"Good grief, I'm wasting away, Blue. Wasting away, I tell you," Piper complained, dramatically sighing. Nora rolled her eyes and searched through her quickly waning reserve of patience for a kind response.
However, after at least the seventh time that Piper had whined about her lack of sweets, Nora couldn't hardly take it anymore. Seriously, how many people had such a serious sugar problem?
And the strangest part was that it had come on all of a sudden in the middle of the wasteland countryside where there was certainly no chance of finding any sweets at all. Piper had absolutely impeccable timing.
"You've already eaten all of what was in my pack. I can't help the situation any more than I already have, I'm afraid," Nora calmly recited once again.
"This'll be a brutal way to die. Out in the Commonwealth. Starving. Alone."
"Not alone, but certainly starving," Nora corrected, resisting the urge to groan at Piper's fussing.
"No, not alone, I guess. See, it's the hunger getting to me. I'm delirious,"
"I've got water, leftover noodles from Takahashi's, and some roasted radstag. Take your pick," Nora offered, knowing that wasn't at all what Piper was wanting but she was hoping the younger girl would maybe take it.
"Not hungry like that! Hungry for sweets. I have a sweet-roll-sized hole in my stomach."
"It's a good thing that they don't have chocolate in the world today, or you'd really be having a problem," Nora proclaimed.
She then licked her slightly chapped lips. Come to think of it, it would be nice to have some chocolate. Nora mentally slapped herself. She needed to get a grip or she'd be as desperate and dramatic as Piper before long.
But it really would be good…
"Chocolate? What's that?" Piper questioned curiously and Nora grit her teeth, trying desperately to fight her craving for the sweet, mouth-watering treat.
"Don't even ask. You're going to get me as worked up as you are or more," Nora brushed her off, trying really hard to contain her sudden absurd desire for chocolate.
"No, no, I think I want to hear about this," Piper insisted, and Nora quickly felt the tingling of that special sense that warned of the dangers of a mischievous Piper.
"Please don't. I'm already feeling the effects from just thinking about it. We need one of us to be sensible or we're both going to go to pot," Nora tried to shut her down once again.
"C'mon. I can't get any worse than I already am, and you're theoretically supposed to be more controlled than me," Piper smugly told her, raising an eyebrow challengingly. Nora eyed her out of the corner of her vision, feeling herself a little tempted by the dare.
It was childish, but she couldn't resist a good challenge. And judging by Piper's expression, she knew it as well.
Nora launched into her description with the knowledge that, assuredly, Piper was going to eat her words.
"Chocolate was quite possibly the most mouth-watering, tempting treat in America. It was infinitely tastier than anything that you have ever eaten here in the Commonwealth."
"Better than a sweet roll?" Piper asked, and Nora saw the almost hungry look in her eye. It was familiar. A little too familiar. A whirlwind of memories flew into her mind at that sight.
Chocolate cakes, chocolate truffles, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate-deprivation headaches, chocolate stomachaches. That hunger she saw in Piper was the exact same feeling she used to get when she was in desperate need of chocolate.
It was growing harder and harder to resist whining about chocolate.
"Ten times better than a sweet roll," Nora told her, looking away and slightly biting her lip.
"Wow. Sounds really, really good," Piper emphasized just how delectable it sounded and Nora knew it was a poorly disguised attempt to fight her in their current challenge.
"It was like all the good things in life rolled into one irresistible candy-sized package. Its smell was the comforting aroma of home, its taste was the sweetness of family, and the ache after too much was like the bittersweet parting of close friends," Nora countered, holding back a smirk because she knew that she had this battle of the wills in the bag.
"Hmm. I really wish I had some. It sounds absolutely irresistible. Like the most mouth-watering delicacy that I could ever have," Piper tempted, and Nora caught the devious smile that was adorning the younger girl's visage.
Nora sharply inhaled as her stomach growled loudly, and at that moment, she knew she had lost.
"YES! I knew I'd get you to react!" Piper excitedly shouted, performing a ridiculous victory dance. It reminded Nora of the disco days that she, very fortunately, had been lucky enough to mostly miss. The bombs fell not too long after it had become widely popular.
"Aren't you just a humble winner?"
"And aren't you just a gracious loser?" Piper gleefully shot back, a wild grin on her face. Nora rolled her eyes, feeling her stomach rumble again.
"I thought I'd tell you thank you, by the way," Nora grumbled, her stomach loudly sounding off again.
"For what?"
"For humbly passing on the sweets craving to me."