Finally Out and About! (Gabe)

Man, it felt like it had been foorrreeevveerrrr since Callie got a chance to go out by herself and just wander around the place. Recently she'd been so busy back at home, whether it was helping out Kay and J, helping (though mostly playing) with 8D or practicing her doodling skills, the young vixen had simply not found much time to get out of the house lately. Well, that was kind of a lie. She had been sneaking out every so often to get a moment of peace, but she could never go very far or be out for too long or someone would notice! Though finally she'd found some spare time to actually go out and enjoy herself, it was unclear to her exactly why she enjoyed just walking around aimlessly so much, but to be fair she was one to run into trouble whenever she did and trouble was always fun!

For the moment, the hooded girl was wandering the Sunlake Palms district. Honestly she was heading in the direction of East Eden as that was her favourite place in all of Endymion, though a little diversion never hurt, she wasn't in any sort of rush anyway. However, during her mindless trek, Callie would suddenly stop still and sniff at the air intently. "Aww man, Terra do you smell that?" The girl would mentally ask her shadow, her mouth starting to salivate.

"Sure do. Smells delicious, shame it's not ours, eh? I did tell you we should eat before coming out but noooo, we might waste our free time! Nehehe." Terra responded snarkily, honestly wishing that he'd had a chance to eat himself before they did come out. Why did smells have to be so enticing?

"Well..." The young vixen would start, a small cheeky smile reaching across her face. "There's no harm in taking a quick peek, right?" Even if doing so simply meant she'd be left more hungry and disappointed, Callie wasn't one who was very good at fighting against her curiosity. So like a predator would track down their prey, Callie began following this newly discovered scent.

With Gabe using his free time and the beautiful weather in order to set up a grill that he had yet to use,  Gabe's little setup was nothing short of a mancave of some kind with the items that he had and the particular things he was cooking. Living in sunlake palms kind of helped in this case, with Gabe containing a permit that allowed him to have his little cookout outdoors. Plus, it wasn't like he was bothering anyone anyway.

If he was, maybe they would be distracted by how good the burgers were smelling.  100% angus beef always seemed to settle down well in Gabe's stomach.

"Looks like the burgers are ready...."


Steaming it some more with his spatula, Gabe started to hum a bit as he flipped the hamburgers up and down rather skillfully, waiting for his timing to go off. With that being said, a familiar face made it's way to sunlake palms, causing Gabe to look over to his left.

"Callie? Is that you?"

Gabe hasn't seen Callie in forever, he wondered how she was.

It wasn't difficult to follow the scent, with it being so fresh and overpowering, the young vixen managed to stumble upon the origin of the smelly goodness fairly quickly. She would have been sneaking up stealthily, albeit there wasn't really anywhere to properly hide as she approached though she still tread tentatively until she was close enough to get a good look at what there was to see. Out of all the things she expected to see, there was in fact a grill. Called it. Wait, that wasn't the most exciting thing there for her to see! There was burgers on the grill too!

"Well of course there is, how else would we be smelling them?" Terra mocked the young girls excitement, mentally shaking his head at how easily she got worked up about the smallest things.

It was only when a voice pierced her ears that Callie even noticed there was a person standing there at all, or more so, it was obvious there was someone there, she just hadn't looked at them yet. "G-gabe?" She'd reply with light confusion and a small tilt of the head before pulling her eyes away from the grill for a moment to confirm, yes that was in fact the face of Gabe. "Gabe!" She continued excitedly. "It's been a while since I ran into you! What's up? What you cooking there?" Without even realizing it, the young vixens eyes had been drawn back to be staring at the grill as she spoke.

"Young Callie!"

 Gabe would say just as earnestly at her, being happy to see her as he put his hands on his hips and showing off his apron. The apron itself said master chef, but Gabe was only as skilled as the manual he follows when it comes to cooking in the first place. However, Gabe was confident in his abilities and hoped that he could possibly find a person to show it off to. Of course, it ended up being Callie here, but it could still work out.

"I'm making hamburgers, steaks, sausages, and hotdogs. It seems like alot, but the portions are small because I thought I would be by myself. Plus, this was a way to enjoy the weather and bring some food with me when I go to work. But since you are here, why didn't you give me a hand? Are you hungry?"

Pointing at the cooler, Gabe would direct Callie to go over there if she wanted a drink.

"There is some juices in there, a few canned soda's as well. "

Callie practically fell over when the invitation to join in was offered, in what world did a girl deserve such luck and kindness as this. With a beaming smile, the young vixen would steady herself on her feet once more and half run half skip towards Gabe and all the tasty goodness.

"I'd love to help out! Oh, oh, does that mean you're going to teach me something new again? Cause if I'm honest, Kay doesn't let me get anywhere near the cooking at home sooooo, ya know~!" The essence of excitement was clear in the wide eyed girl as she offered a hand. "And, uh, I'm not tha-" Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, Callie was interrupted by her stomach making an audible growl. "Eheh, okaaayy maybe I'm a little hungry." Though if Gabe said he only had small portions of things as he was originally just cooking for himself, she didn't want to be greedy and end up eating all his food.

