rakuen | Backdated to before the tower pt. 3

Entry tags:

Backdated to before the tower pt. 3

Characters: Lelouch vi Britannia, Dirk Strider
Format: Prose
This log is: closed
Location: Fortitude Prefect's dorm's kitchen
Summary: Lelouch and Dirk have learnt a few things about each other. Blackrom continues?
Warnings: Black flirting? Also spoilers for their series.

It certainly was a terrifically mundane activity for a former Emperor to be doing. But it was a very orderly thing. Precise, predictable, and productive. Now that the pain in his chest had abated, he could move on to other things. Bigger things. His goals in this place have not changed. Even if he has nowhere to go after he leaves here. Nunnally does. Suzaku does. And this entire system had no right to exist.

His knife tapped rhythmically against the board as other smells filled the air. He planned on taking some over to Nunnally and Suzaku, as well. Regardless of what Day said about cross-school rivalry, he was still beholden to his responsibilities.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

When he heard the sound of food preparation happening in the kitchen, Dirk stopped by to poke his head in. Rakuen had a whole shitload of food that was unfamiliar to him, but he's not that great at cooking -- fish aside, he didn't do a whole lot of it back home -- so he's taken to mooching off of others.

Oh, great. It was Lelouch. Now here is a guy who knows how to prepare some decent food.

"What's on the menu?"

There were some other things he had been meaning to bring up to Lelouch at some point, but hey. Priorities.

"Something for my sister, my friend and myself," he replied. He didn't take his eyes off what he was doing.

The conversation he'd overheard between Dirk and Dolorosa had raised a few questions. Dirk was clearly from a planet the Condesce had conquered, much like someone from an Area meeting a Britannian from the first time. And she had the audacity to attempt to present herself as someone needing sympathy? Hypocrite.

Good answer, Lelouch, but not good enough. Dirk stepped into the kitchen to get a closer look.

"Mind giving me some pointers sometime? I am so shitty at cooking." Actually, he really would rather teach himself, or if he really needed tips, he'd prefer to ask Jane. But it was a good way of leading the conversation to where he wanted to take it.

He glanced over as he transferred the veggies from board to pan. "I might have time for a few lessons." He didn't mind Dirk hanging around. But he'd like to know what exactly Dirk's point was.

"Of course you do. You don't have a whole lot of other matters pressing," he pointed out. "Nothing else weighing on your mind during this little battle vacation."

"This is your idea of a vacation?" Playful banter it seemed, but the comment made his blood boil. "I would hate to think of the kind of place you come from." His hands remained busy while he talked.

"Come, now. You already know a little about it. More than I know about where you come from, in fact." He's pretty sure Lelouch had stayed behind and overheard what he'd told Dolorosa in class recently. "About the only thing my world's got going for it is the distinct absence of Kevin Costner. This place is a goddamn treat in comparison."

He didn't really say anything about the references to people he'd never heard of. "That may be true. But I don't think our worlds are very different. Perhaps in scale, as Britannia is no interstellar empire, but certainly in many other ways."

"Is your planet completely devoid of dry land?" Kevin Costner doesn't exist in Lelouch's world? So did Waterworld never get made? Holy shit, it must be a paradise there. "But you're probably right for the most part. Why don't you tell me more about it? Before you went and offed yourself to make everything better, that is."

"I was referring to the part about it being under the control of an all-controlling, unjust empire." But he sighed as he hit a point where he didn't need to babysit it.

"If you have questions, I may be able to answers some of them. It's far too complex to simply explain."

"Okay. So tell me about the Britannian Empire. Who ran it?" He shot a sideways glance at Lelouch. "And is that surname of yours a common one?"

"In my time, my father did. I was born the 16th prince of the empire. However, my mother had been born common, unlike the rest of the consorts, thus making her unpopular with some of the other nobles. She was shot in the palace, and died protecting my sister. Following that, we were sent away from the homeland and sent to Japan as hostages. Soon, the empire came knocking, and our new home fell under sway of the empire. We were sheltered by some old friends of my mmother's." Sure, this was far from the truth. But it was convenient enough.

"I grew sick of being a tool of negotiation. I was disgusted with the injustice around me. So I took matters into my own hands. I organized a resistance against the empire. Two and a half years later, I was able to mold it into the shape I needed it to be to finally rid the world of it."

"It only took you that long? Damn." Dirk allows his face to show how impressed he is. "You got some more details for me? What did your resistance consist of?"

He turned back to his work. "It began as a small band of resistance fighters that had already been taking pot shots at the army when they could. I built it into an international army, with the sole goal of destroying injustice wherever we found it. We addressed injustices both by Britannia and by other, more extreme, rebel groups."

Dirk turned his attention back to Lelouch's cooking. "And let me guess. Once the conditions were right, you then took your rightful place on the throne."

"The throne was only a tool to recreate the world. It was not the end I truly sought." He continued cooking and tasting as though he were merely discussing some mild event or another. "What about yourself? What do you have in mind for yourself and the other remaining human on Earth?"

"Well, of course. You already said as much."

Dirk shrugged. He grabbed a fork and speared one of the vegetables out of the pan as they cooked.

