Jim's eyes widened, he didn't think anyone else liked mint chocolate chip ice cream.[1] "Mint chocolate chip, with whip cream from a can" James said as soon as she asked. "That's so cool, no one I know actually likes Mint chocolate chip, it's nuts, but then I normally buy a tub and can say 'more for me' and get the whole thing to myself. That's awesome." Jim looked like a total dutz with his mouth open and his eyes wide.

His teeth clicked back together as Nikari looked at his cupcakes. "Um, yeah, I decided to try a new recipe, but I didn't get a chance to taste test them. The caramel itself is okay, that's the filling inside and the drizzle on top. The frosting is a light salted caramel, and the cake is flourless." He silently thanked his father for signing him up for cooking and baking classes over the summer when he was fifteen, glad it was paying off now.

1.	OOC: NO WAY! This is my favorite ice cream flavor EVER! Da BEST...are you a mind reader?

Nikari picked up a cupcake and peeled the wrapper off of one side before biting into it, not a ladylike bite either.  She closed her eyes and relished the flavor.  She was a total crazy person when it came to desserts.  She would often act like she was starving.  Chewing and swallowing she looked at James.  "You are my new favorite person." she said with a smile and licked some of the frosting off the top of the cupcake. 

"My friend Cary can't make cupcakes this good."  Her friend Cary was actually the cook at her home, but she wasn't sure if she wanted James to know that her house was run by a staff of women.  "I applaud whoever taught you to cook Mr. Lotusorder." she said with a grin and then finished off her cupcake and looked at him sheepishly when she reached for another.[1]

1.	Mine's a toss-up, I love mint chocolate chip, but I'm rather partial to chocolate chip cookie dough too... and don't get me started on peppermint chip ice cream around christmas time.... YUMMY!!! And no, I don't read minds...  it just came to me in a vision

"Have as many as you want" James said as Nikari gorged on his cupcakes. He was glad she liked them. Jim laughed as she licked some frosting off the chocolate. "Mrs. Willoby, Oulton Broad community center, and one of my dad's old friends from Hogwarts, he works in a nice little wizard bakery in Diagon Alley." Jim recited, not forgetting the wart on the older woman's nose that he and another lad at the workshop had named Bartholomew, but warts were icky, and he wouldn't want to gross her out on their first date.

Eliza also helped me perfect my omelette and soufflé, but she's always helping me out with technical stuff when I bake." Jim picked up a cupcake himself and ate it from the bottom, finishing at the top with the frosting. It was one of his best successes. "Okay, I will make a deal with you, if we go horse back riding, I'll bake you a cheese soufflé and a nice New York strip steak, sound good?"

Nikari smiled as she finished the second cupcake.  "Alright, but I don't have any more horses but the colt. We'd have to find somewhere else to go riding."  That wasn't entirely truthful.  She had a couple other horses, but she was concerned about bringing him to her hosue to go horseback riding.  She didn't know what kind of place he lived in, but hers was huge. 

"Okay, that's not true.  I have two other horses, I just am a little worried about letting you know where I live."  She didn't look at him, "Not because I'm afraid you'll turn out to be a stalker, but because I brought a couple friends home one time and didn't realize it but they were amazed at how my place was so much bigger than theirs that they felt they couldn't be friends wtih me anymore."

She stopped, she was rambling again.  "I'm sorry, that was probably too much information."  She looked up at him. 

"Whoa, sorry, not a stalker, but I could rent a horse, hopefully I won't fall off or be attacked by a rogue crow again." Jim laughed, but secretly panicking at the thought of crows. He'd never been called a stalker before, a charmer, and a pervert, yes, but never a stalker. He furrowed his brow and harumphed a bit.

"It's fine, I'm normally the one spewing information, it's no problem, it's been so long since I've been on a first date, I always forget how stupid I sound when talking to someone I've just met."

"I wasn't calling you a stalker James.  It's complicated.  I've never actually had a male friend at my house.  My mom wouldn't allow it.  So doing it now makes me nervous." She took a breath and smiled, "But I'm finding myself doing a lot of things I've never done before lately.   I kind of like it." she shot him a look that was her attempt at flirting with her eyes.  She wasn't sure if it worked though.  Since she was suppressing her charm, she had no clue if what she was telling James was having any effect on him.

