The morning was more quiet than usual, and even more comfortable. Time well spent with my dearest.
But let's skip that part. Because it was time for me to return to work, to finish my depressed building which would produce joy and lots of cavities.
I grabbed Jel from the table and teleported to Acat. There stood a big building. Many floors, but still not as great as the oasis fortress, given how fast it was made. It was beautiful nonetheless - truly a concrete dream. I walked in through the front door and into the lobby, which had a middle area where cushioned seats would be places, as well as tables, and of course a tree in the middle, but I still don't know what to plant.
I went to the boiler room and set off the magical mechanisms. After that, I went back to the main floor(floor 0) and to the elevator, which worked perfectly. Truly wonderful work.
I rose to the last floor which was floor ten, and there I moved with Jel to the big containment chamber, which had this whole cutting mechanism, which would cut the slime in half after it's big enough. The alive half stays to eat, and the other is... processed, I still don't know how to extract the gelatine naturally.
I placed Jel in the chamber, got out and opened a hatch which has a code which would pull out food from my astral storage, the less energy efficient food, like the... ugh... not so alive vegetables(basically those that aren't alive like the cabbage.)
And so it ate, a lot, too much... It grew rapidly, its body reaching the sealing, thats when I decided that it was a good idea to cut it in half. I had an idea. So I made a button mechanism at the ceiling remotely with my extensions that would automatically activate the mechanism. Now I just needed to make a recipe for gelatin. The first thing I did - boil the mass.
A lot of resedue was left, so I had to clean it the magical way, this way, I had pure gelatin. While I let it dry, I would get to work on the other type of candy, the drop candy.
I made a conveyor belt with the following stuff on it, magical pit remover, cold press, basin to condensate the juice and then mix it with melted sugar before pouring into circle molds and then packing in tin boxes, but of course, I made the first one special, I ate a candy to test its perfection, and it was indeed very nice, so I packed them in the first even tin box, which was made by a machine literally right next to this conveyor belt, and engraved in it: "To My Sweetest Goddess"
It was so she had something to snack on while at work.
Now back to the jelly cubes, the first was made with the most accessible thing, cherry flavour, it was soft, sliperry and sweet. Then came my other idea, coffee... and damn, was it good. I thought of adding more flavours, maybe a cider one... No! A lime one. Oh those farmer's delight add-ons. That one lime jelly cube - I always craved to try it.
And wouldn't you know, perfect for me - the merchant gave me a lime seed. I planted it at the middle of the lobby.
I grew it till it's capable of producing fruits, at which point I set up little workers to pick the ripe fruits. After this I returned to floor 8, and added a new sector for this sour and sweet treat. Like sugared lemons, but better. The limes are cut, squeezed and the juice is infused into the mixure, after which it's placed in molds and cooled down via conversion, and finally we have settled perfectly smooth cubes. I would be lying if I said I wasn't drooling throughout the entire process. After all - I actually really like sour things.
And honestly, the taste was really good; WORTH!
I decided that this is enough for today, so I returned home to rest... Well, not quite - after all, my dear isn't here yet... I decided to prepare something else though, a nice romantic dinner for no particular reason. Might as well surprise her aside with the gift.
So I got to work, I cracked a few eggs, seperated the yolks and then mixed them with some flour. Never done it before, but it felt natural, after all it's just a while of doing the same thing, and if there is someone who does a thing for a long time again and again, that's me.
After I was done with working the dough, I had to cut it into pieces, thin and long. After that I just put them in boiling water for a few minutes, during which I prepared the sauce, crushed tomatoes, herbs, minced beef, onion, a bit of salt and water to make it more liquid like. And voila - sauce not-so-bolognese.
So now I put the spaghetti in the sauce and stir them so they don't burn and continue until they are ready to put on the plates.
From then on I placed glasses for wine on the table, went in the garden, picked up a rose, which smelled wonderful... reminds me of something from home... and then I placed that rose in a vase.
But something was missing... Oh yeah - a candle! But I don't have wax... I tried to make such, because I heard from somewhere that there is wax in the human body, but that didn't work. I gave a sigh and decided to do another thing, I made a code that removed any possible bad smells from the lighter and set IT as a candle, how's that for improvisation.
Now I just needed to wait, keeping the meals warm by continuously feeding them thermal energy, but not enough to be painful, just warm and comfortable.
And so I waited, the sun was at it's later stages, nearing sunset - she came.
And would you look at that, she had removed her pads, guess we both got over this pretty quick... This whole issue was resolved pretty quick.
