Chapter Text
Ice Cube had just come out of the subway that Friday. It had been a long day of intern work at the metro, verifying tickets, maintaining hand sanitizers, and accommodating foreign guests who didn't speak English very well. Now it was 9 o'clock PM, time to head to the barista for some free coffee. When she stepped out of the metropolitana that cold December night, she had expected to get some late conversation with her coworkers at her day job and then head home, to the second floor of her apartment.
-
Pin was an ordinary metro food seller for various stations, selling rice cakes and the like, usually at ripe time for passerby who'd gotten off work and were ready to retire the day at the bar or head home to buy some alcohol. Although it was a rather busy spot, today she'd not seen many customers. She asked Needle, her coworker and older sister, what might've been going on. Needle wasn't too sure either, which was surprising for Pin. Needle is a few years older than Pin, as she is in her senior year of college. Pin, an 18-year-old senior in high school, knew Needle talked to the community around town a bit more than her, and so Needle usually knew what was happening around the district. Needle went to university there in town, but herself, her friends, and Pin went to events elsewhere together every once in a while. Needle took care of Pin; they'd lived solely together for the past two years while their parents were in another country with family, including Neelde and Pin's younger sister.
"Oh," said Pin, noting Needle's lack of knowledge about the customers. "Must be because of the weather." It was ten past 9, twenty minutes before closing time. Pin and Needle started taking inventory early so they could get home before being caught in the coming blizzard that was all over the news last night. According to major sources, the first was scheduled to arrive at 2:30am tomorrow and persist for until 4am. Something told Pin it wouldn't be reoccuring or significant. On the thought of cold weather, Pin thought of when her family would get home soon in December. It was just over four weeks until Christmas.
Things were quiet, as was usual this late at night. Only a few vendors were still open due to the sensational weather news. Pin started the bike ride home, and Needle closed shop and raced after her sister on her own bicycle.
That night Ice Cube made some dinner and sat at her laptop, watching Korean pop choreography while browsing her usual sites. Her heater was on tonight, which was notable since her apartment owner was known to usually be grudgey with using any unnecessary heat. At least that's what she'd learned from her room buddy, Cake, who'd been living here longer, and who had inspired Ice Cube to stay here with her while Ice Cube raised money. It was usually imperative that you bought your own supply of heat. However, this winter, the owner supplied heat for everyone, her charity to everyone living in her apartment during the winter, "from the bottom of her heart". Ice Cube assumed it was because she was legally required to now. By happenstance Ice Cube didn't particularly mind the cold, so she would have been quite content either way.
Ice Cube intended for this to just be a 4-6 year stay while she raised enough money from her jobs to continue getting a degree at this city's university, and it had been nearly eighteen since she moved here, in early December of last year. Her day job is a barista at the local coffee shop, that job again suggested to her by Cake. She had a lot to thank her high-school friend for. The shop was open only for a couple hours today Friday, at the final hours of usual schedule, to sell off orders made during the previous week that hadn't been picked up. Oddly her manager had instructed her not to come to help, though she could get some coffee if she wanted. Ice Cube was a little confused, as she was used to being the one to do the job of selling it off. But her coworker told her she wasn't being replaced and there was nothing to worry about. Her manager even felt a bit sorry for her wording, reassuring Ice Cube she wasn't being fired.
Throughout her life, Ice Cube was told she was a slacker by teachers, parents of friends and strangers who couldn't mind their own business. She knew she had a harder time giving others a hand, but she is certain she always puts in effort when it is important. Now, a little too paranoid about what others think of her, Ice Cube imagined the moments when she "slacked off" in front of her computer and reimagined the scenario playing out as if she had done what she should have done.
And... why was she thinking of events that happened years ago? She realized she was getting tired. She looked in front of herself again and realized she'd been in her mind for so long the screen had timed out. After coming to her senses in an attempt to remind herself what she was doing, she closed her social media and went to put her microwavable dinner on the kitchen counter.
Early that morning, Ice Cube woke up to a text from Book. "Coooomeeee outside." Ice Cube left her comfortably warm bed and opened up her window to a snow-filled landscape. It was too dark and precipitating to see anyone outside, assuming the temperature did not deter them from strolling outside at first contact anyway. The parking lot across the street and a few dozen yards wide was white, smooth and beautiful. The trees were covered white and snow fell onto Ice Cube's face where it stayed for a moment before melting against her warm face. And the wind greeted her hair and its chill weaved between her legs.
Glad to see that the full aura of the coming season was about the city. She loosened the tightness of her clothes so the cold air could enter and wake her up, sending her shivering.
