RPG The Year of Otaku

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Tori stayed in the kitchen with Tony for a few minutes, making herself a sandwich. Tony was fixing them both something to drink.

"I think someone else has arrived..." Tony said sort of absently.

Tori straightened up and held her butterknife tightly.

"Who do you think it was? Do you think it was him?" she asked hurriedly.

Tony laughed. "I have no idea. Why don't you go and investigate. I'm sure they couldn't have gone far..."

Before Tony had even finished his sentence, Tori had darted from the kitchen and was backtracking her way through the house to where the front door was located. She was scared and excited at the same time. She would finally have him...he could actually be here within the same house as her...

She sighed deeply and rounded the corner to where the foyer was located.[/color][/size]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]"The architecture here is wonderful," Ken said to himself, wandering the house and exploreing it.

Traceing his hand along the wall, he practically stumbled into the kitchen by accident. Tony glanced up from some drinks, a nearby abandoned sandwhich looking sad and lonely.

"Hey Tony, is that sandwhich yours?"

"No. Tori made it and then ran off because I think you-know-who has arrived."

"Ahh.. do you think that she.. would want that sandwhich? I am sort of hungry." He grinned a bit as he said it.

"Heh. Well she didn't take it with her, did she?"

"You are correct, sir. If she asks, tell her a great knight stole the sandwhich away."

He winked and took the sandwhich, leaving the kitchen quickly- just in case, you don't want to be caught stealing a sandwhich, you know. He went back to exploreing the house, examineing it- quite interested in it.[/color]

[BabyGirl]

[color=purple]House members slowly arrived throughout the day, and as the summer sun set over the Pacific Ocean Jenna pulled herself away from a balcony on the house's ocean side. It was time to get everyone, and everything, in order.

A half an hour later, everyone was scattered around the cavernous common room, snacking on pretzels and candy that Jenna gotten at Vons earlier in the day.

"First of all," the chattering died down as Jenna curled her legs underneath her, "I'm ******* excited that everyone managed to make it. And with that said, welcome to California. And," she added, glancing at James, "welcome to your home in the United States."

James grinned and raised his glass of soda in a salute.

"Ok, now, I'm under the impression that everyone has found a room to their liking?" A small sea of heads bobbled in acknowledgement, "Fantastic. Now for some simple ground rules. One, everyone buys and eats their own food, unless you want to set up an arrangement with someone else. Community food doesn't work, I've tried that. Two, everyone is responsible for keeping their rooms in order and keeping their respective bathrooms clean. We don't have this place forever, and a year's worth of neglect can do a lot of damage. It's so much easier to clean things in incriments, remember that.

"Three, do your own dishes." Jenna started counting off points on her fingers, "Rinse them, put them in the dishwasher, empty the dishwasher if it's full of clean plates, soak and clean dirty pots and pans. And the microwave can get gross, and in this case we have two of them in the main kitchen, and one in the upper kitchen. Those should get wiped out if something explodes...which something will.

"But for now those are the only basic rules, really simple and no-brainers. Just be kind to this beautiful house, it's being awfully generous in letting everyone stay here.

"Ok, what else...ah yes. I have a bunch of maps in the foyer for people to put in their cars if need be. Santa Barbara is just north of here, and Ventura is roughly 30 miles south. The ocean and a few small summer villages lie between here and Ventura. Los Angeles is about two hours south but that's heavily dependent on traffic. If you try to go South during rush hour, you get people driving home to Ventura from Santa Barbara, and it's the reverse during morning rush hour. That's just a word of caution.

"But enough about that, I'm sure that most of you will experience that on your own, anyway. Don't hesitate to ask me where anything is geographically, I've been in this area for five years and I've become rather intimate with it."

"Southern California is Jenna's lover." D'Ann stated matter of factly, and everyone else laughed.

Jenna trailed her tongue across her upper lip, "You could say that." Then winked and glanced at the clock, "Now, down to business about this business." She realized that not everyone was entirely clear on what thing they were getting themselves involved in. She waited a few seconds before speaking, leaving her comment open for questions, or disapproval, at the end, "We're going to be running, managing, owning, and frequenting a restaurant. All by ourselves."[/color]

[PiroMunkie]

[size=1]By this time I was already exploring an upper level where some of the rooms were. I could hear the idle chatter of other people whom had already arrived. I decided not to bother checking to see the people behind the voices; it is not much of my style to interrupt at all. Besides, I could not catch a Southern accent on any of them. So these people were of no priority.

I did have a quick meet with Jenna, though, since she answered the door and all. That was okay, I suppose. I never really knew her too well, so it was not like I was whole-heartedly looking forward to meeting her (and I mean that in the best way possible).

[i]Ugh[/i] ... This place is endless. Ten bucks says I get lost more then my share of times. I wonder if there are any secret rooms - that would be cool. I am quite fond of being inside the walls of houses. I had a home once that had storage areas within the walls. It was neat.

[i]Where the hell am I?[/i] ... I really think I have already lost myself already. I set my stuff down against a wall, as I was tired of carrying it. Well, I am just tired in general.

