2019-10-22 - November Rain

Halloween is just around the corner, and that usually means that people need pumpkins, and hay rides. Things like that. Only, there was something wrong about the plan when things go up in flames, right?

Ash wanted a pumpkin, and when news of that reached her she decided to go poke around and drag her favorite chef along with her. Bundled up against the cold she's got on skinny jeans tucked into a pair of boots, a flannel shirt over a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on the front, and a jean jacket over that. "So what happened again?"

"Honestly, the high school's twitter post only said an 'unfortunate incident'," Corey replies thoughtfully, wearing jeans and sneakers as usual, a graphic print of an apple crumble on his black shirt, with 'Let's Get Ready to Crumble' written above and below in beige text. "So, no idea. You got anything other than that?" he wonders, keeping pace with Ash as she heads up and into the park. "I don't remember seeing a fire, but."

"Nope. Just that something went wrong...which..." Ash shrugs her shoulders just a bit, waving her arms around to indicate the town and their surroundings in general, "I mean, weird seems to be the things right now." She then stops her very artful muppet flailing, moving to curl her arm around his, leaning her head against his shoulder, lamenting sadly, "Think about what this means for the future of pumpkin spice everything, though...Wait. Is pumpkin spice stuff even made with pumpkin?"

"Cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, ginger and allspice," Corey supplies as to the contents of pumpkin spice. "Sometimes a tiny bit of pumpkin puree, depending on the application." But of course he knows this. He tilts his head to kiss Ash's hair when she tucks in with that sad lament, squeezing her arm lightly. "It's fine, babe. There are other places in town selling pumpkins, if you were jonesing for pumpkin pie or whatever." He continues onwards towards the former patch, curiosity evident.

"If I said that I was, would that mean you'd make one for me?" Ash wonders with a laugh, dropping her hand down to slide her fingers through his so that she can straighten up a bit, but remain attached. "I wouldn't say no if you did..and I promise that I'd even come to keep you company while you did it." There is an implication lurking in her tone there, but also an easy, light teasing before she turns her attention towards the former patch as they approach it, "I wonder what really happened here."

The chef laughs. "Of course. Though you'd need to share. Phil would be very unhappy if I made pumpkin pie without saving her some," Corey responds, squeezing her fingers lightly, comfortable with that handhold. "Probably we'll never know. Green things shouldn't burn easy, they're too wet." He sounds thoughtful, pondering even.

"So...something really hot?" Ash ventures as she glances upwards, then back towards him, "Or with something on it...like lighter fluid?" She shakes her head a bit, frowning, "But that's kind of crazy, why would someone do that to pumpkins? Sweet, innocent, amazing smelling pumpkins..." She sighs faintly, then remembers something, "You going to come to the Halloween party? I told your sister about it already."

"Probably, yeah. Might go as what Rink drew me as," Corey nods with another grin. "A mad scientist, but with food. Maybe get you to mix me up some shooters to carry around in test tubes," he then suggests, leaning in to nudge his shoulder against Ash's. "What're you gonna dress as?" he then wonders, shrugging and shaking his head at the question of why someone would torch a bunch of pumpkins.

"Oooh, I can do that. I can get you some amazing colors and stuff, too." Ash replies with a laugh, ideas already dancing around in her mind about what sort of creations she might be able to come up with, "Could also get some dry ice, or liquid nitrogen for smoke?" She suggests after a moment of thinking, which is then followed by her answer to the question, "Vesper Lynd, that hot Bond chick from Casino Royale. I've been searching for a slinky dress to wear, but I think I might have found one."

Tugging Ash closer so he can peck a light kiss at the corner of her lips, Corey agrees, "I knew you'd be able to do something awesome. Maybe not too bothered about smoke, though; don't want people getting the wrong kind of weird idea." He nods at the mention of her potential costume. "Awesome, I can't wait to see it. You gonna dye your hair for it?" he prompts, curious.

