Completed [Windswept Condos] Cooking up a Storm (Rinya)

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Fall, Day 46, 513 AV

Jorin looked up in surprise when Rinya said something in response to his muttered words. He didn't know he'd said them out loud, and he blushed rather heavily when he realize she'd heard them. He figured there were two things he could do. Since Rinya had clearly misinterpreted him, he could let her continue to misinterpret what he'd inadvertently admitted, or tell her exactly why he thought he was such a lucky person.

There was really only one option.

"Rinya," Jorin replied, shaking his head slightly with wry amusement, "That's not what I meant."

Jorin shifted slightly, leaning against a different wall so that he'd both be able to keep an eye on his cooking fish and be able to look at Rinya at the same time.

"You're so beautiful," he almost whispered. "And I don't mean just physical attractiveness either, although you've got that in spades. But I wouldn't describe someone who's merely attractive as 'beautiful'. 'Pretty', maybe. Even 'gorgeous'. But the word 'beautiful' has a very different meaning for me."

As the fire crackled pleasantly in the background, Jorin's gaze grew softer as he explained. "You don't judge me the way other people do, Rinya. Out there," and Jorin waved his arms in the general direction of everywhere, "out there I have to act, all the time. Show everyone the Jorin Ertihan they want to see. Jorin the actor. Jorin the smiling poet. Jorin the friendly sparring partner. No matter what I'm actually feeling."

Jorin wasn't even upset by it. He was an actor by trade, by nature, by choice. He loved acting. But sometimes...

"It can get exhausting though. Acting all the time," Jorin confessed. "But with you, here at home, I don't need to act. At all. You're the only person in the world who sees the real me. No acting. No pretending. Not between us."

Jorin smiled. "And you don't judge me for it," he continued. "You accept me for who I am without trying to change me, or mold me into someone else." With a sigh, Jorin slid a little on the wall as he leaned against it a bit more.

"You're beautiful to me because of your spirit, because of your willingness to stick with me despite my many faults," Jorin concluded. "I said that I was lucky because... because in truth, I believe you could have your pick of any man."

Jorin shrugged, as the odor of the cooking fish wafted through the air. It was nearly done, but he wanted to finish his thought. "You didn't have to pick me. You're so pretty, so smart, so beautiful, you could have any man you wanted if you really tried," he insisted. Then he shrugged again. "But you picked me. I'm... still not sure if I'm the best choice for you, but I feel incredibly lucky that someone as wonderful as you would pick a guy like me."

Jorin had almost used the word Farline had chosen. "Loser". There were times he had felt that way. But Rinya was no loser. And if she chose him, maybe he wasn't either. But the sizzling of the fish oil dripping into the fire caught Jorin's attention.

"Oh! Let's see if this is done," Jorin cried, as he dashed over to take the fish off of the fire. That was when he realized something was wrong. Only one side of the fish was cooked, it seemed. The book hadn't mentioned...

"I think we were supposed to cook both sides of this thing for a few chimes each," he mused somewhat sheepishly, as he displayed the unevenly-cooked fish with a defeated sigh. Well, in any case, one side of that half-a-fish was well-cooked, and Jorin peeled off a piece of the flesh from the cooked side, popped it into his mouth, and chewed thoughtfully.

"We~ell," he said, drawing out the word as he continued to chew slowly, "it's not terrible."

Jorin sighed and swallowed. It wasn't great either. "Probably could use a bit more salt, honestly," he confessed. "And I think it was on the fire for too long. It's kinda dry, not as tender as I'd like it to be. But at least it's edible..."

Jorin tore off another piece of the cooked side and offered it to Rinya. "What do you think?" he asked with an apologetic smile.

[Rinya]

Day 46, Season Fall, 513 AV

At her name, Rinya frowned slightly. She could sense amusement in his voice, but really she had absolutely no idea why. He shifted, and Rinya followed suit. Crossing her arms—though she wasn’t actually upset—Rinya cocked an eyebrow at Jorin. He glanced between her and the fish before he blurted that she was beautiful. Rinya blinked before opening her mouth to argue or something to that extent, but Jorin charged on. With his gaze slipping into something softer, Rinya swallowed heavily.

