InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I wear my sunglasses at night."

MARS (upgradeyou) wrote in x_flashback_x,
@ 2008-11-26 18:55:00

Entry tags:

levity, mars, zap

Who: Mars & Zap
When: 1997 - 2007
Where: Xavier's / Multiple Locations
What: backdated tidbits
Status: in progress
Rating: PG-13

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH, 1997 - AGES 14 & 20

What was he? The damned fix-it-all? Apparently Scott was called away from his math class to deal with a fight that had broken out in the courtyard. So, it was Ronan's job to watch over the class while he was away. Great. That's what he got for being above ground so early in the morning. Mars could hear the students making conversation while Scott was absent. He'd put a stop to that real quick. He opened the door and looked around the room at all the little brats. Ah, sweet silence. Without a word, Ronan stalked up to Scott's desk and leaned against it, facing the students. He knew most of them by power alone (not to mention quite a number trained in the Danger Room on occasion). There was that little cocky hydrokine... and the Russian giant... that one with the feelings that never speaks... and the electric chair. Wonderful. "Scott's been called out." was all he said in explanation. "What were ye workin' on?" His blue eyes swept the room in wait of an answer.

As soon as their "substitute's" answer was given to him, he instructed they 'do that, then'. Zap sighed. It was hard enough following math!enthusiast Mr. Summers. But now some jerk was getting in trouble and Scott's replacement was Ronan... who was relatively new around the school and sort of a jerk himself. They'd been half-way through class when he arrived, and now the buzzer was about to sound in the hallway that signified the end of the period. It might as well have been a study hall for Zap (and some of her neighbors), as she hadn't learned a darn thing. She'd spent the twenty minutes alternating staring at the equations in her text book and Mars' ~~blue eyes~~ cool glare. When the bell went, she glanced to Levity, who was sitting next to her, and rolled her eyes slightly. "I'm going to ask about number thirty-three." It was the most difficult problem on the page, and they were up for being assigned the odd problems. She approached the desk, glad to see that he hadn't split when everyone else ran for the door, and placed her book down before Ronan with a thud. "Do you know any of this or were you just a warm body?" Well, he was only what, 20? And who knew what sort of education he had... "Because I need help with number thirty-three." She put her notebook down and held her pencil at the ready.

Mars was glad when most of the class hurried out. He had proper work to do. Or maybe not... the bug zapper was coming up to him. God damn it. When she spoke he was well, he couldn't call it 'pleasantly surprised', but he was slightly taken aback by her tone. He wasn't used to sass being brought back on him. "Aye. And so does Scott. Go ask him." The other man was on his way back to the classroom as they spoke. "If ye'll excuse me..." he side-stepped and moved past Zap to head towards the door. Towards freedom.

Well, son of a bitch. "Hey!" she grabbed her book and turned around with it clutched to her chest now. She stepped after him. "C'mon, you didn't even say anything during class. I don't understand this..." Her expression shifted from annoyed to a bit desperate. Perhaps a bit embarrassed, to boot. At least she knew she wasn't the only one her age that didn't understand math. And not only was he not fulfilling his duties, but he was ditching her. Granted, she hadn't taken the most polite approach to asking for help. "Please?" she lowered the book so it was visible by both. If he agreed, she'd grab her notebook off the desk.

Oh, she was being polite now. That was a start. He pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed. Ronan wasn't the teacherly type (not in academics, anyway)but this girl sounded almost upset. Jesus. "Fine." he said, turning around. "Bring it over here." he indicated the desk next to him. When she moved up next to him he looked down at the book. "Thirty three?" The problem was harder than some, but not too difficult once one knew the steps to take. The last time Ronan had been a student in a classroom was when he was a boy. The rest of his education wasn't taught formally. After he'd gotten her through the steps of the equation he gave her a look. "Do ye get it now?"

"Mmhmm," she pinched her lips together and swallowed. The whole time he had been explaining the process of the problem, she had tried her best to pay attention to the words he was saying and not his voice. It was pretty nice to listen to. Too bad he didn't speak more often. Wrote the answer down in her notebook on a page numbered to match the page in the textbook, then shut them both and went for her bag. She glanced back at him as she snatched it up, "Thank you. You rock." Zap smiled and filled her bag, then slung it over her shoulder. "Do you uh, need any help with anything?" Tit for tat, right? And he'd seemed preoccupied the whole half hour she'd spent in his company.

