2022-10-18 - You're Enough, Already
| Title: You're Enough, Already | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Mikoto finds a dozing Mai instead of a finished supper. How much is enough? | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Ohtori Dormitories | |
| OOC - IC Date: 2022-10-18 - January 19th, 2016 (late) | |
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
It's been a somewhat long day. January is as cold as ever, and even without a work shift there were any number of little errands that had to be done. Grocery shopping, getting a box to hide eggs in, surreptitiously trying to find out from a brother's roommate how said brother is without him catching on, Actual Homework, and the list goes on and on.
The sun might have been low in the sky when Mai started on one last project. It might be gone by now, but at least the lights in the kitchen are on - and her studying notes are covered in a closed textbook in a fit of pique, so at least that abyss has not claimed her. But the work is a little tedious, so a chair was brought over to the counter to make the work a little easier.
The stove is off. It wasn't time to use it just yet. There's a pot, with some celery and carrots and onions all laid out neatly next to it, thus far only containing a few bones. The cutting board shows the project in progress - some bone-in cuts of chicken and a knife to separate meat from bone. About a third of the pieces seem to have been dissected, but the knife rests carelessly among the rest.
Mai, for her part, has her slightly-greasy hands folded on her apron, chin resting against her chest, eyes closed. Just a moment. She just needs a moment to...
...what time is it, again?
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto has had her own... projects. Her own encounters. She's visiting Yumi in hospital pretty regularly, but Mai can surely understand something like that. She /does,/ at least, get home in time for dinner. She's not about to make Mai wait and worry, any more. (So long as she can help it.)
She hasn't mentioned Conflagria, yet, in respect to the notes which have been all covered up and not quite buried down. She /has/ gone to clean herself up after the day, because Mai doesn't have to lecture her to bathe any more.
Not too much, anyway.
If she lingers by the mirror, well...
But out she comes, in her pink cat-faced pyjamas, one ear folded over one eye. Her braids are still a little damp against her face, but her hair is /mostly/ toweled off. She wanders to the kitchen, with a plaintive, "Maiii!"
A beat, and she hurries in the rest of the way, leaning in to Mai's chair, staring directly at her face. "Maiiiiiiii," Mikoto says, again, face all scrunkled up with a sceptical expression.
If that doesn't work, she's going to /poke her,/ right in her collarbone.
"Maaaa-aaaa--aaiiiii!"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Mai doesn't bolt upright when the shower turns off. Or the first time her name is called. Or even the second.
It's not until Mikoto actually pokes her that she starts, head jerking up in alarm. "I'm sorry! I never meant-"
She's bleary. Bewildered. Eyes dart around the room in a fleeting panic, and she only settles down when her gaze finds the ridiculous cat on Mikoto's pyjamas.
"...oh. Sorry, Mikoto, I must have..." She tilts her head, listening to the chilly wind outside, and relaxes another fraction. "...not raining. Okay. I'm okay. I must...be more tired than I thought."
She looks at the incomplete butchery and grimaces. "I was really hoping to be a little further along...I'm sorry, Mikoto, I'd ramen for dinner okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto grasps the side of the chair, and fixes Mai with a dry, dry expression, lip all jutting out, brow lowered uniform across her eyes.
She doesn't have to point out that Mai's going too far; she has a /look/ for that.
"Yah-huh," Mikoto straightens up, looking over the chopped ingredients. "Only been out since I cleaned..." She leans down, and sniff, sniff, sniff, "... it's still good," Mikoto decides, straightening up.
"Ramen! Yup!" Mikoto agrees, eagerly, before she blinks, and turns back to the counter. "... but is this ramen, Mai?" She pokes the edge of the cutting-board, with its pieces of chicken, which Mai didn't ask her to chop up.
Baby steps.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Mai is all too familiar with the expression. All too familiar, after the months, the years of living together with Mikoto...it's become a familiar one, especially lately. She doesn't flinch back too much...but she does avert her gaze and clear her throat.
There is admittedly a sigh of relief as the expert in such matters pronounces the meat to still be good. Not a waste just yet.
