The Melancholy of Cecilla Izayoi~ It's a piece of cake! {open}

"Heh, not really. It was my mom that taught me how to speed things up. It's all a matter of serving size. Since the troupe was rather large, he needed a rather large pot to cook it in. Now since it's just the two of us, I don't need to have the broth simmer for so long. See? Pretty simple," Richard said.

The timer went off on the stove, and Richard searched the drawers for an oven mitt. Finding one (that happened to be pink), he put it on and withdrew the beef from the oven. He set in on the empty burners, and grabbed a large fork and knife. He began slicing the beef into thick slices, and he put each slice on the board and cut it into squares. He dumped the squares into the soup and stirred. So far, everything was going according to plan. He took a small spoonful out and tasted. Delicious.

"Alright, now the soup is ready! Where are some bowls and spoons?"

"Oh... serving size..." Cecilla pondered and looked up at Richard "That makes lotsa sense! If you don't mind, I may use that tactic in my own cooking!" she smiled.

Cecilla skipped to the table and placed the plates with cakes and other sweets to the middle. She then went to get cutlery, placemats, and cute bowls with smiling food on, and then set them out neatly on the table. When she was satisfied that the table looked neat, she walked back in as Richard was calling her to tell her the soup was ready;

"Yaaaaay! Beefy beefy beef soup tiiiiiiime!" Cecilla danced up to Richard happily "I can't wait!! I put the bowls and cutlery out on the table! Would you like me to bring the bowls through so you can serve up nya? Oh, and there's a soup ladle in that drawer there~!" she said as she pointed to a drawer behind Richard.

"Go right ahead!" Richard said, taking another sampling of soup. If he was so inclined, he would have started eating his fill right then and there, but he decided to wait. It would be better if he ate it out of a bowl instead of the pot itself. He looked behind him, and grabbed the soup ladle.

"Yeah, bring the bowls over here. That way, we can keep the soup hot in case we want some more," Richard said, changing the temperature on the burner to low. He slowly stirred the soup, making sure nothing congealed in one place.

"So Cecilla, I was thinking. In the next few days I was going to go out and have a day out on the town! A day full of exploration and adventure! Interested in joining me?"

Cecilla quickly saluted to Richard, "I shall now retrieve the bowls, sir!!" she exclaimed as she ran to the table and swiftly retrieved the bowls. Carefully, she placed them on the kitchentop next to the stove. "Nya, Richard, it looks so yummy, so chances are, we'll want more! If not, I'll put the leftovers in a tub and pop them in the fridge or freezer so we can have some another day! I always keep leftovers, well, if there's a good amount left over, of course. Leftovers are useful to have in the freezer for when you're in a rush! You just whip something out, defrost it, reheat it, and eat up!" she explained happily, smiling as she did so.

Then came an odd question from Richard. "Day... out... on the... town?" Cecilla thought, "I haven't left campus yet a-at all.., b-but I made pledge to get out more th-this year! Y-yes..." After pondering for a few seconds, she looked up at Richard, confused;

"Um... I would love to join you! I-I haven't left the campus yet, so i-it will be... interesting to see the town!" she said shakily, "a-and is there a comic in the town? Or videogame store? E-exploration and... and adventure sounds fun..." she looked down and tugged at Richard's shirt, "no-one's ever invited me out before... not friends, not anyone..." she sniffled slightly and wiped her eyes as she looked up, smiling with a tear running down her cheek.

"Thankies lots, Richard... it's an honour to be invited somewhere; you're a truely good friend!" she said, bowing deeply with her pigtails flopping over her head, "we'll have fun... right?"

"I think that there'll be plenty of leftovers Cecilla. This soup is pretty filling," Richard said, ladling out soup. He looked at the bowls that Cecilla had gotten. He couldn't help but smile; they fit extremely well with everything else in the dorm.

He looked at Cecilla and nearly cried himself once he saw her crying. He listened as she talked, and wondered why no one had ever invited her out before. Surely she had some friends before she came here that she hung out with, right? Judging by her reaction, it didn't seem like that. If she did have friends that took her out, she wouldn't be crying at the moment. 'But at least that their tears of happiness, but I still hate seeing girls cry,' Richard thought.

