yogen | you gotta do the cooking by the book

Entry tags:

you gotta do the cooking by the book

WHO: Stephanie, anyone she has wrangled into Cake Adventures, and YOU
WHEN: after school, 4/13
WHAT: Cake Adventures

[if anyone, but particularly one certain someone, was hoping to enjoy a nice, quiet cooking club meeting today, that's not happening. the door isn't closed, but it's cracked open only slightly, and there is a piece of paper taped to the door.]

NO NENES ALLOWED
(NOT IN A MEAN WAY)
(NENE DON'T COME IN HERE IT'S A SURPRISE)
(BUT IT'S A GOOD ONE DON'T WORRY)
(-STEPHANIE)

[she signs her name with a little heart on the I, so that's something everyone gets to know now.

should non-Nene people decide they want to know what the fuck is going on, the door is open! and inside is a whirling pink dervish, having taken over a section of the room for the noble art of Baking. she's won over the teacher with an impassioned speech about doing kind things for your friends, and has relatively more lax supervision than a small child should probably have with an oven? it's fine. she seems to know what she's doing, at least, though she refers to the journal she has laid out on the counter almost religiously. there are a lot of strawberries involved, and it does not seem like just one cake is being made today.

also, she's singing. and not quietly. basically the entire time. dancing also becomes involved at points. she's making her own fun.

at about 7:30, there is a post on the forum by user s.meanswell.]

NENE
meet me in room 2-C soon!

[basically just relying on the honor system at this point.

it is very close to her bedtime, so she's a bit tired, but Steph remains determined, sitting on top of the teacher's desk, kicking her feet, a foil-covered object next to her.]

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[ shh... I can't have any real characters but I still want to play. The door cracks open and somebody's head pokes through— only halfway, so that he can quickly withdraw and retreat if whatever's going on inside seems like too much trouble to get involved with. The singing and dancing? It's close. There's like... the normal cooking club trying to do their normal cooking club things, and then there's this corner of pink.

Against his better judgement, the boy steps the rest of the way through the door, and makes sure he keeps on the other side of the counter from where Stephanie is so he can peer at the journal to see what, presumably a recipe, is written there. ]

Edited 2021-04-09 01:32 (UTC)

[she doesn't notice, at first. but, when she inevitably requires consultation from the recipe, she. pauses.

that. isn't one of the normal kids. that is, solidly, one of the Weird Kids... but, hey. never kills to be polite. hopefully.]

... Hi?

[ If only he could read minds, he might have something to say about that Weird Kid title— or maybe if he were telepathic, because he doesn't return her greeting, not really. I mean, he nods, after a moment's hesitation, but it's less of a hello and more of a "yes, that's the word you use to greet somebody"

anyways, all he does is that, and takes a half step back but keeps his eyes (squinting slightly because reading upside down is hard) on the notebook, so she can still read the recipe but he isn't in the way. ]

[... huh. quiet type. ah, well, she doesn't mind that. she's used to speaking enough for two people.]

Would you like to help? I sure could use a hand. [she takes the mixing bowl and whisk she had next to her and just. kinda pushes it a bit in his direction. no pressure.

meanwhile, she has a few strawberries on a cutting board and her trusty resin knife.] I could show you something neat, too! My uncle taught me how to make strawberries look like flowers; wanna see?

[ Wha- ...okay... He takes the mixing bowl and the whisk but does not do anything with them, setting the whisk inside and hugging the bowl close to his chest despite there being the counter right there to set it down on. He was put in charge of this bowl... not going to let anything happen to it on his watch.

So maybe baking doesn't come intuitively to him. But he does seem to perk up a little at the idea of strawberry flowers and nods again, eyes on that resin knife the entire time and not at all on her hands or face. ]

... That's-- [Y'KNOW WHAT none of her business if he just wants to hug the bowl that is his choice and she will respect it. live your truth, weird kid. she takes up her knife, tongue poked out in concentration.]

If you press down really carefully, and then you pull back a bit... See? [it very much just looks like a strawberry with a cut in it.] You have to do a few times before it actually looks like anything, but that's true for most things.

... Wait. [she just. narrows her eyes. because while, for the most part, all the weird kids blend together in the background noise of life...] Aren't you in my class? I've seen you before.

Edited 2021-04-09 02:17 (UTC)

[ Me looking at the homeroom roster like "oh shit you're right" but it's fine!!! the npcs are all supposed to blend into the background and while he leans back a little at the suspicious squint, he does nod again. This much contribution to a conversation is comfortable, but he helps her out a little more by pointing at her and then pointing over his shoulder: she probably didn't recognize him right away because he sits behind her, and her bright pink hair is very distracting and may or may not be the reason why his grades have been slipping.

Anyways, strawberry flower. He points to the knife for her to keep going. ]

[words cannot begin to describe how terrible she would feel if she understood the second part, but she picks up the first part, and nods knowingly.] Ahh, that makes sense!

