On The Edge [Flynn & Azraeth]

[Raven Talius]

A brow perked up as Azraeth mentioned that she hadn’t spoken much about before her brother’s attempt at murdering her. The woman’s shoulders rose and fell in a simple shrug as she glanced over the ingredients that was needed to make this silly cake thing. Dry ingredients? How often does he cook with Flynn? ”Domesticated life; remind me to kill myself if I ever find myself being domesticated by some man, Azraeth. The likelihood of me returning afterwards at this point, isn’t very high, at least, not for a very long time.” Raven mumbled mostly to herself. It was as if the Shadow Realm was consistently sinking it’s shadowy claws into her with every death. Although, the likelihood of her ever finding someone wasn’t high at all. The woman couldn’t even remember in ever being in a relationship. Casual flings? Sure, when she was human. Now? It was rather pointless.

”Oh it’s definitely a sex thing, he just likes to see your lips in action,” The woman chuckled as she browsed over the ingredients and nodded her head as Flynn mentioned which ingredients to get. Hell if she knew what dry ingredients were. ”As for my life beforehand? There isn’t much to say about it, my friend.” The shadow said as she returned the book to the bench tops and slid off so then she could go poking her nose into the cupboard that Flynn had point out and went looking for these so-called dry ingredients. ”I was the child that my parents didn’t want, they wanted a boy to take over their little drug ring. I was the stronger of the two of us and I was accused of basically trying to kill my twin while in the womb.” The woman said with complete boredom, remaining distant from everything was how she survived. A hand grasped what looked like sugar and sat it upon the bench, before she went off looking for the baking soda.

”So I committed my life to protecting my brother, even got thrown out of high school for it. He was… A magnet for the bullys. I got thrown out of the house for it, lived on the streets and got into cage fighting. I made enough to live and that’s all there is to it.” Raven simply said as she rifled through the cupboard to look for this baking soda. Indeed, she had spent her whole life fighting and it was why she could fit into the mould of being a monster so easily and why she didn’t care if she had to do the dirty work so then her friends could be spared. Where the hell was that baking soda? The woman pondered as she stuck her nose into yet another shelf only to find that pesky box sitting right in front of her. Grabbing the box, the woman rose and placed it upon the bench along with the sugar. What was next? Oh right, salt.

Going over that brief description of her former life, reminded her of the fact that her parents were still alive. What was she going to do about them. Well, while they didn’t exactly try to kill her, they still didn’t care about the fact that her twin had tried to kill her. Even sided with the drugged up idiot who couldn’t live without being coddled. Maybe, she could even leave them be, for now anyway. Let them worry over their missing little “precious” son for a while, they weren’t really much to bother herself with. As she was occupied with her thoughts, the woman almost missed the fact that the salt had basically been sitting right next to where the baking soda had been on the same shelf and she reached out to place it over next to the baking soda and sugar, hoping that no one had really noticed her absent of mind.

”Right, well that’s those ingredients. Honestly, with all of this work, I really do hope that you get sexual gratification out of this Azraeth. I’ve never known you to bake for someone else otherwise, so you’re one lucky man, Flynn.” Raven said with a wink, The whole sex thing didn’t bother her, it never had as she had grown up around older men who were big on the public display of sex and affection towards their partners; sexual or otherwise. So one grew accustomed to such incidences after a period of time and it got to the point where she could joke about it. ”I mean, I could totally leave if you guys want to start tossing whipped cream at each other only for this to end up in a sticky mess on the floor.” The woman chuckled as she eyed the two in silent thought. "Or, I'm down for the watching, all you have to do, is point me towards the popcorn."

