Work Text:
It starts with a shift in the weather.
December at the Motherlobe. Snow and ice have finally gone from a possibility to an inevitability, and for the last two days there has been a light but persistent coating all over, determined to survive despite the constant fluctuating temperature.
Laying on her back on her bed with her legs crossed at the ankles against the wall, Lizzie holds her phone an inch above her face in a precarious position that is just begging for her to drop it. She won't, because she's a pro.
A text from Sam pops up in her notifications and she clicks on it without hesitation.
S: You really don't have any personal family traditions this time of year? Nothing beyond the standard Hallmark Movie Ways?
L: nope
S: No weird decorations with a harrowing history? No family games that result in lives lost and relationships torn to shreds in a matter of hours?
The cryokinetic feels her lips quirk upward at the idea of a board game leading to bloodshed. It's such a bizarre, hilarious concept, but her family has always been too stuffy to even try Monopoly during the holidays.
L: we played uno once
L: does that count
S: Did anyone explode a head when they lost?
L: i threw my cards at norma cause she was a sore winner
S: Nah. Doesn’t count.
A new alert appears at the top of the screen. Her gaze trails upwards to see it's some kind of important weather update.
S: Not even a recipe passed generation to generation, a mark of ye olden times?
L: just store bought
Lizzie eyes the new notification, reading the forecast that there will be rain later in the evening heavy enough to melt away the ice and snow that had just started to make an appearance in the area. She feels only a little disappointed over the fact; it is the Northwest US, after all. Rain is practically a daily fact of life here.
No, the reason it catches her attention as much as it does is because in the very next moment, she hears someone stomping down the hall towards her room. Lizzie lets out a long-suffering sigh and braces herself for a headache.
Her door is unlocked - a mistake she’s already decided she won’t ever make again - so there’s no stopping Norma from storming through it.
“Have you seen this?” The pyrokinetic waves her own phone in the air like it has personally offended her.
Lizzie sits up so she can put double the effort into looking unbothered. “Good morning to you, too.”
“I can’t believe this,” her sister continues without even acknowledging the dig. Which, rude. “What are they even paying these people for? To claim one thing for a week and then change that claim at the very last minute? This wouldn’t happen so much if they’d just hire someone with precognition instead of relying on outdated methods and obsolete technology!”
There’s a chime on Lizzie’s phone. She glances at the screen.
S: ONLY store-bought?? We have to fix this immediately. It’s time for you to experience my nan’s world-famous holiday sugar cookies.
“Are you even listening to me?”
“Not really,” the cryokinetic says without looking up.
Norma huffs and throws up her hands. “Some sister you are. Aren’t you supposed to be supportive when I’m upset?”
“If there was a reason for you to be upset, maybe. It’s just a little rain. Don’t tell me you suddenly can’t light a candle just because it’s going to sprinkle.”
Instead of scoffing or getting uppity about her abilities, her sister goes a funny shade of red and crosses her arms in a blatant sign of defensiveness. Lizzie straightens a little bit, sensing weakness to be exploited.
“Forget it,” she grumbles as she starts retreating towards the door. “This is what I get for thinking I could vent to you of all people.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Lizzie holds up a hand. Norma stops moving. “Wait. Hang on.”
She takes in the other teen’s pink cheeks and the almost bashful way she’s holding herself. Norma is a lot of things, but bashful isn’t one of them. In fact, the only time she’s ever looked anything like that is when it involves -
“Oh my god.”
“Not a word!”
“Oh my god.” Lizzie finally gets off her bed with a shark grin sneaking across her face. “I can’t believe it.”
“Lower your voice! Adam is right next door, you know!”
“You finally asked Gisu out!”
“...Maybe.” It looks like it physically pains Norma to admit it. “Not like, long-term. Just a few dates to see where it goes. And I…I wasn’t the one who asked.”
The cryokinetic’s eyes nearly bug out of her skull with cruel delight. There are so many ways she can tease her sister about this revelation.
But first some clarification is needed.
“What does the weather have to do with you two going out?”
Norma sighs and lets her arms drop limply to her sides in an admission of defeat. “She was going to take me ice skating in the Questionable Area tomorrow since there’s finally enough ice for it.”
“Ah. Sucks.”
“It’s unacceptable is what it is!” And just like that, she’s back to pacing in affronted anger. “I bought a brand new pair of skates just for the occasion!”
“It’s never too late to return them and do something else.”
“Not an option. We both wanted to skate, and now the rain tonight is going to ruin it! I need to fix this somehow, but how can I -” Norma stops dead in her tracks. When she turns around again, Lizzie knows immediately where her mind has gone.
