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How the idea had come to her, Tourmaline couldn't remember. It was highly possible that she had asked Ken how his mother was doing in passing conversation. Even more possible that she eavesdropped on one of Ken's phone conversations, and then went through his phone while he was otherwise occupied to steal the necessary phone number.

What she lacked in tact, she made up for in creativity.

A phone conversation and a shopping trip or two later, Tourmaline pulled up into the driveway of an unfamiliar house in a car stuffed with bags. She shifted into park and sat in the air conditioning while she attempted to picture a pint sized Ken living there. Unfortunately for Ken, her mental image involved him being pants-ed by other neighborhood kids that were more athletically inclined than he.

The young adult chuckled to herself and shook her head as she turned off the car and stepped out into the summer heat. Dressed in her usual combination of bright colors and patterns, Tourmaline stuffed her keys in the back pocket of her skinny jeans before gathering as many of the handled bags as possible.

By the time she reached the front door, her arms were overwhelmed with bags and she found herself using her monkey-like tail to ring the doorbell as she waited. She couldn't help but feel nervous. After all, she had no clue what Ken had told his mother about the two of them, or if he even really talked to Karma about her.

Well... She'd find out soon enough.

Tourmaline recognized the forced tone immediately, as both she and Ken hid behind such a tactic frequently thanks to recent events. She understood entirely, and instead offered a genuine smile to the woman. Her smile dimmed somewhat when she noticed that Karma seemed a bit startled to see her standing there.

"Hi!" She chirped in response, shifting the weight of the bags in her hands to appear like less of a female Hulk. "It's nice to meet you finally." Though they were both at the funeral, Tourmaline had been too busy playing the roll of the supportive girlfriend while keeping her own composure to introduce herself. It had been hard enough trying not to think of her grandmother.

"Which way's the kitchen?" Tourma questioned while stepping into the house and peeking around. Busy minds didn't fall victim to sad thoughts as easily, so she wanted to start cooking as soon as possible.

She smiled in thanks as she attempted to blow the long bangs that had fallen in her face out of her eyes. The attempt came with little success. "Oh don't worry about that." Had her arms been less cluttered, Tourma would have simply waved off the apology. Instead, she stepped in and made her way to the kitchen and set the bags down where she could find room.

On the way in from carrying in the final load, the Skullmonkey found herself distracted by some family pictures that had caught her eye. Suddenly, she felt a deep longing to bury herself in the arms of her parents and return to being a young and innocent child.

A deep breath steadied her emotions before finding her way back into the kitchen. Once she deposited the last of the bags, Tourmaline took a step back to survey it all. "Uhm..." She started, pushing her sunglasses up to the top of her head to use as a headband. "I think I might have gone overboard... But I didn't want to forget anything..." Her shoulders shrugged as she trailed off, scanning the bags for a familiar shape.

"Aha." Stepping gracefully over a patch of bagged produce, Tourmaline found the sought after bag and scooped it up. "I didn't know whether you liked vodka or not, so I brought a bottle of chardonnay too." The bottles were both produced and offered to Karma.

She rushed to explain, lest her boyfriend's mother think her a gigantic lush. "Babcia--my grandmother--always told me to bring a bottle if I were welcomed into someone's home. She always told me vodka, but I assume that's because she's Polish." A pause. "Either way, they're a gift."

Mentioning her grandmother shook her somewhat, but she quickly took to putting the groceries away as a proper cover. "Ken mentioned that you're a Fa'e guardian too... As was... Is my grandmother." She corrected herself with a frown as she put away some frozen chicken breasts.

"Anyways, I hope you like stew." Just as Tourmaline found herself spiraling into a plunge of awkward rambling, her phone began blaring and she immediately turned red with embarrassment. Her eyes, however, flashed dangerously as she quickly answered to end the horrifying music.

"Hey Ken. What's up?" She said in a voice of practiced calm. That ringer meant war.

"I'm fantastic." She paused a moment allowing herself a bit of quick thinking. "I'm just having a wonderful visit with your mother. We're swapping some great stories." Her voice had a certain sweetness to it, and she took a peek at Karma before setting the phone on speaker and holding it away from her face.

Tourmaline let him chew on that mental image for a moment before continuing. "I'm going to make her some dinner and help her out a bit around the house if she'll let me."

As Karma put things away, she followed behind her and gathered the bags with her free hand. "How was work?"

If Tourmaline was shocked by Karma's quick response, she hid it well with a chuckle as she searched for the bags that held that night's dinner components.

How she managed not to bust out laughing at his reaction was beyond her. Instead, Tourmaline took Karma's lead and steamed full ahead on the Embarrass Ken Train. "And we've only just started unpacking the groceries babe!" She boasted in her best sweet girl voice. It eluded to impending danger for his future sanity.

So far, she liked his mother. Karma could be a valuable asset in the future.

"Do you have something to eat for dinner? I could bring you leftovers if you'd like, but it'll be later tonight... Your mom's going to show me the photo albums she has..." She trailed off to allow him to cultivate a priceless mental image of what could be revealed in such a bonding fest.

For some reason, Tourmaline about lost herself to giggles when Karma suggested he pick up a pecan pie while nonchalantly digging into him. Luckily, she kept it together long enough to respond in an overly cheerful voice. "You're a sweetheart Ken. And take your time, we're just getting to know each other a bit while we put the groceries away."

A pause. "We'll see you soon then?"

All the while, she managed to separate the ingredients necessary for that night's dinner from the rest of the groceries. Moving her phone away from her mouth, she directed her attention to Karma. "Where do you keep your knives and cutting boards?"