ORIGIN - hold on, let him cook

Cleaning out chrysalis goo from your bed is not fun. At least Attikias has extra pelts, but woe to the ones left out to dry in the dim light of Cepheus. He's going to need to bite the bullet and just wash them soon.

Woe is he.

He's been making the most of waking back up, having been ambling about in his empty home for little over a week. It's strange, not having people around— there's been people around, certainly, since it doesn't seem like a lesser has gotten into anything, but nobody visiting. It's sad. He misses people.

He is not going back in the Palace, though. He's had enough of fancy people.

That leaves him and his supper, with fresh venison stewing in a pot. It's proper food. It's not just meat on a fire, it's vegetables and meat; hell, he's even broken out his spices, as aged as they are. He's tired of not having good food after waking up from hibernation. Maybe he could've been cooking, but he's been tired, and there hasn't been anything but the overgrown garden to eat from. Even fresh meat is far better than anything else he's had in the past week.

It smells divine. Even being near it is waking up his senses, with the fire underneath warming the house near perfectly. If he had someone to share this with, then it'd be even better.

At least he has Melody. Poor, sweet Melody, who's going to get a hearty serving of her own— proportional, at the very least. She sits on his unadorned shoulder now and is perfectly content to be nestled in the pelt slung over it.

"Comfortable?" Attikias murmurs to her as he straightens away from the pot and curls a finger under her jaw. The stew doesn't need to be messed with anymore; it looks absolutely ready for servings even, but he's happy to let it simmer. A handful of dirt's thrown on the fire to cool it down, at the very least. "Excited for soup? I am."

His spine pops as he stretches it. "Ooh. Hunched too much. Don't let me do that so much, alright?" A rumbling laugh runs through his tone as he pulls out a bowl from the nearby storage. Puffs of air are blown across it a few times, until he's taking his shirt and rubbing away the dust. "This look clean? I think it's clean." It's lifted for Melody to inspect, then lowered down for him to scoop in some stew into it.

Off he goes to sit at his empty table.

... it's a little sad. With a sad sort of sigh, Attikias looks to the empty chairs before offering his hand as a perch, letting Melody step down to the table proper. Her chirps are soft— sympathetic, even, from what he can tell, and he only hums to that. "... just need to let it cool, little one," he redirects with a slight smile. Leaning his chin on a propped up palm, Attikias holds out his hand for Melody to bump her head into, petting her loosely as he watches his little familiar.

@V-Selenite-One

In another life, V-Selenite-One may have been even the slightest bit concerned with how easily its routine goes on in spite of war being so recently in its memory; though, that's more tending to the aftermath than anything— since it'd not deigned to be directly involved. The memory of blood and wet, murky gasps for air is somehow still fresh in its mind despite the detachment from using its own weaponry for hunting as a coping mechanism. (It feels better skinning a Lesser lizard than it does any hares.)

... as it stands, though, the status quo is hardly disrupted. Order's gambit toward— as it assumes Polaris— hadn't succeeded, and all those rooms that it may as well call home are saved for it. The Blacksmith still trains it, and still remains in stagnant monotony; but, hey—... at least the masked figure provides that missing feeling of family, right?

Visits to its stone-giver's house had become infrequent by virtue of there only being nothing there but to bat away cobwebs and keep the garden from becoming totally and completely feral, creeping up the walls of mud-bricks. The scent of other siblings still clung to the place, at times fresher than the rest of what'd been baked into the pelt rugs on the floor, but...

V-Selenite-One isn't sure why it doesn't make the effort to seek out others of the Elenya clan.

Today is a break in the monotony though. A new scent drifts across the breeze as it pads through the Palace gardens and makes its too-quiet approach: Warm, spiced, betraying a state of living that hadn't been there before. Selenite nearly turns tail at it, if only for assuming that it'd be intruding on Hunter— or maybe even Vivilene, as much as it doubts that she would ever have the heart to hunt and prepare any brand of meat— having a meal in the old family home.

Ah, but it's... hungry. It misses the taste of home-cooked food.

... it can bear the guilt.

Bearing the guilt is how it lands in Attikias's doorway, a few fingers short of being able to fully grasp at the frame. Ducking into the dimly-lit warmth brings with it widening eyes and a soft, fluttering gasp. "You're awake," comes the blatant observation, punctuated by clacking quills and perking ears. The sharpness of its pupils darts from cookpot to tablesetting to Melody with her own stew to eat. In lieu of leaving itself immediately open for a bear-bug, it lifts its top left hand, holding out a two-finger salute for the little sparrow to alight upon.

Her chirping earns her the attention of a padded thumb, gentle and delicate. V-Selenite-One stares at its stone-giv— father again, quashes the surging tide of joy it thinks it feels seeing him outside of his chrysalis again at last, and murmurs softly, awkwardly, "Um, I'd have... brought something to share, had I known you were cooking."

@Attikias

V-Selenite-One is, perhaps, a little too quiet for its own good. When it ghosts into Attikias's doorframe, he doesn't even suspect anything until the soft gasp brings his attention around. His mind doesn't quite catch up, lags behind as his eyes widen and he halfway makes to stand. "Selenite?"

Perhaps he won't be so lonely after all. Melody is certainly happy, just as she has been any time the family has come around, but now Attikias is here to welcome Selenite with a wide smile and a hand patting at the table. "Don't worry! It's already cooked, sit down! I— ... it's been a while, hasn't it?" An anxious laugh tumbles out of him as he turns for the firepit, takes another bowl for another bit of soup.

... there's a brief bout of silence as he turns back around and simply takes his child in. Not much has changed; they've both gotten older, but does that mean anything when they'll simply look like this for as long as they know? Or, well, perhaps not, as Attikias has been mutated once before. Selenite could very well be changed by that, too.

He doesn't think he'd want that for it, though. How strange would it be to not recognize your own hands?

Taking in a sharp breath and stepping closer, the bowl of soup is held out for Selenite to take. "It's good to see you again." There's soft bittersweetness to his voice, a smile more on his lips than in his eyes. "What've you been up to? How are you doing? Eating well? I hope they're not pushing you too hard." Perhaps it's a barrage, but he's happy to see it again, happy to know it still exists.

His hand reaches out to usher it more towards the table. "... tell me everything you want, if you have time to stay and talk."

@V-Selenite-One