Time Well Spent [Deuce]

[King (No. 13)]

Being this distracted was never fun. Queen was just about the only thought floating around in the mind of number thirteen of Class Zero. Ever since she'd admitted her own feelings for him, King had turned into a mental wreck. He wasn't sure where to go from there, especially since she had kissed him before even saying a word, which left him in shock that day, but hey, he wasn't complaining about it, just not really knowing what to do or say could mess someone up. Pacing the hallways quickly, King wasn't exactly sure where he was going, who he was going to see, or what he was going to do, his mind was distracted remember? It was going to be one of those 'spur of the moment' types of things. He'd thought many times about doing something nice for Queen, but never had he really came up with an acceptable answer. He didn't know what girls liked! Dates? Jewelry? But wasn't the latter a bit much already? He was a hopeless man when it came to this, unknowing what to do and he didn't know who to ask for help. Not Nine, he didn't want that subject haunting over his head forever and a day. Everyone else seemed busy, and besides, King had a reputation to keep. Anyone else would have him doing something ridiculous, like…baking or something like that.

Heading away from the dormitories and towards the library, King began to wonder who he would run into. He hoped it wasn't one of the guys, or they might notice a little bit of oddity in his step and expression. Queen. What was it about her that just distracted him so much? It was ruining him, absolutely ruining him. What was a man supposed to do? Act on his feelings? Oh he needed help really bad, so…what exactly was at the library that was going to help him? A manual on the female mind and emotions? Highly unlikely. But usually there were students there, maybe one of which would help him out with his dilemma. With quick strides still, King kept his eyes peeled forward, not looking at anyone he passed by with such a quick pace, but feeling their burning stares into his back. He was sure he'd be staring at someone too if they had marched through the academy like this, looking so determined yet so frustrated at the same time. Oh well, there was plenty of time to worry about what people thought later, right now, he was on a mission.

Finally, standing outside the library, King breathed in deeply and exhaled deeply before he pressed his hand against the door and quietly emerged into the room, glancing around and no one seemed to be stirred from their reading or homework to notice him even enter the room. Well, at least he hadn't disturbed anyone. Right now he was going through the faces of those he knew, quite a few students, but no one he was exactly buddies with. There was Quon, typical of him to be in here, probably studying the ultimate magic or whatever it was he looked for these days. Scanning the room some more, King's hazel eyes then settled upon a fellow member of Class Zero, and it was then he was hit with the idea of the perfect person to ask for help. The small dark haired brunette, Deuce, she was perfect! So kind and honest, she'd surely help King out without holding some sort of lame jokes or blackmail over his head right? Of course! It was Deuce he was thinking about after all, one of the nicest girls out there. But thing is, would she have the time? Or was she studying? King didn't want to be a burden most of the time but today was different, he was going out of his way to be a burden, asking for advice and hopefully getting a good answer in return.

Walking over casually, he stopped at a table, feeling like he was just being bothersome. Oh well, might as well go ahead and ask, worst thing that could happen is Deuce would have no idea as to what he was talking about, but why jump straight to the question? He could say hi or something first right? "Hello, Deuce." He said in a quiet tone seeing as this was the library. Pulling out a seat and sitting down, he rested his arms against the table and leaned forward, his eyes glancing at her every so often. "I…how are you today?" He asked, not really sounding all that interested in an answer, it wasn't the topic he really wanted to spend much time on, but he wasn't going to be rude. If this didn't work out, King was definitely on his own from here…

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Words: 912
Muse: MUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE! <3
Tagged: Deuce :3
Wearing: Academy Uniform
Listening To: Nothing
Notes: Hope you don't mind me godmodding a bit as to where Deuce was at >>

[Deuce (No. 2)]

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Magical Melody
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Deuce yawned lazily as she entered the library. She’d just gotten back from a date with Cinque, a non-romantic date of course, but it had still taken a lot out of her. Cinque was so happy and bubbly all the time, it was invigorating at first, but really exhausted you if you spent too much time in her company, or so Deuce felt anyway. It wasn’t really her fault, Deuce had stayed up way past her usual bedtime last night, practicing with the deck of cards she’d borrowed from one of the guys. She wanted to get better at it so she could show Ace and make him proud. Better not get too good though, or it’ll hurt his man-pride, Deuce thought with a smirk as she searched through the various bookcases. Ironically, Cinque of all people had recommended she go and read this book, some romantic novel about a vampire or something… the girl was probably messing with her though, she had that look on her face that suggested she just needed a good laugh and Deuce being a bit gullible at times would provide her with some entertainment. She supposed she’d have to just wait and see for herself, who knew, maybe it actually was a really great book? And besides, reading books was a relaxing activity, definitely something she needed after a full day of Cinque.

When she finally found the book, she flipped through the first few pages and decided that it looked decent enough. Sitting herself down on one of the higher chairs, she put the book down on the desk and began to read the first page. She’d looked around for a smaller chair, but most were already taken. But hey, at least this chair made her look slightly bigger than she actually was! Her feet couldn’t touch the floor well, but those were minor details. She didn’t plan on going anywhere else today anyway, so as long as the chair didn’t magically tip over (or someone pulled it over) she would be just fine for the next couple of hours.
Swinging her legs back and forth and resting her chin in her hands, she began to wonder what everyone else was up to today. She knew Cinque had run off to find Queen to return one of the books she’d borrowed, and she’d spotted Cater, Eight and Jack hanging out in the courtyard earlier. Rem and Machina were with the chocobos, Seven probably was too. As for the rest? She had no idea. Probably out training or something. Wherever they were, she didn’t expect to see any of them today. A pity, she liked spending time with her classmates.

