#i thought it would be fun to draw a fishy border

[dovesick]

artfight 2: gone fishing. this is the wonderful mendel for @chalkrub

[carbrakes-and-stakes]

Supper Trooper - Margot, Nora, Simon,  Alain

Alain just got out of the police station and goes home to join Simon and Nora for dinner.

Supper Trooper happens right after this (x)

Alain’s anger did not seem to go away, and for a good enough reason : he did not know who he should have been directing it toward. His train of thoughts went back and forth between blaming himself, the police, or Nora and Simon, or even the damn squid and his fishy diet. Having a Mexican standoff in your head was really far from pleasant, as one could easily imagine. He had stopped at the supermarket to get a shirt, grabbed the first one he could find. Actually it was the second one he could find. The first one read: I love mimes, and even in such times, he would never have bought that. Even then, he felt as if he still reeked of fish, and feared that the smell would never leave his nostrils. “Putain,” having arrived at the garage, he saw a person waiting at the entrance. That’s when he remembered. Margot. Showing her around. He glanced at his watch. Yep. 45 minutes late. “Rooh, et merde,” stepping out of his car, he rubbed his face and approached the door, and Margot. “I’m really, really sorry,” looking more worn out than if he had spent the night hunting, he sighed. “How about we do this tomorrow. I’m really not in the mood,” which probably made him sound like an enormous pile of shit, but this was the truth. He entered the garage to get his cellphone from the counter, some paperwork, and walked back to Margot. “Can I offer you dinner? I feel bad enough to have kept you waiting like that.”

Margot would never consider herself one to arrive fashionably late to anything. Not that she was one of those people who showed up half-an-hour before an appointment, either. No, she was usually right on time. And had been… until about fifteen minutes had passed, and she glanced down at her phone to reassure herself that yes, this was the time Alain had told her to come. Maybe he was just running late? She simply left it at that in lieu of texting him, not wanting to seem impatient. However, when his absence bordered on an hour, she was beginning to feel more concerned than anything else. Being here reminded her of… many things she would have rather not thought about, and the potential for something bad to happen churned uncomfortably in her gut. Her thumb hovered just over his phone number when she heard someone pull up to the garage, twitching her head up and trying to gauge if it was indeed him. When he finally appeared, Margot immediately shook her head and waved off the apology. “It’s alright, really. I’m just glad you’re alright, you had me… really worried, not gonna lie,” She tried to cover up her nerves with a tight laugh, and perked up a bit at the mention of dinner. “Oh, are you sure? I mean yeah, I’d definitely be down but, you… You look pretty tired,” 

 Hours ago Nora had been throwing fish in a lake with Simon and Alain. After that fun, but all together disappointing experience, Simon and Nora had gone back to Alains house. They’d expected Alain to be right behind him. He never showed up. So Nora had done what any great friend would have done. She got the spare key and let them in. “I’m going to take a shower.” She had declared and was now, hours later, dressed in Alains clothes, sitting on his counters and eating his food. Without Alain there to tell her no, she’d decided to heat up everything she’d found. The countertops were currently sorted into two sections, already heated and to be heated. The closet, having already gone through its brand new organization, was sorted into four piles. Clothes Nora would never wear, clothes Nora could maybe wear, clothes Nora was trying to convince Simon to change into so all of them didn’t have to keep smelling like dead fish and clothes Nora thought Alain should go ahead and get rid of. “What do you eat first?” Nora asked Simon, shoving another course into the microwave and setting a timer. “Alain is a very good cook.” Hours ago, Simon had been throwing fish in a lake with Nora and Alain. He had a little less fun and his arms were sore now after the labour but he didn’t quite regret it - after all, it was what Nora wanted to do and she was his first friend in town so he couldn’t say no. Then followed a quiet drive down the open roads to Alain’s house only to find that not only was he not following them, he seemed to be delayed by something. Simon, setting his fish-slime-covered jacket in the grass next to the path that led to the door, was considerably more apprehensive about entering someone else’s house, especially if the owner himself wasn’t there so Nora almost literally dragged him in despite his body seeming to stiffen in protest and fear at the sound of two large dogs whining in the back. Now, after awkwardly loitering at the entryway of the house for what seemed like quite a while while Nora presumably moved about the house as though it was hers, he found himself standing in the corner of the kitchen furthest from the sound of dogs, almost plastered against the wall as if trying to phase through it and out of existence. He had gently declined each of the outfits Nora had picked out for him, deciding to draw the invisible line at taking the man’s clothes and he was now juggling several tasks between worrying about why Alain hadn’t shown up, half-heartedly insisting that he wasn’t hungry to Nora who seemed intent on heating *everything* up and trying not to look and sound like a(n even more) disgusting mess as he had a hand up to his nose and sniffled constantly. “I’m sure he is,” He opted to say quietly, thickly.

