[Safe Haven] that's how the story goes [elonzo]

"No, it's ok Denise, I'll get it!" Lulu called over her shoulder with a smile as she swung through the doorway out of the kitchen of Safe Haven. Lulu Prescott was a regular volunteer at the London shelter for wizards and witches in need and on this Saturday afternoon, there were hosting a soup kitchen. Cooking was something Lulu enjoyed, but not something she had an inordinate amount of skill in. She was average at best and really only liked making the most fabulous of things like a four-tiered cake for absolutely no reason other than just to make one.

Nevertheless, the tall brunette, casual today in jeans and a mint green top, made her way to the table outside of the kitchen and retrieved the paperwork that Denise, Safe Haven's manager, needed. The event was just starting and Denise had slated Lulu along with one other Safe Haven volunteer as the 'welcome witches' of sorts. She was to greet the new volunteers as they came in and get them started on a task. It wasn't long before the first few volunteers apparated in with a pop and there were welcomed with her bright smile. She chatted and explained what they were doing and she showed them where they could find everything, but it was a pretty simple task overall. They were making a variety of rather simple meals that could be either served right here at Safe Haven or owled to shut-ins in the next few days.

Soon enough, everyone was working away and Lulu could finally get to work herself. She made her way around the counter and spied an empty spot next to a ginger man who she wasn't familiar with. "Mind if I join you?" she asked as she slid into the spot next to him and gave him a smile. She looked around at what he was doing, but wasn't sure where to jump in. "What can I help with? Oh and I'm Lulu."

@Elonzo Matthews-Roth

Elonzo was a lanky redhead. He looked a little bit goofy in casual robes and clothes he'd thrown on today to look more approachable - and he knew it, his brother had been cracking up as he'd walked out the door. Apparently, open black robes, pressed black slacks, and a T-shirt with three inch thick blue and green horizontal stripes looked silly on a 25 year old with his build. As someone appeared next to him, Elonzo glanced over in surprise. He had come here to work with other people, but as they were split up and nobody had come to work with him right away, Elonzo had suspected that people had come in pairs. Here, standing next to him, was a slim brunette asking to help while he chopped up tomatoes and dumped them into the big pot. Elonzo felt elated - maybe this would be a good day.

Of course, they were cooking, so he'd have to check his temper... he could do that, right? Probably, "Chili. Sorry, I'm making chili. It's a soup kitchen, right? So I was making a big pot of Italian chili because that ought to be pretty filling." He indicated the kidney beans which were just getting to a boil on the back burner of the stove, "So right now I'm just chopping everything. Do you want to chop something? I've got..." He scanned the supplies, which were spread out along the back of his countertop, "onion, cheese, lots of tomato, some mushrooms, pepperoni... Well, the cheese needs to be grated, doesn't it?"

Elonzo smiled shyly at Lulu, but his eyes were worried as he looked to her to see if she wanted to stay nearby. She was a volunteer and here to help, but if he got weird and awkward, would she change partners? He'd made a point of being a grumpy loner ever since his third year at Hogwarts, and as such he was pretty rusty at social skills; some he'd never practiced at all. Like introducing yourself, you dolt! he thought, internally cussing himself, "Sorry, I'm Elonzo." He set the knife down and offered his hand to shake.

"Oh, chili! It looks delicious," she said brightly as she peered around at what he was working on. Lulu nodded eagerly as he asked if she would like to chop something. She probably wasn't the best at it so it was a good thing this was just a soup kitchen where her chopping skills weren't going to be judged. "Sure! I'll take the tomato," she said as she pulled the red juicy tomatoes closer toward her. Her gray blue eyes twinkled as she added, "I'll leave the onion for you." She hated chopping onions. If she was going to cry over anything, it was going to be over two star-crossed lovers or a pair of shoes. Not a vegetable.

"Elonzo," she repeated, liking the way it rolled off her tongue. "That's a nice name," she added with a smile. She set down the tomato that had been in her hand and shook his hand back with a friendly shake and then turned to face forward. Time to get down to business. "Ok, let's make some chili!" She grabbed a cutting board and set the tomato in front of her and then set a sharp knife down next to the tomato. When she grabbed her wand, she glanced over at Elonzo with a sheepish smile. "I have to admit that I'm not the best with the chopping spell," she told him as a warning in advance. Then she flicked her wand and watched as the knife rose and cut the tomato in quick strokes. It wasn't until half of the tomato was sliced that she realized the pieces were much too thick.

"Oh Merlin," she dropped her wand and grabbed the knife before it levitated down to the cutting board. Lulu glanced over at the other volunteer with a grin and a quick shrug. "Told you," she said with a tinkling laugh as she shook her head. She glanced over at where he was chopping and flicked her eyes up to his in surprise. "Hey, yours is pretty good! Give me some pointers," she asked and gestured hopelessly at her messily cut tomatoes.

Elonzo smiled an uncertain smile at Lulu as she took the tomatoes. He appreciated the help, but Lulu seemed very excited and he'd played hermit so much recently. Well, not really hermit. Didn't he have more people than he had beds in every flat he'd stayed in for the past couple years? But most of them hadn't been happy and didn't go out much because they were in hiding. He hadn't been around someone as forcefully cheerful as Lulu since he'd graduated from Hogwarts and he was uncertain what to do. He handed her the tomatoes wordlessly, his lips turning up as he poured words through his head. He could almost hear his social skills creaking with disuse as he ran quips through his head and discarded them as too creepy, too mean, and too snarky.

