Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zoe laughed at the organized chaos that had become the living room and kitchen. There were little candles every where, a fire hazard really, and music was playing in the background that was soft and soothing. Red had run out to buy new cushions to cover the couch with, a neutral red and cream match that complemented the exiting furniture. There was the scent of meat simmering slowly in a pan, and she could already almost taste the buttered potatoes that had just been popped into the oven.

"You're so prepared about all this." she commented from the living room, popping a wedge of cheese in her mouth. There was even cheese and crackers, a couple of handfuls of grapes and walnuts in a bowl, decorated with stray flowers. "It's so romantic. I almost feel out of place."

Jared stopped fussing with the vegetables and turned, his face slowly turning a crimson shade that was almost his signature color now, whenever anyone mentioned Ashley Laurent. He placed the still cooking slivers of long beans back into the wok and arched a brow. It wouldn't help. Zoe would still probably not get the hint.

"Oh yeah?" he drawled the words, almost. The pair had been living with each other for what seemed to be forever now (one week, really) and had settled into what seemed to be routine. Routine consisting of Jared doing pretty much everything, and Zoe just watching on the sidelines.

"Yeah." she scratched at her hair as she eyed the food. "So professional. Are you trying to impress her, or something?" Zoe didn't notice the way the weapon almost tripped over his own feet. "Hey, do you think she'll bring us alcohol to celebrate the fact that we're rank two now?"

Jared paused. "Maybe." he conceded. "You told her already?" he exclaimed, his brain catching up with his hormones. Did this mean she'd praise them, then? Rank two hadn't been too hard. He was scared silly about rank three though. Reaching it before he was legal to drink. (A silly goal, really.) He sprinkled some more pepper into the wok and shrugged. "You told her to bring some cheap red wine for the steak, right?"

Zoe nodded, playing with a stray grape as it danced on her hands. "But that's food booze, not good booze." she complained.

"We'll know when she comes." he answered absently, and paused. "You told her eight, and the address right?"

Wait. Did he look good doing this, or should he just take off the apron?

Zoe let out a high pitched squeal as she dashed to the door, yanking it open with a giggle. "You're heeeere!" she squealed out, or rather tried to. Those without canine hearing probably couldn't hear the higher pitched notes to her ecstatic welcome. She flung open the door and stood there, beaming from cheek to cheek. "I knew you'd be on time. This is so epic! Did you bring wine? For the meat? I dunno. Red likes to waste booze by cooking with it. I'm all ready for us, you know! This is going to be awesome."

She made another excited little squeal as she stepped back, motioning to the house. "Come in, come in! Red has some cheese and grapes and stuff so we can eat if we want, and just nibble. I've borrowed some DVDs, and I've set up a little station over there. Isn't this cool? We can do all this girl stuff... and Red said he'd leave us alone if it got too girly." she looked over then after her spiel to notice that Jared's back was ramrod straight. And that his ears were a fiery scarlet shade that looked almost painful. "Red! Aren't you going to say hello?" she demanded.

Jared turned around with a spatula in his hand, his eyes darting to Ashley's face and then away. This was so completely embarrassing... a sleepover! A girl over at their house and in a room which he shared a wall with! A girl like Ashley! But he was proud as well. The domesticated weapon nodded his head with a slight smile, the rest of his features frozen. "Hi." he managed, nodding his head again as he motioned to the living room. "Ah, yeah. Right. Zoe."

Zoe let out a pssshhh noise as she shook her head. "He's such a bad host. Hey! We ranked up!"

Zoe reached eagerly for the bag, laughing at Ashie's such precise words. Had someone taught her how to say them, or was she instinctively always so polite? For some reason she thought the former, because she was sometimes the same with Jared. He taught her all the right words to say, and she simply obeyed when he got too angry to deal with. "Booze!" she squealed, tugging out a bottle and handing one to Jared. He was red, again. Going redder when Ashie commented on the fact that his face nearly matched the shade of the steak slow cooking on the grill. Ridiculous, really. "Here, you cook with this. I'll drink with this." her grin was impish as she looked back at Ashie. "Don't worry. Drinking never affects my pedicure skills." heck, she did her best work when she was kind of drunk.

Jared looked straight back at the steak as he took the bottle from Zoe's hand, pulling out the wine opener he had kept in his pocket. He turned a shade darker at her congratulations, feeling just slightly overwhelmed when she didn't rush to hug him: oh well, maybe the hugs came later. Maybe she was just respecting the fact that he was the cook in the kitchen. Maybe he just was a boy with a massive crush.

Zoe bounced up at down with Ashie. "I know, right? It was awesome! Your sister acted as our mentor, which was so super fantastic. You know, I don't think she likes me much? I was going to get her a shirt like mine but she kind of gave me that fierce look so I didn't... I want to collect them, though! Did you collect any souvenirs and stuff when you were with a technician?" her eyes brightened. "You should tell me all about you and your missions, while Red makes dinner! It'll be so awesome fun."

Jared couldn't help smiling shyly back at Ashie as he shook his head, uncorking the wine. "No, it's fine. You should sit down and enjoy yourself, and have a good time... you should try the cheese and stuff." it had come out of his allowance, after all. "I just need to finish with the steak, and we can eat, I think. Zoe's bought the eating utensils out, but she wants to eat in the living room." it was improper, but Zoe had bought Ashie into his house, so he was willing to overlook that.

Eating on the floor would almost make them feel like a family, really.

Zoe let out a noisy huff. "See? He's so anally retarded about cooking. You should stick with me! Then maybe he'd stop going all red and finish cooking."

Jared scowled when he heard Zoe's words, and Ashie's quiet question as they drifted towards the living room. The darn technician of his was trying to corrupt his Ashie! How that made sense in any way he had no idea: after all the other was older and more experienced: but it was like trying to compare two puppies. The one he had ended up with simply was more rabid and perverted than the other.

Too bad, that.

"You know." she pitched her voice low was well, mimicking the note in Ashie's as she walked to the sofa, sitting right in front of it and patting the cushion in front of her. "Meticulous, a bit moody and very very grumpy if something goes wrong with the food." should she mention that he had been cooking all day?

No, not yet. Get Red angry and he might not give her anything to eat! Which would suck. Reaching out for the bowl of grapes and popping one into her mouth, she nodded her head. "But it's good, usually. Normally. So tell me! About you. Your missions. You and your sister were both weapons, how cool is that? So what was it like?"

She couldn't imagine the two of them, after having met Axie once.