Alain frowned as Margot confessed that he had worried her here. Obviously, considering what had possibly happened to her father, she did not need another person she knew going missing. “Well I offered, didn’t I? Come on.” The road to his house was a 10 minutes ride usually, but now that he had to avoid Dark Score lake, it lasted 5 minutes more and that was good enough to have a conversation with someone, right? Not that he had ever been ever good at those, but he appreciated the young woman enough to want to speak with her, and invite her over for dinner. “So, you and Dario, you are friends, right? How do you feel about working with him?” Much like Kaden, Alain suspected that they were not just friends, although it was premature to even voice his concern. “Completely different subject, but I have two big dogs. You don’t have a problem with those, do you?” They never strutted around the garage, but someone scared of dogs would never be able to work properly in those conditions.

Margot couldn’t argue with that logic, nodding to herself and partially Alain before following after him. Besides, it had been a while since someone had offered her dinner, and the prospect of getting to know her new boss was one she didn’t wish to pass up. Though Deidre had been dismissive of her initial words, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was truly something about Alain she needed to be concerned with. On the outside he seemed like a genuinely decent guy - but appearances could oftentimes be incredibly deceiving. She had seen enough of the same outcome time and time again to realize that. At the mention of Dario, she shrugged a shoulder at first, but tapered off with a slow nod. “Yeah, we’re… kind of friends, I guess? He likes to brag to me about himself, I take a sort of satisfaction in taking him down a peg or two. I mean, playfully of course. At least I hope he knows that…” Margot could be vicious when the mood suited her, and the past couple of weeks had show-cased that far more than she wished they had. But she meant no harm to Dario, and quite honestly enjoyed their back-and-forths a little more than she expressed. “Like I said, if he does his work and doesn’t call me ‘Little duck’ on the clock, we’re good,” Margot’s expression lit up at the next question. “Not even, I love dogs! Bigger the more to love, right?” As they pulled up to the house, Margot began walking backwards up Alain’s yard. “So, are you making fish or something? It smells good,”

“Are you scared of dogs?” Nora finally asked Simon. The man was a pole, stuck in a corner taking up no space and trying not to be a bother. Nora was no good at soothing people's fear. In fact, she generally thought it was better to make a scary situation scarier. It was a nice little snack, feasting on his fear as she heated up all the food. “Or are you scared of leftovers?” That, Nora decided, would be a silly food. She’d be scared of leftovers if they were going to go bad, she finally decided. All that wasted food. ‘Not today little children’ Nora thought towards the piles of tupperware containers, pulling one out and putting a new one in. “I wonder what’s taking him so long. Maybe he went grocery shopping.” Nora could feel herself salivating over the thought of fresh meat. She swallowed it back, rolling the sleeves of Alain’s single suit to her elbows. After thoroughly going through Alains closet she’d decided that the suit was the only outfit she’d be able to borrow from it. It was a few sizes too big, and the constant accidental slipping of fabric into food. “That’d be cool.” Simon quirked an eyebrow and he looked up in thought at Nora’s most recent string of sentences, deciding not to answer her first question and skip straight ahead to where Alain might be. “Judging by the abundance of things you’re heating up,” He said slowly, subtly trying to mask the congestion now present in his voice. “I don’t think he went to the grocery store.” After all, he already figured Nora was the type to walk around with meat in her pockets anyway. Then again, maybe he DID go to the store considering that Nora seemed to be a black hole of consumption. He doubted it though and didn’t really conclude his own train of thought, instead involuntarily punctuating the end of his reply with a sneeze or two-- or four, that was fine. This was fine. He released an internal groan disguised as an exhale through his mouth as he put a heel to his eye to rub it. Wherever he was, Simon hoped Alain would get there soon and give the man permission to do, well, anything. Despite his amount of respect he had for Nora and how willing he was to do what she said, he just… didn’t like doing stuff in other people’s houses without them there to TELL him he could. That was when he thought he heard noise, like a car outside and he tilted his head slightly as if trying to tell if that really what it was or if he was just thinking wishfully.