The idea of judging Jorin seemed harsh to her. Judging people was in fact a very easy thing to do, but the only time she ever judged Jorin was—well when she was angry and the judgment was false, and pretty much entirely in her own head anyways. But she could easily see how Jorin could become exhausted. When she was in public, she was lucky enough not to have to act. How she acted was exactly how she was—though she knew that Beautyfest was going to require a lot more work than she originally expected. In some ways she hoped that spending enough time with Jorin would rub off on her and she wouldn’t make a fool of herself.

All the times Rinya insisted that Jorin be himself—perhaps she had miscalculated him. She thought maybe he was acting with her; after all he hadn’t changed to her over time. They had just changed what they needed from the other. Whether it had been the aquarium, or the Amphitheater, or here at the condo—Jorin was the same. But she didn’t spend time with him too often with others; she didn’t get to see the Jorin everyone else knew.

What bothered her the most though was the idea of changing him to suit her needs. Anything Jorin did was because he wanted it—at least she dearly hoped that was the truth. Rinya dropped her gaze from his face, brow furrowed slightly in thought. He still thought she could have chosen someone else. The bond didn’t inspire love, not that he was blaming her feelings on it, but of all the things to misunderstand about her, this was one she thought he would have figured out by now.

”Jorin, I won’t deny that I agree with your version of “beauty”. But, the idea that I could have any man I wanted is—well that isn’t true. You just overlook the things that most other wouldn’t. Like my temper, or my inability to fully express myself.” She looked back up at him and sighed slightly. Hesitantly, Rinya opened her mouth to say something else, before Jorin jolted up from the wall.

"Oh! Let's see if this is done," Jorin moved to remove the fish from the flames, but Rinya stayed where she was, staring at the wall where he had just been. It was a mental war trying to get Jorin to accept the idea that he was the best choice for her, because he simply didn’t think so. There was no arrogance to him when it came to their relationship, even when he was jealous. Possessiveness maybe, but she couldn’t complain there either. It was nice to be worth it enough to be jealous over.

Whirling around to face Jorin she gazed at him as he tried the fish, noting that they probably needed to turn the fish for a few chimes on each side. Mentally Rinya didn’t have the energy to file the information away. She was still stuck on their conversation. But when he handed a piece of the fish to her, she took it and popped it into her mouth. No, not terrible—but she still preferred it raw.

”It isn’t bad, but I think we’ll certainly need the practice. This was supposed to be easy” Her voice wasn’t over critical, slightly distant actually. Moving across the room to the other side of the table, Rinya leaned over the remaining fish and stared at it like it should have the answers—or words—she was looking for. Jorin was able to shift between subjects with such ease. Rinya swore it felt like falling down the stairs at times when she wasn’t able to do the same.

”I’m the opposite of you.” It seemed like a terrible statement to make. They were so opposite of each other it wasn’t even funny at times. ”You act in front of people, and I don’t. If they don’t like what they see, well then it’s no issue of mine.” Rinya shrugged slightly, her hands coming to the fish, and with a skilled practice usually reserved for her beak, Rinya started to pull away tiny bones without disturbing the flesh around them—well not too badly anyways.

”I’ve always been different around you. You’ve always put out this… gentle and kind aura and I’ve never been able to fight it. But mostly… I don’t get along with men. At all. It could be partly due to my father and all his stories, or it just could be that… they aren’t like you. It’s never been an act on my part, how I behave with you. But it has always been different.”

Shrugging again, she pulled her fingers away and belated realized that now the fish—without so many bones—probably wouldn’t skewer as nicely as the other piece did. ”Choosing you… There wasn’t a choice Jorin. Because it’s natural and that’s the best way to have it. It’s more special because it’s you, the first person I ever met that cared… even if at the time it was just another bird.” Rinya wasn’t entirely sure Jorin understood how much it had touched her that he spoke to her like a person, even before he knew she was a Kelvic. She hadn’t even realized how much it meant to her until much later, lying on her bed in the refuge, unable to think of anything other than the man who was just so different than what she was used to, what she had been told.

