Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sound of the car door had been the first clue someone was outside, the muffled thud catching his attention from deeper within the house.

The knock at the door confirmed it wasn’t just someone checking a map, maybe someone evangelizing door to door, that would be amusing.

He wandered to the door, curious but also cautious, the garden sheers he’d been planning to use in the back yard tucked into his back pocket.

He peered through one of the sitting room windows trying to view what he was about to get into before he answered, but didn’t recognize who was at the door, so he walked the few extra feet and swung the door open, blinking expectantly at the new arrival.

Gift basket, that was new. He dressed like someone who knew Sterling, that didn’t mean a -lot- though. Yu was, to say the least, dressed down by comparison. A faded out, once black t-shirt over well-abused jeans long since tuned charcoal and ash from use, the hems just long enough to drag and, in turn, well frayed since he seldom bothered to turn them up.

“Ah… Yeah, I’m Yu.” He nodded and recognized the name.
He glanced at the care package and then stepped aside. 

“He’s not at the moment, but if you want to come in, I was just preparing to do some stuff, I can make like…tea or something.” He offered. “Or We have lunch things.”

That was a regular offer, right?

Then again, taking the basket was probably normal too, but he didn’t love the idea of having his hands full.

“Sorry, here I can…” He let the thought trail off and just extended his hands to help take the basket. “If you want.”

The mention of the pie had a light flash in Yu’s eyes, a new interest and he took it gratefully.

“That sounds delicious! He’s the only one who can do a decent desert in this house honestly. I’m a walking disaster when it comes to baked goods.”

He led the way into the kitchen and found space for the pie to chill, and a spot to set the gift basket too.

“Have a seat, unless you want to help me prep for dinner. I don’t mind if you prefer to just watch too I just ... don’t sit still super well.”

He folded his arms as he invited him to share space preparing dishes, not quite meeting Priam’s gaze for that moment.

“If you like to cook, that’s what I do for work, just help in a kitchen I mean, but we could, like, talk cooking.” He offered trying to find common civil ground

“I ah... I’m just part time.” He admitted. “I work to cover bills and school as I can, so it’s a class here and there. I can’t afford it otherwise.” He shrugged, brushing it off as best he could. “I’d do culinary school instead but that means baking, so I learn more in the kitchen watching and stuff.”

He discretely put the hedge clippers into a drawer before opening the fridge.

“I’m probably not doing anything crazy tonight, I thought maybe chicken scallopini, I’m gonna use a canned sauce though.” He shrugged “I could give you an onion to chop, and adding another chicken breast won’t hurt, serving three instead of two if you think you might want to wait to see Sterling after he’s free.”

Yu Slid back a few steps to rest his back against some of the taller cupboards, greater access to the sink granted, watchful, and hands resting lightly against the wood behind him.

“Yeah? I… he’s pretty awesome himself. I don’t know what I would have done had we not worked out as housemates and things. Ah…Oreo is doing well; she’s quite fond of trodding on my face at like, three in the morning.”

The mention of the dogs made him glance at his feet and back with a small hmm. “What kind of dogs did you get? Are they good with people? I mean, they must be…”

His expression was full-on startled for a split second before he put on a cocky casual expression and offered a shrug.
“I stayed with someone once; he had hunting dogs. I hated the damn things. They were mean as anything and louder than they were mean.” he shook his head like it wasn’t really anything.

“Mutts are normally better anyhow, under-rated as long as you treat them right and all.” He shrugged.
“I'm trying not to judge all dogs on those hunting dogs, you know?” He turned and swung open a lower cabinet, pulling an onion out of a safe, dark corner and tossing it casually towards Priam.

“So, have you cooked this before? We won't go all out; we can probably make pasta. It’s supposed to be thin spaghetti in the recipe I found, but it doesn't hurt to make things fresh when you can.

Yu made a non-committal sound and offered an equally ambiguous shrug. Just a touch of interest, but nothing so much as to say that yes. Yes, he would participate in meeting the dogs.

“Could be fun; it depends on my schedule is all. I like movies, though.”

He started fishing out a small container of mushrooms, some garlic, a lemon… cream, and an assortment of other ingredients that he carefully laid out in various places in the kitchen.

“When you’re done with the onion, I can have you juice the lemon. In the meantime, there is some white wine in the cupboard over the fridge. Do you think you could get that down?”