[ Yuri was right: Flynn sounds distressed thinking about this already. If it's subjective, it can hardly be a good form of currency.
But that isn't the most pressing part of any of this, so he just sighs and pulls down an old wooden cutting board, more a block than anything, and starts pulling Yuri's clean vegetables from it. Probably he should put a shirt on at some point, but... ]
Stir fry sounds wonderful. Home-y.
[ He grabs a root vegetable, a twisted carrot-thing, to start slicing it into neat rounds. ]
Which is... something, for being in an entirely new world.
I guess whoever you're playing. I bet some are worth more to some people. Like, if you like a certain kind of rock better.
[ Yuri leaves the cutting to Flynn and starts rooting around for things he can use to make a sauce. That's the part he doesn't trust Flynn to do. Nothing with flavor, nothing that requires taste. ]
A whole new world. Pretty weird, huh? We're not on Terca Lumireis anymore. It's a whole new place, new people, new animals.
[ The rhythm of slicing things is almost as comforting as cleaning. It gives Flynn something to focus on besides the familiar sounds of Yuri in the kitchen with him, which is comforting in itself. He's so glad that Yuri is here with him in the quietly glowing light, which just sort of... started glowing from a stone on the ceiling without anything to start it up. ]
It's so hard to imagine, being in a completely new world, without any way to contact anyone. Someone earlier told me that... we're not even really ourselves.
Yeah, I heard the same thing. Dunno if I believe it. I feel like myself. If you ignore the whole squid thing. And the fire thing. And the ice thing...
[ That's sure a lot of things. But he does feel like himself, he knows how to cook, he knows Flynn and Repede, he knows what he needs and what he's about. How could he not be himself? ]
Hey, if we're starting over, we're starting over. We'll figure out how we can fit into this place, and keep and eye out for a way home.
[ "Home" feels strange to say. That feeling again, that this place is home, buoys in his chest. But Zaphias will always be home, even if he doesn't live there anymore, even if he doesn't intend to live there again. It's where he's from, where his people are. ]
I'm fine with starting over. It's the idea of being anything other than myself—and the idea of leaving everything we've worked so hard for behind just when the really hard work was starting—that doesn't sit right with me. That's just a way of saying I don't like either option, and I know that doesn't get me anywhere.
[ He pulls something like a potato, starchy and round, closer to himself. ]
Well, yeah. It does. I finally had a good thing going back home. Aurnion was looking good, we were getting jobs, the world's getting there with the whole mana thing.
[ Yuri sighs, mixing some things from the pantry together. It takes a little weird, but it's just him and Flynn, and Flynn's mouth is broken so it'll be fine. ]
But I don't think we have a choice. So we make the best with what we've got. I kind of want to see what this whole new world is like.
[ Flynn grabs another root to carefully cube. His prep is really lovely, which makes it even more of a crime that he's so terrible at the flavor parts of all this. ]
We have to focus on the problems ahead of us, and not get caught up in the weeds of the past, especially when we don't have a choice.
[ In the living room, Daisy snorts, finally pushing herself to her feet to come and peer at them. Her tail swishes agitatedly, mirroring Flynn's tense shoulders. ]
[ Yuri's quiet for a moment, picking a pan and then searching for some sort of fat to cook it in. He finds some oil that seems fine and looks at the stove. It's gas powered, and he's not sure he should risk using his new powers to light it, but somehow it lights anyway, and he's not going to question it. ]
I think we have time. This place doesn't seem to be in dire straits right now. Deal with it, if you want to. If you don't, you're just going to stew in it.
[ Flynn hesitates, staring down at his perfect potatoes. His part, he supposes—the part Yuri will allow him to help with, anyway—is more or less done. Everything is chopped. Maybe he can dice some of those leaves for a garnish. His hands are itching with the need to do something. ]
It isn't as if either of us are strangers to making the best of what we have. And you're right that things aren't truly dire at the moment. We have beds, and a roof over our heads, and food on the table. Nothing is attacking us. I should be grateful for all of those things, but... I can't stop thinking about home. Is it really alright for me to just commit to living here? Why do I keep feeling so strongly that I can?
We just got here. We didn't choose to be here. It's a pretty weird situation to be in.
[ Yuri tosses in the onion like vegetable, watching it sizzle. It's always easier to have conversations like this with Flynn when he can't see him. ]
I have that feeling too. I wonder if it's part of this whole thing, with the squids and the magic. Maybe it's a package deal. We're given this new life, and we have to accept it. I'd like to see the terms of that.
[ Flynn snorts humorlessly, grinning down at the cutting board. ]
Yes, I'd like to see it as well. It does sort of feel like we signed a contract we weren't allowed to read first. Shady.
