Royce nodded, silently agreeing with Abby. "Yeah, baking can be complicated. It's always best to have a recipe base you can use." He smiled with a chuckle. "All the pros do it."
Royce dropped the butter into the bowl, then pushed the brown sugar toward Abby. "We need two cups of that. I'll use a half-cup to create one cup of sugar-sugar." He dragged over the sugar. "Then we'll cream them together."
"Well, baking soda is in baking powder, so they're sort of the same." Royce scrunched up his eyes, trying to think of what he had taught himself. "Baking powder has, like, starch or something." He scooped out the sugar, dusting it over the butter. "Both need to be baked as quickly as you can once they're mixed in."
Royce pondered over Abby's second question. "Well, I'm not sure what else yeast is used for in baking... but it is used in making alcoholic drinks." He smiled with just a hint of mischief.
jinxgirl5
Or maybe it'll give a reason for Theo to intervene (he's at the cafe in time to see the drama?) and is able to convince both of them that they like-like/love each other and need to realize this...
It'll probably be later on that he gets his familiar. Like when he's taken on more responsibilities in the cafe.
Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:14 pm
She had a thoughtful look on her face. "Huh. I wonder why bread doesn't get you drunk then. I mean it can be addictive to eat so you could call that a type of intoxication, I suppose."
Abby set aside her thought for a moment to pick up the one-cup measuring cup on the counter (she was at least able to recognize that much, thanks to more grocery store wanderings!) and approach the task Royce had given her with curious caution. The back of brown sugar didn't want to open easily for her, and it was heavier than she thought it'd be. When she finally got the bag open she paused for a moment to appreciate the aroma that drifted from it.
She picked up the bag and tried to pour the sugar as she'd seen Royce do with the white sugar. To her surprise a giant chunk fell out instead. "Oh my gosh! Did I break it?" She set down the bag and examined the mess she'd made. About half the sugar she'd dumped went into the cup. The rest appeared to have fractured around all sides of the cup, as the main lump was too big to have fit.
Odd, but now the sugar had a kind of crumbly look. Abby gave the stuff on the counter a cautious poke, and was surprised to see it flatten down and mold together. The stuff was just like wet sand! It was even the same color, now that she thought on it. Just a lot better smelling.
iMoony
*trying to fit her mind around it to get details out of it, tosses out a rough summary idea so a plot can be smoothed out*
So Abby and Royce go in to the bakery together. They're early, the time bakers show up to start making the bread for sale. Probably only a few early morning customers there for coffee and breakfast pastries, which is the reason Abby is there because Royce might have mentioned some of their morning-only specials and Abby was keen to try it since she's normally a late riser. Royce vanishes into the kitchen to start work and Abby settles down to wait for a new batch of pastries to come out. Suddenly there's a commotion from the kitchen. Royce and his boss come out with his boss holding on to Scuttlebutt, who apparently snuck in and was snacking on some of the bread and, upon discovery, made a bit of a mess in her attempts to escape capture.
Here's where it can kinda deviate a little depending on what sort of backstory we want for Scuttle and how you think/want Royce to react.
1a) Abby's a regular, her patterns are memorable, so Royce's boss recognizes Scuttlebutt's looks and thinks Abby's causing mischief with her familiar. Problem is, Abby didn't know she had a familiar cause Scuttlebutt spotted her and Royce on their walk to the bakery and followed, so it's her first time seeing her. Royce protests and tries to defend Abby, but his boss isn't in the mood to be reasoned with. He tells Royce the waste for today is coming out of his pay since he's the one who brought these people into the bakery, thrusts Scuttlebutt into Royce's arms, and tells him to deal with the pests while he cleans up the mess. There's now tension because it's clear Royce is in trouble because of Abby even though it wasn't really her fault, and is expected to eject her and Scuttlebutt out of the bakery. Abby's upset and wants to yell right back at Royce's boss for his treatment of her and Royce, which might add more tension as Royce has to try to convince her that would be the opposite of helpful while he's still working out his own feelings on the matter so he's a little short with her about it. Theo could be there as a morning customer, have heard everything that went on, and decide to intervene at this point.
