KazAlkemi

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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Avery gasped and went cross-eyed, trying to look at his forehead. ”You did not.” He dropped his gaze and looked at Kimiko. His eyes shifted, and he smirked. Sticking his finger into the pot of chocolate that was starting to cool. ”You did miss a spot,” Avery said and quickly swiped chocolate on her other cheek.

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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Avery tried to ignore the way Kimiko looked when he sucked the chocolate off his finger. He tried very hard. The cool breeze of the fridge wrapped around him, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He set the strawberries down on a shelf before closing the big, industrial-sized door.

Avery turned back to Kimiko and shut the oven and stove off. He glanced at her face and chuckled. ”Not quite. Want my help?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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”You shouldn’t have sprayed me with water,” Avery countered. He sucked the rest of the chocolate off his finger. He winked at Kimiko before putting chocolate on the last strawberry and picking up the tray to take to the fridge.

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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Avery chuckled and nodded. "Just for us," he assured her. Avery ran another strawberry through the chocolate, but this time he let his pinkie fall into the chocolate as well. After he set the strawberry aside, Avery turned and swiped Kimiko's cheek with the chocolate. He grinned before finishing the last of the strawberries.

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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"From the table works," Avery said. He set a tray on one side of the stove, the strawberries on the counter and started to coat strawberries with chocolate and transfer them to the tray where they would go into the fridge and cool while they ate supper.

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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Avery smiled, happy with the small kiss to his cheek. His eyes followed Kimiko before he focused on his task. He turned the heat down on the chocolate and stirred it to see how much longer it had to sit.

"We might just need the one. I put the potatoes in one of those silver pans, so we can just serve out of that directly," Avery explained.

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Cassiopeia Claire Alistair

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Location: Cassi’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:

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Cassi laughed from the voice message. She shook her head, replying the message again despite how he teased her. His voice sounded so natural speaking Mandarin and she loved it. It nearly made Cassi want to turn on one of those Asian drama TV shows.

Cassi set her phone aside, deciding she wanted to end the conversation with his voice, and snuggled under the covers. Wayland and Calypso curled up with her while Max sat in the window sill, watching the back garden.

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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Avery paused to watch Kimiko take the chocolate from his hand with her mouth. He barely registered that she had spoken before she was gone. He cleared his throat, the kitchen to himself at the moment and his shifted his weight, feeling a growing tension within him.

"Get it together, Zain," he muttered to himself and stirred the stew. He had the vegetables and more spices. The kitchen instantly started to smell like hearty rabbit, herb potatoes, and spiced vegetables. It smelled comforting. It smelled like home.

Avery was back to normal by the time Kimiko returned and he looked up, his sharp eyes reading the label on the bottle of wine clearly. "That'll be perfect. Do you want to pull out bowls and plates? There's also a giant serving dish in that cupboard," Avery pointed before he turned. He walked over to the fridge and pulled the remaining strawberries out.

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Cassiopeia Claire Alistair

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Location: Cassi’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:

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That's fine. I'll coax it out of you one day ;)

Cassi replayed that voice message again. The one where he didn't tell her what it meant. Nic's tone was different. She recognized a sound from the other message that was 'good night', so she guessed it was similar to that. Whatever it was, Cassi loved it.

Oidhche mhath, Nic"

Cassi sent her own voice message this time before following up with the English translation from the Scottish Gaelic of good night.

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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Avery broke up the chocolate into chunks, setting them into a bowl that sat on top of a pot with water. He turned the heat on medium for the time being.

He was very aware of Kimiko's presence behind him, and smiled as she tried to peer over him. He gave her a chunk of chocolate.

"I'm okay. Do you want to go select a bottle of red wine to go with supper?"

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Cassiopeia Claire Alistair

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Location: Cassi’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:

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Cassiopeia once again replays Nic's voice over and over. She tries to wrap her tongue around the proper pronunciation, but she struggles with the second word. She feels more confident with hello for now.

The second voice message sends a tingle through Cassi's body. She doesn't know what he said because he doesn't tell her, but she has a feeling it's more intimate than the other two messages.

I have my work cut out for me. Will you ever tell me what you said in the second voice message?

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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Avery broke into a smirk at the sound of Kimiko's giggle. There was nothing more he wanted to do than to walk across the kitchen, put Kimiko on the counter and kiss her because of that grin alone.

"Hmm, alright. I'll remember that," Avery said, and turned to grab the rabbit before heading back to the soup pot.

The smell of broth and potatoes was starting to fill the air in the kitchen. Avery added the rabbit into the pot and mixed it around. He set the heat on medium and went on the search for some chocolate to melt.

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Cassiopeia Claire Alistair

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Location: Cassi’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:

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Cassi replayed Nic's voice message over and over again. It sounded even and clear. Perfect for listening to when she missed him.

And how would you say good night?

Chicago After Hours -- Paused (indefinitely)

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Avery Zain

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Location: Caden’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:
Fit: Teal v-necked T-Shirt with black pants

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Avery had moved to go to the fridge to reclaim the rabbit he had been marinating when he felt the spray of water. Avery stopped and turned his head to look at Kimiko.

"Oh, really? Do you think that was wise?"

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Cassiopeia Claire Alistair

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Location: Cassi’s House – Chicago, IL
Skills:

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Cassiopeia laughed and shook her head. She curled in on her side and typed a message back.

Will you teach me?

She would probably have more fun learning from Nic rather than from Caden anyways. She sighed as Caden crossed her mind. Not today. She scrolled through her messages from Nic instead, filling her mind with thoughts of him again.