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Post by skybright on Jan 11, 2008 15:11:13 GMT -5
Marla worried her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment, glancing over the various food items; then she shrugged slightly. "Uh . . . I guess those chicken breasts need to be cut into smaller pieces," she held up her thumb and forefinger about two inches apart. "About that big. If you don't mind the raw chicken, I mean."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 12, 2008 0:07:57 GMT -5
Nate laughed. "You've obviously never had to help with KP for a whole military base... or cleaned fish with my dad. Wait a sec while I put the creep away--I wouldn't trust him with a knife!"
He gestured toward his specter, which had unloaded the last of the groceries, and was now roaming clumsily about the garage. As it began to fade into nothingness, Nate's natural shadow reappeared on the kitchen floor.
"At first I had to shut all the lights out to make him go away," Nate recalled. "Took me a while to figure out how to make him fade."
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Post by skybright on Jan 12, 2008 18:04:21 GMT -5
"Oh, my." Marla bit back a laugh as she gathered the various ingredients for dinner and started scouting out pans and utensils. "That sounds like it would be awfully nerve-wracking."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 12, 2008 23:23:29 GMT -5
"Kinda, yeah," Nate admitted. "First time I was a little worried he wouldn't go away at all! The friend I was with and I had a pretty good panic, I'll tell ya that. Lucky for us the silly thing knocked over the lamp--that was how we figured out he had to have light."
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Post by skybright on Jan 13, 2008 18:01:23 GMT -5
Marla's eyes widened slightly. "I . . . I suppose that's a good thing, really. It -- uhm, I mean he . . . uh, would be sort of dangerous in the dark. If you weren't very good at controlling him yet, I mean."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 13, 2008 21:11:19 GMT -5
"Sometimes I think he's dangerous enough in the light!" Nate retorted brightly... and then he frowned at Marla's worried look.
"Hey, don't worry about him, though. The only time he's ever dusted up with a person was when Tiernan's goons came after me--kind of a natural reaction in danger, I guess. But, uh... I don't think he did any permanent damage. In fact, I don't think he can do anything that's not in my nature to do." He grinned. "I may have the training, but I like people too much to want to hurt anybody."
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Post by skybright on Jan 16, 2008 12:54:43 GMT -5
"Oh, I could have guessed that." Marla colored slightly and ducked her head over the bacon she was cutting up. "I - I mean . . . well, some things it's easy to pick up from people, even if you -- they -- don't think very loudly."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 16, 2008 20:47:38 GMT -5
Nate grinned. "Well, I'll take that as a compliment. I didn't really think I was what you'd call a quiet thinker. I guess being outgoing doesn't have as much to do with it as I expected."
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Post by skybright on Jan 16, 2008 23:42:24 GMT -5
Marla shook her head. "It doesn't -- not usually." She shrugged. "Marcus and I have talked about it, but . . . well, really there doesn't seem to be much of a pattern at all, as far as how loudly different people think."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 18, 2008 10:01:10 GMT -5
"That's interesting." Nate scraped his first pile of chicken pieces from the cutting board into a bowl. Then he grinned ruefully.
"It's funny. Mutations are all so different--I guess it's easy to think everybody else's powers are all straightforward and work by clear rules, and you're the only one who just can't seem to figure it out."
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Post by skybright on Jan 18, 2008 19:11:22 GMT -5
Marla glanced at him thoughtfully for a moment, then smiled slightly. "I . . . I never really thought of it like that, before."
She turned her attention back to cutting strips of bacon into fine pieces. "It's kind of . . . comforting to think of everyone else having some trouble with it, too. Not that I'd want other people to have trouble," She added quickly, "Just, well -- makes us all seem a little more human, I guess."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 18, 2008 22:17:38 GMT -5
"I guess that's the whole thing--being human." Nate frowned at the piece of chicken in his hand. "Okay, I've seen a lot of poultry in my years doing KP, but I don't think I've ever been introduced to this part of a chicken's anatomy before."
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Post by skybright on Jan 18, 2008 22:33:03 GMT -5
Marla laughed and glanced over her shoulder at the piece of poultry in question. "Oh . . . that's the neck." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "My father used to eat them -- but you can just throw it out. They give me the creeps." She shook her head. "I don't like the idea of eating anything above the shoulders."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 18, 2008 23:19:10 GMT -5
"You should see some of the stuff they eat in the Middle East," Nate chuckled as he disposed of the piece of meat. "Sometimes I thought the local food was more dangerous than the insurgents. Had to eat it sometimes, though--when we were doing the whole social outreach thing." He winced. "I'd get a little queasy now if I looked at a goat."
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Post by skybright on Jan 18, 2008 23:27:50 GMT -5
Marla smiled crookedly. "I guess I'll scratch roast goat off the menu plans, then." She said, transferring the bacon into a frying pan and turning on the heat.
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 18, 2008 23:30:22 GMT -5
Nate grinned. "Oh, I don't know. If this stuff is as good as it sounds like it'll be, you might be able to convince me to eat just about anything."
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Post by skybright on Jan 18, 2008 23:40:52 GMT -5
Marla blushed deeply and suddenly became intensely focused on the frying bacon. "Oh . . . credit the recipe, not the cook." She said quickly. "I'm no great talent or anything."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 18, 2008 23:50:07 GMT -5
"Where'd you learn your recipes, anyway?" Nate asked. "With all the traveling and dealing with people I've done, I'm always interested in how people pick up the different kinds of knowledge they're interested in."
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Post by skybright on Jan 19, 2008 0:01:31 GMT -5
"Oh . . . I read an awful lot. And there's the Internet now, of course." Marla grinned faintly. "Mostly though, I learned them from Ruth.
"She was our cook when Marcus and I were growing up." Marla explained. "I used to tag along after her all the time . . . even after I manifested. She . . . she never seemed to mind." She shrugged slightly. "I hardly ever forget something I learn straight from someone's mind."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 19, 2008 23:14:09 GMT -5
"Wow. Now, see, that would be useful." Nate shook his head and gave a beleaguered grin. "You have no idea how much studying Army training actually involves. Being able to pick the instructors' brains and remember like that would've made things a lot easier."
He paused. "Of course, not being able to turn it off would be another story... I can definitely understand that."
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