What're You Doing In My House?! [Liltotto/Ania]

To Liltotto's best efforts, the process of cooking this meal was anything but smooth. Though Ania confronted it in earnest and focus, there was only so much the girl could do to accommodate the instructions, or keep a clean workspace. The spaghetti broke several times in the process, sauce went everywhere, there was clinking and clanking from places and objects one could not conceive of making clinks and clanks.

Nevertheless, they persisted, and the product was a success. A big pile of spaghetti, meatballs, and a generous arrangement of garnishes and parmesan. Though it seemed a ludicrous amount for two people, the both of them possessed stomachs not to be underestimated. Liltotto was the first person Ania ever met that could eat as much as her, frankly. It was a subject of great fascination and idolisation for the girl.

In between the moments of Ania engorging herself on the food, she responded. Normally, it would be with food still in her mouth, but Liltotto scolded her so much about speaking with an empty mouth that it finally broke through.

"Mmmm, nope."

Still, it was Ania's nature to be curt. More so, what was the point of meeting new people? She had Hobbes, she had Liltotto--that was sufficient. Actually, she went back to the diner with that fat old owner a few times, but now that she had an allowance to eat and--to some degree--manners, she was received. Not really quite warmly, but the kindred spirits of her and the owner made it so that the diner essentially became one of her hangout spots, and the owner like a grumpy uncle.

There was a number of things Ania was doing besides that, in fact. Training, still, but her wanderlust was never dissuaded just because she stayed in the city. In fact, she took her ship out on a couple of trips in Liltotto's absence, though none of that was to be mentioned. Not to Ania's knowledge, at least, though realistically Hobbes was likely to rat her out to Liltotto. Traitorous bastard.

Ania kept eating away without a care, though she did listen to Liltotto's words. No response for the statement about friends--it wasn't really needed--but when school was brought up, Ania actively sneered. School was the breeding grounds of the devil, a place of evil, a realm of pure torment designed for the specific aims of keeping the spirits of the brave and the weak down to the ground. This, too, received no verbal response. She even lost her appetite for a moment.

Ania sat still, finally taking a break in her consumption. She played with her food a bit, drawing waves with the individual noodles, even a drawing of her own ship. For spaghetti art, it was surprisingly very good. Soon enough, her appetite returned, and she went back to eating at paces faster than before. She took a moment to finish what was in her mouth before changing the subject.

"Wat you' been doin'?"

As untalkative, and maybe even aloof, as Ania was, she was always genuinely interested in Liltotto recounting her journeys and adventures. Even the relatively mundane ones, to which if uneventful enough Ania would make verbal commentary on how boring it seemed. Her eyes were of course still more focused on the food than her guardian, but her ears were open. It was the kind of stuff that made Ania all the more excited to go stronger, maybe even follow in her mentor's footsteps. After all, Liltotto seemed to actually use her powers, and in a way that seemed pretty agreeable.

Of course, the thing that Liltotto didn't admire and want to adopt, was the way she always saw between the lines and pried into Ania's feelings. Well, it was the kind of thing that bonded them together to begin with, so it wasn't all too poorly received, but still annoying enough at times. Once again, Ania deflected.

"Ohh, das' right. Wat da hek happen to you? You look..." Ania put her fork down for a moment to use both her hands and outline an exaggerated hourglass, "different."

If it wasn't for Liltotto taking it back, Ania would've gone about her life believing milk was the path to success. The initial joke already had her groping around her own body, imagining what it would be like to grow up more. She already had quite a bit of growth in recent months, but somewhere deep down she knew there was a well of potential to tap into, and that she had yet to reach it. Ania damn near jumped off her seat and headed to the fridge for some milk. But, instead of gaining the secret to building mass, she only gained a frown.

The girl resumed eating, though she now had a noticeably slower pace to it.

Ania, the fool, trained her eyes back on Liltotto with hope and vigor in them. As the woman detailed her experiences, teasing away at the slowly unraveling secrets of the hyper-accelerated physical development. This excitement drew closer to a familiar sort of sadness, of loneliness. The girl even gasped away in shock and horror at the mention of Liltotto not having her own Hobbes! That would surely be too much for Ania to bear. As the story continued, she left her seat and walked over to her guardian, patting her on the head and giving her a hug in comfort.

Then, the hope of the story finally came. To be honest, it seemed suspicious. However, Ania had been suspicious of Liltotto before--and at that time, she made the wrong assumptions. Despite the deception, Ania had total and full, unconditional trust in her. Surely, if Liltotto had said this was the way to better develop the body, she must be right.

"Mmm... k..."

Ania nodded her head and gave it some thought. The right group of people. What was that like? Who was that? Maybe the Vandenreich, just like Liltotto? Maybe someone else... Maaaybeeee, it would be nice to have some more people on her ship. Ania briefly imagined what it would be like, having a whole crew on board to adventure with. Lost in her day-dream, her mouth turned to a grin.