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[steepwithdead]

"Oh, hey."

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[steepwithdead]

Next time, then.

[Or whenever. Caduceus pushes away from the counter and fetches some oven mitts, crouching to open the oven.]

Good timing, the buns are about done. They'll be fresh and cool enough to eat by the time it's plated.

[grabaslice]

Definitely next time. [he just needs to find a pizza dough recipe. Maybe Mikey has one...]

Perfect. I can bet dipping the buns into the sauce will be good too. [He hangs back as Caduceus moves to free the buns from the oven.]

[steepwithdead]

[The tray comes out and they look amazing, perfectly puffed and golden. This baker knows what he's doing, for sure. (Though he should. Even if he hadn't been cooking for decades before coming here, he's been doing it solo for years in this world now.)]

I think you may be right. Bread's always belonged with noodle sauce. And soups, of course.

[Mmmmmsoup.]

[grabaslice]

Bread is essentially a perfect food for nearly all occasions. [He agrees readily. Being able to actually eat all this food is his favorite.

Leonardo gives the soba noodles another gentle stir. Thankfully per-tag montage rules, it won't take long to get the soba set up. Much handwaving involved. It looks like he can dole the noodles out at this rate.]

Could you bring the bowls a little closer?

[steepwithdead]

Of course.

[Caduceus fetches the bowls and brings them over, setting them up for Leonardo. Once that's sorted he collects a handful of the fresh buns into a woven basket, carrying it and some cutlery to the dining room.]

What're you thirsty for? Or should I ask, what goes well with this recipe?

[grabaslice]

[He works on draining the noodles, glad they turned out well. Leo is really glad he made this beforehand.]

Do you have any juice or tea? I think that'd work. This is a bit zesty and sweet, but not over powering. [He figures a mellow juice could work. He doles the noodles into their bowls, mixing in the sauce. Followed by layering sliced avocados, watermelon radishes, mint leaves, and the blanched snap peas.]

[steepwithdead]

Oh, I've always got tea. [This is the tea house with the tea man. Best believe there's tea.] How about iced? I've got a nice fruit blend that's near enough to juice that'd fall squarely in between.

[He'll fetch a pitcher, with a gradient of red and orange within.]

[grabaslice]

That sounds perfect. [Best of both worlds in his mind. Leonardo figures that would fit the meal just fine.

Once Leo is satisfied with the bowls. He has a dilemma of how to carry them both. If he was back at the apartment, he'd just stand at the kitchen counter eating until he was done.]

I can bring you your bowl at least and go back for mine. Just gimme a sec- [He's at least picking one bowl to balance in his hand.]

[steepwithdead]

Don't worry about it, I've got a spare hand. Let me help.

[Leonardo did all the cooking, and most of the stuff is already out there! Caduceus shoos him towards the dining room and picks up the second bowl, the pitcher in his other hand.]

[grabaslice]

[The turtle can't help but chuckle a little at that.]

Alright, alright- [He accepts his shoo-ing, walking in the direction of the dining room. He wanted to bring the food over to the firbolg, but clearly Caduceus wasn't having it.

He walks over to the table, setting the bowl down carefully. Once he's sure it won't tip over, he's going to sit down.]

[steepwithdead]

[Caduceus follows him, setting his own stuff down and sitting adjacent to Leonardo, finally peering down properly at the bowl before him.]

Hey, it looks great! Thanks for doing this.

[grabaslice]

Hey, I wanted to. [He insists easily, relieved there is a fork he can use on the table. He could not work much else right now.]

I felt like having a normal time to talk and hang out would be better than the gem gauntlet we went through.

[steepwithdead]

It's true, this is much better than all of that. As much as I like moss and florals, the lack of drama and explosions is nice.

[Not a big fan of explosions, this guy.]

[grabaslice]

Note to self, no explosions for Caduceus. [He playfully mimes writing a note before going back to his food. Yes, he's digging in. He's hungry.] No firework displays for you, or anything explosion adjacent.

We can stick to cooking, talking, probably causing mild mischief if necessary.

[steepwithdead]

Fireworks are alright. Less dangerous to everybody involved, usually.

[Just maybe not explosive arrows, or black powder, or fluffernutters.]

What sort of mild mischief do you have in mind at dinnertime?

[He'll take a bite of the meal. Oh, that is quite tasty, isn't it.]

[grabaslice]

You never know what will happen with fireworks. [He muses with a wiggle of his fork before going in for another bite. He does chew and swallow before he speaks again.]

I'm pondering. Since there are options. [He wants to relax, mostly.] Story swapping could be fun. Or a game if we can think of one.

[steepwithdead]

True enough.

[He hasn't really seen enough fireworks to know much about them, so he'll bow to Leonardo's expertise.]

We could lead with story swaps, and see where it takes us. -This is delicious, by the way. Well done.

[grabaslice]

Thank you. Second time I've made it, think I got it down way better this time. [He's honest about that much.]

Alright, I do owe you the story about how I fell into a base, alternatively, I could tell you about the time I teleported my brothers to Tahiti by pure accident as a kid.

[steepwithdead]

Since I have no idea what "Tahiti" is, and the base story had me intrigued before, how about we start with that?

[grabaslice]

Tahiti is a tropical locale on my home planet, or it was way back when. [He offers as an initial answer, working on taking another bite of noodles. After he finishes chewing and swallows, he speaks.] The base story is a good start, sure-

This was back in the early days of the war. I was about... 19? Nearly 20. We were starting to move underground as the city was being taken over.

I was young, fool hardy, one of the people leading the war effort for our group. Give a kid some power, and you can guess how that goes. [He shakes his head a little.] I specifically picked where we were putting the bases. I should have remembered where they were.

I did not.

[steepwithdead]

[Caduceus quirks a brow, waiting until he's chewed his mouthful before making the obvious prediction:]

And the roof wasn't as sturdy as you'd have thought?

[grabaslice]

Not even a little. [He agrees with a preemptive laugh.]

I didn't remember where a base entrance was, and I was giving a speech to a few new people joining the colony. I was walking them to the damn base too.

[It takes him a second to remember the speech. It has been... a long time.

He sits up a little, squaring his shoulders, his voice taking on a commanding enough time. For the relaxed nature he has between them, he can actually command a room and speak with authority.]

'The New York colony isn't the safest, not yet, but we strive to be. We've held out this long because we're not giving up on our home, our people. The Krang have taken so much from us, but they can't take away our spirit-'

[He thunks his fork into the bowl for demonstration. He drops back to his more relaxed tone easily.] Walked right on a weaker built entrance and fell right in on people building the thing.

[steepwithdead]

[Caduceus laughs at that, a deep rumbling chuckle right from the belly. Going from such a dramatic posturing of a leader to the mental image of Leonardo falling through the floor... it paints quite the picture that no doubt created a stir among his people.

Reminds him a little of some of Fjord's more fumbling moments, as he tried to adjust himself into a captain's role. Great leaders aren't usually born, they're made- usually through many, many hours of laborious and often painful practice.]

I hope you weren't too hurt from the fall. Besides your wounded pride, maybe.

[grabaslice]

[Actually being able to make the other man laugh feels good. Leonardo's face brightens by a few notches. He works on eating his noodles, just happy.]

I twisted my ankle, but I hobbled it off. I had to pick up on the speech and pretend I didn't fumble the ball. My brothers did not let me forget it for months.

[steepwithdead]

Siblings excel at making sure you never forget your mistakes. Though they themselves often forget that road goes both ways.