Someone rang the dinner bell?

[calmyourmind]

Who: Charles + Anita (though other people can stumble across him as well
When: Days 139 (Post-event)
Where: The Kitchen
What: Charles decides to have a go at those alien foods.
Warning: Strange effects of alien foods? No warnings really.

It's not that there is anything exactly wrong with the supplied food... (TV dinners are an acquired taste, and one Charles has never acquired), the normal foods always seem to be in fairly low supply and Charles is a curious creature by his very nature. It's no surprise that sooner or later he would not be able to resist the desire to figure out what thee mysterious fruits and vegetables are, and what they taste like.

He may not be the most gourmet of chefs, but unlike his mother, Charles knows his way around the kitchen. Today there is a lot of action going on in there. He managed to find and clean some suitable kitchenware, as well as scrubbing down an area of the kitchen heavily until it looked glaringly out of place with the rest of the kitchen. Clean and organized as Charles works away, chopping, peeling and removing the pits and seeds from various strange colored and shaped food items. Each pit or group of seeds has its own separate place on a paper towel for his other upcoming project. (Cleaning up the atrium and attempting to plant some living plants.)

If anyone drops by the kitchen at any point on day 139, Charles will gladly cook something for them. All they have to do in return is play guinea pig for taste testing and determining the best ways to handle the different food products.

Comments

[animator]

Anita had chosen to lay low for several days, hoping to avoid any ill-fated run-ins with people suffering particularly violent moodswings, not to mention aiming to protect them from her own. For the most part, it had worked, though now she was suffering an acute case of cabin fever. That was standard for this place, really, especially since coming to the lab meant they were denied the opportunity to visit the docks or head into the forest to hunt, stuck inside with stale air and low-watt institutional lighting.

Not good for the mind or body, but what else could they do?

A walk across the science center would have to do for now, and her primary interest was heading over to the kitchen to see if she could find anything that looked vaguely appetizing. Some of the food was seriously suspect, and she wasn't a huge fan of the fact that the food seemed to be dropped in when no one was looking, with no way of telling whether or not it had been tampered with, but... well. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

She paused inside the door, surprised to see that someone else was there at this hour -- too late for breakfast, too early for lunch. She raised both eyebrows, giving a small but apologetic smile.

"Sorry, didn't mean to intrude."

[calmyourmind]

The nice thing about being a telepath was that not many people could sneak up on him. On Anita's approach, Charles threw a glance over his shoulder and a smile to greet her before his attention was back on his struggle with the food.

"You're not intruding at all, my dear, in fact, would you mind helping me with this?"

This apparently being the strange melon like alien fruit that Charles' too dull knife is currently very stuck in.

"I am having some difficulty with a particularly stubborn fruit."

[animator]

The term of endearment made her wrinkle her nose a little as soon as his back had turned. A little familiar, wasn't it? They'd only spoken once before, but she had to admit -- it was worlds better than ma petite, which she had never found herself able to get used to. No matter how many times she insisted Jean-Claude call her something else, anything else, it turned out to be worse when he actually used her name. That always meant he was pissed. Nobody wanted a pissed off master vampire on their hands.

Curious, she headed over towards the counter where he was working, arms folded. "I'll see what I can do. It won't cut?"

Huh. Interesting.

"Wonder how tough it has to be to stop a knife. Most fruit cuts clean. Here." She unceremoniously reached inside her jacket and pulled one of her knives from her wrist sheath. Okay, this wasn't what it was made for, but it had to be better than any of the crap that had been stowed away in this kitchen, given how neglected everything had seemed when they first arrived. "This will probably do it. Let me try?"

[calmyourmind]

Charles stepped to the side with a welcoming gesture. Have at it. He made a note of her dislike of the term, though, and rested his hands on the counter, out of the way so he could watch what she intended to try.