“He does have a habit of being full of himself, I guess I would be confident too if I looked like that,” Alain scratched the stubble on his cheek and sighed. Even if Dario could be a lot to deal with, he appreciated his company, and it was good for business too. Apparently women and men liked to spend extra money when Dario offered them to get shampoo for their car. “But I will help you get him back to ground’s level. He needs to get back on Earth,” he commented, parking his car by the garage. The first thing he noticed was the smell coming from the kitchen. The second was his two dogs rushing toward them, tails waggling and apparently very excited. Alain knew that these two loved Nora, and he wondered if they would feel the same about Simon and Margot. “Are they big enough?” He asked, remembering that she had mentioned preferring large dogs. He already knew the answer to that, and anyone who dared to criticize his two babies would have a bad time too. “Alright, that’s enough,” he laughed, pushing the paws off his chest to close the car, windows open to get rid of the fish smells. Heading inside his house, he had a look around. Alright, the living room was not a mess yet. His head poked in the kitchen and while there seemed to be a lot going on in the oven, it was not as messy as he would have feared. Nora’s outfit however brought a frown to his face and he walked across the house, took a worried glance at Margot and realized he had not told her about Nora and Simon. “Two of my friends are joining us for dinner. I’ll go see what they did in my closet, then we can ha- What the fuck?! NORA!” It did not cross his mind to blame Simon. Not for one second. “Get your ass over here, now.”

Margot snorted to herself at that thought, waving a hand dismissively. “Nah, you look just fine. I guess not all of us can have God-like jawlines,” That wasn’t a weird thing to think about, right? No, just… an observation, really. Besides, Alain had brought it up so it was fine. Totally normal. Seeing the dogs, she cooed immediately, genuinely smiling as she watched them encircle their owner. “Oho yeah, definitely. They’re adorable,” She held an appreciation for most animals, but dogs were one of her favorites by far. Following them inside, she began taking in the new surroundings, noting that the fish smell still lingered but not at all bothered by it. She had smelled worse, after all. When she eyed the kitchen after Alain, finally noting the other two she assumed were joining for dinner, she jumped a bit when Alain raised his voice. Yikes. She decided to remain silent for the time being, a little apprehensive.

“Oh someone is in trouble.” Nora’s voice, as ever, remained an impassable monotone as Alain shouted her name from the closet. Grabbing a tubberware of a meaty looking stew as well as a spoon Nora slunk towards the closet. She passed a girl she’d never seen before on the way. “Hey.” Nora greeted. “Foods in the kitchen.” When she finally got to the closet that Alain was standing in Nora had a mouth full of soup going in already. “‘Sup? Did you know there is a blonde in your entryway?” Nora asked. Seeing her four piles Nora continued. “Oh right. I organized your closet. Clothes that I wouldn’t wear. Clothes that I would wear. Clothes I think Simon should wear, he smells like a fish. Clothes you should get rid of because no one should ever wear.” Now that she was reevaluating the piles, Nora picked up a shirt and moved it from the ‘I wouldn’t wear pile’ into the ‘No one should ever wear pile. “Want some soup?” Nora offered Alain the tupperware bowl. “Also what took you so long?” Whatever parts of Simon’s face weren’t already coloured with irritation might as well have been painted with blush as his eyes caught the arrival of a different person, another female and he thinks, at that moment, he was embarrassed. He smelled like fish in dirty clothes in the corner of a room while there was all this food and smells and dogs and he looked like THAT and Nora made piles-- He didn’t knowww that Alain was bringing another person in and why was he THERE and-- He decided to compensate for all these problems by pulling the collar of his shirt over his nose and giving a nervous wave to the new girl. Don’t shut down. “Everything, uh… turn out okay, Alain?” He asked to distract himself from how he looked and smelled and sounded. This evening started out so well and now he just wanted to melt into the ground before he encountered anyone else he could drive away with how unsightly he must’ve seemed.