1b) Same scenario beginning, but instead of defending Abby as soon as his boss starts ranting about her after seeing Scuttlebutt's patterns, Royce stays quiet and out of the way. His boss is the one to toss Scuttle at Abby and ask her to please leave, which she does. Later that day as his shift is ending, Abby confronts Royce outside the store about it. She's mad at him that he didn't say anything in her defense, since he knows very well she hadn't had a familiar that morning when she went into the bakery and it wasn't her fault the tanuki had somehow gotten in. Royce tries to explain how his intervention would have only made things worse; his boss wouldn't have believed him and would have thought Royce himself was involved somehow if he had stepped forward, but by absenting himself his boss got over his temper quicker and even regreted it once he was thinking clearly, since Abby had never caused trouble before and perhaps her familiar had just gotten away from her which was certainly not her fault. The damage wasn't even that much, just mildly inconvenient. Abby's still upset and not entirely convinced that Royce was thinking of her best interests rather than deciding she really was too weird and washing his hands of her. Theo could be stopping by the shop for an afternoon snack or something, overheard the argument as it started when he was either leaving the stop or about to enter it, and intervene before the misunderstanding blew out of proportion just because Abby was feeling hurt and insecure.
2a and 2b are pretty much the same as 1a and 1b, but with the difference of Abby knowing Scuttlebutt before all of this. She'd have left the tanuki behind at home that morning since she didn't want to deal with Scuttle's antics so early, but Scuttle followed her anyway. In 2a Royce would be trying to defend Abby by stating that and trying to explain how mischievous Scuttle could be if you weren't keeping an eye on her, rather than explaining Abby didn't have a familar. In 2b, Royce knowing Scuttle and the trouble Abby's likely to find herself in gives him all the more reason to keep his mouth shut and help things blow over as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Now that I have flattened you with all this text, is there a scenario you like better and do you want to change anything XD?
jinxgirl5
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:37 am
Royce nodded in agreement with Abby. "I think it has something to do with chemical things. That is where my knowledge lacks, though." He chuckled awkwardly while waiting for Abby to add in the brown sugar.
Royce watched with amusement as his friend struggled with the bag. It was adorable to watch but just when he was about to offer his assistance, Abby managed it finally. She then seemed to be lost in the scent of the sugar. He laughed quietly to himself, knowing all too well the pleasant aroma the ingredient possessed.
Then Royce saw her tilt the bag. He moved to still Abby's movement but was too late. Granuals littered the counter, only half of the huge clump making it into the measuring cup. Royce groaned, but stiffled it quickly. He had come into this knowing it was going to be messy. He had no right to get upset that a beginer had made a mistake.
"It's okay," Royce said, relaxing next to Abby. "Brown sugar is moist so it stays packed in together. You didn't break it... Well, in an unfixable way." Royce smiled and chuckled as Abby played in the spilled sugar. "The way you use brown sugar is to either scoop into it witht he cup or a spoon... Or keep control of the bag when 'pouring' it into the cup." He crooked his eyebrow at her, wordlessly asking her if she wished to stop and play in the brown sugar or continue on their task.
jinxgirl5
I think either of the A options would be good. Royce probably won't put up too much of a fight, but he'd try his best to explain to the boss. Especially since he knows the boss to be kind, but maybe the guy is already feeling stressed about something else.
Whether it is 1 or 2 would be up to you, really. Would you rather Abby already knew about her familiar or not?
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 11:41 am
Abby laughed at the wordless question Royce sent her way, and began scooping up the little bits of smushed sugar piles into one whole. "Well there's something else new that I've learned today! I wished sand was more like this, cause then it'd be more fun to play in. I guess it's a weight difference or something."
For a moment Abby stared off into the distance over her collected mound of sugar, contemplating the injustice of rock particles being heavier than crystal particles, or whatever sugar was made up of. Big rocks and crystals felt like they weighed the same though, so shouldn't their little counter-parts also be equal!
She came back to herself rather quickly though, with a small shake of her head. "So do I pack it in the cup or try to keep it loose," she asked curiously, poking the messy mass sitting in the cup. It sure got tiny when you compressed it; two cups would probably take the whole bag!
Those cookies were gonna taste good though. How could they not, when the sugar smelled so good and that much of it was going into them? While it was true she had a more savory tooth than sweet, it didn't stop her from enjoying sweets just as much!
iMoony
Hmmm. I think if we're going with A then 2 might be the better option, since the effect we're going for is to try to create a bit of tension between them to strengthen their bond a bit in the end. If Abby didn't know Scuttle then most of their attention would be turned to her as an unexpected pest; with Abby knowing Scuttle and knowing she left her at home, she'll be more charged about the situation and the perceived unfairness of the whole thing and the tension's more focused between just her and Royce.
jinxgirl5
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 3:54 pm
"I believe it's because of the molasses that it packs so well," Royce commented. "I think brown sugar feels sticky. I don't really like the feeling of it sticking to my hands." Royce stuck out his tongue a bit, making a face of disgust. He then grabbed the trash can and placed it beneath where the spill had occurred. "Just scoop what landed on the counter into the trash can."