She saw something being moved and turned on in the lot as her vision adjusted but it was blurry and painful to look at directly. Another ping from her phone. "Wait for your vision to get better." Ice Cube messaged back to the bright screen from her window. "Obviously." In the center square of the lot, a standard faux Christmas tree stood, decorated with ornaments of snowmen and angels and candles, every synthetic leaf a tone of sage, the tips of them highlighted goldenrod in a gradient. This looked just like the one Ice Cube helped haul in for Book when they were just acquaintances. Ice Cube remembered how it had gone down: They'd shopped in a department store for the tree for Book's family, dragged it out into the parking lot, and rode away Book's sister's car before forgetting they hadn't strapped the tree onto the car. Her sister drove back and got it before anything happened to it, luckily.
Attention now present to the top of the tree, Ice Cube saw one splendorous wooden angel in the figure of herself, larger and more pristine than any of the other decorations, and she drew all of Ice Cube's attention. The inside of the figure reflected the moonlight through the clouds so well it was as if it was glowing with its aura, encasing to Ice Cube (it was really just a crazily bright light that nearly blinded her). The angel's wings which grew from her waist were butterfly-like and spectacular, and, on her neck, what looked like an emulation of Book's bracelet (a match of which Ice Cube keeps in her bedroom). Ice Cube marveled. Ice Cube only just noticed Book standing beside it. Ice Cube mouthed words only the two and Ruby would get the inside joke to, and waited for Book to understand. Ice Cube was already at the end of her sentence and had guessed that Book was only paying attention to her phone for a text, and hadn't seen Ice Cube's expressions at all.
Book resumed walking intently, enwrapped in her cluelessness of what Ice Cube was doing, whilst climbing up the fire escape of the apartment, that the three knew how to unhinge the ladder of. Book began doing what Ice Cube just had done with the lip syncing thing, and, nearly frustrated, Ice Cube almost ignored her. But Ice Cube did in fact look at Book's lips, she did not need to, but she could have indulged in the sight of those lips any day no matter if they were in the process of making words or not, and that's what tipped her decision. The two locked eyes three feet from each other, motionless, until Ice Cube pressed her lips against Book's own.
The two closed their eyes. A moment passed. The heat from the other's body nulled any cold breeze from Book's direction. Or Ice Cube just couldn't feel it anyway. Then they heard a garbage truck driving toward the lot and Ice Cube climbed over her window, down the fire escape, and they both ran to save the tree, racing to see who would be the first to touch it and who would be the loser who would have to haul the whole tree. Then they walked back to Book's van with Book walking free-handed and Ice Cube hauling a three foot tree in a library bag, before entering the van and caressing again briefly. "Thank god we saved that," said Book. "I spent all night carpentering it."
"Carpentering?", questioned Ice Cube. Book proudly said, "Yeah. The class payed off didn't it."
"You mean carpenting."
"Yes. I'm pretty mean, or average, at carpentering, but I'm sure you'll be blinded my amazing skills in four months time after more practice."
"No. The word." said Ice Cube, vainly. "'I went carpentering tonight.' It should be carpentering."
The garbage collector sounded his horn; they were in his route. Book and Ice Cube were silenced and got in the van. They couldn't go back up to the apartment through the window now: the truck driver had seen the fallen ladder and had lifted it back up to unreachable-ness. "It's about one hour until we can go in through the front," Ice Cube said.
"Are you sure?" asked Book. "You know the owner won't open the door for strangers all day on a Saturday, not just the early hours. You told me."
"I know, but you know where she goes every saturday."
"That's right," Book laughed. "You'd think she'd buy more pain relievers if this happens this often."
"Or stop getting cramps altogether from not sitting in that cruel posture all day?" Ice Cube laughed meekly. Book joined.
"I know yours is not, but no breakfast shops are open right about now, are they?"
"Nope. I'll call Cake to let us in, I almost forgot about her. She'll come. When she wakes up, that is."
They waited in the van.
Pin sat on the counter. Did she really have to do this? She opened up a mobile game on her phone. She fully understood she was acting childish in public. Good.
"Yes, you have to do this, Pin."
"Why? In fact I don't know who you are," said Pin. Her total argument so far was as weak as that single rebuttal. But she must have been stressed, because she knows when something is futile. If she wasn't stressed she wouldn't have done this. Do you really want to stress people out? This is what she told the flight attendant.
Yet she was insistent on acting stubborn today, in front of.. who? Who was this? Why does this man - "Jose" - think he can just snatch her possessions and make her have to beg to have it back?
"I didn't snatch your possessions, I refused to allow you to bring a backpack full of rotted fruit and buttons into an airport. You can continue without it. If you're stressed, we sell pillows. And my name tag says Cloudy Johnson, not Jose."
"OK, fair point."
