Cupcakes, Catwalks, and Cuties oh my! (Everan)

Prompt: In order to differ from the intrusive thoughts about Steve, Landon decides to bake 48 cupcakes...it doesn't work, and so he goes to visit Everan and brings along a few.

Features: Landon in need of advice, Everan aka the one that actually knows somewhat he's doing, Sleepy Phillip, Stage crew Sarah and Cam busily getting ready for a play, Overtired Lani who finished a two hour long Gymnastics  practice and just wants to go home, take a shower, and sleep, Anna the Dragonborn plus dragons, and Ainsley the messy eater.

Location: Everans apartment 10:35 AM

What's that noise? I force my eyes open and roll onto my back, glance at the clock on the nightstand and look out at the mid morning sun streaming through the window as my pupils dilate, adjusting to the still dark room. It's just after 10:30, ugh. That sound I heard minutes earlier rings again, now I understand what it is, it's the doorbell. Phillip stirs next to me and sits up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “I'll get it” he mumbles and throws back the sheets, walking towards the door. “Phillip...” I say and he looks at me blankly, still half asleep. “you should probably put on some clothes first, my friend.” And he looks down, realizing that he is in fact, not wearing a shirt. “Oh.” He mumbles and goes over towards the dresser, rifles through it and pulls a blue tee shirt over his head. “Better, Everan?” He asks and I nod with a smirk on my face. Phillip opens the bedroom door and walks out into the main room. I throw on a shirt and follow him. He opens the door and his eyes widen “I uh- uh, Hi Landon.” He stutters and looks at me. Landon pokes his head in the door “May I come in?” I nod “Of course.” Phillip steps aside and closes the door after him. “Ev I'm going to go shower and head out.” He gestures toward the bathroom. “Okay, remember we’re seeing Cam, Sarah, and Lani at 5:00.” I remind him then turn to Landon. “How's it going?” I ask leaning on the counter top. Landon sighs “So umm, I've been having these thoughts so to speak. About Steve to be exact.” He sits down and pulls a container out of his bag. “So I tried baking to diverge those thoughts because I couldn't get them out of my head. I baked cupcakes to be exact, they are vanilla bean basing with a swirl of light and dark blue buttercream frosting. It took at least three hours from start to finish, including having to go out to the store and get milk, eggs, flour, ext. And guess what? It didn't work. That's why I came to visit, please help me I'm in pain, I'm in agony about this, what do I do?” Wow, that was a lot to process, Now how to help him? I can sympathize with him, and to some extent have empathy, wanting something that you can not have, at least that you can not have at the current moment, and maybe ever. As for those cupcakes he mentioned, those sound absolutely delicious. “Well, lucky for you, Agony and me go together like our friend Anna and Dragons.” I say with a slight, barely noticeable chuckle under my breath. Landon moves his head to the side and looks at me. It seems he's rather confused. “I don't understand.” Landon says. “Well, have you ever been to Skyrim?” I ask and Landon thinks for a moment. “It's north of here, snowy almost all the time, all year, pretty much everywhere except for certain holds, or areas. Oh, and there's dragons!” Landon blinks at me “Dragons you say?” I nod, grab my phone from where it's charging, quickly scroll through my photo albums and find the picture of Anna surrounded by her three dragons that have pledged their allegiance to her. Odahviing- The Red Dragon, Durnehviir- The Undead Dragon, and Parrthunnax- The Silver Dragon. I show Landon the picture “This is my friend, Anna Lenox. And these are three of the dragons I mentioned. Though these are friendly dragons, a word of advice, don't just go up to a random dragon as it will likely attack you and possibly kill you.” He looks closer at the picture “I think I've met her before.” I put my phone back on the counter and turn back to him. “So about that agony over Steve?” I inquire. “What about it?” He leans back in the chair and crosses his arms “How many cupcakes did you bake exactly?”  