She was as beautiful as every other day, but today it just felt even better, perhaps because I'm treating her to dinner which actually meant something... who knows.
I stood up, smiling softly. "Welcome home."
For a moment she didn't say a word. She just stared, her lips parting slighty, surprice shifting into something warmer. "You... made dinner?"
"I did." I gestured to the table, stepping to the side. "Figured you'd like to see my appreciation."
A quiet laugh escaped her lips, gentle and melodic. She stepped inside the room, closing the door behind her. "You always manage to surprise me."
"That's part of my charm."
Her eyes softened as she approached. She looked at the plate, then back at me.
"This is beautiful," she said softly, brushing fingers along the edge of the table before noticing the small metal box by her seat. "And what's this?"
"Something sweet," I replied. "Made it myself. Thought you might want a little something to snack on while at work."
Her expression froze for a second, then the tiniest shimmer gave away her happiness before she smiled again, the one that was able to make me melt.
She opened the box and saw the neat rows of candies, glossy and glimmering faintly under the faint romantic light. "You even packaged them..."
"I like doing things properly."
Eris placed the box gently back down on the table, then turned to me, stepping close enough that I could feel the faint warmth radiating from her. "You've been busy it seems."
"Only until now." I raised a hand, brushing her cheek with it. "Tonight is just for us."
Her eyes softened further, and she leaned into my touch. "You are too good to me, you know that?"
"Not nearly good enough," I whispered.
That earned me another quiet laugh and a kiss - slow, grateful, and so full of meaning... It made me want it to last forever.
"Thank you."
"Always," I said gently. "Now sit and enjoy yourself."
She obeyed with a smile, sitting down gracefully, and I joined her. For a while it was only the sound of forks against plates, the atmosphere perfect.
When we were done with dinner, she finally tasted one of the cherry drops. Her expression was priceless - eyes wide, a soft giggle bubbling up as the sweetness melted on her tongue.
"Oh, these are dangerous." She said, savouring the hard candy.
Dinner lingered in the air long after the plates were empty - the lighter was hanging on, the scent of the sauce remained. Eris leaned back, her hand idly drawing circles on the glass which was filled with cold wine.
She looked outside for a moment.
"Let's step outside. It's too lovely of a night to stay in."
I smiled, pushing my chair back, and said formally as if I were an aristrocrat at heart. "Your wish is my command."
We moved to the porch, where the cool desert air greeted us, it was really cold... If it weren't us, that is. The necklace still did it's job, how lovely. Nevertheless I gave her one of my coats.
The stars above stretched endlessly, shimmering. She took a deep breath, her shoulders relaxing as she leaned against the railing. Her smile was soft, her eyes reflecting this infinite space.
Eventually, her hand found mine. We stood like that for a while, until she tugged my hand gently. "Walk with me?"
"Always." I instantly replied.
And so we wandered up the stone path, past the bridge and into the main garden area, she immediately looked upon the sky, then the flower beds, then the trees. The light from the street lamps was lovely... It reminded me of many places back home... Man, everything reminds me of home.
We sat there for a while, and then she looked in the direction of our castle-home, her expression turning playful. "A bath sounds perfect right now."
I chuckled, arm over her shoulder. "Trying to wash the day away?"
"Trying to share it with you." She replied, it seems that she is finally comfortable to ask for what she wants.
I didn't object at all.
And so we returned home, where we quickly entered and closed the doors, leaving us in this comfortable warmth. We went to the bedroom, where we began to undress, I looked myself in the mirror and finally decided to say to myself. "I really am beautiful."
Even with a bit of fat on this body, it doesn't change the fact that I'm genuinely beautiful. I looked back at her, she was letting her hair loose from the restraints of the two hair accessories. I didn't need to say anything, my gaze did that for me. And she saw it, a gentle blush covering her cheeks.
With that we got in, even though there was enough space for like 20 people, she decided to sit right in front of me, leaning her back against me.
"You do realize that you're spoiling me beyond reason, right?" She whispered turning her head slightly.
"That's cuz you deserve it."
She turned around and looked up into my eyes, then she leaned in, her lips brushing against my jaw. "Careful... Say more things like that and I might start demanding it."
"Be my guest, I'd be more than glad to treat my lady well..." I said back teasingly.
We didn't need to speak after that - every touch, every glance, carried more meaning than words could hold.
And when the bath was done, we dried outselves and prepared for bed.
This time she was the one to initialize the merging, gently settling on me before the whole thing just happened, of course with a bit of a delay for other things.