Cooking together

[Skye]

Watching her for a brief moment.
"Sounds like a nice guy, mine thought me what it meant to be an arrow and tested if I would be ready. Made me find a reason to stay and to survive loneliness but little else."

"I will test it your way first don't worry there, I just like spicy food for some reason. No clue why, always have ever since I were a child." Gently and warmly smiling. "I were the only one that were not allowed to cook back home as I always ruined the food for everyone else with all the stuff I added." Ahh those were warm times.

Giving her a confused look.
"So you mean that sex is a great way to work out the stress of this life?" That thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

Looking intently towards the first talon.
"True, however you never know who will see you and what they might learn. So if you do not show the serious side, do not show the side that have seen darkness that would make far to many a people tremble in fear and rather just an easy going demeanor of bubbling fun and joy so will they not be ready the second you take of that mask to show the horror beneath it." She had forged her mask for a plethora of reasons, true the downside with masks were when they started to become a true part of you. "Do not worry though, I stand by my actions and am working to better my words."

[Phoenyx]

She nods. "I owe him much."

"I have some spice? I just really like this recipie." Phoenyx begins slowly cooking the chicken and making sure the vegetables are ready.

Her brow furrows curiously. "Of course. It is a biological fact that releasing the endorphins from sex is very good at relieving stress." A small sigh. Maybe I should be looking into that again.

The Obrimos shakes her head. "I do not know how. I am only me. Control is the way I have learned my whole life."

She begins pouring the tea as the food cooks, handing a cup to Skye. "Would you like honey or lemon?"

[Skye]

Watching her for a moment with a smile, there were nothing left to add there but it were nice to feel old memories.

"Then let's avoid the extra hot sauces, I have a tendency to pour that and spices around like crazy anyway." Even if eating vindaloo with people were fun.

Hmm that did ring a bell. "I think I have heard that somewhere before, never experienced it though."

"We are all different, I had to learn to forge a dual mask to carry on which makes it hard to reveal what lies beneath at times." And remember at others.

Taking a cup.
"Honey please, lemon is better for food than drinks." Looking over the food. "So any story behind this recipe?"

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx nods. "I sometimes use hot spices. It depends on the dish. This one is not usually hot, but one can adapt it."

She looks up from the wok to Skye. "I find that surprising. You are very forthright with touching and hugging. You flirt easily. I had somewhat assumed it would go all the way to sex." The First Talon cocked her head slightly. "You should try it. I know discipline becomes less... manageable unless you do such things."

She leaves the wok to sip her tea demurely. "Why do you have a mask? That would be like concealing what you truly feel. Though I suppose doing so to remain civil is also the contradiction. Manners are important."

Honey is added to Skye's cup and passed to her. "It is actually my father's recipe," she says with a small smile. "I was never quite as good at it as he is, but I keep practicing. On the occasions I visited my parents around my training he would always make it for me and we would eat together as a family. It was pleasant. It reminds me of the home I once had, before spending some time upstate and finally here."

[Skye]

"Everything can be made hot but not all dishes are good with it, have you ever tried mad dog sauce? Still looking for a proper dish to eat that with." If there now were any.

Blushing a bit whilst shrugging.
"Nope quite the opposite, when you're to forthright you become intimidating. I almost had sex once but that ended with the guy running away." It was before her awakening though. "So nope my V-card is intact and my romantic knowledge is mostly Disney and romance comedies."

Looking away for a bit.
"It were needed to forge it for me to carry on, to steel myself and to simply just become who were needed. It's also the best way for me to deal with people, it may be hard to see at times but I am really bad with the social stuff and honestly do not know how to work it at times so the mask helps." If that sounded logical.

Taking the tea.
"And now you're sharing it with me?" Smiling. "Now that's kinda sweet." It really were. "That sounds like a lovely memory, may I ask where you grew up?"

[Phoenyx]

The Arrow shakes her head. "I have not heard of that. I do not know what it would work with."

Phoenyx sips her tea, dark eyes watching Skye. "That does not make sense. Soon after meeting me you basically offered to sleep with me, but you are saying you have never had sex? I do not understand. Why would you be that forward but not know what you are doing?" Blunt as a hammer, but the First Talon sounds genuinely confused.

"I understand needing to hold composure. But it is not good to be one person to one and another to someone else. It becomes complicated. But you seem to talk so easily to people... not knowing some social conventions is easier to find out than how to talk to people. It has taken me two years to learn what I know now and I am still never sure I am doing it right." She stirred the wok gently.

She looks up, a little confused again. "You said you wanted to get to know me better, so decided to make something that I like so you can see what I like." Back to stirring. "I grew up with my parents in a small village in Oregon. I was raised with the strict traditions as expected from Chinese parents. Although they did not know it, my maternal grandfather was actually an awakened magus, and one of his cabal had promised to watch over my family. He was a long family friend of my mother. When I went through my own awakening, he had been watching me for some time and he became my mentor." She stops to sip her tea. "I was sixteen when that happened."

[Skye]

"It's the single hottest sauce you can buy, I do fear that it will be beyond me though but I still have it." Not tested yet but it was still in her possession.

Giving her a sly smile.
"Cause with that forwardness and my easy going attitude so does it mask enough, at the same time so do I know that most people tend to not know how to react and rather decline when you're to forward." It did seem that way most of the time.

"Now that is easy though, I generally do not change unless I am alone with someone. Otherwise I am either my normal carefree self whom just does what I feel like and try to enjoy the day knowing full well that life can end tomorrow or serious in case there is work to be done." Giving her a kind look. "We cannot be more than ourselves, your will to try and walk outside your comfort zone is very strong of you."

"Of course I do, our chosen paths can very well mean that we need to work close together and have faith in one another. Hence the more we train together, the better we get to know one another and the better in synch we can be the higher our chances to keep both ourselves and others safe." Sipping her tea whilst listening closely, making sure to add every word to mind. "That sounds like a warm but firm upbringing, do you ever wonder over the path you would have taken if you had not awakened?"

[Phoenyx]

A half-shrug. "It works better if you go out into the town, with the intent of never seeing them again. I just look for someone attractive and move on them. It works more than it doesn't. Of course doing so in polite company is off putting."

Phoenyx stares down into the wok for a few seconds before answering. "Thank you." The response is quiet and hesitant. "Existence is war, and we die every day. This is my war - overcoming my social discomfort. I hate it. It makes me feel uncomfortable every time. But I do it because I must." She pulls bowls and chopsticks out of the cupboard.

"Of course. But I do not need to know you to trust you. Practice only goes so far. Once in the field we will know for certain, and that will be the moment trust forms if at all." Her sentence was delivered simply, as if fact, eyes focused on the stove. The next comment receives a single shake of the head. "It was not warm. The connection was one of respect for a relative long dead. My parents were not particularly compassionate. I was challenged and taught almost constantly. The man I knew as Iroh had been watching me for some time, bringing influences of the Hand into my life through my parents. I was forged by them. My childhood was a crucible where I had to fight to earn any respect. From being born a woman to learning to fight to challenging my mind. My Awakening only increased the difficulty of these challenges. Overcoming them demonstrated my will." More stirring. She opens the noodles and adds them to the wok, stirring sand folding. She shakes her head again. "Whoever that would be is not myself. You would do well not to do similar. We are who we are, with a sight of the fallen world few ever see. Our responsibility to the world is too great to consider those paths that may have been."

[Skye]

"If you say so, it might be worth a shot but I do not know if that is me. As said so do I not look on love with needing romantic dates but someone to just do activities with be it boxing or mountain climbing rather than movies and coffee but still a nice snuggle when tired or just someone to talk to who really listens and cares is hard to not desire." Then again that might be an escape.

A light smile and kind look as she takes the chopsticks and bowls to put out for them.
"Still a lot of people get stuck, it may be your journey but to choose those around you to slowly be of aid is not a bad thing." Turning back to her. "Is there any social area where you would feel more at ease or safer? Be it sparring or doing some activity that feels comforting to you?"

"True and whilst trust is an important cornerstone for sure so is there also the matter of knowing each other, by knowing one another and by having strong ties so can you read into what the other will do, you know where you are strong and your partner is weaker and vice versa." Sitting down and listening in complete silence, letting the first talon take her time to get the words out and making sure the story were done before replying. "Life cannot be changed but to dream and wonder isn't always bad, it can still make us find things to enjoy the moments we have and act as a calming influence at times."

Walking over to her and trying to catch eye contact.
"Now that does not sound warm, I hope that you know that you have people around you who care for you now though? People who want you to smile, myself included so if you ever need someone for anything be it to just sit still and be there or someone to spar with until there is calm within you so am I there." Opening her arms for a light hug waiting to see if the first talon would accept one or not. "Never forget that you mean a lot to a lot of people."

[Saber Sloth]

Skye receives a phone call and leaves.

Skye has been removed from play. LadySin is no longer playing on EoD