childrenofbahamutlogs | in order to eat your feelings, you have to make them first

What if he stops watching Avan and he vanishes, or gets eaten by a large dragon? Who else can he trust to look after him - well, presumably Avan can in fact look after himself, having defeated a whole demon lord at an age not much older than this one. That's the intellectual reasoning, anyway. This is the same intellectual reasoning that kept up the background skepticism on this being the real Avan until he made lunch, so this is what we are working with here. Popp thinks with his heart.

And to a lesser extent with his stomach which is a strong motivation to ooze into the kitchen whenever he detects activity. He's leaning on the counter, watching a master at work.

"It was a complete stroke of luck. He needed a new sword and stopped by my family's shop in the middle of nowhere."

He doesn't like to talk about his shamefully boring origin story but Avan was there for it. Will be there, from his perspective. Now, how does he put this next part without making himself sound like a huge loser while still being honest, in spirit as well as in wording, to someone he has a bone-deep respect for? The advantage of the cookie creation process is that he can watch Avan's hands and it doesn't read as him not looking him in the face.

"He didn't scout me or anything, I just... really, really wanted to do Hero Training and get out of that village, so I followed him."

"Hero training, huh?" Avan pauses mixing his dough to stare at the ceiling thoughtfully before he drops his head again with a sigh.

"I just can't picture it! I don't like fighting and I'm not very good at it." Two out of three of those statements are even true! "How does someone like that train heroes?"

Popp takes this at face value because he has a preconceived notion of Avan based on his future self. Sure, he likes to downplay his abilities and how impressive they are, but he wouldn't just outright deny having any! You really think Master Avan would do that, just walk into this cottage and tell lies? Popp fidgets and kicks his heel back against the counter a few times.

"Ahhh - you could've said the same about me not that long ago - like I said, I was the worst student, I wasn't just being modest. Hadlar came back, and I had to get much better, really really quickly."

Hadlar came back is one of those things that gets less terrifying every time he has to say it. It's background radiation. It's honestly kind of weird that he's not here and lurking around engaging in wicked schemes and invasions?

"It wasn't like he was going for me personally," at first, "But he was out there attacking kingdoms, and it turned out Dai is personal friends with royalty, so he had to go charge into all of that right away, and what was I going to do, run off and ditch him?!"

Well, yes, but that's one of the many things that Avan maybe doesn't need to hear about... He's putting a lot of emphasis and flair when he's talking about how Dai is definitely the one who had a personal stake in fighting Hadlar, like he can just freeze over the rest of it and skate across.

Dai got involved because of a connection to royalty and Popp followed him into it and absolutely no mention of Avan himself being involved. That's a little nugget of information Avan tucks away as he nods and keeps mixing. He'll sort this timeline out one way or another.

"This Hadlar fellow going around attacking kingdoms, what do you mean when you say he 'came back?'"

If he had to guess, he'd say it's probably the name of the same Dark Lord who's started going around attacking kingdoms in his own time, but he'd like to keep the guessing and assuming to the things he can't get Popp to talk about directly.

This Hadlar fellow. What a way to phrase it! Popp laughs a little, nervously but genuinely, because he can just imagine how completely pissed that Hadlar, the worst person in the world, would be about Avan not even knowing who he is. He's really glad Hadlar isn't here!

"I can't believe you don't know who he is! Demon Lord Vearn brought him back, stronger than ever. I don't really want to think about Vearn; Hadlar is bad enough. He's had a vendetta against Master Avan since before I was born, since he was the one who put him down the first time. I had to hear about that from Hadlar himself, by the way, because,"

He closes his eyes and holds up his pointer finger like a know-it-all schoolteacher.

"That all happened a long time ago."

Is that an impression of him? Incredible. Avan laughs brightly, even if it feels a bit... self-effacing to do so? It's fine, nobody's better at making Avan look like an idiot than Avan anyway.

Still, that's some useful information there. Seems his guess about Hadlar being the Dark Lord was correct. It's... not really a surprise that he'll be the one to take him down, if Avan's being honest. He can't say he's especially looking forward to it, but someone's going to have to do it, and he's better-equipped than most. But uuuuuuugh, it's going to make things so awkward, it's no surprise that his future self keeps it under wraps.

And then Hadlar comes back thanks to some even more powerful evil while he dies somehow. Really unideal!

Avan grabs a baking sheet and starts shaping his dough into little dragons. "16 years is a long time. Our entire lifetimes so far, in fact!" Does he even consciously realize that he stopped shaping this cookie to hold his finger up in the exact way that Popp just made fun of? A mystery.

See, he's doing it right now?? This is so validating actually.

"Come to think if it, you were this age when you had it out with him. I can't picture you having as hard a time as it, but I guess it must have been pretty tough."

