A Muse's Inspiration (closed for Poprockz)

[Lucian_Devine]

Blake didn't watch Euterpe as she washed her hands, but he of course saw her hand, or more specifically her finger, dip around him and reach towards the onion. He was curious what she was doing when he saw her tap it, but when he saw the single golden spark, he figured it was a godly thing and just let it go. Despite letting it go though, he was far from ignorant of the goddesses position behind him, or her hands sliding down his forearms, raising every hair on them in their wake.

When Euterpe made to take the knife from him, Blake allowed her to do so, and he did manage to pay more attention to what she was doing with her hands than the feel of her bare arms against his. He then nodded his acknowledgement of her teachings, even though she didn't ask if he'd understood before taking the knife back from her and imitating what he'd seen, holding the knife, adjusting his grip, and then gripping it tighter before nodding again.

Blake again tried to pay attention to what Euterpe was saying, swallowing hard as the instructions were naturally a bit more involved this time. When her lips moved close to his ear and payed him the compliment though, and so close that he felt the warmth of her breath on his skin, his eyes drifted closed as a shifted worked it's way down his spine.

"Th-thank you..." Blake stammered slightly, flicking his tongue across his lips as he moved to grip the onion as she'd instructed and hold the knife as she'd advised for the task. Hand eye coordination was never truly his strong suit, but he hoped that his body wouldn't fail him. His tongue flicked his lips again as his nerves started to get the better of him. He didn't stop though, even as he fought to swallow what felt like a melon-sized lump in his throat. He turned the onion just so, positioned his fingers for the chopping, and moved the knife in position.

Blake took one last deep breath, and as he started to exhale, he brought the knife down. He listened for the satisfying sounds of it going through the onion and hitting the cutting board before moving his hand, lifting the blade, moving the blade, and chopping again. His natural rhythm thankfully took over then, despite how nervous he was, his hands moving in sync as the blade chop chop chopped in it's own satisfying rhythm.

When he was done with the half onion, Blake dared to breathe once more, setting the knife down on the cutting board as he waited for feedback from Euterpe before he either continued with the second half of the onion or made adjustments to his technique and then continued.

 

[Poprockz]

"That was very good..." she purred encouragingly, pleased at his chopping. Though he didn't cook often, he took instruction well and that was half the battle. "My only pointer in this case is that you don't want to chop straight down like you're using a butcher's knife. You want to make your knife have more of a sliding-forward motion, like this."

Euterpe picked up the knife and put it back in his hand, though this time she laid her own hand over his to manipulate it. First she made the vertical and horizontal prep-cuts in the onion, and then she showed him the method in question. It made his knife move in the gentle slide-forward motion she had described, all the while with each motion of the knife, she had pressed her hips against his ass before pulling back. She was feeling rather playful, after all, and it was as good a time as any for a little teasing.She only demonstrated until half of the onion half was chopped, wanting him to finish it.

"Actually, I do have another tip."

Her other hand went to his and she delicately pulled his fingers more into a fist, but not quite. "It's safer to have your other hand in more of a claw to avoid slicing your fingers, especially if you're working with a knife that isn't very sharp like yours. I would hate for you to injure those fingers of yours. I might need to use them later, after all." She chuckled and was tempted to nip his earlobe, but she didn't want to distract him too much while he was chopping.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Blake was mouth breathing like a Neanderthal as Euterpe put the knife back in his hand, laid her hand over his, and manipulated his hand with hers. He of course saw everything that she demonstrated, but more than that, he felt every press of her hips against his ass with motion of the knife, and it was a struggle just to keep his eyes open for it. Her purring words were so sensual, and her movements were so erotic. Every part of her body was a weapon in this war game, and every part of his was a tool she was using against him.