A loose group of people nearby laughed innocently at the scene. Pin waved and smiled awkwardly at them. Awkward movement, but she wasn't exactly embarrassed. Because two seconds ago she'd won the secret dare she'd made with her younger sister last year, which they alternated with each other every year. This time the dare was to make a scene at the airport with a worker, to the point of making other people in the airport laugh. With this victory, Pin would get to collect two dollars from her this year.
Cloudy noticed Pin's outward change in demeanor. "Want me to take this off your hands while you go to your family in the exiting line instead? You look pretty eager to meet them as soon as possible." Pin refused and instead smiled and sat back down on the counter, waiting for her relatives to come to her.
Pin got up and greeted her immediate family as they entered the airport from the flight from Hong Kong. Usually Pin and Needle flew to them, but because of a recent storm, local airports only let flights to and from the port be booked by people in a group of at least three. After the greeting, Needle drove from campus to the airport to pick everyone up. Pin remembered to get her buttons - she worked hard to get those - and Needle drove to drop them off home. Pin almost couldn't contain her gladness at not having to be in Hong Kong to taste her cousin's horrible annual Christmas duck dumpling soup.
9:30AM. Central Pamana Bookstore, the place that never leaves you. Dora walked in the shop through the back, solicitously, trying to be unseen. Would she catch another person returning a comic late again? She stood attentive. Early in the morning, walking to the library in this weather? Someone would definitely think it was the right time to try to pull this stunt. Edging her way down the isles... Now so close the book return - scanning the passed shelves for sight of anyone; is that Creatures of Goiky? A shiny, limited edition comic, only 200 copies, with author's notes. It had only just caught her eye, so the novel had definitely not been there a minute ago, when she had scanned it earlier. She walked back toward the bookcase containing the specified comic. It had wet stains and plain to see creases with leaves littered between the pages. Not in good shape. The door opened, a hooded figure swiftly left the bookstore. Dora only had to tell the figure to pay $10.00 next time they came in or they could not checkout comics again, and the culprit gave in - not being able to bear her reputation with the library becoming tainted.
"Caught. Book, what did I say about book renewal?"
"Yeah yeah, but I love the series and had to checkout all of the editions before someone else came in and snatched them up," Book replied. Dora smiled. "Well, what can I expect from you when you're desperate." Book gave $15.00 to the librarian and turned to her van in the snow. Why did she feel coerced to lie to about a comic to a semi-close friend she met through an algebra summer camp? Because that comic sold out every day as soon as it was in stock, so who would blame her? Right? She was normal about where to apply competition, right? Book went home. She told herself she was tired from making that hollow wooden angel. She didn't feel like doing much else that day.
Pin woke up a couple hours past noon after the ride home and a subsequent nap. A moment later she heard a terrifyingly explosive 'bark' from downstairs. She froze for a second. She'd always been afraid of large dogs. It repeated. That was enough to get her to stand up out of her bed and swing open her door to find out what it was. In the hallway she saw it was Teardrop playing pranks again. Pin took the voice recorder from her younger sister and threw it down the hall.
A little hungry and disgruntled, Pin proceeded to have a voracious feast of human hopes and flesh. In her favorite free-to-play MOBA, Argonaut: Pubstomper, of course. She played alone today, all her friends were offline spending time with their families that evening. Pin sometimes spent time with family did as well, but her priorities were elsewhere after that wake-up call. She aced her first and second games, before the game force-updated.
Then on her phone she noticed Coiny was in the process of texting her. Coiny and Pin were close friends, Pin even considered Coiny her best friend, but would never just casually say it. It wasn't romantic at all, at least to Pin, and for as long as she could remember she never found people like Coiny the kind to attract her. Her younger sister Teardrop would jokingly mock her for that selectiveness. But after grade school Pin never took ridicule from strangers personally; she wasn't really close to anyone else there, besides TD.
In cases where Pin did not want to walk home, Needle, who was virtually taught in her last one and one fourth year of highschool - a personal choice: she'd injured her legs in a track event in her junior year, and she wanted to help Teardrop because she was entering middle school and required homeschooling for communication difficulties - would pick Pin up.
Right now, Pin, Teardrop and their mother and father were here at the house. Needle was helping her friend out with delivering for her business and would be back home in time for Christmas.
The 17-year old didn't really know what do this year. She'd spent every New Year's in Hong Kong with her extended relatives. Every twelve months of her whole life, this period was the highlight of her year. She wished that wouldn't change this week, and a twinkling sound began. Pin looked up and came back to her senses. Coiny, or 'Dirmel', had sent her a message on QueChat.
Dirmel: 'Can't play argo. sorry'
Pin replied. tacaeang: 'Why not?'
Dirmel: 'The game's updating, only a tenth of the highest level users can connect to the servers in the beta. according to Wekoed. The queues for lower players are closed because of a bug causing uneven team matchups.'
