When class ended, Blaine went up to his room. He came back down and handed Lana a package. She opened it and found he had bought her a state-of-the-art grain grinder. She got all excited and hugged him and kissed his cheek.
She quickly unboxed it in her kitchen like a child opening a toy they had longed for.
"Would you like to cook tonight or would you like me to order something again. You did amazing in class today. I think it's something to celebrate," he smiled at her brightly.
She stood there thinking about it. She thought it wasn't a big deal she stopped Duff because it was just like stopping a bully but she did touch the teacher's sword which was a major deal. A smile spread across her face.
"What did you have in mind?" as she removed the vegetables from her bag that she grew at lunch.
He seemed to make up his mind. "Tell you what. I'll order the same thing I ordered last time today but on Sunday, you are wearing that dress I bought you and I'm taking you to a nice place to eat. Deal?"
"Just you and I?"
"Yes. Just us. BUT, we are still eating some of that apple pie you made so we are getting 2 desserts," he smirked.
"Maybe some vanilla ice cream to go with the pie? I can warm it up when we get ready to eat it?"
"Done." He brought his watch up to start typing on the hologram interface and soon, food was ordered.
"You two do know we have Special PT in the morning, right?"
Lana chuckled, "of course. Eat the apple pie for dessert, not the other. At least you'll get nutrients from the apple pie."
Kattie frowned but nodded. She wasn't fat but she had never had to really exercise either. She figured with the program Lana had her on, she'd be okay. Alto was in even better condition so the team would be fine. They just needed to improve a bit.
"Since no one else is going to ask, what exactly are we celebrating?" Dobin asked.
Blaine regaled the entire story. Dobin gave her a big hug. Blaine's eye twitched.
Lana poked her head out her door, "Chekof, do you want some apple pie?"
He smiled, "I thought you'd never ask! Can I have 2?"
She chuckled, "coming right up."
Chekof seemingly inhaled the pie. Kattie decided to feed Sven then take him out. The food should be there by the time they got back. Lana had resolved to buy the rest of the things she needed for eating outside the next day after dinner. Sunday would be phase 2 which meant they could be in civilian clothing. She could finally cook in her normal way. She was starting to get excited.
She grew more food while waiting for Sven. She also heard stories from the trees every time she was out there and, today, they were talking about the birds which she found interesting. Soon she was laughing because they were complaining that a specific couple, a pair of red-breasted robins, had chosen to live in one tree and the others were jealous.
The trees were literally insulting each other, Well, who'd want to live in you. Look at your bark!
Me? Look at you! Your leaves are so tiny, how could you keep them nice and warm, much less dry?
The bickering was going back and forth and Lana ended up laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.
Kattie and Chekof were looking at each other with concern. They had no clue why she was laughing and thought maybe she'd gone crazy. Eventually, the bickering died down and she was able to get a hold of herself once again.
She sat next to them on the bench and soon Sven returned. They asked her to share the joke. She just said the trees were bickering and it was funny.
Just as they were approaching their room, they smelled an amazing but familiar scent. They walked in to find dinner served. Under normal circumstances, the boys would have had to leave while they were gone because neither resident stayed behind but Dobin had a special status. As long as his sister approved it, he was good.
Blaine made sure Lana was served first. She whispered in his ear if she could have a piece of that incredible cake as well.
He winked and smirked. "Do you want to move into the other area to eat and watch a movie?"
"Can it be something not scary?"
"Of course."
Soon, everyone was in the living area eating and watching an old movie about a girl who was turned into a servant by her step-mother when her father died suddenly. By the end of the movie, she had married the prince. Lana sat on her bed, back against the headboard to watch it. Blaine sat next to her. He watched her expression throughout the movie, even the tears that came. He couldn't imagine what she was feeling. His life was hard in a similar way to hers but she had it worse in his opinion. Just thinking about it made him angry.
The movie was ending and dinner was done. "Does anyone want any pie? There's some left."
Kattie passed but Lana wanted a piece. He was hoping so because he wanted to serve her one more time before heading to his room and his studying. He took her dirty dishes to the kitchen and made sure he was the last to leave, closing the door behind him.
Lana realized she didn't bring anything up to Paul so she got up and made him a homemade pizza and a salad. She also made him another cup of tea to help him sleep. She included the last piece of pie in her delivery. She got it to him just before curfew rang.
The next few days were uneventful. Special PT sessions went great, Lana made her purchase, and she survived Beast Weapons class. Friday afternoon, she once again found herself overwhelmed in the infirmary with the doctor. It didn't seem the number of patients had gone down any. Doctor Tall contacted the Elemental teacher and asked that Blaine be sent once again.
The teacher approved it so Doctor Tall had a teleporting sergeant go get him. He was there seconds later. He took one look and got to work. This time, he didn't touch the doctor. He had his family's ability book. Once he added the higher-level of the ability to the book, he would always have it as long as he had the book.
That was, in fact, his consternation. There was only one book. He was hoping to find a duplication ability that allowed duplication of inanimate objects. It was his one chance to change his life for the better.
Once again, they were exhausted 2 hours later with no MC left.
"Blaine, how do you do it. You are clearly not as tired as we are." Doctor Tall asked.
"I have a way of increasing my MC," was all he said.
That evening, he ordered pasta dishes for everyone. Lana chose another movie. This one involved a spaceship crashing on a desert planet with three suns that had a 12-year day-night cycle. There were these flying creatures that hunted in large numbers and made screeching sounds as part of their echolocation. These creatures killed one crash survivor after another until there were only three left to escape the planet.
Blaine was watching the movie for the first time. He turned to Lana, "this isn't scary to you?"
Lana chuckled, "this could happen on planets we explore. This is a reminder of how dangerous planetary exploration could be." She shrugged, "it might even be a documentary at this point, who knows."
Blaine cleaned up the dishes and tried his hand at washing them. Lana went in and made something for Paul as well as his tea. Blaine walked her up to his room and all the way back to hers.
Lana smiled at him outside her room, "you don't have to babysit me, you know."
"How about spend time with you?"
She smiled, "okay then…"
"See you in the morning at PT?"
Lana chuckled, "it's a date!"
Blaine laughed and he waited for her to enter and close the door before heading upstairs. He agreed with her. The motive for going after her was still unknown. His grandmother couldn't possibly know about her. Right? The idea of the sergeants thinking she was weak was unfathomable to him. Especially since she'd have that on her record the entire time she was in school. No amount of hazing was going to fix her fear of beast weapons. It was ridiculous to even contemplate.
He decided to go talk to someone else about this.
Blaine hesitated outside room 2303 but he decided to knock. Instantly there was a beep. He opened the door.
"I wondered how long you'd stand there before knocking. Is this a social call?"
Blaine shook his head, "Well… Maybe. I'm trying to figure something out and thought maybe I could talk to you and see if you could help me make sense of this."
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