Log [Alison, Lorna] My Kingdom for a Pomegranate...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

In the late hours of the night, Alison takes advantage of her right to roam the mansion when it's quiet, and encounters a rather annoying problem. Lorna shows up to save the day.



The fruit was red and luscious, sitting in the middle of the crisply white plate with a smug air of victory about it. It was taunting her, no doubt about it. Staring down at it Alison sighed, shoulders slumping a bit. She'd found it in the refrigerator, neatly tucked on a shelf - the only one there. No tag on it to indicate it was set aside for anyone in particular. Just there, perfect and ready and calling out her name.

And while she'd managed to defeat nearly anything in her path in terms of opening, peeling or prying open lately, she'd finally met her match, or so it seemed. She lifted one hand, staring at her fingertips almost apologetically, still wincing a bit at the protest they were putting up for what she'd tried to do.

Lorna wasn't sure why she was awake.  She wasn't one of the ranks of midnight wanderers usually but she had been lying awake for hours, waiting for sleep to come and had been left wanting.  Finally she gave into the inevitable and slipped out of bed, giving Alex a kiss as she eased away from him.  She plucked her robe from the door and belted it securely.  A walk might help clear her head.

Eventually she found her way downstairs and was drawn like a lodestone to the kitchen.  The fact that the light was on didn't really surprise her, everyone knew the kitchen was open 24 hours.  She glanced at the table, not really expecting to see anyone there and was pleasantly surprised.  "Hi, Ali."

"Hi..." Her voice seemed stronger, the voice dampener having been reduced yet again a few days ago. Alison never stopped staring at the pomegranate, frowning just a bit. Cleary, she'd been stymied. "You're up late." Alison had every reason to be out and about. No Haroun to provide distraction in one form or another, which made Alison rather grumpy. She glanced at the blackberry she'd found a way to attach to the synthsilk suit she still wore, urging it to spit out a message - nothing. The pomegranate found her attention once more, as though she might be able to make it surrender the goodness within by will alone.

"Couldn't sleep." Lorna slid into a chair and leaned on the table, feeling tired but in no way sleepy.  "Thought a walk would help.  Doesn't seem to be."  She drew one leg up and tucked it under her.  She regarded the pomegranate for a long time.  "Are you eating that or just staring at it?"

"I'm eating it!" Apparently, this involved glaring at the fruit some more, hands twitching just a bit. Finally, Alison looked up, eyes standing out in contrast to the dark tan she currently displayed, along with a shockingly blond shade of hair, the color nearly entirely bleached out by the light she'd been radiating for so long. She reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair out of her face, wincing reflexively as she did so. "As soon as I figure out how?" She didn't mean to look quite so pathetic.

Lorna knew she shouldn't laugh at the invalid.  She knew it and believed in and -- was giggling anyway.  "Are you hoping to spontaneously develop laser vision or something?  Because you're not actually Superman."

"Hey!" Alison had, she felt, every right to be utterly indignant. "I have laser vision! It's perfectly good laser vision!" Of course, there was a small detail that couldn't be ignored. "I just can't do the laser thing right now. That's all!" Though she was scheduled to have a go at using her power soon enough, which she was anticipating with mixed feelings. The idea of more pain was fast becoming wearing. And then some. "I managed an orange this morning. I should be able to do in a pomegranate, right?"

"Pomegranates are very tough."  Lorna tugged the plate toward her and picked at the skin experimentally.  "Thin and not a lot of flesh to dig into.  Most people use knives."

Eyes following her snack (hers!) Alison nodded. Then frowned. "Knifes are tricky." It meant pressure and counter pressure and balancing things right and Alison had cut herself once already in the kitchen without noticing it until Miles had handed her a towel and proceeded to scold her of all things. She wasn't keen on risking it again - besides, she'd promised Miles. No knives. So instead she turned a very pleading look towards Lorna, not quite batting her eyes but almost. "Would you defeat the Evil Pomegranate for me, Lorna? Please?"

Lorna rolled her eyes. "Only if you share.  This was supposed to be for a recipe I wanted to try.  She lifted her hand in time for a large knife to smack into it.  She poked the pomegranate with the point and raised an eyebrow at Alison.  "Well?"

"Sharing is good!" was the very hasty response, Alison nudging a chair back for herself and then sitting down slowly. "I'm not that hungry, I just wanted something to do and figuring out if that would taste right seemed like fun and then it got to be personal and-" She stopped and grinned sheepishly. She couldn't even offer to go out and get a new one to replace the one Lorna was threatening with metallic sporking of doom.

"You're a nutcase, you know that right?" Lorna cut the fruit in half with a single, practiced stroke and ducked the spray of juice just as smoothly.  She began deseeding it.  "We need tea."

