Ana's House - Evening - Clear
Anastasia Asher
Her life, usually a fundamentally solitary thing, had fallen into a strange new rhythm now that Eryk was boarding at her house.
The two of them got up pretty early in the morning to feed the pokémon breakfast and do other morning chores, after which they came back inside and she made breakfast while he got ready for work. They ate before he left, at which point she would either prepare for her doctor's visit or do things around the house and grounds before lunch, which she ate by herself or with the pokémon in the yard. When he returned in the afternoon, they did any major chores that were on the rotation for the day, or else just played with the pokémon for a while or relaxed or some other thing, before the evening rolled around and they took everyone inside.
And then there was this part of the day, when she made dinner and Eryk did... well whatever he felt like, really. She wasn't completely sure and she didn't want to pry, so she never asked and therefore did not know.
It was a comfortable little routine, and truthfully Anastasia found this strange. Maybe it had just been too long since she lived with anyone human, but she'd sort of thought she'd forgotten how to be good company, or how to talk to people, or a number of other things. Maybe Eryk didn't mind because he was equally awkward, rather than because she was actually any good at this sort of thing. She worried sometimes that he wouldn't complain even if there was something to complain about, but... well maybe she could hope that he didn't secretly find her annoying or something.
Over the last month or so, she'd been experimenting with the cooking, trying to gauge from his reactions what foods he liked and didn't, a little too afraid to ask directly and unsure he'd express preferences even if he had them. She knew from Cyrilla already that he wasn't fond of very sweet things, but it seemed like cheating somehow to just ask what he did like. Besides, this way she was making a game out of it for herself, and learning a lot of new recipes in the process, so it wasn't like it was some huge chore. She was actually kind of having fun with it.
Today's entry was a chicken-and-leek dish over pasta, with homemade cream sauce, mushrooms, and cheese. Digging the ingredients out of the fridge and the pantry, she retrieved the cast-iron skillet from its place on the shelf, setting it on one of the stove's gas burners and lighting the flame. She was pretty sure Nova was with Eryk; he seemed to like him, which was rather unusual for her umbreon, who was overprotective on the best of days. Maybe when she was gone Eryk wouldn't mind looking after him and Luna? It was an awful lot to ask of someone—but she found herself shelving the thought anyway.
Luna, on the other hand, was keeping a watchful eye on her while pretending to be mostly bored and sleepy on one of the island stools. It was just tall enough for her to rest her chin on the counter, her enormous ears swiveling back and forth slowly as if to monitor the house. Ana smiled at her.
I've been feeling really well lately, you know. There's no need to worry so much right now.
Who said I was worried?
Ana huffed gently and shook her head.
Eryk walked into the kitchen, then, blinked at Ana and glanced towards Luna. Nova was, in fact, with him, draped over Eryk's right shoulder. He didn't seem to mind the umbreon's presence, and reached up to scratch behind Nova's ear. Moira was out of her pokeball, following behind Eryk, it seemed with a bag in her mouth. Eryk was carrying two in his hands, but the absol blinked large eyes up at Ana and trilled, causing Eryk to roll his eyes slightly.
“Are you making dinner?" he asked, tilting his head quizzically at Ana. “Do you need help?" he asked, setting down the bags he'd been carrying. It didn't seem to be anything of importance; a bottle of lemonade and a few fruits and vegetables. He probably went grocery shopping to replenish the last ingredients she'd used for dinner the night before.
"Would you like to help?" she asked, rephrasing the question intentionally. It was hard to say exactly where she got this impression, but Ana was fairly sure that he had not been asked about what he wanted or needed very often in life, and was used to things being dictated to him regardless of his own feelings. So she did her best to give him choices about anything she could, and to ask for his preferences whenever it seemed like he might have them, or at least to try and figure them out if she wasn't feeling quite brave enough to ask, like with dinner.
Honestly the truth of the matter was that she didn't need assistance, but she was happy to have it if he wanted to.
"And thank you for getting the groceries, by the way," she said, opening the bags a bit so she could start moving their contents to the proper places. She took the one from Moira with a gentle smile and a soft pat of the absol's head. "Thank you too, Moira," she added.
He seemed to contemplate his answer before he seemed to decide on one. “I don't mind assisting," he spoke, as Moira trilled happily when Ana pat her head. There was a slight subtle curve of his lip, almost as if he were trying to smile, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. He moved to the other side of Ana, and helped her put the groceries away, first.
“What would you like me to do?" he asked, seemingly looking for guidance.