Just as I stood up from setting my things down a figure, apparently eating something, could be seen come down the hallway a fair distance away. It was a rather big person, so I am guessing male. I began to walk towards 'him' at a lazy stride, and soon enough it became clear as to who it was ... Ken.

As soon as we were within decent earshot, and recognized each other, we began to talk.

"Hey!", I said. It was all I could really get out. I was far too out of it to conjur up any other words at the moment. After a few seconds we were more or less face-to-face.

"You look like ****," Ken said.

"I love you, too," I responded with a friendly amount of sarcasm. "What is going on?" I said, eyeing his sandwich, "And where did you get the food? I have had nothing to eat but sugar and caffeine for the past day, and I have not slept at all."

"Ehh... This is actually Tori's sandwich. I kind of adopted it," said Ken with a hint of pride in his actions.

My attention perked immediatly when I heard that name.

"She's here?"

"Yeah, apparently she left this beauty behind when she suspected that you had arrived. She makes a nice sandwich."

"Where...?"

"Just go back the way from which I came, take your first left, and down the stairs. That will get you back to the front entrance. That is where I would imagine she is."

"Thanks. See you later."

"Yup. Go get her," Ken said with a flirtatious wink.

I darted past him chuckling at his tease. With any energy I could find I raced down the hallways nearly tripping over myself at times. Soon enough I had made it to the top of the staircase looking down at the front entrance.

There she was, beginning to walk back to what I would think is the kitchen. She seemed kind of bummed, which is all the better because I am sure I know why ...

"Hey hon," I said as loud as I could so that she might hear it, but not yelling.

She stopped dead in her tracks...[/size]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Tori had hurried into the foyer of the house where the door was only to find that it was empty of all life. She sighed deeply, carefully looking around in the rooms closest by, only to see that they were empty as well. She got her hopes up for no reason...John wasn't here yet...

She remembered that she had left her lunch and Tony in the kitchen and turned towards that direction once again.

And that's when she heard it.

His voice, coming from behind her, breaking the silence and causing her heart to pound and her stomach to drop.

"Hey hon..."

She just stood there, not turning around, scared to look. She found herself short of breath. This was finally it! She was finally getting to see him after all this time!

She slowly turned, her eyes ascending the staircase until they finally landed on him. She took a step towards him, stopped, and then took another step. He was smiling down at her and she smiled back. She didn't know whether she wanted to run, or walk casually, or just faint right there. She started walking slowly, then gradually got a bit quicker, and then by the time she reached the top of the staircase she was taking them two steps at a time. She was out of breath but found herself locked tightly in his arms within seconds. She held onto him as tight as she could and closed her eyes.

He smelled wonderful. She smiled to herself and they finally broke away, looking at each other. She continued to just beam, looking at his tired face. It was so beautiful.

"John...let me show you to your room..."

She took him by the hand and began leading him upstairs to where she had staked her claim.[/color][/size]

[James]

[color=#707875]James returned to the hallway after the meeting. It was a cavernous, old-fashioned space with several large paintings hanging on the walls. James could see his belongings near the front door; he hadn't had time to unpack. He'd brought a single suitcase and a small bag with other necessary items (the contents of which he didn't want to reveal to the other guests at this point in time). He leant down and propped the suitcase up on its little wheels.

Just as he did so, James heard the sound of footsteps echoing in the hall behind him. He turned around and saw Josh standing there, holding a chocolate chip cookie.

"Oh! So you actually [i]do[/i] eat cookies?" laughed James.

Josh smiled and nodded. He made his way across the hall toward James (which was quite a significant distance) and took a bite of the cookie. James chuckled to himself. "Now I've actually seen you do it. Aren't you supposed to say 'Copyright Shy 2003'?"

Josh shook his head and waved his other hand dismissively. "Nope. You know it's copyrighted by now. And besides, [i]you're[/i] also Copyright Shy 2003. So I don't need to tell [i]you[/i]."

James nodded. "Fair enough. Now...I've only seen a couple of rooms here. Where am I going to sleep? I haven't even given it any thought."

"Well, my room is on the north face of the building. There's a nice view of the swimming pool from there," said Josh, gesturing to his left.

"Oh? We have a swimming pool?" asked James excitedly.

Josh simply nodded. "Yup."

"Wow...this place really has everything," said James. "I'm impressed. Jenna must have some pretty damn good bargaining skills."

Josh smiled. "Yeah, I'm amazed at how much she's accomplished before we even got here."

James went to pick up the smaller bag from the floor, only to have Josh jump in and grab it himself. "I'll carry it," he said.

"Thanks," said James, "but...where am I going to sleep?"

"You can stay in my room," said Josh. "There are two beds in there, as well as an ensuite. It's a great spot. Sometimes I think there are [i]too[/i] many rooms here though."

"Does anyone have their own room?" asked James.

"I don't know," said Josh, taking another bite of his cookie, "I can only say that I don't like to be by myself."

