Chaneru - I like that idea, the one with Master wears contacts during the day and glasses as backup. It sounds real to me, and satisfies both of my desires.
Master's a little hard for me to write this time around, simply because I feel like we have so little in common this time, but I think this type of person embodies a good quantity of low-tech, useful skill and knowledge revolving around particular things, and for initial survival in an emergency situation like a zombie apocalypse, some sort of character of this type is necessary, in my opinion.
Ice cream-loving Kaito could not pull the "health" nut thing off. ...And I simply refuse to make Meiko the type of character that would refuse to eat a twinkie on principle. So Master, it is. :D
...
Master carefully peeled the aluminum foil from the frying pan, but ended up burning his fingers again anyways.
"Ouch!" He called out and sucked on his fingertips, then pushed the foil the rest of the way out of the way, annoyed, visually checked the rice... it looked good, smelled good. Steam rose up fragrantly, and Master's stomach twisted and growled as if it hadn't eaten all day. Master grabbed the handle and yelped. It was still super, super hot.
Master poked his head in to the living area again, where his two Vocaloids were slacking off and looking lackluster as the TV droned on in the background.
"We're going to have to let dinner cool down for a little while," Master announced, then hesitated and admitted, "And, uh, remember how I forgot the pans? I kind of forgot the silverwear and plates, too. We're going to have to eat with our fingers."
Meiko stared back at Master, her arms crossed over her chest, and he could feel the beginnings of a sweatdrop forming. Master glanced at Kaito. The bluenette was silently looking at him too.
"Oh, come on guys, it'll be fun. It's like, an adventure, heh... heh heh..." Master trailed off. "Okay, look, maybe it would have been great to bring everything we'd need, but we were expecting to go to like, a hotel, not to a cabin in the middle of a back road. Cut me a little slack here."
"I'm sorry, Master. I know you're doing your best," Kaito said, turning his blue eyes to the ground.
"Kaito, don't encourage him, it's bad for his ego," Meiko stated bluntly, but then smiled a little, and relaxed her arms and continued softly, "We know you're doing your best. We wouldn't have escaped safely if it wasn't for you, Master. So don't be too hard on yourself."
Master smiled back, his heart lifting a bit, and Meiko continued, "...But don't mess up again! Next time, pack everything!" Meiko's outstretched finger pointed at Master's nose, and he couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Okay, Meiko, next time the world goes insane, I'll make sure to bring everything but the kitchen sink, even if it takes us hours to pack it all up," Master said, feeling comfortable enough again to tease slightly.
"You should bring the sink, too, Master," Kaito added, eying Meiko out of the corner of his eyes and grinning. "Meiko might need it for her beauty regimine."
"Wha..! Why, you!" Meiko moved her hand to swipe at Kaito, and the bluenette broke into a laugh and tried to dodge her, his hands over his head as he ran behind Master and pretended to hide behind the man. Meiko started to chase Kaito, then stopped suddenly, and a weird look passed over her face.
Kaito's grin faltered as he peeked over Master's shoulder from where he was 'hiding.' "...Mei-chan?" Kaito asked.
"Ummmm," Meiko muttered, twisting her face weirdly. "Kaito, is all the hygiene stuff in the bathroom right now?"
Kaito nodded, and rose back up to his normal height, sensing that playtime, brief as it was, was over. Meiko turned and almost tripped over her empty beer can as she silently walked away with almost awkward steps to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her with an air of finality.
Kaito and Master exchanged glances.
"Don't ask me, girls are a mystery," was all Master had to offer, sweatdropping.
...
Meiko rummaged around in the canvas tote that held the hygiene supplies Kaito had packed up. The re-usable shopping bag was emblazened with the logo for their local food Co-op grocery store. Meiko moved aside shampoos, conditioners, Master's electric razor, shaving cream, and a few other items before her eyes spied a package of tampons with a sigh of grateful relief.
Rummaging through the wastebasket of things she had grabbed from the medicine cabinet revealed a small, wonderful bottle of acetaminophen. Years of drinking city water made Meiko smart enough to not trust drinking directly from the tap, and she swallowed two of the small pills dry.
...
Meiko returned from the bathroom, looking much more comfortable with herself. Kaito glanced up as she walked to his chair and plopped a delicate hand heavily on his blue hair. Meiko stared down at Kaito, unspeaking for a long moment, making Kaito grow nervous.