"Good, then." he stated. As she gathered her things, Ronan's mind went back to what he'd been working on previous to being called into babysit. Her thanks and compliment brought him back to the present. "Yer welcome." he said rather gruffly, but there was a smirk playing on his lips. It widened at her question. "Now that ye mention it, I could use another pair o' hands with something I've been workin' on down in the sub-basement. Unless ye have another class o' course." There was a challenge in his tone.

Her right eyebrow quirked up like an antenna picking up the challenge. Coincidentally, there was a break until their next class at 10:30, then lunch. She slipped her arm into the other strap of her bag and moved back to stand next to Mars. "Lead the way. You got me for an hour." She smirked, now, and made to move around him. Sub-basement. Whoot! "And look, shoes!" The last time she'd assisted him, she'd arrived barefoot and gotten a pair of boots (his, to be precise) thrown at her head.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23RD, 1999 - AGES 16 & 23

Danger Room: kicker of Zap's ass. She'd run through this scenario ten times by now. Her teammates and the opposition were probably experiencing different situations at this point in the 'game'. She was about to fall over and catch her breath. The obstacle before her was quite familiar and she wasn't in the mood at this point to take on the four-armed, sword-wielding assassin again. So, instead of a dodge-dip-dive-duck-dodge approach, she focused a powerful fan of bolts on each of his weapons, sending energy down through them like conductors. He fell, she moved on. As the rest of the group met their objectives, the program began to shut down and she was left standing in the center of the big metal death trap. She bent over slightly and rested her hands on her knees as the others began to head for the exit, lingering in case one of the elder X-Men that had been watching had any advice or orders.

"Zap, stay there." Ronan said through the intercom from where he stood in the room overlooking the Danger Room. From the look of her, she wasn't going anywhere very quickly anyway. When Mars reached the electrokine, he stood across from her, arms crossed. "While the light show was impressive," he began tersely, "it wasn't what you were told ta do." Zap knew that. "The point was ta not use yer mutation. Was it because the others were ahead of ye? Or didn't ya want ta use yer brain?" He knew she wasn't stupid, and that getting behind could be frustrating, but sometimes when others surged ahead and got killed, being behind didn't look so bad.

Hell. She sighed and stood upright as Mars made his way down. Ugh. "I tried like, five times. He had swords." She put her hands on her hips and took a more determined stance. Her look of self-assurance faltered a bit and she added, "But it was probably a combination of both." She hated being left behind. It always felt like an epic fail. So she wasn't in the best shape... "I'm just having a crappy day." But that never made a difference. If you were in trouble or in danger, it didn't matter if you were in a bad mood or your dog died or whatever the hell. But she was failing math. And Warpath took off earlier that morning. She'd just worked up the courage to start flirting with his huge dumb ass and he had one of his panic attacks and bailed. Whatever. She looked to the floor and then rolled her eyes in typical emo!teen fashion.

"I don' care what kind o' day yer havin'." He wasn't having the best day either, and be damned if he was going to stand around all day listening to the complaints of a teenager. Ronan had better shit to do. "I care that ye get through these damned sessions. I'm not gonna be on a mission with ye and get killed because ye ran outta Midol." He didn't know what was running through her brain at the moment, but he was going to make her repeat the session until she figured out how to get past the sword-wielder. He looked at her as he spoke. His hand moved through his hair in annoyance before he spoke again, "Yer not leavin' 'til ye take that fucker down."

"I took him down. With what God gave me." He couldn't rightly force her to stay. Could he? No. He looked hot when he was pissed off, anyway. But she knew where the line was and rode it lightly. "I know I can do it. You know I can do it. Can we do something less stabby, please? Oh, and for the record, I wouldn't let you get killed because I ran out of Midol. If there was a four-armed sword-wielder coming after your ass, I'd do what I just did, and having no Midol would probably help the situation." Mars was one of her better friends. However much of a butthole he could be about training. She wouldn't let him die - ever. With that thought in mind, she reached out and pushed his shoulder. "This is less stabby," push, push. She pinched her lips together to keep from smirking.