Rinya peeled a piece of the raw fish off the table and popped it into her mouth, giving him a weak grin. "Maybe we should try something else, and move on from the fish?"

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Fall, Day 46, 513 AV

”It isn’t bad, but I think we’ll certainly need the practice. This was supposed to be easy,” Rinya had said, in a somewhat distant voice. Jorin just shrugged and grinned. He had been the one who suggested this would be the easier of the recipes to try, and they still messed it up just about every step of the way. At this rate, he wasn't all that confident about the next recipe he wanted to try.

Rinya had mentioned that she was, in many ways, his opposite. That she pretty much never acted in front of strangers, that what they saw from her was what they got and petch them if they didn't like it. While she spoke, she also started de-boning the fish, her fingers deftly removing the small bones in an almost practiced way. Jorin wished he could think that way. Act that way.

But out there... an actor's reputation was everything. So you put on a smile for those you could not anger. And a frown for those you should not back down from. Be who you needed to be. It was simply the way of things. And Jorin was good at it. He was so good, that if Rinya wasn't at home to remind him of who he really was, allow him to take down the mask and be himself with her, he might actually start to forget who the real Jorin was. And that thought frightened him more than any other. What it must be like, to forget yourself.

When Rinya mentioned stories her father had told her about men, Jorin raised an eyebrow. This he had not heard. Her father had told her stories? What about, exactly? He found himself very curious to know. But Rinya continued, saying how there wasn't a choice, that it was natural. Jorin wanted so badly to believe it, but it was hard. It was hard because he knew he wasn't the strongest, the fastest, the tallest, the wealthiest. He wasn't the best at anything. He wasn't even the best actor; the Amphitheater had better actors than he.

A woman like Rinya deserved the best. And while Jorin knew he'd strive and strive to get there, he didn't know if he ever would. If he ever could. Jorin just shrugged helplessly and gave an amused laugh. "What a pair we make, huh?" he grinned. "We both think we're not good enough for the other, and it gives the both of us so much grief. Well, all I know is, good enough or not, I love you, Rinya." Jorin shrugged, and smirked a bit. It really was just as simple as that.

Rinya had mentioned that they move on from fish, as she peeled a bit of the fish off the table and ate it. Jorin realized she probably preferred her fish raw, and shrugged as he continued to peel pieces of his own overcooked fish and eat them, taking out needle-like bones and tossing them into the sack with the rest of the garbage. Jorin was about to agree, when his own curiosity resurfaced about something Rinya had said earlier.

As Jorin nodded slightly, and cleared the table somewhat to put down a larger wooden bowl in preparation of preparing some of the eggs he had purchased, Jorin looked over to his mate and smiled. "Rinya," he asked, "what sort of stories did your father tell you, anyway?"

As he asked this question, Jorin took out one of the eggs and cracked it along the edge of the bowl. He did know how to crack eggs, at least. He wasn't completely ignorant on the basics. But they didn't really have anything to beat the egg with, and Jorin scratched his head before shrugging and grabbed a nearby soup spoon and started beating with that. It wasn't exactly the smoothest or fastest way to beat an egg, but it seemed to be getting the job done. Jorin decided to check his little cookbook to see if it had any other sage advice about what else to do to cook the eggs he had bought, but he waited to hear Rinya's answer to his question first.

[Rinya]

Day 46, Season Fall, 513 AV

"We both think we're not good enough for the other, and it gives the both of us so much grief. Well, all I know is, good enough or not, I love you, Rinya."

Rinya hummed in agreement. They both ended up in stalemate over who was better for the other. Though Rinya was slowly coming to accept that Jorin insisted on her being good for him—well who knew better than himself? There would always be hang ups, she wasn’t entirely sure if she would ever get over her aging, but she was learning to live with it instead of dwell over something that didn’t matter in the end. Jorin was man enough to decide his own future without her meddling.

