driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Zhas & You!!
Broadcast: None (probably)
Action: Planetside OR Red Fish
When: Forward dated to the 31st, late at night

► PLANET-SIDE

[back home, Zhas had a long-standing tradition of not working on Halloween. he gets totally into it. he puts on his best "normal person" costume and goes out and parties and drinks and talks to the locals like he actually belongs there. it's the one day a year he doesn't obsessively hunt down monsters or worry about his slowly-decaying family.

he may be lightyears away from home, on a planet with no vampires or any proper Halloween festivities, but like hell he's going to let that get in the way of his traditional day off. he can be found hanging around town, dressed in a nondescript black shirt, not covered in weapons, and not wearing any facepaint. he might be kind of hard to recognize--though his eyes are still glowing an unsettling, jack-o-lantern orange under the dim, clouded night sky.

oh, and there's blood on his face. his nose was bleeding, or something. he apparently hasn't noticed. actually, to be completely honest, he's kind of having trouble noticing that he's going to run into things until he nearly stumbles over them. once or twice he has to like, hold his hands out to navigate around a lamp-post. dude's pretty drunk.]

► RED FISH

[...unless you're on the Red Fish. he's cleaned up his face, but he's sort of tipsily putting ingredients together in the kitchen and messing around with the microwave? seriously, he accidentally brushed flour off on his shirt, like, what is he even doing. this is probably how fires start.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[oh... she had meant to ask him about the talking thing, but here it was. Actual words, and his first words... She can't help the small smile that crosses her face, but she looks down so she doesn't make it embarrassing.]

You're welcome.

[When she looks back up she sees his pointing at the table, so she nods and rolls that way.

Lala, she sets up her ~~dumb~~ attempt at a pumpkin in the center, and puts the present next to it. It's wrapped in black paper, about the height and width of a water bottle, and the paper is pulled up around it and tied at the top with white string. (She would have preferred ribbon and tape... but these things do happen)]

[he comes back a moment later with... two mugs! he sticks a fork in one of them and holds it out towards her.]

... Happy Halloween.

[lo and behold, he has managed to create what looks like some kind of a chocolate chip cookie in a mug. who knows how it tastes. who knows what it's made of! who knows if that's actual chocolate or just colored protein that tastes like a shadow of chocolate. it doesn't matter. he made a thing, and there's two of them, and one of them is for Nunnally.]

Oh-- [is all that escapes her mouth as she looks at the mug that he offers. She takes it, holds it, and looks down at the cookie that inside. He really made something for the both of them. To celebrate a holiday, he did what he could with the limited things that they had and...

She smiles and her eyes close for a moment. She can't help but think of the feeling of warm sunlight seeping through her clothes as she sat near a window, a sizzling noise as food cooked in the kitchen (Sayako has the day off, it's your birthday Nunnally. I'd like to spend it with you). The memory floods so strongly in her, reminding her of something that she had pushed into a far corner of her heart for months.

This gesture of kindness. She looks back up at him and struggles to find words]

Thank you. It smells delicious. [she quickly takes hold of the fork and begins to take a bite] Although, since it's your birthday, I think you should have the first bite. [fair's fair]

[sorry what, he's already got a fork in his mouth.

he just kind of looks up at her from where he's practically digging a second forkful into his mug-cookie monstrosity because this concept of "first bite" is completely lost on him. he pauses, like... um, should he have waited?

but then he just... keeps eating it. so, there you go.

the cookie thing itself isn't all that bad? it's not protein, for starters. the main ingredients are flower, sugar, and oil, so it's not a fancy taste, and something about it seems kind of... well, it just doesn't taste quite right. the "chips" he got aren't chocolate so much as this rooty, vaguely sweet sort of thing. but it's edible and for once it's not straight protein, so that in itself is kind of a treat.]

[she giggles slightly at his pause, and then bites it back into just a smile as he continues to eat. She merrily takes a bite of her own cooked, and makes an effort to raise her shoulders slightly, holding her spoon by her face and closing her eyes in a happy smile. She wants to make sure that her enjoyment is visible but not forced.

It's true, it does taste a little funny. The difference in texture when compared to protein is delightful enough on her own, and she actually doesn't mind the rooty taste]

It tastes wonderful.

[he grumbles something that might be an agreement, but otherwise seems... pretty entirely focused on eating. he eats really fast, even when he's drunk. he finishes his treat in under a minute, but sets the mug down with that kind of focused, careful precision that you can only find in drunk people who don't want to break things.]

[she, on the other hand, is eating it very slowly. it's half propriety, but half she doesn't want to waste it. So between bites she'll glance at him. He talked a bit... she wonders if he's in the mood to talk more]

Did you have a good day today?

[he nods. he's feeling chatty, but not quite enough to clarify... and his attention wanders to the bottle-shaped package that's still on the table. he points at it. what's that for?]