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He hears Inigo mutter, maybe, but the more prominent attack on his personhood is what Roland makes moves against, the beating in the bowl halting and both his hands finally resting against his hips. There are very few moments where he genuinely feels like his temper is rising, Batu being the number one guy to bring the worst out of him when he barely tries, but this might just be the first time he allows a bit of it to steam out, his frown deepening.

"You know, that's pretty rude talk considering I was asked to cook a family recipe out of nowhere." Roland returns to the bowl, and his inclination to put the usual candies and chocolates inside of it whimpers away, knowing he's actually being made fun of. Usually, he's not one to rise to it, but today he's pushed to the brink of Dad!

He grabs a pan and sets it down immediately on the burner. The butter added to it cold before the fire is on. A spatula rests in his grip while his other hand remains by a cocked hip.

"You're both going to eat these pancakes, and that's final." Because he did NOT just waste precious supplies for a running joke that won't even hit because by no means is this supposed to taste good anyway!! Sorry your bro didn't warn you that the Crane Family Recipe was actual garbage, Inigo! Or that maybe, just maybe, it's starting to dawn on Roland that he's growing slightly upset at the idea that something he's never asserted he was good at is being challenged.

Wh-where's the barely-innuendos? The bite? The attack? Why is this now just a massive wall of disappointment that Tidus has nothing to attack with without getting actually personal? (Please, nevermind the remarks on Roland's non-existent sex life. It's non-existent! And also obviously jokes!)

Which has left Tidus realising he's in a rather awkward position from that first turn and talk about family recipes. He's not about to diss an intimate piece of family history deliberately; he hadn't even really been aiming for that, when his own idea of the 'Crane family recipe' was more the creative imagery than, well... the taste.

So Tidus is quiet, eyes darting about awkwardly, but not particularly on anyone. Resting a moment on Roland's back when he turns again, but then what is he supposed to do?

He's been told he's eating those pancakes. Now...

...

...

......maybe he's realising this joke has gone too far and he doesn't know what to do........

Inigo can hardly realise what's happening here, even as he's seeing it play out in front of his own eyes.

But it's a good thing in this case. Maybe. The fact that he's so baffled by Roland's sudden anger and Tidus's sudden silence in turn makes the fact that Roland seems angry at both of them fly past Inigo a little, not leaving any time or room for him to get that awful nauseated feeling in his stomach he always does when he thinks Roland is disappointed in him.

No, instead Inigo is left thinking about how these two got into some.. some dumb joke competition, and now they've just made it awkward?! And who is the one who has to clean this whole dumb mess up now?! UGH.

Slowly he lets go of Tidus, figuring that starting with Roland here is probably the better thing to do. Taking a step over, closer towards Roland is. Then another. Even if the other one has their back turned towards them, Inigo speaks up all the same.

"Father.. Are you hurt? I'm sorry."

Yes, he's apologizing even though he's been nothing but a pawn in this scheme. And then was promptly pushed to the background. Because someone here has to say sorry, and if Inigo has to be the one to do it, then whatever! He will!

"You know Tidus didn't mean it that way! He wouldn't want to hurt you for real.."

Edited 2021-01-10 19:30 (UTC)

"Hm. Could have fooled me." He delivers straight-faced.

There's only the slow sizzle of butter heating up in the pan that follows the hum reverberating from Roland. He realizes now, hyper-focused in the task despite the rare appearance of his temper, that it might hurt a bit to think that the joke always seemed to end with the things he makes being discarded in one way or another.

Not that this comes to him as a surprise. He knows where his talents lie, and that's why he sticks to what he knows on most days. If anything, he's only further spurred on to learn more about kitchen crafts so that he can actually be useful where it counts. Roland's not going to have chefs and private white house kitchens for long, no matter which way he looks at things.

Maybe he really did have performance issues.

