"How's the filling coming along, Nin?" I ask my much-loved friend while he swings one of his fruit-decorated hands close to the bowl. It flickers somewhat within the confines of it, but, a notable amount also goes across my kitchen table. Some even decides to test my ability to keep my frustrations to a minimum by getting into the cloth decorum I have neatly folded on top.
Licking my thumb, I give some of it a rub and frown at the potential stain. Wet dots splatter onto me. Turning towards Nin with a smile, I lick some of the strong citrus up and rub the rest off against the widening edge of the bowl's top. We look at each other while his two fingers and a thumb drip.
"I don't think this is working out." he tells me, his eyes shifting to the mess that has his hand awkwardly stiff in the air. Smiling a bit, I use a spoon to scrape what I can off and tease the bits where his shell parts. His chittering picks up and those broad shoulders of his twitch. Slowing the movement and narrowing the spoon onto its edge, I provoke him some more.
"Hey, give me back my spoon!" I complain, watching him take it away, trapped in the confines of his shell contractions.
"Stop that." he demands, slowly returning the spoon before he throws out a spell to bring a wet cloth over. Pulling the bowl away, I watch as the magic in the cloth's thread drips onto the table. A slight pool forms from the half-a-dozen littler ones, a tint of aqua coming out in the concentration.
He seems to lose himself in the sight, maybe coming close to adding a tear to it...
"Come on you, back to work." I tell him, gently smacking his cheek and getting more than I bargained for with his wide-going shake. A huff leaves my lips and he starts to rub the hand on the cloth rather than wiping the hand with it.
"I should be done here anyway..." Nin mutters, his focus shifting to the little tablet I wrote down for him so that I didn't have to keep going to him to help. Though, with how often I want to linger by him so I can tease and flirt is sort of making it a waste of time. I can't say that I mind, I like being close to Nin. He makes me happy, always so happy.
"What does my list say?" I ask, leaning on one palm while the other finds and caresses his forearm. He reaches for the list and brings it close, a word forms on his tongue but it's not coming out. He gives up and instead shows it to me and I can't help but laugh as it's not a hard to say name. Blue Sand isn't much of anything to get stumped over!
My laugh ends and he's still looking at me, blank-eyed.
"Blue Sand, Nin." I tell him, moving my head off of my palm to cough into it. A quick glance away doesn't seem to do much and I am left staring back at him. He leans forward, close to my face but notably with his mouth facing down a little.
"You're handwriting is terribal." he says and I blink at the strange pronunciations he suddenly lets out.
"Says you, Mr. I Always Struggle to Write a Shopping List!" I go, leaning away to giggle behind my knuckles while he gives me that knowing grin. We get the amusement out of our systems and rise to head to the spice bit of the store room. I don't need to come, but, I know full well he's going to get lost in what I otherwise know like a backhand.
"I can't get to the Blue Sand if you're in the way..." Nin complains as I snuggle myself up against the wall at the storeroom's far end. Squeezing around until my front is up against him. I backstep on to some thick-topped boxes and hug him in close, a proud noise leaving my lips as he digs into my chest.
"Don't worry my precious little thing, Liada can find it for you." I tell him as if I am his mother. Though, I would much rather that he made me a mother of several little bundles of joy. Regardless of my dreams, however, I still give him a reassuring peck on the top of his shiny head. Then, squeezing my tail up into an uncomfortable overhead dangle, I flip-flop it towards a box and pull.
It smacks up against my head, leaving me in an awkward situation.
"Nin, I need your help." I giggle and he knows full well what I have just done. I get a little flick for the trouble and he takes the weight off of me and walks out of my hug. My grip had been getting tighter, but, he just needed to take a step back is all. His strength really is something impressive...
It's strange to think about how he was when I first met him, because of how he was captured, I could hurt him. I remember distinctly being able to put up a fight when we were both prisoners. Yet, once we got outside and to that searing building, he became something else entirely and as far as his homeland was concerned. He had the power to destroy the world.
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He's only gotten greater since then and day by day I can feel the changes in just how much. Hugs are still comfortable but there's this hardness to them as of late, all that power he kept wasting away against Smiling Jhurack. It's coming together within and resting, it's not going anywhere. There's so little being wasted around him in the external flow, each fibre of muscle holds more magic than my entire body.
"You coming or not?" Nin asks, shaking the box of Blue Sand.
"O-Of course!" I go, stepping down from the box and letting my tail whack down on it. I pass a glance towards the other three and give Baltanthan a little wave of reassurance before his depressed gaze goes back to the dough cutters. I roll my jaw around a little and look at Nin again. Walking towards the other three, I place my hands on my friend and look at the other two.
