[prp] I saw you there (Andrew/Xiu)

[Kaiyumi]

Laughing, Xiu reached up and gave Andrew's hair an affectionate ruffle. "Don't worry. I'll teach you how to not make everything super well done, and we'll let the oven do the baking instead of your flames. It's not too hard once you get the hang of it."

She grinned, genuinely excited to have been able to rope a friend into baking with her today. He seemed a little off as well, so she hoped to help cheer him up. She wondered if it had anything to do with the incident at school or something that occurred sometime after that, but right in front of the cashier wasn't the best place to be talking about such things.

"What's on me?" Xiu asked with confusion as she grabbed the bags of groceries, "Did I do something wrong?"

phantompanther13

 

[phantompanther13]

"Well that's how I like things. I don't want it wet." Andrew grumbled. "Wet is gross." He felt find complaining about as loud as he wanted in the store. "and you stole my foods." he fished his banana chips out of the bag and opened it the moment it was paid for.

"But I'm still eating them." He came in because he was hungry. He was going to at least snack a little right now. slow cooking took forever. This is why Andrew preferred quick easy snackage. But honestly he didn't mind the idea of baking that much... he had watched it be done before and waited impatiently through the smells. But he worked so he could have money to burn on snacks. Though he didn't exactly have a job in Amity...

Though he supposed he could carry a bag. He probably should... ok fine. He took one of them. He swore he could hear his mother judging him in firelands right now. Even if he made the decision on his own he still wore a grumpy expression over it.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

"Food doesn't have to be wet or dry to be good," she replied with a little laugh, "And I just figured it'd be easier to pay for everything in one go. Take them--they're yours anyways."

Xiu smiled at him in amusement, the smile only growing when he took one of the bags without being asked. Honestly, had he not, the baku probably would have just carried them both on her own so as to not impose, but the help was more than a little appreciated. "Thanks Andrew, that's sweet of you," she chirped, biting back a grin at the displeased look on his face, "Let's get going, hm?"

She head towards the door, making sure to walk at a pace that would be reasonable for both of them. Her home wasn't too far from the grocery story, so it'd likely only take a few minutes before they reached the large house with a colourful front garden. A dark-haired man was standing in front of said house and was watering the flowers, completely oblivious to their presence until--

"We're back, uncle!"

The young looking man glanced up and lifted both brows. "'We', Xiu? Picked up a friend at the store, did you?"

phantompanther13x

 

[phantompanther13]

As long as she understood these were his. He pocketed the bag and then pulled a chip out. there perfect he only needed one hand this way. he munched as they walked.

Sweet right. Little did she know he only did this out of fear of his own mother. Though typically Andrew did not use his manners, he did have a certain amount of them allotted to other demons of the female variety. This was just one such situation when he felt compelled to use them.

He fell into pace with her, lost in his own thoughts. The fight still weighted heavily on his mind. Xiu has seen a side of him that even he himself didn't realize he had. He had never attacked his fellow students like that. AJ made sense but the rest was just a blur of anger and rage, thus why he had been avoiding any classes. He didn't want to deal with it.

Andrew kept right on walking when Xiu stopped, too lost in his thoughts to notice the nice house or the garden. He was filled of confusion and hurt still. He had promised himself not to think about it but seeing Xiu brought it to the forefront again.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

"A friend and underclassman from Amity," Xiu confirmed, nodded at her uncle, "Uncle, this is Andrew, who is going to be helping me with my menu additions today. Andrew, this is my uncle." She did a quick introduction, looking between the two and giving them a good second or two--but nothing more, since she had the feeling the fire demon would feel awkward otherwise--before giving the boil's arm a gentle tug.

"Okay, this way! Come in and make yourself at home." Pushing open the door, she gestured for him to follow, kicking off her shoes before trotting for the kitchen. Setting her bag down on the fancy countertop, she let out a loud sigh of relief. Jack, that had been heavier than she had anticipated.

Sorting out the objects from the bags, she hummed thoughtfully. "So, since I didn't get much of a chance to ask you while we were shopping...how are you feeling? After...you know, everything that happened?"

phantompanther13

 

[phantompanther13]

It was too late, Andrew was already awkward around her uncle. He just gave the older man a small wave. For some reason he had thought they would be alone... or something. He didn't say much.

Andrew walked to the counter still wearing his shoe an dumped the bag. He made mo move to remove his shoes seeing as they were lace up boots and would take a minute to remove. He preferred them on. Making himself at home wasn't really something he planned on doing. He just awkwardly ate another banana chip once the bag was down.

