Fending

[Elsa Bellefonte]

{note: this thread occurs during the same time as the camping trip, so if your character is on the trip, you can't join. Sorry, but I do has a whole bunch of non-Elsa opens for your pleasure}

Elsa sighed as she looked over the kitchen. She couldn't remember the last time she'd actually been here, if she ever had. No, she had to have come here for a tour at some point, either to give one or to see it when she first arrived. Still, that had been some time ago, and she definitely didn't know how any of this worked.

But for the next few days, they were to fend more or less for themselves. The staff had been given the camping trip off, and most of the students were off relaxing, either at the trip or taking the time to head back home for a few days. Which left a select few, Elsa included, to fend for themselves.

Which explained why Elsa Bellefonte was staring at the pots like she was an alien and it was some kind of strange Earth artifact. She looked over at the freezer, frowning. Still, she figured she might as well at least try and look. Sighing, Elsa walked over. She opened the door, peered inside and saw--- lots of frozen stuff. She couldn't even identify most of it.

Well, this makes me feel rather pathetic she thought, looking at all the frozen blocks of... something.

[Scott O'Riley]

Scott had been in the kitchen the past few minutes, rummaging through the fresh produce at the back. When he finally came up with an apple, he took a few more and a couple of peaches before walking back to the front where he was met with the back of a familiar girl at the freezer.

A smirk came on to his lips as he bit into his apple. "Princess, you won't find your crown in there." He cleared his throat before projecting his voice. Of course, his sole purpose was to scare the girl but he had a feeling this one wouldn't scare that easily.

Scott had thought both the Bellefonte twins had gone on the trip but apparently one hadn't. He wondered why.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Great, someone who called her Princess. That just never got old. It certainly didn't help that Elsa found herself in a position where she, well, almost felt like a lost royal, what with being in the kitchen and all. She sighed, tapping her fingers against the nearest device and letting her power stretch out, picking up loose thoughts that skittered across the speaker's mind.

Both Bellefonte twins? Now, how to address that. Tempted to suggest that she'd been staying away to shag her boy-toy or something, though there weren't any rumors about that. Or to say some comment about how she'd melt if exposed to that much direct sunlight or water. Both tempting.

"Camping doesn't agree with me," she said, looking over her shoulder at him. "Not enough red carpets and champagne. Are you the new cook? I'd guess vagrant, but our home--" Elsa paused, mostly because she could've sworn that he looked... familiar, for some reason.

[Scott O'Riley]

"Scared you'll chip a Bedazzled nail?" Scott teased, biting into his apple as he gave the brunette a long once over.

Being called the new cook had Scott chuckling, shrugging one shoulder just as the other mutant paused in her speech. "Yes, I'm absolutely a vagrant who knew where the kitchen was and just wanted fruits to eat." He gestured to his apples and peaches with a smirk.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa held up her admittedly well taken care of but hardly Bedazzled nails, wiggling them at him. She was tempted to lower all the but the one in the middle, but that felt like overstepping things slightly, and something of an overreaction. Something about the guy struck her as very familiar though, and Elsa kept rummaging about, almost tempted to start digging into his thoughts, whether he'd notice or not.

"So you're a vagrant who's aware of healthy eating habits," she drawled, her eyes flicking to the fruit basket for a moment. It made her all the more aware of the emptiness in her own stomach, and her lack of ability to do anything about it. Elsa looked back at the guy, her brow crinkling. How did she know him? She was half tempted to ask, except that would mean admitting that she didn't quite know. Best to play it cool.

"What are you doing here? If you're looking for anything more complex than apples, you're out of luck," she pointed at the fruit, nodding. "And shouldn't you be on the camping trip anyway? That's where most people are," who weren't Elsa, who currently enjoyed the time away from most of the crowd.

[Scott O'Riley]

Elsa's ensuing response made Scott laugh, shaking his head when she insisted on calling him a vagrant. Hey whatever rocked her boat. He was just happy munching on his apple.

Narrowing his eyes in confusion as he stared at the fridge chock full of food behind Elsa. And she says he's out of luck?

"Should I be? It's not exactly a rule though is it? I mean...you're here." He gestured to her with a smirk. "Ah but I keep forgetting...princesses are above the rules, right?" He tapped a finger against his temple and pointed to Elsa, as though to say 'I see where I went wrong'.

"Also, what do you mean I'm out of luck. There's a bloody pantry full of food that's perfectly edible." He raised an eyebrow at her.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"It's technically not against the rules," said Elsa. She all but physically stepped around the princess comment. People tried that before, and she'd learned to roll with it. If anything, she just found it tiresome. "It's just that most students don't venture all the way in here."

The pantry? She flicked her eyes for a bit, trying to remember where precisely the pantry was. They could have very well put "edible" food there. Ugh, she should just give up on this and head out into town. It wasn't as if she couldn't afford a meal. She'd just wanted to keep avoiding people.

Clearly that had worked well.

"Assuming you know how to cook," she replied. "our pantries aren't exactly overflowing with pre-cooked food..." well, there was some, and she knew it. The idea of microwaving some sort of pizza-filled breadstick or something just made Elsa want to gag though. maybe she should head for a salad, any idiot could make a decent salad, right?