Having her head directed towards a nearby cooler, the over excited girl would take a gander at what was inside. At first she'd pick up one of the few soda cans and stare at it longingly for a few moments before placing it back and taking some juice instead. "Kay said I'm not allowed soda anymore, after... Last time..." The girl would say meekly to herself, though loud enough for Gabe to hear.

"Oh right... it seems I'm always teaching you something new huh? Well, look at it this way, I still remain your teacher for some of the fun things. Or better yet, I try to make it as fun and as engaging as possible. "

Checking over the meat once more, Gabe would flip the patties up and down for the second time before taking out burger buns.

"Well, if you can keep a secret from Kay, I'll let you have just one can of soda. Just one, and we can stick to juices after. Sure, it involves breaking the rules a bit, but why shouldn't you be allowed to be a kid, right?"

After setting up the burgers, Gabe would place each patty on a bun with the spatula and point over to a few condiments. There was cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and ketchup.

"So Callie, you can make your own burger in the meantime while I put some more food on the grill, okay? Can you pass me the steak first? It's in that red container. "

"I mean, you made fishing fun! Sort of... So I'm sure you could make just about anything seem fun if you tried. OH! I still have that little fish I caught with you actually, at first J thought I'd brought him home a freshly caught dinner but I quickly told him off and said he couldn't eat little Yukan. He lives in my room now in a bowl filled with water, though he's waaay up high so that I, uh... Don't knock him over by accident~!" The girl would explain cheerily, taking a sip from her juice box and shaking her head at Gabe's continued offer. "N-no, I'll try to be good for now." She began before looking off in a random direction to think. "Mmmm... Maybe one later if I'm still thirsty, hehe."

Watching with great interest as Gabe flipped and prepared the burgers into their respected little bun houses, the girl would bite her bottom lip as she resisted the urge to just pick one straight up then and there and shove it in her mouth before putting anything else into it. Though shaking the idea out of her head, she'd spin her head around and dart between a few random places as if she was lost before locking eyes with the red container that Gabe was talking about, it wasn't hard to see, she just could not focus right now. Rummaging through, Callie would pick up one thing after another and look at them for a moment, definitely not only putting them back down because Terra was shouting at her in her head to stop being so slow until she grabbed hold of the steak in question and tentatively carried it over to Gabe. "Here you go! One well done freshly not cooked steak!" With a nod, the young vixen would then turn back to the burger in question that was gifted to her, the only question left was, what to put in it?

"Oh, and make sure that you are using some moderation with yukan and feeding it only a little bit. The thing about fish is that they don't know how to stop eating, so be sure that you are mindful. Also, maybe it'll be time to get you a new fishbowl with some coral and maybe a little treasure chest for Yukah to play with. Wouldnt's want your little friend to feel lonely right? We can go to one of those....pet marts one day. "

It was important to do things the right way. Gabe felt that if he steered Callie on the right path, she might think of it as boring or annoying now, but maybe she would understand when she's older. Even her convictions about soda made Gabe smile, still preferring to go through with her brother's wishes instead. That was good, her brother should be proud of raising Callie so well.

Taking the steak from Callie, Gabe unwrapped it out of the foil and started to season it a little bit.

"See this? This is an all purpose seasoning. Plus whenever you are trying to handle food in a sense of cooking and prepping, it's best to leave one hand gloved so you can touch the meat without concern.  Just have to be careful not to touch anything else!"

Moving on, Gabe wondered if the food can hold her for a few minutes till he was done with the steak pieces.

"I don't mind you having my burger too if you are that hungry. I can put some franks on and settle with that. "

"Yep, yep! Don't let fishy get fat, don't poke the side of the glass and don't try to pet the fish. These are all things I fully knew and definitely did not do before being told otherwise!" Callie would reply with a playful smile, the hint of deception in her voice totally not obvious at all. "Oh that'd be cool, I did think it must be kinda boring to have nothing to see around you but an empty bowl, so I did put some of my toys next to the bowl for Yukan to look at! Though if he had his own things he'd probably like that much better, though... How would he manage to open a treasure chest? He doesn't have any hands!" Would it have to like, bump its head against it? That'd surely hurt, especially after having to open and close it a couple times. Unless fish were more capable with their fins than she was giving them credit for.

The young vixen would listen to Gabe talk about the correct way to handle food as she threw some cheese, tomatoes and ketchup into her burger, definitely not purposefully skipping the lettuce. Unable to wait much longer, the girl would bring the burger up to her mouth and chomp on it, she wasn't quite sure if she should have expected it to be good or not, and she didn't want to be rude if it wasn't, though it was surprisingly better than she expected! Much to Terra's dismay who simply grumbled in the back of the girls mind.

"Why would touching the meat matter?" She'd ask absentmindedly. "You eat it afterwards anyway, and don't worry, I don't mind if you touch mine first! I'm not a germ freak like J is. Hehe."

"No, the first thing that we are going to do, assuming you are still using that bowl from before, is to get a new bigger tank. That way the things that comes inside of that bowl to keep the fish entertained like coral with funny shapes it can swim through, the chest that opens and closes occasionally on its own, even a little tube for it to hide in. Plenty of things to make it fun, as well as maybe a small sparkling filter in order to keep the bowl clean. You don't want them swimming in their own filth now, right?"

