[It's good that Kon doesn't step in, because Lalli is very purposefully making this. For reasons that will become clear soon enough. He's definitely outside of his comfort zone here. He seems to be super-focused on checking to make sure the batter is just right, and that the pan is just the right temperature, and that he's cooking the pancakes just right. He's probably overinvolving himself in the process, but it's not unlike the worrying of someone cooking a new recipe for the first time. Even if it's not his first time making this particular recipe.]
It's easier to get used to better technology. It's harder for people to get used to lower tech.
[The pancakes turn out a bit wobbly and on the very edge of 'maybe almost undercooked', but they're edible at least. And Lalli will scoop a couple onto two different plates before bringing one to Kon and keeping one for himself. He also grabs the syrup too, and he sets the bottle down for Kon to get some for himself first.]
[ it's sort of charming, really, when people cook for him. not because he thinks they're bad at it, or that they shouldn't put in the effort, but because it's not something that happens often for him these days. he smiles as lalli works, patient and quiet even though he can tell from here that they're a little undercooked. he'll still eat it, and unfolds from where he's propped to take the plate without a single comment. ]
Yeah, definitely. I have a little practice with it, considering Amatsuki is about 200 years behind my actual modern timeframe, but I know most people don't have that - ah, experience.
[ not a luxury at all. he reaches for the syrup to do a spiral on the top of the wee stack. ]
[Lalli, meanwhile, looks a touch embarrassed at being thanked. He knows Kon means it, and that he can be more open around Kon, but it's still hard to accept.
'Use your words', he reminds himself. Just making awkward cat noises isn't good enough here.]
...it's difficult. Cooking. You try and try and try but it's still easy to burn stuff, or mix it wrong.
I didn't cook much before. Just meat over a fire to make it edible. Other people always cooked, so it was easy to just eat what they made, regardless of if it was good or bad. But that's not good enough anymore. You already work so hard, I don't want to force you to cook all the time too.
[The implication being that he learned this- and will be learning further ways of cooking- because he wants to cook for Kon.]
[ not only is lalli using his words, but he's using them for something like this - sincerity, and something intended for kon. it makes him smile, fond and amused in spades, but also warm, as he cuts out a triangle from the pancakes with his fork. ]
When I was younger, and I first learned how to cook, I wasted a bunch of ingredients trying to make something because I was basically challenged to do it. But it never came out exactly right, despite the fact that I was reading a recipe and following it exactly. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't pretty. It was just - okay. Edible.
Then, the guy who taught me how to cook scolded me and the regular who challenged me. Made the dish faster than I did, and it was goddamn delicious. But he taught me that it was important to cook for others, and to tailor the food to their tastes where you could, because everyone has different tastes, different needs. So I know that it's hard as hell to learn to cook, but I also like to do it for people.
[ ... but ] I just don't really have people cook for me much anymore. It's nice. I'll try everything you make.
[It's funny. Lalli really likes seeing that fond look on Kon's face, and yet it makes his ears feel warm and his chest flutter every time he sees it. And yet he finds himself smiling ever so slightly as he listens to that story, even though it feels like his heart is going to beat right out of his chest.]
I want to cook for you. Even if I'm bad at it at first, I want to learn.
[It's not that Lalli is incapable of learning. It's that he has a low tolerance for change and it takes a lot to get him to actually learn something new. Luckily this is important enough for him to want to change.]
I have things to take care of back home first. But when I'm done with that, I want to go where you are. Our worlds are so different, I don't know if any of my skills will be useful in yours. But I don't want to give up on that. Something will work out.
[ even if i'm bad at it at first, i want to learn.
that - actually means a lot, to him. because kon is always the one doing, no matter what it is, and that's even extended back into his childhood. his parents took care of him, of course. provided for him. but they stopped trying like they could have, to learn their son a little better. (he could've been more understanding, too. more receptive. but to try like that...) ]
You know I'll come to yours, too, right? [ that, first of all. because even if it's a crapsack world, and it's dangerous, what's more danger after amatsuki and wiwaldi? ] I'll bring you medicine and tech and records that you haven't been able to get since the Old World died. Whatever research you need to rebuild and reinforce, to fight back.
[ he sets the plate aside, though temporarily, so that he can reach out and cup lalli's cheek. ]
[For years now Lalli has always just drifted along, doing whatever his cousins roped him into doing. Or whatever he was ordered to do by a leader. Or, more recently, whatever the exploration team wanted to do. Trauma, a lack of social skills, and an easily-triggered sense of decision fatigue has meant that it's been so much easier to just do what other people tell him to do. Go here, investigate that, report back on what you find. He buries himself in his work and leaves the details for others to figure out.
But it's not enough anymore. He had shades of it before coming to Wiwaldi- his choice to go looking for Onni rather than staying with Emil and going to Sweden being the biggest one- but it's even truer now that he's had two months on his own to figure out how to cooperate with strangers and stay alive. Lalli has opened up and started to actually make decisions for himself, rather than just going with what others tell him to do. It's not all the time, but it's often enough to be a marked difference from who he was a year ago.
That's why, even though the thought of these big changes is a little scary, he's sure it's the right choice. It's right because he's the one choosing it, and he's the one thinking of what he needs to do rather than just relying on others to take care of him.
