>>"I can not say I have ever used one of those before... are they terribly expensive to purchase?"

He turned to reply, and noted she was already busy working on the dishes. That... he'd been willing to do them, himself, but if she wanted to help, then okay.

"A coffee maker isn't that bad. Usually, the recipe calls for about 3 fluid ounces of espresso. Espresso machines are more expensive. I'm going with the cheaper route, and brewing some good dark coffee." Aurum replied.

>>"It might sound odd, but i rather miss washing dishes. I haven't had to clean nearly anything at all for at least a few months now..."

"By all means," he smirked. "I can help with the drying, if you want?" Aurum walked over to her side, and grabbed a towel from a drawer. He stood near the drying rack.

>>"..I'm going with the cheaper route, and brewing some good dark coffee."

An eyebrow twitched upwards. Dark like the kind she had had before? If so, it sounded quite tasty... especially if there was caramel involved. "Sounds great. I have had dark coffee before, if my memory is correct."

>>"By all means," he smirked. "I can help with the drying, if you want?"

"But of course." She smiled, handing him a dish waiting to be rinsed and dried, and dug her hands back into the water for another plate. "May I ask you something Aurum?" She paused, peeking at him out of the corner of her eyes, then continued.

"Do you do this very often?...Bring home random people to entertain as guests?" She set another dish in his side of the sink to be rinsed, and started in on the small pile of utensils. It was a curiosity to her, for she had never before met someone who was so... open? perhaps it was because she was a woman, and he didn't fear her mutations.

>>"Sounds great. I have had dark coffee before, if my memory is correct."

"I think I served you it," Aurum replied with a knowing smile. As for the dishes... he rinsed the dish she handed him, and dried it off with a towel. One good drying later, it made its way to the rack.

>>"May I ask you something Aurum?"

He swung his head to face her. "Go ahead."

What was she wondering...?

>>"Do you do this very often?...Bring home random people to entertain as guests?"

...

"It depends on the person," Aurum replied. "Some people, I don't trust with my kitchen. You seemed nice."

>>"It depends on the person,"-"Some people, I don't trust with my kitchen. You seemed nice."

She beamed again. Nice?... that was nice.. It was Nice to be considered Nice. Her eyes shot to the ceiling and she puffed her cheeks and blew a stray strand of hair from her face, passing another dish over to him. Aside from all of the things she has ever considered herself to be, nice was now at the top of the list, wearing a crown and a sash.. with a beautiful bouquet of roses-... She shook herself, and dropped her eyes back down to what she was doing.

"Well thank you. I suppose out of all the things I could seem, Nice is better than most." With her sink emptying rapidly, she slowed down a bit. "I wish I had been blessed with someone to help with dishes back home, I can hardly believe how fast these are going by..." The sound of coffee dripping behind her made her sniff at the air expectantly. "Wow, it smells wonderful. Is that why people drink coffee every morning?" A jingle she had heard a looong time ago floated to mind..

~...The best part of waking up... ~

He smiled as she beamed, and took the plate. A towel went over it in a circular motion. Wax on, wax off. It was dry. And to the drying rack, it went.

>> "Well thank you. I suppose out of all the things I could seem, Nice is better than most." "I wish I had been blessed with someone to help with dishes back home, I can hardly believe how fast these are going by..."

Aurum let out a light laugh. “I wish I’d had someone around to help me with them sooner.” He commented appreciatively. It was certainly nice having help.

And nice was the word of the hour.

They really were nearly done with these dishes, though. His eyes dropped to take in how many Andrea had left to wash. Not many.

>> Wow, it smells wonderful. Is that why people drink coffee every morning?"

And it seemed like the coffee was nearly done, too. Once they were done with the dishes, he decided, he’d get to work on the drinks.

“One of the many reasons,” Aurum replied. “The caffeine buzz helps, too. And it’s certainly good for a hangover.”

>>“The caffeine buzz helps, too. And it’s certainly good for a hangover.”

She paused, setting yet another clean scrubbed dish onto his side, and Tilted her head. "...Hangover?" Puzzling over the familiar sounding word, she turned to the third to last dish, scrubbing slowly. Then, nearly all at once it it her. "...Oh!... A hangover..." She had only heard about it though TV commercials... mainly from painkiller advertisements, and what it was exactly had slipped her mind. Being a non drinker, Andrea still didn't quite know what a hangover felt like exactly... or what any of the symptoms (aside from the obvious one) were for that matter. A headache was all she could guess at.

