[PRP] Pasta Promise (Joy and Gabby)

[Huni Pi]

Just as Joy promised, she led Gabby to the Towns where her flat was. From a distance, it was obvious that not all the structures were rebuilt. There were clusters that had been knocked down, less from neglect and more from someone (or something) beating the hell out of it. "We renovated ours though, so it might not look like the rest on the inside. That sorta stuff you gotta run past Rep. Again, kinda gago and kupal but he won't screw you over on this."

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The walk wasn't as bad as she thought it would be; when Joy said "town" she assumed a whole lot farther for some reason. It didn't look all that impressive and her face pretty much reflected her thoughts. "Sure it looked better back in the day," she said as she took in some of the destruction this town seems to have suffered. "This happened a long time ago, right? And who is Rep? Mayor?"

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"If by a long time ago, you mean two months, then yes. And Rep's not Mayor. I don't think we have those here. He's not a referee or a fridge either he's one of the older hunters who's been around a long-a** time. Dunno how he got to own bits of this place, but he rents these houses out." She gestured to a couple of blocks, some showing fresh coats of paint and signs of recently being repaired, still others looked very well maintained.

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She took the info in, looking over at the houses on some blocks that she mentioned and nodding, a little more impressed this time. "Parang small town feel talaga, I guess. Not bad, but two months?" She looked toward the less than fixed up homes. "Is it safe out here?"

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"Usually. This is the more populated part of towns. The outskirts are more dangerous, you got shadowlings forming there. These recent ones were made by horsemen and halloweeners. The stupid Creation tree had something to do with it," she grumbled. "Luckily my flat didn't need much fixing up. Winasak nga lang yung oven."  

[Huni Pi]

Considering she lived out here, Gabby figured Joy would know better so she just absorbed the information, nodding to confirm that she got it. Most of it, anyway. A lot of the words were foreign but it felt like if she tried to take in any more information she might actually explode so she decided to save it for later. Maybe over a plate of spaghetti. "So where's your house?"

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"Over there," Joy pointed, a modest two story flat that was for the most part not too different from the other flats along the street. There were signs of it being inhabited, floral curtains in one of the windows for one. She unlocked the door and gestured for her new friend to come in, "Make yourself at home, sorry for some of the renovation mess. We're trying to convert a room on the ground floor to be Kai's tattoo parlor."

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Gabby whistled, pretty impressed by what she saw considering the rubble not too far away. "Ganda 'te, she said with a little skip in her step as she walked through the front door. "And no problem, we'll be in the kitchen naman, diba?" She hovered toward the general direction of where she thought the kitchen might be, but paused and glanced over at Joy for confirmation. "Through here?"

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"Korek," she confirmed, gesturing with her lips at the correct direction while she went to put away her cleaning gear. And yes, they were hers because she had yet to convince the island's logistics department to stock up on the kind she was accustomed to. "I'll make a big batch so Kai can have some leftovers. One of the things I really like about living with other people is I get to make their food. Nice reminder of my 'nay, y'know?"

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With that Gabby shuffled along to the kitchen proper, being careful not to touch anything because she knew what a kitchen could mean to someone. She touched just about everything with her eyes though, including the empty space where she imagined the oven used to be. She jabbed a thumb in its direction. "Sayang," she commented with a frown. "When d'you think you'll get to replace it? ...And how do we even get furniture here if we wanted to buy some for ourselves?"  

[Huni Pi]

"I know, diba? The replacement's gonna ba La Germania though, so yayz~" Joy sounded pleased enough, "We get paid monthly, and there aren't a lot of stuff you need to spend on here so it's pretty easy to save up. What's expensive is getting the appliances runic'd by the peeps at Life." Joy explained. "Otherwise you can't use anything fancy like appliances. Our phones come pre-runic'd. I think?"

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She nodded, sort of following the logic. At mention of the phone she pulled he out and looked at it like it was some strange piece of paraphernalia--which it was. "Runic'd...yeah, they said regular tech doesn't work here..." And then she slipped the gadget into her pocket to inspect for another. "Basta they can make it so we can cook, I don't think I need to think too hard. So!" Gabby eyed the stove and the cabinets and pretty much everything else in the space. "Where do we start and what can I do?"

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Joy pointed at one of the cabinets, "You can set up the table. Just for two, ewan what time Kai'll be back. It shouldn't take too long to make the sauce or cook the pasta." She cooked a lot and thankfully the refrigerator wasn't too damaged that she couldn't store anything.

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Gabby's smile went a little lopsided for a split second because she'd wanted to help with cooking, but she recovered it well enough and nodded at the instruction before hurrying toward the cabinet. "For two, I can do that," she said with a little nod at the info about Kai. As she gathered up what she needed she glanced over her shoulder, toward the stove again. "Sure you don't need my help in the kitchen?"