What kind of hellish training and experiences made him go from a nobody baker to the strongest hero in the world? That's a rhetorical question by his inner monologue, he's seen the Special Hard Course. It's apparently plausible for a natural genius without much self-preservation to master Avan-Style in a week. Dai could have done it easy if he'd had four more days.

Popp scratches his cheek, really self conscious about what he's going to ask.

"Want to learn some of it early? I'm no Warrior or Hero; I can't pull off an Avan Strash myself, but I've seen it done over and over. I know what all of the moves are for, and you've got the same head on your shoulders. Between us, we'd be able to recreate it."

He's not actually that confident that they would be able to but like. Maybe if he hides that and believes in Avan harder than ever it will work?

Avan pauses in his work again to look at Popp curiously. It's an intriguing prospect, honestly, and a surprising one. Popp really wants him to be strong like the Master he remembers, huh? It makes him feel a little bad about deceiving him like this, but it's best to be consistent.

"I guess there's no harm in learning the theory, but I really can't promise I'll be able to execute any of it!" Read: definitely won't successfully execute any of it in front of Popp, but will probably sneak in some private practice with on his own later.

"I'll have to get a new sword, too. Haha, Roka would have my head if he knew I hadn't done that yet. He's always lecturing me for leaving my sword behind."

This is probably karma for taking so long to really apply himself to magic. Belabored sigh!! Young Avan, your confidence... Popp's really going to have to talk up how strong his future self is, clearly that's the problem? Avan is honestly a lot to live up to, he gets it!

Popp knows who the warrior in Avan's party was, because the other people he knows who knew Roka are less insanely tightlipped about their pasts. It's kinda weird hearing about him from this fresh perspective where he's not dead... Oh, this is something else he can't talk about, absolutely not it would be so bad, he has to keep talking!! About something related!! Related-

"Aw, Maam's always giving me a hard time, too. Everyone a hard time. She yelled at one of Hadlar's generals for a whole day and he quit being evil."

This is a gross simplification of events in which a number of people played important parts but it's talking about Maam hours now.

"I'm honestly kind of scared of when she finishes up her training and comes back with her old man's full set of muscles to go with her personality."

He doesn't sound scared at all, he just likes making fun of her. It'd be smart to break that habit before she gets strong enough to punch him into the atmosphere but it's fine, Popp works great under pressure!

"Worried she'll straighten you out?" Avan asks with a mischievous grin. Popp's easy to tease, just like Roka. They're very different people, but they've both got an earnestness to them that makes them easy to get along with.

"You have a lot of friends, don't you, Popp?"

"Worried she'll flatten me to paste, more like." He turns his head to the side and grumbles an aside under his breath with a practiced performativity. Okay, so it's obvious to anyone from Leona to Zaboera that he li- that he. Look, Avan already has enough he can tease him about! Look at that silly bastard face on him! He doesn't need more ammunition!

"Oh, sure, I guess. The other Disciples of Avan, Old Brass, everyone in Papnica, Merle, Crocodine... Once you fight side by side with someone and realize they want to protect something just as much as you do, it's impossible not to think of them as friends."

He definitely wouldn't have become as close with any of the amazing people he's met if he kept on cowering behind them or outright running... All right, now he has another reason to whip Avan the Nerd into shape. To be fair, he makes being a weenie look ten times better than Popp ever did but it's not like that's stiff competition.

Look, Popp, at least you've never sworn to run around the country naked if you ever fell in love, unlike somebody Avan knows. So the teasing could definitely be worse.

"How many 'Disciples of Avan' are there?" Still a weird thing to think about!

Popp would not even swear to run around the country with all of his clothes on. He's not an idiot [citation needed].

"Four that I know of." He starts counting off on his fingers. "There's me, Dai's our Hero, Maam can only cast Cleric spells, but she used to have this Magic Bullet Gun you made to make up for it, Hyunkel is..."

How much does he talk about the Hyunkel thing... Maybe he just Doesn't. He can't talk actual shit about someone who is trying his best to make up for his various misdeeds. Does this mean he's going to be nice about him absolutely not. He flumps over the counter dangerously close to the cookie process and groans.

"Uggggh, he's soooo cool, it pisses me off! He's always going off on his own into danger and then shows back up to save our skins just when we need him. He's a pure warrior, no magic at all, but he's got a suit of armor that blocks spell attacks, so anyone going up against him has to take him on using his specialty... Dai and I can beat him together, though."

Avan smoothly slides his baking sheet away from Popp's impact zone, with a speed that might seem suspicious if Popp weren't probably too busy flumping to notice. Hmm, he'll go for a top-down view instead of a profile view for this next dragon cookie, he thinks.

"He sounds like a very helpful ally, so why did you and Dai fight him?"