[she hums as she works, making thin cuts around the base of the berry, and then a bit higher.] And then the top... Ta-dah!

[she holds out the strawberry to him. it's not great, but it looks more like a rose than a strawberry usually does.]

Pretty, right?

[ Stephanie has good grades compared to the rest of her class because everybody else looks up to see the board and gets blindsided by PINK and misses what the teacher is writing.

Anyways I don't have any happy icons but neither Arisus smile so it's fine, he gets to nod again and then he holds his hand out to ask for the knife. ]

[there's a moment where she's like "I should absolutely not hand a knife to a weird kid. that won't end well."

but, it's brief, and she puts it in his hands.] Do you know whose knife it is? I found it in my locker one day. I'd like to thank them for it.

[ And then he stabs her in the chest—- I'm kidding. He finally does set down the bowl though, recognizing that holding that up and having a knife in the other hand isn't smart when his arm's already tired. His movements are slow, and he holds the knife in two hands, one holding the handle and the other held flat so the blade rests upon his palm.

Unsurprisingly, he nods at her question. Then, maybe surprisingly, he shakes his head after. ]

[thinking...]

Did it belong to somebody who isn't here anymore?

[ He goes back to nodding. A single sad nod. ]

I'm sorry. You must miss them.

... I'll take very good care of it. Promise! Cross my heart. [does so]

[ Sad nods say he does miss them, and he looks very reluctant to give the knife back, like he's deliberating bolting out the door with it but can already tell with how pink Stephanie is that he cannot beat the 10-year-old girl in a foot race. His grip tightens around the blade momentarily, enough to press against his skin but not slice into it, and then he relaxes and slides it slowly across the table so she can have it to make her strawberry flowers. ]

[it wouldn't be the first time she's had to tackle someone like a linebacker because they took her shit and it wouldn't be the last.

she gives him a little encouraging smile as she picks the knife back up, returning to making the decorations.]

If you ever wanna borrow it, you can just ask. I pretty much always carry it around.

[ Oh.

In that case, he holds his hand out again, like half a second after she makes the first cut. He would like to borrow the knife, please. With the other hand he holds four fingers up- he'll give it back before Sunday when it's their day off from school. ]

[what]

Tell me what you'll do with it, and you can. You don't need to be too specific.

[she pushes her diary towards him, and takes a pen from her pocket, placing it on top.]

... Tell me their name, and you can even have it over the whole weekend.

[ Damn, something he can't nod to- though he dips his head anyways, to make it clear he's agreeing as he takes the diary and the pen and hesitates before writing.

...

'nao sato'

is the name he eventually writes down, in frankly awful handwriting, but he pauses after that too.

'dont know what ill do'

Do you ever just want to have something because somebody used to own it and you miss them? Impossible to explain in five words or less. ]

... [grins]

Well, don't do anything I wouldn't do! [how to ask for no murders without saying it] Just leave it on my desk on Monday, okay?

[ Sometimes you just gotta say it. He nods and breathes a sigh of relief, though, when they're back to the yes-no answers and he can slide the notebook and pen back over to her. This is where he would take the knife and bolt now that it's on loan to him with permission, but Stephanie has so many strawberries hoarded here and only one and a half are flowered.

He mimes cracking an egg. This is one thing he can help with, but he doesn't really want to mix or measure or any of that. ]

[OH she's excited she wasn't actually expecting him to be useful at all.]

Recipe says... [checks] We'll need eight in total, four each. Just put them in separate bowls so I don't get confused, okay? We wouldn't want either cake to get too many or not enough.

[ Rude, but fair! He goes to wash his hands before anything else so they'll be clean and only very very slightly blood-tinged, and then looks around the cupboards for four bowls he can set side by side by side by side by side and crack his eggs in them, separating the yolks from the whites.

The eggshells he stacks inside each other, but keeps them to his side on the counter instead of tossing them away. If he can catch Stephanie's eye during any of this, he holds up two fingers and tilts his head a little, like he's asking why two? ]

-- Oh! One is for my friend, to thank her for something, and the other is for the assistant principal! [leans forward conspiratorially] She always looks so sad, don't you think? I want to cheer her up a little.

[ Nn... he leans back when she leans forward, but seems to be paying attention. Stephanie's friend is none of his business, but the assistant principal...

He finishes up his egg cracking, washes his hands with blood water, and then walks over to the cooking club side of the club room. He returns with a single lemon that he places on the counter in front of Steph. ]

... [EYES GO SUPER WIDE]

Does she like lemons?

[ HE TAKES A FULL STEP BACK

and nods ]

[she has mentally categorized this kid as Basically Like Stingy and thus does not take offense, merely tries to dial down her energy a bit.]

Gosh, I'll have to work it in, somehow... The batter, maybe, or even... And then the peel, I can...

[wheels just visibly turning in her head. then, she pauses, and smiles at him.]

