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Blue Lions Week, June 9: Cooking
His Highness Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd barely has time to ask "Raphael, would you please help me taste test a new recipe I'm trying?" before Raphael has clasped Dimitri's hand between both of his.
"Done," he promises Dimitri immediately, and grins wide. "I was just thinkin' that I needed to get some food in me for the training day ahead!"
"It is a seafood meal," Dimitri explains.
That has Raphael pause, for just a moment. He's not as big a food guy as some of the others in his house, like Marianne, or Leonie. Sure, he'll eat some pickled fish now and then, but he hardly ever has it. His home was never as close to the ocean like some of the others. Better to stick with the good meats from chickens and hares. Still, it is the offer of a meal, and he thinks it might be, like.... treasonous if he refuses an offer from the crown prince of Faerghus? Even if he's not his prince.
But really, it's just a free meal, and there's something flattering about being asked to taste test something. So he grins again. "I don't mind! Let's see whatcha got in store, Your Highness!" He feels Ingrid would be pretty proud of him for remembering the right terminology for addressing a prince.
Dimitri is more than happy to let him hang around the dining hall kitchen as he practices the meal he wants to make for the dinner ahead, so Raphael just drags over a bench from outside to sit on. As he sets it down, out of the way, he perks up at the magic-induced boxes he can see nearby. "Oh - shrimp! You don't see that sorta stuff this far inland."
From where he's chopping up some vegetables, Dimitri smiles a bit. "Yes, it was a gift from a noble over in the Alliance. Apparently, it was sent both as thanks and as an experiment with some magic. They would like to be able to one day make boxes that can keep items cool without constant upkeep from a mage, and that would be quite a boon for trade. They were actually just recently put into these particular boxes, actually... The other ones went back with the wagons that brought them in the first place. They actually had glasses cases in them filled with salt water... Apparently the magic only really works, for now, with water as a conduit, which makes it awkward. But it did seem to work, which is nice."
Faintly, Raphael wonders how much of this he should remember, and if he's expected to remember any of it. Magic goes over his head. Still, he thinks he gets the gist of it, so he agrees. "Yeah, real nice! Do you know what kind of recipe you're gonna make with 'em?"
"Yes! I got-" Carefully putting the knife down before he accidentally cuts his fingers off from being too excited, Dimitri reaches over to snatch a piece of paper up from the counter. "I wrote to Rodrigue when I heard that this shipment was coming to Garreg Mach, and he passed along a recipe he apparently found from some old things he kept from his mother - or his grandmother? No, I believe it was his mother... It's from Dagda, apparently. It involves a kind of nut sauce. Still, since it is a new recipe, well.. I hope you tell me if it comes out well or not."
Raphael offers up two thumbs up. "I'm ready for good food!"
It's nice, to be allowed so close to the kitchen while someone cooks. Raphael is tall and big enough that he can see over to what Dimitri is doing with relative ease, how he gets the vegetables all ready and set to the side before adding oil onto a skillet. He's a really careful guy when it comes to cooking, something Raphael never really noticed before. Him, he just chops stuff up, puts it in a stew, and calls it done. You know, when he doesn't just roast up some meat. Usually, it works out pretty well for him.
But Dimitri... He's a lot more careful, always peering at the recipe that was written down for him. As he finally puts some of the shrimp onto the pan, Raphael asks, "So are you really interested in that kind of food, Your Highness?"
"You can just call me Dimitri," he says over his shoulder, which is a relief. Your Highness is kind of a mouthful. "And no, not particularly... I like different foods. But Dedue has an interest in seafood, you see. I don't think I've seen him try a fish dish yet that he doesn't like. So I'm hoping that he might like this, as well. It's something so far away from Duscur, I'm really not sure..." He frowns a little, flipping the shrimps over after a minute.
"He'll like it," Raphael says confidently. "I mean, you're makin' it for him, right? That means it's going to be good."
