FIERY

She was so happy with his offer that it was hard not to jump up and down. “I would like to help, and I’m good at following order, you can be as bossy as you want.” Being a model required her to follow instructions and do what the photographer was asking, she was curious to know if it would be the same with him directing her in the kitchen, however she was excited for it.

“All the action is in the kitchen, I wouldn’t change that to sit in a table.”  She  started to follow him toward the restaurant, very glad that she found his keys and gave it back, this was turning out to be a way better day than just walking home.

The restaurant was only a short walk, less than a few minutes and he unlocked the back door, holding it open for her so she could walk in first. Dre flashed friendly smiles to the workers, throwing at small chit chat lines of ‘how are you’ ‘good, you?’ and the likes before going to an empty prep area. “So, what would you like to cook today?” he asked, bringing his attention fully back to the woman in front of him. “There is just about anything that can be grabbed and made, so pick your hearts desire.” 

It wasn’t that long, but Dilara smiled softly as he put on a show of contemplating it. However, she blinked in surprise at his offer. “You don’t need to help out. You are the customer after all.” She was the one working for him, and he was already doing too much for her when he was going to take her to his restaurant and pay her with the food she probably couldn’t afford. “Just relax, I’ll be done soon.” Smiling as she put the iPad away, Dilara started on the duties to close up, wiping down the counters and cleaning up the area she had been working on bouquets earlier. When that was done, she started to sweep the floor, gathering up the petals and leaves that had fallen today. 

-

Dre nodded, picking his phone up to idly scroll on some app that he truly didn’t care about. Honestly, most of the social media he consumed had to do with food, always trying to find inspirations for new recipes. It was also what a majority of his camera roll consisted of, different pictures of different foods that were made for him, or he made so that he could share it with his social media manager for Lux. He would glance up at her occasionally to watch what she was doing, but didn’t want to be perceived as odd, so he’d always focus back on his phone. Dre moved off to the side to lean against a wall by the front door so he was better out of her way, waiting for her to finish up. When she finished, he slid his phone into his pocket and stood up straight, giving her a warm smile. “Ready?” 

Dilara didn’t feel too much guilt at leaving the party early. Unlike him, she was not part of the society and felt no loyalty to stay. Though, she did feel a little guilty for taking him from the party too. Dre acted excited though, so maybe it was alright that she was taking him from the party. “You won’t have to wait long, it’s not too far away.” She smiled, speaking over the music. Together they moved through the crowd, cutting through easily enough without bumping into anyone and soon they were walking outside, the cool night air hitting them both. She took a deep breath, feeling much better since she got out of the party. “Much better.” She breathed, closing her eyes for just a moment before she took stock of the streets.

“This way.” Dilara waited for him to walk with her and she started to lead him down the road towards where the food truck would be just a few blocks away. “That sounds amazing actually, I’m glad we did this. There’s not much else I want right now than tacos, elote and some corona.” The city was alive around them, but it wasn’t as oppressive as the party they had escaped from. But mostly, Dilara was glad to be away from so many witches in such a small space. It had been overwhelming and the pressure on her head was clearing some. “You aren’t regretting leaving with me, right?”

-

As they walked, Dre started to peel the neon fixtures hastily fabric taped to his suit, rubbing away any residue between two licked fingers. The items, if small enough, were shoved into his pockets, but the less flexible items tossed in nearby trashcans as they walked. “I’m glad we did this, too.” He offered a warm smile, shaking his head at her question. “No regrets on my part, that’s for sure. Those kind of things aren’t... Aren’t really the most fun to me, I’m a bit of a home body.” Warm smile turning sheepish, pink tinging his cheeks for a moment. He could be somewhat uneasy around so many supernatural beings because almost anything could happen. 

Upon seeing the flashing ‘beer’ sign in the window of a corner store, he brushed her elbow to signal them to pop inside with a small head nod. “Let’s go in and grab a six pack real quick.” Dre led, immediately moving to the back of the corner store to the large coolers and there he saw it: Corona. His fingers curled around the handle, lifting it up to bring to the front counter to pay. Before she had a chance to protest, his card was already inserted in the pay kiosk and he said to her, “If you want anything else, just throw it on the counter.”  

“I know that. It’s just going to take me some time to really… I don’t know… Trust anyone. But I feel like I’ve made some progress even just tonight. I’m glad that you are the person that you are,” she added.