“Yes, I know there’s a blonde in my entryway. That’s Margot, she’s going to work with me,” he explained, walking over the piles of clothes. Alain sat on the end of his bed and looked at his now empty closet with his fingers pressed against his temples. Folding all those would take him at least two hours, and that was if he kept those things Nora had deemed unwearable. Because, yes, he cared for Nora’s opinion enough to consider throwing those away. “And what exactly should I be wearing then?” He asked, picking up a tshirt that had found its way to the no one should wear pile to see what was wrong with that one. “Simon, you gotta get changed, and I gotta get changed too,” he called out as he heard the man approach timidly. Standing up from the bed, he picked up clothes from the “good” pile and headed to his bathroom, but not before giving both Nora and Simon a glaring look. “I got arrested for being next to the lake, is what fucking happened,” scoffing, he shook his head at the pair. “I’m gonna take a shower, you go speak to Margot and you better be kind to her,” shutting the door, he rubbed at his face and sighed. This evening was a complete disaster.

“Everything in the first three piles.” Nora answered, pointing them out. As Simon came over Nora offered him a reassuring nod. He seemed so out of place in this home with these strangers. Nora wondered if he was regretting his choice of coming along.  “I’m always nice.” Nora commented blandly before taking another bite of her soup. Nora saw the glare, comprehended the glare, and decided that it had nothing to do with her. It was something to do with the incompetence of all police. If the police had been smart they would have known that he wasn’t the kingpin of the operation. Instead, they arrested the most innocent one of the bunch. Marching back out to the entry Nora found herself once again face to face with the blonde. Margot. “Come on, I’m heating up everything in Alains fridge. He’s a good cook.” Nora beckoned Margot to follow her to the kitchen, pulling something out of the beeping microwave and reheating a new meal. “What do you want to eat?” Nora asked, putting the soup she’d been eating down and trying a piece from another dish. “Alain is a good cook.”

This was… definitely a strange situation. Margot felt a little helpless as she watched them wander off into Alain’s room, opting to stay in the kitchen - considering that she didn’t know him that well, it felt like the sensible thing to do. She had offered a tentative smile to Simon, noting that the fish smell was still lingering in the air. But with the varying tupperwares lined along the counter, she figured it had something to do with their contents. She barely took a step further into the room before she heard Alain’s voice echo down the hall, and stopped dead in her tracks. Did he mention the police? Her chest tightened, and she unconsciously gripped the counter top tighter. When the other woman returned, she blinked at her, seeming to take a moment before fully comprehending what she was saying. “I… Uh, I think I should wait for him. To finish showering,” That didn’t sound right to her ears, but, it came out and there was no taking it back

He got arrested? Ohhhhh jeez oh no that was Simon’s fault. He shouldn’t have gone with Nora, he should’ve put his foot down or left when Alain caught them or not even referred to Nora’s ideas as ‘things that were okay to do’. Alain got caught and arrested because of HIM and the thought sent a rock into the pit of his stomach which he swallowed along with another collection of phlegm and saliva. He was torn between doing what Alain said and changing but he was also told to talk to Margot and be kind to her. He glanced between the bedroom and the blonde woman in the kitchen where Nora was reacquainting herself with her copious leftovers and instead of choosing either, he just awkwardly stood there in the hallway with his shirt over his nose like an idiot. “So… Margot?” He repeated her name in his congested voice. It had a nice ring to it. “You’re, uh… gonna work at the garage?” He felt kind of dumb but he had chosen this path of conversation instead of going to change-- WAIT um. Could he change his mind? “S-sorry, I was--” He was tripping over his thoughts. Food. Nora. Margot. Changing Clothes. Fish smell, dog sounds, fear and overwhelming-- He opened his mouth as if to say something, unseen through the shirt and instead of saying or doing anything useful, his eyebrows knitted and he turned away from everything altogether, sneezed thrice more into his shirt, and dropped to a crouch right there in the hall. “Sorry. It’s... nice to meet you, Margot.” He said plaintively, loudly enough for her to hear but still facing away from everyone and trying to bury his head in the hole of his shirt.

