2019-07-27 - Vegetable Flowers

It's a Saturday afternoon and most twenty-somethings are gearing up for some very epic partying for the night. Ash has been doing whatever she does at home, until she heads out the front door in a pair of shorts and a tank top, with bare feet. Despite the fact that it's drizzling she moves across the lawns and to the front door of 7 Oak. Once at the door she hits the doorbell, or knocks, maybe both.

For once, there's only one person home at #7. Corey calls out, "It's open, come on in!" from his spot in the kitchen, where he's.. making flowers. Out of vegetables. Lots of little cuts to make curly leaves and petals, though the bandaids on two different fingers suggests he's still working on his knife skills. "Hey, 'sup babe."

"You know you should lock this door...you've no idea what sort of crazy people might come wandering through." Ash points out when she finds him in the kitchen, fingers sliding through her hair before she flips it back behind her shoulders. "What're you doing?" This is an art project that seems new, and highly questionable, to her. But also one that she distrbs by picking up one of the flowers, turning it around in her hand, "Got bored, figured I'd bug someone new."

"Unlikely to be crazier than the people in here," Corey replies with a lazy smile, though he gets slightly fidgety when she picks up one of his hard-earned carrot-flowers. "Practicing knife skills. I hear the 'presentation' module this year is pretty intense," he explains in answer to her question, though he does set his (very fancy) knife down, taking a break while he's got company. "You want a drink or somethin' to eat?"

"Drink is fine." Ash entirely misses the fidgeting, but he did make the mistake of offering food. And she's got a food in her hand, so she takes a bite off the carrot-flower, talking right through the chewing, "You say that, but you live with Marius and Jens for a week, and you'll begin rewriting your definition of crazy. They are nuts." She might be calling them crazy, but she's also saying it with fondness.

Halfway to the fridge by the time Ash confirms she wants a drink, Corey stops. Stares at his guest. STARES. "You.. ate my flower." He sounds hurt. Wounded, cut to the quick! "I meant like a sandwich or something!" Still, this doesn't stop him digging a hand into the fridge to pull out a cold can of soda. Probably cola. Probably not diet. It is offered over, almost as if his hand is acting independently of his outrage.

"You want a bite?" Ash holds the poor bitten piece of carrot towards him with one hand, and reaching for the soda offered to her with the other hand. "You don't have to feed me every time I'm here. I'm probably the last one you should do that too. The boys and Runa eat a fucking lot, and will probably come sniffing around for food. I'm generally happy just to bug people." Poor hurt and outrage. She's purposefully oblivious to it.

The budding chef frowns at Ash. "Now I'm gonna need to cut out another one," he grumbles, shaking his head to the offer of half a carrot flower, even as he hands over the soda. "Look, feeding people is what I do, babe," he then goes on to explain, taking up his paring knife and cutting another chunk of carrot off, to begin trying to fashion into a flower.

Ash glances down at the carrot in her hand, "Why do you need to make another one?" She puts the remaining part of the carrot into her mouth, because at this point in time it's not like she can give it back to him. The soda gets opened, but she doesn't drink right away, instead she sets it down on the counter.

"Because I'm trying to make a little garden scene," Corey explains, skimming the knife around the carrot, peeling off a very thin layer, almost like sharpening a pencil. "Though it's gonna take a lot longer than I thought. Been at this an hour, and I'm only thre-.. two flowers in." The others, made of radish and cucumber respectively, look a little rough but are at least recognisable as flowers.

"It's taken you an hour?" Ash looks at him for a moment like he might be crazed, then she reaches over to put a hand against his forehead, checking for a temperature. "That's very crazy." The crazy scales are clearly shifting. But at least she doesn't eat any more of his project. "So why are you making a garden from veggies?"

"Homework. Or at least, there is gonna be a project piece which will involve vegetable presentation," Corey responds, a little distractedly, barely noticing the hand. "So I need to practice." Finishing the peeling of the thin layer of carrot, he begins to roll it up, fanning it out like a flower and beginning to shape the 'petals' with little notches. "And yeah, an hour. Had a lot of mistakes in the first four." As there are only two visible, presumably the others got eaten.

No one can fault him for the eating of vegetables. Not Ash. She shakes her head, looking at him with a small bit of amusement as she finally takes a sip from her drink, then she slides herself down to the floor, settling her back against the cabinets, "Right, culinary school wasn't it?" She leans her head back, eyes closing, "Pretty sure I forgot to say it, but that spaghetti was good." Heathen.

Glancing aside to Ash, Corey grins slowly. "Glad you liked it, babe. And yeah, culinary science. It's hard, but I love it," he confirms, adding a few little cuts into the base of the flower to hold it together, then setting it next to the other two. Done! Three lovely(ish) flowers. "A whole garden might've been pushing it. Three'll do for now." He takes out his phone to take a picture, then gestures at them. "Help yourself."

