-Casey's perspective-
I kneeled down and held out my hand to Nova. But his pretty golden eyes stared at my hand like it was a foreign object.
"Quit it, I'm not weak." He said and smacked my hand away.
Which only prompted Fred to hiss at him.
"I'm not trying to say-"
"Please, I don't want to be anymore of a burden to you." He mumbled and turned away.
'Im sorry, i've been nothing but a burden on the family.'
My Padres' words echoed in the back of my mind. That was the night, the night I saw my father cry for the first time. I knew his face looked familiar, it was just like my Padres.
"Hey, why do you think that?" I asked.
"What?"
"Why do you think you're a burden to me?"
He pushed himself up to his feet and his eyes finally laid on the creatures around us.
"Isn't it obvious? You did what you did because you didn't want to see me get hurt. However, that action took you from your friends, made you take up a job, and take pity on me." He sighed and walked over to his tent. "You don't have to teach me. I'll appreciate the lesson and unbroken foot I gained. And if you want, I can make you food as well. As a thank you."
I stood up straight and walked over to him.
"Well, yeah you're not wrong, but that's not just everything though! You're really interesting, don't forget, I even tried to offer lessons to you before the fight. So that blows a holey wholly in your theory."
He jolted to a stop and turned back toward me. He had a skeptical look on his face.
"Guessing Nick told you about my condition then."
"Condition?"
"You seriously don't know?"
I shook my head.
"Nuh uh. Is it about your dreamy golden eyes?" I teased.
He rolled his eyes.
"I'm a Lycanthrope that cannot shift."
"Lycanthrope...Lycanthrope...Nyx said something about that earlier. That got you all Grr." And as if on cue, I could hear him make a suppressed growl. So cute. "What is a Lycanthrope exactly?"
He took a breath.
"Give me a sec, I'll get dinner going. Then I'll explain so you can tell that stupid Guardian the difference." He grumbled.
Man, he really doesn't like Nyx...guess that's not unusual though. He went into his tent and grabbed a bunch of sticks and twine.
"What do you prefer, pasta or fish and vegetables?"
"Ooh! Pasta with red sauce! Pasta with red sauce! And spicy please!"
He nodded and started to set something up. It was a weird pinwheel thing made of sticks, vine, and clams. He set it near the river and the water pushed the clams to rotate, which made the machine stir like a little dough mixer. Then he got his ingredients and a rock bowl ready.
"Woah, are you making the noodles from scratch?"
"It's cheaper this way." He replied.
"That's so cool! Can you teach me!?"
He turned toward me with a raised brow, but eventually shrugged and started explaining. It surprised me, for someone who couldn't read, he sure knew a lot about cooking. It took a little bit of time, but I enjoyed every second of it. He was patient with me, even when I dropped our sauce all over him. Soon we were sitting next to a boiling pot and waiting for the sauce to get just right, as he put it.
I looked over at his shining eyes as he watched the pot. They were so pretty and it was adorable how focused he was. It was like watching a little puppy. He glanced over at me and I jumped.
"There something wrong?'
"Oh, no! I was just umm, wondering how you got so good at cooking? You're like Ramsey Jr.!" I said with a giggle.
That put a small smile on his face and it practically stole my heart.
"My old mentor Engango used to sneak into food craft buildings and steal. Scar would fly inside and the people would freak out. Then he'd go into the back and swipe the meals. Sometimes I'd go ahead of him, to prove I could do it without Scar. Which is where I saw them preparing food. It was weird."
"Hhhmm? Weird how?"
"Well, all my life I ate whatever I could find to survive. So it was odd seeing these humans adding sauces, spices, and watching the temperature. Like they weren't even worried about going hungry."
"Wait, did you seriously learn by just watching!?"
"Mmhmm, well, watching and stealing those glyph scrolls. Some had pictures on there I could follow."
"Oh my gosh you're so talented!"
"Talented?"
"Mmhmm! Mmhmm! It's not normal for most people to learn so fast with so little."
He chuckled and leaned forward.