"You did good, Kaito," Meiko finally allowed, and removed her hand from its resting place. Kaito blinked, clearly wondering what it was he had done.
Meiko turned her back on Kaito to go to the kitchen without further explaination, and grabbed a second, room temperature beer from its flimsy cardboard box.
...
"Can you grab me something to use as a pot holder, Meiko? This pan handle is still too hot to move it with, but the food is probably cool enough to handle if we're careful, now," Master said, and his stomach rumbled its assent.
Meiko didn't bother putting her beer down, but went into the bedroom and came back with another pair of Kaito's socks. Kaito's scandalized expression as he realized another pair of his socks was going to be sacrificed for the greater good was hilarious to the brunette Vocaloid female, but she made sure not to let her lips twitch too far upwards as she handed the items over to Master.
"Thanks," Master said, and returned to the kitchen. A moment later, he reappeared in the living area, and set the heavy metal pan down in the middle of the hardwood floor, so that the three could gather around it.
"I'll boil some water once we're done with the pan," Master explained, "Since we don't know if the water is safe to drink. I wish I'd thought to bring some tea along. There's always some of my protein drink mix though, if you guys want some of that in your water."
Kaito and Meiko were not quick enough to hide the blanch of horrified disgust from the memory of the last time they had tried Master's protein beverage powder.
"Um, that's okay, Master," Kaito offered weakly.
"Yeah, I... think I'd rather have water. Or beer," Meiko grinned, forcing the expression a little too hard through her wide eyes.
"Give me a break, it's not /that/ bad," Master sulked childishly. "I drink it all the time!"
"Uh huh," Meiko replied, clearly unconvinced. Kaito took his cue from Meiko and grinned awkwardly back at Master. Master rolled his eyes and sighed loudly like a petulant child.
"Fine, do what you want!" Master threw his hands up in the air, but then smiled after a moment to let his Vocaloids know he wasn't too mad.
"So, uh, how do we do this? Just dig in?" Meiko wondered aloud and stared at the food in front of them. Master replied in the affirmative, and demonstrated by carefully grabbing a few fingers worth of food and starting to chow down on it. Meiko hesititantly followed suit.
"Umm, what about... chopsticks, Master?" Kaito asked after a moment, not picking up his portion of food quite yet.
"I didn't pack those either," Master replied, swallowing his mouthful. It might have been a little unusual preparation, but the food tasted wonderfully good, and Master was hungry.
"Um, no, I mean... well, there are plenty of trees and plants outside, couldn't we just make some chopsticks, and use those?" Kaito asked.
"I actually thought about that, but..." Master paused in his eating for a moment. "We don't have a knife to peel the bark off with. I don't want to risk ruining the scissors; they're all we've got, and I don't want to slice my thumb off by accident, either. Plus it's dark out. I don't think we should be out there, and especially not when we can't even see what kind of plant or tree we're taking sticks from. They might be poisonous or something."
Kaito nodded for a moment, then replied, "Well, what about using a rock, maybe?"
"To eat with?" Meiko asked, casting a sidelong look at Kaito.
"I mean, to get the bark off. There are some sharp-looking ones out front. I saw them when I was looking for the house key, earlier," Kaito elaborated. Master stopped eating again, and looked at Kaito in surprise.
"That's a pretty good idea, actually, Kaito. When it's light tomorrow, if it looks safe outside, maybe you can find some tree branches that would work and give it a try," Master agreed after finding no fault with Kaito's theory. Kaito smiled, encouraged.
"Now, help us eat this food up. There's no refrigerator to keep leftovers in, this time," Master smiled back, and Kaito nodded, eyed his slim, pale fingers for a moment, and used them to dig in. There was a moment of peaceful chewing, then Meiko held up something in her hand.
"Master, I think I found the carrot you used," Meiko said, deadpan. "The whole carrot."
Master sweatdropped badly. Kaito grinned with his whole mouth.
"Maybe you could use a couple rocks to smash vegetables with next time, too, Master," Meiko raised one eyebrow as Master as he grabbed the carrot piece and destroyed the evidence as he pushed the whole enormous chunk into his mouth at once, chewed, and swallowed it, then gave Meiko the evil eye.
Meiko grinned and went back to her meal and her beer in silence and Kaito wisely followed suit, a small smile playing on his lips.