"Don't worry. I'll just make one big pancake. I won't make a full stack." Since it'd be more of a waste. He'll dispose of his toxic mix later. For now, the spatula is set to rest against the edge of the frying pan as a measuring cup replaces it in his grip, dipped into the batter. A big circle is formed in the center, then two smaller ones at the top - mice? Probably. Though he does this too quickly such that there's not enough time for heat to form the first circle, only creating a barely-formed shape in the end. More blob than mouse. He throws a face at the pan, a Look well-practiced, before he sighs quietly under his breath barely audible. The utensils for pouring are left to the side right away, shoved almost unwantedly, and he waits patiently for the batter to settle. No need for any fancy candies or chocolates this time, still remembering such a declaration that might have sharpened more than he anticipated, cutting close, nicking him where it matters. He's not eating this.

"I'll flip this one for now. It's fine." Roland adds, adjusting the fire but otherwise staying at his station, unmoving and quiet.

mmrmrmrrrrhrrghghghghhhhh!!!!!!

Never has Tidus felt so stuck, indecisive of what to do. In so little time, Roland has become a barricade, a wall; the simple delivery of what he speaks making Tidus want to shrink with the chill of it. Look at him! He's barely engaging with them! They upset him-- no, he upset him bad! Which part? When did things get this bad? Weren't they all just joking around?

Tidus can't stand it. It turns from a low, grumbling whine to a full out sound of exasperation, the whistle of a train going off and Tidus takes the few steps next to Roland with an agitated energy than can't be contained any longer.

"Just make the pancakes! All of them, as a stack! Like you would!" Tidus close to pleads. "I was just messing around, Rol, I wasn't being serious about your food! I thought we were just having a dumb joke about the performance issues! I'm sorry, okay? C'mon!"

He's desperate, cheeks a rosy colour at the emotions rising in him and how tense the kitchen suddenly got (from where Tidus was standing, anyway). Things are wrong and he doesn't like it, but is he going to get through to Roland? His feet burn where they keep on the floor, the desire to move and pace in him, but he's controlling himself.

Come onnn mannnn! It's just a joke that went too far!

This all feels so ridiculous. The jokes already did, especially with Inigo having no idea what the two were going on about other than the fact that Tidus was trying to make fun of Roland's cooking abilities. But this situation feels even dumber. Is this what it looks like to them when he is the one who gets all worked up over nothing? By Naga, he's really got to stop doing that, because something about this situation just wants to shake both of them to make them snap out of it.

Thankfully Tidus does seem to be conceding a little here - enough to at least try to apologize to Roland in his own way. So Inigo will give him the floor for that, without diverting some of the attention back to himself. No, instead he just stares at the other two, like he's waiting for Roland's reaction. Will this be enough to make the other guy go back to normal even slightly? It's as if Inigo's own words ran straight into a wall just now, after all.

Tidus offers him the proverbial olive branch, but the words he says hit Roland differently. He may show them a particular side of him that always allows or otherwise disregards such playful jabs at his expense, but the times when such remarks do hit a tender spot, the recoil to his spirit is significantly heavy. Like he might actually care more than he lets on; that what they think of him and how they perceive him matters...

However, Roland's knee jerk reaction is to assume responsibility in a bid to retain his cool disposition. The approach and the appeal to make more than one giant, weirdly shaped pancake, is met with a dismissive wave of a hand and a brief shake of his head. The spatula returns to the pan and loosens the edges of the pancake in question.

"Enough. It's fine. I apologize if I played along without quite understanding the punchline myself." There's a reach for the butter, a whole knob separated from the rest of its gooey body using the edge of the utensil. "Or, the performance issue might be precisely this." The butter hits the pan and it sizzles louder than before. Now is when Roland turns to look at both of them, though his gaze lingers on Inigo for a moment longer, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.

"I think what Tidus was telling you about performance had to do with my cooking," he says, rather dispiritedly. With the spatula down, one hand rests against his hip again, while the other prepares the pan, grip firm on the handle. "It's not so good unless someone watches over me, or I have instructions. As you might have already guessed, when we...made the meal before. Heh."

The pancake, despite its relatively large size, starts to move and sway in the pool of butter. Now, Roland turns back to Tidus, trying in his own way to circle past performance issues.

"So, I discovered that the secret to a good flip is really in the butter. Or a well-greased pan. Look - " Roland demonstrates by shifting, pulling and tugging, until he raises the frying pan a little over the air, with the pancake sliding successfully against the edge and flopping down on the raw side. Not as clean as he might have wanted, but it was a flip nonetheless. N-Not a performance issue, as he did technically rise to the challenge...