"I've never had one... But I will certainly keep that in mind." Placing the last dish she had in the sink, she unplugged her side and drained the water. Off came the rubber gloves, (leaving her with just her own gloves on) and she wiped the counter down quickly before moving to the oven to check on the food. It looked good... perhaps another ten to fifteen minutes and it would be ready to eat. Carefully shutting the oven door, she turned back to him and clasped her hands behind her while she leaned against the counter. "I'd give the Moussaka another fifteen minutes. Twenty at the most."

>> "...Hangover?"

Aurum watched her as she puzzled over the word for a moment. She didn’t know what hangovers were, huh? Maybe she’d never had to deal with one, just like she’d never had a chance to drink coffee. That would have been a… real shame? Never having a hangover, a shame? Nah. He grabbed the dish and dried it, hiding a wry smirk. Yet another thing he’d had a chance to experience in his long life that she’d never had a chance to ‘enjoy’.

>> "...Oh!... A hangover..."

There it was. The realization.

His smirk may have shown itself a bit more prominently than he’d hoped.

>> "I've never had one... But I will certainly keep that in mind."

Heh. Aurum finished drying, and moved to work on the drinks. He gathered the needed materials. Milk, sugar (that was actually sugar), caramel sauce, whipped cream, the blender, and ice. He turned to look at her as he plugged the blender into the socket.

>> "I'd give the Moussaka another fifteen minutes. Twenty at the most."

“That went fast,” Aurum laughed. It seemed like only yesterday that they’d put it in to bake. “Come over here, so I can show you all that goes into these frozen lattes.” Aurum ushered her to his side.

Luckily for Aurum, she missed his smirk. Her gaze had been drawn back to the table... where her drink still sat. While he had been finishing up with the drying of the dishes, she had moseyed on over to her soda and taken a few more sips to wash the rest of the cake from her mouth, as well as to wet her parched throat. In the future, she would have to remind herself not to rush through things... and even if her fellow cook looked busy- she would ask questions! (so as to prevent anymore full scale dessert disasters...)

>>"That went fast..."-“Come over here, so I can show you all that goes into these frozen lattes.”

With a nod and a soft, "Mhmm." Andrea padded back into the kitchen and took her spot at his side. Indeed, the baking time had gone by quickly... Her shielded eyes took in the assortment of ingredients, and froze on the caramel. Oh... sweet delectable. It was right up there with chili cheese dogs. Her stomach grumbled expectantly. Down girl... The coffee sat ready, steaming and glorious... Oh my... She was starting to glorify things. I must really be hungry... She watched, and listened, as he arranged everything and prepared to make the... what was it, a latte?... no, no. Frozen lattes. yes. That was what he had said.

"Show away." A smile accompanied her words, and she leaned in to watch expectantly.

Show, he did.

“The first thing you want to do, after the espresso (or in this case, dark coffee) is prepared, is put the coffee, the sugar, and the caramel sauce into a blender pitcher. You want… 1 tablespoon of caramel sauce.” Aurum went to measure it, balancing the caramel gloriously on the measuring spoon. He leveled it off, and added it. Then, came the sugar. “Two tablespoons, white sugar.” More measuring. More adding. He shook the spoon off over the sink once he was done, to free up some grains. “And three fluid ounces of coffee.” That got dumped in next.

He set the coffee pot in the sink, and turned his attention back to the blender. Aurum pointed out settings on it. “Now, you’ll want to blend this all on ‘high’, until the sugar and the caramel dissolve into the espresso. Like so.”

He covered it up, and started blending. Round and round, the whirring blade went. After a minute of mixing, he stopped it.

“Pour ¾ a cup of milk in, and add 1 and a half cubes of ice. Then, we toss the lid back on, and continue blending. We want it to be frothy deliciousness.”

Whir, whir. He stopped it when it was smooth.

Aurum poured the beautiful mixture into two tall glasses, and added whipped cream on top. “And, we’re done.” He handed Andrea hers. “You caught all that, right?”Aurum grinned.

>> “You caught all that, right?”

After accepting the drink, she took a sip warily and licked her lips before replying with a nod. "I think so.... " She took another sip, this one quite a bit larger, and grinned. "I can't say I'll be making very many of these though, so I would probably have to fall back on a recipe. After her first and second tastes, the full deliciousness of the beverage set in upon her. It was... good. Quite good. Better than the majority of drinks she had tasted since coming to the states.... but-

"Oh... ooow!"

A hand found its way to her temple, and she squinted as a bright, cold pain erupted just behind her eyes. "What is this?.... I have a horrible headache all of the sudden..." The gorgon had had headaches before, or course, but... nothing quite so... odd, as this one. She sent an accusing, squinty glare at the tasty drink in her hands and pursed her lips.

Andrea took the first sip. It didn't look like a disappointed one.

