InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Hands up who wants a holiday."

Cara Clark (warandbeauty) wrote in paxletalelogs,
@ 2010-11-11 16:56:00

Entry tags:

changing woman, coyote, freyja, raijin, raven

It's Gumbo Night!
Who: Cara, Shae, Ren, Kami, Jack
What: It's Gumbo Night in #907, and Shae's invited a few of the neighbors to dinner. ~~Well, Ren invited himself...~~
Where: Room #907
When: November 11, beginning around 7:00ish
Warnings: So far, just spicy gumbo.

Cara had taken great pains to ensure she would be at her best when meeting he new neighbors. After seemingly hours of preparation -- of trying on and discarding outfits, of sifting through her jewelry, of styling her hair. At last, she felt that her appearance was perfect: she didn't look too east coast (she hoped), nor too rich (it wouldn't do to get robbed), nor too slutty (nor like a prude)...

Cara's dark hair had been styled in loose ringlets, then pulled behind her head with a pair of silver and pearl hair pins. Beneath the knot, her unpinned hair spilled out like a black, wavy river down to the middle of her back. An emerald dress clung to her curves. The shallow boat scoop neck and cap sleeves gave the knee-length dress a sophisticated, demure look, although the deep V-neck and flowing skirt suggested the dress was meant for more casual gatherings. A pair of low-cut heels added a mere half-inch to her height. To complete her look, Cara had added a pair of simple pearl earrings and a simple, silver watch on her wrist.

And a glance at her watch revealed that the time had slipped away from her. It was already 6:50, and that meant she had better hurry. She scooped up her purse and the bottle of German Spatlese and headed for the door.

A moment later, Cara Clark stook outside of room #907 with her hand on the door. She may not know what "gumbo night" was meant to entail, but she knew one thing: she was going to look her very best. After all, you only had one chance to make a first impression...

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warandbeauty
2010-12-14 11:47 pm UTC (link)

Cara's smile widened, and she lifted her shoulders into what could only be described as a bashful shrug. "I've been here twenty minutes, and I've already had more fun here than all the parties I've been to in New York." Her gaze was light and reassuring as she added, "Trust me, Ren. You're not missing out."

As Kami settled herself down again, the dark-haired woman turned back to her gumbo. To her surprise, the gumbo had become a little easier to eat; perhaps it really had burned away all of her taste buds. She would have gone on, blissfully unaware of the conversation, until...

"...Did you just say gun?" Cara asked with an alarmed flutter of her eyelashes against her cheeks. She couldn't imagine what the man would need a gun for; this building didn't seem to be in a dangerous neighborhood, and, so far, the neighbors seemed nice...

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the_calm_before
2010-12-15 05:07 am UTC (link)

Ren took the bowl of gumbo carefully, a little worried he might drop some. He didn't want to waste anything. It smelled delicious and Ren could feel his mouth starting to water at the thought of finally getting to taste it. He looked over at Shae appreciatively, but was still a little perturbed that Kami refused to take her seat back.

"You know Kami, I'm actually used to sitting on the floor and eating. My family is still pretty traditional back home." He didn't quite feel like mentioning that he didn't have a dining table in his apartment either. He actually didn't have much in the way of furniture. Maybe he should check out Ikea online and see if they have anything cheap enough for him.

He put the gumbo down in his lap and started to eat it. It was like heaven on his tongue. Spicy and complex, and Oh yeah, there was meat. Ren really liked it. "It's....it's so good Shae."

Suddenly he choked a bit when Shae mentioned his gun. He looked up at the other man with a bewildered look and then looked at Cara and franticly shook his head. "D-don't listen to him. I haven't seen his "gun"." He emphasized the word gun to leave no illusion to the fact that he was using it as a euphemism for Shae's package. "J-just the one he carries...you know...in his holster...an actual gun." He should have just stopped before he started. Ren's face went beet red and decided he would bite his tongue.

He glanced over at Shae who was going through his sketch book. He was already fully embarrassed that now all present believed that Ren was thinking about Shae's cock. What was a little more added to the mix? Too bad he couldn't hide under the soup bowl. "Uh, yeah. Those are mine."

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sugar_cycle
2010-12-15 07:10 am UTC (link)

A gentle touch at the back of Ren's ankle burned warm through the denim of his jeans and Kami grinned up at him before winking and delivering a reassuring if strangely tantalizing rub. There was no judgment or assumptions being made on her part but, if the shy young man did swing that way, Kami clearly thought he could do worse than to fancy Shae.

And, really, she was practically an expert on the bounty hunter and his perks, gun included.

