Fated Reunion (Fue)

Talking about desserts was really not helping the appetite of perception Matylda had just been complaining about.  The more that her cousin mentioned things like strawberries the more the Finn added to an order in her imagination.  Already it was becoming a pretty full plate between chicken, shortcake and fruits, and there wasn't much more space to fill.  Even some girl who made such things as a hobby must be fairly talented if Fue had thought so highly of her work.  Or maybe it was just a compliment to the hands?  Matylda's thoughts were jumbled as she attempted to shift from thoughts of food to whatever it was that her cousin thought that she was talking about.

Immediately it became obvious that her cousin hadn't actually detected any proclivity for disco music in Matylda.  The brunette's eyebrows lifted in surprise as Fue began to talk about her aunts' realiations about something.  Clearly not realizations about disco.. wait, realizations about sexuality?  What?  Since when had they been talking about that particular topic of conversation?  Even going back over her own remarks the Finnish girl couldn't pinpoint any moment at which she'd brought the subject up to her Russian-born cousin.  Her mind shifted to whether this was even a good thing to be talking about, but it did seem better as an option than discussing her secret affection for 70s dance music.  Or the ridiculously silly costumes that inevitably went hand-in-hand with performing that kind of music.  As her cousin finished up the little pep talk about love and sexuality, Matylda's head was tilted to the side out of genuine confusion.

"Cousin, that's a nice story.. but what does that have to do with me liking dis-" Matylda began to reply before she stopped herself just short of uttering the forbidden word.  She clamped a hand over her mouth in a desperate attempt to keep herself from speaking it as well, holding the pose for several moments too long to appear nonchalant.  When she did finally, and slowly, remove her hand she was blushing and trying to think of anything to change the subject to in the wake of that moment.

"Er.. anyway!  That restaurant's not too much farther along I hope!  I think my empty stomach is getting the better of my brain," she announced, chuckling awkwardly and hoping that somehow banished further discussion of her case of disco fever.

Oh, it wasn’t what she had thought, that was...well, not a relief per se. That revelation wouldn’t have changed anything between them, though maybe she hadn’t told her mother about it. That could be awkward. Fue wasn’t exactly used to secrets, she had a tendency to just tell her parents mot things hat were going on in her life. That said, she kept a lot of her own issues secret, especially anything that made it look like school wasn’t going well. They’d already given so much for her to even be at this school, Fue didn’t want to let them down.

As for her cousin’s secret that was big enough to elicit a startled gasp at a single syllable, well, Fue didn’t have a guess anymore. It was probably something mild or weird. Dis-something. Well, whatever it was, her cousin was probably overblowing something again. Maybe she’d say what it was sometime, maybe not. If it was a problem, Fue trusted her cousin to make the right decision, eventually.. “Sorry, I guess I misunderstood. I just thought, what with the notebook drawing and how you talked about your friend, that she was your girlfriend or something. That’s all.” Such a silly misunderstanding. “We’re almost there, don’t worry.” In fact, she could see it down the street. The outdoor tables didn’t look too crowded either so there was a bit of luck. It was probably a good idea to change the subject anyway.

“In no time at all you can stuff your face with dead chicken or whatever it was you called it.” Of course, her cousin’s focus on food had made her focus on food and so she was starting to feel kind of hungry as well. Best to ignore it though lest she end up ordering too much herself and being forced to adjust her picture portfolio to accurately match up to her actual eating habits today. That was always a pain.

Nothing more than a simple misunderstanding, that's all it had been. The Finnish girl supposed she should've been greatly relieved that it was just a case of mistaken meaning but it wasn't quite that simple.  Of course she was thrilled that they weren't going to be talking about music that was older than the pair of them combined.  Not that it was likely anyone would guess that someone so into metal was even remotely into disco as well.  Still the suggestion that she'd had a girlfriend did cause Matylda to blush in response though she couldn't quite put a finger on why that was.  She remained silent as she walked alongside her cousin, attempting to figure that part out.  What was it that made this an issue she'd get all embarrassed about?  Was there any reason why?  That girl had been someone that Matylda looked up to, but she hadn't ever really done much with the girl.  Not even so much as talked to her for more than a couple of statements, even. 


