Rainy day out

4. Here right now

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"I'll make something to eat," Lumine announces. Her body felt stiff and heavy as she stood. She gently stretches to wake up her numb legs. It was an unusual time to eat a meal, too late for lunch but too early to be dinner, but when you're hungry, you're hungry.

"Want Paimon's help?" Paimon offers.

"It's alright. I can handle it myself," Lumine declines. Her mind already began planning what she'd make, "I'll leave it as a surprise."

In all honesty, Paimon wasn't exactly the best kitchen helper either. It's not that she lacked skill although her small size tended to complicate simple tasks. She could even make a few dishes by herself. She was always attentive whenever Lumine cooked for the two, almost every day. It's less of a skill issue but more of a self-control problem. When preparing the dishes, Paimon would eat some of the ingredients here and there. She calls it the Paimon tax and claims to be taste-testing the ingredients for freshness. She always ends up taking more than necessary. As bad of a habit as it was (and still is), Lumine's bag held a tremendous quantity of ingredients. The pocket dimension on the inside things easy to store. It freezes the perishables in time, preventing them from spoiling. Lumine could hoard and stash whatever she pleased. No care for expiration dates. There was plenty extra to go around so Paimon could gobble whatever and (usually) not get yelled at.

"How lucky," Nahida beams, "I can try your cooking sooner than I had anticipated. The art of cooking and baking has always fascinated me. Not only is it self-rewarding, but there's so much depth to the art. A small change to the variety, ingredients, and method can result in drastic change. If you change techniques or ingredients by only a little, there's a chance to throw off the entire dish. It fascinates me that the first humans were able to discover the practice of cooking raw food with fire. I wonder if it was by accident or out of curiosity?"

"I'll tag along," Wanderer interjects, the tone of his voice made it clear he wasn't going to take no for an answer. The statement itself was more of a demand. After Nahida's constant nagging to join an afterschool activity, he wasn't about to let his hours at the cooking club go to waste. Nope, especially not when he was (quote on quote) dragged against his free will. If Nahida dared to oppose, he had an exhaustive list of arguments and claims locked and loaded. In his eyes, the goal of an argument is not to come to a decisive agreement or be correct. It's all about winning.

One of the classes he genuinely enjoyed was debate which, all in all, was almost no surprise. It's a battle royale every debate session. You could get away with yelling, screaming, slamming fists onto the table, insults, and name-calling. Any of that was considered fair game. The louder you are and the more often you slam your fist down the table, the more successful you will be. Make your opponent look bad and skew in some evidence for yourself and you're pretty much set. He was a natural in that class. If anyone saw his performance, they would think "Yep, this guy will become a world-class politician someday. And a corrupt one at that."

Much to his disappointment, Nahida didn't resist the idea of him assisting in the kitchen. He was half hoping because he was beyond confident he could finally beat Nahida in an argument. If only that argument could take place. It wasn't easy given that Nahida was a god centered around the very idea of wisdom. It also didn't help that she managed to keep her head cool. She's always calm and collected whenever she argues but loud and stern enough to get her point across. As one would expect, it's not every day you beat the archon of wisdom herself in a debate. Think about the bragging rights you'd get and the irony if you managed to win. Yay, wow look at me! I beat the Dendro Archon with the very facts and logic that she loved so much. But for now, he'll take his win and finally toss that damn book to the side.