"I might." Ash reaches her free hand up to grab a strand of her hair, pulling it around so that she can flick at it with a finger, "If I did it'd have to be one of those super temp dye jobs, like, the wash out stuff. I'm not sure I'd look that great as a brunette." She then tucks a strand of hair behind her ear before she glances at him, a hand raising to his hair, trying to make it stand up, "You going to get the wild crazy scientist hair?"

There's a nod and Corey affirms, "Yeah. I've got some hair gel and a couple sachets of colour - the wash-out kind you apply on top rather than dyeing in. Might get some crazy contacts, too." He grins a bit as she toys with his hair. "One of Phil's friends, Nicole, is a hairdresser. Might see if she can get it looking properly mad."

"Mm, I met her. She seems really sweet." Ash replies with a flash of a smile, her eyes directed upwards towards his hair as she messes with it. If there was any confusion, she's not doing anything constructive with it. Just playing with it, because she can. "I bet she can do some really neat stuff, though...and I think Sparrow convinced her to come as the fairy that Rink drew. Which'll be great if the three of you come as his drawings."

"Uh-huh. Let's hope he's going too, to see the fruit of his labours," Corey murmurs, really quite distracted with how she's playing with his hair, practically purring. "Mmn. If you're gonna keep that up, babe, we're going home," he tells her, only half playing.

"You know..I hadn't invited him...but..Should, yeah. I didn't even think about it when I was talking to your sister and Nicole." Ash wrinkles her nose a fraction, taking a moment to actually look like she's embarrassed by the fact that she totally forgot the most basic of party ethics. You always invite everyone. Despite his 'threat' about going home she doesn't stop messing with his hair, instead her other hand releases his so that she can add it to things, "I'm just working at getting it perfect. It'll be fine." It's a light tease before she leans in to give him a quick kiss, her voice dropping, "We can still go home, later."

"Perfect. Uh-huh," Corey murmurs, nipping her lower lip when she draws back from that kiss. "Alright." Placated by that promise of later, he tugs on her hand, heading off in the direction of the pumpkin patch, since that's what they came to see, making no comment about her breach of party etiquette. "You doing the drinks for it?"

"Yeah..I was going to sweet talk Easton into maybe getting us a deal on some stuff, a keg or three for sure. Plus if I can throw him some cash, and get the bottles at his cost? That means more alcohol." She leans her head on his shoulder when he starts to walk again, rubbing her cheek against him, "So, drinks are totally on me, and I've got ideas." She peers upwards at him, "You wanting to help out with the refreshment committee?"

The chef grins. "Yeah, obviously," he confirms to the question about refreshment. "I can do spooky snacks. Maybe a brain cake or something. Sausage fingers, noodle entrails, that sorta thing," he suggests, curling his arm about her hip when she goes for the head-on-shoulder. "Easton?" he then wonders, having no idea who that is.

"Easton? That's our boss. Ast and mine." Ash replies with a glance upwards at him, "He's not bad, as far as like...bosses go. Pretty much doesn't care what we do, which is probably bad, you know? But he didn't fire me for being out so long when I was sick, which was nice." She then moves her arm around his waist, hooking her thumb into his back pocket, "Noodle entrails though? Like, how would that even work out?"

"Oh, right," Corey responds with a nod, then explains, "Get some thick noodles, like udon, do a proper dark red tomato sauce, throw in some meatballs shaped sorta like internal organs.." Clearly he's done this before, or has seen it done on youtube or somesuch. "Is there a specific theme I should work to, other than 'spooky'?"

"Nope, no theme." Ash shakes her head before she presses her nose against his shoulder, eyes closing a moment, "I briefly flirted with the idea of a Bond theme, but then figured that'd mean we'd have a house full of Bonds, and seriously...no one needs that. So, just general Halloween awesomeness..." She then glances up at him, "Should there be a better theme you think?"

