[IC] Starlight

[Sam12435]

Rayne chuckled at Dai’s question. Rayne had many skills and almost all of them were useless. Cooking sadly was not one of them. His meals usually consisted of delivered pizza, instant noodles and microwave soup. It had been a few weeks since he had a proper meal. Living on your own with no homemaking skills whatsoever got tedious after a while. He stood there for a minute, contemplating whether instant noodles were a good dietary staple, before he heard the sound of Dai talking into the phone. The conversation seemed jolted and somewhat lacking from this end. It wasn’t long before Rayne got bored of standing in silence, so he turned to Raven and smiled.

“So what brings you to this neck of the woods?” He asked as he made his way to a chair and sat down, sliding until he was barely sitting on it. “I was invited by Faith and figured ‘Well why not?” He said as he glanced around the room. He saw P-J and Rich going to get the luggage near the door.

“You guys are already doing good work. I would help, but I wouldn’t want to steal your thunder” He said with a little smirk. He leaned back in his chair and relaxed a bit. If they asked him to help, he would, but he would probably get in the way. He isn’t the strongest guy, so carrying things isn’t exactly his cup of tea.

[tatszico]

"I like cats. Wouldn't mind sharing a nap or two with the little guy," Kevin smiled back at Calliope, kicking his feet up and propping them up on the table. He stretched his hands over his head, releasing the tension of his sore shoulders before rerolling up the sleeves of his dark-blue shirt. He rested his head gently on the bulky cushion of the couch, allowing for his frame to be swallowed by the luxurious sofa. Tilting his head slightly, Kevin faced and grinned at the young girl situated on her side of the territory to his left.

"You don't snore, do you?" Kevin teased, letting out a laugh. Taking the cap off of his head, the boy ran his slender fingers through his dark hair, which was usually straight and styled, but became flat and unruly due to hat hair, massaging out the clumps of twisted roots that pulled at his scalp. He gave a small, polite yawn, tilting his body so that his mouth wasn't visible to the girl adjacent to him, before capping the baseball hat back on. Kevin glanced over his shoulders and couldn't help but smile at the liveliness of the setting. It seemed another guest had arrive, a young girl with flowing black hair, adding another number to their diverse and spontaneous group.

But because it seemed like the newcomer was occupied by Rayne, Eleanor, and the gratuitous host himself, Kevin decided it was best to introduce himself later. He'd have the whole Summer, after all. Turning back to his 'room-mate', Kevin dropped his feet to the floor and leaned forward, propping his elbows on his thighs and resting his chin against clasped hands. The young man eyed her gently, his dark eyes warm and analytical.

"Huh. Never seen you wearing your hair like that before," Kevin said, tilting his head and pursed his lips in curiosity. His eyes followed the golden wisps of her long hair, admiring at the soft glow produced by it's reflection of the interior ambiance. The only times the two ever spoken to each other were at the base of a looming rock wall, with Callie's hair being bundled up or tied in a non-distracting way as she preps to climb, like all of the other women that were a part of their climbing group. In fact, he had never seen any other side to her besides her athletic portrait. The two didn't consider each other as close friends despite their congruent activity, and thus, only ever talked to each other out of politeness, having not seen each other any where else but. However, here she was now, among a group of strangers alike, just a few feet away from him. It was quite weird, albeit refreshing, to see her in a state other than competitive. Small world indeed. Kevin smiled as he could hear the optimism burst forth from Rayne as he engaged with the group behind him.

[libbypt]

'This is going to be a crowded summer..' Eleanor giggled as she spoke to herself, touching the huge bruise on her forehead, luckily covered by her hair and not as visible. Not wanting to join in on any of the conversations she began to carry her bag to the stairway. 'I think I'm sharing' She thought to herself before she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Excuse me.. uh P-J and Rich?" She repeated those names from the young man that once flirted with Diana, although she had absoloutley no idea which was which.
"Could you lift my bag upstairs? I know if I try I will end up with more bruises on me.." She awkwardly chuckled, being half serious. Ellie felt slightly more chilled around all of these people, they all seemed genuine and kind. As if she could actually make a few more friends this summer.
She walked over to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle, as she closed the fridge with a swing of her hips she was already unscrewing the bottle and taking a sip,now that she though about it, she was kinda hungry. She'd only had an apple today because she was in too much of a rush to actually take a minute and listen to her stomach rumbling.
'I hope Diana is on the phone to a pizza company' she pondered, putting her bottle down on the side spilling a bit due to her mind concentrating on the thought of fast food and all things unhealthy. Both her parents being health freaks since she was a child making her do workouts every night, and only eating what she needed, since she was invited she's always been thinking about unhealthy food and alcohol.