[ With everything chopped, Flynn lets his knife fall and goes to retrieve his shirt. The window is open, and outside, night has fallen, sending a cool breeze brushing through the kitchen and raising goosebumps on his bare skin. His shirt is still a little sweat-damp, and he shivers when he slips it on, but it's better than being bare-chested for no reason. ]
It is all kind of hard to just accept, isn't it? Or maybe I shouldn't be asking you that.
[ Yuri glances over at him, and something settles when he sees Flynn's dressed again. He's not sure what, and decides not to think about it, but it's easier to relax now, to get into cooking ]
I'm just trying to deal with stuff as it comes, I guess. And right now, we need food, and sleep, and we can figure out more stuff in the morning.
Because that's exactly what you're good at! Just... dealing with the next problem that pops up, and not thinking too hard about the future or the consequences.
[ If that sounds vaguely insulting, it's... probably because it was. Flynn means well, though. He pulls the knife and the cutting board over to the sink to start cleaning them. ]
Anyway, I suppose you're right about that as well. Thinking about whether or not I'm a squid of all things will be a lot easier after dinner.
Calamari should never have been in the question. If there's one silver lining, maybe it's that no one here will feel comfortable eating it and just won't make it. I did learn about a salad made with bananas and mayonnaise earlier that sounded interesting.
[ Yuri sighs, but that isn't worth commenting on. In the decade and a half they've known each other, Yuri hasn't been able to change him. It's a fruitless task.
He focuses on cooking for a while. It's comforting, to do something he knows how to do. It's nice, to have Flynn here, too. It takes only a little while, and then he's asking Flynn to find bowls and serving them up dinner. There's a little table next to the wall, and Yuri settles down and calls in Repede, giving him his own serving. ]
Hasn't he been eating whatever you've been making on the road as well?
[ The bowls are nice, earthenware things, like the kind they used to eat out of in the Lower Quarter. Everything here feels oddly like home, actually, and Flynn settles easily in across from Yuri, some of those odd feelings settling as he eats. This could be home, he supposes: a little house with him and Yuri and Repede and their strange smoke-animals, who are settled in the kitchen doorway, apparently not hungry. Flynn gets the sense Daisy doesn't need to eat either.
And their own dinner— ]
This is really good, Yuri. You got better during your travels.
[ Flynn snorts, leaning down to scruff Repede's ears. The food is good, and it's grounding him, letting him settle here in this little kitchen with the pale glow of the stone lights overhead making everything soft. Yuri's hair is still up, letting Flynn see more of his face. ]
You even managed to make these weird vegetables taste good. Were they all like this? Was there anything you recognized?
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countryclub2021-08-09 05:25 pm
no subject
[ Yuri was right: Flynn sounds distressed thinking about this already. If it's subjective, it can hardly be a good form of currency.
But that isn't the most pressing part of any of this, so he just sighs and pulls down an old wooden cutting board, more a block than anything, and starts pulling Yuri's clean vegetables from it. Probably he should put a shirt on at some point, but... ]
Stir fry sounds wonderful. Home-y.
[ He grabs a root vegetable, a twisted carrot-thing, to start slicing it into neat rounds. ]
Which is... something, for being in an entirely new world.
no subject
[ Yuri leaves the cutting to Flynn and starts rooting around for things he can use to make a sauce. That's the part he doesn't trust Flynn to do. Nothing with flavor, nothing that requires taste. ]
A whole new world. Pretty weird, huh? We're not on Terca Lumireis anymore. It's a whole new place, new people, new animals.
[ He shakes his head ]
Think our people are going to be okay back home?
no subject
[ The rhythm of slicing things is almost as comforting as cleaning. It gives Flynn something to focus on besides the familiar sounds of Yuri in the kitchen with him, which is comforting in itself. He's so glad that Yuri is here with him in the quietly glowing light, which just sort of... started glowing from a stone on the ceiling without anything to start it up. ]
It's so hard to imagine, being in a completely new world, without any way to contact anyone. Someone earlier told me that... we're not even really ourselves.
no subject
[ That's sure a lot of things. But he does feel like himself, he knows how to cook, he knows Flynn and Repede, he knows what he needs and what he's about. How could he not be himself? ]
Hey, if we're starting over, we're starting over. We'll figure out how we can fit into this place, and keep and eye out for a way home.
