Colin's posts

Darrell just sighed heavily.

"Guess it's a good thing she didn't see what happened with Evan earlier." he mumbled.

"Probably." Ash agreed.

"Anyway, you still have some time before breakfast is ready." he then said.

"Yeah, I should get back to unpacking." Darrell commented, before yawning.

"Oh wow... yeah, feelin' tired suddenly." he muttered.

Darrell was stunned and scared when he saw a large black feline... akin to a panther... standing before him.

He almost didn't hear Ashleigh's suggestion, but nodded.

"R-R-R-Right." he stammered.

He then took his arm and extended his hand out towards Kitt.

There were some little shakes to it, but he brought the back of his hand closer to Kitt's face.

"Nice kitty...?" he asked.

"I... I see..." Darrell responded.

"Relax. It's cool." Ash said.

They then heard some heavy footsteps upstairs, and they sounded like they were making their way downstairs.

"Ah." Ash muttered.

"Seems Kitt's up." he commented.

"Kitt?" Darrell asked.

"Our residential 4-legged feline." Ash elaborated.

Darrell still looked confused, unsure as to how to equate 'cat' to those heavy footsteps.

Darrell's heart seemed to sink from that, and he acquired a frightened look.

"Relax, kid, she's kidding." he said.

"Mostly." he then said further.

"Sort of." he clarified.

"Kind of." he changed.

"Just keep your trap shut about it." he then added in a seeming 180.

"......" Darrell was silent, before gulping.

"R-right." he replied, scared to death of making a poor first impression on someone here.

Darrell blinked a couple of times.

"..r-really?" he asked.

Ash just turned to him and winked, before going back to work.

"....." Darrell was then silent, before taking a drink of coffee.

"Oh, wow." he said.

"This stuff is really good." he commented.

"Some of the best in this house." Ash confirmed.

Ash just laughed.

"Whenever someone new orders it at the restaurant, some of the guys bet newbies I can't do it." he told her.

"So far they've hustled 22 people." he chuckled.

"As for me, personally? I stopped counting somewhere around 70." he added.

"Everyone reacts like this?" Darrell asked.

"99.9% of people do." Ash confirmed.

Darrell accepted the spoon and placed it in his mouth.

"...aaaand.." Ashleigh heard Ash mumbled under his breath, though Darrell couldn't hear it. That's when Darrell recoiled a little, almost as though his tastebuds had been assaulted.

"...but..." Ash mumbled further, as Darrell's expression changed to genuine surprise.

"...followed by..." Ash continued to mutter, not even looking ANYWHERE in Darrell's direction, completely focused on the meal prep.

"...and then..." he went on, with Darrell's mouth started to curl up into a smile.

"...ended with." Ash finished, as Darrell's eyes seemed to light up with sparkles.

"Holy CRAP, this is UNREAL!" he exclaimed, his tone overtly joyous.

Darrell accepted the mug before going to put some sugar in the coffee within.

"Yeah." Ash replied.

"Well, mostly." he said.

"It's not 100% set yet, but it should be fine to taste." he told her.

"Just grab one of the little spoons and let him try it." he continued.

"Darrell, you have a fave topping for waffles?" he then asked.

"Uh... yeah, blueberries." Darrell replied.

"Then you'll LOVE the blueberries I have." Ash said confidently.

"I think she's working on something." Ash responded.

"If I recall, she said she had a burst of inspiration, and wanted to get it worked out." he told her.

"But she IS coming down for breakfast." he then assured her.

"I remember her saying she REALLY wanted to be here for it... when she heard that it'd be ME doing it." he chuckled.

"...." Darrell was silent as this exchange happened, and appeared a bit confused.

Probably because he didn't truly KNOW who Casey was.

Ash turned to Darrell when they came downstairs.

"Yo." he greeted him.

"Hey." Darrell replied.

"I'm makin' breakfast for everyone. Won't be done for a while." Ash then said.

"...you cook?" Darrell asked,

Ash just laughed in response.

Darrell thought for a moment.

"Ahhhhh..." he stammered.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Maybe I've seen her in passing..." he said.

"Not sure if I've... MET-met her, I guess." he went on.

"Anyway, you said coffee!" he then exclaimed.

"I am ALL for that right now!"

"Oh, cool!" Darrell replied.

"Let's take a break, then." Evan said.

"I wanna head outside and investigate some squeaking I heard earlier." he told them.

"See ya, Darrell!" he finished, before dashing out of the room.

"...." Darrell was silent for a moment, before chuckling.

"I like him." he told Ashleigh.

"Seems pretty cool." he said.

Ash just laughed lightly.

"This whole house comes running when they smell it." he told her.

A few minutes later, Ashleigh returned to the room that Darrell and Evan were in, and she saw that they were still setting things up.

"Hey, Aunt Ashleigh." Evan greeted her when he saw her.

"Oh, hello again." Darrell said.

"Yeah, there's... a lotta stuff I brought." he chuckled sheepishly.

Ash just gave a thumbs-up when she said that.

"Go for it." he told her.

"Should give him the boost he needs." he chuckled.

"Breakfast'll be done in a couple of hours." he then said.

"Yeah, it's gonna take a while, but I wanted to make sure that this was a top-notch breakfast." he continued.

"After all, we have a house guest now." he reasoned.