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 Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:12 pm
Danika was still adjusting to the cooler weather in Chiume. It was different from Chibale's warmer climate but Danika was finding the cool breeze refreshing. The trees with their changing leaves and the other ones with their consistently silvery-green needle leaves were beautiful in their own way as well. I wonder if we can see snow here? She mused thoughtfully as she perched along the cliff near their temporary home. Vermina and their children had followed Danika to Belrea and they had all seemingly settled well within the new island. Before Danika's arrival some Sisters had already made a house, a hut nestled around a large tree with rope ladders and upper levels tucked into the tree's giant branches, and Danika enjoyed the space along with the view of the Belrean sea that their position provided. Azehra was also near, her roots growing throughout the central forest clearing that was just a short walk away from the cliffs. Perhaps one day this would be the home for the Vandrea mystic but for now Danika and her family made use of it while she helped to tend to the growing tree and the blooms there.
Today was mostly quiet as she had taken it to rest and to enjoy time with one of her daughters. The blooms growing at Azehra had been in good health and Danika was not needed by the Sisters who were slowly learning how to take care of the tree to the best of their abilities. It would still take a couple of years before Danika felt confident in their lessons and in the strength of the new tree before leaving. But that was a worry for another day. For now she was simply preparing some sweet dough so that she could cut out little cookies with her daughter.
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Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 6:27 pm
After a long morning of lessons and training, Faenna had retired to the bedroom to take a nap. She had been rather impatient the whole time, eager for the time she was promised with her mother. Danika was always busy fulfilling her role as mystic. Everyone else always wanted her attention and hogged up all of her time. Today though, she was getting some one on one attention!
When she woke up, she jumped out of bed with a gasp of surprise. How late was it? Had she overslept? Had mama gotten caught up with work? She ran her fingers through her hair and rubbed a fist over sleepy eyes as she scurried out. "Mama?" she called out hopefully.
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Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 6:44 pm
"Yes?" Danika called out in response to hearing her daughter's name for her. It was still so strange to think that she was actually a mother of two little blooms! The thought made her lips curve upwards into a loving smile as she turned to face Faenna. It still had come as a surprise that one of their daughters had the paler markings traditionally for a mystic but Danika had managed to take her daughter away from the eyes of the Elders. It was a new world after all and perhaps it was time to let children decide their paths for themselves. If either of her daughters, regardless of markings, wanted to learn some of her skills then Danika would gladly share what knowledge she could one day. But for now she was content just letting her daughters enjoy their childhood. It was another reason she was thankful for their stay in Chiume because it did allow her daughters the freedom to play with other children as they pleased. Everything was truly new here, different from her own life before but not in a bad way at all.
"I was afraid you were going to sleep away the whole day." Teased Danika lightly as she wiped her hands on a cloth already speckled with flour and similar ingredients. Several bowls of different colored berries also were set along the wooden table nestled in the corner of the small kitchen area of their home. The wooden shutters were open along the walls, the openings allowing for a cool breeze to faintly move through the room. At first such a thing had taken getting used to but now Danika found the cooler breezes of Chiume refreshing.
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Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:54 pm
Faenna's whole posture relaxed at the sound of her mother's voice. That was a relief! Covering a yawn, she giggled and skipped to hug her arms around Danika's hips. "Don't let me sleep through this, mama! I'll allow you to wake me up," she assured cheerfully. For a little girl who was quite the grumpus when woken up before she was ready, this was a pretty big deal to offer such a deal. It was worth it to spend time together though! Assuming that their time together was doing something fun...
She raised her nose to peek over the bowls on the table, fingers reaching to grab for one juicy looking berry to test it out. "What are you- I mean- what are we making?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2020 8:35 pm
Danika laughed at Faenna's antics. "Oh? I'm glad that you're allowing me to wake you up. I'll remember that next time." The Alkidike reached down to pat her daughter's hair affectionately. Her lips twitched upwards in amusement before she let out another laugh at the question. "Well I thought maybe we could surprise the other two with some treats when they come back. Maybe some berry tarts or cookies?" She nodded towards the dough and obviously Faenna had already found the berries. They could cut them up in whatever shape her daughter wanted and make various ones with all of the berries, even dying them with juice if they wanted colorful treats.
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:22 am
Bright black eyes shifted to skim over the ingredients. So the dough was already done. Well, Faenna wasn't too upset that the process had been started already. It meant that the hard part was taken care of. She could just have fun with the berries and molding the dough! "Not if I eat all the berries first!" she said mischievously, nabbing another taste with a playful glance toward Danika.
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 6:17 pm
"Oh?" Danika put on her motherly mystic mask with the classic tightening of the mouth, the silent judgment in her dark gaze as she studied her mischievous daughter who had threatened to eat all the berries. "I suppose if you wanted to do that then we couldn't make cookies unless we picked more berries..." She commented slightly disappointed sounding yet at the same time almost teasingly before she turned towards the dough. "Would be a shame to not be able to dye these and shape them the way we wanted to." Danika plucked a handful of violet berries from a bowl and carefully placed them into a round bowl, a part of a stone mortar and pestle set. "Like this..." The Alkidike carefully crushed the berries so that their juices flowed into the bottom of the bowl. Tearing off a chunk of the pale dough, Danika dripped the juices down into the mixture and slowly began rotating the dough between her fingers. It dyed her skin a little but mostly it stuck with the dough and created violet swirls within the white.
