Private Dunnstads Forget Forgetting

[Yugam]

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"Not one for spice then, huh?" Yu said with a humored chuckled. For his part, he rather enjoyed spicy foods. Not necessarily for the bite of spice itself, but the savory tastes that usually came along with them. Even still, the spices of his ethnic people were far too much for a weak American baby like himself.

"Nah, don't worry about it," the man would reply at the mention of heading back into the market. "We got the strawberries, those are just as good. Let's just focus on figuring out where you...uh Harukami?" Yu said, looking over his shoulder, and not finding Harukami behind him anymore. "Uh, Harukami? Where'd you go?" Yu span a circle in place trying to find the girl before he heard her call to him.

"Yu-kun, hurry up! It's this way, the kitty says!"

"W-wait up!" the man shouted back, chasing after the girl and the mystery cat.

@Harukami

 

[Harukami]

"I like some spicy foods," Haruka said with a smile. "But... I like savory foods better. Or sweets. At the very least, I love making them."

When Yu wasn't behind her following the cat, she didn't notice. At least, not until she was turning at a corner and he wasn't directly behind her. The cat stopped until he caught up with them, Haruka giggling a bit to herself as she followed the path.

Suddenly, a small house on the outskirts of the town was in view.

"Yu-kun! We made it!" She giggled, crouching down to thank the kitten before walking up to the front door. She put down the bags of groceries and opened the door, before picking them up and bringing them inside, turning to Yu. "Make yourself at home, Yu-kun. I'm going to do the ingredient prep now."

She brought the ingredients to the nearby kitchen, starting to wash veggies and cut them into properly sized pieces. She began to cook the rice at the same time in a steamer, wanting to keep to a mostly traditional meal. "Ah! I forgot to ask, Yu-kun. Is there anything you don't like to eat?"

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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Yu chased after the two, the bags in his hands flailing wildly as he tried to minimize the swinging of his arms back and forth. Even still, the man worried that the bags would tear, their contents being spilled across the ground.

Thankfully, as the man rounded another corner, he found that Harukami and the cat had finally stopped just before a quaint house, just on the edge of the town. "How in the hell are you so fast?" the man panted out, hands on his knees as his chest heaved, trying to catch his breath.

Being let into the house, Yugam set the bag with their drinks and the strawberries on the counter, eyes wandering around as he looked at the abode. "Nice place," he commented, taking off the thick coat and draping it neatly over the back of a chair.

"Nah, I'll eat pretty much anything," the man answered the girl. "Anything I can help with?"

@Harukami

 

[Harukami]

Harukami couldn't help but laugh when Yu asked her about how she was so speedy. She wasn't normally that quick at all- at least, not in the real world. Heck, she was clumsy even in this one! "To be honest, I don't know. I just felt light as a feather all the sudden. Maybe it was divine intervention?"

When he complimented the house she was currently living in, Haruka couldn't help but smile. "Thank you! It's hard work to take care of and maintain, but it's worth it to have someplace I can consider my safe haven. Better than squatting in a haunted house at least." She stretched her arms for a moment before continuing to cut the vegetables.

"Yu-kun is my guest, so you don't need to do anything..." She trailed off for a moment, remembering some people didn't like that kind of treatment. "Um, if you'd like... Can you wash the rice? I'll start making the curry itself soon. Otherwise, please have a drink and relax."

@Yugam
((OOC: Sorry I forgot to post... I really don't know it was my turn. Next time I take this long, feel free to nag me in case I forgot. :'D))

 

[Yugam]

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Yu chuckled slightly at the idea of divine intervention. He didn't exactly put much stock in the idea in the real world, but in a game there was a chance. How high that chance was to help someone just get home a little faster though, that was a much lower chance. "I dunno about divine intervention," the man said, "but I think chasing cats usually helps people kick it up a notch or two." Who didn't want to catch the adorable little assholes anyways?

Upon being told he didn't have to do anything, the man stood there smiling awkwardly. "Uh, okay, if you say so," he said uncomfortably. He'd never been good at just standing by and letting people do thing for him, so when Harukami had finally assented and asked him to wash the rice, he almost sighed with relief. "Sure thing," he said with a soft smile, before getting to work.

The man began to rinse the starch off the small grains, looking over at the girl and asking, "So how'd you learn how to cook?" as he drained the cloudy water and starting again.

@Harukami

 

[Harukami]

"I see, I suppose that's possibly just a cat thing..." She distinctly remembered following cats home a lot as a child, in the real world. So, his words rang true to her- even if she did believe in the divine and spirits. She was a notably spiritual person, surprisingly. It was why she had taken certain skills in the first place.

It was then that Haruka was asked about her history in cooking. She couldn't help a nervous laugh escaping her lips. "I've been helping mom in the kitchen since i was a little g-girl." She stuttered 'girl' as she felt she was lying, knowing full well that her real body was that of a boy's. Even if it didn't fit her.