A smile appears again on Dimitri's lips. "I do not think it is that simple," he says, letting the shrimp cook a little before removing them from the pan entirely. "Although I would like it if it were so."
Raphael cocks his head to the side. "Who says it can't be that easy? I mean, look at ya - you're followin' that recipe really carefully, you kept watch over when the shipment would arrive, you asked around for a recipe to make, and you came in early to help test out the recipe before dinner happened." He rubs his chin, doing his best to put his brain to good use just in case he's missed anything. He's not the smartest guy in the world, he'd admit that, but this is about someone's important friend. That's the kind of thing that deserves a little brain effort. "Yeah, it'll be good."
"That is..." Dimitri pauses, staring over at him, before there's a sizzle from the stovetop and he remembers what he was doing. Quickly, he turns back to it, pouring in a jar of some white juice. "I suppose I didn't think about it that way," he admits, following the juice up with other liquids Raphael can't identify at a glance. Just teaspoons of the stuff. "Thank you, Raphael."
"No problem!" And then, hopefully, "Is it ready yet?"
Dimitri chuckles. "No, not quite. This has to all mingle and cook together," he says, reaching over for an hourglass and flipping it over. The bright news is that it's not the biggest one that's in the kitchen. "But in a few minutes."
A few minutes flies by pretty quickly, as it turns out, when you have good company to spend it with. The two of them exchange plenty of words together about their training regimen, what they've been practicing, Ingrid's attempts to polish Raphael up into a proper knight. It's almost enough to distract him from the tempting and intriguing smell coming from the pan, and he's glad when Dimitri' turns back to it and adds in the shrimp once more.
Despite his insistance that the meal doesn't really need any vegetables, Dimitri adds some anyway before presenting the plate to him. Well, he was never raised to do anything less than clean his plate, so Raphael gets to work.
And he has to say... He does not regret it. After taking a huge first bite, a delight noise smacks against the back of his teeth. "Wow! I've never had a sauce like that before. I didn't think I'd like a taste like that. It's, uh..." He's never really been a poet, and not even with food. Still, the description comes to him eventually. "It's earthy! Salty, too. Somehow it goes well with the shrimp." Raphael suddenly laughs. "Man... I'm glad I got to go to Garreg Mach! I'd never have food like this otherwise!"
"We'll have to change that," Dimitri murmurs. Raphael doesn't have much time to ask what he means, or the inclination to follow through, because then he says, "Would you like to have the rest? I'm on kitchen duty tonight, so I should be able to make even more of this for everyone else! But this will be cold by then."
Well. He doesn't have to ask Raphael twice.
Dinner proper can't come soon enough, and Raphael hustles every Deer he can over to the shrimp, wanting to share that kind of thing with them, too. He knows it probably doesn't mean as much to nobles like Claude and Lorenz, although they both seem fine with his insistence, but he still wants to share with Leonie, Ignatz, everyone he can.
But it's not just his house he's looking out for. He watches the line up even as he stuffs his face, and perks up when he sees Dedue come in at the tail end of everybody. It hits him, just then, that's how he always sees Dedue: either at the beginning of the line before even Raphael has shown up or, more often than not, at the tail end after everyone else has gone. He can't imagine waiting so long for food, honestly. Does it stay nice and hot, waiting that long?
Well, one thing is for clear: it's gonna be nice and hot and ready today. Dimitri lights up where he sees Dedue as well, and, even this far away, Raphael can see him get hard at work doing exactly what he saw before: the dicing of the veggies, the oil in the pan, shrimp fried and then immediately tossed into another pan where all those juices and sauces are waiting to coat them. By the time Dedue steps up, Dimitri is practically already shoving the plate into his hands with a wide smile. It's too far away to hear what they're saying, but they must be saying something with their heads bowed close together like that.
"Gonna invite Dedue to sit with us, Raphael?" Claude asks, and, oh right, he's sitting with some of the others right now. Claude, obviously, and Ignatz, and Hilda.
