doku | VISIONS I HAD BURIED UNDERGROUND / RETURNING TO ABUSE US

[That ... Is an incredibly affectionate gesture, big enough that she only catches about half of what he says.]

Well! You haven't had to deal with me kicking you in my sleep yet, so maybe hold your judgement until then!

[There's always a risk when allowing her to work with any kind of a stove, but the true safety measure here is that Krieg isn't too far off, and she's too distracted to do anything more than what she's told anyway.]

I probably wouldn't notice.

[When the onions are nice and gold, he tosses in the chopped chicken over her arm so she can keep moving it all around. Afterword, he starts cutting up a selection of colorful vegetables.]

[He gets a vaguely uncertain look - no one has ever trusted her so immediately with actual food, okay. - but alright, man, if she blows this thing up you don't get to complain later!

Granted a lot of her internal concern is baseless because she can move stuff around and occasionally poke at a little bit of chicken just to see how it firms up as it cooks.] Where'd you learn to do this kind of thing?

[Or maybe he was just always a good cook?]

[She's gotta start somewhere, just like he did. Accidents happen while learning, and he's more than prepared for her to make them.]

Food stamps don't cover hiring people to do it for you.

[look, man. you asked.]

[While that is a slightly nerve wracking (self) guilt imposing response he's just being honest with her, and that's what she wants above all else.]

That's true. [What does she even say after that.] But in that case, that makes you an even better teacher than I had assumed! Real life experience is best.

[And she's - she's proud of him, of course. But it feels so cliche, tinned to say to a man that's both older and incredibly more experienced than herself.]

Besides, there's going to be nights you need a break, you've got to know you can trust me to cook for you! [So it's definitely not the same level of need or desperation, but she can't really do anything about that.]

The internet helped. A lot.

[Hey, now, he's not that much older.]

Only when you feel like you're up to the task.

[Honestly, he was planning on...you know, plenty of restaurants and stuff along the way. Because even when she's confident enough to volunteer, there's inevitably going to be days where neither of them have the motivation and/or the time to cook.]

Doesn't it always?

[He's at least a bit older than her! Though she's never been entirely sure of how much, specifically, but he's definitely more mature than she could hope to be for now.]

Don't say that, I'll never do it then! I'd live off of the dollar menu and just fix it with a treadmill and sit ups.

[It's easy to eat healthy when you live in a fancy suite and everyone sort of has to take care of you. But when there's no money - or when someone in particular won't give you the money needed to eat - you eat crap to help yourself survive. That's just how it has to be at times.]

Oye. Just because you can get it off your thighs doesn't mean you can get it out of here easily. [He gives her belly a little prod. He means her insides in general, not just her stomach, but who can resist giving that little tum a poke.]

But I promise, you'll come around. You'll see how fun this can be.

[Maybe lots of people since poking the tum makes her tongue stick up out at him, the very picture of bratty childishness. She doesn't really mind him touching, though! Especially since it's all flat in that area. ... Though he's right that it won't last if she lets herself eat crap.]

It always looks fun, but I have war flashbacks to trying to bake muffins and setting mom's kitchen on fire.

[And then promptly being smacked for it so. There's that.]

If nothing else watching you cook will always be fun.

Hey, that's something we could do together--learn how to bake.

[He doesn't sound THAT excited about it but that's probably because he doesn't know if he'll actually want to eat it.]

If you wanna find stuff to do together, I'm good with the cuddling.

[It's a lot safer than either of them trying to bake.]

I'm not burning it, right? [Hasn't it been in there too long ... Is it really supposed to be that brown ...]

Cuddling isn't food, Iko.

[She knows that, obviously, but he's still gonna tease her about it.]

No, it's just right. [Actually, he's gonna go ahead and add the veggies to the pan.] You want a little bit of brown. It's not burnt until it's black.

It's food for the soul.

[Specifically hers. That saying there gets a little snort out of her.] I like that!