>>"I think so.... "

A second sip. She liked it. That was good. Aurum took a sip of his own. It was great. God bless the coffee bean. No, wait. This was his religion.

Rephrasing: All hail the bean.

Sip, smirk, sip.

>>"I can't say I'll be making very many of these though, so I would probably have to fall back on a recipe."

Aurum pulled the glass away from his lips with a nod, and an 'mm' grunt. "Okay, yeah. I can definitely write it all down after we're--"

>>"Oh... ooow!"

Andrea held her head, and squinted. Aurum's eyebrow arched.

"You okay?"

>>"What is this?.... I have a horrible headache all of the sudden..."

"That... brain freeze." He held his chin thoughtfully. "This isn't good. Brain freeze can be deadly."

>>"That... brain freeze." - "This isn't good. Brain freeze can be deadly."

The look she shot him was one mixed with disbelief and horror. She fumbled with her drink, as her fingers with limp, before catching it and setting it down on the counter. "..Wh-... What??" The pain throbbed behind her eyes, causing her to squint and raise her hand back to her temple. Had she heard him correctly? It could be fatal?? As best she could, she shot the frozen beverage a glare.

"This headache... can be deadly?"

Her tiny voice betrayed her confusion, and her mousish expression betrayed her discomfort. Worries whirled around her head; thoughts about what exactly brain freeze was, and how it had come about. Maybe a nerve in the back of her throat had gotten too much of the frozen treat and seized up, thus causing the headache and the impending threat of death... She eeped. Andrea didn't want to die! At least not in such a fashion! Her bottom lip started to tremble slightly and she dropped her hand from her temple to her mouth.

"How do we fix it?" Hopefully she didn't sound too pathetic... What a shame that would be.

>>"..Wh-... What??"

That was the reaction he was hoping for. Aurum didn't smirk. He played the reaction to her terror perfectly. Noted the frozen glare at the delicious latte, frowned at her questions. As if there were no other possible answer one could give.

>>"This headache... can be deadly?"

"Well, yeah. That's what happens when you drink your cold drinks too fast..." Death. Death was the result of it. "Ever hear of 'death by chocolate'? Similar scenario."

>>"How do we fix it?"

Aurum offered a comforting smile. "Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, and hold it there for a while. Rub it around to warm your brain. It's the only way..." Also, cluck like a chicken, and do a little dance. Aurum nodded gravely. This was serious.

This was seriously richer than Death by Chocolate. Boy, was this rich.

He was a jerk. But he'd come to terms with that.

>>"Well, yeah. That's what happens when you drink your cold drinks too fast..."- "Ever hear of 'death by chocolate'? Similar scenario."

She hadn't heard of it... but... at the moment she was willing to believe anything. Heck, the man could tell her he'd never seen snow, or that he'd never eaten a marshmallow, and she'd probably believe him. So, death by chocolate caused her to gasp softly and cling to the counter for support. People could Die from eating too much chocolate?!

>>"Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, and hold it there for a while. Rub it around to warm your brain. It's the only way..."

Her tongue poked out from her mouth for a moment, and she went cross eyed while trying to look at it... which, for a girl with a larger tongue than most, was not a hard thing to do. After its brief glimpse of the outside, her tongue darted back inside and she did as told, holding it against the roof of her mouth for a few moments before she circled it about.

Like clockwork, within moments the pain ebbed away and she was left slightly shaken, but alive.... "Do this type of drink do this every time you have it...?" She eyed her cup warily once more, before poking at it with her finger. It was hard to believe something so... so... innocent looking could be so terrible.

"How do you drink it without... er... doing it wrong?"

A gasp, and a counter-cling? Priceless reaction. He watched as she followed his instructions. Usually, the tongue-thing worked. He'd had one or two brain freezes in his day. This was an easy enough solution. The better solution, obviously, was to drink slow enough your brain didn't freeze at all. He'd learned that from his dad's jabs at him, back when he was 10. The 'come on, Aurum. Drink it slow and you won't have this' comments really set it in stone. It didn't take many brain freezes and comments to get him to understand the 'cause/effect' relationship. It was scientific.

As was death by chocolate, obviously. One could die from too much of anything. Even good things. Kind of like this, actually. Was she actually going cross-eyed?

Cute.

>>"Do this type of drink do this every time you have it...?"

Aurum shook his head. "Not usually."

>>"How do you drink it without... er... doing it wrong?

"With cold things, you really ought to take it slow. I learned that from run-ins with the brain freeze in the past. Drinking cold things too fast only sets you up for trouble. Same with drinking things that are way too hot, actually."

Wow. He'd just realized. That was 2 for 2. First, he'd got her with hot. Then, he'd got her with cold. Next time, lukewarm, then?