Chilly Boulder, Sunday afternoon

[heromaniac]

Momoko had looked for her in the crowd that was at the dance, but she'd only been able to glimpse her big sib once or twice, and never managed to actually catch Rikku for a chat. So, a handwavy phone message to Rikku had a bouncy Momoko eagerly awaiting her favourite former Fandomite at their usual meeting place.

Hopefully Rikku would get the message before leaving for home again.

The empty cups at Momoko's elbow may have given away the fact that she'd gotten there a bit early. What? She missed Rikku!




[expecting one, but the Chilly Boulder is, of course, open]

Comments

[the_merriest]

Rikku was a bit early herself. Reno had headed out for coffee, and she had bounced around his apartment playing with the ferret and the cat -- she still didn't trust that scary duck that had watched her pee, dammit.

And then she'd decided to head to the ice cream shop early, because ice cream was awesome and because Petey and Mako were snuggling for a nap and she didn't want to wake them up.

She waved enthusiastically from the doorway, then bounced over to Momo's table for a huge hug.

"Starting without me?" she laughed. "Don't think that means you're getting away without having more."

[heromaniac]

"Yay! Rikku!" Momoko returned the hug happily, laughing. "Of course I'm having more! These were totally just appetizers! How are you? It's been forever!"

[the_merriest]

"It has," Rikku laughed. "Way too long. I'm good! And tired. It's so weird that Reno's here, now. You're keeping an eye on him, right? He looks like he's been eating, so good job so far."

Momo was totally supposed to watch over Reno. He was her big-sib-in-law-kinda-sorta. It made sense to Rikku.

"How's class going? What's new? Any boooooooys?"

[heromaniac]

It totally made sense to Momoko!

"He was like skin and bones when he got back! It was scary! But I'm glad he's back home and everything, even if it's totally weird that he's a teacher now and allowed to do stuff like dump syrup in my hair and I can't get him back for it." She rolled her eyes, but kept her grin. "And classes are good. I'm learning how to bake! I almost made cupcakes the other day!"

[the_merriest]

"You can totally get him back for it," Rikku insisted. "Tell him you got authorization from me. Ooooh, how did they turn out? The almost-cupcakes. What went wrong? I love cooking but I get bored in the middle."

[heromaniac]

"Let's just say buttermilk is not the same as butter and milk." Momoko rolled her eyes. "I'm trying though, so that totally counts, right?"

"So what have you been doing? Are you still being an ambassador and stuff?"

[the_merriest]

"It should be," Rikku huffed. "It's not fun to cook if people don't let you experiment. Was whatever you had left edible?"

What? She'd eaten weirder things than buttermilk not-quite-cupcakes.

"We're doing lots of building," she said, shaking her head. "And people are getting along, more or less, but some of them are still being jerks. Then every now and then, someone makes Yunie deal with a problem and I have to remind her to tell me so she can bring me along."

[heromaniac]

"I totally wasn't experimenting, though! I was being very careful and following the recipe! But I didn't have any buttermilk, so I was trying to make some. And no, they didn't even cook right. I've got the recipe, though, so I'll totally try it again once we get back to the dorms."

And after making sure the kitchen had all the ingredients before she started.

"Sounds like Yunie is doing an awesome job, if people are coming to her with stuff! And you totally don't seem as stressed out as you used to be. I'm glad! I was worried."

[the_merriest]

"Were they sludgey?" Rikku asked. "Goopy? Sometimes you can just add flour to things until they stiffen up enough to cook right. Doesn't mean they won't taste funny, though>"

She shrugged, uncertain about the rest. "They always go to Yunie," she said. "She saved the world, so she has to decide everything now. She lets people take advantage, and she shouldn't. But I'm way less stressed. Kind of wondering where I go from here, you know?"

[heromaniac]

"Oooh. I didn't think to add flour; that might have worked! I'll remember that for next time, though, thanks! Could I use baking powder too? If it's supposed to help stuff bake, maybe they won't be as gooey on the inside if I used more?" She was not above thinking it was the recipe that was wrong and not her.

"You should totally come back here and live! You could even teach?" She nodded eagerly for a moment, then sank in her seat. "But I totally know what you mean. I graduate in a year (hopefully) and while all of my friends know what they're gonna do, I totally have no idea!"

[the_merriest]

"Baking powder is trickier," Rikku confessed. "A lot of cooking is just improvisation, though. You learn your ingredients, and you know what counterbalances what. It's like science."

Delicious, delicious science.

She laughed at that, shaking her head. "I don't know what I'd teach everyone," she said. "I'm still learning so much myself. And you, you have a home to go back to and monsters to fight, don't you?"

[heromaniac]

Like science. Ah, but if you were bad at science, too...?

"Well, there's always going to be trouble, like Mojo Jojo building more mecha to try to take over the city, or the Gangrene Gang terrorizing citizens and bullying shopkeepers, or Fuzzy Lumpkins kidnapping someone or claiming new territory as his." She chuckled. "But I can't do that all the time! I mean, they don't need Blossom every day."