[OPEN] Cheers!
Characters: Elizaveta, Jean, Lee, Gaara, and [OPEN], so anyone else who might like to join in!
Content: Eliza wants to cheer Lee up a little after he got turned down, so she's bringing him to the kitchen to have some sweets and maybe a drink or two.
Setting: The kitchen of the Convoy.
Time: Shortly after this.
Warnings: FREE BOOZE, and Drunken!Lee ( Read more... )
Content: Eliza wants to cheer Lee up a little after he got turned down, so she's bringing him to the kitchen to have some sweets and maybe a drink or two.
Setting: The kitchen of the Convoy.
Time: Shortly after this.
Warnings: FREE BOOZE, and Drunken!Lee ( Read more... )
Jean had plans for the evening and would not be around to cook dinner. To make up for it, she had volunteered to take the afternoon to replenish the stores with some fresh ingredients from the market. She was returning from that errand with an extremely large wrapped sky fish - a halibut, to be precise - slung over one arm and a straw bag filled to the brim with radishes and other vegetables hanging off the opposite shoulder.
She stopped a few steps from the door to the kitchen, however. There were voices coming from inside. Listening carefully, it was easy to tell it was not the other cooks: the boy was not Shinjiro, the girl was not Hikari, and that old man could not be further from Paula.
Which meant that the crew was probably raiding the kitchen again. Jean couldn't help but roll her eyes. It was no wonder, really, why the kitchen seemed to always be running low on sweets. Was it too much to ask one of the cooks before these people went digging through the cupboards for cookies?
Well, she couldn't stand around and eavesdrop on them. The halibut needed to be packed into the icebox before the whole ship started smelling like fish. She entered, knocking on the doorframe with her free hand to let them know she was there.
"Excuse me! I hope I'm not interrupting anything... ?"
And it was only then that she noticed the boy was crying. Oh dear. Maybe these people weren't here to raid the kitchen after all.
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No... he looked a bit closer. It was indeed the same boy. "We have met before," Iroh said simply. "But you were in a much different mood then, I think. Perhaps I can offer you some floral tea?"
He smiled, warmly but concerned, at Elizaveta. "I do indeed. I am the one and only strategist at the moment.... The position of head tea-maker was unfortunately not available." He chuckled at his tiny joke.
And then entered one of the people actually supposed to be in the kitchen... carrying a very large fish and followed shortly thereafter by the silver-haired quartermaster.
"Hello," he said pleasantly, bowing to each in turn, and then looked up at Jean. "...Do you need any help with that?" No reason he couldn't help more than one person at a time... and it was never a bad idea to endear oneself to the cooks.
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Elizaveta was one thing, he knew her very well and thought they were good friends. He did not mind the old man--and how rude of him to forget! He could remember that delicious tea, all too well--and, if the old man had advice to give, Lee would gladly accept it. But before he could even apologize or thank the old man for his kind offer, another person had entered, followed shortly by another person! Lee felt his face warm, wiping at his still teary eyes, hoping to hide his feelings from the new arrivals.
Lee smiled very slightly at the woman with the food in her arms, he quickly added his own offer to help after Iroh's. "I-I can help as well!"
He moved forward, looking back at the other arrival. "A-anou, hello."
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"If either of you would like any, help yourself." She then tapped her lip, wondering if she could find any cups around here. Bingo! In walked a cook!
She smiled at Jean. "Not at all, I hope we wont be in the way here in the kitchen? Everything will be kept in good order, but do you know if perhaps you could spare a few cups?" She'd have offered to help with the food as well, but it seemed the others had already seen to it. She cast a bit of a worried glance towards Lee, hoping he was all right despite all this commotion. "You okay, Lee?"
And then in walked that guy she'd hit with a frying pan that one time. She cringed a little at the thought, feeling bad.
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Jean made a point of making a wide path around the small crowd that had formed in the kitchen. Not to avoid them, of course. Just to avoid hitting anyone with a fish, because that was the last thing anyone needed today. She carried it over to the kitchen's icebox, a giant container where all their meat, fish and poultry was stored, and put the large fish inside and covered it with a small layer of ice to ensure it would all stay fresh.
With that finally out of the way, she deposited the bag of woven straw onto the counter and then looked over her shoulder at the group of new faces.
"Oh, of course! We keep the spare cups right up here." Jean opened one of the cupboards, which had a more hodgepodge assortment of dinnerware than the rest. "Teacups, right?" She took down a pair, offering one to Elizaveta and waiting until she accepted it to offer the other.
Ah. And it was only then, from her new perspective, that she noticed that Gintoki had entered after her. Maybe she hadn't been entirely mistaken about the kitchen being raided.