"This...no. Maybe? But probably not. I was planning on turning the chicken into little fried bites, maybe with a sweet sauce - we'd have some tonight and some in our lunches tomorrow." She gets up, stumbling a moment before finding her footing, and trundles over to the sink to wash her hands. "...and I still might try to make that for tomorrow, but something quick might be better right now."
Sink. Water. Kettle. And to the stove, kicking it once to remind it that it can be replaced with magic from a baleful star if it doesn't behave.
"...but I also wanted to make chicken soup from the bones. It's supposed to be good for colds, or for people who have been out in the cold, and after getting Takumi from Sanbu..." She trails off, watching little blue flames lick at the base of their tired-but-true kettle.
"...it just seemed like a good thing to do."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto at least clears out of Mai's space when she looks aside, in a conversation more fit for cats than people. It's nice how Mai can talk that language, too.
"That sounds good!" She enthuses; she is always enthusiastic. But Mai says she wanted to make soup, too, and Mikoto cants her head. "'Kay," Mikoto agrees, since Mai already realises why she can't do that much tonight. Without another word, she scoops the chicken into one bowl, and the vegetables into another bowl -- Mai has already given her the Lecture on Food Safety -- covers them up, and tucks them into the fridge.
She fetches the things for ramen, while she's in here. AND SHE SEES THE EGGS, which is a problem for later.
"Takumi don't really got a cold," Mikoto points out, putting the things on the counter. "It was Wraiths, Mai." She pauses, and blinks. "... but, Takumi doesn't know that, right? So it's for Takumi?"
Mikoto smiles, brightly. "It's okay, Mai. Sleep! Try tomorrow!"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Problems for later: those leftover bits of everything, and the looming threat of the eggs.
"Oh- thank you, Mikoto! Could..." Mai hesitates, admittedly, before making a decision as wise as any she's made tonight. "Could you grab a few eggs, too? I can poach or fry them to go on top."
She can court a little disaster, as a treat.
While she rummages for an appropriate pan, she thinks aloud. "I know it wasn't actually a cold - but it was a cold place and everyone was out there for hours. It's...maybe I'm just being silly. But for Takumi - for Chie and Aoi - I feel like I can at least do this much. Something that at least feels helpful."
She sets a frying pan next to the heating kettle, and lets out a sigh. "...I'm not sure I can sleep properly until I do something."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Sure you can," Mikoto points out, as if telling Mai the sky is dark right now, which it is, because it's night-time. "You just did."
She at least goes back to the fridge to retrieve a few eggs -- Mai has probably had to explain patiently that 'a few' means 'three' and 'a couple' means 'two', but she gets it /now/ -- and cracks them, helpfully, into three separate bowls. It's a lot of washing up, but it makes her happy. Crik-CRACK goes the eggshell, and the two halves perfectly separate...!
Mikoto loves egg!
And Mikoto loves --
"Mai's enough," Mikoto insists, once the bowls have all been filled with Egg. "Mai's enough already."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
"Wh- I closed my eyes for one minute, Mikoto!" Or ten. It might have been ten.
Mai grumbles under her breath, but it's not her Actually Angry grumble, it's the Okay That Was A Good One grumble. She turns on the stove, gets a little bit of butter for the pan, and goes to grab the knife-
Goes to wash the knife while Mikoto cracks eggs. And despite everything, despite the frustration of Endless Omelettes - she has to acknowledge that Mikoto has utterly mastered Egg.
It's the little things, those little joys, that are why Mai--
"I..."
Her hands still a moment, in this kitchen where it's dark outside and she doesn't even have supper ready, where a helpful thing for friends and family has to be put off until morning, where her books for university dreams lie insufficiently studied, where she just hasn't done enough.
She can't do enough. She can't be enough. Can she?
"...thanks, Mikoto." She takes a deep breath, lets out a sigh, finishes washing the knife, and goes to chop some scallions in advance of the ramen. "You're really- you know you're great, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto /didn't/ know that, apparently.