"Of course we're going to have fun! We'll be exploring a brand new place! I don't know if they have a comic or video game store, but I'm sure that we'll find some," Richard said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Now, let's have some soup! To tell truth, it's been a bit since I cooked this particular dish,"

He grabbed the bowls and walked back to the table, placing the bowls at the place mats.

"Y-yes, Richard! You're right!" Cecilla exclaimed as she sniffled and wiped her eyes, "It'll be fun if we're together... because being with friends makes things cheery!! You're an awesome guy, and don't forget it!!" she looked up at RIchard when her tummy rumbled violently; "We should have super duper yummy scrummy filling beefy beef soup!!"

She turned an ran to the table, and then sat down and waited patiently. As Richard placed the bowl in front of her, Cecilla's eyes went sparkly and she licked her lips;
"Kyaaah it smells so yummy!!!" she squealed happily. As she went to pick up her spoon, she suddenly remembered something, "Nya! Itadakimasu!! Thankies for the food!" Cecilla exclaimed as she clapped her hands together.

Cecilla then took her spoon in her hand and took a spoonful of soup, and gently blew on it before she ate it so it wasn't too hot.
Her eyes widened as she ate it; it was delicious! The flavours balanced wonderfully, and the beef was delicious. All the veggies were cooked to perfection, too.
"R-richard... This soup... it's amazing... and yummy... and amazing... and I love it nya... lots and lots..."

"Why, thank you Cecilla. And you're right, let's dig in!" Richard said, starting to eat his own serving of the soup. Yes, he had made it just as he remembered. Although, there were some slight differences in taste. He thought that it was just that he didn't have that special little "thing" that his mother had. He had asked her about it one time, and she just said she couldn't explain it. She just had more natural talent for cooking than most people. Some of it had been passed on to Richard, but not the full effect.

"So Cecilla, what kinds of games do you like?" he asked, pointing his spoon at the game systems. "Myself, I never had any console in our house, just my DS. The only time I would see consoles was when I went over to a friends house. Because of my lack of constant exposure, I basically had to be reintroduced to both the game and the controller nearly every time I visited. My friends got a little annoyed, but I picked it up rather quick, so thankfully their lessons were short and the playing was long,"

He paused, taking another spoonful of soup, slowly. "Do you have something that I could drink? Preferably milk?"

Cecilla continued to eat the beef and veggies from her soup, she really loved them... really really loved them! She was thankful she got to eat something so delicious so early on in her time at Whisper Hallow. When it came to soups like this, and meals like casseroles and stews... well... they weren't her forte. Having Richard here was lovely company, and company made Cecilla feel warn and fuzzy inside, and it wasn't just the beef! Though... the yummy beef was her favourite part.

"Games... favourite games nya..." she stared into space momentarily, trying to gather her thoughts; there were so many games that she liked... "Nya! My favourite games have to be shooters! Even better, first person shooters! And super even better, first person shooters with zombies and other creepy creatures! If the games makes it so that I can't sleep for a week, then it's a good game! Dead Space is an amazing game! It's not first person, but it's a shooter, and you're on a space station which is in need of repair. But the space station is dead- abandoned nya. Because aliens called Necromorphs have gotten onto it and have been eating everyone on board! It's uber scary- I love it nya!! Oh! And there's Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 where you play as one of four survivors who are immune to whatever is infecting the human population and turning then into zooooombbbiiiiiiesssss nya!" she tried to say it all in a creepy way, "we can play later, if you like! Laft 4 Dead 2 has awesome multiplayer, and I have two controllers!"

"Nya... milk... do I have any milk nya? I think I do... I should have some..." Cecilla quickly thought to herself, "I'll go check the fridge! I'm pretty sure I have some milk!!" she said as she got up from her seat and walked through to the fridge. As she opened it, she looked at the shelves on the inside of the door and scanned them, looking intently, "Aha!" she exclaimed, picking up the carton of milk, "Richard! I have the milk!" she called as she began puring the milk into a glass. She also poured some Irn Bru for herself, and then took the drinks to the table.

"Ta-daaaaa!" she exclaimed as she set the drinks down on the table.

