Mary had a little lamb because you didn't fucking cook it!

The moment he pulled the pan away, a bit of oil slicked out and sent a quick flame shooting up into the air. The young man hardly seemed phased though, shaking the pan back and forth quickly to stir the food and juices inside before sliding the pan back into it's place. The last of the small fire had disappeared and the Autumn quickly turned the heat on the stove down to a simmer. He let out a small sigh, wiping his hands off a nearby towel and tossing it back on the counter. Honestly, he'd almost forgotten how hot it could get in the kitchen. It'd been quite some time actually cooking.

It was hard to make anything decent in their dorm rooms. All there happened to be was a small stove, a toaster, a microwave, and a fridge; all cramped together with hardly any room to even make a sandwich. It was the main reason that their fridge was stuffed with so many damn left-overs. He never wanted to cook somewhere so small. (Also it was hard to keep fresh ingredients around otherwise when you always had to squeeze things between cans and liters of soda constantly.)

But here, Preston was free to do whatever he liked. He wasn't entirely sure if he was allowed to use the kitchens in the first place, but fuck it. It was the weekend so nobody was around. All the leftovers had already been handed out, and he didn't expect many people to be joy-walking around through the cafeteria or start snooping - even if it kinda smelled nice and he wasn't trying to stay quiet or anything. Nobody had bothered him yet and he was almost done with his meal.

He'd already finished the heroes of his dish, the steak grilled over a cast iron, along with the baked lobster. He'd had some fresh oysters and grilled shrimp on the side. It all sat upon a mountain-like platter of french fries, with a whole other batch on the way - since he'd accidentally made so many extras.

The only thing that was left on his list for the moment were the seared scallops, which he quickly turned his attention back to again, finishing his handy work in front of the oven.

He'd made way too much to eat on his own. Leftovers for the next week, he supposed?

Wandering around the school...It was just a daily route for Hosa as she tried to keep an eye out for troublemakers or people who needed help. This was one of the few things the Autumn took seriously; being a prefect. She was walking past the cafeteria when a tasty smell reached her nose. She came to a stop, her eyes flicking for a few seconds at the simple smell of it all...Before she frowned becoming aware that most of the smell was that of cooking meat. An almost wistful sigh escaped her as she pushed open the doors to the cafeteria.

She had stopped eating meat years ago when she had first arrived at Beata...It seemed just to...Weird seeing how she could turn into animals. But she might as well see if the person was cooking anything she could eat. Walking though the cafeteria toward the kitchen, she took notice of the person behind the counter and a small smile almost flickered upon her face. Well, look who it was - Preston Andrews. She knew who he was, he was another Autumn and had been at Beata as long as she had. Little was she expecting him to be cooking thought! Leaning on the counter that linked the cafeteria to the kitchen, she let out a small laugh as she called over to him. "You know, I don't think you should be in here."

The Autumn student had hardly even noticed when someone walked in through the cafeteria behind him, too focused on making sure that the scallops he had on the pan were cooked for nothing short than perfection. He quickly pulled out a plate and threw a small paper towel over it, taking the white and golden seafood and tossing them nimbly onto the plate, to dry most of the oil off. It wasn't until then that he'd heard Hosa speak up.

Preston turned around, wiping his hands again and raising his eyebrow. He felt a subtle pain shoot though his arm, but ignored it, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his wrist. "Never saw a sign here that said I couldn't." He called back, smirking a little and turning back to his food, poking it with his finger. Had to be sure that it wasn't raw, but he also couldn't let them get too rubbery. Thankfully, they seemed to be fine to him, and he started on the next batch. "Are you gonna rat me out then? I think things would get a little too messy if you tried to get me to leave otherwise." He mused. This would be a nasty place for a rematch in his mind.

A smirk appeared on Hosa's face as she stared at him, titling her head slightly as he spoke. When he finished as he started to return to his food, she let out a soft laugh as she shook her head. "I suppose you have a point, Preston," she said with a shrug. "Besides I'm not looking for trouble - just stating a fact. Besides, I think we would get in more trouble for having a fight in the kitchen then you cooking in here. At least a bigger mess at any rate." Even thought Preston wasn't looking at her, she made a motion toward the pile of food that he was making. She scanned the food as she did so, frowning when she saw that she could eat almost none of it. Other then for the fries. She could eat those she supposed. But really, what was up with all of the meat? No salads on the side or what? Man, what did a shape-shifter have to do to get some greens around here.

Instead of laughing, Preston let out a sniff, staring down at the food in his pan and shaking the metal over the hot flame; making sure it was all being cooked nice and evenly. "That doesn't sound very 'prefectly' of you." The Autumn mused, glancing back around her and watching as she stared down the pile of food he had stacked up. She didn't exactly looked pleased with what she was seeing, almost grossed out, if he said so himself. He felt downright insulted. "Is there a problem with me food too?" He called blandly.

