[ prp ] Fix it with Food (America & Sonny)

[lizbot]

Expression falling a bit, America nods solemnly. Something to consider, when trying to spend time with girl. Something to change, if they could. There was a growing list of those, but they'd made this world with the idea of Sunny in it, hadn't they? It'd be too much of a shame for her to miss out on most of it.

"It's really good!" America agrees after swallowing down a frankly ginormous mouthful. "How many cheeses are in here? Dang."

Eventually, there's an explanation concerning school, "I found some textbooks and papers and stuff in my camper. Schedule too, so maybe I'm already in your class Mister Liam, though it sounds really fricken' science-y. I never figured I'd go to college or anything. I'm smart as heck," she assures them, "but not that kind of smart."

She turns her gaze to Sonny, all wide-eyed alarm. "Does being the teacher's daughter mean you shouldn't help me with homework?"

shibrogane

silverah

 

[shibrogane]

"Five," says Sonny. "Um, cheddar, monterey jack, mozzarella, fontina, and colby." Lots of cheese. "And an egg!" It's not vegan. It's so not vegan.

She takes the shaker of pepper from Liam and sets it aside. No thank you, she has prepared her mac and cheese to taste and needs no further spicing. "Nobody has to know," says Sonny primly. "Anyway, if you told me to, I'd have to, wouldn't I?"

Sonny smiles at Liam, which is a you're welcome in daughter-speak, probably.

Silverah

lizbot

 

[Silverah]

"Perhaps," said Liam, an odd look crossing his face at Sunny's last comment. "It sounds as though a visit to the registrar is in order."

The look vanished. "I'll forget I heard this conversation," he said, winking. "You won't find a better tutor."

He glanced at Sunny - we'll talk later.

lizbot

shibrogane

 

[lizbot]

For a moment, the despair she'd been feeling threatened to well up and spill over. But there'd been says of it and just feeling bad wouldn't change anything, denying she would to Sunny didn't seem to hold weight either. It was a matter of reality for the girl, not some moral debate.

Offering a cheeky grin instead, she says, "I prefer to rely on personal charm and bribery, myself. Is magitech stuff fun? It sounds like something outta those cartoons. The asian ones."

It’s magitech, America, not magimech.

shibrogane

silverah

 

[shibrogane]

Sonny didn't seem to know how she felt about that. "It's magic," she says, "only made so everyone can use it. Sorta." She says it sort've, which is incorrect. "Papa knows more about it than I do. I just enchant things sometimes."

silverah

lizbot

 

[Silverah]

"That's the basic gist of it," agreed Liam, giving Sunny an approving nod. "In its simplest form, magitech refers to combining ordinary mechanical objects with magical properties - a car that never needs gas, for example. On the more advanced levels, it refers to using magic to create machinery that could never exist without it, that operates on magical levels - wards. Shields. Bags of holding."

He looked over at America, though not particularly pointedly. "Cages. Does any of that sound interesting to you?"

Shibrogane

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

America was chewing a large forkful of the cheesefest as Liam spoke. At the word cage she... continued to chew. Finishing the bite and washing it back, she replied enthusiastically, "Oh, well if it's Cage stuff, I should probably learn, right?"

She turned her gaze to Sonny, "Do you think it'd help if I did?"

silverah

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Sunny shrugs. "Maybe? The spell is cast. The cage is created. It might help you learn how to work with it?"

She stirs her macaroni and cheese with her fork, but doesn't eat it. "I could help."

lizbot

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Liam smiled languidly and set his fork down. "I have something for you," he said. "One second."

He got up and disappeared into the dining room, and returned a moment later with a thick, well-worn textbook, the pages full of post-it tabs. The Cagemaker's Conundrum. He slid it across the table to America.

"This is the definitive 20th century work on warding and cagecraft," he said. "The early chapters are introductory, but you'll find it gets... quite complex. You can borrow it."

(The front cover has a bookplate affixed to its inside side - To Liam, with love. VTH.)

lizbot

Shibrogane

 

[lizbot]

"I'd really 'preciate it," America's look of relieved gratitude gains a magnitude when she's presented with The Book. She lifts the the cover, noting the initials, and then pages through the first few pages. "Guess there's not a Cliffs Notes or YouTube..." But maybe the sticky notes would do.

She opens up closer to the back, pales under her freckles, and gently closes the book. "Jesus wept," America intones quietly, gazing at the book like it's not sure if she's been offered a bit of treasure or something likely to attack her in her sleep. And then she's sitting up a bit straighter, either way, this fellow is lending it to her like she'll get it, eventually. America Jones is not gonna let a new aquaintance believe more in her than America Jones, herself.

"Thank you, Mister Liam, I'll take good care of it. Doubt it'll be any sort of quick read for me, but every bit helps." There's a wry look, "We didn't know what we were doing and we're still figuring it out."

Her eyes drifted to Sonny, and the edges of her lips turn down, uncertainty as she notices the plate. "You never told me, if you're able to eat n'like it here."

silverah

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Sonny purses her lips. "Papa hasn't let me even look at his books from Miss Vivien," she says. But she shrugs at Amercia's question, and says, "I can eat if I want to. I'm just really slow at it sometimes."

She pushes her plate away. "Wanna make those gingerbread cookies?"

lizbot

sorry for the wait! i was Dying

Silverah

 

[lizbot]

Surprised, America can't help but ask, "Same Vivien as in the veil, place?" Expression turning quizzical, she adds, "She was a little girl, was your friend, but I guess that's maybe all different now."

shibrogane

silverah

 

[Silverah]

"She's been many things inside the cage," said Liam, sighing. "In the first timeline - the original timeline, she was my fiancee."

He rounded up the last bit of macaroni on his plate. "Shall I give you two some space?" he asked.

Shibrogane

Lizbot

 

[shibrogane]

"A little girl," repeats Sonny. "Yeah. But she didn't get to live much past being little, did she?"

She gathers up her plate and Liam's.

lizbot

Silverah

 

[lizbot]

America's expression goes from curious to devastated. It takes awhile for her to respond, hands clenched in her lap and head bowed, she sinks into an old habit, counting the inhale-exhale of each breath until she can move past the weight of the casual announcement.

People die. It happens to pretty much everyone, America Jones. Some point or another, every human being is another eventual absence, another unrealized future. And it doesn't hurt to be dead, right? What hurts most is living with those holes left behind.

"I guess not." And it does hurt. But that doesn't bring anybody back. She doesn't ask if it's their fault, because that won't fix it either. Looking up, America blinks rapidly and the nods with an admirable attempt at a smile. "Yeah...let's make those cookies. I brought a lot of little frostings."

shibrogane

silverah