair dark eyes, white as a sheet. Kind of hard to miss."
As he leaned, Throne dug deep into the pocket of his jeans until finally he pulled out a tiny, round pebble. It was white and smooth and about the size of a dime, which he then tossed once into the air and then caught it. "Apparently Want's wardrobe isn't up to par, so he forces him to dress like a normal human being." He flashed a grin over at Want, giving his head a small shake to push the bangs from his eyes. Carefully, he offered the pebble up to Nova with a small bow of his head, the thing poised on the tips of his outstretched fingers. Throne said, "It's all yours, darlin. I submit myself upon the mercy of the court." A smirk, but beneath it, a general feeling of apology.
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He produced his own pebble from his pocket and placed it gently on the table and then looked at the others. This seemed to be a joke -- or not -- between the two of them and not for the first time, Want thought that maybe he should make sure to read each and every thing that got written in the journals and take detailed crib-notes to study later. Clearly, he was missing out on important things.
"There ya go, Novs!" he proclaimed anyway. "I've no clue what you plan to do with it, but I'm sure we deserve it." A little less cheerfully, he added, "I'm positive we do, actually. Sorry." It made him feel awful that this made Instance #4036 in which he'd apologized to Nova, but it had to be done. And he swore a silent, mental oath that he would make sure that he never, ever had to do it again.
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Opening the basket, Nova reached inside and lifted out her first ingredient and set it on the counter. Two stalks of leek. She inhaled their unique scent happily, put one finger to her chin and continued, "And Want's living with him now! How nice, Want, you can help him with his tomatoes!" Nova giggled. "I still can't believe he ate one even after I told him that it looked like a squished head!"
Her smile faded as she accepted a small white pebble from Throne and her eyes drew down as she slowly picked up the other pebble Want had placed so carefully on the counter a moment before. She twirled them in her fingers a while as the apartment felt silent.
Nova finally looked up and turned to the two boys, looking at each of them in turn. She shook her head, "I..." It was hard to get the words out, but Nova took a deep breath and plunged on. "I'm really really glad you're both all right...you have no idea--"
"--but this," she flicked one tiny pebble at Want's chest, "is for disappearing and only giving Bastet word to tell me you were 'OK' and nothing more!"
"--and this," now Nova flicked the other pebble into Throne, "is for disappearing and not even bothering to give word period!"
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Moving past Want, Throne sidled up to Nova somewhat sheepishly and, wrapping strong arm around her shoulders, tugged her towards him until they were pushed up together in a kind of awkward side-hug. He'd done this before, once on the arc with Bastet, a strange kind of halting gesture of affection that, for Nova, also spoke of apology. "Seriously, darlin, I'm really really sorry," he said, ignorant of the fact that he'd opted for the side-to-side to avoid embarrassing chest-squish. "If I had known I was going somewhere, Nova, I'd have told you, I swear. Life sort of ran away from me for a minute. And I kind of dug Want along with me." Sure, it was kind of a half-truth, since Throne was still not completely aware of what had happened; but in his heart, he felt that he meant it, and that was as much as he could have offered.
Welcome to the Earnest Corner! Throne's mind said, imagining a marquis floating above his head, complete with flashing white lights. Pulling away he gave her a small smile, eyes briefly flickering towards Want as he leaned once more against the counter top. His hands, he found, were busy and curious in the wake of him possibly feeling very guilty all over again. Eventually they found one of the leeks and, picking up, he waved it through the air like a toy sword. A few experimental swipes filled the air with a faintly pungent smell and Throne brandished it, challengingly towards Want. "En garde!"
He grinned then, his guilt properly distracted, and then asked, turning the leek over in his hands, "These leek things are kind of like green onions hyped up on steroids. Do they taste the same, Nova? Like, in pie?" He raised a curious eyebrow, which he flashed, rather furtively towards Want.
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Leaning over the counter, he started to poke around in the basket as well. He made a list of the contents in his mind and then mixed-and-matched, trying to find an ordinary combination somewhere in there. And having no luck at all.
When he looked up, he had a leek pointing at him and, beyond it, Throne, looking amused, with the glint of a dare in his eyes. Want exhaled a surprised laugh and gently pushed the leek to one side, so that it wasn't pointing directly at his chest anymore. "How 'bout we take care of all our other battles before we start in on dueling with our lunch, okay?"
