IC contact post

[fightswithpurpose]

"Hello, this is Nelliel. I'm not available right now, but please leave a message. Thank you."

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[Voice]

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

[It's understandable that he'd be lonely. She decides she'll do what she can to try cheering him up.]

How about I cook some dinner for both of us to share?

[Nelliel will never be a great cook, but she can follow a recipe's instructions competently enough that she's never heard complaints about her cooking, either.]

[Voice]

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

Sure. Do you know where the house is? I can send you an address, or just let up on my ki a little bit so you can find me.

[Gohan eats pretty much anything anyway. Even if it was bad, he'd still stuff it down without hesitation.]

[Voice]

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

It would probably be faster if you let up on your ki.

[She can follow directions, but she finds it's more time consuming to find an address rather than track a person by their spiritual presence.]

[Voice]

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

Okay. I guess I'll see you soon, then.

[And he relaxes the restraint on his ki a little bit, an action that will eventually lead Nelliel to a decent-sized house in Sector 4, with a pond in the back yard.]

[Action]

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

[The only thing that delays Nelliel is purchasing what she needs to make dinner at the grocery store. Food that provided actual nutrition wasn't generally kept around in great supply at Nueva Las Noches. Instead, the food items that were kept better stocked consisted of tea, ice cream, cookies, and other things consumed for flavour - simply because they could be consumed, and because the vile tasting Darkness monsters that actually did nourish them only came out at night.

When she finally arrives, she has a re-usable bag tucked under her arm filled with food. She announces her presence with a knock to the door, although it won't surprise her if Gohan has already sensed it.]

[Action]

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

[Of course he senses her first; Nelliel has a very distinctive and powerful aura. To anyone who can sense this kind of thing, she’s pretty much impossible to miss.

[He opens the door just a split-second after she finishes knocking, Stein – the grey cat – perched reassuringly on his shoulder, and steps aside to let Nelliel in.] Hi.

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

Hello.

[She offers her fingers for Stein the cat to smell as she walks in. More than likely, he'll smell Quixote or Dulcinea on there, along with the food she picked up.]

I hope you like peanut chicken.

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

[Stein sniffs her hand almost studiously, and then lightly paws at it. Gohan has learned to recognize this as a sign of the cat's approval.]

[His face does brighten at the prospect of food. Because food is always a happy thing, regardless of anything else that's going on.] I don't think I've had it before. But I bet it's great. Let me show you the kitchen.

[He indicates for her to follow him through the house, which is still pretty well kept even though he's been on his own for weeks. It's not perfect, but for a kid of his age and with the strength he's capable of, it looks quite good. He's been especially careful to keep the kitchen in good condition.]

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

[Nelliel gives Stein a light pat on the head, then follows Gohan through the house to the kitchen. Gohan is a tidy boy, she mentally notes.]

I will need a cutting board, a large pan, and a measuring cup. Do you have those here?

[She wants to ask him how long he's been on his own, but that can wait a little. They can at least get dinner going, and since she's eating it for the taste than for nutrition, she'll let him have a very large portion.]

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have all that stuff. Soul's a really good cook, so there's a lot of stuff like that here. [No use of the past tense. Soul is gone, but he's not dead. Gohan won't refer to him like he doesn't exist anymore.]

[Stein's claws dig into his shoulder a little bit when he levitates, but the cat doesn't move. He likes high places -- as does Blair, who is currently watching the proceedings from on top of the fridge. Gohan gathers what's needed and sets it all down on the counter.

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

[Nelliel starts working on the recipe as they talk. It's a relatively simple recipe, and one she found on a card given out for free at the grocery store. It's also the first human food she managed to prepare that actually required preparation as opposed to heating in an oven or microwave.]

What is your favourite food, Gohan?

[It's a safe topic while she works. She starts frying the chicken in the pan first. From what she understands, raw chicken can make humans (and probably part-humans) very sick.]

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

[He sits on top of the counter while she cooks, one of the few household behaviours discouraged by his mother that he still finds himself doing.] I dunno, really. Back home, it might have been dinosaur steaks, but you can't exactly get those here.

[Gohan would have to eat an awful lot of raw meat to feel ill at all, but better safe than sorry.]

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

[Nelliel isn't particularly bothered by him sitting on the counter. It makes conversation easier. She lets out a small chuckle.]

No, I don't think those would be easy to find around here at all.