Lalli hasn't even touched his plate yet, and he seems to be forgetting it in the moment anyway. He reaches up to cover Kon's hand with his own, hugging it against his face gently. Lalli's eyes are lighting up with determination in a way they don't usually do, not with how his depression often weighs him down and blots out many of his more passionate emotions, but it's a look Kon might be seeing more often. Because once Lalli decides to do something, he does it. There's no swaying him.]
Alright. We'll make it work.
['We'll make it work' isn't a marriage proposal by any means, they've only been dating for a couple weeks and any feelings Lalli has are only in the very early stages of liking someone. But Kon will, at the very least, definitely have a tagalong now and for many years to come.]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2021-08-01 02:44 am (UTC)It's easier to get used to better technology. It's harder for people to get used to lower tech.
[The pancakes turn out a bit wobbly and on the very edge of 'maybe almost undercooked', but they're edible at least. And Lalli will scoop a couple onto two different plates before bringing one to Kon and keeping one for himself. He also grabs the syrup too, and he sets the bottle down for Kon to get some for himself first.]
no subject
Date: 2021-08-01 03:22 am (UTC)Yeah, definitely. I have a little practice with it, considering Amatsuki is about 200 years behind my actual modern timeframe, but I know most people don't have that - ah, experience.
[ not a luxury at all. he reaches for the syrup to do a spiral on the top of the wee stack. ]
Thanks, Lal.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-01 03:36 am (UTC)'Use your words', he reminds himself. Just making awkward cat noises isn't good enough here.]
...it's difficult. Cooking. You try and try and try but it's still easy to burn stuff, or mix it wrong.
I didn't cook much before. Just meat over a fire to make it edible. Other people always cooked, so it was easy to just eat what they made, regardless of if it was good or bad. But that's not good enough anymore. You already work so hard, I don't want to force you to cook all the time too.
[The implication being that he learned this- and will be learning further ways of cooking- because he wants to cook for Kon.]
no subject
Date: 2021-08-01 04:11 am (UTC)When I was younger, and I first learned how to cook, I wasted a bunch of ingredients trying to make something because I was basically challenged to do it. But it never came out exactly right, despite the fact that I was reading a recipe and following it exactly. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't pretty. It was just - okay. Edible.
Then, the guy who taught me how to cook scolded me and the regular who challenged me. Made the dish faster than I did, and it was goddamn delicious. But he taught me that it was important to cook for others, and to tailor the food to their tastes where you could, because everyone has different tastes, different needs. So I know that it's hard as hell to learn to cook, but I also like to do it for people.
[ ... but ] I just don't really have people cook for me much anymore. It's nice. I'll try everything you make.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-01 04:32 am (UTC)I want to cook for you. Even if I'm bad at it at first, I want to learn.
[It's not that Lalli is incapable of learning. It's that he has a low tolerance for change and it takes a lot to get him to actually learn something new. Luckily this is important enough for him to want to change.]
I have things to take care of back home first. But when I'm done with that, I want to go where you are. Our worlds are so different, I don't know if any of my skills will be useful in yours. But I don't want to give up on that. Something will work out.
...if you'll have me.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-01 05:59 am (UTC)that - actually means a lot, to him. because kon is always the one doing, no matter what it is, and that's even extended back into his childhood. his parents took care of him, of course. provided for him. but they stopped trying like they could have, to learn their son a little better. (he could've been more understanding, too. more receptive. but to try like that...) ]
You know I'll come to yours, too, right? [ that, first of all. because even if it's a crapsack world, and it's dangerous, what's more danger after amatsuki and wiwaldi? ] I'll bring you medicine and tech and records that you haven't been able to get since the Old World died. Whatever research you need to rebuild and reinforce, to fight back.
[ he sets the plate aside, though temporarily, so that he can reach out and cup lalli's cheek. ]
'cause of course I'll have you, Lal.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-01 06:52 am (UTC)But it's not enough anymore. He had shades of it before coming to Wiwaldi- his choice to go looking for Onni rather than staying with Emil and going to Sweden being the biggest one- but it's even truer now that he's had two months on his own to figure out how to cooperate with strangers and stay alive. Lalli has opened up and started to actually make decisions for himself, rather than just going with what others tell him to do. It's not all the time, but it's often enough to be a marked difference from who he was a year ago.
That's why, even though the thought of these big changes is a little scary, he's sure it's the right choice. It's right because he's the one choosing it, and he's the one thinking of what he needs to do rather than just relying on others to take care of him.
Lalli hasn't even touched his plate yet, and he seems to be forgetting it in the moment anyway. He reaches up to cover Kon's hand with his own, hugging it against his face gently. Lalli's eyes are lighting up with determination in a way they don't usually do, not with how his depression often weighs him down and blots out many of his more passionate emotions, but it's a look Kon might be seeing more often. Because once Lalli decides to do something, he does it. There's no swaying him.]
Alright. We'll make it work.
['We'll make it work' isn't a marriage proposal by any means, they've only been dating for a couple weeks and any feelings Lalli has are only in the very early stages of liking someone. But Kon will, at the very least, definitely have a tagalong now and for many years to come.]