Work Text:
**demiurgeQuantified[DQ] began trolling sanguineAllegory[SA]**
DQ: *good*morning*!
DQ: *i*have*an*idea*for*a*fun*activity*for*us*
DQ: *will*you*be*available*today*?
SA: (good morning! And yes, i’m free today)
DQ: *wonderful*
DQ: *so*while*cleaning*out*some*old*books*,*i*found*a*cookbook*i*received*
DQ: *and*the*only*thing*it*details*how*to*make*is*pastries*!
DQ: *its*such*a*lucky*find*,*i*couldnt*just*let*it*collect*dust*
DQ: *would*you*like*to*make*some*sweets*together*?
SA: (but why make them ourselves? dont people normally just get some from the bakery)
DQ: *but*someone*has*to*make*them*to*be*sold*there
DQ: *and*dont*you*think*it*will*be*more*satisfying*if*we*can*do*it*ourselves*?
DQ: *i*think*it*would*be*a*fun*activity*for*us*to*strengthen*our*skills*
DQ: *and*our*relationship*
DQ: *would*you*be*willing*to*try*it*
SA: (...hmm)
SA: (what if we burn something?)
DQ: *ive*always*got*lovely*incenses*burning*around*my*hive
DQ: *so*i*know*how*to*be*safe*around*fire
DQ: *you*dont*have*to*worry*about*a*thing*
SA: (if you say so...then yes! ovo)
DQ: *wonderful*
DQ: *i*can*handle*all*of*the*ingredients*and*such
DQ: *just*let*me*know*when*youre*coming*over*!*
**demiurgeQuantified[DQ] ceased trolling sanguineAllegory[SA]**
And five hours later, Sovara Amalie arrived at the hive of Albion Shukra. A tower loomed over her, rising straight up into the sky. The open windows with pencils and books in their ledges offset the somewhat creepy architecture, however. Eager to see her matespirit and to make some lovely pastries, Sova rang the doorbell and waited patiently. Delicate footsteps hit the floor before the meticulously carved door swung open.
“Oh, darling! Come on in~” Albion gently ushered her guest inside before closing the door behind them.
Sova examined the atmosphere of the house as its owner quickly took her hand and led her to the kitchen. Albion’s house was a calming soft yellow and red color scheme with incense burning all around. Several small rugs with colorful, intricate designs dotted the floor along their path. The environment, and the fact that Albion was holding her hand, made Sova feel safe, sound, and excited to bake. The kitchen had already been prepped, with the aforementioned cookbook open in front of 2 bowls, a mixer, and who knows how many different baking items.
“Have you already decided what we’ll be making?”
“Yes, of course. The recipe is already out and ready to go!” Albion tapped the pages on the counter as she skipped away to preheat the oven.
Sova followed slower behind, stopping to check the book. It was open to a page detailing how to make a basic dozen vanilla cupcakes. The bits of light that came from the window illuminated each ingredient and made the image of the final product sparkle.
“Oh, I’m so excited to share this with you! A hands-on experience really is the best way to learn~” Albion said as she scooted past Sova to the pantry. “I wanted to add a few more things for us to make, but I just didn’t want us to be doing too much, y’know?”
She nodded in understanding as she flipped through the book to see all the possibilities, but mostly to look at the pictures. There were cupcakes with filling, donuts of all kinds, fudges and brownies...anything sugary you could imagine was kept in those pages.
“Alrighty, so we’re going to need to mix our ingredients in two seperate bowls before we can put them together. How about I do the dry ones and you can do the liquids?”
“Yeah, I got it!” Sova eagerly grabbed the smaller bowl. Albion was already off in her own world, humming away as she gracefully began to measure some flour. Sova stayed at the cookbook and scanned for the steps she needed.
Let’s see...oh I don’t need that much...eggs, milk, vanilla, and butter. After properly measuring and adding 3 things, only the eggs were left. Sova opened the container and chose her victim.
Eggs. Enemy of all bakers. The fear of getting shell in your mixture and the despair when it actually does. The disgusting feeling of egg on your finger as you crack the shell further. Sova knew eggs were no fun, but she wasn’t about to defer the task to Albion. She was working well with her...was she meditating?
She’s already done...let’s do this quickly.
Sova braced herself, smacked the egg on the counter, opened it over the bowl…
...and it was added to the mix no problem!
Oh, that wasn’t so bad! She thought as she picked out another and repeated the process.
“Hey, I’m done!” She said, beaming as she showed off her mixture to her proud matespirit.
“Wonderful! Now let’s put our things into the mixer...” Albion poured her part into the mixing bowl, and nudged Sova to do the same. She tossed it in and watched as the mixer whisked away.
