Inner Fires Ch. 01

"A-alright," Cinder says, smiling again and climbing up onto the chair on the side opposite of Paul, "It smells so good. What is it?"

"It doesn't have an official name, unless you count my mother's of 'beef, vegetables and red chili paste noodles,' the paste is homemade and with a few additions of my own to make it taste a little differently," Paul explains while sitting down and picking up his utensils, smiling and taking a whiff of his food once he is done speaking. He takes a bite of his food, glancing at Cinder to gauge her reaction, his eyes glancing down at the curious child.

"It smells spicy, but good...are you sure the veggies will taste good?" she asks with a raised brow, looking up at Paul before looking down at the plate in front of her, "I've never liked them before. Why would they taste good now?"

"Because I cooked these vegetables. Not a single person who has ever eaten my cooking has hated it. Some have not been favorites it because they do not like a particular ingredient, but none have refused to eat it once trying it," Paul says with a smile after swallowing down his bite of food, "Just one bite. That's all I ask, okay? Just one bite, and if you don't like it, I'll make you something with more meat."

"Mm...okay...I'll give it a try," the girl says before picking up her fork and stabbing it into the food, her eyes narrowing in mild disgust as she lifts the veggie on the fork closer to her mouth. Some noodles and a bit of beef hanging off of the vegetable, "But I won't eat any more if it's icky!"

Nodding his head and gesturing for her to go ahead with a hand and an expectant smile, he watches as Cinder puts the food in her mouth and begins to chew, her eyes widening in surprise and bewilderment. Starting down at the plate of food, she remains silent for a couple of moments, then swallows her food, gazing up at Paul.

"Well?" Paul asks, his smile growing as he rests his elbow on the table, then rests his head on the palm of his hand, "Do you like it?"

"It's not icky! How is it not icky!? This is so yummy!" she exclaims with a growing smile, looking back down at the food before starting to shovel more into her mouth, "Sho good! Mmm!"

"Now, now, hehe. Don't talk with your mouth full, but I am very glad to hear that you like the food," Paul says with a happy smile, then begins to eat his own food.

After a short period of time eating in silence, aside from the soft sounds of cutlery scraping against ceramics and the noises from their chewing, Paul turns his head to look at the fiery-haired girl and gives another smile, which seems to catch her attention, "I have somewhere I need to go to today, and some purchases to make before I go there. You're going to come with me, just to make sure nothing like last night happens again, does that sound reasonable?"

"Yeah! Where are we going?" she asks with a smile, nearly done with her food now, "Is it somewhere we get food from?"

"No, but we can get more food after we're done there. And I did promise to get you some ice cream too, so we can get some on our way back home," Paul says, chuckling softly as Cinder's eyes widen in excitement and a large smile splits her face.

"Yaaay! I can't wait!" Cinder shouts, eating the rest of her food in a rush and soon having an empty plate in front of her. She picks up the plate and glass before bringing them over to the sink and carefully trying to put them on the counter next to it, leaning up on her toes.

'I gotta help out where I can, Paul is doing so much for me already. As long as he's really a good guy, I want to help him!' Cinder thinks to herself, groaning as she tries to lean higher and get the dishes on the counter, 'Why can't I even get these things up there? Come on!'

A pair of hands come into view, gently grasping the dishes before taking them from Cinder's grasp and putting them into the sink, "Don't worry about the dishes, hehe. You are too young to be worrying about dishes," Paul says with a smile, gently patting her head before returning to the table and taking his seat again, "Besides, you'll be tall enough to do that soon enough, Cinder."

'But I wanna help! Aww...' Cinder thinks to herself, grumbling and heading back to the table before taking her own seat as well, "Fine, but I'm gonna help you soon."

"Oh? And what would you be helping me with, hm? Perhaps we can find a way for you to clean, or...I could teach you to cook sooner than planned," he says with a mischievous smile, clearly having intended to reveal this to her when she showed a desire to help. He begins to finish off his own food, the young girl smiling and thinking about what kinds of food she may be able to eat now, lost in her own mental world, "Well, she seems interested."

Leaving her to space out in her imagination for a few minutes, Paul brings his own dishes to the sink and then starts to clean them, putting them away once they are done. He then heads over to the living room and picks his keys up off of the living room table and gestures for Cinder to follow him, "Alright, come on. We're getting you some ice cream, assuming you still want some."

