Lorne Dughlas

Nodding his head as he huffed his entertained laugh. “Yeah, actually you should come - but it’s a $5 admission fee.” He joked before shaking his head, he didn’t know why people in this day and age would be so surprised about guys knowing how to cook now. Whatever works for the other anyways. “How often are people genuinely impressed with you and your knowledge of how to cook?” - 

“Suppose there is only one way to find out who’s the better cook here. Not going to say cook-off - but we should have a cook-off.” 

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And so she trusted Lorne entirely with the base of the gnocchi because, truly there was no way to mess up boiling water and peeling potatoes. Even for the most juveniles of cooks could not go wrong. So the petite principessa left him to it while she got to prepping the sage leaves, picking them from the stems before throwing them in a bowl which she set aside and then she was chopping the garlic. “Music sounds good. I never really had the habit of listening to music when I cook.” She stated. “But I do tend to hum to myself. Not very well I should add.”

“I find it helps me relax” said Lorne. “I can’t say I like to hum, but I will warn you I may randomly start dancing if I get really into a song” he added with a grin. He grabbed his phone and pressed a few buttons. “What type of music are you into?” he asked her as he scrolled through his phone. Lorne had a preference for rock, but knew that wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so to speak. 

Callie shifted the heavy post and could feel her arms starting to give out. Thankfully, her upper body strength had been sufficient enough thus far, but now her arms were starting to feel heavy. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, I’m a jerk for calling you “asshole” but I really need your help, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Lorne moved to help her out, groaning a little as the weight hit him. After a moment, he said “What are you doing,anyway? Shouldn’t you be enjoying the party like everyone else is?” Lorne had been attempting to do so, and was surprised Callie wasn’t. “Why don’t you get yourself a drink?”

Callie hadn’t had much of a chance to actually get out and do things other than her job, but this time, she held something together. “Hey, hey!” she called to the nearest person as they walked by. She used her foot to knock over a chair, anything to get their attention. “Hey, asshole! Mind helping with this? I’m not getting any younger and my arms are not getting any less tired.”

Lorne glanced up in surprise, looking around to see who had the nerve to mouth off to him. But his scowl turned into a grin when he recognized Callie. Moving to help her with what she was holding, he said “You know, normally I’d be annoyed you called me Asshole. But considering the fact that you’re holding something heavy, I’d rather not tempt you to throw anything at me.” He didn’t need to end up back in the infirmary.

Katla grinned, “Well, you know I’m always in favor of having a little fun.” She took a long sip of her drink. “I know! I’ve become so accustomed to seeing your beautiful face every single day that I really don’t know what to do with myself now that I don’t.” She chuckled, “They have me out on the fishing boats, so that’s a lot of why I’ve been elusive lately. Don’t get me wrong, I love being out on the water, and I like fishing a great deal, but it does mean I spend a lot of time by myself in a boat, away from all of my friends.” 

“What’s the point of being a pirate if you can’t have fun every now and then?” Lorne asked with a grin. After all, one of the reasons a life of piracy had appealed to him was because it freed him from the responsibility of being heir to a kingdom. Laughing again at her words, he melodramatically said “I don’t know how anybody can survive without seeing my beautiful face every day.” Nodding as she spoke again, he said “I understand what you mean. I’m sure its great being on the water, but its not the same without the rest of your crew.” He imagined it could be lonely at times. At least in the kitchen there was almost always someone else around.

Katla laughed, she knew that this day wasn’t really for letting loose entirely, but it felt nice to be relaxing a little bit with her friends all the same, and she tried to ignore the kidnapped royals in their midst. “Goodness gracious, I didn’t realize you were so impatient,” she teased. She clinked her glass against his, “To finally getting to catch up at a time when neither of us is working.”

Lorne laughed at her words. “Patience is overrated” he said. “Especially when we should be having fun.” After they clinked glasses he took a sip of his drink. Then he said “How have you been? I feel like I hardly ever see you anymore.” As she had pointed out, they had both been working a lot lately. “Where have they got you working these days?”

Summer on the island was something Finn had grown to love with a deep and fervent appreciation— of course, he’d always loved the summer; it had meant seemingly endless days running around town with his brother and their friends getting into all of the mischief children seemed to be inherently capable of. As an adult he’d appreciated it for other reasons– one of which, at least during his time in Australia, had been crowded beaches with plenty of people to admire when he had a free moment. The annual bonfire event was one he’d grown to enjoy and the moment he’d wandered onto the beach after lazing about in his villa for the better part of the day he found the energy immediately infectious; he was grinning from the moment he approached the drink table and hummed softly in thought before he selected a beer and glanced at the nearest person, “Anything exciting happening yet? If not I reckon I’d give it an hour before someone gets a little too drunk and makes things entertaining for everyone.”

