dǫçţǫŗ şɭęęƥ (shone) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-04-28 09:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: dan torrance, ₴ inactive: nicholas scratch |
WHO: Nick & Dan
WHAT: Having a chat about LE SUSPENSION while making dinner
WHERE: Mortuary, in the kitchen
WHEN: Today
WARNINGS: Noooooope, not really
STATUS: Complete
Claire ran past Nick as he made his way to the kitchen, then stopped and came back to hug him before continuing on. He just shook his head and smiled, grateful for the distractions a six year old could provide. The night before they'd had a tea party, and then afterward he'd allowed her to paint his nails, which were now hot pink and sparkly. With only the university to occupy his time, he really should have been doing something productive like working on Dorian's. But instead he was rotating between being angry and sulking, neither of which were great options. He had scheduled an extra appointment with his therapist so there was that at least. He found Dan in the kitchen, who he hadn't really seen since he'd been suspended. Probably meant they were overdue for a conversation, but Nick wasn't completely opposed to the idea. At least, he didn't turn around immediately upon spotting Dan, instead nodding at him and saying, "Hey," before going to the fridge for the orange juice. "Claire seemed excited about something," he commented. “Probably part of the sugar rush,” Dan chuckled, turning from where he’d been rummaging in the pantry. He was trying to see what was available in order to put something together for dinner - he’d just changed out of his scrubs and put on jeans and a t-shirt, and definitely left Sabrina alone in her room when he passed by. She was freshly grounded - and per the terms, had come straight home from school without stopping anywhere else (he’d know if she did), but she was still probably mad about actually being grounded and likely didn’t want him bothering her. He’d make sure she came down for dinner and wouldn’t interrupt her brooding in the meantime. Speaking of dinner, it was probably going to be spaghetti and garlic bread - though he’d hide some vegetables in the sauce, as usual. For Claire’s benefit - she was a big fan of spaghetti, but not so much eating raw carrots. Maybe he’d chop up some celery and a pepper too. For now he reached for the box of pasta and the jar of sauce. “Or is still thrilled about your nails,” he added with a glance at Nick’s hot pink claws. They probably needed to talk. He wasn’t exactly thrilled about Nick’s participation in an illegal fight club, but what had happened to him was also pretty damn unfair. “So - about your suspension...?” he prompted, with a quirk of one dirty blonde eyebrow. "My nails are thrilling," Nick agreed, glancing at them. He'd have kept the color while going to school too, and would in fact have it for university. He'd promised Claire, after all. Sighing, he leaned into the counter. "I know I shouldn't have let Aidan goad me into it," Nick admitted. "But I knew I could take him, and there was something so satisfying about watching him lose." Repeatedly. Except that one time when his friend joined in and hexed Nick, but that was cheating. "Anyway, they suspended me for organizing it, which I didn't… and I don't know how the rest of them escaped." Except he did, because they'd all pinned it on him and the school didn't have to deal with as many people as they would if they properly looked into it. Dan set what he had gathered from the pantry on the counter, letting out a quiet sigh. He thought about what he wanted to say as he retrieved the vegetables next - they weren’t a secret, not really, and only Nick was here anyway. Nick, who didn’t mind vegetables - he’d actually eat them without acting like he’d been poisoned, unlike the love of his life (though it was admittedly one of Sabrina’s funnier quirks). “You shouldn’t have,” he agreed. “That kid is an asshole but he got you right where he wanted you.” And Dan also understood why Nick had done it - partly it was due to defending Sabrina, in a sense, since apparently Aidan couldn’t accept that she was in a relationship. Dan got it, he did. He’d defend Allison as well, even if she didn’t necessarily need him to do so. It was just something we did for the ones we loved. However. “We all make mistakes though,” he added. “And I don’t think a mistake like that deserves forever suspension from the school - I went and talked to the Headmistress today. I wanted her to distribute the punishment a little more evenly. Listen to other sides of the story.” "Need me to do anything?" Nick asked as Dan gathered ingredients, listening as Dan spoke. He was about to chime in with the fact that he decided he was done with the Academy when Dan said he'd gone to the school to intervene on his behalf. That stunned him into silence for a moment, even if Nick really wasn't going back. He wasn't used to adults taking up for him. Usually it was just Sabrina advocating for him. But he'd been on his own so long or with just Amalia who didn't really do things in a normal manner. So it took him a minute before he was able to voice his thoughts. "I don't want to go back, but thank you," he said, voice perhaps quieter than normal. And of course he was curious now. "What did she say?" Nick was given a carrot and a grater, so he could shred the vegetable into miniscule pieces that Dan would put into the sauce - and, while he did that, Dan also found a pot to start boiling some water for the pasta. He dumped the sauce into another pot to simmer, so it’d heat up - and then he got started with chopping a pepper as well. A downright domestic scene they had going on here in the kitchen, and it was nice to have some company while he did the cooking. “She agreed to hear your side - a fair trial,” he replied. “And promised to look into the Vorerra kids too, and the role they played in things.” Though it didn’t surprise him that Nick had decided to not go back to Geliara - he was probably feeling disillusioned and angry that a fair trial hadn’t been the first thing that went on. Instead, no, they just went straight to