[Swarley]

Rich went with P-J to the entrance way, seeing only one bag there he got a little disappointed. Though everyone called him a slacker back on campus, he did genuinely want to help even a little bit here, but it seemed he would get the dead weight label yet again. He decided to still stick around in order to see if P-J would need any help anyway.

He listened intently to P-J telling his story. The first thing that struck him was the amount of siblings that he had. "Your family is huge. I've only got a sister, Kathrin. She's really smart, and wicked on bass." He said with a small chuckle. He then heard the part about jailtime and ostracism and felt bad for him. "Are you serious? I don't think anyone would be that harsh over some food poisoning. Like I get it, food poisoning is bad and stuff, but, like, I don't think it really warrants jailtime or 1-2 months of the silent treatment. I dunno, just seems like an honest mistake to me."

Though Rich laughed when P-J brought up Springsteen. "I gotta say, if I pulled over Springsteen I'd let him off with a warning too, doesn't seem like the kind of guy you'd want mad at you."

It was then that Rich saw a woman he had not yet seen, though she seemed to know his name. She was asking if he could carry her stuff and he finally knew that this was when he could get away from the slacker label at least for a little bit. "Sure, no worries." He said with a grin as he walked down the stairs and picked it up. It was a little heavy, but nothing he couldn't get through. And of course it was probably only heavy for him because he didn't really work out at all or anything. To most other people it probably wouldn't faze them in the slightest. He walked back up to P-J and continued up the stairs.

[WinterNightSky]

Raven was busy looking around and getting nostalgic over the place before she realized that two guys she didn't get introduced to yet, carried her luggage upstairs. Since she didn't even know their names, she was a bit reluctant to say thank you, being the closed off person that she was. A mumbled thank you was the only thing she could muster. The state of hunger got her body feeling weak and she walked over to the bar and took a seat one of the chairs.

[Beloved]

Sighing audibly, albeit to himself, Dai turned as he ended the call and very nearly dropped the phone, a bit surprised by Ravens appearance. He fumbled with it for a few seconds and then managed a small, embarrassed smile before stepping back and setting it on its stand. "Given the short notice, apparently we're having pizza." He offered a shrug in explanation, it wasn't the most elegant first meal to start the summer... but perhaps, with the group as a whole in mind, he thought it was appropriate.

Diana turned and started toward the door at the edge of the small kitchen, but even as he approached it he started worrying despite his previous state of mind. Getting up what courage he had, knowing all the while he was being very silly, he moved toward the door and opened it ever so slightly before sighing and closing it again; "Ray would you mind helping me get them from the freezer?" They'd known each other for quite awhile, and as in most friendships, overtime secrets are told, and one of his was that he was terribly afraid of being alone. Even if only for a minute or two in a storage room.

[libbypt]

Eleanor's head jerked as she heard the sentence "we're having pizza" Diana didn't have as much as the excitement in his voice as Ellie would, if she where to say that phrase.
"PIZZA!" she said unconsciously with a huge grin on her face, as she realised how open she was being she quickly calmed down and took a sip from her wanted bottle,
"Yeah sure pizza sounds good." she spoke in a calm, relaxing tone.
"Do you want me to help cook it?" she said fast, her mouth watering at the thought.
"like.. y'know get extra cheese out the fridge?" she was talking way to much and she knew it.

She stood up, not expecting an answer and walked towards a window, it was evening and the sun was just setting, she watched it fall behind the earth, not to be seen again until next morning. After the sun set she looked outside at the scenery. 'A lake?' she questioned herself, 'I didn't bring a swimming costume.. should I go out and buy one? Can we swim in it?'.

