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 Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:15 pm
It was early morning when Ren awoke; and by early, he meant early. Nine AM was still way too soon to be up and at 'em. He had not wanted to get up, but he had promised Alessa that he would meet her at her place before going over to the school's culinary areas. His ghoulfriend, having finally gotten tired of constantly and repeatedly throwing both Ren and Gabrian out of the room while she cooked had finally decided to give Ren cooking lessons. Despite his reservations, Ren was actually very interested in these lessons; he had never before been taught anything at all about cooking, so the concept of it made him quite curious.
Sliding out of bed, Ren dressed slowly, stopping to stretch or yawn every few moments, but after a short while he was finally ready. Scooping up Usagi, he carried the little follylop gently under his arm as he slipped his shoes on and left the room, making his way down the hall, towards the staircase. Alessa lived a few doors down from LW, and it did not take him very long to reach her room. With a gentle knock, Ren reached down, letting himself in.
"Lessa?" he called gently, giving her an indication that he was here. "I'm here. Are you ready?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:55 pm
Despite Alessa's choice of friends, she was actually an early riser...and an early crasher too. She could never keep up with the long nights of Scario Kart, but that simply meant she was up and active long before most of them, Ren and LW especially. She got most of her homework done on free mornings, if she had no class. It left her with more free time in the evenings, even if it meant she didn't stay up as late. That she couldn't help, though. There was just something about her internal clock that told her when the sun was up, so was she.
So it was no surprise that when Ren came in she was dressed and ready. Granted, dressed and ready for cooking, as her hair was pulled back into a hurried pony-tail and her dress covered more of her shoulders and torso than usual, because, though guys didn't understand it, food falling in one's cleavage was absolutely uncomfortable and embarrassing. No, she knew by now what her best methods were when she cooked; hair up and out of the food and top covered. Not to mention an apron helped. She was tying one around herself when he came in, glancing over sideways in his direction as she attempted to tie the string by feel alone.
"Almost!" She told him brightly, seeming unphased that it was taking her a bit to get the darn thing tied. "Do you think you could help me carrying those? The apples." She would have gestured, but her hands were busy. "I picked them up from the market this morning." That was another good thing about rising early; the best, freshest ingredients were sold then.
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Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:17 pm
A smile crossed Ren's face at the sight of his ghoulfriend. Alessa was in the middle of tying an apron around her waist, her hands fiddling with the string. She was obviously having some sort of difficulty with the thing, but Ren knew she wouldn't ask him for help.
"Good morning, beautiful," he said, crossing the room towards her. Usagi leapt from his arms, bounding towards the table, and Ren caught Alessa around the waist, leaning in to kiss her for a moment before stepping away, slipping around behind her. His hands covered hers, pushing them gently away, and easily finished tying the apron. After he had finished, Ren laid his hands on her hips, leaning to whisper in her ear from behind.
"I'll help you with anything you need, lovely," he said teasingly, and kissed her cheek quickly before prancing over to the table.
Sometimes Ren was not quite certain as to how exactly he had managed to snag a ghoul like Alessa. Or rather, to be more accurate, Ren was not certain as to why she had even agreed to date him in the first place. He was, after all, not the most stunning boil there ever was, nor the most pleasant at times, but for some reason she had seen fit to date him. Whatever the cause, Ren was very grateful; he liked Alessa quite a bit more than he let on at times, though he tried to express himself (most of the time awkwardly) to Alessa.
"These look delicious," Ren said, picking one of the apples up and tossing it lightly from one hand to the other. He stepped back over to Alessa, leaning in towards her. "And they aren't the only thing," he added playfully and slipped his arms around her waist again, hugging her close. "You look very pretty this morning, did you know that?"
He was probably distracting her from the task at hand, but she did look beautiful.