Because Mai says that, and Mikoto stares at her back, cheeks a bright and affectionate pink, eyes wide as the bowls she just cracked those eggs so expertly into. Normally, one would expect her to respond immediately in the affirmative -- Mikoto has always had an excellent sense of her own achievements -- except she doesn't say anything, for a moment.
"Mai," she starts, finally. "Mai, I... I got something to..." There's books on the table, and chicken in the fridge, and Mai is very, very tired --
Mikoto shakes her head, and starts again: "Can I tell Mai something?"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
It's not that late. Not really. Mai has stayed up later than this many a night, running on dark elixirs and sheer spite, and part of her frustration is that she knows full well she can do better than this. But-
She glances around the kitchen in some small frustration. It's not just a little bit of health concern, her supply of instant coffee is mysteriously absent, and she's still not sure whether she ran out or whether caring friends made it go away.
...and she's been feeling a little less spiteful after having an actually pleasant tea date with Mami Tomoe, not that she talked about that.
In the moment, she gets the bowls ready, noodles laid out with seasoning, and pours in the boiling water. The ramen will cook quickly, at least, and in the meantime...
Mai turns to Mikoto as she starts pouring eggs from their little dishes into the frying pan, letting things start sizzling merrily. "There's something..." She visibly bites back a yawn. "...important, Mikoto?"
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto watches Mai glancing about; she's missing something. Mikoto isn't sure what it is, because Mikoto doesn't drink coffee, but she sees that /something's/ bothering her.
But -- Yumi said she should tell her how she feels, even if...
Her hand curls at her chest, and Mikoto frowns, to herself, watching Mai frown. "Um..."
Her heart goes bum-badda-bum, far, far too quickly. "I... I want kombu on top! We still got some, right?!" It's an entirely plausible thing, for Mikoto to say, never mind that she knows very well they still have some seaweed left.
She should have said it, but she doesn't want to surprise Mai when she's cooking, again. Last time, she hurt herself, and Mikoto worries, too.
(Not just about that.)
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Mai's smile at the request is amusement and warmth and happiness all in one. It's an easy request, an innocent one, and that- that much is something Mai can do.
"Of course, Mikoto. No trouble at all." Just a moment while she turns to get it out-
-a moment she lets the relief show on her face, that it was something so light after all. It couldn't have been what she'd been dreaming about, after all.
But there's ramen to finish, and kombu to slice into strips, eggs to cover and finish cooking sunny-side up, and maybe just a little ginger to grate for her own bowl...
"...and there we go. Not the supper I'd planned, but...I hope it's good." Mikoto's bowl has two of the three eggs, because Mai is still Mai - but she serves the bowl with a little flair and a bright smile.
(It couldn't be what Mai was dreaming off. What Mikoto said that night all those months ago...no.)
(After what Mai said to /Mikoto/ that night, there's no way the love could still be there, right?)
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mai is... relieved? Is she relieved because...
Did she know what Mikoto wanted to say?
Is she happy she didn't?
Mikoto shakes her head, and her braids flick-splatter against her cheeks. No, no, it can't be that. Mai's just happy it's something she can do, she tells herself, firmly. She has to tell herself, firmly.
But Mikoto is quick enough to take a seat at the table, and her eyes grow round as dinner-plates when Mai puts the noodles in front of her. "I love Mai's ramen!" Mikoto declares, with ferocious enthusiasm, immediately digging in.
She's still so open; she still declares her love so fiercely.
... but Mikoto loves everything, just like that, doesn't she?
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Maybe Mai's just relieved that it isn't talk of a new monster or looming disaster. Some important talks have been heavy in entirely impersonal ways.
Mai carefully sets her own bowl on the table before sitting a little heavily in the chair. She doesn't quite close her eyes, but they are heavy, and- pyjamas, right, she'll need those after dinner. Even putting aside any other plans, there's so much to do.
But there's earnest joy, and another of those warm, pleased smiles at Mikoto's open outburst. As Mai digs into her own meal - a bit of heat from her own ginger-sprinkled meal, she knows that truth at least.
Mikoto loves Mai....'s ramen. That's enough. That's enough already.
