You Eat, Right?

[Rhetoric]

Ear-buds in, Liv blasted Bon Jovi from her Ipod and danced around the kitchen deaf to the world. It had been near impossible to sleep in the freezer that was her shared room with Lorelia and if she wasn't going to sleep, Liv was going to be useful. She was used to getting up super early back home and, since there were no Animals here to feed here at the school, she might as well feed her new friends.

If there was one thing the farm girl could do, it was cook. Face smeared with flour, Liv breathed in the aroma of her cooking and grinned. The smell of bacon and the fresh biscuits she had in the oven wafted out into the hall to lure in anyone passing by.

"I'm a cowboy. On a steel horse I ride." Liv sang as she checked the bacon. She flipped another few pancakes on the griddle and drummed on the counter with her spatula. She looked around quickly, making sure she had covered all the bases. She had eggs already beaten in a bowl and a load of veggies she'd found in the fridge cut up and ready to be made into omelets. She'd made pancakes, and home fries, bacon, and toast, and she'd even made grits in case someone was feeling adventurous.

Liv looked at the table and frowned. "OJ, duh," she said to herself. She'd already put out some bagels and a plate of toast. She'd cut up some fruit, making a little breakfast salad. The rest of the food was still cooking, but Liv had forgotten the orange juice. She got a running start and jumped onto the counter, in search of a pitcher for the juice. Rummaging through the cabinets, Liv found what she needed and jumped back down with a little flip, pitcher in hand.

"I've seen a million faces and I've rocked them all." She sang a bit louder than she meant to, half deaf from her headphones. The toast popped up and Liv added it to the table, a big smile on her face.

Hopefully, people would show up to eat.

[Coffee]

Coffee stood in the kitchen doorway and watched the new girl. A big grin on his face. Not from Mojo. He could not imagine one of Mojo's gladiators with flour on her face singing a silly song. The headphones also made the girl easy to attack. She would never be able to hear a predator. His body relaxed a little and he hopped into the kitchen, which was full of delicious smells. He also also saw a very tempting little breakfast salad. Good food, start good days. Today great!, he thought.

"Good morning," he growled and squeaked in rabbit. Still somewhat amazed that he didn't have to wave frantically and tap the floor. Oh, the noise boxes., he thought, hitting his head lightly with a paw, forgot them. The girl would probably never hear him with the headphones. So he hopped up closer and waved to her.

After breakfast and his morning run, Coffee had some exercises planned in the woods. He'd built himself a little obstacle course and nailed some mirrors to trees. He also had a little leather satchel slung across his shoulders holding lots of small mirrors. He wanted to practice throwing them and jumping into them. He was already dressed in his blue mirror jumping costume complete with breeches, a tunic, and his mirror cape for gliding on air currents in the tunnel dimension between mirrors. She can talk rabbit. I try things. She can tell me how they work. Give tips. Much improve. He really hoped the new girl would come to train with him.

He waved again and squeaked out another "Good morning," but louder this time.

[Diesel]

Even though it was Saturday night, Ian went to sleep pretty early. He fell asleep watching 'Old School' last night with Gavin strumming on his guitar in the background. It wasn't so bad since he had managed to wake up just as the Church crowd left and go get a work out in at the gym. He did some weight lifting and was trying to beat his pull up record, but then he got thirsty. Now walking up from the gym, he was stopped in his tracks by the smell of food.

And not just any food smell, but the 'OoooOOOooH MAN I WANT!' kind of smell. Ian's poor empty stomach grumbled and he salivated just at the smell. He was a growing boy after all, and he followed his nose most of the time. When he thought he smelled homefries, that was it for him. He followed his nose right into the kitchen, towel draped over his shoulder and his mouth practically hanging open.

"Please, PLEASE tell me I'm smellin' homefries?" he said bursting into the kitchen. "Hey Coffee, what's up Doc?" Ian grinned and bumped fists with the large rabbit. He threw his towel on the chair and looked at the girl with a grin. He knew he heard Bon Jovi somewhere in the background of him drooling over the smell of food. "You're that chick Liv right?" he said, not realizing if she had her headphones in or not. "Gavin mentioned you last night. Uh, I'm Ian and I am totally willing to be your best friend if you she some of your food with me."

His eyes grew wide as saucers as he looked at all the other food set out. "Make that like your, best friend and personal taste tester. Oh man this smells amazing," he said with a silly hungry grin on his face as he plopped down in the chair and looked at all the other stuff like he was literally a kid in a candy store. He knew he looked kind of sweaty since he forgot to bring a change of clothes and had to put the workout clothes on after a shower, but man food wins out every time with him.