[And it's easy to repeat every time she doubts the integrity of the chicken. It sort of vaguely occurs to her that this is a weirdly comfortable, almost-family-but-not-quite sort of moment, and it puts a dumb and incredibly weird grin on her face.

It's nice. They still have to get going and all that but it's good to have a little downtime, right?]

Suuure.

[He believes her, honestly, but that doesn't mean he's not going to give her a hard time. He turns the heat down on the stove.]

If you ever get worried that it's happening too fast, you can always pull back the heat.

[And it's getting pretty close. Krieg looks up in the cabinet and adds a few dashes of some select spices.]

[She tries to pay attention to what spices he's using, but Krieg is quick and knows what he's doing, so she probably misses something here and there.]

What are we making, anyway?

[She's kind of in the way now, so she edges off to one side to keep moving her lil' spoon around despite the lowered heat.]

Uhh.

[Good question.]

...Stir fry?

[No, Nariko, you can stay and stir if you want!]

[A shrug.]

Okay!

[Look, unless you try to put chicken in front of her and insist it's Ahi Ahi, she's not going to question it either way. Yesterday was heavy and exhausting enough that she might eat about anything right now.

She stays, though! Spoon detail is apparently somewhat important.]

[Spoon detail is actually very important.]

I'd call that done.

[One uneventful lunch-breakfast later, Krieg takes his afternoon pills--cursing the fact that he'd skipped his morning set due to sleeping in so late--and requests that Nariko start the drive today, just in case his missed regimen messes him up.

It probably won't, but better safe than sorry.]

[It's a super tasty lunch-breakfast! And it's very difficult to imagine that she had much of anything to do with it but, hey, she helped!! It's a weird sort of confidence boost but she's grateful for it all the same. When they start driving she's in good spirits, mostly bopping along on the steering wheel and going way over the speed limit as a whole. At the rate they're going they'll be there pretty soon, right?

But thanks to the incredibly weird sleep schedule and how rejuvenating the sleep itself was, she ends up going for a while, until pretty late at night, and she only stops because-]

Whoop, gas stop!

[It's been hours and it'll be good to stretch their legs anyway.]

[A stretch indeed. It's less than what Krieg really wants right now, and he finds himself pacing the length of the truck and trailer while Nariko fills her back up.

In the end, he settles on using the communal window scraper provided by the station to clean all the windows, even though they don't necessarily need them.]

[Nariko does fill up the truck, and she goes in to pay really quickly and ... Then it would seem that she just doesn't come back out for a good while. Five, ten, fifteen minutes and then a solid twenty before she reappears with a little plastic bag.]

Wow that was a really long line for the bathroom! [There wasn't even a hint of a line for the women's restroom but it seems like a good excuse.]

Let's go! We can get there by morning!

[If she drives all night, which is about the plan judging by the energy drinks in said bag.]

[It is a long time, but Krieg isn't paying that much attention. When she comes out, she'll find that the rig is now spotless, and Krieg is sitting in the drivers seat with the door open, lounging about. It's not a very busy rest station so he doesn't see any reason to move the rig while Nariko is busy doing...whatever she's doing. On his phone, he's trying to figure out a solution to not having a gym at his beck and call while he waits for her to finish up.]

...Morning?

[Bathroom line? What bathroom line? This place is deserted.]

I told Izzy we wouldn't be there until late tomorrow.

Then we'll get there early and have time to sleep, go shop, and look awesome for your sibling reunion!

[He still needs clothes, after all.] If nothing else we can make a lot of progress if I don't sleep tonight!

[And she doesn't want to, so it might as well serve a purpose.]

[Okaaay...]

What lit a fire under your ass today?

[You're acting a little manic right now, Nariko, and reminding him a lot of Gaige.]

The universe is inspiring me.

[It's the most non-answer of all possible non-answers in the world, it could almost be impressive.]

I just wanna get going, that's all! Besides, I bet there's tons of fun stuff to do in Vegas and all sorts of networking that can be done, too! It'll be fun!

[So let's gets to driving, Krieg!! ]

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

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject