Lead the way, he did. Aurum rose from his chair, and moved the cooking party into the kitchen. As soon as he arrived, he started pulling things down from shelves. Mixing bowls, mixerr, ingredients. He set them all out, across the counter. When he had what he needed, he hopped over to preheat his oven.

Aurum stepped back, and looked to Andrea. "Let's get started."

((OOC: You have the cookbook, Andrea. Please be to the ordering the Aurum around.))

With a nod, she reopened the book in her hands once again, and settled against the counter as she found the right page again, Via the golden paper book mark. "It looks like we need the cake mix, eggs and butter first." She glanced at him, then peeked quickly down at the book, "- they get mixed well them patted into the bottom of- " She reached and poked at the baking pan e had laid out on the counter. "-that." Of course, he would probably already know this. She felt inclined to speak out loud more to help herself remember the steps.

The second step in the recipe called for the filling to be mixed together. Standing with the book clutched in her hands made her feel a little lazy, so she quickly pulled a mixing bowl her way, a whisk and a few of the things she would need, then paused. She peeked at Aurum over her shoulder, as she was digging a hair tie out of her pocket. No need to have any long wiggly hairs in their cake. A quick braid proved to be the remedy to her hair problem.

"Shall I put together the filling while you work on the cake?" She smiled, trying to be helpful, and found herself rather enjoying the experience. Part of her culture back at home had made imprinted her with an insatiable urge to help out when it came to being someone's guest.

>>"- they get mixed well them patted into the bottom of- "

Er, come again? That phrase hadn't come out quite in the right order, with bottom patting at the tail end... why did that turning of the phrase make him suddenly uneasy?

He shook the feeling off. Things would be fine, really. Aurum kept up the smile.

>>"Shall I put together the filling while you work on the cake?"

"Sure," He replied. What could possibly go wrong, there? He walked over to the mixing bowl, cracked the egg, and added the cake mix. The powder flowed out of the box, into the bowl near perfectly. At the tail end, Aurum felt something coming. His head shot left as he stifled a sneeze. The box shook a cloud of cake dust into the air. First he was sneezing, now he was coughing. "Good thing... cough cough, this cake isn't yellow cake uranium..." Cough. He ran a towel over the powdered counter top. Then, he dusted himself off in front of the sink. Aurum turned to offer Andrea an apologetic smile. "Sorry..."

Now, to melt the butter. All 8 tablespoons of it. After a few minutes, the butter had melted. He added it to the cake batter, and began to mix. Every now and then, his eyes glanced back towards Andrea's progress.

When it came time, he tossed 8 more tablespoons of melted butter into the pot for her (when she wasn't looking, of course).

With a swift nod, she propped the book up against the wall and maneuvered a spoon in front of it to keep the pages open. Two eggs came first. She cracked them on the edge of the bowl, then emptied the shells contents into the melted butter already in the bowl with hardly a glance. Once the eggs were in, she marveled at how much the two small eggs had contained, thinking the butter part of the broken yolks, and whisked them together quickly. After they were well mixed, she wiped her hands off on her apron, and measured out eight tablespoons of butter to soften off to the side. The recipe called for melted... but surely it wouldn't matter. The cream cheese came next. Andrea peeked at how Aurum was doing, and considered asking if she was preparing things correctly- but shrugged it off. She was just being paranoid again.

The cream cheese proved to be the hardest thing to whisk, seeing as it was still rather cold when she started. Having never personally used that much of the creamy white substance before, she was rather uncertain how much it needed to be stirred. While she wanted to again, ask Aurum if she was doing it correctly, she shrugged the urge away and whipped the cream cheese a few more times before adding it to the egg mixture. Next came the vanilla, an easy singular tablespoon, and the softened butter. She folded it together once more, then peeked at the cook book to find the next ingredient....

Powdered sugar... A glance around proved that there was no visible powdered anything within sight. Orange eyes shifted to Aurum. His back was to her for the moment, busy with his own concoction. The cupboards were thrown open quietly, and she searched the shelves like a mad woman... a sneaky mad woman. Her eyes found an unmarked container of white powder and without really thinking she snatched it down from its shelf and measured out sixteen ounces of the stuff into her mixing bowl. As she popped the lid back onto the container and stuffed it back into the cupboard, she neglected to see the blaring 'FLOUR' labeled across its front.

Then commenced the merry whipping of all ingredients together...

His own part of the cake preparation finished, Aurum turned back towards Andrea to see how she was progressing. Merry whipping. Very good. Though, did that filling look a little... extra... buttery? Naw, couldn't be, he dismissed the thought. If she was sharing recipes with him, she couldn't possibly be anything less than an accomplished cook. Or, at least, one that had basic cooking skills down. Right?

When she was finished whipping it real good, he checked the oven to make sure it was the right temperature, and preheating nicely.