Not minding was a bit different from wanting to, but she supposed small steps were important, and she wasn't inclined to put pressure on him or anything, so she smiled agreeably and pulled down a cutting board and santoku knife for him. "Today I'm making something pretty simple. It's a pasta dish, but there's a few different things to go over it. Can you cut the white and light green parts of these leeks for me?"
She demonstrated a couple slices so he'd know that she wanted them about toothpick sized and how to get there, then handed over the board, knife and vegetables, trusting that he'd ask more questions if he had them. Meanwhile, Ana cooked up the chicken that went with and prepped the rest of the ingredients, putting away what was in the bags as the meat simmered.
"How was work today?" she asked, referring of course to his work at his actual job, and not at the shelter. She sometimes asked while they were doing afternoon chores, but they'd had to clean the pool today, and that had been a big enough task to keep them both pretty focused.
From the way he held the knife, it was obvious he knew how to use one, but perhaps not in the same way for cooking. He began to slice the leek, humming a soft note in the back of his throat before glancing up towards Ana.
“It was... fine," he spoke, turning his attention back to the leek. “Solomon's wooloo got loose, somehow, and ended up in my office," he stated, seemingly not upset by it. “She wanted to play with Icarus," he continued. He blinked mildly when he finished with the leek, and glanced back at her.
“I don't think I've seen a pokemon so excited over a simple game of tag, though," he stated, brows furrowing softly, though it didn't appear to be in discontent.
Ana giggled, able to imagine pretty easily how that would go. "Well, Floof is very young, so she's probably still excitable about that kind of thing," she noted with a slight shake of her head. She'd heard from Nev that the wooloo was best not left alone in the apartment, either, which sort of made sense.
"There's a new trainer registration fair in a couple of days, right? Are they going to have you working at one of the tables?" Ana closed the fridge door, folding up the reusable bags the groceries had come in and tucking them away. She returned to the skillet, stirring the chikcne a bit before she set to work on dicing the mushrooms.
Eryk furrowed his brows, then, his lips pulling downward and his expression almost appearing upset. It almost looked like he was pouting, though, before he pushed a sigh through his nose.
“Unfortunately, yes," he finally spoke. “The three of us have to be there for the registrations. I wouldn't be there if I didn't have to; large crowds like that aren't exactly... pleasant," he answered before shaking his head lightly.
Ana could definitely understand that. "Um," she said, shifting a little on her feet as she set the mushrooms aside, removing the meat from the pan and moving her homemade pasta into the boiling water. "Stop me if this is a dumb idea, but... I was going to ask you anyway. I know a lot of trainers like to get their first pokémon pretty soon after they register, so I was thinking of setting up at the fair."
A lot of trainers bought their first pokémon from licensed breeders, of course, or more likely their parents did. Some occasionally got them through family or friend connections, too. But the shelter had lots of adoptable pokémon, many of whom would like to battle and things, and so she'd been thinking she could set up right at the fair alongside the breeders and the like.
"Then if it got to be too much I could say I need your help with something so you could have a break, you know?" She chanced a sideways glance at him. Crowds weren't easy for her, either, but if it was for the pokémon, she was willing to do her best. Besides, if she could help a friend at the same time, that would be really nice.
He blinked in what seemed to be genuine surprise at her. He kept his gaze even as he regarded her before he arched a brow. “I don't see why not," he finally spoke. “Some of the pokemon here are healthy enough to be adopted, and the trainers wouldn't have to do other registrations if they adopted their first pokemon. With licensed breeders, the trainers would still need to fill out necessary forms and registrations before they'd actually be able to take a pokemon. These, however, are all... they wouldn't need to go through more paperwork," he stated.
“And... that would be appreciated," he added, offering her a slight subtle quirk of his lips. It almost looked like he was smiling if the way his expression softened just a bit.
Ana grinned, feeling a strange warmth in her chest that she studiously ignored. "Then it's a plan," she said with a firm nod. Two days wasn't a lot of time to prepare, but she had the pokémon she'd be taking with her picked out already. They could really use active homes, and besides that, adopting was much less expensive than purchasing, and so she hoped maybe being there would give some new trainers who weren't as well-off an opportunity to start their journeys as well.
Scraping the mushrooms into the simmering pan, she added the leeks once Eryk was done with them, along with some cream and seasonings, letting it all cook together for a while. "Oh, that reminds me. Mankey's definitely at least ten weeks old this week, so... he's officially adoptable, too." Reaching into a drawer, she pulled out a thin red folder and passed it to him. "Do you want to fill these out while you wait for food?"
As he'd said, adoption paperwork wasn't that complicated, since all of her certifications were up to date, but there were still a few things to check over and sign. She had, of course, waived the adoption fee in his case—her parts of the forms were all filled out already.
