[Rosso is kind of obvious when he lies; clearly he wouldn't care what Adrian thinks of the spice levels if he were only making this for himself. But no, obviously he "bought too much" with his hard-won war money.
His face gets a little red, and he mentally lines up an excuse. "It's the spice levels" or something. Don't tease him, he's sensitive.]
Have you ever had day-old curry? Shit sucks.
[The masala becomes one with the rice and the rice gets all weirdly soggy which is an odd thing to say about rice, and there's no discerning the textures anymore. It's all a mess.
Rosso takes to chopping potatoes into cubes as he talks.]
Cooking's about the only "normal" thing I can do. [That and playing the guitar, clearly, but the latter is only because Ventus kept playing the lute to try and pick up girls and maybe Rosso thought instruments were kinda cool or something and wanted to try for himself. It's not like he had much of a childhood to figure that shit out for himself.]
I've barely had curry period. If it's all I had to eat, I'd probably learn to like it.
[Love it, even. In Adrian's experience, stews and the like tend to get better with time anyway, so he has to imagine curry falls into that category at times. Assuming you don't like...store it WITH the rice.]
Well it's better knowin' how to cook than starvin'. Most of the time back home all I had was a campfire and whatever I could find that probably wasn't gonna poison me to death.
Mm... [He hums over the sound of chopping.] The Old Man can't cook for shit. He doesn't know it, though, because none of us have the heart to tell him. He looks like a kicked puppy all the damn time.
[This is absolutely not true; Denif has about as many facial expressions as a stone. But Rosso and everyone else can read the dragon like a book, so.]
Me and Ventus — the Wind Master — used to squeeze ourselves into the kitchen whenever possible so that he wouldn't give the rest of us food poisoning. Since the Masters all lived together and all. And Tiny — uh, Gaia, the Earth Master, [who absolutely isn't tiny at all,] eats a fucking shitload of food, so we have to keep up with him. Ventus is vegan, so he gets to pass off any denials of the Old Man's food as "used a non-vegan ingredient" or "sensitive stomach" or some stupid shit like that.
[As Rosso tells the story, the potatoes, now chopped into cubes, go into the pot to simmer. He avoids the temptation to add further spice and instead reaches for coconut milk sitting on the table nearby, now room-temperature since it's been out of the fridge for so long.]
Solace, the Sun Master, always got his own food from Harnier, who's the El Lady. But the rest of us never wanted to bug her to cook for us, too. She's... dying slowly, so. Don't wanna add to her burdens.
...
And then Ebalon, the Moon Master, wasn't much of a presence — Denif gave him food poisoning once. Bastard deserved it since he was a traitor in our ranks. At the time, none of us knew, so we felt like shit about it.
Anyway, [he sure can talk a lot when he wants to,] that's a decent-enough explanation as to how I started learning to cook.
[That's just fine, it saves Adrian the trouble of having to also talk. It also means he can listen while judging observing Rosso's knife skills, watching as he cuts the vegetables for the curry. Even Adrian has to admit it's smelling damn good in here, and it's going to be even better once it's actually finished.]
...man, how do you even keep up with all of these people? [Eloquent.] Master this, Master that, dont'cha ever get 'em mixed up?
[He's been paying attention he promises, just to all the wrong parts.]
Wait 'til I tell you about the first and second generations of priestesses. Then you'll be lost for real.
[He breathes out something akin to a laugh, more of a little exhale than anything else. Considering it's Rosso, though, that's as close as he'll get.]
...it's not hard, after a while. I spent ten years with those assholes before getting stuck in the Demon Realm — got used to who's who after the first week. Six people is a lot to live with if you're not used to it already. Add six more priestesses on top of that and you've got a full house.
[There's no "I guess", there's just "yes, absolutely", but Rosso's not too good at owning his emotions, now is he?]
Don't miss the fucking work. Don't miss Ignia's stupid nagging or calling me short all the time, don't miss Gaia picking me up, [lol] don't miss dealing with Ventus constantly trying to fuck everyone that moves... Sure as fuck don't miss trying to keep the Old Man out of the goddamn kitchen.
[Stop Denif from cooking challenge.]
But those assholes were all I knew for so long, and they were better than anything else I've ever had in life — not that I had much — so... maybe. I might! But if any of those chucklefucks, Ignia and the other priestesses included, showed up here? I'd fucking lose it.
This place — or the peninsula, actually — they're not for good people like them. Someone's gotta keep Elrios in one piece while the Fire Master is absent again, anyway.
[Though, if Ebalon showed up, it would be On Sight for Rosso. That's the one exception, considering he betrayed them all in the first place.]
..better to have people you'd hate t'see here than none at all, I guess.
[Because Adrian can only really think of one person like that, for him. Well, maybe two. But the other he'd rather not see for reasons that are far from sentimental.]
Maybe they'll know what's good for 'em and not let that happen.
[He says wryly, because he knows it's not like they'd have a choice if it ever did.]
You kidding? Ventus fucking came to the Demon Realm to come get my ass after the insanity ended. If any of those idiots somehow showed up here, it'd be him.