With a shrug, she went back to her reading, but she didn’t manage two lines of text before someone sat down next to her, breaking her out of her concentration. She smiled lightly as she looked up at King, though she couldn’t help but feel a little confused. They were on good terms, and they occasionally walked to and from class together, but they didn’t usually spend too much time together. Not as much time as he spent with Queen or she spent with Cinque and Cater, anyway. It didn’t matter, she was still happy to see him.
“Hey King,” she replied in an equally quiet tone, not wanting to disturb the peace of the library too much. “I’m feeling fine, thanks,” the answer was brief, but she didn’t think King would mind that too much. He hadn’t actually sounded all that sincere with his question. She wondered why that was… was he feeling sick or something? Oh dear, she hoped not. If he passed out, it would take all her strength to even lift one of his legs, never mind his entire body. She’d have to get someone else to carry him to Arecia’s office if that happened.
“How about you? You look a little… pale.” She leaned over a little to observe his face properly, “Are you feeling alright?”

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Words: 666
Tagged: King
Location: Library
Outfit: Class Zero Uniform
Notes: <3

[King (No. 13)]

Deuce was just too nice of a girl to give King false advice. Cater was a prankster, so he would've avoided her at all costs anyways, Cinque was too…over the top sometimes, and well, he wasn't going to ask Seven because there was just an awkward line between them involving Nine and walking in on something he took the wrong way, but…ANYWAYS. Sice wouldn't do either because…well it was Sice, she wasn't the best to help with this kind of stuff, so it was narrowed down to Deuce, the obvious choice now that King got a chance to think about each member of Class Zero. He tried not to look so uncomfortable, or pale, but he couldn't help that, he was torturing himself on the inside with all of this. Queen was just too distracting to him, he couldn't find peace anymore since she had kissed him and admitted that she liked him just as much as he did in return. He needed to do something nice for her, but nothing too cliché like a romantic dinner, or…yeah something unique, something unlike King, so who better to ask than someone else?

The library was obnoxiously quiet, and it made King feel like any words spoken even in the tiniest whisper would be as loud as a shotgun going off in the middle of the room. But this was probably his only shot at catching Deuce at a relatively good time, even though she looked like she was drawn into some book, he felt that this could not wait otherwise he would drive himself to insanity. Sitting down at the table next to her, King just stayed quiet, asking simple yet polite questions to see how she was doing today. Nodding at her quiet responses, he looked well probably not as well as he wanted to. He was supposed to be the cold, blank, expressionless one, but here he was turning into a tragic train wreck all because of a girl. "Good, glad to hear that." He said in response, wondering when it would be best to jump onto the question of getting advice from her. She was younger of course, but at least she would have a better idea than King would…hell, anyone would have a better idea than King would. ANYONE.

"Me? Oh I'm…I'm okay." He shrugged slightly, shifting his eyes away from the brunette as he gazed around the library near where they were sitting. No time like the present to ask a question! Especially when there weren't many people around to overhear or laugh at King when he finally spit it all out. Leaning forward a bit and looking back at Deuce, a serious look on his face, King opened his mouth to speak, but found there were no words. He didn't like this one bit, asking for advice. Intimidating King was intimidated by the world of women and what they wanted. "Deuce? I…I need your advice on something. It's probably something you don't get asked a lot, but I wasn't sure who else to go to." He'd started, finally having the words to help him out here. So how exactly did he word his actual question? Hesitating, he pressed a hand to his forehead before running his fingers through his hair, feeling rather silly but thinking it was time to move along. "Please keep this between you and me. Queen…and I are I guess you could say together, and I want to do something for her you know? Something nice, and not cliché like in every movie out there. What do you think would be something she would like?" he finally asked, almost talking in a silent yet speedy tone as he didn't feel the burning stares of other students like he imagined he would've. That was one plus. His eyes stayed on Deuce, almost pleading for an answer as he waited patiently for a response, hoping she could come up with something…anything.

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Words: 760
Muse: Good!
Tagged: Deuce
Wearing: Academy Uniform
Listening To: Nothing
Notes: Nada!

[Deuce (No. 2)]

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Magical Melody
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There was something off about King. Normally, he looked like the very definition of stoicism, posture straight, expression mostly void of emotion. It was almost strange to see him all hot and bothered about something, and Deuce was seriously starting to worry that he might be getting sick. Who knew? Maybe he’d been in the library for a while, realized he was about to throw up or something and ran for the first person he knew so she could drag him out and safe him from the embarrassment.
Thing was, he looked uncomfortable, but not necessarily ill. He was looking around the library, away from her face, and Deuce simply leaned her cheek against her palm as she waited for him to spill the beans and simply tell her what was bothering him. He knew she wouldn’t tell on him if it were something awkward, right? She hoped he did. Whatever problem he was having, it was obviously bad enough that he was reaching out for help. Don’t back out now.
At last he turned back to her and looked down with a serious look. Tilting her head slightly, she attempted to coax the words out of him, and it seemed to working, as he finally opened his mouth and started speaking again. She merely nodded at him to continue. Advice? He was here for advice? That was odd… she had some good advice from time to time, but to come all the way here to ask her specifically? Of course she’d help him if she could, but it still seemed a little odd.

Her hand shot up and clasped over her mouth in surprise when he revealed his relationship with Queen, though no sound left her mouth. She knew it! She knew there was something up between those two, but she’d never had any proof. Call it a woman’s intuition. It was nice to know these two had found each other though. They'd make a cute couple for sure!
This revelation also made her feel much better about her own feelings towards Ace. It was silly to think it might be wrong anyway, none of them were related in anyway. They’d simply grown up together, but then, Rem and Machina had kind of grown up together, and there was some definite chemistry between those two as well. But anyway, back to King’s problem.
With a sweet smile, she dropped her hand back into her lap “That’s so sweet,” she told him softly when she recovered from the shock, “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.” But now there was the matter of gifts. King wanted to do something for Queen, possibly give her something? And he wasn’t sure what to do. Deuce leaned back in her chair, giving a thoughtful look as she again swung her legs back and forth. A gift for Queen… there were a lot of gifts he could give her, but none of the things she was thinking of were special. It needed to be something special because Queen was a special lady. Deuce herself would’ve been fine with flowers or dinner or something cliché like that, but then Deuce had no trouble admitting that she wasn’t as mature and sophisticated as Queen.
Flowers wouldn’t do… any idiot could run to a store to buy a bouquet, even guys without money could get it if they were patient enough to go outside and pluck them. Dinner wasn’t good either, it essentially meant that the cook was doing all the work and you just happened to enjoy the cook’s food with her.
So what else was there? A picnic? Of course, that meant anyone from Class Zero could spot them and ruin everything by either mistaking it as a class picnic that they’d simply lost the invitation to, or maliciously go up there and make them feel uncomfortable. No picnic.
It had to be something nice but practical. Something small that was still really sweet and thoughtful. Something King would’ve had to work for rather than just throw money at to get. Something they could both enjoy and---