"H-huh? Oh! Yes, please!" the fire-haired girl says with a smile, Paul's mentioning of ice cream seeming to have snapped her out of her daydreaming. She hops off of her chair and hurries over to Paul, hopping in place and smiling up at him with a gleam of excitement in her eyes, "Ice cream, ice cream!"

Chuckling, Paul pats Cinder on the head and leads her towards the door, then unlocks and opens it before the two step outside, Cinder making sure to stay close to him so they don't get separated, "Do you know which flavor you want?" Paul asks, seeming to be in quite a good mood.

"What flavors do they have? I haven't had ice cream before, remember?"

"Ahh, yes. Well, there are plenty of fruit flavors, chocolate, mixtures of them. You can get bars, cones, sandwiches, sundaes-" Paul starts to explain, Cinder cutting him off as something he said catches her attention. her brows furrowing and her head tilting.

"An ice cream sandwich? How does that work?" she asks, imagining a slice of frozen cream between two slices of bread and grimacing at the thought, "It doesn't sound very good, that's for sure."

"The 'bread' is actually a pair of chocolate cookies, usually. It's very good, and I recommend it for you to try, at least once. A sundae might be a better idea to start with though, given the bowls they use at this particular establishment," Paul says with a smile and a chuckle, though Cinder seems only more confused now.

"The...bowls?" she asks with a soft cringe on her face, unsure of what a bowl has to do with ice cream, or why a type of bowl would matter for it, "How would a bowl change anything?"

"Well, lucky for us," Paul starts, his hand grasping a door handle for the bright store next to them and opening the door for Cinder with a wave of his hand. The sign stating the shop's name is clearly made to draw even further attention by adding large prop ice cream cones of different kinds behind it, and putting advertisements on the windows, "That we are here, and you can soon experience the cold bowls, hehe."

"Welcome!" the shopkeeper calls out to Cinder as soon as she enters, making her jump a bit in surprise and look up at the smiling worker behind the counter with wide eyes, "Sorry about that, hehe. I'm just as excited to be here as you probably are. What can I get for you two today? We have a special on sundaes and cones today, hehe."

"Well, that depends on what this little one wants, I suppose," Paul says, smiling down at the young girl and gesturing to the left with a hand, her head turning to face a large, glass-faced display container next to the counter. Her eyes widen as she looks at the open containers of ice cream inside, her jaw dropping a bit as she leans closer and takes in all the different colors and styles of the sweet treats within, "Well, while she is deciding on what she wishes...could I get a few scoops of chocolate ice cream in a cold bowl, please?"

"Of course! That will be three copper Crowns, sir," the shopkeeper says with a smile, then turns and gets a scoop to begin gathering the ice cream, along with a bowl from behind the counter. Cinder's eyes are drawn up to the man behind the counter as he opens the display freezer and begins to scoop chocolate ice cream into the bowl, the ceramic giving off a small amount of fog, "Have you decided on what you would like? Maybe a fruit flavor?"

"Mm...I think I want to try that one," Cinder says, pointing at a tub of pink ice cream, small chunks of red fruit seen inside of it, "It's pretty, and it looks really yummy. Can I try some?"

"Oh! You've already taught her the concept of free samples, I see," the shopkeeper says with a chuckle, gathering the last scoop of chocolate ice cream and handing it to Paul before getting a small sample cup and filling it with the cold treat that Cinder requested, and handing it to Paul as well, along with a small, plastic spoon, "I would hand these to her myself, but I unfortunately cannot reach that far, hehe."

"It is no problem, young man. Thank you very much for the sample. Here you are, Cinder," Paul says with a smile, crouching down and handing her the sample cup, "If you like what is in there, we can get you a bowl this size as well. Do not worry about the cost, three copper Crowns is negligible in the long run for us. We are not rich, but I earn enough to be able to afford to bring you to places such as this for an occasional visit."

"R-really!?" Cinder asks with a wide smile, gently taking the small bowl and the plastic spoon from him, "Thank you! Oh wow...it smells so good!"

"I'm glad you like it, little one. Dig in, before it begins to melt," her new father figure says with a smile of his own, then gestures towards a table, "We can sit there to eat if you like. Or anywhere else, I do not particularly mind using any of these tables."