[Rhetoric]

"And I'm wanted dead or a-GAH!"

Liv turned around and realized she had an audience. Coffee was standing there looking amused along with a tall dude that looked like he'd just dragged himself out of the gym. He was one of those classic all-American looking guys with black hair that made his dark blue eyes pop. Her brain got fuzzy for a minute as she took a second to appreciate yet another pretty boy.

Grinning sheepishly, Liv snatched the buds out of her ears and stood there toeing the tile and blushing. "Hi... sorry, um... Bon Jovi." She pointed at her Ipod before grinning wickedly at the giant rabbit. "Hey, Coffee! Nice threads! Grab some eats."

She turned the wicked smile to the guy. "Yeah, I'm Liv." She finished up with the OJ and brought the pitcher to the table. "Help yourself, bro. I'm used to cookin' for a lot of people. Best way to make friends." She winked and handed him a plate. "Did you say Ian? Well, Ian what do ya want in your eggs?"

Liv backed up and pointed to the counter where she had the 'omlete bar' and smirked at his face. "Dude, did you have a stroke?" Liv laughed and popped a piece of bacon in her mouth. "Whatcha want?"

[Taffy]

Ricki's ever so cheery smile was spread across her lips as she came dancing into the kitchen, humming a tune that she'd randomly come up with in her head, trying to make up lyrics to the tune in her head. "Iaaaannn! You betrayed my unhealthy chip-batty breakfast for all this yummy smelling stuff?! How could you?!" Ricki's jaw dropped open as mock shock and horror flashed across her face. Ricki and Torri used to have a tradition of having chip-batty on sundays. The food was an english thing really- but it was classic with her family. Ian'd walked in on Ricki and Torri munching away on chip-batty a couple of weeks ago and Torri'd insisted that Ian'd have some of it- and well, Ian was hardly one to reject food.

"Hehehe... nah, kidding. Mmm... Liv, that really does smell amazzziing." Ricki nodded still jumping about a little as she wandered aimlessly through the kitchen, before her eyes fell on Coffee. "Hey! Coffee! Whatsup?" Ricki smiled and waved at the rabbit before landing besides Liv by the cooker. "I'd offer you some help- but seems like you got it all under control there, and well- i'm hardly the best cook around." Ricki rolled her eyes, shaking her head before she headed towards one of the cupboard and pulling out a cup for herself. "The only two things that I'd call myself partially decent at, is chilli-cheese toast andd coffeee! And oh dear... not you coffee... I can't cook rabbits... oh boy. I should shut up."

Ricki sighed shaking her head. She had a special way of making coffee- hers was more milk based than anything else. Ricki put some coffee beans in her mug and beat it together with a few drops of water and sugar, before heading over to the fridge and pulling out the milk bottle and pouring the milk into the mug until the cup was about 3/4 full and then she skipped over to the microwave and popped the mug in, setting the timer for a minute before shutting the door. "Oh... anyone else want some coffee? Ian... Liv?"

[Diesel]

"Na, I don't do coffee. I'm a growing boy remember? I wanna keep growing," Ian said waving off the offer as his eyes took in everything in front of him. "Oh man, I can have anything? Really? Like anything at all, and you'll make me eggs?" His eyes were wide in delight as he looked around at all the food in the kitchen, blinking to make sure that this was all real. It was just like the breakfast that his dad cooked up at home, and he had been missing it for months. Ian wasn't a big cooker himself, his skill ended at desserts and cooking macaroni.

"Ok, wow ok, you're like beyond awesome. I want sweet peppers, banana peppers and scallions in my eggs with salsa and cheese. Uhh mozzarella cheese please, oh and LOTS of bacon. I love bacon. And I want a stack of pancakes with syrup, and a whole plate of homefries. And two, NO three biscuits!" Ian was getting really excited as he looked at all the food, his stomach growling just by him listing off the food.

"Oh and some orange juice please. Thanks babe," he said with a big smile, getting a good look at the girl for the first time since the initial reaction to food always wins out. She was a cute little thing, really wholesome looking and seemed nice. "You're officially awesome. Ricki babe, you're fired as my Sunday cook, Liv you're hired!" Ian grinned at her like he just bestowed a great and honorable title, reaching out to ruffle Ricki's hair.

[Rhetoric]

Eyebrow arched, Liv listened to the steep order and couldn't help but snicker. "Sunday cook? Yippee, a promotion." She loaded a bowl full of fruit for Coffee, winking at the rabbit as she set him up next to Ian. Grinning at Ricki, Liv pointed to a mug sitting on the table. "I beat you to it, Ricki. That's my... fourth cup?" Liv phrased it as a question, uncertain how much coffee she'd already had that morning. Besides whatever Ricki was drinking could hardly be called coffee anymore. It was more milk than anything else. Liv drank her coffee black and, if it were possible, she would have stuck it into an IV and let it drip straight into her blood stream.