Shaking his head, the chef then tilts down to kiss Ash's forehead. "Nah. Bond theme just means a bunch of guys in black tie. Though a house full of bond babes would be fun. But a theme would probably mean not dressing up like Rink's drawings, so I'd say no. Or maybe something wide open, like 'things which don't exist'."

"Maybe.." Ash seems to give it some thought before she shrugs her shoulders, brows waggling at him, "But hot chicks in slinky dresses exist, so that'd ruin my costume." Which, no, clearly, it wouldn't. "I'll bring it up to Ast, see what she might think about it. But I've a whole lot more of an important question to ask you about it than if you want to help with food."

"Yeah, but Vesper Lynd doesn't, so that makes it good again," Corey counters, his lazy grin dawning again at that brow-waggle. "Yeah? Okay, hit me," he then invites as to that other question, adding, "If it's about pumpkin pie, then I'll whip one up for you tomorrow, babe. After class."

"It is not about pumpkin pie." Ash replies with a laugh, shaking her head at him before she moves around to stand in front of him, halting any further forward progress in things, her hands raising up to his neck before she gives him a very, very serious look. And then she just stands there, with that serious, slightly wide-eyed look on her face, "Will you dance with me?"

Cocking his head slightly, brows raising as Ash fixes him with that wide-eyed, serious expression, Corey then grins slowly as she asks her question. "At the party, or now?" he asks, looping his arms around her waist and starting to sway a bit, more than ready to go if the answer is 'now'. "I mean, yeah, obviously."

"Ummm. Both!" Ash decides after a moment, completely willing to start dancing with him in the middle of the park, with no music. She steps in closer to him, her hands sliding off his neck so that she can curl them loosely around his neck, starting to move in that little sway with him, "I was just going to ask for the party, but I'd be stupid to say no to dancing now, too."

Removing one hand from her back briefly, Corey digs out his phone. "Okay, Google. Play some classic rock." His phone confirms, and he sticks it in the chest pocket of his plaid over-shirt. The opening piano and synth bars from Guns 'n Roses 'November Rain' begin to play, and he curls that arm back around her again. "Gotta have something to dance to," he muses, though his 'dancing' really is just step-and-sway stuff. Basic. No shapes being thrown here.

"Oh god.." Ash glances at his phone, laughing when it chooses that particular song, "We could have gone for something a little less eighties rock, right?" She doesn't make any kind of move to change it, though, but she's looking amused by it anyways. The step-and-sway seems to be a very reasonable choice for the song, and the location, and it gives her plenty of reason to get in close to him, a hand moving to the back of his head, sliding her fingers into his hair, "I never could figure out if this was a love song, or a break up song."

"Well, she dies in the music video, so I guess break up?" Corey muses, eyes half-closing contentedly as she gets back to playing with his hair, dipping his head to brush a kiss against her forehead. "If you want something else, my phone is a bit of a tart, she'll respond to anyone. So ask her for your music pick," he then suggests, his languid smile at once amused and happy.

"Now you're just putting me on the stop, and revealing just how bad I am at this music stuff." Ash teases, tilting her head forward into the kiss against her forehead, but it also means that she can speak to his phone in his pocket, "Google, play Head Over Heels." Might as well stick with the eighties, right? Then she lifts her head back up, fingers scratching lightly against his scalp, "How're classes going?"

There's a low, relaxed breath from Corey as she scratches through his hair, a certain blissful contentment in his expression. "Classic Alanis. Better than her bitter phase," he murmurs, cuddling Ash against his body as they step-and-sway, nodding a little bit. "Yeah, good. Managed to avoid that godawful flu, been learning a lot both in class and at work. How're yours?" he asks in return.

"Classes have been pretty good, busy. Lots of writing this semester, which...is great, but I'm tired of epistemology right now in a way that I can't even explain." She tucks her nose in against his neck, her fingers continuing to idly toy with his hair, "Glad that you avoided that flu...it wasn't fun. I mean, I never get sick, and this was...bad. Weird bad." That last part is added a little more quietly, and with a lot more unease than just being sick explains.