"You talk like you've eaten my food already." He said and grabbed two wooden bowls that rested between us. He filled them with the noodles, then the sauce, then the smoked sausages on top. He held out the bowl to me and I swiped it. "Tell me if it's a talent after you've tried."
The spicy italian herbs barged it's way into my nose and made me flutter. While the red sea of sauce and the scattered colorful peppers made the meal look like some work of art. Which slowly changed its composition as the cheese melted into everything. Then there were the sausage bits that swam through the color sauce and cheese. I tried to steal a few of them while he was cooking. They looked so good!
"Woah.." I mumbled.
He made himself a bowl and poured it into his mouth. That's when it dawned on me. Oh yeah, he probably doesn't use utensils. Oh well! I held the bowl up and let the pasta slide down into my chamber. It had so many flavors hitting me! The spice, the savory meat, the milky cheese! It all came together for a fiesta in my mouth. So I just poured every inch of that pasta into my mouth and when it was gone. I licked the bowl! Screw it if I get a splinter!
"Are you okay?" He asked.
I pulled the bowl down from my face and without any control, burped. The heat rushed to my cheeks and he chuckled.
"I'll take that as a yes." He said and leaned in close.
My face was on fire at this point, he was just a few inches away from me. Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Is this the story I tell our kids!? I burped his mating call and he passionately took my lips!?
"U-umm-"
"You've got pasta all over your face." He said and reached his hand out
He wiped the pasta away with his thumb, then wiped it on his jeans.
"Ah, thanks.." I mumbled.
"Anyways, my apologies. I got caught up cooking and forgot to explain the differences." He said and poured himself another bowl.
Before he put the ladle down, I held up my bowl for seconds. He so gentlemanly poured me another full bowl, then sat back down.
"So, I am a Lycanthrope. Which means in normal circumstances, we can shift into a humanoid wolf form at will. While Werewolves shift into a more animalistic wolf form. We stand on our hind legs, they are on all fours. We have more mental control, while they have more animalistic instincts."
I swallowed another gulp of my pasta and nodded.
"Interesting, well how does that work exactly?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well! For one, I'm assuming you get bigger right?"
"Yeah, especially the Werewolves."
"The problem with sudden and spontaneous growth is the law of conservation of mass. The law states that in a closed system the total mass must stay the same, barring nuclear reactions. Unless you don't change weight when you change." I gasped. "Unless you absorb materials from around you like a tree! And convert it, wait there’s a bit of a hiccup with that: there is considerably less than a kilogram of carbon in the volume of air that surrounds you at any given time. So even if you could metabolize that carbon quickly, you couldn’t put on much mass. Sucking up matter from the ground isn't much better either, you'd have no way of guaranteeing the composition of it. Unless your body can naturally convert it, but still the speed that would require…"
"I don't understand a word you just said." Nova sighed.
"Just speaking out loud." I said with a chuckle.
He chewed on his lip and looked away from me.
"Would you mind... explaining it to me?" He asked.
He glanced back at me and I swear my face would hurt from how hard I was smiling.
"Yeah! How about this? You keep teaching me how to make yummy food, and I'll teach you things. That way, you won't ever think you're just a burden."
His eyes grew wide and he smiled. Then he held out his hand and cut it with one of his long nails.
"Let's shake on it." He said.
I blinked a few times, my eye went from his palm, to his face. Oh my gosh he's serious.
"Ummm." I looked around for our knife, but came to a freezing hoult as I felt something warm embrace my palm.
I looked up and saw Nova holding my hand. Fred growled from behind. I turned to tell him it was okay, but Cupcake was just nuzzling him away.
"I can do it for you." Nova said and placed his finger nail against my palm.
It was odd, he looked totally human. Yet his nails came out to a long sharp point like a dog's. I glanced up at his eyes and he was just a few inches from me again. For once, I really don't care how his nails got like this. I just didn't want him to ever let go of my hand.
Then he slowly sliced down on my palm and I didn't even feel pain. The warmth of my blood ran down my palm and he sat back and held out his bleeding palm.
I reached out and connected our bleeding hands and we shook on it.
"Trato." He said.
I nodded.
"Trat- Wait, you know spanish!?"