[PRP] In Another Castle (Nasir & Preacher)

[azuredreams]

Alexis always won the freaky eye competition. Always. Nasir was still a little unsettled by them but he did not let it show at all because he cared about Alexis. They were practically family at this point.

"Oh, um ... Wil smokes?" Take that as you will. Nasir's tone was sheepish as he continued. "... but he also smokes some herbal cigarette that the Chief is allergic to. Like he always knows when Wil is around because his eyes start watering and then he starts sneezing and then the coughing ..." Said as if it was something he had actually clocked at one point.

"If that is true," he said with a smile, "then I am most fortunate." As it had not killed it as a hobby and only furthered his passion for cooking. "I'm not an artist but Wil is," the boyfriend, "and he's going for his masters actually. Mathematics is what I went to school for."

Nasir was moving around the kitchen again before he paused. "What do you want to drink?" The options were, legitimately, endless.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Eh, what is it - clove cigarettes? Them used ta be illegal in tha US but I think ya can get 'em now." Preacher shrugged. She didn't really care if people were breaking laws or whatever. Like, murder was one thing, but weed was whatever.

"Uh, uh." She looked very briefly like a deer in headlights. "D'you have tea? I can put tha kettle on or somethin'... What d'you want me to do?" Because it felt very strange just to chill out while Nasir was doing all the work. "N' like, I doodle as a hobby, but iffin I had to, I might hate it." These days, most of what she doodled was sigils, though.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"No, not clove. It's a mixture of herbs that he makes himself. Not sure which part of it that makes Chief Mercer sneeze." Nasir paused for a moment, head tilting. "If it was cloves, I think that would mean he wouldn't have been able to hang around Sunny. She smokes kreteks."

He stopped what he was doing and held up a hand. "If you want tea, sure, though let me get it out? Kind of ... trying things out. See how far my magic goes ..." Preacher was given another sheepish look. "... and if you're alright with a knife, you can cut things up to go on the nachos while I cook the meat."

Nasir was moving through the kitchen, his fingers beckoning Preacher to follow along if she wanted to do what she offered. "I just like painting, though I can sketch a little bit. It's relaxing but not as relaxing as cooking."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Ya gonna magic me tea?" Whatever he was gonna do, it sounded ********' rad. Preacher made a mental note to get Sonny some kreteks, if they still smoked that. Who knew, anymore. "N' yeah, I was born to cut things up."

She grinned and practically bounced over, feeling better now that she was doing something. "I like ta doodle a lot. Been told I'm pre' good at realism, but I never went ta school for it or nothin'." Preacher shoved her hands in her pockets, feeling the familiar crumple of paper and pen. "What m'I cuttin'?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"You can cut up the chives, the lettuce, and the tomatoes. There's a cheese grater for the cheese too if you want to do that." Nasir lifted up on his toes to get the tea down from the tallest shelf and set to picking out what they would have so it could steep.

"... ah, not so much magic up tea as ... I can't run out of it if I get it? Like ever since I started dreaming about that place I always have enough around of whatever I need to cook or make a drink with." He looked down a bit sheepishly before his gaze was back up and focused on Preacher.

"Well, if you want to ... try painting or something, you're welcome to do so here? I mean like there's extra art supplies and stuff in the art room."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher was used to chives in dried, flaky format. Fresh chives were... weird. But surely it would be hard to chop some green s**t. She could chop consistently, even if she had no idea how small chives were supposed to be; they looked like fancy grass.

"That's a neat trick - unlimited tea. Though I guess if ya friends get into it, it gets all used." She began to chop the chives, muttering about fancy grass. "I dun really paint, I usually draw. Wanna see m'notebook when we done?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it works ... As long as I'm the one that gets into things, it's alright, but someone else? Hopefully it wasn't something anyone really liked," Nasir was chuckling, tea preparation complete and moving to turn the stove on and start browning the meat for nachos.