"We're going to play a computer game and get the fuck out of Waterworld. We're all ready to start as soon as we complete Rakuen's objective."

Lelouch shot his act of robbery a look, but he didn't say anything. "Why do you assume we can leave once the objective is complete?" Have some rather impressive saute action. Boy knows what he's doing.

Tasty. Dirk made a small noise of approval as he swallowed.

"Because if I assume otherwise, there's no point to any of this. If that turns out to be a lie, I'll deal with it when it happens."

Damn straight it's delicious. "And you don't have any problem with the cycle coming around again? To victimize a new group of people? To tear them from their homes, haunt them with the faces of their dead loved ones, make them dance on a puppetmaster's strings to play this game? Other versions of yourself possibly being brought here as well?"

Aside from a slight twitch of the eyebrow at the reminder that Dirk wasn't the one pulling the strings anymore, he didn't show any reaction. "Frankly? What I have to do back home is more important than any of this. It'd be nice if we could do something to tear it all down but I'm more focused on saving my friends and kicking the sea hag's ass."

He reached over to the refrigerator, and out came a whole (headless) chicken wrapped in plastic. As well as a very large knife. "I will never again be someone's plaything. Nor will I allow systems like this to go unchecked." Each sentence was punctuated with the solid thud of the knife breaking through the wing joints of the chicken. He flipped it over and started on the legs. "And I will do whatever it takes to do so. There are people here that have important work to do when they leave here. There is nothing I won't do to accomplish that." Again, pointed chops ended each sentence. Well. Most of them.

Lelouch certainly had a flare for the dramatic. Dirk could appreciate that. He could also appreciate Lelouch's position; he didn't have anything to return to, for one thing. If Dirk were in his shoes, he'd probably have the same opinion.

He hadn't given much thought to the idea of dismantling the system completely; he was too focused on getting out of there, on finding some way to help Jade and Sis once the game was complete, on working out the plan for how to save Jane's life once he got back home. So many irons, and not nearly enough fires to contain them all.

He leaned on the counter and watched Lelouch chop. "What's your plan?"

His knifework got smaller and a bit less loud as he trimmed and cleaned the cuts of meat. He thought this guy was bright enough to be useful. He thought he had a good idea of what was going on behind those sunglasses. "I am collecting information about this place. And allies."

"Underwhelming, but productive. Wish I had some information I could share with you, but I don't." He shrugged, and snagged himself another vegetable from the pan. "If I hear anything useful I guess I'll let you know."

"I may need someone to help cover for me for some mundane prefect work in the near future," he told him. "I hope you could be counted on to do that for me."

Aha. An amused smile found its way onto Dirk's face. "Cover for you while you play hooky, you mean. I guess I could do that, but it'll cost you."

"I have a feeling it might be a bit more than cooking lessons," he replied. His serious look had faded a bit, with some light amusement himself. "What is it you'd like?"

"Part of what you're making here. And a memory charm," he said simply.

Honestly Dirk was perfectly okay with helping Lelouch out, and would remain that way unless it turned out that Lelouch's goal flew in the face of Dirk's own. Dismantling Exaclan was something he wouldn't mind participating in as long as it didn't interfere with what he had to do.

"I suppose I might be able to stretch it a bit further. And the charm is no problem." He stepped to the sink to clean the chicken slime off of his hands. After he dried them, he reached into his pocket and drew out a pouch that Recette typically sold memory charms in. He offered it over to Dirk.

"Sweet." He was a little surprised that Lelouch was just carrying a memory charm around randomly, but he wasn't going to complain. He took the pouch, pulled the charm out, and clipped it to his bracelet.

Poor HEGEMONIC BRUTE. His time in the spotlight has been cut tragically short. You almost feel sorry for the guy.

Even behind his glasses, the widening of Dirk's eyes would be noticeable. He looked down at his hands, almost expecting -- stupidly enough -- to see them covered in blood.

"Well, that explains a few things. Thanks."

"What did you remember?" A simple question. Fairly asked from his point of view. That reaction, watched from the corner of his eye as he worked, was interesting indeed.

"Killed a dude." He said it casually, as though the fact didn't really bother him any. And honestly it didn't; it had shaken him up at first, but he'd had no choice. "Then stuck his head on a flagpole and paraded it around Derse."

OH. That's why his weapon is a spear. It all makes sense now.

The brief lapse in his poker face faded and he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Well. Then I suppose I needn't worry about bloodying someone else's hands." A strange response. He would prefer not to spread blood on unsullied hands if he didn't have to.

This was a strange discussion as the contents of a couple different pans into a larger one with the chicken. Then it all went into the oven. "Come back in thirty minutes for the remainder of your payment. Unless there's something else you'd like to address."

"Let me know in advance if there's going to be any significant bloodshed so I can change into something I don't care about? It was a nightmare getting the bloodstains from that guy out of the clothes I arrived in." Yep, that is definitely why Dirk had been covered in blood upon arrival. Lelouch had probably noticed it, if he'd been at the platform for the round seven newbies.

"Can't think of anything else. See you later." He started for the door.

"Yes, I'd expect as much. Next time you should try vinegar." Of course, he wasn't speaking from experience at all. "See you later," he replied as he took his apron off.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Backdated to before the tower pt. 3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject