#food and cooking | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tare-anime · 1 year

Text

The second time, it is still a 'Grilled Bear'.

Notes: TwiYor week second edition prompts day 4: Nostalgia (AO3)

So many time skips in this, I apologize.

--------------------------------------------

The food does give Roland the energy to walk back to camp. Before any of the scouts spot him, however, he makes sure to discard all evidence of him ever getting help from an Ostanian citizen.

Limping all the rest of the way, as calculated, the scout finds him and immediately takes him to the infirmary barrack.

There, he gets treated and interrogated for surviving an Ostanian army ambush all by himself.

Roland manages to make his supervisor and all of the other people surrounding him at the infirmary believe his story of an aggressive beast wreaking havoc during the ambush, thus making him able to run and hide, though not unscathed.

The only person who raises a brow upon hearing the story is the medical officer, who obviously found inconsistencies upon inspecting his wounds. Roland's heart thumps inside his chest as his mind already makes up hundreds of excuses when he sees the doctor's face which is clearly questioning him about how he managed to treat his wounds that are impossible to reach by himself.

But in the end, the medical officer does not inquire about any such questions.

After taking care of all the wounds, the doctor dismisses him from the infirmary, prohibiting him from going to the front lines, and assigns him to the kitchen. Which Roland accepts without hesitation.

While stationed in front of the kitchen with his crutch, diligently peeling potatoes, Roland hears several of the soldiers sneer, "So, getting injured is your ticket to escape the front line, huh Roland?"

"Must be very nice, huh? You're lucky!"

They laugh mockingly.

He frowns when words from not long ago echo in his mind.

War is the most pointless thing.

They said the bombing of Luwen was part of a false operation.

Isn't it stupid if this war was the result of a diplomatic fiasco?

"Well, obviously he missed the chance to slaughter those Ostanian bastards, eh?"

"Missing the chance to carve his name as one of the heroes too. I mean, whoever remembers the name of the person who peels potatoes, eh?"

Have you seen the Ostanian evil deeds all by yourself?

I lost my parents to the war.

Roland just glares at the soldiers that are still jeering while departing for their spots at the front lines. At the same time, his mind starts to question his belief in truth or false, good or bad, heroes or villains.

"Aaahh… Don't listen to those young snobs." He turns his head to the right to see an older soldier whose leg has been replaced by a peg. The condition that makes him the appointed head chef of the barrack.

"After relying on survival rations for months, they'll be crying over a hot potato soup. Even simple ingredients like onions taste a whole lot better than those lead canned food, don't you think??" The older man grins at him, and Roland's memories fly back to the grilled bear and the overwhelming feelings he felt.

He clenches his jaw and nods.

The older man guffaws. "Enough with that gloomy face. Take pride in making these food with love, that carve the same smiles from those ungrateful bastards as well as the enemy troops. Their mouths wouldn't admit it, but their bodies understand the universal language anyway."

The younger boy blinks.

A universal language, huh?

Then his memories return to his encounter with the girl.

It's not poisonous. You'll need all your strength to return to your camp.

Apparently, he’s already experienced exactly what the chef told him just a moment before.

Roland frowns as he peels the potatoes faster.

Later that week, Roland finds out that the bombing of his hometown hadn’t killed his friends. As a matter of fact, the reckless plans of his own country are the ones that end up killing them.

In his grief, Roland peels and cuts the onions for the day's menu. The curly haired Ostanian's words keep echoing in his mind, forcing him to see events from different perspectives.

In the east, they say the west started the war. In the west, they say the east started the war.

In the experiment, they didn't know whether they were told the truth. But once the idea is in their head, they'll do what was told.

They tell us to hate each other. So we fight. So we die. Isn't it pointless?

Roland continues to peel and dice the onions.

All these years, he has directed his anger towards the Ostanians. He’d thought he had done the right thing.

But what if he is the one doing the wrong things? Isn’t that what it looks like from the other side?

What am I actually doing?

I don't know anything. I never did. I never know why the war started.

I hate the enemy, so I pick up a gun, and kill without knowing why.

As he peels and dices more onions, Roland comes to a conclusion.

This is ignorance.

Ignorance isn't bliss. This is a sin.

The blond boy grits his teeth in frustration as he puts the diced onions into the stockpot.

The chance to gain power, that is knowledge, comes in the form of an invitation to enter military intelligence. And he, who has lost everything; including his life purpose; decides to take a chance and see whether he still can do something.

Anything that makes him able to still feel something.

And so, he endures all the harsh training thrown at him. His Handler drills into his mind a very important lesson: "Remember, lives may hinge on any little scrap of information. Don't view everything in black and white. Don't try to make everything fit into your preconceived notions. And don't rationalize!!"

The training helps to shape him into Westalia's best agent.

Throughout his journey, [Redacted] or now known as Twilight, has seen the world from different points of view.

Little by little he starts to see the bigger picture.

He knows by then that the most important matter is peace.

The peace that will protect the smiles of children so that they can grow up and not need to endure the same unfortunate situation as him.

A decade later, Twilight accepts the most complicated mission of his entire career: Establishing a fake family that involves two innocent civilians to accomplish the mission.

What he never expects to discover is how by being involved with his family on a daily basis, he finds the missing piece he didn't know he needed to become a whole human.

And throughout the process, a saying from before rings true in his mind.

Food is a universal language. More specifically: Food is a love language.

And he finds it makes him happy to be able to crave the smiles of the two individuals that have inevitably snagged his heart and become the most important people in his life.

They make him have a new purpose in his life.

That is why, after the unexpected reveal that the two innocent civilians aren't actually 'innocent', Twilight chooses to keep his family intact; now hiding secrets from his own agency instead while working on his latest mission.

Days go by, and Operation Strix is still moving at a snail's pace. The amount of Stella stars that Anya has to achieve and the Tornitrus bolts she has to avoid is somehow neck to neck. It's as if they were competing against each other, making him always be on the edge of his seat.

And of course, there are also side missions that get thrown his way relentlessly. Many times, these side missions hinder him from coming home on time, and it makes him unable to cook for his family. An activity that he has found to be relaxing.

During times like these, he is grateful that he doesn't have to lie to his family any longer, and that they understand. Yor will always take care of the things around the house. And it feels nice to know that he can rely on her in tackling the most difficult mission in the world. Raising a family.

Loid is delighted that Yor’s been trying to learn how to cook, and as of late, has become his Boucher, sort of. Her skills with knives is not to be questioned. But, she still failed when it came to many other different aspects of cooking such as making a decent, edible, dish.

Nevertheless, Twilight greatly appreciates her efforts, and never forgets to always compliment every one of her victories, however small.

Tonight, the side missions have been especially harsh. Handler really threw 3 side missions at him in one go, huh?

Twilight is tired to the bone as he drags his feet home, and feels really glad when the apartment's door is finally within arm's reach.

Opening and closing the door silently, he doesn't expect to find his nostrils being attacked with a familiar ominous smell. It is the smell of Yor's special herbs mixture. The one she usually makes if she needs its effect of relaxation and, to a certain level, effects of pain killing as well.

Suddenly Loid remembers that he isn’t the only person who’s been through a mission today. But apparently, Yor has finished earlier than him.

Speaking of her, he sees Yor peek from their kitchen "Welcome home, Loid!"

He smiles as he hangs his coat and hat, "Rough mission at your end too?"

She chuckles breathily, "Oh well, the client hired warriors from the far east as their bodyguards. I needed time to understand how they moved. Anyway, Anya told me that you’ll come home late and sore. So, I already prepared two servings of this."

Loid tries to keep his face neutral, despite shuddering when recalling that even though the remedy always works wonders, the taste is; to put it politely; horrible; because the aftertaste tends to stick till the end of the next day.

But of course, Yor is able to recognize the micro changes on his face as she chuckles and rolls her eyes playfully, “Oh come on! As long as it's effective, taste doesn’t matter! You’re a grownup, Loid!”

Loid laughs at that, and mockingly salutes her, "Yes, Ma’am."

The man then walks closer and observes his wife from head to toe.

One of the perks of them already knowing each other's identities is that Loid now has the right to worry about his wife's well being. And vice versa.

And of course, in turn, they can always ask the other for help as well. Be it during the job, or after. Even so, both of them are still adapting to these new circumstances, and more often than not, one of them has to confront the other because they are so used to working alone.

This time he notices that she is wearing a fluffy sweater that fully covers her body.

Loid's brows furrow.

Yor will only use that type of sweater during particularly cold days, or when she wants to cover her injuries that will be exposed should she wear the usual backless sweater she loves so much.

And today is nowhere near cold.

"Are you okay?"

He sees Yor wring her hand to dismiss his worries, "Nothing I can't handle." And then she continues to pour the remedy into their respective cups.

It is during the process that Loid, with his impeccable observational skills, notices a blotch of slightly damp red color on her sweater, below her right shoulder blade.

"You're hurt!"

Yor snaps her head at him, and tries to deny it. "I'm fi-..."

But Loid interferes by pointing at the blotch, "The blood is seeping."

Yor's eyes widen as her left hand immediately covers the place that is pointed.

Her facial journey makes Loid chuckle. It changes from wide-eyed astonishment to brows furrowing in recognition and finally eyes averting with a sigh of defeat.

Loid is always thankful that his wife is such a bad liar.

"Come, let me help. You cannot treat an injury properly by yourself." The man gently takes her hand and leads her to their living room.

Once they take a seat on the sofa, he asks gently, "Turn around, and remove the clothes over the wound."

Yor nods, and does as she’s told.

Once the clothes are removed, Loid immediately assesses the wounds: several bruises and shallow cuts litter her back. He is satisfied with the fact that none of them need gauze and have already been treated with her special zalf. Except for that one particular cut on her right shoulder blade. Loid can see that Yor has tried her best to dress the wound, but the gauze is slightly out of place, resulting in the blood to seep out.

"The hired bodyguards were using projectile weapons shaped like stars. One of the weapons bounced off the steel pillars of the warehouse, so I couldn't dodge it intime." Yor shyly explains.

Loid nods as he undoes the bandages, "Things like that sometimes happen. It’s not poisonous I hope?”

Yor tilts her head and puts one finger on her chin as if in deep thought. “I don’t feel anything is out of place, so I don’t think so?”

Loid chuckles, “That’s not convincing at all! I’ll have to observe your vital signs for the next 24 hours.”

“Preposterous!” Yor slightly turns her body so she can playfully slap his hand, “I’m totally fine!”

“Hey now, stay still, so I can properly-...” He abruptly stops when he sees scars on her back. Three consecutive parallel white lines that are so faint he’s never noticed before. “Oh? What happened here?” He asks in soft tones as he carefully caresses the scars.

“Hm?” Yor peers and then chuckles, “Oh! Courtesy of a bear, actually”

“A bear?!” His brows furrow when all of a sudden, a nostalgic moment from his teenage life resurfaces. As a matter of fact, they unfold in front of him right now: Yor's black hair and red eyes, him noticing the blood seeping through her clothes, her reactions, their sitting arrangements, him fixing her bandages.

He gulps while his hands continue their movement, while he listens to Yor's story that somehow he has a feeling that he already knows.

“Yeah. About 12 or 13 years ago, I fought a bear in the forest near my hometown that nearly mauled a poor injured soldier. Turns out the bear was attacking in rage due to its own injury. Thankfully I managed to step in on time and help the soldier. Oh! I also managed to secure bear meat for me and Yuri to eat during the winter.”

Loid’s heart beats faster as he secures the knot of his wife’s bandages. Because apparently, the world IS that small. And the universe has its own unique way of mocking him, that out of all odds, he meets again with the beautiful girl of his past.

And he isn't complaining.

Far from that.

He is actually thankful.

Deep down inside he suddenly realizes that maybe that's part of the reason why he blurts out how pretty she is during their first encounter at the tailor. How easy he took her hands in their fake marriage. How strong his will is to always put a smile on her face. And how reluctant he is to let her go when their dark secrets were revealed.

