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[shelley_winters]

It's raining.

Although that really doesn't do it justice, Shelley thinks wildly, running through the downpour, already soaking wet, and shivering in the wind. It had been warm this morning.

Bloody England.

She drops her keys twice as she fumbles to open the door before splashing inside, socks squishing in her shoes.

This is not a happy Shelley.

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[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Opening the pantry, Elan removed two bars of chocolate. After unwrapping them, he broke the bars into their component squares. From one of the pile of pans, he removed a small pot, and set it on the eye of the stove. After placing the chocolate squares into the pan, he turned on that eye. Though he liked standing next to Shelley, he would not want to irritate her while she had that pan of hot oil.

"If I am in your way, please do tell."

[shelley_winters]

"I will," she says, tipping the chopped vegetables in with a hiss and a puff of steam.

Then she blinks, and scrambles to find a wooden spoon to stir them with before they burn.

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Keeping the heat low, he stirred the chocolate as it melted. He did not want it to burn, and it certainly would if the chocolate stuck to the bottom of the pan. Dipping a finger into the chocolate after it was a liquid, Elan tasted it.

Hurrying away for a brief moment, Elan grabbed a bottle of vanilla extract and poured a cap full into the chocolate. After stirring it into the heating mixture, Elan scurried over to the bowl of fruit. Picking up an orange, and a cheese grater that was lying in the pile of equipment, Elan grated some of the peel into the chocolate before stirring it again.

Once the chocolate was done, Elan saw that Shelley was nearly done with the main meal, so he removed the main dessert, a chocolate custard crouching in a cookie bowl of his own creation, from the freezer. Using the spoon, he poured the chocolate mixture over the dessert.

Contact with the frozen dessert solidified a shell of the chocolate, while the remaining liquid pooled at the base, filling the saucer that the dessert sat in.

Setting the pan aside, Elan licked one side of the chocolate-coated spoon. Tasty. Smiling, he proffered the spoon to Shelley.

Elan was not aware that he had chocolate on the tip of his nose.

[shelley_winters]

Shelley pauses in dishing out the sauce, and eyes him. The motion was entirely too- and he looks ridiculous, and-





"...Got some on your nose."

She does not take the spoon.

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Frowning slightly, Elan glanced down at his nose. He was unable to catch a glimpse of the offending chocolate.

How... unfortunate.

With a slight smile, Elan wiped a small bit of the chocolate onto his index finger. With a quick motion, he deposited the chocolate on the bridge of Shelley's nose.

"You also have some on your nose."

[shelley_winters]

She flinches automatically, then frowns, putting the pan down so she can wipe it off.

"Oh... grow up."

He's certainly old enough to- not do that!

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Shaking his head, Elan held up the spoon for her. With his other hand, he removed the chocolate from his own nose.

"Merely interjecting some levity--Would you like the spoon?"

[shelley_winters]

"No," she says sulkily, and instantly regrets it.

Anyway, you don't have chocolate before dinner. You just... don't. Right.

She turns determinedly away from him, still wiping to be sure no mark remains.

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Elan set the spoon down braced against a can so that the chocolate was not touching the surface of the counter. Lifting the two saucers with the desserts, Elan walked back towards the fridge.

"...I will return the desserts to the cooling unit until we are ready to partake in them."

[shelley_winters]

"The fridge," she corrects, absently and irritably, before opening a nearby drawer to find knives and forks. Although this sort of thing is traditionally eaten with chopsticks.

...She should introduce him to chopsticks at some point. Yes.

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

After placing the desserts in the cooling unit, Elan removed plates from the cabinet and began to set the table.

"What would you like to drink, L-Shelley?"

[shelley_winters]

"Anything. Water," she says, laying out cutlery with more studious attention than is technically needed for the task.

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Nodding calmly, Elan filled two glasses up with ice and then with water. After placing the glasses, he sat down himself.

"Thank you for helping me with dinner."

[shelley_winters]

Shelley transfers her gaze upwards slightly to meet his, but doesn't reply directly, sitting down instead.

There is a pause.

"So. You're feeling better today, then?" she says, abruptly.

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Blinking in surprise, Elan thought for a moment before answering. It was very odd for her to be asking, and his voice mirrored his suspicion.

"I am. Why do you ask?"

[shelley_winters]

There is a pause, as Shelley considers the tone in his voice. She might not be a skilled reader of people, but she can try.








"No reason."

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Elan frowned but continued eating for a moment. This was very odd. Uneasily, he replied after a time.

"...I see."

After another moment, he inquired of her to continue the conversation.

"How was your day at work?"

[shelley_winters]

"All right."

She'd found it hard to concentrate, but that's nothing new, these days. She examines a piece of pepper meditatively.

"Boring, more than anything, at the moment."

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Elan nodded calmly, and took a bite of his food. Being interested in her interests was an effective means of relationship building.

"As an administrative assistant, what do you actually do? I am sure that it is different than what I am familiar with."

[shelley_winters]

Shelley shrugs slightly, poking at her rice.

"Depends. Sometimes look after official visitors, organise trips and visits. Also just secretary-ish things - filing, keeping Mr. Mayor filled in on things he should know, on a slow day."

It is possibly good for all concerned that Elan has not, and never will see the movie Secretary.

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Elan nodded calmly and sipped his water. That was not all that different from what was normal in the Second Age.

"Ah, much like Vashti did, then."

[shelley_winters]

"Similar. It's more public, and not for the cause of evil."

Shelley sips her water, eyes almost daring him to contradict her.

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Elan nodded, seemingly unperturbed by her accusation. The Second Age had a world government and so autonomous governments were not really a concept he was familiar with, even the Shadow was unified under his rule.

"You said that you arrange official visits. Of what sort are they, usually?"

[shelley_winters]

Shelley shrugs again.

"From other towns, or countries. Or going to other places, or to give speeches. That sort of thing."

[always-a-liar.livejournal.com]

Elan sipped his ice water, and paused after he made an affirmative reply. It was rather odd for her to be conversing with him so readily, often it was like using Compulsion on her to gain conversation.

"Ah."

[shelley_winters]

It is a product of Shelley's determination that he isn't going to rule her life, now he seems to have lost the Power. Terrified she might be, but she can get over that.

And eventually, he'll be nothing more than someone who stays around because he has nowhere else to go, and she can get on with life.

That's the hope.

Because if she can't stop reacting to him, it's just as if she was in the Second Age again, only here she has to pretend everything's fine.

She stares down into her glass, apparently forgetting the meal.