When she had the swirls finished, Danika rolled the dough into a flat shape that was almost like a bird's head. Another sweet berry that was darker in color almost black was added to the center making it look like an eye. Another few twists towards the end to sharpen it a little bit and she was done. "And there's the beak." She commented lightly before moving so that her daughter could see the creation. "What do you think? I guess it'll be our only one since we won't have anymore berries now."
[4/7]
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 7:17 pm
Faenna aimed a challenging smirk back at Danika's stern face, slowly reaching her hand for a third berry. However, even she paused with Danika's tauntingly disappointed tone. Lips pursing as she swallowed the second berry, she trotted over to see what her mother was doing with the berries in the bowl. Her eyes lit up with wonder as the dough was added and swirled with color, craning her neck to watch the process.
Raising a finger to her lips, she looked from the final product to the berries and then up to her mother. "Maybe just a couple more cookies.." she offered, reaching to grab at the dough. "Can I make a big bird?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 7:25 pm
Danika let out a soft chuckle. "If you would like." She replied before gesturing towards the bowls of berries. "Would you like to pick a color or use a couple of different ones? We have blueberries, blackberries, some crimson berries and those violet ones that I just used for this bird." She carefully set her creation to the side while waiting on her daughter to decide on her own cookie colors and flavoring. Most of the berries were sweet though the blue ones were a bit more tart than the others. The crimson ones had a bit of a sour flavor to them but she had already rolled them in some sugar to ease the sourness even though she usually enjoyed their sour taste....just maybe not in cookies. Her antenna flicked thoughtfully at the thought before she glanced back towards Faenna. "Would you like to try crushing the berries you pick or do you want me to handle that part?" As she spoke she started moving towards the mortar and pestle so that she could rinse out the remaining juice from the other berries she had just used.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 5:48 pm
Faenna skipped back over to the berries and gave the choices serious contemplation. "The red ones," she said, pulling the bowl a little closer to herself. "A big red bird cookie!" The offer to use the mortar and pestle was met with immediate delight. "I wanna do it! I can make all of it." Then it would stand out and be her cookie! She began carefully inspecting and picking out each individual berry that she wanted to use. She knew her mother would only bring the best berries into the house, but now she needed the best of the best for her cookie!
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 6:50 pm
"The red ones it is then." Replied Danika with a warm smile. She truly was enjoying spending the morning with her daughter and never had imagined making cookies to be so much fun before today. Hopefully they could do this many more times in the future. The thought alone was enough to warm her heart as she quickly finished rinsing out the stone bowl. Now that it was ready she handed it to Faenna. "Just fill it with a few of the berries you picked out and then carefully smash them like this." She gave a demonstration of how to hold both the mortar and pestle before finally giving them over to her daughter. Once they had the berries smashed she could help her with kneading the juice into the dough and shaping her giant red bird cookie.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 7:20 pm
The berries were dropped into the mortar one at a time, grinning as they stacked up in a juicy pile. A glint entered her gaze as she took the pestle though. Mama's way was surely too slow. She braced the mortar, and brought the pestle down harder than she needed to. Red juices squirted up into her face, making Faenna freeze with surprise. A moment later she was shrieking with laughter. "Oopsie!" Not wanting to lose her place as the masher, she held tight to the pestle and ground at the berries at the expected pace, using her other hand to wipe at her face.
When that was done, she picked up the chunk of dough that she had pulled off before and dropped it right into the juice. "Now we make the bird?" she asked.
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 7:32 pm
Danika had to slap her hand over her mouth to hold back the laughter. Oh my little bloom. She thought with amusement as she studied her now juice covered daughter. There was definitely going to be some red stain on her cheeks for the rest of the day. "Looks like you got the hang of it now." She finally commented once she saw that her daughter had learned her lesson and was now going at the better pace. Danika nodded whenever Faenna plopped the dough onto the juice. "Almost. You just need to roll the dough in your hands a few time to mix it with the juice." She gestured with her hands and mimicked the motion. "Then we can shape the bird and I'll set it to the side while we finish the rest and prepare to bake them."
Danika moved as she spoke so that she could begin tearing off more of the dough and prepare more cookies. Surely they could at least make eight or ten more to share with her sister and Vermina whenever they came back. "Once you finish your bird we can make more things like little fish or flowers even." She mused with a small smile as she watched her daughter patiently. So far it seemed like despite their mess in the kitchen that baking was going well and Danika couldn't be any happier to have spent such a wonderful morning together.
[7/7]
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Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 7:52 pm
Faenna's tongue stuck out while she concentrated on kneading the dough around. Hers turned out a bit more splotchy that swirly, but she didn't mind that. She had made it herself! The dough was molded into a larger and rather decent copy of Danika's bird, and popped a berry in place for its eye. She was going to be left plenty stained, and it was surely only going to get worse from there.
She looked to her mother and grinned happily. "I'll make a flower next!" Time with her mother, a delicious treat, and a mess; what could be better?
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