04 | [Action] (forward-dated to Monday!)

[thebetterhalf]

[The first thing Marco becomes consciously aware of is that he's cold. No, freezing, even. The next thing he notices is a nausea that’d settled in the pit of his stomach, then that nausea turns into mild panic when a string of odd, blurry memories hits him and he gets the strong sense that he's in danger. That his life is in danger.

He awakes with a start, moving straight into a sitting position. Both hands shoot up to his throat, even if he isn’t sure exactly why he’d felt the need to do so. He's groggy, exhausted and disoriented. Where is he? What’d happened? What day is it, even? Why isn’t he wearing a shirt? In the back of his head, a few hazy memories are trickling away. Dreams, perhaps. Dreams of a crowded village and glowing green balls surrounding him. Dreams of pain shooting up his leg and his hand getting crushed. It’d seemed so real, but his hand is fine so there was no way it could’ve happened. He’d know if his hand had gotten crushed for some reason. …Just another nightmare.

His eyes scrunch shut for a moment, then open again to try and survey the area. Forest, with the moon high up in the sky. It's hard to tell exactly what time it is- likely somewhere early in the morning. Past the trees he can see distant lights, presumably from the village. His gaze moves down to his legs, noticing the odd pair of pants he's wearing. The standard type that New Feathers would wear upon arrival. His mind's unable to really piece everything together. Is he a new arrival again? …He still remembers the village. He can’t recall being sent home. A quick check confirms that his pockets hold the keys to his apartment and his journal.

What’d happened to him?

He manages to scuttle into a crouching position just in time to start retching. His stomach's roiling and the confusion only serves to fuel his nausea further. Not that he ends up spewing more than a bit of bile. Apparently, he hasn’t eaten recently. Retching turns to desperate gasping and shaking, both from the stress inflicted on his body and the cold. He has no idea how long it takes him to calm down again. Five minutes, maybe ten. During that time, he notices something else. No sounds are coming from him. Nothing vocal, anyway. His suspicions are confirmed when he tries to speak, but produces no words. Carefully, he raises a hand to his throat again. His vocal chords aren’t working. Why?

Despite the protest coming from his muscles, he manages to push himself to his feet and turns his attention to what’d been lying beside him. The 3D Maneuver Gear- all of it. The canisters, the blades, even the body harness is attached to it. Putting it on is too much trouble, but he can’t just leave it out here, so he grabs the leather straps and slings them over his shoulder. This way, he can support the gear’s weight with his back. He’ll have to be careful with his wings, though. Once he's sure he can keep his balance, he begins his trek towards the village. His whole body's still shaking, but he has to get home. Jean's going to kill him for this.]


[Action]

[By the time Marco’s up and about again, it’s late in the afternoon. He’s wearing a spare set of clothes from his wardrobe, but the absence of his uniform just stings something awful. That’s why he hopes he’ll be able to find a replacement in the store. After having a few bites to eat and assuring Jean that he’ll be fine, he’s off to run some errands. There’s a notebook under his arm, because now that he can’t speak, he’ll have to write his responses down.

First he needs to stop by the apartment belonging to Commander Smith and Captain Levi to let them know he’s back. Then, he’ll leave the flame building and head over to the plaza. He stops by the school to see if Professor Sage is still there, so he can apologize for missing over a week of classes. Then, the clothing store, where he ends up finding a replacement uniform just like he’d hoped. However, there’s just one problem with it. The insignia. It’s clearly his size, but it’s designated as Military Police. Are the Malnosso just messing with him, or is it meant for someone else? Until he’s decided on either, he’ll just stand there with the jacket in both hands, giving it a conflicted stare.

Finally, he’ll take a detour to the wind building to pay a visit to Ginia. He feels that after everything that’s happened, she’s the best person to talk to. Or uh… write to, now that they’re both in the same position.]

Comments

[aqueousliving]

[Now that he knows Marco will be communicating via notepad, Haruka keeps Marco in the corner of his eye as he fishes out some already sliced pork from the fridge. So when Marco finishes writing, Haruka's gaze is already on the notepad.

Hm. He doesn't know if Marco's any good at cooking. Better than Jean, probably. Haruka doesn't need help, but if Marco wants to, he won't refuse him.]

If you want to help, slice half an onion.

[thebetterhalf]

[It's a good thing Marco's been reading cookbooks from time to time. If he hadn't, he would've had some trouble with the onion slicing. As it is, he remembers some advice he picked up about slicing it underwater. He doesn't have any experience with the trick though, so he spends a brief moment glancing around in confusion before finally settling on grabbing a pot and filling that with a bit of water. Not too much, he wouldn't want to drown the onion.]

[aqueousliving]

[Whoa whoa whoa. Haruka keeps an eye on Marco, a little baffled at first, before it leads to outright confusion. What does a pot of water have to do with cutting an onion?]

What are you doing?

[thebetterhalf]

[Oh wait, is... Is he not doing it right? His face falls and he looks a little lost for a few seconds, then he quickly puts the pot on the table and scribbles something down for Haruka.]

"I was gonna cut it underwater to prevent crying. Is this not how it's done?"

[aqueousliving]

[Haruka considers that for a moment. He honestly doesn't know. It's the first he's heard of such a technique. In fact, he hasn't needed to do anything extra to prevent crying in years; a sharp knife and technique is enough to prevent it.

He gives the pot of water a considering glance.]

I haven't done it that way before.

[I don't care, as long as it gets done.]

You can try it.

[What's the worst that could happen? Can't be any worse than the time he and Jean gunked up the blender...]

[thebetterhalf]

[The questioning dealt a bit of a blow to Marco's confidence, but at least Haruka isn't shooting the strategy down entirely. If it's worth a try, then it's worth a try.

He puts the notepad down and turns his attention back to the pot of water, peeling the dry skin off an onion before dunking it. ...So far so good. Now comes the actual cutting. He'll just grab a medium-sized cutting knife and hope it'll do.]

[aqueousliving]

[Marco is the experimental guinea pig. Haruka's actually keeping an eye on him. While he doesn't exactly turn to make it absolutely clear he's watching, Haruka stops what he's doing and watches out of the corner of his eyes.

Will this be a success...?]

[thebetterhalf]

[It's... sort of a success. In a way. The whole thing's a little messy because the chopped bits start to float in the water, but at least Marco's eyes aren't stinging. He'll just have to carefully sieve the bits out of the water when he's done.]

[aqueousliving]

[It looks like it's a success, though the onion slices are going to be a bit watery compared to what he made last time. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though.]

That looks okay.

[About as close to approval as Marco's going to get. Returning to his preparation, Haruka makes the spice mix from sake, soy sauce, mirin and grated ginger.

He'll wait until Marco has sieved the onion bits out before asking--]

Have you fried pork before?

[thebetterhalf]

[The fact that it looks okay is pretty gratifying. It could just as well have ended up a big mush and experimenting with cooking still makes him a little leery, because there's always that little part of him that continues to be worried about 'wasting food'. Still, once the water's sieved away, it looks just like your average chopped onion.

He shakes his head at the question. Honestly, he's never fried any kind of meat. He's curious to see how it's done.]

[aqueousliving]

[Unfortunately, Haruka's no mind reader, and he doesn't know Marco nearly as well as he knows Makoto.]

Do you want to try?

[He doesn't think it'll end up too bad. Haruka has more respect for Marco than he does of Jean, after all.]