Participants:
| Scene Title | Prep Like A Madman |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | While preparing dinner, Griffin and Kaylee have a pleasant conversation. |
| Date | January 16, 2011 |
Bannerman's Castle - Kitchen
The afternoon work has started in the kitchen of Bannerman Castle, already the scent of baking bread filters into the Dining Hall and beyond, hinting that Dinner is in the works. Even with the clank and clatter of people working, a tall blond with hair pulled up into a hasty bun, steps out of the kitchen glancing around at the Hall looking for someone.
Kaylee Thatcher has fallen back into the familiar routine of working to prepare meals and the laundry on some of the days. Today she was getting not only the bread ready, but the evening's stew. Unfortunately, the telepath was short handed. So…
Kaylee stands there with a potato and a small parring knife in her hands, the tuber already partial peeled. "I need a volunteer," she declares to the hall in general, holding both up. Some glance her way, but most duck their heads down.
Seated at a table, Griffin Mihangle is quietly strumming at the guitar that Nadira got him for Christmas, providing a bit of background music for those gathered. Despite his rather violent background as a member of Messiah and a wanted terrorist, Griffin will always be the musician; it is his second passion in life, after basketball. And when he can provide a bit of enjoyment to others in these dismal times, he's always happy to oblige. Owain isn't with him, likely off with the Lighthouse kids.
He's also always happy to offer some help when it is needed. As Kaylee steps out and makes her declaration of a required volunteer, Griffin peeks up, slowly turning his idle strumming toward a close. Green eyes trail across the hall, before he nods quietly to himself. The song is stopped, and the man returns it to its case. Certainly, it takes a moment, but nobody else is volunteering.
Finally, he gathers up his guitar and the cane that rests nearby, and stands, making his way toward the entrance to the kitchen. "I would be happy to oblige, Miss Kaylee." A smile is offered to the woman as Griffin sets the case just inside of the kitchen, out of the way of any foot traffic.
A smile plays across Kaylee's lips as someone steps forward. "Good!" Fingers wrap around his wrist, to tug him along behind her, to direct him where she needs him. "A little think on the hands today," she states without any real worry, just a simple fact.
"So…" She drags him over to a table with a chair and a smallish pile of potatoes on it. A few are already sitting in a strainer denude of their dark skins. She offers the partially peeled on and the knife. "I need all these peeled, so that I can cube them into the big soup pot." He head nods to a large restaurant size pot on the stove.
"Okay?" Kaylee asks brightly giving him a big smile.
Griffin offers a faintly amused smile at the rather small pile of potatoes. "Oh, that's easy enough." He tilts his head, and his eyes promptly cloud over, becoming a faint bluish-white color, glinting faintly in the light of the kitchen. The knife and the potato promptly float out of Kaylee's hands, though she probably felt something akin to fingers brushing over her fingers. The potato promptly starts peeling itself.
Two more knives promptly float from their spot, while two more potatoes promptly drift up and begin to peel themselves. All while Griffin just stands there, hands in his pockets. "Anything else I can help with?" He does like helping out. And showing off, just a little.
"Pfft. Show off." Kaylee says it out loud with a chuckle. She says with amusement coloring her words, "Fine you can cube them up too." As if that is a punishment. There might be a touch of jealousy there, but if only cause it would be nice to have the extra hands at times.
Near the pile of potatoes is a large bowl with pea pods in it. Taking up an empty bowl, she settles into another chair to start shelling them. "Word gets around and you'll be down here more often helping." She flashes him a smile, before working at the peas.
"I'm always happy to help. After all, I was given an ability that makes it easy for me to help." And to multitask, apparently. The potatoes peel themselves quite swiftly, while Griffin seats himself and sets to work at cubing them up for the stew. "So if that's a consequence of helping out, I'll gladly face it." A deep chuckle rumbles from his chest.
"In any case, the Ferry— they've done quite a bit for me. Taking me in when I'm on the run, caring for my son while I am off doing my terrorist activities, not to mention busting me out of a prison convoy." He smiles.
