The Family Meal

Moe hummed happily to herself as she set out a plethora of different foods on the counters of her large cottage kitchen.

She had organised a family dinner in celebration of her pregnancy. And with her family, it had the potential for disaster. Aodh, Zeke, Alek, Taylor, Aeker, Giacinto and herself all enclosed in one small space was definitely a recipe for disaster.

Coilean had politely declined her invitation, declaring that he'd rather not tear Zeke's throat out in the middle of dinner and stress her out any. As angry as he was, he didn't want to get to her by killing off her husband.

So she was cooking for seven. One didn't like blood and another couldn't eat solids. That had been a very interesting challenge to overcome but she was happy with the result. She hoped everyone else was happy, too.

The Hybrid called to Zeke, currently entertaining everyone in the living room, to start herding everyone in as she began to set out the starters.

She, Zeke, Alek, Taylor and Giacinto had blodplättar; Aeker had svartsoppa and Aodh had tomato soup.

Aodh's meal had been the most difficult to decide on. Both the blodplättar and the svartsoppa were Swedish blood based foods so she couldn't serve them to Aodh. Atfer a lot of thought, she had decided to stick with the red theme and just went with tomato soup. It had been entirely handmade by herself; she refused to spend all that time making other peoples food just to give her uncle some shit out of a can. She hoped that Aodh would at least be able to stand being in the same room as the blood dishes. She didn't want to chase him out just because she had cooked something he didn't like.

She gave a bright smile as people began strolling through the kitchen door and directed everyone to their seats.

As soon as she had set everyone down, she took her own seat next to Zeke and reached out to take his hand.

"I hope you all like everything. Enjoy everyone."

Her hand slid from Zeke's and she picked up her knife and fork, muttering a quiet 'itadekimasu' under her breath before she dug into her pancake.

Zeke squeeze his wife hand softly before turning to his meal, trust Moe to cook blood based meals when they had vampires coming to dinner.

Surprisingly the pancake in front of smelled quite pleasant, though unlike Aodh he enjoyed his meals bloody.

"It looks amazing, love."
He muttered softly to Moe before cutting into his pancake.
He was on his best behaviour tonight, he knew Moe would scold him if he misbehaved.

Aodh was one of the first into the kitchen when Sprout called for Zeke to herd them in.

When food called, Aodh wasn't far behind. And, because Aeker was attached to his hand, the vampire wasn't far behind.

His nose didn't wrinkle like it would have not too long ago at the smell of blood in the kitchen

He had gotten much better around the smell of blood, but he still couldn't stomach tasting it.

The Lycan slumped into his hair with a grin. "Thanks, Sprout, looks great."

Aeker smiled softly as he was dragged into the kitchen by Aodh, he had been enjoying himself so far, being able to converse with everyone and as soon as he had entered the cottage he knew that Moe had prepared something special for him.

He gazed over at Aodh lovingly as he took his seat, the lycan had not even reacted to the smell of blood, it made him so proud and his heart swelled knowing that he had worked so hard for his sake.

And now it was all paying off, they were able to have a meal together in the same room.

A small smile pulled at the corners of his lips as he looked down at the svartsoppa, he'd be able to stomach this, it was liquid and blood based, Moe had out done herself making meals based on each person.

"You may not want to kiss me after this."
He muttered softly to Aodh as he picked up his spoon.

"Thank you, Moe, this smells wonderful."

Aodh stuck his tongue out, glancing down at Aeker's bowl.

He wasn't so over blood as he thought, the sight of it, even watered down and mixed with other ingredients still had his stomach churning.

Oh well, if he didn't look at Aeker's bowl, he'd be fine.

"Then I better kiss you now while I have the chance," he murmured softly, leaning forwards to press his lips against the vampire's gently.

And then he dug into his soup with a little grin on his face.

Moe smiled brightly as everyone complimented the smell and look of her food.

She was proud she had been able to do so much with no help and still have it turn out so well.

The woman gave soft smiles to Alek and Giacinto as they sat down silently and began eating with approving smiles of their own. It seemed neither of them were in a very talkative mood but they were both impressed with the food.

She turned her eyes to Aeker and Aodh as they interacted. They were so cute together; it was obvious they loved each other with everything they had. It was great to see a relationship like that; a relationship that could stick together no matter what had been thrown at them.

"That's exactly what I was thinking."
He replied with a chuckle as he returned the lycan's kiss.

It felt odd to publicly display their affection for one another in front of Aodh's family but it was nice to know that they accepted him as Aodh's partner.

Silently he was glad that Coilean had declined the dinner invitation, he knew the brother did not know him yet but he knew enough about the man to dislike him.

Aeker turned his attentions to his food, scooping up a spoonful and bringing it to his lips.
Little things like having to use cutlery were different, he'd only ever eaten from a glass or straight from the source, it was a strange idea to think he had gone nine hundred years without ever having to use a fork or knife.

He spooned the soup into his mouth and smiled softly, the flavours were much more subtle than drinking blood straight but he enjoyed it.
He swallowed it eagerly, it was thicker but easy to take in.

He smiled and let out a contented sigh as he ate another spoonful.
Perhaps this transition to food would be easier than he first thought.

Taylor silently slipped in, knowing that Moe wouldn't mind.

However, she knew Moe would be upset at her being late.

Sighing quietly, she moved through to the kitchen, not making a single sound.

Looking over at Moe and Zeke, she bowed her head and showed her apologies through her eyes.

This meal....was going to be awkward for her.

Inside her head, she was banging it against a brick wall until she bled.

She sat silently and with quiet grace.

"This looks amazing Imouto...Thank you." she murmured.

she was back to feeling relatively calm now after her most recent bounty had been completed...however, she still couldn't wash the scent of the Human's blood form her hands no matter how hard she tried.

in fact, it got to a point where she dried her skin out with the amount of different chemicals and perfumes she used, and was now wearing gloves.

She cut into her food and began eating, smiling a little.

Moe was still an amazing cook