"God gave ye a brain too. Use it." He sighed a bit. "I know ye can do it. I want ta see it. We can't send ye out in the field without proof ye can be useful without yer mutation. What if ye encountered another mutant who nullified abilities or a machine which deactivated them? Ye'd be outta commission because ye wouldn't know what ta do with yerself." He was getting pissed. Ronan himself wasn't given the most offensive of powers (unless one counted knowing how to take out people with certain mutations), but he had learned (was forced to learn) how to defend himself and fight back when necessary. When she pushed at him, his face softened slightly. "He can have wasters (wooden swords), then. Not as sharp."

"Field" here meaning life. You couldn't be prepared for everything. It just wasn't possible. But Mars was giving a little. Zap supposed she could too. "All right." After having Storm for a science teacher, a four-armed guy with sticks didn't seem too daunting. The door closed after the rest of the trainees finally reached it and entered the hall. Granted, it could still open again (as many times as whomever wanted), but it was shut now and Mars was inside with her. Might as well make the most of it, "But, would you stay?" The hand that had been pushing his shoulder gave him one more playful nudge before she moved it to re-tie her hair. "I could use another set of arms, after all..."

Thank god. He'd gotten through to her. It was about damned time. When she nudged him, he had to fight a smirk. "I'll stay with ye." If that's what it took to get her to try again he'd go with it. He knew she could do it so he wasn't letting her give up so easily. "I'll give ye hints, but don't expect me to do it for ye." He would step in to show her different techniques or if the program went haywire (which wasn't unheard of). As he moved behind her and spoke to Cyclops to begin the program, he couldn't fight the smile on his face. "Just so ye know, our four-armed friend was an extra on Walker."

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH, 2001 - AGES 17 & 24

Ronan didn't watch much TV, but it figured the one night he did there would be nothing on. After settling down on the bed with an old war flick, he rested his head against the headboard, eyes on the television, but not really focusing on what was happening within the film. Work had taken its toll on him today. They'd called out all of the younger students who'd been slacking off on training and put them through rigorous exercise and Danger Room sessions for most of the day. Ugh. Talk about complaining children. He could have sworn his ears bled a time or two. He closed his eyes and tried to blank out his mind. He felt Zap enter the lab a few minutes later. She was headed his way. So much for a blank mind. She was one of the main things on his mind right now, damn it. They'd flirted hardcore for a while, but hadn't made it anywhere physically save some major kissing here and there. She made him feel things (besides the obvious). When she was around he felt a bit more at ease (most of the time) and more human than he'd felt in a while. "Hey." he said when she poked her head in the door.

With most people, Zap knocked. With Ronan, though? He knew ahead of time to yell if he didn't want you in his business. Most of the time he greeted people at his door, which was quite creepy and Lurch-like. "Hi." She smiled and felt her chest tighten. She had spent a good portion of her afternoon debating whether or not to mention Valentine's Day to Ronan, or even their relationship in general. She didn't even know if she had a right to bring up either. But for months now she'd had little on her mind that didn't lead her toward thoughts of Mars. He made her feel safe, but excited. Those were powerful feelings when tied to another person. Her eyes flicked to the screen. A guy just got his arm blown off. Charming! She refrained from wincing and focused her attention back on Ronan. "You must've gotten your ass kicked pretty good." Cue the teasing. But really, he rarely just 'sat around'. She moved in and shut the door behind her before crossing her arms and having a lean with her butt against his dresser. God, his damned eyes were pretty. Ugh. And her damned stomach was fluttery. "Do you have any big plans for tomorrow night?" Might as well put it all on the table.

Mars sat up a little straighter when she entered the room fully. "Give me a fight with a fuckin' grizzly bear before another day like the one I had." It was more mentally trying than physical, but that could be just as exhausting in his mind. His eyes watched Zap and he smirked as she questioned him. Valentine's Day, huh? Oh no, he hadn't forgotten it. It wasn't a holiday Ronan celebrated (or even particularly liked), but it was a day to do things one might not normally do to one they liked (or loved). "Hmm..." Even the sight of her leaning against his dresser sent his mind to dirty places (she did have a nice arse, after all). He'd had feelings for Zap for a while of course, but given her age, he'd hesitated about acting on them. She was older now, and had felt the same way about him for a while too. "I'm spendin' the whole day right here in bed." He patted the comforter briefly before he stood up. He moved to where Zap was standing and took her face in his hands. "And ye're spendin' it with me." His blue eyes stared into hers before he leaned down to kiss her.