James nodded. "Yeah, sometimes it's good to have a little company. This house is so large...I'm sure it can get very lonely when it's late. But hey, I'm sure we'll be pretty busy with the restaurant," he said.

And with that, the two of them walked out of the entrance hall toward another enormous hallway. As they walked, Josh asked about James' trip. It was the first time James had been to the United States and he'd enjoyed the experience so far. [/color]

[Sara]

[size=1][color=orangered]I'm going to say that, chronologically, Jenna's meeting is [i]after[/i] the Tori/Piro meeting, and possibly James' post. (Yes?)

Anyway, this is coming right off of Jenna's post, regardless of when it actually happened. /[/color]

[i]"We're going to be running, managing, owning, and frequenting a restaurant. All by ourselves."
[/i]

Sara blinked at Jenna. "Um," she said. "Restaurant?"

"Yes," Jenna replied.

"As in, [i]all[/i] of a restaurant?"

"No, only five-eighths of a restaurant," Mitch said sarcastically.

"Shut up," Sara suggested.

"How long have you been planning this?" Ellie asked.

Jenna smiled demurely. "Oh, you know."

There was a moment of silence, and the the room was suddenly filled with responses.

"I love it! It's a great idea!"

"I can't cook."

"Hey, can we run a bar instead?"

"What kind of restaurant?"

"Where is this going to be?!"

"[i]Can[/i] anyone here actually cook?"

"I'm allergic to...um....food."

"Haha, Shy can be our cookie expert!"

"When is this supposed to start?"

"We need a theme! Like Hooters!"

"Do we have a plan?"

"Well, [i]I'm[/i] not waitressing!"

"Ooh, I want a mascot!"

"Who's going to cook?!?!"

"I'll be the mascot."

"Mascot, nothing, we need a chef!"

Jenna grinned, pleased by generally positive response. "Calm down, everyone. Trust me. This is going to be awesome."[/size]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]D'Ann blinked owlishly, then smiled sweetly at Jenna and the rest of the group.[/i]

"I can make rice, tshe fan [rice poridge], dumplings, fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, chinese stir fry, tofu, barbeque pork, buns, dan ta [custard tarts], and baked shirmp. Questions?"

[i]Quite a few people threw themselves at her feet.[/i]

"I am your slave!"

"That's perfect!" [i]Jenna was smiling, but then again, she might have known.....[/i]

"Anything else?"

"I make killer waffles. And all sorts of breakfasts."

"I can make pop tarts." [i]The look D'Ann gave James would've iced over Death Valley.[/i][/COLOR]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]OOC: Heh.
====

"I have one real question. Do you mind an assistant chef? I can cook alot of different **** too, and you never know- if we are good, you might need the extra hand. Please, Cooking Mastah- Let me be your loyal student and helper."

Ken made a mock bow and grinned. He was serious- on all aspects. He could cook, he wanted to learn how to cook more and would enjoy cooking more than anything else.

"Mmm. I guess so." D'Anne said.

"Is that cool with the rest of you guys?"[/color]

[Shy]

[b]OOC: This takes place during Jenna's meeting..um, yeah.[/b]

"So we're making our own restaurant," Mitch asked Jenna, "And none of us know how to cook?"

"I know how to cook," D'Ann repeated with a slightly annoyed tone of voice.

"And I'm her assistant," Ken said, happy with his newfound position.

"I don't really see where I fit into this whole equation, either," I added, "Even with a stretch of the imagination there are some of us who can't contribute anything to a restaurant. IE: Me."

Jenna smiled at me, and patted my shoulder. "Don't be so negative, Josh. Even if you don't know how to cook, you could always work as a cashier or a waiter..."

"..or a dishwasher," D'Ann laughed," Did I mention that I know how to cook?"

"You can borrow my copy of [i]To Serve Man[/i] if you're interested, D'Ann," Tony said, as Kitt rested peacefully on his lap.

"James could design menus and logos for our restaurant... since he went to school for that...," Sara suggested.

"Okay, but could I suggest a new mascot?"

"No Bosko."

"Rats."

[Raiha]

[color=royalblue]"You mean like the ones that'll invade your room when they find your stashes of cookies?" [i]D'Ann grinned and showed her glow-in-the-dark retainers, which were both in perfect condition, like the rest of her body.[/i]

"Leave my cookies out of this!"

"You have a stash of cookies in your room?!?"

[i]His roomate looked indignant, D'Ann looked superior. Mitch rolled his eyes.[/i]

"If you ever need a DJ to make a little atmosphere happen...."

[i]Sara cleared her throat and looked equally superior.[/i] "I seriously doubt one CD in a stereo system is that hard....."

"So much for variety."

"Getting back to the subject of a mascot," [i]Jenna looked slightly annoyed at the bunny trail they had started hopping on.[/i][/color]

[Justin]

"Well, I've been pretty quiet up to this point, but I figure I ought to go ahead and let everyone know that I can out-cook anyone in the room. I'm killer on a George Foreman and I'm the Raja of Ramen." Just sat back and sipped on the glass of ice tea he'd made for himself.

"Yeah, I doubt those will be necessary." D'Ann said.

