ic contact;

[battering]

UNIT № 1 0 7
"Yo, this is Yata!
Make the message worth my time
an' I'll get back to ya!"

[ call | text | voicemail | action ]

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[battering]

[ He was always cool. ]

Oh, hang on! [ Moving to the refrigerator, he fetches a stick of butter. ] Put a little bit of this on the pan so the meat doesn't stick and get burnt!

When the meat's cookin', you can start cutting up the vegetables.

[redsea]

[ Excuse you. ]

Ohhh. So that's how it is... [ She gets a bit of butter with a knife and puts it in the pan. Then, she tosses the meat in! The sizzling noise makes her jolt up. The heat is scaring her, okay! What if she gets burnt!? Now that the meat is cooking in the pan, she gets a variety of vegetables from the fridge and puts them on the counter. ]

Should we put all of these in? [ She wants to look cool while cutting vegetables like the royal chefs!!! ]

[battering]

[ He grabs the knife and sets it in front of Kougyoku; he didn't want to do it for her, so she'd learn. ]

Yeah! You can put anything you want in it! Be careful when you cut 'em though, you could slice your finger open.

[redsea]

That won't happen! [ She almost yelled that. Breathe, Kougyoku, breathe. You're no stranger to sharp objects. ] I can do it!

[ She is determined to cut all the things. She starts with potatoes, carrots, onions... Then moves on to tomatoes, okra, lettuce... Yata, why are you letting her do this—

A sharp gasp escapes her when she accidentally cuts her finger from chopping onions too fast. ]

[battering]

Okay, okay. You can do it.

[ He told her she could put in anything she wanted, he can't take that back. Just when he was starting to relax, thinking that hey, she's pretty good at this after all... that gasp. ]

-- I told you! Lemme see!

[redsea]

Yata...

[ Without hesitation, Kougyoku shows Yata her finger. She wasn't careful with the knife at all; the cut is deep enough to draw some blood. She frowns, upset that she made another mistake. ]

[battering]

[ Shit. Yata holds one hand under her finger in case any blood drips down, the other used to lead her toward the sink. He gets the cool water running over the cut before looking at her. Stop making him worry, princess!! ]

Hurts?

[redsea]

[ Now he knows how her attendants feel.

She winces when water runs over the cut. It's better to be honest about this one. In a small voice, she admits, ]

A little.

[ He wasn't her attendant, though. He didn't need to fuss over her, so she's a little confused. ]

[battering]

[ Hey, he's just taking care of a friend. ]

Good. It doesn't look too bad, but I think we have some bandages around here. Keep it under water 'till I come back.

[ That said, he makes a quick run to the bathroom cabinet and returns moments later with a band-aid. ]

It doesn't have any cool designs... but it'll still work!

[redsea]

Okay.

[ She keeps her cut under running water until he returns with band-aids like he says. What, no red winking stars!? It's okay, she's never seen a band-aid before. ]

Is it a magic tool? How does it work?

[battering]

Nah, it ain't magic. You just put it on cuts so they don't get infected.

[ he turns the water off and dries her finger with a paper towel, then wraps the band-aid around the cut. ]

There, all set!

[redsea]

[ Wow. Kougyoku looks at her treated finger with awe. Band-aids. Who knew? ]

Thank you.

[ Man, she can't get over how nice Yata is. She spaces out, and her ongoing attempt at soup is quickly forgotten. ]

[battering]

[ Meanwhile, Yata cleans up the knife and checks for any stray blood that may have gotten on something. Once that's done, his focus is back on Kougyoku and he lifts a brow at her (spacey) expression. ]

... Looks like you're concentrating hard on somethin'.

[redsea]

[ Her ears turn pink, and that brings her back to reality. ]

It's nothing! Ah, what was I doing—oh, right, right!

[ She grabs the chopped vegetables in a hurry, but wait! ]

Do I put them in the pot or in the pan!? They go in the pan, don't they?

[battering]

[ DID THEY... ]

Yeah, the pan! Just until they're a little cooked, then you toss everything into the pot and let all the flavors soak in together. [ pause. ] We'll need a sauce, too... so we can just smash up tomatoes and mix them up with other spices, that's easy.

[redsea]

[ Yata, don't answer if you don't know. Kougyoku dumps all the vegetables in the pan because she doesn't know better. Yata sure knows a lot of things. ]

Sauce...! [ Of course. She puts another saucepan on the stove and sets it on low. Look, she's smashing tomatoes! And throwing them in! And dumping in a lot of spices! So she stirs and waits for a while, then... ]

It doesn't look like a sauce. [ Did she do something wrong!? She looks at Yata expectantly. ]

[battering]

[ Look at her go, she's so enthusiastic and he doesn't know any better either. ]

... I think it needs a little bit of water. It'll look better once it's cooking with everything else!

[ It's easy to have an answer for everything when you're winging things and hoping it comes out edible. ]

[redsea]

[ This calls for her hairpin. Kougyoku puts some water in the pan and stirs some more... She's using a lot of her magic to make this, Mikoto should be happy. Once that's done (???) she dumps the sad attempt at a sauce over the meat and vegetables. Then, she puts everything into the pot. This is what Gordon Ramsay's nightmares look like.

But she looks so happy!!! ]

Then we just have to wait, right? For how long?

[battering]

[ at least it didn't look completely terrible. then again, it was a soup, so... food floating around was enough of a success? ]

Close to an hour on low heat, I think... it depends! We just have to check for the vegetables and meat to be soft.

[redsea]

[ It's... a good thing Mikoto can tolerate anything. ]

Okay. [ So she waits for the soup to boil, if soup can be defined as "steak and vegetables in hot water". As Kougyoku watches the pot, there's some silence and hesitation on her end before she musters the words: ]

Um, actually, it's my first Christmas. They said it was a day for family and friends, but I didn't have any of those when I arrived, so... Even if we've only known eavh other for a while, I'm really happy I could spend it with you. And with everyone in HOMRA!

[battering]

[ Her first Christmas? And they were just hanging around making soup?! He'd have to come up with something interesting later, after they fed Mikoto. ]

Me too. [ He drapes an arm across her shoulders for a quick half-hug/squeeze, letting go just as quickly as it happened. ] I'm glad you're here with us... You're a really good friend, Kou-chan.

[ Yata grabs a ladle then to shift his focus into stirring the soup. Compliments were always the hardest when he couldn't just say YOU'RE HELLA BITCHIN'. ]

[redsea]

[ Goodbye, Yata. Kougyoku can die happy now. But she can't because she promised him she wouldn't die. Instead, she settles with hiding her face. You're a really good friend.—shouldn't she be the one saying that? ]

Yata, will you really get mad if I call you Misaki?

wakes up to get water, phone tags instead

[battering]

[ oh god, this is what happens. you give a girl a hug and suddenly she wants to use that name. ]

Um... if you only do it when it's just us, it might be okay. [ said softly, focused on their very interesting soup. look at all the strides the princess is making. ]

go to bed

[redsea]

[ It's cute how he thinks he's that charming. But! He said it was okay!!! Kougyoku feels like their friendship has truly leveled up. She claps her hands together. ]

Misaki...! I'll try it out, is that okay?

[ Like how he did with Kou-chan. ]

Um... "Misaki, let's go snowboarding!"

[battering]

[ Here's another moment where he wants to hide behind big sleeves, but instead he settles for tugging on his beanie awkwardly. ]

Yeah... sounds fine. The snowboarding too! [ a beat, followed by a soft laugh to try and make himself feel less strange. ] You'll be the only friend that calls me that.