"I'm sorry," Zap gave a fretful pout before she noticed he had that wily look about him. She was about to get worried just before he said he planned to lay around all day. Well, at least that meant he wasn't going to be out in some nasty bar getting hit on by (or hitting on) skanks. There was sort of an unspoken agreement between them that they would ‘wait‘ for each other, but being that it was unspoken (and that Zap was a teenage girl), she had her doubts about the situation. Boys would be boys, after all. But when he got himself up and moved toward her, he pushed her doubts right out the door. What happened after that was entirely unexpected, but welcomed nonetheless. His words were overpowered by the kiss he delivered to her, and Zap placed her hands on his chest so she had some leverage (as she was still half-perched). God, he was a good kisser. Wait. Her lips ceased to move. Her lungs stopped for a moment. Had he said "spendin' it with me"? And he was going to be in bed? Her cheeks went red and her lungs finally kicked back in. She pulled back, "Really?" Quiet, quality alone time? "Like," thump-thump, thump-thump, "watching sappy movies?" Or... Her left hand subconsciously squeezed against his pec where it rested before her fingers curled into his shirt.

He'd forgotten about all the shit that had happened earlier that day. Ronan was only in the here and now. His body responded when his mouth met hers. Jesus. As she asked her question, he felt the corners of his lips turn up in a smirk. He had thought the message had been fairly clear in his meaning. Ah, her hand was on his chest. Subconsciously, his hand had moved to her lower back and he rested it there, lightly. He'd wanted so long to do things to/with her, and it was very hard to hold himself back. "No." he said quietly to her second question. "I had somethin' a little more... adventurous in mind." His voice had gone low. If he didn't stop now, he had a feeling they'd be starting early. His eyes moved over her face. Hmm. Starting early was fine with him.

Oh, God. Yes. Okay. So she should've read between the lines. Check. Zap felt a wave of heat travel over her from her knees up to the top of her head and it felt like every nerve in her body was on high alert. When she adjusted her legs, her pants cracked and sparked with static and her right hand moved from the dresser to join the left where it was grasping Ronan's shirt. Adventurous? There was an explosion on the television and it sparked something within her. Zap locked eyes with Ronan briefly before she used the grasp on his shirt to knock him backwards, counting on the bed to trip him up. She pushed herself off of the dresser and bounded forward, landing atop him. Her hair hung around both their faces and her glasses began to slide down her nose as she looked down into his eyes again. "I was gonna give you a card, but..." she smirked.

He felt (as well as sensed) the electricity coming off her. She was getting just as excited as he was. Good. Ronan let out a laugh when she shoved him backwards, landing him on the bed. That was more like it. When she climbed atop him, he looked into her face. Her hair falling around her face made her look like a goddess. His hands moved up into Zap's hair. "This is much better than a card." Tacky sounding, but true. He watched as her spectacles continued to slide down her nose. "Take off yer glasses." He didn't want them flying off when they got down to it. "I want ta see yer eyes." Not the glare that came off them.

Her smirk erupted into a laugh when he first spoke. Zap tamed it back to a happy smile and watched him for a moment before Mars instructed her to remove her glasses. He wanted to see her eyes? Blush. She quirked an eyebrow at first, then moved to sit up so she could yank them off. They landed on his dresser. She moved forward once again, feeling an extreme amount of emotions and pushed her hair to one side so it didn't curtain them off again. Zap's eyes adjusted on Ronan's (blurry but handsome) face. The television was still cranking out the soundtrack to his man!flick. "Turn that crap off," she suggested, then narrowed her eyes with challenge before dipping down to kiss him. Their last one had ended far too prematurely.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11TH, 2001 - AGES 18 & 24

Soooo full. The past few months had been filled with new experiences for Zap. She and Ronan had been going out to new places; in the city... in smaller, surrounding towns... anywhere they pleased. Tonight was no different, and despite the unsavory location of their restaurant of choice, she hadn't eaten so well (or so much) since Gert's last vegetarian extravaganza. As she stepped out onto the sidewalk, the music and smells from inside followed her senses into the streets. They'd parked in the alley beside the place, but now the streets had all but cleared. So they'd taken their time eating... She smiled at the thought of lingering over a meal with Mars and locked arms with him as they made to take the corner back to the car they'd driven. Then the leather of her purse strap tore down her arm as an unseen hand yanked it downward and out of her grasp. She tried to snatch at it, but as the man came into sight, he broke into a full run. "Fuck!"