Eryk blinked, once more, in genuine surprise. “Is it... really okay for me to adopt him?" he asked, glancing down at the papers. He seemed to study them for a moment before he picked up the pen. He hovered over the line where he was supposed to sign his name, seemingly thinking before he began to sign. Once he was finished, he placed the pen down, and regarded Ana with an even stare. The smile that had been on his face was more prominent, now, even if it was a tiny one.
“I'll have to see what he'll want to be named, now," he muttered almost as if to himself.
Another one of Ana's instinctive feelings about Eryk was that he didn't smile very often. Honestly, she hadn't been sure he knew how. But this, however small, was definitely a smile.
She couldn't have wiped her own off her face if she tried, splitting their dinner into two bowls and passing the larger over to him before pausing to feed the pokémon and taking up another of the island stools. "I look forward to finding out," she replied, handing over a fork as well.
Now, if she was lucky, she wouldn't inadvertently ruin the moment by having made something he hated.
He took a bite of the food, blinking slowly as he stared at his bowl. He seemed to be deciding something, or rather inspecting it for something. It was a moment longer before he finally regarded Ana with a curious gaze.
“What is this?" he asked, though he didn't sound like he didn't like it. He sounded rather pleased about it. “It is good," he added, confirming that he did like it, and took another bite.
Ana huffed softly. "It's just pasta," she said, a little puzzled but also kind of amused. "With leeks and chicken and mushrooms. Oh, and cheese." She was sure he'd had much more gourmet food before—Cyrilla was a really talented cook, after all. Ana mostly baked things.
Still, she was pleased he liked it. "If you want, I could start making lunch? For you to take to work? It's no trouble to just make more of what I prepare for myself."
“It's still really good," he muttered before tilting his head at her. His brows were furrowed as he remained quiet for a moment. “You don't... you don't have to do that for me. I usually just go to lunch with the others, but..." he paused to regard his soup.
“I would appreciate it."
She tilted her head. Ana didn't really want to stop him from having lunch with his friends, but she also knew that going out all the time was probably not the easiest thing for him to do, so...
"Well, then I will! You can consider it backup, in case you don't feel like going out that day." Most of the things she made would keep a while, so it wouldn't hurt if they weren't eaten on the same exact day or anything. Choices were good to have, right?
She found herself hoping that, at least for him, this was so.
The two of them got up pretty early in the morning to feed the pokémon breakfast and do other morning chores, after which they came back inside and she made breakfast while he got ready for work. They ate before he left, at which point she would either prepare for her doctor's visit or do things around the house and grounds before lunch, which she ate by herself or with the pokémon in the yard. When he returned in the afternoon, they did any major chores that were on the rotation for the day, or else just played with the pokémon for a while or relaxed or some other thing, before the evening rolled around and they took everyone inside.
And then there was this part of the day, when she made dinner and Eryk did... well whatever he felt like, really. She wasn't completely sure and she didn't want to pry, so she never asked and therefore did not know.
It was a comfortable little routine, and truthfully Anastasia found this strange. Maybe it had just been too long since she lived with anyone human, but she'd sort of thought she'd forgotten how to be good company, or how to talk to people, or a number of other things. Maybe Eryk didn't mind because he was equally awkward, rather than because she was actually any good at this sort of thing. She worried sometimes that he wouldn't complain even if there was something to complain about, but... well maybe she could hope that he didn't secretly find her annoying or something.
Over the last month or so, she'd been experimenting with the cooking, trying to gauge from his reactions what foods he liked and didn't, a little too afraid to ask directly and unsure he'd express preferences even if he had them. She knew from Cyrilla already that he wasn't fond of very sweet things, but it seemed like cheating somehow to just ask what he did like. Besides, this way she was making a game out of it for herself, and learning a lot of new recipes in the process, so it wasn't like it was some huge chore. She was actually kind of having fun with it.
Today's entry was a chicken-and-leek dish over pasta, with homemade cream sauce, mushrooms, and cheese. Digging the ingredients out of the fridge and the pantry, she retrieved the cast-iron skillet from its place on the shelf, setting it on one of the stove's gas burners and lighting the flame. She was pretty sure Nova was with Eryk; he seemed to like him, which was rather unusual for her umbreon, who was overprotective on the best of days. Maybe when she was gone Eryk wouldn't mind looking after him and Luna? It was an awful lot to ask of someone—but she found herself shelving the thought anyway.
