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Characters: Lelouch and the rest of the Code Geass cast present at dinnertime the first day of Round -1. Except Gino. ~~But he's welcome to crash~~. Sorry Rolo.
Format: Prose
This log is: open
Location: Home Ec room
Summary: Lelouch cooks dinner, and the hungry masses were pleased. Also, some catching up is in order for some Princes, Princesses, Knights, and siblings. Also, Lelouch and Kallen need to talk. There's two threads here, one with Lelouch and Kallen, and the other with the dinner. When the others arrive, Kallen's already there, natch.
Warnings: Either saccharine or angst. Or sacchariny angst. You never can tell with this group.

His cooking just didn't seem right. Sure, the flavors were good, and it wasn't like he'd burned anything. He had lost none of his skill, but something seemed off in his measurements. There was an element of precision that was missing. But he couldn't overcome it. The others wouldn't likely notice, but it was distinctly off-putting. And he just didn't like not being able to overcome this.

There was another problem during the planning stages of this meal. He had wanted to incorporate things he knew everyone enjoyed very much, but he could not remember Nunnally's favorite. He knew what she disliked, which was a very short list, but he could not remember her favorite food. He'd settled on something that ranked highly with her, but it still was not her favorite. Out of all of the possible memories that could have been taken, did it have to be that one? Never had cooking been such an annoying process before.

But he went on with his plans, dressing up the room a bit, and borrowing a large table from another classroom that had a better dining-room feel to it. He pulled together as many resources as he could, eventually creating a table arrangement that would suffice. Five place settings and four chairs would do just fine.

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Suzaku walked into the room that Lelouch had told him they were having the dinner in. Seeing the scene he hurried over assuming automatically that Kallen had attacked Lelouch, but then... no Lelouch was not strong enough to fight Kallen off. Still he had told Lelouch that inviting Kallen was a bad plan, but Lelouch had wanted everyone to have a dinner together with everybody.

"What's going on," he was next to them now, and glaring at Kallen.

Kallen blinked again. Hearing Nunnally and Suzaku's voice knocked her out of her daze. Before when this happened, no one walked in on them. But it... gosh this was different than that time and this was REALLY embarrassing. Not to mention she would have wished for a longer moment interrupted. She had gotten lost in the gaze of his violet eyes, about to reach up and touch his face to make sure he was real. But alas, she hadn't gotten that far.

"A mishap," Kallen said, pulling up her elbows to rest against the floor. She pulled herself back to slide from under Lelouch and sit up. "It's far from what you think." Even though she seemed to be handling the situation well verbally, her face showed something far from composed.

Euphemia is excited for their meal-- she hasn't yet tasted her brother's cooking, but assumes it's as good as everything else Lelouch is able to pull off.

Striding down the halls in the provided uniform, Euphy pauses at the doorway, unsure if it's the right room-- but she sees the others, and that doubt is quelled.

Ah, but then on the floor-- is that Lelouch and a girl...? She crawls out from under him and says something she can't hear.

"Oh my," Euphy says, approaching. She laughs. "What a naughty thing we've just seen!"

Lelouch was also frozen for a moment, but Nunnally's sweet voice interrupted whatever thoughts he was having. He started to pick himself up. He was crouched on the floor, midway through reaching for a towel to clean up the oil, about to tell Suzaku it was fine when Euphemia broke his calm exterior. He blushed despite himself and turned from all of them as he wiped up the mess. "It's nothing of the sort," he said. "She slipped and pulled me down with her."

By the time he was fully upright and offering Kallen a hand up, he had regained his composure. "Everything is ready."

Oh thanks for wording it that way. That made it all the more embarrassing. "I didn't mean--" Kallen gave the male a disapproving glance before taking his hand to level herself to stand.

She took the chance to scan over everyone in the room and her eyes caught Euphie. Her eyes opened wide for a moment. Lelouch warned her, sure. But it's not the same impression.

Nunnally giggled a little behind her hand. It wasn't as if she was laughing at them, but the situation was a little... amusing, at least. It was a long time since...

...a lot of the people she knew were there. People she hadn't seen together in a long time, it was a nostalgic feeling, and she fell silent, for a moment, closing her eyes. The feeling was different with closed eyes. The memories were different. But it was those memories she'd treasured the most.

So it had just been an accident. As Kallen mumbled embarrassedly and Nunnally giggled it reminded Suzaku so much of being back at another school. At Ashford before Euphy had died before... Well he couldn't remember much, there were too many holes but before he became a Knight of the Round. Back when things were normal, or as normal as they had been since they were ten.