Sorry, Popp, did you think Avan wouldn't catch that implication?

It would be easy to explain by saying that they have matches against each other to train and check their own weak points safely among friends. Popp thinks of this about twenty seconds too late, because what he actually says is "Gk," and freezes like he's been hit by a Crackle.

"Um! Well, that's..."

How does he explain this!!

Popp folds like a bad hand of cards under the force of Avan's pleasant smile. He's only courageous against physical threats!

"He was working for Hadlar for, um. A while. He's not anymore. I'll trash talk him over anything else, but he's really committed to making up for everything he did."

He's slowly sliding off the counter onto the floor as he mutters.

"Oh, is that all? That's fine. The important thing to do when you make a mistake is to learn from it and do better! Even if it's a big one! So it sounds like he's doing well!"

Someday, Avan is going to tell Hyunkel that he's his pride, and he'll mean it, despite everything.

"What about your other friends? I'd like to hear more about them."

Oh thank Human God he's not taking it personally. Popp exhales real deep and rolls over so he's looking up but does not remove himself from the floor or break into tears again. He really wishes Hyunkel could hear that himself.

Speaking of former generals:

"Let's see, Crocodine was also evil when I met him, but he's an honorable guy at heart, so once we earned his respect he decided he'd rather be side by side with people who acted like us than people like Zaboera and Hadlar. You might know about Zaboera, he's crazy old and evil and he uses dirty tricks like taking hostages and turning into your friends with the Morph spell and then stabbing you with poison. It sucks! I'd rather be beaten half to death by a big hulking beast king any day!"

A handful of established facts and feelings manage to collide in Popp's brain while drifting around and come to a solid conclusion. He fishes his pendant out of his collar and holds it up, thoughtfully. Just a little bit stronger, just a little bit weaker...

"Hey, I probably managed to stay conscious enough to get that Glimmer off because of this. I guess Crocodine's sort of your friend now, too."

It's floor time for Popp now, huh? Okay, sure, Avan understands that you gotta have floor time sometimes.

"Zaboera sounds very unpleasant indeed, but I'd never heard of him before you accused me of being him in disguise." No, he hasn't forgotten about that. "Crocodine sounds much friendlier. I'd like to meet him someday." Popp's phrasing sure does seem to imply that he never will, though. That's another little nugget of information Avan stores away for sorting out the timeline.

Master Avan also had a sharp memory for the wide variety of mistakes Popp was capable of. It's embarrassing but also weirdly comforting. He looks thoughtfully up at the light through his pendant.

"I'd like to see that, actually. We met him right after, um, after Dai and I split off on our own."

Nailed it.

"Man, I was scared out of my wits even with one of the strongest guys I've ever met standing between me and him. So I'm the last person who can tell you you don't need to worry if I'm around. But if you want to try anything risky, I'm fine backing you up no matter how worried you are, got it?"

In the near future, it's possible that he's going to take an angry rooster to the face while thinking back to this conversation. Acting like a cool senior has its price.

Split off on their own, huh, is that what we're going with? Sure, bud.

Avan slides his cookie sheet to the side so he can lean over the counter and look Popp in the face. "You're a nice guy, Popp." The offer's a bit meaningless to him, as a person who approaches risks with reckless abandon rather than worry, but the sentiment's nice anyway.

"But hopefully this place remains nice and peaceful!"

"Well, thanks." He scratches the side of his face, a little embarrassed. He's only like this because he had a good role model!!

"But I don't think the gods or whoever made a couple dozen second-rate Dragon Knights because they were expecting a bake sale, Avan."

"Maybe we were brought here to help deal with that calamity Mr. Charlie put a stop to, but he took care of it before we arrived!" Optimism!

"Though..." he taps his fingers on the counter thoughtfully. "If there was that much intent behind it, you'd think they would summon me from closer to your time! It sounds like your Master would be a lot more useful than I am if we're going to have to fight anything!"

He doesn't sound like being behind his full potential bothers him. Popp can't relate to that, but does know a whole lot about putting on a bold front.

"Well, outside of Zoom and Levizoom, my spells are all for combat. If they wanted someone all-purpose, they'd have done better going another few decades back and picking up old Matoriv in his prime."

He definitely does not appreciate how hard it must be to mess about with time and space. He does remember to not call Matoriv his teacher, at least.

"Kind of a difficult guy to deal with, though. I don't think anyone would summon him on purpose unless they were desperate."

This is extremely mean and extremely accurate. Popp has been glad to see the old coot on a number of desperate occasions.

"Maybe the dragons are into particular personalities?"

He does not sound like he believes this.

"Master Avan could be really difficult himself when he felt like it."

He does sound like he believes this part, though.

Avan gives a cheeky grin, because he knows perfectly well that he can be difficult sometimes. He does it on purpose.

