Second Floor Common Room, Early Tuesday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. No, definitely more afraid than that. Well, if that's the best you can do, it'll have to be enough, but just remember you were warned.

Karla poked her head into the common room; an old, tattered book clutched in her hands. Good, Merlin wasn't here yet. Maybe he forgot. Maybe he changed his mind. Maybe he wouldn't come at all! There was one brief surge of hope before her shoulders slumped. No, Merlin would be here. He'd been far too excited at the idea to give it up at the last minute.

Clearly, the Darkness was not inclined to be merciful.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to do this. Actually, no, she was quite certain she didn't want to do this. But Merlin had asked and she had promised to help no matter what. In the future, there was a certain little witchling who would be much more careful about what she promised to who, that was for damn sure.

The kitchen--innocent, benign, not at all looking like it was about to harbor eldritch horrors--was probably the best place to begin assembling ingredients. First, Karla pulled out a bunch of mixing bowls and several pots and pans, including a pot easily big enough to serve as a respectable cauldron. Then she placed the book down on the counter, opened the cover, and coughed as dust, soot, and cobwebs flew off the pages and into her face.

The script was thin, faded and spidery; hard to make out and even harder to read. The ink had faded to a dull reddish-brown and the accompanying illustrations were sepia-toned. Karla puzzled over the text for a moment, flipping past several pages illustrating different kinds of knives, pausing a moment over detailed instructions on the proper way to slaughter a chicken, and, hey, was that an octopus tentacle in that image there?! Finally, though, she found the appropriate section of the book.

Cookies

Karla and Merlin were baking.

[Post is open as all common rooms are, but please no volunteering to help with the baking. Let our poor bakers muddle through on their own. It's totally character-building and a learning experience.]

Comments

[trigons_child]

On her way to work, Raven passed through the second floor common room and paused to greet her friend. "Hello, Karla," she said. "How was your trip home? I did not have an opportunity to speak to you at the Magical Reserves meeting." She tilted her head. "What are you making? A potion of some sort?"

[glacial_queen]

"Raven!" Karla glanced up at other other girl and grinned. "I'm glad to see you! Merlin and I are baking cookies!"

Now that they were actually in the process, most of Karla's trepidation had faded and she was enjoying herself. She gestured to the large bowl in front of her, where she was currently picking eggshells out of the brownish sludge that was currently residing in the bowl. Occasionally, small air bubbles would rise to the surface and pop, giving the impression that the muck in the bowl was breathing. Karla still looked proudly at it, even as she continued to pick out eggshells. "And home was...interesting. There were things going on there. But I brought you back something."

Karla called in a square package wrapped in brown paper. It landed on the counter in a puddle of interestingly-colored liquid. "Oops," she said, sheepish. "You might want to get that. Before it has a chance to seep through the paper."

[trigons_child]

Raven quickly picked up the package and began to unwrap it. "If I ever return to Azarath I will have to bring you something from there," she promised, curious to see what Karla's gift was.

[glacial_queen]

Inside was a book about kinky sex. Raven was getting a reputation for being into that titled Craft for Infants: A Parent's Guide. "The entire first half is about teaching your baby how to shield effectively," Karla explained quickly, before Raven could freak out upon receiving a book about parenting. "We learn to create inner barriers and shield ourselves before we can walk, really. So I thought you could try the exercises yourself in order to strengthen your shields. There's more advanced Crafting techniques later in the book, if you wanted to try your hand at learning stuff."

[trigons_child]

Just call me Mistress Raven.

Raven's eyes had gone wide upon reading the title. "Thank you for explaining," she said. "For I am not with child, I am certain of that!" And Karla couldn't have known about Chuck while she'd been away anyway.

She flipped through a few pages of the book. "This is a wonderful gift, thank you," she said. "I think I will find this most helpful."

[glacial_queen]

Yes, Mistress,

"I didn't think you were!" Karla assured her hastily. "But I'm glad you think it'll be useful. I flipped through some of the pages and saw some exercises you could probably do right away."

Then, glancing around to make sure no one was paying particular attention to then, she sidled over and asked in an undertone, "So how are you? Recovering from...the other world okay?"

Oh yeah, there was a lot of gossip for Karla to catch up on.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin waved cheerfully upon seeing Raven. "Are you here to bake as well?"

It was like a magical tragedy of culinary arts.

[trigons_child]

Were Raven to assist, it would become even more tragic.

"I have no skill will cooking or baking," she admitted. "But I will be content to enjoy the fruits of your labors if you are willing."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"We could bake extra for the reserve," Merlin suggested. "Then everyone will some!"

[trigons_child]

"That would be delightful," Raven said. "I am certain it would be appreciated." Meanwhile, she was silently speculating on just how much food poisoning she could heal before exhausting herself. Just in case. No reason.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"And tea, of course, to dip them in." He had the best ideas. "It'll be great."

Francine would be so pleased!

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Maybe the chocolate ones? I know she likes chocolate."

Oh, this was a tragedy in the making.

[glacial_queen]

"Chocolate is good," Karla agreed, using the air as a stool to see into the highest shelves. "Oh! And there's some baking chocolate! Excellent. We can probably make whatever kind of cookies we like and then just add some of this. Istant chocolate cookies."

Tragedy indeed.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin hung back just a bit. In case she fell.

"Oh! And marshmallows. Do they have those?"

The cookies would be a gooey mess of sugary goodness.

[glacial_queen]

Karla checked. "Yup," she announced, tossing the canister of baking chocolate at Merlin. "Lots, it looks like. I'll pull down a few bags and add them to our ingredients pile." Three bags of full-zised marshmallows landed on the counter. "Oh! Pine nuts! I like nuts in my cookies, don't you?"

Karla, you like walnuts and almonds in your cookies. Not pine nuts.

"And there's a big jug of olive oil here. I remember that we need oil for baking." She grabbed that, too.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I've never had pine nuts," Merlin replied, looking thoughtful about the choice. It should still be good, right? Right!

"Oh! And butter! I remember we used butter for the brownies."

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"Hi Merlin! Whatcha doing?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Karla and I are baking cookies," Told the... frog. Talking dragons, talking frogs...

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

And people turning into animals, time travel, really how was Robin all that strange?

"What kind?"

[bitchprince]

A knight wandered by the common room on his way down to set up for the reserves. He... paused at the commotion. His mouth formed into a silent 'What?'.

Catching sight of the actual work being done, Arthur had a momentary internal battle of mockery versus just getting away from the danger and, going with his better instincts, fled.

Or at least stalked away in as dignified a way as he could. If something exploded, it would not be on his head. If someone died, it would not be his fault. If... someone was going to be fed that, it would certainly NOT BE HIM.

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin, singing softly, came into the common room to investigate the interesting smells.

[glacial_queen]

Well, interesting likely did apply, when one was used to eating insects and the like.

"Hi Robin," Karla called. She didn't wave, but, in her defense, she was currently covered up to her elbows in sludge interestingly-textured cookie dough.

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"Hi Karla! What are you making?" It could be anything from what he could see.

[glacial_queen]

"Cookies!" Karla announced triumphantly. "Chocolate-marshmallow-y ones. We couldn't find a recipe that included all the stuff we wanted, so we had to make up our own. I think it's coming along very well."

She might have said more, but the spoon that she'd been using to stir the sludge was stuck. She appeared to be engaged in tug-of-war with it.

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin watched to see if the dough actively pulled back. He was reminded of the Swedish Chef for some reason. "What else is in there?"