Fending

[Scott O'Riley]

Scott was too above it all to call people degrading names. He liked to tease, yes but to outrightly call people cruel names, maybe not.

Laughing at Elsa's confirmation that yes her mother had done the exact same thing his had, Scott shook his head and started to dump the cheese at the bottom of the small casserole dish, spreading it at the base. It was going to be one very cheesy meal.

"What is it about rich moms in particular that make them so eager to basically sell off their children to the highest bidder?" He shook his head in amusement before raising an eyebrow at her seemingly random response.

And then he realised that Elsa had answered his thoughts and he chuckled. "Nah, this place can't be as intimidating as an office. Or hell, even a classroom. You just gotta spend more time in here." He shrugged before testing the pasta again. "Finally." He shook his hand to get rid of the heated pain as he switched the fire off.

Grabbing another strainer, he dumped the pasta into the strainer, letting the steam heat his face up. As a kid, that had always been something he enjoyed doing. It may have continued being a thing he enjoyed now. He grabbed the strainer with the mushroom and meat and dumped it along with the pasta into a bowl, tossing them to get the pasta evenly covered with the juices from mushroom and meat.

"You're gonna have to make that scrumptious omelet for me some time. Just sayin'." He teased as he scooped some into the casserole dish before layering it with another layer of cheese, continuing until the pasta mix was finished. The last layer was obviously another layer of cheese which he went crazy over and finally, once the layer was done, he put it in the oven and set it for twenty minutes before he started to clean up.

He hadn't really expected Elsa to volunteer to help mostly because his upbringing dictated otherwise. You clean up your own mess. That was the O'Riley way. Cecil, of course, hadn't thought that through when he first started helping Scott out with his misdemeanours. Boy was he glad for that.

But there he was, the O'Riley heir, with his arms deep in the sink as he washed off the utensils and pots and pans.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"That's why we ironically refer to ourselves as royalty," explained Elsa, her voice dry. "It's certainly nothing any of us want, but it's the lot we've been handed."

She kept her eyes on him, still puzzled by the strange young man. He clearly had the same social standing as her, yet there he was, fixing a meal nearly from scratch without blinking an eye. Yes, Elsa could cook a few things, but very few, and those were more novelties that she'd picked up here and there. Not enough to create some kind of casserole. Elsa was impressed, though she did a marvelous job of suppressing any outward sign of it. Her eyebrows twitched for only a moment, her body shifting just ever so slightly.

"I usually make it for the drunken leftovers at my parents' house," she informed him, mentioning the omelet. "So you'd have to somehow wind up there. I'd usually recommend attempting to seduce one of my sisters, but Erika's taken. I suppose you could go for Alexis, if you don't' mind dipping down slightly," she finished and turned to watch him finish. Yes, impressive.

He'd moved to do dishes too, and Elsa paused for a moment. His thoughts betrayed him: he didn't expect her to go and help. Elsa hadn't anticipated or thought much about doing so. Now, however, well, she stepped forward without thinking twice about it, only pausing to pull back her hair into an even tighter tail. She'd done dishes before, though only once or twice. Shouldn't be that hard, considering who did them professionally and all.

"An heir?" asked Elsa, arching a brow. "I'm not likely to inherit much, with Erika and Abel before me. which is probably why my mother thinks she's living in a Jane Austen novel."

Elsa worked to scrub, careful to work around her nails. She should've grabbed some gloves. Were there gloves around? She paused to look for a moment, curious. She couldn't help but feel like there should be...

[Scott O'Riley]

Snickering at Elsa's suggestion, Scott shook his head. He knew of Alexis' infamy and obviously of Erika's unavailability. And even if Erika was available, Scott wouldn't have worked his charm on her. He knew and loved her too much like a sister to do so.

He supposed he should have felt the same about Elsa and Alexis but somehow he managed to make a distinction among the girls and decided to adopt just one of them as his own.

"I'm not so much above Alexis as I am just not very fond of her. She bites. I don't like biters." He shrugged lightly. He easily accommodated the Bellefonte sister, a smirk coming upon his lips when he saw her nails.

Her addressing his thoughts was still weird but he could deal with it. It was just one of the more random thoughts to answer to.

"Oh let her have her fun. It's not always that you get so many princesses in a legacy household. Especially ones who are clearly competent in the kitchen." Scott smirked as he slid the pot he had washed up on the drying shelf.

He followed her line of sight, frowning slightly. "What are you looking for?" He asked as he worked on the saucepan next.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"You're not the only one who's not very fond of her," mumbled Elsa. Not like her strained relationship with her younger sister wasn't more or less common knowledge. If Scott knew their family at all, he'd likely heard about that. Just how things ended up. Elsa was tempted to mention the biting thing as well, since she was pretty sure where that rumor had started, but she just let it die for now.

Unfortunately, she couldn't tell of the mention of her skill in the kitchen was meant to be a jest or not. She looked over at him for a few seconds, obviously trying to figure him out, before just blinking and mentally tossing it aside. He could think whatever she wanted: she had better skill than most people of her class in the kitchen, and that was enough for her.