She shrugged as she glanced at him, giving him a soft smile. "Suppose not, but I am an Autumn prefect. I mean, I can't think of any big rules you are breaking that is enough that I should really care I guess," she hummed softly, before blinking as he brought up his food. She blinked, before giving him a sheepish smile. "Oh no, nothing is wrong with your food just..." she paused for a few seconds before sighing softly. "I'm just a vegetarian, so perhaps I was a bit hurt that you made almost nothing that I could eat. It is just...Hurtful, to say the least," she said, although the ending was in a soft joking tone as she placed a hand over her heart as she looked at him with a faint smile and sparkling eyes. "No thoughts toward us poor non-meat eaters?"

Preston really couldn't help but raise an eyebrow then. "You really don't like the taste of meat, eh?" He said in a dull tone, rubbing his arm all too obviously and letting out a small, humorous laugh. "I really wouldn't have guessed that." His gaze flickered from her to the pile of food again, wondering if she was serious about being 'hurt' or not when it came to him having prepared a vegan friendly meal. "I wasn't exactly expecting your company, now was I?" He said. This food was for he, himself, and him. And probably Kayla and/or his other roommates when they inevitably jacked his leftovers. "But hey, I'm a gentleman." He took the pan off the flame and threw what scallops he had unto the plate to cool down. "If you asked nicely, then maybe I'd consider whipping up something more to your tastes."

Hosa shrugged softly, her eyes flicking. "Well...It isn't that I don't like the taste - I used to love meat before I learned of my gift...It is just...Weird to eat meat when I can turn into what I could be eating." She grew silent before a smile appeared on her face as she leaned forward. "But I suppose that is true - I did come out of nowhere. So fine...Will you please make me something I can eat? I want to see if you can good a non-meat meal as good as those look," she said, making a motion toward his piles of food. "I might steal some of the french fries as well because I don't think you need that whole mountain of them."

The sound of frantic footsteps filled the hallways, bouncing off the walls to ring faintly through the cafeteria. At first, you could have easily been mistaken in thinking it was some late student trying to hurry down the hall, but as the seconds ticked by, it only grew louder.

Kayla burst through the doors with a crash, a pale shadow with her hand cocked like a gun, electricity coursing down her fingers. She fell back against the doors with a sigh as they swung close again with a BANG. Unlike the other girl, she was lean and wolfish, short to the point of scrawny.

When she opened her eyes, she realized she wasn't alone.

Right now, the last person she wanted to see the prefect... but something kept her from just immediately bolting back out the way she came. You could say Kayla thought with her nose instead of her brain, and good God, it smelled good in here. Some idiot was standing in the kitchen—her roommate, of course, who else—probably drawn to the scent of food like she was. Oddly enough, there was no sign of the chef.

Caught between abandoning a feast and getting stuck in a conversation with her two favorite people in the world, she couldn't do anything else but stare from the doors. Normally, she might have extended a lazy greeting toward Pres, but right now Kayla only had eyes for Hosa. The fresh taste of defeat was still bitter on her tongue.

Preston couldn't help but let out a pretentious smirk as she rambled off her sweet little plea for some of his cooking. "Of course I can, as long as you don't make a big deal about this." It was his trade secret, used for last minute presents, romantic swooning of women, or for the rare occasions that he didn't feel like having take out or frozen pizza for dinner. The last thing he wanted were people constantly begging him for a free meal. An idea for the dish popped in his head.

For as long as he could remember, he wondered why on earth would anyone want to give up meat, period. It tasted good and anyone who tried to convince him otherwise was as good as dead to him. (Though he supposed Hosa's reasoning was as good as someone could ever come up with.) Even still, in the long run he knew he couldn't call himself any sort of chef for shit if he didn't know how to make everything. Luckily, he had the perfect dish for her in mind. Although he preferred it with beef, he supposed tofu would be a decent substitute. "Alright, you can have some, whatever. If you eat too many though, don't think I won't kick you out. Those took fucking forever to peel." He held up a knife threateningly for a moment, protective over his food.

He started shuffling around the room, throwing different things on the counter: glass noodles, bean sprouts, thai pastes... He practically dropped whatever left he had in his hands on the counter when the sound of a small explosion, or car crash (or something) erupted at the other end of the cafeteria. Preston narrowed his eyes immediately, wondering what she was doing, or who she was running from? "What the fuck are you doing here?" He yelled at Kayla, raising an eyebrow.

OOC: Just wanted to get a small post in.