"I would be honored though, if you would come to my place to ride horses.  I'll make sure there are no birds around.. I promise." she said, trying to hold back a snicker.  She hadn't been trying to make a joke, it just came out.  And now, she had to hope that she wouldn't regret it. 

"I understand." Jim said, even though he really didn't. He was almost pretty sure she was flirting. "What? You'd get a tattoo?" James joked, grabbing a bottle of skim milk from the basket. "Just in case the chocolate got too much." Jim pulled out a pair of tumblers. "Milk?" He said, pouring a tumbler full and then taking a rest before she answered. "They just stay in their trees, and I'll be okay."

"I guess you're probably wondering about the crow story huh?"

"I would love some milk, thank you."  She waited for him to either pour her some milk, or give her the stuff so she could do it herself.  "Actually, yes I was, but you dont' have to tell me if you dont' want to.  I don't want you to be uncomfortable." [1]

1.	Sorry it's short, I was exhausted when I wrote this

Jim handed Nikari the tumbler full of milk and then poured one for himself. "Well, I think it'd be best if you know before I jump up on a park bench when I see a pigeon and embarrass you with my girly shrieks." Jim laughed swishing the milk around in his mouth before swallowing. "It's not that I'm uncomfortable about it, it's just that most of the people I know have no clue I'm scared to death of birds."

Jim held the pottery cup in his hands, sliding his hands over the smooth glazed surface. "So, when I was about 11, I was a huge fan of horseback riding and I really wanted my own horse at the time. I was on a trail ride with a kids' writing group I was a part of. So, this wasn't my fault actually, a few other kids in the front were chucking rocks into the trees, 'cause you know, they were kids."

"Anyways" James continued, "A rock hit a crow's nest, and the crow in the nest was not to happy about that and dive bombed right down, into my face." Jim put an arm out to show the angle that the bird dove at. "Well, first there was the screaming, and the talons in my nose, then I fell of Kringle, the horse I was riding, and by then, the bird had squawked off, leaving me in the mud with an irrational fear of birds."

Jim laughed, a though coming to him. "And It's not like I'm like Batman, using my fear of birds to save the day. My friends fiance is an animangus, and her other form is a penguin... Let's just say I hid behind the couch and almost passed out." James's memory jumped to that night, Mark had dragged him to his house after Jim had gotten in a nasty bar fight.

"A penguin?" Nikari asked with a confused expression on her face.  "I don't know a whole lot about Animagus transformations, is that a normal form?"  She couldn't help but wish she could do that.  But she'd never tried to learn it because her mother told her that she wouldn't be able to. 

"I'm sorry the crows scared you."  She would never tell anyone her deepest fear, there is always a chance that someone would use it against her and she couldnt' handle that.

[1]

1.	I'm sorry I'm running short...

Nikari thought for a moment as she took a sip of milk.  "Well, it wasn't a punishment from my mother that I remember most.  It was something I got in trouble for at Hogwarts."  She looked down, she hadn't told anyone this, and since it didn't go spreading around the school, she was pretty sure no one knew.  "My fifth year, I was trapped in the Astronomy Tower once, by two boys that thought they could get something from me," she paused and an angry, dark look passed over her face and quickly disappeared as she continued, "Well, they got detention for two months for that, but against my better judgement, I didn't feel like that was suffiecient punishment."

She stopped to get a sip of milk and looked at James, "Please don't think badly of me when I tell you what I did to them." She looked down at the cup of milk and started turning it around in her hands.  "I sort of created a spell by accident and used it on them.  It made their," she coughed, "lower parts burn superficially  every time they, well, felt that way..." she trailed off wondering if he got what she was saying, "Well, they went to the Hospital Wing and it turns out that they were that way a lot and it happened to burn them pretty badly.  I felt bad, so I told a professor about what I did, and I was actually suspended for 2 months and not allowed to make up any work. So that's what happened." She didn't look up at James, afraid of what he might think of her.