[She works on mixing up the sauce mixture next. There's a powdered mix of various dried herbs, with peanut butter, and just a little bit of canola oil to mix it all together. Next, she starts boiling the noodles.]

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

[His mom has always insisted that it's rude, and he usually does what she tells him. But this habit sticks for some reason.]

Yeah, from what I've read, dinasours have been extinct for a long time in this world. Can still find 'em in mine, though. I used to play with a Tyrannosauraus Rex when I was little.

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

[Nelliel blinks at Gohan as she tries to envision this. She has seen Discovery Channel specials talking about dinosaurs.]

I thought Tyrannosaurus Rexes were carnivorous and enormous...

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

Oh, they are. [Nope, he sees nothing odd about this.] But even once this one realized he'd never actually catch me, he still kept coming around. I was kinda on my own at that time, so I only had the animals to play with.

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

Were you completely on your own? Or were the adults around you just busy most of the time?

[She supposes it's not entirely unreasonable that a T-Rex would befriend Gohan. He's a sweet child, and strong enough to defend himself.]

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

At that time, I really was totally on my own. It's a bit of a complicated story.

[If she asks for a little bit of context, he'll give it to her, though.]

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

We have time for a complicated story, if you want to share it.

[She flips over the chicken in the frying pan and moves it around so that it doesn't stick before returning her attention to mixing up the sauce, and then back to Gohan]

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't mind sharing it, really. He's skimmed over the details maybe once before, and it's not such a big deal to talk about it.]

Well, I was four at the time, and I couldn't defend myself or anything -- I didn't even know I had any power, but my dad's the strongest guy on Earth. Anyway, an alien came one day and said he was my dad's brother, and wanted to know why he hadn't killed everybody on the planet yet. Dad got sent to Earth as a baby with that mission, but he hit his head when he was little and forgot everything.

[Neliel might note that the alien will never get the distinction of being called family.] So Raditz -- the alien -- tried to blackmail my dad into starting to wipe everybody out . . . [He ducks his head a little here, not liking the memory.] By kidnapping me and threatening to kill me if he didn't do it. But dad and Mr. Piccolo came and fought him instead.

They won -- kinda with my help, because I lost my temper and my power came out -- but dad died in the fight, and Raditz had sent some important information about Earth to his bosses, and said they'd definitely come, and it'd take about a year to get there.

Mr. Piccolo thought my power would be crucial for the fight, but since I didn't know anything about that kind of stuff, he took me and dumped me in the wilderness to toughen me up before training me.

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

[Nelliel listens intently to Gohan's story, and she almost forgets to tend to the chicken until she notices it's sticking to the pan. It's carefully dislodged, and she mixes the sauce in over the chicken, then checks to make certain that the water boiling the noodles doesn't boil over.]

...I certainly hope he taught you how to hunt before he did that.

[Priorities. Nel has them. She's also completely unfamiliar with the concept of child protection services.]

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

[Gohan isn't extremely familiar with the concept, either. Also, what would CPS have been able to do against Piccolo anyway?]

Uh, not exactly. I mean, I'd seen Dad hunting sometimes, so I was able to figure things out. But Mr. Piccolo said that I had to learn to fend for myself before he'd teach me anything.

[He's aware that sounds pretty cruel, so he adds something.] He didn't know what it was like to have friends back then, so he was kinda mean about a lot of things. But I'm pretty sure he helped secretly for the first week or so. [There were just some little oddities that can't attribute to anything else. It's a happy thing, really; Mr. Piccolo had looked out for him even before they were friends.]

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

[That sounds a little better to Nelliel, and about what she'd expect of most other Espada who decided they had taken a liking to a child.]

I am glad to hear that.

[hybrid-prodigy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we became best friends over that year, even though Mr. Piccolo likes to pretend that he's still mean. [Silly Mr. Piccolo, thinking he has to do that. Everyone knows better, anyway.]

[gamuzadeclares.livejournal.com]

[Nelliel chuckles a little at that. Piccolo sounded like someone the Espada would get along with passably well, if Gohan's description of him was anything to go by.]

Well, if he ever winds up here I will pretend that I don't know otherwise.

[The food is nearly ready, and she routinely checks the chicken to make sure that it has browned.]

How are you finding living on your own? It seems like you can have all the privacy you want.

[She doesn't want to make assumptions that he'd prefer to live with others, but she has her suspicions.]