Deuce clasped her hands together and grinned up at her classmate, eyes sparkling with delight. She knew just the gift he could give to her! Leaning forward to avoid the possibility of other students and even faculty listening in on their conversation, Deuce whispered excitedly, “Just follow my lead.”
Without another word, she slipped off her chair and grabbed her bag, completely forgetting about the book she’d been reading a minute before. This was an actual real life love story in the making, which was much better than some tragic book about vampires. “I’m such a klutz, thanks for telling me King.” She spoke in a slightly louder tone, ensuring that other people could hear. “Can you help me fix it? I’d do it myself but…” she motioned to her height. What was she talking about? Absolutely nothing, but this would at least keep the current library visitors from gossiping for a little while, which was something they’d absolutely do if Deuce were to drag King out of the library without warning.
“Come on,” she mouthed before turning and walking towards the exit.

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Words: 864
Tagged: King
Location: Library
Outfit: Class Zero Uniform
Notes: ~

[King (No. 13)]

Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. Maybe King should've just stuck to his normal tactic, emotionless and mentally arguing with himself over things like this. King did trust Deuce with this…but…agh! This was just making him look like a foolish teenager. He wasn't trying to be so awkward or anything right now, but then again, when had King ever been good at expressing himself? Never, and hopefully Deuce would understand that. After spilling the beans pretty much, King watched Deuce's reaction, her hand over her mouth and just that look of excitement. At least she had the common courtesy not to squeal or anything like he imagined Cinque would've done. It only made him feel more…well awkward. She knew, and not that it was supposed to be a secret or anything, he just didn't want anyone making a big deal out of it all. Yes yes it was sweet, and thankfully she'd keep it on the down low for now. Sooner or later people would figure it out, but it wasn't like they needed a huge announcement or anything, that'd just put King in an early grave. "Thank you, Deuce." He mumbled quietly, still feeling sheepish and almost on the verge of embarrassed. This really was not his forte.

Keeping his mind working around different ideas, King dismissed them all and heavily relied on whatever Deuce could come up with. He was throwing himself into the frying pan right now, wanting to do something nice and sweet for Queen to make her happy, making sure it wasn't stupid or cliché…it wasn't like he was going to go out and buy her a wedding ring, but he wanted to do something to put a smile on her face. Was he trying too hard? Probably, but then again, at least he was trying. The only thing he really wanted to exclude from any idea, was the rest of Class Zero being able to intrude. So like…something around the academy or anything like that was a huge no. Anything that involved being in his dorm – especially with Nine around – was a HUGE No. And then there was the thought of…Naghi. Oh that guy could get dirt on just about anyone or anything, it was almost impossible to escape him and his blackmail pictures or whatever else he had in store. Then again, if anything was discovered, then so be it, people would know, King just didn't want to make a big deal about it, that was all. He was sure to hear something from someone sooner or later.

Blinking and looking at Deuce as she clasped her hands together, King knew that was a sign, she'd thought of something and apparently thought of something good. Raising an eyebrow slightly, he looked at her and almost wanted to ask what it was she thought of, but then again, this probably wasn't the place to talk about it. Everyone seemed to be studying in here today so…yep, it was best they get moving. Follow her lead, okay. She knew very well that this wasn't the place to talk so, nodding ever so slightly, King played it off rolling with whatever Deuce said and just tried to make it as believable as possible, not that anyone would really be paying much attention. Standing up and smiling slightly as Deuce began to speak a little louder, it was pretty believable. "Right, but you're short, so let's get this over with." He said in his usual tone with his usual expression, not looking quite as uncomfortable as before as he trailed after her. Pocketing his hands as they exited the library, King made sure the door was closed before he began to speak again, looking down at the shorter girl. "So I assume something came to mind?" he started, a tiny fraction of a smile twitching at the corners of his lips. Deuce really was a good person, always laid back and easy to talk to. "Where should we go to discuss this further?" he questioned, actually raising an eyebrow now, curiosity was getting the better of him, but he'd have to have patience which was never a problem for him. He just hoped Deuce knew what she was doing, knew his limits and knew not to involve anyone else in the entire academy aside from him, herself, and Queen. Those were the only people that needed to be involved right now.

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Words: 840
Muse: Good!
Tagged: Deuce
Wearing: Academy Uniform
Listening To: Football <3
Notes: hehehehe

[Deuce (No. 2)]

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Magical Melody
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Deuce really couldn’t help her reaction. It was just so nice to hear when things were going well with your friends, and hearing that they were kind of sort of maybe a couple was even better, and gave Deuce some hope for her own situation. Perhaps she could discuss it with King sometime, at least he wouldn’t give her a funny look when she’d confess to liking a boy she’d practically grown up with. He also understood the desire to keep quiet about these things, which was a definite plus. The only problem was that King was… well… King. Tall, stoic, intimidating King, especially to a tiny girl like Deuce who had to strain her neck to even see his face when they were standing too close together. She knew he wasn’t a bad guy, and that looks were definitely deceiving, but still…
But those were concerns for later she supposed, right now, it seemed King himself had a bit of a situation on his hands that he needed help with. Who would’ve thought a guy like King would ever need something from a girl like Deuce. Miracles did exist after all. Thankfully for him, he’d come to the right person. No one understood presents better than a girl, and Deuce was friendly and patient, who better to ask? The thought of King going to one of the guys for advice made her both smirk and cringe, if that was even a possible expression. Oh how awkward that encounter would end, and he’d likely end up taking some lame gift to a classy lady like Queen who would wonder what the hell King had been thinking. What would the guys even suggest? Trey might suggest a speech on all of Queen’s good qualities, Nine’s idea of romance was likely kill a bear to show her you’re the alpha male, Eight would suggest stealing her underwear just because he could and as for the rest… she didn’t even want to know. No really, she didn’t. Guys needed to stay far away from these things.
Thinking of what the guys would do strangely enough gave her a decent enough idea herself. That was… disturbing. She reconsidered it, but really couldn’t find a solid reason for dismissing this particular plan. That was it then, now all she’d have to do is drag King to the kitchen, slap an apron on him and get to work! The tiny brunette swiftly cooked up a dastardly clever plan to escape the library without rousing suspicion – these teenagers… they could smell intrigue from miles away – and King followed her lead, acting like his own stoic self. Oh yes, they were fantastic actors; as they made for the door, not a single soul showed an interest in them. Success!