"- See? It's all in the wrist." Now, for a plate to serve it in. "This should be ready after a couple of minutes. Just eat this one. I'll get better and make a fresh batch some other day."

The words don't land anywhere close to where Tidus wanted them to. Roland continues unaffected, the adult in the room, while Tidus's actions continue to be misconstrued. And Tidus can only allow it for as far as they're spoken out loud; the hand on Roland's hip, the butter beginning to lightly sizzle and grease the pan it's been placed in.

He speaks up as soon as he hears it, before it can go any further.

"--I was making a dick joke! It was always a dick joke!"

He speaks loudly, just to be clear; to try and get through, that note of desperation not yet gone. This isn't how he wants to hear Roland be. This isn't what he wanted to happen.

"I'm not gonna make fun of you just 'cause you messed up some ingredients. I wasn't-- that wasn't the point of it. I just knew you'd remember if Inigo brought it up!"

His head hangs, and what else is there he can say? Except for the obvious.

"I was a jerk, so just go ahead and call me a jerk. I played a trick and messed up, alright? I'm sorry."

This is.

So dumb.

So dumb that Inigo isn't even getting distracted with any dramatic reactions towards Tidus's reveal that he was using Inigo for a dick joke of all things, towards his father of all people. No, that can wait. Or just be ignored. Because Inigo really feels his hands itching way too much to not get involved with this huge mess. Because he can't really stand here and watch this trainwreck unfold otherwise, not with how Roland only seems to retreat further into his own thoughts, not with how actually guilty Tidus looks.

So he steps forward, grabbing Roland's panless hand into his own, and then one of Tidus's hands into his other hand. Squeezing both of those hands, as if demanding both of their attention.

"Listen."

Listen to him. Does Inigo need to be the adult here?

"Roland, so what if you're not a perfect cook? There are plenty of other things you can do, and can do super well! Not to mention that you did fine that time when we cooked together-- and cooking without instructions is something you can learn, so there's no need to feel so bad about it! Knowing you, you'll be able to learn it in no time." Inigo shakes his head. "And like Tidus said, he's not even making fun of you for it! You know Tidus. You know what he's like. He's even saying sorry, so you're just going to make him feel worse if you're going to keep feeling bad over it!"

His gaze shifts over towards Tidus.

"And you shouldn't be so hard on yourself either. I mean-- It's a good thing to say sorry." Especially since Roland seems so weirdly upset compared to the usual. "But you didn't mean anything bad by it! You were just trying to have fun, and it did seem like you two were having fun together, so of course you'd get lost in it. It's not like you knew Roland would feel bad."

Inigo is quiet for a moment, but then exhales. A looong breath.

"I'm not just going to stand here and watch you both feel bad when you've got nothing to feel bad about! You're both fine!"

You're both fine.

Roland is a rationale person. He knows that everything is fine now, which is why he's definitely not still tweaking with the fire, lowering it as the misshapen final pancake rests in a sheen of buttery grease before a plate can be put to serve it in. It's also why he's only looking at the hand holding his own, and at the two who seem to be in contrasting moods; with Tidus's apology and admission of the entire thing being the dick joke Roland already knew about, and Inigo taking a page out of the adulting book to reconcile the miscommunication.

But he supposes that apart from the non-issue of cracking jokes about performance issues and flipping of food in pans, Roland's frown remains in place and grows only slightly deeper in his realization that it's not the joke that made him react the way that he did. It's hard to place, as foreign as it is.

Maybe some clarity is shed when he smiles tightly, shaking his head. He doesn't let go of Inigo's hand, and he lets go of the pan at last.

"Yeah. It's fine. I'm sorry, it was a funny joke." Not really, but he'll say what he has to, the aforementioned adult, the guy who doesn't quite understand embarrassment in its full spectrum of color.

"Tidus just didn't want to eat the pancake." There it was. "So I figured...Hm. Anyway. I'm okay. Let's serve this up and you can just taste a bit of it before I eat the rest."