Hilda, who shakes her head. "I don't think it would work that well," she says. "He's usually pretty careful who he sits with."
But Raphael does not even hear her, because Claude is right, obviously. What a great idea! He should go sit with Dedue! "I'll be right back!" he announces cheerfully, hauling up his impressive wooden lunch tray and himself up with it.
Dedue is walking away from the serving area by that point, and so Raphael doesn't waste any time. "Hey, Dedue!" he says cheerfully, turning around so that he can fall into step with the other man. "Let's eat together!"
"That wouldn't be a good idea," Dedue says simply, in a way that comes without too much thought.
It probably says something about what first comes to Raphael's mind. "Oh, don't worry about it," he says, before remembering to lower his voice so that no one hears. Whispers and everything. "If you burp really loudly, then I promise I won't laugh. It happens to everyone, especially when they eat really fast because the food is too good." Dedue stares at him for a second, probably because most people are too prim and proper to talk about that kind of thing, but Raphael is already doing his best to steer him in one direction. "There's a free seat!"
Sure, he could bring him back to the Deer table, but Raphael thinks that might be kind of rude. This is something he's doing, after all, even if Claude is the one who gave him an idea. So, happily, he gets Dedue into a seat besides him, whereupon he realizes he has no idea what to talk to him about.
No, wait. Wait, he knows what to talk about. "I test tasted the shrimp, you know," he says cheerfully, taking a big forkful again. "It's really good - and it was made just for you!"
Dedue seems to adjust to the seat he's been guided into, and he looks pointedly down at Raphael's plate. "I believe if it were all made just for me, I would not be able to eat it all."
Okay, he can recognize a joke when he hears one, and Raphael doesn't hold back, letting his laughter boom out of him. "It was a lot of shrimp! Although I bet there's not as much now. But the recipe was definitely for you! I asked!" He sort of asked. "Go on, have a bit! You need a lot of muscles to swing around an axe, and take care of gardens!"
That kind of logic is impossible to beat, he knows. It's why Dedue finally takes a forkful for himself - not as big as Raphael would have recommended, but a pretty good portion regardless. He closes his eyes as he chews, letting the flavor sink into him and... Raphael thinks he smiles. Just a little bit, but the guy has such a stern expression on his face that even a little relaxation is noticeable. "It is good," he says.
"Just like I said," Raphael says happily, and looks around for Dimitri. He thinks that's the guy who should be hearing this most of all, with how worried he was. But when his eyes land on him, he notices something that stands out right off the bat. Dimitri is holding two plates, which Raphael would normally commend him for because that's the kind of appetite that only makes strong guys even stronger. The problem is that he's looking elsewhere, and it turns out elsewhere is another person, and that other person would be Felix.
Shrimp must be really good for energy, because he's feeling full of fit. "I'll be right back," he tells Dedue, and then he's up again. But, you know. Not without shoving a huge double forkful of shrimp and veggies into his mouth first.
A man has to have his priorities and all.
Dimitri already realizes he's coming before he gets there, and he looks over at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, Raphael, I will be over there in just a moment."
"No problem," he says, because it's true. Food is a time to relax and enjoy the flavor, hype a guy up for the day ahead. "Is Felix going to eat with us?" He knows Felix at least a little better than he does Dedue, on account of how much time they both spend on the training grounds. Pretty serious guy, but a great swordsman. Raphael's never beaten him yet, but he thinks Felix likes him. He's definitely never refused a spar.
He kind of thought Dimitri knew him well too, but he hesitates a moment. "I'm not sure if he would care to," he says. "Although we would like it if he could enjoy this kind of meal, honestly."
Raphael has no idea who the 'we' is that Dimitri is talking about - maybe Sylvain or Ingrid? They know Felix pretty well too, right? Either way, he smacks Dimitri on the shoulder. "Don't worry, he loves meat just like me! I'll get him over!" And even though he realizes it's probably impolite towards royalty, later, in hindsight, Raphael picks up one of the plates from Dimitri's hand and goes over to where Felix has sequestered himself at a table.