Landon smirks “probably around fifty total, I think forty eight of them to be exact.” That is a lot of cupcakes! How does anyone have a cupcake or muffin pan to fit that many anyways? Unless he used more than one pan. And that must have been a lot of work to make all of those and the frosting and then frost all of them. “I actually brought a couple of cupcakes along for you guys. There is four of them in that tupperware container over there.” He points to the clear container with a slightly transparent bluish lid. I reach across the counter, straining to reach the box. Landon pushes the container holding the cupcakes towards me slightly and I grip it tightly and drag it towards me, then tear off the lid and look down at them, then up at Landon again. “And this didn't help take your mind off things?” He shakes his head “not one bit, if anything, all it did was make me tired.” I bite the inside of my lip as I think. “Do you ever feel angry when you have these thoughts?” Landon nods slowly, his eyes darkening and he hangs his head, looking at his hands. “I just feel as if I shouldn't be having them, and I don't know what I should do, I've tried telling Steve how I feel but it didn't really work, I just couldn't get the words out.” I give him a look of sympathy then place the lid back on the box of cupcakes and place them aside for later. “I have an idea of something you could try, and it might help you feel better to.” Landon glances up at me “what's your idea?” He asks softly. “Try writing down your thoughts on a notecard or something then keeping that card with you when you talk to Steve, that way you can look down at the card when you tell him how you feel. Or if you don't feel up to that, put the card in an envelope and drop it in his main box when no one is around. If he confronts you simply tell him what's on your mind.” Landon stares at me “T-that's actually a very good idea. Thank you Everan.” The bathroom door opens then and Phillip steps out, rather casually dressed instead of his usual, more formal or professional attire. It is a Saturday after all. He quickly dries his hair with a small towel and tosses it in the laundry basket, though his dark hair is still wet. Landon looks at him as he kneels and puts on his shoes, tying the laces with precision. Phillip glances up at him “Can I help you?” Landon's mouth opens as if he's about to say something, closes again briefly then he says simply “Just wondering where you're going.” Phillip stands up and grabs his coat from the coat rack by the door “I have to go run some errands and drop off some materials with a colleague of mine, then we're seeing some friends in a few hours so I have to meet up with two of them and make sure they don't show up to the restaurant covered in dust and wood shavings.” Landon gives his a puzzled look “Sarah and Carmen both work in stage tech, so they are in charge of lights and backstage work for any theater productions at the theater they work at, as well as most school run plays.” I explain. “Well I'll see you later Phillip.” I wave to him as he stands by the door. Landon waves goodbye as he opens the door. “Bye Landon it was nice seeing you! Good luck with Steve!” Phillip half says and half yells as he closes the door behind him and bounds down the stairs. Landon turns back to me “Your boyfriend is a kind but slightly strange person.” I shrug “Who isn't.” And he laughs, I don't think I've ever seen Landon laugh before today. Though I've only met the man a limited number of times. He checks his watch and looks at me “I should get going, we have rehearsal in a little more than an hour and I need to get back in time.” He stands up then stops “And thank you for talking with me, I think that I will try that notecard idea, and even if I don't end up telling Steve my feelings about him, I still have an outlet to vent them by writing them down.” I smile at him “Anytime my friend, I'll let you get going. And thank you very much for the cupcakes, I'm sure they will be thoroughly enjoyed.” Landon smiles and even blushes slightly then turns towards the doorway, turning the brass doorknob and steps out into the main hallway of my apartment building. I watch him quickly walk down the spiraling carpet covered stairs and tug open the front door then disappear out into the streets of Alinor. Now I am left alone with agony of my own as intrusive thoughts wrack through my mind. I close the door to my apartment and lean against it with a sigh, I guess sometimes years of pushing away things don't make them fully go away, not that I expected them to. I look down at my clothes, I'm still dressed in my pajamas. “I should probably shower.” I think to myself and walk across the open room, grab a shirt and some pants and go to take a shower.