Fish was one of those smells, which no matter how much you scrubbed, seemed to never ever leave. It probably was imprinted in his nose for the rest of the evening, but Alain could not help but think that maybe the smell would take even longer to go. Stepping out of the shower, he walked out dressed in sweatpants and a plain white tee shirt. It was not like he had anyone to impress, and after this long long day, he would find comfort anywhere he could. Combing his hair with his fingers, he walked to the living room and glanced between the three people there. Maybe it was best for him to take charge of whatever had been going on so far and invite them all to sit. “I’ll go get the food. Nora can you help me with that. You guys can sit at the table in here, or the one in the garden,” he explained, motionning her to follow him. “I’ll get us some plates, glasses, etcaetera,” he glanced up at the cupboards and paused. “I didn’ t ask but…. where did you get all that fish, earlier?” His brows furrowed. Nora was by far, the most peculiar person he knew, but there was something truly endearing about her. He wondered why. “Not that it really matters, does it?” Maybe he was a bit too tired to hear about this. A part of him feared that she had stolen it, or maybe gone fishing it all by herself, or another completely bizarre explanation.

Nora had done her best to try and get the two strangers to feel at home in this house. It was a nice house. Alain was a nice person. Everything should have been easy-breezy-cover girl. Instead, Margot looked uncomfortable - although that could have been her resting expression, Nora wasn’t sure on account of them just meeting. Then there was Simon. Simon who smelt of fish and fear, crouched on the floor attempting to get his shirt to eat him. Nora felt a very unfamiliar emotion rising over this. Worry… and was that a little taste of guilt? It was her fault he was in this situation. Maybe she should have dropped him back at his house before coming here to eat. Nora let out a deep sigh. People were confusing. Alain was back out, showered and ready to get everything started. Nora followed to help set up, also pulling the required utensils from cabinets to add to the pile of things that should be carried to the table. She’d been over enough to know where Alain stored everything. “The fish market.” Nora answered. “I bought out a stall.” Nora started loading all the reheated foods onto serving plates, mixing and matching courses at her own discretion. “I think I’ve done irreparable harm to Simon by bringing him here.” Nora confided in Alain, her monotone voice lowering to a whisper. She pointed at her friend crouched away in the corner. Taking an armload of meat to the table, Nora remembered that she was also being nice to Margot right now. Nora looked around for the new friend to ask “Margot, do you like meat?”

What the ever-loving hell had she willingly walked into? No wait, that wasn’t entirely fair - Alain had offered Margot dinner. Not dinner with two other people, one who seemed to make herself quite at home and another who looked like he was ready for a hole to open up in the floor and swallow him whole. Yeah, that she hadn’t signed on for. But she was already there, and Alain had picked her up so… Running a hand through her hair, she offered the man a tentative nod. “Yeah, I’ll be working there for now. Nice to meet you, too. And… bless you,” Not wanting to just stand there, she grabbed two containers of food herself. She then turned to… Nora? The one currently wearing what she assumed was Alain’s clothing, judging by how baggy the suit fit her smaller frame. She quirked a brow at the question but eventually nodded. “Yeah, I do. Any kind, really,” She mentioned while following them into the dining room. The thought of some semblance of order pulled Simon out of his temporary shut down and he jerked his head in the direction of Alain’s voice, thankful that someone was trying to run damage control after the chaos the house had devolved into. He pulled enough of his head out of his shirt so he could see again though he still covered the lower half of his face and he got to his feet slowly. He heard Margot reply to him and he knew he was being incredibly rude by not engaging in further conversation with her but he had to sort himself out if he was going to sit at a table with other people for… the first time in years, he thought. Noting that Margot was now talking to Nora - that was good, Nora was easy to get along with - he crept over to Alain. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience and… getting you arrested but can I borrow some of your clothes?” He whispered. “And some allergy medication?” He paused before adding that bit but he was falling apart and seeing everyone else getting it together made him want to, too.