With each step she took, Deuce got more and more excited. A little while ago she’d thought about how she never did spend a lot of time with people like King or Sice… it wasn’t a huge problem or anything, but it had bothered her a little. She enjoyed spending time with her classmates – all her classmates – and if she didn’t speak to them for a while it almost felt like they were growing apart. One day, they would all grow apart as they went their separate ways in life, pursuing different dreams, but it didn’t have to happen right away. Right now, they were still kids. Right now, they could enjoy life without worrying about a bunch of responsibilities.
Needless to say, Deuce was overjoyed that King had come to her of all people for advice. She wouldn’t disappoint him; this idea was fantastic! …or so she thought anyway.
As soon as she heard the door close behind them, Deuce turned on her heel and smiled brightly, nodding in response to his question. “Mhmm, and I think it’s a really fitting idea too. Small, simple and sweet,” she explained before taking a few steps in the direction of the kitchen. “The kitchen should be empty right now, let’s go there.” With an innocent smile, she turned and made for the kitchen. Now that she thought about it, she really wasn’t all too sure if King could even fry an egg, let alone bake a batch of cookies. Oh boy, maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all. Peeking curiously over her shoulder, she stared intently at his face, as though his facial features would tell her if this particular person had certain skills. Of course, he’d probably already guessed that they’d be cooking something, right? Why else go to the kitchens? There were plenty of other quiet places to talk things over, and King was a smart guy… he could put two and two together. She hoped.
“Um… King…?” she asked carefully as they neared the kitchen, “Could you rate your cooking skills from… one to ten?”

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Words: 810
Tagged: King
Location: Hallway
Outfit: Class Zero Uniform
Notes: Since I can't cook, I'll be bsing the cooking in this thread by reading online recipes. >__>

[King (No. 13)]

King was pretty curious by now, but he trusted Deuce. It’s why he went to her instead of someone else. Cater would’ve just poked fun and come up with a ridiculous idea, Sice would’ve laughed her ass off, it just seemed like Deuce was the nicest and most reasonable of the bunch of girls. There was no way in hell that he would’ve gone to a guy for help…that was a horrible idea, it would’ve been better just to figure it out by himself…that is if Deuce wasn’t available to help him. Luckily it’d been just the opposite, she’d led them out of the library, looking as normal as ever to not draw attention, King simply followed her lead, that normal expression on his face not to give anything away, and once outside, he was just letting the different thoughts run through his head. Hopefully she didn’t come up with the idea that he should do something completely degrading, like…serenade her door or anything…he’d probably shoot himself with his own dual guns before doing that.

Gazing at the brunette, he saw the bright smile on her face and felt a little better. It was nice to know that she had some sort of idea while he did not. King folded his arms across his chest, listening to her words. Small, simple and sweet was good, nothing too over the top was probably best anyways, maybe just something to bring a smile to Queen’s face, that was all he was really looking for. But wait…the kitchen? Why the kitchen? Was she hungry or something? No no, that couldn’t be it…King was piecing everything together and it only took him a few seconds to realize what it was her idea was. Whether he liked it or not, he’d be cooking or baking something wouldn’t he? He hoped to Etro that Deuce knew how to cook, otherwise they’d probably mess everything up. King hadn’t really baked before, or cooked, just a few simple things, he never saw the magic of it all…not to say he was a bad cook, but from the few times he had done so, it all turned out rather amazing. He never pursued the talent, but it looked like now was the best time to try and do just that. With a mental sigh, he trailed behind Deuce…wondering how disastrous this would end up being.

Keeping quiet as usual, he walked quietly. Not really feeling there was a need to say anything. Of course Deuce’s voice caught his attention. She wanted him to rate his cooking skills? Well that was kind of difficult. Moving one hand to scratch the back of his head a bit he pondered as they continued to walk. He wasn’t really sure what to tell her here, but…might as well tell her something right? “Um…I haven’t done a lot of cooking in my day, but…whenever I did things turned out okay. I know that doesn’t say much but…I don’t think I’ll have a problem.” He said not wanting to sound too confident – why the hell should he even sound confident over something like this? – yet he didn’t want to sound completely hopeless. Even though that wasn’t really rating himself on a scale of one to ten, he felt it was a good enough response as they neared in on the kitchen. He was glancing around a bit, wondering if anyone was watching him follow after the smaller Class Zero member into the kitchen, wondering what he would even be doing in there. Fixing food? Or…finding some way to express his feelings to Queen through something he wasn’t all that familiar with? Deuce…this had better work, for the sake of King’s sanity.

“So…what is it we’ll be…making?”

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Words:[/color] 746
Muse:[/color] Alright
Tagged:[/color] Deuce
Wearing:[/color] Academy Uniform: Summer
Listening To:[/color] OneRepublic
Notes:[/color] Sorry for this one >< my brain is rather dead today.

