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I haven't, actually. I've been to a few of the others, but not Bishop. Why do you have a lock on your shuttle bay doors? [bc just saying that may discourage visitors]

[Belthazar pauses. He's been around since the locks were put in place, aside from that month and a half, but...]

It isn't to be unfriendly. Hiro wanted to make a safe place just in case someone bad showed up from home. Thankfully, we've never had to use it.

[As they pass through the hallway, Belth turns his eyes upward. There are lights installed on the ceiling in addition to the normal ones.]

Most of what he's modified the ship with counts as abusing technology, though. [It sounds fond.] Like this, this is utterly pointless--

[He finds a panel outside the kitchen and presses a button. The lights dim and immediately go into RAVE MODE. This isn't an exaggeration. It's strobe. It's rainbow. It's rave. Belth only lets it go for a few seconds before shutting it off.]

Oh geez! [Sorey rubs at his eyes; he had not been expecting that, but if he had he would probably have been more appropriately impressed by it.] That was...really interesting! [Sorey speak for a GODDAMN HEADACHE] What's that function for? Hey, do it again, I didn't get to see much.

You would have to ask Hiro. There are alarm lights, which I understand, but rainbows?

[He shrugs helplessly, then motions for Sorey to follow him into the kitchen.

Things have already been laid out, as he'll soon realize. Measuring cups, bowls, ingredients, cooking dishes-- it's all laid impeccably, like a picture of a kitchen rather than a real one.]

I hope you are hungry, Sorey.

Oh yeah, I specifically skipped lunch. I wanted to make sure to savor this. [strIPS OFF GLOVES and rolls up sleeves!! he's ready to be ordered around like a measly line cook.] Okay, what should I do first?

We're going to make a casserole for our first dish. That should be simple enough, and you can save whatever we don't eat.

[He offers a bowl to Sorey. It's full of potatoes.]

Do you mind chopping these up for me? The cutting board is right over there. I'll sear the pork in the meantime.

Oh boy, wow, you're super prepared. [Takes that bowl, looking around at the assembled ingredients, impressed. Kind of like Edna and her iron-fisted kitchen rule; a place had everything and everything had its place] This is something you make a lot, huh?

I make a ridiculous amount of food. Allen and Sokka are like bottomless pits, you know. I usually make them dinner and send it over.

[Belth works quickly and efficiently to cut off any excess fat, then he salts and peppers the pork chops and tosses them into a pan. This is going a bit slower than he'd like, however, so he snaps his fingers and--

-- and suddenly it looks like Merlin's purse exploded in here. Everything Sorey isn't using is floating. Belth reaches out and summons a fire spell beneath the pan to sear the pork chops, then he works on pushing the cheese through a shredder and into a bowl. Much easier to do that when it's enchanted, mind you.]

Oh! [Well okay, he lives in the company of people who do things human society would call unnatural or witchcraft or creepy etc etc, but this is a whole lot of incredible happening all at once from one person.

Sorey wraps his arms around the bowl and scoots out of the way. He should probably start chopping these but he can't help but watch instead, fascinated.] How are you doing all of that?

It's a basic levitation spell applied to many small objects, which I enchanted beforehand. The main difficulty is in ensuring I don't forget they're there and run into them. [He talks like he's been doing this for a while, and maybe he has. He's studied rigorously since he was four years old.

He holds his breath as he chops some onions, not trusting himself to levitate a knife with company around. That done, he tosses them in another bowl, and then flips the pork chops with a floating spatula.]

Do you like to cook, Sorey?

I mean, I can do it...some of it. [wow would you look at all that...seraphim can do some amazing things but Sorey's never seen one do something like this. So he uses spells and the like, like Nightingale does? Only that looks like some fine control, must be why it requires setup. How does that work? Are spells crafted individually for their purpose or is it all in the intent?]

-oh right. [He's supposed to be cutting up these potatoes. Gonna just get on that, chop chop, and come dangerously close to getting his fingers because he keeps glancing up at all the levitating objects and trying to figure out how they know how to interact.] Just simple things, enough to keep myself fed. I don't really get too fancy with it. I also don't have really cool spells to help me out either, so I can be a little lazy when it comes to preparation.

That's not so bad. It's important to be able to take care of yourself... that's how I learned.

[He's happy to answer rapid-fire questions if Sorey gives them, but otherwise, the Shepherd will just have to figure that out on his own.]

The spells came after, believe me. You don't want a six year old trying to cook with fire.