"I keep telling him to be careful where he points that thing," she laughed. Then her hand slipped away from Ren and she leaned forward to settle her bowl back on the coffee table once more, not having touched much more thanks to the conversation change. "I'd like to see. If you don't mind?" Kami cast a sweet, dark-eyed gaze, heavy on the charm, at Ren in an attempt to gain his blessing. When he said nothing one way or the other, though, she grinned like a wicked pixie and hopped to her feet, scampering over to stand behind Shae's chair. Totally at ease, she folded her arms along the back behind his head and leaned way over to better see the sketchbook in his hands. Her chest pressed against his shoulder and she absently blew a piece of his hair out of her line of sight with a puff of breath.

"Oh," she whispered. A renewed smile appeared on her face and she leaned forward even more, one arm coming out from under her to point at a particular drawing. "These are great, Ren," she announced. "I had no idea we had an artist like you in the building." Her hand shifted and she turned the page on Shae. "Oh, wow. Look at this one."

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in_the_wings
2010-12-15 08:02 pm UTC (link)

Shae had made the unfortunate mistake of taking a healthy swig from his Abita at the precise moment of Ren's outburst. Normally he'd have laughed his ass off at such an inadvertently suggestive remark, but seeing as his mouth was currently full of beer, it made things a little more difficult. He choked on some of the amber liquid as it slid down his throat, and then when Kami chimed in, he lost control completely.

The beer spewed from his lips in a spray of microbrew mist, and in order to keep from soaking the sketchbook in his lap with alcohol and spittle, he turned his head away at the last possible moment.

...and proceeded to drench Cara and her flatteringly elegant dress instead.

The look on his face was one of absolute horror, mixed with perhaps the slightest bit of twisted amusement. Part of him wanted to laugh at the expression of absolute shock and disgust twisting her features, but he somehow suppressed the urge.

"Oh my Gawd," he blurted, lifting an arm to wipe the remaining dribble on his chin onto his sleeve. "Dat was- I' sorry 'bout dat, Cara." He scrambled for the stash of paper napkins he usually kept on the shelf beneath the coffee table and held a wad out to her, resisting the urge to blot at the neckline of her dress since she'd probably interpret the action as adding insult to injury.

With this new concern at the forefront of his thoughts, he distractedly handed the sketchbook over to Kami for her continued perusal, completely missing the sketch on the next page of a long-haired figure bearing a stunning resemblance to himself. The lines were sketchy and unsure, and had obviously been erased and redrawn multiple times as though that particular image was being pulled from memory rather than created from imagination.

"You needa borruh a shirt?" Shae asked a little anxiously, the slightest hint of a smile curling the corners of his lips as the hilarity of the situation slowly sank in. "Usu'lly save dat kinda t'ing fo' da mohning afta, but we maght wanna make a' exception heah."

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warandbeauty
2010-12-15 09:42 pm UTC (link)

Cara had been staring at Ren like the man had grown two heads. Intuitively, she sensed disaster was about to strike, and she turned her head to glance at Shae. Everything seemed to slow down; it seemed as though there should have been ample time to move, but Cara could only watch in horror.

It was like watching a commercial for laundry detergent.

The liquid from Shae's drink arched through the air, droplets falling gracefully away from the main body of Abita. The beer splashed in a miraculously well-aimed shot against the thin green fabric covering her breast. It exploded outwards in a volcanic-like eruption of amber, splashing across her upper torso and dripping down into the v-shaped opening between her breasts.

Cara was usually quite good about thinking before she acted; today, it seemed, was simply not her day. Too late, she tried to move to avoid the oncoming disaster, and, in her haste, she forgot about the dinner balanced carefully on her lap.

The dish spun, precariously balanced itself for one moment, then dropped completely into her lap. The tidal wave splashed up her lap, drenching her midsection before rushing back downwards to likewise soak a fair amount of the front of the dress. By chance, she managed to remember the plastic cup of wine she held in her hand, just barely avoiding spilling it all over herself as well...although a jerk of her arm did cause the drink to splash over the side of the cup threateningly. Fortunately for Kami, she had evacuated her place on the floor, or she very well might have had German Spatlese in her hair.

Time only seemed to resume a sense of normalcy once her gumbo bowl hit the floor with a crack and the spoon clattered harmlessly beside it. The look on Cara's face was one of shock and horror as she rose on unsteady legs. Between the beer and the gumbo, dinner had really done a number on the stylish dress. It was barely translucent, revealing glimpsed outlines of her body as she stood, hands apart from her body, too much in shock to further react.

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the_calm_before
2010-12-15 10:23 pm UTC (link)

Ren just stared wide eyed as everything seemed to go from bad to much much worse in little to no time at all. He shrunk away as Shae's mouthful of beer spewed forth and arched in Cara's direction. It was a cowardly move, but it was instinctual as well. It completely covered the poor girl next to him. Then with the addition of the gumbo all over her once fine dress.