Cool, say the dick joke was a funny joke and make it all the worse for it, great! It's not like Tidus doesn't already feel like an unfunny loser right here, especially with how Inigo is standing there holding one of his hands, speaking to the pair of them like some primary school teacher. Guuuuhhhh.

Whatever, the dumb dick joke isn't really the important part here. It's that way that Roland still seems to retreat into being the upstanding adult of the room, and Tidus doesn't know what to do or how to react to that. As if anything he says is going to be the overreaction, but so what?

"It was a joke," he's pleading anyway, he's asking you once more. More of a groan this time, as if he's not sure he'll ever get through to Roland. "'Course I was gonna eat the pancakes. You're just gonna give me one? I haven't eaten all morning. I had to deal with Inigo dropping on me and now this!"

He waves his free hand at the other guy. He's only going to get a bite out of one pancake after everything his morning's been?? Hello??

Maybe if some people here weren't being dumb, he wouldn't have to pull out the kindergarten aide act!

Though he's not sure it's helping much. There's still-- still something to Roland. Tidus's mood is a lot easier to read here, but Inigo can feel something radiating off the older guy that he can't quite place as easily, nor does he have any idea about what may serve best to help ward it off.

"Come on, Roland! If that's the whole problem, we'll just tie Tidus to a chair and stuff him full of pancakes!" Not that Tidus didn't already say he wants to eat it, but maybe this is just revenge for Tidus saying Inigo dropped on him-- though that's.. actually not far from the truth...

But it's just not the way he'd prefer to put it, thanks!

Inigo lets go of their hands.

"Are you really that worried we wouldn't want to eat what you make?"

If by now Roland's mood hasn't yet lifted fully from where it was when dick jokes began, it's to no fault of either of the twin teens now flanking him on either side. The batter is quietly dripping from the rim of the bowl and the pan continues to cool the more he pauses and slows in the process.

Are you really that worried we wouldn't want to eat what you make?

Though his face paints a different look, with characteristic stoic and straight-edged lines masking over a youthful profile, it's the look behind his eyes that shines the opposite of uncaring. The shrug in his shoulder, once like a simple twitch, adds to such an effect. And what he says afterwards seals the deal.

"Yes."

Nothing else follows, but his actions speak louder volumes as the fire is re-lit and the pan is back on the stove. The bowl of batter returns to his non-dominant hand and the process of making pancakes begins anew with the sizzle of butter against the pan. At least he's not throwing it away as he had intended, already hearing Tidus's plea and replying with nothing but one word, and going about the duty of feeding hungry people even if he knows deep down they're not going to enjoy it.

Or at least, they'll make a show of not enjoying it. That might be better than actually hearing and seeing it from the two of them, affecting him deeper than he realizes.

He's got to wait - that's where Tidus is in this. His pleas are falling on deaf ears, and for the frustration he's feeling, Tidus can't solely put that on Roland. This was his dumb joke - a dumb joke that Tidus never figured Roland would take any part of it serious. But he has, so that's what he's got to deal with, right? Intent doesn't really matter as much as the shipwreck in front of you.

"Give me a full plate, and we'll all sit down." There, two people can play at the decided act, Tidus's arms folded, standing awkwardly to a side and giving Roland room as he twists on his heel, faces off to some other part of the kitchen. What's there to do than wait? As the pancakes soften from batter to a soft, thin cake.

But a thought does occur, and he glances back to both of them.

"I'll look for some honey."

There's bound to be a bottle around here, huh? Or he can go into the stores to look if he has to. Probably easier. (Probably safer.)

Two people can play at the decided act.

But three can't, apparently. Maybe it's just that it comes less natural to Inigo - after all, even when he's masking his true feelings, it always comes with dumb dramatics, with large bombastic acts. But there's Roland's one-word response and that weird look in his eye, and then there's Tidus's obvious discomfort with the situation, and yet both of them are acting like this and Inigo hates it.

Especially since he's been trying here! So hard! He got unknowingly dragged into this dumb joke, and he didn't mind trying to play cleanup if it would mean Roland and Tidus would start feeling better, but that's not happening. Inigo tried so much, and yet the other two still obviously aren't doing great.