He tilted his head in Nova's direction and added, "What is on the menu for today, anyway, Novs?" He held out his hands helplessly. "I don't know if I'm much of a cook, but I'm pretty good at following directions."
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She squeaked a little when Want ruffled up her hair, offered a similar and very heart-felt statement of his own, and although she tried to keep her frown just a little longer, Nova's eyes softened and her mouth curved up. "Ohhh...you two are impossible. How can anybody stay mad?" With a quick swipe, she grabbed the giant leek stalk right out from Throne's hand, stepped out in front of them and tapped Throne and Want each on the shoulder once with her leek, as if it were a powerful sceptre. Then she stepped back and finally smiled. "There, you two are officially Forgiven. What's done is done and I'd rather you two stay safe than sorry! Although--I...I think you both need to figure some things out still. On your own." She put her hands to her hips and pouted. "Pretending nothing happened fools no one, you hear?"
"But for now at least--" she continued, showing full dimples as she nearly bounced back to the counter. "it's pie time. A leek IS rather like a large onion, Throne, only much tastier. And now," she flipped open her basket, "here's the rest!"
Nova pulled out each ingredient in turn, announced them, and set each down next to the leeks. "One pie crust, extra leeks, apples, sour cream, cabbage, and" Nova paused dramatically, "some preserved fish jerky and one wild dandelion!" Her smile brimmed with excitement. "It's Nova's Hearty Apple Pie!"
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What kind of pie, however, was growing daunting by degrees. Leaning his way over the counter, Throne watched as Nova pulled ingredient after ingredient out of her basket, like it was some strange wicker magicians hat. Only instead of bunnies and an endless chain of scarves, it only produced the cornucopia from hell. He poked at each ingredient curiously, lining them up in a neat row along the counter with his hands. Every so often he looked up at Want with a wary smile that said, Oh sweet god, man, what have we gotten ourselves into?
In the end, it was the fish jerky that got him. Up until then, he could reasonably fathom what the concoction would taste like -- strange but comprehensible, and not entirely weird. But fishy jerky? Oh no, my friend. No man was an island, after all.
Throne coughed, rather awkwardly and just the once, but then, quickly catching himself, preceded to pretend that he was choking on his own spit. Nova was, of course, infamous for her culinary exploits, and Want's reluctance towards it had gotten him in trouble. There was no way Throne would find himself in that same boat, besides, that was the point of today wasn't it? To make amends and bake some pie and do it all in the name of friendship. Pounding at his chest with a fist, Throne allowed his little sputters and wheezes to die off. His fingers crawled along the counter top until it finally found the cracked measuring cup, the one he'd scavenged for just this occasion.
"This," he said with one final cough, nudging Nova with an elbow and offering it. "This is for you. Hokey, I know, but I just couldn't help myself. What can I say, I'm a sucker for pretty girls." He waggled it side to side at her as he spoke. "I know it's not the greatest one in the world, and it kind of leaks everywhere. But if you measure like really really quickly, I figure it'll get the job done." He smiled at her, his cheeks bright pink from all of his coughing.
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Of course, that proclamation was called into question the very next minute as she started to empty her basket and spread its contents out on the counter. Want had been mentally steeling himself for this moment for a while, so he managed to keep his face mostly composed -- only looking frantic when he was sure Nova was looking away and when Throne looked over at him. But even he couldn't quite hold up against the culinary revelation that was fish jerky. Even on its own, that sounded like something you might feed a cat or maybe use to survive a cold Nordic winter when the only other alternative was eating your own leg to survive. And combined with sour cream and leeks and apples? Want couldn't help it; his nose crinkled at the thought.
But he persevered and managed to say "It sounds hearty" without it coming out sarcastically.
He surveyed the rest of the items on the table, Throne's provided equipment and picked up an almost L-shaped whisk. He held it up to eye-level and peered through the metal wires at Throne, raising an eyebrow. "You've got actual kitchen stuff! I'm impressed. More hidden depths -- will they ever end?" He placed the whisk back on the table and smiled lopsidedly. "We at Chez Drake have not progressed beyond the 'Just add water' stage yet." He nudged Nova with his elbow and stage-whispered, "So tackle me if I try to add baking soda instead of sugar to something, okay?"