If they had been more closely tied to each other than that Matylda wasn't sure it'd be much than friends.  Even through her rose-tinted glasses she wasn't about to deny that they probably had more different than in common.  Probably for the best that they hadn't really ever gotten to know each other.  A girl could be pretty and kind but she was still a different person up close than she seemed from a distance.  Matylda sighed a little as she thought it through, though her brain rapidly transitioned into focusing on food.  They were getting really close now, and she could practically smell the meat cooking in the distance.  Wait, maybe it wasn't even practically - that was the scent of chicken cooking!  Matylda picked up her pace just a tad, drawn by the scents like a cartoon character being led along toward a tasty banquet.  As soon as she spotted the restaurant she rushed up to the window an stared in through it.  Everything on that menu looked absolutely delicious!

"Cousin, cousin!  Look at all the wonderful things they have for sale!" she remarked excitedly as she pointed at the menu in the window, "I can't decide what sounds the best, it all looks so good that I could just pick something at random and not be disappointed!"

Then she frowned a little, "But calling it dead chicken is kind of weird.  That's not something that anyone would eat if you just called it that.. " Matylda stared at the menu a little while longer before slowly looking to Fue, "Can.. can we go inside?"

As they came up towards the restaurant, Fue could sense the excitement from her cousin. It was basically vibrating off her. Fue couldn't help but smile as her cousin darted off towards the restaurant window. At a more relaxed pace, Fue followed and stopped just behind her energetic cousin. "Yeah, this is it." The food did look pretty good, but Fue knew enough not to go after anything that looked too complicated or hard to put together. That would lead to madness, after all, the pictures were done by people like her, the actual food was made by humans in a hurry. Nice as they seemed, they wouldn't be pretty enough for a photograph.

"It's no weirder than coq au vin or fried chicken or all that. It's telling you how it's cooked, yeah, but it's basically the same thing." She shook her head. "Of course we can go inside. Remember, you only get to choose one thing to start with." She put her hand on Matylda's shoulder and escorted her into the restaurant. "If you're so interested in trying it all, maybe your best bet is ordering the first thing on the menu and making your way down." Fue smiled. "Maybe we can come back once a month or something. It might be fun."

Though it would probably be a good idea not to push it much further than that. Fue wasn't exactly the most financially careful of people but she knew that she probably shouldn't be going out to eat all the time, especially not when the cafeteria tended to provide good, solid food just fine. Though it was a bit more drab and less exciting than a restaurant. Of course, her cousin could come here on her own but if Matylda's worries about hoarding food were indicative of anything, she'd probably get into a lot of trouble without anyone keeping an eye on her. Like a bull in a candy shop, or a very hungry child in a sweets shop.

"At least when you call it those things, it sounds less blunt and boring than 'dead chicken'.  You might just be describing how the meat is cooked but something that sounds boring can be less appetizing to eat.  So something like 'the flesh of murdered farmyard fowl' sounds more delicious.. in a metal way," Matylda explained with a grin as they went into the restaurant proper.  Her glee was mostly out of her excitement for getting to go inside and eat something.  Unfortunately for her self control the taunting scent of foodstuffs grew even stronger once they were inside the restaurant itself.  Her eyes were big as saucers as her imagination went into overdrive trying to figure out what she should eat and what would be the most scrumptious to consume.

As soon as they had their seats in a booth she seized upon the menu and began dissecting it with her eyes.  There were actually a few dishes on the menu which she'd tried in other restaurants, so those became less desirable as a first try here.  To have come all this way from Saitama, she wasn't about to just settle for something that was old hat.  Old hats were cool props for stage performances, less so when it was a term to describe things that she'd already tried.  So where did that leave her?  Still right in the middle of a slew of possibilities for her lunch, and far too many good choices to narrow it down from.

"Once a month might not be enough to try everything.. but maybe we should spice it up a bit too?  Try different places now and then," Matylda posited as she tried in vain to make a decision about her food.  As she nearly gave up on making the choice for now, she looked over at her cousin and asked, "I mean, there must be a ton of good restaurants around Fukui right?  We ought to try a bunch of different ones if we can.. um.. but maybe not too quickly.  You know, take our time so we don't gorge ourselves.."

