fandomhigh | Black Magic Cookery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Tuesday

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Black Magic Cookery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Tuesday | Period 3

Was Nina super disappointed to have to give up her fancy gear from Summer's class to bounce to her class? Yes, of course.

The world was, like, determined to not let her keep any fancy dress and it was tragic.

But, like, at least she had cooking to soothe her soul?

"Goooooooooooood mooooooooooorning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said cheerfully, beaming at her class as she took the bowls of meat out of the fridge to set out at each station. Unlike eggs, Nina couldn't just leave that sitting out.

That would be gross.

"We're working today with mutton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like, you can also use hogget for this but lamb is right out, so keep that in mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Why? Because Nina's world didn't cook with lamb. "If you, like, don't know, I'm talking about sheep meat today----lamb is when they're young, hogget is meat from a sheep that's in its second year of life, and mutton is meat from a sheep at any age past three years!!!!!!!!"

She beamed at them.

"Let's get started!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today is all about buns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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Nina cast her eyes over the rest of her class--nobody seemed to be having any problems, though Summer wasn't looking too thrilled with this particular topic--and then slipped from her station to wander over to Liam's.

Interrupting his cooking would only ruin the dish but, like, from what she could tell, it was already ruined.

She reached out to touch his shoulder.

"Liam???????"

The shaker fell from his hand, clattering on to the counter as he flinched back from her touch. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, and whatever he was seeing right now? It wasn’t Nina.

"Sorry, sorry," she said, unnerved but going nowhere at his reaction. "Liam..........."

Nina hesitated a moment, wondering if it was best to just call Miss Verity and explain that her husband was a bit under the weather, but... like... he was her friend, her teacher, her mentor, and she was, in this particular case, also his teacher.

Carefully, Nina took a step back, not trying to touch him this time.

"Liam," she said, pitching her voice low. "Come on, like, I think some air might help? Let's step out of class for a moment."

Her voice sounded distorted, like it was far away and underwater all at once, but he was pretty sure he could pick out ‘air’ and ‘out’ which sounded like an excellent plan, honestly.

He nodded once, short and sharp.

"Okay," she said simply. "Just follow me."

Nina was smiling as she left the classroom--not because she felt it, but because it was a way to not alarm anyone else.

She led the way through the school, taking the shortest route, until they were outside, on the lawn.

Then she waited, still holding calling Miss Verity in reserve.

Having an order to follow made it easier, at least, because it meant he didn’t really have to think about what to do next.

And then- then they were outside, and the tension he’d been clinging to seeped out of him as he took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of grass and saltwater. Not actually saying anything just yet, just breathing and trying to get his heart rate under control.

Nina waited patiently.

Most of the time, around people, she was loud and busy and getting into things and, well, the very picture of someone who couldn't possibly be expected to wait around for things.

But Nina was very patient when she wanted to be. Very quiet and non-intrusive.

She waited for Liam to settle himself. Whatever this was... like, she'd wait for him to be ready.

A minute passed, and then two, and then there was a quiet, muttered:

"Sorry."

"I mean, like, there's really nothing to be sorry about," Nina said honestly. "Unless, like, you're apologizing because now you're embarrassed...... which, really, don't?

That was definitely one of the many things he was apologizing for, yeah.

He scrubbed a hand through his hair and sighed.

"What about for being the reason you had to leave your class?" he said drily.

"As a teacher," Nina said gently, "I'm pretty sure it's literally in my job description to leave class with a student when they're in distress."

Sure, she was the kid and he was the adult but, like...

“But you’re still a kid,” Liam pointed out. “And I’m an adult.” Said not with any sort of condescension, but definitely a non-zero amount of frustration.

Nina was going to try and not take that personally. She really was.

(It still stung.)

"Yes," she admitted. "But I've got it on pretty good authority these days that not even adults are perfect."

Sorry, Nina. It was a weird balance-of-power relationship thing that Liam didn’t even fully understand himself, seeing as how almost all of his knowledge of teenagers up until he’d arrived in Fandom had been secondhand.

“No,” he admitted slowly. “We’re not.”

At least he was acknowledging that he himself was included in any sort of group of people allowed to be less than perfect? Which was progress!

It was pretty big, important progress, really, even if Nina couldn't recognize that.

"And, like, even though I want to know what's wrong... You don't have to tell me."

Even though she really, really desperately wanted to know.

"Just, if it's something my class did... like, what can I do so it doesn't happen again?"

Another sigh. And then a shrug, as he forced himself to sound casual.

"It's just, uh. The smell of cooking meat? It bothers me."

Massive, massive understatement, that.

Yeaaaah.

Nina considered that.

"And......... not just because you're vegan?" she checked, though she didn't think so. He'd had no problems with the eggs they'd been using.

"I'm not vegan," he confirmed. Eggs, cheese, all of that was delicious and not a problem.

Things like mutton or hamburger were also delicious (and he missed them, sometimes, to be honest) but... very much a problem.

"You said it's the smell," she said thoughtfully, thinking of her lesson plans. "Does using meat to make things that aren't meat a problem???????? Like, it takes pork and cabbage to make French toast or beef and sugar to make a cream pie.......

"What about fish???????"

There had been shellfish, last week ~~which Liam had totally been there for in a handwavey manner, oops, brain~~ which had given him pause for a moment but it had ended up being totally fine.

"I'm not sure I want to know how pork and cabbage makes French toast," Liam admitted, "but as long as it smells like French toast, it should be fine?" he thought, anyway. And if it wasn't, well. He'd make himself be fine with it.

(Because that was totally normal and healthy.)

"As for fish? I... I don't know," he answered, deciding to err on the side of honesty for that one.

That was not normal and healthy at all but, like, Nina agreed with it.

Probably a bad sign, that, because as smart as she was, she was also a teenager and very, very dumb sometimes.

"Okay," she said thoughtfully. "That's something to keep in mind. Like, I was planning to do noodles next week, for Larceny, and there shouldn't be anything there that would set this off..........."

Liam's expression didn't change all that much, but if Nina looked- really looked- she'd probably be able to pick up on the fact that he was somewhat relieved by her words.

"If you could give me a heads up, maybe, if there's a week where something would," he pressed a thumb into the palm of his opposite hand. "I'd appreciate it."

He wouldn't ask her to change any of her plans, but at least that way he had the option of skipping out on a class. Or preparing himself to stubborn through it.

"I can do that," she said, since that was easy--especially when he was so very obviously not okay with how things were.

"I make sure I've got all the ingredients and everything on Mondays so, like, I can let you know then. That's no problem at all."

Yeah, 'not okay' about summed it up. Stupid weird trauma response.

"Thanks," he said quietly. Maybe a little taken aback by how easy that was.

She smiled slightly.

"Like, really, it's no problem," she promised. "Especially as, really, most of the meat heavy dishes aren't ones I'd make in the summer-------no one wants to eat stew in June?????????"

Or, well, she definitely didn't.

Black Magic Cookery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Tuesday | Period 3

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