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Nova looked at Throne, eyes softening and becoming positively luminous as he offered her a simple measuring cup. "You're wrong," she said simply, taking the cup gently from him, "it is the greatest measuring cup in the world." She rotated it in her hands, "Besides, that crack just gives it character! What have I any need for a perfect, shiny cup, anyway? To me that's just--just intimidating!" Casting her eye back over the counter, Nova ran a hand across all the kitchen supplies that Throne had so obviously painstakingly set out just for her. Spoons and knifes, bowls and plates. She looked back at him, touched to the heart. "T-thank you, for all this. It's really...just wonderful."
Nova clapped her hands. "OK! Time to get started! Because, Want? It sort of sounds like you've been dying of hunger, but with three people, the pie should be done in no time! Here," she handed the apples to Want. "Peel!"
"And here," she handed the cabbage and leeks to Throne. "Chop! And preheat your oven please?"
Nova herself opening the huge tub of sour cream and poured a nice big portion into her measuring cup. Beaming, she raised it to the boys and shook it a little. "See? No leaks whatsoever."
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"What?" Throne asked looking slightly offended, now turning the leek towards him. He leaned back, digging into a nearby drawer, his free hand searching. "You were totally thinking it, dude." He gave his head a small indignant toss. "I merely said it outloud. Ta da!" Pulling his hand free again, he tossed a vegetable peeler to Want that was more than just a little worse for wear. One edge of the peeling blade was quite mangled, almost serrated with dozens of deep hatches into the metal. Throne shrugged, brushing past the both of them, leeks and cabbage and beatup butcher's board in his arms. He made a small space for himself on the counter, and -- with the ease of somebody who knew what he was doing, or at least pretending really really hard to appear that way -- began chopping as per Nova's request.
"Eh," he gave Want an apologetic shrug, nodding towards the peeler in this hand. "It kind of ends up eating whatever it peels, but beggars can't be choosers, right? Besides," he added with a smile, "I figure Mr. Insta-food can't tell the difference."
Throne chopped, as well as he could manage, his face slightly screwed up with concentration. Even portions, right? "So, Nova," he eventually asked. "Seems like you've got this stuff figured all out, huh? Honestly, this stuff is practically mystical mumbo jumbo to me. Kind of like magic." He paused, and then offered, "Maybe you were a cook? You know, once upon a time?" He looked up, pausing mid-slice, and gave her a look that seemed to say, You know, before the Sphere.
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"Yeah," he chimed in, "maybe you were a chef, Nova. You certainly seem to love doing it. And you know way more about it than anyone else I've met, except maybe Claw." He shot a look at Throne, intended to convey Not that any of this is meant to suggest that there is something wrong with instant food, and also whatever, when did you become a gourmet. Then he grinned back at Nova. "So what do you think? You're pretty good at making sure a kitchen runs smoothly. D'you think you could yell at picky customers and make a hundred meals a night?"
He finished the second apple and plunked it down on the table next to the first. They were dented and still had flecks of skin on them, but he figured it was close enough. It was all going in a pie crust, right? Didn't have to be pretty.
The little bowl was now filled with apple scraps, though, and that needed to be taken care of before he went to work on the third. He picked it up and went to find a trash can or something to dump the scraps into, figuring that it would probably be in the same place as the one in Drake's house. As he passed by Throne, he paused long enough to swipe a sliver of apple peel out of the bowl and flick it at Throne's head, grinning and trying to look innocent all at once.
"What?" he said preemptively. "The color suits you."
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Then Nova stuck out her tongue, looked at Want and said, "Now that you two seem to be spending quite a bit of time together," here she blinked at Throne before turning back to the dark-haired boy, "best be careful of that terrible sense of humour!" She put a finger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling. "Since I hear that when people spend time together, they start sounding and looking more and more alike..." she trailed off, grinning impishly at them both.
After basically plonking two measuring cups full of sour cream into the pie crust, Nova picked up the fish jerky, and after pausing a bit uncertainly, shrugged, and plonked it in there too. Nodding in satisfaction, she picked up the dandelion and began dropping petals along the edge. "Well," she said to Throne and Want's question, "I'm...I'm really not sure! I had a picnic in my dream," she ventured quietly, smiling softly at the memory, "and the spread had the most delicious foods...it's from that that I got a lot of my ideas! But--" she finished and wiped her hands on one of Throne's dishcloths. "While my dream told me that I loved to cook, I'm fairly sure I wasn't a chef, since there were other things too--forests, eyes, a giant globe..." Nova gasped. "Maybe an astronaut chef!"
She smiled. "How about you too?"
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