"I always liked helping mom around the house. She taught me a lot when I was small... And then I took classes at school. Um, home economics, I mean. I also learned to sew and stuff... So I make my own clothes. Like this dress. Does Yu-kun like to cook?"

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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Yu nodded, hardly taking notice of Harukami's brief stutter. After all, she'd spent half the time they'd spent together so far stumbling over her words, it seemed pretty much par for the course for her.

"I do," he answered back, "cooking is a part of my family's culture," he explained. "We cooked pretty much everyday in my house, when I was a kid. My grandpa even used to own a restaurant." Ari had never had the chance to see the old restaurant, but from what he could tell, it was a place that was always full of regulars, and had more than it's fair share of interesting characters walking in and out of those doors. "I didn't really learn too much from my parents though," he admitted with a chuckle. "I just kinda liked to experiment and see what worked and what didn't. I've been taking cooking classes lately too, actually," he added. "I've gotten pretty good, I think."

@Harukami

 

[Harukami]

A soft sigh of relief escaped her lips as she realized her usual stutter masked the anxiety over admitting she was, at least right now, a 'girl'. Still, she stumbled back slightly when Yu mentioned cooking to be common in his family, even among the men. Haruka could practically hear her father berating her male self as a child for being interested in 'a woman's job'. She managed to brush off the memory as just a mirage, though.

Right... Normal people wouldn't mind a boy being able to cook...

"Oh, you're taking classes? I wonder if I should do that again... I really liked home ec, but they don't really have it in university- at least not mine." She laughed a little bit. There were people who taught cooking around town, she was sure. Actually, didn't her mother take a baking class recently? No wait, that was baking pottery, wasn't it? She got a mild headache trying to remember, so stopped trying.

When he mentioned he'd gotten pretty good, she smiled. "Practice makes perfect. How about I ask to have some of Yu-kun's cooking next time?" If she'd remember was another story- but while she preferred being the one to do the cooking for others, Haruka didn't mind letting others cook for her. Though that mostly went for her mother. "It'd be fun."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"If you enjoy it, and can afford the classes, I don't see why you shouldn't," Yu answered as he continued to wash the rice. "I just looked up some places that offered classes and started going. It's been fun. Plus, it gets me outta the house every once in a while." God knew that Ari would never leave his apartment if he didn't have that, or his classes. The man was very content just sitting at home all day, not seeing a single soul for weeks on end. It probably wouldn't be good for his mental health if he did that though.

"Sure, I'd be happy to cook for you one day," the man said with a soft smile. "I can't promise it'll be as good in-game as it is in real life, but, who knows." For the most part, it seemed that food in the game was mostly the same. There were the occasional additions of flora or fauna, but most of the real world stuff was here. But would his real-life skills translate into the game? "Is there a cooking skill in game?" the man suddenly asked, casting Harukami a puzzled look.

@Harukami

 

[Harukami]

Haruka chuckled a bit, keeping an eye on the curry as she cooked. "I c-can understand that. I only r-really go out when I have class or am w-with my sister doing errands. I only s-see other people because I h-help tutor the local kids..." Not that there were many kids in her countryside town, but there were some, and they really loved Haruka- even if she was as forgetful as most of their grandparents.

"There is!" Haruka spoke rather abruptly, startled somehow by the question of there being a cooking skill in the game. "You didn't know...? There are all sorts of skills to level up. I'm mostly good at cooking and tailoring." She gave a soft smile, telling him how to look through the UI to find the information. She then put her hands on her hips with an odd confidence.

She was proud to have taught someone something- and for remembering how to do it with almost no flip flops!

"I can understand though. I think cooking here is harder in some ways than cooking at home... It's a shame I can't make you some real curry. Or maybe some kaarage, since it's my sister's favorite." She grinned merrily, unaware she was speaking well now. Her confidence in her life skills were oddly encouraging her, making her feel a bit brighter.

"What is Yu-kun's favorite thing to cook? For me, I think it's... Um... Hm... I guess omurice? I like drawing with ketchup."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"I'm not really a people person," Yu said with a small laugh. "So I need something to drag me outside every once in a while. What subjects do you tutor?" he asked, setting aside the bowl of now washed rice.

"Huh, well you learn something new everyday I guess," Yu said after Harukami answered his question. He'd never paid too much attention to the non-combat skill trees before. Usually it was just too much of a slog for him to level them properly, but maybe he had some stored up perk points for those skills. He'd have to check back later.

"Hmm, my favorite thing to cook..." the man pondered. "Mm, probably kimchi fried rice," the man finally decided. "Well, that or loco moco. They're both pretty easy to make and super tasty." And they had saved his starving college ass more than once. Consumed in projects day in and day out, the man rarely had time to actually cook for himself, and there were only so many times a week a man could order McNaldos before tiring of it.

@Harukami