He turned his attention to lightly greasing the baking pan, then he spread the cake concoction out. He turned to Andrea. "Spread that out over the cake batter. Then we bake for 40 to 50 minutes, and... I think that's it." He rested a hand on his hip. "Go us."

"Right!" Sidling over to his waiting dish, she poured her mixture evenly over the pressed cake batter and set the now empty bowl onto the counter. With a quick shake of the pan, the mixture set in right, like the picture had shown, and she handed it over to him to be placed in the oven. Wiping her hands on her apron, she turned to gather together the dirty dishes and pile them by the sink. As a guest in his home, she would of course offer to wash them up... but first she wanted to see if he was interested in starting the preparation of the Moussaka. By the time the butter cake was done, it would be about time to start cooking the eggplant and meats. It looked as if the oven was at the right temperature, only a little adjusting would be needed.

"Would you like to start preparing for the main course?" She turned and smiled, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back against the counter. "I could wash up the dishes if you would like to take a break instead."

Either way, she was positively itching to help out more. Perhaps he had laundry that needed done? or the living room needed to be vac- With a blink, she silenced the nagging urge to be helpful, and forced herself to be content with western culture. The vacuuming and laundry would have to wait until she got home....... which reminded her, she needed to go shopping. She was running out of socks and t-shirts....

>>"Would you like to start preparing for the main course?" "I could wash up the dishes if you would like to take a break instead."

Aurum appreciated the offer, but he was ready for more cooking. "Starting the main course is fine by me. What do I need again? I'll grab the ingredients." He wanted to make sure everything turned out right.

>> "Starting the main course is fine by me. What do I need again? I'll grab the ingredients."

A smile, and she started listing what they would need. "The eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, and the beef. We need a good sized pan to heat up the oil in too.."

She gathered the things she would need that were within sight to her, and snatched the cinnamon she had seen in the same cupboard as the sugar from its hiding spot, and continued on with the list.

"We will also need an onion, three eggs, and the milk- Is this..?, yes, this is nutmeg..." With the small pile of things she had found in front of her, she felt a little bad at rapid firing the list of him. She sent a sheepish grin his way, "Sorry, that was my Mana speaking. I don't' usually bark out orders like that...you've got some powder on your back..."

Reaching out, she patted the light colored powder from his dark shirt, and then wiped her hands off on her own dust ridden apron.

"First comes the eggplant. Where are your kitchen knives?"

((Mana: Mother))

>>"The eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, and the beef. We need a good sized pan to heat up the oil in too.."

As she listed, Aurum searched. Potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes... One by one, the ingredients found their way onto the counter. Aurum hefted a decent-sized pan up onto the oven top. Some onion, a carton of eggs, and a gallon of milk joined the other things.

He looked to Andrea as she apologized for the rapidfire listing.

>>"Sorry, that was my Mana speaking. I don't' usually bark out orders like that...you've got some powder on your back..."

Aurum shook his head with an understanding laugh. "No, it's okay. I'm fine with... what was that about powder...?" He peered over his shoulder, and turned, like a dog chasing his tail. Where was... the powder... ah. There. She reached out and got it.

Aurum smirked. "Thanks." He didn't know what he'd do without her. Be powdered, he guessed.

>>"First comes the eggplant. Where are your kitchen knives?"

"I'll get those," Aurum stated. He walked over to where he kept them, and grabbed what they'd need. A sharp knife found its way onto the counter, right near the eggplant. "What next?" He asked.

Still giggling from his previous actions, Andrea set about arranging things on the counter top so that they would be easier to grab at a moments notice. First thing we need to do is chop the eggplant into good sized rounds." She maneuvered the pan onto the range and reached for the olive oil. "Once we have all of the eggplant cut up, we will salt and pepper them and toss them into into the oil to fry for a bit."

She slipped over to the sink quickly and rinsed her hands off, gloves and all, before drying them off with some paper towels. You could never be to cleanly; germs were everywhere these days. Returning from the sink, she took up a spot before the eggplant and fishes a few paper towels out to use as a cutting board under it. No one wanted Eggplant guts on their nice clean counter. "You might need another knife, Aurum." She smiled, picking up the one he had gotten out already, and sliced through the middle of the vegetable. She set one plump side on a separate paper towel for him, and adjusted her own in front of her. Once he had re-joined her, she continued- all the while keeping an eye on the slowly simmering olive oil.

"Now, when you cut the rounds you want them all to be about the same thickness. A good half an inch is what we are aiming for, but thinner is alright as well." She sliced a bit off and held it up for him to see. "When we lay them in the pan, we will be layering them, much like lagniappe noodles." She plopped the Slice back down and continued on, glancing up only briefly while she was cutting to peek at the oil. Without noticing, she sliced though the tip of her glove as her knife slipped through the eggplant. Having missed her finger entirely, which was a miracle in itself really.

