Anselle.
Anselle's face screwed into a grimace at Dinah's listing of food - none of it sounded any good.
"Balloon animals?" Anselle parroted with a fitting twist of his head, glancing over to RJ, whispering not so subtly to the boy.
"What does that taste like? And- is the air kind of...burning you?"
There was something else in the air, something he couldn't see, but certainly
felt. Anselle watched the table with the upmost fascination, eyes bugging at the appearance of plates from thin air.
"Whoa!" Anselle blinked, eyebrows hiking as he gawked at the food laid out before them. It looked delicious, he didn't have a
clue what it was, but it looked great!
Head turning in Zatanna's direction, Anselle listened with a growing awe on his face, expression plummeting when he heard what it was made with. Chicken, Anselle thought ruefully, should've known it was too good to be true. If his grandparents found out-
Anselle blinked, brow bunching together.
If they found out. And they weren't going to, they weren't here.
Anselle tapped his spoon against his bowl of rice, a heaping amount piled onto his spoon, staring down the bhutuwa. To Zatanna's warning, Anselle narrowed his eyes, tilting his head in confusion.
"What's spicy?" And maybe that wasn't a good question while scooping some onto his rice, and, you know, eating it.
Anselle swallowed and- it hurt.
"What the-" He shut up, lips stinging, breath rolling like fire on his tongue.
"Oh, my-" Anselle's eyes began to water.
"Oh no."
The cups that'd appeared alongside their plates made sense, now. Anselle chugged down his glass of lemonade, expression showing no relief from the heat. The glass was nearly drained when Anselle stopped, setting it down - missing how it refilled itself - and breathing raggedly. "It's good."
The burn, eventually, stopped, and Anselle had his fill of the dish- for now. It hurt, more than food should've, but it was good enough to endure the pain. Anselle had taken another spoonful of the dish again, chewing through the firey chicken.
"I can deal with this kind of pain, it's pretty delicious!"
Heat in his mouth returning, Anselle quieted himself as RJ began to talk, about his old school, about feeling...left out. A shadow passed over Anselle's face, gaze tilting down, shoulders sinking.
"...It is nice, isn't it?" Anselle said, after a while, head raising. He was smiling again, though there was a teary gleam to his eyes.
"I can't remember that last time I sat around with a- anyone than my grandparents. I mean, me and my siblings used to, but they, uh-" Anselle's mouth shut, eyes darting off. Below the table, Anselle's hands balled- he relaxed a second later, eyes finding a familiar food on the table.
"Oh, cool, corn!" Reaching for it, Anselle had to sit up in his seat to reach for it.