Richard listened intently as Cecilla explained her favorite games. He remembered hearing his friends talk about them, and he had played a couple in the past, but only for a few minutes. He thought they were exciting and scary at the same time. I really should save up and get a console, he thought to himself as he ate his soup. That way I can be a little more in.

"I would love to play some later! They all sound very exciting," he said. "Actually, I've played a couple of them before, but not for very long. I kinda got booted out by my friends. Lack of skill and all,"

He watched as Cecilla got up and went to get the milk. There was something about her that stirred up something in Richard. It almost felt like he was a young kid again, full of energy and willing to do just about anything. All of which seemed to suit Cecilla. He guessed that she must be younger than her, but not by much. If she was attending high school she must at least be 14 or so. He smiled as she exclaimed about finding the milk and thanking her as she set the glass in front of him.

"Cecilla, I've got to ask. How in the world did you get a DDR machine? I'm fairly sure that they don't sell those to the general public. Unless you stole it. You didn't steal it, did you?"

"Kyaaah! I'm sure my friends will be on live later, so I'll ask if we can play a campaign or two with them, hehehehe...." Cecilla giggled slightly evilly at the end, as she was thinking about her favourite campaign: Hard Rain. In Hard Rain you have to get to a gas station to collect gas for the boat and then return in one piece. The problem is, the whole campaign is filled with the most powerful zombies: witches, so you have to be sneaky to make sure they don't stop you. Oh, and halfway through there's a storm!

Cecilla's eyes widened at Richard's question, she could understand why he thought she stole it, but... how would she ever be able to steal anything? She's not exactly the Joker, though the Joker robbed a bank... not an arcade.

"Steal that huge thing? Of course not, heehee! I got it when a nearby arcade was closing down, and selling everything off! The DDR machine was reserved for me because my parents knew the owner. Heh... I've modded that baby loads! Custom songs, custom options, videos, custom characters, drink holders, neon lights. That's no normal DDR machine heehee! Of course, my Dad helped me with it~ Wanna go vs. with me after we've played on the xbox?" she smiled as she explained everything, "Though I warn you, I have years of DDR experience!"

"I see..." Richard said, slowly drinking his milk.

Unbeknown to Cecilla, Richard also had several years of DDR experience. There was an old machine in the local arcade, and Richard was often found there. He often found quarters lying on the ground, and it got to the point where he began to suspect that some otherwordly force was leaving them there for him in order to play DDR. He would always go after school and spend some of his money. There were a few tournaments every now and again, and Richard would always compete. He believed himself to be the best, but was quickly shown up, by one person in particular. No matter what, he would always lose to her. Fire began to burn in his eyes as he began to recall his last tournament. Cruse women and their feminine wills!


"The Xbox can wait!" Richard said, standing up. He drew up a dramatic pose (at least, he thought it would look dramatic), and pointed a finger directly at Cecilla. "I challenge you, Cecilla Izayoi, here and now, to Dance Dance Revolution!"

As soon as she heard Richard's challenge, Cecilla downed her drink and also took a dramatic pose, putting her fists to her hips and grinning, baring her tiny fangs, "I accept your challenge, Richard!!"

She then tidied the table and ran over to the DDR machine. Very quickly, she whipped off her socks and stood on the player 1 pad and bent down to press the mains switch to turn the machine on. Suddenly bright lights flashed and the neons lights flickered on, as loud starting music blared from the speakers. Cecilla looked down at where the coin slot would have been which had been replaced with various slots for memory cards and usb sticks.

"So, Richard, would you like to select a song? I have loads, so I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a song you like nya! Metal, trance, techno, electric, pop, j-pop, j-metal, j-rock, practically everything! It's also set to event mode, so we can play whatever songs we want!" Cecilla explained with a big smile on her face as she took some memory cars and usb sticks from a tray and inserted them into the machine. The music was so loud, it was likely she would get complaints, or more visitors.

"Um...." Richard said, the dramatic-ness of the moment slowly being lost as he had to think about what song to pick. Even though Cecilla had such a large selection of genres (with a probably equally large selection of songs), he decided to pick something that he knew very well. In fact, it was his favorite song.

