Welcome to Gaia! ::

He took a break to respond to Marcus.

He repeated a more coherent version aloud for Jerry, minus the a** part.

As Harison had faltered with the 'badge preparation' Candace frowned and held him tighter, an affectionate squeeze for her best friend. She moved off him after that, smiling. "Don't turn it around we spent this long just waiting for what we HAVE." She paid Rep no mind, not picking up on his dislike for her playing around with her friend. Had he hugged Harrsion or leaned on him, however, she would have backed off.

Candace watched Jerry limp, a concerned frown on her lips. "You okay, darlin'?" She asked, walking over to where he had sat down.

At Marcus' 'greeting' Candace raised a brow. "turned into a cat?"

"Ah, yeah. Um. Better." Jerry smiled weakly up at Candace, drawing in a breath. He was glad to see she seemed to be well. At least until Marcus announced cars and cats. He had no question about the weird things possible on deus, especially after his short stint as a penguin.

He cleared his throat before glancing to Before and Ofie with a paled expression, "You guys haven't... er... been... experimenting, right? These are just... um." He almost said, 'You haven't been using Julie's ingredients, but stopped himself, his expression becoming a bit more somber. Despite the tragedy, there still was the question of what the woman had kept in her flour.

"... normal ingredients?"

Before did not expect this many people to arrive. Before did not WANT this many people to arrive especially specific people. Teal eyes may or may not have darted towards a certain Misty then at a certain a*****e Sunny. He was beside Ofelia the instant the female Sunny went back to the sinks, helping her dry the dishes and bowls and utensils.

"I did not think he would bring more than two people, I swear," Before morosely whispered. "Though I think we should start soon to get rid of 'em," he then added quickly "And iun wanna hug some of them..." he whined QnQ There were also some of the stipulations that he himself did not agree with but Ofelia had already made them and it seemed like poor taste to renege on them. But. Seriously.

Hugs and kisses? From Harrison, sure, from Jordan, no problem. From Rep? No. No. No. Noooooo. God, Before just wanted a small gathering for the judging, something quick and silly and something to laugh about after they gorged of food. Now it's turned into a giant circus and Before wasn't up for being the clown this time around. He wanted to be the ******** ring master for once and fuuuuuuck this is all his fault for not being more specific. He turned back to Ofelia, "I'll make this up to you somehow," he murmured softly.

Eventually the plating and preparations were finished, which was when Before took his shoes off (socks still on, sorry Ofie). "Judging for this bake off between Sunshine Ofelia and Mist-taken Before, shall now begin!" he declared and presented three plates to Harrison to hand off. Half of each plate had a Blondie and the other half Butterscotch Brownies. "Judges' plates get both, the rest of you gets a sample after the judges," Before explained, uncharacteristically serious. "We're not saying who made what, so just go with whichever you liked best." Still SRS BZNZ.

Then Before quickly sent out text messages to his BFFs.

Ofelia was washing the dishes when everything kept going on behind her, her eye twitching several times, when finally she just chuckled as loudly as she could and turned to look at them all. "Jesus, Ah was jus' ********' wit'cha. Shoes dun have ta come off, it jus' is that whole 'women are best in the kitchen barefoot' sayin' from back home. Y'all are guests in here, 'course ya dun have ta follow rules." She chuckled again and shook her head, finally moving away to dry her hands before going over to the oven where the rest of the products were waiting.

Ofelia, for her part, pulled out an apple pie, a metal tin full of blondies, and what looked to be like two dozen blueberry muffins. Before hadn't wasted any time getting them divided so she didn't really waste any time stepping back and away from the group, her hands back into the sink. The dishes were done, she was so happy to have a large crowd her, but her nerves were already fraying at the end.

"Clover, dun worry 'bout anythin', kay?"

That was all she had to say afterward, just. . . standing there with hands in lukewarm water.