"Probably right. But hey--I tried, didn't I?" Just smiled and scratched his ruffled hair.

"Heh, we'll find something for you to do, Justin." Jenna said, turning to face him. Turning back she said, "A restaurant has lots of different position that have to be covered. If you're at this age and can't fill at least one yet..well, you know."

"When will we start?" Tori asked.

"Well, we'll obviously have to get a place to open. I have a list of candidates in my room. After everyone has settled in, we can split up and go check them out. After that, we lease one, and go on from there."

"Sounds to me like you've got this all worked out, darlin'." Justin said, thrusting his tongue out at her as he hopped over the back over the couch. "Be right back; gotta get some more tea."

"Well, wait a second." Jenna said before he could leave the room.

"Aight, what's up?" Justin turned around.

"Being that this is our first night here together, and I am such a lovely hostess-type, I think we should have a little celebration. The drinks are in an ice chest in the bottom cabinet of the bar in the kitchen. I hid them there. You guys have fun." Jenna said with a big smile on her face.



"No drinking for you?" Jenna asked Justin later on that night when she caught him in the hall headed back from their bathroom.

"Nah, you know how I am. Plus, I'm an alcoholic. So, even occasional social drinking is out of the question for me, at this point." Justin said, leaning in and taking s whiff of Jenna's breath. "Woo, babydoll. You keep on and you'll have a head-ache out this world tomorrow morning." Justin paused for a second to laugh at his new roomie. "Just make sure you make it to your bed in one piece tonight. You know, I'd hate to wake up and find you on the floor in a puddle of liquor/cookies."

"Are you going back into the room?" Jenna asked, slightly woozy already.

"Yeah, I'm tired from the flight. Plus, I need to arrange stuff. Which, when you think about it, makes no sense. I'm gonna have it all torn apart for one reason or another before the end of the week. I guess I won't see you again until morning. Goodnight" Justin gave her a light kiss on the forehead, went back downstairs and said his goodnights to everyone else, and then went back up to their room. Jenna was using the bathroom.

Justin went about pulling things out of his suitcases haphazardly--until he reached it. The box containing his small CD/DVD center. He immediately located a place to plug it in, located his CDs, and put in the first thing he came to; an old CD from a band called Finch.

Singing and whisper-screaming in perfect time with the first track("New Beginnings"), Justin went about arranging his side of the room. Much work was needed, that was for sure. He didn't plan on making this a perfect copy of his former room back home, but he was going to give it the familiarity, in any case. That meant band posters and model cars.

"Oh, yeeaah. This is gonna be so awesome." He thought aloud.

-Justin

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]After Tori had gotten John in the bed room, she forced him to take a nap as she unpacked his belongings. He didn't have much, so it didn't take her long, and besides, she enjoyed investigating his wardrobe. She smiled at his sleepingness and sat down on the bed beside him. She was so glad he was finally here.

As they were summoned by Jenna, they met up with the rest of the gang to discuss the business they would soon be starting. Tori was glad that she didn't have to worry about finding a job outside of what they would be doing. Of course, if the business bombed maybe, but she didn't want to think so negatively.

The business was opening a restraunt. Tori had always dreamed of opening a restraunt. Of course, the style of cooking probably wouldn't be southern home-cooking like she was used to, but it could be a weekly special perhaps. She smiled to herself.

"I volunteer to be a waitress, only if I can design what I wear." she grinned widely.

"And what exactly do you have in mind?" Jenna asked.

"Oh, something pink, ruffly, and short." She saw Josh sitting a little ways across from her and winked at him. He immediately blushed and looked away.

"Well, you just draw yourself up and design and we'll see what we can do." Jenna smiled.

The meeting went on for a little while until Jenna and Justin broke out the drinks. Tori just took one look at them and decided it was time for her to depart.

"I think it's time to go see the ocean..." She looked over at John and smiled. "Want to go with me?"

"Sure," he said. The two of them stood up and made their way outside. The sky was darkened and the sound of the waves could be heard. The wind blew hard and they held hands, making their way down the rocks to the beach.[/color][/size]

[BabyGirl]

[color=deeppink]The chronological order is killing me here :cross: ...at least it all makes sense, I guess :whoops:[/color]

[color=purple]~~~~~


Jenna was feeling much more friendly. She only had a bottle of Arbor Mist in her veins, cheap, fruity Zinfindel, so she was hardly drunk. It was merely an inexpensive wine that tasted quite superb, and she was still loving the fact that she was now of legal age. It was something to be celebrated.

As she wandered around the house, she poked her head into several rooms to see how they were being arranged and who was bunking up. She stopped to chat with D'Ann, Charles and Jordan for a while, enjoying being around such humorous company. By the time she had inspected all of the rooms, the clock read midnight.

Jenna also realized that she was insanely hungry from neglecting to eat all day. She had been too busy finalizing little details and making sure that everyone arrived safely and on time. She really didn't know [i]why[/i] she had chosen to spearhead such a huge upheaval of so many people's lives, but she was doing it. It was time for her to finally take charge and prove to, who, herself? that she was capable of being responsible for so many things at once.