[WinterNightSky]

"I'm fine with any food.. I just want it now.." She groaned weakly as her stomach started grumbling again. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the table, not really caring about her poise anymore. She was way too hungry to care.

She listened to Eleanor as she talked about the lake and not having brought any swimwear. She wanted to tell her that she brought an extra pair and she could have it since they were both the same size but she was too weak and tired to speak up. She took a mental note to tell her later.

[Sam12435]

Rayne let out a loud yawn as he leaned back. The long trip had tired him out to the point he could fall asleep at any moment. Now that the rush of meetings was over, the sleep deprivation had finally set in. He felt his eyes close and his mind drift off into its own world. He was about to fall off his chair when he was snapped back to life by an all familiar, but very welcomed word.

“Uuhwhazaboutpizza?” He mumbled in a sleepy haze as he looked around and wiped his eyes. Apparently he hadn’t been spaced out for long, but it was enough time for him to have appreciated the feeling of sleep. His stomach grumbled as he finally realised what was going on. He tried to hold back his laughs at Eleanor’s reaction, but let out a little giggle as he listened to her.
“Yea, pizza sounds awesome right now” He said as he rubbed the back of his head. He went to stand up and tripped, not realising his legs had fallen asleep. He caught himself on the bar and straightened up before shaking his legs out to try and wake them up.

“Legs are asleep” He said with a nervous smile as he laughed and leaned against the bar. “Think I will just stand here for a while.” He said, as he tried to hide his embarrassment. He was noticeably blushing, but he tried to draw attention away from it by laughing.

[WinterNightSky]

Raven was still resting her head on the bar, complaining internally about her hunger. She jerked upward in surprise at the sudden movement of the bar and the chair became unbalanced, causing it to move backward in a slow motion. Her heart stopped for a second until she held on the bar to stop herself from falling down. "Whoa." She said breathily. She took a deep breath to calm down her rapid heartbeat and she went down the chair, now too paranoid to sit on it. "Oh it's just you." She said nonchalantly as she realized that Rayne was the one who caused the movement. She placed a palm on her face and sighed.

[Beloved]

Realizing Raven hadn't heard him, Dai stifled a defeated sigh and pushed the door open without further complaint. Slipping inside he fumbled aimlessly for a few seconds before he managed to find the switch in the dark, it was relatively cold, at least compared to the rest of the cabin, but it was even colder still as he entered the freezer room and flicked on another light absentmindedly. He was tired, unreasonably so, maybe from all the stress of recent... events, but also at least partially because there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, despite how he tried to repress it, that someone was in the room watching him through this brief process. Diana tried to keep his back to the wall as often as he could manage, pulling down four pizzas (two cheese and two vegetable) from the shelving, and making his way back out toward the kitchen.

He moved quickly, struggling just slightly as he balanced the boxed pizzas and tried to backtrack, switching off lights and closing/ opening doors. "Uh, I hope you don't mind, I don't eat meat... but I did ask Lau- someone to bring some up tomorrow... heh."

[Sam12435]

Rayne looked over to the black haired girl and laughed. He was a bit clumsier than most people and had a habit of making a fool of himself.

“Sorry about that” He said with a smile, noticing her almost fall. It was then that a big smile formed on his face. He had always had a quick wit and when a snappy reply came to mind he couldn’t help but blurt it out. “Although I didn’t think you would fall for me that quickly” He said as he glanced away, trying to hide the ridiculous look that appeared every time he managed to be witty. It was then that Dai re-entered with pizza boxes.

“Yay! Pizza!” Rayne said, changing the subject as the feeling finally returning his legs. He listened as Dai spoke about not eating meat and smiled as jokes came to his head. This was their first meeting though, so he decided he could keep them in mind for later use.

“Doesn’t bother me” He said as he moved over and checked out the pizza boxes. “I will literally eat anything right now.” He said with a smile as he glanced at Dai. Right as Rayne was planning to make another joke, his stomach let out a loud grumble. His confidence immediately disappeared as he blushed a little and stepped back.