The childish part of him is halfway to the point of just wanting to storm off and leave these two to their own dumb problems, but Inigo is well aware there's no way he could do that without feeling guilty, if Roland's whole problem is being worried they wouldn't eat his food.

So he'll stick around. Letting Tidus go find some honey, if he wants. Inigo knows his bro doesn't like just standing around idly while waiting, after all.

But as for Roland, after that remark.. He can prevent the childish part of him from wanting to storm off, but he can't fully hold it back enough to keep a few words from slipping out.

"I can't believe you'd have that little faith in me."

There's something genuinely hurt in the words, in the tone. Because it is upsetting. Shouldn't Roland know him better by now? Shouldn't he know even Tidus better than that by now? Even if Tidus goofs around, or even if Inigo is being dumb and overdramatic about things - they'd never reject Roland. Or even his food, if he wanted them to eat it so badly.

"I have the utmost faith in both of you."

What certainty of upset comes from Inigo, Roland meets with a conviction of his own. It's quiet, like the rest of his actions as his hands continue to pour, butter, flip. And despite how Inigo sounds, it seems Roland is unable to relent; not when the words hit him hard, or when Tidus escapes for a time. It's neither of their faults anyway. His inability to do a basic thing like this, well. Who knew he would feel a certain way about it? He certainly didn't. Maybe it isn't too late to learn about oneself after all.

Maybe he could get Senku to teach him how to nail this...Redeem himself in their eyes.

"I'm mostly doubting myself." Roland chuckles dryly. He admits this freely now, but it isn't without great difficulty. He's doubted a lot of things before, with far bigger issues on the line, but he can't remember when he's actually said it out loud. The two of them combined bring something else out of him, and at this point, he doesn't wonder or question it. More than this, Roland decides that it's better Inigo understands thru action. He faces him with the same, almost embarrassed smile on his face while the spatula carefully pushes the plate towards him. A few pancakes, misshapen as they are, rest on the porcelain already.

"Here. Why don't you try it for yourself? I promise you'll get it."

He might need that honey from Tidus's quick trip to the stores sooner rather than later. Thankfully, his cooking is almost finished. The silver lining is that he managed to add more sugar this time, purely by accident.

Someone doesn't know how teen-adult relationships actually works and it shows.

The honey is far from difficult to find in the storeroom (thanks, ingredient of the month!!), but Tidus takes a moment later to search out some of the chocolate inside his arms band, in one of the few bags he's been collecting up for the job (of keeping his hamerspace organised). Otherwise, he's not going to dally too long - it'll make things weirder, or seem like there's a problem when, whatever, there isn't, right? This is fine.

So he returns to the kitchen with a jar and a bar of something wrapped in thin cloth, raising up both one after the other as he walks and talks with a voice raised.

"Got some! I got some chocolate too, if you want it."

Which he offers with his eyes on Roland more.

Hey, if it shows, then do something about it!

Because Inigo doesn't know what to do. He's really on the edge of desperation here. There are a lot of situations he does know how to do something about, but he's already run through all of the usual techniques here. What is he supposed to do when he's done all of that and Roland is still as unresponsive as before? For all the lack of a fatherly relationship Inigo has had back home, he's just had an absence rather than any stone wall.

He's not sure if he should even eat the pancakes while Roland is acting like this?! What if it just makes him act like this even more. What if Inigo reacts the wrong way - whatever the wrong way here is, he doesn't even know!

So rather than moving to do anything, or saying anything, he's just staring at Tidus with huge puppy eyes. Bro, you fix it? Please, bro? He doesn't know what to do, and he really doesn't want to start crying here!

He's already finishing up when the chocolate is offered and a gaze is met in the middle - knowingly, the olive branch repurposed in a different package - before Roland's attentions are tugged back to Inigo's pause to take the plate he's already asking him to hold. The distinct lack of action there pulls his eyes up, that pleading look on shining eyes that he knows are close to tears.

Maybe its the combination of the two; the pouch Roland should take and the meaning of it, plus Inigo's failed attempt to get him to relent.