“Thank you, truly,” she hummed, standing to leave before hesitating, turning back to him and giving him a tight hug. She pulled away, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, offering him a small smile. “I’ll… I’ll see you soon, yeah?” she murmured, taking one more look at him before turning and leaving. 

-

“I am glad you are the person that you are as well, Elsie.” He gave her a warm smile and hug before she let go and turned away, glad he was able to help even if it was just a little bit. 

“It’s no problem at all, thank you for allowing yourself to trust me. Give me a ring whenever you need anything, okay? Stay safe.” Dre watched her go, making sure the door shut all the way before beginning to clean up the mess he had made. 

At the offer of food Liv smiled at him, she was always hungry, which was normal for a dragon, she could easily eat all the food he had stocked, however her mother taught her manners, and a little snack was still better than food at all. She nodded, accepting his offer. “Can I watch you cook?” Liv was curious about the entire process of cooking, it wasn’t rare for a dragon to eat raw meat just because cooking took too long.

It was nice to see that she wasn’t the only one that blushed easily, in her family she never saw her mother or father react like that, it was nice to see that it didn’t happen only with her. “Respect is key for a lot of things.” She pointed out, she wouldn’t want to work for someone that didn’t respected her.

“Most definitely, and you can even help if you feel keen to, but please forgive my bossiness if I end up directing ya around.” Dre nodded in his head in the direction he had been heading when he dropped his keys. “It’s just around the block, and we got seats in the kitchen if you just wanted to hang out and wait for your food. Or I can set you up with a table to eat in the dining room once it’s done, too. Whatever you like.” 

“Thank you Dre, I really do appreciate it. I can’t tell you the last time someone showed me this much kindness without expecting something in return,” she murmured, tears threatening to fill her eyes once more. “Maybe… maybe I could come by after work again some time? Try another one of your dishes? I can actually pay next time,” she giggled weakly, offering him a shy smile. The reality of the situation was starting to sink in, and she couldn’t believe she had been so silly as to break down in front of this man, this stranger. He had made it clear that he had a relationship with the Society, and while he seemed kind enough, who could say for sure whether he wouldn’t feed all of this straight back to the vampires. She would just have to trust him for now.

She took the scrap of paper shakily, nodding a little as she did, grateful that he hadn’t asked for hers in return. At least this way she could maintain some semblance of control over the situation. “Thank you. Truly. I… I wish there was something I could do for you… Is there anything?” she asked quietly, meeting his kind gaze once more.

-

Dre nodded solemnly, giving a small smile at her appreciation with his gaze trailing the ground before meeting her face again. “Elsie, you do not have to pay for any meal here that I cook, I promise. The enjoyment I get from cooking is more than enough, and it also allows me to get to do some practicing if you make some requests for certain foods. Also, if I’m trying out new recipes, a taste tester is always welcome.” He wanted to assure her he truly did not want anything from her because at the end of the day; What could she offer him that he could want? There wasn’t anything that immediately came to mind for him, perhaps like he had said someone to test out his new dishes, but he didn’t want money, sex, accolades. He just wanted to be nice to someone who needs it, and at the end of the day, probably deserves it after hard times. 

Dilara knew she scared easily. She always had jumped at the slightest of things. Jumpy, not that it ever ruffled her. Giving him a smile at his apology she shook her head. “It’s fine, I wasn’t paying attention.” He did nothing wrong, she was just a jumpy person. If she were being honest, she thought he did seem disappointed for just one moment. But then a sly grin grew on his lips and she leaned in to hear him over the crowd. All around them people were partying to their heart’s content, which was not a bad thing. She just was not in the mood. “Are you going to try and sneak out early too?” She asked and teased. “I think we might be a pair of party poopers to leave so early.” But, really she just wanted to get out of here. Let the others have the party and enjoy it, she wanted something quieter tonight. 

Her stomach almost growled at the thought of tacos and coronas. The last time she ate felt so long ago and leaving the party to grab some tacos seemed like a good idea. Dilara grinned, her lips tugging upwards. “I like that idea a lot. I know of one truck that usually parks at a street around here. They have some of the best elote in the city.” He had the right idea and Dilara felt like grabbing food was a much better idea than heading home right away. “I’d like to ditch and go get some food.” 

