08 . family drama

[necrolord]

Who: necrolord, Gideon, Harrow, Paul; Oscar, Ruby, Ozpin, maybe Qrow and Ange; possibly others.
What: Some kids robbed a lich and got their hands melted off. The fallout is messy.
When: April, following the party, network post, and Oscar's log.
Where: Bone House & Clockhouse

Content Warnings: Marked as needed. Note all the usual warnings of this character.

Comments

AT BONE HOUSE

[peripheries]

[The house is quiet and he doesn't like it. The silence makes everything feel sterile, lifeless, like the SEELE facilities when everyone left. Or his solitary room at NERV. He could play the piano to feel the space but... he doesn't feel like it. He's got a bad case of "teenage ennui".

Also, he's hungry. Which is new. He often eats when others eat but he rarely feels hungry. But now, his stomach is twisting furiously in its demand for food. Perhaps something to do with a slight but noticeable gain in height and broadening of slim shoulders.

So now he sits backwards on a chair, staring down the rice cooker as if he could force it to cook faster by sheer will. Yes, all he's making is rice. He doesn't know how to do much else other than use vending machines.]

[necrolord]

[ It's funny, having the house quiet again. In recent years he's gotten used to the bustle of a flagship; in recent months he's been fond of the teenage chaos. God is very practiced at being alone, but that doesn't mean he prefers it. Also: even God Himself has to perform the tradition of pacing a kitchen aimlessly deciding what to make.

So here he is in the kitchen doorway, considering the moody slouch of teenager by the rice cooker. It's a start. ]

Glad to see you cooking. What's for dinner?

[peripheries]

Rice. I'm not... I don't know what else to make.

[Considering his normal lack of appetite, he usually lets Paul or Gideon choose and then helps out where he can. So, it's both a bit of "don't know what" and "don't know how". Rice is at least easily made in a machine.

...A really slow machine.]

Maybe with an egg on it.

[necrolord]

[ God nods somberly, as though he understands the emotional state of rice-maybe-with-an-egg-on-it down to his bones. ]

We could spice things up a bit, chop some mushrooms to go with. Make a real stir fry. There's got to be something in the fridge.

[ He breezes past Kaworu to their funny moonlight-and-Coldblood ice chest, drums his fingers on the door as he takes stock. ]

If the others are out at a fancy dinner, we should throw our own, eh?

[ It's a peace-talks-slash-attempted-deprogramming dinner, but there's no point sitting around bored while it goes on. ]

[peripheries]

We can do that?

[Kaworu perks up from his deflated posture, looking over at God with curiosity. Sometimes it’s easy forget how new things are to him in the face of how he approaches so much with an unusual confidence. He stands and pads barefoot over to stand at God’s right hand side.]

[necrolord]

I don't see why not. [ He chews his lip, considering the contents of their fridge, and turns back to Kaworu. ] How fancy are you feeling? I've seen it all... from the worst microwave dinners to the most genuinely embarrassing feasts.

[ What's a microwave is not the question of the hour. ]

[peripheries]

[A shrug of skinny shoulders as he peers around Teacher to look at the contents of the fridge. He's still learning about what people think about food and what is "good" and what is "fancy".]

I don't know what a fancy meal is. Anything that's not cup ramen? Or from a vending machine?

[necrolord]

[ This is the saddest thing he has ever heard, and John's expression says so. ]

I think we can set out standards a bit higher.

[ He pulls out a tray of fish filets, sets them on the counter, then goes rifling for mushrooms and scallions. ]

If we're really pulling out the stops, we'll need a couple courses... why make one thing when you can make a dozen smaller, more elaborately plated things, right? I'm not usually the guy preparing these, but you get bored quick, off-planet. Been a long time since I had food this fresh.

[ That he didn't put in necromantic stasis himself, anyway. More exciting when it's actually seen an ocean in the past millennia. ]

[peripheries]

[Kaworu watches, curious, making note of all of the things that Teacher takes out and even more curious to watch him cook. He has a vague idea of how they could go together, thanks to sometimes watching Paul, but it's truthfully something he's never thought of. He eats what he's given or what he can find.]

Isn't it a waste to make the food look good if you're just going to eat it anyway?

[necrolord]

Good food is an art.

[ He's warming to his topic now, happy to be teaching. God passes this monster-kid the mushrooms. ]

Fun to look at, fun to eat. You should see the stuff they come up with on the Third... necromancy makes for some wild novelty dinners. But we'll keep it simple, today.

Want to get these chopped? Doesn't have to be perfect.

[peripheries]

...I know humans have a lot of different sorts of art. But I only understand music.

[It had been the only art he'd been taught. He takes the mushrooms and chops them slowly, a little rough but not carelessly, all while quiet, forehead scrunched a little in thought. Then as he finishes, he straightens, as if set on what to say.]

It's lonely when everyone is gone. The quiet is louder than any voice.

[necrolord]

[ He fusses with glaze for the fish while Kaworu chops. At this, though, his hands still. ]

Don't I know it. [ The look on his face goes wry, quiet. Something like wistful. ] That's a rough one to learn. It helps to talk, even if it's only your voice... it helps to fill the quiet with something.

[ He turns to look back at Kaworu, encouraging. ] And we're not alone, are we? There's two of us to make our wastefully pretty fish dinner.

[ A beat, and his lips twitch with a smile. ] And the lizard.

[ 'Shinji' trots over to bump itself against Kaworu's ankle, on cue. It is still very dead. ]

[peripheries]

I used to practice my English and Japanese by speaking out loud to myself, at night, after testing and everyone went home... I got tired of not hearing anything back. At least music isn't supposed to get a response.

[He's silent then. He doesn't want to think about this house being anything like the SEELE facility, even when it gets quiet. When Shinji-kun bumps his nose against Kaworu's leg, he smiles and drops down, to pet the lizard's head. It's easy to understand in that moment, why he would attach himself to a lizard that pays him affection and have no interest in determining if its dead or not.]

No, we're not alone. Everyone will be back. And we're together now.

[necrolord]

[ He gets it. He gets it better than anybody should. Sometimes, on bad days, he can't see anything except that he's been playing house with zombies for the past ten thousand years.

This isn't a bad day. He loves them all too much to stop loving the dead. Kaworu should get to love whatever's around to love, and if that's a secondhand God and the corpse of a lizard, then that's a family for the evening. ]

We are. And I bet we can have the better night of it. [ 'Shinji' leans into the petting, then trundles off again. ] Cooking means making something together - helping each other. I'll teach you.

[ He has a lot of experience, at the end of the day, when it comes to learning how to live. Teaching himself and someone else how to be human. It's been a long time; it hurts too much to bear thinking about; but he can't stop loving these echoes any more than Kaworu will stop loving his dead lizard. It's what they have. ]