"It's what they do," Kaylee says softly, with an equally gentle smile. "It's how I ended up with them. I was running from a bad man, Eileen took me in and found me shelter. Joseph convinced me to stay." Glancing up from her she gives a little shrug. "I've been an operative for well over a year now."
She pauses, a strange look coming over her features. "Well.. over a year for you all. About six for me." Kaylee picks up another pea pod and pinches off the top and pulls the shell open. "Which is in itself a long story." Which she waves off, dropping the now empty pod into bag near her. "And your son is a good kid. The other kids will enjoy his company, Emily is taken by him."
"I— I'm actually thinking of joining as well. I'm not exactly the person to be giving shelter…but I can certainly be one of the big guns when necessary." He already has been, to a degree, when he helped with Gun Hill on November 8th. "And, of course, I'm great for manual labor." Another deep chuckle escapes his throat, even as he slices the potatoes that are being peeled by those invisible arms of his.
As she mentions that Owain is a good kid, Griffin gets a rather distant look on his face, perhaps a sad one. "I wish I could take credit for his upbringing. He's only really known me since September…" Those glowing eyes of his hood, turning down to focus on the job at hand. "Before then, my sister raised him." Definitely more to the story there. "I'm glad that he's doing well here…"
"Seems to from what I've seen." Kaylee's blue eyes drift up to watch him work, a touch of curiosity. "I know the Special Activities is very small right now. The Ferry are not really a militant group, they will defend, but attack?" Her head shakes slowly.
"When I needed to get people for things like that — like rescuing Joseph from the Company — I had to look outside of the network. That was then…" Kaylee looks a little sad.
"But, yeah…" Kaylee puts on a smile. "I think if your sincere they will take a serious look at adding you, but I can't say for sure since I am not council."
"I'd rather defend than attack." A shrug, the man working rather quickly. What would have taken an obnoxiously long time is almost complete, with the pile of potatoes dwindling down to one or two left. One of the knives busies itself cutting the potatoes into cubes, now, adding to the pile. "But I also know that in this day and age, defense can only get you so far. There needs to be a good offense, as well. So…I go either way."
Then, he raises his eyes toward Kaylee, putting on a slightly relieved smile now that the subject is moving away from his sister. "Only time will tell, right? Until then, I'm just glad that they've taken my son, my fiancee and I in." He turns back to his work, smiling faintly. "It's good that Owain has a place he can feel safe."
"Fiancee?" She sounds rather impressed at that, giving him a smirk. "Seems like everyone is getting engaged these days." Kaylee's head shakes a little as if she thinks it's amusing. "I guess it's the sign of the times. Our world is going nuts, so people want to pull close what they love." Fingers lift to touch something hidden under the sweater she's wearing, where a necklace would sit, but only briefly.
"Not that is a bad thing." She assures, glancing up at Griffin again. "Marriage is that ultimate step that says you want to spend the rest of your life with someone. Declares it to the world." Kaylee chuckles softly, "So bravo and congratulations. What does Owain think of it?"
Griffin smiles faintly to Kaylee. "You pretty much hit the nail on the head, there. I— I really don't know what's going to happen to me in the next months, or years, or decades." He sets his knife down as the other three knives set to work cubing up the last of the potatoes. "So I wanted her to know just how much she means to me. Who knows when we'll be married. If fate will even allow it to happen. But…I want her to know."
A smile forms, the first to really touch his eyes that Kaylee has seen. "Thank you. Owain…is okay with it. He's reserving judgment, I believe." Or so it seems. The boy's a lot like his father, even if the man hasn't been in his life. "I should probably speak to him about it."
"Wise choice." Kaylee states firmly. "With something as important as that, kids like to be included. I should know, my parents separated when I was still little. Mom dated a little, but never seriously. I hated when she wouldn't tell me about them." There is a small scrunch of the telepath's nose.
"I imagine a legal marriage for any of us will be tough," she comments lightly, a little frown twitching down the corner of her mouth. "Unless they can find someone who can slip such things through, but there is still the ability to say the vows before a preacher and God." Kaylee glances up with a smile. "He's free and don't need no paperwork."