>>"First thing we need to do is chop the eggplant into good sized rounds."

Aurum's eyes moved to the eggplant.

>>"Once we have all of the eggplant cut up, we will salt and pepper them and toss them into into the oil to fry for a bit."

"Sounds good," He commented.

She washed her hands, and split the eggplant for both of them to cut.

>>"You might need another knife, Aurum."

"Right, right," Aurum replied, with a hint of amusement in his voice. He'd been ready to grab the knife, and do all the chopping while she was doing other things. Now, they were splitting their manpower. He walked over, and pulled out another knife, then got to cutting the eggplant into rounds. He tried not to smirk when she gave him directions. He'd worked with cutting things before, after all. His eyes rose momentarily as she showed him something, then dropped back down towards the tenacious wielding of cutlery. A job like this was easy. It didn't take long for Aurum to work up a good pile of half-inch eggplant rounds. They were all the same approximate size, just as Andrea had asked of him.

Aurum looked up as she detailed how they'd layer them. Like noodles. Got it. ... er. Her knife slid down through the finger of a glove. Aurum's heart momentarily skipped a beat.

"Hey, watch out," he told her. Aurum set his knife down, and turned towards her. For all intents and purposes, it had looked like she'd chopped off her fingertip to him. He waited until he had her attention, then looked her in the shaded eye. "You okay?"

His eyes dropped to the glove. He felt compelled to hold up her hand and make sure the finger was all still there, but... why was she wearing gloves in the first place?

>>"Hey, watch out,"-"You okay?"

Pausing, her knife held midair, she turned to blink at him, her confusion turning the corners of her mouth into a slight frown. With his eyes directed at her hands. Her gaze dropped quickly from him, to her gloves, and after a moment of inspection she noticed the slit in the finger tip of one of her gloves. A startled 'meep' escaped her and she drew the hand to her face quickly, dropping the knife to the counter top.

"Oh dear..." She was well aware that there were certain cuts one didn't feel right away, especially with the right knife, and with limited feeling in one's hand. She didn't spot any blood, but was sure that the glove would effectively stifle the flow. The accessory would have to come off if she was to find out whether she was injured or not... Her eyes flitted over to Aurum cautiously.

"I can not tell if I have cut myself or not..." She would need some antiseptic and a baindaid... or cloth if it was a bad cut...

>>"Oh dear..."

She looked towards him, cautiously, holding her hand. Was she hurt? He wondered.

>>"I can not tell if I have cut myself or not..."

Aurum moved forward, and motioned towards her hand. "Mind if I?" His hand went to enclose her hand, and check the cut.

>>"Mind if I?"

She noticed from the corner of her eyes his hands moving towards hers and her heart ceased to move for a moment in her chest. As calmly as she could, she stepped out of range and smiled awkwardly at him, "I don't mind, really... but it's not safe for you..." Her smile drooped a little and she flushed brown with embarrassment. Carefully, with her own hands, she pulled her glove off and wiggled her fingers- peeking carefully at the finger in question until she was sure it was fine. After, her eyes shifted guiltily to Aurum. She felt she owned him an explanation- even if it was just a partial one..

"...I...er... Sorry, it's just better for you to not touch me. I have a mutation that affects living things, I wouldn't want to hurt you on accident." She wiggled her finger some more, and dropped her eyes to the glove held in her other hand. It would have to go back on, buts he would been to patch up that whole... otherwise she could ruin the food on accident, or leave fingerprints on his furniture.

"Do you have anything I can tie around my finger?... Cloth tape perhaps?" Once her finger came into contact with it, she would have an effective bandage against the hole...

Of course, it would also limit her range of motion with that finger.

First instincts, Aurum realized, might as well go with them.

As he reached out, she fled a few steps out of his range. Aurum's hand lowered. For a moment, he worried he'd done something to offend her. He'd been too worried, too forward...

But it seemed she wasn't mad. He awkward smile told him she wasn't glaring. And her words? They told him it just wasn't safe.

"I see," Aurum replied quietly. He watched her check her hand for wounds, and held back with restraint. From where he was standing, it didn't look like she was bleeding heavily. That was good.

His eyes rose back up to meet the darkness of her shades as she looked at him guiltily.

>>"...I...er... Sorry, it's just better for you to not touch me. I have a mutation that affects living things, I wouldn't want to hurt you on accident."

Aurum nodded, and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He glanced towards the kitchen. "It's fine. I should have known something was up with the gloves and the shades." Though, she hadn't said anything about the shades. It was just a guess. Who knew? Maybe, she just really thought they were stylish.

>>"Do you have anything I can tie around my finger?... Cloth tape perhaps?"

"I think I could find something, though... maybe, I could just give you a pair of dish-washing gloves? Those might be easier to chop vegetables in." If she turned the offer down, he knew right where to find the tape.