lightwithin | 1st ♥ [Text]

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1st ♥ [Text]

My name is Kairi.

If the worlds are gone, then what is this place?

What happened?

Where are Sora and Riku?

[Kairi has not realized that the book with her name on is more than it seems, so she writes down her thoughts as she wanders from the barracks, across the training yard, past the thermal pools and toward the vegetable garden. She looks in wonder and curiosity at everything around her, but she's more than a little lost. Approach?]

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[Kairi giggles.]

I don't think we could make fast food here.

[Fried fish, salty potato wedges with lemon, sea salt ice-cream...]

I don't remember what kinds of foods use onions, but it's been a long time since I had soup. Maybe we could try?

[It's cooler here then on the islands. Soup might be nice. And Kairi doesn't want to be discouraging. Xanth seems kind of jumpy and nervous a lot.]

[Xanth lets out a little laugh of his own. He's still unsure of Kairi's approval, but the fact that she's giving it is of some comfort.]

O-Okay!

[He gives the onions another stir, then looks to the water. Not quite enough flavor for the soup he's thinking, so he starts investigating the pantry.]

H-Have you ever h-had, um, o--onion s-soup?

Mm-Mm.

[She shook her head.]

Not that I remember. Heh, soup isn't really an island food.

[Not most of the time, anyway. There had been occasions, after a particularly bad storm or on the few cooler days in winter.

Kairi picks up the spoon and begins stirring the onions the way Xanth had been doing.]

What should I do?

W-Well, uh...

[Xanth pulls a bag of flour from the pantry, then sets it on the counter.]

C-Can you, uh, l--look for something t-to flavor the--the soup, m-maybe? I-It'll be ki--kind of boring with j--just water. I-I'd use stock, b-but, that takes a--a really long t-time...

Heh, okay!

[And Kairi spends a good two minutes wandering around the pantry, picking up earthenware jars of various spices. That's how you flavour soup, right?]

I've got pepper, and chili powder, and ginger and... This stuff.

[She pulls the lid off the last jar. The sweet smell of brown sugar isn't enough to overpower the smell of cooking onions, not unless you're actually trying to smell it.

Kairi grins a little sheepishly. IT smelled sweet, but they probably can't use it.]

Or I could go looking for some other vegetables!

[It's official: Kairi is a terrible cook.]

[While Kairi searches for flavorings, Xanth adds some flour to the onions and gets cooking. When she returns, he looks over exactly what she's got. Pepper, he recognizes, and ginger. When she removes the lid to the sugar jar, Xanth takes a pinch of it and pops that into his mouth to taste it.]

O-Oh, that-- that's s-sugar. P-Put that down, we-- w-we can use i-it.

L--Let me see the, uh, ch--chili p-powder, th--though?

[That's the only ingredient he didn't recognize.]

[Sucess! Kairi has found one thing that they can use. It's not her best effort, considering she was in charge of rations and supplies when she was building a raft back home, but this place has so many strange foods. She beams with her success.]

Oh? Sure.

[She hands over the chili powder.]

It tastes good with fish and chicken...

[At least, that's when she can most clearly remember tasting chili.]

[Xanth pops open the container and peers down at the mysterious powder. Just like with the sugar, he takes a pinch of the chili powder and tastes that.

Two seconds in and Xanth realizes that that was the worst decision he's ever made.]

Agh! Ack! Pthfpl--

[TOO SPICY! BAD LIFE CHOICES!]

Oh, wai-!

[Too late. Kairi cringes as Xanth's reaction shows in his face. She casts around and spots a basin full of water with polished wooden cups scattered around its edge. It has to be clean, right? She darts over and returns with a cup brim-full of water.]

Here.

[Xanth snatches the cup away from Kairi and then guzzles the contents down. Sorry, Kairi!

Better! Still not good, but better!]

Th--thanks. Ha, that-- that w-wasn't s-- so s...smart...

[Kairi looks momentarily surprised when the water's snatched from her hands.

And then, as Xanth speaks, she bursts into a fit of giggles. She tries to squash them down, and covers her mouth with both hands, but there's no helping it. She only laughs harder.]

