BLEED, O REAPER.

"Not picky and practical—you're my kinda guy."

He quickly starts sorting through potential ingredients and putting aside the rejects.

"Chicken it is. I wanna do some workouts before bed so it's a good choice, plus nobody gets mad at chicken." It's like the most inoffensive meat in the world.

He squints at what he's gathered so far and starts giving out orders. "D'ya mind helping me with some other stuff? I don't see ginger, so lemme know if the cabinets have any of those. I want some salt and pepper too—white pepper's ideal, but black will do."

     ❝ I can... spar with you later, if you'd like. ❞ a hesitant offer, one callum didn't dwell on as he moved to the cabinets to begin searching for the ingredients listed. a quick scan revealed a small jar of minced ginger, along with a generic matching set of salt and pepper. all three items were relinquished to weston, and subsequently added to the soup.

Not only did she get free eye candy everyday, they could even help her get stuff off the shelves if she asked! Granted, neither was 6ft, which was her ideal, but it still made life a lot easier at home.

Still, today disharmony had invaded their happy house.

"This is a matter of life and death!" Mary Sue sits on the carpet with her dress spread out before her, pointing a finger at the shoujo manga in Callum's hands. Meet Me Under the Wisteria Vines had been a birthday gift from Juliyah to Weston, but it turns out she'd read it too!

"Westy thinks Fuji-san should've hooked up with Tanaka-senpai at the end of the series, but I disagree!"

"He's only got perks 'cause he's an upperclassman. But it was the quiet and steady Kuromoto-kun, Fuji-san's childhood friend and classmate, that stood with her through thick and thin. If anything, they should be the canon pairing!"

She pounds a fist into the carpet to emphasize her point.

"It's time we revitalize the childhood friends to lovers trope! Does constancy mean nothing in this day and age?!"

"Yeah nice try, but no. She's delusional."

"Look man, you know how we cleaned out the fridge together when we moved in, right? I asked if you wanted any of the stuff and you said nah, so I cooked everything for us instead."

He holds up a finger to enunciate his point.

"That pot of soup I made? Lasted us three days. Now imagine eatin' that for the rest of your life. You'd live, but how's that really livin'? That's what you get with pairing Fuji-san with Kuromoto-kun." He claps his hands for emphasis, then crosses his arms.

"Childhood friends to lovers is borin'! If Kuromoto-kun was secretly evil or hidin' a deep, dark secret? Then yeah, I'd be up for that shit. But he's bland, man, and 'bout as soft as butter to boot."

Mary Sue looks about to protest, but Weston talks faster to finish his piece.

"So the long and short of it is, we can't agree and you need to decide between us who's right. It's a oneshot, so it shouldn't take too long to read."

"Or we can summarize!"

"You ain't summarizin' shit."

     ❝ Um. ❞ callum was aware he was repeating the sound, but he wasn't any less confused then when he'd said it the first time. a glance was thrown down to the book in his hands, a part of callum hoping he'd find answers among its pages. and yet all he found was the same cover picture from before: a beautiful girl flanked by two equally beautiful boys, each placing a delicate kiss to one of her hands as purple blossoms draped over the trio.

     ❝ So I have to read... all of it? ❞ intense self-control made certain the hunter's tone remained neutral, despite the dread pooling in the back of his throat. ❝ What's wrong with summarizing...? ❞

It was weird not constantly analyzing the noises and feedback around him, but, he could only imagine how overstimulating it must be for someone who's never really had to before. So, he fended back some of the intruding glitched, to give him some time to adjust.

"Uh, best piece of advice I can give you. Drown out the noise. But use the vibrations to your advantage. You can avoid an attack from behind if you do that!" It's why Hawks was near impossible to ambush! He always has an ear or feather out.

     clumsy fingers gripped the swords at his hips, head furiously shaking for a moment to clear some of the sound that was clawing at his brain. it was overwhelming, yes, but callum was used to sorting out the intense scents his blood hunter's nose brought him. it was the same concept—even if it was quite literally noisier.

     ❝ Don't use the big sword. Use the scimitars. They split. ❞ the man touching hazirawn at the moment would be a disaster, and based on the lightweight swords this body carried, they would likely be the better option for the other man anyway. at the last piece of advice, however, callum's brow furrowed gently. it was his job to put himself between a blade and his allies, after all.

Starting off with the now incoming treats that were ordered for both of them.

there is an odd sense of melancholy to this. fiyero remembers standing in the royal kitchens for the very first time— one of his earliest memories is standing on a stool by the counter, the royal chef teaching him how to stir the pot properly. another memory, perfecting the art of cracking an egg with one hand. and another, cutting onions and garlic with expertise.

he didn't know he was a tiefling then, but he was an outsider. much more timid, as a child. still so angry. and yet, the kitchen offered an escape, with people who taught him and talked to him.

and now fiyero is teaching another timid tiefling. he watches callum with a newfound fondness.

' of course it counts. skills around a campfire are still skills, no? ' fiyero, for one, was endlessly grateful for gale's willingness to cook for the party on the road. while he liked to take over occasionally, it was a rarer occurence— fiyero likes to do his cooking right, especially when cooking for others. he was always more accustomed to a kitchen than a pot over an open fire.