“Hehe, I am pretty hungry” He said as his rubbed his head and smiled.

[WinterNightSky]

Raven gave him a glare that pretty much said you wish. Dai entered the room and she perked up at the sight of the pizza boxes.She moved over to him and helped him carry two of the pizza boxes to the kitchen counter, ignoring Rayne in the process as she was so engrossed in the sight of food. " I call dibs on the cheese pizza." She said as she placed down the pizza boxes, hoping that one of them would be cheese flavored.

[MST3K 4ever]

As P-J set the bag down he looked at Rich and said, "Well I gotta give Springsteen credit though he was really cool about it when he got pulled over according to my dad. When my dad suggested the deal the first thing he asked was 'are you gonna get in trouble for this? Because if you are I'll take the ticket, and I'll still give you the autograph'." P-J shook his head said with a smile, "Dad still doesn't like his music, but he is a fan of Mr. Springsteen as a person." P-J shrugged his shoulders and said, "My dad is a kind of a complex guy, and he carries a gun and knows how to hide a body. So most times we just nod and politely smile when we're dealing with him. Although when the chips are down there is no one else on this planet I'd rather have in my corner then him."

P-J then smelled the unmistakable aroma of pizza floating through the cabin. He looked at Rich and said, "I do believe the food has arrived. Let's get to it."

P-J made his way back to the main floor and when he heard what the options were he nodded and said, "Sounds good to me, but first need to do something." P-J walked over to the cabinets, pulled out the plates, and he set them next to the pizzas. He said, "I'll take care of the dishes since I got them out. I know we got a dishwasher but I'm used to doing this sort of thing. Just leave 'em in the sink and I'll get 'em loaded up."

P-J then bowed his head for a moment, and then crossed himself. Once he was done he said, "Okay let's do this I say we should let Dai go first."

[Beloved]

Diana only managed a small, uncomfortable smile toward Rayne as he stepped past them, being careful to avoid knocking into anyone, as he was constantly aware that despite his thin frame he was rather tall and awkward. "I'm sure there'll be enough Ray-" he blinked for a second, pausing as Raven took the boxes from him as he stood there in silence glancing between both Rayne and Raven. "-ven." He finally completed, though the delay hadn't occurred at all in his own mind. He shrugged meekly having realized he'd need a different name for each of them and then took to the counter, refiling through a small drawer before coming up with a pizza cutter which he set aside, and two pans. The work was relatively simple, and he didn't bother with the pizza boxes left on the edge of the counter, discarded and nearly out of thought.

Quite a bit of time passed, between opening the boxes and removing wrappings, setting the pizzas themselves to their pans and preheating the oven before actually cooking them (thankfully all at the same time given an especially large stove). Even more time passed of course and a quiet buzzer sounded, in this time the two little Rays (of sunshine, and perhaps something darker) had retaken their places on stools, opposite to Diana himself who rested his elbows on the counter-top and balanced himself somewhat comfortably to converse with them about nothing in particular.

As the buzzer sounded, he blinked distractedly, losing his train of thought, and turned to get the pizzas out, while slipping on a pair of generic red oven-mitts. It took him a moment, and copious amounts of previous experience to get the four safely to the counter itself. He said in a quiet but still audible voice, no different from his usual tone save for his apparent weariness; "Cheese or Vegetable heh...." and he quickly cut each into pieces with a knowing precision after removing the mitts. He took a slice for himself and shrugged inwardly, leaning again against the counter though he remained upright, and hoping the two were now well distracted, took an awkward bite of his own slice.

That's when he very nearly choked. Quite suddenly the larger boy named P-J came rushing into the kitchen, startling Diana momentarily so that he had to stifle a sudden choking cough, accompanied by a lot of rapid blinking for a few seconds. The other boy hurried past him and while saying something, mostly to himself, reached up onto one of the nearby shelves, and brought down ten or so of the heavy dishes at once with ease. Listening closer past his own initial response, Dai could only look down at his feet and mutter in disagreement at the suggestion of washing the dishes by hand, as he knew well enough that it was not nearly as effective, and was somewhat repulsed by the knowledge that they would be left unsanitized.

P-J said "-let Dai go first."