Caffeine and adrenaline were necessary for Liv to function, and after her late night, she'd needed an extra cup or two to keep revved up.

"Juice is on the table, bro." Liv pointed to the pitcher of OJ and went to the stove to start on the eggs. "How about you, Ricki?" she asked with a grin. "Want an omelet?" She started Ian's eggs and loaded his plate with pancakes, home fries, and bacon. "Biscuits aren't done, but this should occupy ya for a few minutes." Liv handed over the plate with a wicked grin and started throwing veggies into the eggs. "Coffee, bro, do you want anything else or are you cool?"

Liv reclaimed her coffee mug and went for cup number five as she finished Ian's omelet. Eyes wide she gave the guy his breakfast. "Dude, one word," Liv grinned devilishly and tried to open the jar of salsa she'd dug out of the fridge. "Indigestion."

[Torri]

With a cute yawn, Torri walked into the kitchen following the amazing aroma. Her stomach was growling the second she got out of her room since the morning light always made her hungry. Later that day she had to help Karma and the Alphas with laundry and homework and cleaning up some more. But it was always fun to have a movie night with them, especially when Austin and Chopper would start miniature popcorn fights. Karma always gave them that look thought, and they stopped about several seconds from beginning.

"Something smells great," she said as she entered. "Hey Coffee!" She made sure to give him a big hug since she loved the rabbit and he was just so cool. It was weird how he came to be the school pet/friend and all but hey she didn't care. Torri accepted everyone without complaint. Accept some of the Hellions... oh man they were scary sometimes. But they never bothered her so she didn't really need to have her back shiver for them or anything. They were just bullies and mean.

"Hey Ricki," she continued with a wave. "HI IAN! What's up suffer duuuuuuuuude?" She giggled at her silly interpretation of a Californian surfer. Ian was one of her favorites from the team and he was just such a nice guy. Torri heard about what happened between him and Lorelai and she did feel bad for the ice girl. But the Scottish Alpha knew that Ian never hurt people on purpose. Nah, he would never do that, she concluded.

She then looked at the new girl who was making all the food. "Aw, no cookie batter today?" She never forgot her tradition with Ricki but it was lost during their time apart. It was OK though since Torri was just happy to be around her old team again. Sometimes babysitting was a bit tough but she was able to find a strength within herself that she never new existed. "That's alright. You're stuff smells great too. I'm Torri by the way, what's your name?" She gave the new girl a nice welcoming smile, something she would always have liked to get when being somewhere new.

[Taffy]

"Naaah, I'll pass Liv- you got quite a bit on your hand with my team captain right here, seeing he fired me." Ricki mock huffed at Ian before breaking out into a smile. "Nope, kidding- omlete's just a bit too healthy for a sunday morning; although Torri might want some. Feeling healthy today miss?" Ricki beamed at Torri before turning or look at Ian again and scrunching her face at him while fixing her hair. "Why do you and Gavin always attack my hair?! Honestly!" Ricki shook her head as if tutting Ian, before laughing it off anyway and jumping over to the microwave at the sound of her coffee being done.

She pulled out her mug, blowing the coffee to allow it to cool down a little before taking a sip. "Mmmmm. Yum." Ricki grinned- walking more sensibly this time over to the table and sitting herself down besides Ian and placing her coffee mug on the table. "I see the way things are now yes Ian? You fire your very own acolyte for a paragon? Next thing I hear, you and chase shall be the new BFFs." Ricki shook her head at Ian, her expression making it clear that she was just messing about but her tone carrying that oh so disappointed tone. "See this Torri? Dispicable!"

Ricki grinned at Ian, leaning back to avoid Ian messing up her hair again. "Hahahaha. Sooo, captain, when are we having a team practise? I wanna see what our new people can do!" Ricki added taking another sip of her coffee. She genuinely was curious as to where the team stood at the moment; they'd lost two members, but they'd gained two in return as well. Maddy and Cross both seemed quite nice, although Ricki had that slight weary feeling about Maddy- but she was sure she'd get over it once she got to know the new girl better. Ricki always felt that team practises just made the team grow tighter.