"Who's Matoriv? You haven't mentioned him before."

"Matoriv? He's a grumpy old dirtbag who lives in a secret cave in Papnica and hates to be bothered - but he showed me his house before he ditched me off in the middle of Romos, so I can bother him whenever I dare, heh heh."

His tone is both laid back and fond despite what he's actually saying. Talking shit is Matoriv's love language. As well as his hate language and his neutral language-

"He likes you and Maam and Roka, though, so I can't fault his taste, and he's strong enough to take on Hadlar one on one."

He's not the same kind of comforting as Master Avan by a long shot, but he's really cool in his own way, and deserves to be talked up, especially when there's no risk of him overhearing.

"If he had fought one on one, he might have taken him out on the spot. He doesn't have the raw magic power of a demon lord, but he can cast two or three spells at once, which is really hard."

He puts away his insignia and stretches his hands out with the fingers laced together. Matoriv isn't up to dualcasting any more and he knows whose fault that is. Aside from Hadlar's, that is. Hadlar doesn't count he doesn't want to share a category with him.

"I've been trying to do that myself, but... it's really hard."

Matoriv knows him and Roka, that's another one of those little nuggets of information to store away without bringing up directly. It's not the thing that's most caught his attention.

"Multiple spells at once? That's not just 'really hard,' that's incredible!" Avan leans over the counter to stare at Popp in awe. "Most people would even say it's impossible! A mage that can pull that off is a rare talent!"

Still halfway over the counter, Avan brings his hands up to rest his chin on them and grins. "It sounds like I'm going to make some really interesting friends in the future! How exciting!"

All right, that's got Avan interested in going out and having adventures! To make friends rather than to get stronger and save the world, but there are worse motivations.

"I'll get the hang of it eventually."

Popp rolls up to a crouch - he's great at rolling around, that being a useful way to dodge and run at the same time - and calls up a handful of Frizz.

"Matoriv also keeps saying it's my job as a mage to keep a cool head and support my companions with useful spells. How hot do you need that oven?"

"If this is the current temperature, and this is boiling water, then it should be around here," Avan answers, accompanied by the obvious hand gestures.

Popp could just light the wood and let Avan use the oven normally, but magic fire means no smoke, so Avan's not going to complain.

He wants to be visibly helpful... This Avan doesn't have the social leverage or seemingly the inclination to make him do various menial tasks, which on one hand is great but on the other hand he feels? Bad? About? Just lazing around and griping...

"Got it, like this?"

Heating something up gently instead of just chucking a bunch of fire at it is difficult. Sizz might be better suited for pure heat, but it's a slightly stronger and more tiring spell and Popp is more confident in his ability to control this one.

It's good training for controlling your magic output. Avan's done it before himself, not that he's about to tell Popp as much. He kneels in front of the oven and holds his hand out to check the temperature. Hmmm....

"A little more." He makes an up gesture with his free hand. This is... probably the most focused Popp has seen Avan this entire time. Go figure.

They're both focused. They're ~collaborating on a project~, just like professionals. Only one of them can conjure fire and only one of them can make cookie dough. Just like Master Avan himself wrote, it's all about surrounding yourself with people who can do what you can't.

Popp pours a little more magic in and kicks it up. It's not particularly hard to make it hotter, but it is a little harder to control. Fire likes being fire. Deep, even breaths. Just like meditating.

"Very good!" Once Avan's satisfied that the temperature is at the right level and staying there, he pops up to grab his sheet of cookies and slide it into the oven.

"Now hold it there for twenty minutes!"

"No problem!"

Twenty minutes?! Oh no!

Avan smiles brightly and gets started on bustling about cleaning up, leaving Popp to it. Ganbatte, Popp.

This is pretty similar to meditation after all, just with a constant expense of active magical power. Not even that much, now that it's hot! All he has to do is keep the magic balanced and steady. And hey, he does have the magic reserves to back it up these days. Twenty minutes proves to be legitimately easy.

Plus, it feels pretty good being next to a warm oven that smells of cookies on a cold day. The scent's less of a distraction and more of an additional focus, being tied directly into the task at hand.

Twenty minutes pass and the cottage doesn't burn down, grand success. Avan gets his cookies back out of the oven and they are, naturally, perfect.

"Great work! They'll need some time to cool down, but once they do, you can have as many as you like!"

Floor time and magic time at an end, Popp gets up and stretches. He feels a little tired, but not as tired as he was expecting? He claps Avan on the shoulder as he observes the cookies. If he did not know exactly how hot they are right now, he'd go for it on the spot...

"All right! It's no high-stakes battle, but that was some good teamwork!"

victory theme plays faintly in the distance

in order to eat your feelings, you have to make them first

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Concentration Check: NAT 20

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