Elonzo handed over the tomatoes and, giving his supplies a quick wash, collected the onions, offering Lulu polite if somewhat subdued thanks. Elonzo cussed himself; he was too old to be shy and too gawpy to be this awkward! Occasionally nodding and sending Lulu what he hoped were coming across as friendly nods, Elonzo prepared to finish the task at hand. The chopping spell was second nature to him now; he'd spent a year perfecting that technique. He had assistants for that now, but a practiced hand never really forgot, did it? The onions were soon diced evenly and sat in a small pile on the side of the board.

As Lulu spoke up, Elonzo looked up sharply. His eyes scanned the chopped tomatoes critically and he smiled - this time the smile got to his eyes. "Oh, tomatoes can be tricky, can't they? If you sit the tomato on its side and point the stem one way or the other, you'll get a better cut because of how the inside of tomatoes work - if you cut up to down they'll squish some and wind up a little bruised. But once you get the slices going this way," Elonzo chatted as he pointed along the tomato, "then it'll be easier to dice from there. You've just got to cut in a grid, don't you? I usually use a serrated knife because the smooth ones don't always break the skin without busing the meat."

Elonzo looked over the onion, then added it to the pot and washed his materials again, before turning back and grabbing a tomato, laying it as he'd indicated, showing her how he started the chopping spell cheerfully, this time facing her so that they could work face-to-face, "There's a lot of tomatoes; we can both chop them, right?" He told Lulu. His eyes flashed to Lulu's face self-consciously, trying to read her mood. He was attempting to be friendly and helpful, but his employees had told him that he could be... abrasive? Elonzo didn't think so, but he did realize that he could be hard on his employees and that may be what they meant.

She accepted the tomatoes from Elonzo with a smile and a quirk of her brows. Though as they worked side by side, she threw him little glances and wondered if he was always this quiet or if she was maybe talking too much. Hmmm. But whether she spoke too much or him too little, neither played a role in helping her tomatoes being cut any better than they had turned out. Lulu glanced at the other volunteer with a small smile and took a half step back as he gave a cursory glance at her work thus far. She nodded and laughed softly in agreement. "I should have asked you for help before I tortured this one," she added, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners with her amusement.

Lulu listened attentively, biting her lower lip in concentration as she studied the method he was teaching her. She nodded and made little sounds of agreeance as he explained and her fingers itched to try it again herself. She thanked him with a smile as he handed her a tomato and rounded the table to stand across from her. "Serrated knife?" she asked as she grabbed one from the side and glanced up at him for confirmation. Then, she set the tomato just as he said and kicked off the chopping charm again. It was a little better than the first time, but still not as neat as his chops had been. "Guess I still need some practice," she admitted with a smile. "You must make a mean chili at home," she added in appreciation of his skill.

She picked up her cutting board and brought it to the pot they were working at, sliding the chopped tomato into the pot with a swipe from the knife. "Elonzo," she started as she returned back to her spot and took another tomato, her attention on getting the chopping charm a little bit better this go round. "Do you come to Safe Haven often? I don't think I've seen you around before."

Elonzo shrugged. He was a bit of a foodie and, yes, he liked his cooking but he felt like it'd be a jerk thing to say. "I suppose so, but I cook for a living so I have a lot of practice." He agreed, "I don't usually make chili for the restaurant, though, so it seemed like a fun thing to do today, right?"

When Lulu asked about if the'd been to Safe Haven before, Elonzo glanced sidelong at her for a few seconds, considering an answer. After a bit, he returned to chopping and spoke up, "No, I haven't come before. I was out of the country for a while - I was in France and Italy. I just got home. But, you know, stuff happened while I was gone. My younger siblings began writing and sending people to my flat - muggleborns, sometimes whole families. Children. At first I was in France, and after the first couple groups showed up, I got a bigger flat. They told me stories; how stupid does someone have to be to actually believe that a muggleborn maliciously stole magic?" Elonzo could feel his temper rise on that sentence; blood-supremacy really got his goat, "Anyhow, when I got a job offer in Italy, the people staying with me took over the lease in France. By that point they were working and could handle the bills on their own. But it didn't stop in Italy, either, so I just rented out a villa. You know, more space for people to sleep in? Some of the people staying with me, they mentioned this place, and when I finally came home I decided that I wanted to help. You know, once I was settled and my brother was more able to stay on his own. He's... sick."

Elonzo a cutting board full of diced tomato into the big pot on the stove and stirred it to even the temperature out, then let it go back to simmering as he picked another tomato to chop. He smiled at Lulu, his shy coming out from behind the somewhat gruff-straightforward story, "So here I am, making chili. Because it makes me feel like I'm doing something to help." He watched her chopping for a bit, then carefully slowed his wand movements down in a way that he hoped wouldn't be too obvious so that if she noticed, she could copy them. After all, she'd asked for his help, but she was not his student or his employee. Besides, while Elonzo preferred perfection in cooking, chili was the kind of meal that if you slap-dashed a bit of it, it'd still be okay. He liked Lulu. She was cheerful, and she was trying and that counted for a lot.