A slow nod dips Griffin's chin downward, his eyes turning to the potatoes that are chopping themselves up. Almost done. "He's my number one priority," the man murmurs in a faint tone, "so I'm going to do everything in my power to help him be comfortable with all of this." He turns his eyes toward Kaylee; as one of the potatoes finishes its job of being chopped up, a pair of those telekinetic hands is sent to help her with her job of shelling peas. One of those hands is vaguely visible by the thin layer of starch covering it, making it look like nothing more than a ghostly palm and fingers.
The look on his face at mention of god suggests that Griffin is not as comfortable with the idea of God as Kaylee is, but he says nothing on that matter, only offering a flicker of a smile and a nod. "There is always the ability to say the vows. The paperwork is trivial at best."
"A formality," is a given agreement. Kaylee smirking up at him and noting his discomfort. Of course, her comfort with the G-word took time, she was where he was once, but she doesn't say that. Leaving it hanging.
There is no protest at the help with the peas. Why? It'll get her closer to getting the stew cooking sooner. Maybe dinner will even be on time. "Up until… well about the time I met the Ferrymen… I never thought myself the settling down type. I partied all the time, had a Harley I loved. Got into a lot of trouble and did a lot of bad things."
Kaylee looks thoughtful, passing the peas onto the invisible hands finally, "I don't know what happened. Now I think about how I could be happy settling down and start a family." The smile on her lips fall away a little. "Not sure that's an option for all of us now… not in the same way as before. No home with a picket fence and all."
Griffin chuckles softly. "Time, age, and insight gained change a lot of things. In high school, I was the captain of the basketball team. Had a scholarship lined up, until I hurt my knee. I had lofty goals of being accepted onto a team in the NBA. So, instead, I went into music school. You wouldn't believe the parties me and my wife had when we were in school." A fond, if melancholy look crosses his face.
Then, his features droop slightly. "Definitely no picket fences. I wish Owain didn't have to see all of the things that he's seen. I wish I could give him that life…" He suddenly gets a thoughtful look on his face, before a grin splits his features.
"Hmmm. Just got an idea. Perhaps I could build the kids a swing set. Every kid needs a swing set."
Pushing to her feet, Kaylee picks up the bowl heaped full of potatoes and grins at Griffin. Brows lift a little and she nods in approval. "That is an idea, a good one. Maybe in one of the courtyards out of sight. It's something to bring up to the council for approval." Since, just doing something like that might be frowned upon.
A glance goes to the work he's doing before Kaylee turns towards the large stew pot. "When you're done there, we've got carrots that need to be chopped." Her tone is way too bright as she throws another task at him.
Griffin smiles faintly, nodding slowly. "Oh, definitely. Always a good idea to ask before doing something like that." He nods quietly, watching her for a long moment. "Perhaps we can find a good location that won't raise trouble. Heck…even a tire swing would be good. Kids just need to swing, you know?"
Several telekinetic hands, three of which have that ghostly layer of starch from the potatoes on them, busy themselves with shelling the peas. At this rate, it'll be done in no time. "Happy to help any time. Set anything in front of me, and I'll get it done for you." A chuckle. "I may not be the best cook in the world, but I can prep things like a madman." A sage nod is offered with that remark.
"A year ago, I would have looked at you like you were crazy at the thought of cooking." The potatoes are dumped into the pot that is already working to a simmer, Kaylee glancing in to look at it. A long wooden spoon it fetched so she can stir it. "I was the queen of take out… or at least an ex of mine called me that."
The lid is replaced on the pot and she half turns to look at him. "I learned, though. I'm not the best, but I do well enough to help feed these people. My best work… and my favorite is making the bread." Kaylee chuckles, moving to retrieve the carrots that he'll get to peel and chop. Not the best quality vegetables, but in a stew that will hopefully not matter.
"It's like therapy."
The bunch of carrots is dropped on the table, "I think you get these done and I get the bread out cooling, I am set. One of the ladies here will watch the pot and I'll go do some of the laundry." Which is a task in it's own. Kaylee starts to turn away and then stops. A small smile touches her lips and she glances back at him and asks, "How are you a washing clothes in a tub?"
He's really gotten himself into it now.