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From:

credere

"Yes - thank you," he says, crossing the threshold. "I can work a lot faster with - magic, so I had time to make something else for you."

And him, but that's just incidental.

From:

wrecked_egg

Something else for them, she thinks, and there's a warmth to the thought. Something just theirs, like all of this. "I'm really excited to try it," she says, following him through the door. "I think--it's really nice, cooking for people you like. Chaplin told me one time--she's someone I knew back from before, one of the Deadmen--you put your feelings into stuff you cook for other people. I think it's a really nice idea." And maybe a part of why she likes the kitchen shifts so much.

From:

credere

Credence blushes faintly, but he nods.

"It is. Back home, I used to make soup for the kids who'd come to the church. And they were really nice to me, and I - I liked cooking for them a lot more than i liked cooking for Ma. You know?"

From:

wrecked_egg

"Mhmm." It makes perfect sense. "If you like the people you're cooking for, the food tastes better." And his mother doesn't deserve very nice things, she thinks. But kids--she hasn't met many kids who didn't deserve something better. She hasn't met many kids, but still.

"You like working with kids? Helping them, I mean." It's not something she's ever thought of before, but she thinks from what she's heard about his siblings, Credence would probably be good with them.

From:

credere

"Yes, I did," he says, finding a table to set down the tray. The dinner he's made isn't very fancy, just rice and stir fry, but it's completely different from the food offered to everyone else and the presentation is careful. "They relied on us. Ma and Chastity, they were always real set on giving the kids pamphlets to hand out, but I - I didn't hold them to it, really. Especially not the little ones."

And he felt the consequences more often than not, but he didn't mind.

From:

wrecked_egg

"You were nice to them. I guess I'm more used to people like the other two--there's nothing for free. Nothing nice without a price. You know?" Every thing she'd gotten from Rinichirou had been at a cost she hadn't recognized until it was too late. It was just normal. "You just--wanted to take care of them, sounds like."

Shiro wanders towards the table, looking around the bowling alley. There's ten lanes with a little computer at each one, a collection of blinking game machines in the corner, an assortment of tables. It looks like the kind of place that should be noisy, full of lights and music and people. She's kind of glad it's not. It's better with just them. But maybe another time, some other people wouldn't be so bad. Right now, it's just them, and Shiro breathes in deeply, smelling the food Credence has brought.

"It smells really good."

From:

credere

"Thank you," he says shyly. "I got a couple cookbooks at the place we stopped, so - I've been trying out new things, you know? Not - " He realises how this might be interpreted, and backtracks. "I mean. I'm not testing stuff on you."

From:

wrecked_egg

Shiro promptly shakes her head, but she's smiling. "It's okay--I know what you mean. I really like trying new foods. I mean--I try out new stuff for breakfast all the time. I'm glad I'm the first one who gets to try this." The smile grows just a little wider, maybe a little self-conscious.

"I got new cookbooks, too. Maybe sometime you could help me test something new?"

From:

credere

"That'd be nice," he says, with another tiny smile. "Well, um - we should eat before it gets cold."

He picks up his fork.

From:

wrecked_egg

"Mm." It does look good, and it's better to eat before everything gets cold. She's happy to dig in, too. Shiro's never been shy about enjoying food, especially new things, and she's eaten enough of Credence's cooking to know that it's all good.

The quiet isn't a bad thing, comfortable, even, but she is wondering something. "I'm--kind of surprised no one else has come in here," she says after a few moments. "It's a new kind of place." And usually that means exploring. Unless everyone has already come and gone in the last week or so they've been here.

From:

credere

Credence swallows his first mouthful and clears his throat quietly.

"I put a 'Closed for Maintenance' sign on the door," he admits. "It was Quentin's idea."

From:

wrecked_egg

Shiro looks up at that, surprised. "You--" It's obviously not true, but just as obvious that he did it so they wouldn't be interrupted. A slow smile spreads across her face again.