"Oh erm, I've already had a slice myself... I know Ray-" he gestured to the two vaguely, "already knew what they wanted."

[Sam12435]

Rayne had taken his seat back at the stool, humming and waiting excitedly for the food that would be coming soon. He chatted happily, still excited to be out of his messy apartment for the whole summer. He would have to clean it when he got back, but he decided to forget about that until he had to deal with it. As the pizzas cooked away, their smell began to make its way around the house. It would be an understatement to say that they sent his appetite into overdrive. He had to stop himself from drooling in anticipation. The buzzer was startling, and Rayne jumped a little, being freed from his food trance. He watched closely as Dai cut the pizza up, ready to grab a piece at any moment. He almost didn’t notice P-J enter, but the much taller figure caught his attention. He started to grab dishes and even offered to clean them up before they had even been used.

“You really are a hard worker” Rayne said with a smile. P-J was just that type of guy, faithful and hardworking. He watched as Dai gestured towards them, generalising with a ‘Ray’. He couldn’t help but giggle a little as he reached out and grabbed a piece of the cheese pizza.

“Think I will start with some cheese” He said with a grin as he took a big bite of the slice, getting a bit of sauce on the side of his mouth. He wiped it off before letting out a satisfied sigh. “I looove pizza” He said before taking another bite, smiling the whole time.

[Swarley]

Rich followed P-J down the stairs, he as well could smell the aroma of pizza. It was now he realized how hungry he really was, yes he had eaten a few candy bars in the car on the way up to the cabin, but that is in no way sustenance for a man like himself, a man needs real food in order to remain fit and grow strong, or so his grandmother told him. Rich walked into the kitchen where everyone seemed to be gathering. When he entered he did a little wave to no one in particular and went over to where Rayne was sitting. "Hey" Rich said as he leaned against the counter, again mostly just to clear the air around him. He was a little disappointed to not see any form of meat on the pizzas, however it was still pizza so he didn't think it would be bad in any way, unless there was pineapple on it. He picked up a slice of vegetable, deciding it would be the less bland of the two and he started to eat. He let out a lengthy and content "Mmm" noise as if to signify both that he enjoyed the food, and to let everyone know that he hadn't eaten any real food all day.

[MST3K 4ever]

P-J heard Rayne's compliment and said with a smile, "Thanks, just trying to do what I can to help out. I owe it all to my parents." P-J shook his head and with "sadness" said, "It still breaks my heart that they stayed there on Krypton." He looked back at Rayne shot a quick wink with another smile.

P-J noticed that Dai looked somewhat uncomfortable when he offered to take care of the dishes. He walked over and said, "Hey I'm just trying to help out. Don't worry though I said I would load the dishes in the dishwasher. That's all. Unless you want me to just leave well enough alone. Which case I can do that too."

With that P-J walked over and got himself a slice of the veggie pizza and said, "Now if this tastes half as good as it smells this is gonna be one great slice." P-J fixed himself a soda and saw that there were seats on the back deck. He decided that was the perfect place to watch the sunset and enjoy a great slice of pizza. P-J ,made his way outside sat on one of the rocking chairs, put his feet up on the railing, and began to enjoy the view and his pizza.

[WinterNightSky]

Raven was sitting down on one of the stools next to Rayne as she watched Dai pacing around the kitchen as he cooked the pizza. She felt a wave of relief wash over her when she heard the buzzer of the oven, signifying that it was already cooked. She attentively watched Dai as he opened the oven and took the pizza out.

Her mouth watered as the tasty smell of cheese filled her nose. When Dai started cutting up the pizza into slices, she jumped down the stool and quickly made her way to the sink to wash her hands. She didn't waste time wiping her hands with a towel and instead shook her hands in the air to get rid of the droplets of water. She went back and took a seat on the stool she previously sat on which was across Dai's and reached for a slice of pizza that had alot of cheese on it.

The sense of satisfaction she felt from taking the first bite was overwhelming and her stomach grumbled again. She quickly finished the slice of pizza and didn't hesitate to go for a second one. She was too engrossed in the food that she wasn't listening or paying attention to anyone in the room.