"Safer...claw grip..." Blake echoed Euterpe's words as he watched her pull his hand into the desired shape and position. He swallowed hard again as he felt her breath against his earlobe, his body so close to powerless before her and hers. "Yes...that would be a shame, wouldn't it?" He asked, turning to glance over his shoulder at her, his bottom lip catching between his teeth as his brown eyes burned a touch darker as his desires rose once more. "You did seem to enjoy them, didn't you?." He asked before turning back towards the onion, focusing on the task at hand, and gripping the knife harder. He took another long and slow breath, despite the way his entire body quaked and his teeth chattered. His ass pulled forward as the knife lifted, and then pressed back against her as it slid forward and down through the onion. His ass moved forward again as his hand moved backward, and then backwards once more as the knife came down, once more moving in that inner rhythm of his that he always seemed to find.

Blake was panting when he was finished, but all 10 fingers were intact as he laid the knife aside, awaiting the next instruction.

 

[Poprockz]

His response earned him a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow. She couldn't deny that she had indeed enjoyed them; not only had they been quite pleasurable inside her, but also when exploring her skin. That didn't mean she had to admit it.

"Good! You have now successfully diced an onion. Now for your next task, I will have you cut the tomato blindfolded." She waited a beat or two before giving him a playful smile and adding, "I'm joking. I'm not Athena, after all. I will have you slice the bacon while I take care of the tomato. It requires a sharper knife, and I'm not sure you're yet at the skill level to handle my knife without hurting yourself. I have the ability to heal and hide my own scars, but you unfortunately don't have that ability."

Euterpe rifled around one of her bags and pulled out a sheathed chef's knife. The handle looked to be a rose quartz, so one could see the tang of the blade within it, which curved down into a silver swirl. It was a beautiful work of craftsmanship that mortals couldn't hope to replicate.

"This blade is likely the sharpest knife you will ever see, so if you ever hold it or pick it up, I would want you to be very careful."

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Blake chuckled when Euterpe said that he'd successfully diced an onion. Her next words stopped him mid chuckle though, literally freezing him in his tracks until he saw her playful smile. Only then did he finally continue chuckling and actually bring a hand to his chest. "You had me going for a second there." He joked back before listening to her words and watching her move towards her bag and rifling through it before removing her sheathed chef's knife.

It was impossible for Blake's not to stare in awe at Euterpe knife. It was a flawlessly beautiful work of art, just like her, and he had to resist the urge to reach out to try and touch it as she brought it towards the kitchen island. As always though, despite the way he admired what was in front of him, he listened to her words and the warning that came with them.

"I understand..." Blake said as he lifted his gaze from Euterpe's sheathed knife to try and meet hers before they continued to prepare their meal. "...at your ready..."

 

[Poprockz]

She washed the tomato while telling him that she wanted the bacon sliced before he adds it to the pan. Since there was only one cutting board, they were practically elbow-to-elbow as they worked. Though, Euterpe was very fast. Her knife moved in practiced motions as it sliced through the tomato effortlessly, and soon she had a diced pile of tomato on the cutting board, the woman moving on to the mushrooms. They were quickly washed and sliced before he was done with the bacon, and she stood there for a second next to him as she pondered. Did she want to add spinach this time? That took quite a wile to wilt it, squeeze it, and shred it for the egg-dish. No, not today.

Euterpe pulled out two small blocks of cheese and asked, "do you like feta? I have feta and I have Swiss. I'd like to use both, but I want to make sure I'm not adding ingredients you don't like. Just let me know if there's something you don't particularly care for and I will be sure to omit it."

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Blake's cuts and cutting of the bacon were slow, clumsy, and anything but uniform. He'd like to think that it just was because he was working elbow to elbow with Euterpe, courtesy of him only having one cutting board, even if it was thankfully a full-sized one instead a smaller one, or even because of the extra care he was taking around her, knowing how sharp her knife was, but in truth, it really was just because of his lack of experience. Still, he was trying his best, and he had a feeling that that was what mattered most, since she already knew how inexperienced he was before she suggested it.

"I like pretty much everything..." Blake said without looking up from what he was doing. "I wasn't really given much of a choice when it came to meals growing up. So I just kind of ate whatever was there. The cooks were thankfully pretty good cooks. So they made everything look and taste pretty good. Besides, how could I know I didn't like something if I didn't at least try it?"

