Chapter Text
What did RJ mean by “we are all equals here”?
On one level, Casey got it, that they were all human beings and human beings were all equal and RJ was seriously Zen. But he was a cub. Theo and Lily had been training for years and he was supposed to be their Red Ranger and Casey had no idea what he was doing.
He’d understood back at the temple. He was an older recruit, and therefore on the level of children in their eyes. His job was to learn and do what everyone else said. Even Jarrod, who was an asshole, but really hadn’t deserved being possessed by an evil spirit bent on destroying Pai Zhua and probably the world as well.
But after they’d gotten the morphers, it all got a bit fuzzy. Everyone knew that Red Rangers were the leaders, so Casey had expected the Red to go to Theo. But it didn’t. It went to Casey. And Casey could handle just shouting orders in battle, whatever, they’d probably already be handling it by the time he shouted anyway. But when they were out of uniform…
RJ didn’t have a structure at JKP. He was the owner, they were the employees, sure, but RJ was a pretty casual boss and Casey’s main problem was that he had no idea how to act with Theo and Lily. He tried asking RJ, but all that got him was puzzling out Zen advice and running late for his shift.
Casey went down to the kitchen to help with the soon-to-be afternoon rush, and Lily was laughing in the kitchen. Theo was saying something that Casey couldn’t hear, but Lily responded as he came closer.
“Casey’s just as weirded out as we are,” Lily said. “Both of you are worrying too much about how to act. In this kitchen-” –and Casey heard a dull slap, probably dough against the counter- “-we’re all employees. We’re all making and serving pizza. Start with that. It doesn’t matter what Ranger color we are; we can still make the sauce and the dough and have Casey toss the dough.” “Why is Casey tossing the dough?”
“Because he’s the best at it. I don’t want to have to take a break to wash wet dough out of my hair again.”
“I could spin the dough.”
“But then either Casey or I would be working on the sauce, and you make that better.”
Casey hesitated just before entering and it clicked. What RJ had said and what Lily was saying mixed in his head and finally fell into place. This wasn’t the Pai Zhua temple. He was learning here, yeah, but he was also part of a team, a small team. The point wasn’t to have the entire temple running smoothly. The point was to get them all used to each other, trusting each other, because on the field, all they had was each other and Zords.
Casey could do that.
He walked into the kitchen and smiled. “Where do you need me?”
“You’re on dough spinning patrol,” Lily said smartly, pulling him over with her. “I’ve got the cheese and other ingredients and Theo’s got the sauce. Fran’s got the dough all kneaded and ready.”
“So we’re doing a conveyor belt?” Theo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lily shrugged. “I think it’ll work. Every part working towards a whole and all that.”
Casey grinned, picking up the dough and starting to spin it. He could hear Lily and Theo bustling about and getting the ingredients ready.
Maybe they could all pull this off.