Not being in the mood for doing much of anything else but more Pubstomper, she connected to another game, successfully. It looked like she was in the tenth of high-level players with access to the update.
In the pre-game lobby of the game, someone locked in the character Jason, a combatant, even though Pin had called dibs earlier in chat. Forty seconds left to choose a hero. Now she had to pick Medea or Hera, both supports. She didn't know Medea's abilities very well, and Hera was a new hero that she hadn't gotten around to trying out yet. She chose Medea.
Looking back at sidebar: The offender's username who took her character was 'favoriteCube'. It made her a little heated that they now might be losing the game because he took her character. She usually ignored these things or quit and joined another lobby, but she checked his game profile and he didn't look crass at all, actually pretty nice. Pin weighed the chance that it was just a misunderstanding, and assuming it was, she sent a message in game lobby chat.
tacaeang: 'favoriteCube, I wanted to play Jason. I called him.'
She waited and there was no quick reply. But after ten seconds:
favoriteCube: 'Sorry, I keep chat muted and didn't notice you'd said that. I was going to try out a new hero. You can play my role instead, I'll take support'
He switched his character, and he now had Medea, a support hero. After now concluding that it didn't matter, Pin had a change of heart at the last second.
tacaeang: 'Actually, I was just frustrated. Its cool, I'll take Medea, you take jason and we can both learn a little'
She voted for another swap. The stranger accepted. Now Pin had Medea, a support, and he had Jason, a combatant. With only three seconds left of lobby time, the timer counted down to zero and the actual game began. There were three total players on their time and three on the enemy's, as standard.
The start of the game looked different than her first two games of the day. This bug was definitely in conjunction with a heavy visual update. Pin thought of what her game plan would be as a support. What would her starter item be this game? Orb of Causticity? Apparel of Sneakiness? Or leather boots?
favoriteCube: 'Get Argus's Band as your starter, so you can get the sight skill early on.'
Argus's Band was an available support item and unlocked the sight skill. It also allowed players could bind an oath to any allied hero, and the support's ally-aiding abilites would be global when assisting the person with the other band. It was powerful, but its cost was high - all of your starting gold.
tacaeang: 'These guys look like they're all mostly tanks, wouldn't attack speed might be more beneficial for us? and you have Black Veil. Did you mean to get a Vile Blade?'
Black Veil allowed instant teleportation to any point on the map once in the game, and five-second invisibility afterward. It was one-use. As another expensive item, it required all gold you had from the start. Vile Blade was a cheaper and more sustainable standard combatant option, but this player didn't sound like he went for standard options.
favoriteCube: 'Nope, Black Veil. Get the Band. Medea, watch me on the map.'
Pin (Medea) went with the Argus's Band and proceeded to move the middle of the arena with one of her other teammates, in the typical position of support heros. With the vision Medea provided they could see the enemies. The enemies looked like they were a five-man team and couldn't properly position in time because they were slow-moving tanks.
(Jason) used Black Veil to teleport to their base and hide from their vision, waiting for the two slowest to be caught alone. With the 5-second invisibility from the item, he walked behind one of them. Health of a player scaled with level, so it was easy killing one enemy player who had unlocked no levels, while invisible. A level of a single teammate could be unlocked with each ally kill on any enemy. When one of the stronger enemies targeted Jason in the base, Medea used her 'Arrive' skill, that she'd just unlocked. The 'Arrive' returned Jason to where he was five seconds ago, just where he originally teleported. Again behind the enemy he'd killed ten seconds ago, since they'd respawned and were moving to the middle of the map again. That's when the Jason caught him alone, again. This made for a dyad.
tacaeang: 'This is pretty exploitable, lol.'
favoriteCube: 'Yeah that item may have been a mistake, haha. I may have played a few games with it.'
Pin was impressed by this player's skill; she could never have done this any time she had played the hero, she usually took the same items every game regardless of the matchup. By this time the gold and extra skills granted each of the three players on Pin's team the amount gold they had started with. They easily won the match after the one dead enemy quit the game, and Pin's team took the Golden Fleece.
'Hey, favoriteCube, want to be friends?', Pin typed in the after game lobby.
favoriteCube: 'Sure, I'm not on much often anymore though'.
tacaeang: 'Oh, cool. no problem thats fine'
favoriteCube: 'Add me on queChat? "icee#4444" I check that way more often'
tacaeang: 'cool, Sure!'
-
Ice Cube decided that was enough of the game for the day and went out on a walk outside in the late evening. Near ten o'clock she came back to a message from tacaeang (Pin).
tacaeang: 'I was pretty rude back there, sorry. The game does that to me sometimes. And a really annoying snowplow was outside all day.'