I believe you. [said so seriously. this child has seen some shit, usually of his own making. he was a little bit of a well-meaning menace as a kid] When did you learn all these spells then?

I've been studying magic since I could read, but I didn't master the higher levels of arcane magic until I was ten. [Belthazar makes it sound like that was too long to wait.] And I didn't have the reagents for it until a few years ago...

[He sets the pork chops aside. Only now does he hesitate.]

The only thing I cannot do is chop onions without tears. There isn't a spell for that, and if I fly it too far away I lose control of the spell.

[He sucks in a breath and begins dicing up the onions anyway.]

[oh man when you were ten, you practically wasted your life away]

Oh- Belthazar, if you hate it so much, I don't mind doing it. [He's kind of an expert at crying at this rate!!]

[Belth looks up, a bit surprised.]

Oh, would you? [He can already feel the stinging settling in, but he's happy to set the knife down and move away.]

If there are still potatoes, I will do them.

[there are all the potatoes] ...s-sorry. I got kind of distracted. Your magic is seriously cool. [dutifully chops those onions and cries tho]

[Belthazar blushes florescent pink.]

I-i-i-i-it's nothing, really! I'm sure you have plenty of skills that are way cooler than mine.

[He dices the potatoes with far more speed than is probably necessary, then dumps them into the casserole dish.]

I don't, really. [Sorey sniffs and scrapes the diced onions from the board into the dish.] I'm actually...really, really average.

[But that's enough of that.] A-anyway, does this dish have a name? Is it something you came up with yourself, or a recipe you got somewhere?

It's okay to be average. I can't run half a mile, so...

[He smiles a little, and sprinkles the bowl of cheese over everything.]

It's a pork chop casserole. I learned some simpler recipes before the gourmet ones.

[He spreads the seared pork chops atop the casserole, then buries them a little beneath potatoes and cheese and onions. He pauses, though, and just stares at the dish.]

To be honest, I... I spent a lot of time starving. Years, really. I didn't get to eat like a normal person until I came here.

[He isn't sure why he just said that. He's never told anyone that, but Sorey seems trustworthy. He seems like a nice guy and-- and maybe Belth just needs to tell him something, to share a little bit of himself. He's compelled.]

-- Sorry, that's not very good conversation, is it?

[Sorey shakes his head.] You don't have to apologize.

[He'd heard a lot of stories like that, especially in Pendrago. Farmers whose families would starve because they were barely producing enough grain to sell, let alone eat. Orphans and older children braving the dangers of the wilderness to try and forage wild plants, or struggling to kill a rabbit or bird or even rats just to have something to fill their bellies.

Even people who hadn't known he was the Shepherd would tell him these things, in markets and alleys and dark corners at the inn. He'd overhear merchants whispering 'did you hear, the Dulles' boy, always was a sickly thing' around the fountain.

So there are stories like that here, too. Sorey feels a little shamefaced for complaining about the food months ago.]

Could I ask you to tell me more about it?

[Belth slips the casserole into the oven and shuts the door. He doesn't say anything for a long moment, just looks down at their mess. How could Sorey hear that and want to know more?

But his heart will feel better for the telling, he knows.]

Ah... [He isn't sure where to begin, so he just starts stacking bowls into the sink.] My home was taken by the Scourge before I saw my seventh summer. Most people died or went missing. The few of us that survived were left to fend for ourselves. I was used to living on a little, but not on nothing. Even rats are scarce when the undead have poisoned everything...

[The sound of the faucet is calming in comparison to his memories, so he lets it run for a while to wash off bits of vegetables and flour.]

After the city was rebuilt-- the hierarchy didn't change. I stole books until I learned enough to get a job in the kitchen, but the pay wasn't enough to live on. I just read whenever I was hungry. Eventually I stopped noticing.

Edited 2016-10-04 18:48 (UTC)

[Sorey comes over to lean against the counter as Belthazar talks, pulling utensils and dirty dishes closer to the sink.] And that was so even all the way up to showing up here? You just taught yourself not to eat?

Mm-hmm. I ended up in Exsilium, which was -- [shitty] -- a little like the Fleet. Food was a little easier to come by but still rationed, so I tried not to be too much of a burden on the people I lived with.

[He scrubs at a pan.]

Then I came here, and I could finally cook like I wanted. [Even he can't help the way his expression lifts.] I used to dream about making twenty different kinds of food and-- and sharing it with the people I liked. Or just having friends in the kitchen while I made things, like this.

It doesn't get old, not really.

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