"You're going to have to compress it," Royce said absentmindedly. He was already using a wet cloth to wipe down bits of the counter near Abby. He avoided her pile of sugar, though, in case she still wished to play. "Brown sugar is one of those ingredients that makes a mess and causes a lot of hassle," Royce muttered.
Once he had done all that he could, he picked up a wooden spoon and began to work the sugar and the butter into one. "This is called creaming" Royce smiled over at Abby. "It's actually one of my favorite tasks, along with frosting cakes and kneading dough." He was then lost to his work.
The sugar and butter quickly became little bead like clumps before Royce remembered his guest. "Oh, uh, add the brown sugar when you can. You can then try creaming it in, if you want." Royce chuckled shyly before putting down the
jinxgirl5
Sounds good to me. So that will be our next RP after this one. ^w^ Anything else we need to talk through?
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:02 pm
Abby dumped the packed cup of brown sugar into Royce's bowl, peering at the sugar and butter mixture with interest and only temporarily distracted at how nicely the brown sugar retained the shape of the cup it had been in. If she'd thought the brown sugar smelled good, the scent of sugars mixed with butter was positively amazing!
"It does kinda leave a sticky feeling on your paws," Abby agreed as she finally pulled back and worked on getting that second cup of sugar. She tried to get as much of the pile she'd collected scooped into the cup. The counter had been clean after all, and there was no use wasting even the small pile when she could put some of it to use.
When she finally couldn't get any more of her pile without taking longer than was practical, she swept the remainder into the trash can. This time she was a lot more careful when she tipped the bag to the cup, using her paw to break up the sugar and giving the bag small, bouncing shakes, vibrating the sugar out in small chunks.
"So are we going to have to knead this dough," Abby asked, setting down the bag and poking at the sugar in the cup to pack it down so she could continue to fill it. "Cause it seems like that would make an even bigger mess than I just made!" Of course messes usually indicated a fun time and baking seemed like it should be something fun, so messes were probably a given. "It'll be a lot stickier too, now that there's butter with the sugar!"
She vibrated some more sugar into the cup, packed it again, repeated the process, then finally dumped her full cup into the bowl with the rest of Royce's creaming mixture. Odd name for it, creaming. Cream made Abby think of milk or whipped cream. Or, if she was feeling paranoid of proper, tea parties. Still, the name of the process sounded as delicious as the result smelled.
iMoony
Hmmm, nope, I think we've got all the outlines for their next roleplay knocked into place.
Now baking chaos can commence!
jinxgirl5
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Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:04 pm
Royce shook his head, holding back a chuckle. "No. Cookie dough does not get kneaded. Bread dough does." He watched her pack the second scoop full and couldn't stop his smile. He felt very content working in the kitchen with Abby beside him. "Kneading works flour and water together to make it tougher. Then when cooked it becomes the thready look bread has inside."
He scrunched up his face, wondering if he described that correctly. "You know, the part that isn't the crust. To me it looks like string crisscrossed all over the place until it's thick." Royce shook his head, a scoff in his throat. "That probably sounds weird."
"So do you want to try it?" Royce asked, holding out the wooden spoon to Abby. "Though I did selfishly complete the easier part of creaming." He looked sorry as he bit his lip. "This is when it gets to be a little too thick and requires lots of upper arm strength."
jinxgirl5
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 4:55 pm
Abby flared her wings out to either side of her and gave them a few slow flaps. “I have pretty decent upper body strength, if I do say so myself,” she said with a chuckle, then added, “Though since I can’t hold a spoon to stir with my wings I don’t think those particular muscles are going to do me any good.”
She eagerly relieved Royce of the spoon and swiped one of her fingers across the back, handing the spoon back to Royce as she tried the butter and sugar mixture. It was deliciously sweet and rich, too rich to actually make a snack out of it but plenty rich enough for a treat. Her eyes sparkled happily and she made sure to clean every particle off her paw.
“None of it looks much like string to me,” she commented when she’d finally freed up her mouth to talk. “Looks more like the rough surface of a rock. And dough always looked like either churned up, light-colored mud or a small, round, oddly-colored pillow, depending on what stage of the mixing you’re at.”
