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 Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 5:49 am
The sun had already set, and the hallways of Team Rocket HQ gradually grew silent as people moved back to their dorms after another day of hard work and training.
After a while of almost complete silence, one of the doors in the Grunt dormitories opened, followed by two pairs of eyes peering out into the dim hallway.
"I think we're clear", Akemi said, looking down to the red-eyed Espeon at her feet. "Eon!" the pokémon replied softly, slipping out into the corridor, followed by its owner.
The girl had developed a habit of sneaking out at least once per week, to head down to the kitchen down by the cafeteria to cook Poffins in peace, safe from curious eyes. She had asked for permission from the staff, so it wasn't like she was going against rules, she just preferred peace and quiet when cooking - it helped her concentrate. This time she'd spent the entire week growing berries in her room, harvesting them as soon as they were ripe and planting new ones. This was the last week of her sick leave, so she had decided to make the most of it.
With a bag full of ingredients, the girl and her pale companion ventured downstairs, trying not to make too much noise as to disturb anyone. A lot of people were already asleep, after all. Once they reached the kitchen, the Grunt ran her ID card through the reader, followed by a quiet 'vreeee' as the door opened. On one of the tables, there was a Poffin cooker and a bowl with a whisk, waiting for her. "Oh, wow! Look at that, Rei, the cooks were nice enough to leave everything out for us! How sweet of them", she said happily as she set her bag down on the table, getting ready to start.
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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 1:53 pm
Aki knew the drill. It was cooking time tonight! The blue-eyed vaporeon sat in the kitchen, watching Mau wash the berries they would be using tonight. Ire however, sat with her head tilted and ears perked questioningly. Now and again Mau would slip out at night to the kitchen and cook. Usually he made poffins, sometimes, when he had the right ingredients, he would make pokeblocks, cookies, or cakes. Cooking almost felt like his guilty little pleasure. In many ways it was.
But tonight was a poffin night. He'd set up the pot in the cafeteria and was just finishing rinsing the last berry. Aki was watching expectantly, growing excited. Fresh poffins were the best! Ire had seemed to have lost interest in watching this man who was now her trainer, and instead was looking at the door leading from the kitchen to the cafeteria. She was startled back into attention when Mau pet her. "Ready to make poffins?"
That was Aki's cue to get excited. He hopped up and spun around, bouncing around, looking up at Mau, then to the door and back. Ire got dizzy watching him as Mau pushed the door to the kitchen open and paused a moment, seeing someone over near the pot he had set up. He took a few steps closer, and saw the figure was a girl, just a kid. Mau thought she looked like she might have been 14.
"Seems I'm not the only one who uses the kitchen after hours." Mau said, announcing himself before he got too close. Aki bound over to the girl and her pokemon and started sniffing around, eager to make another new friend. Ire hesitated, hanging back and watching the excited Vaporeon and the very unfamiliar beings.
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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 2:10 pm
Akemi had begun to sort her berries into small piles for rinsing and cooking, Rei sitting on the table watching intently as a Vaporeon dashed in. "Ah!" the girl yelped in surprise, a handful of Pomeg berries falling on the floor, a few of them splitting to spill seeds all over the place. "Oh, shoot.. Now I have to clean these.." she muttered before remembering what it was that startled her in the first place, turning to look at the seemingly excited Vaporeon, then raising her gaze to the tall man that had followed the pokémon.
"O-oh, sorry.. was.. was this cooker yours?" she then said as she wiped the seeds away with a handkerchief and stood up once more. "I.. I often come down here to make treats for my pokémon and the cooks know me so I thought.." she trailed off, blushing with embarrassment. She certainly hadn't expected to run into anyone, and the last thing she needed was to make another person mad.
Rei jumped off the table, approaching the Vaporeon curiously, with slight caution in its movements.
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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 2:21 pm
When the berries spilled, Aki picked one of the intact ones up and looked at Akemi, before setting it on the table as Rei jumped off. Aki spit a playful bubble at Rei and bounced around, sniffing and giving playful squeaks.
"I'm sorry if we startled you. Yes, I'd set this up to make some poffins myself." He glanced away. "I come in here sometimes with Aki when no one else is around to cook. Decided to introduce Ire to the art of poffins as well. See if she won't come out of her shell a little." He waved his hand dismissively though. "Well, since we're both here, we should be able to make some interesting poffins together."
"VA VA VA!" Aki squeaked.
"Seems I said the magic word. Would you and your espeon care to join us?"
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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 3:30 pm
Rei watched Aki bounce about, swaying its tail, apparently not sure whether to join the Vaporeon or just stay still. Its ruby eyes shifted onto Ire as well, and the Espeon tilted its head slightly, waiting for the other one to come forward.
Akemi wiped off her hands on the pants she was wearing, chuckling nervously. She still felt like she had barged in on the man, even if there was no way she could have known he was there in the first place. "It-it's okay, really.. luckily I only spoiled a few berries.." she said, smiling. "And, well, I haven't cooked Poffins with someone else for quite a while.. so I--"
She was cut off by Aki's eager response, and the girl couldn't help but chuckle. The Vaporeon was quite adorable in her opinion. "..I guess we could cook together, yeah. Might turn out better than if we did it alone", she continued then, evoking a somewhat excited "Eee!" from Rei as well.
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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 6:22 pm
Mau nudged Ire, hoping she would move forward. The jolteon didn't move, but just looked at Akemi and her Espeon. "They won't bite."
"Jo..." She sidestepped Mau and stood behind his legs. Mau simply sighed.
"Sorry, she's a bit timid." Mau apologized for the jolteon. He pat the yellow head and took a couple steps closer. Aki had made a game of picking up the berries now, trying to pick up the spilled berries before the Espeon. The ones that had gotten squished, Aki had no reservations about eating though.
"I think Aki is ready to start cooking." He said softly. Aki circled Akemi, rubbing against her like a cat before returning to his prancing with the Espeon.
Mau pawed through his berries. "What sort of Poffins do you want to make?"
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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 6:58 pm
Rei stood up, aiding Aki with picking up the last berries. "Eon.." it chirped softly, making a few awkward jumps around the Vaporeon before approaching Mau and the bashful Ire.
"It's fine, Rei used to be real shy too before she evolved", Akemi said with a smile, giving Aki an Oran berry as thanks for the help, giggling as the pokémon rubbed against her legs. "He's pretty cute, and helpful too!" she noted.
The girl blinked at Mau's question once, quickly scanning through her available berries. "Let's see.. um.." she mumbled, "Well, most of my pokémon like their treats Dry.. so I guess Dry Poffins would be my first priority?" She picked up a Kelpsy berry as she finished, looking up at the much taller man.
"..oh. I didn't introduce myself!" she realized, blushing a little again. "I'm Akemi.. Yumeno. A Grunt."
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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 7:57 pm
Mau nodded to her in greeting. "I'm Mau. Um... well, I work in the labs. I guess I'm a grunt or so. I just do my thing. I'm a scientist." He laughed. "I hope Ire will come out of her shell soon." He pulled a wiki berry out of his basket of berries. "Dry it is."
It wouldn't matter what they made. Aki would eat anything. Ire would rather have sweet, but she didn't put up a fight against dry. And Ran...? Well, Mau had no idea about that bird. She was being stubborn.
"Aki." Mau addressed the Vaporeon. He perked up and looked at his trainer. "Could you go into the kitchen and get another whisk for us?" Aki jumped and ran into the kitchen. He returned a moment later with a whisk in his mouth and deposited it in Mau's hand. Mau tossed his wiki berry into the pot.
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