"Now You're Gone [Fonzerelli Edit]. Do you have that one? Out of all the ones at my old DDR machine, it's the one that I did the most. I have that one mastered! Though, if it wasn't for Jennifer and her nasty tricks..." he said, trailing off, his mind wandering back to that one fateful day. He was so close to attaining first place. It would've been the very first time he would lay claim to the DDR trophy!

Stupid Jennifer and her low cut, midriff shirt! How in the world could they have been so big at only 16? She must have come straight out of a manga or something...But there's no point in thinking about it now Richard. Whats done has been done, and you can't change the past. So, instead, lets think about how you're going to decimate Cecilla!

[OOC: I would love to see that challenge happen on paper! I'll have to see what I can do, even though it probably won't turn out very good ><]

"Nya... let me see..." Cecilla said as she changed the song categorising to alphabetical order and chose the 'N' section, "Aha! Here it is nya! Basshunter, right? I have the original version too!" she exclaimed as she hummed part of the song to herself.

"Who's Jennifer nya? And nasty tricks? Does she shoot sticky grenades onto the arrows you're about to step on???" Cecilla asked worriedly, her mind drifting off to TF2 and Demoman with his bombs and sticky grenades... that would be a good game to play with Richard, though sadly there's no splitscreen...

"This should be fun, hehe..." Cecilla cracked her knuckles and prepared for the battle, "Best of 3, okies? I'll choose the next song, and then whoever's losing will pick the last. If it's a draw then... I don't know~"

[OOC: Consider it done >:3]

"Right, Basshunter," Richard said, stepping onto the platform. "Jennifer is my rival back in my hometown. All though she didn't use drastic measures such as sticky grenades, she would dress in the skimpiest clothing when she competed in tournaments. She didn't violate any public decency laws, but it was enough to distract any boy. She's also twenty-one, so she's way past puberty, but boy did she mature during her teen years,"

He stopped for a moment to remember Jennifer's body, but quickly dismissed it once memories of her constant wins started creeping in.

"Best of three sounds good. Ready! Set! GO~!" Richard said, pushing the start button.

The music started, and Richard's feet immediately began to go, nailing every arrow.

[OOC: Haha! I like it! Seeing Richards pose kinda makes him look a little like a DJ, whereas Ceci looks like she's going to punch Richards lights out.]

"A rival?!!!" Cecilla exclaimed, suprised, "Oh... nya. So she... was big chested I guess..." she said quietly as her eye twitched slightly, Richard had accidentally hit a bad button. "Kuuuu... well I'm not big chested. And I'll do just as good as her. I bet I could beat her, nya! At least I don't have a stupid big chest that'll bounce around... hmph."

"W-well I won't resort to such forms of cheating! This shall be an honourable battle nya!!" Cecilla said proudly, "Let's go nya!!"

Deadly serious and concentrating more than usual (due to her... anger...), Cecilla hit each arrow sucessfully, and her score was only a little behind Richard's. "He's amazing at this song... this may be tougher than expected..."

[OOC: Yay!! Cecilla wouldn't really punch Richard, well, not unless he did something UBER bad x3;; ]

His brow was furrowed in concentration. Cecilla's score was fast approaching his, and he was doing his best to maintain the lead. His combo was beginning to approach the hundreds, but then the unspeakable happened:

Richard missed an arrow.

"Gahh!" he said, devastated. Achieving a perfect combo was his winning move, but now he had to improvise. He watched as Cecilla's score began to beat his. What can I do to win? I could trip her, but that would be cheating and dishonorable. And dishonor is often met with death! I'll ride it out and try my best to succeed!

"Kyuuuu..." Cecilla was picking up her score... the combo continued to rise and rise. She was doing better than at first! Her anger had calmed by now, and she was relaxed. Anger always hindered her. The scores were levelling out as Cecilla got more and more perfect hits. However, she heard Richard gasp and quickly looked over at his half of the screen: his combo was back in single digits... he had missed a step! Cecilla dropped a few points aswell, as her concentration had been lost.

"Perfect nya... now I can overtake him and win!! Victory shall be mine nya!" She thought to herself triumphantly, "Not too much longer to go... I just gotta hang in there and make sure there are no mistakes!"

