Eric Medina (ericthesheep) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2013-01-29 19:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | carmel, carmel and eric, day eleven, eric |
Flour Trumps Thief
Characters: Carmel and Eric
Setting: Kitchen, mid-morning
Characters: Carmel and Eric
Setting: The kitchen, mid-morning
After her coffee and conversation with Reece, Carmel went back to her room long enough to vote and answer messages before she went back to the kitchen. She started to putter around, taking the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies as well as for something else she considered making. Might as well while she had the oven on, after all.
She hoped he'd enjoy making cookies. It was always something she enjoyed doing, but some people found it boring. She went and fetched her metal bracelet as her mental note pinged her as she wandered through the kitchen. Though she was a practical woman, even she might have to decorate it, she thought.
That done, she adjusted the cloth hair band she’d put on and fingering the hair-tie on her wrist before going to pull out a few more things from memory.
Eric had every intention of enjoying making cookies with Carmel. He’d slept in this morning since he wouldn’t be able to go over to the other block early anyway, and when he’d got up, he’d gone ahead and took care of the voting thing, adding a bit of commentary on a few of his choices. By the time he got to the kitchen, Carmel was already there and seemed to be set up already. He’d grabbed his small package from the cafeteria on the way, thinking he’d take it back to his room after cookies, maybe with a little detour along the way to drop some cookies off with Violet. And Cal. Couldn’t forget about the doctor, right? Even if he hadn’t actually met the man yet.
“Hey, Carmel!” he greeted the chef enthusiastically as he came further into the kitchen and set his box on one counter a little bit out of the way. “Looks like you decided to get set up without me,” he teased with a cheeky wink. “That’s all right! I’m just here for entertainment purposes,” he added with a laugh.
Carmel looked up from grabbing something from the cabinet and smiled welcome at Eric. "Haven't missed much, no worries," she told him. "I'm just used to getting things prepped before doing them. I'm planning for a pretty large batch, since there's so many people around here right now." She wanted to make enough that those who wanted to could really enjoy them. It'd been easy enough when they first got here; a lot harder now that there were so many. "There'll be plenty for you to mix up and nibble on as we go, I promise."
He really wasn’t worried, as he was sure Carmel would find something for him to do no matter when he’d popped in. If she’d run her own catering company before, she was probably well versed in ordering people around in the kitchen. Which she pointed out herself just after he’d thought it, Eric realized with a mental laugh. “I am so down for a large batch. Was hoping to take some down to the clinic,” he admitted, trying for nonchalance. He chuckled at her assurance that he’d be able to snack on it along the way. “You can count on me for that,” he assured her, winking. “So! Put me to work, Chef!”
Carmel chuckled softly and her grin grew broader and a little teasing. "To your friend?" she said almost innocently, winking over at him. As always, she teased, but not in a mean-spirited way. This one had a special interest, though that hadn't stopped Reece and herself from flirting some earlier. It had boosted her ego, even if she still worried just a bit about him being upset at her, though she didn't think he was. "Let's see. Dry ingredients first. We'll do two double batches." She listed off the amounts of each dry ingredient he'd need for one double batch; she'd write it down if he needed her to.
“What friend?” Eric asked, putting on innocent airs, though could he really deny it? He liked Violet even if he had no idea where things might go between them. He wasn’t really good at these kinds of things, and he did worry that he’d already screwed it up. Pushing thoughts of Violet away, he focused on the task at hand. He stared a bit blankly at Carmel for a moment before giving a nod and going to measure out the ingredients she’d listed. “All righty, then. This just goes here, and, wait, how much? Ahh fuck!” he mumbled as he tried to do it, making a mess in the process. He just laughed it off, though, hoping he’d manage not to waste too much of it. “Sorry! Told you I wasn’t any good in the kitchen,” he said with a laugh, winking at her.
Carmel gave him a teasing, knowing look. It was good-natured, and given his little bit of fluster, she decided she'd probably drop it pretty quickly. She'd keep an eye on everyone as best she could, those she knew and came through often, anyway. Carmel looked over at his oopsy, and she walked over to him and helped clean it up in a few efficient moves. "Don't stress it, sweetie. Here." She took a notepad off the fridge and jotted down everything she'd just said in clear, neat handwriting she'd worked on in school so that there weren't any 'mistakes' in the kitchen. Once was enough, thank you. "It's all right to make a bit of a mess too, so long as you're willing to help clean it up later."