Blake finished cutting just before he finished speaking, and he lifted his gaze from his work. "Now that I'm old enough to choose, I do still try to experience some culture and variety when I can, despite my inability to cook. I even had myself some Greek for the first time just last night...and it was the tastiest thing I'd ever eaten if you can believe it!" He offered up as a joke, making sure that she wasn't actively chopping something when he did so that he could joking bump her shoulder with his at the same time so that she knew it was of course meant as such and in good fun.

 

[Poprockz]

His joke was unexpected but once she realized what he meant, she couldn't help but let out a little snort of mirth. The way he had worked that joke into the conversation so effortlessly was the best part of it all, and she appreciated his cleverness. Perhaps that was why he took so well to the inspiration; his mind was already fine-tuned and sharp.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," she chuckled, taking her pans over to the stove in preparation to start cooking. "I found the meal to be quite satisfactory myself." Euterpe didn't look at him directly, but she could be seen smirking to herself.

"Now that I am free to do as I please in this world, I have very much enjoyed trying a host of new things. I think when my goal is put to rest, I would like to travel the world and to a food and music tour. What will you do when you reach your own fame and fortune?" Euterpe started cracking eggs into a bowl.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

The snort that his joke pulled from Euterpe was music to Blake's ears. He heard her response to his words, and saw the smirk on his face, further reassuring him that she wasn't offended by it, which was of course a risk with such a type of joke.

Euterpe's plans of course made sense, given how long she'd been imprisoned, but her question actually caught him off guard. He'd lingered by the kitchen island as she moved the pans to the stove, but snapped out of it in time to grab the garbage from the cabinet beneath the sink and set it on the floor beside her for the eggshells.

"I hadn't actually given it much thought..." Blake started as he propped his elbow on the counter and leaned his head against his hand. "I don't know how much you researched musicians, artists, or celebrities in general, but fame and fortune has sort of become it's own goal, rather than a means to an end. We often spend so much time and effort trying to reach the top, that we don't give much thought to what we'll do if we get there..." His head cocked a little as he paused, but he continued soon enough. "...And it is a very big "if" these days. People have, what some would say, wasted their lives in pursuit of greatness that never came. That's why people tell us to stop and smell the roses, because we might forget to enjoy the journey because of how hard we try to get to the destination."

Blake paused again, his eyes darting back and forth a couple of times as he tried to sort out his thoughts, and only when he was truly ready to voice them did he look at Euterpe again. "If I had to say something though, I'd say that there is just something that I don't want to do when the time comes. Celebrities tend to lose themselves when they get rich and famous, lose themselves to drugs, gambling, and the like. So, more than anything, I just hope that I don't lose myself and regress to the whoring drunk I was before. I hope that when my time comes, my friends and acquaintances won't be ashamed of me, my actions, or too ashamed to say that they know me."

 

[Poprockz]

It didn't escape her notice that he used the word "when" rather than "if" in reference to his success. It showed her that he had confidence that together they would certainly be successful in reaching the fame and glory she had promised him. That pleased her. While the trust they had was tentative, it was at least good to know that he knew she was a woman of her word and that she had the skill to back up her words.

"Hmm," she hummed, regarding him thoughtfully. "That is both very wise and very admirable. I do not think that you will have difficulty holding onto who you are, Blake. You may have your difficulties, but so far I have only known you to be a man of good character, and I think you have a will strong enough that this will not change."

Euterpe started to grate some cheese, deciding that she was going to add some of each to their dish. "Perhaps when you are famous, you can hire yourself a chef so you don't have to eat pizza pockets for breakfast." She joked, trying to lighten the mood after giving him such a compliment.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Blake's lips curled into a small smile at Euterpe's words before he humbly bowed his head. It was true that she had only seen the best of him, but he appreciated her kind words all the same. She of course had so very many reasons not to trust him, or anybody for that matter, but she'd been able to look past them for the sake of her sisters.