Keeping busy suited her.

A search through the kitchen left Jenna completely unsatisfied...there was grocery shopping to be done soon. She made her way down the short hall that led to her room and found that Justin had nearly decorated the entirety of the walls.

"Fancy interior design." Jenna leaned up against the doorjamb, raising one arm along the frame and propping the other one on her hip, "Justin, [i]dahling[/i]."

From where he rested on his bed, flipping through the car buyer's magazine he had found earlier, Justin smiled up at her, "Why do I have the feeling that I'm needed for a favor?"

"Because I am starving, and because [i]I[/i] can't drive with a bottle of wine circulating through my...circulatory system."

"All right, you want to go get some food?" He didn't feel like going out, not this late with jet lag settling on his shoulders, but he figured he owed it to her.

"Yes! I'll be quick. You don't mind?"

"Nah, let's call it even for you picking me up from the airport."

"Thank you!" As he started to stand up, Jenna tackled him with a hug, both of them falling backwards onto his bed. Full of late night energy, Jenna bounced back up and grabbed her jacket, "Ready?"

Justin merely laughed and pulled his tired body off of the bed, following behind the crazily hyped Jenna into the chilly night air.[/color]

[Justin]

OOC: I decided to move this to a better suited position [after[/i] your last post, Jenna. It makes more sense, and I have a few revisions to make.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin spent the rest of the evening flipping through the three car magazines he had bought earlier. One was a state catalog showing where cars were being sold around California; another was a [i]Super Chevy[/i] magazine; and the last a [i]Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords[/i].

By 3:00 am, he had chosen which he would go look at first: Someone owed a black '69 Camaro SS about 30 miles from here in immaculate condition. The price tag was $17,000.


The next morning Jenna awoke to find Justin walking around in his PJs with the phone stuck to the side of his head. Her hangover wasn't too bad, but she still envied the fact that she had one and he didn't. "Who's that?" She whispered; partly because she didn't want to disturb him, and partly because her head hurt.

He put his fingers over the phone, "Someone with a car that I want to take a look at." He whispered back. "Sounds good. I'll be out there in a couple hours. Aight then, goodbye." He hung up the hand unit and plopped down next to Jenna. "Good mornin' sunshine!" He said with the goofiest smile ever.

"Good morning." Jenna said as she winced a little at his voice. It wasn't horrble, but it wasn't the greatest thing ever to happen, either.

"Sleep well?"

"Yeah. I just wish I had woken up better." She said sliding off the bed.

"You'll be all right. Look, after you get over your hangover I need you to run me to here." Justin handed her a paper with an address scribbled down on it. "I'm gonna get a car now, rather than waiting until we get established. I can't stand having to bum rides."

"Ok...just let me get some Tylenol and a shower." She said as she made her way to the door.

"Aight, then." Justin got there first, let her out, and then walked on ahead of her down to the kitchen. There, he found that Tori was cooking something(eggs, his nose discerned), and some guy was sitting half-way on the bar. "I don't guess we've met." Justin said as he approached the guy.

"I'm John, and I guess we haven't." John said as he took Justin's handshake.

"Justin. I don't remember seeing you last night, John, did you just arrive?" Justin said, making conversation as he waited for Tori(who he'd become aquainted with last night on the stairs as both of them were getting out of the party) to get done at the stove.

"Well, no. I just arrived late last night, and then didn't come to the party-thing or whatever it was. Me and Tori hung out outside, since she's the only one I knew." John said, nodding at Tori as he said it.

"Yeah, and now I'm tired." Tori said sleepily.

"I stayed up a lot later than I intended to, too. But I found a car n the process. Jenna is gonna take me to look at it today." Justin said with a grin.

"What kind?" Tori asked.

"Sixty-nine Camaro." Justin beamed.

"Wow, is it nice?" Tori asked.

"There was no picture. But I talked to the fella already, and he sounds genuine enough. He doesn't seem to want to sell it, that's for sure." Justin said, resigning about the stove and grabbing a snack from the refridgerator. "I can't wait."

-Justin

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]She cracked open an algae tablet and shoved it down into the feeder crack. The tetras instantly made a mad dash for the edibles and went into a minor frenzy. In the meantime, she clicked on their daytime light and began sorting through several older papers. College in correspondence was starting to feel better and better. That, and G.E. classes were a breeze. She blinked several times, clearing up her vision, rubbing her eyelids with their newly implanted contacts.

Then, without another word, she padded into the closet and got dressed. Shorter refitted denim dress, fom fitting body pants, and the inevitable flip flops. In her room, she was a godess.[/i]

"Good morning D'Ann." [i]Mitch looked well rested....but then again, neither of them had touched alcohol, just virgin daqueris.

She gave him a lopsided grin and brushed the fishy smell off her fingers.[/i]

"Lo Mitch. What's the damage?"

"I'm quite fine....you know we don't drink. Can't say the same for the others though. And, we're not huge party animals either...."

"I guess now would be the part where we walk downstairs happily and make breakfast?"