"I'm fine." his voice strained slightly as he answered the question. He was not fine.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

Xiu smiled wryly. "You're not a very good liar," she told him, shaking her head, "And you know as well as I do that I'll probably pry even if you try to resist so...talk to me. Please."

The last part was spoken in a pleading manner. Yes, she knew that it technically wasn't any of her business, but it was always hard to see someone you considered a friend hurt or distressed somehow. To be fair, her encounters with Andrew thus far had mostly been while he was in a rather bad mood, but that only made her all the more determined to actually see him happy one day.

...The closest she had come to seeing that was when he was excited about treasure hunting when there was the thread of the school being blown up.

phantompanther13

 

[phantompanther13]

Andrew gave her a look, judging.... So was that what she really wanted? To know? To get into his personal life? He sighed, "I'm not sure what to say. I lost my head back there. AJ just... really pissed me off." He sighed again wings dropping "I thought we were sort of friends. Maybe not really friends but getting there." Andrew didn't make friends easily.

"He was acting really stupid though... and then then things just escalated from there." he was referring to the whole... setting more than one student on fire thing. "Maybe I should just go home." he turned to stare out a window tail burning lower as his shoulders slumped.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

Xiu's expression softened when he revealed what was bothering him. "You dummy," she scolded gently, eyes pained, "It wasn't just you. The mist, whatever it was, affected all of us. It was nearly impossible to resist, and I ended up hitting people who have never wronged me." It made her cringe a little to admit that. She hadn't had the opportunity to apologize to them yet.

She wasn't sure what to say about AJ--the boil had been acting odd, even before the mist. That was something she intended on addressing sometime, but at the present, the baku was only wracking her brain for ways to make the fire demon feel better.

So, doing what she did best, she lifted her arms to loosely wrap them around his figure, giving his back a gentle pat. "None of us were really ourselves, and the fact that you feel remorse means that it wasn't something you had meant to do. Besides," Drawing back, she smiled lopsidedly at him and spoke in a lightly teasing voice, "What do you mean you should go home? I still need you to help me bake."

phantompanther13

 

[phantompanther13]

"I wanted to hit him since before the light thing. I just didn't think it was a good idea at the time." he shrugged. Had it been some other influence? The more he thought about what she said the more it made some sense. At the time he didn't feel like it was some outside influence though, he had just been so mad at them all. He also did not feel remorse exactly. It wasn't remorse, just depression, knowing that he had destroyed a few more potential connections. Maybe. He didn't know, it was hard to put how he felt into words even to himself. He was just still frustrated and mad over the whole thing.

"I wanted to hurt them. I don't really regret it. The tree girl pissed me off, so did the mouse... I don't think I hit anyone I didn't want to hit." But he never hit Xiu even though for a moment he might have wanted too. Now though he had no urge at all like that. Now he felt calm, if a bit embarrassed. Yes more embarrassed than anything. But that might be the weird hugging thing she had going on then and the constant touching which he just let her do. No sense in fighting her over it. It was only mildly annoying and some part of him liked the attention. "Maybe that excuse works for you but not for me. I just, I usually don't like touching creeple from around here, they are slimy and gross." and maybe he knew that hitting wouldn't actually solve most of his problems. Especially since half his problem was people automatically thought his fire would rage out of control on them.

"Nevermind, don't worry about it." he didn't really want to talk about this. Having feelings was hard enough he didn't want to talk about them too. "Let's do this... whatever we are doing thing." he tried to move the subject before she started really agitating him. Who knows, he might fly into another rage. He wasn't even sure of what he was capable of anymore.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

"Maybe you wanted to, but you didn't," she tried to point out quietly, "And as for AJ...I suppose that's something the two of you might have to talk about. He was acting oddly back then though, so..."

Releasing Andrew completely, the ghoul drew back and frowned. That whole thing had just been a complete mess, and now they had to clean up the consequences. She couldn't help but wonder if some of the others were feeling guilty or upset by what happened either--she herself had come out of the incident fine, if not with clear memories of something she would have rather forgotten, but that was it.

"Telling me not to worry is like telling me not to breath," she smiled crookedly, sweeping through the room and pulling out bowls, utensils, and ingredients, "But okay, let's focus on this. Basically, I want to make a series of little cakes for taste testing. Three new potential flavours, so three new cakes." Setting a bowl, measuring cups, and the dry ingredients in front of Andrew, the ghoul grinned mischievously. This would probably get a little messy, but...