Euterpe's joke pulled a soft chuckle from Blake, and while it didn't escape his notice how quickly she'd changed the subject, he respected it all the same and simply responded in kind. "Or...and hear me out here, I could hire a chef that could make fresh pizza pockets every morning. Eh? Thoughts?" His own joke brought a rather pleased smile to his face as he waited for her response, rather enjoying this little back and forth of theirs, something he never thought he'd be doing when she left his father's house, declaring them strangers.

 

[Poprockz]

"Tsk tsk," she clicked her tongue in playful disapproval. "What a cruel man to subject your future lover to such a fate! I can see it now- they come over with their parents to meet you for the first time. They all sit at the table, expecting a nice meal, and suddenly your chef brings out a platter of steaming hot-pockets."

Euterpe chuckled and put the cheese down, starting to crack some eggs into a bowl. "Though perhaps you could make a game out of it. Your chef could make every variety of hot pocket and your dinner party could make wagers on what kind they would bite into next."

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Blake couldn't help but laugh at the mental scenario that Euterpe presented, though the game aspect did kind of appeal to him and give him a bit of an idea. "But isn't that why women tend to date musicians and actors, because of our eccentricity and spontaneity? Besides, who wouldn't want to play hot pocket roulette, bite into theirs, and get a heaping mouthful of anchovy, pineapple, and Jalapeños surprise?"

Even as he joked, Blake was still trying to pay attention to what Euterpe was doing. He had no delusions about being able to emulate her after a single viewing. He of course knew that he'd probably have to watch about a dozen Youtube tutorials mixed with a healthy dose of trial and error just to get to half as good as what Euterpe was making, but he still wanted to give her his full attention.

 

[Poprockz]

With the cheese shredded, she added some spices and salt and pepper to the eggs and proceeded to whisk them. She then mixed in the cheese and gave it a good stir.

“I have only had two of those ingredients, but that does not sound the least bit appetizing,” she replied, grabbing a cast-iron skillet and putting it on the stove. She turned it to medium heat and pointed to it.

“It’s time for the bacon to be added into the pan. In any case, perhaps by the time our time together is through, you will have learned to make at least three dishes. After all, they say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach but that is true for everyone.” The woman got a wistful look for a moment and added, “there’s nothing quite like being brought breakfast in bed after a long night of lovemaking.”

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Blake naturally chuckled at Euterpe's assumption and assessment of what said pizza pocket would taste like. "Of course, that's why it's a called surprise. I would of course play fair, giving myself just as much of a chance at getting the one surprise pizza pocket as anyone else, otherwise it's more of a prank than a surprise.

As he talked, Blake started unpackaging the bacon onto the cutting board. He picked up the knife, and immediately caught himself holding the knife in such a way as to brace his index finger on the spine of the knife. He gave his head a small shake as he adjusted his grip to the one that Euterpe had instructed him to use, and then went about cutting the bacon. He focused mostly on the size of the bacon bits than straight cuts. So they were naturally anything but straight and even, but they were hopefully close enough to the same size that they were acceptable.

"I will keep that in mind, though I admit that I'd always be torn between that and morning cuddles in such a relationship, especially if the breakfast meal takes a while to cook. I'd be torn between trying to surprise her with it, which is easier when you a home chef to cook it, and making it myself, which means that she might have to wait in bed alone for a bit."

As he spoke, Blake set down the knife, picked up the cutting board, turned around, and brought it over to set it down next to Euterpe. He was actually surprised at how openly he was able to speak with her, given that they had so many reasons to be guarded around each other, especially her around him. Still, he hadn't hesitated at all as he talked with her about what he might do if he were in such a relationship, despite his womanizing history.

 

[Poprockz]

"Hm. Perhaps you ought to mix it up when the time comes then," Euterpe responded, sliding the bacon into the pan with a sizzle. A spatula was taken in-hand and she stirred the bacon before handing the spatula to him for the occasional stir.

"Some days you could cuddle with your lover in the morning, and some days you could make her breakfast. Perhaps she would also make you breakfast in bed. There is great power in being able to cook for yourself and others." Euterpe thoughtfully looked at the bacon in the pan as it sizzled.