"...It was a good idea." And also: "I'm--glad, it's just us. And nobody else will come in."

From:

credere

Credence offers up one of those tiny, private smiles.

"I hope they don't." Because he knows a sign won't deter a lot of people.

From:

wrecked_egg

Every single one of those smiles is something to appreciate, and so she does, not looking away.

"If they do, we'll just tell them to go away." It's almost something to feel guilty about saying, considering where they are, what they're doing, but--well. She wants to be selfish, just this once. To have something to share with him. This meal, this night. This date. Looking back down at her plate, Shiro goes back to the meal.

From:

credere

It's not bad for a first attempt, he thinks. The vegetables are a minute or so overcooked, and he probably could have been more liberal with the soy sauce - but when it's a new recipe, he's always overgenerous with cooking time and undergenerous with seasoning. Even after so long, there's a part of him which thinks he'll have his mother to answer to if he wastes salt or sauces, that the food is probably on the turn and needs to be cooked until it won't make anyone sick.

"Do you - like it?"

From:

wrecked_egg

It isn't bad. It's loads better than a lot of things she's eaten, and also he's the one who made it. For a moment, just a moment, she thinks about Ganta, and that first meal she'd ever cooked--how it had taken her all night, and how much she'd messed up, all the burns, and how terrible the food really was--but also how Ganta had eaten it anyway and smiled. It's--not a terrible memory. Doesn't hurt like she'd expected. And so when she answers, it's almost an echo.

"It's really good. Especially since this was your first time," she tells him, and means it, overcooked vegetables or no. "You could try it for dinner for everyone, I think."

From:

credere

"Oh - do you think so? I think I could cook it in batches, that would be okay," he says, mind already drifting towards the new kitchen layout - before he realises he's being rude, and drags himself back into the moment. "I know I cooked the vegetables for too long, um - I'm sorry."

From:

wrecked_egg

She might not be very good at always reading other people, but Credence isn't always other people. Sometimes he is, but when he trails off at the end of the sentence, she can tell he's thinking about the new kitchen. She does the same thing, sometimes. It's kind of funny, seeing it from outside.

"A little, maybe, but it's okay. They're still good. The new ovens--and the grill--I almost burned the pancakes this morning. It's all new stuff, you know? And there's all these new things on the counters. I don't know what most of them do," she confides, leaning forward and folding her arms on the table. "But I kinda want to find out, you know?"

From:

credere

"Yes," he says, nodding. "And - have you seen that really old kitchen that's attached? With, um, the cauldron."

He's vaguely thinking about potions.

From:

wrecked_egg

"Mm." She nods, and this time it's her face that goes a little far away and thoughtful. "I haven't really been in there, except to look one or two times, make sure it's clean. Like the other little kitchen." Cocking her head, she looks at him. "What about it?"

From:

credere

"I don't know, it's just - strange that it's there, I guess. I don't know why it would be? Maybe someone asked for it."

But they haven't been using it, so it seems unlikely.

From:

wrecked_egg

"There's a lot of stuff on this barge that's different. Maybe the people who were here before--maybe some of them were from different times and places, when kitchens looked more like that," she offers thoughtfully. "I guess--that's one of the things I've been thinking about. Who this barge belonged to. The kind of people who were here before. If they miss it like I miss parts of ours, like the library, and my room being next to the art room. Is that weird?" It might be.

From:

credere

“No,” he says, immediately. “That’s not weird. I miss the library too. It’s all so different.”

From:

wrecked_egg

"It is." She nods, some short strands of hair falling forward over her cheekbones. "I mean--it's not all bad. I like the garden and the way the art room is now. I like the kitchen and how big it is. And the new rooms--I know you were working hard on yours, and I feel bad it got taken, but--I kind of like that everyone is the same. Wardens and inmates. Nobody gets anything special just for being one or the other. You know?" That's something that feels surprisingly important to her.