Ice Cube hadn't though much about what happened earlier, unbothered.
icee: 'Yeah no problem, you honestly weren't acting too unusual. Same here with the snowplow btw. coincidence. This one has this annoying high pitched buzz that changes frequency every minute.'
tacaeang: 'Oh no way. That sounds just like this one. Peppco owned vehicle?'
icee: 'It is. Those things are deafening and should not be on the street. I live in an apartment near a big park and they're on this street all day.'
tacaeang: 'I think we live pretty near each other. Pamana District?'
icee: 'Yes. Let me guess. You also live in an undersized apartment?'
tacaeang: 'Same, same. I HAVE to go to the park and watch the water just to get away from the density sometimes.'
icee: 'I was literally just there. Want to go to there tomorrow?'
tacaeang: 'umm I dont know if my parents would exactly take it lying down. I have to supervise my younger sister that day.'
icee: 'Oh I understand. Been there.' She hadn't.
tacaeang: 'On the morning of a day that looks good we'll elect to go?'
icee: 'Will. Looking forward to it.'
"Let's get to work, sweeties!", Ruby gleefully gave across. "I love baking" said Cloudy, happy with the turn-up at the event. "I'm not too sure what to think of the recipe I'm supposed to make soon," Book said with part confusion. "Part of it is gelatin, and the rest,.. Ice Cube's keeping it a secret from me. I trust her and all, but what if it's something way out of my skill area?" Ruby dismissed her, "This is The Pamana December Baking Show, Book, not Hell's Kitchen. Just go with it. Don't be glum, have some fun! Besides, do you want to sound unconfident in front of your new girlfriend-??" "She's not - I mean, she is.. we are, I mean, but - Ruby, this is on TV!" Ruby thought it was funny how Book got so awkward when talking about her.
The Pamana Baking Show was held every year on December 1 and went on a livestream, as people across the district watched. Ruby found out about this event through an flyer, and when she became 15, Ruby opted to speak for the event until she left for college, which would be in less than a year. Ruby and Book went to this bake-off as a duo every year since, and, after Ice Cube introduced herself to the friend group, as a trio.
The usual team compilation for the two-team baking competition was two students and a mentor, but last year Ruby had proved herself so skilled, a mentor wasn't needed, and all three of them - Ruby, Book, and Ice Cube - could work together on the same team. They would usually all go on the same team again this year, but this year Ruby was confident she could crush her friends, as a final way of saying sayonara to the event. It looked like a disproportionate amount of people were rooting for Ruby's team in the livestream chat (displayed as a red fruit icon with Ruby, Fanny, and Cloudy's names under it), than Book, Ice Cube, and Gelatin's (green fruit icon).
"The broadcast hasn't started yet, silly, that's in a few minutes," Ruby responded to Book's last question. "And your bae's still in the lavatory. Trust me, I was watching to find an idea for what to give the viewers when I win today." A few queued in-person viewers for Ruby's team quickly changed their minds and went to green team's seating area, making it equal. "Why did you have to say that so loudly Ruby. I don't like being near sweaty people," Book whispered. "Just making it even, Bookington." She clearly didn't want them either.
"Anyways," Ruby said to the crowd, "that was the final registration to bring utensils and cooking supplies to the event. We're full! Sorry! Go home!" A disappointed 'boo' came from some crowded corner at the back of crowd. Ice Cube at last came back from the lavatory. It was time to begin.
"And now, I think we're ready to begin. Welcome to the Pamana Baking Show! Two teams of so-so student bakers will have two hours to compete and make the best bakes in Pamana City. We're broadcasting this Sunday with an audience from the sunny Pamana Central Park, and you can watch it all online! I'm your host, Ruby. Today, as every year, we have two special guest bakers with us. On the green team, we have the "not-so-ametuer-baker" master-chef Gelatin. As mentor for the red team, a baker guru, Cloudy! The mentors have brought one of their own famous written recipes and will have guide their mediocre team of two to victory by baking best, most delicious one! But their team will have to be the ones doing most of the baking, as there are limits how much a mentor can help. On green team this year: Book and Ice Cube! And on my team this year, Fanny and Ruby! Round of applause, everyone. Now let's get baking!" Hoots and hollers and the general enthusiasms roused from the audience in the park. It would be a particularly interesting show this year.
-
"So, now that we've begun the initialization steps on our recipes, tell us a little bit about yourself, Cloudy."
"Well, my name is Cloudy and I was born in Kansas. My core aspiration in my early years was to be the best baker in every city I said my family name in. Now I work at a metropolitan Wisconsin city airport and I've ended up on a baking show for teens."
"Interesting! You know, Pamana is an airport town. What recipe do you have for us?"
"I'm teaching my team how to make a French vanilla Soufflé."
"Safe and simple. And on the green team; Ice Cube?"