“Good lord, Simon,” putting the plates and cutlery down on the table, he figured that Nora and Margot could deal with that while he took care of him. “It’s the dogs, isn’t it?” Had to be. “Get back in the bedroom,” he commanded, following Simon behind and sighing heavily. Turning on his feet before he left the living room, Alain had a look at Nora and Margot who had just started chatting. “I am really sorry Margot, I will be right back,” what a complete disaster of a night. “Alright, you’ll go get in the shower. I’ll get you some clean clothes and I’ll try to clean up a little and get the dogs out in the garden, alright?” Seemed like the right, and only thing to do as far as damage control was concerned. With his instructions given, Alain walked back into the living room and much to his disliking, took the dogs in the garden, and started to clean up as much as he could because unfortunately for Simon, Alain had never had allergies and this was all he could do. The only other solution would have been to ask him to go and that would have been harsh.

“I like meat too.” Nora told Margot. It seemed like Alain was fixing the irreparable damage Nora had done to Simon by whisking him away. She supposed it was repairable. She just lacked the means to help. Nora picked up the cutlery that Alain had sprawled on the table and started setting the table. “Alain likes to set the table before we eat.” Nora explained to Margot as if setting the table was the weirdest thing currently happening. Nora let silence over take the two then. She wasn’t doing it out of any spite, or weirdness. Nora had never been one for words. Silence was just a natural state of being. Now that she knew Margot liked meat, Nora thought the girl was cool and there wasn’t much more to talk about. Once all the plates, utensils and napkins had been spread out, Nora took it upon herself to serve heaping mountains of food on each plate. Just so she was sure everyone would get a lot to eat. She thought it was very helpful of her.

Margot decided to let the two males be as they walked back into Alain’s room. Maybe it was for the best at the moment. Meanwhile, Nora seemed to know her way around the room just fine, and she offered a small, if not unsure smile as they went about getting everything together. All in all, Alain didn’t really need to apologize for anything. With her personal life fairly non-existent at the moment, and everything else so chaotic, this felt more like a reprieve than a bother. Having dinner with new friends wasn’t something she was accustomed to but, it wasn’t a bad thing either. It simply was. And that would be enough for now. “So, where do you live in town?” She finally asked, settling down in one of the chairs.

As Simon followed Alain into the bedroom, then subsequently into the bathroom where he turned and felt a fresh wave of… he supposed it was anxiety at the thought of getting wet anywhere other than home, he also felt guilty that he was being so… inconvenient about it all between getting Alain arrested, his stupid dog allergy and needing to borrow everyone’s everything. He turned to face the shower stall; he hadn’t taken an actual shower in… months - usually he just went out back and took a bucket of water and a washcloth nowadays. With a gulp and one more thought that maybe he should’ve just left to save everyone the trouble, he stripped down. On and off like a band aid and hope no one notices the wet dog smell. He glanced around to make sure he could find exactly where everything was at - Nnnn just a quick scrub. He really was making this more difficult than it had to be. TURN THE WATER ON, HOP IN, DO A DANCE LIKE YOU’RE ON FIRE, HOP OUT-- And he was done, already feeling it harder to breathe as he snatched the towel Nora had used and frantically tried to simultaneously dry himself off and try to assuage the itch that pricked every part of his skin. “Thank you, Alain!” He found himself calling, trying to dismiss his non-functionality; he exchanged smelling like fish to being cold, wet, itchy and smelling like wet dog instead.. He really was thankful though, for the record… None of them, especially Alain, had to be accomodating. Ugh, he was needy. Uuuugh. The dogs gone in the garden, and most of their belongings shoved in a corner of the room, all Alain had to do before joining Nora and Margot at the table was to wash his hands. He didn’t know what these two had been talking about since he had arrived, but they seemed to get along, and that was all he asked of them. They had had enough drama for the rest of the year. Glancing at the pair, he sat down, and took a look at his plate, then back at Nora. She might have been a bit too generous on the plates, even for his taste, although he did not comment and instead rubbed at his face and yawned in his hands. It was nice to sit down, at last. “So, Margot, I’ll show you around tomorrow instead, if you’re okay with that, although that means that you’ll have to spend your first day with Dario, and that’s entirely my fault,” he scoffed. He was sure that Margot would probably join Dario soon, and pick on her boss too, but until then, he had a right to hope that she would not. “Hurry up Simon,” he replied, and while his tone was rather cheerful, he also was hoping that Simon would indeed hurry and that they could all start to have dinner.