”Maybe we should just trust one another than hm?” Rinya smirked slightly at Jorin. ”It’s just a dead end argument on both ends. We’ll just have to accept faith in each other. Otherwise we could on about this for a very long time.” And that wasn’t something Rinya was willing to dwell on. Every time they could have an argument it was bound to become an excuse for acting out.

"Rinya, what sort of stories did your father tell you, anyway?" Rinya frowned, a piece of fish halfway to her mouth. When she had mentioned it, she hadn’t thought Jorin would actually ask about it. With a small sigh, Rinya placed the fish back on the table and shrugged slightly. ”You have to understand that my father… after I bonded the first time, he was afraid I may do it again.”

Tapping her fingers in an almost nervous fashion against the wood of the table, Rinya watched Jorin crack the eggs into the bowl. ”He uhh… I think he was trying to scare me into never bonding—much less having any other kind of relationship with men. He was quite…detailed about what men liked in women, their purposes and roles. It was his opinion men used women for the sake of pleasure and discarded them when they saw fit. Whether it was for another woman, or they just got bored.”

Taking a deep breath, Rinya pushed herself away from the table and came around to stand next to Jorin. She didn’t touch him—she was still mindful of her fingers being covered in fish, again. But she stared up at him softly. Jorin didn’t fit any of her father’s stories, which she had a feeling were just that for the most part. Stories. ”I knew the role I should play in… mating.” She couldn’t help the bright red flush coming across her cheeks as she remembered their first time together. Nothing at all as she expected it to be. ”Honestly I didn’t even know I could enjoy myself. I did it because I wanted to be that close to you. And of course it ended up being wildly out of my expectations.” Shrugging slightly, she grinned at him and finally looked away, clearing her throat.

”But I learned a long time ago that my father wasn’t always right. I mean women wouldn’t marry or have children if all men were like he described. But I did view it once or twice, kids messing around and sometimes the females… weren’t as important to them. Disposable I think I heard one boy say once.” She nudged his side with her elbow, before looking down at the eggs he was preparing. If she was completely honest with herself, she had the feeling there was something terribly… wrong with her father. Pinpointing what it was though—it was hard, because no matter what she still loved her father. So she tended to try and ignore it. After all, her father was gone and she wasn’t even sure she would see him again. In some ways she was perfectly fine with that idea. Her father would hate Jorin.

”So what are we doing with the eggs?”

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Fall, Day 46, 513 AV

Jorin couldn't help the feeling of horror he felt as Rinya described what her father had told her about what men were like. He couldn't imagine behaving that way with Rinya, and she was so nonchalant about it, like it was supposed to be that way. Jorin could feel his soul revolt at the idea. It was not supposed to be like that. At least not to him; any man that behaved that way was a brute and a barbarian. He'd never "use" Rinya like that.

Rinya had flushed when said she knew what role she was supposed to play during mating. Jorin raised an eyebrow at that. This wasn't a play, she didn't have a "role". The only role he wanted her to play with him was the role of being Rinya. At least, she tacitly admitted that his clumsy attempts at making her feel good had somewhat succeeded, which comforted him somewhat from the shock of hearing how her father thought he would treat her.

Then Rinya moved on to musing that her father wasn't always right. Jorin wanted to agree, but the problem was that he had no point of reference. All his life, he'd had it drilled into his head. Father was always right. The man's mind was a steel trap of logic and mathematics. He would forge bars of rationality and walls of mathematics until Jorin was trapped in it, a prisoner with nowhere to escape.

Rinya mentioned viewing it once or twice. Jorin remembered her saying that in Syliras, she had spent time as an Osprey watching young couples frolic below. Jorin was frankly a little curious why such things would interest Rinya, after the stories her father had told her, but perhaps she just wanted to see if they were true. "Disposable", apparently, was how one of the boys she'd observed described women. Jorin shuddered slightly. Rinya was anything but disposable to him. She was about as disposable as his own heart.

"Rinya, you know I could never see you like that, right?" he asked of her, voice somewhat desperate. "I already can't even see you like the Akalak see you... to treat you like that... I couldn't even imagine it. Won't imagine it."