The cryokinetic groans. “No.”
“Just this once!”
“I’m not playing Elsa just so your date goes smoothly. Go to an ice skating rink or something.”
“I can’t,” her sister whines. “She promised Otto she’d be close to the Motherlobe all weekend for some kind of new invention he’s working on in case he needs her help.”
“Damn. Doubly sucks for you, then.”
Her phone buzzes again.
S: Luckily for you, I’m free all weekend. Give a day, time and place and I’ll show you what culinary perfection looks like.
“I’m clearly just wasting my time here,” Norma says with a scowl. “I’m going to find someone who’s actually helpful. Thanks for nothing.”
She stalks off towards the door, and Lizzie makes a split-second decision that she hopes she isn’t going to regret later.
“Wait.”
Her sister stops with her hand on the doorknob.
“What?”
“I’ll do it. On one condition.”
Norma squints at her in a mix of hope and suspicion. “And what would that condition be?”
Lizzie looks at her phone. She looks at her sister.
“How do you feel about double dates?”
For the first time since Lizzie can remember, she’s the first one to arrive at a designated meeting place.
She’s actually been here for hours. It took a lot of time and effort to create what she promised Norma she would, and then she ended up staying because she was getting paranoid that the weather would betray them again and ruin her hard work. She’s not used to feeling anxious about something as simple as a date, but yet here she is, waiting just past the entrance to the Questionable Area way before anyone else is supposed to show up and probably looking like an idiot for it.
The Otto B.O.N. rumbles. The cryokinetic has only a moment to lean against the nearest tree in an awkward attempt to look unconcerned before the hatch shoots open. Out come Gisu and Sam one after the other; the former is carrying a pair of ice skates and the latter is holding two big plastic bags full of baking supplies.
“I’m armed and ready,” Sam announces as Lizze approaches the two of them. “I hope you guys are prepared for a rigorous training montage as we pour our blood, sweat, and tears into our work that lasts several days at least.”
“I promised Otto I’d be back by six,” Gisu tells her.
“Addendum: a rigorous training montage that lasts two hours.”
Lizzie snorts despite herself. It’s such a stupid thing to find funny, but she does, and she doesn’t miss the way Sam flashes a smile at her for it.
“This is so cool of you to do for us,” the levitator says. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”
“Nah, it was nothing. I just wanted an excuse to show Norma how much of a better psychic I am.”
Gisu smirks and rolls her eyes, then notices a very crucial fact about this get-together.
“Where’s Norma?”
The cryokinetic shrugs. “Dunno. Haven’t seen her all morning.”
As if on cue, the Otto B.O.N. opens again just in time for her sister to fly out in a flurry of flailing limbs. She lands on her feet with only a little stumble, shiny new ice skates swinging in her grip by their laces as she catches her breath.
“Sorry I’m late!” She says to Gisu and no one else. “I was going to leave early, but Hollis asked for my help and I couldn’t just say no to the Second Head -”
“We get it,” Lizzie groans. “You’re a teacher’s pet.”
The other teens giggle as Norma rolls her eyes in an attempt to appear unaffected. She gives her sister a particular kind of look with raised eyebrows.
“Regardless, we’re all here now. I assume there’s actually a reason so we’re not just twiddling our thumbs over nothing?”
The cryokinetic nods and gestures for the group to follow her as she heads for the Questionable Area parking lot. Normally she might get a little miffed by Norma’s implication that she hasn’t come through on her promise, but she’s too proud of being able to prove her wrong to rise to the barb.
They all turn the corner together and stop as one at the sight before them. The entire left side of the lot from the tree in the center to the chain link fence has been covered in ice thick enough that a professional hockey team could play for hours without wearing it down. One end has ice ramps of varying sizes, and another wall is steep in a way that more resembles a skatepark than an ice-skating rink.
The Lumberstack Diner, meanwhile, is completely covered in snow to create a miniature mountain - with slopes perfect for sledding, skiing, or snowboarding. The entrance to the restaurant has been left unburied and accessible, and a clear trail separating the slopes and the ice rink leads all the way back to where the group is standing.
“Oh, wow…” Norma breathes, so impressed that she forgets to act aloof about it. “This…this is -”
“Perfect!” Gisu exclaims, looking ready to rush forward and jump into the rink without even putting her skates on. She turns to Lizzie in visible, vibrating excitement. “Dude, you rock! Let’s go, Norma!”