That had been one of the best meals Ronan had eaten in a while. And the music had been very good for how hole-in-the-wallish the restaurant had looked from the outside. Zap on his arm was the best thing, however. The neighborhood was a typical city crapper. The jazz music coming out of the place they'd just exited caused it to look as well as sound like the intro to a bad eighties movie. Mars was just about to share his thoughts with Zap when some dumb fuck stole her purse as he ran by. A dumb fuck was exactly what he was. That shit ended now. After a quick glance down the street, Ronan yanked his gun from his (hidden) holster and aimed it towards the back of the man's left knee and fired. The bullet was a rubber one, so it wasn't like the man was going to have a serious wound. He would just writhe on the ground moaning in agony (as he was doing now) and develop a really nasty bruise. "Ye all right?" He ignored the mugger for the time being. He wasn't going anywhere for a while. If he tried, he'd get another shot.

When the gun came into view, Zap wasn't surprised. Not seeing blood was a surprise, however. A pleasant one. But the bastard deserved worse. Her heart was racing. "I'm okay. Yeah." She glanced down at her arm. It was red and looked as though it might bruise, but not too badly. She touched it briefly with the ends of her right hand fingers before moving to take a step forward. "I should've..." Well, sensed him? Even if she had felt him behind her, she had no way of knowing he intended to thieve her damned handbag. The guy looked somewhere between their ages, but had a scream that reminded her of someone much younger. He sounded pissed off, too. He was moving to crawl away; her purse was a few feet ahead of him. His hand reached for the strap. Her heart was still pounding, but she knew something had to be done. Mars had already shot a man, for Pete's sake. She could go get her purse. "I'm gonna hit him," she headed down the sidewalk with determination.

Ronan nodded briefly when she answered and his eyes traveled over her arm. They moved back to the struggling man before moving back to Zap once again. When she spoke again, he realized he hadn't even given her a chance to do anything. That might have been a good thing seeing as she had his arm at the time which might have caused him injury as well. Not that Zap didn't know what she was doing, but shocking actions caused involuntary power erupts before thinking. He watched the man reach for the purse, and when Zap spoke, he nodded at her again. It wouldn't kill him, and the fucker deserved it. "Do it." That would be the last time the man stole another woman's purse, he'd bet on it.

As she hadn't awaited Ronan's approval, she merely continued on her path. Though, Zap was a bit surprised he was 'allowing' her to act so offensively now that the man was down. Her high heels clacked purposefully against the pavement as she approached the man who was curled so that he could grasp the back of his leg with one hand, the other still outstretched for her bag. She let loose with her arm raised slightly, and an arch of bolts rained down on him, hitting directly in his middle. He writhed and choking noises came from his mouth. His arm reeled in and he began to hug himself. As she neared, she was cautious, however. A field of static surrounded her as she grabbed the strap and her foot flung out so that the pointed toe of her shoe jabbed into the top of his shoulder. Along with the kick came another jolt.

He flinched and growled, "What the fuck?! Mutie bitch..." he gasped, still trying to recover from the first blow.

"Yup." Another bolt. She pulled her leg back to kick him again.

He couldn't die like this. He'd already been shot and electrocuted. He knew he should've brought a wingman. His shaking hand moved to grasp at something inside his jacket. See how she liked a real bullet in her knee.

That's my girl. Mars cracked a smile when she hit the son of a bitch with lightning. The fact that she started kicking him was another bonus. He would have done it if she hadn't. He glanced at his watch. Hmm. They'd better head back home. He had "things" he wanted to do and now that this was happening he wanted to do them even more. His eyes narrowed when the mugger called her a bitch. "Ye fuck..." He saw the man reach into his jacket. No fucking way this guy could be that stupid. Yup. He was. "Zap, cover yer eyes." he ordered as pulled the other gun, the one with real bullets, from concealment. He took aim once again and hit the man in the arm (the one reaching for the gun). The man let out another scream. Hmm. This guy could dish it out, but he didn't take it too well. Not surprising. Ronan moved forward and took Zap by the arm, bent down to confiscate the man's gun and pulled her away from him. "Let's go home."

