Knowledge is Flour...? [Locke]

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

Jonathan was on page 146 of the cook book Elliot Davis had bought him for his seventeenth birthday this summer. He was in the last chapter of the dessert section, where a next-to-impossible recipe was lurking. He was memorizing every measurement, every ingredient, every instruction. A molton lava cake... with a brownie-like outer shell and a moist, warm, chocolately centre...

He didn't realize he was murmuring to himself until someone 'shh'd' him from nearby. Even though it was hard to see on his tan skin, he flushed a shade darker. A few of his friends knew he cooked and baked. Some experienced it first-hand. A few of his housemates just assumed he was wierd.

But Jon was planning on making a full-course meal for a special girl. He hadn't seen her for a while - they'd been so busy with the new school year, the most he ever got to see her was a fleeting moment in the halls and just before they went to bed. The seperation was torturous. Jon was like any other teenage boy. He would lie in bed and think about Morgan. Sure he'd try to banish inappropriate thoughts, but after some rumours he'd heard a few of the Edengrowth girls twittering about, he'd been having extreme difficulty blocking out the mental picture of Morgan in sexy red lingerie.

Squirming in his seat, this caused the book to fall off his lap. It landed on the floor with a loud thump! causing him to jump. Looking around to see who else was in the room for the first time in an hour or so, he was surprised to see that it was more crowded than he initially thought. He leaned forward and gathered up the cook book, closing it after dog-earing the proferred page. He offered one someone a polite nod.

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke sighed to himself as he once again heard more distractions from the clumsy scholar. Seriously, how much noise could one make?

One might be happy to see that the whole incident with Kiri didn't change him much. After all, he was still himself...

The arrogant, introverted, genius brat child of Edengrowth. Some things would never change.

At the mans nod to him Locke just sighed. "Are you quite done making noise now? You've been mumbling to yourself for hours now. I understand fascination with knowledge, but try to contain yoursel...wait. I know you."

Where had he seen him? His mind reached back, at the Fall Festival? He recalled it, thanks to his Gift, being in the food court. The man serving food was talking to him, and then this man showed up...followed by....

"You know Morgan don't you?" He said, trying to recall the rest of the event. Just because he remembered everything didn't mean it was always easy to find. It was like digging through a big file cabinet. Even if what you wanted was there, it still took time to find.

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

Jon flushed a little at Locke's snappy remark. But then Locke's snarkiness turned into curiosity, and Jon felt as though he'd just been in a car-accident. Whiplash. He had been bracing himself for more insults when Locke pulled a one-eighty. He knew him? Sure, they were in the same house...

Morgan? Jon grinned at the name.

"Yeah. She's my girlfriend," Jon said, the pride lurking behind his voice. Morgan was an awesome girl, and he loved being able to say that he was with her. Now he really really really wanted to see her. It was difficult when she was in a different house though, and they were so loaded down with homework. Plus, Jon was trying to get a job somewhere. Job-hunting sure took up a lot of time. Not to mention Kenneth always popping by to visit right when Jon decided he go find Morgan.

Jon peered at Locke curiosly. Was he some sort of animal demon? The cat ears were curious. He chose not to comment though; there were plenty more students who looked even more strange than Locke did with his blue hair and peculiar ears.

[Locke F. Herald]

"G-Gi-Girlfriend?" Locke echoed, images of Kiri flooding into his head. Damnit! He couldn't even say the word when it applied to other people without stuttering!

"Ah, I see, that would make sense. She's a sharp one, it's surprising she isn't in this house really. So what on earth are you reading that has you so infinitely interested that you cannot contain yourself?" He asked, peering at his book.

"After all, if you are here, that means you enjoy research and knowledge."

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

Jon's eyes narrowed at Locke's stuttering. Not in a dangerous way, but in an 'I'm-studying-you' way. Did this news surprise him? Was Morgan trying to hide the fact that they were dating? Did Locke have a secret crush on Morgan and was now devastated to learn she was taken? So many logical (and illogical) possibilities popped into his head. But then Locke was regarding him in an almost superior fashion, and Jon blinked, wondering if he'd just imagined the failure to pronounce 'girlfriend' in only two syllables.

"Er... yeah. Research..." Jon said slowly, lifting the birthday present up. The title revealed that the entire contents were for the 'advanced' baker.

"I'm trying to memorize some new recipes. Sometimes I say the stuff out loud to help me remember. Actually, I don't even realize I'm doing it, to be honest," his cheeks coloured again, but it was still difficult to see his embarrassment due to his tanned skin. Only the shy expression on his face and the position of his brows gave away his discomfort.

"So uh... how do you know Morgan?" Classes... stalker... ex-boyfriend... ex-boyfriend stalker in all her classes...?

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke couldn't help but smirk at Jon, if for no other reason that he asked about Morgan with the same tone that Locke usually talked about Kiri. And he wore a large smile for some odd reason from that.

