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[divinestrike]

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[divinestrike]

As she followed after him, Wizard of Waterdeep with his ever discerning tastes, most of her observation came with amusement. He was so particular about everything. Not a bad thing by any means. It meant he knew what he wanted and she had to admit that it was an admirable trait. At least when set down in comparison by hers. When it came to stalls and markets and inventory, she'd grown up with not much that it was almost luxurious. Considering how very not luxurious it was in the broader spectrum, Nepione had to admit that her own perspective must have been skewed a bit.

Beyond that, however, as she trailed behind him, in the back of her mind, she thought about what had brought them to the present moment, and the little sliver of tension (or what she was going to consider tension) that seemed to settle right in her chest. Nothing unpleasant. Simply... present.

Regardless of whatever little comments Gale had to make, however, he didn't seem to absolutely hate going through everything, so perhaps he was simply filling in any potential silence between them. If that were case, was it because she made him nervous, or was it because that was simply the way he was? No. No, he definitely just enjoyed conversation. He had at least a year to make up for it, despite whatever ongoing talks he'd had with Tara whilst he was isolated.

Nepione could only smile softly, a little charmed (as ever she had been by him), as she listened in on his judgement and individual assessments. When he thought to ask of her own wants, which should have been somewhat simple to answer, the cleric found herself pausing, a bit caught by surprise.

"Hm..." she began thoughtfully, her gaze looking over a variety of spices with subdued interest. No cooking talent in her, she could only guess what any of them might have been used for. How they enhanced food or how they didn't, she couldn't say. "You know, I've never had much in the way of desserts. Wasn't readily available to me when I was younger. I've mostly eaten fruit and cheeses and... fish? But I think especially like fruits and cheese. Not vegetables."

So basically, she had the diet of a child, apparently.

[magicmissiles]

“Oh, if you like fruits and cheese, I can make a tremendous charcuterie board or mezze platter! Cured meats, artisanal cheeses, rosemary sea-salt crackers, with some pickled olives on the side. Grapes, perhaps some fried halloumi…”

Gale didn’t seem to mind or even remark on her childish palate; he was clearly daydreaming about the possibilities now, a little wistful. He had no idea if he could even get halloumi in this corner of the Sword Coast. Likely not.

So he relented to realism a moment later, grudgingly, “Some of that might have to wait until another day, when this war with the Absolute ends, or perhaps if we ever make it to Waterdeep. But if you’ve truly never had dessert, then I need to remedy that post-haste. Vasilopita cake, for example, is simple enough; families often have their own recipe for it, and ours uses oranges. It’s a cake served at midnight at the end of Wintershield, at the start of a new year — traditionally after baking it, you insert a coin through the base, and whoever finds the coin in their slice of cake is said to be granted luck for the rest of the year. I know it’s not the new year yet, technically, but I think this would still feel appropriate. Turning over a new leaf, so to speak. Hoping for luck.”

Browsing the stalls, testing the firmness and ripeness of the various fruits they passed, he finally stopped his cheerful ramblings and cocked his head, contemplative. Glanced over at Nepione.

“You know,” he said, “I haven’t actually had the opportunity to cook for others for a while, until our motley little group. Being a Chosen, living half in the astral plane, one gets accustomed to nourishment simply… appearing, magically, or ordering it delivered simply because you can. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed cooking with real ingredients.”

[divinestrike]

He got so carried away almost immediately that Nepione had a difficult time controlling the transparency in her expression. That said, a fancy charcuterie sounded nice. Hells, everything he made mention of did. It didn't take her much time to entertain the notion of a quiet night in somewhere with a fire, some mulled wine, and something incredibly relaxing.

That would have been superb. If only it wasn't a fantasy living up inside of her head. She didn't think dealing with the threat of the Absolute was going to make it any closer to a reality either. If she ever found herself in a situation like it, she doubted she'd know how to handle it. Such things required a social grace that the tiefling just didn't have.

Of course, entirely different if she were alone. Maybe that would have to be the way.

Tagging along closely, she listened to him rattle on about cake with the same interest as she had each time he spoke of the Weave, his relationship with Elminster, Tara, and his days in Waterdeep.

"I don't know a thing about baking, so all of that sounds delicious and complicated. Deliciously complicated? Wouldn't mind watching you make something. I could try to help, but that might just give you more problems to deal with." Not that it seemed as though he would particularly dislike that. Maybe she was the good kind of problem. When he continued, touched by what she would have considered nostalgia, she smiled gently.

"If you're looking for more excuses to cook, I don't think you need to look any further. You can make food for me anytime. Otherwise, I'll just eat wedges of cheese and raw fruit." Which... was what she was already doing. But she seemed to be fine, so it was probably a healthier diet than most people would have expected of someone who enjoyed running herself constantly ragged.

[magicmissiles]

Mama Dekarios, evidently, wasn’t the only person who felt the need to feed the people they cared about. He was realising a little of that similarity as their conversation went on, and he gave a thoughtful hm as Nepione smiled. (Gale’s love language is acts of service and let’s not examine that too closely.)

“An excellent plan, then,” he eventually declared. “You can be my sous-chef and my taste tester. It’ll be much better than wincing our way through rotten apples. Even now, I think, our collective purse can afford better ingredients; I’d rather use it to bake a cake for you than to buy yet another spellbook I’m going to read and never use, anyhow.”

He said it carelessly, offhand, scooping ingredients into his arms, not thinking much of the offer — but it hinted at how much he valued Nepione, a subtle readjustment which he hadn’t quite articulated until this moment. Shifting his priorities from accruing more magic to baking a simple new year’s cake instead, all just for the delight of seeing her smile.

[divinestrike]

She only scarcely knew the meaning of 'sous-chef' and though she very much wanted to remind him that she likely wasn't going to be of much use, Nepione somehow managed to refrain from just such a thing. Taste testing, on the other hand, she could do masterfully at. There was nothing difficult about eating something and issuing judgement on whether it was 'good' or 'bad' (despite how very subjective such a thing was).

"I don't see why we can't get some nicer ingredients and spellbooks for you," she pointed out with some consideration. "Who says that anyone should just be limited by a single thing?" Nepione shook her head, thinking about all of the times she would have been somewhat put out if she was forced to start making decisions.

Not that it hadn't happened before. It had, of course. In the truly important situations, she had no problems making the truly difficult decisions. It was mostly the ones that were relatively unimportant in the grand spectrum of things that was more of a challenge. She wasn't about to boast regarding indecision, however. It was considerably better simply to see very open-minded.

"Let's get both. Don't spend everything we have on ingredients. We can have our cake and books."