Was, Alison almost corrected her, then decided it wasn't worth it. "I can make tea." She'd managed it the day before, she could now. She was very determined to do it now - weight she could handle just fine. She rose to her feet again and headed for the counter and the kettle there, placing it in the bottom of the sink before prying it open. Turning the faucet was easy, and she watched it fill itself slowly. "Thank you. For the pomegranate."

"My pleasure." Lorna responded, making quick works of the deseeding.  A metal bowl -- Lorna had replaced a great deal of the porcelain mixing bowls with metal by now  -- rested on the table next to her so she could toss the peel in it.  The white plate was covered in small red jewels by this time. 

The water was set to boil, a thin line of pain still lingering in the palm of her hand after she'd let go of the handle. Not as bad as a few days ago, she told herself. Mint would be perfect. Not the same as the tea Haroun brewed, but it would do - plain mint would be far better suited to cutting the tart sweetness of the pomegranate seeds anyway. She peeked over her shoulder, the bounty slowly rising on the plate. On the other side the core of the fruit, thick white flesh and thin membranes, were slowly filling the metallic bowl.

After a moment's consideration she selected the lightest mugs she could find, wandering back to set them on the table along with a mat for the kettle. Tea bags were placed on the side of the mat, to be dropped in the kettle once the water was warm. And with that, Alison carefully reached out, narrowing her eyes as she concentrated on plucking just one of the seeds, bringing it up to eye level for inspection, hand shaking just a bit at the effort the sustained coordination demanded.

Lorna kept her eyes on her task, pretending she wasn't monitoring Alison's every move to be sure she didn't over-do it.  The EM fields around her friend were anything but calm.  Lorna had learned to shield from it or it would give her a headache. "My mother used to buy me pomegranates as a treat in the fall.  We'd sit on the edge of the pool with our feet in the water.  She always ended up shoving me in after I flicked a seed into her hair."

"Limonade grenadine," Alison said, in an accented French. "Grandmamma used to make it fresh instead of using the store-bougth syrup, when she felt like a change of pace." There was a hint of wistfulness to her voice, though it faded quickly. Glancing at the kettle which wasn't quite steaming yet, Alison focused on the seed again. "Well, here goes." It was always a test, the first time she tried something which was 'new" or at least had never been tried yet since the incident. Not that her sense of taste had been steady anyway.

Lorna raised an eyebrow at Alison.  "So, how is it?"

"Very sweet. And tart." Alison blinked, the pomegranate seed's taste so strong and vibrant it was almost too much. "Kinda like the mother of all pomegranate seeds..." She trailed off, and grinned just a bit. "It tastes right though. Just a lot of right all at the same time."

Lorna grinned, "Good, that means there will be more for me."  She helped herself to a seed as she continued working. "I wonder if we could cut the flavour somehow.  Maybe with yogurt or something..."  She was more musing out loud than suggesting anything.

Alison's eyes glazed over at the thought - Lorna was underestimating how much yogurt actually tasted as well, though she couldn't blame her for it. And the idea of home made pomegranate yogurt was now firmly installed as well. "That would be... wow." Grinning slowly, she tried another seed, wincing a bit as this one proved to be more tart than sweet. "Pomegranate yoghurt, huh?"

"If I can figure out how.  It's not actually something I've ever attempted.  I was thinking more a mix in.  Like granola."  Lorna yawned and rested her head on her hand, letting the knife do all the deseeding work on its own.

With a small grin at that, Alison dared two seeds this time and was rewarded with a neat blend of tart and sweet. "Mmm. You know, I've started to be able to sleep on my own now. Since Saturday night." 

Lorna covered another yawn with her hand. "Lucky you.  Is it marvelous?  I always sleep really well when I've been up for ages." She blinked.  "Is that tea ready?"

Blinking in mild consternation, Alison looked up again to check on the kettle - it was steaming indeed and if it was whistling, the sound dampeners were eating up that useful signal entirely. "Think so. I'll go get it."

"Nah, I'll do it.  You sit." Lorna curled herself from the chair and stood up.  "You didn't answer my question, though.  How are you sleeping?"  The tea kettle was metal, of course so it was easy enough to lift it off the heat and pour it into the waiting pot.

"Cat naps mostly, no longer than two hours at the most so far." Which wasn't that far off from how she normally slept anyway - that her sound intake kept her awake and fine had been verified of late, to say the least. "My pillow's gone though. Kidnapped and dragged off to Las Vegas." She sighed, looking down. "Woe."

Lorna brought the tea back to the table and blinked her confusion, "Vegas?  That's not anything I've heard about.  What's going on?"  She settled back into the chair and scooped up a tiny handful of seeds.

Now that might take a while. And while it wasn't as though she didn't have many details, the absence of that many students would by no means be easy to explain anyway.

With a small sigh, Alison settled down for a rather lengthy explanation.