He really needed some time to relax. Dealing with Coil was not that complicated but the aftermath had him stressing out. Which was strange as the cleanup was not really all that complicated either. The Undersiders had almost sold themselves to him without any real effort on his part and Circus fell in line with only mild pressure.
The most stressful thing had to be what had just happened with Coil but that was not even on him either. It was just the threat that Lisa's Shard represented that had his mind on edge. Which was a mistake that he should have seen coming but his lack of foresight had really hit him hard again.
One of these days he is going to steal the ability to foresee shit like this or at least assign a competent right hand to help him navigate the storm that life was. He was kind of angling that path for Lisa which was one of the reasons he let such an oversight happen but she clearly had a flaw that needed to be taken care of.
If only he could steal her Shard like he stole Tammi's Shard, he would be able to trust her to help plan shit out if he did. That would imply that Tammi would make a great right hand since her Shard was already stolen but that was laughably wrong. Let's disregard her rather fragile emotional state and just focus on her rather poor choices. Cole really loved her but she was just as lacking in foresight as he was.
At least he had several opportunities to get Lisa's Shard. Taylor was the obvious choice as she was such a juicy target herself. Beyond Taylor, there was Bakuda as her Trigger Event was pretty prominent with her taking over her school and trying to bomb the place sky-high.
Brian's sister was also an option but he was not really planning on letting her Trigger event come to pass. He intended to keep his word with Brian to get her out of her Mother's control and he found the event that hurt her was something distasteful. Certainly not something he wanted on the back of his mind.
It was a shame as Imp's power was really fucking broken in certain areas but that was the price he had to pay to get his way. It was not like her gaining powers was never going to happen either. Any number of events could push her over the edge and it was proven that she did have a bud in her.
If only he could figure out a safe way to Trigger Shards, that way he could get Taylor and Aisha's Shards into his own Network and use that event to pull more Shards out of the main Network. Maybe he could figure out a trick with Cursed Energy?
Cursed Energy was basically just an amalgamation of negative emotions so if flooded with enough of them a person might be put in a state that was conducive to Trigger. That was not something he even dared to think about when his control was so shotty but with Six Eyes he could take a crack at it. Something to think about for later but for now he just wanted to relax his tense mind.
So he headed off towards the Safe House where Tammi was resting. Leaving Lisa to play her games at the underground base. Lisa still seemed a little out of it but having something to do was clearly taking her mind off of her own worries so he left her the work to help out…
Okay, his intentions were not that noble. He just did not want to deal with the convoluted mess that Coil's Shadow Cabal represented and it was not like he would be good at dealing with it. So it really was better to leave things like that to the experts.
I.E Smug Blondes who had a penchant for smiling like foxes. He had something more important to do anyway like cuddle with his girlfriend and kiss her worries away.
He made good time at arriving at the Safe House but when you have teleportation getting to places quickly was the name of the game. Even if his own blend of teleportation was a bit limited.
It was still a bit earlier in the morning so he tried to not make too much noise as he entered the house. He wanted to surprise Tammi with some breakfast to wake up to after all. That plan ran into a bit of a hitch as he spotted Tammi resting at the Kitchen counter with a mug of coffee in her hands.
She looked a little on edge but she had looked like that a lot lately. She looked over at the person entering the room and was tense for a moment before something about him clicked in her mind as she gave him a small smile and the tension bled from her frame.
Again he had to give her credit for being able to spot him even when he was disguised as someone new. He was not sure what was giving him away but she really knew how to spot him. He was tempted to ask but he was either going to get a sappy response or one that he could not understand. It was better to remain a mystery for now.
Still, he did not want to talk to her under a false face so he took off the disguise and gave her a soft smile of his own.
"Morning oh dear love of mine, See you got some coffee, dare I ask if you actually ate something or if you are going at it with an empty stomach again?" He asked as he made his way over to her and glided into her personal space with familiar ease. His head rested on her nape as he leaned over her.
She rolled her eyes with familiar ease as that was a conversation he had with her at more than one point. It was a familiar topic and one that while annoying brought a small smile to her face.
"Give it up darling." She drawled out with a smirk on her face. "You will never convince me to give up the sweet sweet ooze that fuels me." She declared dramatically. She cracked after a moment and let out a light snort and protected the coffee in her hands as if he was going to steal the cup from her.
"Fine, fine keep your foul concoction but I glad to see you are in lighter Spirits Tammi," Cole spoke out softly as he wrapped his hands around her waist to further the contact between them.
"Honestly, feeling better than I have been for a long ass time. This place feels a lot safer than that shit motel." She spoke out with a smile on her face as she leaned back into him. He hummed lightly as a response but he felt like grimacing.