Jorin shrugged and sighed when Rinya redirected his attention to his eggs. Honestly, the book was even more vague when it came to eggs. It just mentioned that one should beat the eggs, season them with salt and possibly some greens, and then place in some sort of pan or pot and stir "until ready". Jorin had no idea how long that would take, or what sort of seasonings to use, so he just grabbed a pinch of salt (bit more than he'd used with the fish), and then shrugged and grabbed some of the mustard seeds.

Using the mortar and pestle he'd purchased, Jorin ground the seeds into powder, and deciding that he might as well make a bit more in case he needed it, he ground a few more seeds until he had a few ounces of it ready, just in case. Grabbing a pinch of that, he tossed it into the eggs and gave Rinya a look that clearly stated he had no clue what he was doing. His voice confirmed it a moment later.

"The cookbook was really vague on this one," he admitted, a slight blush tinging his cheeks. He really ought to have looked at the cookbook more carefully before he bought it. "Although it claims it's pretty easy. Of course, it claimed that about the fish too."

Jorin growled at the book, as though it was the book's fault he had lousy cooking skills. Truth was, while it was a cookbook with beginner recipes it probably still made several assumptions about the base-line cooking skill of the reader. Assumptions that, clearly, were not true. At all.

Jorin poured the beaten eggs into a small chamberpot and placed the pot on the cooking fire, making sure to stir every few ticks with the spoon. This was the worst part about cooking, Jorin decided. The waiting. It made him feel a bit helpless, honestly. There was nothing to do but to wait and pray that the food comes out edible. As he stirred, he gave Rinya a light kiss on her cheek.

"I'm sorry if I brought up painful memories, Rinya," he apologized quietly, as he continued to stir. "My parents never really discussed women with me. My father probably thought it was a pointless topic, and for whatever reason mother avoided it as well. The only 'experience' I've ever had was with Farline, if you could even call it that."

Jorin shrugged. "Still, nothing about our relationship is like the one I had with Farline. Not the beginning, now how it progressed, certainly not how I feel, none of it is similar. It's why I wondered if I ever really loved her at all."

The egg seemed to be bubbling slightly. Perhaps he should have used some olive oil? Jorin didn't know which ingredients to use for this. He'd never prepared this dish before. Deciding the eggs were "done" enough, he took the chamberpot off the fire. He figured he'd let the egg cool a bit before tasting to see how this particular experiment went.

"Give me just a chime," he said as he grabbed the bucket of water and lugged it out to the garden. Jorin dumped some of the water onto the flowers, figuring that he might as well water them and they didn't need perfectly clean water. The rest he poured out onto the gravel of the path. He went back to the well and retrieved a fresh bucket of water, dragging it back home so Rinya could wash her fingers again if she so chose.

"I'm back!" he announced with a wide grin, as he plopped the bucket down where it was before. Knowing that the fish Rinya was eating would probably be all she really needed for dinner, Jorin decided to taste-test his own dish. Taking the spoon he'd used to stir, Jorin scooped up some of the egg he'd just cooked and ate it. He chewed for all of approximately one tick before his face turned a little green and he fairly ran to the sack with the fish guts and spat it out.

"Oh gods," he said, shaking his head. "I don't know what exactly I did wrong, but that is definitely not edible."

[Rinya]

Day 46, Season Fall, 513 AV

"Rinya, you know I could never see you like that, right?" Rinya gave a snort, mostly because she couldn’t get any words out. Of course she knew Jorin wasn’t going to treat her like that. He could barely stand her being the status of “pet”, much less use her. That would leave him in the same kind of category as Farline, and it was quite literally a laughable idea. It was all part of who he was, and why she trusted him without question.

”Jorin, I wouldn’t be here with you if I thought you would treat me like that. The bond alone wouldn’t hold. I said it once, and I’ll say it again. I trust you. And it’s why I share all of myself with you. Because I’m not a toy, least of all to you.” Jorin had been focused on grinding the mustard seeds into powder by the time she was able to get the words out. Leaning forward so she could look at what he was doing with the eggs, Rinya huffed slightly. The yellow puddle in the bowl had seasoning floating across the top. She pushed the urge to wrinkle her nose down. That didn’t look edible at all. If she hadn’t known they were eggs, she would have seriously given thought to telling Jorin that it couldn’t possibly be food.