"Depends. Do you eat rice for breakfast?" [i]She giggled at his decidedly innocent comment turned racist. Of course, it made very little difference to him, if she made rice, he'd most likely eat it. Rice was good.

She smiled at him and walked downstairs, moving like a hawaiian dancer....never changing her leg and hip movement despite how much the staris turned. Bu time the two had reached the bottom, the kitchen was emptying out. D'Ann smiled and looked into the cupboard for the 50 lb. bag of rice she had stashed there, along with her moderate sized rice cooker. He blinked. Insane. He was half expecting her to bust out with some chopsticks and a rice paddle. And she did.

Before he could open his mouth, she had poured out 3 cups of rice, measured the lot, washed it throughly, drained it, then whipped out the cord, plugged it in, and sat down to wait.[/i]

"And that, my dear Mitch, is what I call "rice blitzing.""[/COLOR]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Tori and John had made their way down to the ocean and spent quite a while just staring at it. There wasn't a lot of talking on either person's part, but there was a lot of yawning, especially from John. It was pretty late and both of them were tired, and so they made their way back up to the house and headed towards the bedroom.

The part of the house they stayed in was quiet for the most part and Tori walked over to their canopy bed and pulled the blankets back for John. He didn't waste any time crashing and falling asleep, so Tori spent a few minutes in the closet changing into something more comfortable than a sweater and skirt to sleep in. She settled for a nice comfy T-shirt and some silky black PJs that her mommy bought her a few years back. She always held onto things like that...things that had sentimental value...

She made her way over the bed and got under the blankets opposite of John. She kept her distance and cuddled up with her white Angelina teddybear.

The next morning, Tori woke up to John leaning over her. Since he was the one who usually slept in, she was surprised to see him up so early. She smiled sleepily and didn't get up. She hid herself under the blankets until he yanked them off of her. She groaned slightly and sat up, her long hair going off in multiple directions.

"It's too early..." she said, hugging her pillow to her.

"Tori, it's a little after nine. What would that be, noon to you in Georgia? You've been sleeping for quite a while..."

She thought for a minute and then realized that was why he was up. Ah, living on the West Coast.

"I'm kind of in the mood for breakfast..." he said.

"I can't cook...don't look at me..."

"Surely you can cook SOMETHING?"

"Eggs? And I don't even like eggs...and I bet anything there's no grits..."

John smiled at her and pulled her pillow away. She whined and got up out of the bed.

"Okay, let's go down to the kitchen and see what's going on..."

The two made their way downstairs, Tori still in her PJs and John still in what he arrived in, and found the kitchen to be pretty much deserted. Tori opened the fridge and found a solitary egg.

"Eh, you got lucky. Better be glad I'm not hungry..." she said, pulling on his hair.

She got out a frying pan, beat the egg into submission, and started scrambling it. About that time, Justin made his way into the kitchen. They had some small introductions, and then a bit about cars.

"And how much is this car going for?"

"Does it matter? I just need a mode of transportation and it might as well be classy..."

Tori smiled, finished the eggs and piling them on a plate for John.

"Stove's all yours, Justino. Just don't burn the house down..." she said, finding a slice of bread and preparing herself some toast. As it finished, she buttered it, ate it, and saw that John was finished as well.

"Time to go get dressed and see what adventures are before us today!" Tori said happily. John pulled on her hair this time.

"I think someone needs a hairbrush..."

"Bah, look who's talking..." Tori retorted.

The two said there goodbyes to Justin and made their way back upstairs to the room, passing by D'Ann and Mitch on their way out.

"We have got some serious grocery shopping to do..." Tori said as they reached their destination.[/color][/size]

[James]

[color=#707875]James closed the door to the ensuite and walked over to the nearby desk to grab his comb, where he'd left it the night before.

"Good morning..." said a sleepy voice nearby. It was Josh. He was sitting up on his bed and rubbing his eyes.

James paused and ensured that the towel around his waist was fastened securely. He didn't want Josh to be embarassed [i]again[/i] in only 24 hours.

"Um...sorry, did you want to use the shower?" asked James.

Josh looked at the ensuite and then looked back at James. "Well, you're finished now. So I guess I can use it at any time."

James nodded. "Yeah, I don't spend a huge amount of time in the bathroom...and I don't make it messy. You're lucky that I'm here!" James smiled and walked over to the other side of the room, where two large double doors led out onto a small balcony. He pushed them open, letting warm sunlight pour in.

"Wow. What an amazing view of the ocean we have here," said James.

Josh raised an eyebrow. "Uh, James, aren't you going to get dressed for breakfast?"

James paused and looked at Josh awkwardly. "Oops, I guess I forgot. I'm still getting used to even being here...I feel a little disoriented after the long plane flight. It might take me a few days to settle in and actually get a good night's sleep," he said as he began to comb his still-wet hair.

"I'll just go back into the bathroom and change. Then you can have it. I'll save some breakfast for you, if you like."

Josh stood up and began looking through his fresh clothing. "Okay. Hopefully the kitchen isn't in too much of a mess."