"I'm not interested," Felix says, the second Raphael is close enough. He's tearing into some sauteed jerky and bread, which Raphael normally likes too, but who says he can't have both at the same time?
He doesn't let himself be deterred. "I didn't even have a chance to ask anything!" Raphael says cheerfully. "Is it about the shrimp?"
"The shrimp you're holding in your hand, that you yanked from the boar?" Felix snorts. "Yes, it's about the shrimp." Well, it sounds obvious when he puts it like that.
"You should try it!"
"No." Felix tears into a bit of bread again, scowling. He looks like he's in an even more severe of a mood than usual. "Besides, isn't it just something that was made for that mindless ass?"
"Nah, I don't think Garreg Mach really has donkeys," Raphael says, and frowns a little. Felix is staring at him. Raphael doesn't much notice, because now he has to wonder... "Do you think donkeys would be into shrimp? Anyway, it was for Dedue! And you, I think."
Felix is still staring at him, like he doesn't know what to do with himself. The answer would be pretty obviously to enjoy the shrimp, Raphael figures. "It's not," he says slowly. "Idiot."
Having been called worse in his life, Raphael doesn't register the insult. Why is Felix fighting so much against trying some shrimp? Oh. "Do you not do good with seafood?" he asks, lowering his voice carefully. "I get that. If you can't handle it, that's fine. I'll take care of it for you." And with that, he turns around to head back to the table Dedue is at, where Dimitri is watching him from anxiously.
He's hardly taken many steps before there's the scrape of wood against stone floor, and Felix's footsteps. Also Felix's very offended voice. "I never said that-"
Two minutes later, and they're all seated at the same table: Dimitri and Felix on one side, Dedue and Raphael on the other. Felix is left staring down at the plate of shrimp in front of him like it magically appeared out of nowhere, even though Raphael knows he saw him put it down on the table in front of him, and Dimitri is constantly glancing at Felix from the corner of his eye like he expects his friend to do the opposite and disappear. Dedue just continues to patiently eat.
Raphael beams. "Let's dig in!"
"Done," he promises Dimitri immediately, and grins wide. "I was just thinkin' that I needed to get some food in me for the training day ahead!"
"It is a seafood meal," Dimitri explains.
That has Raphael pause, for just a moment. He's not as big a food guy as some of the others in his house, like Marianne, or Leonie. Sure, he'll eat some pickled fish now and then, but he hardly ever has it. His home was never as close to the ocean like some of the others. Better to stick with the good meats from chickens and hares. Still, it is the offer of a meal, and he thinks it might be, like.... treasonous if he refuses an offer from the crown prince of Faerghus? Even if he's not his prince.
But really, it's just a free meal, and there's something flattering about being asked to taste test something. So he grins again. "I don't mind! Let's see whatcha got in store, Your Highness!" He feels Ingrid would be pretty proud of him for remembering the right terminology for addressing a prince.
Dimitri is more than happy to let him hang around the dining hall kitchen as he practices the meal he wants to make for the dinner ahead, so Raphael just drags over a bench from outside to sit on. As he sets it down, out of the way, he perks up at the magic-induced boxes he can see nearby. "Oh - shrimp! You don't see that sorta stuff this far inland."
From where he's chopping up some vegetables, Dimitri smiles a bit. "Yes, it was a gift from a noble over in the Alliance. Apparently, it was sent both as thanks and as an experiment with some magic. They would like to be able to one day make boxes that can keep items cool without constant upkeep from a mage, and that would be quite a boon for trade. They were actually just recently put into these particular boxes, actually... The other ones went back with the wagons that brought them in the first place. They actually had glasses cases in them filled with salt water... Apparently the magic only really works, for now, with water as a conduit, which makes it awkward. But it did seem to work, which is nice."
Faintly, Raphael wonders how much of this he should remember, and if he's expected to remember any of it. Magic goes over his head. Still, he thinks he gets the gist of it, so he agrees. "Yeah, real nice! Do you know what kind of recipe you're gonna make with 'em?"
