To be honest I am not entirely sure whether she likes the food or she is just trying to be polite and yet she could have convinced me entirely that she believed it to be the most exceptional food she had ever tasted. Then again, I've seen her make that face when I cook occasionally as well. Alright so I cooked once and I am fairly sure I burned it and forgot several ingredients but even so I am half beginning to wonder if she actually liked it or this was some sort of clever ruse I had never considered before. Did she really like my cooking or had I been played a fool all along. I'm going to ask her that later tonight. The conversation itself takes a far more serious turn, Elena evidently determined to extrapolate every bit of information possible from Kat and yet, to her credit she seems entirely unflustered. I never have seen a woman so....calm beneath Elena's gaze before and honestly some part of me is impressed, the other part of me simply finds it ridiculously attractive and yet truly Kat could have walked around the room reciting the declaration of independence and still made it look attractive. I am forever amused at my own ability to keep finding her desirable on every level. Evidently my appetite is as insatiable as I always believed. My appetite for food however is far more questionable- distracted from my task by Elena once more. In fact, she almost looked......impressed.

Yes. Kohl lost his parents very young too, you have much in common then and I am not displeased in your company.

I am not entirely sure I have ever seen Elena even look marginally impressed and yet somehow she did, my marvel at this rarely seen phenomena lasting only so long as it took Ten's comment to see me choke on the food Kat had forced me to consume. I knew this goat...thing...whatever it was would be the death of me, Kat slapping me on the back with far more force then I actually think is necessary, the blue gold of my gaze managing a glare in her direction all the same as I managed to actually swallow it. How much more of it did I need to eat? Was anyone actually going to notice? For a moment attention seemed to pass to Etienne as he spoke to Kat- taking the moment to push the vast majority of meat from my plate and onto her own. Serves her right as far as I am concerned, laying my own knife and fork down before my attention returned to Etienne as well. There was little I truly desired to keep hidden from Kat, in fact I am entirely sure there is very little she does not know and yet that does not mean I have any desire to have my more....er...let us say adventurous teenage years brought up. It was fortunate perhaps, that Etienne seemed to have at least started tame, bringing up my evidently poor riding skills as I snorted. Since when has my ability to ride a horse ever been all that important?

"I blame the pants personally- no one can move in those ridiculous tight....things. Could you truly do better?"

One eye lifted as I moved to turn my attention to Kat, evidently daring her to prove herself somehow better in that regard, Elena's chef emerging to inform us the main meal was at least a half hour away. That was entirely enough time to show Kat what I had been working on and a distraction to stop Etienne from going on about anything else I was less then exceptional at.

and the Russian women. Russian women do not like Kohl very much. Do you want to know why?

The snicker that followed was met with a glare from myself as I moved to stand, hoping to end that conversation before it started, more then aware that given the chance Etienne would speak to Kat later when I was incapable of stopping him. For now however, I was content to take control of the conversation once more. I always have preferred that.

"Kat and I will be back before the main course, there is something I promised to show her, if you could excuse us a moment, Elena."
Of course darling, go, go.

She waved her hand easily towards us as I grinned, lip quirking upward slightly with the effort before moving to offer my hand towards Kat now, entirely capable of keeping up with the manners the home we were in dictated, waiting for her to rise from her own chair before moving to lead her out of the dining room and out towards the garden. It was cooler outside, almost refreshing really although some part of myself was almost.....anxious all the same- one hand lifting to run through the golden brown of my hair. I was hardly a nervous person, especially when it came to business and yet what Kat thought mattered. I don't know why or how or when it started to matter but it did. I suppose I just wanted to prove to her that I was....well....more useful then I am sure I appeared. I know what the other Hunters say, I hear them, just as I know what the council thinks of me. Azrael is never shy about letting me know and truly, well, they don't matter to me, not really. Hunting never will be my talent but I am good at other things and as much as Kat assures me it hardly matters how good I am at hunting as long as I can defend myself, some part of me still wants to be useful. Maybe I just have a need to be good at things, I don't know, either way I'd at least made some effort to move towards it and I wanted to know what she thought.

I moved to lead the way further into the garden and away from the house, waving my hand briefly at one of Elena's gardeners. Isn't it kind of late to be gardening? Then again maybe this is when most gardening happens, how should I know? I've never even picked up a watering can let alone attempted to tend a garden. It looks.....unclean. Etienne had assured me what I needed would be set up and he surely hadn't lied as I paused beside a little garden gazebo, the table resting within it having the vast majority of my things already laid out on it as I gestured for Kat to follow, stopping at last beside the table- Kat surely having little idea what any of it was as I turned to face her at last.

"Today when my sister was yelling about a second business I was making money from she wasn't....exactly lying. I just never told you about it, well not really, I told you I was working on some things but not what they were. I managed to finish a few of them with Etienne's help and I wanted to show you."

I gestured briefly to the table and the collection of phones, cards and a briefcase resting atop it.

"I never will be a very good Hunter and I know that-"

I put one hand up to stop her, well aware she was surely going to argue, I do know my own girlfriend well enough to know that, after all.

"It isn't me, it's not what I'm made for, but I understand it is a part of your life and mine- I don't have to like it and I never will but that doesn't mean I have to be....in denial about it either. So I started manufacturing weapons, weapons I designed, meaning they are non-lethal. They won't kill anyone but they will disable them and quite effectively."

Memories of Davante collapsed on the floor were sufficient enough to assure me that my weapons truly were effective at what they were designed for. I moved to reach for the briefcase, snapping the locks to open it, reaching for the rather modern looking handgun within it before handing it over to Kat.

"This one is for you. It looks entirely like a real gun so it still has the effect of looking intimidating, it doesn't shoot bullets though, rather it shoots very, very high powered tranquilisers that work very quickly. I had Azrael test it out and he tells me it took out the Alpha of the pack on the west side and his shaggy haired friend- that leopard that attacked us that night. It also has recognition technology in the handle, in other words, only you can fire it, it will not fire for anyone except you because it recognises your fingerprints. If it ever gets knocked away from you and your enemy grabs it, well, it cant be used against you."

I offered a shrug of sorts a simper dancing across my features briefly, one eye lifting teasingly.

"Sometimes I think of things ahead of time, maybe I cant shoot a gun to save my life- but I can damn well make them."

What? Maybe I finally discovered a new talent. Maybe this city needed a Tony Stark of sorts and honestly, I could only hope Kat liked it. At least I tried.

k o h l
so you want to play with magic?