Without even waiting for an answer, she grabs the pyrokinetic by the wrist and sprints for the giant rink. The two of them only stop at the edge of the ice to help each other put their skates on. Sam gives Lizzie a wide, cheeky grin.
"You really went above and beyond, huh?"
There's definitely an impressed note in her voice. It makes the teen rock back on her heels and then shrug like she hadn't caught it.
"I just didn't want her complaining that I ruined her date."
"I think complaining is gonna be the last thing on her mind for a while," the zoolinguist says as they watch Norma venture out onto the ice arm-in-arm with Gisu, face pink with the dopiest crooked smile on her face.
"It better not, cause I don't want her interrupting us."
"Oh, did you want to start baking while they're busy? I thought we were going to do it all together."
"No." Lizzie suddenly finds it hard to look directly at her. She makes up for it by cracking her neck. "It's something else. Up on the roof."
Sam looks up at Mt. Lumberstack with a quiet hum. "Alright, you have my attention. Let me put the cookie supplies inside and I'll meet you up there."
The roof of the restaurant has always been a favorite place for the two of them to hangout. More than a few times, they’d climb on top of the sign that still rotates despite all odds and simply enjoy each other’s company without ever having to say a word. When Lizzie gets up there now, she doesn’t climb the sign, but instead makes her way to the other thing she’s waiting to show off. She runs her hands over it to check for faults - none, thankfully - and then straightens as the doors below slam open and the other teen comes back outside.
“I’m here!” Sam declares as she levitates up. Her boots make a loud crunch in the snow as she intentionally drops a good foot above ground. “What did you want to -”
She stops talking as she sees what Lizzie is standing next to.
It’s a sled made entirely out of ice. The bed is carved to look like a whale, with little fins branching out to either side, and the whale itself is “spitting” out a stream of water to create the front railing.
Stunned, the zoolinguist looks up at the other teen with her mouth open in a tiny “o”.
“You told me last week about how you miss going sledding with your brother,” Lizzie says very quickly, fighting the blush that she knows is already visible on her own face. “It was too short notice to bring him here by today, but I figured - I mean, you’ll probably want something to sled with if you see him sometime this winter…right?”
Sam takes a few steps forward and crouches next to it, running her hand along one of the fins. She still seems to be processing the gift, so the cryokinetic continues.
“It shouldn’t melt any time soon since the weather is so cold, as long as you keep it out of the rain. But I can always touch it up for you if it starts to.”
“Sleigh Esmerelda,” the zoolinguist whispers to herself as she stands back up with a delighted twinkle in her eye. “You really made this just for me?”
“Well, yeah.” Lizzie crosses her arms to keep from fidgeting self-consciously. She’s lost the battle with the blush. “I figured since you’re bringing all the baking stuff, and you’re letting us learn your family recipe, I should, y’know, do something nice back.”
Sam places a gentle hand on her arm. She can feel it even under her coat.
“I love it,” she says. “It’s going to become a new family heirloom.”
The cryokinetic laughs. “I don’t think it’ll last that long, but you’re welcome to try.”
“I will! Just wait; in twenty years this sled will be hanging over the mantel as my children and grandchildren fight over who gets to use it when the first snow hits the land.”
“You’ll have grandchildren in twenty years?”
“I’m speaking symbolically.”
“Sure.” Lizzie looks over the side of the roof at the perfect snowy hill she’s created, then looks at the other teen. “Want to take it for a spin?”
“Uh, yeah!” The zoolinguist exclaims.
“No time like the present, then.”
Lizzie moves the sled to sit at the edge of the slope and turns towards Sam with a hand on her hip and a challenging gleam in her eye.
“You gonna chicken out?” She asks.
“Not on your life!” The other teen boldly declares. To her credit, she only takes one nervous glance down the side of the hill.
The zoolinguist has ridden flying whales across mental worlds, and yet here she is in the physical one, afraid of a little snow slope. It’s pretty funny, in a cute sort of way. Lizzie grins and pats the seat behind her as she settles herself down on the sled.
“Get your butt over here before it freezes.”
Sam scrambles over to sit immediately, wrapping her arms around Lizzie’s waist and proppering her chin up on her shoulder. The cryokinetic pretends the heat rising in her face is from the cold.
“Are you ready?” She confirms instead of going right away, because this is the only person she’ll ever give that courtesy.
“Born ready,” comes the excited whisper just behind her ear.
With a push of telekinesis, they fly off the ledge. There’s a moment of weightlessness where they’re both suspended in the air, with a perfect view of the glittering snow and ice all around them -
And then gravity catches up.