The song was nearing its conclusion. Come one Richard, you can do this! It's just one arrow, nothing big. You've taken bigger losses and managed to win!

He watched the screen, seeing the flow of arrows stop. He knew that this was the final stretch, and if he nailed this, he would be in the lead. Up, down, up+down, left+right, left, right! The final move, a up+right followed by a down+left, was all that was left. Come on, nail it!

Two jumps later, Richards combo was still intact! "Yes!" he shouted, thrusting a triumphant fist in the air.

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, what do we do? We swim, swi-" Cecilla's thoughts were cut off when she saw the scores as they neared the end of the song...

"I'm behind nya..." she thought to herself; even though she hadn't missed a note, Richard was scoring perfect steps whereas she was just getting 'ok' or 'good' hits, "I-if I lose this one... I'll just pick it up on the next song, after all, I'll be choosing..."

Up...
Down...
Jump,
Left...
Right...

"They think it's all over... it is now..." she said to herself, quoting Kenneth Wolstenholme when he was doing the commentary for the 1966 FIFA world cup final, however, this time it was said to express a loss.

Jump, Jump.

It was almost a tie, and Richard cheered triumphantly at his win.
"Heh, congratsies Richard! You aced it, even with a missed step! Almost a tie, but you managed to get ahead again~" she congratulated Richard, she couldn't be angry at him; she'd finally found a worthy opponent!!

He left his hand in the air for just a little bit longer, savoring the moment. It had been a while since he had played DDR, and he was worried that he had lost his edge. Tonight he proved himself wrong.

"Thanks Cecilla," Richard said, lowering his hand to his side. He leaned back on the bar, catching his breath, "You are a a fine opponent. I was worried that I was going to lose! Now, your turn to choose the song,"

He wasn't looking forward to seeing what Cecilla would choose. It would probably be some obscure song from the mountains of Japan (or something like that). He would have to really concentrate this round.

Cecilla smiled as she watched Richard celebrate, "heh, he won't be celebrating for much longer~" she giggled, "Thankies! You're an uber opponent, Richard! You must play that song a lot~ my turn, so let's see..." she scrolled through the many song folders, "what should I go for this round?" she thought momentarily, going through her favourite songs, "let's go for something long and confusing..."

Cecilla's left eye twitched; 'Right Round' popped into her head. Her least favourite type of music, but one of her favourite songs to play on DDR. It was a custom stepfile, too, "I suppose there is the Marilyn Manson song, but that one's easy."

"Okies, let's do this song. It's uber catchy, and confusing! Right Round by Flo Rida. Usually I greatly dislike this sorta music, but this song is amazing on DDR!" she said, grinning as she turned the volume on the speakers to almost max, "please don't die, okies?" she warned Richard as she began to do stretches in preparation.

"Are you ready? Or shall we take a break first? This song is pretty merciless, and is in fact, a stepfile made for use with arrow keys on a computer." she warned once again, smiling.

"I played this song nearly every time I went to the arcade. It was usually the last song," Richard explained. "The staff got tired of hearing it so often, but they weren't really complaining all that much. I was adding quite a bit of revenue,"

"Right Round by Flo Rida...can't say that I've heard that song before. If I hear it I'll probably recognize it," Richard said. "I promise I won't die. I've had to tackle some pretty difficult songs, and I'm sure that this isn't going to be bad. So, let's go! I don't care if it's supposed to be for the computer! I haven't felt this good in a long time,"

"I guess you really are a master, Richard! But don't forget the I'm a master too, nya~ And if they got fed up with that song, you must really really really have played it loads~ Though the good thing about having your own DDR machine is that it's not coin operated! So come over whenever you want to play, okies Richard?" Cecilla exclaimed as she looked over at Richard.

"Okie dokie... let's get ready for this battle nya... It's a good thing that you won't die, though some limbs may become unusable for a couple hours... maybe days~" she giggled,"Here it is! Are you ready~? I am!" she smiled brightly as she got ready to start the song, "3, 2, 1, Go!"

"Ready? Go!"

The words came up on the screen and the song started. Music blew through the dorm and Cecilla was off to a good start, sucessflly hitting each arrow.