[Azraeth]

Unintentionally distracting? The Mystic leaned back enough so that he could turn his head and glance up to Flynn in brief question, which perhaps betrayed how focused he was on trying to get everything together. Because normally he was way faster at picking up when his human partner was flirting with him. He was a Libra. He LOVED to flirt. He loved to be in love, and it wasn’t just this quiet thing at the back of his mind at all times, the way it was for some people. For Az, romance was more similar to a team sport, and while that didn’t necessarily mean he was a showman by nature, it did mean that he craved every single moment of passion he shared with his partner. And that was when he realized that Flynn’s eyes were totally on his ***. The vampire’s eyes grew a little more hooded for just a second. It was barely noticeable as an expression, and the only one angled properly to see it was the Paladin. In that brief span of time, the blink of an eye, Az essentially was trying to consider the merits of rushing Raven out of the house with some shoddy excuse along the lines of ‘Oh no! I smell a gas leak! You should go!’, only to immediately pounce on Flynn as soon as the door was shut behind her.

“Uhhh.” A very intelligent contribution. Of course, he couldn’t shove Raven out of the apartment. They had only just reconnected, and there would be plenty of time later in the evening for him to reward his partner. So a smile just tugged at the corners of his mouth as he finally grabbed the bag of mini-Reeses’ cups. “The stuff that goes on the stove. We can make the frosting while the cake is baking." The recipe called for making some chocolate syrup out of cocoa powder, water, and butter. And while both Raven and Flynn began to pull together everything they were going to need, Az found the cutting board so he could begin to slice up the cups, which essentially made them crumble into pieces. Sure. There were probably more efficient ways to do it, but baking wasn’t about getting things done in a timely manner, so much as sharing the experience. Even if it totally could have been a scene out of MacBeth or a novel by Terry Pratchett.

And it seemed both Flynn and Raven totally did not believe him about the watching Flynn eat being a sex thing. His lips pulled into a thin line as he chopped away at the cups, his brows dipping lower as if to say ‘Really?’. Instead, what he said was “You know I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who loved the Shadow Realm as much as me. We really need to get you an apartment and decorate it so you don’t end up going there just for funsies.” Every couple of words was punctuated by the thunk-thunk of his knife moving through the chocolate and peanut butter confections.

Little drug ring? What sort of environment had Raven been raised in? Jesus. Az’s parents had been devoutly, zealously religious people. He hadn’t been comfortable in his own home for a number of reasons, but his family had never been criminal. And as she described her relationship with her brother, Azraeth could not help but draw parallels between her experience of the world and his own. Only he had been the weaker one. He had been the twin who had been pale, and fragile, and sickly growing up. He had been the one who had been bullied, and it had been up to Azariel to protect him. It made the Mystic wonder if perhaps, if the woman’s upbringing had been a little more ‘normal’ if she would have turned out differently. It also made Az feel closer to her. But that had always been the case. They both had terrible experiences when it came to their siblings. Hers was worse than Azraeth’s by a long shot, but there was a kinship there. There were times when Az felt like Raven fit into the place in his world where Azariel had been. Of course. He tried not to say as much, because that was both wishful thinking and projection of his own desires. It was this inherently selfish thing, a standard that he had no right to hold the Shadow to.

Though it did explain why she was so protective of him.

“Drug ring?” he asked, deciding to poke that particular bear. Az knew that Flynn’s father had been put in prison, so the Vampire wondered if perhaps there was an area of connection to be found there. “You know, I have a hard time believing you didn’t kill your sibling in the wound. You totally should have. But seriously. **** your parents. If they don’t want you, then they don’t deserve you.” And with that, he put the knife down, leaving the pieces on the chopping block before he moved to pull the stand mixer into a central location, pulling the motor head upwards along with the stirring attachment so that they had room to dump ingredients into it.

“You are so not leaving. And you so shouldn’t watch. I am a confident man, but I don’t think my ego could handle the inevitable comedy show that would ensue from me and Flynn trying to put on a performance.” He said, with a glance towards Raven, and then a grin aimed at his partner. Az loved for people to know about his relationship. In fact. He was pretty sure at some point, people were going to raise up in riot, and tell him to just shut up about it at some point. But there were a few mysteries which would always remain mysteries. Because while Az’s love was public, his intimacy was a very private thing. “Though I think my Paladin may begin to worry I’m trying to Hansel and Gretel him with all the sweets I keep making. I won’t lie, I do prefer the taste of him to anything else.”

