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Nothing needed fixing. Her motorcycle stood spotless and shiny in the garage with a cover over it. There were no messages to answer, no emails to reply to, and even the house--with the exception of Ken's room--looked spotless. The nervous energy and boredom had driven her to start cooking dinner in the early afternoon.

The September nightly chill caused her to choose a soup to make, and she chose gumbo. Not only did she search for a vegetarian version, but she also found a recipe for a meaty version for the rest of the household. With no job and nothing else to really do since Ken and Raven were out, Tourma tackled the challenge with gusto.

Cooking had become a relaxing hobby that she picked up from both Slush and her uncle Dari, and with so much time on her hands, Tourma had taken to cooking dinner most nights in order to save money. The way she saw it, they had to eat, so she might as well have fun doing it.

When dinner time finally rolled around, Tourmaline had accomplished not one, but two pots of gumbo, one vegetarian and the other with sausage and shrimp. Also, somehow she had managed to bake one of her mother's favorite desserts, apple pie. Though, the dessert still needed a bit of time to cool before they could dig in, the teen remained immaculately clean and proud of her accomplishments.

There, she had -done- something productive!

When she finally finished simply taking in her victory of the day, she whipped her phone out and texted Ken a simple "Dinner's ready". Then, since she knew he had to save or something on that computer game he always played, she set the table with place settings and drinks. A Sprite for him, and a cranberry juice and a water for her.

With time and nervous energy still abound, Tourma took to searching through her iPod's directories in search of something chill and calming. Something Zen, not overly romantic, but comforting and placid.

After a bit of grumbling and searching, she finally found something suitable. Out of habit, she moved to sit down at the table, but instead she changed her mind, scooped up her drink, and took her bowl into the kitchen. Who said she had to wait for him to get started chowing down?

While she loaded up a bowl of vegetarian gumbo, her mind swam with all sorts of things. She worried about Ken, who had been working and playing WoW for the past couple of days. She also was nervous about the interview from the other day.

Her tail swished behind her in an agitated manner.

She nodded her understanding and swallowed from her seat at the table, "The pot on the left is vegetarian, and the one on the right has shrimp and sausage in it."

Falling silent, she stirred her steaming soup for a moment before tackling the main situation at hand. "How is she?" Her voice stayed low, and considerate, but there remained a bit of insistence in her voice. After all, she wanted to know how Ray was recovering.

Tourma gave a huge sigh of relief as a weight literally lifted from her shoulders. Her widening smile seemed out of place at the table, considering Ken's expression. He apparently had never set foot in a hospital before, aside from when he was born, at least.

"Ken... You're not allowed to have cell phones in hospitals, because of all that equipment. At least, not in the patients' rooms." She explained carefully, not wanting to sound as if she were making fun of his lack of knowledge on the subject. Usually, she would, but not on a subject such as this. Even she knew when to draw lines.

Excluding the occasional visit to Crazy Tourma Land, that is.

Spooning some more soup into her mouth, she silently debated on what to say next. "That and she's probably high on painkillers too." She finally pointed out, attempting to brighten his mood, even if it was only slightly.

"It'll be alright," she said, even though he had probably heard the same thing a million times already.

At his question, she frowned, shrugging. "Well I pretty much cooked all day... Nervous energy and all." She paused, wondering if she should tell him given the circumstances. In the end, the teen decided that now that he knew why Ray hadn't called him, her less important news would be alright to tell. "I went on a job interview yesterday..."

Tourma trailed off, glancing across the table at him to gauge his reaction before continuing.

Relieved that this seemed to be the correct path for the conversation, Tourma offered him a light smile. "It's another one, but I found it online too. A woman just bought into a new shop. It's a fusion sort of shop I guess you could say. They're a mechanics shop, but she also is a tattoo artist. The -really- cool thing is that she also builds robotic prosthetics that look absolutely badass because she combines both her talents as a mechanic AND as an artist!"

During her rambling explanation, her tone and voice became increasingly energized in any way imaginable. By the time she finished, the teen had all but forgotten about her dinner and now sat there positively beaming with excitement.

Then, her bubble of dreams and hopes burst and she sighed. "But I'm scared I won't get the job because she says she still had a few more people to look at... I have a feeling she doesn't get along well with girls.." Some women were like that, they simply interacted better with the opposite sex than another catty female.

Wait, was that just a compliment?

She blinked, staring at him with her mouth agape in a very unTourma-like expression for several moments before she remembered to swallow and set the spoon down. Soon after, she managed to compose herself.

"Dude, people actually ditch work for that?" Tourma decided to attempt to cover up the wonderment that she felt by masking in obvious amazement that someone would make up such a poor excuse to not work. Nevermind that she knew he just awkwardly picked the first thing that came to mind.

After a moment, the Skullmonkey chuckled and offered him what she wanted to be a comforting smile. "Thanks." He could take it how he wanted.

And now for something slightly different.

"What does your schedule look like this month?" She asked before sliding another spoonful into her mouth.