"This b*****d had just put us both through the ringer--" His words warm with affection, his grin stretching his features as a memory anchored itself to his tongue and took over.
To be fair to Aelius? The man hadn't asked how, exactly, Waru had come across liking this kind of food-- he was sure the man wanted something simple, quick maybe? In the way of explanations. A list of spices and ingredients, what made something amongst the hoard of favorite fare sent to them inherently prefered, why he liked one dish above another. But he couldn't properly discuss the pit of his love for these sorts of eats without embellishing a bit! Adding characters and texture in the form of the people that made what would've otherwise been described as organized mess and heaped trash plates into something palatable for the tongue if not the eye.
“Course? I was being stubborn, too— I always am when it comes to ‘training’. I like to learn s**t the hard way.” He could’ve played on I ye do, but instead sounded both serious and self-assured. As if he was speaking some salient fact, because for him? There was only the one right way to do anything, and that way required equal parts blood and sweat sacrificed to the altar of ‘self-improvement’.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so pissed…or panicked…” something that had been a truth at the time. Nowadays? He could think of several others to top it, but as a basic? That one moment with Faustite coming at him — going from on fire to down and out — has been the culmination of all his ‘s**t this is scary’ experiences.
“I don’t know why the hell either of you put up with me when I get like that if m’being honest? Yanno…the whole…dog with a bone deal…a real slobbery one…” He snorted to himself as he laid items Aelius de-lidded out, delighted in remembering the shocked look on Faustites face for the stunt he’d pulled with the cops starseed, how that look had been just as worth paying a price to see as the utterly incensed one that’d taken his flaming boys features after.“With a semi-death wish? Which I’ve been working on! But at that point I hadn’t stared down the ‘better to live for you than die’ path. Cause I thought I would! Die..that is…I thought we were—“ Dead, Dead, oh so very dead and ******** the way Faustite had looked it? Nigh flameless and what with him being unable to teleport yet and he also wasn’t about to ******** call for help because—-
Okay, he hadn’t known how to do that either. Not yet. Not in a way where it was a forethought instead of an ‘********’ kinda thought.
“But—-this kinda food right here fixes everything. Y’dont have to be clean with it..and it reminds me of home? We wash our hands, we eat with them, we always have — tsk — flat breads, fried dough, rice sides and sauces…the whole fish! Sept’I’d only ever take head cause the cheek meat is the best and…” Not that he’d gotten any of that here. Not that this was anything close to what he would’ve been eating back with his mom. There definitely wasn’t a whole fish…
But—- it was the way it tasted as though it was made with a brutalist sort of care behind it. As though the flavor was beaten into the food; twice fried, spice laden, finger licking bits of deliciousness.
“I don’t think I could pick a favorite if you paid me to? It’s all good in a real — Ah — judgement free kinda way? Oh! Like a guilty pleasure—“ his guilty pleasure, maybe, for how he enjoyed with a visceral heat being able to watch the people he loved *eat*; openly, shamelessly, where he could quantify reactions and reach out to touch at his own leisure. He didn’t get it enough with some of the others, with Baz; found himself more often taking for the sake of the others boys'pleasure and offering kind praises to see that spark in the blonds eyes. He’d sooner shoot himself in the d**k than kill‘Maris eagerness to share and care; even if it seemed to be at his subordinates own expense.
He didn’t have to do that here though — he could be greedy with how he watched — with whether or not he reached out to snatch at his joy with fingers hungrier than his stomach ever could be.
‘I wonder if this is a thing with me? A kink? Is sharing meals the ********’ secret?’
Eion with his ale and oranges and cookies and — gods…the way Aelius had looked spread out over a buffet of Chinese food — it was something to introspect on when he had the brain cells to dedicate to it.
“Like, that’s what makes any of this taste so good. Same as Denny’s coffee at three am — or cold pizza after a night out? Heh, but uh — you’ll find that out on your own, yeah? I shouldn’t go and spoil it by explaining things. Y’jist gotta — take a leap of faith n’eat.” An eager glint to his eyes, as he managed to graze over every question Aelius had asked while simultaneously answering none of them.
Kolina
potential fin?
Strickenized
also?