"Ha! It'd be funny if it were...I mean, considering that we want to run a [i]restaurant[/i] and all. I hope we don't make too many customers angry," said James with a smirk.

And with that, James disappeared into the bathroom once more. Josh could hear the radio in the bathroom switching stations, occasinally punctuated by enthusiastic humming.[/color]

[Shy]

[b]Edit: Tori and John were removed from this post so as not to cause conflict with Tori's last post... yeah.[/b]

I took a quick shower, and then changed into some random pajamas. I didn't plan on going anywhere, and I'd much rather be comfortable at breakfast than trying to impress everyone else. As I hurried downstairs I walked past D'Ann and Mitch, who saw the direction I was heading in and followed me down to the kitchen. Justin was cleaning a plate at the sink, while James and Ken sat on some chairs at by the counter.

"So Jenna failed to buy us enough groceries for breakfast?" Mitch asked.

"Correction," Justin replied, stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth, "She bought more than enough food for [i]my[/i] breakfast."

"Yeah, but what about the rest of us?" D'Ann asked, "You ate what little food we had, and now we're going to starve."

"Cannibalism, fun," Ken laughed.

"She was probably busy trying to get this place ready for us," James added, "We can always just run out to the store and buy some breakfast."

"No, we can't," Jenna responsed as she walked into the kitchen, "We're in an isolated beach community. The nearest store is 20 or 30 miles away."

"Well, long drives don't bother me." I responses. By saying those words I realized that I had just volunteered.

Jenna smiled at me, and gave me a big hug, "Thanks Josh. Be sure to get enough food for the week, I don't want you to make a lot of trips."

"Fine," I muttered darkly, "Will anyone go with me?"

[BabyGirl]

[color=deeppink]Sorry, I feel rude posting when I'm not going to add to the story, but I just have a small comment. Montecito is quite literally Santa Barbara's neighbor, they are sometimes considered one city, so it's not a small beach community =\. Then again...we could just make things up about it...I hadn't considered that before, hm.[/color]

[terra]

Ellie woke up rather late the next morning in her bed, and realized she wasn't quite sure what had happened to her over the past twenty-four hours or so. So, to remind herself of what interactions she'd had with the other people in the [strike]RPG[/strike] house and for her own amusement, she decided to play the events back in her mind. She'd meant to have them in a sensible, chronological order, but they ended up just being little flashes of her memory ...

She'd wandered the house for a little while, between amused and amazed at its hugeness. House? Mansion? Hard to say which name it really deserved.

She'd dragged her stuff up the stairway and into a room without really bothering to check who was living there, which was probably a mistake. Come to think of it, she still didn't have a clue as to who her roommate might be, as whoever it was had obviously gotten up before her. ... Most people had probably gotten up before her ...

She'd stayed pretty quiet during the restaurant meeting, though it only contributed more to making her feel like this year was somehow going to be one big reality TV-like experience. Of course, the restaurant sounded like it'd be a ton of fun, and she was hoping she'd get a chance to waitress. Although she was sure she'd be sick of that in time, too.

She'd contemplated grabbing a beer during the small event that resembled a party, but had decided not to, remembering her own ridiculously low tolerance and the fatigue she was experiencing from the rather long day of travel.

Oh, and she was almost sure she'd overheard someone, for some odd reason, calling her "Terra." ;)

Well, it was a new day, and Ellie was up and dressed in about fifteen minutes. She headed downstairs to the kitchen, where she thought she heard voices.

[PiroMunkie]

[size=1]Tori and I climbed into my car - an old but well running, black VW Beetle - and pulled out of the premises of the "OB" house. I recalled seeing a grocery store not too far away when I had gotten lost. The ride was peaceful. There was not much spoken, but was not said was simply made in understanding. If I was comfortable enough with driving with one hand, then I would have been holding her hand the whole time.

"Thanks for making me breakfast this morning, hon," I said with a dazed but appreciative smile on my face.

She giggled slightly, caringly. "It was no problem at all."

"You didn't have to do that, you know," I said, as I felt a bit guilty that [i]she[/i] made them, "I could have made them myself. You said yourself that you cannot cook ..."

"Are you trying to say you don't like my cooking," Tori said with a teasing, inquisitive glare.

"Not at all," I calmly and honestly responded, "the eggs were wonderful."

She smiled and poked me playfully in the side, and the drive continued. It was only a matter of minutes before we arrived at our desitination. It did not take much time to find a decent parking spot. Getting out of the car, we locked our doors and met each other at the back of the car where we interlocked arms and walked into the grocery store together...[/size]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]As John and Tori made their way into the grocery store, they grabbed a buggy and Tori sat her purse down in it.

"Maybe I should have made a list...I'm pretty unorganized when it comes to grocery shopping..." Tori said as she looked around the nice sized store.

"Well, let's just walk down the aisles and see what sort of stuff we may need and then we'll pick it up." John suggested.

"Yeah, but if you're hungry, then you'll pick up everything that looks appealing!" she said, her voice raising slightly.