Eric chuckled at the look she gave him, but since she didn’t push about it, he didn’t comment any further on it either. He was a bit relieved that Carmel wasn’t giving him a hard time for making a mess in her kitchen, and it did amuse him just how quickly and easily she was able to clean it up. But then he figured she probably had plenty of experience with all that. “Wasn’t stressing,” he assured her with a crooked grin as she jotted down the instructions she’d given him. At her next statement, he had to laugh, giving her a bit of a look. “Didn’t you see that I volunteered for the cleaning crew? It’s one thing I know I can do. Well, it’s not the only thing,” he added cheekily, wiggling his brows at her suggestively. When she’d finished making the list, he went back to measuring things out, a bit neater this time around, and pouring the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
"Ah, did you! I swear, some of that stuff is in my head and out again nearly as quick," she admitted with a faint sigh. Mostly because she was preoccupied that they were being given the options, rather than running a more democratic system of nominations and voting and such. And who was to say if they'd even get who was really voted at the top, if the administration didn't approve of their choice. She worried about who would get the top slots, and besides, she was used to cleaning up after herself on the whole, and she'd had enough volunteers here and there to help out in the kitchen with clean up. She snorted and laughed as he wiggled his eyebrows though. "Uh huh, so you say. I'm sure you have more things you can do well," she told him, still grinning. She kept an eye on him as she started measuring out her other portion of ingredients, pupping a chocolate chip into her mouth here and there.
“Hey, no biggie. There’s a lot of people here, that’s a lot of shit to try to keep in your head,” he tried to assure her with a little, crooked grin. He was a little worried about how the voting would go overall, but he was trying not to be. Whatever was going to happen was pretty much out of their hands, and they’d just have to go with it. Eric was glad to have made her laugh, as that was his goal at the moment rather than outward flirtation. She was a beautiful woman, definitely, and he probably would end up doing some harmless flirtation, but he definitely wouldn’t mean anything by it, not with the feelings he had for Violet. “Oh, but I do! I’d prove it, but then, you know, the cookies might not get made, and that would be a shame,” he said with a put upon sigh, though he still couldn’t help but quirk a grin. “All right! Dry ingredients are ready, Chef!”
"I can keep most of the names and faces straight, but it's the weirdest things that don't stick with me." And some days it would stick with her, and some it wouldn't. Ah, blessed unpredictability. She was hoping all of this would go well; as much as she liked her position here and the freedoms she had now that she hadn't had, she didn't like a lot of what the administration said and did. She thought it was cute, the flirting, and such light stuff was harmless. "Yes, abstain for the sake of the cookies," she said, lips twitching. "Good. Now let's mix this in with that and then add the chocolate chips, if I can keep from eating them all," she joked.
Eric really did understand having an unpredictable memory, and he gave a smile with just a small edge of sympathy but left it at that. He really liked that she took the flirting as it was, totally harmless with no deeper meaning or desire. Sure, he would probably be too weak to turn her down if she was interested, but he wanted to think that he was stronger than that. “Oh man, do I have to save the chocolate chips from the chef now?” he teased, reaching past her to snag them and pull them away, sneaking a few to pop in his mouth.
Carmel let out a sound of protest, something of a soft squawk as she reached for the chips. "But they're miiiiiiine," she said with a pronounced pout, reaching for them in vain. "Myyyyyy chocolate. Miiiiiine." Two could play, after all. She smirked faintly, stuck her hand in the flour on the counter, and flicked her fingers at him, giving him only a light smattering of it on him. "I was eating those, mister."
Carmel’s protest caused Eric to laugh, holding the chips further out of her reach. “Uh uh! For the good of the cookies, no eating the chocolate chips!” he insisted before promptly tossing a couple more of the little chips into his mouth. He gasped when she flicked flour at him, eyes going wide. “Oh no you didn’t!” he said dramatically, completely with a head shake and finger snap that looked utterly ridiculous coming from him. And then he reached over to grab more than a pinch of flour, tossing it her way.
Carmel hopped up and down, trying to get to it as he raised it even further. She could get them if she really wanted to, but this was all in good fun. "Chip stealer! Chip stealer!" she accused as he popped some in his mouth. "Thief!" Her eyes twinkled with amusement; calling 'thief' in prison. She snorted on her laughter as he snapped his fingers all drama and such. She really squawked this time as he threw more than a little flour at her, and this time she grabbed a proper handful, tossing it at him. Sure, clean up would be hell later; right now, she wanted to forget she was in this place.
Eric’s expression turned shocked and appalled, though his eyes were dancing with humor. “I’m no thief!” he insisted. “I was rescuing the chocolate chips!” She really was fun to be around, though he was realizing that he’d gotten pretty lucky in being around fun people since he got here. Hopefully that trend would keep up. He only laughed harder at her reaction to his counter-attack, and as such wasn’t really paying attention to what she was doing, and he caught some of the flour in his mouth, coughing a bit even as he kept laughing. “Okay, okay! Truce!” he announced through his coughing/laughing fit, holding the chocolate chips out to her.
Carmel snickered to herself as she took the chips back and dumped the bag into the dough they'd made. "Flour trumps thief," she said smugly, smirking at him. "Points to the cook."
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you win,” Eric grumbled as he fought back a laugh. “Now, let’s get going. These cookies aren’t gonna make themselves!” And he had a Plan. He knew there was plastic wrap somewhere in here, and he’d thought he’d noticed some ribbon and such in the activity room. He just hoped that Violet would like the little ‘thinking of you’ token.