He swallowed nervously and stood up as soon as everything had settled. He tried to help Shae with the paper napkins. Was it a bad thing that he was kind of relieved because now no one was looking at him anymore? Everyone seemed to have forgotten about his little mishap earlier. Yeah, it was probably a bad thing, but that didn't make him feel any less better about no longer being the center of attention.

"S-should I get a towel?" He stammered and started to head toward what he assumed was the bathroom without waiting for an answer. He peeked in and grabbed a towel hanging from the rack. He rushed back and held it out, afraid if he touched her he might only make things worse. Although accidental boob handling under the guise of helping clean her dress would have definitely been a bonus. Yeah, like he could ever bring himself to do something like that or even entertain the idea of getting away with it.

"Are you ok, Ms. Cara? The gumbo didn't burn you or anything did it?" Ren's gumbo was still pretty hot, but then his had come straight from the pot. He didn't know how long hers had been in her lap.

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sugar_cycle
2010-12-16 08:45 am UTC (link)

Almost before the gumbo had settled and the bowl made its new home on the floor, Kami had set aside Ren's sketchbook safely, the pages fluttering shut as she dumped it on the nearest flat surface out of the splatter range. Her jaw tensed at the mess now soaking into the other woman's lovely dress and she tried not to think about the horrendous stains accruing even as they stood there. When Ren held out the retrieved towel nervously, she snapped out of the horror and again skirted the coffee table. This time there was less flirt in her walk and more business. However, she still spared one of her sweetest smiles for the stammering young man as she plucked the towel from him. Her free hand squeezed his now empty one. "It's okay, Ren," Kami murmured. "We'll take care of it."

Holding up the towel before advancing on the stunned woman, Kami tried for a more soothing smile. "Come on, Cara," she said gently. "I'll take you to the bathroom and we can try to get some of that out." She handed over the towel and then took Cara's hand. Pausing, Kami shot Shae a darkly annoyed look. It was clear she didn't approve completely of his comedic stylings at a time like this. "Shae's got more than enough shirts," she reassured the other woman. "I'll get something for you if you just..." Trailing off, she half-lead Cara towards the bathroom. Then she handed her the towel and watched the door close.

Only then did she spin on the ball of one bare foot and grimace at Shae in a manner that hinted there was a sort of hysterical giggle just behind her firmly held lips. She only hoped that, for as well as he knew her, he would miss it. She felt assured Ren would. "Not funny, sugar," she informed him tartly. "I'm so not asking permission to raid your drawer now."

With that announcement, Kami turned again and disappeared into his bedroom. The two men heard the slam of first one drawer and then another before the curvy brunette emerged once more with an small pile of fabric. A short knock and a murmured comment to the door gained her entrance to the bathroom and then, all too suddenly, Ren and Shae were left on their own with a gumbo-and-beer mess.

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in_the_wings
2010-12-16 09:54 pm UTC (link)

The room suddenly exploded into motion as Shae watched from his seat, leaning slightly away from Cara's dripping form as she passed and gnawing thoughtfully on his lower lip. He'd acknowledged Kami's reprimand for what it was but didn't appear terribly apologetic; damnit, it was funny! If anything, he was replaying the entire scenario in his head and slamming on the PAUSE button at the image of Cara standing there in a wetly-clinging, almost see-through dress.

He wondered how she'd look in one of his shirts. Mm, dangerous territory, that.

Slowly, he slid out of his chair and collected the discarded bowl and spoon, mopping up the mess on the floor with a handful of the otherwise untouched napkins. Ren was still sitting at the far end of the couch, looking all sorts of uncomfortable now that the two of them had been left alone. Shae said nothing as he scooped up his own empty bowl to add to the pile and made his way into the kitchen where everything was dumped into the sink with a loud, jarring THUNK. Then he braced his hands to either side of the basin and let loose.

The sound of his abrupt laughter caught the younger man offguard, and Shae chuckled even harder at the sight of Ren jumping in his seat. Goddamnit, this was hilarious! How he'd managed to keep a straight face in front of the girls, he wasn't sure; guilt may have played a hand in that, for the entire ten seconds it had dropped in to visit.

"How dat gumbo?" he called to Ren, voice still shaking with laughter as he retrieved a few cold bottles of beer from the fridge; yes, this situation most definitely called for more alcohol. He sauntered back over to the couch and perched on the arm right beside Ren; in one fluid motion he'd popped off the cap with his belt buckle before pressing the bottle to his companion's chest in offering. The gesture was oddly reminiscent of their first meeting in the club, and Shae smirked at the memory.

His new position afforded Ren a perfect eye-level view of his crotch, and Shae threw back a few long gulps before turning to the other man and asking, shit-eating grin firmly in place, "So...what 'bout mah gun, now?"

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the_calm_before
2010-12-17 06:37 am UTC (link)

Ren watched helplessly as Kami joined Cara in the bathroom and rubbed the back of his head as he sat back down on the couch. He sighed softly and leaned forward to take his bowl of gumbo back seeing as much of the excitement had seemed to die down, until Shae let out his bark of laughter startling the skittish youth.