A nervous laugh followed that statement, and Matylda knew she ought to get the ball rolling.  As such she took a deep breath and stared down at the menu.. everything looked so good!  Fue had set the rules in place though: order one thing and one thing only to start with.  The Finn took a deep breath, then closed her eyes and raised a finger to the sky.  A moment later she jabbed that finger down onto the menu as a means of selecting the item without feeling guilty for not choosing something else instead.  When she opened her eyes she was pointing at the item that would become her lunch.

"I guess I'm going with the chicken curry with rice and salad," she announced with a sheepish smile, "So have the Metal gods chosen!  Now that that's taken care of, cousin, I wanted to ask you something.  You've been at Fukui for a little while, so you must've made some friends, right?  What are the girls there like?"

"Your metal way is just weird." Fue said as she followed her cousin into the restaurant. She probably wouldn't want to eat at a place that called its food murdered or was as generalized as farmyard fowl. It just seemed like the kind of place that thought it might be fun to serve food on novelty trays or leave the head on with little sunglasses. This theoretical restaurant needed somebody sensible to tell them no, maybe a firm slap from a health inspector wouldn't go amiss either.

Upon entering the shop, Fue inhaled. There was nothing like that first whiff of a restaurant, the blend of the common spices, the cooking meats or vegetables, it could tell you a lot about a place. It could also be overwhelming and that told you something too. A place with too many conflicting smells was probably full of conflicting flavors and was focused more on quantity than quality. Better to have a few things that were especially good than many that were subpar. This place was nice though. So many spices and flavors in harmony. After a brief pause, she kept moving and shook her head. "There's no way I can afford to go out and try a bunch of stuff. You'll have to find your own posse to drag along."

She sat down and picked up the menu, not that she needed one. She'd already decided to go with a simple vegetable curry on rice. Still, she skimmed the menu again in case some new and exciting thing had appeared that was enough to draw her away from her comfort zone. There wasn't this time around. "I've made a few." She replied. Most of them were from her main squad. She considered them friends and they thought the same of her, probably. But they weren't exactly close, she tended to avoid group activities on the whole, she was there if they wanted or needed a fifth. Last to be called, a general replacement if somebody couldn't make it. But that suited her fine.

"They're just like the people at any school. Some are jerks, cocky and proud of being in the school, some are nice, some are shy. But we're all in the school, we all applied, we all were chosen special. So it's just, you know, whatever." Fue didn't actually have that much experience with other people. She thought about some of the other people she had met and occasionally spent time with. "You can also meet people with a lot of interesting hobbies and majors. One girl I know is a woodcarver. Then I have photographed a lot of cooks." The waitress came by and she placed their orders. "It's just like a school but with a lot more languages and foreigners."

Sure there were a number of disappointments in Fue's tepid response to the idea of sampling all the eateries.  Money was probably a legitimate concern, the Finn supposed, but it wasn't as if she was totally bankrupt.  Plus a lot of her clothes and supplies were pretty darn affordable so it was pretty much a given that she'd have money to spend on food in the future.  Fue wasn't in the same boat, and the idea of going out with an entirely different group of people to sample food made some sense.  Even if the very idea of making new friends and getting to be close enough to share meals was terrifying.  On the subject of friends it was more reassuring to ehar that Fue was at least making some friends.  There may not have been all that many but at least there were some friends in the photographer's life.


"The fact that they're just like the people at any school makes them scary, cousin.  Just because they've got the same kind of personalities and stuff doesn't mean it's not intimidating.. I still have to start over from scratch, a stranger in a strange land with nothing to guide me but the Finnish and Russian tongues, a comfy cardigan and the power of metal.  Everyone speaks a language that I.. understand, but at the same time don't feel like I can speak," Matylda sighed as she fought off a new onrush of creative ideas for an illustration of her concluding statement.  Imagine all of that which she'd just said, but with the singular girl standing on a cliff overlooking a craggy ravine filled with fog and mystery.. and jets of flame.  Because it was metal.

As she pondered her cousin's experiences she started to wonder about what she might be able to do to support the girl.  They were family, and family always stood with family unless that other family made really, really bad decisions.  It'd made more sense when her mother explained it to her.  Since they were both studying visual artistry it seemed like they ought to be able to find some common ground between their work.  But in what form?  Even if there weren't the crossover effect that she thought ideal, maybe she could still help Fue out.