Back when she was free, it had been an equal exchange as far as cooking went, though a lot of people would try to earn her favor by cooking delicious meals for her. When she was bound to his family though... she hadn't realized before how much power she had in having been able to create meals for whoever she wanted. In her enslavement, she had never been allowed near the kitchen, and she rarely chose what she ate; it was all the whim of whatever master she served as to what she would be filling her belly with that day. If she filled her belly that day.

There had inevitably been a master or two who delighted in her misery rather than simply passively accepting it or trying to half-heartedly assuage it. A distinct low-point in her 300 years had been a time when one of them had tossed her bowl of unflavored oatmeal on the floor and told her to lick it up. She had. Euterpe hadn't eaten for a week and her desire to ease the ache in her stomach was greater than her pride. While she technically couldn't starve, that didn't mean that she didn't feel the pain of hunger, nor did it mean that she couldn't become thin and frail.

She hadn't realized it, but she had gotten lost in staring at the bacon, the smile having slid off her face to be replaced by a haunted look as though she was miles away.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Euterpe's words about taking turns caught Blake off guard, and he was briefly distracted from her cooking by his thoughts as a smile crept to his lips.

"That's a good idea. I imagine it's nice to be on both sides of the surprise sometimes. Plus you get to decide what to eat on those days, which is a plus. Heh, I still remember exactly what me and the guys had for dinner that first night at college, quite the change from all the healthy crap that was forced upon me until then. Oh, and don't even get me started on the smell of the place. It was such a relief to finally be away from the smell of coffee. My father had at least 2 pots of black coffee each morning, and more throughout the day. The entire house stank of it for as long as I could remember."

As he finished reminiscing about that first night at college, Blake's attention snapped back to the present, but more specifically to Euterpe, who was clearly lost in her own thoughts as well. Judging by the haunted look on her face though...her thoughts were not nearly as pleasant as his.

"What about you, Euterpe?" Blake offered up, even saying Euterpe's name to try and get her attention. "What was the first meal you had once you were free?" He was torn on how much of that night he wanted to verbalize, or even whether to mention his father, lest his attempt to distract her backfire. Still, he risked the briefest mentions of his family home and his father, if only to use as a backdrop for what he ate and why.

 

[Poprockz]

Oh yes, she too remembered the pervasive nature of his father's love of coffee. Often the smell would cling to his clothes, or she would be able to taste the drink upon his tongue. Even a pleasant smell could wear on one over time, and she eventually began to dislike it. These days she could stomach it, but she always made sure to stay away from the roasts that he was fond of.

Her name brought her back, and she blinked as her brain caught up and finally processed his words.

"Venison stew," she finally answered with a small smile returning to her face. "I went back to the bathing waters to see my sisters. They had been cooking a stew of potatoes, carrots, celery, and meat from a freshly killed deer. They were surprised when they saw me, but there was much rejoicing. It was a stew I had eaten many times in my life, but that day it was the most delicious meal I have ever eaten."

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Blake was watching Euterpe as she seemed to get lost in her own head. Unlike him though, he doubted that her thoughts were as pleasant as the one he had, at least until he saw her blink a couple of times as she snapped back to the present and smiled.

"Thank sounds...delicious..." Blake said softly. "And yes, I expect you were quite the sight for sore eyes after what happened to your sisters." It was then his turn to smile as he shifted his shoulders, still looking at Euterpe's lovely face. "Mine wasn't homemade like that, or made with such love, but I can still remember what that first bite of pizza tasted like. It had pepperoni, ham, beef, seasoned pork, Italian sausage, onion, mushrooms, green peppers, and black olives, and each bite came with it's own ratio of ingredients, almost being a new experience all it's own. Then there was the crust, with melted cheese baked right into it. The pizza was hot and fresh, and the cheese in the crust was melted and gooey. We tipped the driver well, and were on the white list ever since, never caring if the order arrived early or late, as long as it was hot and fresh."

With how sour the mood had changed the last time he brought up his father, Blake was glad that history didn't repeat itself, what with their more pleasant memories serving as a nice distraction.