Sometimes We Love (Over Coffee)
by Kawaii Dragoness
Chapter 2: Dreams
Notes: In Keita's POV...that's it for now....
Reminder: "speech" thoughts ~sound effects~ emphasis
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It was a month after the tragic battle between Phoenix and Wufei, and Kavvie had yet to recover. She was now accustomed to wearing black--tight black leather pants, a semi-tight low black T-shirt, and matching black hiking boots.We had made it = to her aunt's beachfront house and paid for our stay in keeping for the attached general store.
Since we were in the Philippines in the dry season, I was hoping for Kavvie to feel somewhat better and get rid of the black clothes--it just didn't work on her! But no--it actually made her even more depressed. I knew the battle had done a lot to her, but this was really going too far.
Her room was quite nice, actually--peach-colored with a hardwood floor and a window seat looking out onto the ocean with transluscent white curtains and pink glow-in-the-dark strings of beads. There was a twin-sized captain's bed with pink sheets and two pillows in a corner, and in another there was a desk with her white iBook and a wireless printer--as well as a stack of books. The books were mostly Filipino, since she was resolved to learning the language during our stay. However, I could discern a Tagalog/English/Tagalog dictionary, a few old Animerica magazines, some manga translated in either Filipino or English (she had some of both), her old artbooks, and quite a few American fanfiction. Once an otaku, always an otaku--only Kavvie!
I entered this room on a beautiful day in June--23 June, I believe--yes, yes! It was my birthday...my 17th. She was sitting in her window seat, looking out towards the ocean, again wearing all-black. There was something sad in her eyes, something lifeless. I wanted to feel sorry for her, but I was a girl on a mission, and that mission was to cheer her up. "You're not Kavvie, are you?" I asked her.
She turned around, her black eyes searching for answers to questions I did not know, but knew I could not answer. "Keita?" she asked simply.
"Kavvie does not wear all-black in the Philippines in the dry season. Kavvie is not a Goth. Kavvie would usually be joyous when she is in her home country. Kavvie would have something better to do than stare out of a window all day. And Kavvie definitely wouldn't be this sad, especially here!" I went up to her window seet and stared straight into her black eyes, my face right before her own. "You're not Kavvie are you? Are you? Hm? Hm?!"
"Oh, Keita...Kavvie should also never be this lonely. Kavvie should be walking on that beach with Wufei, telling him all about her home, and being happy with him. But that obviously can't happen.... Unlike you, people I've respected and admired haven't been dying around my feet once every couple of years. I'm not used to this. I...I can't get over it. I loved him...I really did. And...." She looked at her ring, something she had only been wearing after his death. It was golden with a pear-shaped diamond, two Oriental dragons reaching up towards its tip. Above that tip was a tiny circular ruby. It was a beautiful ring, and I had wondered about its origins before--but apparently the only people that knew were Kavvie and Wufei. Wufei had forever been silenced, and Kavvie always said she'd tell us "another time".
"Well, can Kavvie emerge out of her misery for a moment and make the birthday girl some snacks?" I asked. I was hungry, and these odd Filipino snacks had a strange influence on me. Besides, she usually felt better when she was cooking.
"All right, all right. Oh, of course! I nearly forgot that you haven't tried the ube paste yet--my dad used to make it when I was little...." Kavvie said with a smile. "I'll make you a cake too, but the ube first--much more fun that way, and warm cake is better than warm ube. Now can you get out of my face so I can get off of this ledge and cook it for you?"
"Gladly." I jumped off the ledge and let her out, following her to the kitchen.
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The kitchen was a humble, darker (yet cooler) place than most of the other rooms--which, thanks to money sent through Kavvie by the pilots, were renovated. It had a simple stove and cabinets and a small refrigerator, and a decent dark green countertop. Ally-chan had been searching the cabinets for a snack of her own when we arrived.
"Making something, Kavvie?" she asked simply.
"Yup. It's ube paste this time. I'll make it for everyone. Thank Keita for it." Kavvie replied, bending down to search the refrigerator for ingredients.
"Think we could help?" Ally-chan asked. "I need something to do with my time."
"Sure...it usually takes quite a while anyway...hmm. Keita, do you want to help too?"
"Sure thing." I said. "What do you need?"
"Look in the cabinets for some purple yams--if they have the powder, get two packets. If they have the actual yams, get six decent-sized ones." I opened up the cabinets and began my search. "Ally-chan, get a can of condesended milk and the grater I used for the coconuts before for the kutchinta--but only get the grater if Keita gets actual yams." Ally-chan joined me, and I heard a few soft ~thumps~ as Kavvie put milk, sugar, vanilla extract, a large pot, measuring spoons and cups, and a wooden spoon on the countertop.
Soon enough, we were about to start stirring the ingredients in the pot. Heero and Duo had come in and wanted to help too, so we all took turns stirring the pot. Then, I got an idea that would answer a lot of questions and help quite a bit on my "mission."
"Kavvie," I said, "I have an idea. Why not let the person stirring the pot tell a little story? We could use a good laugh here and there, or say 'Awwwwwww' to a kawaii sap, or cry with you. And I'm sure you have much to tell. Why don't you start?" I handed her the stirring spoon.
"It's an idea," Kavvie said. She took the stirring spoon and began to stir, thinking carefully of the story she wanted to tell. "All right, I got it. My life technically started on 9 July 180, nearly at midnight, but...."
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Next chapter:
Chapter 3: Beginnings