IC: Kayla had been too absorbed with Hosa's presence to pay too much attention to Preston, but the sound of his voice sent up a flare of anger in her chest. "Eh? Is that how you're gonna say hello?" Her voice was as sharp as a knife. "What the fuck are you doing here?" she shot right back.

And did he have to be here with Hosa? Pres was a manwhore to the worst degree, but she thought that he at least had the dignity not to go hitting on the flying wolf that'd ripped his arm off from his shoulder. For some reason, that pissed her off more than his snot-nosed attitude toward her. She folded her arms in front of her, her hands balled into fists. "Am I crashing your date with the Princess?"

Hosa had listened to Preston as he talked before letting out a small laugh as him threatening her over the french fries. She didn't think he was all that scary even with that knife, but froze when the sound of something crashing filled the air. She spun around in surprise the same moment Preston yelled at the newcomer, and let out a soft sigh when she saw who had entered.

Crap.

There stood Kayla in all of her glory, staring straight at Hosa as she snapped at Preston. They were roomates, weren't they? So it was no wondering that they knew each other, they even shared the same gift strangely enough. However, her eyes narrowed the moment she dared to call this random meeting with Preston a 'date'. She didn't even care about the princess remark. "Really?" she soon sighed, shaking her head, taking notice of Kayla's balled firsts. "Must we really be so rude? And this is not a 'date' anyhow. I simply came to figure out what the smell of food was because I was hungry. Besides, it isn't like I have any interest in Preston anyways," she said, a playful tone in her voice.

She really didn't have any interest in dating anyone - the first few people she had liked at Beata had disappeared so easily that she gave up on the dating scene. But she for sure wasn't interested in Preston - she barely knew him anyways. She couldn't really say how many times she had talked to him... It wasn't a whole lot, she knew that much.

She wasn't afraid of him? It was a good thing that she dared not to say that aloud. As far as he was concerned, he was the closest who came to beating her in that rigged, he thought, tournament. He would've been more than tempted, the young man wouldn't have hesitated to throw his freshly sharpened knife at that pretty face of hers. Yet still, she stayed quiet, and so did he - still playing his part as the gentlemen. Perhaps it was for both their benefits then that her roommate had decided to come crashing in.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He waved the knife around around, glanced down at his apron, behind him at the giant pile of fries and seafood - and then he realized what exactly what this meant. "Son of a..." So much for keeping this on the low-down. He hit his forehead with the palm of his free hand. It didn't take long for the thought to leave his mind though, once the older student had insisted on her disinterest in him. That hurt his pride some, and he shot her an indignant look. "Too good for me to get with, but you'll still come here and steal my food?" He scoffed, turning around to start bringing the noodles to a boil anyways. He never figured he had a shot at getting her back to his room anyways, but hearing her say it herself sucked ass.

'What does it look like I'm doing?' 'My' food? The apron, the knife, the skillet and the oven and the cast iron grill, the mountains and platters of food. Steak, fries coated in seasoning, with scallops and oysters and grilled spiced shrimp. If she wasn't hallucinating from the scent, that was a lobster. Like, restaurant-quality lobster.

For a moment, caught up in their three-way bickering, Kayla was tempted to shout 'exactly'! That's what she kept him around for, after all; food. But this wasn't leftover pizza and microwaved chow mein, this was actual food. She glanced around, looking for the lunch lady or a student or Chef Ramsay to pop out from under the counter, but there was no one else. Just the three of them.

Her eyebrow twitched and she strode forward with quick, short, angry steps, electric whips crackling around her head. Her caution of the prefect was forgotten for now. "I don't believe you," she muttered, half to herself, as she came to a stop beside Hosa. "You didn't make this for this guy, did you? Are you covering for him? He's probably only acting like he cooked it, right?" She seemed desperate to hear her say it. It only took a glance to tell that this wasn't leftover cafeteria food, not unless the frog-looking lunch lady was holding out on them hard.

Hosa didn’t react to Preston realizing this kinda did look like a date, but let out a loud sigh and rolled her eyes when he scoffed at her for the whole ‘no interest’ remark she had made. “It isn’t even like that, Preston! I am not ‘to good’ for you, I am just not interested in any relationship at the moment. I barely know you anyways…” Her eyes however darted at Kayla as she stormed over - with electricity included - and frowned as Kayla went on. A half disgusted look came over her face at the simple notion that Kayla even though that she might of made this food. “Are you kidding? I haven’t touched meat in years and I ain’t starting now. I am a vegetarian and I can’t even cook. Not that I’ve ever tried my hand in it…” she paused before she remembered something that Preston had said and glanced at him. “And I am not stealing your food! You could of just said no, but you even offered to cook me something if I asked nicely because you were a ‘gentleman.’"

From a peaceful meeting to a full-out shouting match. It was pretty interesting how things could chance once Kayla showed up. IluvuSleepy