Luna, on the other hand, was keeping a watchful eye on her while pretending to be mostly bored and sleepy on one of the island stools. It was just tall enough for her to rest her chin on the counter, her enormous ears swiveling back and forth slowly as if to monitor the house. Ana smiled at her.
I've been feeling really well lately, you know. There's no need to worry so much right now.
Who said I was worried?
Ana huffed gently and shook her head.
Eryk walked into the kitchen, then, blinked at Ana and glanced towards Luna. Nova was, in fact, with him, draped over Eryk's right shoulder. He didn't seem to mind the umbreon's presence, and reached up to scratch behind Nova's ear. Moira was out of her pokeball, following behind Eryk, it seemed with a bag in her mouth. Eryk was carrying two in his hands, but the absol blinked large eyes up at Ana and trilled, causing Eryk to roll his eyes slightly.
“Are you making dinner?" he asked, tilting his head quizzically at Ana. “Do you need help?" he asked, setting down the bags he'd been carrying. It didn't seem to be anything of importance; a bottle of lemonade and a few fruits and vegetables. He probably went grocery shopping to replenish the last ingredients she'd used for dinner the night before.
"Would you like to help?" she asked, rephrasing the question intentionally. It was hard to say exactly where she got this impression, but Ana was fairly sure that he had not been asked about what he wanted or needed very often in life, and was used to things being dictated to him regardless of his own feelings. So she did her best to give him choices about anything she could, and to ask for his preferences whenever it seemed like he might have them, or at least to try and figure them out if she wasn't feeling quite brave enough to ask, like with dinner.
Honestly the truth of the matter was that she didn't need assistance, but she was happy to have it if he wanted to.
"And thank you for getting the groceries, by the way," she said, opening the bags a bit so she could start moving their contents to the proper places. She took the one from Moira with a gentle smile and a soft pat of the absol's head. "Thank you too, Moira," she added.
He seemed to contemplate his answer before he seemed to decide on one. “I don't mind assisting," he spoke, as Moira trilled happily when Ana pat her head. There was a slight subtle curve of his lip, almost as if he were trying to smile, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. He moved to the other side of Ana, and helped her put the groceries away, first.
“What would you like me to do?" he asked, seemingly looking for guidance.
Not minding was a bit different from wanting to, but she supposed small steps were important, and she wasn't inclined to put pressure on him or anything, so she smiled agreeably and pulled down a cutting board and santoku knife for him. "Today I'm making something pretty simple. It's a pasta dish, but there's a few different things to go over it. Can you cut the white and light green parts of these leeks for me?"
She demonstrated a couple slices so he'd know that she wanted them about toothpick sized and how to get there, then handed over the board, knife and vegetables, trusting that he'd ask more questions if he had them. Meanwhile, Ana cooked up the chicken that went with and prepped the rest of the ingredients, putting away what was in the bags as the meat simmered.
"How was work today?" she asked, referring of course to his work at his actual job, and not at the shelter. She sometimes asked while they were doing afternoon chores, but they'd had to clean the pool today, and that had been a big enough task to keep them both pretty focused.
From the way he held the knife, it was obvious he knew how to use one, but perhaps not in the same way for cooking. He began to slice the leek, humming a soft note in the back of his throat before glancing up towards Ana.
“It was... fine," he spoke, turning his attention back to the leek. “Solomon's wooloo got loose, somehow, and ended up in my office," he stated, seemingly not upset by it. “She wanted to play with Icarus," he continued. He blinked mildly when he finished with the leek, and glanced back at her.
“I don't think I've seen a pokemon so excited over a simple game of tag, though," he stated, brows furrowing softly, though it didn't appear to be in discontent.
Ana giggled, able to imagine pretty easily how that would go. "Well, Floof is very young, so she's probably still excitable about that kind of thing," she noted with a slight shake of her head. She'd heard from Nev that the wooloo was best not left alone in the apartment, either, which sort of made sense.
"There's a new trainer registration fair in a couple of days, right? Are they going to have you working at one of the tables?" Ana closed the fridge door, folding up the reusable bags the groceries had come in and tucking them away. She returned to the skillet, stirring the chikcne a bit before she set to work on dicing the mushrooms.
Eryk furrowed his brows, then, his lips pulling downward and his expression almost appearing upset. It almost looked like he was pouting, though, before he pushed a sigh through his nose.
“Unfortunately, yes," he finally spoke. “The three of us have to be there for the registrations. I wouldn't be there if I didn't have to; large crowds like that aren't exactly... pleasant," he answered before shaking his head lightly.