Thank you. I really do appreciate it. [and she clearly means more than the lemons.]

[ Oh... hm. He ducks his head at being thanked, not used to the genuineness of it all. He's also maybe ducking his head because crap, she's going to need the knife to cut and zest the lemon— possibly multiple lemons because you can never have too many lemons to go in one cake— and he'll never get the knife. It's not even that sharp a knife? There are so many sharper knives here.

There are no more eggs to crack so he wanders the club room to look for a spare knife. ]

[she just kinda. watches him. putting off her work for now. because it's actually remarkably easy to figure out what this kid wants, for all his seeming chronic inability to just outright ask without specific prompting. and she wants to see how long that goes.]

[ STOP it's hard to ask for something when that requires using your voice.

There aren't a whole bunch of knives to begin with, either, and the cooking club doing cooking club things is actually using them to cook. After going through the drawers and sort of awkwardly standing around the counter on the other side of the room like he wants to ask the other members but doesn't want to interrupt or say anything, somebody takes pity and tells him they'll let him use the knife after they're done with it.

He nods and pulls up a stool, resting his head on his arms and fifteen minutes are going to pass with nothing happening because maybe they never intended to give him a knife. ]

[she has given him many non-verbal options.

she frowns throughout the entire exchange, and the entire fifteen minutes. because if there's one thing she cannot abide, it's rudeness. and she is very sus that some rudeness is going on right now!]

Hey... [god. she knows she knows his name. she always feels like she knows everybody's name, just skimming under the surface of the water of her mind, and if she can just concentrate...]

Hiro! [she shakes his shoulder gently] Are you okay?

Edited 2021-04-09 05:21 (UTC)

[ She did and he should have taken them. Next time he gets his hands on a knife he's not letting it go.

He at least has the patience to wait for it, though— but he startles when Stephanie calls his name, shoulder jerking in surprise when she touches it and locks in place. He lifts his head a second after, and his shoulders relax and drop, sort of like when you poke at a snail and they hide in themselves but will start to sloooowly emerge and peer out at you once it feels safe again.

He stares up at her with some confusion, and rubs the corner of his eye with the heel of his hand. He might have been asleep this entire time, but he looks okay. He also looks to Stephanie's counter, unsure how much time has passed and maybe she's already done with her cakes. ]

[a kNIFE IS NOT A FORM OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION HIRO

she isn't done with her cakes, but she is done with everything that requires cutting. ~~because she rushed.~~ which is why she has the knife, cleaning it off with a paper towel because really, just. the less blood water involved in this process, the better?]

Are you tired? [she holds the knife out to him.] You really should get enough sleep every night. It's really important!

[ THERE IS REALLY SO MUCH YOU CAN COMMUNICATE WITH A KNIFE IN YOUR HANDS

There is so much you can learn from seeing a boy stand up and take a resin knife and just slide it into his pants pocket blade first. How has Stephanie been carrying this around, does she wrap it...

But never mind that, he places his hands together on the side of his head like a pillow for sleeping but then shakes his head, tapping a finger to his temple and frowning a little. Can't sleep. Overthinking, or something. This is what school does to you ): ]

Ohhh. [an insomniac. she knows all about that. and also how useless and unwanted helpful advice can be! but, she also knows one thing that is invariably appreciated...]

If you ever need someone to cover you so you can take a nap in class... [just

trails off meaningfully.]

[ He lifts his hand palm down and sort of hovers it in front of her forehead. You're a tiny little bean, Steph, even shorter than he is and he's short compared to most of the other students at school. She's got to bulk up twice her size to cover for him. ]

... Oh! Metaphorically, silly! Like, I could distract the teacher, or even help convince them you're really sick and need to go to the nurse's office... Stuff like that!

[ As tempting as that is!!! he looks startled at the offer, either because she's offering in the first place or of what she's offering to do. Um, um... he looks at a loss, fingers on one hand pinched together like he wants to mime pencil and paper to ask for that, but that's also too much work. ]

...don't... you'd get in trouble for me.

[ it's a whisper and a mumble and hard to hear on purpose, but she shouldn't have to act out just to get him a free pass in class. First of all, he should just go to the nurse's office to start with instead of interrupting class to leave. ]

[she can't help the little gasp when she hears his voice.]

Okay. Still, you let me know if I can help you with anything, alright?

[if she were back home, with her friends, she wouldn't ask first. even with some of the other normal people here, she wouldn't.]

... Would you mind if I gave you a hug? You can say no.

[ Mm... hm... the little gasp makes him press his lips tight together, like he already regrets opening his mouth, but he gives her a little nod that's supposed to be yes he'll let he know if he needs her help, also yes he minds receiving hugs— not to be confused with yes I would like a hug, and he takes a step back so she doesn't get the wrong idea. ]

[nods] Gotcha!

Thanks again for the help. I'm sure the assistant principal will love it!

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you gotta do the cooking by the book

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