"Yes! I got-" Carefully putting the knife down before he accidentally cuts his fingers off from being too excited, Dimitri reaches over to snatch a piece of paper up from the counter. "I wrote to Rodrigue when I heard that this shipment was coming to Garreg Mach, and he passed along a recipe he apparently found from some old things he kept from his mother - or his grandmother? No, I believe it was his mother... It's from Dagda, apparently. It involves a kind of nut sauce. Still, since it is a new recipe, well.. I hope you tell me if it comes out well or not."
Raphael offers up two thumbs up. "I'm ready for good food!"
It's nice, to be allowed so close to the kitchen while someone cooks. Raphael is tall and big enough that he can see over to what Dimitri is doing with relative ease, how he gets the vegetables all ready and set to the side before adding oil onto a skillet. He's a really careful guy when it comes to cooking, something Raphael never really noticed before. Him, he just chops stuff up, puts it in a stew, and calls it done. You know, when he doesn't just roast up some meat. Usually, it works out pretty well for him.
But Dimitri... He's a lot more careful, always peering at the recipe that was written down for him. As he finally puts some of the shrimp onto the pan, Raphael asks, "So are you really interested in that kind of food, Your Highness?"
"You can just call me Dimitri," he says over his shoulder, which is a relief. Your Highness is kind of a mouthful. "And no, not particularly... I like different foods. But Dedue has an interest in seafood, you see. I don't think I've seen him try a fish dish yet that he doesn't like. So I'm hoping that he might like this, as well. It's something so far away from Duscur, I'm really not sure..." He frowns a little, flipping the shrimps over after a minute.
"He'll like it," Raphael says confidently. "I mean, you're makin' it for him, right? That means it's going to be good."
A smile appears again on Dimitri's lips. "I do not think it is that simple," he says, letting the shrimp cook a little before removing them from the pan entirely. "Although I would like it if it were so."
Raphael cocks his head to the side. "Who says it can't be that easy? I mean, look at ya - you're followin' that recipe really carefully, you kept watch over when the shipment would arrive, you asked around for a recipe to make, and you came in early to help test out the recipe before dinner happened." He rubs his chin, doing his best to put his brain to good use just in case he's missed anything. He's not the smartest guy in the world, he'd admit that, but this is about someone's important friend. That's the kind of thing that deserves a little brain effort. "Yeah, it'll be good."
"That is..." Dimitri pauses, staring over at him, before there's a sizzle from the stovetop and he remembers what he was doing. Quickly, he turns back to it, pouring in a jar of some white juice. "I suppose I didn't think about it that way," he admits, following the juice up with other liquids Raphael can't identify at a glance. Just teaspoons of the stuff. "Thank you, Raphael."
"No problem!" And then, hopefully, "Is it ready yet?"
Dimitri chuckles. "No, not quite. This has to all mingle and cook together," he says, reaching over for an hourglass and flipping it over. The bright news is that it's not the biggest one that's in the kitchen. "But in a few minutes."
A few minutes flies by pretty quickly, as it turns out, when you have good company to spend it with. The two of them exchange plenty of words together about their training regimen, what they've been practicing, Ingrid's attempts to polish Raphael up into a proper knight. It's almost enough to distract him from the tempting and intriguing smell coming from the pan, and he's glad when Dimitri' turns back to it and adds in the shrimp once more.
Despite his insistance that the meal doesn't really need any vegetables, Dimitri adds some anyway before presenting the plate to him. Well, he was never raised to do anything less than clean his plate, so Raphael gets to work.
And he has to say... He does not regret it. After taking a huge first bite, a delight noise smacks against the back of his teeth. "Wow! I've never had a sauce like that before. I didn't think I'd like a taste like that. It's, uh..." He's never really been a poet, and not even with food. Still, the description comes to him eventually. "It's earthy! Salty, too. Somehow it goes well with the shrimp." Raphael suddenly laughs. "Man... I'm glad I got to go to Garreg Mach! I'd never have food like this otherwise!"