He gently stroked her hair. "Don't worry about it. Whatever you want, we'll get. We need plenty of food anyway."

She smiled up at him and they made their way through the store, picking up canned goods, juice boxes, Hamburger Helper, and other strange things of the sort.

"I think it's funny that we're opening up a restraunt and I cannot even cook," Tori said. "That's why I hope to wait tables. I think at least one other person would want to do it with me and we would do well on our own."

"Well, I'll go wherever I'm needed. I don't really have a particular position in mind," said John, picking up some Oreo cookies and placing them in the buggie. Tori looked up at him happily, still amazed at how much taller than her he was.

"I hope to make a lot of friends while in the house," Tori said. "I want to get closer to Sara and I hope to get to know Raiha and Ellie a bit. As for the guys well...I'm not sure. I know Kenneth and Tony pretty well, and I'm friends with James, Josh, and Justin..." her voice trailed off as they finally wheeled their buggy over to the check-out aisle.

"I'm sure you'll get to know them all very well in time. After all, we are all living together and, even though the house is large, we'll be sure to run into each other at some point or another."

Tori nodded and just smiled at him. They paid for their groceries and headed towards the car, loading them up. About that time, Josh pulled into the parking spot beside them, Sara and James in tow.

John and Tori waved happily. Josh stepped out of his car and sighed deeply.

"Somehow I volunteered to make the grocery trip for the rest of the houesmates." Josh said.

Sara held up a pretty long list of items. James held up an impressive wad of cash.

"Doesn't look like they'll be going hungry anytime soon," James said, smiling.

"Nope, I guess not," said Tori, handing over her own buggy and getting into the car. "See you guys at home!"

John waved goodbye as well and they two made their way back to the house. The afternoon sunshine was gorgeous and Tori was enamoured at the scenery. As they reached the house, they carefully began to unload their groceries.

"I think the things that don't need to be refrigerated should be kept in our room, just in case..." Tori said. "You never know how some of these people may be if they're hungry. They'll eat any and everybody's food." John nodded in agreement and they carried their things to their room and put them away in their overly large closet.

They decided to take a tour of the house to see what it looked like in it's entirety, since they didn't have anything better to do for the afternoon.[/color][/size]

[Drix D'Zanth]

The black explorer hummed a bit letting off a venerable sigh as Jordan turned the engine off. [I] I?m surprised we made it Jackson, damn Fords..[/I], he squinted at the address, ?I think I?m here? Late, but here.? Parking the car woke Jake, Jordan?s nine-year-old Labrador retriever, who barked from his temporary home in the Explorer?s trunk.

?It?s alright bud, I think we?re here! You want to go say ?hi??? He smiled. The dog seemed to smile back, his ears folded back in excitement and he let a whine, ?Alright, boy.?

Jordan opened the door, smelling the air. The warmth hit him like a blanket, stark contrast from Michigan. It would be good to study in some new locations, meet up with new people. Brushing some crumbs off his corduroys, compliments of Burger King.

His black button up shirt only helped magnify the effects of Californian heat. Jordan walked towards the trunk, opening it up. Jake took his sweet time, jumping down after a bit of personal delegation. He sniffed around the area, his tail seemed to move on it?s own will, fanning a large area behind him in it?s zest.

Jordan leashed his old companion, closing the trunk. ?I guess I?ll unpack later.? Walking up the steps towards the door, Jordan pressed on the ceramic doorbell. Immediately he felt the tinge of embarrassment overcome his confidence, and his cheeks took on a rosy countenance. He rang the doorbell again, chuckling a bit to himself; finally he?d get to meet the people he?d been thinking about for the last few days of his humble existence.

Then a figure appeared.

[BabyGirl]

[color=purple]At the sound of the doorbell, fully clothed and fully clean after a hot shower, Jenna bounded enthusiastically across the foyer. Her mood this morning was one of utter contentment.

She pulled open the door with both hands, leaning backwards so as to compensate for its weight. As she focused on the handsome male figure there, she raised an eyebrow, "Rarr."

Jordan cocked his head, "Um...grr?"

Jenna laughed and threw her arms around his neck, "Hello good lookin'."

A bit flustered by the sudden affection, Jordan reluctantly gave her a hug, "Hello, Jenna."

"You're late, you know." She teased.

He scratched his neck and Jake spoke up with his own happy bark, "Well I did have to drive from Michigan, you realize this."

"Oh!" Jenna spotted the grinning lab and kneeled down to scratch his ears, "He's adorable."

Jordan looked down at her and grinned, "He's an old man, my Jake."

"Well as long as he gets along with cats and ferrets, I'd say he'll fit in just perfectly here." She gave him one last pat on the head and invited Jordan inside, "Do you have stuff that needs to be unloaded? I can help if you need it."

He shrugged, "Thanks, but I'll get it eventually." He let Jake off of his leash and the dog went scampering around the house, eager to sniff out his new enviornment.

Jenna eyed the dog's departure, and then threw Jordan a critical glance, "He better not mess with my cat or it's you who is going to hear about it."[/color]