Armed and beautiful. She was a very interesting person to run into, here, but from what he had gathered so far, the facility seemed to have quite a collection of fascinating individuals. Gifted or skilled. If he were more inclined to Erik's brand of thinking he would assume it was a camp.

As it was, he thought of it for what it appeared on the surface. A research facility.

"Be my guest."

[animator]

She pursed her lips slightly as she took hold of the fruit and turned it over in her hands, examining it. It was foreign, that was for damn sure, but the same could be said for half the food or a number of the plants that had been found in the facility. Setting it back down on the counter, she carefully set her blade along the top, avoiding using her hand to guide it -- unlike any kitchen knife, both edges were sharp, and she kept her weapons in the best shape she could manage. Her knives were well-cared for.

It took a little bit of effort, but she managed to cut through it cleanly. Well. it ought to be able to slice through some alien fruit, considering it was meant for fighting vamps and shapeshifters.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that anything you have to attack in order to eat probably isn't worth it."

[calmyourmind]

Charles arched a brow at that train of thought, but only offered Anita a warm smile for her efforts.

"Anything worth having is worth fighting for- perhaps the fruits of our labor will match the efforts to reach them." He only just managed to stop himself from saying 'my dear' again as he took the sliced fruit, peeling the thick skin off easily now that it was in halves, and adding the halves of the pit to the pile of bizarre seeds.

"It was Anita, wasn't it? Charles. We spoke together before, over those unique phones. The ones someone in this place seems determined for us to have." He says determined because he unintentionally 'lost' his and found it right back in his room the next day, certain that was not where he had left it.

"You're welcome to join me if you like. I'm going to give making some proper lunch a go. If nothing else you can laugh at my inevitable mistakes along the way."

[animator]

She had to raise an eyebrow at him in reply. Oh, he was one of those. All the signs pointed towards 'tireless optimist.' Goody.

She almost responded to the invitation, prepared to accept it when she caught herself, frowning a little as she looked him over, appraising and suddenly tense. They'd never exchanged names. In her experience, anyone who knew your name without your saying it?

Bad news. Whether they were a hitman, a vampire or something else.

"I never told you my name."

[calmyourmind]

"Didn't you?"

Caught. Ah. He really needed to be more careful with that.

"I thought for sure you had."

But no, he had merely picked it up from her mind in passing. He set the food aside. Lying wouldn't be the way to put this particular young woman at ease, so he shook his head and rubbed his temple lightly with a small smile.

"I apologize, sometimes I ... pick things up. I do try not to make a habit of it..."

[animator]

"No. I didn't."

It was an old habit, keeping close tabs on exactly who she gave her name to. Too many vampires used it as a weapon, although it had been ages since she'd been able to move among them with any amount of anonymity. She had a reputation back home. But not here.

She relaxed slightly, though remained wary as she watched him, lips pursed.

"Pick things up. What do you mean?"

[calmyourmind]

He takes a breath, offers her a small, charming smile, and tilted his head just a little to the side. Vampires is something they are going to need to talk about later. Eventually. Charles was very curious.

"I can read your mind."

Right out with it. Better to be honest than dance around the subject. "It's a mutation of my genetic code. It lets me access the minds of those around me." It's a very groovy mutation, but he'll get into that later.

[animator]

Mutation made it sound less real somehow, but only because she'd never explained it to anyone that way. Her own powers came with a side of clairvoyance, though it wasn't terribly strong. She'd known psychics, real psychics, of just about every flavor -- precogs, empaths, dreamwalkers, telekinetics and, as Charles seemed to be, telepaths.

He wasn't going to receive any skepticism from her, but frank honesty instead. While sarcasm was right up her alley, skepticism? Not so much.

She'd seen far too much not to be open minded about most things, really. She'd done too much.

"I'll give you some advice, then. Stay out of my head." It was only after she said it that she realized it sounded like a thread. She could leave it that way, or clarify. A moment later, she shook her head. "It's a mess in there. You'll be better off for it, I promise."