The Preserve: Thursday lunch time

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

The Preserve was cool and shady, and Karal was smiling as Trenor picked his way into a very familiar clearing. Six months ago, he never would have thought Trenor's saddlebags would hold Chinese food, but then he never would have thought he'd be riding through the woods with his arms around Molly, or that such a place as Fandom even existed.

In the grand scheme of things, Chinese-laden saddlebags weren't that remarkable.

He drew Trenor to a halt and rested his chin on Molly's shoulder, maybe closing his arms around her a little tighter. "Do you think that this will do?"

[ooc: for Molly, of course, who was modded with permission, and up early for time zones and SP.]

Comments

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly grinned and shifted onto her knees as she set the carton of sweet and sour chicken back on the blanket.

The first thing she did was grab a few napkins and spread them out for Karal to lay over his lap. She took one and tucked it into the neck of his shirt, glancing up to meet his eyes and smirking a bit as her fingers brushed his skin. "There, now you don't have to worry about spilling." She also offered him the box of rice to replace the noodles before sitting right next to him again and opening up a couple of sets of chopsticks. "The rice is sticky and is actually easier to pick up with the chopsticks believe it or not."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

He was suddenly not caring so much about chopsticks, distracted by the brush of her fingers against his skin, and he absently spread the napkins across his lap, watching her hands closely. "If you tell me, I will believe you," he said brightly, peering into the box. "Though the grains are very small."

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

"They cook the rice a special way so that it sticks in clumps," she assured him and handed him a set of chopsticks.

"Now, the trick to chopsticks is in how you hold them and in not squeezing the food. You put the first one like this..." She demonstrated the proper way to hold the sticks and how to pick up food with them. "Now you try," she said.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Frowning in concentration, he carefully shaped his hands like Molly's, then used the chopsticks to pick up some rice. "They feel very strange to use," he murmured, lifting them to his mouth.

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly shrugged, enjoying watching him with the chopsticks. "I guess they would. I don't even think about it I've been using them so long."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal glanced at her, lost the feel of what he was doing, and the chopsticks slipped, dropping the rice into his lap.

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly smirked and picked up some rice with her chopsticks and offered it to Karal. "They can be a bit tricky," she said.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Smiling sheepishly, he plucked the fallen rice off his lap and tossed it over his shoulder. "So I am learning," he said as he carefully leaned forward and accepted the rice, resting his hand on her knee.

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly inhaled just a little when Karal touched her and sat absolutely still while he ate the rice.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal swallowed the rice, then wavered, unsure, before leaning forward a little more, enough that he could brush his lips against hers. He knew they didn't have much time, and Molly needed to eat, but right then, he really wanted to kiss her.

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly had no problem with that at all. She leaned forward and kissed him back before he could pull back too far.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Smiling against her mouth, Karal kept kissing her, though not quite so lightly, closing his eyes and simply enjoying it, before pulling away. "You don't mind?" he asked quietly, running his thumb across her cheek.

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly shook her head. "Why would I ever mind?" she asked just as quietly.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Smiling wider, he shook his head. "I am foolish," he told her. "Somehow I just needed to be sure."

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

She grinned and flug an arm around his neck. "Be sure," she said before leaning close and kissing his soundly.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal slipped an arm around her waist as she kissed him, kissing her in return. "I do not think I can have any doubts now!" And he sounded very pleased about it.

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

"Good," Molly said and sat back, grinning. She picked up another bite of rice with her chopsticks. "Want to try again?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"If the alternative is you feeding me off of yours, I am not certain I do!" he teased, but he tried again, carefully keeping his eyes on what he was doing, and this time he succeeded.

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly ate her rice while she watched him. "Yay! You'll get the hang of it real quick," she assured him. She switched over to the sweet and sour chicken. "So what other interesting foods have you tried already? I mean, stuff that you can't get back home?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal wasn't so sure of that, but he gamely reached for the chow mein and attempted to tame a noodle. "Pizza, and ice cream. Gavin gave me a chocolate bar once. The cookies you made for me," he ducked his head a little, smiling at her, "Dawn and I had hot dogs in New York, and I believe that is all. I have been unadventurous with food thus far."

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm," Molly murmured in contemplations. "It sounds like you covered the basics. There are a few things you should till try. What's your favorite food from home?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"At the inn, when I was a child, we had hard, sharp cheeses, sausage, fresh bread from the oven," he said wistfully. "At the Cloister we had similar. This is very good!" He pointed at the chow mein. "It is all good, everything I've had here, but I do miss simple fare."

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

"Hamburgers would be good then," Molly said. "Have you had those yet? It's just a ground beef patty on a bun. You can add cheese and a bunch of other stuff, but if you go to the right place, just plain hamburgers are good. We should go to Luke's in town sometime. They have really good hamburgers."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"I haven't, no." He had a few more bites before continuing, "I would like that, Molly. I like going places with you, and it would be fun to try more new things."

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly grinned. "I like showing you new things," she said.