"We'll have to change that," Dimitri murmurs. Raphael doesn't have much time to ask what he means, or the inclination to follow through, because then he says, "Would you like to have the rest? I'm on kitchen duty tonight, so I should be able to make even more of this for everyone else! But this will be cold by then."
Well. He doesn't have to ask Raphael twice.
Dinner proper can't come soon enough, and Raphael hustles every Deer he can over to the shrimp, wanting to share that kind of thing with them, too. He knows it probably doesn't mean as much to nobles like Claude and Lorenz, although they both seem fine with his insistence, but he still wants to share with Leonie, Ignatz, everyone he can.
But it's not just his house he's looking out for. He watches the line up even as he stuffs his face, and perks up when he sees Dedue come in at the tail end of everybody. It hits him, just then, that's how he always sees Dedue: either at the beginning of the line before even Raphael has shown up or, more often than not, at the tail end after everyone else has gone. He can't imagine waiting so long for food, honestly. Does it stay nice and hot, waiting that long?
Well, one thing is for clear: it's gonna be nice and hot and ready today. Dimitri lights up where he sees Dedue as well, and, even this far away, Raphael can see him get hard at work doing exactly what he saw before: the dicing of the veggies, the oil in the pan, shrimp fried and then immediately tossed into another pan where all those juices and sauces are waiting to coat them. By the time Dedue steps up, Dimitri is practically already shoving the plate into his hands with a wide smile. It's too far away to hear what they're saying, but they must be saying something with their heads bowed close together like that.
"Gonna invite Dedue to sit with us, Raphael?" Claude asks, and, oh right, he's sitting with some of the others right now. Claude, obviously, and Ignatz, and Hilda.
Hilda, who shakes her head. "I don't think it would work that well," she says. "He's usually pretty careful who he sits with."
But Raphael does not even hear her, because Claude is right, obviously. What a great idea! He should go sit with Dedue! "I'll be right back!" he announces cheerfully, hauling up his impressive wooden lunch tray and himself up with it.
Dedue is walking away from the serving area by that point, and so Raphael doesn't waste any time. "Hey, Dedue!" he says cheerfully, turning around so that he can fall into step with the other man. "Let's eat together!"
"That wouldn't be a good idea," Dedue says simply, in a way that comes without too much thought.
It probably says something about what first comes to Raphael's mind. "Oh, don't worry about it," he says, before remembering to lower his voice so that no one hears. Whispers and everything. "If you burp really loudly, then I promise I won't laugh. It happens to everyone, especially when they eat really fast because the food is too good." Dedue stares at him for a second, probably because most people are too prim and proper to talk about that kind of thing, but Raphael is already doing his best to steer him in one direction. "There's a free seat!"
Sure, he could bring him back to the Deer table, but Raphael thinks that might be kind of rude. This is something he's doing, after all, even if Claude is the one who gave him an idea. So, happily, he gets Dedue into a seat besides him, whereupon he realizes he has no idea what to talk to him about.
No, wait. Wait, he knows what to talk about. "I test tasted the shrimp, you know," he says cheerfully, taking a big forkful again. "It's really good - and it was made just for you!"
Dedue seems to adjust to the seat he's been guided into, and he looks pointedly down at Raphael's plate. "I believe if it were all made just for me, I would not be able to eat it all."
Okay, he can recognize a joke when he hears one, and Raphael doesn't hold back, letting his laughter boom out of him. "It was a lot of shrimp! Although I bet there's not as much now. But the recipe was definitely for you! I asked!" He sort of asked. "Go on, have a bit! You need a lot of muscles to swing around an axe, and take care of gardens!"
That kind of logic is impossible to beat, he knows. It's why Dedue finally takes a forkful for himself - not as big as Raphael would have recommended, but a pretty good portion regardless. He closes his eyes as he chews, letting the flavor sink into him and... Raphael thinks he smiles. Just a little bit, but the guy has such a stern expression on his face that even a little relaxation is noticeable. "It is good," he says.