Lorne grinned when he saw Finn. “Its about time you joined us” he said with raised eyebrows. “Did you have somewhere better to be?” he teased the other pirate. He took a sip of a drink, then he said “You’re probably right about that. Which, as long as its not me, is something I look forward to.” Lorne always enjoyed these parties precisely because of that reason. And fortunately, he rarely allowed himself to get drunk enough to be the one who made the party memorable. “Who do you think it will be this time? A pirate or a royal?”

Katla let the bright sunshine cast a warmth all over her face and arms, she loved this time of year, and always had. Back home, it was marked by 24 hours of daylight, and she missed that, but the warmth that came from being so much further south was a welcome addition. She strode over to the bar, and picked up whatever themed drink they had put together for the event, and she turned to the person next to her, raising her glass, “Happy solstice.” 

Lorne took a long swig of his drink, downing the last of it in one gulp. He was planning to spent the day enjoying himself, rather than worry about things that were beyond his control. Turning to Katla,he laughed and said “If I had known there was going to be a toast, I wouldn’t have finished my drink so quickly.” He moved to grab himself another one of the drinks and raised it to toast with her. “Happy solstice.”

“Mmm, no, you haven’t,” Kinzie said, smiling wider as he kissed her. “But you should learn to. I am getting awfully spoiled.” She smirked, obviously teasing, laughing along with him as she started toward the doors with him. “Just a pretty face? Please. I am the brain, brawn and beauty in this relationship,” she teased, nudging him with her elbow. 

“You deserve to be spoiled” Lorne assured her as they headed towards his villa. Which was, unofficially, now their villa. “Oh yeah?” Lorne said with a dry laugh. “And what exactly do I bring to this relationship? Aside from the shirts, I mean.”

“I’m working out more, I have a job, that’s enough to get my stomach be unsatisfied.” she smiled at her friend. “Fresh fruit sounds really good for a healthy snack. But I could eat anything except liver and guts. That’s…a big no.” she said as she got near the stools at the bar.

“I get that” Lorne said with a nod of his head. The jobs on the island (even the ones for the royals) required more energy than one would expect. Laughing at her words, he said “You mean you aren’t craving a huge serving of haggis? I’m not sure if I should feel insulted on behalf of Scotland.”

“I could never forget who I’m talking to,” Katla laughed along with him, “I just choose to hold out hope that one day I’ll convince you to go camping with me and you’ll learn the error of your ways.” She grinned, she’d basically been raised in the outdoors, going for hikes, living out in the middle of nature. Lorne’s indoors-y outlook had never been something she’d really understood. “Pancakes sound absolutely perfect, breakfast for dinner is probably one of my favorite things in the world, and not so high effort for you that I feel bad about asking you to make them.” 

“Well, as long as you aren’t holding your breath” said Lorne. “I wouldn’t want you to pass out from lack of oxygen.” The last time Lorne had done anything along the lines of camping had been over a year ago, when the Tulachs held their bonfire on the beach. “I think I can manage that” he said. “Let me grab the ingredients for the batter.” Lorne was sure there was probably boxed mix somewhere around here, but preferred making pancakes from scratch whenever possible. They just tasted better that way, and required very little extra effort.

Gabor couldn’t help the laughter the fell from his lips, “Well if we are basing how well we cook with how good looking we are. Then I hate to say that my cooking is better than yours.” He lightly taunted, “I feel robbed. We sail together and yet I’m just now knowing you can make a pretty good pasta?” He shook his head making a tsk sound. “You do now realize that you have to show how well your pasta is now, right?” 

Lorne snorted in disbelief. “Is it nice in whatever fantasy world you live in?” he teased the other pirate. “If you’re cooking is so good, why don’t you prove it?” Then he laughed. “Usually that’s something I keep up my sleeve for when I really want to impress somebody” he admitted. “But maybe I’ll make some for you sometime. If only to get you to shut up for as long as it takes to eat it.”

“Seriously, just stuff for me to make a breakfast burrito. Hot sauce, eggs, sausage, peppers. Get me the materials, I’ll build it myself,” she responded, dramatically dropping into a chair. “Tortillas. I forgot about it.”

“I can do that” said Lorne, not wanting to argue with her about it. Besides, if she wanted to make them herself, it was less work for him. He dug around in the kitchen, finding the tortillas first and setting them on a counter. “There should be eggs in the refrigerator if you want to grab some” he said as he began looking around for the hot sauce and peppers.

