Third Floor Common Room: Evening

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara had a whole bunch of packets of "gourmet" and flavoured hot chocolate.

And a whole lot of almost-boiling water.

There was, perhaps, going to be a taste testing in a few minutes.

Comments

[not_in_the_book]

"Clearly," Ronan said, laughing, "You've never had the good stuff." He took a look at the package. "... And you never will, if this is what you're drinking. Here, hand me a packet of that dark chocolate stuff..." He rummaged in the fridge for a moment, coming out with a carton of milk. "It says water, but it'll be so much better in this."

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara eyed him but handed him the dark chocolate. "I don't know. I know where water comes from, but milk that's not from seacows is just weird."

[not_in_the_book]

"... Seacows?" Ronan blinked. "... Well, this stuff's from regular cows. That's close, right?" He poured the milk into two new mugs, and then, a hand over each, spoke to them softly in the Speech, convincing them to heat up to the temperature he wanted. "You can add the dark chocolate mix to those," he said, as he reached into his omnipresent bag and pulled out a small jar of chili pepper. "And then I'll add this. Trust me, it's good. They make it this way all the time in Mexico and Central America."

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara was still looking wary, but...she had more than enough chocolate and if worse came to worst, it just wouldn't taste very good. "I'll trust you on this one," she admitted with a bit of a grin and quickly stirred the dark chocolate into the milk. "Okay, go ahead with your spicy stuff."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan sprinkled some chili pepper into one mug, sprinkled a much healthier amount into the other. "Stir that in," he said, grabbing a spoon so he could do the same to his own mug, the one with more chili. "And prepared to be amazed." He grinned and took a sip of his own, relishing the sweet and spicy blend of flavours.

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara eyed him, still not sure if he was teasing her, but she stirred the hot chocolate and took a careful sip.

...which immediately resulted in a wrinkling of her nose. "It's spicy."

[not_in_the_book]

"... That's the point of spicy hot chocolate," Ronan retorted, chuckling softly. "You don't like it, though?" He sometimes forgot that not everyone was like him.

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"Nooooo," she said quickly, setting the cup back down. "I don't like spicy things so much."

[not_in_the_book]

"Ooooh." Ronan frowned. "I'm sorry, I figured you just meant that you didn't think chocolate should be spicy. I forget sometimes that not everyone's like me..." He frowned a little more. "D'you want me to fix it for you? I could."

It would be a little harder than heating the milk -- there certainly wasn't a ready-made spell available to him through the Knowledge -- but it was really just a matter of rendering the spice oils inert. Not too complicated...