"Mind measuring out the dry ingredients for me while I do the wet ones? Here..." Grabbing a pen and notepad from the drawer in front of her, she jotted down the exact measurements he would need and stuck it on the counter in front of him.

phantompanther13

 

[phantompanther13]

At least Xiu understood. She seemed to understand that small thing. That even though Andrew could burn the school to the ground, he wouldn't. That want wasn't necessarily do. Could wasn't would. She was the only one he had met brave enough to grab his hands when he was agitated... though back in his first year she probably would have been burnt. (Mind you Danny was an exception on all accounts. But she was family.) But the fact that Xiu was brave enought that she understood, it made him relax, let out the breath he didn't know was holding.

But Andrew wasn't sure he wanted to talk to AJ. AJ was dumb and didn't want to be friends. Worst AJ seemed to want to kill himself and was it really worth being friends with someone who would leave him and not observe simple safety rules?

"Ok then. Don't breath." Andrew cracked a small back at her. So she was just a worrier like his mum. He would try to keep that in mind. Though Andrew always did manage to do an excellent job of making his mum worry too. Even now the phone calls had been obnoxious. Andrew turned his attention what she was actually doing... and was immediately lost.

Andrew squinted at the directions. "I don't..." he squinted more and then just sighed. "I don't read cookbook. I take food I heat it, I eat it. What's with the ten billion spoons and cups?" sure he had seen his mum do this. But usually she had less things out and just grabbed with her hands. It was magic really.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

Xiu grinned at the reply, her eyes twinkling. "Oh? Well, I suppose that passing out from lack of air would be one way for me to stop worrying," she laughed, rubbing her chin and pretending to actually consider it, "But what cafe owner will pry about your life if I'm not around to do it?"

At least she admitted to the fact that she could be nosy. She only had the best intentions by trying to talk things out, but Xiu was well aware that she could be kind of difficult to shake off sometimes. She was kind of like a rabid mini that latched itself onto someone's leg, only with less biting and more hugging.

"It's okay," she assured him patiently, swiftly cracking two eggs into her bowl before sliding over to him, "The plastic measuring cups are for dry ingredients, and the big glass one is for liquid. Just take the biggest dry measuring cup that says 250mL and measure out three of these--"--she tapped the bag of flour--"And then..."

Xiu continued on by trying to talk him through each step, pointing to the measurements she had jotted down on the note in the process. She knew that she was biased, but she always saw baking and cooking to be a nice skill to have, so she wanted to teach as much of it to the boil as she could.

phantompanther13

 

[phantompanther13]

"See? It's a simple solution. But you have a point I would have no one to pry and act like my mum. She does the same thing you know." Maybe that was why he liked Xiu, she acted like his mum. Too bad she didn't have fire.

Andrew was still having a hard time getting over putting liquid into his food. Gross. But... once she started talking he relaxed a bit, actually listening and paying attention. So the measurements there matched the numbers on the cups... oh, ok. He really could do this much. Once he got an explanation as to how the measurement worked he was fine and manged to put the ingredients in while she handled the liquids. He trusted Xiu not to spill, really, but he still hovered away from the cups and bowl of fluid substance. "Does that really have to go into the food?"

The closet he got was butter and that was solid at room temperature.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

The ghoul laughed, her tail waving behind her. "Does that make me your school mum then?" she asked with a grin, glancing at him from the corner of her eye while mixing in the rest of the wet ingredients, "Though if I could, I totally would pack you a lunch everyday if only to know that you were actually eating right." And not...super well done or microwave meals, granted that she was sure he had actual food too.

"If I don't put these liquid ingredients in, you literally just get to eat that." With her hands full, Xiu jerked her chin in the direction of the bowl that in front of Andrew. "A mouthful of flour sounds pretty gross, doesn't it? But thank you for measuring everything out--it's a great help! I can do this bit now."

Figuring from his body language that he didn't want to be anywhere near the wet stuff, she slid his bowl over to her and began to mix it all together. Then there was the process of splitting the batter into three, introducing different ingredients into each of them, and then finally pouring them into molds and popping them into the oven. Since she had prepped the necessary things for the flavours beforehand, everything took all of five minutes.

"So what kind of food do you prefer anyways?" She asked, pulling out things for frosting next because whoops there was that too, "I kind of associate fire demons with spicy foods because...well, you know, but I guess that that's not always accurate, right? Can you measure these out?"

She casually slid the new dry ingredients to Andrew while she worked with the wet ones again.

phantompanther13

NANANA RUSHING THROUGH BAKING PROCESS because who wants to write all that out step by step amirite