Quoted By:
“Far as I’m concerned,” you said as you stared skeptically at the souped spoon, “You’ve already taken what you wanted before, haven’t you?”
Yuliana’s eyebrow twitched. “I would not call that <span class="mu-i">taking</span>.”
“That’s what it was.” There wasn’t any ambiguity to it from what you’d heard. “It doesn’t matter what you think of it, t’ me, it sounds like you’ve got it mixed up. Like all that stuff about your great purpose and all, the ambition t’ do what only you can? All that doesn’t seem like it matters if you don’t have Magnus. If it was really about what you say it is, what the hell are you doin’ here trying to pick a fight with little ol’ me? Am I some secret princess, am I the rightful Kaiser or some other drunk’s story?”
Yuliana did hear you, but she didn’t address what you said right off. “It isn’t poisoned,” she said of the soup, “I swear on my honor. No self-respecting cook would spoil their work for spite.”
“All I’m sayin’ is that the only way t’ know if you can reach your dreams is t’ go right at ‘em. Whether you’re bouncin’ on a cock or not while goin’ for it doesn’t have anything t’ do with it. What I have t’ do, I do whether or not anybody’s cheering for me. No matter if I get to have the fairy tale family at the end. That’s what I think.”
You leaned forward and took the spoon in your mouth after- a test of Yuliana’s cooking. Magnus would probably like it better anyways, but was it something to be disappointed about losing to? Food was food-
…
You’d tasted this somewhere. It was some soft and gentle memory you had long forgotten. One that had been buried deep within days you’d sooner have forgotten. It was a time you denied, one that couldn’t have happened. Yet there it was. A day when your mother had love in her eyes, instead of a dazed, senseless stare trying to see the real world through a haze of drugs. A time of hope and happiness despite your poverty.
It was incomprehensibly delicious. You hated it more than you could possibly imagine.
“Fuck you,” you muttered with the spoon hanging out of your mouth.
“Hm?” Yuliana frowned, utterly confused. “Is something wrong?”
“Nah,” you said, “Nothin’ t’ do with you. Just thought of something.”
Yuliana’s lips curved a little into a smile. “It is excellent, though, isn’t it?”
“…Yeah. Yeah, it is.” Your face probably couldn’t lie even if you wanted to not give her the pleasure.
“Magnus always loved <span class="mu-i">Karminadle</span>, simple to make, easy to make a part of something else. I merely made them in a homely fashion that I don’t remember him having often. Something old and something new.” A wistful dimming crossed Yuliana’s eyes. “It’s…been a long time.”
This'll be the only picture this update because I budgeted time poorly