"Nope, I won't put your flowers in my mouth again." Ash replies with a sing-song in her voice, which doesn't actually stop her from shifting and reaching for the flowers, gathering them up so that she can drag them back to her lair. Or seat. "I thought about going to school for bartending once, but then I realized that meant I'd be working in a bar forever, and that gets old sometimes already."

"No? Aw." Corey looks briefly crestfallen, before perking up. "How about some meat?" His brows waggle at that, his suggestion in jest, before he turns to grab a soda from the fridge for himself. "Well, whatever it is you poured together the other night was pretty epic. Maybe you could be like a.. high class bartender? You know, for expensive parties and shit?"

"Why, you got something in mind?" Ash smiles upwards at him, then she shrugs, "Maybe...Mixologist. They made good money, and there's even some that are like....famous for it? But it's still probably the sort of job where I'd be having to work shitty hours for ever. Which really kills my social life."

The proto-chef grins sidelong at Ash. "Babe, I've got so many things in mind right now, you have no idea," Corey murmurs, closing the fridge and waving Ash on through with him as he heads to the lounge. Well. Area that would be a lounge if it had more furniture in it. It does have a futon at least, which is doing duty as a couch until an actul couch can be acquired for as little as possible. He drops into a comfortable sprawl at one end of it. "Yeah, unsociable hours suck. Bad for chefs as well, but hey, some things are worth a bit of sacrifice." In his opinion, anyway.

One more flower is tossed into her mouth before she hauls herself back up off the floor, grabbing her drink as she heads in the direction of the soon to be lounge area. It seems this flower was a radish. Which is almost as good as the carrot was. The soda gets a sip, then set somewhere out of the way with both the remaining vegetable flowers being carefully set on it before she drops herself onto the futon as well, "Of course there are things worth sacrificing for, just not sure that mixing drinks for the rest of my life are one of them." She crosses her legs, slouching until she can rest her head against the back of the couch, glancing at him, "But I bet I do have an idea of some of those things in mind."

"Fair enough. So what do you want to do for.. well, not the restof your life, but for the near future? I'unno what a philosophy degree gets you, job-wise," Corey enquires, before his smile returns. "Oh really? Why don't you tell me what ideas you've got, mmn?" he prompts, shifting position slightly - still sprawled, but now facing Ash a little more directly.

"Not a whole lot, actually. I could become a teacher, or a writer...or flip burgers at McDonald's with it. History has a few more options at least, some overlapping. Like teacher." Ash glances over at him, mischief dancing in her eyes as she gestures towards herself, "I'd make a fucking hot teacher." Then she folds her hands over her stomach, "I want to be a writer, though. Ultimately, that's what I want to do with the rest of my life, but I know that isn't going to make me money unless I'm lucky." She glances at him, "What ideas I've got? Please, we both know there's litterally only one actual thought there."

Leaning over so he can whisper.. well, sort of whisper loudly, because leaning all the way would be effort, Corey notes, "I've got chicken, beef, lamb and turkey in the fridge. That's like four ideas right there." As if he hadn't been making a lame innuendo before. His expression is entirely innocent-ish. "You would make a hot teacher, though. Can't deny that, babe," he agrees after leaning back into his previous slouch. "What sort of stuff would you write?"

"You forgot pork." Ash offers helpfully, rolling her eyes before she leans her head back, "Oh, just about anything, I guess. I prefer historical fantasy, though..Something that's got enough root and grounding in our real history, but layered with fantasy levels. Novels, short stories...I'm shit at poetry, though. So don't ask me to write you a poem."

"Like the Game of Thrones? I heard that was based on a real set of circumstances in England, between some noble families," Corey murmurs. "Obviously, with less dragons, but." He laughs at the notion of asking for a poem. "Nah, you're safe. Not really into poetry, unless it's turned into a song with a catchy beat." He lifts his can of soda, taking a few sips.

"War of the Roses. There are a lot of books based around the concept, it's all about one noble line fighting another for the throne." Ash nods, "So yeah, exactly like that. Only maybe not, because that's a really big franchise and I couldn't afford it if they came at me for infringing on their ideas or whatever." Catchy song? "Nope, can't write lyrics either. Do you sing or something?"

There's a slightly choked laugh from Corey at the question of him singing. "You should ask Phil that. She's compared my singing voice to the sweet sound of a bird! Unfortunately, that bird was a Canadian Goose." So, no. Not a singer. "But I like dancing to songs with a good rhythm." Not that he's much of a dancer, either, but who is? "Are you musical at all?"

"Not a musical bone in my body, but I can dance, and I like to dance. Just give me something with a beat and a rhythm." Evidently Ash is a dancer. "Your sister was saying something about moose calls?" Ash twists herself around to face him, flashing a smile, "You should do a moose call, yeah?"