While she spoke she edged over to the sink, giving her paws a quick scrub. “So now that you have your creaming mixture, what do we do next,” she asked curiously, scooting back over to Royce’s side.
iMoony
jinxgirl5
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Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:16 pm
Royce chuckled deep in his throat as Abby showed off her wings. "No, your wings won't do you much good here." After she took the spoon from him, Royce moved to step out of the way right before he was handed back the spoon. He was embarrassed to have moved prematurely, but quickly took back his spot before the bowl. Royce continued his creaming while Abby licked her paw clean.
He pursed his lips, unhappy to hear he and Abby did not see bread in the same light. It could be a matter of exposure, Royce pondered. He was surrounded by the bakery goods daily and knew them intimately. Abby was a lover of the product, yes, but, when it came down to it, just a consumer. Royce nodded to himself, deciding that was it.
Watching Abby make her way to the sink, Royce laid down the spoon. "Now we need to switch to an electric mixer," Royce replied. He rolled his shoulder, wincing comically as he did. "I think I've tired my arm out and it's only going to get harder when we add the next ingredient: peanut butter."
Royce made ducked under the counter, reaching into a bottom cabinet, to retrieve a countertop mixer. "I thought I could do it all by paw... to impress you," he muttered when he lifted the contraption up. "But I'm tossing in the towel on that idea. Bring on technology!" Royce plugged in the machine, scooped the batter into the much larger bowl, and then brought over the peanut butter jar.
"We need a cup and a half of this. Which would you rather attempt to fill?" Royce asked as he held aloft the one cup and half a cup scoops. "It's going to be tricky (and messy) either way."
jinxgirl5
I would have him have one of these but I like the idea of a messy measuring issue. xD
Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 3:47 pm
Abby accepted the half-cup and eyed it then the peanut butter jar dubiously. "Pretty sure we're gonna need something to get the peanut butter out, cause I don't think the cups will fit in the jar." A spoon would probably work best, but part of her was drawn to the creative challenge of trying to get the peanut butter out using just the cup.
But that would be a lot messier...
Ah well, perhaps another time.
"And you already impress me," she said with a smile and quiet laugh. "I mean I bring a ton of stuff over, dump it on the counter, and you start pulling out bowls and things and we're making cookies without having to consult a recipe or anything." She looked rueful for a moment. "I tend to dump things in a bowl and see how it works out in the end. Sometimes I get something good from it, but usually it's just an interesting mess."
iMoony
Dude... I want one!
jinxgirl5
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Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:48 am
Royce's face flushed pink at Abby's comment. Did he really impress her? "Oh, ah, that's good to know. I try really hard most days." He looked down at his paws, fiddling with the cup he now held in them. "It's not that difficult, really. I happen to have read a lot of cook books." He turned to beam shyly at Abby, a bit of pride in his smile. "I like your willingness attempt, to try, things, though. Even if it's a mess, at least you discovered it."
His eyes were back to the cup before he forced a cough. "Oh, right, a spoon." Royce busied himself with finding a spoon, seemingly unable to remember where the utensils were stored in his flustered state. Almost every drawer had been opened before he finally found them. "Found them!"
Quickly grabbing up two, Royce headed back to Abby and held aloft the silver tools. He did not make eye-contact, but he was smiling. "The difficult part of this is going to get the peanut butter to go into and out of the cups with minimum on us." Royce chuckled lightly while unscrewing the lid of the jar. "Best of luck to you."
jinxgirl5
My family has one. We don't use it too often. xD
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:10 pm
Abby accepted the spoon with a wicked lift of her eyebrows. "Is that a challenge?" Though she would never actually admit it, not without sufficient form of bribery, anyway, Abby was secretly a very neat person. She just had a lively (and sometimes chaotic) personality devoted to the pursuit of interesting things, and one of the side-effects more often than not tended to be big messes.
Still when all was said and done and Abby had wandered away to create havoc elsewhere, any mess that she'd personally made was somehow cleaned and straightened. It was just that she left folks a bit ruffled and their own messes to clean, so no one really noticed for the most part.
Abby peeked over at Royce as she dug her spoon enthusiastically into the jar, intent on the challenge of neatness but also issuing herself a challenging of filling the cups in as few spoonfuls as possible. The blush and lack of eye contact was really adorable. She sighed.
"You know, normally I'd be teasing you about the blushing and the not looking me in the eyes stuff you keep doing, but my go-to style is pretty straight-forward and involves questions. Since it's playing and answering is optional, it never felt like prying." She cast Royce a mournful look. "It's hard to think of a subtle way to tease you. I don't know if I can do subtle."