That could be taken however anyone wanted to take it.

What was next on the recipe?

[Flynn]

The attention directed on his vampire’s assets only shifted when said man leaned back from the cupboard, offering the best ‘the hell does that mean?’ look in the process. Flynn only rose up an eyebrow in response, and no sooner did the realization hit Azraeth as to just what the Paladin had meant. That questioning look twisted into something else entirely, but he knew better than to think anything would actually come of it. They ( could it be ‘they,’ if they didn’t actually live together?) had company, after all. Still, it was always nice to see the effect he had on his partner. Pushing off from the counter’s edge before his question was even answered, he moved to gather up the ingredients needed for the stove. In passing, he shot Raven a dismissive grin, ”You think I am the one domesticating him? That’s cute…” Of course, Raven wasn’t privy to his history. Their history, really. But, if either of them was doing the ‘domesticating’ in this scenario, it definitely wasn’t him.

As the conversation then shifted to a little bit of Raven’s history and the two vampire’s shared interest in the Shadow Realm, the human grew quiet as he settled at the stove. He was too purposeful in his movement, adding what he needed, stirring until it thickened enough to be added to the rest of the batter mix. In truth, he was focused on what little detail he received about Raven in her short explanation. It was no picnic of a life, but then...he was learning that few that resided in Harper Rock usually had anything short of a disaster in their own right. That was, until Azraeth mentioned one of the smaller details, no doubt choosing to question that topic because of his knowledge into Flynn’s own past. A talking a point, an area of common ground that they could stand on to see past their differences. All he could do was glance at his partner out of the corner of his eye, lips drawing into a thin line. It had taken...weeks to open up about his childhood with Az, and even then, it wasn’t something they had really discussed in depth. Telling Raven all about it seemed like a less than pleasant idea. Still… ”Children aren’t typically the first priority when it comes to the drug trade, babe. Not unless it suits them. If they’re in deep enough, it may even be better that way.” So, he wasn’t outright saying he was born to a drug trafficking jackass, but...it was close enough.

By that time, the chocolate syrup in the sauce pan was complete, so he removed it from the heat and set it aside, glancing around to see that Raven had gathered the ingredients needed and now with the stand mixer ready, they could be added. The recipe didn’t exactly say that they syrup couldn’t have cooled before being added to the dry mixture, but Flynn wasn’t about to assume. He grabbed for the dry ingredients and added them to the mixer one at a time, only to start it up for a moment to mix them together. Satisfied that that was done, he then grabbed the syrup and added that into the bowl, only to flip the mixer back on once more. ”I’m lucky on multiple fronts when it comes to him, though the fact he insists on cooking for me is definitely up there on the priority list.” he said to Raven with a grin as he stepped back from the counter after adding some vanilla to the batter, content to let one of them take over from there. And in truth, he would have loved to see Raven as the one doing it.

The comedy show comment was one Flynn tried not to smirk at, but that ultimately ended in failure. Mostly due to the grin aimed in his direction, but that was neither here nor there. ”Well, I’m in agreeance on one thing, at least. You definitely shouldn’t watch. But, I’m not sure how to take the comedy comment...do tell, what would be so amusing about us putting on a performance?” His head tipped at the end of the question, his full attention on Azreath. “I happen to think you’re pretty good at them.” Not that he got “performances” all that often, but that didn’t mean they didn’t happen. There was a raccoon suit somewhere that would attest to as much.

”And, you’re not nearly ugly enough to be the witch from Hansel and Gretel, and I will never question the sweets I’m getting...because it’s sweets. And I lack impulse control when it comes to anything made up of more sugar than anything else.” he continued, only to pause briefly with a snort. ”It’s also a good thing that you prefer the...taste of me to anything else, because you’d be stuck with it regardless…”