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 7:46 pm
She returned the kiss and, in a way, it was a diversion of sorts, because she began to protest, but he had her apron tied before she could say anything. Instead she just sighed, smiled, and shook her head. She could have done it herself. He knew that, though. He also knew she wouldn't ask for help, yet he did it anyway. She supposed his desire to help was akin to her desire to do things on her own, so it was a game best only played when they had the time to dedicate. They had more important things to do today, so it was easy to let go. Besides, she wasn't completely unreasonable. It was just an apron tie.
She flushed a bit at his hands on her hips and the warm tingle of his breath near her ear. It gave her goosebumps. Pleasant, but never the less shy goosebumps. When he pranced away from her after a moment she gave him a rueful look, seeming to say, 'you tease!' She watched him juggle an apple and when he came over, leaning in close, she returned the motion ever so slightly. It made their embrace fluid, natural, as she laced her fingers behind his back.
"You're full of it," she said into his shoulder looking up sideways at him, "I'm dressed to cook, not to impress. You better be too. Don't want to get anything on your clothes you aren't worried about washing out."
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:15 am
Ren grinned at Alessa. He knew very well she could have tired her apron herself, but he also knew that she wouldn't get mad at him if he did it anyway. Though he didn't mind doing little things like that for her, he tried to stay away from being pushy and doing anything that might make her uncomfortable. Alessa was a very stubborn and independent individual, but that was part of the reason why Ren liked her so much. It was that endearing stubbornness that he enjoyed, along with that blush that kept crossing her cheeks. Yes, he enjoyed that blush very much.
"I beg to differ," Ren said, in a mock offended tone as he pulled back a bit, staring at her with wide, doleful eyes. "I am not full of it. Maybe half full of it. And it doesn't matter whether or not you're 'dressed to impress,'" he added, leaning in close. "You always impress me."
He kissed her again, this time long and lingering, his hand raising to cradle her face before he pulled back, grinning. "All right," Ren said, and stepped away, moving towards the table where he pulled the box of apples into his arms. He stepped towards the door, kicking it open with his foot. "Lead the way, pretty lady~!"
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:23 pm
The kiss he gave her left her breathless. It took her a moment to even respond and Jack damn it he was already bouncing off and lifting the apple crate into his arms. "You don't play fair, you know," she told him with a bit of a pout, but the corners of her lips were upturned and her eyes bright. Yes, even when she was rolling them.
She quickly took another, smaller box to the side that had a few more ingredients, namely cinnamon. The rest of the supplies would be in the kitchen. "I figured, since it was the two of us, we could just use the kitchen here in the dorm," she said, as she moved to stand in front of the open door to keep it from closing. After all, he had the heavier box. Chivalry was great, but sometimes a bit impractical.
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:50 pm
Ren knew quite well he was being obnoxiously obtuse, but it was all done very lightheartedly, with no ill-intentions in mind. Alessa was special to him, and the last thing he would do would be to try and mess things up between them. Making her uncomfortable was the worst, since he disliked seeing that unhappy expression on her face.
"I always play fair," he said breezily, and then grinned, ears flicking upwards. One eyebrow lifted. "Oh?" Ren said, as Alessa stepped over to stand in the doorway. "I thought we were using the school kitchens, but using the dorm one is fine too!"
Kicking the door shut with his foot, Ren moved to set the box back on the table. He glanced around for an apron of sorts, and when he couldn't find one that wasn't pink, frilly, or girly, he settled for simply rolling up his sleeves, waiting expectantly in the kitchen for Alessa. He had never been a good cook, so having her willing to teach him a few things made him pleased. Perhaps he could make something for Gabe and LW, even.
"So?" he said, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly. "How do we get started with this thing, anyway?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:49 pm
Alessa scoffed audibly at his claim of always playing fair, but pushed it no further. She followed him to the dorm kitchen, setting down what she had in her grasp on one of the clear counters. Already set with her own apron, which was really just as pink and frilly as the ones provided in the kitchen, she quickly began to sort through what they had, mentally checking through a list of what they needed.