When the dough was ready, Albion handed Sova a mini-scoop and slid over the cupcake tin. They gave each slot in the pan a generous amount, but the more the merrier right? Who doesn’t like oversized cupcakes? Their peaceful silence soothed both their minds as they worked together to fill the pan. Once they were done, Albion took the tray to the oven and set the timer.
“And now we wait!” Albion announced while moving to the sink to wash her hands. “I can take care of the cleanup for now, so you can go sit down.”
“I can help with dishes too-”
“Oh don’t worry about it! I invited you over and you’re the guest, so go relax! It’ll only take a second and then our desserts will be ready.”
Sova yielded and sat in one of the kitchen chairs, examining the many books on the table. Several journals, all used and filled to the brim with pages and pages of writing. Her instinct to read, analyze, and learn was beginning to stir.
“What’s in these?” She asked as she held up the one from the top of the pile.
“Oh, those are just some of my own stories and such.”
“Would you mind if I looked at it?”
Albion took a moment to consider, trying to remember what exactly was in that specific journal. It was just the constellations, so it should be okay.
“Yes, of course. It’s fine for you to read it~” She said, putting emphasis on the ‘you’.
Sova’s heart warmed as a feeling of importance came to light in her mind. She became acutely aware of their relationship in that moment and took in the atmosphere of the moment. It was just her and her matespirit having a nice day together, enjoying each other’s presence.
She opened the book and was greeted with tiny letters and elegant cursive. It was hard to read, but the drawings and descriptions themselves were as beautiful as the handwriting.
The sky was so delicately mapped out, with every light seen in the sky accounted for and added to a story. Beautiful illusions of adventurers and gods and soulmates were displayed through each page, each having a story to go along with their place in the stars. Some of their tales weren’t completely finished, with a few sentences trailing off into nothing or stopping and being forgotten about entirely. The ones who did get finished stories, however, got soulmates and happiness and a full life after their hardships. Sova felt a twinge in her chest as she yearned for the same sort of blissful ending.
The oven went off just as Albion was drying her hands and putting the last dish in the rack. She grabbed a potholder, a cooling rack, and a toothpick holder all at once, with more grace than usual. She did have an audience today, after all. Although she probably didn’t look very cool with the cooling rack about to fall out from under her arm. Oh darnit, she’s not even looking.
The smell was enough to finally get Sova out of her trance. The kitchen was flooded with the scent of sugar, so strong one could almost taste it. Skipping over to the counter, there the cupcakes stood on the cooling rack, in all their vanilla glory.
“Can we eat them now?” Sova asked, bouncing in place.
Now see, Albion knew that the cupcakes were way too hot to frost. Albion was very aware that if one were to frost cupcakes as soon as they came out of the oven, the frosting would melt all over the wrapper and you’d have a mess on your hands, literally.
After looking at her matespirit’s expression, however, Albion Shukra did not give a flying feather about these things.
“Well, we need to put frosting on them first.” She said as she pulled 3 cans of frosting out of the pantry, each a different color. There was no way they needed this much, absolutely none. But who doesn’t want to eat 3 whole cans of frosting? “What color do you want yours?”
“I’ll take the pink one!” Sova took the one with an image of some blueblood billionaire on it’s label, paying no attention to it rather than the can’s contents.
Albion decided on the plain white one, leaving the yellow to wallow in its own frostingness. She took out the piping bags she got specifically for this occasion, and neatly laid them all out on the counter. Albion picked the one with the star-shaped pipe, while Sova chose the standard circle. Splitting up the pan, they each got to work, swirling, watching said swirl melt, and attempt to remake the swirl.
“We probably should have waited a little longer…” Sova laughed as she tried to scoot the frosting back on top using the pipe.
“Well, there’s no fun in that, is there?” Albion replied as she just let hers collapse. It felt nice to know that this one thing, no matter how badly it appeared, truly did not matter. Frosting on cupcakes is delicious, that is a fact and nothing in the universe can change it.
They both tried their respective results, and while the frosting wasn’t up to par, they tasted perfectly fine if not a little too hot still.
On her second treat already, Sova excitedly held up the journal she was browsing through earlier. “Sell me aboud dese!” She said, covering her mouth still.
Albion giggled as she brought the plate over to the table so they could sit down. “Okay, which one were you reading earlier?”
Sova had the pages open to a drawing of soulmates who accepted their fate after many talks with their respective moirails. Oh goodness, that was a fun one. I hope she liked it. She was almost certain her beloved mood ring was pink now. She thought about shaking her wrist in an attempt to have it appear stable again.
Instead, she pulled up a chair right next to her matespirit, and used that finger to point to each detail she included in her tale.
She took extra care to make absolutely sure Sovara noticed.