It went without saying that she should've probably covered her ears, too. So she did. Her hands shot up and she turned her head, ears plugged, eyes closed tight. He fired. She flinched. The bastard screamed. She breathed again. Her hand was shaking a little as she reached for Ronan when he approached. She was exceedingly tempted to kick the man one last time, but she felt a little frazzled. She hadn't drained herself, however. So if more shit went down, she wouldn't be helpless. "Okay," she agreed, moving to take Ronan's arm again. "Hell." She was still catching her breath. Her adrenaline was pumping. "You uh," she smirked a little then chuckled, "got a new gun out of the deal." No one was hurt, and frankly, seeing Ronan shoot a man who'd attacked her had gotten something other than adrenaline pumping. She yanked him closer and gave him a smooch on the cheek. "You're my hero." Another laugh erupted and she grinned, faux-dreamily.

He smirked a little at Zap's reaction to all that had happened. Most women would be crying or screaming or some other such nonsense. But being from Xavier's meant that most of the women there weren't 'normal'. Still, a woman who could take care of herself was hot. Of course, he had taken the first shot. He glanced down at the gun he'd taken (after he'd put his own away). It wasn't a very good quality one, but he always kept what he took. They always came in handy later for an invention or whatnot. "Aye." His attention was brought back to her and he smiled when she kissed him. "Yer damn right I am." His arm had moved to where it was around her waist and he hugged her to his side, briefly. "So, ye up fer dessert?"

NOVEMBER 2003 - AGES 20 & 27

Ah, chili. The food of kings. Instead of Zap making the evening meal, Ronan took it upon himself to handle the task. He'd gone without her to the store to buy the ingredients and was now in the kitchen watching over his creations. He'd made a small batch with no meat for Zap and whomever else came along who didn't want man-food. Yes, where there was chili, there would be scavengers. Always. He stood at the massive stove, stirring the chili occasionally. He dipped a (clean) spoon in to taste it. Hmm. Needed more cayenne pepper. Ronan smirked when he felt Zap draw nearer. Wouldn't she be surprised?

Something smelled freakishly tasty. Zap hadn't found anything that sounded appealing enough to ingest for lunch, and Ronan had gone missing some time earlier in the afternoon, so she'd worked her appetite into a monster. From the odor in the hallway, she began thanking her stars that Gert was most likely outdoing herself in the room beyond. When she entered, though, she was surprised to find that Mars had his 'hand' in the cookie jar. However, Gert was no where in sight. "What're you up to in here, devil?" she wondered, accusingly. Oh - it smelled good. She gave the air a sniff, then peered into the pot. "Are you responsible for this?" she stuck her tongue out at him then squinted into the opaque liquid. Mmm, beefy. Her tongue came out once more, this time in disgust. Oh well. "At least it smells tasty." The electrokine gave a fretful smile before shifting her hand outward to give his bottom a squeeze. The fretful look became quite nymphish, then.

"Relax." he told her when he saw the look. "Yers is back there." he gestured to the small pot behind the large one. The squeeze to his ass (and her presence) had taken his mind off the chili momentarily. He gave her a smile and leaned his head down to kiss her cheek, while he brought his hand down to her ass to squeeze as he pressed her to him in a hug. He wanted to keep it (and her) there all day, but the fact that it was chili was on the menu meant that people would flock into the kitchen and, in turn, be in their (romantic) business. A place that Ronan didn't want them in (Zap probably didn't either). "So," he said as he stirred the chili and gave her a sly grin. "Ye want te try it? It's been simmerin' all day."

