Welcome to Gaia! ::

The door opened immediately after she knocked, as though Xennik had been waiting on the other side for her arrival. "Kana!" He cried in alarm when he saw her drenched to the bone. He grabbed her by the arms and pulled her into the suite, shutting the door securely behind her. "Oh heavens, you're soaking wet!" He hurried from the room and returned quickly with a dark blue cloud-soft towel, wrapping it around her. "You look so cold! You could have called me, I would have come for you." He fretted, worried, as though he were afraid she might catch pneumonia or something. "Come, I'll start a fire, warm you up." He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently led her from the huge entrance room to an even bigger sitting room, with a couch and mis-matched loveseats, a rug in the center of the tiled floor, and a fireplace set into the wall. He left her to find a seat and moved to the fireplace to start a fire. He had one started in seconds, impossibly fast. He had used a quick spell to get one going. He turned back to her. "Have a seat. Are you comfortable? If you'd like, I could lend you some of my clothes and throw yours in the dryer really fast." He wasn't even embarrassed, he was so concerned. She might get sick! She might be miserable! "Are you hungry?"
All the food at the party was junk food, so it would make sense for her to be hungry for real food. "I make some mean fajitas." He pulled a spanish accent on the word 'fajitas' out of nowhere, as though it were completely natural for him, revealing for the first time that he had a bit of Spanish heritage.

He was dressed in a simple outfit that few saw him in. He was wearing casual clothes, which he usually only wore when he was absolutely alone; a fitted muscle shirt, a simple pair of well-worn but still incredibly stylish jeans, and of course the ruby-inset choker that he was never without. He wore thin black arm bands on his upper arms that brought attention to rather nice biceps. He was barefoot. He'd taken so long trying to decide what on earth to wear that he hadn't really managed to put anything on before he'd been alerted that she was coming. He wasn't even wearing his hat. This was one of the first times he'd worn an outfit that didn't include his feather.

Xennik looked even more flustered when she started laughing. He forgot all about being upset with her for laughing at him when all he wanted to do was make sure she didn't get sick when she started taking her sweater off. His heart leapt into his throat. He was both releived and disappointed and utterly horrified with himself when he saw that she had another shirt under it. Curse him, he was becoming a darn-

He sat obediently, feeling a tad awkward as she let her hair down. It looked really nice down. Maybe some day she'd let him play with her hair. He had a hair fetish.

After a few more moments of sitting silently and admiring her like a fool, he pulled himself together. "Seriously, though. Are you hungry? I'm famished." He stood. "Parties have never been my thing. You want me to make you something to eat? I'm a pretty decent cook for a bachelor." He smiled bemusedly at his own joke. He was joking. He was never much of a joker. Being around her brought out his playful side.

He didn't know how he felt about this.

"Fondue?" With chocolate? Xennik had only ever had fondue with sandwiches and soup or gravy. He was a chocoholic, and it was near Halloween, so of course he had some chocolate stashed away. And with Allani and Biwa in the house, he always had some fresh fruit. "Yes, I have fruit and chocolate. If you'd like to join me in the kitchen?" He waited, standing by the doorway to the kitchen from the sitting room, rocking slighty on the balls of his feet. He seemed a great deal younger dressed down and in his own home.

"I've never heard of it done with chocolate." Xennik commented as she approached him. "But it sounds good to-" He cut himself off with his own laughter as she slid past him, reminding him of the time Allani had stolen one of his socks to go sledding down the banister. It amazed him that Kana could act so mature one moment and so childish the next. Maybe that was what made her so interesting.

He followed her into the spacious kitchen and began the journey of the trying to find things in the cupboard. "I've never been able to organize these cupboards effectively." He admitted, digging through the third cupboard unsuccessfully for his chocolate stash. "Whenever I put anything away, the maid comes in and rearranges it. She swears that I'd fail in the housekeeping business, and I really can't argue with that- ah, here it is!" He pulled out a plastic tub full of chocolate. He really was chronically addicted.

"Microwave?" Xennik was digging through his chocolate storage, pulling out three or four bags of chocolate chips. He liked eating chocolate chips out of the bag. "I don't even think I have a microwave." He laughed at this thought, pointed toward the opposite wall. "Cutting equipment's over there...I think."

"We can use a pan over a slow-burner to melt the chocolate. Or we can use a double-boiler. Those usually don't burn anything. That'd be perfect! Now..." He touched his finger to his bottom lip, spinning in a slow circle in the center of the kitchen. "Where would Marian put them?" He felt like a fool, not knowing where anything was in his own kitchen. he did cook for himself and for Allani and Biwa often enough, but as of late he'd been out working later than usual and Marian had gotten into the habit of leaving meals ready for him when he got home from work.

Xennik had located the double-boiler and was filling it with water. He set it on the stove and went on the hunt for plates, which were fairly easy to locate. He set a small stack of plates beside her and stole a slice of strawberry. He was standing behind her, which meant that he had to practically hug her to commit his theivery. He didn't mind, and pranced away victorious.

Xennik laughed, but took the orange. So he didn't get away as scot-free as he'd hoped. Still grinning, oddly enjoying himself, he got to work peeling the orange. Orange-peeling was dirty work, but at least it smelled nice. He could be cutting onions. That would be a lot worse.

The water in the bottom of the double-boiler was warming up. Carefully, he dumped the bags of chocolate chips into the pot, eating about three handfuls of them in the process.

"So. I take it you're a bit of a night owl?" Xennik asked as he carefully stirred the slowly-melting chocolate.