Cake, anyone?

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Someone on the omnicoms had seen that according to the calendar set up on the ship for all this time, it was nearing Christmas. Christmas had only been a couple of months ago by Ren's personal calendar, dated to when he'd left, and it had been a bittersweet affair, with him and Shinji forced to watch as Yui began to fade away.

Call him a Scrooge, but Ren was feeling rather "bah humbug" about the holiday right now. Still, there were cake ingredients that hadn't been used yet for Yui's birthday, and he had a feeling that if he was going to mope about Yui, then she'd at least want him to remember her over the cake she'd never gotten the chance to eat.

He lit a candle and placed it in the center of the frosted cake, watching it burn out for Yui. The door to Atori was open, since if there was anything Ren had noticed over his past few months here, it was that people tended to drop by when he had something cooking.

Comments

[terra-who.livejournal.com]

And a portal opened up and Terra stumbled out, right into the teahouse.

She blinked. And looked around. And stared.

"...Holy crap, there's actually cake this time."

[guardian-haylin.livejournal.com]

"Did someone say cake?! What kind?" came a voice from...seemingly absolutely nowhere, as Hay Lin was busy reacquainting herself with her power of invisibility while making her way around and coming to the aforementioned teahouse.

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

The candle had just about burnt itself out, so Ren blew it out and removed it.

"Help yourselves," he said, retrieving plates and a knife.

[terra-who.livejournal.com]

From the girl whose voice came out of nowhere (she recognized it a bit, right?) to the nonplussed boy at the table, Terra had her work cut out for her.

"What, wait, where--" Normal life, normal life, normal life, I miss you-- "Why is this ship so weird?"

Not that she'd spent much time on it, that weird computer liked to scoop her up for tests.

[guardian-haylin.livejournal.com]

"Sorry~!" Hay Lin appeared right in front of Terra, a sheepish smile on her face. "Was practicing certain...powers that I have, came in here and heard subtle mentioning of cake. Let's have some while we thank our host at the same time, 'kay?"

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

"No need to thank me," Ren said, putting out some forks as he set away the candle. "Tea?" It was a question worth asking; it was a teashop, after all.

[terra-who.livejournal.com]

"..."

"Is it normal for people to just appear in houses here?" That was her way of saying yes.

[guardian-haylin.livejournal.com]

"Maybe, but since you're speaking in the traditional term and unless other people besides me can go invisible, I'd have to say it's not normal for people to appear out of thin air. But then again...you appeared almost the same way I did!

"I'll have Earl Grey, hot." Hay Lin eagerly sat down after pulling out a chair for Terra to sit in. Her subtleness, while it could use some fine-tuning, had been wrapped around the possibility that Terra might have powers of her own. (Why her voice sounded eerily familiar to the Guardian, she had absolutely no clue why that was...)

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Ren took out the teacups and set the kettle to boil as he retrieved the tea.

"Appearing out of thin air, no," he answered. "But unfortunately, I am used to people appearing here unexpectedly." Aww, you act like you don't like people, Ren.

[terra-who.livejournal.com]

With nothing better to do and still not much of a handle on this place, Terra sat, sighing.

"Why not. Sure. I'll accept anything now."

[guardian-haylin.livejournal.com]

"Aww, come on - it'll be okay!" Hay Lin flashed the girl a confident smile while waiting for her tea. "Tell you the truth, I still feel like a rookie from time to time myself. It's nice to meet you both; the name's Hay Lin~!"

The Guardian suspected something was amiss on an emotional level with their host, but she wouldn't pry unless he got into a brooding-like state.

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Better get ready then, Hay Lin. Ren was an Olympic champion at brooding, angsting, and the 100 yard sulk.

"Akiyama Ren," he said, pouring the tea and setting out a knife for Terra to cut the cake.

[terra-who.livejournal.com]

She honestly didn't see the point in being so upbeat; she didn't see the point in being so brooding either, like Ren, so...she was the middle ground. The somewhat annoyed middle ground.

"Ashley Johnson." Her alias still.

She paused.

"You're expecting me to do the cutting, aren't you?" When she was technically a guest...

[guardian-haylin.livejournal.com]

Uh-oh. Realizing that Ren might be of a brooding nature was one thing, but with Ashley not exactly trying to smooth things out as their middle ground, tweener, whatever...Hay Lin assumed that task fell to her.

Plus, she'd have to do as such without relying on her abilities. No need blowing the entire treehouse away because she got emotional. Not to mention, Hay Lin's emotions changed like the wind itself - from a gentle breeze to harsh, cutting gusts.

"Ashley's got a point, but...there's a reason you made the cake today, isn't it Ren?" She had to admit, she liked the name but...there was no need to pry into both Ren and Ashley's pasts if neither were willing to talk. Though she'd ensure that Ren talk about something, at least for today.

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Of course, asking questions. Could a man just angst in peace?

Answer: No, of course not.

"Go ahead and cut it," he told Terra. "My friend's birthday was the day after the last day I was home. I thought I should at least make the cake. Take as much as you want; I'm not in the mood to eat."

[terra-who.livejournal.com]

"..." Well. Alright, then. No need to really pry into anything else anymore.

She took the knife and started cutting it. As if to stave off anymore questions, she asked, "You can cook, right? This isn't gonna turn out some science experiment gone wrong?"

[guardian-haylin.livejournal.com]

Terra Ashley might have wanted to stave off anymore questions, but that wasn't Hay Lin's style. She waited for her piece while smiling lightly at her new friend's response. "I'm pretty sure he can cook! I don't think we need to worry about food poisoning or anything like that.

"Still, that's pretty generous of you to make the cake for your friend even if you aren't there right now." The Guardian firmly believed that once they helped out on this ship, they'd all eventually get to go home.

[darknight-ren.livejournal.com]

Ren rolled his eyes.

"Between my housemates and me, we all got the chance to cook," he said. "Believe me, if I couldn't cook, they'd have solved that fast."

As for Hay Lin's affirmation, all he could do was nod. He had to believe the same thing she did; it was the only thing keeping him going.