Nodding her head, Cinder gives a wave to the shopkeeper and heads over to the table that Paul indicated, sliding her cup onto the table before hopping onto the booth seat and licking her lips as she gazes at the ice cream in front of her. Paul sits down across from her, his bowl making a soft clinking noise as it touches the tabletop, and he uses the metal spoon that he seems to have found somewhere to start eating his treat as he watches Cinder's reaction.

Smiling excitedly, Cinder takes her spoon into her hand and digs it into her ice cream, a few chunks of the berry seen mixed into the pink dessert, and she puts the spoon into her mouth. Giving an audible hum of excitement, she begins to eat her ice cream with a fair amount of gusto, making Paul chuckle and smile wider, "You should slow down, before you get-"

"M-mmm!" Cinder groans out and presses a hand to her head, wincing and gritting her teeth. She hunches over a bit, looking up at Paul for help, the man giving an apologetic smile in return and reaching across the table to gently pat her head.

He winces softly, withdrawing his hand and looking down at it to find that it feels father warm, though there is no damage to the skin, "Well...Cinder, press your tongue to the roof of your mouth, that should help. Good to know, you're just very warm when mildly distressed."

Giving a few more grunts and groans of pain, her tongue remains pressed to her mouth for the next couple of minutes, Paul keeping watch, and Cinder's expression softening, "Are you feeling better, little one? Brain freeze is never a fun experience. That is my fault for not warning you sooner."

"That really hurt...is it safe to eat this stuff? H-hey! It melted!" Cinder says with wide eyes after glancing down at the cup of now melted ice cream, her lip trembling a bit and her eyes watering as she sniffles, "M-my ice cream..."

Seeing what is likely to happen if he doesn't intervene, Paul gives her a reassuring smile and slides his bowl towards her, the ice cream still cold and solid, "Would you like to try some of mine? There is plenty left, and I did say I would get you a bowl of what you chose if you liked it."

"W-wait," Cinder says, leaning closer to look at Paul's ice cream, her arm wiping at the growing tears, "How come y-your ice cream isn't melted?"

"Well, you see...there is a small crystal disk within this bowl," he begins to explain, using his spoon to nudge to ice cream aside to reveal a nearly translucent blue disk in the base of it, allowing her to see the table beneath it too, "This is commonly called a 'cold bowl,' and is used in many ice cream stores and other restaurants to keep food cold, just like this ice cream. From what I have heard, it is designed to keep said food cold, even on hot summer days."

"O-oh...so, what do I-I do with the melted ice cream?" Cinder asks, her pout slowly turning upside-down and her eyes following Paul as he stands from the booth and begins to walk towards the counter, "I-it's basically liquid now. Do I just drink it?"

"Why not?" Paul says with a shrug, giving a wink to her and chuckling as he reaches the counter, "It can only taste good, right?"

Flinching back softly in confusion, Cinder looks down at the cup and wonders how food that has gone bad can taste good, but decides to trust Paul. Taking the cup into her hand, she places the rim to her lips and drinks from it. Cinder's eyes widen in surprise, and she smiles happily as she gulps more down, saving the fruit chunks to chew on as she realizes that the ice cream had not gone bad, simply changed in shape.

Cinder finishes her impromptu drink just in time for Paul to return with a cold bowl full of the ice cream she had just finished having, along with a couple of small scoops of other flavors that she recognizes from the display. Setting the bowl and the spoon down in front of her, Paul's cheerful expression returns when he sees how happy she seems to be.

"Still tasty, hm? Well, here is plenty more, with a bit extra. The shopkeeper saw what happened to your sample, and wanted to help cheer you up," he says, taking his own spoon and grabbing another bite of his ice cream, though he does nudge a scoop of his chocolate dessert into her bowl, "Here you go. I offered to share, hehe. I believe the other two he gave you are blueberry and raspberry."

"Ohhh! Those are so good! Thank you, ice cream man!" Cinder calls out with a bright smile and a wave towards the shopkeeper, who returns the wave and gives a smile of his own, "It's really tasty!"

Chuckling for a moment, the shopkeeper returns to his job once another customer enters the store, and the excited child gasps as she realizes that she is flaring up again. Looking down at her ice cream, Cinder gives a sigh of relief as she sees that the entire bowl of it seems to be just as cold as it looked in the freezer, then giggles eagerly as she begins to slowly enjoy her ice cream.