As Gabe started to prepare the meat safely and throw it on the grill, he would smile up at her.

"Well.......... it's good to make sure that we lessen the fact that there is germs in the air and all around us. For the people that you are cooking for, as well as yourself, we wouldn't want to get sick. That's why we handle the meat with care, ok?"

"A bigger tank...?" The girl would question, clearly thinking of the wrong type of tank. Callie would mull over this confusing piece of information she'd been given for a moment, primarily thinking about how she'd assume a tank would cost a lot of money and not even stopping to consider how it was actually going to help with looking after a fish at all. Regardless. "I, uh, suppose all of those things sound good. Whatever would make little Yukan happier. T-though, what if he's trying to look in the treasure chest and it automatically closes on him? That seems very rude."

Taking another bite from her burger, the young vixen continued to listen to Gabe try to explain why touching the meat was bad, though honestly it still didn't quite make sense to her. "But if I'm going to hold it in my hands when its ready to eat it anyway... Then why does it matter before hand?" She was honestly very confused, even to the point where she'd look down at her own hands as if expecting to see something of interest. Instead only being met with the burger in her hands and a few traces of dirt and mud that had accumulated over the course of her day out adventuring.

"I guess it opens when he swims near it and closes when he's away? To be completely honest with you, I'm sure the pet shop people didn't mean to be rude when they made this design, it all sounds like a bit much so don't worry about it right now. Yes, it'll cost money but I'll help you out. "

Other than that, Gabe would take off his gloves briefly and walk on over to Callie giving her a small rub around her toy ears and a thumbs up.

"I'm sorry if what I said upset you, I just wanted you to know the importance of handling things with care. There is a right way to do a lot of things, and it's not like there was a specific reason why I had to do it like that when i was small too. It's just that these are the things that we were taught, there was just never a thorough explanation as to why it is. If you wanted something short and sweet, it's so that people don't get sick.   But let's be positive, you are going to help me cook this steak ok?!"

Getting some mittens now,  Gabe would also get a stook and a pitchfork and bring the steak close to him.

"Put the mittins on and try turning the meat over with the pitchfork. But be careful of the grill ok?"

Callie would instinctively grab hold of the two strings dangling down from her hood and pull down harshly on them, ensuring that her hood stayed flat on her head and crushing her burger a little in one hand in the process as Gabe rubbed her head. She'd taken in a deep breath as she did this, to which she now half coughed, half laughed off pretending as if she'd done nothing weird at all. "E-heh, yeah, that sounds cool. T-though you don't need to spend y-your money on me. It's, it's okay. I'm sure I can work something out for it."

The young vixen would simply listen and nod at Gabe's reply to the importance of handing things well, not wanting to make it any more of an issue than she'd already made it. Though she tried to perk herself up a little when he offered to let her help out with the cooking. Taking a final bite of her burger before putting the last piece down for the time being, the now mitten equipped warrior of steak took pitchfork in hand... Uh, in mit? And prepared to embark on the epic quest of steak flipping. "O-okay, I'm ready." Trying her hardest to watch out for touching the grill, the lightly nervous girl would instead of placing the pitchfork under the steak, jab at the steak a few times before the fork properly dug into it, twisting her hands around themselves in an inefficient manner leaving the steak, whilst now flipped, now leaning up against the upside down pitchfork. "Uhm... Whoops?"

Gabe didn't quite catch on why Callie reacted in such a way when he touched the cosplay ears. He thought he was doing something kind by giving her a reassuring pat. Nola seemed to not mind it, but he could figure that his friendship with nola was different. Callie was just a regular girl, Nola was also Gabe's comrade in arms against the forces of the government and demons. If  it made her feel uncomfortable, Gabe made a mental note to not do that again.

Though, with her blunder, Gabe only offered words of encouragement for her to try again.

"Give it another go, like so. "

Flipping the steak back on the grill with the pitchfork after gently taking it from Callie, Gabe then repositioned it and handed it back to her.

"Practice makes perfect, but then again, it helps so we can eat soon, right?"

"Eheh, thanks." Callie replied appreciatively, still a little embarrassed over how she'd reacted so suddenly as Gabe flipped the steak over to give her another shot at it. This time, she watched carefully at the way that Gabe himself flipped over the steak preparing it for her attempt in an attempt to attempt her attempt again... That word felt wrong now. Trying to clear her mind of the self inflicted confusion, Callie slipped the pitchfork under the steak this time and over tentatively meekly flipped the steak onto the side it was meant to be and pulled the fork away.

Her usual smile would return to her face as she did this, watching the steak sizzle for a few moments before turning to Gabe. "I did it!" She'd exclaim excitedly. "Now we wont have to starve to death whilst being mocked by half done steak! ... Wait, isn't that just what Kay said rare steak was...?" D-didn't she say that you could eat it like that but she personally found it disgusting? Or was that like, some special kind of steak that was actually just rare to find? Hmm...