"We're making a gelatin with meringue cookies."
"Ice Cube, how'd you know we'd be doing meringue cookies?" Book asked to her over the surrounding noise. Ice Cube spoke to the microphone again. "Well, I always love them when she makes amazing cookies for me, so I thought I'd use this opportunity to give something back on-par with her skill." An aww came from the crowd. "How sweet to have a couple on the set. But enough about you!" Ruby walked back to the red team and continued to present to the camera for a bit as Ice Cube began work with her team, attempting to help.
"No. For starters, you'll want to mix gelatin with this," corrected Gelatin. "Don't worry, beginners' mistake."
As she was being instructed, Ice Cube noticed Book looking over her table with with confusion. Ice Cube dismissed herself and walked over to find out how she could help her friend. "I'm so dead," Book communicated. "How the hell are we supposed to beat Ruby? She's saved our team's air gas every year. Last time we tried to make a jelly filled donut and you ended up with a bumpy volcano that spilled over to the other team's plate," Book laughed. Ice Cube nudged her partner on the shoulder. "Come on, at least watch me melt the competition on purpose this time."
"Beyblade, you say?" Ruby was in another crowd interview. "I'm short on time, I'll have to wrap up this interview here. Nonetheless, very interesting hobbies, Mr. Johannes Brahms." The livestream relay cut to a display of messages from donations from the past twenty minutes. "Ruby, if you have time, what do you think of this? Better than yours last year?" Book called over. Ruby told a crowd goer to take control of the tripod and walked over to her friend. She spoke the truth anyone would have thought. "I don't know if I've used a fork exactly like that before, so I can't say." "This is the third one," said Book. For a moment she silently attempted to understand why a world-class chef like himself would do such a thing. "You'd think it's enough," she eventually agreed. "I'm sure this guy knows what he's doing," said Ice Cube, timidly careful in case he was listening. She wanted her last year here to go over well. Fanny shouted over the trio's closed conversation. "Hey Ruby, wanna help sometime?"
"On the way! Wait, hold on, I forgot I had to go to the bathroom before I spoke to that interviewee. Back in 5!"
Book tried to use the forks again the way she was told to. It just wasn't working.
"You know," someone from the crowd said to Book once Ruby was gone, "You wouldn't have to worry about those cutlery if you had a repellent for them, hmm?"
Book looked to Ice Cube. She was off using fondant with Gelatin. She might have to handle this herself. "I've watched these events from across the state every year and it's always done so wrong," the fan continued. "I could show you the proper way, for a close-up view, perhaps."
Book thought Ruby was right in her thinking: Some of these people were ravenous for close-up views for this baking event. Book didn't even know that more than a couple hundred people watched this a year online. "I'm sorry, the speaker said no more front row views."
"I see. Then how about a place on the show?"
They really wanted the close-ups, Book thought. The two other green team members were waiting for her now. Book ignored the fan and returned to fetching the whisks to return to her mates. "Hey, anyone know him?" "No," Gelatin and Ice Cube both replied.
Meanwhile, the red team had been waiting for Ruby, but now they thought about beginning work without their MIA. "We're behind; where did Ruby go?" Fanny said, disgruntled. "She was supposed to be back from the bathroom five minutes ago!"
Ruby didn't come back after yet another 5 minutes. "I'm sure it will be worth it when we get the first-place prize," said Cloudy. Fanny, bored, prodded him in an attempt to get some of the prize: "We'll get something at the end of this, right? What did she tell you we were all baking for again?" "I don't remember exactly what she said the winner would get, but it had something to do with 'investment capital'."
Fanny was shocked by this. The big prize besides money this year was only 'more money'. In past years it had been a skilled tutor to help with a college essay or even a MacBook, depending on your age. "I hate this! I needed college credits, not money!"
Fanny left the set to sit in the crowd. "Well now how will I make this soufflé," Cloudy asked himself. He thought back to past critical moments in his life. He'd said he'd be the best baker in any town he'd said his family name in just an hour ago, hadn't he? He'd said it to the girl at the airport yesterday morning. Cloudy looked over to the green team; they weren't too impossibly ahead. If an opportunity would present itself in his life to fulfill his dream to make the best bake in this town, this was it, and it had been provided to him by that angel that got him to say his last name.
Cloudy was filled with rejuvenating energy in a bright flash, expanding in his own size greatly as well. "This is for you, weird airport girl!" He got to work with the whisks and the yolks and the flour and went to town (not literally).
-
It was at the point that Ruby saw thunder and heard the sound of lightning that she decided she'd spent enough time filling in coloring books in the bathroom stall and should go see what was going on. The contestant interviews had resumed a few minutes ago now, according to schedule. She had to make sure whoever was handling it had good content. As soon as she exited the lavatory, Ruby asked Cloudy where Fanny went. "She left, she didn't like the prize this year," throated a huge puffy Cloudy (he was mixing things inside of himself, it appeared). "Leafy's getting good footage over here, Ruby. Don't worry," he also said.