There was still the wariness, he still watched Kallen out of the corner of his eye to make sure she didn't try anything; to make sure it wasn't a trick. "Need anything done?" He asked Lelouch as a reply to his statement that everything was ready for the meal.

Thankfully the spilled oil did no damage to her or Lelouch. The pain in her ankle she was able to walk it off. Suzaku's glancing at her didn't go unnoticed. She tried her very best to ignore him and his looks. Lelouch being dead and revived had been enough to look at. Now she had Suzaku and Euphemia on the list. Kallen refused to look at either of them unless she had been prompted to do so.

For now, she wanted to be out of the way. Everyone had closer bonds with each other than with her. It almost felt like she was out of place. And if she could catch a moment to clear her head, then that would be fine too.

She muttered something along the line of "I'll be right back," to the group and walked towards the door. She opened the door and stopped instantly.

Edited (Elle is replying with Gino!) 2011-01-18 17:19 (UTC)

Unfortunately for Kallen's hasty escape plans, the door was currently blocked by a certain Knight of the Round, one hand raised mid-knock. He blinked, then his gaze dropped to Kallen's face and he smirked at her expression.

"Yo," he made no move to get out of her way, "That was fast."

"Gino, move." At this point right now, she didn't want to be caught up in an argument with him.

"What's up? You're going the wrong way," he pointed out, frustratingly non-argumentative, and proceeded to totally block the doorway by leaning past her. When he didn't see far enough into the room to check who else was there, he looked back at Kallen, brandishing an envelope neatly addressed to Sir Suzaku! in what looked suspiciously like Mei's handwriting. "He in here?"

"I am trying to leave to clear my head," she said low so no one except Gino could hear her. She leaned back when he leaned in, almost wanted to bring her hand up to facepalm. "If you let me get out of your way, you can check for yourself." She saw Suzaku's name and glanced back for a quick second. With a grab of Gino's wrist, she pushed the letter out of her face. "I won't tell you again, move."

Gino frowned at her, not pulling his arm away. Clear her head, huh. Abruptly he nodded, smile returning in a rush. "Gotcha."

And without further ado, he took a step past her and tugged, so their positions were reversed. With an arm now firmly around her shoulders, he leaned back into the room to grin at the assembled 'students'.

"Oi, I'm stealing her for a second." You could practically hear the tildes. Straighten, push her out of the door, close said door. Capture complete.

"W-- Gino-- just wh--" And the door was closed. That happened fast, way too fast.

She turned around quickly to face him. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"You need to clear your head," he parroted back to her. The moment the door had closed, he'd let go of her shoulders and stepped back to a comfortable distance - a mark of respect, maybe. Or because he preferred his arm un-broken. "So clear it. What's up?"

Edited 2011-01-18 19:35 (UTC)

She walked away from him, knowing he would follow. She didn't want to be in a ear shot of that room where the others could hear here. And when Kallen reached a distance that seemed ideal, she stopped.

"Everyone that I know who are supposed to be dead are in that room. And--"

She wouldn't dare admit she almost couldn't hold herself back when it came to Lelouch. Gino didn't need to know that.

"Something happened that went down before. I didn't know how to react to that." Thankfully Gino had missed that embarrassment.

"Yeah?" He carried on after she stopped, until he was level with her in the corridor. Then, glancing back, he frowned. He'd accepted that this Kallen wasn't the one he remembered from the cell in the Tokyo settlement; he could recall, hazily, parts of their argument on their first day at the school. Remembered being the key to all of that - there was a lot missing. He was older than he was meant to be, slightly taller, with scars he couldn't explain. And things didn't add up, so yes: Gino was entirely willing to believe her when she made outlandish claims about the health of certain people. It didn't mean he had to like it, and it didn't mean he had to understand it. Plus, as long as he didn't think too hard about who exactly she meant, his memories were safe.

He turned to face her.

"They aren't now, though," he said, pragmatic. "And I'm betting they don't remember it either. Euphemia sure doesn't. So what's the problem?" He paused, "'something' happened?"

"I-- I don't think they do. But I'm willing to bet they don't. At least... Lelouch didn't see to." In fact, she was sure none of them saw or remembered him dying. But Euphemia dying was broadcast, so no one could have missed that tone.