Loid returns from his daydreaming when he feels her nod her thanks and put on her clothes while continuing her story, “Too bad the soldier seemed to be in a very bad mood, that he didn’t even want to tell me his name, even after I took care and took the trouble to feed him.” Yor chuckles as she slides on her seat to face him. She shrugs, “But that was to be expected I guess. We were still at war during that time.” She then tilts her head, “I wonder whether he managed to return to his friends.”

“He did.” Loid blurts out. “And he owed you a long overdue apology for acting like a total jerk.”

When Yor looks at him questioningly and asks, “Oh? Is he one of your acquaintances?” Loid smiles and uses his left hand to move his hair to reveal a scar on top of his left eye, then angles his head so that his wife can see it clearly in their dimly lit living room.

The blond man hears his wife gasp in recognition. Soon after he feels her trembling fingers trace the scar and hears her whisper in awe, “That was you……”

Taking her hand that’s been tracing his scar, he kisses it lightly and answers her tenderly, “Yes. At that time my name was Roland. And I’m sorry for acting like an ungrateful barbarian.”

She smiles, “I’m just glad that you managed to return to your camp safely.”

“Your food helped.”

Suddenly she flusters, “Oh! Oh dear! I hope you didn’t get food poisoning!”

Loid laughs, “No!! As a matter of fact. That is the most delicious meal I’ve ever had.”

“You’re lying!”

“No! I was in tears because of how delicious it was. I unashamedly finished it all within seconds.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm….”

Suddenly something clicks in his mind and his eyes widen. All this time, Yor wasn’t being a terrible cook. She’s only been used to survival cooking and she's yet to grasp the concept of having the luxury of buying ingredients and preparing them accordingly. Loid has a hunch that she has never been exposed to the way of using and combining spices and flavors either.

Well, that is about to change now.

He is more than willing to share his knowledge with her.

“I think now I know how to teach you to cook!” he grips her hands in both of his, “I’m confident you’ll be able to create endless marvelous food in no time!” He catches himself and stops before drowning in the euphoria, “But of course, only if you want to.”

He sees his wife's smile brighten, “Of course, I’d love to!”

“Well then. Let’s start our cooking lesson tomorrow morning then, Mrs. Forger!”

“Yeah!” She pumps her fist in the air. “Now let’s drink our remedies, and get ready for bed!”

Loid fails to stop himself from groaning at the mention of the remedy, and that gets him a playful slap to the chest. “Come on! Be a man and gulp it down for your own good!”

Once again, Loid mockingly salutes his wife, “Yes, Ma’am!”

Starting that day and lasting for several months, the kitchen of the Forger household continues to produce goods. Loid soon finds that experimenting and creating so many different meals with his wife, or sometimes together with his daughter, be they edible or disastrous is very enjoyable.

And to his (and both Anya and Bond's) delight, giving instructions to Yor with the 'language' that she understands does help a lot.

She is improving.

Fast.

Nowadays, they’re starting to take turns in preparing dinner. And Southern Ostanian dishes become part of their vast menu that immediately becomes Yor's specialty. And of course, to be able to taste his wife's hometown meals means a lot to Loid.

Once again he is reminded that food is indeed a universal language meant to be understood by anyone.

For the past few weeks, Berlint General Hospital has been undergoing a healthcare standardization held by the Ostanian Ministry of Health. It is a new system developed by several countries in their region to ensure the patients receive the best of their healthcare providers. Being one of the best hospitals in Ostania, obviously, Berlint General becomes the very first to run a trial of the new system. And being one of their best doctors, Loid Forger is involved in all parts of the process.

For Twilight those weeks are hellish and even more tiring than obliterating a terrorist lair or stopping a nuke attack. And yet this has nothing to do with spy missions, but more of the administrative side of Loid Forger.

Scratch that.

As of late, Twilight sometimes forgets that maintaining the Loid Forger persona IS part of his spy mission.

He shakes his head in disbelief, as he flops into the chair of the hospital refreshment room in exhaustion that night. In all honesty, he is not regretting Twilight and (Redacted) being merged into a one and only Loid Forger.

"Glad it's finally done, huh?" Dr. Lehmann, one of his colleagues and a pediatrician, wearily opens the cold refreshment from the fridge.