"Leafy?" Ruby exited the picnic area in search of the camera. Forgetting who she'd left the tripod to, she asked around the crowd. "Need some help Ruby?" asked a uniformed teenager directing the camera; a stagehand of whom Ruby forgot the event had. "Yeah, thanks, Leafy," she said reading off of her nametag. "Do you think you have the camera skills to assist in my place while I return to the competition?" Ruby asked. Leafy gladly obliged.
"Great! Now get to that camera work, stagehand. It's difficult," said Ruby.
"I mean I'm technically above your position as a minor speaker, though, but OK."
-
By now Book, Ice Cube, and Gelatin were far and ahead, according to Gelatin's encouraging words. They'd finished mixing the powder in with the water and were now idle near the freezer waiting for the solution to cool. The chef remembered something: "Ice Cube, didn't you say you were also wanting to make meringue cookies?" Gelatin noted. "Oh yeah, I did, didn't I? I have the stuff but I forgot to print the recipe I had. Want to look it up for us Book? We've got ninety minutes." Book did so, and green team started on the meringue cookies.
-
"Ruby is that.. toilet paper on your shoe?" Cloudy hollered over as she was headed toward him. "Oh my smokey quartz, you're right. I must have stepped in something near the benches. Thanks, Cloudy. That would've been quite a corundum to figure out how to hide if I were presenting in front of the camera." Ruby leaned over to remove the toilet paper. Half of it ripped off, but the tissue was extremely sticky to her shoe, almost like vomit, and the other half of the piece remained. These shoes were made not to slip. She tried to get her fingernails into the crevices of the soles and tear, but this made ever smaller particles to become stuck in the sole pattern, particularly bonding with the material in the custom-made shoes. The stuff would stain there indefinitely if she didn't wash it out now. She filled a water bottle at a water fountain and struggled for at least another five minutes.
While all this was going on, Teardrop and Pin watched the broadcast of the event in Pin's bedroom. Pin was on the phone with Needle, who was watching it in her friend's dormitory. "Have you considered making gelatin it this way Needle?" asked Pin.
"No, and that is not how you use a fork!" Needle said laughingly. "I hope green team wins this year, they're in the lead though." said Teardrop, happily, probably for no reason other than it was her favorite color. Needle agreed, "Same, I relate to that cube girl." Pin, however, differed from her accompanying bake bingers. "My allegiance to red team is unwavering. Go Cloudy!"
A new face greeted the screen. "Is that.. Leafy?" Teardrop noticed. "Yeah, I remember how she went to school a grade above me," said Pin.
-
The minute after Leafy first appeared, the stream got ten donations. "Love your stuff Leafy!" said a donation in the online livestream. "Well thank you, I'll make sure to pay you back! Let's read some more donations from the chat!"
"Where did Fanny go I loved her smile"...
"Can we go back to mr Brahms?"...
"pls read this"...
"go red team this year !"...
"Cloudy THICC"...
After thirty minutes of reading donations, Leafy returned the camera to the show and the donations stopped. The show continued as usual for another half hour. During the last quarter of time for the competition, most of the activity was waiting for things to chill or heat and the commotion slowed down as it got closer to noon, when the bakes would be judged by the crowd.
Green team was pretty much done now. As for red team, surprisingly, they had a pretty good looking soufflé, in accordance with Cloudy's skills. Despite all odds, Ruby once and for all did something, adding a few touch ups to their plate with some cream, fondant, and edible superficial decoration in the last fifteen minutes, after she'd gone home and swapped shoes.
Small samples of the soufflé, and then meringue cookies with instant Jell-O (a last-ditch change by Book after she'd seen that the gelatin solution was frozen solid as a rock) had been set on paper plates for attendants to try both of, and add a tally under the team name. The Jell-O would end up not being valid, according to event organizers, and participants would instead judge by the cookies. It could still be eaten by staff though. "I hope someone takes the blue Jell-O cup - I added a surprise fork," whispered Gelatin.
One by one, townspeople of Pamana added their single tally mark to a side of a creased-down-the-middle paper. After five minutes, the victor was clearly seen to be Cloudy and Ruby. "Thanks, everyone;" began Cloudy. "Now I can say I partly fulfilled my dream." He continued on a droning speech. "I only liked it because of the cream," someone whispered among the crowd. After some packing up of the set and an elaborate monologue by Cloudy (only Ice Cube clapped), people began to leave or walk around the park for a while.