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"Yes, yes, you're the bisita here. Next time, when the kitchen's fully up and running again, I'll let you help cook." There were a few things Joy was adamant be followed, the guest-host relationship was one of them. At least in the beginning. When they become full-blown kumares, they'll be more like family. In that if Gabby wanted to open the ref and eat straight out of the containers Joy wouldn't bat an eye.  

[Huni Pi]

She tried her best not to let the disappointment show because she definitely understood that guest-host relationship. There was no sense in forcing her way now--especially not if it meant insulting the first Filipino she met on the island--so she nodded, smiling, and carried the plates and cups and utensils (because she was masterful at balancing that stuff) over to the table and started setting up. "So," she started after floating back toward one of the counters so she could watch her friend work. "May mga favorites ka ba when it comes to cooking?"

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"Liempo, siyempre~" Joy's answer came automatically as she went about to mixing the sauce and getting the water to boil for the pasta. "But with the shitty weather lately it's hard to get a good barbecue going. I would grill inside but, uh, coal and smoke is real bad for indoors." She laughed, glancing over her shoulder to Gabby, "Ikaw? If you move into a house like this, what kinda dishes you plan on making?"

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The word "liempo" got a pleasant little hum from the girl as she learned further forward, the aroma of cooking so nostalgic and very welcome that she really just wanted more of it. "Yeah, maybe you can host a huge block party when the rain does clear up," she said on a sigh as she leaned back (because she was already on her toes and could only go so far forward). "And me? Crispy pata 'te, or lechon, or lechon kawali. My family is a brood of pork lovers. Chicharon is also another thing." She gave a wide smile, proud about this little fact about her.

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"Hell, I would use a personal leave and get Cebu lechon to celebrate the rain stopping! And who doesn't love pork? I don't have the time or the ingredients right now, but I can make homemade chicharon. It's not as good as R. Lapid's but it's still preeeeetty damn good. Can't share the recipe though, family secret~" Joy jokingly waggled her finger before checking up on the sauce whether it had thickened enough. She gestured for Gabby to come close as she dipped a spoon in, "Taste this, see if you like it."

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Gabby shuffled on over with a giant smile on her face, carefully tasting the sauce before squeeing very loudly. "Sarap! Ugh, so good..." she receded back to her spot from earlier before snapping very surprisingly loud. "I can do Cebu lechon!" she sing-songed with a giddy little shake of her head. "My uncle had a recipe he passed on to my mom before he passed away. Sobrang sarap, as in."  

[Huni Pi]

"You have to make it, once the shitty weather gets better," She was all smiles as she made the finishing touches on the sauce. The pasta was carefully slipped into the boiling water, shouldn't be too long now. "((It's ridiculous but all this talk about the food we're going to make is making me super excited. Or is it just me?)) "

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"Can do!" she said with a very subdued little fist-pump. She rattled on in her head about what she would need to do, starting with making of a list of things they would need to buy to make it come out as close to the right way as possible, but then her question snapped the girl out of her own thoughts. It took a second for her to process everything, but she did nod very energetically once it did. "Totally not just you, 'cause me, too! ((We can probably make a whole lot more, too. Just have to save up and get all the ingredients and everything)), but it should be okay. You said we don't spend a lot on this island, anyway, diba?"

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"Usually yeah, but s**t's been happening lately and it's been murdering my budget," Joy made a face, scooping out the boiled pasta and setting them onto one big plate while the sauce was poured into a separate bowl. "Sana things settle down soon para ma-regulate ko uli yung pera ko."

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Gabby nodded in joint hopefulness for the island situation. "What exactly has been eating your budget? Just..." and she gestured toward the vacant space where the oven belonged. "Stuff like that? Or other things too?"

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"Usually things like that," Joy confirmed, gesturing to said oven with her lips. "Most of it first went to furnishing and runicing the appliances that didn't come with the flat. Then it's to get the place set up for Kai's tattoo parlor, also paying other hunters who know carpentry to fix s**t up. Even if you save up, it all just happened in one go." She set the food in front of them, "Feeling mong adult na adult ka ditto, especially without family to fall back on for help."

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Her grimace got progressively bigger the more Joy added to the list of expenses, and by the end she could only imagine what the numbers looked like all added up. "Ganun lang talaga siguro," she sighed as she slid down into her seat, eyeing the food and feeling her stomach suddenly give a low rumble. "Sige lang, you'll earn it again." The prospect of death being even more real here didn't register yet. "And yeah, without family..." Gabby gave a small frown. "I'll manage naman, but I won't lie and say I don't miss mine. Also I'm kinda broke right now so I hope you don't mind if I mooch a little bit." She grinned and dug into the pasta first, then generously heaped the sauce on top.

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Joy reached over to give Gabby a comforting pat on the shoulder, "Of course! Habang okay sayo, feel free to consider me family." By nature Joy didn't want to put a downer to the whole mood, it was too happy and hopeful for her to want to remind the newly awakened trainee that this was all temporary. At least when it came to the dangers of their work. Every division had its share of danger, Joy was only fortunate that her division leader didn't actively treat the lower ranked hunters like cannon fodder.

_ p a o cx