-

“It’s worth it to be a part pooper for some yummy as fuck food. If there is one thing in life that is worth ditching anything for, it’s food.” Dre’s hand rested on the middle of her back, gesturing with a chin tilt at the door to signal their great escape. “You are speaking every bit of the language of my heart, please show me this glory elote before I explode from one more sweaty body grazing me.” He walked out of the party with her, having dropped his hand from her back to start the break in the crowd to create a pathway for her, one hand reached back to rest on her elbow again as a guide. He casually placed his partially finished drink on a random side table before exiting. 

The cooler air hit his cheeks with a welcome smile spreading across face, feeling the weight of social suffocation ooze off of him. It was one thing to be in a hot kitchen with flames everywhere, but a whole gaggle of people always set him on edge. “Please point us in the right direction, young lady; elote, tacos, and coronas await our stomachs.” 

Dilara regretted coming. She really hated that she had been convinced by someone to try out the neon party when truly she had not been in the party mood. Her mind kept returning to the blood moon that had only happened a few weeks ago. Her behavior then had filled her with guilt and she hated how she’d been forced to move on when she really wasn’t ready to move past her broken heart over her late husband. Dilara had bene taking baby steps in living once more and moving on, but that had been too much and too quickly. Her heart was still broken and she was still in the grieving process. She would have rather stayed home truth be told and already she was searching for the exit. She had just broken off conversation with someone, and now stood scanning the crowd for the way out again. Only one drink in, but already it was too much and she was ready to leave. 

As he brushed his fingers along her elbow, Dilara jumped. The large crowd held many witches, and she was being overwhelmed by them all. It felt like the air was pulsing too much, and someone had turned up the volume too loud. So she didn’t sense Dre because she was surrounded by them. She smiled though, tucking some hair behind her ear. “I didn’t expect to see you here either.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “I hate to disappoint you, but I was actually thinking of heading out.”

-

Dre’s face turned apologetic when she jumped, mouthing a sorry quickly before she continued to speak. He milled over what she said, actually feeling disappointment turn at her statement, but his eyebrows raised and he shook his head. Mouth tilting towards her ear so she could hear him better, “Please, Dilara, I don’t think you could disappoint me if you tried, you have the right idea, though. Leaving sounds as close to heaven as anyone could get right now.” Dre’s face scrunched as he glanced around the party, watching whatever was going on between all the different species and how they interacted with one another. It was odd, you would have thought that most would not get along, but alas the feigned truce that The Society held probably kept people in line more than he ever knew. 

“What would really be next to godliness right now would be some al pastor tacos and a lime infused corona, honestly.” The feeling of people brushing past him made him feel somewhat tense, and it was the odd thing about these kinds of events. How did they know that a hunter might not sneak in somehow? What if these extravagances is what would be the downfall of them all? He shook the thought, bringing his mind back to the present as he gazed down at Dilara. “Would you want to ditch this neon shit and find a street vendor?” 

That’s when he saw her, dark hair pinned up intricately and white dress with colorfully tasseled poms that bounced with the slightest of movements. Dilara. The pretty flower lady and it clicked in his brain, that had been what he was feeling. She was a familiar, everything suddenly made sense. Dre’s interactions with the other familiars were sparse, barely passing words and he had never truly focused on them or the energy they gave off. Dre made his way to her, fingers past the loose sleeves of the dress to touch her elbow gently. 

“Flower lady?” he asked, in a teasing voice and a coy smile gracing his lips. “Fancy meeting you here.”  @dilara-alpman-shaw​​

Dilara sensed the way he was teasing her and her nose scrunched up as she smiled slyly at him. She just didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness and he was teasing her for it! If she kept it about business then at least she could semi pay him back for the food that was going to be more expensive than she usually could afford. “If you say so.” Dilara smiled. Though his offer surprised her, it was welcome to have the choice. Of course, he grew nervous, prattling on and rambling a bit but Dilara lifted her hands and tried to shake it off. “It’s okay, I understand what you mean. But I’d rather walk - but for a different reason.” It was not him being a stranger that stopped her, but the physical car that stopped her. “If you wait 15 more minutes until I get off, I can go with you.” 

While Dilara knew he was a witch, any specific element was more than she could sense. Even with her heightened senses for witches currently while she was a familiar seeking a new witch, she still couldn’t tell elemental preferences. Only that he was a witch with the near neon flashing sign that seemed to surround him. In fact, she had chosen the colors from the details in the back of the photos. There seemed to be hints of red and she wanted to play that up more. “I’m glad to hear that.” Dilara meant it too, she was glad she happened to land on his favorite colors. 

