Upon Vestia: Chapter Thirty-Two

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James went into Armin's room. "Hey man, watcha working on?" he asked, seeing that Armin was sewing.

Ellie reached up to ruffle Shane's hair. "It's like you have two families now. The normal one, and the cool fairytale one. I mean it's gotta be weird, but it's also sort of just awesome."

~~
James would start finding stuff in the freezer and the fridge, since he was more able-bodied than Matt right now. There were fresh eggs from Dawn's ranch even, so that was exciting. Soon he had a small pile of different meat products on the counter.

Matt took stock of what they had, shrugged and grabbed a few things to start mooshing them together. He had no real idea of how to cook and being unable to really do herbs or spices, it really was just going to be mooshed up balls of meat.

James took some ground beef, and started shaping it into little balls. "This is popcorn," he told Matt. "It won't pop, but it's approximately the right size at least." He frowned at the tiny meatballs, "I guess we should fry them or something. I dunno."

Matt shrugged and popped on into his mouth. "tastes fine to me." of course, he couldn't really taste much so wasn't the best food critic.

"Might have better texture once it's cooked," James suggested. He laughed, "What do I know? I don't even have a sense of touch."

Shane shook his head with a smile. "No, one family, it just includes both sides."

~~~
Starr smiled softly. "Of course I trust you, you are my friend." She said happily.

Matt grinned, shrugged and popped a few more into his mouth. "chewy."

----

"For which I am forever honoured" Armin replied, bowing his head slightly again. He didn't want to move too much for fear of waking the baby.

"Well that's even better. One big family made of multiple species," Ellie decided, ruffling Shane's hair again. She looked to the babies, "What are your first shapeshifts going to be?" she asked them. They were probably still going to need a few more weeks before they were ready to try, but they'd probably been planning already, she figured.

~~
James laughed. "Hope that's a good thing."

"it's different. I mean meat's usually a bit chewy but more... meaty chewy, this is sticky chewy." Matt nodded like that somehow made sense. "how do we cook em? we got a pan?" to be fair, he'd never paid that much attention as a kid when Olin had been cooking, and she'd also not... really allowed them into the kitchen because they were a nuscience. So while he had a vuage understanding that pans got heated and food went in the pan, he didn't really know much more beyond the very basic principles.

"Well that sounds... interesting. My brother says sticky is awful though, so I dunno if that's a good thing." James laughed. "Yeah! Let's try a frying pan. I cooked eggs for Ivor and Silence in one once, it turned out okay...ish." He spotted a pan and went to grab it.

Matt laughed "depends on what's sticky" He grinned a knowing grin that suggested some filthy thought crossing his mind.

James snorted. "I'll take your word for it" He was okay with having no practical experience of stickiness, thanks.
He dropped the meatball 'popcorn' in the pan, and then set the pan on the burner to heat up. "Are we supposed to add oil, do you think?"

Starr chuckled and smiled up at him. "I am glad i have such good friends here."

Shane chuckled and fixed his hair then looked to the babies. They weren't sure what they wanted to be yet, there were a lot of choices and they kept changing their minds

"That's okay, you still have time," Ellie told the little dragons. "And once you can shift, you can try all the shapes. And confuse everyone! It'll be great!"

"uh..." Matt looked confused "I... have no idea."

---

Perhaps if Vavare could blush Armin would have. He dipped his head. "As am I Miss Starr"

James eyed the meatballs uncertainly. "Oil might not work so good with your dietary needs, so we'll skip it and hope for the best," he decided.

Matt shrugged. "I dunno." meat had fat in it right? maybe they could use that? he had no idea really. He watched the meatballs curiously.

The meatballs started sizzling pretty quickly, James had probably turned the heat up too high.

"There is some sort of liquid coming out of them, I'm not sure what that means," James said, poking one meatball on its top with his fingertip. "Maybe it's fat from the meat." He didn't try touching the liquid, if it was too hot he might melt his finger a little.

The kids chirped happily at that, nodding and starting to play again. They didn't want to stop just yet.

~~~
Starr smiled and nodded happily. She was glad he was her friend. He was so kind and sweet.

Ellie would go back to playing with them. She loved having all these dragon kids on board, they were just so nice. And she could be an aunt to ALL of them!

"Hey don't ask me man, i've never cooked a thing on my life!" Matt shrugged and craned his neck to see into the pan, man it sucked being short. How DID actual short people tolerate this crap?

---

Armin's expression was hidden beneath his mask, but he was smiling. He looked back down at Luna. "Is there anything else you need Miss Starr?" He asked.

James laughed. "For once, I've done more cooking than somebody! What a strange feeling." He hurried off to find a spatula, realizing he was going to need something other than his fingers soon. "Cooking is hard, no wonder everyone here makes Vestia do it."

"right? it seems to be needlessly complicated." Matt shook his head, he didn't understand any of this. He idly wondered if any of his siblings had ever learned to cook. He was pretty sure Kay couldn't, he usually forgot to eat after all, but what about Esk? Maybe he'd ask him next time he saw him, see how bewildered and annoyed the guy was by such a random query hah.
"Olin hated any of us being in the kitchen when she was preparing meals, she'd yell and brandish spoons and stuff." He laughed. "She was a scary lady."

"Man, Olin sounds more territorial than Kay even," James said, amused."If I was her, I'd probably try to force you kids to do all the work so I could avoid doing it myself." He used the spatula to turn over the meatballs, "Man, I'm not sure they're supposed to be this dark." The meatballs were pretty much blackened on the bottom. Whoops.

Matt shrugged "I guess kids under your feet is super annoying when you're trying to do stuff?" He tried to get a look at the meatballs. "uh... " nope, he hadn't a clue.

"I guess that makes sense, I've never been a parent so this is all guesswork," James told Matt cheerfully.

The meatballs continued to sizzle, James took them off the heat when he figured they were probably done. They looked pretty burnt.

"Uh here, try these. Once you can touch them without burning yourself, I mean," James said.

Matt blew on the meatballs a few times, prodding them till he decided they were cool enough to risk putting in his mouth.
they were pretty crunchy and kinda bitter. Yep, burned. He looked thoughtful.
"Maybe.. less crispy?" He shrugged. "Yeah... I dunno man, it's not like there's a course you can do on parenting.. is there?" Shit, maybe there was. Should he do that?