Ana could definitely understand that. "Um," she said, shifting a little on her feet as she set the mushrooms aside, removing the meat from the pan and moving her homemade pasta into the boiling water. "Stop me if this is a dumb idea, but... I was going to ask you anyway. I know a lot of trainers like to get their first pokémon pretty soon after they register, so I was thinking of setting up at the fair."
A lot of trainers bought their first pokémon from licensed breeders, of course, or more likely their parents did. Some occasionally got them through family or friend connections, too. But the shelter had lots of adoptable pokémon, many of whom would like to battle and things, and so she'd been thinking she could set up right at the fair alongside the breeders and the like.
"Then if it got to be too much I could say I need your help with something so you could have a break, you know?" She chanced a sideways glance at him. Crowds weren't easy for her, either, but if it was for the pokémon, she was willing to do her best. Besides, if she could help a friend at the same time, that would be really nice.
He blinked in what seemed to be genuine surprise at her. He kept his gaze even as he regarded her before he arched a brow. “I don't see why not," he finally spoke. “Some of the pokemon here are healthy enough to be adopted, and the trainers wouldn't have to do other registrations if they adopted their first pokemon. With licensed breeders, the trainers would still need to fill out necessary forms and registrations before they'd actually be able to take a pokemon. These, however, are all... they wouldn't need to go through more paperwork," he stated.
“And... that would be appreciated," he added, offering her a slight subtle quirk of his lips. It almost looked like he was smiling if the way his expression softened just a bit.
Ana grinned, feeling a strange warmth in her chest that she studiously ignored. "Then it's a plan," she said with a firm nod. Two days wasn't a lot of time to prepare, but she had the pokémon she'd be taking with her picked out already. They could really use active homes, and besides that, adopting was much less expensive than purchasing, and so she hoped maybe being there would give some new trainers who weren't as well-off an opportunity to start their journeys as well.
Scraping the mushrooms into the simmering pan, she added the leeks once Eryk was done with them, along with some cream and seasonings, letting it all cook together for a while. "Oh, that reminds me. Mankey's definitely at least ten weeks old this week, so... he's officially adoptable, too." Reaching into a drawer, she pulled out a thin red folder and passed it to him. "Do you want to fill these out while you wait for food?"
As he'd said, adoption paperwork wasn't that complicated, since all of her certifications were up to date, but there were still a few things to check over and sign. She had, of course, waived the adoption fee in his case—her parts of the forms were all filled out already.
Eryk blinked, once more, in genuine surprise. “Is it... really okay for me to adopt him?" he asked, glancing down at the papers. He seemed to study them for a moment before he picked up the pen. He hovered over the line where he was supposed to sign his name, seemingly thinking before he began to sign. Once he was finished, he placed the pen down, and regarded Ana with an even stare. The smile that had been on his face was more prominent, now, even if it was a tiny one.
“I'll have to see what he'll want to be named, now," he muttered almost as if to himself.
Another one of Ana's instinctive feelings about Eryk was that he didn't smile very often. Honestly, she hadn't been sure he knew how. But this, however small, was definitely a smile.
She couldn't have wiped her own off her face if she tried, splitting their dinner into two bowls and passing the larger over to him before pausing to feed the pokémon and taking up another of the island stools. "I look forward to finding out," she replied, handing over a fork as well.
Now, if she was lucky, she wouldn't inadvertently ruin the moment by having made something he hated.
He took a bite of the food, blinking slowly as he stared at his bowl. He seemed to be deciding something, or rather inspecting it for something. It was a moment longer before he finally regarded Ana with a curious gaze.
“What is this?" he asked, though he didn't sound like he didn't like it. He sounded rather pleased about it. “It is good," he added, confirming that he did like it, and took another bite.
Ana huffed softly. "It's just pasta," she said, a little puzzled but also kind of amused. "With leeks and chicken and mushrooms. Oh, and cheese." She was sure he'd had much more gourmet food before—Cyrilla was a really talented cook, after all. Ana mostly baked things.
Still, she was pleased he liked it. "If you want, I could start making lunch? For you to take to work? It's no trouble to just make more of what I prepare for myself."
“It's still really good," he muttered before tilting his head at her. His brows were furrowed as he remained quiet for a moment. “You don't... you don't have to do that for me. I usually just go to lunch with the others, but..." he paused to regard his soup.
“I would appreciate it."
She tilted her head. Ana didn't really want to stop him from having lunch with his friends, but she also knew that going out all the time was probably not the easiest thing for him to do, so...
"Well, then I will! You can consider it backup, in case you don't feel like going out that day." Most of the things she made would keep a while, so it wouldn't hurt if they weren't eaten on the same exact day or anything. Choices were good to have, right?
She found herself hoping that, at least for him, this was so.