[Rosso huffs. No one's showed up yet, though, and that's for the best.
He stirs the pot again. By now, the curry should almost be done — the rice itself, boiling in another pot, is minutes from being finished — and so Rosso shuffles about to set some bowls in front of his workstation. In the meanwhile, everything else he's not using has to be cleaned up...]
If someone you knew showed up here... what would you do? [He asks aloud, not really meeting Adrian's eyes.]
Adrian groans as he stands like someone far older than he is, wordlessly moving to start helping collect the dirty dishes and utensils that Rosso had been using. He better not say anything smart about it-
Adrian is distracted by that question however, feeling a cold prickle on the back of his neck.]
If Mister beloved-by-all Pepper showed up, I’d kill him.
[Ah.
Hard to say if Adrian means that or not.]
…if Misha came here, I’d be doin’ all I could to figure out a way to send him back.
[Otherwise, Adrian doesn’t…really know anyone else who might come from the kingdom. Not anyone he’d know, anyway.]
[why the fuck do you groan like you're 500 years old, shouldn't rosso be doing that
Luckily, Rosso doesn't make a smartass comment about the help, though he really does want to say, "Aww, look who's being helpful for once" or something. He bites his tongue, though, somehow managing to make his expression look sympathetic as they work. "Somehow" because Rosso has resting bitch face literally constantly.]
The bitch's name is Pepper?
[Rosso, your name literally means "red", shut the fuck up.]
No fucking way anyone is really named that. You're fucking with me.
[Rosso will now conveniently ignore the fact that most of the Masters have elemental names themselves. It's fine this is fine.
Luckily for any argument he may have obliviously tried to make here, by the time Rosso's done complaining about the name of someone he doesn't even know, the rice is done. Which means dirty dishes have to wait a hot second to be scrubbed because he has to rescue food from his camping stove and scoop it onto plates.
He's pretty sure the coconut milk made it less spicy than it initially was when he first asked Adrian to taste-test, but... uh, only time will tell how much less.]
[At least that's something both of their worlds can share, people with ridiculous names that are so on the nose they just don't feel real.
But why worry about unpacking that when there's curry to be eaten? Adrian's ears perk as he watches Rosso plating the rice and curry, setting the things he'd gathered up aside to be picked up later.]
[Rosso cannot unspice the shit out of the dish, after all. Regardless, a plate is slid across the table to Adrian, and he goes about making his own thereafter.]
Don't feel bad if it's too spicy, [whoops that's the anxiety talking,] I could always make you something less... less.
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Adrian quirks a brow as Rosso indicates the ingredients he's been working with, the spice still a lingering inferno in his mouth.]
...huh. Guess I might as well then. So it "don't go bad", right?
[He jeers as he moves to take a seat, conveniently right where Rosso is still cooking so he's close enough to keep bothering him.]
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His face gets a little red, and he mentally lines up an excuse. "It's the spice levels" or something. Don't tease him, he's sensitive.]
Have you ever had day-old curry? Shit sucks.
[The masala becomes one with the rice and the rice gets all weirdly soggy which is an odd thing to say about rice, and there's no discerning the textures anymore. It's all a mess.
Rosso takes to chopping potatoes into cubes as he talks.]
Cooking's about the only "normal" thing I can do. [That and playing the guitar, clearly, but the latter is only because Ventus kept playing the lute to try and pick up girls and maybe Rosso thought instruments were kinda cool or something and wanted to try for himself. It's not like he had much of a childhood to figure that shit out for himself.]
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[Love it, even. In Adrian's experience, stews and the like tend to get better with time anyway, so he has to imagine curry falls into that category at times. Assuming you don't like...store it WITH the rice.]
Well it's better knowin' how to cook than starvin'. Most of the time back home all I had was a campfire and whatever I could find that probably wasn't gonna poison me to death.
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[This is absolutely not true; Denif has about as many facial expressions as a stone. But Rosso and everyone else can read the dragon like a book, so.]
Me and Ventus — the Wind Master — used to squeeze ourselves into the kitchen whenever possible so that he wouldn't give the rest of us food poisoning. Since the Masters all lived together and all. And Tiny — uh, Gaia, the Earth Master, [who absolutely isn't tiny at all,] eats a fucking shitload of food, so we have to keep up with him. Ventus is vegan, so he gets to pass off any denials of the Old Man's food as "used a non-vegan ingredient" or "sensitive stomach" or some stupid shit like that.
[As Rosso tells the story, the potatoes, now chopped into cubes, go into the pot to simmer. He avoids the temptation to add further spice and instead reaches for coconut milk sitting on the table nearby, now room-temperature since it's been out of the fridge for so long.]
Solace, the Sun Master, always got his own food from Harnier, who's the El Lady. But the rest of us never wanted to bug her to cook for us, too. She's... dying slowly, so. Don't wanna add to her burdens.
...
And then Ebalon, the Moon Master, wasn't much of a presence — Denif gave him food poisoning once. Bastard deserved it since he was a traitor in our ranks. At the time, none of us knew, so we felt like shit about it.
Anyway, [he sure can talk a lot when he wants to,] that's a decent-enough explanation as to how I started learning to cook.