[ "Home" feels strange to say. That feeling again, that this place is home, buoys in his chest. But Zaphias will always be home, even if he doesn't live there anymore, even if he doesn't intend to live there again. It's where he's from, where his people are. ]
no subject
[ He pulls something like a potato, starchy and round, closer to himself. ]
I don't know, Yuri. Doesn't it bother you at all?
no subject
[ Yuri sighs, mixing some things from the pantry together. It takes a little weird, but it's just him and Flynn, and Flynn's mouth is broken so it'll be fine. ]
But I don't think we have a choice. So we make the best with what we've got. I kind of want to see what this whole new world is like.
no subject
[ Flynn grabs another root to carefully cube. His prep is really lovely, which makes it even more of a crime that he's so terrible at the flavor parts of all this. ]
We have to focus on the problems ahead of us, and not get caught up in the weeds of the past, especially when we don't have a choice.
[ In the living room, Daisy snorts, finally pushing herself to her feet to come and peer at them. Her tail swishes agitatedly, mirroring Flynn's tense shoulders. ]
You were always better at that than I was.
no subject
I think we have time. This place doesn't seem to be in dire straits right now. Deal with it, if you want to. If you don't, you're just going to stew in it.
no subject
[ Flynn hesitates, staring down at his perfect potatoes. His part, he supposes—the part Yuri will allow him to help with, anyway—is more or less done. Everything is chopped. Maybe he can dice some of those leaves for a garnish. His hands are itching with the need to do something. ]
It isn't as if either of us are strangers to making the best of what we have. And you're right that things aren't truly dire at the moment. We have beds, and a roof over our heads, and food on the table. Nothing is attacking us. I should be grateful for all of those things, but... I can't stop thinking about home. Is it really alright for me to just commit to living here? Why do I keep feeling so strongly that I can?
no subject
[ Yuri tosses in the onion like vegetable, watching it sizzle. It's always easier to have conversations like this with Flynn when he can't see him. ]
I have that feeling too. I wonder if it's part of this whole thing, with the squids and the magic. Maybe it's a package deal. We're given this new life, and we have to accept it. I'd like to see the terms of that.
no subject
Yes, I'd like to see it as well. It does sort of feel like we signed a contract we weren't allowed to read first. Shady.
[ With everything chopped, Flynn lets his knife fall and goes to retrieve his shirt. The window is open, and outside, night has fallen, sending a cool breeze brushing through the kitchen and raising goosebumps on his bare skin. His shirt is still a little sweat-damp, and he shivers when he slips it on, but it's better than being bare-chested for no reason. ]
It is all kind of hard to just accept, isn't it? Or maybe I shouldn't be asking you that.
no subject
[ Yuri glances over at him, and something settles when he sees Flynn's dressed again. He's not sure what, and decides not to think about it, but it's easier to relax now, to get into cooking ]
I'm just trying to deal with stuff as it comes, I guess. And right now, we need food, and sleep, and we can figure out more stuff in the morning.
no subject
[ If that sounds vaguely insulting, it's... probably because it was. Flynn means well, though. He pulls the knife and the cutting board over to the sink to start cleaning them. ]
Anyway, I suppose you're right about that as well. Thinking about whether or not I'm a squid of all things will be a lot easier after dinner.
no subject
Thinking too hard isn't worth the effort.
I guess calamari's out of the question, huh?
no subject
Calamari should never have been in the question. If there's one silver lining, maybe it's that no one here will feel comfortable eating it and just won't make it. I did learn about a salad made with bananas and mayonnaise earlier that sounded interesting.
no subject
[ Yuri sighs, but that isn't worth commenting on. In the decade and a half they've known each other, Yuri hasn't been able to change him. It's a fruitless task.
He focuses on cooking for a while. It's comforting, to do something he knows how to do. It's nice, to have Flynn here, too. It takes only a little while, and then he's asking Flynn to find bowls and serving them up dinner. There's a little table next to the wall, and Yuri settles down and calls in Repede, giving him his own serving. ]
I'll find you some real dog food soon, okay?
no subject
[ The bowls are nice, earthenware things, like the kind they used to eat out of in the Lower Quarter. Everything here feels oddly like home, actually, and Flynn settles easily in across from Yuri, some of those odd feelings settling as he eats. This could be home, he supposes: a little house with him and Yuri and Repede and their strange smoke-animals, who are settled in the kitchen doorway, apparently not hungry. Flynn gets the sense Daisy doesn't need to eat either.
And their own dinner— ]
This is really good, Yuri. You got better during your travels.
no subject
[ Yuri smiles at the compliment, but... well, Flynn's taste isn't exactly great. He himself thinks the food is fine, nothing spectacular ]
Thanks. We traded off, but I guess I ended up cooking a lot.
no subject
You even managed to make these weird vegetables taste good. Were they all like this? Was there anything you recognized?