"Hey cousin, if your teacher is still on your case about taking pictures of things besides food I've got an idea," she offered, smiling a little more cheerfully and a little less pouty, "You could photograph me!  I'll pose however you think would be appealing for an assignment, and I get to spend time with my cousin.  It's a win-win!"

"Well it's not like you're the only one. You can be so dramatic. Loads of the other girls are transfers in as well, it isn't as if this is the sort of school where you go with the same people your whole life. And we're not the only international students either." Fue leaned back in her chair. "Some know Russian, I think you may have some luck there with the Japanese girls, though they seem to be more keen on learning English around here." She switched back to French to say "A boring and unromantic language." Then she was back to Russian.

"I'm sure you can find some others who speak Finnish too, though don't know if you'll meet any other nationals." Fue turned to look out the window. She hadn't really bothered to find out if there were any French girls around. That was her fault, nor Russian girls, apart from the nurse. And she wasn't Russian, she was just Navy and spoke a lot of languages. So that probably didn't count, and even if she was Russian, who would want to say their friend circle includes a teacher? In her miind, Fue basically had Nurse Estelle on the same level of adult as the teachers in the school, which was to say, not cool. Not that Fue was cool either but even somebody as background and uncool as Fue was knew that there was further to fall.

"Pictures of you?" Fue said surprised. "I guess that might work." Her teacher had wanted her to do more live subjects and if this was what it took to get the teacher off her back so Fue could go back to learning how to photograph food, then it would be worth the extra time. "I guess I could but I haven't really practiced photographing people. I don't want to embarrass you or anything. I'm not ma Mere after all." She could direct a model quite well, even when she wasn't the photographer. Her mother knew how to make her fashions shine. Fue thought she knew the same, but it was food rather than fashion. Fue was sure the talent was there, if she could just figure out how to really tap into it.

Matylda was really shooting in the dark by suggesting that she do some posing for her cousin's photography.  She wasn't really the sort of person who'd make that good of a model for most things, but it might still help out her cousin.  Plus it'd be way easier to work with someone you knew fairly well than to solicit some stranger for posing in exchange for.. whatever.  What did she have to show off?  Probably her collection of heavy metal band t-shirts, for a start - they might not be the sort of thing that the teacher or other students would want to see, but it was something unique to Matylda's wardrobe.  Granted her so-called collection was about four shirts in total, but that ought to be enough to provide ample differentiation for her cousin's photographic purposes.  Plus it was something to do together as family, which was something that Matylda was definitely interested in.

"I'm not sure how you want to do them, but maybe we can just look around town and find some neat places to take some pictures?  That way we can not just show off your work with people, but also landscapes," Matylda suggested as she tried extra hard not to think about the food that would be headed their way fairly soon.  Just the few sniffs of the stuff she picked up on from the kitchen were enough to drive her into over anxious anticipation. 

She thought to Fue's Ma Mere, and how they'd interacted the last time Matylda had visited those aunts.  If there were one thing that woman was good at it was making you feel ridiculously embarrassed out of nowhere.  You could just be sitting there playing a board game and imagining flying spiked dragons tearing apart a woolly mammoth with their gaping maws, minding your own business.. and then she struck with carefully chosen words.  All of a sudden those dragons were banished by the sudden warmth in your cheeks as you wondered why she had chosen that exact moment to make such a comment.

"Oh, so how are your parents doing?  I remember last time I saw your Ma Mere, she.. er.. made me feel really silly with her comments.  Good silly but still silly," Matylda asked, fighting on in her battle to not think about food, "Oh, and for the pictures I was thinking of showing off my t-shirt collection.. is that okay, or would you rather do something else?"

Fue took out her camera and started prepping for the upcoming picture she was going to take and also as a focus item to narrow her thoughts toward a picture of her cousin. It might work, it was no fashion shoot but she could definitely do a few things to make it look nice enough and make her cousin stand out. Well, stand out in a very different way then Matylda stood out currently. There was also the fact that she had come alone to the school. Probably he aunt had come to look at the school before sending Matylda here, or looked at the brochures, but this might be a chance for Fue's aunt to see Matylda on campus as the school really looked.