punishment. Dan didn’t really like that part either. He knew Vorerra had an established presence in the community and were rolling in money, but that school was supposed to be a safe haven and not favoring one magic kid over another. “But - if you’re not going back, that’s your decision,” he continued as he chopped. “I just - wanted you to know that I’m on your side.” It was sometimes tough living with three teenagers (even if Nick was on the older end of the spectrum) but they were all good kids and he tried to be fair about things himself too, looking after them. Grating was a fantastic task and Nick turned his energy toward that, being careful not to get carried away. And his frustration was mixed with appreciation as Dan told him more. Sabrina had arrived and created a family for herself, and Nick was grateful to be brought into that. But right now he was feeling like more than just Sabrina's boyfriend, though he couldn't quite place it. But he appreciated Dan, and he repeated, "Thank you." Then changed the subject. "I never did tell you, but it was the fingers trick that got us out of Batibat's nightmares." Sure, it was a subject change. But it was saying the same thing in a less direct manner. "Maybe Sabrina mentioned it." Dan smiled a little, moving to preheat the oven for garlic bread - there was a nice loaf of crusty French he could use for this so he’d get on it. “You’re welcome,” was all he said about that situation - since he could recognize the need for a subject change when it arose. No need to go on and on about that anyway - Nick wasn’t returning to Geliara (he had so much talent, surely he’d fit in at the University or doing whatever else he felt called to do) and Sabrina would remove the hex. As much as it annoyed her to have to, but Dan would make certain of it - the last thing he wanted was for these kids he was so fond of to be caught in a never-ending war with a bunch of spoiled mind-reading brats. So he went with the subject change, a segue as smooth as silk. “She brought it up once but only briefly,” he said, pleased to hear it. “I’m glad though. The reality checks really help - you can do them with mirrors too, your reflection. Or trying to push your hand through a solid object.” Being able to do that in dreams was a pretty sure sign that you were dreaming anyway - as a general rule, he usually recommended sticking with one reality check and continuing to do that but the repetition was the most important part of that exercise. “You’re still keeping the dream journal too? How’s everything going there?” Nick finished grating the carrot, and paused to look at Dan. "Yeah. I have been. I'm still dreaming the same sort of things? But I'm aware earlier and then I can control myself in them or wake up. It's sort of wild," he admitted. "What else can I do? I could make a salad?" Sure there would be vegetables in the sauce but Nick didn't need them hidden to eat them. And even as he was thinking about lettuce and spinach leaves, he was also still thinking about the fact that Dan had gone to Geliara on his behalf. Salad. Music to Dan’s ears. He had the sauce simmering on the stove, so he added the carrot and the pepper he’d chopped, giving everything a stir. “Sounds like a good spaghetti accompaniment to me,” he said, pulling a large bowl from the cabinet to give to Nick and let him have at it. At this rate, they’d have dinner ready in no time. Now he just had to mix up the garlic spread and bake the bread - surely the smells of food would start luring hungry mortuary residents to the sanctuary of the kitchen. “And yeah, it is pretty wild - being able to change things is the goal though. That’s great, that it’s been working for you.” And Sabrina too, Dan assumed. He’d been helping her take control of her own dreams, along with some others in Vallo. Everyone was plagued with shitty dreams around here so he’d do what he could. “What do you think you’ll do, now that Geliara is out of the picture?” he asked. Nick loved cooking with Dan. He needed to make it a point to do that more often, because it was a good way to talk without a lot of pressure added. This may have been a bit different but he didn't plan on getting suspended more than once. He made a salad that he knew him and Dan would enjoy, because they were the two who would be most excited about it. And as he was adding both lettuce and spinach before getting ready to chop tomatoes, he said, "I'm going to enroll at the University full time. Geliara is all ages but it's limited past high school and the University isn't." He'd wanted more time to learn local magic but right now he could take a break from that. He'd soured on it a bit. "Really, Sabrina balanced two schools like it was nothing. I didn't find it that easy. And this is all dependent on my reputation not being completely ruined now." “I think the Vorerra reputation is...what it is,” Dan stated carefully - he wasn’t privy to all the gossip and idle chit-chat about the covens, and within the covens, but that was the impression he was getting. “They have money, so they’re left alone. But everyone knows how awful they are. That’s not you - I wouldn’t worry too much about your reputation, is my point.” He thought it was disappointing that Geliara’s Headmistress told Nick she’d be looking into things and yet suspended him anyway, without punishing the other kids at all (especially if that one mafioso was forcing students to participate in the fight club) - that wasn’t a good look. It had taken Dan going to the school to vouch for Nick to help nudge her into even thinking about punishing the other kids in the slightest, and he suspected that really was due to the money and influence Vorerra had - either way, it seemed to be in Nick’s best interest to not be there anyway. “Everyone’s different and not everyone can balance two schools - focusing on the University sounds like a good bet,” he said as he slid the garlic bread into the oven to bake. “You’ll be okay. I believe that.” He’d keep the optimism alive. Someone had to do that around here. Nick managed a smile at that. "It helps that I'm not on my own," he said. "Thanks Dan." |