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Ella wondered if her suggestion was in any way appreciated as Lyric seemed to consider. Hopefully he wasn't angry that she'd spoken up. But then he said it was a good idea, so Ella felt the weight of stress lift off her shoulders. He did add that he may not have the funds after buying his books, but Ella figured she could stop by the shop to get some. After all, she very seldom spent her allowance or the money she'd made helping Aunt Lynn. Why should it not go to help a friend? Besides, she already found enjoyment buying stationary.

As the discussion shifted to recipes, Ella noticed that Lyric seemed a bit concerned about her preference for Romanian food. Apparently he didn't know just where she'd come from. Oh well, it was fine enough. He said he didn't cook often, unless it was pre-made. Ella did giggle when he said he could jazz up cup noodles. "Linsey always says homemade noodles are best, but I think I should just be happy to eat anything. Not that I eat very much anyway." It was true, even still, Ella didn't eat a lot of food. Some days it was all she could do to eat one meal, let alone more. Usually Alice, Sebastian, or Finn made sure she had food, which was more than she could say for herself. "Maybe we can find an extra-easy cookbook, then share it." She tittered at that, glad she found someone that shared her culinary skills.. probably.

Ella pulled on her hair a bit as she mentioned Linsey's homemade noodles. They were one of the things Ella was... somewhat good at. Of course, as soon as it came time to cook anything with the noodles, she was back to helpless. It seemed like she would, perhaps, be doomed forever. "That, I can teach you. I have her recipes and a rolling pin. Plus maybe we can ask Alice to help, just in case we get jammed up." Thank goodness Alice really liked to help her cook. Surely she'd be fine helping Ella and Lyric roll out some pasta sheets.

After having grabbed his third book, it seemed like he was done here. Lyric started to head off, so Ella stepped a bit closer before he stopped and turned around. Apparently her idea about getting an easy cookbook had been one that he approved of. Very cool indeed. "Surely there's a cookbook for drinks too... but not the adult kind, of course." The closest to alcohol she'd had was a sip of wine she was offered when they went on vacation to Milan, and it was pretty gross tasting.

Of course, she hoped that making drinks would be closer to mixing potions, which would be a bunch easier if she didn't have any actual cooking to do. Ella led the way over to a section marked off for cookbooks, tilting her head as she looked at them. Aha! That one looked perfect! "Oh, here we go! 'Fifty Vegetarian Recipes for Beginner Chefs'. That way we don't have to deal with meat either." She pulled the book off the shelf, showing Lyric the colorful cover. Once it was on the stack with her other new books, she found one for '101 Party Drinks for Teens'. Perfect! Now they'd be covered either way! Though, it was getting a bit heavy to hold all these books with her little arms!

As Ella offered to try and help Lyric make his own noodles, she was pleasantly surprised to see him visibly brighten! Well, now she'd have to make them perfectly... or perhaps hope he could help make sure they weren't lumpy. "Of course! I'm glad to teach you." Well, that did help boost her confidence a bit. Maybe she could give Mum's sauce recipe another try, if she'd already be making noodles. It was usually when it came to cooking things that everything went haywire, so perhaps if she did minimal stove or oven work.... well, that was the hope, anyway.

While discussing drinks to bring to clubs and parties, Ella nodded along as Lyric said they couldn't purchase anything strong anyway. "Oh, no, of course not. But there are probably some drinks with no alcohol. Like punch or something." She shrugged her shoulders, turning her focus back to looking at the books. That's when a certain title caught her attention. It would probably be better, especially since they were advertised as beginner recipes. Carefully, and a bit awkwardly, she shifted her books, flipping open the cookbook to find that each step had pictures and lots of helpful information. Oh yes, this would be good indeed.

"Oh yea. One time I didn't cook chicken all the way through and it made me really sick. I didn't eat for days after that one." No amount of bribery in the form of soup had helped either. It had just been terrible all around! "But if you undercook veggies, usually they're just a little crunchy." Crunchy, which was miles better than 'could make everyone ill'! As she added the cookbook to her stack, Lyric seemed to notice her struggles. He seemed lighthearted enough, but she didn't want to make him do too much either! Carefully, she set the cookbook and drink book in his hands, allowing her to hold her books a little easier. Of course, the series included three heavy tomes, which just meant it was more weight to hold. "Thank you! My arms are pretty little." Ella teased back, knowing it wasn't just her arms that were little. The very whole of her was small, and probably always would be.

With hope, these books would be able to help both herself and Lyric. After all, it seemed they were on somewhat equal footing in the culinary department. Even with the attempted help from Linsey and Alice, Ella seemed doomed to being terrible. Of course, it was mostly that she couldn't figure out cooking times for anything, or that the others seemed to instinctively know when to cook things differently than the recipe. How was she supposed to know better than the chef that created the recipe? Weren't there whole schools dedicated to the art of cooking for just such reasons?

As Ella flipped through the veggie cookbook, She noticed Lyric looking as well, so she shifted it a bit to make sure his view was clear as well. After all, it would likely go to benefit both of them, so if it wasn't the right book, she'd like a chance to return it and perhaps find another. But as she spoke about her experience with cooking chicken, Lyric made a face, as if to say he'd experienced similar before. Maybe the vegetarian cookbook was indeed the smart idea here. "Crunchy indeed." That made her giggle as well, glad she'd found someone who didn't just tell her they could help her figure out cooking next time.

While carefully adding the new books to Lyric's hands, Ella felt a bit bad that she'd added to his load at all. She just had to remember that Lyric was a friend and not someone likely to berate her for not being able to carry her own load. It's how she'd determined needing to carry the heavier of the books... though perhaps she would've done well grabbing a basket. When he said it was helpful having taller friends, she nodded as a smile slipped on her face. "All my friends are taller than me, so I should be well benefited." Of course all her friends were taller, she was very, very small! As they went to the registers, Ella hefted her books up onto the counter, then looked over at Lyric. "You can go ahead and put both those recipe books here on mine. I don't mind, especially if you've got your herbology books to get. Those are most important." She grabbed her coin purse from her bag, waiting on a total so she could pay... and maybe see if the shopkeep could add a featherweight charm to her books for her.