After the park was all cleaned up, Leafy came to Ruby, Ice Cube, Cloudy, and Book. "Great news! We have enough money to make the show twice as big next year! We can afford so much, the winners of this year's contest will each get $40,000, six times the original prize!" Ruby was silently shocked. "Now I can travel the world!" said Cloudy, swiftly flying away while forgetting he hadn't yet collected the money. "Hmm, well I was going to spend it on $18,000 shoes, but now I guess I can split it with you two munchkins," Ruby said to Ice Cube and Book.
Ice Cube, Book, and Ruby strode home, waiting for Ruby to receive the money to split with them, which she would a week later. This was enough for college.
By this point Pin and icee had been messaging each other often, more than several times a day. Over three weeks ago, during their video chat (neither could make it outside that day), Ice Cube'd said something about being an important part of a baking show with someone close to her. Pin knew by now Ice Cube was in a relationship.
Less than four days to Christmas were to go, and being with their families, they decisively shared facts about their relatives to each other: Teardrop drew for Pin in a middle school art contest when she was ten years old and won for Pin. Or Ice Cube has an older brother in an entrepreneurial business in Hong Kong, coincidentally. Or Pin's cousin knows three languages, or Ice Cube may have had a two-year-younger sister like Pin but it was a stillbirth... They even knew each other's names by now and regularly greeted the other with nicknames. Pin would almost always say "I didn't C you there." Ice Cube still used "Pinwheel" regularly. The two played Pubstomper for at least five hours every week. In-game Pin could vent about her job and school and her sometimes ignorant family, and Ice Cube could vent about job surfing and the people in her life, among other things. The two really became quite close.
On a Sunday December 21, the pair of judicators deemed the weather was perfect for a walk, with a slightly ruffled light gray sky, breeze to match (which meant waves to watch), and a chill just about chilly enough to keep the park population absent of large dogs and large dog walkers. Pin got on her best-looking boots (it was a decision between sneakers or boots) and sweater. She made sure not to forget to put on deodorant after brushing her teeth, something particularly uncommon for Pin, who didn't often care if people thought of her, even if she was inconveniencing herself in the process. "I have an appointment dad, see you and TD in an hour!" And she headed out to Pamana Central Park, bringing the paper boat she'd made last week for this day.
-
She steered her bike about the puddles, making a game of trying not to submerge the bottom quarter-diameter of the tire. Getting immersed in the view of the park ground, she had no time react to an incoming sound and bumped into a another cyclist, knocking their glasses down. "Sorry, I didn't see you there." Now that one was unintentional.
This was the first time either of the two had seen each other in real life. Now Pin had to locate Ice Cube's glasses amid the wet dirt to make this first impression the slightest bit better. "Don't worry," said Pin, grinning. "I'm better at seeing than my eyes will let me tell."
Ice Cube stole a glance at Pin meanwhile. She looked like the type she'd imagined her to be up-close: taller than her (as it seemed everyone was, somewhat-annoyingly), hardly tended hair, hoodie of a baseball team, and plain jeans, as well as a smile that was almost never bastardized by being displayed ingenuinely. After those few seconds the taller girl finally found the glasses and handed them to Ice Cube.
Ice Cube put them on. She realized Pin was waiting for her to talk. Ice Cube started a slight shiver, and not from the cold, but anxiety. She honestly thought it would go immensely more smoothly than this when they met, for whatever reason, and nothing witty came to her when she expected it to.
"tacaeang?" quivered Ice Cube, pretending not to recognize her.
"Yes, also known as Pin. Great to see you! Here's the craft I made," Pin said punctually, a habit when in uncomfortable social situations.
'Is this supposed to be a cardboard boat or plane? What was it that I asked her to do?' Ice Cube thought. Ice Cube couldn't remember, but she had to say something. From what she could see of it behind Pin's head, it was a light cardboard. 'Definitely a plane then, those need to be light.' "Well, let's see it fly."
"Yup. Let's fly it," Pin threw the craft into the air at an angle, after also thinking it was plane, after hearing Ice Cube say so. It didn't go high before coming back down on a truck roof, becoming irretrievable.
"Wait, maybe you made a boat," Ice Cube realized out-loud at the same time Pin did internally. Pin was reddening with embarrassment now, taking her turn to be the meek one. Ice Cube laughed kindly. "No, it's fine," offered Ice Cube. "You have more board in your backpack, right? Let's make an actual boat." They began to do so on the nearby benches for the next hour or so, taking turns every ten minutes or so to initiate some small-talk, the other attempting to build upon it but ultimately ending up unable to continue the conversation. It really was all so much easier online.
At the end, they'd secondarily happened to have collaborated in the making of one not-so-bad-boat that sailed past the end of the visible canal.
"Should we go see where it ends up?"
"No, its fine."
They concluded their first hangout, of several to come.