He should have figured that a part of Tammi feeling stressed out was being placed in a room that was about as secure as a public restroom. Even with her newfound power sleeping in such a place had to be stressful. He should have done something earlier about that but again you should not cry over spilled milk. He was just going to have to be happy that she was nice and safe here.
Well, the plan brewing in his head should take away some of the worries that bothered them lately.
"You up for some breakfast? I was going to try my hand at cooking something for you." He asked to change the topic to something less dire. Again Tammi snorted and poked his side with a grin dancing across her face.
"Mr. Bread is normal for lunch is going to cook? I'm afraid of what sort of horrid thing you could create in the kitchen mister." Tammi ribbed him with that grin on her face. Cole let out a laugh of his own in response.
"Hey, just because I am not picky about what I eat does not mean I am incapable of cooking." He spoke out as he blew into her ear in retaliation for the poke. She let out a huff at that but her ears turning red clearly showed she enjoyed that trick.
She still looked like she did not trust his sense of taste which was fair. He really did eat rather plainly most times. For a long ass time, food was the last thing on his mind so he just ate what was easy and what was available.
Which probably painted a picture of a guy who ate nothing but frozen meals but that was not the case. He liked spicy food and was willing to eat just about anything, well if you discounted mushy things. The mouth feel of that is simply horrid.
Still, she should not be the one to point out problems here, her eating habits could be just as bad.
"Just you wait, I'm about to knock your socks off dear love of mine." He announced graciously but he was a little worried about not being able to fall through on that boast. He could cook but cooking something truly eye-catching was not really in his wheelhouse.
It was not like Kaito Kid had a reason to invest in that Skill Tree either so he was just going to have to hope that the effort and love he put into breakfast was enough to break that gap.
Well, knowing Tammi she would shit on it if the thing was not perfect while being really happy about the effort all the same. She might not want to hear it but she really acted like a freaking Tsundere in the weirdest spots. At least she was not a full-blown problem like some characters could be.
Much Dere very little Tsun.
Well he had some magic now and he could cheat slightly with his cantrip so maybe he really could knock her socks off. So Cole went into the kitchen and started to cook with the mindset of just trying his best.
As he got into a grove it became increasingly clear that his boast really might not be such a far cliff to climb. As a Rogue he had fantastic knife work and his near-perfect DEX score meant that he had an almost supernatural control over the cooking utensils and could cook everything exactly as he intended.
Beyond that, he was also cheating to have the Flavours of the ingredients really pop out. Carefully balancing it to not overwhelm the other flavors but to make their presence known
There were not a lot of complicated actions as breakfast food was pretty hard to fuck up but he really took it a step beyond what most people could even dream of. Tammi seemed impressed enough and that was the main subject of care for him.
"Wow, I retract the doubt, let me bow down to the mighty Cole master of the pan." She shot out with a grin as she started to reach for bits of food before he could even plate it. He rolled his eyes but let her actions go without much thought. He really did indulge her far too much.
"Of course, bow before my might mortal, and perhaps I could make dessert after this." He offered with a grin but was not quite sure if he could follow in on that boast either. She seemed interested but paused for a moment.
"Hey, you think we could head out to that Cafe instead? I want to get some dessert from there since we missed out last time." She asked with some hesitation. It was clear she did not want to be a bother but at the same time, she wanted to close off any regrets that had built in her chest.
"Sure, I am willing to almost out myself by breaking you out of Prison Tammi. Taking time out of my day to hang out without you again is not even a minor inconvenience as I truly enjoy it as well." Cole spoke out with a soft smile trying to show her she could ask for the world and he would do his best to provide.
She went red a little bit and mumbled something into her coffee mug. He heard some of it but he figured he got the idea and asking to hear the full thing would only embarrass Tammi more.
"Before we do that I have a bit of a serious discussion that needs to happen.' Cole spoke out seriously and suddenly the shy girl focused and let go of the nerves and feelings holding her back. She looked like she was preparing to fight an End Bringer all by herself but he poked her cheeks to get her to relax.
Seeing his actions and the light-hearted nature of his smile she did relax but the light and airy mood was no longer possible. So Cole decided to just roll with this for now. He wanted to get her serious opinion so it worked out in the end anyways.
"Tammi, trying to keep secrets is only going to end poorly for us so I figured I would give the PRT a 'truth' that would have them stop looking into our business. I was planning on joining the PRT as a Healer as I stole a power that worked well with that. I was going to say that when I triggered because of you and I offered the Cape that broke you out medical support to well break you out. It was only as the stress from trying to hide you away from everything built up that I decided to come to them to break a deal to get both of us pardoned. Do you think that plan could work and if it does do you want to join the PRT with me?" He explained what was on his mind firmly so she could have all the facts.
Tammi seemed stunned at this turn of events but she did look like she was contemplating the situation he placed on her.