Zap grinned. She stood on her tiptoes, then leaned to the side to see the smaller pot. It looked just as tasty. "I want chilidogs and chili-cheese dip and chili with crackers..." her stomach grumbled. It wasn't often there was chili around (store bought or homemade) that she could nom on. Her arms still clung around him before he spoke again and she stepped back some. Her mind was on the feeling that his hand had given her butt. What? Taste? Yeah. Food. "Alright," she smirked finally after coming out of her daze, then searched briefly for a new spoon. Her mind wandered to Eddie, who was a chili-zombie. You could get her to do pretty much anything for chili. Zap had tested that theory. Finally, she leaned carefully over the front burners and snatched a spoonful of goodness from the back pot. She blew on it briefly before swallowing the lot, then quirked an eyebrow thoughtfully. "It's... okay. Could probably use some more salt or," she couldn't even finish the sentence without cracking a grin, "garlic powder, maybe. But don't worry, it'll be fine for Gert, the Professor and Jon." By the time she finished her head was back and she was laughing, clinging to the spoon with a closed fist. It wasn't bland at all. It was pretty damned good. She was going to make him cook more often.

Hunger had called to Eddie, so, like any hungry person, to the kitchen she went. Mars and Zap were in there... and Mars was cooking? Wow. She wasn't aware that he knew how. Wait a second... "Is that chili?" she asked Ronan, as she moved forward. Awesome. She gave Zap a smile in greeting before she peered into the large pot on the stove. It was chili and it looked really good. "Mind if I eat some?" When it was ready of course.

"I didn't buy ye those vegetarian hotdogs." They were disgusting...and he hadn't thought about it. Ingredients for vegetarian chili were enough to think about along with the ones for chili con carne. He hadn't bought regular hot dogs either come to think of it. If someone wanted one, well, they'd have to deal. Or go buy some. "Ha ha." His chili was not for old people. Oh no. He poked Zap in the ribs with his fingers and went back to stirring. When the Quiet One entered and spoke to him, he stepped back as she moved past him towards the stove. "Aye. Zap's is back there if ye'd..."

"No, I'd rather have this one."

Ronan's eyebrows raised at Edana's response and he gave a small nod of approval. So, the shrink liked man-food. Huh.

Chili-zombie! Zap nearly laughed at the appearance of Eddie, whether or not it was a coincidence. She grinned at the exchange between Levity and Mars. Damn straight she'd take the meat variety. It left more for Zap. "It's okay, I can hunt down some oyster crackers." She twisted her mouth from side to side in deliberation. "Or throw some cheese in there." Nah. Might ruin the flavor. People got uppity when others 'doctored' their dishes. Coming from a long line of doctorers, it was hard for Zap not to, though. And the cook had a bias - he was married to her. She stepped back from Ronan some and moved to sit on the nearest island stool. "Were you leader of the pack, or were the halls empty, Ed?"

"It's not done yet." Mars gave Zap an annoyed look. One couldn't rush chili. There was an art to it. It had cooked for a while, but it still wasn't quite ready to eat yet. "I'm not through addin' all I need ta add." He'd tasted it earlier and added more ingredients, apparently he needed to add more. He grabbed a few choice items and added them in while she spoke to Levity, stirring it all together once he was through.

"I'd love to say I'm the leader, but I don't think anyone else knows what's going down, yet." she answered Zap with a smile. As Mars was still adding things here and there, she'd wait until he was finished to actually try anything. She didn't know what sort of attitude he had when cooking after all.

"Taste it now." he gestured from Zap to the stove. "See if it's any better. Cheese." he snorted and shook his head the last part, jokingly. His chili didn't need anything. It would be perfect (he hoped). If any of it turned out to be shite, well, he'd eat it anyway.

Zap nodded to Eddie, relieved. At least there wouldn't be a rush. She liked things quiet whenever possible. But didn't they all? Maybe not Tabby. "I'd be glad to," she slipped from her seat and met eyes with Ronan, ready to take on his challege. She snatched from the drawer yet another clean spoon and took another bite to taste from the back pot. She averted her eyes from his, then, and swallowed slowly. Her eyes closed. The spoon lingered at her mouth. Ooooh. That was nice. It did still need to settle, but it was good enough to eat then and there. Finally her green eyes found his blue, before flicking once toward Eddie. She smirked. "It's better." She abandoned the spoon and moved forward to hug him (yes, in front of someone!) again. "It doesn't need cheese." This part was whispered in his ear. She kissed the same ear and added, "I love you, this is the best I've had."

JANUARY 2007 - AGES 23 & 30
Coming soon!