"Gloves," she said, holding up her hands and wiggling her fingers, "as I can't afford to get my dainty, ah!" She found a pair draped off to the side, which didn't strike her as being too sanitary. Oh well, someone's lapse in sanitation resulted in Elsa getting the hand protection she wanted, so she wasn't complaining. She slid the bulky yellow things onto her hands, working them.

"One crack about my needing gloves, and I'll mind-rape you till I find a fun little fact," she said, leveling a gaze and soon a finger at him, before moving back to once again aid in the actual washing of the dishes.

[Scott O'Riley]

"I hope not. I mean I'm a douche but I can't commit to being the biggest douche if I find out that I'm the only one who thinks that way about your baby sister." Scott smirked with a shrug.

Unaware that Elsa was trying to read him, the military spawn continued with the dishes until the Bellefonte heiress mentioned the gloves. Her threat made him wince exaggeratedly.

"Jesus, Elsa. Vicious much?" He chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. "Besides, there's nothing in here that is important enough that you can use to taint my image. Everyone knows I'm a dick, you can't ruin that reputation for me." He responded.

Oh there were a lot of things she could damage him with. But was he going to tell her about them? Or think them for that matter? Hell no. If it were to happen, she would actually have to physically pin him down and that was damn near impossible.

The timer soon went off and Scott dried off his hands on his jeans, looking around to find a cloth. Immune or not, he did not want to get his hand burned from the heat of the oven. That was just stupid.

Open the oven door, the smell of bubbling cheese made him sigh as he took the casserole out and slid it on to the countertop with a flourish. "Voila. Ooh c'est magnifique."

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa chuckled darkly as Scott proclaimed her to be "vicious." "I have recently gained the title 'Bitch of Bellefonte' after a long, hard battle with Ellen Banks. Should suit me well in my future career." She ended that expression with a wry smile. She meant every word, including the earlier threat about mind-raping. Oh, she probably wouldn't have done it for something as simple as teasing, though the temptation did linger. Elsa had to almost always fight against the urge to dig around in someone's mind to see what she came up with. However, she had to remain subtle, to remind herself that it wasn't right to simply abuse her powers.

Though it was always interesting to see where people went. Elsa was surprised, and almost impressed, when Scott didn't immediately think of precisely what he didn't want Elsa to know. That was the usual reaction, what Elsa called the "Elephant situation." She'd sometimes even cause chain reactions that ended up with her knowing everything important about a person. instead, Scott practically shut her down.

Before Elsa could ask if he'd received some sort of training, the buzzer sounded. She simply turned and watched as he got the pasta dish out, the smell wafting over toward her. "That does smell good," she admitted, looking over at it. "I'm guessing it needs to cool, and we can finish here first?" she gestured toward the dishes. "Or is this one of those where we just shove it into our mouths and claim that the searing pain is just part of the experience?"

[Scott O'Riley]

"Well, that's commendable." Scott bowed his head with a flourish with an impressed look on his face. He didn't actually think it was such a feat, especially after what had happened.

But really, he always thought there had never actually been a proper title to anybody. Ellen was a bitch and Elsa was a bitch. It didn't mean anything to Scott other than the fact that they both knew what they wanted and they knew how to get it.

And he was now definitely going to be wary around the younger Bellefonte twin.

Scott turned just slightly from his masterpiece at Elsa's question with a smirk. "This needs to be eaten while it's piping hot or the taste wouldn't be the same." He responded before looking around for the forks.

"Here, compensation for the bad date we were forced to have." He held out a fork towards her before gesturing towards casserole. He didn't think proper utensils were necessary in this instance. He was sure Elsa wouldn't mind either. She was in the kitchen already, there didn't seem to be a point to getting fancy.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"Oh honestly," said Elsa, unable to keep silent. "You're trying to think gentlemanly thoughts about someone who admitted to being a bitch? That really is going the extra mile, isn't it?"

She shook her head, but the forks had appeared and her stomach trumped her desire to correct him, at least for the time being. She stepped forward, taking a fork from Scott and giving him another arch look for a moment. She was half tempted to suggest they grab plates or a tray or something but, well, they were already tucked away in the kitchen. It wasn't as if anyone besides the two of them watched or would ever know.

So Elsa instead opted to take a delicate forkful of the dish. She twisted it artfully on the fork, working it on. She pulled it away. She gently blew on it. Then she took a dainty, reserved bite, ready for the taste to flood her mouth.

[Scott O'Riley]

"I am a gentleman, thank you very much." Scott smirked, knowing full well Elsa wasn't in the business of taking things he said at face value. It didn't change the fact that he was going to think gentlemanly thoughts until he could learn to trust her. Which was highly unlikely, sorry Elsa. "It's not like it's a surprise that I'm shielding things from you, is it?"

When it came to his cooking, Scott was pretty sure he had nothing to worry about. He didn't claim to be a top chef but he knew a thing or two about taste and mixing good things up. And if Elsa didn't like it, it was no dirt off his shoulder.