Seeing that everything was accounted for, she turned toward him with a very serious look, although it was clear she was having a hard time holding it. "Well, first, the most important rule while we're here is this: do exactly as I say." She couldn't have him burning down the kitchen at worst...or ruining their pie at best.
Feeling that she'd been clear enough, she took the bag of flower and a bowl. "We need to make the pie crust dough first. So that's 1/3 cup of water, 1/4 cup of baking powder, 2 1/2 cups of flour, 2 sticks of butter, and some salt. We need the flour and baking powder first...think you can get the later for me?" She grunted out the last bit, biting down on her lower lip a little as she did her best to pull the fresh bag of flour open without spilling it.
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:10 pm
Ren stood obediently in Alessa's kitchen hands in his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his heels, watching her expectantly. His ghoulfriend was an amazing cook on so many levels, and sometimes he wondered how he had managed to get so lucky. She was both beautiful and intelligent, confident and capable of doing things on her own - stubborn, yes, and could talk even the coldest person into warmth, but he was still lucky. In every sense of the word, from having Alessa to LW to Gabrian. The three of them never succeeded in making Ren anything but happy.
He gave her a nod. "Water, butter and salt, right?" he said, and dug around in the cabinets. Alessa had already retrieved most of what they needed, but he managed to find what else they were looking for.
"And I promise," Ren told her, giving Alessa a placating expression, bordering on faux innocence. "I'll do exactly what you say. Honest."
Stepping back over to Alessa, Ren set the supplies down on the counter beside the rest, moving to stand behind his ghoulfriend. He leaned over, resting his chin on her shoulder as he watched curiously. Ren was not a good cook by any means (he usually relied on other people to help him, or even just cook for him entirely), so it always fascinated him to watch other people make things.
"So how exactly does this work?" he asked her, peering at the pie crust. "Can I try?"
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 2:06 pm
"Mmm hm," Alessa intoned as he insisted he'd be good. She wasn't so sure about that. But at least he'd try, somewhat. As long as he didn't catch anything on fire it would turn out all right anyway. She wouldn't trade his playful, easy going attitude for obedience when it came down to it. What were a few odd tasting baked goods compared to such a sweet, charming, endearing boil?
"Well, we're making the dough for the crust first. Then we'll roll it out and cover the pie tin," She explained, though her explanation slowed a little when his head rested on her shoulder. She gave him a sideways glance, a small pink tinge rising on her cheeks, but she kept on putting ingredients in the bowl anyway. Once the flour and baking powder were in in their proper amounts, she measured out the water and put it in the bowl, though it was obvious her movements were a little more limited with him behind her.
"We need to start stirring this up...and we should probably warm the butter some, so it melts faster."
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 8:23 pm
Ren gave Alessa a mock offended look. "Why babe, if I didn't know any better, I would say you didn't trust me!" he said, his voice warbling as if severely wounded, but he flashed her a grin, watching over her shoulder as she moved. It really was very interesting, how she managed to keep everything just right. Ren had never quite figured out how one managed to know just how long to mix something, just how much of something to sick into a recipe. In his mind, you could just throw something in the bowl and hope for the best.
Unfortunately that wasn't quite how you did it and he usually wound up making more messes than meals, but at least Alessa was here to help him this time.
"Stir it for how long?" Ren asked from his position, his arm snaking around Alessa to pick up the wooden spoon. He lifted his chin from her shoulder, though he didn't step back, instead leaning closer as he pulled the bowl towards them, his other arm around his ghoulfriend as he stirred. It was here that he was being purposely obnoxious, but seeing Alessa's blush flushed cheeks was both adorable and endearing.
"What are we warming up again?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 2:24 pm
Alessa He was doing it on purpose, she knew. That knowledge didn't stop the heat from lingering in her face. It wasn't that she didn't like it, per se, but it was Jack damn distracting. He was close and warm and she could swear she could feel each of his breaths over her shoulder. And she could smell him too, a lot better than any of the ingredients they were using...She was still for a moment as he stirred, almost missing his question entirely. The realization only left her more flustered and she finally squirmed a bit, taking a hold of the spoon for him. "Just until...just until you can't see all the ingredients individually anymore and the texture is thick and hard to go through."