[Coffee]

Fast, fast. Ian., Coffee thought. The Acolyte's heavy, steady foot steps told the rabbit he was coming several moments before he burst into the kitchen. Coffee had studied the student's foot steps carefully for several weeks. He could tell most of them apart by their foot falls, and even identify their moods. So the rabbit stepped back from the doorway seconds before Ian came in. He bumped fists with the boy to say hello. The home fries Ian was so excited about meant nothing to him, so Coffee walked back toward the counter and the fruit salad.

He was halfway across the room when his ears picked up Ricki. Not by her footsteps but by her humming. Her foot falls were so light that they were hard to hear at a distance, even for him. He turned to the door again so he could wave to her. He told himself that after that he'd just sit and eat. He would never have breakfast if he greeted each student individually. But Ricki was a favorite of his. She was always so cheerful and that made him feel good. While Ricki and the others talked Coffee sat down at the place Liv made for him next to Ian. He giggled a bit at the comment about cooking rabbits, and happily munched on the fruit salad now that it was finally his.

It was perfect. He squeaked "Thank you" to Liv and told her he did not want anything else. "All good good." He tapped one small knock on the table to get Ian's attention and motioned to him to pass the orange juice. If he worked very slowly and carefully Coffee could pour his own juice and doing it himself always made him feel very proud. Holding onto a glass without thumbs, was much more difficult than holding his sword, which had a special grip made to go over his paws. Sword, he thought, Must get. The weapon was still in his room and he wanted it for his training session.

He still had his little dagger tucked into the band of his tunic. He slipped his right paw into it's grip, pulled the dagger out carefully, and used it to cut a piece of melon in half. He then skewered the melon and popped it into his mouth. He was so in love with the salad he stopped listening to his surroundings so he was surprised when Torri rushed in and hugged. him. "Hi kit," he tapped out to the girl. Eager to see if she remembered some of the code he'd taught her. He then smiled as she and Ricki talked, and when the conversation died down a little squeaked out to Liv the question that had been on his mind all morning.

"Do Liv want train. In woods. I ready. Show Liv. After food?" A direct English translation of the words would appear quite choppy, but in rabbit it was quite grammatically correct. Few rabbit sentences had more than two or three words, and the vocabulary was a lot smaller than English's. Coffee waited excitedly, and even nervously, for the new Paragon's reply.

[Diesel]

"I don't know, sometime this week probably, I gotta ask Pete later," Ian said after swallowing the mouthful of home fries he stuffed in his mouth. He dug right into the food barely taking a breath, mouth too stuffed to even verbally greet Torri. If there was one thing that Ian loved, it was his home fries and pancakes, and of course bacon. "MmmmMMmmmm BacOn. BAYYY-CON!" he said in total bliss as he chomped on the crispy bacon in his ritualistic way. He loved bacon.

Ian gave Liv a proud grin and patted his stomach. "I got an iron stomach, I once ate a whole five foot sub in one sitting. Man that was a good day." He nodded his head up and down as he remembered his birthday last year and him and Eric went to that restaurant on the beach and each got those five footers and giant milkshakes. Then later on there was a big party on the shore, and it was the best birthday that Ian ever had.

"Hey are those biscuits done yet?" He asked taking a huge gulp of the orange juice. The kitchen smelled amazing and despite Ian's more than half eaten plate of food, he wanted more. "And can I get some more home fries? Oh man Torri you gotta try these pancakes, they're AMAZING!" His face was contorted in a look of bliss as he pointed his fork at Ricki. "This right here, see this plate? That's why you're fired. Oh man, AMAZING!" He stuffed his face with more pancakes and gave them a big grin. "Where'd ya learn to cook babe? This stuff is like, amazing," Ian asked his his mouth half full.

[Rhetoric]

"Catch." Liv pulled the biscuits out of the oven and tossed them one at a time toward Ian, burning her fingertips in the process. Scowling, Liv stuck her smarting fingers in her mouth to sooth them.

"Trainin', huh?" Liv sat on the counter top and considered the rabbit's offer. Truth be told, she had noticed the woods the night before, even though she hadn't had time to explore them. She'd been looking for an excuse to disappear for a few hours and Coffee was giving her a perfect opportunity. Besides, Liv did better outdoors than she did cooped up, especially lately.

Most likely that was just another side-effect of her mutation.

"You've got yourself a deal, Coffee," Liv said with a nod. "I'll just have to clean up in here and change-out my jeans first." Her gaze fell to the younger girl that had come in and Liv tipped the mixing bowl that was sitting on the counter beside her. "Hey, kiddo, I have enough batter left to make you some blueberry pancakes if you want, but better let me know before that one starts looking for seconds." Liv grinned at Ian, trying to smother the laughter in her voice. "Slow down, bro, there's plenty!"