She looked back down to the jar and unearthed a loaded spoonful of peanut butter, giving it a thwack down into the measuring cup. It splattered a bit inside the cup from the impact, forming a crater rather than a mound, but none of it got outside the cup. Satisfied, Abby went back for another spoonful.
iMoony
Sorry it took so long to respond > -> Muse is being a lazy-butt, so I had to lure her out and ambush her, then flood the brain with giggly stuff to get her in a writing mood.
And yea, fancy measuring cups seem awesome but never do really get used that often. Mostly cause all the ones my mom ever bought were secretly fail.
jinxgirl5
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Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:42 pm
Royce chuckled but shook his head. "It's only a challenge if you want it to be." His first scoop of the peanut butter was good enough to fill the spoon, but not with too much extra. He rolled his eyes a bit when he saw how Abby dug hers right in. If this was a contest, she was seriously testing her skills to be neat.
He turned to grab another spoonful as Abby spoke once more. Royce nearly choked on a lung at Abby's blunt speech. "Yeah, there's no subtlety in that." He forced a laugh as he scooped up a bit and plopped it into his cup. "I'm sorry that my curse ruins that type of fun for you." Royce smiled woefully then shrugged. "But I'm sure there are other ways to tease me, if you wish. I don't know of any, though; Do you?"
All the while Royce had been diligently filling up his cup but with Abby's one giant scoop and smaller cup, she was way ahead. "It's a good thing we aren't racing to see who fills up first. You'd have an unfair advantage and a good strategy." Royce nudged Abby a bit, half trying to make her mess up, half just wanting to touch her. He smiled at her and returned to his task.
jinxgirl5
Now it's my turn to be delayed. Sorry, family things kept popping up once I got to summer vaykay.
Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 9:35 pm
Abby looked over at Royce and stuck out her tongue while crossing her eyes, then assumed a normal expression and grinned. "No clue, but I'll figure it out eventually. Never a person born I couldn't tease somehow!" It didn't occur to her that perhaps in her own blunt way she was already managing to tease Royce.
She dug her spoon back into the much emptier jar of peanut butter, pulling out another giant mound which she also dumped in the cup with a flick of her wrist. As it hit the mound already there it didn't splatter into the cup, but made a lovely sound of impact. Shame the cup was almost full already, she wouldn't be able to do that again without making a mess!
"What can I say? I'm controlled chaos," Abby said with a wink and a nudge of her own. Damn but that boy had some nice muscles! She couldn't help but notice as she bumped against him. "I swear, you're too built for a guy who bakes. I mean you're not ripped or anything, but there's muscles under that fur of yours," she commented as she dug her spoon in the jar for a third time.
iMoony
lol We just some horribly distracted people!
jinxgirl5
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Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2013 9:18 am
Royce chuckled at Abby's silly face, his smile staying pleasantly on his lips. "I'm sure if anyone was the find a way to tease me, it would be you." He blushed again. This time the color faded rather rapidly as it was just a moment's embarrassment that subsided rather quickly.
Abby's half a cup seemed to be nearly full, Royce noticed as he peeked from the corner of his eye. He kept his face pointed toward his own cup that still had a ways to go. Royce decided to take Abby's way and went for a bigger scoop. It took a lot of his concentration to bring the spoonful over to his cup. It was not a good time to try that.
Not only was he nudged, an action Royce might have easily recovered in any other case, but Abby also chose to compliment him soon after. Royce was startled. His spoon was dipped down ever slightly enough to cause one of the tendrils of peanut butter oozing from the side to make contact with the counter top. Royce cringed but otherwise was more distracted by Abby then the mess he made.
"Well, uh, thank you," Royce stuttered out. His face was red again. He plopped what was left on his spoon into his cup, then busied himself with grabbing a paper towel to clean up the peanut butter drop. "It's probably because I have to stir a lot of really stiff batters and frosting. Also squeezing the frosting can be difficult. Then there's the times I'm responsible for shifting around all our supplies. Despite what you might think, flour is not light." Royce was rambling, but for once he was okay with his open honesty. He was able to keep talking even though he was flustered.
jinxgirl5
Urgle... Sorry, sorry, sorry for the delay. I think we might want to time skip after this incident to when they're actually baking the cookies... Unless you want to get into detail about the banana chopping and adding of the dry ingredients. o3o