She slipped out of his grasp, shooing him with her free hand as she fought a smile. She seemed to be having trouble with it. "The butter-! Warm it up so it melts a little easier...you can use the microwave and then come put it in the bowl." That would get him at least a little farther away so he wasn't so distracting that she botched the whole thing. That would be all she needed, burning the kitchen down herself, never mind Ren...Though she had to say, for all his antics, she couldn't keep a smile from her face, nor a bit of extra glow and energy from her movements. Perhaps it should have been no surprise, then, that when she turned around to go back to stirring her tail was out, twitching merrily under her skirt. Ren Ren knew very well what he was doing, and although he had a feeling he might get smacked in the head with the wooden spoon for being so obnoxious, seeing the blush streaked across his ghoulfriend's face was well worth it. He did love teasing her; probably more than he should have, but she was just so adorable when she was flustered that it was difficult to not do it.
However, Alessa slid out from under his arm, moving easily away, though Ren made a small noise of mock protest, adopting a faux-dejected look on his face. "Okay, okay, fine," he said, pouting a little as he took the butter from the countertop. He unwrapped it carefully and with a plop it fell into the mixing bowl. Ren eyed it for a moment, wondering if that was all he was supposed to do, before giving a noncommittal shrug, shoving the bowl into the microwave and punching a few random keys. When he turned back to Alessa, she was hovering over the counter again, mixing together a few ingredients. He watched her work for a few moments, smiling to himself, but something caught his eye, something...curious. He was not normally one to, er...look there, but Ren felt his eyes widen a bit. Before he could stop himself, a laugh escaped his throat, and he clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Er," he said, attempting desperately to stifle his amusement, mixed with a faint red blush that tinged his cheeks. "Alessa, love, you, er...you have a tail..?" Alessa It was funny how Ren doing the simplest of tasks-using the microwave to warm butter-made her nervous. Maybe she should have let him stir. Entrusting him even that felt hazardous. Well, she supposed she could get more butter somewhere if he somehow managed to burn it or set it a flame, though she only hoped it wouldn't set off the sprinklers-Wait, what was he laughing at? Burning down the kitchen wasn't funny, so if that wasn't it...
She was about to look over her shoulder and ask him what was so hilarious when he finally managed a question. Immediately she squeaked, whirling about and clamping two hands over her tail and rear, discarding the spoon across the counter in the process. If it was remotely possible, one might say her face had turned the color of her hair. She willed the inconvenient twitching tail away, but it wasn't cooperating. She could usually control it, but sometimes when her emotions got too high, especially in the positive direction...it just insisted on being there.
"No-!...Yes...sometimes..." She mumbled, her expression clearly fighting between annoyance and mortification. Ren Laughing was probably rude - though Ren hoped to Jack that Alessa didn't think he had been staring...well, there this entire time, since his eyes had only been drawn by the flicking of her tail from side to side. Though admittedly quite affectionate by nature, he was neither leery nor inappropriate when it came to those sorts of things. He was a lover of romance, not of ogling, which was why the situation felt mildly awkward.
However, they were alone, and Alessa was his ghoulfriend. Fighting back a smile, Ren slowly stepped over to her, his hands linked together behind his back.
"Sometimes?" he asked her curiously, tilting his head as he regarded her, taking another small step in the ghoul's direction. Her face was crimson now, matching the scarf he was wearing around his neck, but it was downright adorable, and even though she was embarrassed, Ren could not help but feel a surge of affection towards her.
"I think," he said slowly, and reached around, gently taking ahold of her wrists and guiding them away. " - that it's adorable. I think you're adorable."