The hot water runs over my skin, a welcome change to the somewhat to quite frigid air this time of year, depending on the weather. Now I understand why Phillip enjoys taking almost obnoxiously long showers, as it does feel rather nice. After around twenty minutes or so the hot water starts to run cold, signifying the end of my shower. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. After drying off and dragging on my pants and fumbling with the buttons on my shirt I wait around until it's time for me to go. Wandering aimlessly through the apartment, mindlessly flipping through TV channels, looking at old photographs of when my family included four instead of three but always avoiding the one photo that leaves me in sadness and agony. Slowly time goes by until I get a text from Lanriael, she'll meet me at the theater in 10 minutes, as she's just getting finished with her gymnastics practice and has to get cleaned up. I look through my closet for my jacket, grab my keys and the box off the kitchen counter, and start walking on my way to the theater to meet the others.

After some effort in tugging open the large and for the matter, quite heavy doors to the theater I quietly walk down the aisles and backstage, looking for my friends. Actors, costume designers, makeup artists, and tech crew rush through the place hurriedly. Paying no mind to me as I wander through, I stop one of the people as they walk by “hi, I'm looking for some friends. Do you know where Sarah Marx and Carmen Smith are?” The man looks at his clipboard then points in the direction to a stairwell. “Those two? Up doing lights on the catwalk. That way.” I nod and thank him as he walks off. Climbing up the stairs I poke my head up on the catwalk and find that yes in fact Sarah and Carmen are up here busily working on the multicolored light fixtures secured to the bottom and sides of the dark metal walkway. Sarah looks up as I step closer to where they are. “Hi Ev!” She gets up off of her knees and runs towards me “What's up?” Carmen interrupts before I can say anything, “What'd I say about running up here?” Sarah purses her lips and sighs “No running.” Cam nods “exactly.” And goes back to securing and cleaning the lights. Sarah turns back to me “Do you know when Lani is gonna be here?” She asks curiously then her phone buzzes, she gives me a one moment signal and walks off to a quieter place. I sit down next to Carmen and watch what she's doing, they've been working in stage tech since middle school, and thus are very skilled in their job. Sarah comes walking back towards us from where she was in the stairwell “Lanriael should be here in around two minutes, she just said that she was running a bit late. She talked to Phillip and said that he's on his way, but he needs to stop at the post office and mail something.” Carmen stands up and dusts off her knees. “You and I should probably go get changed.” Sarah follows her and they walk further down the walkway towards the second floor dressing rooms “You can wait downstairs if you want Ev, we won't be long.” She calls back to me, okay then, I'll be downstairs then.

I sit in one of the velvet covered theater chairs looking around and doing nothing in particular, zoning out so to speak. That is until I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around and see Lani “oh, hi.” Lani pushes a lock of hair behind her ear and adjusts the bag over her shoulder “Sorry I'm late. Practice ran overtime.” I nod “That's alright, Cam and Sarah are just changing. They should be out shortly.” And on that note they come walking up to us. Now all that's left is Phillip. The four of us wait around chatting until Phillip shows up, and it seems he brought Ainsley! “Hi Ev!!!!!” Ainsley yells up at me. I pick her up “Hi Ains how's it going? And can you please not yell?” She giggles “Sorry.” I hand her over to Phillip “Take your sister you dork.” Phillip takes her and explains why exactly she is here in the first place. He couldn't just leave her home alone and his parents were away for the weekend. Luckily unlike most small children Ainsley is rather well behaved, and she's also incredibly cute.

We eat dinner rather quickly at a favorite restaurant of ours, Sarabeths. They have excellent tomato soup, if you're ever in Alinor, or Daggerfall for the matter, and looking for a place to eat I do highly recommend it. After plates have been cleared and the check has been paid I take the box containing the cupcakes out and place it on the table. “If you don't know, Landon LaCoste stopped by this morning and he brought some cupcakes for you guys and myself.” I take the lid off the container and my friends lean in looking in. “Wait a second” Lani points out, “There's only four cupcakes and six of us.” She goes around the table counting. “Ainsley can have mine.” Phillip says and Ainsley looks at him in awe “Really?!” He smiles and pats her on the head. Carmen sighs “I'll split mine with Sarah.” Then takes one of the cupcakes, places it on a plate, then takes one of knives and in one clean stroke cuts down into the cupcake, slicing it in two and hands a half to Sarah. “Here you go.” Lani takes one then and licks the frosting “From this time forth no one can have this one.” I scoff and take one, looking it over, it does look delicious. I look back at Ainsley who's now covered in crumbs with Phillip attempting to clean her up. “This is why I don't bite cupcakes, Ains.” But Ainsley beams up at him “That's why I do though.” Causing Phillip to roll his eyes. Those two are quite the characters. I take a picture of the slight chaos that is going on in the table and text it to Landon. Thanks for the great night Landon, I hope things work out.