Liv slid back to her feet, dumped more bacon onto Ian's plate, and got herself some home fries before offering him the bowl. "My ma taught me how to do mass-meals ages ago. We own a horse farm and between the family and the other handlers..." Liv shrugged. "Had to feed'em."

Thinking of home, the corners of Liv's smile tugged down. This would be the first morning... well, ever that she wouldn't be there when the farm came to life. She was going to miss Lo, and his constant need to play. The small herd of horses that her family had acquired hadn't understood when she'd explained to them that she was leaving. You didn't leave the herd. You were a part of it for life...

Listening to Ricki and Ian talk about their team, Liv's smile slowly returned. Maybe she had a new herd to run with, now.

Looking at Ian, Liv quirked an eyebrow and grinned. "So you're on the other team with Ricki, huh? Shame."

[Torri]

The new girl seemed pretty nice, but Torri felt bad that she kept serving people and not eating. "Go sit down," she offered while setting her place at the stove. "I can make my own pancakes thanks. Go enjoy the food you made for us... you deserve it." She smiled widely and then grabbed some butter and cut a piece to spread on the pan with the spatula. Torri giggled at Ian's disappearing act whenever it came to food and turned back to focus on making her own silver dollar sized pancakes. The blueberry aroma was just too good and her stomach couldn't help but growl even worse than it already was.

"Hey!" she said to Liv with her back turned to the group. "What's wrong with the Acolytes? They are a good team." Her voice didn't have any detection of being offended... basically because she wasn't. She playfully asked her question to Liv, hoping that her answer wouldn't actually be mean. Just to make sure no one thought she was actually hurt, Torri turned her head and placed a small smile on her face. The blueberry pancakes were really good and she waited for the batter to start bubbling in order to turn them over in the hot pan. "Anyone want some before I finish? C'mon Liv sit down and eat. No need for you to slave over the kitchen just so Ian likes you. He likes pretty girls either way." She burst into giggles again and looked at Ian in a "loooooooooooove yooooooooooooooooooou" way. It felt really good to be with her former teammates again. It made her feel like the group didn't totally hate her for leaving. At least she hoped they didn't.

[Taffy]

"Hey! Exactly! Acolytes are awesomee." Ricki agreed, nodding at Torri and turning her head to look at Ian. Ricki liked Liv, she was really nice, and she didn't seem to mind a crowd of people- which was good, if you wanted to make it through at the school. "Okay, okay. Point made, she's like gazillion times better than me at cooking." Ricki rolled her eyes, giggling as she spoke and sipping her coffee. "Mm... Tell you what Torri, you wanna make me some plain pancakes? Pancakes with chocolate sauce sounds tempting to me right now." Ricki grinned at Torri, glad that things were still easy with them.

"Soooooooooooo......" Ricki mused, before her head spun around to look at Liv. "Oh my god... didn't you say yesterday that you play drums Liv?" Ricki asked, vague flashes of being rather wet while sitting and talking to the paragons coming back to her head. "Gavin must love you! Damn! You have a thumbs up from the Acolyte-duo! You shoulda just been on our team. Ian and Gavin would've been skipping and singing." Ricki rolled her eyes, giggling at Ian before looking back at Liv. "Hey! All us music peoples should totally get together sometime and do like a funky music-jam session thing. Gavin can sing and play guitar, I'm learning guitar, but I'll stick to my keyboard for noww... and you play drums right? I think Maddy's into music aswell... right Ian?" Ricki paused for a moment, her face brightening up even more- if that were actually possible. "Oh my god! We could totally form a band!" she suggested happily, sipping her coffee before looking over at coffee.

"Coffee, you could be our mascot! Okay... okay... kidding. You're a super-cool fighter rabbit, right?"

[Fleet]

Kyle had just finished a work out in the gym, nothing to hard, he needed to get his body back into a better working state after his injuries. After showering and getting dressed into his black and green sweat clothes, he threw his back pack over one arm and headed for the kitchen. He walked in and looked around to those already here. "Morning guys" was all he said before he went to the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water, tossing them into his pack. Then he grabbed a couple health bars from the cabinet and tossed them in the bag as well. Lastly he picked up an apple and took a bite.

After he swallowed the bite he looked around again, "I'm going out for a run, and hike. If anyone is interested or feels like tagging along." With that said he took another bite and moved to the door. Before leaving he turned to see if anyone was considering going. He wanted to get himself running again, and hoped that would lead to him being able to get his power back in control. When Ember was the Team Leader, however briefly, she had taken the team up a hard hiking path to a cool clearing where the team practiced. He hoped that would help him get his head back in the right place.