[Deuce (No. 2)]

Cooking had always been one of Deuce’s hobbies, even when she’d been just a little girl, she’d played around with plastic kitchens and food, pretending to make her friends a hamburger or a pizza or whatever other plastic piece of food came with her toy kitchen. As she grew older, she started working with actual food, forcing her friends (through use of the puppy eyes) to sample her creations. She’d been kind of shy though, and so she’d only ever gotten the opinions of those she was extremely close to. Sice, King or Jack for example, had never had the pleasure (or more honestly, displeasure) of having to taste her earliest creations. While she’d sucked at first, years of training had made her into what most would call a fine cook. It was a good thing too, considering King’s answer. That was the typical response she got when asking people about their cooking skills, “So about average then, alright,” she replied with a smile as she pushed the door to the kitchens open and poked her head inside to see if anyone else happened to be here. Her smile widened upon seeing absolutely no one.
“The coast is clear,” she told her classmate reassuringly before stepping fully into the kitchens and making a bee-line for the cabinets, pulling out whatever supplies they might need. After living here for so long, she’d pretty much memorized this kitchen, so she knew exactly where everything was located.

“I was thinking about cookies in all sorts of shapes and flavors. We can just make them all heart-shaped though, if you feel that’s more appropriate,” the brunette tried her hardest not to smirk, but it was easier said than done. Big stoic King and wise, mature Queen… it was just so wonderful. In a way it had surprised her, but in a way it also hadn’t. Strange though that sounded, it was how she felt about all this. King and Queen were closer to each other than all the others, but still in a way they’d seemed… distant? Of course, King seemed like a big scary man sometimes and he was just wonderful. Cinque looked like a sweet girl, and while that was most certainly true, she could also rival the guys in terms of strength. Looks could be deceiving, obviously they were deceiving, because if King wanted to get something special for Queen, they obviously weren’t distant. Ugh, she wasn’t going to hurt her brain thinking of how you could seem both close and distant to a person, much better to just focus on the cooking.
Preheating the oven and grabbing two aprons, she handed one to King. “Don’t be too nervous, it’s really a lot easier than you may think, and I’ll help you every step along the way, so don’t worry.” She was actually quite excited about this. She cooked on a regular basis, and often for people she cared about, but in a way this was a special project. These cookies couldn’t just be simple cookies, they’d need to look and taste amazing. So amazing that Queen would weep a tear of pure bliss upon letting the dough touch her tongue and… no, that was probably not going to happen… it would be great if it did though! It would be a massive confidence boost for King, as well as herself, to know their creation was so appreciated.
“Hmm…” Deuce looked over the ingredients carefully, trying to decide whether anything was missing. Nope, they had all the needed for plain cookies. And there were dried fruits and pieces of chocolate and such in another cabinet, she’d get those in a minute. “Do you know if there’s anything Queen really likes? Such as chocolate, or raisins or walnuts or something?”

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Words: 628
Tagged: King
Location: Kitchen
Outfit: Class Zero Uniform
Notes: Quick response for once

[King (No. 13)]

This was only slightly concerning. What if things fell to pieces? King didn’t have a lot of experience in the kitchen, but thankfully he wasn’t a total disaster, at least he trusted Deuce with all of this. With her by his side, nothing was going to go wrong….so long as she herself knew what she was doing. He prayed to Etro that this would go as she had planned. Walking behind her, she made sure the coast was clear, which certainly eased more nerves from King than he would’ve really guessed. Was he that worried about his reputation? He was just doing something sweet for a friend, and if anyone asked…he could always say Deuce pulled that cute crap and asked him to help? Who could resist her anyways? She was just…she was probably the most honest and sweet out of all of Class Zero. So, shaking away his worries, he trailed inside, rubbing the back of his head as he gazed around the kitchen. He knew it fairly well, having trailed in here for food every now and then. With a silent sigh, he shrugged off his jacket so it wouldn’t get dirty or anything…then again, did one get dirty while cooking?

This was how lost he was at the moment.

Watching Deuce, listening to her, the idea sounded very simple. Cookies, those wouldn’t be hard to make right? They didn’t seem all that complex…but heart shapes? Cookie cutters would help with that of course…but as he began to think, he wasn’t all that sure what kind of cookies they should be making, but once again, keeping silent, he decided he’d leave that to Deuce. She’d know better than he would, she after all, had this idea and was a girl, she’d know what girls liked when it came to sweets…right? Perhaps he was just over thinking everything here, he just needed to step back, take a huge breath, and relax. All this was, was cooking. This wasn’t life or death, this wasn’t war…so why the hell did it seem so damn difficult? His face remained as blank as always, he was never one for showing much emotion or expression and when he did it was a real moment, but even now, he gazed at the young brunette with a rather normal stare, but his expression sure did change when she brought the apron up to him. Hesitantly he held it in his hands, his eyebrows raised and the look on his face was a ‘you’re kidding me, right?’ sort of expression, far different than his normal one before he mentally sighed and decided it was probably best to suck it up and listen to Instructor Deuce.

“I’m…not too worried. I’m sure everything will turn out just fine, of course with your assistance.” He said giving her a brief nod and a slight smile. He was still so thankful to have her help, there was no telling where he’d be right now or what he’d be doing if he didn’t get her help. He’d probably go off asking the wrong people what to do. Or better yet, he’d be racking his own brain until his face turned blue about what to do. Poems had come to mind, he was a musician so that wouldn’t be too hard, but he wasn’t that deep really…the typical flowers and chocolates, but that wasn’t made by him…so yep, this would do, and he – no matter how much this would crush his dignity or reputation – was proud to be doing so. Even with an apron on. As he tied the strings behind his back he gazed over at Deuce before rubbing his chin a bit, wondering what would be the best thing to do for Queen. “I guess to stay safe, let’s go with chocolate.” He shrugged briefly before taking off the gloves that went with his summer uniform, he put them in his back pockets and just waited, letting Deuce take the lead. He wasn’t sure where to start, she would know. “Whenever you’re ready, do we have everything?”