”Vague? That can’t exactly be good.” Jorin growled at the book and Rinya couldn’t help it, she laughed out loud. For all his abilities, he seemed to be getting a little impatient himself. At least she wasn’t the only one. As Jorin set the eggs up over the fire, Rinya leaned down and rinsed her fingers again. Moving in close she let herself lean up against his side, and Jorin leaned forward to kiss her cheek, apologizing about painful memories. Under normal circumstance the mention of Farline would have had Rinya uptight, but for once she was perfectly comfortable about letting him talk about her. She simply made a waving motion with her hand in dismissal. There wasn’t anything really painful about it.

In some ways she did feel guilty though. Jorin should be able to talk about anything with her, without the fear that she may get jealous and rage over her once rival. In the long run, Rinya wondered how much “damage” Farline might have done to Jorin’s views of himself. It was hard to tell, as he never fully went into the kind of games she played. And she didn’t expect him to. But if there was one thing she was sadly sure of…

”I’m sure you loved her Jorin. You’re the kind of person who puts all of who they are in a relationship—even if she was the one stringing you along.” Rinya shrugged slightly. Maybe it was a different love than what they shared, or maybe he just couldn’t remember having such feelings for Farline now that he knew of the other side to her. Either way, Rinya had no doubts about his feelings.

Jorin removed the eggs from the fire and Rinya cocked her head slightly. He hurried out of the condo to change the bucket of water and she leaned over the chamberpot, poking at the eggs with the spoon. They didn’t look ready. But then, the only eggs she ever ate tended to be hard boiled. Easy to fix and in her opinion didn’t exactly count as cooking. Not that she ever made them herself, though she knew the basic concept of those. But like everything else she bought them instead of making them.

”Jorin I don’t know if you should—“ Too late. Jorin took a bite and Rinya held her breath. Which wasn’t for long as Jorin spat out the eggs and groaned that the eggs were certainly not edible. Pressing her lips into a firm line, Rinya honestly tried not to laugh. With massive failure. Covering her mouth, Rinya giggled into her fingers, shaking her head over and over. They were terrible at this… not really all that surprising, but the look on his face. It was priceless.

”You s-should see your face!” Rinya fairly squealed behind her hands. She wasn’t entirely sure why she found him so funny… but her ribs ached with the effort to control her laughing. And worse yet, she wasn’t having any luck calming down. Somehow the idea of spending winter trying to improve their cooking skills didn’t seem so bad.

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Fall, Day 46, 513 AV

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Rinya was right. He probably did love Farline, because she was spot on about him; he never did anything by halves. Which just make things all the more painful, to know that he'd loved her, and she never loved him back. Because by now, after everything he'd learned, Jorin was quite certain that Farline had never loved him. But he shoved those thoughts aside. No reason to get depressed over the past; it was pointless and it didn't change anything. Jorin preferred to think of the future instead.

When he'd reached out to grab a spoonful of the "eggs", Rinya had started to warn him, but Jorin had already taken a mouthful of the stuff. It really tasted awful. It was gooey, and mushy, and had a strange combination of salty and spicy that didn't quite mesh together. There were strange gritty parts of it, which Jorin suspected was either grains of salt that hadn't completely mixed, or eggshells he'd accidentally dropped into the mixture.

Regardless, the entire ensemble nearly made him gag, and he wasn't even sure if it was fully-cooked. Even if the abomination of a "meal" was technically safe to eat, which Jorin was not convinced of, there was no amount of Mizas he could be paid to eat the stuff. As he spat out the mouthful of awful eggs, Rinya had pressed her lips into a thin line. Jorin could see her stomach shaking with the effort not to laugh, and Jorin pouted at her.

"It's not funny!" he almost-whined, as she shook her head and continued to giggle into her fingers. She just giggled more, squealing "You s-should see your face!" and laughing harder.