But what's left to relent to when the pancakes are more or less, finished cooking, and if he scrapes the bottom of the bowl, he might just have enough for a pancake with chocolate in it? The stoicism that feels permanent suddenly lifts, though its a gradual change, slow like its trying to find footing again. Eventually however, Roland smiles, long enough to figure out what he wants to do. With the chocolate, and the pancakes he's asking Inigo to try.

"Here," He says, grabbing two spoons, the closest to his reach. One is used to cut into a pancake, scooped up and held to his lips. The other is nudged towards Inigo. "I'll take a bite with you. Cheers." And there he goes, not even waiting, just eating it to taste, knowing fully what to expect. The only surprise when his brows raise is that the extra sugar did just enough to make the pancake halfway decent...if not a as dry as the deserts of the second world. Meanwhile, he's nodding to Tidus, his hand open for the pouch of chocolate.

He only speaks as soon as his mouth is clear. "...Thanks. Guess a little extra wouldn't hurt." At least he doesn't sound so sardonic. "They probably need it anyhow. Heh."

The final pancake seems different somehow. There's more effort to make a shape out of it - a face, with long vertical lines sprouting from what is safe to assume, is the head. Roland's concentrating too, like this could help redeem things. What mystical pancake art is he making today? Looks like it's up to his focus for now.

--Why?? Why is he getting looked at with that face by Inigo?! The slow realisation showing in his brow, as it comes together more and more to meet in the middle to a display of incredulity, confusion. What does he expect him to do?! And he gives as subtle of a tip of his head towards Roland, as if it was more of an involuntarily twitch. It's up to him, not Tidus!

But the chocolate is deposited into the waiting hand when offered, Tidus perhaps feeling snubbed that he wasn't offered a bite of the pancake with the two of them. And he might sulk and live with that, except who do you think he is? So stubbornly he takes the spoon that Roland had just used and declares, "Well I'm having some too!", directing Inigo, "Keep a hold of the plate" so he can pour out a small drizzle of the honey on the side.

...or use the spoon he now has, seeing as that's just way easier. Whatever Inigo, let Roland do whatever he's doing back there with the chocolate. It's pancake time already for them!

Yet another moment of communication confusion between the teenagers over here. Or maybe it's just Inigo setting too high expectations for Tidus. Because the other always seems to know how to handle Roland much better - at the very least when it comes to putting his foot down, anyway. Inigo is so weak, he just can't do it. He can only hope to reach out to Roland, and if the other doesn't reach back, then he's all out of plans.

And while there is some reaching happening on Roland's part right now (or so.. Inigo thinks.. it's so hard to read, after all), he still kind of feels like shrinking, too uncomfortable in the mood that has been created here in the carriage.

So rather than saying anything, Inigo decides to just focus on eating with the spoon Roland handed to him. He patiently waits for Tidus to be ready with the honey.. though he doesn't seem to think of using the honey himself yet, completely ignoring it there on the side in favour of just breaking off a piece of pancake with his spoon and scooping it into his mouth.

.. Apparently they're not that bad after all? Or Inigo just has really, really low standards after having to get by for a long while with whatever he could manage to find to eat, because there's no reaction on his part at all. He's just regularly eating it over here, as if he's eating any random thing.

Still not speaking up though. Someone sure has been startled into silence over here at their first encounter of Parent-Teenager-Disconnect, apparently.

Said Guy only offers a throwaway look to Tidus's nabbing of his spoon, but otherwise remains steadfast in the task of the final pancake. The Special One. The Pancake to End all Pancakes. Despite the thick silence that drapes over the three of them, Roland remains focused on the art he's trying to form, scraping the very bottom of the bowl until it's licked clean of batter and two spoons are grabbed willy-nilly to try and shape...something. Drops of chocolate pieces sprinkled on the wet side; then the spatula resumes its place in his right hand, the pancake flipped with some assistance.

He crosses his arms, stares at the pan for a good moment, until he turns to the both of them with a similar look across his face, one he wore earlier. Worried, or searching for some sense of doing a good job. Roland takes the handle of the pan and slides the entire thing down into a separate plate.

With both hands as if presenting to a judge, he hides the budding nerves beneath a well-crafted facade of calm. Tidus and Inigo need only to look once to see the...interesting shapes the pancake has taken the form of. On one half, there is a clear attempt to make the long ears and whiskers of what seems to be a type of rabbit. On the other half, as if a hybrid creature, is a similar effort to mimic the expressions of an aggressive looking feline, snout and eyes made of chocolate for both faces.