"Oh, I just met her in here once or twice, I guess she was looking for you." Locke supposed, shrugging. "She's a nice girl, but she's a bit too physical for my tastes." Locke said, remembering his energetic girlfriend. "You have fun with that then." He said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "But baking? I knew people in here had all sorts of hobbies, but baking? That's a new one. So how good are you at it? And while we are on the subject of questions what was your name again? Don't believe I caught it."

He might have started his usual interrogation right then, but he decided to hold off.

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

Looking for him? Jon winced. He'd better go find her sometime soon. You didn't stay boyfriend and girlfriend for very long if you never saw each other. Since when did this become a long-distance relationship? Jon worried. Did Morgan miss him? Was she waiting for him to take initiative and go see her? Probably. This was Morgan.

When Locke moved on to talk about how 'physical' she was, he blushed again. "Yeah..." he muttered in agreement, although he was in no way agreeing that it was beyond his tastes. Luckily the topic was abandonned and Locke asked about his 'hobby'.

"I'm alright," Jon was being modest. He was amazing. He would sooner slap somebody than burn something, and Jon didn't hit people (unless they were Dorian).

"Oh!" He forgot that they hadn't introduced each other yet. They'd been talking about very distracting things (Morgan), and Jon's mind was only on one thing (Morgan), so it was excusable that he had not mentioned anything else (but Morgan).

"I'm Jon. Jonathan Empris," He stuck out a hand, a smile coming over his lips.

[Locke F. Herald]

"Locke." He said simply, giving the housemate a firm handshake. At the very least he could respect the many facets of knowledge.

"So, I gather by the way you act you've been here for a bit, probably a year." Locke said, preparing to gloat about HIS skill. "Your uncertainty combined with Morgan's dominating personality tells me that you are a more passive type personality, not uncommon for this house. Also the fact that you are here reading a cook book tells me that you enjoy creating and want to make something people can enjoy quickly and easily."

He grinned, deciding then to let go of the handshake. "So have I lost my touch? Or did I nail that?"

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

"Are you a walking fortune cookie?" Jon asked, amazed. He shook his head.

"You got a lot of it right. I've actually been following the school since I was twelve, so I've been around longer than a year. I'm a pretty passive guy; you won't find me picking fights, that's for sure. And you nailed the cooking thing," his grin was accompanied by a shrug, "I like it when people like the food I make. It always feels good when something you've put your hard work into is appreciated."

Jon might be passive, but that didn't mean he wasn't talkative. So long as he didn't have to start the conversation, he could hold his own in social situations. Unless you stole his words because you were really really pretty. Thankfully Jon didn't find Locke really really pretty, so he wasn't stumbling over his own tongue trying to chat with him.

"What about you? I don't have any seer skills or whatever it is you have," He laughed. It was a little strange, making new friends at this time of the year, but Jon wouldn't complain.

[Locke F. Herald]

"Walking fortune cookie?" Locke asked questioningly. "Ok, that is a new one." He admitted. It wasn't an insult, obviously, but it was an interesting thing to say.

He smirked at Jon as he talked, he reminded him of Kiri-babble, must be the same self confidence issue. "No no, I don't have any 'mystic seer powers'. Nothing cool like that, I'm just very smart and observant. You can learn a lot about people if you watch them act. Like, let's start with someone you know. Morgan is probably one of the younger siblings in her family, if not the youngest. She's competitive, determined and very aggressive. She has a need to prove herself against anyone else because they had a head start on her. She's aggressive because she needed to be to deal with older siblings, even if they were good to her. After all, all siblings fight. Kennedy on the other hand is one of the older siblings, he's protective of younger students and such, he's good at teaching and has a nurturing personality."

Locke looked Jon over again. "I'm not telepathic, I just know how to watch." He explained.

[Ҩ Jonathan Empris]

Jon was again amazed. Locke picked all that up just from watching people? Jon felt derisory in comparison, and made a mental note to not just study books, but people too. Shaking his head, and rubbing the back of his curls, Jon gave Locke a sheepish smile.

"Sounds like you know my girlfriend better than I do," and Kennedy Cavan for that matter. Jon liked to think that he and Kennedy got along. Sure, he appreciated that he was a good tutor, but he'd never really thought of Kennedy was the 'nurturing' type until Locke described him as such. But it all made sense now, and Jon felt that he could probably do what Locke did, if he put enough practice into it.

"Just out of curiosity, and I don't mean to put you on the spot. But how would you describe yourself?" Jon was genuinely curious about Locke. He was fascinating in a sense; Jon always had a healthy respect of knowledge, and Locke certainly wasn't lacking in that. But there was always a story behind a face, and Jon decided that if Locke wouldn't tell him, he'd figure it out the same way Locke learned the things he did about everyone else.

He'd watch.

[Locke F. Herald]

"Myself?" Locke echoed. That was something he didn't think about often. "Well let's see, intelligent, introverted, loner, calculating, knowledgable. I think that covers all the bases." He said with a nod.

"You could have guessed half with us being here." he gestured to the room around them. "But I suppose that's just the way of things, we are where we belong. So Jon." He said, twirling his fingers a bit. "Let's delve into a different area of talent, what can you do?" He asked, making sure there was a good deal of force on the word 'do'.