Jorin pouted more. "Sh-shut up..." he whined. Ok, now he was actually whining. But after a few moments his pout broke into a grin and he chuckled. Then he just flat out laughed with Rinya, shaking his head as tears of mirth dampened his eyes.

"Oh man, that was seriously bad," he laughed, sides aching. "S-stop laughing! It's not funny!" he grinned, and then laughed harder when Rinya wouldn't stop.

Deciding that cooking was probably over for the day (the half-edible fish and wholly inedible eggs completely robbing him of any desire to continue the experiment), Jorin decided to stop Rinya's laughing by seizing a handful of flour from its conveniently located bag and tossing it at Rinya, covering her in a thin coat of the white powder.

"Ha! Gotcha!" he crowed with a wide grin, almost childlike in his delight in coating his mate in the flour, and almost daring her to throw something back at him.

[Rinya]

Day 46, Season Fal, 513 AV

"It's not funny!" Oh but it was! Seeing Jorin in such an element of surprise and—oddly—disgust, was very amusing. Everything from his stance, to his face, to even his voice was just… natural. Even though he had said he didn’t act with her—she wasn’t even entirely sure Jorin could have acted his way out of that reaction. The eggs must have been truly terrible. Part of her almost felt bad for laughing at him—almost. "Sh-shut up..."

His voice shifted into a full on whine and Rinya dropped one hand from her face to hold her stomach. If nothing else, the fact that Jorin was whining made it all the harder to stop laughing. In fact, it made it so much worse. Because there was no heat behind the words and on top of that, Jorin’s pout cracked and he started to laugh too. Rinya gasped for breath behind her fingers, closing her eyes tightly. Maybe if she didn’t look at him the laughter would stop. "S-stop laughing! It's not funny!"

Rinya couldn’t help but snort slightly—at least the best she could behind her laughter. The sound itself was rather obnoxious and completely unfeminine, but she couldn’t even tell. Dropping her hand from her mouth to press against the table for stability, Rinya smiled brightly at him, but the laughter still wouldn’t stop. ”Oh p-please! You…!” There was no finishing that sentence as she broke down again, even harder.

However the tears in her eyes from laughing so hard nearly blinded her. So she didn’t even notice Jorin’s subtle movement to the flour. One moment she was laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe, and the next there was a layer over flour all down her front. In her hair, eyelashes, even her mouth. Almost instantly she stopped laughing, and stuttered a gasp. He actually threw flour at her. Blinking several times, she was sure the look on her face was a different kind of shock. The idea that Jorin would do that!

"Ha! Gotcha!" For a moment she considered how to react. Rinya dusted herself off slightly with a huff and fixed Jorin with a hard glare. Stepping around the table, she almost looked about ready to go off the handle at him. And she was actually, just probably not in the way he was thinking. Deftly one hand slid across the table, landing in the cooling mixture of half baked eggs and ensuring she had a hold of a decent sized glob she faced Jorin.

”I can’t believe you did that!” She fairly snarled, doing her best to mask her emotions. Jorin would see it coming if he realized she was giddy rather than angry. At the moment however she was incredibly thankful for taking archery. From this distance, there was little chance she was going to miss. Before Jorin could even say another word, Rinya literally chucked the eggs at him. An innocent smile appeared on her face, as shook her hand off over the bowl, letting the egg drip off tips of her fingers.

”You don’t throw food at someone who’s got aim like I do.” Rinya smirked, watching the egg now splattered across her mate start to drip towards the floor. ”Especially since I have the eggs…” The tone her voice was smug. Rinya was accepting Jorin’s challenge, with complete intent on winning.

[Jorin Ertihan]

Season of Fall, Day 46, 513 AV

Jorin's grin froze when Rinya stopped laughing as soon as the flour landed on her. A small gasp escaped her lips and she glared at him as he crowed about his little victory, and Jorin started to worry. Did he go too far? He searched the bond to see if she was actually angry, but Rinya had muted her emotions and he couldn't tell. Uh oh. Jorin could feel a tiny trickle of sweat on his spine as she stepped around the table, dusting off a bit of the flour as she snarled, "I can't believe you did that!"