Fue fiddled with a few settings on the camera and tried to adjust for the lighting. She was pretty sure she had a good eye for it but nothing beat a test shot. "Say cheese." She held up the camera and snapped a pic of her cousin and then focused on examining it, adjusting sharpness, brightness, and focus. "I think the school is big enough for a lot of variety, whatever you end up wearing. Then we can send some back to your family so they know you haven't run off to join a circus or become a groupie for some screaming metal band." She said casually. It was a joke but Fue could easily see her cousin disappearing to follow a band across the country, she could be very impulsive.

"As for my mothers, they're doing well. Ma Mere is working on her next line. And it's ma Mere when I speak of her, your mother would be ma mere to you. Ta mere is what you mean but Aunt Alice is probably fine. Your french needs work." She set her camera down. "You're a very silly person sometimes, what did she say to you?" Fue could only imagine what could drag the girl out of her musical head enough to be embarrassed, even her own question of if Matylda was gay had only elicited a few seconds of embarrassment. Maybe it had something to do with that other secret that her cousin was holding on to.

The immediate test picture was a bit of a surprise for Matylda, but the Finn didn't waste time getting into a pose.  Something semi-official was worthy of the effort of doing something other than simply sitting there pondering food.  Though she wasn't really in her metal best, she still made the effort to throw up the devil horns real quick when her cousin snapped the picture.  Then her mind started to wander a bit after Fue made a remark about joining a circus or metal band groupie.  Screaming metal wasn't really her genre, but.. what if there were a circus that traveled the land with the most metal attractions possible?  Trapeze artists who twirled through flaming hoops, people riding lions adorned in black leather with spikes, ghoulish clowns.. oh man, that'd be awesome!  Of course they could perform a few songs to close each circus performance, complete with jets of fire and a huge skull glaring out at the audience on a projector screen behind the band.  How was this not a thing already?!  Only the lack of a readily accessible sketch pad prevented her from beginning to doodle out an illustration of the show.

"Ma... er... Auntie Alice was talking about the types of clothes that I wear... and what would suit me," Matylda responded to her cousin, pulled out of her reverie by Fue's question, "She just caught me off guard and it was a weird day anyway.. but I'm sure she meant well.  There was something about music too, but it's been a while so I don't really remember what she asked specifically."

With that she blushed a little, recalling how sloppily she'd been dressed on that occasion.  In all likelihood her aunt's remarks had been more a criticism of that than any specific elements of her attire.  A loose fitting t-shirt and sweater with faded jeans and messy hair probably hadn't been the best choice of look when visiting her aunts; her own mother had been a bit annoyed judging by expression alone.  However she did recall her aunt remarking on a CD that Matylda had brought along to listen to, and which had fallen out of her bag.  Even though she'd tucked it away as soon as she noticed it had fallen out, apparently her aunt had seen it in Matylda's possession.  Questions about her attire and what sorts of people she liked were one thing, but disco was something else entirely.

After shaking the thoughts out of her head she went on, "In any case I guess I should practice my French too, even if it's kind of impractical in this country.  It might be about as useful as Finnish is here... um.. but anyway, I meant to ask.  Do you have any favorite kinds of food to photograph?  Maybe we could combine the metal shirt modeling with different dishes!"

Well, the lighting was acceptable and her camera settings would make up the difference. "Well your clothes aren't exactly the epitome of high fashion, cousin. None of your bands can be accused of being sharp dressers except in the very literal sense of having stabby things stuck onto them." No wonder her mother had commented. "But I'm sure she was just looking to help you out with a bit of advice. Ma Mere is all about looking one's best for whatever occasion might arise." She shrugged. Fue took more after Mama, with a more casual style, though still a very stylish brand name casual dress.

"You're more likely to get away with the messy look with Mama. Of course, even then she'll probably make a few adjustments. My parents can be so weird sometimes." Fue sighed the sigh of every kid with parents who did anything. She looked away from her camera and eyed the nearby tables to see if she could figure out how much longer the food might take. Who didn't have food when they arrived but did now? Who was here before them and still didn't have food. She hadn't been entirely hungry before, but sitting amid the smells of cooking was working up her appetite something fierce.

"I guess you could practice your french. But honestly, you should do more work on your Japanese. Or even your Russian, our family all has that in common mostly. I haven't met any other french girls yet." And if you didn't practice, it tended to fade and then you picked up weird accents. Her own Russian was a bit muddled and this had probably been the longest she'd spoken in Russian with anyone in a very long time. Even the conversation with the Nurse had been mostly Japanese.

