Outcast Villiage

Evelyn looked at him, she was letting him.decode what tondo.
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.
Alex looked at her. "I know."
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"I'll see you around?" She asked before she walked away.

"I don't..." Ephraim began, hands hovering uselessly.

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Chiquita relaxed slightly. "Good. I'm going to cook some food for when she's back."

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"See you around," Ranger echoed, before returning to the dining room.

Moira went back to Anjuli.
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Evelyn lifted their daughter and put her into his lap. "She's yours, you can do as you wish."
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Alex nodded and be left them to it.

Xander watched her. "Need any help?"

"You look pathetic," Clockwork said in a croaky voice when she was given her glass of water.

"It's because he is," Death muttered, and ignored Ranger rolling his eyes.

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"I don't want to hurt her," Ephraim said, his expression sour.

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"Yeah, actually. And then we can make enough for everyone." Chiquita peered into the fridge contemplatively.

He nodded, rolling up his sleeves.
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Evelyn looked at him. "Don't worry you won't."
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Moira sat with Anjuli.

"I'm not so good at cooking good food. I can do the baking and stuff though. Quiches, pies, cakes. Actual nutritious food eludes me." Chiquita admitted. "You know. Apart from toasted squirrel. I could do that."

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Ephraim very gently set a hand on Ariadne's back, as if to support her.

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"You're not going to achieve anything just sitting around, you know," Death eventually added on.

Ranger scoffed and muttered, "What would you know."

"Hey that toasted squirrel was quite good." He told her playfully, hoping to make her smile. "But I can show you."
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Ariadne fell forward but her head landed on his chest and she smiled. "I love you dada."
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Moira eventually came down to the kitchen with Anjuli and Moira started cooking as Anjuli sat on the counter and watched.

"I'm not so convinced you won't just burn everything down like me. How about we just give Moira a hand and not destroy our only place of refuge?" Chiquita tilted her head slightly in Moira's direction, though her expression had turned a little wary.

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"Dada loves you too, sweetling." Ephraim gently ran his head over her hair, looking bewildered that it could be so soft.

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"Anyway," Ranger said, "If you two are okay, I need to check on Disaster. Make sure he hasn't broken anything."

"Coward," Clockwork muttered into her glass, but they both watched him leave.

"If that is what you wish." He told her.
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"My hair smells of strawberries papa." She told him.
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Moira was busy cooking, she hadn't seen Xander or Chiquita yet, but Anjuli had.

"Are you two going to get back together?" She asked.

Chiquita blushed bright red, and started stammering, looking almost anywhere but at Xander or Anjuli. She also accidentally ignited the hem of her shirt.

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"Does it now?" Ephraim leaned down and took an exaggerated sniff. "It does! Does this mean I can gobble you all up?"

She started giggling. "No dada, mumma help!" She squealed excitedly.
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Xander was quiet.

Ephraim pretended to nibble on her hair before letting up and sighing, "Oh, you're just too cute to eat up."

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"That's..." Chiquita patted out her shirt quietly. "I'm not..." she grit her teeth and muttered out in one big rush, "I'm not g-good enough yet." She winced, as if expecting to be reprimanded for admitting it, still liable to having bad moments.

"None of us are." Anjuli told her. "But if you love her, shouldn't you just be together?" SHe asked.
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Ariadne giggled, pushing him slightly, not strong enough to get good purchase on it though. "Silly daddy."

"I can't just...I'm not allowed..." Chiquita stumbled over her words, briefly biting her tongue hard enough to draw blood.

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"Me, silly? I'm not the one going around smelling good enough to eat! Someone's going to snatch you up and take you home for dinner, and it still might be me!"

Ariadne giggled.

Evelyn smiled watching them.
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"Yes you are sweetheart." Moira told her, handing her a tissue. "Come now, I heard that you don't know how to cook, let me show you." She told her, steering her towards the stove, cutting off the topic of her and Xander for Chiquita's sake.

Ephraim smiled down at her, before that smile wavered and his hands faltered. Eventually he murmured, "It's time for you to go back to momma now, okay?" He looked up at Evelyn, trying to convey without worrying Ariadne that he was having a 'blank' moment where he couldn't feel anything, and didn't want to accidentally hurt Ariadne by holding her too tightly.

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Chiquita held the tissue to her mouth, her other hand nervously scratching at her neck where the scars from her old collar were still faintly visible.

"Cooking sounds nice," she mumbled, subdued.

Evelyn nodded and she took Ariadne in her arms. "I think someone needs a bath and some sleep." She told her daughter to distract her.
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Moira told her what they were making, some simple to start her off, and she showed her how to prepare the ingredients, before letting her hand a go.

Ephraim did his best to carefully pick up the teddy bear still in his lap before he slowly stood, fingers gripping it almost too loosely.

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Chiquita slowly calmed down as she listened and followed the instructions closely but slowly, to be careful.

Evelyn stood as well and she looked at him.
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Moira encouraged her.

Ephraim flexed his other hand uselessly, clenching it into a fist tight enough to draw blood.

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"It's, um, less complicated than I thought," Chiquita finally said. "I've only seen cooking on TV and stuff, or watching others, and it always seemed confusing. Baking was easy though. All you have to do is count and measure."

"It's essentially the same with main meals." Moira told her. "You'll soon be able to do this and baking without needing to count and measure." She assured her. "But in truth, Xander is more of a cook than any of us."
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Evelyn left to put Ariadne into a bath, and she came back to him, her hands clasping back around his. "It's okay, you don't have to do that." She told him, straightening out his hands in hers.

"I like the numbers sometimes. Having to stop and think is...hard right now. Counting and following numbers is easy. You know, the good type of numbers."

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"Sometimes if I hurt myself it'll trigger my sensation to come back, but it is hit and miss." Ephraim shrugged, wiping the blood off against his leg.

She looked at him. "Like.me.smacking you over the head?" She asked him smiling fondly at the memory.
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Moira nodded. "Understandable."

"Exactly like that," Ephraim smiled back warmly.

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Chiquita helped for a short while, before she suddenly but gently put everything she was holding down, and tangled her fingers together. What she'd been holding had started smoking.

Xander watched and he started talking her through the steps that they had to keep her powers calm.
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Evelyn smiled. "Want me to hit you over the head again?"