"I never thought the assessment would be that detailed!! They ruthlessly monitored everything! How dare they say my department needs a lot of improvement?!" The short brown-haired doctor, Dr. Klein, a surgeon, angrily chomps down his complimentary cold sandwich.

"Because you really need to pay attention to the medical records Dr. Klein! I can barely understand what you are doing with the patients there! You really need to learn to be more like Dr. Forger and his filing system." The other one who's sitting silently at the corner, Dr. Richter, an anesthesiologist, calmly starts to eat his own sandwich.

"Oh, that's unfair! Forger here is still so young and has the stamina to do all that sorting!" Dr. Klein only humps angrily as he chews faster, "And goodness! Can at least director Gorey appreciate us more??? A cold grocery sandwich for dinner?? For real??"

Loid only chuckles tiredly as he eyes his share of sandwiches. Truth be told, Dr. Klein isn’t wrong. The sandwich hardly looks appetizing. He would rather gather his belongings, go home, and cook a meal in their kitchen. Or if by any chance Yor's been cooking something, any leftovers of her meals will be way more appetizing than the soggy bread sitting in front of him.

But he is still too tired to move. So he takes a deep breath and is about to bite down the sandwich when a call from the nurse stops him. "Ah!! Dr. Forger!! Your wife stopped by a few moments ago, and asked the front office to bring you this package."

From Yor?

"Thank you!" He nods his gratitude as a surge of giddy happiness swells in his chest upon receiving a thermos and a bundle that most likely are lunch boxes. And they are still warm too!

"Oh my!! Look at these young people still acting like newlyweds all the time!" Dr. Lehmann chuckles breathily as he teases Loid while the blond man hastily unpacks the package.

A small card with a familiar neat cursive greets him:

Thank you for the hard work!

Hope you enjoy the meal <3.

PS: It's not poisonous ;)

It makes a smile bloom on his face. The postscript though makes the man quirk his brow, trying to sort out any hidden meaning behind the message.

He first opens the thermos, pouring himself a cup of Yor's special herb remedy, that’s become delicious in recent times. Gone is the ominous smell, to be replaced with the relaxing scent of cinnamon and mint. Sipping its contents, his palette savors the sweetness and warm taste of ginger, sweet fennel, cloves, and honey. Sighing in satisfaction as the warm liquid enters his throat and relaxes his tense muscle, he then starts opening the lunch boxes.

As soon as the lid is opened, a mouth-watering aroma fills the refreshment room, gaining the attention of the other doctors.

"Holey smokes!! What is that wonderful smell, Forger?" Dr. Richter whistles his compliment.

"Aren't you a lucky bastard?" Dr. Klein grumpily gulps down the last bite of his sandwich.

"Woah, wish my wife could cook like that!" Dr. Lehmann laughs.

"Ah, these are…" Loid's head tilts at seeing the unusual arrangement of food in the box.

A cup of hot onion soup with garlic bread, skewered grilled veals on top of leaves, fresh balsamic salad at the corner, and mashed potatoes arranged to look like-...

Loid guffaws when he recognizes the meaning behind his special dinner of the day. He then addresses his colleagues as he takes big bites of the skewered meat. "This is my wife's grilled bear."

"Bear??!"

"What?! How does she even get the meat?!"

"What does bear meat taste like??"

Loid continues to gulp down his meal as he glances towards the curious (some envious) stares of his colleagues. And he answers happily, "It tastes absolutely amazing!"

------------------------------

<< PREVIOUS

Notes: The hidden meaning behind the special dish is “Hope this food will give you enough energy to come home to us <3”

Yes, I hc that one day when they already became a true family, Yor will show her mischievous and more sentimental side. And Loid will find it even more endearing.

And I also believe Yor’s ability to cook will continue to improve cause now she has a wonderful teacher, and a family to feed <3

As for how their Identity reveal happens, you can read these previous fics of mine (shameless self promotion, as usual XD): one, two, three, four

#spy x family #loid forger #yor forger #twiyor #character development #food and cooking #twiyorweek2022 #twiyorweek2022 second edition #nostalgia #fluff #canon compliant #headcanon

46 notes · View notes