[PRP] Getting to know you EVEN BETTER

[Tori Honoo]

Again, the world around her was harsh and cold, and keeping her face low in her cowl scarf, Dove made her way up the street, looking for the apartment belonging to the address on the note screen of her phone. Sparky flanked her side to provide extra warmth and security as the woman searched for her destination, Lovey tucked inside her coat against her chest.

Quiet, but aware of her surroundings, Dove finally paused in front of an apartment complex, checking her phone once more to make sure she was in the correct place before she reached up with a slender, gloved hand to press the correct buzzer on the intercom, before fixing her scarf enough to speak if asked.  

[TawnyAngel]

Expecting company he had been busy. Flapjacks. But did she like them? Shortbread!... Chocolate cake? He made all of them, just to be sure.

Dith smoothed the rich coco-buttercream over the top of the cake and then dotted it with fudge pieces, his tongue poking slightly out of the corner of his mouth as he focused. Whatever wasn't eaten today, tomorrow would be welcome by his colleagues.

When the buzzer went off he wiped his hands on his much used black apron and moved over to press down the button that, on his side, would open the intercom to the ground floor. "Da, hello? Dove?" He was expecting her but it could also be a courier with his new squishable.  

[Tori Honoo]

The questioning tone was met with a smile, though of course, Dith wouldn't be able to see it, and a quick reply. "Hey, Dith!" she responded with a soft laugh.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Okay, hey, come up!" Dith pressed down the button that would temporarily open the front doors with a knuckle. "The floor down from the top floor," he added, "You turn left from the lift, and come right in! The door is not locked and I have hands full of cake.... Not sure I let it cool for long enough for the icing to set. We will see!" Even if not if should all taste good which was the main thing.

Resisting the urge to suck icing off a finger Dith returned to the kitchen and started to dot Maltesers over the top of the iced cake.  

[Tori Honoo]

With the door opened, Dove turned to go toward them and out of the cold, pausing to listen as Dith gave her easy instructions to follow, his explanation making her laugh a bit more. "Ah, gotcha. See you in a second!" Cake? A grin crossed her face as she made her way inside to look for the elevator, and vaguely, she wondered why he would be baking. Perhaps it was just something he enjoyed, and with the thought, another mental note was made to contact yet another on her list.

Following his directions,she quickly found herself at his door, offering another knock out of curtesy before slowly pushing it open. "Hello?" she called gently, venturing in only so far as she made sure it was the man's apartment.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hello!" Dith replied from the kitchen; the door was open to the living room and the smell of baking wafted out. "Please close the door, don't let Teazer out! She terrifies the neighbours sometimes."

The standard-marked and Meowth-coloured Liepard rose from a beanbag in the middle of the central room, stretched, flexed her claws and yawned before stalking towards Dove with her tail held high. Perched on top of the glass table to Dove's left was Luna but only for a moment; the Espeon gave a dismissive huff, hopped down and headed over to a door on the right and then on upward rather than heading down into the kitchen and he source of the smells.  

[Tori Honoo]

Sparky was soon called back to his ball at the sound of the voice, and she looked up in time to see the Liepard headed toward her. Quickly, she stepped inside and shut the door as Dith requested, studying the pokemon quietly for a moment before looking around for the source of the voice. Not wanting to be impolite, she stepped only so far in, loosening her scarf and careful to keep Lovey safe--she wasn't familiar with the espeon or the liepard-- as she untied her coat.

His apartment was...huge. Not that she should have expected any different, given the extravagance of the man's birthday party and, well, his size. After standing for a beat or two, the girl looked toward the doorway. "Should I come to you?" she asked tentatively.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Da, sure!" came Dith's cheerful voice from the kitchen. "I hope you are hungry," he continued as he wiped the excess icing off the palette knife with a finger, sucking it off as he tossed the utensil into a sink of hot soapy water along with various mixing bowls and baking trays; having finished the cake licking the icing off himself was permitted....

He really had over catered, hadn't it? Three cooling racks of baked goods. Oh well - Dith gave a mental shrug and moved to the sink to give his hands a wash - it was better to have (much) too much than not enough and he would be popular at work when he turned up with lots of excess treats.


Teazer meanwhile rubbed herself against Dove's legs, purring in a manner that somehow managed to seem even more self-satisfied than the average feline purr.  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove smiled and looked toward the door at Dith's positive response, and was about to take a step until a liepard was suddenly rubbing against her legs. At first, she was reminded of Satin's behaviors, until the realized the strange 'tone' in the pokemon's purr. Hm... Offering it a smile nonetheless, the woman stepped carefully through the doorway, carefully seeking out the man.

