All For Love [Reth x OC x Jel]

First Batch

"Ah...that should do it." Azu grinned and wiped her brow, smiling down at the soup pot on her stove. It was nice to have her own kitchen, even if it was just a stove and a prep table for now. She could expand the house, as she found out from asking Kenyatta what she did the day before, so she would figure out plans for that later.

For now, she had a promise to keep. Grinning to herself, she carefully loaded up the servings of soup for travel, and ran back out the door of her little starter cottage, passing her crops and running back out toward town. She did actually take the path this time; even if normally, she wouldnt bother running down the path, since it seemed like whatever the Phoenix had done when she revived her made her a lot more durable than she remembered. Sure, it was faster just to jump off the cliff at a certain point, roll to catch herself, and cut the time it took to run into town down by about ten seconds, but she couldnt spill the soup.

It still didnt take her long to reach the inn, and she ran straight to Reth's counter, grinning up at the young Majiri man.

"I see that look on your face. Up to no good, arent ya?" Reth grinned back at her. He was glad she had started stopping in to talk to him; after that night at Jel's shop, she had been in here almost every day.

"Well Im here to see you, so I must be~" Azu laughed softly as she reached for her backpack. "I finally got my stove up and running, so I am here to deliver you my very first attempt at soup~" she snickered, pulling out two bowls of the Hearty Vegetable soup she'd spent the morning making. "Still wanna be my taste tester?"

"Ooh, soup! Is it a food? Is it a drink? No one knows! But either way, Im a big fan." Reth laughed as he took the bowl from her, trying to ignore the funny feeling he had in his chest when she said she'd come to see him. They tried it together; lifting their bowls up to their lips and taking a slurp; and he had to admit, it wasnt bad for her first attempt. Nothing out of this world, but it was good soup; well seasoned and not overcooked. "Mmm, not bad Sweet Tooth~" He chuckled, calling back to the recipe book she'd brought him the day beforehand.

"High praise, coming from our resident soup expert~" Azu giggled at him, taking the time to enjoy her soup with him, sighing happily as she finished. "Im so glad I have a kitchen again. I missed cooking."

Reth rose a brow at her, curiously tilting his head. "You cooked in your past life, then?"

"All the time; both because yknow, everyone needs to eat, and also just because I enjoyed making people smile when I made something good. What about you?"

"I've kinda been a cook since I was a kid." Reth smiled back at her, finishing off his bowl and setting it down before he continued. "My parents were always too busy running the family's furniture line, and Tish was too little to reach a stove. So it kind of always fell on me to take care of the whole 'food' deal."

"At least you're good at it, right~?" Azu laughed, resting against the bar as she took her bowls back and put them into her bag. "Once I get back into the swing of it, we can cook together sometime."

Reth tried not to let it show on his face, but the idea immediately made him want to break into a big cheesy smile. She was unbelievably sweet; it was also kind of of weird though...he was sure that by now someone must have said something about his reputation to her, right..? "I'd like that, Sweet Tooth."

Azu turned to meet his eyes, snickering a little to herself. "Good, because that wasnt an offer~" she teased, grinning even wider when he rolled his eyes at her. She was starting to really like Reth; or at least, spending time with him. The playful banter between them was quickly becoming one of her favorite parts of each day; right alongside her daily visits to see Jel's pretty face. Not that he knew that was the purpose of her frequent check ins.

Reth would be lying if he tried to say he didnt enjoy that she was so adamant about it. It was nice, talking to someone who didnt treat him like a social pariah or assume he was untrustworthy just because he'd abandoned his Path.. "So, where are you off to today?" he settled on asking, knowing she'd run off again soon if he didnt keep the conversation going. He didnt want her to leave just yet..

"Im thinking about finally heading out to Bahari Bay to check it out; Ashura told me thats where I can find Heartwood, and Im guessing iron will be out there somewhere too. Now that my house is built and my tools are better than basic, I think Im ready to start venturing farther out."

Reth rose a brow at her, smirking a little. "Thinking about? That doesnt sound like you; what's stopping you?"

Azu squinted at him playfully, her lips curling into a wistful smile. "Am I that obvious?" she laughed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Im debating on if I should wait for Jel to finish up that outfit I commissioned from him. When I visited yesterday he mentioned that he was nearly finished, and I know that I have a tenancy to get hyper fixated on things so if I go out there and I get distracted finding cool stuff, I wont be back for days."

Reth rose a brow, chuckling back as he leaned on his arm against the counter. "So standing me up wasnt just a fluke, hm?"

"Hey, I made it up to you!" Azu mock gasped, holding a hand over her chest to pretend she was hurt before she chuckled along. "If its means a lot to you, though, I'll make time to come see you before I head out on expeditions I think might take awhile~"

Reth shook his head and smiled, trying to act like he didnt care by rolling his eyes at her again. It made his chest get that funny, warm feeling again, though. "Do whatever you want, Azu, Im just teasing." he hummed. He hoped, deep down, that she meant it though. It would be nice to know when he should expect not to see her come in..

"Whatever I want huh? Well what if I want to see you before I go, hm? Who else is going to make me laugh and share soup with me?" she giggled, watching him get juust a little flustered as he reached up to rub his neck, chuckling back at her. She was starting to realize that he wasnt used to people making an effort to befriend him; which, honestly, was only making her even more determined to be his friend.

"Got a point there, I guess.." Reth smiled to himself, trying not to let it widen into a cheesy grin. He only hoped that she's still be this adamant about it once she realized what a loser he was...not that his hopes were very high.

"Alright," Azu huffed, glancing to the back door of the Inn before turning to smile up at him. "I'm gonna go fishing for today, instead; that way I dont disappear in case Jel needs to do a fitting or whatever. I'll see you later, Trouble~"

"Later, Sweet Tooth~" Reth smiled back at her, watching her go as he sighed to himself. He was starting to get that warm feeling every time she stopped by. Talking to her was...soothing.. He already knew he was going to miss it, if she ever found out his secrets. He shook that thought away, though; forcing himself to focus back onto work before Ashura could catch him slacking.