Then he kissed her, mostly to distract her from what she apparently deemed as embarrassing, but also because he just felt like it. Alessa Alessa could see the laughter in his face, even if he was trying to hide it. She couldn't say she was surprised, even if it did increase her embarrassment. Her tail was small, twitchy, and rather awkward in any real practical sense. It was only ever really visible when naked or nearly so, otherwise it was squashed in pants or caught under skirts. It would never be long and lovely like LW's, Ren's, or Gabe's, free and there for anyone to see. It was a hindrance and it was why she kept it away. When she could.
"I can usually keep it unshifted..." she grumbled, diverting her eyes, "But sometimes...it has a mind of its own, so to speak." As he stepped closer she took a step back, only to bump lightly into the counter. She only looked back up at him when he took her hands. She looked mildly startled, her lips parting a little, perhaps to say something, but whatever it was was lost momentarily as he kissed her. It was not an unwelcome gesture, and, now free, her tail began to twitch happily of its own accord.
When their kiss broke, it took her a minute to find her voice, and perhaps her lungs, before she could say anything. Finally she said, failing at any severe look as a smile tugged at her lips, "You were just saying that so you could kiss me." She shook her head and then gave his ear a gentle tug and she said in mock scolding, "And no staring at my butt." Ren Ren's eyebrows lifted a bit in mild surprise. "You can control whether or not it appears, then?" he asked her, slightly amused. His own tail would always be visible in human form, whether he wanted it to or not, and right now it flicked slowly from side to side, moving to curl lightly around one of Alessa's ankles. "That's very interesting...I've never actually thought about it before, but I suppose maybe if I tried..."
He glanced down at it, then shook his head, laughing. "Nope. It'll still always be there."
The kiss was warm and light, slow and filled with sunshine. Ren's lips curved upwards in a smile against Alessa's, one hand lifting to brush his fingertips lightly against her cheek. He lingered longer than he probably should have, just breathing in her scent, but then he pulled away, grinning cheekily at his ghoulfriend.
"Maybe," he said airily, and reached up, tweaking her nose playfully. "Or maybe I just said it because it's trueeee."
The ear that she tugged on flicked a bit, the faintest, barest hint of a purr thrumming in his throat before he hastily squelched it, instead leaning forward to rub his nose against hers. "Fine," he said. "I won't stare at your butt, even if you tail is adorable. Can I stare at your face instead?" Alessa Alessa wrinkled her nose, though she couldn't hide her smile "Well, it might be a nagual thing. My parents keep theirs out, but their tails are longer than mine so..." she shrugged. She didn't regret what she was, even if it left her rather unfavored among her kind, but sometimes she did wish she could keep her tail out. It always felt good to let it go, natural. But, it couldn't be helped. It was too much trouble to explain the tiny bulge all the time and it just didn't function properly with clothes. Eying his tail wrapped around her ankle, she felt a small twinge of jealousy, but it was quickly discarded.
She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Ren and his compliments...if she didn't know him better, she might have thought the sheer amount of them meant he was insincere. But she did know him better than that, which was probably why it was embarrassing. She never knew how to deal with them, really. She turned back to the bowl, having finally managed to make her tail disappear. "No, you cannot...because it's distracting. You already forgot the butter, didn't you?" She gave him a sideways glance and a knowing smile. "Come on. If we never get the pie made you never get to eat it." Ren "I think your tail is just fine the way it is," Ren said with a shrug. "I mean, not all tails are going to be long and as versatile as the next, but it doesn't mean they're not adorable. And believe me, yours is quite possibly the most adorable one I've seen, so I wouldn't worry too much about it."
He grinned cheekily at her, then ducked his head, pecking a quick kiss to her lips again before he obediently stepped back, giving his ghoulfriend room to work. "I did not forget the b - oh crap I totally did forget!"
Ren darted over to the microwave, yanking the door open. The butter had melted completely, sloshing back and forth as he carried the bowl back over to where Alessa stood. Then he slipped a casual arm around her waist, hugging her lightly.
"Fine," he said quietly, voice filled with amusement. "I'll just look when you think I'm not looking."
"Besides. You're as much as a distraction to me as I am to you."
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