' i'll let you do the spices. all of these, ' waving his hand across the jars, ' need to be kneaded into the meat. around a handful each, though you can add more depending on your tastes. you need to find them delicious, after all. '

     being acknowledged for things beyond his ability to fight, to kill, was still a novelty, but callum thought he could get used to it.

     ❝ Okay. ❞ this time the word was spoken shyly, a hint of embarrassment lilting his tone. a little sibling, secretly pleased to be given praise from the elder. not that he would ever admit it—callum himself barely understood the feeling, after all. certainly not enough to put it into words. so instead he turned towards the spices set out before him, beginning to sort through them as fiyero had instructed.

     you need to find them delicious, after all, the other tiefling had said. but that was part of the problem. callum had never had the time ( or the permission ) to find what he liked—it was as much a mystery to him as it would be to fiyero. but he found himself not wanting to admit that. the pitying glances he’d sometimes receive from tulip or galdric when he said something like that always made him feel confused, and he had no desire to pop the bubble of warmth the moment held, the easy way fiyero rested a hand on his shoulder.

Yuki hesitates, stretches her neck a bit to sniff at his fingertips. They smell like metal, leather and dirt, but not weirdly static-y like the Glitched do. She is still wary, but stops snapping at his fingertips at least.

Her eyes start to well up with tears, too upset to control whether or not she's more human or more wolf. She doesn't know whats going on, she wants her mommy and Ame, and she wants to hide under her bed until everything goes back to normal.

     but regardless, he was the one here. callum was the one whose name she had hiccuped, and he was the one she was shuffling towards. it was his responsibility to get her out of this safely. because even a werewolf child wasn’t a match for all the glitched undead swarming around them.

     ❝ Alright. I can get you home. ❞ the blood hunter kept his voice soft, taking another crawling step forward as his other hand swung around to join the one already extended towards her. ❝ But I will have to run very fast, much faster than you can go. I’ll have to pick you up, and you’ll have to hold on to me very tightly. Do you think you can do that? ❞

There's a brief look of confusion at the mention of a magic mirror! Why would it hold his money? First things first, though. "I was told I am staying in a...Condo 420." He had yet to drop by, so he didn't know where that was even located.

He's also in the middle of pressing his forehead to a tree, so, really, who's he to talk.

"Man, I thought I found someplace nobody knew about." He mumbles, settling back into the flower patch, hatchet precariously strapped to his uniform pants.

"Guess not."

     until now, it seemed. callum had paused at the sight of another boy standing at its edge, forehead pressed against the bark of one of the trees standing sentinel.

She watches him, with a helping hand ready if he needs it, but it doesn't look like he does. She's used to guiding people along if they need it, so she can't help but hover. "Flowers blooming in a desert are kind of strange, aren't they?" In a land that's usually so barren, it took a special kind of person to cultivate life like this. It's something she's well-aware of and even takes pride in, even if her abilities did most of the heavy lifting.

     he crouched before the hole he was pointed to, gently lowering the plant into its depths before smoothing the surrounding soil back around the roots. he’d watched tulip tend to her little garden enough times to make the action looked practiced.

"If you're not a demon, then what are you?" His seeming emotion makes her question, but still not enough to lower her staff from his neck. Frieren knows better than to let her guard down, and she'd rather be cautious than careless. "And you say you hunt demons."

     ❝ I’m a tiefling. ❞ callum held his hands out, palm-upwards, as though presenting himself. ❝ My ancestors were devils. But I am not. ❞ not anymore, at least. not that she needed to know that—he had a feeling it wouldn’t help his plight.

It was a nicely fit balance between the two nations and their riders. And that wasn't even taking into account other factors either. Foreign at first to Camilla and the others but once the two began to work together everything about their complexity did start to fall into place. It all intrigued her, though not to the point she'd want to give it a shot herself...

     ❝ Speed and strength are things that must be carefully balanced if you are to succeed in battle. ❞ a finger gently tapped the flat of the greatsword's blade thoughtfully. ❝ To wield a heavy blade without my opponent cutting me down, I have to utilize both. I understand. ❞ the blood hunter tilted his head almost curiously, humming softly in thought. ❝ It would seem that combining forces with these pegasi riders would be the most efficient path. ❞

Prometheus' gaze softens, and his ear twitches as it catches the sound of a bug's buzzing past his ear. He feels warm. He's appreciative that a fellow stranger is willing to help. It didn't matter if he was a fellow tiefling. He wasn't obligated to help at all, and yet...

"Yes. I would love some help."

"What, would you prefer more of the obvious?"

He could ask what he is, why he has horns, why his eyes seem blank but he's studying Thaddeus with all the clear attention of someone who can definitely see him. Why he looks even younger than he is, but has all the austere seriousness of someone much older. Easily observable things that, all in all, don't really interest him to ask about unless the answers are unexpected or he can't figure them out himself.

     those feeling had never steered him wrong before, after all.

     ❝ I would prefer nothing. ❞ the warlock's body turned slightly in response to the other man's renewed attempt to lay eyes on hazirawn, booted feet sliding smoothly over the ground. ❝ This blade is not meant to be inflicted on mortals. I assure you, ❞ callum's eyes attempted to bore into the other, his tone deathly serious, ❝ you do not want to hear his voice. ❞