"Just so you know for next time Cinder, the one you seem to really like is strawberry ice cream, and they're nice enough to add pieces of the fruit itself," Paul says with a smile, happily eating his own ice cream at a sedate pace. His eyes glance out of the window next to them, watching the people and cars drive by, "It's so peaceful in the country of Minakami these days...it is much better than twenty years ago, for example. I will help you experience the same peace for as long as I can, Cinder."

'No one...has even been this nice to me before,' Cinder thinks to herself, looking at the amount of ice cream she has before glancing at Paul's bowl and making a decision, "Paul? Can you move your bowl closer to me?"

"Mm? Absolutely, though I am curious as to why," the older man says as he slides the bowl over towards Cinder again, then widens his eyes as she scoops some of her ice cream into his bowl, "Oh, I see. Do you not want that much?"

"I want to share with you, like you shared with me," Cinder says with a grin, scooping a bit more before she carefully pushes Paul's bowl towards him, then returns to eating her ice cream, "It's yummy, and I heard someone say that 'food tastes better when you eat with a friend,' once."

"That person was correct, hehe. At least, in my own humble opinion," Paul says with another chuckle, reaching across and ruffling the now barely above room temperature hair atop Cinder's head, making her giggle and smile up at him, "Isn't this fun? Yummy treats, good company...have you decided yet?"

"Huh? Decided on what?" she asks in return, tilting her head and taking another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, "I already chose my ice cream flavors, Paul."

"I mean, have you decided on if you wish to come with me? With no parents and no home of your own, I find myself growing concerned."

"I-I...thought I said yes," Cinder says with a furrowed brow, clearly confused about what she is hearing, "Or did I forget to? Uh..."

"...I am not even upset, quite frankly. You did all this with me, assuming you would be coming with me on my journeys. Hehe, this makes me very happy, Cinder. I will give you the tools you need to survive, and maybe even thrive, in this world," Paul reassures with a cheerful smile, continuing to eat his ice cream as he watches the outside world, "It's something you deserve. As I stated before."

"Then...yeah, I want to come with you. You're really nice, and you know a lot of things. No one has ever bought me ice cream before," Cinder says, eating even more of her sweet, cold treat, "Besides, I'm used to walking around, it's the only way I can go anywhere."

"Mm...I suppose that is true. In that case, let's eat up and head back home, alright?" Paul asks with a smile, his new adopted daughter nodding her head excitedly.

============

"So, Cinder," Paul starts, sitting down on the couch within his home, the firebrand of a child sitting next to her, "I want to ask you something. If it's too upsetting to talk about, that's alright, I just wish to be sure of what happened."

"Um...o-okay. What do you want to ask me, Paul?" she asks, looking up at him and nervously kicking her legs in the air, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, but...I'm hoping to find out why those two men accosted you last night. It's odd for someone dressed like they were to attack someone your age," he says, then thinks back to her ability to create and control flames, "Though even if they were the type, attacking a Magic-kin of any kind is a dangerous gamble."

"Is that what I am? I thought I was human..."

"You are, as far as I can tell," Paul says with a smile, patting the sad-looking girl on the head and gently hugging her to his side a moment later, "You are also Magic-kin. An evolution of any species that lives here within Terminus, they each have a magical affinity that they can use instinctively, and are very powerful. I have heard that they can be born, or they can develop their abilities later in life."

"Regardless of which one you are, your affinity is very likely fire, meaning you have a fair amount of power over flames. You will learn to be careful with those. As for what I wished to ask you, you warm little goofball," he continues, giving the now softly smiling Cinder a few gentle shakes, earning some soft giggles from her in response, "Can you tell me why those men were after you?"

Her smile shrinks a tad under his questioning, and she looks down before gently taking his hand off of her shoulder and hopping off of the couch to run upstairs. Paul watches her go with a soft frown, though the emotions displayed are not borne of Cinder's actions, "I hope that she can speak about it soon, it is not healthy to bottle things up forever," he says with a sigh, shaking his head softly.

Cinder's footsteps return a few minutes later, and Paul looks at the stairs to see the young girl holding a small, brown bag. Her eyes refuse to meet Paul's, unsure of if what she brought might elicit a similar reaction in him as the men from yesterday, and she hesitantly climbs up onto the seat she was inhabiting before, then holds the bag towards him, "I-if...you don't w-want me to have these, I-I..."