Jorin's eyes grew wide as he backpedaled slightly, but truthfully Rinya hadn't left him much room to maneuver. Any further back and his butt would be in the fire. He didn't think his little prank would make her this angry. Jorin's hands had already raised, and he was about to apologize profusely in order to calm his angry mate down when she... dipped her hand into his disaster of a cooking experiment, and flung it with unerring accuracy at him, catching him in the face, neck, and chest.

Oh, this meant war.

"You don’t throw food at someone who’s got aim like I do," Rinya crowed, with a slight smirk. "Especially since I have the eggs…" Jorin's lips curled into a grin as he circled around to his arsenal, grabbing another handful of the flour, even as the eggs dripped messily down his body. It felt disgusting, even when it wasn't in his mouth. Jorin briefly wondered how it was possible to screw up what the cookbook claimed to be one of the simplest and easiest recipes possible. He mentally shrugged.

Rinya may have the advantage of better ammunition, but Jorin had the advantage of quantity. He just had to dodge his mate's shots, somehow. His grin grew wider, as he circled off to Rinya's right. She was left-handed, after all, and maybe if he stayed out of her arc she wouldn't have such an easy time hitting him.

"Ha!" Jorin cried as his right hand, which he'd been keeping behind him, sprang out, but unfortunately Jorin miscalculated. The flour didn't travel, and instead of his first shot, which had beautifully covered his mate's entire front, this one only created a fine dusty cloud that only touched her chest and thighs.

All-in-all a poor shot, and Jorin grimaced a bit, then grinned anyway. Although, his eyes flitted to Rinya's left hand, which was poised close enough to grab another handful of eggs. He'd circled away from his own ammunition, clearly a tactical error on his part. Jorin cast around for something else to throw, and his eyes fell on the eggs. The ones he hadn't cracked. Hmmmm.

[Rinya]

Day 46, Season Fall, 513 AV

Apparently Jorin thought it would be a good idea to try and circle around her. And try to stay out of decent aim by going right. But Jorin forgot one important thing… she was and archer, and things tended to move on her. Since she didn’t need to hold off against the bond anymore—he obviously knew she was up for this game anyways—Rinya grinned right back at him. He almost looked like a child, bright and unyielding in his attempts to keep her from hitting him again with the eggs.

Jorin flung more flour at her, and Rinya blinked and looked down as the cloud descended downwards. It barely even hit her. Looking back up at him, he grimaced slightly before grinning at her again. Apparently he too realized his mistake. He got too close and Rinya stuck out her tongue at him. Grabbing another handful of eggs—in each hand this time—Rinya stepped away from her own ammunition. She knew they were going to make a mess all over the floor at this rate, but he started it and she intended to finish it.

”I think your second shot fell short Jorin.” Rinya said in a light tone, as if they were not flinging undercooked food at one another. She could feel energy zipping through her veins, making her edgy… ready for whatever Jorin apparently had in mind. His eyes darted around, looking for something else to throw at her. It seemed almost at the same moment as her when his eyes fell on the remaining eggs still in their shells. She knew that would be very bad idea. Dodging small projectiles like that would be hard.

So Rinya quite literally threw both handfuls of eggs at the same and whirled around back to the table. The flour was out of reach, and she didn’t want to risk ruining the chamberpot full of the ruined eggs, so she reached for the next closest thing to her. The ground mustard seed. There wasn’t much there, but it would have to do and it would be easy to toss at him. Just as she reached for the bowl, she heard something splat against the floor, though she couldn’t see it from around the table. And a moment later she felt something hard hit her back. Not painfully, but it certainly broke. She didn’t have to see her back to know the wet sticky feeling was an egg, thoroughly saturating her dress. Picking up the bowl, Rinya turned back to face Jorin. He wasn't facing her, reaching to reload himself on eggs again. ”Oh Jorin!”

Rinya sang his name in bright tone, waiting for him to face her. And the moment he turned, Rinya stepped up closer—risking the chance of being unable to dodge any eggs he may throw at her—and flung the contents of the bowl at him. At first she wasn’t even sure the powder was going to reach him, but it seemed to shift and then hit him square in the face.