"Just like I said," Raphael says happily, and looks around for Dimitri. He thinks that's the guy who should be hearing this most of all, with how worried he was. But when his eyes land on him, he notices something that stands out right off the bat. Dimitri is holding two plates, which Raphael would normally commend him for because that's the kind of appetite that only makes strong guys even stronger. The problem is that he's looking elsewhere, and it turns out elsewhere is another person, and that other person would be Felix.
Shrimp must be really good for energy, because he's feeling full of fit. "I'll be right back," he tells Dedue, and then he's up again. But, you know. Not without shoving a huge double forkful of shrimp and veggies into his mouth first.
A man has to have his priorities and all.
Dimitri already realizes he's coming before he gets there, and he looks over at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, Raphael, I will be over there in just a moment."
"No problem," he says, because it's true. Food is a time to relax and enjoy the flavor, hype a guy up for the day ahead. "Is Felix going to eat with us?" He knows Felix at least a little better than he does Dedue, on account of how much time they both spend on the training grounds. Pretty serious guy, but a great swordsman. Raphael's never beaten him yet, but he thinks Felix likes him. He's definitely never refused a spar.
He kind of thought Dimitri knew him well too, but he hesitates a moment. "I'm not sure if he would care to," he says. "Although we would like it if he could enjoy this kind of meal, honestly."
Raphael has no idea who the 'we' is that Dimitri is talking about - maybe Sylvain or Ingrid? They know Felix pretty well too, right? Either way, he smacks Dimitri on the shoulder. "Don't worry, he loves meat just like me! I'll get him over!" And even though he realizes it's probably impolite towards royalty, later, in hindsight, Raphael picks up one of the plates from Dimitri's hand and goes over to where Felix has sequestered himself at a table.
"I'm not interested," Felix says, the second Raphael is close enough. He's tearing into some sauteed jerky and bread, which Raphael normally likes too, but who says he can't have both at the same time?
He doesn't let himself be deterred. "I didn't even have a chance to ask anything!" Raphael says cheerfully. "Is it about the shrimp?"
"The shrimp you're holding in your hand, that you yanked from the boar?" Felix snorts. "Yes, it's about the shrimp." Well, it sounds obvious when he puts it like that.
"You should try it!"
"No." Felix tears into a bit of bread again, scowling. He looks like he's in an even more severe of a mood than usual. "Besides, isn't it just something that was made for that mindless ass?"
"Nah, I don't think Garreg Mach really has donkeys," Raphael says, and frowns a little. Felix is staring at him. Raphael doesn't much notice, because now he has to wonder... "Do you think donkeys would be into shrimp? Anyway, it was for Dedue! And you, I think."
Felix is still staring at him, like he doesn't know what to do with himself. The answer would be pretty obviously to enjoy the shrimp, Raphael figures. "It's not," he says slowly. "Idiot."
Having been called worse in his life, Raphael doesn't register the insult. Why is Felix fighting so much against trying some shrimp? Oh. "Do you not do good with seafood?" he asks, lowering his voice carefully. "I get that. If you can't handle it, that's fine. I'll take care of it for you." And with that, he turns around to head back to the table Dedue is at, where Dimitri is watching him from anxiously.
He's hardly taken many steps before there's the scrape of wood against stone floor, and Felix's footsteps. Also Felix's very offended voice. "I never said that-"
Two minutes later, and they're all seated at the same table: Dimitri and Felix on one side, Dedue and Raphael on the other. Felix is left staring down at the plate of shrimp in front of him like it magically appeared out of nowhere, even though Raphael knows he saw him put it down on the table in front of him, and Dimitri is constantly glancing at Felix from the corner of his eye like he expects his friend to do the opposite and disappear. Dedue just continues to patiently eat.
Raphael beams. "Let's dig in!"