Fue tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Well, I don't have a favorite photographing food really. Ice cream was my focus for awhile, it's hard to make it look good especially with all the lights around it. I guess I like bright colors, fruits are good, you can do really pretty things with fruit." Certainly, matching food to clothing might be interesting, at least as a thought exercise. A lot of thought went in to the models of advertisements, clothing that clashed was a problem that had to be avoided. Maybe this could help her out in more ways than just getting the teacher off her back.

Well there was something to be said about sharing similar experiences with your cousin.  Both of them thought of their parents as being strange or overbearing, as any teenager might.  Moreover they both had teachers who didn't exactly approve of their chosen topics for their art, and had been told they needed to branch out.   Fue didn't seem any more thrilled about photographing something other than food than Matylda felt about drawing things without a metal twist on them.  Yet they both probably ought to try for the sake of their grades, and so that those parents of theirs didn't hear about things and get all weird and overbearing.    After listening to her cousin's thoughts on preferred things to take pictures of, Matylda's eyes lit up.

"Colorful, huh?  Well that gives me an idea for what you should try taking pictures of next," Matylda beamed as she tapped her fingers on the tabletop to simulate a drum roll, "Why not some kind of candy then?  It's probably got a wide appeal since girls like sweet things, and it's usually pretty cheap to get a good amount of the stuff.  Plus it sounds like it'd be something you don't normally take pictures of, so maybe your teacher would give you the benefit of the doubt?

It sure sounded like a brilliant idea to the Finn.  If you added in some cute girl holding or displaying the candies it would add a secondary subject to give the work some more depth to it.  Despite her conviction that everyone had their own thing - metal, French culture, etc. -  she didn't really see the appeal of taking pictures of food alone.  Who would get excited about just staring at pictures of food and nothing else anyway?  Unless you had a carton of ice cream that had sprouted arms and legs.. and a large gaping maw at the opening where its lid had been propped up.  Chasing a group of terrified peons carrying spoons who'd dared to think they could take a bite of that now-sentient killing dessert.  Whoa, that was a pretty cool idea!  Before she could capitalize on it she was distracted by the arrival at last of the food that they'd ordered what seemed like eons ago.

"All right, it's here!  I'm actually pretty hungry," Matylda remarked as she seized the fork and knife and prepared to dig in, "Hey Fue, if.. if you manage to add people into your pictures sometimes.. then do you think I ought to try drawing.. um.. things less metal?"  The way she asked it said that she was genuinely puzzled by the very thought that this might be a thing she should consider.

"Candy?" She'd done a great number of pictures of deserts and snacks, occasionally candy was an element or focus. And, of course, candy was included in her constant pictures of food that she ate. You had to be thorough or what was the point? That said, candy was...plain. Sure there were candy sculptures and candy art, and weird sugar creations, but she had no idea how to work with that sort of thing. At least with most regular foods, she knew how to add her own little touches and touch ups. Candy was brittle, and probably hard to make right.

It probably wasn't as difficult as ice cream but was all that trouble worth the chance that her teacher would like it? After all, candy was still food, in a loose definition of food. Maybe a better idea would be to find out if the school had any confectionery students who wouldn't mind her sitting in and taking a few pictures. There were bound to be a few of those somewhere. If not, well, she'd just put that idea aside and forget about it. It would not be meant to be. Plus, if it never happened, she'd be less likely to eat a bunch of candy. Her dress size would be thankful of that.

There were so many variables, and then the food arrived and the future variables could be cast aside for the current variables of how she was going to take this picture. The service was, well, not impeccable, that was a high bar to set and expect, but it was acceptable. She took her camera and looked the food over through the lens. It looked pretty good, that was a nice start. But it wasn't without issues. She picked up her fork and began shaping the rice, adjusting the vegetables in the curry so that the larger and more vibrant ones rested on top. Then she carefully smoothed the rice to come right to the edge so that there was just the hint of touching.