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Words:[/color] 802
Muse:[/color] Great!
Tagged:[/color] Deuce
Wearing:[/color] Summer Uniform
Listening To:[/color] Nothing
Notes:[/color] We can all thank Deuce for King discovering he's a fantastic cook >.>

[Deuce (No. 2)]

Deuce crossed her arms and thoughtfully tapped her chin with a single finger as she looked over the many different ingredients she’d packed up by the sink. Was she forgetting something? Nope, this seemed to be it alright. Sugar, eggs, butter, flour… some other stuff. Yeah, this was it. Now all they needed was to get in the right mood and this would be an easy job. Handing King his apron, Deuce didn’t miss the disbelieving look he gave her, but she simply used her natural charming smile and puppy eyes to sucker him into wearing it anyway. You couldn’t cook without an apron! Well… you could, but where was the fun in that? Same as how you wore mittens to get stuff out of the oven, you could just used two paper towel or something to protect your hands but again, not fun. And besides, what if one of them got a little overexcited stirring something and ended up launching egg-yolks everywhere? At least now they were both adequately protected against such a tragedy.
“That’s the spirit,” she smiled as she tied her apron and went over the recipe in her head. Making cookies was really a lot easier than people often thought, and with two people, they could make twice as many cookies in a short period of time. If they hurried, King could deliver them to Queen’s dorm fresh out of the oven. It was a good thing Queen didn’t have a roommate, now that she thought about it… King seemed worried about his reputation as stoic bad ass, and stoic bad asses didn’t usually go around baking heart shaped chocolate cookies for their girlfriends. But that just made it that much sweeter in Deuce’s opinion. He was really doing something special for the girl he liked, she couldn’t imagine Queen turning his gift down or anything, even if it turned out she hated cookies or was allergic to chocolate or something awful like that. In the end, it was the thought that really mattered. Deuce wasn’t about to say that though, true as it might be, it would imply that she didn’t fully believe they were going to bake awesome cookies today, and believed that the chances of failing were high.

“Chocolate usually works, yeah,” what girl didn’t like chocolate? More to the point, what human being didn’t like chocolate? …actually, she knew quite a few people who didn’t like chocolate much. No matter! They could just put chocolate in most of them and have a few other ones with different fillings, just to be safe. More was definitely better in this case. “How about we fill the first batch with chocolate, and the second one with a combination of nuts and raisins? Just in case she doesn’t like chocolate?” it would be extra work, but Deuce didn’t mind that much. Queen deserved the effort they went through, after all.
Removing her gloves and putting her cape over one of the chairs, she gave King a quick nod as she measured the ingredients first, not really going about it the professional and mostly just relying on experience to get her through this stage. Giving her work a once over, she stepped back, “Okay, this is what we’ll be working with. There are some more cups and such right over there, just use this example to know how much of each ingredient you’ll need.” Before he even had a chance to get to work, she quickly rearranged things a little to make both their lives easier, “These things over here you need to mix together by hand, the ones over there you need to stir in later. Any questions so far?” this was so awesome! She felt like a proper chef even though they were only baking something very simple. King likely knew all these things already, but it felt great being the teacher for once. Usually it was the other way around, with people like King explaining things to her. Finally she got a chance to be the smart one, just this once.

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Words: 677
Tagged: King!
Location: Kitchen
Outfit: Summer Uniform + Apron
Notes: THANK GOD FOR ONLINE RECIPES.

[King (No. 13)]

This really was out of his comfort zone. Cooking, aprons, what next? Moogle oven mits? Or something far worse?! King couldn’t imagine what that could be at the moment as he tied the apron on around his back and adjusted it so it wasn’t choking him. What man didn’t want to wander around the kitchen baking cookies and wearing an apron? Every man…for the most part. He wasn’t that stuck up though, he didn’t mind this, it was just the constant comments he’d get if someone like Nine or Sice saw him. Whatever, he had Deuce and she wasn’t making fun, hell, it was her idea…that was okay, they’d make it through this sooner or later! So long as Queen was happy with this, then he would be happy, no matter how reputation crushing this would be…for her, it didn’t matter. So, looking at Deuce as she was getting everything ready, he folded his arms and stepped back, giving her some room as she asked about chocolate and other things that they could put in the cookies. He wasn’t sure about that, he figured to be safe he’d go with just chocolate and let Deuce decide on anything else. Besides, he figured they weren’t going to make just a handful of cookies, there would be quite a bit to pick and choose from.

Listening to her, he nodded. Of course she’d be right about anything regarding these cookies since he had no idea. “Sure, sounds good.” He commented quietly with a nod as he continued to watch her get herself ready and everything else. It was rather different than what he was used to, but for the most part he understood the basic concepts of cooking, not that he’d ever done much in a kitchen as it was. On the bright side though, at least he knew something and wasn’t a completely hopeless case who didn’t know what a single tool was. Deuce really seemed to know what she was doing, measuring everything out and laying it out very quickly. He really had asked the right person, King was grateful for her being available to help him and started thanking his lucky stars for this idea. The more he thought about it, the sweeter it seemed – no pun intended of course – and he figured that it’d at least bring a smile to Queen’s face, that was all he really wanted. Something to show that he cared, he’d go through all this effort just for that? It had to mean something then, right?

Deuce really was like a teacher here, though more sincere and lovable than say…Kurasame, that was a horrible image coming to his mind. Shaking his head, rubbing the back of his head with his hand he gazed at everything she had laid out as an example for him. Blinking, he nodded and just as he was about to step forward and copy her work, she moved again, moving things around and what not to make it easier on both of them. “Uh, just one….are we each making a separate batch?” he questioned before stepping up to the ingredients, picking up a few measuring tools and taking many glances at the examples that Deuce had set out. It took a little bit to sort what ingredient was what by the looks of it, but King did a fairly good job getting everything laid out, with only a little mess to show for it. With the ingredients laid out, a replica to what Deuce had done, he moved the ingredients in their original packaging away from his ‘work station’ before looking at Deuce for a nod of approval or some sort of praise. “Like this?” he asked as he tilted his head a bit while looking at her before gazing back at his work, then hers, making sure he hadn’t missed something. He thought he did okay, and hopefully he did, otherwise it’d take more time to correct. “Do we just…start putting things together, then?” He may not have been a hopeless case, but he sure felt like one now.

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Words:[/color] 791
Muse:[/color] Good!
Tagged:[/color] Deuce
Wearing:[/color] Summer Uniform....and an apron
Listening To:[/color] I don't remember
Notes:[/color] Nada!