Sam squeals. Lizzie whoops. They go down the hill at a breakneck speed as if a Nightmare is on their heels, and the momentum doesn’t change at all when they hit the bottom and the vertical path becomes horizontal. Instead, they rocket across the snow straight into the ice rink. There’s a shout from their left as Norma and Gisu narrowly avoid colliding with them on their own path.
“Watch where you’re going!” Norma shrieks at them as Gisu laughs.
Instead of answering verbally, Sam’s legs clamp around Lizzie’s waist and she throws her hands up in the air in pure delight. They come right back down to create a death grip when the sled snags on a bump and nearly sends her falling right off.
As they slow to a stop on the far side of the rink, she pulls stiff fingers away from Lizzie’s ribcage. “Woof. That was fun! I might have left some bruises on you, though.”
The cryokinetic shrugs as she stands on legs only barely shaking with adrenaline. “It’s more memorable that way.”
“Very true.”
A sudden, sharp clearing of a throat from behind has them turning around to see Norma standing there with her arms crossed and a sour look on her face. Gisu is crouched beside her, retying her skate’s laces.
“The next time you feel the need to play Chicken,” the pyrokinetic growls, “do us all a favor and choose someone else to do it with.”
“Eh, I didn’t really mind it.” Gisu straightens and leans her arm on her date’s shoulder. The other teen’s cheeks flush from purple to pink at the action. “If they’d gotten any closer, I would have levitated us out of the way. The thrill is more fun anyway, don’t you think?”
Never in all of Lizzie’s life has she ever seen her sister back down in the middle of a self-righteous rant. Any attempts to make her do so have always resulted in her doubling down. Her eyes nearly bug out of her skull when Norma meets Gisu’s gaze, sighs, and lets it go with nothing more than a quiet grumble.
Oh, she’s got it bad.
“Dope sled,” the levitator says before Lizzie can capitalize on the prime moment of teasing.
“Why, thank you!” Sam replies as she hefts the thing under her arm. “It is one of my greatest personal treasures, right next to my scrap book collection and my four horse-shaped rocks. Would you like to try it?”
“Sure!” Gisu kicks off her skates almost instantly to put her shoes back on. “Been a while since I went sledding with real treads instead of lev ones.”
The four of them end up trading places back and forth - Lizzie and Sam go out on the ice while Gisu and Norma do a few rounds of sledding off the restaurant roof, then vice versa. It quickly becomes a game for the sledders to aim for the ice-skaters while the ice-skaters throw snowballs at the sledders. Most of the time, no one gets hit, but even the few times someone does, it’s more funny than painful.
Lizzie gets swept off her feet by Gisu plowing into her and Sam, but she knocks her sister clean off the sled with a snowball to the face to make up for it.
After nearly an hour, everyone is freezing and tired, so they retreat inside the Lumberstack Diner. Sam makes a beeline for the working fridge and pulls her baking supplies out before anyone even has the chance to do anything else.
“Alright,” she says, placing the bags on the counter. “Are you all ready for the best cookies of your life?”
Norma eyes the bags.
"There aren't any substitutes in your list of ingredients, are there?" She asks dubiously. "Raz told me about the infamous pancakes you made for Oleander."
"First of all, the mark of a great chef is how well they can improvise with the tools they have in the moment - which I greatly exceeded at, as we all saw when they passed his test as heat-resistant shields. Second, the other mark of a great chef is that they're always prepared for the dish they want to make."
Sam begins pulling things out of the bags and sets them out one by one. All store-bought and all seemingly in good condition. Gisu picks up a carton of eggs to check the expiration date, just in case. The action makes the other teen wrinkle her nose in an expression awfully close to hurt.
"Don't be wimps, guys," Lizzie says, stepping forward to lean her arm on the top of Sam's head, who glances up at her in surprise. "Those pancakes ended up being pretty cool. It won't kill you to try something new."
She doesn't take her eyes off her sister, but that doesn't stop her from feeling the wave of fond appreciation that ripples off the girl under her. She keeps her poker face on by the skin of her teeth and only the slightest twitch of her eyebrows.
Damn. Maybe she's got it bad, too.
Norma sighs like she's been inconvenienced, but there's no bite to her words. "Fine. Let's see these famous cookies of yours."
The zoolinguist beams. “Prepare to have your socks blown off.”
Baking with Sam, as it turns out, is a very different experience than it is at home.