She began taking pictures, straight on, right above, and from each side. In each angle, she took several just in case one didn't turn out perfect through some crazy fluke. When she had finished, she checked the pictures on the camera. She deleted the side pictures, those were just a bad angle for a split meal. It didn't do good things to the perspective portions. Straight ahead seemed like a good choice. She tagged one as a prospective finalist and the others as further review before uploading them to the cloud. She'd go over them when she got home. It was time to eat now, well, eat and talk. "Dunno." she said as she stirred the curry and rice together. "That girl you drew was really pretty and she wasn't very metal but metal makes you happy too."

Both girls had wildly different approaches when it came to the food which had last arrived.  Matylda knew Fue reasonably well and still didn't really understand why she was so meticulous with what had been placed on her plate.  Probably to ensure a good picture or something, but food wasn't really a medium which Matylda thought could be all that exciting when you got right down to it.  Unless you were specifically creating pictures of food to look delicious and entice people to come into your restaurant to consume it?  That didn't seem to be what her cousin was after in arranging the food with incredible care before snapping a ton of pictures of the meal.  On the other hand Matylda had simply seized her eating utensils and dug in, cutting up the meat to be manageable pieces before mixing it together with the other components of the meal.  By the time that her cousin was snapping pictures Matylda had a mouthful of food which she was munching down relentlessly.

"You've got a good point, cousin," Matylda replied between bites, embarrassment at the non-metal drawing offset by the joy of delicious food, "Metalscapes make me happy, of course!  Nothing else comes close to the creativity of a scene worthy of being taken straight from a metal album cover!  Plus it gets me practice drawing all sorts of things I wouldn't normally draw in a class - skeletons, giant squids, spikes.. but that girl wasn't metal at all, just.. um... neat..."

Okay, this was going nowhere but embarrassing fast!  Time to change things up before it got too far down that road, otherwise she might not even be able to enjoy the flesh of murdered agricultural fowl.  She hurriedly shoveled a heaping helping of her food into her mouth to buy some time before she'd have to do something to change the direction of their lunch.  Something clever, something that her cousin wouldn't be able to help but go along with!  No more awkward questions about that serenely pleasant girl who'd sat so close, yet so far away from Matylda at her old school.  That teasing existence would not surface to cause her even more trouble even so long after the fact of attending that school.  As she swallowed the food something came to her, and she latched onto it like the survivor of a shipwreck with a floating piece of wood.

"Cousin!  This is our first day together in Fukui, so I propose... a toast!" Matylda held up her cup and grinned, "To.. our continuing art!"

With her pictures taken to a satisfactory quality, Fue felt she could finally tuck in to her meal with satisfaction. She took a significant bite and chewed it slowly, enjoying the taste. They were quite good here and the added satisfaction of having a meal that was so easily photographed was great. There were a great many times where she'd been stuck eating lukewarm meals, and that was on the warmer side. Though it was easy enough to accuse her of eating with her eyes but Fue thought that was unfair. If she could, maybe she wouldn't suffer so much cold food.

"I guess I get it, but albums and stuff are pretty quality based no matter what the genre is, most of the time." She thought of the music albums she'd seen, actually, the more she thought about it, the fewer she could remember seeing. There were the ones that sort of popped up on her music app. Even the chaotic or plain looking ones had a designer, there was an aesthetic choice there. Heck, even the really dull ones that were basically just three colored boxes with a stripe had a reason for it. It was like her own photography. Well, maybe not hers. But like the teacher said all the time, the goal was to draw an emotion or thought out of the viewer. Fue tried to go for the heart of the dish, but she did. Tend to focus on inspiring hunger or want.

Fue kept eating as she thought. She didn't know what her cousin's goals were for her art. To be cool was such a non-thing. Cool was relative, Fue certainly didn't think the whole metal scene was 'cool', mostly it was kind of weird and loud. Not that she'd ever say that to Matylda. That would be a good way to get a huge lecture about the history and whatever of metal music. Still, if it made Matylda happy, that was good and worth focusing on. Her thoughts and food were interrupted by Matylda once again. "A toast? Really?" Of course she'd suggest something like that. Back home they'd toast to some great thing after a lot of work. Like toasting to the success of a show right before curtain. Or maybe to the success of a merger after the paperwork had been signed.

Fue smiled. Matylda wasn't going to wait for something like that. Better to go for it now. Fue picked up her drink and tapped it against her cousin's. "To art, then."