Logs:Can Stew

Can Stew
Dramatis Personae Nanami, Zeke
In Absentia	2020-11-23 "Are things always like this at Xavier's?"
Location Somewhere In Maine
Outside it's still bitterly cold -- there's flurries of snow again, a sharp wind. Tonight, at least, the X-Kids thankfully have a bit more snug of a shelter from it -- a vacant riverfront cabin tucked among some trees, no doubt booked through summer but abandoned for the season. It's a blissful respite for the cold, especially for the crowd of teens who did not come dressed for the farther-north chill -- by far not enough beds for everyone for sure, but there are a few, a couple couches, blankets to spare, and best of all, running heat. The curtains are drawn but even so most of the lights are off, currently. Some of the students are sleeping, if they can; shifts have been assigned for keeping watch, but not everyone who is awake right now is awake out of duty. Nanami is in a small breakfast nook in the kitchen, a blanket pulled from a chest near the living room sofa and draped around her shoulders. She's still very much not dressed for the apocalypse in her (now considerably more rumpled) cheerful pink and black party outfit. Her face is pale, her eyes a little droopy, but she's working her way through a cold can of Progresso beef stew with very little appetite, but a lot of determination. Zeke stared cold and vacant across the cabin. He didn't exactly remember getting up and following the group to their current haven—the shock from being thrown into another dimension had seen to that—but he knew that at some point he had stood up in that cold plaza, had come to understand the severity of their situation, and had made the decision to stick with the group. Zeke knew that under normal circumstances he could keep himself alive; he had traveled to New York from Alabama on nothing but a prayer and his own two feet. This was not a normal circumstance though. Zeke was cold, woefully ill equipped for the frigid Maine weather, and he was in another freaking dimension. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me," Zeke was hardly aware of the prayer he muttered as he continued to stare out across the room. Nanami digs out another mouthful of stew. Stares at it balefully. In the end, she just sets the spoon back into the can. She drags her eyes upward, fixing across the cabin at Zeke for a moment and then lowering back to her half-eaten meal. "Can you do that. Like. Silently." Zeke's eyes find Nanami—her rebuke giving him something to focus on besides fear, cold, and hunger. "Silent prayer is pretty dang common, so yeah I 'spose I could," his words were sharper than he intended. "Waste not want not," he said noticing the unfinished can of beef stew in the girl's hands. "I already said grace so...," Zeke reaches out his hand and gestures for Nanami to pass the cold soup. "If you ain't gonna finish it I'll get the job done." Nanami shrinks reflexively against the wall as Zeke approaches, but it's only for a heartbeat. "Huh?" She relaxes again when he gestures at the can in her hands -- the look she gives it is blank and uncomprehending until he speaks again. "Oh right sorry. Food," she says, quiet. "My brain's -- tired. Between the killer robots and other dimension and --" Her cheeks flush and she hands the can over with a duck of her head. "Pretty good for can-stew actually." Zeke's lips form into a small wry smile as he takes the can of stew from the girl. "I'm right there with ya," he slumps against the wall and lets himself slide down until he's seated next to Nanami. "This has been one helluva first week. Are things always like this at Xavier's?" Zeke considers for a moment. "Maybe don't answer that. I might up and unenroll if that were the case," he finished before shoveling a spoonful of cold Progresso beef into his mouth. "Least somethings are the same in this dimension. Can stew still tastes like can stew." Then between mouthfuls of stew "I'm Zeke by the way. Pleasure to know ya." "First week, chee. You in the deep end. I thought mine was a disaster when we fry all the school's phones." Nanami thunks her head back against the wall. Her smile is just a little wry. "Who knew that trick would come handy now, huh?" She pulls her knees to her chest, wrapping her blanket snugly around them. "Nanami. And Xavier's is weird but we neva had no other worlds before. Not that I heard." Zeke relaxes more as Nanami's accent creeps into prominence. His shoulders loosen and he almost look comfortable—almost. "I don't know nothin' 'bout frying no phones," Zeke closes his eyes and leans back. "'Spose that could come in handy though," then the smile is back on his lips. "School's full of dang delinquents, huh?" Zeke's silent for a while; his eyes still closed. "Still, I haven' felt as safe as I do at Xavier's in a while—delinquents includes and dimensional rifts aside." Zeke places the almost empty can of beef stew between himself and Nanami. Pulling up the hood of his vest and leaning against the wall, Zeke closes his eyes again and goes silent. This time the silence is only interrupted by the soft even breathing of the now sleeping Zeke.