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Dean puts on a frown, though it's fairly obvious that he's faking it as he says, "I wouldn't be making them for her. She just eats the picture file. If I don't want to eat the real brownies, I'll just be wasting ingredients. Even if I did eat them all, it'd be a lot for one person." He smirks and rubs his stomach, adding, "I'd get fat and lazy if I ate like that."

Zest watches Dean rub his belly, giggling as a little heart appears above her head to make it an unbearably cute giggle. <*giggle* Dean, you already are lazy,> reads a text bubble above Zest's head as she point to her goofy owner. A new text bubble pops up momentarily after the first disappears, adding a little message meant more for Adalia, .

Dean's eyes widen at Zest's comment. "Uhm..." he blinks, his words lost a moment. With a shake of his head, he gathers himself to explain, "Zest is a little obsessed with girls. All she talks about is me getting a girlfriend or bringing girls over." With a nervous laugh, Dean scratches at the back of his neck. "People look down on me because I'm young and new to cooking. I know what I'm doing, though. That's why it always bothered me so much," he comments. "That's why I'm opening up my own bakery in Durem..." With that said, Dean smiles warmly.

Zest gives a little twirl at the thought of a bakery, popping up a bubble to say,

Dean laughs at Zest, offering, "I'll let you help set up any computer systems that I need for cashiering and that sort of thing." Adalia's excitement over the bakery brings a large grin to Dean's face. "I'll get to be my own boss," he says with a smirk. "I'll also get to actually DO something in the kitchen for a change. Baking's a lot more fun than making salads all day."

The lemony sweet little hacker grins as Dean agrees to let her help, pressing her face up against the screen. She makes a few funny faces, then focusing her attention onto Adalia as she asks about her obsession with girls. she replies. Zest bounces about happily, just thinking about having another girl around.

With a sigh and an embarrassed laugh, he notes, "If I get a girlfriend, it won't be to appease you, squirt."

Zest huffs a little, putting her little arms on her hips as she displays, .

Dean shuts the laptop quickly with a nervous smile.

Dean simply shakes his head in response to Adalia's question. It was fairly obvious what Zest was implying, and Dean wasn't going to get tattled on by Zest. He shoves a piece of chicken into his mouth, replacing it with another piece as soon as the first is chewed and swallowed.

He pauses, lifting his gaze so that his eyes meat Adalia's as she pouts. He shouldn't have looked at her while she was pouting like that. Ugh! He can't stand it. Dean swallows the chicken before pleadingly saying, "She was going to embarrass me and I can't exactly put my hand over her mouth." With the type of frown a child wears after getting in trouble, Dean reaches over and opens the laptop back up. "I'll leave it open if you behave," he mutters toward Zest.

No sooner had he opened the laptop, however, Zest began spamming the screen with multiple text boxes. Each exclaimed, over and over again.

Dean, noticing this, tries to shut it again quickly, but slams his elbow into the table. He falls backward into his seat, grabbing the elbow in pain. Unfortunately, the momentum was too great and Dean's chair fell back with him in it. As the back of his head hits the carpet, Dean winces. It hurt, but it was carpet and not wood or tile at least. "Ugh," he grumbles from the floor.

Dean looks straight ahead, putting his focus upon the ceiling. He sighs again, turning his left eye toward Adalia as she leans over him to offer her inability to help him up. Don't remind me about the skirt, he thinks to himself, having been trying to avoid that detail. Dean rolls to the side, getting up to all fours on the floor beside the chair. He pushes himself up, rising to stand before bending down to pick the chair up and set it down correctly. "That wasn't very nice, Zest," he says, his voice sounding saddened. "You should be more careful of what you say and do, because you can hurt peoples' feelings. Maybe when you're grown a bit more you'll understand." Dean sighs and sits himself back down. Living with Zest was like having a daughter. She was fun to play with, but she was also a responsibility and she didn't always know right from wrong.

Zest frowns and retreats to Dean's picture folder, where there would be plenty of things to munch on as she sits there feeling sorry for herself. Before vanishing from the screen, she leaves behind a text bubble that reads, And with that, she leaves from sight.

Dean's head hangs over his food a bit as he hunches forward. He appears to be trying to hide his face, which is a bright red due to his embarrassment. He smirks at her comment, turning his head slightly toward the left to reply, "Without closing the laptop, probably not. There's a girl in the house. Very few things could keep her from trying to stick around for that."

He sighs and straightens up in his seat once again. Dean pokes at his chicken with his fork awkwardly, staring down blankly toward his plate. "How do you like the food?" he asks, turning his face toward her as he scans her face a moment.

Dean shakes his head softly, explaining rather defensively, "Nothing's wrong with her sticking around if she behaves... It's just, she's usually so fun, but she has these moments of mischief and I'm trying to break her of that habit." He offers her a warm smile, trying not to be such a stick in the mud, "I'm glad you like it. It's actually not one of my favorites. I really did make it for Zest." With a soft laugh, he adds, "Fiach would be good if he had gone through all of the culinary courses I did, so it's not exactly fair."

Zest comes back out, a little pout on her face as she sits in the corner of the screen just watching them for the time being.

Dean quirks a brow at Adalia's question, then smiling confidently as he figures out a suitable reply. "Nothing," he begins, "so long as it doesn't hurt anybody. When she spies on me, I don't say anything. I let her think I don't notice." As if to emphasize the fact that he usually saw her spying, he looks over toward the screen and gives a wink to the little hacker as she watches from the corner.

Zest pops up a quick, before hiding out of sight quickly.

Dean smirks, looking to Adalia once more. "I don't think somebody should go around telling others about personal things that aren't theirs to tell or spreading dirty rumors, though. That's what she did and I just want her to understand that everybody has feelings that can be damaged. She's too young to have fully developed emotions, it seems. I just keep working on it with her for now." Realizing that he'd just rambled a bit, he bows his head and mutters an apology. "I'm sorry... I got carried away." His eyes drift toward his plate. He really wasn't very hungry anymore... "Uhm... I think I'll start cleaning up the kitchen. Maybe we can play a game or watch a movie after I'm done," he suggests with an inviting smile.