[Deuce (No. 2)]

It really amazed her how much she enjoyed this little cooking class she was giving right now… to just one student, but that didn’t matter! Maybe she just liked being the expert for once, or maybe she was just giddy at seeing King in such a cute position, wanting to do something to make Queen happy. Maybe it was a combination of both. Whatever it was, it gave her a great boost of energy, but it also put quite a bit of responsibility on her shoulders. These cookies had to turn out great, if they tasted awful, that would just ruin everything, and Deuce would feel responsible because King had come to her specifically for help. Maybe some of the more laid back types in their class would be able to shrug it off, but the brunette would feel terrible if this failed.
“I think that would be the fastest way to get this done, yeah.” She replied with a nod to his question. And if either of them somehow messed it up, at least they’d still have the other batch, unless they both screwed it up, but what were the chances of that happening? Deuce had done this many times before, and King was smart. They’d get this done, no problem.

Knowing where everything was located, it didn’t take her too long to find and set up all the things they needed, even taking some time to measure the ingredients and putting them on display for King to use as an example. As soon as he had gotten started with his own measuring, Deuce began to work on her own batch. Having done this plenty of times already, she didn’t really need the example.
Much faster than she’d anticipated, King asked her to check his work. Like a proper teacher, she walked over and carefully checked his work. It wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t need to be. A little more or less from one ingredient wouldn’t mess up the entire batch. For someone who didn’t do this very often, he’d done surprisingly well. Nodding her approval, she gave King a pat on the shoulder. “Looks good, well done.”

His next question was a logical one, and thankfully, one she had an answer to. “No, not all at once. You need to combine a few, then add more ingredients and combine everything again, and so on and so forth.” Grabbing a large bowl, she slowly added the ingredients in one by one, “First, you put these together. Mix them until they’re combined, that is, until you can’t tell them apart anymore. You can do it by hand or use that mixer over there. Just put it on low speed.” She set the bowl aside for a moment and grabbed the remaining ingredients, “After you’ve done that, add these in and repeat the process. Once they’re all combined, you can start adding the chocolate chips. Make sure they’re evenly combined, or you’ll end up with some cookies being a mouthful of chocolate while some don’t contain any chocolate at all.” She stepped back to give him some space, “Any questions? After you’ve done all that, give me a call, alright?”

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Words: 529
Tagged: King
Location: Kitchen
Outfit: Class Zero Uniform + Apron
Notes: The depressing thing about this thread is that the only one who's really learning anything from this is me. >.> I'm sitting here going "Oh, that sounds easy!" as I read cooking recipes and pretend to know wtf I'm talking about. XD

[King (No. 13)]

This was definitely out of King’s comfort zone. He wasn’t sure whether this would all go smoothly, or if he would forget something, or add too much of one ingredient, and mess it all up. The last thing he wanted to do was make crappy cookies and look stupid to Deuce, and then be empty handed when it came to find something nice to do for Queen. He had serious faith in the small brunette though, she wouldn’t let anything horrible happen to ruin all of this. She hopefully could see that he was genuinely serious about this, just as he was about most things, and really, it was different. Not many men went out of their comfort zone to bake something for their…girlfriends. It was something that just didn’t happen, usually it was the other way around where the girl would cook and the man would do nothing. He really had to hand it to Deuce, she had some good ideas up her sleeve, and if he ever needed advice or ideas again, he knew not to waste his time asking anyone else, Deuce would be his go-to-girl for this kind of stuff.

After measuring some things out, King had looked to Deuce for guidance, making sure everything looked okay to her before moving onto the next step, actually putting things together and getting things done faster. Once approved, King gave a small smile and looked back at his handy work. It may not have been perfect, but it was pretty dang good that he was doing this well so far! Had someone like Jack or Nine been put up to this challenge…you can bet more ingredients would be on the floors or counters than in the actual measuring tools. At least King was precise with the things he did, or for the most part he tried to be. “Okay.” He said simply before asking his question. He was pretty sure there was some sort of method to all of this instead of dumping everything together and mixing it that way. Putting things in slowly and making sure it all got mixed evenly, that definitely sounded better, and Deuce’s answer confirmed that.

Standing back and watching the small brunette as she started to show and example, putting things together slowly and what not, King nodded in appropriate places and made mental notes to himself. He heard everything she said. Mix evenly, add the rest of the ingredients, mix evenly, add the chocolate chips evenly so the cookies were pretty much the same instead of either loaded or lacking chocolate chips. “I…think I got it. I’ll let you know if anything comes up.” He said giving her a small nod before approaching his side of ingredients and slowly doing things the way Deuce had shown him. Putting a few ingredients together, mixing them until they were well blended – by hand of course – and then adding more ingredients, mixing them as well, until the dough was fairly smooth, hey it looked alright to him. Putting in the chocolate chips a little at a time, King mixed those in as well, making sure they were well blended and even throughout the cookie dough. He thought things went well, he hadn’t ended up with flour or anything all over himself, or even his apron, so that was a job well done.

The weird part about this, he actually liked the cooking thing. It took time, thought, and it was a step by step process, something enjoyable and the result could be absolutely amazing. He was very confident by this point in time that things would go fairly well and Queen would have a bunch of cookies to eat later on, made by King himself – with the best help out there of course. “I think mine’s ready, next thing we do is put them on a baking sheet, right?” Of course, silly King. He was quite thrilled now, looking at Deuce with a more…energetic and happy look on his face as he waited for her response, to see if she had further instructions on how to do things, she was the teacher of today’s lesson, after all.

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Words:[/color] 784
Muse:[/color] Good!
Tagged:[/color] Deuce!
Wearing:[/color] Uniform + Apron
Listening To:[/color] I dunno...
Notes:[/color] None!

