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[ Terry... is not fast enough. He was relaxing so much that his head jolts up when Kido turns in surprise and ends up biting his own tongue. He covers his mouth and nearly curls up. ]

Hey, what happened?

[ She places a hand on Terry's shoulder— then stands so she can turn off the alarm and also the oven, take a second to peer inside to make sure the pastries aren't burnt, and then go back to comforting Terry. ]

Are you okay?

[ It's fine, it's fine... pastries can't be saved, but his tongue can. Terry holds up a hand to Kido and he gets up to go to the bathroom.

...

The sound of running water is heard and Terry takes a minute before coming back. ]

... I'm good. I just bit my tongue.

[ That was her thought process too. While Terry's out in the bathroom, Kido gets the pastries out and sets the rack on the counter so they can cool, throwing worried glances over her shoulder at the bathroom door all the while. ]

Is it bleeding? Let me see.

[ Kido: Nekogami, want to come out and heal him?
Nekogami: nah, he'll live ]

[ Terry sticks his tongue out and it... looks fine. ]

I cleaned and healed it already.

[ Nekogami doesn't give a fuck so that's why Terry has to stab himself with scissors every time. ]

[ Kido doesn't know of any healing ability Terry or Vassago have... but she gives him the benefit of the doubt and assumes he went to the bathroom so she doesn't see him eating a healing leaf or something. ]

That's good, then. Be more careful next time. [ As much as he can, anyways, when it's back to being Kido's fault he gets hurt again. ]

Are you good to eat? The soup's done, and I just took the pastry out of the oven, so we'll let that sit for ten minutes first so you don't abuse your tongue a second time today.

[ ...

Terry just states at her for a second before sitting down. ]

[ Kido, you saw his Shadow using those stupid scissors...

Anyway, he smiles. ]

Yeah, I can eat! I can't wait!

[ Why the hell would Terry keep around what Kido sees as a torture device?? As far as she knows, it's something the Shadow conjured up, like that charm axe Terry has no business owning either.

But anyways, it's soup. The base is made with kelp and diced mushrooms, and there's some root vegetables and cubes of tofu and a sprinkle of green onions she adds after dishing out two bowls, for color. The actual meal is the pastries, stuffed with chicken, potato, and curry, but Terry is banned from touching any of them until the ten minutes are up. There's enough for both Hibiki and Rei too, and if they don't eat it, it'll be good for tomorrow's lunch or something. ]

[ Because healers are never around when he needs them, so he's gotta do this shit himself.

He looks down at the food and ahhh, everything looks so nice and delicious. His strong sense of smell makes him feel like he can taste it already. Terry is hungry...

This is like the marshmallow test... ]

[ He should just go forage for magical leaves instead of doing the stabby thing. They won't help for all situations, though, like in the case of stuffing his mouth too full that he chokes.

He gets a weird look for his enthusiasm while Kido blows on a cube of tofu on her spoon, but she's pretty happy about people enjoying her food anyways. With him and Rei, there's hardly ever any leftovers and they get to eat new stuff every day. ]

[ Terry got cursed by Terrence by having scars that will never heal, so nothing will help that anymore... rip. He probably looks like a patched up frankenstein's monster under his clothes or something, though there's still some on his hands and face too. It's no big deal.

After waiting for a little over ten minutes, Terry starts eating. He still likes the food when it's warm, so this is perfect for his tastes. He sounds very pleased with the food as he eats at a normal pace. ]

I wish I can keep eating things like this every day...

That's a pretty easy wish to grant. I don't mind cooking for you every day, but you're in charge of getting the ingredients for everything.

[ aka paying for them, and also carrying everything home ]

You look happy when you eat. I sort of miss seeing that.

I don't eat as much as Rei, but I still like eating. Why wouldn't I be happy to eat something you made?

[ He'd eat her failures too... ]

Don't I do that already though?

[ Guess they're already married. ]

[ lmao gross ]

I don't mean my food specifically, but in general. Things have been pretty rough lately, so that sort of simple happiness feels a bit rare now. It's nice to see.

[ Yeah. ]

Mm... Yeah, but it's the little things in life that make you motivated to get through the day. As long as you remember that, I think... it'll be okay.

[ And he bites into the pastry. This is sooo good. ]

[ wtf that's cute... If it's cooking, Kido's determined not to fail so Terry won't get to eat failures. ]

Yeah. I'm not too worried about the day to day. There's always something to do and things to think about...

[ There's a lot of think about, now.

Kido watches Terry eat instead of taking any pastry, and thinks to herself that that's the face Rei makes too. It's a happy blissful face Kido really really likes. She stirs a little at her soup. ]

...Are you happy here, Terrence?

Yeah.

[ He says that without hesitation after swallowing his food. ]

I'm happy here because I get to spend time with people I like!

[ Kido glances down at Terry's pocket where Jace isn't in anymore, and then looks back up at him. ]

Were you happy back home? You have lots friends back there too.

[ The war couldn't have lasted thousands of years. She knows that was one of his worst memories— doesn't know if it's one he lived through before or after she'd met him— but she needs to know that he was happy for 40k years. ]

[ Hm. Terry thinks as he bites into another pastry. ]

I was happy. I did have many friends.

[ They're all in past tense, but Terry figures he can probably word that better. ]

... It felt like I was the only one that was forced to continue forward while I left everyone behind.

[ Kido immediately regrets talking about it, setting her spoon down and letting her hands fall onto her lap. ]

It must really hurt, losing so many people close to you... Sorry for bringing it up.

Humans grow old and die. It's a natural part of life for everyone else. Jace passed away eventually with everyone. He was old too, and he was only human. It's just... how it is.

[ He's not going to go look up ways to lengthen human lifespans, because that's impossible for him. It's just the law of the universe. Something he can't help. He had a chance to reverse everything, but he didn't take it. ]

... I still miss him sometimes.

[ terry: sometimes i can still hear his voice
orien: you're a fucking idiot ]

[ Where does that leave Kido, who's stuck on the side of the road as somebody who'll only grow a couple months older before dying and turning back to how she was before? At least she doesn't remember any of it, unlike like... music route Hibiya I think.

She gives him a look at the mention of missing Jace, but bites her tongue so she doesn't say anything about that. ]

...I don't know if you believe in a concept like Heaven, but I'm sure he's watching over you.

[ Terry realizes that, and that's why he wants to spend as much time with her before she has to go. He knew this even before the update when they had that talk about returning home and accepted it, because it's what Kido wanted. ]

Something like that used to exist back home. There's no afterlife anymore, because Death couldn't handle the overabundant population anymore. There's no other place to go, so everyone's souls just vanish into thin air once they die.

[ Terry killed everyone by playing population control despite knowing this, but for someone who could never relate to the importance of afterlife because he never had one in the first place--it didn't matter. ]

...Is that what you were talking about back in the dungeon? You called me Death.

[ He was shouting something about being made to kill people when he didn't want to, like he had no choice but to do it. But that doesn't make sense. If there's no afterlife and people's souls just vanish when they die, there's still no reason to kill everybody. Let them die a natural death, and then disappear. ]

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