"Sure. I really like looking at what other people do. It's pretty cool to see what everyone can come up with ..." His fingers flicked towards the kitchen. "Cooking is the only art I do and I don't know that most would consider it art. ... well, except when I make pancakes in the shapes of animals and the like."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Dude." She stopped chopping. "How tha ******** much d'you save on groceries? Like s**t... that's a damn useful thing." And Preacher was utterly envious of it. She thought wistfully of how much money she could shovel into her savings account.

With a small sigh, she started chopping again. "Cooking is a good art; it makes people happy, even if it's a fleetin', ephemeral thing, y'know? I just do drawin' for fun. Never learned nothin'." Chop. The lettuce was going to die by her blade. "You can make shaped pancakes? That's like ********' wizardry."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Wil handles the house finances and stuff but he says it's cut our costs down by half at least?" Nasir looked a little sheepish at admitting this. "It's just another reason I don't mind sharing food I make, aside from the fact I like cooking and enjoy when others enjoy eating the things I cook."

Was he a nerd? Was he possibly too soft? Absolutely. Yet it was also what she had just said and he could not agree with anything more.

"You ever want shaped pancakes, come by some morning around 10am and I'll make some for you. I'm usually up then because I head in to work or class around that time." He grinned lopsidedly. "It's as close as I get to art, like I said. Though drawing for fun is a good thing. All the best things come out that way."

The 5emblance of Unity

word count to here: 1375

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Damn nice perk," she agreed sagely. Preacher though he sounded like someone who'd either never had no bad thing happen to him or enough that he could be nothing but so kindly. Kinda weird, but he was alright.

Okay, the chopping was chopped, more or less. "I'm us'ly at work 'round that time, tho I 'preciate the offer. N' it does count as art." She set down the knife. "Think m'done. I dunno 'bout good things; I jus' doodle or draw sigils n' s**t."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

The bad things were not spoken of and so deeply buried that-

"Ah, right! Well, you know, if I make extras or something I'll drop them off. You can give me a dollar or something if I do it." As he had picked on the fact she did not like receiving things without there being some kind of compensation.

The meat was done and the stove top turned off. With Preacher done with chopping, he was opening the oven to pull out the chips. Had he made them himself? Absolutely. "Sigils like ... Well, like what some helped make, right? The one that keeps this all from going bad like it did before November?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Only if ya in th'area." She shrugged and watched as he pulled out chips. He was so ********' fancy with his cookin'. It was kind of cool.

"Yeah! Like if ya doodle it right, y'can make it do s**t. It ain't half bad." She frowned. "Dunno if the one we made back then is really preventin' s**t so much as it's stopperin' up. Like a river flowing is fine, but if ya dam it up, then tha dam breaks, it's shitty. Or somethin'."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Mm, yeah." No, he would not go out of his way. Though sometimes Nasir did but only if that did not bother people.

The chips were slid onto a ridiculously large platter before Nasir was dishing out the cooked meat. "Wait, do you like avocado? What about sour cream? Like do you want the super crunchy deluxe nachos or the regular kind without all the frills."

He had moved to look in the fridge for the sour cream and an avocado or two, just in case. "That ... sounds kind of right, I guess. The dam keeps the town safe, keeps it from going under, but it breaks and ... What? Turns into one of those spooky underwater cities that were flooded? Everything is everywhere and no one knows what to do."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I eat everythin'," she said, quite seriously. And Preacher ate everything, especially when it was free. Maybe even things she was slightly allergic to. "Dude, I don think I'ver had super deluxe crunchy nacho junk. Lay it on me." It smelled amazing.

"The thin' w'dams is... once they built, there aren't no easy way ta get rid of 'em. N' who says we needed ta dam it up in tha first place? s**t's weird, is what."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Thusly, Preacher was gifted with super crunchy deluxe nachos. If it was something that was nasty on nachos it was totally on there and he put the platter in front of her to get one. Tea was the next step obviously.

"Yeah, it ... seems like a really bad idea to do that with magic, you know?" Nasir was quiet for a moment, thinking about what it meant was behind the dam they were talking about. "Like the magic may do something bad because it's been restricted."

The Semblance of Unity