Fifth Floor Common Room - Monday Evening

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

Tim had blown up a papaya, defended the cafeteria from redecorating Vikings and had generally had a pretty interesting day, not even considering who his P.E. teacher was. He just wanted to relax for a bit without worrying about the space-time continuum, so he microwaved a meal he'd found in the freezer and turned the TV on to a NASA special on Discovery Channel.


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[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

"Good luck," Tim said. "I hope you find him."

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"Me too," Claire said. "I spent my whole shift reading back issues of Ninth Wonders looking for clues but I've been coming up empty."

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

"Is that a science magazine?" Tim asked.

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"No," Claire said, looking sheepish. "You're going to think I'm crazy but it's a comic book series. There was this guy who had the ability to see the future but he could only express what he saw through paintings and drawings. He published this whole series of comic books that basically tell the entire story of my life for like, a year and a half."

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

"Okay, I know I'm saying this a lot, but wow," Tim said. "Really?"

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"My life is very strange," Claire said with a smile.

Strange didn't really begin to cover it, but it worked well enough. "And stop by the shop next Monday when I'm working and I'll show you the issues."

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

"I'll do that, if you don't mind," Tim said. "I've never heard anything like that before."

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"You're probably going to find that happens a lot around here," she told him.

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I'm getting that sense," Tim agreed.

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire nodded and then turned her attention back to the spaghetti. "Okay, so the most difficult part of making pasta is knowing when the noodles are done. It's a fine balance sometimes, especially with the thinner pastas. One minute can turn something that isn't quite tender enough into a gooey, sticky mess."

She grabbed a fork and pulled a couple of noodles out of the water. "I usually do a taste test. If it's almost soft enough, I'll drain them because they retain the heat and keep cooking for a couple minutes after they're out of the water."

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

"Can I try some?" Tim asked, holding out his hand for the fork.

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"Of course," she said, handing over the fork which had a few noodles dangling from it. She grabbed one and left the others for him to try.

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

Tim ate one, carefully testing the texture with his tongue. "Are these cooked enough?" he asked.

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire watched him as she tested her own noodle. "What do you think?" she asked.

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

"Feels a little tough," Tim said.

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire nodded. "But in the time it took us to decide that, it's cooked through more and since it's such a thin noodle, it's probably time to drain it."

Luckily she had set up the colander in the sink already. She grabbed the pot, foregoing the potholders, and dumped the water out.

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

"Isn't the pot hot?" Tim asked.

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, you should definitely use potholders for this part," Claire said, setting the empty pot down. Her palms were bright red and blistering but within thirty seconds, the marks started to fade.

[boywonder03.livejournal.com]

Tim winced. "That looks like it hurt."

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"Little bit," she admitted. "But it doesn't really bother me."

In another minute, it would be impossible to tell anything happened to her hands.