[Scott O'Riley]

"The staff are gone, I'm too lazy to get out of the compound, and this was the only option I had. And I'm not going to spend my summer being stuck somewhere with children braiding each other's nipple hairs and singing kumbaya." He shrugged one shoulder and bit into his apple.

Elsa's remark had him smirking. As it turned out, the army general's son had learned a thing or two under the strict hand of General Ciaran O'Riley growing up. Not only was he forced to do his own laundry and shine his own shoes and change his own motor oil, he had to learn how to cook simple dishes, go to the supermarket to buy fresh produce and learn to patch up torn clothes and loose buttons.

He hadn't liked any of it one bit because not only were those his every day chores, he had to fit in martial arts classes and piano lessons and etiquette lessons with his mother of all people. There was even a scheduled playtime that he never enjoyed because he was too tired to.

"How hungry are you exactly?" He asked before dropping his makeshift fruit basket on to the nearest surface before looking around to find a sauce pan and a small pot and strainer.

"Get me butter and mozarella cheese from the fridge will you?" He nudged Elsa's shoulder as he went to the pantry to get a bag of spiral pasta and mushrooms. Frowning down as he tried to remember what else he needed to make the dish, Scott snapped his fingers before trying to find some chilli flakes.

He didn't even wait for Elsa's reaction as he went to fill up his pot and dumping the pasta into the pot, subsequently dropping it on to the stove and putting the fire at medium heat. "Hope you like pasta."

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"Nipple-brading?" repeated Elsa, raising her brow. "No wonder my sister was so eager to go. Had I only known," she managed it all with the driest of tones, her eyes and attention still on the vaguely familiar man. She kept skimming the surface of his thoughts, hoping for a few clues that might let her know. General's son wasn't helping, but a full name came there, or at least, a last name.

"O'Riley?" repeated Elsa, which came out in response to the "how hungry question" by the time things were finished. "I mean, moderately," she said, watching him carefully, her eyes partially slit. He issued orders and Elsa only balked for a moment. she knew that sometimes you needed to follow orders, especially from someone who knew better than you how to perform a particular task, even more especially if said task involved putting food in your belly.

And yes, she knew enough to open a fridge and pull out butter and mozzarella cheese. What she didn't know was quantities. She pulled out a bag of mozzarella cheese that probably could've sated Frank Cox's hunger and held it out for Scott. "How much are you going to need? Are we talking about feeding us, a small army, or Frank Cox?" which were pretty well the levels everyone used at Bellefonte to determine portions, obviously.

[Scott O'Riley]

Scott smirked at Elsa's dry tone, rolling his eyes a little, though appreciative that she actually went through with it.

"What?" He asked just as he finished his first question. The mention of his last name had him raising an eyebrow and jerking his head up in her direction, the gesture indicative of the question no doubt she already knew was in his head.

But he kept that for later as he bustled through the kitchen. When Elsa came back with an industrial sized bag of mozarella cheese, Scott couldn't help but laugh both at the size and also at Elsa's joke.

"That's funny, I like that." He grinned and grabbed the things she had offered and set it on the countertop. He started chopping through the mushrooms expertly before depositing them all into a bowl.

"You wanna learn to cook, Princess?" He asked as he went over to the clear fridge to look for any meats that just needed to be chilled instead of frozen. Just his luck, he found some minced meat that could work perfectly. "You're not like...a vegetarian or anything are you? Because this is not a vegetarian alternative." He went over to the worktop again and ripped up the meat packet and slid about half into a small bowl, returning the meat to the chiller after wrapping it up as well as he could have.

He then started to separate the meat so he didn't have to break it while it was in the saucepan.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Last name, well, there was something then. Elsa tried to recall where she'd heard "O'Riley" before. Hadn't he mentioned a general? Did Elsa know any generals? She distractedly thought about it, while handing over the various supplies. He seemed to know what he was doing, though the sight of "minced meat" had her wondering.

Less so the repeated use of princess. That just had Elsa rolling her eyes, nearly mumbling under her breath. Instead she opted for another sassy comment: "And ruin people's opportunity to cook for me? I wouldn't dream of it," she moved forward to watch anyway, mostly curious, and still trying to remember where she'd heard the name before.

Elsa still kept some attention on the actual conversation, shaking her head at the question. She hadn't been a vegetarian in ages, though she'd certainly thought about being one from time to time. O'Riley... O'...

Elsa licked her lips then, hiding a slight smile. "I dated an O'Riley once," she said, looking over at him. "If I remember right: it was awful."

[Scott O'Riley]

Scott had to chuckle at Elsa's response once more. The girl was churning out one liners like nobody's business.

As he went about mixing the mushrooms and the minced meat together, sprinkling a little salt, some chilli flakes and tossing them, Elsa's seemingly out of the blue remark reminded him that he had been on dates with this girl.

"Oh jeez. You're right. It was awful. My bad." He chuckled, though he could definitely blame the fact that the only reason it was bad was because he had been forced to be there. One of those merger things that just wouldn't take. Like a marriage between a Bellefonte and an O'Riley would actually work. They were too different. Way too different.

