this guy was filled with great ideas. [break][break]

make a blind girl go diving, then make her bake? hilarious. if only she could laugh about it. it's honestly ridiculous and absurd, but when has she punished creativity? so rather than pushing him away, she's let him in after he unceremoniously welcomes himself into her humble (not so humble) abode. [break][break]

though her ears perk up as she's lounging on her couch, and she tilts her head slightly to say "bold of you to assume i know where it is." her lips curl into a smile, and her coy tone leaks through it "bold of you to assume i cook, altogether. god damn~." he has his expectations up too high. [break][break]

following that, the sound of a pokeball popping open can be heard. out comes a salazzle who slithers her way into the kitchen, snooping around to find just exactly what he was looking for. "you're better off asking her about where things are kept. i couldn't tell you even if i wanted to~."

Inigo del Rosario [break]
mission: affection's confections

☉

”Oh, come oooon- I’m sure it’ll be fiiiine!” he called back out, breathing a mockingly exasperated sigh all the while. For a little while, he merely shut the cabinet that he’d most recently opened before moving onto the next. ”You already have your buddies help you, don’t you? You could just do that h--”[break][break]

He stopped and stared as a certain little lizard scurried up to him.[break][break]

”...Shit, what was your name again?”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
mission: affection's confections

☉

"pele" a voice comes from behind the wall, following after the salazzle shortly after she arrives into the kitchen "her name is pele. rolls off the tongue nicely, ey?~". her lips curl into a smile as she walks onwards into the kitchen, though holding onto the wall and eventually one of the countertops. [break][break]

"if you got everything, i may as well help out~" she didn't feel like staying bored doing nothing, anyways. though she tilts her head, humming softly while leaning her rear against the cabinet to ask "what did you plan on making, though?"

Inigo del Rosario [break]
mission: affection's confections

☉

”A couple things, really,” he murmured absentmindedly, narrowing his eyes with a pensive hum as he continuously peered through the cabinets. Before long, though, he found himself glancing off to the side at the sound of some softer clattering, and after staring at a lower cabinet that a certain little lizard so graciously opened and hissed at, he crouched and shifted over to peer inside.[break][break]

”Oh, there it is. Thanks, Pele.”[break][break]

He reached in and plucked it out before shutting the door and wrestling his wrists upon his knees, pushing himself back up with a hefty sigh before reaching over to rest the sieve onto the counter. ”First off is a luau stew, the second is a boil up,” he went on, tapping his hand onto the surface where he’d placed most of his ingredients. ”Ingredients are over there. If ya really don’t mind helping, I already got some flour and water measured out next to a bowl. Do me a solid and just knead those together for the boil up dumplings, but, uh…pass the flour through the sieve, first. Gets rid of lumps.”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
mission: affection's confections

☉

"sounds easy enough." she smiles, one hand running along the edges of the countertop to act as her guide to the sink, and she quickly washes her hands before the salazzle guides her towards where the bowls and sifter are, along with the flour. it's thanks to the salazzle she's able to tell where the measured flour even was, but otherwise, she sifts the flour like he asks her to, then pours the water into the mix. [break][break]

there's a pause as she starts to mix the flour and water together, only to pause as she feels the mixture hardening, slightly, into something that could be kneaded. it was a curious moment for her, and she reaches into the bowl, feeling the soft texture of a forming dough. [break][break]

"... huh.." she blinks a few times, curiously, as her fingers dig into the dough. ".. so this is what it feels like. heh~"

Inigo del Rosario [break]
mission: affection's confections

☉

He hummed after getting situated to some, minor extent, pulling his phone out and scrolling through before beginning to play songs from one of a few playlists he'd set up some time before. After setting his phone aside, he brought his attention back to the ingredients and the like at hand, briefly glancing towards the woman he'd so rudely intruded on as she began working.

Looks like she'd be able to do perfectly fine, especially since her little lizard seemed to be doing a good job with helping her.

So, he opened whichever drawer held the knives before picking one out and pulling the greens over. After a quick moment to ensure the blade was sharpened, he drew steel through them in order to slice them accordingly, but paused and glanced over once more at the note of her voice.[break][break]

”Yeah. Feels kinda like stickier putty, right?” he snickered, pressing his lips flat and pursing them while turning his attention back towards the vegetables. ”Except they’re…edible. Kinda, at least, with the way they are now.”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
mission: affection's confections

☉

"no kidding."[break][break]

who knew that kneading dough could be so fun? she would see people doing it a lot when she was younger, when she passed by the bakeries that littered the streets down where she used to live. the smell of the pancakes back home are a sweet, sweet reminder of what she used to have with her parents - then the sweet memory is tainted by those parents. ugh. moment ruined. [break][break]

parents won't be a damper to her good time, though, and she continues to knead the dough as well as she can - even if she doesn't quite know what she's doing. if anything, she's playing with the dough after taking it out of the bowl. thankfully, her salazzle takes the sifter and a little bit of additional flour to coat the countertop and the dough as it's being turned and flipped - just to make sure that it doesn't start to stick. [break][break]

"... oh." she notices, pausing. "it's not as sticky anymore."

Inigo del Rosario [break]
mission: affection's confections

☉

”Yeaaaah, that’s how ya know it’s done~.”[break][break]

He took a quick pause in what he was doing to glance over, eventually reaching over to softly poke the dough she’d pulled together before shifting a couple paces over. With a low, pensive hum, he gave it a couple of kneads himself before nodding and bringing a free bowl over, lifting the lump and placing it inside.[break][break]

”Now we just let that rest…” he murmured, narrowing his eyes while glancing through the rest of the kitchen. His tongue clicked a few times as he debated what to have her do next. ”Mmmmmn… It’d probably be a shit idea to have ya slice some shit…”[break][break]

Huh.[break][break]

”Ehhh… There should be a few more things you can wash before I dice ‘em. Think you could handle that?”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
mission: affection's confections

☉

man, it does suck not being able to do more things. [break][break]

though she's not exactly excited to wash some veggies, she shrugs and wears a smile on her lips - it's a small thing, but she'll still be excited either way - and it's not every day she can actually do something in the kitchen (her pokemon would stop her, anyways, before anything horrible happens. [break][break]

when she finishes washing, she's on standby to help with smaller things, until the two of them finish with the cooking, and it smells.. oddly familiar. nostalgic, really, like aloha. the nostalgia is bittersweet.

Inigo del Rosario [break]
mission: affection's confections

☉