"...Does it look like them?" Roland says, shifting one hand to hold the plate for inspection, the other rubbing at his nape. "I don't have photographic memory, and I've only heard them from you two, but..."

The Taguel and the Ronso.

"Gah. Sorry. Maybe with a photo as reference, I'll make them look better next time."

Roland can be making fifty more pancakes for all Tidus will pay any attention to, cutting into the pancake with the edge of his spoon, wiping some of the leftover honey onto the main body of the sweet breakfast treat before he scoops up his bite. No, nevermind, this is the sweet treat; a honey overload bursting over his tastebuds, the sponge of the pancake only there as a guest. Tidusimmediately wishes he'd used a clean spoon, but then decides it's not so bad as his tongue adjusts the flavours in his mouth.

Clearly, he just needs to cut a larger amount of the pancake next, which he starts doing. But he's not ignoring of his breakfast mate, eyes flickering over and seeing that Inigo hasn't touched the honey, pointing to it with his own utensil.

"Try it with some of that. Just put some on your spoon..."

He doesn't need to lead Inigo through each step of the process, does he? Deciding to stop there, see if he'll go for it. Where he is, Tidus doesn't catch any looks from Roland from where he is, and it's only with the call for their verdict that he turns around, taking the few steps to see what exactly Roland is talking about.

...

...

???????????????????????

What is this morphed hybrid... wait, is this for Inigo? Nudging Inigo with an elbow, hey does it look like them???

Tidus's helpful suggestion seems to go ignored. If Roland was so worried about them eating his pancakes, then Inigo isn't going to absolutely coat them in honey in order to hide their taste, okay. He's going to eat them like this. As is. In silence.

.. or, well, that silence may actually be broken. Because Inigo doesn't miss the way Roland calls out to them, nor the way Tidus immediately saunters off to go take a look. Inigo follows, a bit more reluctant, and still chewing a little on his pancake as he stares at Roland's.. unique creations.

If he'd stay silent now, it'd only make Roland retreat more all over again, huh. Or.. probably? Inigo still isn't too sure how to read this side of the guy, but it seems like this task is up to him here, considering how baffled Tidus looks.

"It's a little cuter than Taguel usually look," Inigo points out, apparently more on the same wavelength when it comes to these ideas as Roland. (Really, it's the context that helps him realise, Roland saying he heard about it from them.) "But of course I recognize it!" Inigo sucks in a breath, and musters up everything he's got to try and smile at Roland. A last attempt at encouragement. "Are you trying to get more creative, father?"

But Inigo knows he never told Roland about something looking.. kind of.. cat-like..? So Inigo nudges Tidus right back with an elbow. That one's for you, dude!! Come on!!

Ding ding ding. Ten points to Inigo, but also -

Roland rubs the back of his neck, setting the plate down and hurriedly turning off everything else behind him. Stove, spatula, and soiled bowl all stacked nicely for cleanup later. He returns with his own set of utensils; a fork and a knife because he seems incapable of freestyling when he's already this conscious of his work. It helps at least that one of the twin teens understood his intention, even if it was through context.

"It's called pancake art." He supplements for Inigo, turning it around by the bottom of the plate. The side with the botched Ronso reaches Tidus for his review. "I've only ever made small shapes and circles with them. Like mice." A beat. "I wasn't sure how this would turn out but, well." He hums strangely, almost like a mix of a cough and a clearing of his throat at the same time. "Thanks. I'm glad it sort of resembles them, at least." Or the taguel does; how about that Ronso face, Tidus??? Is that your friend who can jump super high, higher than he can?

His joins them eventually, where they're settled as the first stack rests, being consumed little by little. Maybe this batch wasn't as horrible as the one he made before? Only his taste buds will tell. He's only slightly restless, masking it with his turn to remember something that feels essential to their breakfast, but really it's an excuse to gather his calm once more.

"Ah. I'll get us milk."

ic ✗ inbox

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i figured we can probably wrap this one here?