#i think wanderer is gentler than he likes to admit and he'd see a lot of himself in furina..yea..

[alchemania]

"So what are we making ..?"

Wanderer turned to his acquaintance briefly, pulling utensils and bowls and ingredients out of the cabinets. "You like desserts, so I figured we could make a cake." He passed her a bowl then, and a few measuring cups and spoons. "You work on the dry ingredients, and I'll do the wet ones."

"Very well," Furina nodded, beginning her job with gusto- she'd been a little nervous about working together with this guy, having heard from a plethora of folks he had an attitude twice as big as he, but he seemed pretty reasonable as of right now, expression fixed in concentration as he cracked eggs and poured milk into his bowl. "S- so, um, when did you start cooking?"

Wanderer cracked an egg a bit too hard then, stiffening. After a moment, he sighed, picking out a piece of shell that'd fallen in, and tossed it aside. "...a very long time ago. It's been a part of my life almost as long as I can remember. Let's leave it at that."

"Alright...sorry, I didn't mean to hit any sore spots-"

"You couldn't have known," he interrupted, but not unkindly. "It's fine." He gestured with his head to her bowl, eyes firm. "Keep mixing. We need everything to be well blended."

"Okay," she replied, giving a little salute and a smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. As she went back to work, Wanderer did as well.

"When did YOU start?"

"Ah, well, mostly after everything was over in Fontaine - I moved out of the opera house you see, and since I was living on my own, I figured I should be more independent. I mostly just cooked macaroni, though.. but it's quite versatile! There's so many different sauces and things you can put in it, so it's fun to um, experiment. But I want to learn more recipes! I've just, been very tired -"

"Of course you have," he butt in again. "...I overheard from Kusanali about some things that went on. Anyone would be tired after that. You don't have to sound apologetic over it. There's nothing to be sorry for. Here, you can put your mixture in now."

But there was plenty to be sorry for, she thought as she began to carefully add her ingredients in. She hadn't been able to save those people in Poisson, her act had been exposed in the 11th hour and everyone had nearly died for it- things did thankfully work out, but what if they hadn't? What if everyone HAD died and everything had all been for nothing and all those tears and silence and isolation had been in vain and -

"Hey, be careful!!"

"Ah-"

Furina's hands were already shaky, and Wanderer's voice startled her out of her trance so badly she flailed a bit, sending everything crashing in a heap to the floor. He fell silent, and the girl's chest heaved. "Sorry," she almost whispered, already welling up. "Here, I'll, help clean it up and then I'll just - go-"

"What for?"

"Well, I ruined the cake....now we have to start all over..it probably would've been really good too, but now we'll never know -" Just like she'd never be able to bring back all those people who died. There wasn't anything she could do. "I can't do anything right," Furina sobbed, scrubbing at her face.

"Woah, hey," Wanderer startled, looking at a loss. "Just - hold on, there's no need to cry."

"Sorry, sorry..."

"Stop apologizing. Come here."

He took her hand then, and guided her around the mess to sit her down in a chair, pulling out a hanky from his pocket and handing it to her. "Wipe your face, and take a breath," he instructed, and she nodded, dabbing at her eyes. "Look. Take it from me. There's a lot of things that looking back, most people wish they could redo, or change. But life isn't like that. You have to go with what you're given, and keep it moving."

A pause.

"..the nice thing about cooking though, is that when you mess up, you can start over," he went on, moving his hands as he talked. "You can try again. And you won't know what you lost tasted like, sure, but you can make something new that's just as good, or even better. It's not the end of the world if you make a mistake. I'm not mad at you, okay? So after you calm down, we can clean everything up, and we can try again. Alright?"

"Okay," Furina sobbed, wiping at her face. "Thank you..."

After a little while, she got up, and with a few more tears and sniffles, everything was cleaned. And they began again, and the cake was carefully placed in the oven. While it baked, Furina carefully sliced fruit into pieces and peeked over Wanderer's shoulder as he made frosting, trying to sneak a taste- he glared at her in answer, and she shrank back, sheepishly giggling. "You can test it when I'm done. Be patient," he huffed, though a little smile flickered on his face.

After the cake was done baking, he handed her the oven mitts, and Furina carefully took the cake out of the oven, eyes glittering at the dessert. "It smells delightful!!"

"You perked up awful quick," he chuckled.

The cake was frosted a little haphazardly, but Furina insisted it gave character - after all, imperfections were a sign of care. After decorating the top with fruit, Wanderer cut the dessert into pieces and Furina took a slice, popping a bite into her mouth. Her eyes lit up immediately, and she danced a little in place, seeming to glow. "That's so good!"

"You can take it home, then."

"You don't want any..?"

"I've never really liked sweets. I helped with this because it's something you wanted to do."

Furina stared for a moment, and then a toothy smile almost split her face.

"What?" Wanderer questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"You're really nice, you know."

The young man froze for a moment, expression soft, and then it fled as quickly as it came, replaced by an rolling of the eyes. "..if you think that, you must not know a lot of people."

"Well, you're very nice to me. And that means a lot." Furina took Wanderer's hand and gently squeezed it, and he stared at it as if it was sentient, bewilderment marring his features. "Could we do this again sometime?? Maybe make something you like?"

"You don't have to -"

"I want to," she assured, expression earnest, and he blinked twice, at a loss.

".. I'll think about it."

"Yaaaaaay! Oh thank you thank you thank you!!!"

"Uh huh," Wanderer replied, trying to keep an air of nonchalance, but his eyes betrayed his joy. "Eat your cake."

After everything was put away and as Furina began to leave, he handed her a slip of paper, and she tilted her head.

"What's this?"

"...it's a recipe for eel chazuke. For next time."

He swore then, the stars were dim in comparison to how her eyes shined.

#furina #wanderer #hello yes i love these two i think they should be friends and heal together #come yell with me #i think wanderer is gentler than he likes to admit and he'd see a lot of himself in furina..yea.. #genshin impact