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In spite of the time of year, the weather had proven somewhat unseasonably warm, and between the surprisingly well insulated apartment and the amount of things going on in the kitchen, where Holi had recently split her time between several hot plates of confections in progress... it was stuffy and hot, and she'd opened a window to relieve the stuffiness of the apartment. The yellow and white checkered curtains were a bit ridiculous, perhaps, but she sort of liked the sunny touch since she hadn't yet gotten the chance to repaint things the way she wanted, and anything that made her small apartment feel more like 'home' and 'saftey' was welcome.

Right now one of the things making her feel like 'home' was working, and this particular process was complicated and delicate, piping out delicate chocolate twists, pouring chocolate over plastic wrapped plates for molds, and carefully working to assemble a careful line of small cups made entirely of bittersweet chocolate. Edible gold, an expensive little touch of luxury, was being brushed on with a delicate stroke to decorate the cups and plates to look more like expensive teacups, and a piping bag was waiting to fill the cups with a white chocolate mouse that would be sprinkled with a dash of cocoa powder for further decoration.

The idea lurking in her mind was to try and present as an example of what she could make, so that maybe, just maybe, while they would not be sold in a business she personally owned, she might be able to have someone else sell some of her chocolates for her. If nothing else it might pay to cover some of the things she needed, or wanted.

...Speaking of wanted...

She paused, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration and glanced toward the fridge.

Lunch. Lunch would be good. Lunch would be really good. Maybe she could make a grilled cheese sandwich...that was pretty fast. And maybe a coffee... er... no... there was still a root beer in the fridge. That was faster. Wait... did she still have cheese? She'd had to throw out that one pack when she opened it and discovered it had been hiding a coating of green fuzz.

...She should check. If she didn't have cheese she needed to think of something else for lunch.

"OHMYGOD" Holi looked about ready to faint, dropping the brush she was holding, which splattered edible gold paint across the counter top, and splattered the nearest cup with a Jackson Pollock style spray of golden dots as she clutched a hand to her chest, as though she could use it to stop her heart from trying to pound it's way out of her ribs. "Zee??"

She couldn't even, yet, work her way up to being angry, just very... VERY surprised. "How did... Where... You...." She glanced over at the open window with wide eyes before answer her own question with an long shaky sigh. "Window. Of course. The... the window." She put her palms on the counter top and lowered her forehead to rest on them as she added, muffled by her arms and the counter top.

"Zia you just about scared the LIFE out of me. Also... Also these are supposed to be for sale.... wait... W-what's wrong with the mouse?"

She felt as though she'd just had an straight shot of maybe ten energy drinks injected into her veins, and she knew she wasn't going to be able to paint until her hands... no... all of her stopped shaking again.

God. Cat people. GOD.

"I would say it has more to do with not expecting to look up and have someone actually be there has more to do with it than the chocolate fumes. I haven't even eaten any yet myself... well... not true I tasted the mouse... I was thinking maybe I should add some vanilla bean. Not extract the... the actual little seeds from the bean...." She lifted a hand slightly to gesture slightly in pantomime explanation without raising her head. "I dunno. It might be getting too fussy. I was going to see if your brother wanted to carry some. They're close, and... and he sells that aztec pie stuff..." She lifted her head enough to pin Zia with her dark eyes adding. "If you don't eat them all first."

"I was going to see if I had the stuff to make grilled cheese if you want one of those instead?" She suggested.

Oh god, her priorities were a joke. She knew she had vanilla bean, and chocolate, and piping bags, but she couldn't remember if she had bread and cheese that wasn't growing mold.

"Well... not so far... no." She admitted. "But I did just move in. And then I was raised with this strange notion where people knock instead of coming through the window in cute yoga pants."

They were cute pants, she kind of wanted a pair... but they probably were out of the budget.

"Things are... ok I guess? I mean... I haven't flipped out and locked myself in the bedroom for days. I think that counts as a good thing." She laughed, a sort of self depreciating nervous laugh that made it unclear if she were joking or if that was actually something she might have considered doing.

"My mom is still pretty skittish about it, but I guess it's hard enough to have your only kid move out without adding the 'only kid who was also kidnapped and came back a train wreck' into the equation. She and dad don't know a thing about the whole "Page of Chronos" bit either, and I kinda mean to keep it that way..."

Her mom wanted a princess, not the servant to one, she didn't know how she'd take it knowing that Holi might be willingly putting herself back in danger for any reason.

"...My dad gave me an um..." She paused, fingering the small stone around her neck before unclasping the delicate gold chain and holding it out for Zia's inspection. "This. He said he wanted to be the first person to give me a diamond."

"I, um, Ohmygawd are you ok?" That hadn't been the reaction she expected at. All.

Zirconia... er... Zia... had always struck her as so classy and put together... and maybe a bit free with boundaries, so seeing her melt down into tears over a tiny diamond was...

She had no idea what to do.

"Wh... what did I do? Do you need a tissue? Coffee? Uh... I don't know. I'm so sorry!"

Holi, who on a deep level also understood the desperate need for that particular form of connection that only seemed to come from a hug, returned Zia's sniffly embrace with a fierce and protective hug of her own, as though she were trying to infuse her slender arms and embrace with an bubble of safety and protection to rival Chronos' shield.

"It's ok. It's fine..." She promised, or anyway it was as ok as she could make it. "...It's um... I think it's called Fog Chaser, I bought it at the grocery store. It's supposed to be strong..."

She would have liked to say she could offer Zia the steamed latte's and expresso's that seemed more like the other woman's style, but they were going to have to settle for coffee, either from the little cup-brewer or the french press she'd stashed on top of the limited cabinet space. "I have heavy cream and I think there's some of that liquid creamer in the fridge too. It was a late night, I kinda forgot what got finished while I was studying... this one professor likes surprise quizzes. He likes them a LOT... and it's not my best subject in the first place but I need it..."

Ugh, she was chattering about really really boring things, shut up Holi. SHUT UP WHILE AHEAD. DON'T BORE THE UNEXPECTED GUEST.