-

Dre tapped his chin, eyebrows scrunched as if he was thinking and then nodded with a little laugh. “I think I can wait 15 minutes. Do you need help with anything to close up shop for the day?” He leaned against the counter, propping his chin on his hand and looking up at her, lazily at attention with the corners of his mouth curled into an almost playful smile. If he could help her put things up he would be more than happy, it being in his nature to be genuinely helpful to most he came across, but perhaps not to some of his fanged acquaintances. There was not much he could trust about them, usually quite hesitant in his interactions with vampires. 

“I think it depends on the celebrity and the sponsorship honestly, not everyone who gets sponsored has something nice to say, if that makes sense? I’ve had sponsorships from some art brands before and some of them are really the ‘Make us look good no matter what’ sponsorships- wich I tend not to take- but alot of them just want you to try out their products on screen and be honest about them, wich is good because not every deal I’ve gotten is for great products,”

Pausing, spoon hovering over her curry for a moment, she considered how she wanted to phrase her words

“I think there are ways to be ethical about it, you just have to.. not be a jerk? You’re paying for someone to talk about you so you should let them decide what to say- atleast that’s my opinion, but make sure to aim for not only the right content, but the right person, aim for someone who’s generally positive and uplifting instead of someone who’s more critical, someone who just has nice things to say about everyone and everything because then even if they hate your food, they’ll still probably say something nice like ‘Curry is too spicy for me but everyone who loves spice should try it’ and still be honest, those types of people have audiences who are really receptive to niceness and gentle attitudes so they have to be really carefull not to be mean or bitter or overly critical of something or they’ll get yelled at- I speak from experience- plus they probably would feel too guilty about hurting your feelings to say anything negative anyway,”

Again speaking from experience, Lily rarely said anything critical in her videos of… well, anything… but on the rare occassion that something obscenely minor had come up, she had always felt terrible for it

“Oh, definitely stay away from mommy bloggers,” she snorted, scooping up another spoonfull of curry

“Not the right audience, for one thing- you’re literally selling something spicy to people who want things to be bland, and that’s not me being mean, I mean it literally, alot of women have permenant changes to their food preferences after pregnancy and spicy things are one of the first to hit the ‘nope’ list, for acid reflux reasons too, and kids definitely aren’t going to like spicy things and mommy bloggers are usually marketing a ‘family’ experience- unless it’s about sex- so outside of maybe getting someone to rec your curry for a date night thing, you’re probably casting a net in the wrong ocean, you should aim for young adults who are single or dating, who still like trying new things on a regular basis and who probably react to ‘that’s too spicy for me’ with ‘I’ll eat more and see if I can start crying from it’ rather than ‘damn now I’m going to have acid reflux all night’- urban explorers, adrenaline junkies and stunt vloggers, small time creators like rappers and indie artists who have a big following but don’t have like… sold out concert arenas yet, so they still feel really personable and intimate with their audiences rather than ‘oh look another celebrity doing something fancy’, and maybe instead of a food critic, aim for social media chefs and food artists- you know like people who make sculptures out of crystalized sugar and things like that, you know they’re into food but they’re not going to ruin your reputation if they have a bad time,”

Pausing, she realized just how long she had been talking and immediately started turning red

“I-… I’m so sorry, I’m just… giving tons of unsolicited advice aren’t I?”

Dre listened to the way the woman rambled, propping his chin in his palm and leaning against the counter. She wasn’t wrong, not at all, and the information she was giving would be helpful for marketing when it came to getting new dishes out into the world. “So... perhaps someone like you, and other influencers you know?” he asked. He shook his head, “Not unsolicited, I asked for the advice and I will definitely take it into consideration because you’re right.” He frequents social media, mostly in an idle manner where he peruses different food posts, blogs, or videos on the varying platforms. Even had a passing thought about doing his own cooking videos in his free time, but he feared never being able to have a moment other than short bouts of sleep. 

“So, perhaps a social media event, get people to come and try out different foods and welcome their photos, videos, and words trickle into the online spheres. That could definitely be very fun and worthwhile. Would you want to be a part of that, perhaps?” 