[Deuce (No. 2)]

Deuce nodded cheerfully as King started working on his batch of cookies before heading back over to her own side of the counter and getting back to work as well. She had to admit, this whole teaching thing was pretty fun, especially when you had eager students. At some point in time, she’d actually considered teaching as one of the few possible jobs she could get in the future, but had always disregarded it because she felt she’d act too awkward in a leadership position. Deuce was more of a follower, someone who was there to help out should the others need it, but who would otherwise just keep quiet and await instructions. In part this was because of her calm and friendly personality, but she was also sure her military training had something to do with it, every military unit had leaders and followers after all, you couldn’t succeed at a mission if everyone tried to boss everyone else around all the time. No, she hadn’t thought herself capable of a teaching job, but this afternoon was making her change her mind some. She really did enjoy it, and she hadn’t acted strange or funny yet, though that could very well be because King was her student for today, a guy she’d known for many, many years. It was much easier to interact this way with someone you knew than with a whole group of people you’d never even met.
The brunette shrugged a little and decided not to think too much about the future, she was still young, and besides, no one knew what the future might bring. Best to take things as they come. With a smirk, she rolled her shoulder blades as if she was about to do something incredibly heroic and bad ass, but really, she was just going to mix ingredients and make dough. Not that awesome. She could just pretend it was something awesome.

“I’m sure Queen will be really happy when you give her these,” she mused as she worked on her dough, occasionally glancing in King’s direction to ensure he was still doing well, “Gifts are always better when they’re handmade. It really shows you care.” It was also a lot cheaper than buying something, but of course she wasn’t going to add that. Whenever it was a friend’s birthday, Deuce always tried to make them something special, even if it was just a small gift. Small wasn’t always bad, after all.
Deuce looked back over to King when he announced that he was ready with his batch. What?! She wasn’t even done with hers! She blamed it on the fact that he had bigger hands and a stronger grip, thus making it easier to perform this particular task. “Yep, exactly so!” she told him as she gave his work a once over and offered him a thumbs up. “One sec…” opening up one of the cabinets above the counter, she searched around for something to put the cookies on, when she finally spotted it, she was a little dismayed to find it had been shoved off way back into the cabinet. Close enough to see, far enough that she couldn’t reach. The kitchen staff was really cruel with their jokes, she’d be sure to put some of the stuff they’d use all the way down in the lowest possible cabinets so they’d have to really strain their backs to get to them. …alright, she wouldn’t. But she should!

“Uh… could you get that please?” she asked sheepishly as she pointed at the roll of tin foil in the cabinet, before walking over to a drawer and getting out a scoop, “You can just put that foil over a baking plate, and then you can use this to scoop up pieces of dough, be sure to not put them too close together. I did that once and half of my cookies were stuck together.” She laughed, “I mean… you can still break them apart, but it’ll look nicer if they’re all in one piece, right?” she handed the scoop to King and then headed back over to her own work, “I’ll finish these up real quick, so we can put them all in the oven together. They’re the best when they’re still warm, so you probably shouldn’t wait too long to give them to Queen.”
With that said, she finished up her business one step at a time, again taking the time to make sure King was doing well too, “So how do you like it? Cooking is pretty fun, right? It really helps me relax for some reason.”

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Words: 768
Tagged: King
Location: Kitchen
Outfit: Class Zero Uniform + Apron
Notes: ~

[King (No. 13)]

This was surprisingly more fun than King imagined it would’ve been. He’d never really been in the kitchen long enough to actually make something, but today, he was starting to see how fun this could be, making something from scratch and turning it into something even better. It was relaxing, and you got to make something out of practically nothing, and hopefully your efforts were worth it. King was pretty optimistic at this point as he continued to put things together like Deuce had said, mix them together thoroughly and then add in whatever came next, it all looked pretty normal to what he had seen whether it be on television or whatever, this would be nice. Queen would hopefully like having more than a dozen cookies brought to her door, fresh from the oven, and…well that was the part King was more worried about than anything. It wasn’t everyday someone with a big reputation like him to be intimidating, quiet and rather emotionless went around delivering cookies to the girl he liked. Definitely out of the ordinary, but sweet enough that it would be worth it in the long run, right?

“I have to agree, and judging by the looks of everything so far, I’d say these are going to turn around pretty great.” King gave a small nod as he was focused on his own ‘project’ of cookie dough while speaking over his shoulder towards Deuce, working on her own of course. Deuce was right though, handmade was always better. Sure you could go buy something, there was nothing wrong with that, but handmade always came with the thought that you took time to make something, effort and precious time, that would mean more to King than anything really, because there was more value behind the handcrafted things, rather than going out and buying something someone else put time into. I guess it all depended on if you have the time or effort to do something. Anyways, moving on. After having everything mixed together evenly – what King thought was even – he looked to Deuce once more for approval, she was a great instructor when it came to cooking, he might have to ask her to do this again sometime, not only was it a great pastime, but it was nice to be able to hang out with her since he didn’t get to do that all that often.

Smiling happily as he gained praise from Deuce via her thumbs up, he watched as the short brunette went to try and reach for some foil. It was hard being short wasn’t it? He never made fun of those shorter girls – or Eight – even if the opportunity came around that he could. King was far too nice for that, he smirked though, watching her before she turned to ask him to get it. With a small nod and a light chuckle, King moved over and reached up fairly easily to get the foil, bringing it down and holding onto it. “Here it is.” He spoke in a fairly friendly tone before listening to her once more, her instructions were important to him, so he’d try his best to stick by her words. “Alright, not too close together, I think…that’s doable.” He said as he took the scoop and went back to his ‘station’ within the kitchen, thoroughly enjoying himself. After placing foil on one of the baking sheets, King started to carefully scoop out the dough and keep them separated, but not too far apart, otherwise it’d take multiple pans to get everything done. Hearing Deuce though, his attention was drawn to her, pausing from his work as he pondered her question, mulling over it for a moment. Shrugging his shoulders, King nodded a bit in agreement to her words. It was relaxing, it was…it was fun! “I like it, might have to do it more often you know? Perhaps it can become a good hobby for me. After all, I do seem to catch on quick especially with such a great teacher. Thanks Deuce, really, I do appreciate this, and owe you.”

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Words:[/color] 796
Muse:[/color] Great!
Tagged:[/color] Deuce!
Wearing:[/color] Uniform + Apron
Listening To:[/color] Nothing
Notes:[/color] I'ma say this here so I don't forget. King and Deuce need to have a bake sale one day |: Not even kidding.