Ren turned around to stare at him. He was still shaken from the whole mess of what happened to Cara, but Shae just seemed to blow it all off with ease. He didn't really seem to care what people thought of him. That was a totally foreign concept for Ren. Maybe that was why Ren seemed to admire him so much. He had such a casual way with people and it seemed to come so natural to him. Ren had only ever felt awkward around others.

"Ah, the gumbo? Oh, it's good. Real good." He grabbed for the bowl again almost a little guiltily for having gotten lost in thought and started to shovel more of it into his mouth.

Ren looked up at the other man as he came to sit on the arm of the couch next to him. His eyes moved down to glance at the buckle where Shae had popped the beer cap. Was that...yeah it was, a marijuana leaf emblem on it. He wondered if Shae smoked pot. Suddenly there was a cold, sweating beer bottle against his chest and he took it from Shae and rubbed the wet spot on his shirt. Dammit! why did he have to remember the gun comment?

Ren's face felt like it was burning. "Uh, nah, you can keep it in the holster. I've already seen it, right?" He turned away and took a long gulp of the beer, not wanting to meet Shae's eyes.

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whiskey_jack
2010-12-17 10:57 pm UTC (link)

Some people are born with the gift of Perfect Timing. Jack Mallory was one of these people. He had that uncanny ability to be in just the right place at just the right time.

Well, for certain values of "right".

Jack at least knocked on Shae's door before entering, a broad happy grin firmly in place and his guitar strapped across his back. "Hey, wassup, mes amis!" he greeted the two men sitting on the couch, removing the guitar and leaning it against a wall before heading straight for the kitchen. Jack was never much of a man for formalities, especially around his old buddy Shae; a plaid workshirt with the sleeves rolled up, open over a simple wife-beater, and well-worn jeans (along with his typical collection of silver rings and bracelets) were good enough for Gumbo Night.

"Mmmm, shit, son, you have truly outdone yourself. This smells just like your Maman's place back in New Orleans." Quickly filling a bowl with rice and steaming gumbo, he spotted the case of beer. "Sweet, Abita! Best thing with gumbo." He set his bowl down and grabbed a bottle, then seemingly pulled the cap off with his bare hand. "Bottle opener ring. Because you never know. Oh, I didn't bring any food, but I thought I could contribute with a little mood music." He jerked his thumb at his guitar before retrieving his gumbo. "Some good ol' cajun songs make da gumbo go down nice, n'est-ce pas?" he grinned in a fair approximation of Shae's accent.

His entirely-too-blue gaze flicked between the cat-that-ate-the-canary smirk on his old friend's face and Ren's imitation of a bunny caught in headlights. "Oops. I'm not interrupting anything, am I? Don't tell me I missed all the fun!"

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in_the_wings
2010-12-21 02:54 am UTC (link)

"I won' say a wohd," Shae returned with an easy smile, eternally amused at the ease with which Jack could insert himself into a given situation. He was about as far from subtle as you could get, but his charm was just so damn infectious; he'd been that way since they were kids.

Shae reached down and gave Ren a brisk cuff across the shoulderblades, granting the poor boy a reprieve as he turned his attention to their new guest- or rather, their guest's guitar. It was a beautifully crafted instrument, and a well-loved one if the worn patches on the wood were any indication.

"Didn' know it was amateur naght," he said as he crouched beside the guitar to better inspect the finish, briefly trailing his fingertips across the body admiringly.

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the_calm_before
2010-12-29 04:42 pm UTC (link)

Ren looked up, surprised another person had joined them, but not unpleasantly so. It also seemed that the new comer seemed to know Shae from back when he lived in New Orleans. Maman was French for mother, wasn't it? Wow, what a coincidence. Ren didn't know that this was Jack, the guy he lent the Lupin the Third movie to. He had gone by Jack's apartment when Jack hadn't been there so he had actually just slipped it under the door with a note just asking for him to return it to apartment 404 when he was through.

Ren sighed, thankful that someone else came into the apartment to hopefully distract Shae away from what Ren had said on accident. Right, it was just an accident. That was all. He took his spoon purposefully and dipped it into the gumbo and brought it to his mouth when Shae gave him the friendly, but hardly insignificant, contact with his hand against Ren's back.

He choked. His eyes widened and and he placed a hand against his chest and swallowed without being able to chew. Whatever had gone down his throat hurt as it went down and Ren started to have a coughing fit. He leaned forward putting down the bowl of gumbo and placed his hand over his mouth as his eyes started to water. He could cough. That was a good sign, right? He wasn't going to choke to death.

"H-hi, I'm Ren." He started to cough again and tried to calm himself down. He really didn't want to become the center of attention again.

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