"Uh oh, the Supervisor is back..." Seigunfrei mocks under his breath, his lips forming a bit of a pout while he turns away.
"I just wanted to tell you three that it's fine if you want to get going now. It should be about lunchtime and while I would like to offer up some of my own stuff, I don't want to risk my customer's satisfaction." I tell them, gently rubbing my hands into Baltanthan's shoulders and trying that little trick I heard Uibaity talk about. The massage lounge she goes to, I remember her saying the way they work is that I just need to focus my internal-magic towards my fingertips and press with firm gentleness.
Baltanthan doesn't seem to react to it and I keep it up, hoping that this is roughly what I should be expecting. Lorreabry has the decency to at least finish her current task before setting things down.
"Ooooo, I know, let's go to that place I kept talking about, Seigunfrei!" Lorreabry chirps, her hands coming up to help her recall the path to whatever place it is. Maybe I will ask her later where it is she went, I guess I should otherwise get started on prepping mine and Nin's food, though.
"What about you, Baltanthan, do you have anywhere to go? I don't mind serving a third plate of whatever comes to mind." I offer and he starts to shake his head. He doesn't say a word and moves to get up, my empty hands staying somewhat in the air. The front door's bell rings without a noise and I glance to where I put his robes. He seems to be coming back but now I am worried.
"Guess we're going for a little jog first..." Seigunfrei remarks, slapping his thighs on the way up.
"You two have been trying to talk to him, haven't you?" I ask, unsure if this is entirely my own doing. I was the one who made him change after all, I was the one who demanded he take those robes off.
"We've been trying, Liadanann but he just seems out of it for whatever reason. His head seems to be a well-built prison." Lorreabry comments as she grabs her bag.
"Don't worry, Red, we'll find her." Seigunfrei nods out before he's then out the door and down the street.
"I'm not running after him of all people." Lorreabry sighs and smiles. We wave each other a temporary goodbye and I lock the door behind her so no one might think my shop is open to the public. Sighing a little, I head back into the kitchen where Nin is still going at it with his tasks.
He looks at me and I look at him, "It really does look like sand."
"It does, doesn't it?" I go, smiling a little even though my eyes aren't particularly feeling it.
"I tasted a little of it... It's not very nice." he explains, biting on his tongue while he talks himself into a quick chuckle.
"You don't eat it directly, you mix it in with juices and it creates a granola mix of sorts." I explain, taking my teasing spoon and using it the wrong way. I scoop some of his fruity mess onto it and sprinkle the blue sand. The little grains eat up the liquid and grow fat, sinking to the metal until it looks more like I scooped up some soggy slop.
"Flapjacks..." he goes, his chitters hiding a worming tongue.
"I guess I can spare some ingredients to make some if you would like?" I suggest, taking a step back and swerving about to make it clear what my fee is.
"Yes, please." he goes, not moving an inch. I noisily groan a pout and tap a quick item onto his head.
"Is some meat cuts and salad alright for lunch, Nin? I might have some cheeses we can put with it as well." I ask, looking about my cupboards and fridges for whatever I might need. Briefly, my hands tempt me with the idea of my special cheese but I shake my head at the idea. Instead, I grab a well-covered tray and heave the cast iron lid off.
"Flapjacks..." he repeats, the lust of his stomach at least getting him off of his backside enough to come up and hug me from behind. His hands squeeze my tummy a little and I elbow him off and away. Pointing my hand towards the salad bowl, I pass him over some vegetables and tomatoes. The tap is quick to follow and a rush of magic-rich liquid rushes out into the vegetables.
He bleghs at what he has told me before is the abnormal colour of tap water. Water should be blue, any shade, so long as it is clearly a part of the family that we call Blue. The large amounts of wind magic up here, however, stain the water a grassy green. Almost like it's milkless, fresh-leaf tea that has been run through a chiller.
The red juices still on his hands as well taint the water further, detaching it even more so from its natural state. Water isn't even coloured, it's clear, everything that happens to it is environmental. But, still, Nin doesn't like it, he wants to see the colour of her hair in the water. My skin tone is not what captivates his heart, it's the hair of a dead girl.
Going back to the fridge, I pull out my special cheese and cut off a small slice that I quickly munch on. Oddly, it doesn't taste all that nice at the moment and the half-eaten slice is put back into the fridge. Turning back to the preparations, I sigh my stress and quickly tap some of it out with a foot. I hate my life sometimes, I really do.
"How is something so simple so complicated...?" I groan out, my words hiding my beg for help.
"Hm?" Nin goes.
"Nothing, Nin, just muttering silly things." I explain to him, hoping he leaves it at that.