[Thanks, Rosso.]
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judgingobserving Rosso's knife skills, watching as he cuts the vegetables for the curry. Even Adrian has to admit it's smelling damn good in here, and it's going to be even better once it's actually finished.]...man, how do you even keep up with all of these people? [Eloquent.] Master this, Master that, dont'cha ever get 'em mixed up?
[He's been paying attention he promises, just to all the wrong parts.]
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Wait 'til I tell you about the first and second generations of priestesses. Then you'll be lost for real.
[He breathes out something akin to a laugh, more of a little exhale than anything else. Considering it's Rosso, though, that's as close as he'll get.]
...it's not hard, after a while. I spent ten years with those assholes before getting stuck in the Demon Realm — got used to who's who after the first week. Six people is a lot to live with if you're not used to it already. Add six more priestesses on top of that and you've got a full house.
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Yeah. I know what that's like.
[Or at least, he did, once. But he's spent more of his life living alone than he has in a big household, so...]
...do you miss 'em?
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[There's no "I guess", there's just "yes, absolutely", but Rosso's not too good at owning his emotions, now is he?]
Don't miss the fucking work. Don't miss Ignia's stupid nagging or calling me short all the time, don't miss Gaia picking me up, [lol] don't miss dealing with Ventus constantly trying to fuck everyone that moves... Sure as fuck don't miss trying to keep the Old Man out of the goddamn kitchen.
[Stop Denif from cooking challenge.]
But those assholes were all I knew for so long, and they were better than anything else I've ever had in life — not that I had much — so... maybe. I might! But if any of those chucklefucks, Ignia and the other priestesses included, showed up here? I'd fucking lose it.
This place — or the peninsula, actually — they're not for good people like them. Someone's gotta keep Elrios in one piece while the Fire Master is absent again, anyway.
[Though, if Ebalon showed up, it would be On Sight for Rosso. That's the one exception, considering he betrayed them all in the first place.]
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[Because Adrian can only really think of one person like that, for him. Well, maybe two. But the other he'd rather not see for reasons that are far from sentimental.]
Maybe they'll know what's good for 'em and not let that happen.
[He says wryly, because he knows it's not like they'd have a choice if it ever did.]
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[Rosso huffs. No one's showed up yet, though, and that's for the best.
He stirs the pot again. By now, the curry should almost be done — the rice itself, boiling in another pot, is minutes from being finished — and so Rosso shuffles about to set some bowls in front of his workstation. In the meanwhile, everything else he's not using has to be cleaned up...]
If someone you knew showed up here... what would you do? [He asks aloud, not really meeting Adrian's eyes.]
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Adrian groans as he stands like someone far older than he is, wordlessly moving to start helping collect the dirty dishes and utensils that Rosso had been using. He better not say anything smart about it-
Adrian is distracted by that question however, feeling a cold prickle on the back of his neck.]
If Mister beloved-by-all Pepper showed up, I’d kill him.
[Ah.
Hard to say if Adrian means that or not.]
…if Misha came here, I’d be doin’ all I could to figure out a way to send him back.
[Otherwise, Adrian doesn’t…really know anyone else who might come from the kingdom. Not anyone he’d know, anyway.]
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Luckily, Rosso doesn't make a smartass comment about the help, though he really does want to say, "Aww, look who's being helpful for once" or something. He bites his tongue, though, somehow managing to make his expression look sympathetic as they work. "Somehow" because Rosso has resting bitch face literally constantly.]
The bitch's name is Pepper?
[Rosso, your name literally means "red", shut the fuck up.]
Is his last name "mint"?
[haha get it—]
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No. It's Minthia.
[Okay his real name is Peter, but like. People call him Pepper. He PREFER'S PEPPER]
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[BOY]
No fucking way anyone is really named that. You're fucking with me.
[Rosso will now conveniently ignore the fact that most of the Masters have elemental names themselves. It's fine this is fine.
Luckily for any argument he may have obliviously tried to make here, by the time Rosso's done complaining about the name of someone he doesn't even know, the rice is done. Which means dirty dishes have to wait a hot second to be scrubbed because he has to rescue food from his camping stove and scoop it onto plates.
He's pretty sure the coconut milk made it less spicy than it initially was when he first asked Adrian to taste-test, but... uh, only time will tell how much less.]
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[At least that's something both of their worlds can share, people with ridiculous names that are so on the nose they just don't feel real.
But why worry about unpacking that when there's curry to be eaten? Adrian's ears perk as he watches Rosso plating the rice and curry, setting the things he'd gathered up aside to be picked up later.]
Is it ready now?
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[Rosso cannot unspice the shit out of the dish, after all. Regardless, a plate is slid across the table to Adrian, and he goes about making his own thereafter.]
Don't feel bad if it's too spicy, [whoops that's the anxiety talking,] I could always make you something less... less.
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[Eloquent there, Rosso. Adrian pulls his plate over, smirking.]
Yaknow that I woulda' eaten the spicy-from-hell curry too, right? Ain't like I don't like spicy shit. It just might kill somebody who ain't me, s'all.