"The problem is how am I supposed to go on knowing everything and they don't know a damn thing?!" She didn't mean out to last out on him, but believe her Gino, this has been harder on her than she thought it would ever be. "Euphemia mass murdered Japanese before Zero killed her. In fighting against Suzaku in our Knightmare Frames, I killed him. I watched Lelouch get slain by Zero right in front of my eyes. Just how does everyone expect me to just pretend that none of that happened?" Her hands curled into fists, shaking slightly. "Explain to me just how am I supposed to deal with that. I sure as anything don't know how to."

In her rage, she didn't reply to the last bit. She just turned her back to him, her gaze set on the floor.

Edited 2011-01-19 01:07 (UTC)

Because she turned away, she didn't see the now-familiar flurry of reactions and emotions that managed to get out before the memory loss snapped back with extreme prejudice. Some of the people in there are meant to be dead, he remembered. What had they been saying after that? She'd killed someone. Another Knightmare pilot whose name he didn't recognise.

He shook his head with a grimace of annoyance, fingers curling into his bangs as though that would keep the memories from disappearing. "Ask them to take that from you too," he suggested, only half-joking. "It's working for me."

But that was probably not what she meant by 'clearing her head', so he frowned at her only briefly before his hand dropped from his forehead. "Come on, Kouzuki. You've done undercover missions with the Black Knights, haven't you?"

"I'm glad you think this is funny, Gino." Except she wasn't. Here she was, trying to trust Gino with a serious situation on her hands and she had forgotten that the male could never be serious. Maybe she was placing her trust in the wrong person.

"Forget it." She said, ignoring his question which to her had nothing to do with the conversation they were having. Kallen just continued to walk down the hall, with or without him.

"Kallen." First name? Oh dear. He matched her pace in a few strides, and caught her shoulder. "You think I'm not taking this seriously, right? You want me to forget about it? That's just it. I can't remember half of the stuff you just said."

He didn't mind helping her - hey, without a fight or a cause, they were allies here. It was what he'd been gunning for all along in a way - but without memories, he couldn't be of much use to anyone. And if it was hitting him, who didn't really have much invested in the group back there... He looked back down the corridor, then tried to get her to meet his eyes. "You have all the information for once, and the rest of us are flying blind. That's what I meant just now. you've gotta look at this like a mission."

The hand on her shoulder caused her to stop but also whip around and remove his touch with her arm pushing his off. "I'm not saying you should! But don't joke about the things I remember. You would never understand how painful they are!"

She grabbed the fabric at his chest despite their height difference. "I can't pretend... I just can't." The flame in her eyes met his cool blue ones. "A mission to play pretend? To not break down every time I see Lelouch?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right." He didn't bother to ask her what her deal was with Lelouch, it was just one of the many things that didn't add up. It could get in line. He folded his arms, but didn't knock her hand away. "It's not like you can avoid the guy in a place like this, so what other options do you have?"

He paused, then added with a flare of his usual smile, "Want to punch me? I bet it'll make you feel better, and you won't break your hand like you would if you took it out on the wall."

Hey, it had worked for her last time he could remember her this upset, and the Knight of Seven wasn't here this time.

Edited 2011-01-22 21:26 (UTC)

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Kallen yelled at him, gritting her teeth. She wanted to hit him, she REALLY wanted to. But she knew better. Hitting Gino wouldn't solve a damn thing.

She pushed against him, releasing her hands's grips. Slowly she backed up and placed her back against the wall, sliding down it. Knees drawn to her chest, head resting against them. "Don't ask the impossible of me," she whispered, not really caring if Gino heard it or not. "Just leave."

Lelouch watched the incident at the door, and his Ace get summarily kidnapped by the lanky Knight. He said nothing for now, but if she did not return soon, he would be sending Suzaku after her. His tone showed no hint of suspicion of the situation that had just unfolded. "No, everything's ready," he replied to Suzaku as he removed his apron. He set it on the counter nearby, and then he walked behind Nunnally's wheelchair to guide her to the place setting without a chair.

Euphemia blinks a few times, watching them go. "Ah... She's the girl Suzaku and I saw on that island, isn't she?" She looks to Suzaku, heading to one of the two spots next to Nunnally.

Suzaku blinked as the pilot whose name he couldn't remember marched out. He saw Gino and blinked some more, since when had them two been friends? Suzaku nodded at Euphemia's comment, "Yes, that's her." He wished he could suply a name but he couldn't so he merely followed the others towards the table.

Nunnally said nothing a the theft of the redhead, didn't want to intrude with too many questions, so she focused on the table and the others.

"What did you make, brother?"

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sup I heard there was a party

B| GET OUT

REPOSTS THIS SO MUCH

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Gino & Kallen from here on out I guess. Reactions to them, reply to Gino's comment.

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