S-sorry!

[Xanth's cheeks flush pink and he fidgets. It's hard not to get flustered when a near stranger is laughing at you! But he must admit, that was a foolish thing to do. Definitely worth a laugh.

And yet his cheeks glow brighter.]

I-It's okay, don't-- d-don't worry. L-Let's, um, not-- n-not put that in th-the soup.

[Kairi bites her lip in an effort to stifle her giggles and cautiously lowers her hands.]

Sure, okay.

[She glances aside but peers back at Xanth out of the corner of her eye. His face is all pink and it takes her a moment to figure out it's because he's embarrassed.

She's so used to living around boys who feel no shame. She shouldn't have laughed.]

So, what other vegetables can we put in?

[Oh hush. It's good for his character, and it gives his veins a workout!

Xanth mentally moves on. Extra vegetables in the soup: yes or no?]

U-Uh, well, i-if you-- p-put other v-veg--v-g-- th-things in the s--soup, it stops being on-onion s--soup and st-starts being v-vege-t--

[Xanth frowns and bites his lip, giving the onions a rough stir.]

N--Not-onion-s--soup.

Vegetable?

[She didn't decide to say it, she just did. She'd been trying to ignore his stammer. Being thrown onto a new world would make anyone nervous, and it didn't seem to bother him, so why should she say anything? So she hadn't... Until now.

She had the good grace to look sheepish as she continue to regard him out of the corner of her eye.]

[Xanth lowers his head and draws his shoulders inward.]

Y...Yeah.

[He's always tried to ignore his stammer, though it's never gone by without a comment, even in Westlyn.

He's only glad Kairi didn't say something worse.]

S-So, uh, yeah. B-But we... w-we could do th-that, if... y-you like.

[Vegetable soup is still good, after all.]

Okay. If it's easier. Heh, I mean, we don't have any beef stock so...

[This was awkward. Kairi was not used to awkward. Maybe it would be better if she weren't here for a moment.]

I'll go find some ve- other foods.

[Xanth taps the toe of his foot against the floor. He still does not meet Kairi's eyes.]

...j-just because I c-can't say it d--doesn't m-mean you c-can't.

Oh. Right.

[She's just trying to be nice but, well, it's not working]

So, um... I'll be back!

[She's in part defiant - she isn't fleeing the situation despite the odd tension that seems to be crowding the room - and in part reassuring. She really didn't mean anything by it.

She returns minutes later with a few carrots, some celery, a handful of green beans and a cob or corn still in its husk.]

What about these?

[It is, unfortunately, something of a relief when Kairi finally leaves the room. Refusing to use the word Xanth had trouble with only drew more attention to it, and Xanth would much rather pretend his stutter didn't even exist.

While Kairi hunts for more foodstuffs, he searched for more spices. Salt - good! That regular pepper Kairi found - good! He ends up picking a couple more blends that appeal to him, though he's not entirely sure what's in them.

When Kairi returns, Xanth is once again manning the onion station.]

The-- the carrots and th-the ce--celery would be good! N-Not corn, though, that... th-that's better i-in c--cream soup.

[But they could make a cream soup, if there was any around.]

Oh, okay.

[She separates the vegetables into a pile of things they can use and a pile of things that they can't.]

Is that enough? Should I get more?

[... This has become so awkward.]

[It really, really has. Xanth smiles, hoping to defuse the tension, but his smiles are just as awkward.]

M--More carrots? B-But uh, not-- not m-more celery. I-It's kind of a-- strong f-flavor.

Heh, okay!

[And glad of something to do, Kairi soon returns with more carrots.]

Now what?

[Why no, she has never peeled a carrot. Why do you ask?]

[Why, neither has Xanth! What a waste of carrot that would be.]

W-Well, uh, are-- are they w-washed, or s-still dirty?

Um... I think I'll wash them.

[And so she sets about finding a basin and water for washing and sets to. While she's at it, she casts about for something to say.]

So, what do you think of the way books talk here?

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