Kitchen Conversation

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

Armandeus yawned as he pushed open the kitchen door and stepped inside. The empty basket he'd been carrying was tossed towards the island counter as he hopped upon his perch- the small counter that had been built into the wall beside the back door. Leaning over he dipped his fingers into the fountain that hung there, grinning when the goldfish inside bumped up against them. "I've returned home Lim-lim have you finished dinner for us yet?"

“No, but I have." Came the voice of De'Ryanna, which was immediately followed by the basement door opening and her stepping into the room. There was a bottle in her hand and a small covered plate in the other. She was in the basement to get the bottle since that's where they stored the wine. "Armandeus. Good evening." Spoken just as casually as she made her way to the island bar and set down her items. as usual she was in a heavy and long skirt, this one teal, and a matching bodice. Her hair was in a single braid down the center.

The Elf startled, having not expected an answer to his question. He recovered quickly though and even managed a smile as he watched her cross the room. "De'Ryanna, hello." He made an effort to straighten from the slouch he'd been in though there was nothing he could do about his clothes. Dark green leggings and a lighter tunic, both had been stained from cooking earlier in the day.

She raised a brow in Armandeus' direction at his startled reaction to her presence. Though she said nothing at first, only drew back the cover of the plate to reveal a collection of small sandwiches. Not heavy or too filling, simple turkey with lettuce, tomato and cheese. "Food. Sandwiches. I thought it would be appropriate."

Armandeus hadn't been expecting to see her. Aside from Elessar he hadn't seen many people lately, which explained the reason he'd been conversing with a fish moments ago. His stomach growled a bit at the sight of food and he pushed off the counter to get a better look. "It looks perfect."

"Of course it is." How’s that for a display of arrogance? Everything she set out to display was done in a rather artsy way. The sandwiches were diagonal and each corner touched the other so it looked like a circle of tiny diamonds going around the plate. There wasn't anything hanging off past the bread or dressing seeping through the layers. It was, in deed, perfect. And neat, at least by her standards. "Eat up. You don't look to have been eating much. "

He buried the urge to make a sound to her comment as he looked at the plate. It really was perfect though he found he wouldn't have expected anything else from her. "I eat enough," he sighed softly as he took one of the sandwiches and sought to change the topic. "I did not know you had returned."

"One cannot stay gone forever." she was getting a glass from the cabinet and set it down next to the tray with the sandwiches. After a bit of a twist she was able to pop the top and start pouring the liquid into the glass. It was a fruity type of smell, a wine, yes, but a good one and she thought that it would go well with the sandwich. "How have you been since that day?"

The question of how he had been brought along the question of how much she had heard. Since that night Armandeus had lost the vast majority of his power and spent the resulting weeks in a coma-like state from it. He'd been awake for some time now but he still wasn't comfortable. "I have been better." It was as close to the truth as he could manage and he even smiled at her before taking a small bite of the sandwich.

"And you'll be better still once you eat." Noticing that he had yet to eat, only having spoken about it. She hadn't heard much, only what had happened to the kitchen and bar area - some of which was her fault.....and while that was on her mind. "I didn't know you had such a temper over things like broken furniture." She went to the freezer and opened it to get a few ice cubes from the box to fill in her cup. One of the cubes she popped into her mouth after she spoke.

"I didn't know you could destroy carefully crafted furniture including an entire counter." He'd hopped to the defensive over the entire incident despite the fact nearly all of it was his fault. Dark eyes glanced towards the only thing that had survived from pure luck, his fountain by the door.

There was no reason for her to want to harm the fish - it was living and would have been an unnecessary death. "So you base your actions and my own actions? Just to a different extreme? No wonder you need to eat."

Destroying his kitchen had been an unnecessary death in a different way. It hadn't had to happen and that was the fact that kept haunting the Elf. ""I . . ." He didn't know what to say and frowned as he looked at the wall. "I eat enough. Elessar makes certain of it."

Ryanna paused. She had her fingers poised on another ice cube and was about to take it out of the glass when he made the comment about how he ate enough.. "Does that mean you don't want the sandwiches?"

"I want the sandwiches." He already had one after all even if the only thing he'd taken from it had been a bite. "It means I already have him nagging me over my eating habits." He quirked a smile and took another bite of his captured sandwich.

"Just because a person is trying to get you to eat does not mean that you will actually do it. As the saying goes: 'you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink'" She fished an ice cube out and held it by the tips of her thumb and forefinger a moment as she nodded to him while he ate. "You're the horse."

He snorted and cast her a look over the top of his sandwich. She sounded just like Elessar there, which left Armandeus wondering if the two had gotten together behind his back and planned this. "I do not believe I look like a horse but as you and Elessar seem to agree on it I must have changed without knowing it." He was trying for a joke, though as he finished the rest of his food he had a feeling it hadn't turned out that way.

She was partaking in her ice and thus the reason she did not answer him right away. Ryanna didn't take up the seat next to him at the middle island but instead she leaned against the counter by the wall. It was very casual with one ankle crossed over the other with the point of her toe on the ground. Of course, the skirt she wore covered all this. As the hour was late she sought to keep her distance. In better control of herself she didn't want to test how much control she actually had. "We all change, for the better or the worst, after situations. Like the one that you had. I heard Epiphany's crew had to redo this entire area"

He nodded as his gaze traveled around the room before landing again on the fountain by the door. "Everything was destroyed except for the fountain. It turns out Lim is an Elvish fish after all." He chuckled a bit and reached for another sandwich.

"Elvish fish?" She asked questionably with a very small tilt of her head. "What does that mean? That he's immune to destruction and the effects of fire and icy chill?" Why the fountain's water never froze when Armandeus had frozen the air had remained a mystery. Perhaps the fish had a type of protective seal around him.

Instead of answering outright he simply grinned before taking a large bite. Elessar had asked the very same thing, but some things were to remain a mystery and this was one of them. Whether the fish had a seal around it or was simply indestructible Armandeus wasn't telling beyond a vague, "perhaps."

His 'perhaps' was met with a 'Mmmm' from her followed by a nod. Popping in another ice cube she rocked off of the counter and gave a shake of her glass and heard the last ice cube swirling around the bottom. "That’s it then isn't it? Enjoy your sandwiches and the kitchen that you continue to chain yourself too. I am back and unless I leave for some reason I'll be in my duties again. "

He sighed and set his food back down on the plate. "I do not chain myself to this kitchen. In case you haven’t heard I have barely stepped foot in here since that day." He frowned. "I don't want you to leave again."

"That's because you've been unconscious or otherwise confined." Came her reply. "You do so like your kitchen and it's not necessarily a bad thing. It gives security and it's a haven." She hadn't gone towards the door yet as she had to put her glass away. She was in the process of washing it out currently. "If I walk out you'd wait for me to walk back and I told you that i will be round now again since I have returned."

"Havens and securities do not get destroyed by their inhabitants nor do I wish to be changed to such a place. It is a fool who does such and leads one to a life void of any interaction. For that I might as well return to being in a cage." He stood crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her.