Honestly, Corey doesn't need to be encouraged to make moose noises. Launching himself up to his feet, because you can't make proper moose noises all slouched down, he takes a deep breath and, "MuuuuUUURRRRRRRUuugh!" It's really quite uncanny, how much he manages to sound like a moose, without having the depth of voice to be truly convincing.

It really is impressive. "Holy shit." Ash looks impressed, which is sort of sad since all he's doing is making moose noises. But she lifts her hands to applaud him, laughing, "Oh my god....where did you learn that, and more importantly, why the fuck did you decide to learn how to make moose noises?"

"I lived in Canada for a year," is Corey's explanation to the first, his grin bright. "On like a commune farm sort of thing. We had to make our own fun." That is sort-of an answer to the second, and he flops back down onto the futon. "There was some competition." So obviously he had to practice!

"Like a hippie commune?" This is the only frame of reference that Ash actually has for a farming commune where moose calling was fun. "I didn't even know those were real things still." She crosses her arms, leaning her head back on the futon again, "Did you also go to New Orleans with your sister?"

There's a nod from the culinary student. "Yeah. A kind of.. back-to-basics sort of place. Learning how to grow food, tend animals, you know." Probably how to kill and butcher them too, but Corey doesn't go into details. "Nah. She went south while I went north. It was weird not having her around, but I think we needed to do stuff separately before college, you know?"

"I think I know." Ash nods faintly, like she might actually know. Or she's just really, really good at faking it. "My parents were in the tech industry, in Seattle, so we always had the farm to table, all organic, ride your bikes don't drive your cars kind of upbringing, too. But nothing like going out and living on some kind of hippie commune. That sounds kind of intense."

"Yeah, that's sort-of my plan for when I graduate, the farm-to-table stuff," Corey confirms with a nod. "At least, that's the plan now. Might be entirely different in a couple years. Though, I'm not giving up my car." Frown. No.

"Yeah, no." Ash is in agreement with that, it seems, "I leave the city, and while I walk around here a lot, I'm not going to give it up, either." She lifts a hand upwards, curling her fingers into a fist to offer him a fistbump. "So, stud. You've gone on a culinary adventure on a hippie commune, carved flowers out of vegetables, learned to make moose noises. What other surprises are you hiding away?"

The fistbump is complete as Corey taps his fist to hers, making exploding noises as he draws his hand away, fingers splayed. "C'mon babe, I can't tip my entire hand in the first couple of days, right? Need to keep some air of mystery?" Pfft. Not that there's any mystery about him, but he can pretend, right?

"You could. But that's putting a lot of eggs into the basket of...do I have a really long attention span. Will I stick around. What if I start walking the other direction instead of past this one?" Ash shakes her head, moving to grab her soda and the veggie flowers, offering to at least share the flowers, "C'mon, you should put a flower in your mouth, too."

Taking the cucumber flower, Corey doesn't eat it immediately, instead twirling it around in his fingers. "We're neighbours. You'll be walking past the house every so often, I figure," he replies with a lazy smile. "Especially if we have those cookouts Runa mentioned. I'll have plenty of opportunity to wow you with my other skills." He sounds confident of that! Maybe too confident. Then, he eats the cucumber flower with care, peeling bits off with his teeth before swallowing.

"So you're trying to wow me?" Ash tosses the second carrot flower into her mouth, her drink getting set on the floor, "I mean, I'm not that hard to wow. Do you walk around half naked? That works, that really works." She's just being helpful, now. "I'd probably drop by randomly if that was the case, just fair warning."

That lazy smile deepens to a sly grin. "Often, when I'm gardening," Corey acknowledges. Then, sitting forwards slightly so he's clear of the futon back, he reaches to behind his neck and yanks both of his shirts off. Witness! He's not ripped, by any stretch of the imagination, but he's pretty lean, and there is at least some muscle. "I mean, you've dropped by randomly, babe. You must be rewarded." By his lanky body. Sure.

"Do you grow little vegetables and things in this garden, or are we talking more...with silver bells and cockle shells? Which..." Ash pauses whatever thought she was having when he leans up to take his shirts off, her brows lifting just a fraction. "I usually have to work harder at this." She looks amused for a moment, lifting a hand up to breath against her nails before buffing them on her shirt. "But I did drop by...randomly. House was empty, Ast is at work, not sure where anyone else is. But since you're shirtless, want to show me your garden?"

"Vegetables and things," Corey agrees, pushing up from the futon and meandering over to the back door, presumably to head out to said garden. "It's not much right now, I've just started putting down planters and things. Give it a few months and we'll be living off it," he voices, sounding almost.. shy, or protective of his not-yet-a-real-garden garden.