“Eggs too!” She called out from the walk-in refrigerator. “At least two of them.” Mentally she ticked off her list of ingredients that she needed to prepare her nonna’s gnocchi with sage and brown butter. Unfortunately it seems like il isola did not have her favourite Italian butter stocked but at least there was the regular kind which she hoped she could flavour up with the usual aromatics. She stood on her tiptoes to rummage through the pile of herbs and she smiled in triumph when she found the right ones, snatching a good handful of them before making her way out of the cold storage. 

“Could you put a large pot of water to boil then start peeling about.. five potatoes?” Her instructions seemed as if she were asking him kindly but her determined blue eyes showed that she was not leaving him much room for debate. If he wanted food and he offered to help, then this was what he would be doing. 

Lorne nodded in response to her question. “I think I can manage that much” he said, a grin on his face. He might not be an expert at making gnocchi but he could certainly boil water and peel potatoes. He turned on one of the stovetop burners, then grabbed a clean pot from where it hung on a rack in the kitchen before filling it with water and setting it on the stove. While the water was warming, he grabbed a peeler and began to work on the potatoes. “Do you want me to put some music on?” he asked. “I usually listen to it while I’m cooking.” It made the time pass faster, in his experience.

Bella shrugged when Lorne followed up his question with expecting nothing less from her, “You know how the Tulach’s are,” she grinned. Isabella would happily state her last name to anyone who asked, she wore the name with pride and felt it was something she could always hold on to. While it wasn’t the case when she was younger, she did grow to appreciate it. She nodded at his remark on it giving the royals something to do. “Well reading a book and being outside is generally better for them, but everyone deserves a little relaxation and fun sometimes,” she shrugged. Bella knew the impact of social media and streaming sites, she could only imagine all of that being taken away without notice, she’d become so reliant on it to keep up with the news around the royal abductions and keeping in touch with people staking out new targets, not having it would make things a little more complicated, that’s for sure. Her eyes shifted at his comment on things going smooth, a small panic in the back of her mind, Lets keep it that way, she thought. She shook her head when asked about anything big happening, “Not really. I mean there’s a monkey, I call it Delilah, who steals my granola bars when I go out in the jungle, but I wouldn’t exactly call that anything big.” Bella would keep tabs on news outlets and keep information flowing to Roman about he current state of the countries and lands the royals were taken from. That and work did take up a fair amount of her time. “My mother’s birthday is approaching, I guess that’s really all.” Isabella always celebrated for her mother, keeping her memory close in her heart, especially during holidays and birthdays. 

“Oh, that I do” Lorne said with a grin. The pirate liked to think he was one of the few people outside of the family who knew the Tulachs fairly well. He’d known Roman for almost his whole life, after all, and had been thrilled when he was appointed first mate on the Black Trident. Nodding in agreement with her words, he said “I suppose that’s true. But I have a feeling keeping them distracted is a good idea. They’re less likely to try and cause trouble that way.” If the royals were busy playing video games, then they couldn’t be plotting anything underhanded. He laughed at her next words. “Do monkeys even eat granola bars?” he asked in surprise. “Can they get the wrappers off them with their feet the way they do bananas peels?” But the smile disappeared from his face at the mention of Bella’s mother. “That must be hard” he said sympathetically. “I can imagine its never easy to lose someone you love.” Lorne had been lucky in that regard. The only people in his family he’d ever had to mourn were his grandparents.

“Gnocchis are a little harder to make than any pasta,” She answered almost a little too excitedly. “But they are the best to eat especially when you are craving for something warm and filling.” Plus this was what she would often request for when she was younger. Those crispy little round potato balls cooked in butter always soothe her whenever she was feeling a little down. 

“Potatoes and flour - those two are most important.” The two ingredients are quite the staple basic so she was sure there had to be some in the pantry. “We just need some butter, garlic and sage for the sauce.” Again, the perfect pairing for those fluffy pillows. And without wasting anymore time, the ravenous Italian turned her back on the man in favour of prepping the cooking station. 

Lorne nodded as she listed the necessary ingredients for the dish. “Well, let’s see what we have” he said as he walked over to the pantry and began looking for the ingredients. “There should be some butter in the fridge if you want to take a look” he added as he pulled a bag of potatoes off a shelf and set them on one of the counters in the prep area. Walking back to the pantry, he also grabbed a bag of flour. “Hopefully we have some fresh sage around here, too.”