Nora finished serving everyone's plates and plopped down into her seat. This was where the polite thing to do would be to wait. Nora, who had never been polite a day in her life, went ahead and started eating. “I live next to Candleton Cemetery” Nora admitted openly, her mouth full of food. “The haunted mansion. People say that ghosts live there.” She took another bite of food, chewing aggressively. “They are right.” Nora crossed her legs in her chair, readjusting to get in optimal ‘shove as much food in your mouth’ position. “Where do you live?” Alain sat back down at the table and was ready to start talking shop. Now that he was here, Nora slowed down her eating. She didn’t like it when he stared in disgust at her. “Congrats on getting a job.” Nora mumbled to Margot. That seemed like a polite thing to say, right?”

Honestly, the food, even some that she couldn’t readily identify, all looked and smelled delicious. Margot hadn’t been a picky eater a day in her life, and just the idea of stuffing her face caused drool to accumulate in her mouth. She hurriedly swallowed it before grabbing a fork and beginning to dig in. “Candleton? Nice, I don’t think I’ve visited that one yet. This town seems to have a lot of cemeteries, huh?” At the mention of ghosts, Margot paused with her mouth open, instantly intrigued by the other, and she leaned forward in her seat a bit. “Really? Like, you’ve seen ghosts around there before? Not shitting me?” The blonde’s eyes widened a bit, and she looked to Alain and mouthed ‘Sorry’ before going back to eating, being a little less careless about the few drops of liquid that stained her shirt. “I live in the Outskirts, but I’m gonna be moving soon. Downtown, just a little apartment I can call my own,” Somewhere - anywhere, other than where she currently was would do just fine. At the mention of work, Margot snorted, swiping a hand across her mouth. “Sounds great to me. Don’t worry, I can handle him just fine. And thanks. I think I’m gonna like it,” Gradually, Margot’s posture seemed to relax. Something about Nora’s casual nature, Simon’s kind, and painfully apologetic nature, Alain’s acceptance of it all was, impossibly, putting her at ease. It was… nice. He heard his name being called and Simon almost fell over trying to hurry to put on the pair of pants Alain had loaned him. Gaaah he was still being waited on-- He slipped into the shirt last, almost falling over again, and carefully hung up the… decoratively-shredded towel on the back of the bathroom door as he gave his nose one last swipe before swiftly entering the room, noticing where his seat that had a plate full of food was, and sitting down quietly. He saw that Nora and Margot had started eating, which honestly relieved him and he picked up his fork, carefully, settling in as though he was there the whole time. With at least a small portion of his sense of smell having been returned to him from his getting himself under control in the bathroom, he was able to pick up the different scents of the food that had been reheated and it admittedly warmed his heart, like a memory almost. When there was a pause in the conversation, he glanced over at Alain and said a quiet “Thanks for the food.” THIS was what he had in mind after throwing fish in the lake. He also realised that Margot herself was warming up and relaxing, which relieved him given how chaotic it all was just half an hour ago, if that long.

Everything overwhelming that had clouded the early evening had now vanished, and now that they were all sitting here around the table, conviviality was all that transpired from the scene. If Alain’s eyebrow raised at the way Margot was eating her food, his expression softened as he watched Nora making an effort to eat slowly. It was nice, heartwarming to see things go back to being somewhat normal. Even if he knew that good moments never lasted long, he would enjoy this while it lasted.