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Iroh was relieved that Jean seemed more than able to haul the fish around herself. And really, who would impose on a poor old man and make them lift heavy things anyway? He smiled a bit, and turned his attention back to Rock and Elizaveta. He grinned at Elizaveta and her cookies. "Why thank you." He took one and munched it, and then took a sip from his own tea cup as Jean offered the others. He heated the teapot a bit with his hand, reading it for pouring as soon as the two youngsters had their cups. Now happy from tea and cookies, his helpful advice-giving mode was fully engaged.
"Young man," he said kindly to Lee. "Everything, even people, exists in a delicate balance. It is good to offer your help to others, but at this moment it is you who needs to be helped. Sit. Have some tea. When you are finished, tell us what is wrong."
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He sniffled, wiping at his face as he took the old man's advice, sitting down at a table and accepting the offer of tea. He sighed heavily, a few stray tears rolling down his face as he blew on the hot cup of delicious smelling tea. "Thank you," he murmured, and took a sip. It as delicious, and it made him feel slightly better, at least physically.
After enjoying the tea distantly until the cup was empty, Lee set it down carefully, looking up with wide, hurt eyes at the gathered room. Why were there so many people? He did not want to burden them with his heartache; what if they just laughed at him? He had only known Gaara for eight days! Surely no one would take him seriously--except, of course, Elizaveta. But Lee knew her, and she had been so kind to him already.
But so had the old man. And honestly, Lee was being rather presumptuous. This was a group of people abroad the ship he was a crew member of. He could not think so little of them.
"I--" He broke off. He didn't even want to repeat the story. He didn't even know if he could without breaking down again. And he did not like crying in front of others. "I-I was re-rejected by my m-most im-impo-portant person!" he finally managed. It was not the most detailed explanation, but just saying it made a broken sob escape Lee, and he did not want to continue speaking. He closed his eyes tightly, his hands balled into tight fists in his lap. He really wished his sensei were here with him right now.
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"Ahah, thank you." The bottles of palinka were left unprotected in the bag on the counter, though, lest anyone get curious enough to get into it. "Jean, was it?" Oh man, the stuffed pepper cook. She liked this one.
"Lee is a very passionate person." She noted solemnly after he spoke. It was an obvious fact, but she was trying to ease him into further explanation. "He rushed in a little."
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Crowding Lee wasn't going to help anything, so she kept back a bit, by the counter. She had made no sign of noticing the bottles whatsoever.
"I see..." she remarked under her breath. Heartbreak. That explained it. Immediately, she was curious just who this 'most important person' was, and what exactly had happened. But this didn't seem like a good time to go fishing for gossip. The boy would speak at his own pace.
For the time being, she listened. She had her own advice to share, but there were wiser ones than herself in this room, and they probably didn't need her prompting.
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He looked pensive for a moment. That really wasn't a lot of information to go on. He, like Gintoki, was even really sure what the 'most important person' meant. "You are most certainly a very passionate young man," he said after a moment, nodding his agreement with Elizaveta. "And rejection is never an easy thing for the heart, even a young heart such as yours. Tell us more of what has happened. And then we will be better able to assist you with your troubles."
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"I-I spent the past few days since our first kiss making him a special gift to express this most important feeling; I even wrote my oath to him! B-but he--he got upset. He did not--He said he does not share my feelings, and I-I do not know what to do! I-I sp-spoke with him again today. H-he said that he would accept these feelings and remain my friend, and allow me to keep my oath, but that he does not feel that way about me!"
He broke off, his breath coming in gasping, dry sobs, and let his head fall into his hands. "I-I do not know what to d-do. It h-hu-hurts so much; I was unprepared for this feeling!" He gripped the fabric of his spandex suit at his chest, feeling suddenly claustrophobic. "I-I am happy that he is willing to allow me the chance to show him what l-love is--he says he has never experienced it and cannot--b-but I-I am still very sad! I-I... was so sure," he finally finished in a small voice.
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Elizaveta had offered her thoughts on the matter earlier, and merely pat Lee on the shoulder comfortingly as he spoke, offering him another hanky. She had many on her person since she was always about the ship cleaning this and that.
She dearly hoped the others words could ease his heart.
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... oh, wait, 'he'? Okay, so Jean would have guessed it was a girl. But otherwise she had been right on track: it was heartbreak, and nothing less.
When he finished, she opened her eyes again. "It does sound like you came on too strong," she noted. Too fast, too strong - he had rushed in, just as Elizaveta had said. "Those kinds of feelings can take time to develop. Especially for someone who doesn't even know what love is."
There was no uncertainty in her voice. Actually, the scenario reminded her all too well of a pair of her old friends.
And it was this memory that brought a small smile back to her lips. "... with a little patience, though, you can bring warmth to even the coldest heart."
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