Ash starts to her feet as well, her foot nudging the can on the floor and almost knocking it over. But luck holds, for now, and she makes it to her feet without incident. "Well, show me." She heads towards where he is at the back door, her hands tucking into her pockets, "Tell me where you're going to grow what, I'm really curious."

Stepping down and out into the back garden, Corey heads to the far end, where some 3x4 planters have been set up and packed with a decent mix of soil, compost and stones. Glancing back, he waits for Ash to catch up before pointing. "French beans, beetroot, broccoli and onions in that one. Cabbage, tomatos, peas, chili in the second one, and broccoli, radishes and carrots in the third. And the last one is for potatoes, obviously." Obviously. Clearly he's got it all planned out, though as of yet there's nothing planted it would seem. "It's a start, at least."

"That's a whole lot of vegetables." Ash looks a little surprised by the amount of things he's wanting to go, as well as how prepared he is for the planting already. "I think we've got..." She holds up a finger, then moves towards the fence between the backyards so that she can peer over it, "Yep...I was right. We've got weeds in our backyard."

There's a slightly sheepish grin from Corey. "I'm going to be doing a lot of cooking, and this is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying it all fresh," he admits, turning to face Ash rather than the planters, brows raising as she checks on the weeds over the other side of the fence. "I mean, I could plant stuff for your lot too, but you'd have to do the weeding and stuff."

"Not sure any of us have a green thumb." She glances over her shoulder, then steps away from the fence, "But flowers might be pretty until we forget to weed them, or water them." She comes to a stop right in front of him, laughter teasing at the corners of her mouth as she looks at his bare chest, "You'd come plant more when they died though, right?" It's a light teasing before she looks back at his face. "Are you going to raise backyard chickens?"

"Hey, my eyes are up here, babe," Corey teases lightly, motioning upwards with one hand, though clearly not minding that she's looking. "Nah. Knowing my luck, Phil would probably get all attached to them or something. Plants, not so much," he notes, his smile small but warm. "I could plant some flowers for you, sure. Pretty flowers."

"Couldn't you just keep them for the eggs, but not make them Sunday's chicken dinner?" Ash wonders, keeping her eyes firmly up this time, but it's probably because she took her time looking already. "You really don't have to plant flowers, though. I'm just messing with you." She takes a breath, then sighs, "You see, I'm almost certain that they'd die, and then that'd be terrible. And I'd have to cry a whole lot, because the pretty flowers some naked guy planted just for me died. It'd be ugly tears, too."

"Yeah, until I got a hankering for coq au vin and didn't have any chicken in," the chef murmurs, his smile shifting to slightly crooked. "I refuse to believe in ugly tears. Not from you. Besides, I know how to deal with crying women. I've got two sisters."

Ash lifts a hand up, holding two fingers up, "Two? Two whole sisters?" She curls one finger down, until just her index finger is up, "I have one brother." Which has nothing to do with crying women, though. So she drops her hand, "Curious, does what you do with crying women include running away? I'm pretty sure that is a very viable response."

"Yep. Two whole sisters," Corey replies with a laugh. "Sometimes, yes. If it's tears of rage, anyway. Otherwise a combination of things, including but not limited to; hugs, blanket forts, chocolate, being a punching bag, listening but not solutionising." It's a short list, but a strong one.

"They schooled you well as a child, didn't they." Ash lifts her hands, clapping slowly enough that there's no sound at all, her hands dropping once more, "I like hugs and blanket forts. Sign me up for those when I cry over dead plants, alright?" She glances upwards, checking to see if there looks like more rain coming, "So what are your plans for the rest of the weekend?"

"More like I learned self-preservation skills /quickly/," the chef murmurs, blue eyes glittering with amusement. "Probably getting the first batch of veggies planted, then chilling, drinking, maybe cooking something. I'unno." Of course he'll be cooking something. Then he smiles slyly. "Maybe entertaining people who drop by randomly."

"You'll probably get at least Runa by eventually, her and your sister were apparently in a band?" Ash was perhaps not paying as much attention at the time, a hand raising, finger tapping thoughtfully at her chin, "I mean, there might be other people that turn up to randomly drop by...Ast, maybe? Depends on what shift she's working. I know we're pulling a double tomorrow, though, which kills any social life."

"Sounds rough. Bar work?" Corey asks, lifting a hand to likewise tap lightly at Ash's chin with one finger, his smile lingering. "Well, I can but hope some babe or other will drop by during the week," he adds, then turns to head back towards the house.

Ash glances down at the chin tapping, laughing a moment before she follows him back inside, pausing to make sure that she's not tracking in to much dirt on her bare feet. She's semi-polite like that, and she even closes the door behind her, "Yeah, we both work at Two if By Sea...in case you ever want to come out drinking, you should come see us."