At home, Lizzie and Norma’s parents rarely ever bake, and it’s almost always with pre-made things like pancake and cake mixes. Here, Sam hands each of them a small bowl - she’d packed many bowls for this event, apparently - and makes them measure out flour, baking soda, and baking powder as perfectly as they can to stir together until she’s satisfied with them.
Gisu figures out the consistency she wants much faster than the sisters.
“I bake a lot with my uncle,” she tells them, whisking the mixture together like a pro while Norma and Lizzie struggle just to keep from spilling. “Although he’s not as…militant about it as you are, Sam.”
The zoolinguist tosses a limp hand in the air, distracted by the whir of the electric mixer she’s pouring sugar and eggs into. “Every chef has their style. I strive for personal commitment, precision, and excellence with every dish I make, no matter how simple.”
“This doesn’t feel very simple or precise,” Norma grumbles as flour poofs all over her hands.
“Too much time spent complaining and not enough mixing!” Sam turns to eye each of their bowls. “Actually, these all look good. Go ahead and add them to mine over here. Slowly.”
Lizzie does so first, mesmerized by the way the electric mixer turns the separate concoctions into something that actually starts to look good. She raises an eyebrow as Sam has her sister melt almost a full stick of butter and pour it into the dough.
“That seems like an excessive amount.”
“Not for the size of the batch we’re making,” the zoolinguist responds without any hesitation. “Trust me, this is tame compared to how much I’ve had to put in for full Boole gatherings. Entire packs of butter, sometimes!”
Norma’s lip curls. “That sounds disgusting.”
“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
The last touch before the dough is ready comes in the form of a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a sprinkle of both cinnamon and nutmeg.
“Everyone expects cinnamon in their sugar cookies,” Sam explains matter-of-factly, “but the nutmeg is what adds that extra kick. Little tweaks like that can turn a recipe from good to godly.”
Finally, she has them grab small handfuls of dough and roll them into little balls before placing them on the two baking sheets she’s brought. They’ve made more dough than they have the space for, though, as there’s almost a quarter of the bowl still full when both sheets are covered with as much as they can get away with.
Strangely, Sam doesn’t seem bothered by it as she places the baking sheets in the oven and nudges the door shut with a happy off-beat hum. She pulls out her phone and sets a ten minute timer, then places it on the counter.
“Now is when the real patience comes in. You see that container of toothpicks over there? When my timer goes off, we’ll pull the cookies out and poke them with one. If they’re too mushy inside and leave stuff on the pick, back into the oven they go.”
“What about the rest of it?” Lizzie asks.
At her question, the other teen gives a sly smile. “Don’t you know? Uncooked batter is the best part. It’s like the forbidden fruit of baking.”
Ten minutes and quite a bit of eaten dough later, the cryokinetic no longer doubts Sam’s knowledge of baking. Gisu pulls the cookies out and they all crowd around the oven as she checks them each with a toothpick. Every single one comes up clean.
No one complains about having patience when Lizzie carefully cools them off with a cold tide across the sheets. Sam gestures for them all to take one.
“Chef always eats last,” she says. “Go on, tell me what you think.”
Lizzie grabs the biggest one she sees before her sister can get to it. She takes a bite and immediately closes her eyes as the treat practically melts in her mouth.
“Oh my god,” she mutters through crumbling cookie. “This is amazing.”
“Totally!” Gisu backs her up, already reaching for a second one even though there’s still half of the first in her other hand. “Sugar cookies are kinda a hit or miss for me, but these are definitely a hit. Your family recipe is great!”
Sam places her hands on her hips with a proud grin, then looks over at Norma. The pyrokinetic rolls her eyes and hides a tiny smile behind her treat.
“Okay, I’ll admit it - these are a lot better than I expected.”
“Another round for Boole cooking wins with a unanimous vote.” Sam finally grabs one for herself. She leans on the counter next to Lizzie. “You’ll never be able to go back to store-bought again.”
“Are you saying you’re going to teach me all of your family recipes now?”
“Maybe, maybe not. Who’s asking?”
On the other side of the tiny kitchen, Gisu pretends to try and feed hers to Norma with a teasing grin, and laughs when the other teen’s face goes bright red. Slowly, while they’re distracted, Lizzie’s hand reaches over and gently wraps around Sam’s. She gets a little squeeze in return as Sam munches on her cookie with a contented hum.
“Your girlfriend is asking.”
There’s a moment of silence before they look at each other. Sam smiles. Lizzie’s eyes dance. Their hands remain linked.
“Yeah,” Sam says after a beat, full of tender fondness. “Yeah, I think I will.”