But no, his mother had liked the Bellefontes which meant everyone else needed to like them too.

"I meant no disrespect. I was young, I was careless." He chuckled and started to cut the butter before pre-heating the oven. Looking around the kitchen, he looked for a deep rectangular dish, settling for a small but deep one, sliding it onto the counter and rubbing a pat of butter all around the inside, setting it aside.

"But hey, free meal, right?" He chuckled and started the fire for the main ingredients. Pouring a little bit of oil into the saucepan, he started to chop up one glove of garlic finely and threw it into the saucepan, loving the sizzle it brought. Then in went a bit more of the chilli flakes and then the mushroom meat mixture. He let the mushrooms cook, tossing it every now and again so they could cook evenly.

"Although I can't actually in good conscience promise you this is going to be good but...it's cheese and pasta." He shrugged one shoulder and grinned cheekily. He checked on the pasta as he put in a few pats of butter into the saucepan to add a bit more flavour.

Once he was satisfied with the doneness of the mixture, he switched off the flames and went in search for a drainer, upending the contents of the saucepan over the drainer so the excess oil won't mingle with the new butter in the casserole dish. He let it strain and checked on the pasta. "Yeah, that's gonna take a while longer. So...Queen of Elsaland, why haven't you gotten anyone to cook for you?" He asked, grabbing the apple he had been munching on earlier and biting into it.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

So he remembered her too, or at least, he remembered her now that she'd given him something of a hint. Elsa had to smile at his thoughts as well, especially since they matched her own so well. That had been during her mother's "matchmaking" phase, where she'd set her three daughters up on various dates with "appropriate" men. It hadn't gone well, especially considering how Elsa and Alexis reacted to things. Yes, that time, Erika had actually been the sensible one; it had to happen every once in a while.

"No disrespect taken," replied Elsa, shrugging. "I'm not the best of dates in my most happy of moods, and I certainly wasn't thrilled at my mother's attempt at matchmaking." She moved to lean against a counter, positioned so she could still keep watching. Scott moved around a kitchen like he knew one, which struck Elsa as slightly odd. It wasn't that she had some preconceived gender notion that stated that men shouldn't be in a kitchen or what have you. No, Elsa's issue had far more to do with class.

"It's not a salad, and that was pretty much what I was down to,' offered Elsa, nodding toward the pasta. She was tempted to grab something to nibble on for a bit, and started looking. She stopped as she realized that Scott had asked her a question, throwing on an incredibly stupid nickname. "Stick with Elsa, or I'm going to enforce Miss Bellefonte on you," she warned, raising a finger pointed at him. "And I've had people cook for me before. I can cook too, just... not here," she shrugged. She could make delicious omelets and possibly throw together a salad. that was the extent of her cooking prowess.

[Scott O'Riley]

"Our mothers are pretty bad at that. I mean mine is. Considering she married the General. I don't know what yours' excuse is." He shrugged as he stole some of the mushroom, nodding at the perfect taste of salty and spicy.

Scott grinned slyly when her threat surfaced. "Ooh. Bossy. Very scared." He nodded before chuckling.

Briefly, he wondered what she could cook. The ego in him riled him up enough to want to suggest a cook-off before he realised exactly how dumb that idea was. Not to mention stupid. And ridiculous. She would probably...no she will definitely laugh if she heard his thoughts. Which she obviously did.

"You need to take advantage of this kitchen more often, Elsa. From what I hear, you'll be taking over this place. Unless of course you're not the hands on type and would rather let the cooks handle the produce themselves." Scott shrugged before picking up a piece of the pasta from the boiling pot of water, wincing just slightly as his ability only immunised him from direct pain minimally. He popped it into his mouth and started to chew. It was still a bit crunchy so he left it for a bit to check on the oven.

"Has your mother matched you with anyone else?" He asked, purely out of curiosity as he bit into his apple, finishing it off.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Bossy was one of the lighter things that Elsa had been called, as her amused smile indicated all too clearly. Said smile only continued as she skimmed over his thoughts, continuing as she had been since encountering the familiar young man. She couldn't resist addressing them, not when questions hung there, well, questions and the opportunity to unnerve someone slightly by talking to their thoughts instead of their words.

She waited till he got through the other bit, letting out a slight laugh at the thought of her actually being in the kitchen. The only reason she'd come down here was if something major demanded her attention, and she didn't see that as all that likely. Not unless Everett came back or another dashing cook stole her sister's heart (something that Elsa still wasn't entirely counting out). Elsa held her answer while Scott tested the pasta by nibbling, raising her brows slightly at that.

Ah, a direct question, and, by extension, an opening: "She has, actually. There was a whole phase back during my sweet sixteen years where she set me up with a few people. I went on a few," she gestured at Scott, "but mostly turned them down. It ended when I slept with a boy she wholly disapproved of. We dated for several months. And no, I didn't cook for him either," she paused, smiling and folding her arms, "It's omelets, by the way. I make a scrumptious omelet, and I can handle salad more or less. This kitchen is just... intimidating," she gestured around then shrugged, even if she realized that the excuse sounded somewhat flimsy.