“Thank God someone finally said it, I’m depressed over the lack of seafood that isn’t sushi,”

It wasn’t like he was expecting to find Kazunoko or Takayaki anywhere, but would it really kill anyone to offer fish that wasn’t raw or some variety of salmon?

“No I agree with you, I’m a siren, I love sushi, but there’s more you can do with fish than roll it up with rice,”

Although he’d kill for an authentic crab onigiri but that was really beside the point

“Well from a Millennial to you- I barely know what Tiktok is either, and if you do a test kitchen, count me in as a regular, if you do fugu or uni,”

Unfortunately though, that was where the simpler “yes or no” style of advice ended, giving Tatsuya a moment of pause before responding

“I think that depends on what kind of customers you want as regulars, if you play around with it more then you’ll probably get more people who are like you and want to try new things, especially if you keep the menu rotating so that it’s always featuring something new, but those types of people may not stop in as often as the type who come in every week for the exact same order, if that’s the kind of people you want to keep as regulars then you should only spot rarer things like this so as not to scare them away,”

“What ways would you like to see fish dishes prepared, or inspirations of plates that could be drawn from? I could always try to start there, play around with the different recipes and flavors and throw that on for a night... Do a sea lover’s paradise type beat, more of an event and use social media for advertising and such to bring in a crowd.” Dre tapped his chin, taking a moment to thoughtfully surmise the idea. It could be a big draw to a new wave of people to come into Lux and continue to help it thrive. 

Dre grabbed the notebook he had been scribbling in while cooking the curry, scribbling down ‘fugu’ and ‘uni’ to make a note to look them up when he had a free moment. “That’s the thing, to have a business keep going strong, gotta have a little bit of middle ground, right? Yeah... every once in a while should be good, can’t have it all the time. Which is disappointing... Maybe I cooking classes would be fun too to set out to do, like private ones. God, having a business can be a headache.” 

Cayden had always been a good listener, he liked to talk sure, but he loved listening to people talk about what made them happy, hearing others embrace their passions made him genuinely happy too, and Drex was quite obviously very passionate about food

“You could do that, make it into a sampler type of thing, put it on one of those plates with the little spinny thing under it so that people can turn the plate to try different things, I bet it’d be a huge hit at parties and small gatherings, almost like a fondu kind of thing,”

Ofcourse Cayden may not be the best person to give this kind of advice, not having been to a party or anything of the sort in…. literally years…. but he still wanted to make the suggestion

“Oh no no, you know I could listen to you talk about this all day, I’m just happy to be a springboard for some ideas,”

Any help he could offer was help he would gladly give

“I’m doing well, still unpacking though honestly, I don’t know why it’s taking me so long this time around, what about you?”

Dre clapped his hands together, maneuvering around the kitchen so he could get a spinning tray and three creme brulee dishes. He set them up on the counter and positioned them triangularly to begin the start of his vision. “And then... you put the naan in the empty spaces and like you said, spin to your taste.” A test spin given, the lazy susan spinning idly with the weight of the dishes slowing it to a stop eventually. 

Bitting her bottom lip, Dilara tried to decide what to do with his offer. She knew normally she wouldn’t be able to afford his restaurant based on the interior alone. But, he was being so kind and he kept insisting, she didn’t want to upset him. “I suppose - only as a way to talk about flowers, alright? I want to be able to feel like I’m paying you back for your kindness.” She gave him a soft smile and glanced at the clock. “I get off in 15 minutes. Maybe I could go with you now if that works?” 

Now it was her turn to share her own screen and Dilara was more than happy to show him the white flowers she was thinking of. “Oh yes, there would be other colors. But white might be the dominant one to match the elegant materials you are using in the rest of the restaurant.” She glanced up and smiled softly to read his expression before flipping through more. “Maybe red or orange as another color? Even some yellow too. What do you think of that color scheme?”

-

“Yes, only as a way to talk about flowers,” he promised, clasping his hands in a praying stance to amplify his promise. “You are paying me back by even entertaining my request for a tip being through food. You are more than welcome to come with me now, and I did bring my car, but we can also walk if that makes you feel more comfortable?” Dre stood up a little straighter and he felt warmth flushing his neck, realizing his words might sound strange to some. “I am just prefacing that because I... I dunno, I think maybe some people, especially women might be against riding in a relative strangers car. Am I talking myself into a hole?” He rubbed the back of his neck, scrunching his nose as he talked. The warmth under his skin and pink skin writing his embarrassment across his features.