He dug in and made a noise from the back of his throat, not even caring about the scalding heat from his food. The taste of the four main ingredients of the dish just mingling in his mouth. It wasn't a masterpiece but damn did it taste good.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa had had better food. She realized as much as she chewed purposefully on the dish in her mouth. Elsa had, after all, experienced some of the finest cuisine and the most expensive dishes. None of that made what was in her mouth any less pleasant, any less something that she thoroughly enjoyed every second of. She chewed, swallowed, and dotted her lips daintily to finish.

"Most people shield things from me, especially when they realize I'm going to be sorting through their thoughts at every moment," agreed Elsa. She lowered her fork again, working another bite of the dish upon it. "They also generally aren't savvy enough to alter their thinking so that I'm sitting there picking up on compliments that ring rather hollow. Beliefs have a little more conviction than that."

Elsa raised the fork, skillfully twisting to catch the various cheesed and what have you, before once more sliding it into her mouth. A hand went up to hold the food while she chewed, then she swallowed, nodded, and pointed at the dish. "This is surprisingly edible. I'm mildly pleased."

[Scott O'Riley]

"Well you can expect unhollow non-compliments from me, that much I can assure you." Scott smirked as he sort of tipped his hat mentally to her.

Her compliment made him chuckle. It was nice to mildly please and surprise someone who has had as much pleasant things given to her as he had. He obviously wasn't expecting high praise so really, it worked out pretty well. "This was actually born out of a night of getting the munchies. All I wanted was something stupidly cheesy and bam." He waved at the dish with a flourish before sticking his fork into his mouth and walking over to where he had dumped his fruits, taking two peaches and heading back to Elsa.

He slid one over to her and went about biting into his as he looked for something to drink. "You want anything specific to drink? There seems to just be this generic crap." He showed her the bottle of juice he found at the back of the fridge.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa nearly rolled her eyes at the first comment. She settled for raised brows and a look that told Scott just how little she believed him. Then she took another nibble of the food, actually enjoying it, especially as the heaviness of it would do wonders for salving her aching stomach. True, she might have to go and exercise her butt off (literally) to make up for it, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy something like this every now and then.

"so in other words: You got high and were desperate for munchies that weren't Cheetos," said Elsa slyly, taking another bite and giving him another raised brow look. Soon she was walking forward, waving a hand for him to move. "You're not looking in the right place. Here.'

She stepped to a fridge to the side and opened it. Her arm soon disappeared as she rummaged for a bit before pulling out a pair of water bottles, both wrapped in an expensive label. "Staff fridge," she said, tossing one to Scott as she made her way back to the cheese dish. "And yes, you can drink from them. I grant you my permission," and she took another well done stab at the dish, obviously taking her time and enjoying getting the cheese on her fork again.

[Scott O'Riley]

Scott chuckled at the disbelief on Elsa's face as he continued to eat his food. No reason to respond to that anyway.

Another chuckle came from the General's son at the pretty accurate description of what went down when the dish was concocted. "Yeah, pretty much." He responded before stepping aside with a flourish and gave Elsa a slow clap when she produced the bottles.

"Thank you, your Grace." He bowed and grabbed the bottle, going back over to his dish, picking up where he left off.

"I think it would have been better had I seasoned the meat a little but...this is supposed to be an instant...sort of dish so eh. It's filling, that's what's important." He nodded.

After a long pause of not so uncomfortable silence, Scott grinned and looked at Elsa. "You're not that bad a date...when you're not forced to be here." He commented with a smirk.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa gave another semi-severe look at the slow clap. She elected not to say or do anything more, if only so she didn't end up encouraging him further. She did catch the grace comment though, but before she could toss back a barb, he'd already moved on talking about the dish.

To which Elsa mostly nodded. It had been good; it could've been better; and he'd effectively pulled it out of no where. She couldn't fault him for what went right here. She simply took another bite, enjoying it. The fact that it filled would only be of further benefit to them, though as Elsa looked it over, she had to wonder what they were going to do with whatever was left. She supposed they could just toss it easily enough.

The silence came, with Elsa remembering that she owed Scott a barb. He ended up giving her a reason to throw one soon enough, and she gave him a withering look. "This is not a date," she said, pointing the fork at him. "Just in case you didn't pick up on that. Nothing here," she gestured with the fork, "is all that close to date like. I was hungry; you were there. That's all," she gave one last dismissive wave with the fork before stabbing again.

"Honestly, I don't know why all of a sudden everyone feels the urge to trick me into dates," she mumbled, slightly cross as she worked the dish with perhaps slightly more gusto than necessary.

[Scott O'Riley]

Scott grinned innocently at the look, though he did stop the slow clap.

It was actually somewhat comforting seeing someone enjoy his food. It wasn't a to die for enjoyment but it was enjoyment nonetheless.

When Elsa pointed out the fact that this wasn't a date, Scott rolled his eyes before exaggerating a pout. "This isn't? I was doing so well too." He pressed a knuckle to his forehead in mock disappointment.

Raising an eyebrow, he slowly dropped his fist down and looked at Elsa. "Come on, I was only joking. One date with you is more than I can stomach. But if we're asking those kinds of questions, I'm pretty sure it's because people want you to lighten up. Most everyone here is scared of ya, hon. The only way they could spend some quality time with you is by tricking you." No, he didn't expect his logic to work, not by a long shot.