When she found him, she paused in the doorway, holding a very curious Lovey--who hadn't taken her eyes off of the dark type at her trainer's feet-- in her arms. Her eyes widened at the amount of sweets in the room. "Wow... you've... definitely been busy! What's the occasion?" she inquired, her smile widening a little further. "It smells amazing in here..."  

[TawnyAngel]

With a self deprecating chuckle Dith waved a hand at the desserts. "I ah... wasn't sure what you liked, and I could not find my dex to text and ask. It seemed logical to make a selection? Uh, we have honey flapjacks, shortbread, or we have extra super chocolate cake. Oh! Or there is ice cream in the freezer. Anyway, yes, the baking was because you shouldn't offer somebody tea without something to go with it. Would you like tea?" Tea had always been a big part of his life, both in Russia and in England; different kinds of tea but still tea in the end. You couldn't invite somebody to your home and not offer tea, and you couldn't offer tea without something to eat... that was how he felt anyway but maybe he was just a little centred on food.  

[Tori Honoo]

Her eyes widened a little in surprise before a blush bloomed across her cheeks, her smile smaller now, but just as genuine, if a little more embarrassed and hesitant, as though she wasn't sure it was acceptable to believe he had provided such a selection for her benefit alone. "You did this for me...?" she ventured almost timidly, looking around still. She dearly understood the desire to offer something more to a guest, but this... she hadn't expected this at all. "I would love tea...um...is there anything I can do?"

Lovey wiggled in the woman's arms, happily nosing toward the man. It smelled wonderful, and he was always so kind!  

[TawnyAngel]

"Of course, you don't see anyone else around right?" Dith grinned before adding with a shrug; "And I like to bake, you can consider yourself doing my a favour by giving me an excuse to go a bit over the top. Ah... yes! You can get a couple of plates out, and help yourself to what you'd like. Plates are in there." Gesturing to a cupboard Dith turned to grab and fill the electric kettle, which had proved surprisingly difficult to find when he'd first moved in. Perhaps he had just been looking in the wrong shops.

"What kind of tea?" he asked as he flicked it on to boil. "I can do English style or Russian style, and if English I can offer you uh...." Trailing off the large man sidled over to another cupboard, opened it, and peered inside. "...Offer you Lady Grey, Assam, or English Breakfast," he concluded with a nod.  

[Tori Honoo]

She smiled again, and nodded. "Well... thank you. You're a very kind person, Dith." A soft laugh. "You must like to bake. It looks like you're quite good at it, too, if the smell of things is anything to go off of." When directed toward the cabinet, the woman turned, then looked down at the eevee in her arms. "Is it alright if I let Lovey down?" Probably a silly question, as his own pokemon were already running about freely, but she couldn't help but be hesitant after recent events. She didn't want to cross any lines, especially as Dith had already been so hospitable toward her.

When asked for a preference, she paused, looking back toward him. "I've actually never had russian tea..." she admitted, somewhat curious. "I do like tea, though, and all of those sound wonderful."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh yes, of course," Dith replied to the question on Lovey. "Anyone who can be trusted not to ruin the furniture and fittings is welcome to run around loose, Pokemon or human," he added, with a little 'heh' of laughter at his own slight jest.

"We will have Russian tea then, because it's ah... it's a...." Dith waved his hands as he tried to think of the right phrase to express himself but he was coming up blank in both languages he spoke. "It's a nice thing to do," he concluded eventually, "it has a sort of ceremony to it, and also you can make your tea as weak or strong as you like it. I won't go through the whole samovar process though, because that would require me putting it out on the balcony and waiting an age for the thing to heat up with burning the wood. I will cheat, boil the kettle, and put the hot water into it."

With this decided Dith a small white and blue teapot and then a tin with cyrillic script on one side. Opening the tin up he spooned a large quantity of black tea leaves into the little pot. The pot was then placed on a tray printed with a pattern of swirling autumn leaves and soon joined by a little jug of milk (it matched the teapot) and then two little bowls.

"We usually sweeten Russian tea," he more-or-less explained with a wave to the little bowls before adding; "I usually use raspberry jam, but honey or maple syrup, or just sugar are options too!"  

[Tori Honoo]

She grinned at his tease, then let Lovey down to the floor gently, trusting her to be on her best behavior. She usually was, at least, nowadays.

Her eyes turned to Dith again for a moment and she smiled even brighter at his decision. A soft laugh. "Alright. Thank you again, Dith. This is really great, already," she thanked him, pausing a moment before she turned to fetch the plates as he had instructed her to a moment ago as he went about preparing the tea. Once two small plates were carefully placed on the counter, she turned to him again, listening. "Sweetened tea is nice. I took a liking to it, actually, while Yuri was staying with me..." It had been a bit hard not to, given the circumstances. From the looks of things, it appeared Dith was just as fond of sweets as her friend had been. The thought made her heart sink, though she hid it under her blanket of calmness.